English Grammar.doc

English GrammarMeaning: English grammaris the body of rules that describe the structure ofexpressionsin theEnglish language. This includes the structure ofwords,phrases,clauses, andsentences.Content:1. BasicEnglishGrammarBasicEnglishGrammarA.Generalterms:1.morphology词法2.syntax句法3.word单词4.phrase词组5.sentence句子6.clause从句7.mainclause主句8.partofspeech词性9.structure结构B.Tenses时态1.pastfuturetense过去将来时:woulddo2.pastfuturecontinuoustense过去将来进行时:wouldbedoing3.pastfutureperfecttense过去将来完成时:wouldhavedone4.presentsimpletense一般现在时:do(does)5.pastsimpletense一般过去时:did6.futuresimpletense一般将来时:willdo7.presentperfecttense现在完成时:havedone8.pastperfecttense过去完成时:haddone9.futureperfecttense将来完成时:willhavedone10.presentcontinuoustense现在进行时:is(am,are)doing11.pastcontinuoustense过去进行时:was(were)doing12.futurecontinuoustense将来进行时:willbedoing13.pastfuturecontinuoustense过去将来进行时:wouldbedoing14.presentperfectcontinuoustense现在完成进行时:havebeendoing15.pastperfectcontinuoustense过去完成进行时:hadbeendoingC.Partofspeech词性1.noun名词:（Nouns are naming words,noun names a person,place,thing,idea）propernoun专有名词,commonnoun普通名词,countablenoun可数名词,uncountablenoun不可数名词,abstractnoun抽象名词,concretenoun具体名词,materialnoun物质名词,collectivenoun集体名词2.Ajective (describe or modify nouns)3.verb动词:(Verbs show action,the state of being)transitiveverb及物动词,intransitiveverb不及物动词,linkingverb系动词, auxiliaryverb助动词,modalverb情态动词,regularverb规则动词,irregularverb不规则动词,phrasalverb短语动词4.preposition介词(show position and how things go together)6.conjunction连词 (are joining words ,phrases ,or sentences)7.adverb副词(tell about adj. v. adv.)5.pronoun代词(take the place of nouns)personalpronoun人称代词,possessivepronoun物主代词,reflexivepronoun反身代词,demonstrativepronoun指示代词,interrogativepronoun疑问代词,relativepronoun关系代词,indefinitepronoun不定代词(all,each,every,both,either,neither,one,none,little,few,many,much,other,another,some,any,no)F.Elementsofsentences句子成分1.subject主语2.predicate谓语3.object宾语4.dualobject双宾语5.directobject直接宾语6.indirectobject间接宾语7.complexobject复合宾语8.complement补语9.subjectcomplement主补10.objectcomplement宾补11.predicative表语12.attribute定语13.appositive同位语14.adverbial状语G.Subordinateclause从属句1.nominalclause名词从句2.attributiveclause定语从句3.objectclause宾语从句5.subjectclause主语从句6.appositiveclause同位语从句adverbialclause状语从句10.adverbialclauseoftime时间状语从句11.adverbialclauseofplace地点状语从句Examples:Proper grammar use1. subject / verb agreement: must have both in a sentence; subject and verb must agree in terms of quality and tense. Here is an example of what not to do: Three students sits in the hallway. So the verb must indicate the subject(three students), the verb “sits” is wrong, it should be either sit or sat, depending in the meaning you want to convey. The verb “sits” should only be used for a singular subject. For example: “John sits in the hallway” is correct.2. Corect sentence structure: adj comes before the noun it describes. Red car.3. Knowing the parts of speech: You look extremely exquisite.Summary: It seems to be based on a fixed set of concepts,which govern dozens of constructions and thousands of verbs -not only in English, but in all other languages -fundamental concepts such as space,time, causation and human intention,such as, what is the means and what is the ends.I START TOquestion the very nature of our thoughts -What our language habits reveal- the way we use words, how we learn, and how we relate to others.Let me start off with a technical problemis, which verbs go in which constructions?The verb is the chassis of the sentence.Its the framework onto which the other parts are bolted.An intransitive verb, such as dine, for example,cant take a direct object.You have to say, Sam dined, not, Sam dined the pizza.A transitive verb mandatesthat there has to be an object there:Sam devoured the pizza. You cant just say, Sam devoured.There are dozens or scores of verbs of this type,each of which shapes its sentence.So, a problem in explaining how children learn language,a problem in teaching language to adults so that they dont make grammatical errors,and a problem in programming computers to use language iswhich verbs go in which constructions.For example, the dative construction in English.You can say, Give a muffin to a mouse, the prepositional dative.Or, Give a mouse a muffin, the double-object dative.Promise anything to her, Promise her anything, and so on.Hundreds of verbs can go both ways.So a tempting generalization for a child,for an adult, for a computeris that any verb that can appear in the construction,subject-verb-thing-to-a-recipientcan also be expressed as subject-verb-recipient-thing.Youve got to extract generalizations so you can produce and understand new sentences.Unfortunately, there appear to be exceptions.You can say, Biff drove the car to Chicago,but not, Biff drove Chicago the car.You can say, Sal gave Jason a headache,but its a bit odd to say, Sal gave a headache to Jason.The solution is that these constructions, despite initial appearance,are not synonymous,that when you crank up the microscopeon human cognition, you see that theres a subtle differencein meaning between them.So, give the X to the Y,that construction corresponds to the thoughtcause X to go to Y. Whereas give the Y the Xcorresponds to the thought cause Y to have X.Now, many events can be subject to either construal,kind of like the classic figure-ground reversal illusions,in which you can either pay attentionto the particular object,in which case the space around it recedes from attention,or you can see the faces in the empty space,in which case the object recedes out of consciousness.How are these construals reflected in language?Well, in both cases, the thing that is construed as being affectedis expressed as the direct object,the noun after the verb.So, when you think of the event as causing the muffin to go somewhere -where youre doing something to the muffin -you say, Give the muffin to the mouse.When you construe it as cause the mouse to have something,youre doing something to the mouse,and therefore you express it as, Give the mouse the muffin.So which verbs go in which construction -the problem with which I began -depends on whether the verb specifies a kind of motionor a kind of possession change.To give something involves both causing something to goand causing someone to have.To drive the car only causes something to go,because Chicagos not the kind of thing that can possess something.Only humans can possess things.And to give someone a headache causes them to have the headache,but its not as if youre taking the headache out of your headand causing it to go to the other person,and implanting it in them.You may just be loud or obnoxious,or some other way causing them to have the headache.So, thatsan example of the kind of thing that I do in my day job.Well, there are a number of interesting conclusions, I think,from this and many similar kinds of analysesof hundreds of English verbs.First, theres a level of fine-grained conceptual structure,which we automatically and unconsciously computeevery time we produce or utter a sentence, that governs our use of language.Its very hard to find any example of abstract languagethat is not based on some concrete metaphor.For example, you can use the verb goand the prepositions to and fromin a literal, spatial sense.The messenger went from Paris to Istanbul.You can also say, Biff went from sick to well.He neednt go anywhere. He could have been in bed the whole time,but its as if his health is a point in state spacethat you conceptualize as moving.Or, The meeting went from three to four,in which we conceive of time as stretched along a line.Likewise, we use force to indicatenot only physical force,as in, Rose forced the door to open,but also interpersonal force,as in, Rose forced Sadie to go, not necessarily by manhandling her,but by issuing a threat.Or, Rose forced herself to go,as if there were two entities inside Roses head,engaged in a tug of a war.Second conclusion is that the ability to conceiveof a given event in two different ways,such as cause something to go to someoneand causing someone to have something,I think is a fundamental feature of human thought,and its the basis for much human argumentation,in which people dont differ so much on the factsas on how they ought to be construed.Just to give you a few examples:ending a pregnancy versus killing a fetus;a ball of cells versus an unborn child;invading Iraq versus liberating Iraq;redistributing wealth versus confiscating earnings.And I think the bigg