Practice Makes Perfect: Advanced English Grammar for ESL Learners, Second Edition

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Preface

Practice Makes Perfect: Advanced English Grammar for ESL Learners is designed to help advanced-level learners gain control over difficult areas of English grammar. This book is not a systematic treatment of all areas of English grammar. Instead, it deals in depth with selected grammar topics that pose special problems for nonnative speakers. These topics fall into two areas: (1) areas of grammar that are the source of persistent error and (2) areas of grammar that are so complex that even advanced nonnative speakers almost always avoid them.

Examples of the first type of persistent error would be using wrong articles, misusing the present and present progressive tenses, confusing present and past participles of verbs used as adjectives, and using the wrong relative pronoun in adjective clauses.

Examples of the second type of constructions that are avoided because of their complexity would be gerunds and infinitives used as nouns, participial phrases, and wh- infinitive phrases.

Each topic is explained in detail, often going far beyond what would be found in a more general grammar book. My hope is that by fully understanding the technical grammatical issues involved, you will feel much more confident in using these difficult constructions. Each bit of grammatical analysis is supported by a series of practice exercises that will help you gain practical control over the issues covered in the analysis.

New to this second edition, each of the three parts of the book begins with a set of diagnostic exercises. These exercises cover the main topics in each chapter, with answers to all questions given at the end of the exercises. Use any wrong answers to identify topics that you need to pay special attention to.

Advanced

English

Grammar

for ESL Learners

·I·

NOUNS, PRONOUNS, AND NOUN MODIFIERS

Diagnostic exercises 1

These exercises cover the main topics in chapters 1–4; the answers to all questions are given at the end of the exercises. Use any wrong answers to identify topics that you need to pay special attention to.

1

Chapter 1 Noun plurals

Draw a line through the incorrect words or phrases and write the corrected form below the incorrect one. If there is no error, write OK.

It took me three trys to get the program to run.

You can never have enough informations

The company’s gradual accumulations of bad debts led to disaster.

The school is having a fund raiser to buy arts by local artists.

Please write down the ages of all your childrens.

We have to raise more monies.

2

Chapter 2 Possessive nouns and personal pronouns

Draw a line through the incorrect words or phrases and write the corrected form below the incorrect one. If there is no error, write OK.

I couldn’t find my fathers’ new telephone number.

All of the student’s were given new ipads.

In general, womens’ shoes are more expensive than mens’.

Sarahs’ commute is longer than your’s.

Its going to be a nice day for their picnic.

The doctor is concerned about its possible side effects.

I always try to put the key back in it’s place.

Its’ got to be a big problem for them.

This is not my phone. I think I took theirs by mistake.

We cannot meet our deadline with a two months delay.

3

Chapter 3 Articles and quantifiers

Draw a line through the incorrect words or phrases and write the corrected form below the incorrect one. If there is no error, write OK.

We should have some answer by the end of the day.

I don’t think there is some easy way to say this.

Fortunately, there was not some problem installing the new software

The athletic records are made to be broken.

The Asian food often contains a lot of salt.

I’m afraid I have some problem with the assignment.

There was few love lost between them.

4

Chapter 4 Adjectives

Draw a line through the incorrect words or phrases and write the corrected form below the incorrect one. If there is no error, write OK.

We are more busy during the school year.

The police warned of an escaping criminal.

The contract was in the most tiny print I have ever seen.

His story was really touched.

A watching pot never boils.

Breakfast is including in the price of the room.

We got caught in a driving rain storm.

Diagnostic answer key 1

Chapter 1 Noun Plurals

It took me three trys tries to get the program to run.

See Plural of regular nouns, page 11.

You can never have enough informations information.

See Noncount nouns, page 18.

The company’s gradual accumulations accumulation of bad debts debt led to disaster.

See Noncount nouns, page 18.

The school is having a fund raiser to buy arts art by local artists.

See Noncount Nouns, page 18.

Please write down the ages of all your childrens children.

See Irregular plural of English origin, page 14.

We have to raise more monies money.

See Noncount nouns, page 18.

Chapter 2 Possessive nouns and personal pronouns

I couldn’t find my fathers’ father’s new telephone number.

See Possessives of nouns, page 21.

All of the student’s students were given new ipads.

See Possessives of nouns, page 21.

In general, womens’ women’s shoes are more expensive than mens’ men’s.

See Possessives of nouns, page 21.

Sarahs’ Sarah’s commute is longer than your’s yours.

See Possessives of nouns and personal pronouns, page 23.

Its It’s going to be a nice day for their picnic.

See Distinguishing between its and it’s, page 25.

The doctor is concerned about its possible side effects. OK

See Distinguishing between its and it’s, page 25.

I always try to put the key back in it’s its place.

See Distinguishing between its and it’s, page 25.

Its’ It’s got to be a big problem for them.

See Distinguishing between its and it’s, page 25.

This is not my phone. I think I took theirs by mistake. OK

See Possessive pronouns, page 27.

We cannot meet our deadline with a two months month’s delay.

See Measurement, page 31.

Chapter 3 Articles and quantifiers

We should have some an answer by the end of the day.

See Using indefinite articles, page 37.

I don’t think there is somean easy way to say this.

See Using indefinite articles, page 37.

Fortunately, there was not some any problem installing the new software.

See Using indefinite articles, page 37.

The athletic records are made to be broken.

See Making categorical statements without any articles, page 43.

The Asian food often contains a lot of salt.

See Making categorical statements without any articles, page 43.

I’m afraid I have some a problem with the assignment.

See Using indefinite articles, page 37.

There was few little love lost between them.

See Using few and little, page 48.

Chapter 4 Adjectives

We are more busy busier during the school year.

See Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives, page 53.

The police warned of an escaping escaped criminal.

See Deriving adjectives from verb participles, page 57.

The contract was in the most tiny tiniest print I have ever seen.

See Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives, page 53.

His story was really touched touching.

See Deriving adjectives from verb participles, page 57.

A watching watched pot never boils.

See Deriving adjectives from verb participles, page 57.

Breakfast is including included in the price of the room.

See Deriving adjectives from verb participles, page 57.

We got caught in a driving rain storm. OK

See Deriving adjectives from verb participles, page 57.

·1·

Noun plurals

This chapter deals with three topics: (1) the spelling and pronunciation of the regular plural, (2) irregular plurals of English and Latin origin, and (3) noncount nouns, an important group of nouns that are always singular in form but not in meaning.

The spelling and pronunciations of regular nouns

Spelling

Most regular nouns form their plural spelling by adding -s to the singular form. For example:

If the regular plural is pronounced as a separate syllable rhyming with fizz, the regular plural is spelled -es. For example:

There is a special spelling rule for the plural of words that end in a consonant + y: change the y to i and add -es. For example:

However, if the y follows a vowel, the y is part of the spelling of the vowel and cannot be changed. For example:

EXERCISE

1·1

Write the correct form of the plural in the second column. The first question is done as an example.

Pronunciation

z/ (rhymes with fizz). Which one we use is totally governed by the sound that immediately precedes it according to the following three rules:

If the singular noun ends in a voiceless consonant sound (except a voiceless sibilant sound like the s in bus or sh in wish), then the plural is formed with the voiceless sibilant /s/. The voiceless consonants are spelled p (stop); t (hat); c (comic); ck (clock); k (lake); f (cliff); gh (if pronounced as an /f/ sound as in cough); and th (if voiceless like path).

If the singular noun ends in a vowel sound or a voiced consonant sound (except a voiced sibilant sound like in fuzz), then the plural is formed with the voiced sibilant /z/. The voiced consonants are spelled b (tube); d (road); g (fog), dge (hedge); ve (wave), l (bell); m (home); n (tune); and ng (ring).

z/ rhyming with buzz. The most common sibilant consonants are spelled ce (face); s (bus); sh (dish); tch (watch); ge (page); z (blaze); se (nose).

EXERCISE

1·2

Write the correct form of the plural in the correct column. (Hint: Say the words out loud. If you whisper or say them to yourself, voiced sounds will be automatically de-voiced so they will sound the same as voiceless sounds.) The first question is done as an example.

Irregular plurals of English and Latin origin

English origin

Not surprisingly, most irregular plurals are of English origin. Three different types of plurals retain archaic patterns of forming plurals that were common in older forms of English. Seven nouns form their plurals by a vowel change alone:

Note: In addition to the usual plural form feet, the noun foot has a second plural form foot. We use this plural to refer to length or measurements. For example:

We need a ten-foot ladder.

Harry is now six foot four inches tall.

A small number of nouns that refer to fish and animals retain an old zero-form plural that makes plural nouns look just like singular nouns. For example:

Since the singular and plural forms of these nouns are identical, the actual number of the noun can only be determined by subject-verb agreement or by the use of articles. For example:

Three nouns retain the plural ending -en that in Old English was standard for regular nouns:

Note: Brethren is used only for members of a religious order or congregation of men. The more commonly used plural is brothers.

Finally there is a fourth group of irregular plurals that reflects a phonological rule in Old English. In Old English, the letter f had two completely predictable pronunciations: /f/ at the beginning and ends of words, and /v/ in the middle of words. We can still see today this alternation between /f/ and /v/ in the singular and plural of most native English words that end in -f: the f changes to v (reflecting the pronunciation) when we add the -es plural ending and put the f in the middle of the word. For example:

EXERCISE

1·3

Write the correct form of the plural in the second column. The first question is done as an example.

Latin plurals

Beginning in the Renaissance, English adopted thousands of words directly from classical Latin. Often the original Latin forms of the plural were also borrowed. While the irregularity of Latin grammar is astonishing, there are two patterns of forming the plural of Latin nouns that are common enough to be well worth knowing:

Plurals of Latin nouns ending in -us. The plurals of these nouns typically end in -i. For example:

Plurals of Latin nouns that end in -um. The plurals of these nouns typically end in -a. For example:

Note: The Latin plural data is used in formal academic