8 Combining messages 250

Adverbial clauses 251

Time clauses 251

Conditional clauses 254

Purpose clauses 257

Reason clauses 258

Result clauses 258

Concessive clauses 260

Place clauses 261

Clauses of manner 261

Relative clauses 262

Using relative pronouns in defining clauses 263

Using relative pronouns in non-defining clauses 264

Using relative pronouns with prepositions 264

Using 'whose' 265

Using other relative pronouns 265

Additional points about non-defining relative clauses 266

Nominal relative clauses 266

Non-finite clauses 267

Using non-defining clauses 267

Using defining clauses 269

Other structures used like non-finite clauses 269

Coordination 269

Linking clauses 270

Linking verbs 272

Linking noun groups 272

Linking adjectives and adverbs 273

Linking other word groups 274

Emphasizing coordinating conjunctions 275

Linking more than two clauses or word groups 275

Contents of Chapter 9 276

9 Making texts 276

Referring back 276

Referring back in a specific way 277

Referring back in a general way 279

Substituting for something already mentioned: using 'so' and 'not' 280

Comparing with something already mentioned 281

Referring forward 283

Leaving out words: ellipsis 284

Ellipsis in conversation 285

Contents of Chapter 10 287

10 The structure of information 287

Introduction 287

Focusing on the thing affected: the passive voice 288

Selecting focus: cleft sentences 292

Taking the focus off the subject: using impersonal 'it' 293

Describing a place or situation 293

Talking about the weather and the time 294

Commenting on an action, activity, or experience 294

Commenting on a fact that you are about to mention 295

Introducing something new: 'there' as subject 296

Focusing on clauses or clause elements using adjuncts 297

Commenting on your statement: sentence adjuncts 297

Indicating your attitude to what you are saying 298

Stating your field of reference 299

Showing connections: linking adjuncts 300

Indicating a change in a conversation 302

Emphasizing 303

Indicating the most relevant thing: focusing adverbs 303

Other information structures 304

Putting something first: fronting 304

Introducing your statement: prefacing structures 305

Doing by saying: performative verbs 306

Exclamations 306

Making a statement into a question: question tags 307

Addressing people: vocatives 308

Contents of the Reference Section 309

Reference Section 309

Pronunciation guide 309

Forming plurals of count nouns 310

Forming comparative and superlative adjectives 312

The spelling and pronunciation of possessives 314

Numbers 314

Cardinal numbers 314

Ordinal numbers 315

Fractions and percentages 316

Verb forms and the formation of verb groups 316

Finite verb groups and the formation of tenses 322

Non-finite verb groups: infinitives and participles 326

Forming adverbs 327

Forming comparative and superlative adverbs 329

Index 329

1 Referring to people and things

Introduction to the noun group

1.1 At its simplest, we use language to talk about people and things. We do this by using words in a variety of ways, for example to make statements, to ask questions, and to give orders. The words we choose are arranged into groups, either around a noun or around a verb. They are called noun groups and verb groups.

Noun groups tell us which people or things are being talked about. Verb groups tell us what is being said about them, for example what they are doing.

Chapters 1 and 2 of this grammar deal with noun groups. For information about verb groups, see chapter 3.

position in clause 1.2 A noun group can be the subject, object, or complement of a clause. Or the object of a preposition.

Women tend not to have as much money as men.

I couldn't feel anger against him.

They were teachers.

Let us work together in peace.

common nouns and proper nouns 1.3 You can use a noun group to refer to someone or something by naming them. You do this by using a general name, called a noun or common noun, or by using a specific name, called a proper noun.

Proper nouns are mainly used for people, places, and events.

Mary likes strawberries.

I went to Glasgow University and then I went down to London to work for a psychiatrist.

I worked in Woolworths at Christmas one year.

See paragraphs 1.53 to 1.59 for more information about proper nouns.

determiners with common nouns 1.4 If you use a common noun, you are saying that the person or thing you are talking about can be put in a set with others that are similar in some way.

If you just want to say that the person or thing is in that set, you use a general determiner with the common noun.

I met a girl who was a student there.

Have you got any comment to make about that?

There are some diseases that are clearly inherited.

If you want to show which member of a set you are talking about, you use a specific determiner with a common noun.

I put my arm round her shoulders.

... the destruction of their city.

She came in to see me this morning.

See paragraphs 1.161 to 1.236 for more information about determiners, and paragraphs 1.14 to 1.93 for more information about nouns.

personal and demonstrative pronouns 1.5 You may decide not to name the person or thing and to use a pronoun rather than a proper noun or common noun.

You usually do this because the person or thing has already been named, so you refer to them by using a personal pronoun or a demonstrative pronoun.

Reagan's American, isn't he?

'Could I speak to Sue, please?'—'I'm sorry she doesn't work here now.'

I've got two boys, and looking at them I can see a little bit of myself.

This led to widespread criticism.

See paragraphs 1.96 to 1.109 for more information about personal pronouns, and paragraphs 1.123 to 1.126 for more information about demonstrative pronouns.

indefinite pronouns 1.6 You may decide not to name the person or thing at all, for example because you do not want to, you think it is not important, you do not know or you want to be vague or mysterious while telling a story. In such cases you use an indefinite pronoun, which does not refer to any particular person or thing.

I had to say something.

In this country nobody trusts anyone.

A moment later, his heart seemed to stop as he sensed the sudden movement of someone rushing into the hut.

See paragraphs 1.127 to 1.140 for more information about indefinite pronouns.

noun group choice 1.7 In the relation between language and the world, these different types of noun group show a range of choices between a very clear identification of someone or something, and a very clear decision not to identify. The range can be set out as follows, resulting from the choices that have just been explained.

HEADWORD		noun group
	name noun				don't name pronoun
	personalize proper noun	name by association common noun			don't need to personal or demonstrative pronoun	don't want to indefinite pronoun
DETERMINER
	textual association specific determiner		general association general determiner
	identify <------------------------------------------------------> don't identify

modifiers and qualifiers 1.8 If you want to give more information about the person or thing you are talking about, rather than just giving their general or specific name. You can use modifiers and qualifiers.

Anything which you put in front of a noun is called a modifier. Anything which you put after a noun is called a qualifier.

modifiers 1.9 Most adjectives are used as modifiers. Nouns are also often used as modifiers.

...a big city

...blue ink

He opened the car door.

... the oil industry.

See paragraphs 2.2 to 2.173 for more information about adjectives, and paragraphs 2.174 to 2.179 for more information about noun modifiers.

qualifiers 1.10 The use of qualifiers allows us great freedom in expanding the noun group. Qualifiers can be prepositional phrases, relative clauses, adverts of place or time, or 'to'-infinitives.

.. a girl in a dark grey dress.

...the man who employed me.

The room upstairs.

...the desire to kill.

Adjectives and participles are also sometimes used as qualifiers, usually in combination with other words.

...the Minister responsible for national security.

...the three cards lying on the table.

See paragraphs 2.289 to 2.320 for more information about qualifiers.

1.11 In particular, prepositional phrases beginning with 'of' are very common, because they can express many different kinds of relationship between the two noun groups.

...strong feelings of jealousy.

...a picture of a house.

...the destruction of their city.

...the daughter of the village cobbler.

...problems of varying complexity.

...the arrival of the police.

For more information about the use of 'of' in the noun group see paragraphs 2.294 to 2.300.

coordination 1.12 If you want to refer separately to more than one person or thing, of you want to describe them in more than one way. You can link noun groups, modifiers, or qualifiers using the conjunctions 'and', 'or', or 'but'. Sometimes you can use a comma instead of 'and', or just put one word next to another.

...a table and chair.

...his obligations with regard to Amanda, Robert and Matthew.

...some fruit or cheese afterwards.

...her long black skirt.

See paragraphs 8.159 to 8 189 for more information about the use of conjunctions to link noun groups and words within noun groups.

numbers and quantifiers 1.13 If you want to say how many things you are talking about, or how much of something there is, you use numbers and quantifiers.

Last year I worked seven days a week fourteen hours a day.

She drinks lots of coffee.

Numbers are dealt with in paragraphs 2.225 to 2.256, and quantifiers are dealt with in 2.193 to 2.210.