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miércoles, 20 de julio de 2011

GRAMMAR: CAUSATIVES

Causatives

Introduction

The causative is a common structure in English. It is used when one thing or person causes another thing or person to do something. This page will explain how causatives are formed, and how to use them.

Basic causative structures

There are two basic causative structures. One is like an active, and the other is like a passive. These examples use the causative verb "have":

I had John fix the car.

(I arranged for the car to be fixed by John -- I caused him to fix it.)

I had the car fixed.

(I arranged for the car to be fixed by someone. We don't know who, so this is like a passive.)

The active causative structure

This is the basic structure of the active form, along with some more examples:

Subject	Causative verb	Agent	Action verb	Object
Susan	had	her brother	do	her homework.
The police	had	the suspect	stop	his car.
We	had	the carpenter	fix	our window.

The passive causative structure

In the passive form, there is usually no agent. The action verb is in the past participle, and the object comes before it:

Subject	Causative verb	Object	Action verb
We	had	our door	fixed.
Yukiko	had	her hair	cut.
Sanjay	had	the windows	cleaned.

Other causative verbs

All the examples above use the causative verb "have". However, many other verbs can be used in causatives. In the active form, som of these verbs require the action verb to have "to" before it. These are some examples of the most common causative verbs.

Verb	Meaning	Form of Action Verb	Examples
make	force, compel	plain form	The robbers made us lie on the floor. [No passive form]
get	same as "have"	"to" form	I got Jae Won to pick me up in the car. She got her hair cut.
let	allow	plain form	I'll let you borrow my bike. [No passive form]

martes, 19 de julio de 2011

GRAMMAR: REPORTED SPEECH

Reported Speech

Introduction

When reporting what someone said, we have to pay careful attention to our verb tenses. Generally, reported speech is introduced by the verb say (Other reporting verbs include tell, mention, inform). The verb is used in the past tense, said, which indicates that something was spoken in the past. For example:

“she said”, “he said”, “they said”

The main verb in the reported speech sentence is also in the past tense. In a sentence where the main verb is already in the past tense, then the verb changes to another past tense verb as it is moving further into the past.
Usually, the tense in reported speech is one tense back in time from the tense in direct speech. However, often if the speaker is reporting something soon after it has been said, there is no change in the verb tense. This is also true if the reported statement is a general truth. For example:

“The capital of Canada is Ottawa.” → Byron said that the capital of Canada is Ottawa.

Remember that in reported speech, there are no quotation marks.

Quoted Speech (What the person actually said)	Reported Speech
Mark said, “I am thirsty.”	Mark said (that) he was thirsty. (Note: The use of that is optional)

Verbs usually change to the past in reported speech because we are talking about the past. For example:

Quoted Speech (What the person actually said)	Reported Speech
Am/is	was
Are	were
Have/has	had
Can	could
Do/want/know	did/wanted/knew
Will	would

In reported speech, the simple past (I did) often stays the same or it changes to the past perfect (I had done).
Examples of Verb Changes in Reported Speech

Quoted Speech (What the person actually said)	Reported Speech
Simple Present: “I love tea”, she said.	Simple Past: She said (that) she loved tea.
Present Continuous: “I am studying French”, he said.	Past Continuous: He said (that) he was studying French.
Simple Past: “Mike arrived on Sunday”, Gayle said	Past Perfect: Gayle said (that) Mike (had) arrived on Sunday.
Present Perfect: “I have been to Russia”, she said.	Past Perfect: She said (that) she had been to Russia.
Past Perfect: “I had just finished my homework”, Kendall told me.	Past Perfect: Kendall told me (that) she had just finished her homework.
Present Perfect Continuous: “We have been waiting for 3 hours.”	Past Perfect Continuous: They mentioned (that) they had been waiting for 3 hours
Past Continuous: “We were living in San Diego.”	Past Perfect Continuous: They told us (that) they had been living in San Diego.
Future with Will: She said, “We will be in Vancouver next year.”	Would: She informed me (that) they would be in Vancouver next year.
Future with Be going to: He said, “I am going to marry her next spring.”	Past Continuous: He said (that) he was going to marry her next spring.

Continue with the exercises

GRAMMAR: COMPARATIVES AND SUPERLATIVES

Comparatives and Superlatives

Introduction

Comparatives and Superlatives are special forms of adjectives. They are used to compare two or more things. Generally, comparatives are formed using -er and superlatives are formed using -est. This page will explain the rules for forming regular comparatives and superlatives, and also show some basic ways of using them.

1. Forming comparatives and superlatives

How these forms are created depends on how many syllables there are in the adjective. Syllables are like “sound beats”. For instance, “sing” contains one syllable, but “singing” contains two — sing and ing. Here are the rules:

Adjective form	Comparative	Superlative
Only one syllable, ending in E. Examples: wide, fine, cute	Add -r: wider, finer, cuter	Add -st: widest, finest, cutest
Only one syllable, with one vowel and one consonant at the end. Examples: hot, big, fat	Double the consonant, and add -er: hotter, bigger, fatter	Double the consonant, and add -est: hottest, biggest, fattest
Only one syllable, with more than one vowel or more than one consonant at the end. Examples: light, neat, fast	Add -er: lighter, neater, faster	Add -est: lightest, neatest, fastest
Two syllables, ending in Y. Examples: happy, silly, lonely	Change y to i, then add -er: happier, sillier, lonelier	Change y to i, then add -est: happiest, silliest, loneliest
Two syllables or more, not ending in Y. Examples: modern, interesting, beautiful	Use “more” before the adjective: more modern, more interesting, more beautiful	Use “most” before the adjective: most modern, most interesting, most beautiful

2. How to use comparatives and superlatives

Comparatives	Comparatives are used to compare two things. You can use sentences with “than”, or you can use a conjunction like “but”. Jiro is taller than Yukio. Yukio is tall, but Jiro is taller.
Superlatives	Superlatives are used to compare more than two things. Superlative sentences usually use “the”, because there is only one superlative. Masami is the tallest in the class. Yukio is tall, and Jiro is taller, but Masami is the tallest.