THE NOUN GROUP

1- NOUNS

A noun is used to identify a person or thing, and they are classified according to whether they need a determiner in front of them; in this case, many nouns have two forms, the singular form, which is used to refer to one person or thing, and the plural form, which is used to  refer to more than one person or thing. These nouns make up the largest group of nouns in English. They are called count nouns or uncountable nouns. 

See the use of some nouns in the text below:

  Plural forms:

Add- s to most nous. -S has three pronunciations:

book...................books (s)
egg.....................eggs (s)
orange................oranges (iz)

For nouns ending in a consonant + y ( NOT a vowel + y), change the y to i and add -es.

party...................parties
key.....................keys
city.....................cities
lady....................ladies

For nouns ending in -s, -z, -x, -ch, and -sh, add -es, pronounced (iz):

class...................classes
quiz....................quizzes
box....................boxes
match.................matches
dish....................dishes

Irregular plurals:


woman..............women
foot....................feet
goose...............geese
ox......................oxen

Some nouns are always plural and have no singular form: clothes, belongings, congratulations, goods, stairs, surroundings, thanks.

Uncontable Nouns

Most uncountable nouns are thinks which we clearly cannot count. We use zero article, or some.

Other common nouns which do not normally have plural -s, and use a singular verb:

Some uncountable nouns have a different countable word:

bread - a loaf.....................................................................luggage - a bag, a case
money - a note, a coin.......................................................work - a job
travel - a journey, a trip..................................................... accommodation - a room, a flat, etc


Count nouns


Count nouns can be used with numbers:

Example: one table........ two cats........ three hundred.......pounds

Singular count nouns cannot be used alone, but always take a determiner such as " a " , " another ", "every", or "the". 

Examples:

We`ve killed a pig.
He was esting another apple.
She had read every book on the subject.
I parked the car over there. 

Plural count nouns can be used with or without a determiner. They do not take a determiner when they refer to things or people in general.

Examples:

Does the hotel have large rooms?

The film is not suitable for children.

Plural count nouns do take a determiner when they refer precisely to particular things or people.

Examples:

Our computers are very expensive.
These cakes are delicious.

There are a few grammatical differences between British English and American English:

Parts of the body

Listen and  name the parts of the body bellow:

Know nouns of  vegetables and fruits in English. See the list below:

                                                                  

2- DETERMINERS

Determiners are modifiers of nouns. There are some determiners that occur only with singular count nouns like a, one, another and many determiners that occur only with plural count nous: these, those, many, both, two, three, and so on. A few determiners occur only with uncountable nouns: much, (a) little; and some determiners occur with either plural nous or uncountable nouns: some, all, no, other.

Determiners include articles, quantifiers, numbers, possessive adjectives (a. g. my, your, their) and demonstrative adjective ( this, that, these, those ).

Aprenda mais sobre os artigos na Língua Inglesa.

Examples:

Tom Cruise is an actor.
Tom Cruise and Rodrigo Santoro are actors.
I need a book for my trip.
The book I have isn`t very interesting.
I like music.
I especially like the music you play.

Notice this special use of the Indefinite Article:

I go swimming twice a month.
I play soccer three times a week.

3- ADJECTIVES


What an adjective is and what it does?


" An adjective describes the person, thing, etc which a noun refers to. We use adjectives to say what a person, etc is like or seems like... An adjective can also describe the idea (s) contained in a whole group of words... "

 (L. G. Alexander, Logman English Grammar, 1997 )


---> Some adjectives always go before the noun (or after a form of be):

I have a new teacher. My teacher is fantastic.

----> Adjectives have no plural form:

John has a great record. Jorn has great records.

See more:

Comparison of Adjetive:

Short                                                         long                                                 Irregular

 1 syllable.....................................2 or more syllables................................................................................
2 syllables ending in -y..............................................................................................................................


short + er = shorter.....................interesting = more interesting..........................good = better.................
late + er = later................................................................................................bad = worse...................
big + g + er = bigger.....................beautiful = less beautiful.....................................................................
happ + ier = happier.............................................................................................................................

A comparative can stant on it is own if the reference is clear. Example: The grey coat is longer. However, if we need to mention each item, then we must use the after the comparative. When than is followed by a noun or pronoun it functions as if it were a preposition when it is followed by a clouse, it functions as if it were a conjunction, but note the ambiguity of.

Examples:

Our new car is smaller than our old car.
This book is more interesting than that book.
That book is less interesting than this book.


Here is a list of some adjectives:

Many adjectives can be used either before the noun they describe, or following linking verbs such as appear, be, become, feel, get, and seem.

Examples:

The high price surprised him.
The price seemed high.

You can know somebody:

4- PREPOSITIONS


What a preposition is and what it does?

We normally use prepositions in front of nouns or noun phrases pronouns or gerunds to express a relationship between one person, thing, event, etc, and another.

Prepositions can be of place, movement, or time.

 

 See examples:


I live IN London............................city
I live ON Green Street..................street
I live AT 25 Green Street...............address 

 

Compare in, at, and on

Study more examples about prepositions.

5- PRONOUNS


Referring to people and things without naming them: it is pronouns!

Mentioning possession: possessive pronouns:

When you are talking about people or things, you often want to say in what way they are connected with each other. There are several different ways in which you can do this, but you most often do it by using a possessive pronoun to indicate that something belong to someone or is associated with them.

Here is a table showing possessive pronouns:

Examples:

Her parents were in Malaya, and so were mine.
Is that coffee yours or mine?
It was his fault, not theirs.

Referring back to the subject: reflexive pronouns

When you want to show that the abject or indirect object of a verb is the same person or thing as the subject of the verb, you use a reflexe pronoun.

Here is a table of reflexive pronouns:

Examples:

I`m sure history repeats itself.
All of us shook hands and introduced ourselves.
He forced himself to lie absolutely still.

Referring to people and things in a general way: indefinite pronouns

When you want to refer to people or things but you do not know exactly who or what they are, or their identity is not important, you can see an indefinite pronoun. An infinitive pronoun indicates only whether you are talking about people or about things, rather than referring to a specific person or thing.

Here is a list of indefinite pronouns:

You always use singular verbs with indefinite pronouns.

Examples:

Is anyone here?
Everybody recognizes the importance of education.
Everything was ready.
Nothing is certain in this word.

6- POSSESSIVE OF NOUNS



What does the possessive inflection or form mean?  

The possessive inflection is referred to as the genitive case, thus this is perhaps appropriate given that the  `s  inflection or a possessive form, while often expressing possession:

POSSESSION: John`s car.

Other meanings:

AGENCY/ SOURCE: Shakespeare`s/ his ideas/ sonnets

HUMAN RELATIONSHIP: 

a. kinship: Bob`s cousin.

b.professional: Joe`s teacher.

c. other social: Anne`s neighbor.

TRAITS ( PHYSICAL: OR OTHER ): Sue`s eyes/ her ego

REPRESENTATION: John`s portrait ( = a portrait of John) / his statue ( = a statue of him)

EVOLUTION: the project`s importance / its value

NAMED AFTER: St. Paul`s cathedral...

MEASUREMENT: an hour`s time

Obs.: 

 A posição do apóstrofo é frequentemente motivo de confusão na Língua Inglesa. Veja esses dois exemplos:

SINGULAR.....................................PLURAL

the boy´s school.........................................the boys´ school

a escola do menino....................a escola dos meninos

Porém quando o plural não termina em -s, o genitivo plural se forma com ´s, como no singular:

the men´s toilet...........................................the children´s room 


o banheiro dos homens................o quarto das crianças 

THE VERB GROUP

1- CONJUGATION


Verbs Tenses

Em Inglês, podemos distinguir três tipos de verbos: os verbos regulares, os irregulares e os auxiliares. Os verbos regulares formam a passado simples e o particípio passado acrescentando-se -(d, ou id) à sua forma básica infinitiva.

Auxiliaries verbs BE and DO: 

Um verbo auxiliar modifica o verbo principal da oração. Os auxiliares comuns são be, have, e do.

Modal Auxiliaries/ Modal Verbs

What are modal verbs?

Modal verbs belong to the larger category of a auxiliary verbs and it comes immediately before the main verb in affirmative and negative statements (e. g. can do; shouldn`t matter). In questions, modal verbs come before the subject. Example: May I go?

Modal verb may have several meanings or functions:

Os auxiliares modais são assim chamados porque substituem o modo subjuntivo em diversos casos e se referem à atitude de uma pessoa em relação aos fatos ou estados que reporta.

See the use of  Modal Verbs in the text bellow:

Verbs:

Study this example situation:

John is a bus driver, but now he is in bed asleep.  So: He is not driving a bus. ( He is asleep.), but He drives a bus. ( He is a bus driver. )

Drive (s) / work (s) / do (es), etc... is the present simple.

We use the present simple to talk about things in general. We are not thinking only about now. We use it to say that something happens all the time or repeatedly, or that something is true in genaral. It is not important whether the action is happening at the time of speaking:

Nurses look after patients in hospitals.
I usually go away at weekends. 
The earth goes round the sun.

Diferenças entre os verbos to do and to make e principais formas de uso:

Verb Forms:

 

Read and practice the dialog bellow:

Phrasal Verb

We often use verbs with the following words: IN, ON, UP, AWAY, ROUND, ABOUT, OVER, BY, OUT, OFF, DOWN, BACK, THROUGH, ALONG FORWARD. So you can say put out/ get on, take off, run away etc. These verbs are phrasal verbs.

We often use OUT/ OFF/ UP ETC. with verbs of movement. For example:

GET ON....................The bus was full. We couldn`t get on.
DRIVE OFF..............A woman got into the car and drove off.
COME BACK..........Sally is leaving tomorrow and coming back on Saturday.
TURN ROUND.......When I touched him on the shoulder, he turned round.

In Phrasal Verbs, the second word ( out/ off/ up, etc... ) gives a special meaning to the verb. Sometimes a Phrasal Verb is followed by a preposition.

 In other case, a Phrasal Verb has an object. Usually there are two possible positions for the object. So you can say:

I turned off the light. or I turned the light off.

                      object                            object

If the object is a pronoun like it, them, me, him, etc, only one position is possible:

I turned it off.

Em  Inglês temos alguns verbos como to say, to tell e to ask que são usados para fazer referência a fala de uma pessoa, porém tais verbos apresentam um específico contexto para diferentes ocasiões. Veja na tabela abaixo:

 

2- USES OF TENSES

3- ADVERBS

What an adverb is and what it does?

The word adverb ( ad-verb ) suggests the idea of adding to the meaning of a verb. This is whatmany adverbs do.They can tell us something about the action in a sentece by modifying a verb, i. e. by telling us how, when, where, etc. 

Adverbs can be single words (slowly) or phrases, like in the garden, and the term adverbial is often used to describe both types.

Expressions of time:

Adverbs are not always essential to the struture of a sentence, but they often affect the meaning. 

Attention:

Adverbs of manner:

Spelling and form of adverbs ending in - ly:

Most adverbs of manner are formed by adding -ly to adjectives: mad/ madly, plain/ plainly, sudden/ suddenly. This applies to adjectives ending in -l so that the l is doubled: beautiful/ beautifully, musical/ musically.

Position of adverbs of place

Adverbs of place never go between subject and verb. When there is more than one kind of adverb in a sentece, the usual position of adverbs of place is after manner, but before time ( following a verb or verb + object ):

Em Inglês encontramos alguns advérbios com específicos usos que podem causar confusão. 

A questão é quando usa-los de acordo com o termo apropriado para cada ocasião. Esses advérbios são o just, already e yet. Usamos yet em orações interrogativas, e em final de sentenças: Have you finished it yet? Também após o superlativo ( Her best novel yet ); e antes de comparativo ( Yet again.).

 Já already é usado em orações afirmativas e interrogativas, e normalmente é usado depois dos verbos auxiliares ou modais e na frente dos demais verbos: Have you finished already? Outra característica é quando already indica surpresa com o fato de uma ação se haver realizado antes do esperado, pode ser usado no final da sentença.

SENTENCE TYPES

1- SIMPLE SENTENCES

 

 See the text below:

Apostrophes may be used in place of letters that are not pronunced, and these spellings are common in cartoon strips. It is called like " standard form of English. See some examples:

2- QUESTIONS

 

See the text below: 

WH-Questions beginning with question words like Who, What, When, Where, Why, How, How much, What color, etc.

Apply three transformations: verbs BE, CAN, WILL, WOULD, using DO/ DOES or DID

1- Substitute the appropriate question word:

They can swim on Tuesday.

They can swim WHEN?

She lives in Japan.

She lives WHERE?

2- Put the question word at the beginning of the sentence:

They can swim WHEN?

WHEN ( they can swin)?

She lives WHERE?

WHERE she lives?

3-Add the interrogative signal:

When they can swim?

When CAN THEY swim?

Where she lives?

Where DOES SHE LIVE?

See an example: 

Now read and practice this dialog below: