It was yesterday, but now I'm just creating a blog, probably will write in English, who knows, my plans dont work out that often.
"An overview of English grammar". First of all English is a largely analytical language which means that the word order is far more important than in synthetic languages.
And this special grammar lingo without which most of the site barely makes any sense I must just memorize.
Parts of speech:
Nouns (существительные), pronouns (местоимения), adjectives (прилагательные), verbs (глаголы), adverbs (наречия), prepositions (предлоги), conjunctions (союзы), and interjections (междометия).
Parts of the sentence: the subject (подлежащее), the predicate (сказуемое), the attribute (определение), the object (дополнение), the adverbial modifier (обстоятельство).
The subject is usually a noun, and the predicate is usually a verb, and the predicate comes after the subject, usually.
Personal pronounses are quite important because they can show number and gender in their forms which isn't readily available for most English words since it's an analitical language and not synthetical one as I already mentioned.
Wow, actually the word "hers" exists, it is analogous to "mine", so we can say "this book is hers", and even "this books are yours" and this books is ours", and "this book is theirs", and "this book is a book of his" and apparently "this book is its".
Then there are reflexive pronounses like "it sees itself", "he sees himself" etc but that isn't news to me. Ok, maybe I didn't know for sure that reflexive pronounses are used only when the subject and object are the same. There is also an emphatic use, like "I myself think it'pretty awesome". And as for myself, I think it's kinda useless.
...and indefinite pronouns: some, somebody, someone, something; any, anybody, anyone, anything; no, nobody, no one, none, nothing; every everybody, everyone, everything; each, both, other, either, neither, one, all, most, few, several, much, many
Zero idea what those semicolons mean though.
Demonstrative pronouns are "this" and "that".
Relative pronouns are "who" and "which"
Interrogative words remind me of the wh-questions like "what is this" or "when was it?". They could be pronouns or adjectives.
Next are nouns, but there's too little time till dawn left so I'll end up here.
Also, the sirens are wailing tonight, how cool is that.
There are a lot of noun classes, but the most problematic division for me is the one between countable and uncountable. Too often it seems to be completely arbitrary.
Gender of nouns is dictated solely by context and meaning. Animals are usually "it", though.
Number of nouns is simple, but there is a whole bunch of irregular plural nouns like "man - men" which have to be memorized.
Then animate nouns aka living things can show possession (притяжательный падеж) with an apostrophe ('s) and inanimate ones are more likely to use the preposition "of". And nouns dont have any special endings to indicate their case (case = падеж), so they rely on the word order, in the sense that the first noun is the subject and the second one is the object. Like the cat hates the dog and not the dog hates the cat.
There are suffixes that mark nouns, but they arent really reliable, so who cares. The better thing to do is to deduce the function of the word and then decide whether it's a noun or an adjective.
Articles
So there are two types of articles in the English language, one is definite and the other one is indefinite, see more at the link to the grammar section... ok.
Next are Adjectives.
Overall, I think learning grammar is trivial and can surely be done in a short amount of time. Pronunciation is really problematic, though. I've never learned a thing about phonetics in my life and don't even know how to start. And someone on imageboards once said "those who didn't learn pronunciation first are bound to learn the language twice", so I assume learning how to actually speak is quite essential.
Also, a rad and groovy thing that I learned yesterday is how to omit pronouns. You know, in English it often feels like we start every sentence with "I said", "I was", "I have no idea" etc. But if we just skipped the "I" part it would be a weird command like "go and have no idea!", so we must omit the verb as well. And then it becomes short and natural, and totally fine, if a tad informal: "no idea what that means".
Just like nouns adjectives are the most reliably identified by their function in the sentence. Usually it's an attribute.
Adverbs (Наречия)
It's like adjectives but not really as far as I remember from school. Often they have the suffix -ly, but some of them are just simple words like "never", "ever", "here", or "there".
So, here's the main definition, listen closely. The main difference between an adjective and an adverb is that the former describes a noun and the latter describes a verb. Hence "-jective" (a noun is usually a subject or an object) and "-verb", I wildly guess.
They also stick to the certain themes like manner, time, frequency, place or direction in their describing of verbs.
Numerals can be cardinal or ordinal. Let me guess, ordinal is the place in a row, like "seventh" or "first". And then cardinal means quantity, like "seven apples" or "one rose".
"Cardinal" is a somewhat confusing name compared to "ordinal". But it's easier to remember when you understand that quantity is the general function of numbers.
Ordinals almost always are used with definite article, so it's "The Seventh" and "The First" actually.
Conjunctions (союзы) can be coordinating, meaning they connect parallel elements, single words, or whole clauses. Talking about "and" and "but". But conjunctions can also be subordinating. These are more meaningful "after", "if" or even "because", connecting subodinate clauses with the main clause.
Interjections (междометия)
It's like "alright", "yeah yeah yeah". Give me some synthesizer, Zac! Ok, its your part coming on. Are you ready? Right now, one, two, three. It' fun to stay at Young Men's Christian Association. So fun to stay at Young Men's Christian Association. ♫
Verbs
Main verbs are principal verbs or notional verbs (смысловой глагол). Like "work" or "live". They change their form in the third person singular by adding -s. e.g. "it lives".
Auxiliary (ауксиларии) verbs serve all kinds of functions. Mostly forming tenses with "have", "will", etc. "Be" can also be a linking verb. And "do" form questions.
Modal verbs are also called "defective verbs" because they can't form tenses in the regular way and basically don't exist without a main verb. Usually they express attitude towards the main action like not just "swim" but "must swim" or "may drown".
Then there's long list of irregular verb to memorize.
All verb have four forms: The Infinitive (to), The Gerund (-ing, noun), The Present Participle (-ing, attribute, forming continuous tense) and The Past Participle (-ed, attribute, forming passive and perfect)
Prepositions stand before a noun and postpositions after. There are very few true pospositions: ago, aside, apart, long. You can also move half of a phrasal verb like "up" in "wake up" to the end of the sentence and call it postposition, but it's actually a particle.
Prepositions are far more common: to, into... there are whole categories of them. Prepositions of place (on, in,at), of direction (to, trough), of time (at, for), of manner (by, with) etc
Next is word order
There are four types of senteces: declarative, iterrogative, imperative and exclamatory, with declarative being the most common.
Therefore declarative word order is the basis for all other types. The minimum requirement for a sentence is SUBJECT + PREDICATE. But the most classic word order is SUBJECT + PREDICATE + OBJECT, also conveniently called SVO (because the predicate usually is a verb).
Let's break down this sentence: Mike read an interesting story yesterday
It's SUBJECT + PREDICATE + ATTRIBUTE + OBJECT + ADVERB, I assume. Though adverb isn't even a part of sentence, it's a part of speech. "Yesterday" would be ADVERBIAL MODIFIER then.
Word order often depends on type of a verb. Transitive verbs require a direct object e.g. Tom opens the door. Intrasitive do not. Tom coughs.
Some transitive verbs (give, send, tell) are followed by two objects direct and non direct. Tom sent the refrigerator an apple. The apple being the direct object.
Linking verbs (be, become, feel get grow, look, seen) are usually followed by nouns or adjectives.
Following are brief formulas to be expanded in next chapters:
Declarative sentences:
SUBJECT + PREDICATE + (OBJECT + ADVERBIAL MODIFIER)
Tom writes short stories for children.
Interrogative sentences:
General questions -
AUXILIARY VERB + SUBJECT + MAIN VERB (+ OBJECT + ADVERBIAL MODIFIER)
Does Anne have an apple today? - Yes she does.
Special questions -
QUESTION WORD + AUXILIARY VERB + SUBJECT + MAIN VERB (+ OBJECT + ADVERBIAL MODIFIER)
Why does Anne know the answer in the first place? - Because.
Alternative questions
It's questions with options, word order before "or" is the same as in general questions.
Which is AUXILIARY VERB + SUBJECT + MAIN VERB + OBJECT or...
Do you know his name or do you not? - His name is Tom.
Tag questions -
The first part is a statement, and the second is a short question, separated by a comma.
Tom likes apples, doesn't he? - No, he doesn't.
Imperative sentences
The same word order as in statements, but the subject, which is you, is usually omitted.
Don't you cry.
Requests
Requests are usually mimic general questions, but are using could, may, will, would as auxiliary verbs. And word "please" randomly appears.
COULD + SUBJECT + MAIN VERB (+ OBJECT + ADVERBIAL MODIFIER)
Could you stay calm, please.
Would you mind helping me with this report?
Exclamatory sentences
Exactly the same as statements!
Sometimes the subject and the linking verb are omitted, though.
What a beautiful present!
Simple, compound, and complex sentences
Clause is a group of words containing a subject and a predicate. Indepented clause can be a separate sentence, but a dependent clause can not.
Simple sentences consist of one independent clause.
Life goes on
Compund senteces consist of two or more independent caluses connected by a coodrinating conjunction (and, but, or).
Tom hates apples, and Anne thinks the moon is cheese.
Instead of "and" we can use semicolon, but it doesn't look any good in my opinion.
Complex sentences consist of the main clause and subordinate clause connected by subordinating conjuctions like "that", "after", "when", "since"...
I told him that the moon is a wheel of cheese.
Also, an important thing about modal verbs that I forgot to mention the last time. After modals "to" is dropped in infinitives. "You need go", not "need to go". Wrong! "Need to go" is correct here, because "need" isn't a modal verb for whatever reason. Just forget that need is modal. You can go now. It also called "bare infinitives", by the way, I mean infinitives without "to". And "need" is called semi-modal, marginal modal, not-always-modal.
Next is word order in statements.
Аутпутить никогда не рано, но опираясь на твои критерии у меня уже достаточный опыт слушанья/чтения. Алсо, я расширяю словарный запас выписывая слова которые вижу вокруг но не знаю как называются.
Например:
Люстра - ceiling light, творог - cottage cheese, торшер - floor lamp, плов - plov, прищепка - clothespin, точка с запятой - semicolon, идиома "из какого теста сделан" - what someone is made of, карниз - curtain rod, гардина - curtain, drape, черная смородина - black currant.
совет полная хуйня кста, надо как можно раньше переходитьтк активному использованию, а то можно всю жизнь дрочить слова и пвсчивнле потребление, так и не научившись говорить и писать(справедливости ради оно и не всем надо, и без практики эти навыки начинают загибаться)
нормальный совет. Если у тебя мало опыта инпута, то у тебя низкая языковая интуиция и твой ранний аутпут закрепит ошибки и неестественные структуры по типу руинглиша
>плов - plov
мимо обосрался
A lot of repetition from the previous material in this section. Ok, lets repeat.
Unextended simple sentence:
SUBJECT + PREDICATE
Extended:
SUBJECT + PREDICATE + object + adverbial modifier
Adv mods are usually placed at the end of the sentence, and attributes can be found before a noun, though I don't see attributes in that scheme.
So, a "subject group" can contain an article and an attribute, that's where an attribute is mentioned.
Here's an exception for "there is" forms, in which a predicate is effectively before a subject.
The predicate stands after the subject and is usually represented by a main verb, or random combination of auxiliary, modal and main verbs.
A noun or an adjective following the linking verb "be" is a part of the predicate.
There are two types of objects - direct and indirect. A direct object never has a preposition, and indirect sometime does.
The object is placed after the main verb but in the case there are two of them first is the direct object and the second is indirect.
Let me imagine this, first of all what is a preposition? "To", "into", I guess, "at".
Anne (subject) sent (predicate) a letter (direct object) to Tom (indirect object).
Wait wait, this is like completely opposite of what I learned yesterday. Not at all, actually, it's just there wasn't a preposition. Some sources insisted on calling such construction with preposition not real indirect object but some kind of a complement, a prepositional phrase related to the verb. There is a real discrepancy in the sources.
Oh, I see, there is a different order for transitive verbs without prepositions. The first is indirect and the second is a direct object in such cases.
Anne gave Tom an apple.
Attributes usually stand before their nouns wherever they can be found. No difference if it's the subject, the object or the adverbial modifier.
A rather fine detail: if there is more than one adjectives before a single noun, then the more specific adjectives is placed closer to the noun than the more general ones.
She bought a nice (abstract) green (there are a lot of green things in the world) woolen (mostly cloth can be woolen) sweater
Attributes in the form of a noun with a preposition or structures with particles are placed after the noun that they modified.
Tom placed a nice modal verb (noun) with a letter S in its spelling just before phase "do it".
Adverbial modifiers are almost always placed in the end of the sentence.
Modifiers of place: They spent their vacation at the lake.
Of time: I'm going to see him tomorrow.
Of frequency: She visits them sometimes.
Of manner: He closed the door slowly.
There is an exception for one word frequency adverbs though. They often are placed between the subject and the main verb.
(I'm lowkey annoyed by the author's habit of using "predicate" and "verb" interchangeably. Is there really no difference? Even if so, stick to one or the other. Or maybe I just don't grasp what she's trying to communicate.)
Adverbs of frequency "usually, always, never, seldom" are placed after the verb "be" when it is presented.
One-word adverbs of time "already, just, never, ever" are placed between the two pars of the predicate in the perfect tenses. If there are more than one auxiliary verbs adverb comes after the first one.
He has (auxiliary) never (adverb) been (auxiliary) asked (main verb) such (attribute) questions (noun).
You also can place one-word frequency adverb at the beginning of the sentence to emphasize
Yesterday I talked to Jim.
If there are several adverbial modifiers, the adverbial modifier of place is usually placed before the adverbial modifier of time.
My new neighbors (subject) often (frequency adverb) read (main verb) a good (attribute) book (direct object) in their garden (modifier of place) after breakfast (modifier of time).
Next is word order in questions
The Subject ~ Noun, pronoun [noun phrase, gerund, infinitive, clause, nominalized adjective]
The Predicate ~ Verb [verb phrase]
The Object ~ Noun, pronoun [noun phrase, clause, gerund, infinitive]
The Attribute ~ Adjective [noun, participle, prepositional phrase, relative clause]
The Adverbial Modifier ~ Adverbs [prepositional phrase, noun phrase, clause, infinitive]
General questions are also called yes/no questions since they can be answered yes or no. Word order formula:
AUXILIARY VERB + SUBJECT + PREDICATE
The same order is kept in questions with modal verbs.
Can I help you?
Negative questions usually contain some emotion or expectation. Like expecting "yes" as an answer of expressing mockery. But word order is the same.
Isn't the word order just the same? Yes it is.
Special questions aka wh-questions.
The word order after interrogative word (how, whom, what, when, where, why) is the same as in general questions.
INTERROGATIVE + AUXILIARY + SUBJECT + MAIN
As you can infer special question aren't yes/no questions, you can acquire real information by asking where and what.
How did you get there? I got there by bus.
Here comes the most confusing part of this section: the cases when an interrogative word is also a subject. In such cases the word order is the same as in statements, but instead of a subject we have an wh-question.
Who (subject) told (predicate) you (indirect object) that (direct object)? Tom did.
/It turned out that in a sense objects are part of the predicate. Once again layers of terminology are mixed up/
Since I struggle to grasp this wh-subjects stuff, I will run all the examples.
Who (subject) called (predicate) her (object) yesterday (adverb modifier)? – I called her.
Who (subject) will tell (predicate) him (object) about it (prepositional phrase)? - I will
Hint: try to figure out what is missing in a statement word, if a subject is missing than wh-word is the subject.
What happened? – I lost my bag.
XXXXX happened? (subject missing, it could be a noun like a miracle)
What made you do it? – I don't know.
(subject) made you do it
Which coat is yours? – This coat is mine.
It looks like adjective is missing if we don't include "coat" in this wh-construction. But if we do:
(Subject) is yours.
Whose book is this? – It's mine.
Well, that doesn't make sense. "Noun is this", what kind of a sentence is this? It seems like it is not the case of wh-subject. Underlying declarative order is: This is whose book. Subject is "this", and the predicate "whose book" is missing.
Ok, then what about word order?
What about word order? - It should be right
Word order (subject) should be right (predicate). Predicate is missing. So i'm missing "is" before about. Not exactly, it's elliptical question, it leaves out whole "do you think" part because it is understood from the context.
Let's return to books
Whose book is this? – It's mine.
This book (subject) is mine (predicate). Predicate is missing. So it should be general question word order with wh-word at the start.
Whose is this book??? (actually grammatically correct)
And "Whose book is this" is also a general question because "is" goes before "this". The difference is just emphasis on "whose" or "books" respectively.
Who/whom commotion
Basically "whom" isn't even used anymore. I actually saw a comic book where a girl criticized the main character for using whom: "are you a English major or what?", haha.
But for understanding grammar whom is genuinely useful, it helps to see object/subject distinction more clearly. So I will utilize whom for the time being.
Nominative case - who. Objective case - whom.
Who (subject) saw you? – Tom saw me.
Whom (object) did you see? – I saw Anna.
Who (subject) asked her to do it? – Ben asked her.
Whom (object) did she ask for help? – She asked Mike to help her.
Next is Prepositions at the end of questions
What are you talking about? – I'm talking about prepositions at the end of questions.
So where is the preposition here?
Firstly, check the question you just asked.
"Where is the preposition."
Declarative order: preposition is here. "Here" is a part of the predicate. So predicate is missing, therefore we use general question order and verb "is" goes before subject "preposition". The other way around woud be "what is missing" with an answer "the predicate is missing". So the subject is missing and we use declarative word order and confusingly enough it looks exactly like an example with "where".
Ok, back to prepositions.
What are you talking about?
Obviously the preposition is "about" because it's in the end of the sentence. Declarative order woud be: I am talking about prepositions. "prepostions" is the object and "about" is its preposition.
So I see, wh-word destroy the object hence to save the preposition we need to find a new place for it.
In formal an polite speech is it possible to place a preposition before an interrogative word.
With whom are you playing tennis on Friday? With Jhonny.
Ok, declarative: I (subject) am playing (predicate) tennis (object) with (preposition) Jhonny (indirect object??) on Friday (adverbial modifier).
No, "with jhonny" isn't an indirect object, it's an object with a prepostion. The less confusing terminology would be not "a question asked to an object with preposition" but "a question asked to the object of preposition", because in the big picture of the sentence it's not an object but "prepositional phrase".
In alternative questions where you choose one of the options provided word order is the same as in general question.
Are you dumb or brave I am both.
Tag questions consist of two parts. The first part is declarative, and the second is a short general question. If the first part is affirmative, then the second is negative, and the reverse is also true.
He's sleeping, isn't he? - Yes, he is.
As much as I enjoy how everything is falling into place with the systematic approach of this site, I am beginning to regret choosing a non native source for learning English. The clumsy wording of "a question asked to the object of preposition" caused real damage. It led me to believe that the part of sentence that wh-word should address is the object when in actuallity it is a prepositional phrase. I wont change the source though, because it's not easy to find a site which is just grammar rules without superfluous material. Moreover, spotting author's unique style of making mistakes makes me feel more engaged.
Next is word order in commands
A few blogposting notions:
- The hardest part for me are articles I almost always feel like I am guessing. Hence I have a strong desire to jump straight to the articles section, but I worry that it will ruin the aforementioned approach which is systematic.
- I've been listening to a fantasy audiobook lately. It's about a planet that is a subject to toxic threads falling from the sky every two hundred years. So the threads are the threat of this world that everyone is talking about. Imagine how difficult it was to figure that out, haha.
- English words are bouncing in my head without much structure not unlike dvd screensaver.
There are a lot of types of commands: direct orders, vague instructions, unsolicited advice, superfluous warnings, impossible requests.
Word order is the same as in declarative sentences, but the subject is omitted. This vacuum creates a sense of intention.
Call me at five o'clock. OK.
Declarative form would be:
You call me at five o'clock. You see how cringe and autistic it sounds.
To be polite you should add a taglike question.
Bring me that report, would you? – Sure.
Won't you please be quiet? – Sorry.
The last sentence doesn't sound quite polite and doesn't even look like a command. How is this different from a question?
Ok, polite requests are expressed in the form of general questions with the help of "could, may, will, would".
In negative commands "you" could emerge for the sake of emphasis.
Don't do that again / Don't you ever do that again.
The word order becomes weird though. The subject is placed after the predicate. They call "don't" a negative operator here. Because it establishes the meaning of the whole sentence as negative and we barely care what happens after that.
There are also a wide variety of signs like "Follow this sign", "Walk", "Stop", "Warning!", "Danger!".
The simpler the better...
Word order in requests
Often requests are asked in the form of general questions:
Will you please sit down? - Thank you
Would you mind waiting a little? – OK.
There is a rule that requests usually dont use negative questions so the "won't you please shut up" construction doesn't belong to the requests category and is a command.
Asking for permisiion is also a request and not a command.
May I come in? – Yes, sure.
Would you mind if I closed the window? – No, I wouldn't mind.
In this sentence the speaker went completely insane from politeness and used imagery tense for a question. Hence "closed" instead of close.
Here we come, negative questions are requests too. To be fair you can easily see that they are different from commands.
Isn't she a beauty?
It's a request to affirm our perception, not necessary a command.
Overall negative questions usually express some kind of emotions.
Can't you read?
I'm lost.
Why don't you have children?
How on Earth is this a request?
When a negative question is an actual suggestion the negative question form sounds more aggressively interested.
Won't you eat your cake? - Will you eat your cake?
On the other hand if a negative question is a real request then it sounds aggressively impolite, like an annoyed remark or a complaint.
Won't you help me? (Не можете вы мне помочь наконец???) - Of course I will. Have I refused to help?
Can't I borrow your cell phone for a minute? (Да одолжите мне уже этот чертов телефон на всего одну минуту) - Sorry I'm waiting for an important call.
Next is word order in complex sentences
It's not that hard you see. Let's also describe the hunchbacked girl.
There was a girl. And what I want to say is that 1. she is good looking (and a teenager) 2. her movements are strange 3. her posture is catastrophic, it looks almost like she has a hump. 4. and something about how she relates to surrounding autumn scenery.
Ok, she has a clear symmetrical face and long, black, rather wavy hair. She wears a brown sweater and black flared jeans, and is holding a beige rectangle in her hands. Her gestures are awkward, her processing of space is unusual, her movements are hard to predict. Then I see her walking by the autumn trees, which you can imagine match her colors. With her beige rectangle in hand and a triangular gait she manages to create a very special counterpoint to the endless avenue of black trunks and yellow leaves.
She has a gothic vibe without gothic attributes. She evokes associations with the 70s and Halloween in the sense of autumn, not the scary stuff. In short it's your typical "head of a school psychical research club", maybe I should call her that instead of "the hunchbacked girl".
What I learned from this is a weird rule that in English you always should clarify whose hands or legs are. I washed my hands, not just washed hands. "Washed hands" sounds as if you found random hands and washed them.
Each part of a sentence corresponds to its subordinate clause type, namely: the subject clause, the predicative clause, the attribute clause, the object clause and several types of adverbial clauses.
We also call subordinate clauses dependent clauses because we can't use them without main verb.
I want to read book that you wrote.
"You wrote" isn't a complete sentence and doesn't make sense without a preceding part. By the way my guess is that's the attribute clause because it describes the object.
There are marks of the subject clauses which includes: who, what, how, when, where, that, whether.
What you told me was interesting.
"What" is the subject and "interesting" is about what, thus it's the subject clause.
When the subject caluse goes after the predicate the formal subject (also known as dummy subject) "it" is often used.
It is not known who brought the roses.
Once again we can turn a whole sentence around to make the example clearer.
Who brought the roses is not known.
The clause that just moved at the beginning of the sentence is fulfilling the role of the subject.
The predicative clauses usually stand after the linking verb BE.
The problem (subject) is (linking verb) that he is rude (predicate)
So I can say that a clause describing a linking verb is the predicative one.
The attribute clauses are placed after the noun they describe and introduced by such words as who, whom, whose, which, that, when, where, why.
The man (subject) who helped her (attribute) was Dr. Lee (predicate)
Can we use the attribute clauses with non-subject nouns though?
I met the man (object) who helped her.
The object clause functions as the object.
He told us that he had already bought a car.
What he told us is the object. And "us" is the indirect object.
Adverbial clauses function as adverbial modifiers and are devised to the same categories. Remind you that the most important thing about adverbials is that they describe a verb.
The adverbial clause of place
He went where I told him to go.
The adverbial clause of time
*She left while he was sleeping*
But no future tense is used in subordinate clauses. It is replaced by the present tense. Usually present simple.
*He will call you when he returns.*
The adverbial clause of condition
*We will go to the lake on Saturday if the weather is good.*
No future tense in such cases as well.
*I will talk to him if I see him.*
The adverbial clause of purpose.
*He works hard so that he can buy a house for his family.*
*I am collecting coins in order to achieve a higher state of consciousness.*
The adverbial clause of result
*It was so cold that I stayed home*
*I have so much work this week that I won't be able to go to the concert.*
The adverbial clause of reason.
*As there are several possible answers to this question, let's discuss all of them.*
Here the subordinate clause goes first, so it's a bit confusing. A simpler example:
*I went home because I was tired.*
The adverbial clause of comparison
*He works as quickly as he can*
*It looks as if it is going to snow.*
After"as if, as though", the subjunctive mood used in cases expressing unreality.
*He looks as if he were old and sick.*
The adverbial clause of concession
*Though he was tired, he kept working.*
*Although it was already dark, he could still see the shapes of the trees.*
Commas
A comma is generally not used between the main clause and the adverbial subordinate clause. But it appears when the subordinate clause is placed before the main clause.
*She went for a walk in the park after she had finished her work on the report.*
*/After she had finished her work on the report, she went for a walk in the park.*
Comma also is used when the subordinate adverbial clause refers to the whole main clause not only to the verb.
Such situations often occur in the case of the clauses beginning with "though, although, whatever, no matter what or because"
*She was absent because she was ill*
*They must have been sleeping, because there was no light in their windows*
So... you it' kinda about "they", not about sleeping per se. It provides evidence "no light in their windows", not the reason why they are sleeping.
*Whatever you say, I won’t change my mind.*
There is a difference between how subordinate clauses are named in English and Russian sources. The adjective and the adverbial clauses are described similarly. But English linguistic sources also mention the noun clauses which correspond to the subject, the predicative and the object clause in Russian.
*Noun clauses
They function just as nouns.
*What he said was really funny.* (Noun clause "what he said" is the subject)
*This is not what I meant.* ("what I meant" is predicate)
*She says that he will come back tomorrow* ("That he will come back tomorrow" is the direct object)
*He is not interested in what whe is doing* ("What she is doing" is a prepositional object)
Relative clauses** refers (in English sources) to noun clauses and adjective clauses introduced by the relative pronouns "who (whom, whose)", which, that, what".
Who will be able to do it is still a question.
*Who will be able to do it is still a question.*
Relative clauses that have parenthetical character (nonrestrictive clauses (extra info)) are separated by commas. Such clauses are usually introduced be the relative pronouns "which" and "who" but not by "that".
*She lost his book, which made him angry*
*The war, which lasted nearly ten years, brought devastation and suffering to both countries.*
Next is agreement.
The verb (that is, the verb in the predicate) agrees with the subject in person and number.
I work. My brother works. My brothers work.
In the past tense, however, main verbs use the same verb forms for all persons.
I knew. He knew. They knew.
The verb BE is much more flexible in expression of agreement with the subject in person and number.
I am. You were. He is. etc
The subject in the singular requires the verb in the singular. The subject in the plural requires the verb in the plural
His daughter likes cartoons. She likes cartoons. - His daughter like cartoon. They like cartoons.
It's important to make the verb to agree with the subject and not with the random noun in the predicate or in the attributive phrase.
The can of olives is on the kitchen table. The cans of olives are on the kitchen table.
The choice of the singular or plural form of the verb depends not only on the form of the subject but also on the meaning of the subject. So the subject that is plural in form but singular in meaning takes a singular verb and vice versa.
Physics is cool. People are cool too.
Compound subject
If two subjects are connected with "and" a plural verb is used.
The dictionary and the grammar book are on the writing desk.
If the subject connected by "and" refer to the same person or thing, the singular form of the verb is used
Her friend and adviser accompanies her to important meetings.
If the subject are regarded as a unit then it's the singular verb again.
Strawberries and cream is my favorite dessert.
If the subjects are connected by "or; either...or; neither...nor", the verb agrees in number with the nearest subject.
Either the suspect or the witnesses are lying.
If you have a choice it's better to place the plural subject closer to the verb and use plural form.
If the compound subject stand after the predicate expressed by "there is; there are" the verb usually agrees in number with the nearest subject.
There is a book, a newspaper, and two magazines on the table.
Though some style manuals say that plural form is also ok. Like There are a hawk, an eagle, a dove...
Once again, if you have a choice it's better to place plural subject closer to the "there are" construction and use plural.
There are two magazines, a book, and a newspaper on the table.
Note_1
The phrases "accompanied by; as well as; along with; together with; including" following the subject don't change the number of the subject. Basically you can completely ignore them.
*The actress, accompanies by friends and fans, is travelling in Asia now.*
*The players, as well as the coach, are down with the flu.*
Note_2
The titles of books, movies etc are treated as a singular unit.
*Romeo and Juliet is a play by Shakespeare. (but Romeo and Juliet are Italians)*
Collective nouns
Some collective nouns are generally used with a singular verb
*At that time the bourgeoisie was mostly excluded from active political life*
Others with a plural verb
*The police are looking for the robbers.*
And some collective nouns (family, team, committee, crew, public, board, jury, staf...) take a singular or plural verb depending on the meaning.
If the group of people is regarded as unit then the verb also is singular. If the members of a group are regarded separately, the plural form of the verb is used.
*Her family is rich.*
*Her family are discussing this problem now.*
*The committee has adopted the plan*
*The committee have different opinions on this issue*
To convey the meaning of separate members it's better to add the word "members" itself.
*The committee members have different opinions on this issue.*
There are nouns which ending in s/es but are singular in meaning.
*The latest news is not very encouraging*
*Mathematics has always been a difficult subject for me.*
Names of countries, organizations and companies are singular in meaning too, despite often having plural endings.
*The United States is a large country. God bless America.*
*The United Nations was formed in 1945.*
A lot of tricky words like sheep, deer, fish, money, aircraft exist. So you can check the "Irregular Plural Nouns" section for further clarification.
Next is indefinite pronouns as the subject
No idea why the markdown is broken, did we run out of italic, haha
Some indefinite pronouns are used as nouns, for example "everybody is here", "something happened". Some others are used as adjectives e.g. "every word", "no books".
Pronouns "some, any, all, many, most, few, several, both, one, each, either and neither" can be used in both roles.
When the subject is expressed by an indefinite pronoun in the function of a noun it has number.
"Each, everyone, everybody, everything, someone, somebody, something, anyone, anybody, anything, no one, nobody, nothing, one, either, neither" take a singular verb.
Everyone is here.
Everybody is there.
The pronouns "both, few, many, several, others" take a plural verb.
Several of Anton's friends are still here; the others have left.
Depending on the meaning the number of "all, most, none, some, any" can change.
If these pronouns denote part, portion or amount of something, then the singular form of the verb is used. If they refer to some number of persons or things then we need plural verb. The pronoun "none" is complicated.
Some of this information is wrong.
Some of these facts are interesting.
Note "Of"
The preposition "of" is used after an indefinite pronoun in the function of a noun before a specific noun (i.e., a noun preceded by "the, this, that, these, those, my, his, your, their, Tom's" and the like)
Most of these stories are funny.
Also, "of" is used in expression like "all of them; some of them; most of us; both of us; any of it; some of that; one of these; a few of those". etc.
Agreement with expressions of quantity
The phrases "a number of; the majority of" are treated as plural in meaning, they stand before a plural countable noun and agree with a plural verb.
There are a number of reasons why it keeps happening.
(By the way "verb + verb" verb phrase is called "catenative construction". In our case it is verb + verb-ing that is keep happening. I want to leave is also a catenative construction, lexical meaning of the first verb dictate the form of the second.)
A singular verb is also found with "the majority of" in some cases, for example, with "population".
The majority of the population is engaged in agriculture.
If "number" and "majority" refer to the actual number as number, they are used with a singular verb.
The number of participants is limited to ten.
A majority of fifty votes is required for winning.
If the noun after the phrase "a lot of" is uncountable (singular), the singular form of the verb is used. If the noun after the phrase "a lot of" is plural countable, the plural form of the verb is used.
There is a lot of snow (uncountable singular) on the roof.
There are a lot of people (uncountable plural) in the park
A lot of tourists (countable plural) come to this small village every autumn.
Phrases like "ten students; six books; five of them" as the subject take a plural verb.
If spelling out the number is too awkward (for example if it's really long, like four digits long) at least restructure the sentence so that it isn't at the beginning.
Fifteen thousand three hundred cars were sold last year. (Or: The company sold 15,300 cars last year.)
Sums of money, periods of time, distance, weight expressed by phases like "ten dollars; five miles" in the subject are treated as singular unit and take a singular verb.
*Five miles on foot is out of question*
If part of portion of something is expressed in percent or fraction, the choice of a singular or plural verb depends on the noun after "of". If the noun is singular use a singular verb and vise versa.
*Thirty percent of the money was spent on the first day.*
*Fifty percent of my students have a full-time job.*
If a personal pronoun is used as a substitute for a noun in the subject or in the object, the pronoun should agree with its noun in person, number and gender.
*John is in Spain now. He will come back in a week. Maria talked to him an hour ago.*
If you need to use a personal pronoun instead of a singular noun that may refer to male and female persons, use the phrase "he or she" or, if possible, restructure your sentence in the plural so that you can use "they".
*A student learns best if he or she studies regularly. (acceptable use)*
*Students learn best if they study regularly. (preferable use)*
If you need to use a personal pronoun instead of an indefinite pronoun, such as "anyone, somebody", use the phrase "he or she" or restructure your sentence to avoid the use of personal pronouns. In informal speech, the plural "they" may be used in such cases.
1) Someone (subj) entered (verb) the room (object) at night (adverbial modifier) and stole the letter (coordinated verb phrase). He or she opened the door with a key.
2) The thief opened the door with a key
3) They opened the door with a key. (informal use)
4) If anybody comes while I'm absent, ask them to wait for me. (informal use)
In the past you could use "he" in such situations (e.g. A student learns best if he studies regularly), but nowadays it's better not.
A *possessive pronoun* should agree with the noun or pronoun to which it refers.
*The doctor opened his bag. (You know that the doctor is a man) The doctor opened her bag. (You know that the doctor is a woman.) The doctors opened their bags.*
If the subject is expressed by an indefinite pronoun but the gender is not knows traditionally "his" is used.
*Everybody has his own opinion.*
But you know, it's better to avoid offending certain people. So you have the same options as in the preceding paragraph.
1) Traditional: Each student opened his bag. Everyone opened his bag. Each of us opened his bag.
2) Informal: Each student opened their bag. Everyone opened their bag. Each of us opened our bag.
3) Restructured: The students opened their bags. All of them opened their bags. All of us opened our bags.
4) In singular you also can use "his or her":
Everyone opened his or her bag. Each student opened his or her bag.
Next is a bunch of tests actually.
Parts of the Sentence
>I saw something interesting in the kitchen. Is it for me?
Here you should place "interesting" as an attribute after "something". I got it right because of my extensive experience with English. But I'm pretty sure nowhere in the materials preceding this test is it mentioned that "something" is an exception to the rule that an attribute stands before the noun/pronoun it describes.
>"Is it" mentioned and not "it is" mentioned
Wow, there is a new rule in it. Apparently we need inversion after fronting negative adverbials like "never", "nowhere", "rarely", "only then".
*Never have I seen such a thing*
*Only then did he understand*
*Nowhere in the text is it mentioned*
Parts of speech:
>She looked at him doubtfully
>She looked doubtful
I was very hesitant about placing "doubtfully/doubtful". So, "doubtfully" is an adverb because it describes the verb "looked". But "doubtful" is an adjective, it describes the pronoun "she". The sources of my confusion are "-ly" suffix which triggers association with adjectives in my mind and the fact that you could argue that "doubtful" describes "looked". I guess the section "suffixes and prefixes to differentiate parts of speech" isn't as useless as I thought.
Word order in statements
>She was wearing a nice dark-gray business suit.
I remember the rule, but I was sure that color is more specific than business. Apparently I was wrong. How many types of cloth do we have anyway. Business, sport... - see, exactly two.
>She arrived in Rome by train on Sunday
Here I straight-up forgot the right order. So my intuition was that the means of transportation is more important than the place and the place is more important than the time. Wrong again.
Actually, I was right. My non-native source is just gaslighting me.
Next is the test about word order in questions.
I'm leaning on intuition too much. Let's discuss our decisions.
>How often do you go there
Wh-word then adverbial modifier of frequency, no idea why it's here, ok, but it feels right. Then finally auxiliary verb, subject, main verb, adverbial modifier of verb go.
First of all what is missing. Two times a week I go there. No surprise adverbial modifier of frequency is missing. Go check your records, there should be a special rule for frequency.
Here it is:
>There is an exception for one word frequency adverbs though. They often are placed between the subject and the main verb.
Not very helpful. So, just keep in mind that adverbs can travel to many places in the sentence.
Other source says that "How often" is a whole wh-phrase, because without "often" "How" is a completely different request for information.
>Has she bought a new car
Here's an actual mistake. I chose "Did he", but it doesn't agree with the second form of the verb "buy".
5: Complex Sentences
>The man you are looking for lives on Oak Street
"You are looking for" is a relative clause, and the man is the subject, and whom/that is omitted just because.
>I can give you this book if you want to read it
I remembered something about present tense after if, but was unable to find the rule in the thread. I must admit my style of keeping records is atrocious and needed to be change.
>I will help you when I come back
I guess two "will" in one sentence just never happens in English
6: Conjunctions
It is basically about lexical meaning of simple words like "before" and "after". Though I can't say that I really know what, for example, "Whether" means. The easiest test so far, nevertheless.
7: Agreement
>All of his money was stolen.
Tricky questions from the very beginning. Is this a singular unit, or amount, or both? Well, don't ask me, I don't know.
>There was a lot of people in the park.
I will pretend they are trying to catch me out and answer singular in every case plural noun appears. Which turned out to be wrong. "A lot" doesn't matter and we always agree with the form of the noun after "a lot" which in this case is plural "people". And by the way money is always uncountable so it is always singular.
>The teacher, as well as the students, is on vacation.
I don't see the difference between "were" and "are" here, but "were" sounds more natural. Oh I see, I'm just completely wrong. It is singular "is" because "as well as" construction signifies additional information, and the teacher still is the only subject.
8: Types of Sentences
Super easy. Though the confusing phrase "disjunctive question" instead of "tag question" I am familiar with is used in one of the items. How cunning of them.
And this concludes The Word Order chapter. Next is English Verbs
So what about more organized records? I should at least mark every subsection in bold and stick to the rule "one section - one post". There is of course an option of using the topic field, but I worry it could look too stiff and too chaotic at the same time.
Also, here are some cool symbols, use them to your heart's content:
✓ ✕ ✗ ✘ ✚ ✞ ✟ ✦ ✧ ✩ ✪ ✰ ✱ ✲ ✵ ✸ ✾ ✿ ❀ ❁ ❂ ❃ ❅ ❆ ❍ ➜ ➝ ➞ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ ♭ ♮ ♯, ☑, ✅, ☒ ♡, ❤, ❄, ☘, ⚡, ☄
ⅼ Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ Ⅴ Ⅵ Ⅶ Ⅷ Ⅸ Ⅹ Ⅺ Ⅻ Ⅼ
⓿ ❶ ❷ ❸ ❹ ❺ ❻ ❼ ❽ ❾ ❿
At some point of the night I also became excessively sentimental. I was just lying in the dark and all the lame thoughts I was eager to express for reasons unknown were running through my head. That you are nice and supersmart, that everyone loves you, that I start crying and feel like I'm dying when I think about how wonderful of a person you are. And that you totally can forgive me for so many things because you are just that saint. As they say your heart is so big, probably bigger than the internet, and on the internet even I have a place. Because there is no future and no past. And nothing bad about us. There is no me, there is no you... What do you think, Caroline? Don't call me that!
By the dawn I felt ok. I'm still sick though, but it is nowhere near as terrible as it was at night. I was sure that I would be out for at least a week. Now I think that maybe I will be totally fine by tomorrow. I wish someday to write about things I did despite the sickness, against the odds. Though I probably shouldn't ignore virus infections.
Update: As it turned out doing anything despite the sickness just isn't fun, haha.
Also, new words from Navalny's book so far:
Hooch - Самогон
Embezzlement - Растрата
Cushion - Подушка (под которую клали телефон для защиты от прослушки)