Lecture notes for PBET 1103 -2012, TESL Program, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya.

1. Introduction to the
grammar of English

2.  S NP VP
• NP (Subject)
• VP (Predicate)
• VP Verb (NP/PP/AdvP)

3.  noun (obligatory) – student
 det + noun – a student
 det + adj + noun
– an intelligent student
 det + adv + adj + noun
- a very intelligent student

4.  adj + noun – cold weather
 adv + adj + noun
very cold weather
 det + adv + adj + noun
this very cold weather

5. pronoun – they, you, etc.
 det + N + PP
the sound of an airplane
PP –Prepositional Phrase

6.  verb – go
 verb + adv – go quickly
 adv + verb – always go
 aux + verb – is going
did not go
has left
modal aux + verb – will go

7.  verb + NP : buy [a car]
 verb + PP : go [to school]
 adv + verb + PP
– always go [to school]
 verb + NP + PP
drive [the car] [up the hill]

8.  Subject : NP - the taxi driver
 Predicate : VP
• bought – verb
• some food – object (NP)
• from that store – PP
• yesterday – adverb (AdvP)

9.  Subject (NP) + Predicate : VP
NP det + adj + N
VP verb + NP + PP + AdvP
NP det/quantifier
PP P + NP
AdvP yesterday

10. 1) The inquiry left in its wake a number of
casualties.
2) I was one of them.
3) The inquiry left in its wake a number of
casualties, and I was one of them.
4) When the inquiry left in its wake a
number of casualties, I was one of them.
5) The inquiry left in its wake a number of
casualties, I being one of them.
Source: Greenbaum & Nelson (2002), pp.15-16.

11.  Simple Sentence – 1 main clause
-- 1 Subject and 1 Predicate
The car is red
-- plural subject and/or
plural predicate
Lyn and Sheena went to the beach.
Their dog barked and jumped.

12.  Liza reads comics.
 Liza reads novels.
 Liza reads comics and novels.
 Liza reads and enjoys novels
 Liza and Farah read novels
 Liza and Farah read and enjoy novels
and newspapers.
 Punctuation note: Do not separate compound
elements (subject, verb, direct object, indirect object,
subjective complement, etc.) in a simple sentence by
commas.

13. Compound sentence :
- two or more independent clauses joined by a
coordinating conj: and, or, nor, but, yet, so, for
• John ran to the store and
he bought lotto tickets.
• Gan and Pearly were late for class, so they
were marked ‘absent.’
• We did not mean to tell a lie,
but we did it anyway.

14. Two independent clauses joined by
--a coordinating conjunction
Liza reads comics, but Farah reads novels
--a conjunctive adverb (however, therefore)
Liza reads comics; however,
Farah reads novels
--a semicolon
Liza reads comics; her friend reads novels.

15.  Complex
• one independent and
• one or more dependent clauses
• joined by a relative pronoun or a
subordinating conjunction.
• After eating the dead rat, the dog died.
• Because of the rain, the picnic was
cancelled.

16.  Although Liza reads comics,
Farah reads novels.
 Farah reads novels although
Liza reads comics
 Farah, who reads novels,
seldom reads comics
 People who read novels
seldom read comics.

17.  Compound-complex
• Two or more independent clauses
• one or more dependent clauses
• When Mother came, she walked into my
bedroom and she placed the books on
my bed.
• Dina, who reads novels, rarely reads
comics; however, Nona enjoys comics.

18. While Farah reads novels, Liza reads
comics, but Eyna reads only newspapers.
Farah reads novels but Liza reads comics
because novels are boring.
[Liza,{who reads comics}, seldom reads
novels]; however, Farah enjoys novels.
People {who read comics} seldom read
novels; they find novels boring.

19.  Clause : group of related words with a
subject and a predicate
- can be independent
or dependent/subordinate
Identify the independent and the subordinate
clauses in the quote below:
"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the
majority, it is time to pause and reflect."
(Mark Twain)

20.  Independent (Main) Clause - a group of related
words that has a subject and a verb and makes
sense by itself.
• Mary went into the store
 Dependent (Subordinate) Clause - A group of
related words that has a subject and a verb,
• As John drove around the block
but does not make sense by itself because it
needs the independent clause to make sense.
As John brought the kids to the park,
Jane prepared dinner.

21. group of words with a defining head
• Noun : head of a Noun Phrase
• Verb : head of a Verb Phrase
• Adjective : head of an Adjective Phrase
• Adverb : head of Adverb Phrase
• Preposition : head of Preposition Phrase
• Refer to examples on Slides 3 to 9 above.

22.  Declaratives
• She is working here.
 Interrogatives
• Where have you been?
 Imperatives
• Take a seat.
 Exclamatives
• How well you look!

23. Statements – convey information
Questions – request information
Imperatives – request action
Exclamations
– express strong feeling

24. I am going to KLCC.
I am not going to Ipoh.
 She can dance.
 She cannot sing.
 They have left Malaysia
 They have not left Malaysia

25. Shakespeare wrote many plays.
Many plays were written by
Shakespeare.
Alice will buy that red car.
That red car will be bought by
Alice.

26.  Onlyactive sentences with transitive verbs can
be transformed to passive sentences.
• Transitive verbs – require direct object NP
 Object
of the transitive verb in the active S
becomes the subject in the passive S; the actor
moves to a position after the verb, [by + actor]

27.  Passive verb needs the auxiliary [be + -en]
Active S: The teacher gave the book to her.
Passive S: The book was given to her
by the teacher.
Active S: Tina will prepare dinner for the guests.
Passive S: A dinner will be prepared for the
guests (by Tina).
[by –actor] is sometimes omitted.