Advanced-grammar-in-use-Martin-Hewings

Grammar review

Here is a summary o f common patterns to gether wit h exam ples o f verbs that are used
in thi s pattern. Note t hat man y verbs can be used in severa l different patterns, and that
so me o f the verbs given can be used just with an object, and may also be used
int ransitively (e.g. He failed to sto p, He failed the test, He failed).

F4 o T hey won't agree to pay for the dam age.

Verb + to-infinitive agree. aim. ask, decline, dema nd, fail, hesitate, hope , hurry,
mana ge, offer, plan , prepa re, refuse, want, wish

F5 o Stevens admitted stealing t he wallet.

Verb + -ing ad mit, avoid, cons ider, delay, deny, detest, dread, envisage,
feel like. fi nish, imagine, miss, recall, resent , risk, suggest

F. 0 Befor e we began eating/to eat my father th anke d

everyone fo r co ming.

Verb + to-infinitive or -ing begin, cease, continue, start
with little d ifference in
mea ning

F7 0 She came hurrying up the path to bring us the news.

F8 0 How did you come to bu y the car?

Verb + ro-infinirivc or -ing but co me, go on, mean. regret, remember, stop, try
with a difference in meaning

F. o My parents wou ldn't allow me to go to the part y.

Verb + object + to-infinitive a llo w, believe, cau se, co mmand, co nsider, enable, encourage,
(= there must be an o bject) ent itle, force, invite, order, persuad e, show, teac h, tell, warn

FlO 0 I woul d hate (her) to give the job up.

Verb + (object) + to-infinitive hate, help , like. love, need, prefer, want, wish,
(= there may be an object )

F11 o T he police caught him driving without a licence.

Verb + object + -ing catch, discove r, feel, find, hear, leave, notice, ob serve,
(= there must be an ob ject ) overhea r, see, spot

F12 0 I can't stand (him ) wearing a suit.

Verb + (object ) + -ing can't stand, detest, d islike, dread. envisage, hate , imagine,
(= t here may be an ob ject) like, love. mind (in questions and negatives), miss, reca ll,
regret, remem ber, resen t, risk, start, stop

F1 3 0 She felt the m osquito bite/biting her.

Verb + object + bare feel, hear, notic e, ob serve. overhear, see, watch
infinitive or -ing, but t here

.is somet.imes a d ifference

In meaning

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act ive
In a n act ive clause or act ive sentence, the grammatical sub ject is the person or thi ng t hat performs the
action given in the ver b (e.g. Geoff wrote the book ). Com pa re PASSIVE.

adject ive
A wo rd that describes a noun te.g. a n interesting book) o r a pro no un (e.g. a red on e). G radable

adjectives ca n be used to say t hat a person or th ing has more or less of t his quality Ie.g. She's very
happy ), wh ile non-gradable ad jectives can't (e.g. It's impossible, We can't say ' It's very impossible' ).
Classifying adjectives say t hat something is of a pa rticular type (e.g. atomic. initial) . Emphasisi ng
adjectives stress how strongly we feel about something (e.g. complete nonsense}. Q ualita tive ad jectives
say wha t qualities a person or thing has (e.g. big, rich ). See also grad ing ADVERR'j and no n-grading

ADVER flS.

adjective phrase
A group of words where the main word is an adjective (e.g. it's extremely important; it wasn't strong
enough ).

adve rb
A wo rd that describes or gives more information (when, how, where. erc. l a bo ut a verb (e.g. He ran
quickly ), adjective Ie.g. a n extremely expensive ca rl. another adve rb (e.g. She did it llery easily). or
phrase (e.g. Th ey live ;ust across the road. ). Types of adver b inclu de : adve rbs o f ma nn er (e.g. slowly,

violently) which we use to say how something is do ne; con nect ing adverbs Ie.g. consequently, sim ildrly );
time adverb s (e.g. tomorrow, ,llrtady); place adverbs (e.g. upstairs, olltside); direct ion adverbs (e.g.
backwards , tl1fough ); com ment adve rbs (e.g. apparently, personally ) w hich we use to ma ke a comment
on what we a re saying; view point ad verbs (e.g. financially, politically ) w hich we use to make clea r fro m
what point of view we a re spea king; adverbs of ind efinite freq uen cy (e.g. always, nel'l'r); degree adverbs
(e.g. completely, quite ) wh ich give info rmat ion a bo ut t he exte nt or deg ree o f so met hing; focus adverbs
(e.g. ;ust, el'en) which we use to focu s o n a pa rt icula r word o r ph rase. G radi ng adverbs (e.g. ex treme ly,
l'ery ) a re used w it h gradable ADJf.C11Vf.S. Non-grading adve rbs (e.g. com pletely, mainly ) a re used with

non-gradablc ADJECTIVf.S.

adverbia l
A word or gro up of words t hat says whe n, how, w here, etc. somethi ng ha ppens. They ma y consist of a n

ADVERB Ie.g. quietly), a I' RU ·OSITlO NAI. PHRASE (e.g. thr ough the door), a NOUN PIIRAS E (e.g. next we ek ),

or a n AOVf.RIIlAI. Cl. AlN:. (e.g. after Silt! left ).

adverbia l clau se
A type of subordi na te Cl.AUSf. tha t says when. how, w here, etc. so methi ng ha ppens (e.g. Before I went to
school this morning, I did my hom ework ).

affirmative se nte nce
A state ment (i.e. no t a quest ion) tha t is positive. not negative.

age n t
The person or thing that performs the action described in a verb. Usually it is the sub ject in a n active
clause a nd co mes after · hy...' in a passive clau se.

arti cle
The word the is the definite a rticle a nd the word a (an before vuwels ] is the indefinite arti cle. Wh en
there is no article before a noun we refe r to this as the zero article.

auxiliary verbs
The verbs be, have and do when the)' a re used with a main verb to fo rm questions. nega tives, tenses,
passive forms, etc. MOD Al. VF.RB\ are also auxiliary verbs.

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Glossary

clau se

A gro up of words that conta ins a verb. A cla use ma y be a com plete sentence or a pa rt o f a sentence. A
main cla use can exist as a sepa ra te sente nce, w hile a subordina te cla use ca nnot (e.g. If I see Ton)' at

wor k [= sub ord ina te cla use], I'll invite him over this evening 1=main clau se /). Types o f cla use include:

since-cla use (e.g. I ha ven't seen him since we left schoo l); th at-clau se (e.g. She sa id that she was
thirsty ); wh-claus e (e.g. I asked Sand ra where she was going). it-clau se (e.g. It 's not surprising tha t
you ' re feelin g co ld ); w hat-clause (e.g. What I want to do is buy a bett er co mpute r); if-clau se (e.g. If
you leave now , you'll be home by 10.00); whether-clause (e.g. You have to ta ke the exam whether you
want to or not ); to-infinitive clau se (e.g. To become a docto r ta kes yea rs of st udy ); present parti ciple
H ng) clau se (e.g. Feeling hungry, I we nt into t he kitch en ); past pa rticiple f-ed ] clau se (e.g. Built during
the 1950s, t he buildin g is now in need of repair ); bein g + past participle (-cd ) cla use (e.g. Being
unem ployed, To m had a lot of t ime on his ha nds); ha ving + pa st parti cip le (-ed) clau se (e.g. Having
seen the do cto r, I went stra ight ho me ). See a lso CO ND1110 NAL CLAUSE, NO :-.l-FINITE CLAUSE, RELATIVE

C LAUSE,

cleft se ntence
A sentence in w hich focus is given to eit her the subject or ob ject using a pattern beginn ing 'It...' [e.g. It
was my bro ther who lent me the money) or ' Wha t...' (e.g. Wh at you need is a ho lida y).

compleme nt
A word or phrase th at fo llo ws a LIS KING VERB and desc ribes the SUBJECT (e.g. Lind a is a lawy er) o r
OBJECT (e .g . I fo und the food inedible ). A compleme nt ma y a lso be an ADVERBIAL o r PREPOSm ONAL
PHRASE wh ich com pletes the mea ning of a verb. Some ve rbs need a com pleme nt (e.g. T he di sease
o riginated in Britain; 'T he disease ori ginated ' would be inco mplete).

co m po u nd
A co mpo un d noun consi sts of two o r more words toge t her used as a noun (e.g. a language schoo l). A
compound ad jective con sists o f two o r more words together used as a n adjec tive (e.g. Th ey were we/l-
beh a v e d s,

co ndit iona l
A co ndit ional clau se usua lly starts w ith 'if', but other pa tterns a re possible (e.g. Had it not rained,
England wo uld ha ve won ). A co nditional sentence contains a co nd itional clause. A d istinct ion ca n be
made bet ween real co ndit ionals, w hic h suggest that th e sit ua tion is or was t rue, or ma y have been or
ma y beco me tr ue (e.g. If she ma kes a promise, she keeps it ) and unr eal co nditio na ls, w hich suggest
t ha t the sit ua tion is imaginary or unt rue (e.g. If yo u had asked me, I wo uld ha ve helped ).

conj unction

A wo rd such as and , but, if, while, after, because wh ich con nects words, phr ases, o r cla uses in a

sentence. Co mpa re SENTENCE CONNECTO R.

counta ble
A countable noun ca n be both singula r an d plural (e.g . cuplcltps ). An uncounta ble nou n doesn't have
a plural form (e.g. electricity, but not 'electr icities' ).

decla rativ e se ntence
A decla rati ve sente nce is a sta tement. In a decla rati ve sente nce the subject is followed by the verb.

det e rm iner
A word tha t goe s in front of a no un to ident ify w ha t the noun refers to (e.g. this, some , the, a/an,
each, all, m y ). Possessive determine rs (also called po ssessive adjectives) a re words such as m y, your
a nd their.

direct speec h
Speec h tha t is w ritt en using the exact word s of the spea ker, witho ut an y change s. Compa re REPORTED

SPF.E.CII.

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