Resume buku Marcella Frank :Modern English: a practical reference guide

1.         Introduction to part of speech ( Page . 1)

·         The central core of the sentence, the part that is absolutely necessary for a complete -sentence.

·         A word functioning of subject, object, or subjective complement in central core is called a noun in the part of speech classification.

·         The predicating word or the linking word is give the part of speech name of verb.

2.        Noun ( Page .6)

·         Proper noun begins with the capital later in writing.

·         A concrete noun is a word for a physical object that can be perceived by the sense  - we can see, touch, smell the object (flower, girl)

·         A countable noun can usually be made plural by the additional of – s (one girl, two girls).

·         A noncountable noun is not used in the plural.

·         A collective noun is a word for a group of people, animal or objects, considered as a single unit.

·         Adjective form used as noun, these noun are often preceded by the.

·         Adjective form used as noun may be in comparative noun, and also express the idea.

·         Subjective complement used after linking verb  to refer back to the subject.

·         Objective complement an object following the direct object that has the same identity as the direct object.

·         Object preposition complete the idea of time, direction, position, etc. began by a prepositional.

3.        Pronouns ( Page . 20)

·         Pronouns make up a small class of words of very high frequency.

·         Personal pronouns refer to :

1.      The speaker, called the first person (singular I, Plural We)

2.      The person spoken to, called the second person – You

3.      The person of thing being spoken of, called the third person.

·         Interrogative pronoun introduces direct or indirect questions.

·         There are three interrogative pronoun, Who (for person), what (for thing), which (for choice involving either person or thing)

·         The most common demonstrative pronoun are THIS (plural these), that (plural those).

·         Reflexive pronoun is combination of –self with one of the personal pronoun or with the impersonal pronoun one.

·         Reciprocal pronoun like the reflexive pronoun, the reciprocal pronoun has the same identity as the subject.

·         Indefinite pronoun such pronoun refers to indefinite (usually unknown) person or thing, or indefinite quantities.

·         All indicates the totally of items.

·         Every gathers the separate item one by one into a whole.

·         Each draws attention to individual item.

·         Any used within a mass signifies indifference to component being referred to.

·         The pronoun both is used only after the context has established the fact that two individual persons or things are being referred to.

·         Some is generally used with plural noun or with a noncountable noun

·         Some used with a singular noun merely express indefiniteness in the same way as the article a does.

·         Another occur only with a singular noun, other is generally used in the plural unless it this preceded by The, This, or a indefinite pronoun like some, any each,

·         Pronouns have the same position as noun do. Pronoun subject appear before verb, pronoun object appear after verb of after preposition

4.        Verbs ( Page . 47)

·         The verb is the most complex part of speech

·         A predicating verb is chief word in predicate that say something about the subject.

·         A transitive verb takes a direct object (he is a reading book); an intransitive verb does not required an object (he is walking in the park).

·         A finite verb is a lexical verb with or without auxiliaries that acts as the full verb in the predicate.

·         Non-finite (of infinite) verb are incomplete verb form that function as part of speech than verb.

·         The verbs function as the grammatical center for the prediction about the subject.

·         The verb is used after subject, or before an object or complement.

·         The grammatical form of verb is usually discussed in connection with tense.

·         Imperative mood, for this mood the simple form of the verb is used for request, command, or instruction.

·         Such derivational forms consist chiefly of the suffixes –es, -ize, -fy, -ate, and the prefix en- and –be.

·         These alternatives for Yes – No Questions consist of two part. The first part makes a statement; the second parts ask the questions that expect agreement with the statement.

5.        Auxiliaries ( Page . 94)

·         Auxiliaries verb, as we have seen, are “helping” verb that add structural meaning of semantic coloring to verb carrying the full burden of lexical meaning.

·         Do auxiliaries is accompanied by the simple form of the verb.

·         The difference between obligation and necessity is often one degree only

·         Dare meaning have the courage to and need meaning have to are some times classified among the modal auxiliaries.

6.        Adjectives ( Page . 109)

·           Adjective is a modifier that has a grammatical property of comparison.

·         Determiners consist of a small group of structure words without characteristics form.

·         Adjective occur most frequently before the noun they refer to or after linking verb.

·         Adjective are signaled by adverb of degree like very, quit, rather, extremely.

·         Adverbs of degree are used with –ing adjective but not with participles or with gerund.

7.        Articles ( Page . 125)

·         The two article are the and a. the may be used with singular or a plural noun; a is generally used with a singular countable noun.

·         The chief semantic function of article is to mark noun as definite or indefinite.

·         The traditionally called the definite article. The developed  historically from a word meaning this and still retain some of the basic meaning of the pointing demonstrative. Ye is an archaic from of the.

·         The particularization is established by what precedes or follows the noun head.

·         Some place name occur with the and some do no.

·         Names composed of common plus proper names contained within of phrases.

·         A is traditionally called the indefinite article. Its alternate from an is used before word beginning with vowel sounds – An Apple, an Ink, etc

·         A developed historically from a word meaning the number one. This basic meaning of singularity today manifest itself in three distinct sense of :

a.       The actual numeral one

b.      One Undifferentiated specimen in a class (we saw a lion at the zoo)

c.       One specimen representing a class (the animal is a lion)

·         A is used in a general statement to classify a noun, a points to any representative of a class – a lion (=any a lion ) is very strong. This is a generic that we have already looked at.

·         Special used of A

a.       A after such. What

A Is required such or what used with a singular countable noun.

b.      A after certain adverb or adjectives – not a, many a, quite a, rather a.

c.       Before noun quantifiers – a few, a lot, a little

d.      A with proper names, meaning

A Mr. Smith called you

e.       A with most on the sense is very (often considered informal usage)

She is most beautiful woman

f.       A after so or too + an adjective + singular noun

She is too sensible a girl to do a thing like that

g.      Half hour and a half hour

Either may be used – she waited for half an hour (a half hour)

8.        Adverbs ( Page . 141)

·         The manner adverb has the  most characteristic adverbial from (an – ly ending added to a descriptive adjective).

·         Among the adverb of place and direction may be included some prepositional forms appearing after the verb – He came in; they walked down.

·         These adverb have a fixed boundary in time – yesterday, to day, tomorrow, most of these word have noun form and some many the used in plural form – Saturdays, nights (he works nights and sleeps days )

·         In addition, a group of words may function as single time expressions  - last week, a month ago, the day before yesterday.

·         Adverb of degree denoting how much with respect to adjective  or adverb – very, too, quite, somewhat, rather, extremely, exceedingly, fairy, more.

·         Adverb of manner sometimes also express degree – she is breath takingly beautiful; he works devilishly hard.

·         Sentence adverbs can serve as single word answer to questions, especially if they exspress affirmation (yes, certainly, surely, absolutely, precisely, undeniably), negatif (no), possibility or probability (perhaps, maybe, possibly, probably).

·         Conjunctive adverbs indicate sunc relationships as result (therefore, accordingly), addition (moreover, besides), contrast (however, nevertheless), condition (otherwise), time (then), groups of words may be used to establish the some kind of relationship

·          where a famous poet once lived.

·         2. Interrogative adverbs. a. In questions-when will he errive? b. In noun clouses derived from quetions-i asked when be would arrive.

·         This adverb is used with adjectives and adverbs. how beautifully she dressess ! how beautiful she is!

·         The boy threw the ball quickly. Or the boy quickly threw the ball.

·         Adverbs of manner modify the verb most directly. Adverbs of place and time may also be considered as modifying the verb, although some grammarians consider these as modifying the entire sentence.

·         Adverb as modifier

·         Adverbs of degree can participate in several layers of modification – he drank far too much coffee; he can finish this job ever so much more quickly than i can.

·         When two or more types of adverbials appear in final position, they follow the order of  place, manner, time after the complement.

·         Commas used to set off adverbials are often optional; in many cases they are determined by whether the writer

·         Commas often occur after adverbials in initial position. The longer the adverbial expression,

·         The adverb has an inflectional form only for comparition.

·         The so subtitute is used to avoid repeating a part of a predicate that appears with a preceding verb.

·         A high degree

9.        Prepositions and prepositional phrases ( Page . 163)

-    The preposition is classified as a part of speech in traditional grammar.

-    On used with a day of the week

-    On used with a day of the month

-    At used with a part of the day considered as a point

-    Out, on, off, over, up, down, thought.

-    Function on two levels, one level is thr purely physica arrangement of prepositional phrases in relation to a head word.

-    A preposition usually initiates the prepositional phrase.

-    One or more prepositional phrases may follow the noun head.

10.     Conjunctions and compounding ( Page . 206)

·         They function chiefly as nonmovable structure words that join such units as parts of speech, phrases, or clauses.

·         Ther are two types of conjunctions, coordinate and subordinate.

·         The coordinate conjunction joins structural units that are equal grammatically. The conjunction comes before the last unit and is grammatically independent of this unit.

·         A pronoun and a noun may be joined by coordinate conjunctions- my husband and i love to go to the movies.

·         Conjunctions and, or; less commonly but, yet.

·         A compound subject joined by and requires a plural verb

11.      sentences and Clauses ( Page . 220)

·         By meaning. According to this definition, a sentence is a “ complete thought”

·         By function. According to this definition, a sentence consists of a subject and a predicate. This definition is more satisfactory  because is it actually possible to identify the structural functions of subject and predicate in a sentence.

·         In a declarative sentence the subject and predicate have normal word order. The sentence ends with a periodi in writing and a drop in pitch in speech.

·         In an interrogative sentence the subject and auxiliary are often reversed. The sentence ends with a question mark (or, interrogation point) in writing. Most yes-no question end with a rise in pitch.

·         In an imperative sentence, only the predicate is expressed. The simple form of the verb is used, regardles of person or tense. The imperative sentence ends with in period in writing and a drop in pitch in speech.

·         The exclamatory phrase is followed by the subject and the balance of the predicate.

·         In writing, the exclamatory sentence ends with an exclamation mark (or, exclamation point)

·         A preposition that is part of the exclamatory phrase usually appears in final position (what terrible trouble he is in!)

·         A clause may be defined in the same way as a sentence: it is a full predication that contains a subject and a predicate with a finite verb. The independent clause is a predication that may stand alone as a sentence; the dependent clause has a special introductoryword that makes the predication “depend” on an independent clouse.

1.      Simple sentences

The man stole the jewelry

Such sentence have only one full predication in the form of an independent clause.

2.      Compound sentence

The man stole the jewelry and he hid it in his home.

Such sentence have two or more full predications in the form of independent clause.

3.      Complex sentence

The man who stole the jewelry hit it in his home.

Such sentence also have two or more full predications.

·         Compound-complex sentence contain two nor more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses.

·         It is when clause are combined because a relationship exists between them that question of usage arise.

·         The first word in the clause after the semicolon begins with a small letter.

·         Coordinate conjunctions are less formal than the equivalent conjunctive adverbs, but all such conjunctions are acceptable in formal discourse exept so.

·         Generally, it is advisable to use a comma before the coordinate conjunction for.

·         Only joining independent clauses is an informal equivalent of but in its sense of exept that.

·         They wanted to continue traveling, only they ran out of money.

When independent clauses are joined by but, the verb in the first clause may have conditional form.

·         In independent clause the full predcation is altered in such away that the clause must be attached to another clause, an independent clause.

·         This kind of sequance of tenses is especially applicable in noun clause object after past main verb.

12.     Introduction to complex syntactic structures ( Page . 231)

·         In modern grammar two approach to the analysis about syntactic structures have contributed to an understanding of how such structures are used to built up sentences.

·         Dependent clause (full subject and predicate)

-          Adverbial clause

Because he was sick, the boy didn’t go to school

-          Adjective clause

The boy, who was sick, didn’t go to school.

-          Noun clause

We were told that the boy was sick

·         Verbal construction (verb or predicate is reduce)

-          Subject omitted

Participial phrases

Being sick, the boy didn’t go to school

-          Subject reduce or omitted

Gerund phrases

His being sick was unfortunate

Infinitive phrases

     For him to be sick is unusual

-          Subject retained

Absolute construction

The boy being sick, his mother called the doctor

·         Abstract noun phrases (verb reduce or omitted, subject reduce or omitted)

The boys sickness disturbed his mother

·         Appositive phrases (subject and a form of be omitted )

-          Appositive noun phrases

A very sick boy that day, he didn’t go to school

-          Appositive adjectives phrases

Very sick that day, the boy didn’t go to school

13.     Adverbial clauses ( Page . 234)

·         Most types of adverbial clause are considered as modifying the verb of the main clause, some more loosely than others.

·         Adverbial clause have three possible position

-          Initial position

Here the adverbial clause adds one mean of variety to a sentences opening.

-          Mid position

Here the adverbial clause must be set off by commas, since it acts as an interrupting element.

-          Final position

This is the most usual place for the adverbial clause (as it is for most adverbial expression). Clause of time and place (often also result, purpose, and degree). In final position are generally not set off by commas.

·         Clause of time

Conjunctions, when (ever), while, whilst- British, since, before, after, until, till, as, as soon as, as long as, now (that), once.

·         Clauses of contras

There are two types of clause, concessive and adversative. The concessive clause offers a partial contras – it states a reservation that does not invalidate the truth of the main clause.

The adversative clause make stronger contras that may range all the way to complete opposition.

·         These three conjunction have practically they same meaning. Though is a little less formal than although; even though adds the most force to the concession.

·         The alternate structures illustrated here are based on the adverbial clause in the sentence Although he was still, he managed to look cheerfull.

·         A purpose clause, especially one introduced by so (that) often resembles a clause of result.

·         A purpose generally appears in final position, whit no commas preceding it.

·         The first tense in each heading is for the conditional clause, the second tense is for the noun clause.

1.      Present – Past

If he has a tape recorder, he probably borrowed it

2.      Present – Present Perfect

If he has a tape recorder, he has probably borrowed.

3.      Past – Present is probably catching out

If she went to the office to day, she is probably to catching up on her correspondence.

4.      Past – Past

If he was at the meeting last night, I didn’t she him

5.      Past – Present Perfect

If she did what you say, she has done wrong

6.      Present Perfect – Present Perfect

If she has done what you say, she has done wrong

14.     Adjective clauses ( Page . 276)

·         In adjective clause, a full subject and predicate is changed by means of special introductory word which has the same referent as the preceding noun and pronoun.

·         The adjective clause modifies a preceding noun or a pronoun. The noun or pronoun being modified is called the antecedent.

·         An adjective clause may be classified according to the antecedent that the introductory word refers to.

·         The relative pronoun who (whom for object, whose for possesive) refers to person (also pets); which refers to thing. That may refers to person or things.

·         The verb of the adjective clause agrees the antecedent in number (A mans who runs away is a coward ) and in position (It is I who am to blame)

·         Normal position of an adjective clause is immediately after the noun or pronoun to which it refers.

·         Occasionally an adjective clause referring to the subject comes after the verb, especially when the antecedent is a pronoun.

·         If the adjectives clause serves to narrow down to reference of the noun it modifies, no commas are used for the clause.

15.     Noun clause ( Page . 283)

·         Other common types of verb occuring with the that noun clause subject are :

-          Causative verb

That her husband left her made her very melancholy.

-          Verb expressing emotion

That she was called upon to speak flattered her greatly.

·         That noun clause occur most frequently as object of verb.

·         With some these verb, in direct object may precede that the clauses-assure convince, inform, notify, persuade, promise, remind, teach, tell, warn.

·         To the verb of mental activity followed by that clauses might be added verb expressing preference – prefer, word (or had) rather, would (or had), sooner.

·         That clause used in apposition with nouns may be either restrictive or nonrestrictive.

·         In noun clause from questions beginning with interrogative words like who (ever), when (ever), the interrogative word itself serves as the introductory connector.

·         Since whether introduce a noun clause from a yes – no question, it is not unnatural that is should donate a positive or a negative choice.

·         A gerund phrase is also possible after some of these verb of requesting – I advised (or forbid, recommended, requested, urged) his leaving soon.

·         That clause after nouns derived from verb of requesting also require verb in subjunctive from or with the should.

·         That clause subjects often appear after passive verb of requesting in anticipatory it construction.

·         As object of verb these noun clause occur after a  limited number of verb denoting mental activity such as realized, notice, see, remember, understand.

·         This special requirement is know as “sequence of tense”. Sequence of tense occurs most frequently with noun clause object.

·         Question mark or exclamation mark are dropped from noun clauses, made from questions or exclamation.

·         A question mark used with a direct question is also placed within the quotation mark – “why must you be so unreasonable?” she asked.

16.     Participial phrases ( Page .304)

·         Which the participial phrases we begin to description of the verbal construction.

·         Verbal construction function as a part of speech other than verb, usually as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. In these construction the element of simple sentences are more changed in form than they are independent clauses.

·         The participial phrases represents the predicate part of sentence beginning with the verb in reduced –ing or –ed form.

·         With intransitive verb, the past participle may represent the active perfect tenses – The boys (who have) now grown to manhood, have taken over their father’s bisiness.

·         Some grammarian classify nonrestrictive participial phrases as adverbial because of their ability to occupy the three adverbial position and to be denote some the adverbial meaning.

·         A few participial phrases that have general reference are considered as sentences modifier – generally speaking, considering everything.

·         The –ing constructions stess the duration of an action.

·         A comma may be used if the participial construction is felt as less closely connected with the preceding part of the sentence.

·         After make and a few verb of ordering and wishing, a past participle may also considered as the second part of the subject.

·         It is possible to interpret these participles as elliptically forms of the passive infinitive, especially after the verb of ordering and wishing, which normally take infinitives.

·         In such a construction, being may expressed or understood. In a passive sentence that participal construction with as is retained after the verb – This agreement is considered as legally binding to both parties.

·         For such participial phrases the punctuation is the same as for adjectives clauses ; that is, commas, cut off only nonrestrictive phrase.

17.     Gerund phrases ( Page . 314)

·         The verb in a gerund Phrase is reduced to participial form

·         The subject of the gerund may be found in another part of the sentence or it may understood. A “subject” that is contained within the gerund phrase takes inflected possessive form, prepositional form, or unchanged form.

·         Gerund phrase may perform all the function that noun are capable of fulfilling.

·         The “subject” of the gerund phrase usually denotes a live being, but sometimes it designates a lifeless thing or an abstract idea.

·         The “subject” is understood as a generic person (everyone, anyone, people, etc).

Playing with guns is dangerous

·         The “subject” is understood from the general context

He suggested eating dinner at the airport

·         If a “subject” is included in gerund phrase, it may be used : (1) in possessive or unchanged form (2) in a of phrase (3) in a by phrase.

·         An of phrase “subject” of a gerund may denote a live being or an inanimate things.

·         A by phrase “subject” mark the possessive voice of a transitive verb in a gerund phrase.

·         An unchanged adverb is rare in a the … - ing + of phrase construction, but occasionally such a form appears in a final position – The administering of’ artificial respiration immediately may save a person’s life.

·         Gerund are usually preceded by the same types of adverbs as those that precede finite verb – usually manner or frequency adverb.

·         Gerund phrase as subject of verb.

Eating a good breakfast is very wise.

·         A comma is required if the “subject” is included in the gerund phrase – it’s strange, his doing that.

·         No use and no needed may also be preceded by expletive there – there’s no use (or no need) crying over spilled milk.

·         Some verb in this list, because of their semantic nature, cannot refers to events happening in the past – for example, avoid, defer, give – up, miss, risk, urge.

·         Try + gerund has the special meaning of make experiment with – Try going to bed earlier ; you’ll feel better.

·         After a noun human subject, need and want in the sense of require will take an – ing gerund  - This lamp needs repairing.

·         Any verb used as the object in a prepositional phrase takes the form of a gerund.

·         Such gerund phrase function as prepositional object of verb.

He insisted on paying the entire bill for dinner.

·         A prepositional gerund phrase may appear in all three adverbial positions, but most frequently in initial or final position.

·         In introduces most prepositional gerund phrase after adjectives, especially – ed participial adjectives.

·         Many of these prepositional gerund phrase after adjectives have alternate form with infinitive phrase or that clause.

1.      Infinitives phrases

He was embarrassed to hear him self praised.

2.      That clauses

He was embarrassed that people were praising him.

18.     Infinitive phrases ( Page . 328)

·         In this type of verbal construction, the verb is reduce to to infinitive form. The “subject” of the infinitive phrase may be implied or it may be found elsewhere in the sentence, often in a preceding prepositional phrase. The “object” is also sometimes found in a structures before the infinitive phrase.

·         In some sentence, however, the “subject” may represent a thing or an idea.

For the clothes to dry properly, they must be hung out in the sun.

·         A “subject” denoting an idea or things is often likely to be a passive “subject.”

I don’t want this news to be made public yet.

·         Like the participle, the infinitive makes no distinction for person or number. Also like participle, the infinitive has only two form for indicating time. One is a general form called the “present” infinitive, which express time simultaneous with or future from that the main verb. The other is a perfect form, which express time preceding that of main verb.

·         Example of the kind of time the present infinitive can express are :

-          Present time         : I am happy to meet you

-          Past time              : I was happy to meet you

-          Future time           : I will be happy to meet you

·         Infinitive phrase functioning as noun differ from gerund phrases in that they cannot be preceded by determiners not can they serve as object of prepositions.

·         Infinitive subject occur chiefly with the same types of verbs as to do other nominal; be, causative verb, verb expressing emotion, and few other verb like require, take, mean.

·         Infinitive object of verb need to distinguished from post – verb infinitives that have other functions. At one extreme, for example, are the infinitives after verb that are so closely related to the verb that are so closely related to the verb as to form a single unit with it, the firs part being considered merely an auxiliary – for example, have to, have got to, ought to, used to, and perhaps need to and dare to.

·         Most infinitive object have future reference in relation to the time of the main verb.

·         Infinitive phrase as subjective complement

The infinitive phrase frequently functions as a predicate noun after a form of the verb be.

The only thing we can do is to call the police

Without to

The only thing we can do is call the police

·         Infinitive phrases as Appositives nouns

He asked for only one thing – to be left in peace

Without to

There is one thing I will never do – refuse money to a beggar.

·         Numerals and pronouns compound with – one, -body, -thing, are especially commas as “subject” of such adjectival infinitive phrase.

·         Infinitives phrases modifying adjectives or adverb use with TOO or ENOUGH

1.      Modifying adjectives

She’s to intelligent to be deceived by such a lie.

The canoe is large enough to hold four people.

2.      Modifying adverb

It’s raining too hard for me to go out

We can’t get theater quickly enough to see the play from the beginning.

·         Such substitution is used to avoid repetition of a part of a predicate that has already been mentioned.

1.      To substitution after modal mentioned

She doesn’t live in the country now, but she used to

2.      To substitution after verb taking infinitive

He expects to fail his course, and he deserves to

3.      To substitution after predicate adjectives

Please bring your children with you. I’ll be glad to

4.      To substitution after noun

She goes to the beach every time she has the opportunity to.

·         In some sentence, prepositional particles are inseparable from infinitives. The “object” of such preposition are usually in the preceding part of the sentences.

·         Subject position for infinitives phrases, as for all complex noun constructions, lends a formal tone to a sentences – To try minimize the mistakes we are constantly making is quite natural. The alternate  it construction for the infinitive phrase subject is usually more casual – it is quite natural to try to minimize to mistakes we are constantly making.

19.     Absolute constructions ( Page . 355)

·         An absolute construction contain a “subject” that is unchanged from the form it has in a full sentence. (For this reason, it is sometimes called a nominative absolute.)

·         Absolute construction :

With participle

The elevator being out of order, everyone had to walk

Without participle

Being is implied before the following complement used as predicates of absolute construction.

A predicate noun        : His book now a bestseller, he felt please with the world

A predicate adjective  : His book now famous, he felt pleased with the world

An adverb                   : His long work finally over, he felt pleased with the

   world

A prepositional phrase            : His book now on sale at all bookstore, he felt pleased with the world

·         The infinitives is such absolute constructions may alternate with – ing participles if there is no desire to stress future action – They decide to row all night, all the man taking turns.

·         The absolute construction has a semantic or logical connection with the rest of the sentence, but, except when it is introduced by with, it has no grammatical link with the sentence.

·         The “subject” in a absolute construction generally does not have the same referent as the subject of the main verb.

·         Possible meaning of absolute construction

1.      Time

a.       In the sense of after

Dinner (being) ready, the hostess asked her guests to be seated

b.      In the sense of while

The anthropologist questioned many of the natives in that remote area, his host acting as interpreter.

2.      Cause

The table not having been constructed properly, one of the legs became loose.

3.      Condition

A riot once begun, our small police force will be unable to handle it.

·         The absolute constructions is especially useful as a grammatical device that permits the addition of a logically coordinates idea to a sentence that might otherwise be written separately.

20.    Abstract noun phrases ( Page . 363)

·         Not all abstract noun serve to form abstract noun phrase. The term abstract noun as it is being used for this construction does not include class noun for concrete objects, but only those nouns representing changed form of important elements of sentences.

·         In abstract noun phrase, verb and predicate adjectives are changed to noun that function as grammatical center of the construction.

·         Noun from verb

1.      Noun with derivational ending – tion, -ance, -age, -ment, etc.

He moved slowly becomes his slow movement.

2.      Noun without derivational ending

She requested a transfer becomes her request for a transfer

·         Noun from predicate adjectives

1.      Noun with derivational ending – y, - ance, - ity, - ness, etc

He was very vigilant becomes his great vigilance

2.      Noun without derivational ending

The soldier was courageous becomes the soldier’s courage.

·         As a gerund phrase, a “subject” in a abstract noun phrase usually denotes a live being, although it may sometimes refer to a thing or an idea.

·         When a simple sentence is transformed into a abstract noun phrase, the original direct object often takes of phrase form, or less frequently, possessive form.

·         The possessive form is more usual with person denoting “object” and is obligatory for person pronoun “object” – his murder, their arrest, our education.

·         -Ly adverbs in simple sentences are usually transformed to adjectives in abstract noun phrases. These – ly adverbs appear originally as modifiers of verbs or predicate adjectives.

·         The position and punctuation of abstract noun phrase are identical to those gerund phrase. Abstract noun phrases appear in subject or object position, and like any noun construction in these position, they are not used with commas.

·         The compression resulting from the use of the abstract noun phrase, which reduces a predication to a noun that functions on the main subject- verb- complement core, makes this phrases a desirable construction for textbook, academic papers, technical report.

·         Sentence that are densely packed with noun – centered structures such as abstract noun phrases and noun compounds often lack the sense of movement generated by the actor – action relationship of a full subject and a full predicate.

21.     Appositive noun and adjective phrases ( Page . 371 )

·         The appositive phrase may be considered a changed form of an adjective clause.

·         Adverb and prepositional phrases serving as the grammatical heads of appositive phrases usually signify place or time.

·         Appositive phrases and participial phrases are alike in that both represent only predicate part of simple sentences.

·         Being used in such participial phrases usually denotes cause.

·         The only deference between the two structures is that the absolute retains the subject of the original simple sentence.

·         Adverbial modifiers of be in simple sentences are retained in appositive phrase.

·         Sometimes in article modifying a singular noun is omitted in a appositive noun phrase – The book is by Dr. Watson, professor of physic at one of the large university.

·         Only appositive adjectives phrases may be restrictive. Like the others restrictive adjectivals  – adjective clause and participial phrases – such phrases appear only after the noun they modify, with no commas to set them off.

·         All nonrestrictive appositive phrases require commas.

·         Such appositive phrases in final position are often avoided because of the danger of ambiguous reference.

·         The parenthetic nature of the appositive phrase, linked to a noun “subject” in the rest of the sentence only by an implied copula, makes it especially useful for appending details in descriptive and biographic writing.

·         Possible meaning of appositives phrases.

-          Cause

A rich man, he could buy anything he desired.

-          Contras

Concessions      : an enemy of strong powers for the federal government, Jefferson nevertheless pushed these powers to the utmost when he purchased the Louisiana Territory.

Time                  : The desert, by day a blazing inferno, was blessedly cool at nigh. Once calm – tempered and considerate of others, he became eccentric and self – centered in his old age.

Place                  : A tyrant in the office, at home he was kind and gentle.