● The difference between prescriptive and descriptive grammar

Descriptive grammar describes how the language is used whereas the prescriptive grammar explains how
the language should be used by the speakers.

1. Varieties of English language:

- Standard English
- National standards of English (British & American) - Grammatical differences are few, e.g. AmE has
two past participles for get and BrE only one. Lexical examples are far more numerous, e.g. railway
(BrE) railroad (AmB)
- Scottish - is perhaps nearest to the self-confident independence of BrE and AmE.
- Irish - (or Hiberno-) English should also be regarded as a national standard.
- Canadian - is in a similar position in relations to AmE.
- South African - is virtually identical with the BrE.
- Australian - is the dominant form of English in the Antipodes and it is even exerting an influence in the
northern hemisphere.
- New Zealand - New Zealand English is more like BrE than any other non-European variety, though it
now feels the powerful influence of Australia and - to a small degree - of the US.

2. Parts of a sentence:
Sentence
↙ ↘
subject predicate
↘ ↘
auxiliary predication
as operator
Structure of predicates:
- auxiliary as operator
- predication
Types of auxiliaries: modals, do, did, does, be, have.

3. Sentence structures:
● 5 elements of a sentence: subject, verb, complement, object, adverbial.
e.g. John (S) carefully (A) searched (V) the room (O).
● Subject of a sentence is realised by a ‘clause’ but it is usually a ‘noun phrase’.
● Verb is always realized by a verb phrase. This may be ‘finite’ (showing tense, mood, aspect, and
voice) or ‘non-finite’ (not showing tense or mood but still capable of indicating aspect and voice).

● Finite verb forms show tense, person and number (I go, she goes, we went, etc.):
- She was waiting in the room before he came in.
- Does your brother know my brother?
● Non-finite verb forms do not show tense, person or number. Typically they are infinitive forms with
and without to (e.g. to go, go), -ing forms and -ed forms (e.g. going, gone):
- You need to paint the whole cupboard, starting from the bottom.
- She tiptoed around the house so as not to wake anyone.
● Two types of objects:
- direct object (Od) – noun or pronoun receiving the action, preceded by the verb
- indirect object (Oi) – a noun of pronoun that receives the direct object, depends on the direct object, usually
preceded by preposition
e. g. He had given the girl (Oi) an apple (Od). John (S) bought (V) his son (Oi) a present. (Od)
● types of complements:
- subject complement (Cs) - e.g. Peter is a student at Pomeranian University. (S)(V)(Cs)
- object complement (Co) e.g. Studies make him happier. (S)(V)(Co)
● Categories od adverbial:
* adverbials of manner – usually formed from adjectives by adding –ly (badly, easily, politely)
* adverbials of place – prepositional phrases (in France, next to me), adverbs (abroad, away, there, here)
 * adverbials of time – to describe when/how long and how often something happens (yesterday, in 1981, later,
all day, usually)
* adverbials of probability – we use to show how certain we are about something (perhaps, maybe, possibly,
obviously).

Subject complements, direct objects, and objects complements may be realized by the same range structures
as subjects (e.g. He was the chairman; She saw the chairman.)

Subject and object complements have an additional possibility of being realized by adjective phrases (having
an adjective as head) (e.g. She made him very much happier).

Indirect objects have fewer possibilities and are realized by noun phrases (e.g. He had given the girl an apple).

Adverbials can be realized by:

a) adverb phrases, having an adverb as head (John very carefully searched the room)
b) noun phrases (They make him the chairman every year)
c) by the prepositional phrases – structures consisting of a noun phrase dominated by a preposition
(She studied at a large university)
d) clauses: finite (He grew happier when his friend arrived) and non-finite (Seeing the large crowd,
John stopped his car).

● Different sentence structures:

- The noise drove him mad. - S - V - O - C
- Something happened. - S - V
- I need a rest. - S - V - O
- This piano is heavy. - S - V - C

4. Parts of speech:
Open-class items (they have the same grammatical properties and structural possibilities):
a) noun – John, room
b) adjective – happy, steady, new, large
c) adverb – steadily, completely, really
d) verb – search, play, be, have
Closed-system items:
a) article – the, a/an
b) demonstrative – that, this
c) pronoun – he, they, oone, which
d) preposition – of, at, without, in spite of
e) conjunction – and, that, when, although
f) interjection – oh, ah, phew

Some examples appear as more than one part of speech, e.g.

play – noun, verb
that – demonstrative, conjunction
round – adjective, preposition
,
Adjectives and nouns belong to the so-called stative part of speech, verbs and adverbs are dynamic.

5. PROFRORMS, QUESTION AND NEGATION

PRO – FORMS:na chłopski rozum – substitute form of another expression

Pro-form is a substitute form, that is a word or expression which has no detailed meaning of its own
but has the function of ‘standing in the place’ of another (often more complex) expression. Personal
pronouns are the most familiar examples of pro-forms. Other examples are the pronoun one (for
example in this one, a new one) and the verbal forms so and do so (substituting for a predicate or a
predication).

Pro – forms greatly facilitate sentence connection, the conjoining of sentences to form ‘compound sentences’
and the subordination of one sentence within another to form ‘ complex sentences’.

Pronoun as a replacement for noun: Janusz ate the big chocolate and the small one

Pronouns as a noun phrase replacement: Janusz watched the whole Moda na sukces series because he
liked it

Pro-forms for place: Janusz is in Słupsk and Grażynka is there too.

Pro-forms for time: Janusz arrived on Monday and Grażynka arrived then too.

Pro-forms for other adverbials: Janusz searched the big room carefully and the small one less so.

Pro-function of so to replace a predication together with pro-verb do: Grażynka hoped that Janusz (subject)
would (aux as operator) search the room carefully (predication) before her arrival but Janusz (subject)
didn’t(aux as operator) do so(predication).

Peter went to Warsaw and then settled there later. – conjoining sentence

He arrived on Monday and his parents arrived then too. – conjoining sentence

Peter bought a very expensive modern computer because he could afford it. – complex sentence

* Peter didn’t send her letter. – Yes, he did. – sentence connection

QUESTION

Types of questions:

* Yes-no questions ARE YOU GAY? DID SHE WORK AS A PROSTITUTE? HAVE YOU FINISHED
SHAVING YOUR LEGS?

* special questions WH questions: Janusz is in Slupsk. Janusz is there. WHERE the fuck is Janusz? WHO,
WHOM, WHAT, WHERE, WHICH, WHEN, WHY, WHOSE AND HOW!!!(cos of pronounciation)

WH placed 1st and followed by verb questioning subject (3rd position)

WH + OPERATOR (fox.ex. DO)+subject+predicate

NEGATION

Negation rejects validity of predication! Negative sentences= operator + NOT or –n’t + predication:

Janusz is not gay.

Grażyna did not work as a prostitute.

I haven’t shaved my legs.

NEGATION – ASSERTION

Janusz offered Grażynka some chilli peppers.

NON-ASSERTION:

2 ways:
- By being negative Janusz didn’t offer Grażynka any chilli peppers.
- By being a question (interrogative) – Did Janusz offer Graża any chilli peppers?

Assertion – positive and declarative

SENTENCE

positive

Non-assertion interrogative

negative

negative

6. TYPES OF VERBS
Verbs by classification of items:

1. Lexical meaning – express action, state other predicate meaning – walk, play, beautify
2. Auxiliary – Primary – do have be – express grammatical meaning

Modal – can may shall could would must used to bla bla bla

Many English verbs have five verbal forms:

1. the base
2. –s form
3. the past
4. the –ing participle
5. the –ed participle.

Regular lexical verbs have 4 verbal forms (look, looking, looks, looked).

Irregular lexical verb forms vary from three (put, puts, putting) to eight (be, am, are, is, was, were, being,
been).
The modal auxiliaries are defective in not having infinitive (*to may), -ing participle (*maying), -ed participle
(*mayed) or imperative (*may!).

6. SPELLING RULES – all based on the base :)

Pronounciation: -ing forms Po –ing końcówkach!!!

We simply add –ing to the verb -

Pronounciation: -s forms Po -s końcówkach!!!

1. Pronounced/iz/ after bases ending in voiced or voiceless sibilants and spelled –es unless the base

YZ jeśli baza kończy

already ends in –e (pass – passes, catch – catches)

się dźwięczną lub bezdźwięczną głoską

syczącą dodajemy –es chyba że kończy się na-
e(budge – budges)
2. Pronounced /z/ and spelled –s after bases ending in other voiced sounds (call – calls, rob – robs, say

Z gdy baza kończy się

– says, do – does, play - plays)

dźwięcznie, wg pisowni - s
3. Proronounced /s/ and spelled –s after bases ending in other voiceless sounds (cut – cuts, sap – saps)

S w wymowie i pisowni, gdy baza kończy się

bezdźwięcznie

Pronounciation: the past and the –ed participle Po Past i –ed Participle!!! 3
Three spoken realizations:

1. /id/ after bases ending in /d/ and /t/ (pad – padded, translate – translated, add - added) Po d and t
= YD
2. /d/ after bases ending in voiced sounds other than /d/ (mow- mowed) Po voiced sounds =D
3. /t/ after bases ending in voiceless sounds other than /t/ (pass – passed, pack – packed) Po
voiceless sounds = T

Further inflectional spelling rules:

Final base consonants are doubled before inflections beginning with a vowel letter when the preceding vowel
is stressed and spelled with a single letter (star – starred, bar – barred, permit – permitted, refer – referred).

Ostatnia spółgłoska jest podwajana STAR, gdy w

bazie poprzedzająca ją samogłoska jest
akcentowana STAR i występuje jako pojedyncza
litera
There is no doubling when the vowel is unstressed or written with two letters (enter – entered, dread –

Nie dublujemy, gdy

dreaded, plead – pleaded, consider - considered).

samogłoska nie jest akcentowana

ENTER/CONSIDER LUB składa się z dwóch liter
DREAD/PLEAD
!!!EXCEPTIONS:

Bases ending in certain consonants are doubled also after single unstressed vowels: -g -> -gg- ; -c -> -ck-:

Baza kończąca się na –g, -gg –c –ck jest

podwajana nawet po pojedynczych,
nieakcentowanych samogłoskach
humbug – humbugging – humbugged; traffic – traficking – traficked

BrE breaks the rule with respect to certain other consonants also: -l -> -ll- ; -m -> -mm- ; -p -> -pp- :

signal – signalling – signalled (BrE) signal – signaling – signaled (AmE)

worship – worshipping – worshipped (BrE) worship – worshiping – worshiped (AmE)

Treatment of –y

1. in bases ending in a consonant +y, the following changes occur before inflections that do not begin

Baza kończy się na spółgłoskę+Y

with i:

carry – carries, carry – carried but carry –

carrying.
Exception: the past of these verbs has a change y -> i also after a vowel: lay – laid, pay – paid.
Say – said: change of spelling but, in addition, a change of vowel.

2. die – dying,
in bases ending in –ie, the i eis replacedd by y before the – ing inflection:

lie – lying. Baza kończy się na –ie zastępujemy ją

Y przed zmianą na formę - ing
Deletion of –e

Końcowe –e wywalamy przed zmianą na –ing i –ed

formę
Final –e is regularly dropped before the – ing and –ed inflections:

shave – shaving – shaved.

Verbs with bases in –ee, -ye, -oe, and often –ge are exceptions to this rule. They do not drop the –e before –
ing; but they do drop it before –ed, as do also forms in –ie (tie – tied):

-ee: agree – agreeing – agreed

-ye: dye – dyeing – dyed

-oe: hoe – hoeing – hoed

-ge: singe – singeing – singed.

Przy czasownikach kończących się na –ee, -ye, -oe

i często –ge nie wywalamy – e przed zmianą na –
ing formę, lecz dopiero na formę z -ed

8. IRREGULAR FORMS - do, have, be

The auxiliaries do, have, be

The auxiliary do has the following forms:

NON-NEGATIVE UNCONTRACTED NEGATIVE CONTRACTED NEGATIVE

present do do not don’t

does does not doesn’t

past did did not didn’t

Do as lexical verb (‘perform’, etc) and as pro – verb has the full range of forms, including the present participle
doing and the past participle done.

Have has the following forms:

 NON-NEGATIVE UNCONTRACTED NEGATIVE CONTRACTED NEGATIVE

base have, ‘ve have not, ‘ve not haven’t

-s form has, ‘s has not, ‘s not hasn’t

past had, ‘d had not, ‘d not hadn’t

-ing form having not having

-ed participle had (only as lexical verb)

Have as a dynamic verb: I’m having a coffee now. (nie wyraża posiadania, łączy się z różnymi frazami, np.
having breakfast.

Have as stative verb: I don’t have any sisters. (posiadać)

Be: lexical and auxiliary verb. It has eight different forms.

Be as a lexical verb: He is tall.

Be as a auxiliary verb: I am studying now. Be is mostly the stative verb.

Aren’t I is widely used in BrE, but there is no generally acceptable contracted form for am not in declarative
sentences. Ain’t is substandard in BrE and is so considered by many in AmE.

9. The modal auxiliaries

Modal auxiliaries are a type of helping verb that are used only with a main verb to help express its

mood.

The following is the basic formula for using a modal auxiliary:

Subject + modal auxiliary + main verb

James may Call

There are ten main modal auxiliaries in English.

Modal Use Modal Auxiliary + Main Verb

Auxiliary

Can Expresses an ability or possibility I can lift this forty-pound box.

(ability)
 We can embrace green sources of
energy. (possibility)

Could Expresses an ability in the past; a present I could beat you at chess when we
possibility; a past or future permission were kids. (past ability)

We could bake a pie! (present

possibility)

Could we pick some flowers from

the garden? (future permission)

May Expresses uncertain future action; I may attend the concert.

permission; ask a yes-no question (uncertain future action)

You may begin the exam.

(permission)

May I attend the concert? (yes-no

questions)

Might Expresses uncertain future action I might attend the concert

(uncertain future action—same as
may)

Shall Expresses intended future action I shall go to the opera. (intended

future action)

Should Expresses obligation; ask if an obligation I should mail my RSVP.

exists (obligation, same as ought to)

Should I call my mother? (asking

if an obligation exists)

Will Expresses intended future action; ask a I will get an A in this class.
favor; ask for information (intended future action)

Will you buy me some chocolate?

(favor)

Will you be finished soon?

 (information)

Would States a preference; request a choice I would like the steak, please.
politely; explain an action; introduce (preference)
habitual past actions
Would you like to have breakfast
in bed? (request a choice politely)

I would go with you if I didn’t

have to babysit tonight. (explain
an action)

He would write to me every week

when we were dating. (habitual
past action)

Must Expresses obligation We must be on time for class.

ought to Expresses obligation I ought to mail my RSVP.

(obligation, same as may)

Similarities of modal aux. and marginal modal aux.

The central modal verbs are can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would. The marginal
modal verbs, sometimes called semi-modal verbs, are dare, need, used to. They share the following
characteristics:

● They are auxiliary verbs.

● They have no third-person -s form: She may go, They may go (contrast She goes, They go).
● They have no non-finite forms (no infinitive, -ing participle, or -ed participle), and therefore
in standard English can appear only in initial position in the verb phrase, and cannot occur
with each other.

In English grammar, a marginal modal is a verb (such as dare, need, used to) that displays some but
not all of the properties of an auxiliary.
The marginal modals all have meanings that are related to necessity and advice. A marginal modal
can be used as either an auxiliary or a main verb.

Dare and need can be used as modal auxiliaries or as lexical verbs.

 Modal auxiliaries Lexical verbs / Main Verbs

positive He needs to go now. (+s)

negative He needn’t go now. He doesn’t need to go. (+does, to)

interrogative Need he go now? Does he need to go now? (+does, to)

neg. - interrogative Needn’t he go now? Doesn't he need to go now? (+does, to)

Used always takes to - infinitive and occurs only in the past tense. It may take the
do - constructior, in which the constructions didn’t used to and didn’t use to are both correct.
Used he to - BrE constr,
Did he used to - AmE and BrE

10. Finite and non-finite verb phrases

Every verb can be used in a clause in either a finite or non-finite way.

FINITE:
- A verb is finite if it is found in a clause in combination with a subject and a tense.

I walked home.
We saw a deer.
They appreciate a little praise now and then.

- The present simple and past simple forms of a verb are always finite.

I sing.
We tell stories at night.
Maya laughed.

- finite vp have mood

Indicative mood – unmarked

Subjunctive mood – marked

NON – FINITE :

- It is non-finite if it is used without the verb having a tense.

To open, tear off the tab.

Looking around, he noticed a letter on the floor.
Worn out by the heat, they stopped for a drink.
 - With no agreement between the subject (if there is one) and the verb.

That plan failing, he gave up.

Our guests departed, we felt a little depressed.

- A non-finite verb is sometimes used immediately after a finite verb.

I like to get up early at the weekend.
Harriet really dislikes cleaning the cooker.

- The non – finite forms of the verb are: the infinitive, the –ing participle, and the –ed participle.

A inaczej można też tak:

Finite verb forms show tense, person and number (I go, she goes, we went, etc.):

- She was waiting in the room before he came in.

- Does your brother know my brother?
- The night before he had to leave, they sat on the small sofa in the living-room and looked at
old family photos.
- Aren’t you a bit late?

Non-finite verb forms do not show tense, person or number. Typically they are infinitive forms with
and without to (e.g. to go, go), -ing forms and -ed forms (e.g. going, gone):

- She tiptoed round the house so as not to wake anyone.

- You need to paint the whole cupboard, starting from the bottom.

11. Tense–aspect–mood

It is a group of grammatical categories which are important for the understanding of spoken or
written content .

Tense—the location of the state or action in time, that is whether it is in the past, present or future.
-- it's when an action occurred.

Aspect—the extension of the state or action in time, that is whether it is unitary (perfective),
continuous or repeated (imperfective). It’s how the action relates to the flow of time

Mood — the reality of the state or action, that is whether it is actual (realis), possibility or a
necessity (irrealis). It’s the attitude of the speaker toward what they're saying.
For example in English the word "walk" would be used in different ways for the different
combinations of TAM:

· Tense: He walked (past), He walks (present), He will walk (future).

 · Aspect: He walked (unitary), He was walking (continuous), He used to walk (repeated).

· Mode: I can walk (possibility), Walk faster! (necessity).

12. The notion of past; past forms - 4 points, when do we use them. Talk about the past and the
perfective aspect.

PAST
An action in a time may be seen:
1) as having taken place at a particular point of time; or
2) over a period; if the latter, the period may be seen as
a) extending up to the present, or
b) relating only to the past; if the latter, it may be viewed as
i) having been completed, or as
ii) not having been completed
Example:
1) I wrote my letter of 16 June 1972 with a special pen.
2a) I have written with a special pen since 1972.
2bi) I wrote with a special pen from 1969 to 1972.
2bii) I was writing poetry with a special pen.

Past and perfective aspect

In reaction to 2a, it is NOT the time specified in the sentence but the period relevant to the time
specified that must extend to the present.

Contrast

John lived in Paris for ten years. (possibility that John is dead)
with

John has lived in Paris for ten years. (John is still alive, he probably lives there till present
time).
Compare also:

For generations, Nepal has produced brilliant mountaineers. (It can produce more of this
after really loooong break)

For generations, Sparta produced / was producing fearless warriors. (Doubtful whether any
further warriors can be produced by Sparta).

Adverbials with simple past Adverbials with present perfect

I worked - yesterday (evening) I have worked - since last January

- throughout January - up to now
- on Tuesday - lately
- already
 Adverbials with either simple past or present perfect
- worked - today
I - have worked - this month
- for an hour

13. Past perfect, the past and the progressive.

Past perfect (patrz zagadnienie nr 12)
The past and the progressive
As with the present, the progressive when used with the past specifies the limited duration of an
action:
I was writing with a special pen for a period last night but my hand grew tired.
In consequence, it is a convenient device to indicate a time span within which another event (by
simple time) can be seen as taking place:
While I was writing, the phone rang.
The ability to express incomplete action with the progressive is illustrated by the contrasting pair:
He read a book that evening. (finished it)
He was reading a book that evening. (did not finish it)
Habitual activity may be expressed by the progressive provided it is clear that the habit is temporary:
At that time, we were bathing every day.
and not merely sporadic:
We were sometimes walking to the office.
But general habits may be pejoratively referred to:
My brother was always losing his keys.

14. The perfect progressive

When exposed :

- limited duration

- incompleteness

- current relevance
- implies an especially recent activity, the effects of which are obvious („just” accompanies this
usage)

E.g. He has eaten my chocolates. (all are gone)

Two basic forms:

- Dynamic

- Static

Dynamic :

1. Activity verbs: abandon, ask, call, drink, eat, help, work etc.

2. Process verbs: change, grow, mature slow down etc.

3. Verbs of bodily sensation can have either simple or progressive aspect e.g. ache, feel, hurt etc

4. transitional event verbs occur in the progressive but with changed meaning compared with simple
aspect. E.g. arrive, fall, die, lose etc.

5. momentary verbs have little duration e.g. hit, jump, kick etc.

Stative:

1. Verbs of inert perception and cognition : adore, believe, desire, imagine, think understand etc.

2. Relational verbs : be, belong to, contain, cost, depend on, need, owe, sound

15. future and present progressive

the future

There are several possibilities to denote future time. Futurity, modality and aspect are closely related.

Future time is delivered by :

- means of modal auxiliaries

- semi – auxiliaries

- simple present forms

- progressive forms

Will and Shall

Will can be used in all persons

Shall can be used in 1st person

Future and modal functions of these two can hardly be separated.

Used to express future and to refer to the past from a point of orientation in the future.

Be going to + infinitive

this contstruction denotes future. It’s not generally used in the main clause of conditional sentences.
Will and shall are likely prefferable.

Two more meanings of be going to :

1. future of present intention e.g. When are you going to get married?

2. future of present cause e.g. She’s going to have a baby.

Both of them suggest that the event is already ‘on the way’.

Present progressive – reffers to a future happening anticipated in the present e.g. plan, progtamme,
fixed arrangement. It is especially frequent with dynamic transitional verbs like arrive, go, start, stop
etc.

Progressive is used to denote present and future, a ttime adverbial is often used to clarify in which
meaning the verb is being used. E. g. They are washing the dishes now.

Simple present – regurarly used in subordinate clauses that are conditional (introduced by if, unless
etc.) or temporal (introduced by as soon as, vefore, when etc.),

Simple present in main clauses represents marked future aspect of unusual certainty, is used for
statements about calendar

Both present simple and progressive are often used with dynamic transitional verbs: arrive, come,
leave etc., both having the meaning of plan or programme.

Be to + infinitive – expresses arrangement, command or contingent future.

16. Mood in English and the 3 categories of subjunctive.

Mood is expressed in English to a very minor extent by the subjunctive, as in

- So be it then!
to a much greater extent by past tense forms, as in

- If you taught me, I would learn quickly.

but above all, by means of the modal auxiliaries, as in

- It is strange that he should have left so early.

Three categories of subjunctive:

 a) THE MANDATIVE SUBJUNCTIVE in that-clauses has only one form, the base (V); this
means there is lack of the regular indicative concord between subject and finite verb in the
3rd person singular present, and the present and past tenses are indistinguishable. This
subjunctive can be used with any verb in subordinate that-clauses when the main clause
contains an expression of recommendation, revolution, demand, and so on (We demand,
require, move,insist, suggest, ask, etc that ...). The use of this subjunctive occurs chiefly in
formal style (and especially in AmE) where in less formal contexts one would rather make
use of other devices, such as to-infinitive or should+infinitive:
It is/was necessary that every member inform himself of these rules
It is necessary that every member should inform himself of these rules
It is necessary for every member to inform himself of these rules.
b) THE FORMULAIC SUBJUNCTIVE also consists of the base (V) but is only used in clauses
in certain set expressions which have to be learned as wholes:
Come what may, we will go ahead
God save the Queen!
Suffice it to say that ...
Be that as it may ...
Heaven forbid that ...
c) THE SUBJUNCTIVE were is hypothetical in meaning and is used in conditional and
concessive clauses and in subordinate clauses after optative verbs like wish. It occurs as the
1st and 3rd person singular past of the verb be, matching the indicative was, which is the
more common in less formal style:
If she [were, was] to do something like that, ...
He spoke to me as if I [were, was] deaf.
I wish I [were, was] dead.

17. Uses of he modal auxiliary

CAN

1. Ability (be able to, be capable of, know how to) He can speak English but he can’t write it
very well.
2. Permission (be allowed to, be permitted to) Can I smoke in here? („May” is more formal)
3. Theoretical possibility (contrasts may) Anybody can make mistakes.

COULD
 1. Past ability I never could play the piano
2. Present or future permission Could I smoke in here?
3. Present possibility (theoretical or factual) We could go to the concert. The road could be
blocked.
4. Contingent possibility or ability in unreal conditions If we had more money, we could buy a
car.

Past permission is sometimes expressed by could

Could have + V-ed
Tonight you can dance if you wish but you could have danced last night equally.

MAY

1. Permission (be allowed to) You may borrow my care if you like.
2. Possibility (usually factual) The road may be blocked ( it is possible that the road is blocked)

MIGHT

1. Permission (rare) Might I smoke in here?

2. Possibility (theoretical or factual) We might go to the concert. What you say might be true.

SHALL

1. Willingness on the part of the speaker in 2nd and 3rd person He shall get his money. You
shall do exactly as you wish
2. Intention on the part of the speaker (only in 1st person) We shall let you know our decision.
We shall overcome
3. Insistence You shall do as I say. He shall be punished Legal and quasi-legal injunction The
vendor shall maintain the equipment in good repair.

SHOULD

1. Obligation and logical necessity (ought to) You should do as he says. They should be home
by now.
2. ‚Putative’ use after certain expressions: it is a pity that, I am surprised that. It is odd that you
should say this to me. I am sorry that this should have happened
3. Contingent use in the main clause (would) We should love to go abroad(if we had the chance)
4. In rather formal real conditions If you should change your mind, please let us know

WILL

1. Willingness( in polite requests) He’ll help you if you as him. Will you have another cup of
coffee? Will you open the window?
2. Intention (mainly 1st person) I’ll write as soon as I can. We won’t stay longer than two hours.
 3. Insistence (stressed) He will do it, whatever you say (he insist on doing it) He will keep
interrupting me
4. Prediction (of the similar meanings of other expressions for logical necessity and habitual
present) a) specific prediction: The game will be finished by now. b) timeless prediction: Oil
will float on water. c) He’ll always talk for hours if you give him the chance.

WOULD

1. Willingness Would you excuse me?

2. Insistence It’s your own fault, you would take the baby with you.
3. Characteristic activity in the past Every morning he would go for a long walk. John would
make a mess of it
4. Contingent use in the main clause of a conditional sentence He would some too much if I
didn’t stop him
5. Probability That would be his mother

MUST

1. Obligation or compulsion in the present tense (be obliged to, have to) (except in reported
speech, only had to is used in the past) two negatives: not to be obliged to= needn’t, don’t
have to; be obliged not to= mustn’t) You must be back by 10 o’clock. Yesterday you had to
be back by 10 o’clock.
2. Logical necessity There must be a mistake (but: There cannot be a mistake.) Must not used in
sentences with negative or interrogative meanings. Must can occur in superficially
interrogative but answer-assuming sentences. Mustn’t there be another reason for his
behavior?

OUGHT TO

1. Obligation, logical necessity or expectation You ought to start at once. They ought to be here
by now.

TENSE OF MODALS

PRESENT PAST
Can Could
May could(might)
shall Should
will Would
Must (Had to)
- Used to
Ought to -
Need -
dare dared

Past tense of may denoting permission is usually could:

Today, we may(can) stay the whole afternoon.
Yesterday, we could only stay for a few minutes.

Must, ought to, need- not used in the past tense except in the reported speech
Had to- past form of must and have to
He must(has to) leave now. He had to leave in a hurry yesterday.

ASPECT OF MODALS
Perfective and progressive aspects- when the modal expresses ability or permission( or when shall
and will express volition)
POSSIBILITY He may have missed the train. He may have been visiting his mother. He can’t be
swimming all day. He can’t have been working.
NECESSITY He must have left his umbrella on the bus. I must be dreaming. You must have been
sitting in the sun
PREDICTION The guests will have arrived by now. John will still be riding his paper.

19. NOUN PHRASE, FUNCTIONS OF NOUNS AND NOUN CLASSES. COLLECTIVE NOUNS
CLASSIFICATION

Noun phrases are defined as phrases that consist of a noun or pronoun and any number of
constituents including adjectives, determiners, prepositional phrases, verb phrases, and adjective
clauses.

The eleven functions of nouns and noun phrases are:

● Noun phrase head- A noun phrase consists of a noun including a pronoun plus any
determiners, modifiers, and complements. eg.: the big blue ball, someone to love, an old
woman who lived in a shoe
● Subject- a word, phrase, or clause that performs the action of or acts upon the verb. The baby
cried. eg.: Dogs and cats make excellent pets. I will have extensively studied English
grammar.
● Subject complement- a word, phrase, or clause that follows a copular, or linking, verb and
describes the subject of a clause. The terms predicate nominative and predicate noun are
also used for noun phrases that function as subject complements. eg.: My grandfather is a
farmer. Our favorite pets are dogs with short hair. The woman whom you are looking for is
she.
● Direct object- a word, phrase, or clause that follows a transitive verb and answers the
question “who?” or “what?” receives the action of the verb. eg.: The children ate all the
 cookies. My professor recommended an extremely captivating book. The woman has always
hated mice and rats
● Object complement- nouns, pronouns, noun phrases, adjectives, and adjective phrases that
directly follow and modify the direct object. Eg.: We consider our puppy our baby. My aunt
calls my uncle sweetheart. America recently elected Barack Obama president.
● Indirect object- word, phrase, or clause that indicates to or for whom or what the action of a
ditransitive verb is performed. eg.: My husband bought me flowers. The child drew his
mother a picture. The salesman sold the company suffering from the scandal new computers.
● Prepositional complement- a word, phrase, or clause that directly follows a preposition and
completes the meaning of the prepositional phrase. eg.: My husband bought flowers for me.
The students studied during their spring break. Because of the lengthy delay, we missed our
flight.
● Noun phrase modifier- a word, phrase, or clause that modifies or describes a noun including
a pronoun or a noun phrase. eg.: The child actor won an award. The carpenter fixed the
broken table leg. We reserved twenty hotel rooms.
● Determinative- provide information such as familiarity, location, quantity, and number.
Possessive nouns — which are a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase and the possessive clitic
(apostrophe s or s apostrophe) — function as determinatives. Possessive nouns indicate
possession of or some other relationship to another noun or noun phrase. eg.: My brother’s
apartment is small. I found everyone’s reports informative. The man who stole my purse’s car
has been towed.
● Appositive- a word, phrase, or clause that modifies or explains another noun phrase. Eg.: My
grandfather, the farmer, bought more farm land. The teacher, my uncle, assigns a lot of
homework. The musician Stevie Nicks is a singer in the band Fleetwood Mac.
● Adjunct adverbial- a word, phrase, or clause that modifies an entire clause by providing
additional information about time, place, manner, condition, purpose, reason, result, and
concession. Eg.: Today the children woke up early. Yesterday the children slept in late. We
decided to go home.

Noun classes

1. Proper nouns- names of people, cities countries etc. eg.: Stockholm, Denmark
2. Common nouns- eg.: car, water, democracy
3. Countable nouns- can combine with numerals like one, two..etc.
4. Uncountable nouns- always singular
5. Inherently plural nouns- cannot be used in singular. My new jeans are Italian
6. Nouns in -ics - they look plural but they are mostly treated as singular Mathematics is an
integral part of our culture.
7. Zero plurals-look the same in plural as in the singular eg.: sheep -> My sheep is black. My
sheep are black
8. Foreign plurals- both singular and plural form have been borrowed from other languages, the
plural ending is not the regular English -s eg.: analysis-analyses, basis-bases, criterion-
criteria, diagnosis-diagnoses, hypothesis-hypotheses, parenthesis-parentheses, phenomenon-
phenomena, stimulus-stimuli, and thesis-theses.

COLLECTIVE NOUNS CLASSIFICATION

3 subclasses: for people, for animals, for things
21. Countable nouns rules
Variable nouns have two forms, singular and plural. The singular being the form listed in
dictionaries. The vast majority of nouns are variable in this way normally the plural (-s suffix)
is fully predictable both in sound and spelling by the same rules as for the -s inflection of
verbs (patrz niżej). Spelling creates numerous exceptions, however.

a) treatment of -y

Beside the regular spy - spies, there are nouns in -y to which is added:

- with proper nouns: the Kennedys, the two Germanys

- after a vowel (except the u of -quy [eg. soliloquy [PL - monolog]): days, boys,
journeys
- in a few other words such as stand-bys
b) nouns of unusual form sometimes pluralize in ‘s:
- letter names: dot your i’s
- numerals: in the 1890’s (or, increasingly 1890s)
- abbreviations: two MP’s (or, increasingly, MPs)
c) nouns in -o have plural in -os, with some exceptions having either optional or
obligatory -oes
- plurals in -os and -oes:
● archipelago, banjo, buffalo, cargo, commando, flamingo, halo, motto, tornado,
volcano
- plurals only in -oes:
● echo, embargo, hero, Negro, potato, tomato, torpedo, veto

Ten fragment zaznaczony na niebiesko nie jest bezpośrednio z książki i ktoś kto kto opisywał czasowniki o
tym na pewno musiał napisać. Na wszelki wypadek wklejam tu coś co jest tymi samymi regułami tylko w
kontekście rzeczowników. Nawiasy kwadratowe oznaczają wymowę jakby coś.

Regular plurals

I. Nouns ending in vowels and voiced consonants have the plural ending pronounced as [z]:

bee - bees [bi:z], dog - dogs [dɔgz]

II. Nouns ending in voiceless consonants have a voiceless ending:

book - books [buks]

III. Nouns ending in -s, -sh, -as, -ch, -x, -z, (sibilants) have the ending [iz]:

actress - actresses ['æktrɪsɪz]; bush - bushes ['bu∫ɪz]; watch - watches ['wot∫ɪz]; box - boxes ['boksɪz]

IV. Nouns ending in -o have the ending [z]:

 hero - heroes ['hɪǝrouz] photo- photoes ['foutouz]

Rodzaje spółgłosek na szybko:

Plosives: English has six plosive consonants, p, t, k, b, d, g. Nie da się ich wypowiadać ciągle - łatwo
zapamiętać jak się w głowie połączy to z ‘explosive’ - jest początek głoski i koniec, nie da się tego
przeciągnać.

Fricatives:The fricatives of English are [f], [v], [θ - miękkie th jak np w ‘both’], [ð] twarde th jak w ‘though’ , [s],
[z], [ʃ] - polskie /sz/, and [ʒ] - polskie /ż/.

Affricates: English [dʒ]- polskie /dż/ is an affricate like [tʃ] - polskie /cz/

Sibilants: podzbiór fricatives, ssssyczące głoski: [s], [z], [ʃ] - polskie /sz/, [ʒ] - polskie /ż/.

Rzeczy nieistotne, ale dodaje je tylko na wszelki wypadek:

nasals: nosowe (/m/, /n/ i dźwięk przy końcówce -ing

laterals: tylko [L], ( teoria przy L jest skomplikowana, dlatego nie marnujcie na to czasu)

Approximants: [w], [j], [ɹ], and [l].

Irregular plurals

Irregular plurals are by definition unpredictable and have to be learned as individual items.
In many cases where foreign words are involved, it is of course helpful to know about
pluralization in the relevant languages particularly Latin and Greek. Thus, on the pattern of:

analysis -> analyses

we can infer the correct plurals:

axis - axes; basis- bases; crisis - crises, etc.

But we cannot rely on etymological criteria: plurals like areas and villas for example do not
conform to the Latin pattern (areae, villae).

Voicing -s plurals

Some nouns which in the singular end in the voiceless fricatives spelled -th, -f, have voiced
fricatives in the plural followed by /z/. In one case the voiceless fricative is /s/ and the plural
has /zɪz/: house~houses.

a) nouns in - th
- there is no change in spelling.
- With a consonant before the -th, the plural is regular, length, etc.
- With a vowel before the -th, the plural is again often regular, as with cloth, death,
faith, moth, but in a few cases the plural has voicing (mouth, path), and in several
cases there are both regular and voiced plurals: bath, oath, sheath, truth, wreath,
youth
b) nouns in -f(e)
 - Plurals with voicing are spelled -ves
- Regular plural only: belief, chief, cliff, proof, roof, safe.
- Voiced plural only: calf, elf, half, knife, leaf, life, loaf, self, sheaf, shelf, thief, wife wolf.
- Both regular and voiced plurals: dwarf, handkerchief, hoof, scarf, wharf.

Mutation

Mutation involves a change of vowel in the following seven nouns:

foot - feet, tooth - teeth, goose - geese, man - men, louse - lice, mouse - mice, woman -
women.

Note: with woman/women the pronunciation differs in the first syllable only, while
postman/postmen, Englishman/-men, etc have no difference in pronunciation at all between
singular and plural.

The -en plural

This occurs in three nouns:

brother - brethren (with mutation; =fellow members of a religious society. Otherwise regular
brothers)

child - children (with vowel change /aɪ/ - /ɪ/)

ox - oxen

Zero plural

Some nouns have the same spoken and written form in both singular and plural. Note the
difference here between, on the one hand, invariable nouns, which are either singular (This
music is too loud) or plural (All the cattle are grazing in the field), and, on the other, zero
plural nouns, which can be both singular and plural (This sheep looks small; All those sheep
are mine)

The degree of variability with animal names is shown by the following lists:

- Regular plural: bird, cow, eagle hen, rabbit etc

- Usually regular: elk, crab, duck (zero only with the wild bird)
- Both plurals: antelope, reindeer, fish, flounder, herring
- Usually zero: pike, trout, carp, deer, moose
- only zero: grouse, sheep, plaice, salmon

Quantitative nouns

The numeral nouns hundred, thousand, and usually million have zero plurals except when
unpremodified; so too dozen, brace, head (of cattle), yoke (rare), gross, stone (British
weight measurement system)

- He always wanted to have hundreds/thousands of books and he has recently bought

four hundred/thousand
Other quantitative and partitive nouns can be treated similarly, though the zero plurals are
commoner in informal or technical usage:

- Dozens of glasses; tons of coal

- He is six foot/feet (tall)
- He bought eight ton(s) of coal

Note: plural measure expressions are normally singularized when they premodify: a five-
pound note, a ten-second pause.

A few nouns in -(e)s can be treated as singular or plural:

- He gave one series/two series of lectures

So too: species. With certain other nouns such as: barracks, gallows, headquarters, means,
(steel) works, usage varies; they are sometimes treated as variable nouns with zero plurals,
sometimes as ‘pluralia tantum’.

22. Unmarked and marked plurals. (napisałem też o singular na wszelki wypadek)

The English number system comprises SINGULAR (one) and PLURAL (more than one).
The singular category includes common non-count nouns and proper nouns.

Count nouns are VARIABLE, occurring with either singular or plural number (boy~boys), or
have INVARIABLE plural. Invariable nouns cannot change their number, some of them are
always singular in meaning (linguistics, news), some denote plurality (cattle, police).

Singular invariable nouns:

1. Here belong all non-count nouns:

a) material nouns - tea, sugar, gold, silver, oil, butter, sail. (As has been mentioned they
may become count nouns with a specific meaning: cheeses - kinds of cheese, beers -
portions of beer, as two glasses or cans of beer, two coffees, icecreams.)

b) abstract nouns - music, anger, foolishness.

2. Some nouns ending in -s:

a) news - Here is the 10 o’clock news; means - by this means;

b) some diseases - measles, mumps, rickets, shingles; BUT some speakers accept the
plural verb: Mumps are a medical problem.

c) some games - billiards, bowls, dominoes, draughts;

But when used attributively no plural is used: a billiard table.

d) some proper nouns - Algiers, Athens, Brussels, Flanders, Marseilles, Naples, Wales;
the United Nations and thе United States have a singular verb when considered as units.
3. Nouns (name of subjects) ending in –ics:

classics, linguistics, mathematics, phonetics, athletics, ceramics, ethics, gymnastics,

politics, tactics, statistics.

Note: statistics is singular when it refers to a field of study: e.g. Statistics is an interesting
field of study. When it refers to particular numbers, it is used as count noun: e.g. This
statistic is correct. Those statistics are incorrect.

4. Names of languages:

English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Portuguese, French.

***The English = people living in England, nation › plural verb

e.g. The English drink tea.

Plural invariable nouns

Plural invariable nouns comprise two types - marked and unmarked plurals.

I. In the first type the form of the noun itself shows plurality. (PLURALIA TANTUM - always
plural). These nouns are rather numerous. Semantically they fall into several groups:

a) names of tools or articles of dress consisting of two equal parts which are joined; i.e.
SUMMATION PLURALS: bellows, binoculars, breeches, braces, flannels, glasses, pants,
pincers, pliers, pyjamas, scales, scissors, shorts, spectacles, suspenders, tights, tongs,
trousers, tweeters;

- These nouns can be made singular and countable by means of a pair of: a pair of
trousers, a pair of scissors. Accordingly they are used with the verb-predicate in the
singular (this pair of trousers is ...)
- Many of the summation plurals can take the indefinite article, especially with
premodification: a garden shears, a curling-tongs. Treatment as count nouns is not
infrequent: several tweezers.
- plural nouns commonly lose the inflection in premodification: a suspender belt.

b) miscellaneous nouns ending in -s: annals, antics, archives, arms [as in weapons], ashes,
the Commons (the House of Commons), contents, customs, customs-duty, customs-house,
earnings, goods, greens, holidays, summer-holidays, manners, minutes (of the meeting),
outskirts, quarters, headquarters, stairs,, surroundings, thanks, troops, wages,
whereabouts, the Middle Ages, premises,;

c) some proper nouns: the East Indies, the West Indies, the Hebrides, the Highlands, the
Midlands, the Netherlands.

d) verbal nouns ending in –ing: savings, earnings, belongings, proceedings, surroundings.

II. In the second type of the plural invariable nouns the meaning of plurality is not marked in
any form (hence the term “unmarked plural invariables”). They are usually treated as
collective nouns.

English collective nouns denote only living beings:

cattle, clergy (but also singular), folk (but also informal folks), gentry, people (but regular
when = ‘nation’), police, vermin, youth (but regular when =’young man’).

23. Foreign plurals

Foreign plurals often occur along with regular plurals. They are commoner in techincal
usage, whereas the -s plural is more natural in everyday language:

formulas (general) - formulae (in mathematics), antennas (general and in electronics) -

antennae ( in biology)

Most (but not all) words having a particular foreign plural orginated in the language
mentioned in the heading.

23.1.Nouns in -us (Latin)

The foreign plural is -i, as in stimulus - stimuli.

- only regular (-uses): bonus, campus, chorus, circus, virus etc

- both plurals: cactus, focus, fungus, nucleus, radius, terminus, syllabus
- only foreign plural: alumnus, bacillus, locus, stimulus

Note: the usual plurals of corpus and genus are: corpora, genera

23.2. Nouns in -a (Latin)

The foreign plural is -ae, as in alumna - alumnae.

- only regular plural (-as): are, arena, dilemma, diploma, drama

- both plurals: antenna, formula, nebula, vertebra
- only foreign plural: alga, alumna, larva

23.3. Nouns in -um (Latin)

The foreign plural is -a, as in curriculum - curricula.

- only regular plural: album, chrysanthemum, museum, etc

- usually regular: forum, stadium, ultimatum
- both plurals: aquarium, medium, memorandum, symposium
- usually foreign plural: curriculum
- only foreign plural: addendum, bacterium, corrigendum, desideratum, erratum,
ovum ,stratum
 Note: Media with reference to press and radio and strata with reference to
society are sometimes used informally as singular. In the case of data,
reclassification as a singular non-count noun is widespread and the technical
singular datum is rather rare

23.4 Nouns in -ex, -ix (Latin)

The foreign plural is -ices, as in index - indices.

- Both regular and foreign plurals: apex, index, vortex, appendix, matrix
- Only foreign plural: codex

23.5. Nouns in -is (Greek)

The foreign plural is -es, as in basis - bases

- Regular plural (-ises): metropolis

- foreign plural: analysis, axis, basis, crisis, diagnosis, ellipsis, hypothesis,
oasis, parenthesis, synopsis, thesis

23.6 Nouns in -on (Greek)

The foreign plural is -a, as in criterion - criteria.

- only regular plurals: demon, electron, neutron, proton

- chiefly regular: ganglion
- both plurals: automaton
- only foreign plural: criterion, phenomenon

Note: informally criteria and phenomena are sometimes used as singulars.

23.7 French nouns

A few nouns in -e(a)u retain the French -x as the spelling of the plural, beside the
commoner -s, but the plurals are almost always pronounced as regular /z/, irrespective of
spelling, eg: adieu, bureau, tableau, plateau.

Some French nouns in -s or -x are pronounced with a final vowel in the singular and with a
regular /z/ in the plural. with no spelling change: chamois, chassis, corps, faux pas, patois.

23.8 Nouns in -o (Italian)

The foreign plural is -i as in tempo - tempi

- only regular plural: soprano

- usually regular plural: virtuoso, libretto, solo, tempo

Note: graffiti is usually a ‘pluralia tantum’, confetti, spaghetti non-count

singular

23.9 Hebrew nouns

The foreign plural is -im, as in kibbutz - kibbutzim.

- usually regular: cherub, seraph

- only foreign plural: kibbutz

24. Plural in compound nouns

24.1. As a rule in compounds it is the second component that takes the plural form:

housewives, tooth-brushes, boy-scouts, maid-servants, fountain pens, forget-me-nots, take-

offs, sit-ins, grown-ups,

- Compounds in -ful have the plural ending at the end of the word:

handfuls, spoonfuls, mouthfuls, (though spoonsful and mouthsful are also possible).

- In compounds with a conjunction as a linking element the plural is taken by the

second noun:

gin-and-tonics.

24.2 First element plural

- In compounds originating from a prepositional noun phrase where the preposition is

a linking element only the first noun takes the plural form:

editors-in-chief, mothers-in-law, commanders-in-chief, coats-of-mail, men-of-war.

- In compound nouns formed by a noun plus a preposition, or an adverb, or an

adjective only the first element takes the plural:

passers-by, lookers-on, courts-martial, attorneys-general.

24.4 Both elements plural

gentleman farmer - gentlemen farmers

manservant - menservants

woman doctor - women doctors