English grammar for university students. Part 1. Учебное пособие

SELF ASSESSMENT TEST

Insert a, an, the or no article

1. I need __________sugar for this dish, but we're out. 2. Is that ____"U" or ___"A"? I can't understand it. 3. He is from____ Asian country, but I don't know which one. 4. I really liked___ DVD you gave me yesterday. 5. Do you know ____name of her scent? 6. This university has ____great tutors. 7. What's ___ longest river in___ world? Is it ___Mississippi or ___Volga? I'm terrible at ___geography. 8. In 1824, Louis Braille developed ___system of writing for ___blind. Quickly, ___ system, known as "Braille" after___ inventor, spread to dozens of ___countries. 9. Because she did not speak ___English language, Ann had ___little chance of promotion in her career, so she applied for ___year-long course at ___Oxford University. 10. Nathan loves islands. He has been to ___Jamaica, ____Majorca, ___, and ___Maldives. And ___next year, he wants to go to ___Bali. 11. Mary always says that sincerity is

___virtue, but she is ___least frank person I've ever met. Don't you think that's

___little ironic? 12. Every year, ___Smiths go camping in ___Yellowstone National Park. 13. We spent the whole day today at ___Riviera Beach, and then we had dinner at ___little restaurant on___. We decided to go to Disneyland tomorrow, and ____day after tomorrow, we are going to ___Rocky Mountains.14. ___cheese is getting so expensive! Look, that cheese costs more than $40___pound.

Литература

1.Бармина Л.А., Верховская И.П. Практикум по английскому языку. Артикли. – 2-е изд. – М.:Астрель. – 2000.

2.Ионина А.А., Саакян А.С.How articles work in English. М.: Айриспресс, 2002.

3.Alexander L.G. Longman English grammar. London, New-York:

Longman, 1990.

4.Грамматика английского языка: пособие для студ. пед. институтов

иун-

тов / В.Л.Каушанская, Р.Л. Ковнер и др.. - 5-е изд., испр. и доп.- Москва: Айрис-пресс, 2009.

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MODULE 3

THE ADJECTIVE

The adjective is a word expressing a quality of a substance. Adjectives can give us information about size (a big car), age (a young man), shape (a round table), colour (blue eyes).

Adjectives are divided into simple (good, red, bad), derived (beautiful, hopeless) and compound (snow-white, cold-hearted).

Most adjectives have degrees of comparison: the comparative degree and the superlative degree.

The comparative degree denotes a higher degree of a quality.

She is taller than her brother.

The superlative degree denotes the highest degree of a quality.

She is the tallest of the three sisters.

(The noun modified by an adjective in the superlative degree is used with the definite article).

Adjectives form their degrees of comparison in the following way:

a)by the inflexion –er/-est (synthetical way);

b)by placing more and most before the adjective (analytical way). Monosyllabic adjectives and two-syllabic adjectives ending in -y form their

comparatives and superlatives in the first way: cold - colder, coldest; hard - harder, hardest; high - higher, highest; low - lower, lowest; happy - happier – happiest; shy-shyer-shyest, dry-drier-driest, tidy-tidier-tidiest.

Polysyllabic adjectives form their comparatives and superlatives in the second way: expressive - more expressive - most expressive; pleasant - more pleasant - most pleasant; careful - more careful - most careful.

Some adjectives can form their comparatives and superlatives either with – er/-est or with more/ most. They are: clever, common, gentle, handsome, consise, narrow, quiet, shallow, simple, etc.

simple - simpler – simplest or simple-more simple-most simple

Some adjectives have irregular forms of degrees of comparison:

good - better – best; bad - worse – worst; many/much - more – most; little - less – least; far - farther /further – farthest/furthest;

old – older/elder – oldest/eldest; late - later – latest/last; near - nearer – nearest/next.

The adjectives have the following syntactical characteristics, i.e. can perform the following functions in the sentence:

-an attribute – A little girl came up to me.

-a predicative - She was very tall.

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THE ADJECTIVE. EXERCISES.

Ex. 1. Divide the adjectives into monosyllabic, disyllabic, and polysyllabic.

Short, comfortable, expensive, happy, nice, deep, few, narrow, large, complicated, good, broad, thin, fine, merry, huge, young, lucky, beautiful.

Ex. 2. Form the comparative and superlative degrees of disyllabic adjectives.

Simple, narrow, pretty, horrible, noisy, tasty, bitter, happy, boring, stupid, silly, heavy, famous.

Ex. 3. Make sentences using the comparative and superlative forms of the following adjectives.

Pattern 1: My brother is taller than I am.

shy, great, soft, hot, dry, sly, thin, dull, few, brave, sad, wet

Pattern 2: Her dress is more beautiful than mine.

disgusting, picturesque, difficult, energetic, thoughtful, delightful, suspicious

Pattern 3: This story is happier than that one.

funny, simple, polite, terrible, clever, slender, usual, urgent

Pattern 4: His essay is worse than mine. good, many, little, far, old, late, near

Ex. 4. Compare the size or quality of the objects.

Rostov – Moscow, your flat – your friend’s flat, Mike – David, a thriller – a comedy, Ben Nevis – Elbrus, winter – summer, the weather in September – the weather in June, the Sun – the Moon, Russia – Great Britain, a car – a plane.

Ex. 5. Use the following phrases in the comparative and superlative degree and make up sentences with them.

A clever trick, a far corner, an unfortunate loss, a small room, a tender kiss, an exact copy, a bitter quarrel, a funny face, a slim young lady, a happy smile, a miserable sight, an able woman, a magnificent view, a useful hint, a bad idea, a nasty accident, a good suggestion, a stupid boy.

Ex. 6. Choose the right word.

1. He is the ... man in the village (oldest, eldest). 2. Where is the ... letterbox (next, nearest)? 3. Have you already heard the ... news (late, latest). 4. What is the ... distance you’ve swum (farthest, furthest)? 5. Let me know if

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you hear any ... news (further, farther). 6. He did very badly in the exam ...

than expected (worse, the worst). 7. My sister is ... than me (elder, older).

Ways to compare things

as ... as

You are as tall as I am

not as/so ... as, less ... than

You are not as tall as I am

... than ... ...

You are taller than I am

Ex. 7. Compare equal objects.

Pattern: This boy is as clever as that one. This room is as large as that one. This news (important); this family (friendly); this task (easy); that picture

(famous); this actor (talented); that plot (dull); that game (energetic); that school (good); that cake (delicious); this book (useful).

Ex. 8. Compare unequal things.

Pattern: This book is more interesting than that one. – That book is not as interesting as this one. That book is less interesting than this one.

This girl (beautiful); this house (comfortable); this rout (dangerous); this dress (expensive); this movie (boring); that exercise (difficult); that student (clever); that voice (soft); that landscape (picturesque); that team (active).

Ex. 9. Respond to the following statements using the patterns.

Patterns: She speaks English fluently. – My sister speaks it more fluently than she.

1. Her apple pies are always tasty. 2. His idea sounds reasonable. 3. Kelly wears her clothes carefully. 4. Her son rides a bicycle carelessly. 5. His smile is charming. 6. Her father works hard and much. 7. The meat smells delicious. 8. My brother cuts his hair short. 9. Alice is happy at her boarding school. 10. I often see fantastic dreams. 11. Harris gave a brilliant idea. 12. St. Petersburg is a large city. 13. Their parents are noisy. 14. I think her voice is so monotonous. 15. Chinese is a difficult language.

Ex. 10. Put in the right form of the adjective.

1. I am ... than my sister. 2. His grandmother is ... than mine. 3. She is not as ... as Mary. 4. Max is ... of the family. 5. Gretchen is ... than Pam. 6. Abby’s hair is ... and ... than Ann’s. 7. My little sister is ... girl that I know. 8. Mike is

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... of them all. 9. This coffee is very weak. I like it a bit ... 10. Your work isn’t very good. I am sure you can do ... 11. The hotel was surprisingly cheap. I expected it to be ... 12. My job is a bit boring sometimes. I’d like to do something ...

The order of adjectives

opinion + size + age + shape + colour + origin + material + purpose a tall young Russian man

a beautiful small golden wedding ring

Ex. 11. Put the adjectives in the correct position:

A beautiful table (wooden/round); an old house (nice brick); an American film (old); a long face (thin); big clouds (black); a sunny day (lovely); a wide avenue (long); a red car (old/little); a metal box (black/small); an old painting (interesting French); an enormous umbrella (red ugly); a big cat (fat/black).

Ex. 12. Work in groups. Talk about different activities, like swimming, singing, or English. Find out who does each of them best.

Pattern: I’m a faster swimmer than Brian, but he is better at singing than I am. Also his English isn’t as fluent as mine.

Ex. 13. Answer the questions.

1. Which is bigger, the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean? 2. Who lived longer, Elvis Presley or Mozart? 3. Which is more fattening, flour or sugar? 4. Which is bigger, Los Angeles or San Francisco? 5. Who drink more alcohol, the British or the French? 6. Which is higher, Mount Fuji or Mount Kilimanjaro? 7. Which is bigger, China or Russia? 8. Which is nearer to the earth, the moon or the sun? 9. Which is warmer, the Mediterranean or the North Sea? 10. Who is older, Prince Charles or Elizabeth II? 11. What is the most common spoken first language in the world?

Ex. 14. Make sentences about these places. For each one, use a different model.

Pattern: Indian food is spicier than Spanish food. Spain isn’t as expensive as Switzerland.

Rome, New York, Paris, Brazil, Spain, India, Britain, Tokyo, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, the USA, Russia.

Ex. 15. Make up a dialogue to compare the following things in your country with another country you know: food, traffic, weather, countryside, people, shops, buildings.

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Ex. 16. Using the words complete the following to make idiomatic comparisons. Think of some as....as expressions from Russian.

a button, a post, nails, the hills, gold, a peacock, toast, a sheet, sin

1. as warm as... 2. as white as ...3. as bright as... 4. as deaf as ... 5. as proud as ... 6. as hard as ... 7. as good as ... 8. as old as ...

Ex. 17. Choose the right variant.

1. Martin was the (talentedest/more talented/most talented) of the two brothers. 2. Of the three shirts I like the blue one (better/best). 3. My dog is the (prettyer/prettiest/prettier/prettiest) of the two. 4. This summary is the (better/best) of the two presented. 5. There are nine planets in our solar system and Pluto is the (furthest/further/farther/farthest). 6. Mary is the (most tall/talest/tallest/taller) of the three girls. 7. The boss likes my plan the (goodest/better/best) of the two. 8. This is the (less difficult/least difficult/last difficult) of the four cases. 9. This knife is the (most sharp/more sharp/sharpest/sharper) of the two. 10. Mother was the (beautifulest/beautifuler/more beautiful/most beautiful) of seven daughters. 11. It’s the (biggest/bigger/biger/bigest) fish I have ever seen. 12. Today it is (hotter/hoter/hottest/hottest) than it was yesterday. 13. You have made (fewer/less/more few/more little) mistakes in the last dictation. 14. This cottage is the (more modern/most modern/moderner/modernest) in our street. 15. I’m getting (more and more fat/fatter and fatter/fater and fater).

SELF-ASSESSEMENT TEST

1. Match the adjectives with their definitions

1)further; 2) farther; 3) last; 4) latter; 5) elder; 6) nearer; 7) next; 8) least;

9)later; 10) worst.

a) after some time; b) the second of two things or persons already mentioned; c) the smallest; d) coming immediately after, in space or in order; e) additional; f) at a greater distance; g) least good; h) coming after all others in time or order; i) senior of members of the family; j) closer.

2. Tick which adjectives are in the right order.

1. A green little bottle ___ 2. Dancing leather shoes ___ 3. A political old idea ___ 4. The latest educational reform ___ 5. A cool lovely drink ___

6. Green beautiful mountains ___ 7. That fat silly cat ___ 8. Nice two girls ___

9. A small silver coin ___ 10. A tall young man ___

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Литература

1.Грамматика английского языка: пособие для студ. пед. институтов и ун-тов / В.Л.Каушанская, Р.Л. Ковнер и др.. - 5-е изд., испр. и доп.- Москва: Айрис-пресс, 2009.

2.Murphy R. English Grammar in Use. A reference and practice book

for intermediate students of English. Cambridge University Press, 2012.

3. Ионина А.А., Саакян А.С. Английская грамматика: теория и практика. 2-е изд. испр. — М.: Рольф, 2001.

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MODULE4

THE PRONOUN

Definition: the pronoun is a part of speech which points out objects and qualities without naming them. The pronouns fall into the following groups:

1.personal – I, he, she, it, we, you, they;

2.possessive – my, his, her, its, our, your, their; mine, his, hers, its, ours,

yours, theirs;

3.reflexive – myself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourself/yourselves, themselves;

4.reciprocal - each other, one another;

5.demonstrative- this/these, that/those, such, same;

6.interrogative – who, whose, what, which;

7.relative – who, whose, which, that, as;

8.conjunctive – who, whose, which, what;

9.defining - each, every, everybody, everyone, everything, all, either, both,

other, another;

10.indefinite - some, any, somebody, anybody, one, something, anything, someone, anyone;

11.negative – no, none, neither, nobody, no one, nothing

(Каушанская,2009,52).

Personal Pronouns

1. The personal pronouns are: I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they.

The personal pronouns have the grammatical categories of person, number, case and gender (in the third person singular). The personal pronouns have two cases:

the nominative case (I, you, he, she, it, we, they) and the objective case (me, you, him, her, it, us, them).

They have two numbers: singular (I, he, she, it) and plural (we, they).

The pronouns of the third person singular distinguish gender: male beings (father, brother, boy) are referred to as he (masculine gender), female beings (mother, girl) are referred to as she (feminine gender). It – is a neuter gender.

2. Personal pronouns have different functions in the sentence: subject: I came at 5.;

object: I met her at the station; predicative: It’s me.

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Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns have the grammatical categories of person, number and gender. Possessive pronouns have two forms:

the dependent (conjoint) form - my, your, his, her, its, our, their;

the independent (absolute) form - mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs. The conjoint form is used when the possessive pronoun comes before the

noun it modifies. In the sentence it is used only as an attribute: It was her bag. The Absolute form is used when the possessive pronoun does not modify

any noun. The Absolute form of the pronoun can perform the following functions in a sentence:

Subject: Your sister will come at 6 o'clock. Mine will not come at all. Predicative: Whose pen is it? - It is mine.

Object: Your coat is wet. Take mine.

Attribute (only with a preposition): She is an old friend of mine. Adverbial modifier: Your answer is better than mine.

Demonstrative Pronouns

The demonstrative pronouns are - this, that, such, (the) same.

The demonstrative pronouns this and that have two numbers: this-these; that-those. This is used to point at what is nearer in time or space. (This boy is my brother). That is used to point at what is farther away in time or space. (I like that poster.) This and that may be applied both to persons and things. (This book, this girl ...)

The pronouns this and that are used as: Subject: That is all right.

Predicative: The only dress I have is that I bought two days ago. Object: Do that again.

Attribute: That girl is her sister.

The pronoun that/those may be used as a word-substitute: Her sleep was like that of a child.

The pronoun same is always used with the definite article: the same price. It usually performs the functions of:

Subject: The same must not happen again.

Predicative: I am not the same.

Object: Do the same.

Attribute: They stayed at the same hotel.

The pronoun such means “of this kind”. It is used as: Subject: If such lives in this town I can't stay here.

Predicative: Her love to this man was such that nobody could understand it. Attribute: Such nice people will come!

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Indefinite Pronouns

Indefinite pronouns point out some person or thing indefinitely. They are: some, any, somebody, someone, anybody, anyone, something, anything, one.

The pronouns: somebody, anybody, someone, anyone have two cases: the common and the genitive.

Some, somebody, something, someone are chiefly used in affirmative sentences, while any and its compounds are used in negative and interrogative sentences and in conditional clauses:

There are some books on the table. Are there any...? There aren't any books...

But some, not any is used in questions expressing request or proposal:

Would you like some water?

Any and its compounds may be used in affirmative sentences in the meaning of "every":

You may take any book you like. Anybody can see it.

The indefinite pronouns some and any may be used as: Subject: Some are wise;

Object: May I take some?

Attribute: Some people are early risers.

Someone, somebody, something and anyone, anybody, anything may be used as:

Subject: Someone was playing the piano. (When used as the subject they require a verb in the singular.)

Predicative: What she likes is something connected to art. Object: Tell me something about it.

When used with a preposition somebody, something, anybody, anything may be used as prepositional indirect object:

It doesn't belong to anybody.

In the genitive case somebody, someone, anybody, anyone can be used as an attribute: I saw that my bag was in somebody's hands.

The indefinite pronoun one may be used:

a)in the general sense: One must be careful when driving a car.

b)in the genitive case: It's a pity to spend one's life in the same place.

c)as a word-substitute: Where are the children? My little ones are here.

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