Concise summary of English grammar through Dutch Eyes with all the important information, without all the anecdotes of Foster, Smakman et al in between.
Chapter 1: Nouns
Proper nouns: refer to names of persons/places. Written with initial capital letter.
Common nouns: refer to all nouns that aren’t names. Not written with initial capital letter. Common
nouns can be divided into concrete nouns and abstract nouns. Concrete nouns refer to physical
objects, persons and animals. Abstract nouns refer to things that aren’t tangible or concrete.
Uncountable nouns don’t have a plural, can’t be preceded by a/an. Countable nouns do have a
plural, can be preceded by a/an. Plural only nouns only exist in the plural form. These are often
clothes, appliances and tool consisting of two parts. They can’t be preceded by a/an and are followed
by a plural finite verb. There are also nouns that look like a plural but that are singular, like politics.
They are followed by a singular finite verb. The rule that the number of the subject dictates the
number of the corresponding finite verb is called concord or subject-verb agreement. Nouns that
refer to a group of people or things can be followed by either a singular or a plural finite verb. Noun
phrases typically combine with a determiner, adjective, prepositional phrase or an entire clause. You
can substitute the entire noun phrase to find out what it consists of. Noun phrases can be linked by
means of correlatives or paired conjunctions. When the correlative is conjunctive (additive), the
following finite verb is always plural. When the correlative is disjunctive (alternative), the number of
the following finite verb is determined by the last element. The gerund, -ing form, is a verb turned
into a noun. It’s used to express actions in progress, a repeated phenomenon.
Chapter 2: Pronouns
A person or object mentioned earlier, the antecedent, can be referred to by other word or phrase,
the anaphor. The anaphor can be a pronoun. Pronouns are words that can replace or take over the
function of an entire noun phrase. Pronouns differ according to their function in a sentence. It-cleft:
a sentence in which the subject is replaced by it and the actual subject is postponed to the subject-
complement position. A reflexive pronoun is a word that puts extra emphasis on a noun phrase that
is the subject of a clause. Reflexive pronouns modify the subject, therefore there has to be
agreement between the number and person of the subject and of the reflexive pronoun. In English
this is the distinction between -self and -selves. Combinations of verbs with reflexive pronouns are
called reflexive verbs. The reciprocal pronoun refers to two different persons in a sentence who
perform the exact same action. When this action concerns two persons, each other or one another is
used. When the action concerns more than two persons, one another is used. Demonstrative
pronouns are words that point to things. They replace a noun phrase when the speaker wants to
indicate that something is near, proximal, or distant, distal. Interrogative pronouns are used to
introduce open-ended questions as opposed to yes-no questions. Which is more specific than what.
The possessive interrogative pronouns no longer exist in Dutch.
Chapter 3: Determiners
Determiners are grammatical words that give information about whether the noun that they
precede is familiar to the speaker or hearer (definiteness) and about the quantity of the noun.
Articles have two categories: the definite article: the, and the indefinite article: a or an. Whether it’s
a or an depends on the pronunciation of a word, not the spelling. Nouns don’t always seem to be
preceded by an article, this means there is an empty determiner. Demonstrative determiners are
the same as demonstrative pronouns but they modify noun phrases instead of replacing them.
Quantifiers are also a sort of determiner. Many can only be used before a countable noun, much is
used for uncountable nouns. Some can only be used in an affirmative sentence, while any can only be
used in negative or interrogative ones. Few is used for countable nouns, while little is used for
uncountable nouns. Distributive determiners are words and phrases that are used to make
statements about groups of persons or objects, or their members. When referring to the entire
, group: all. When contrasting to some: all of. For singular countable nouns there is an alternative for
all: the whole, the entire. Distributive determiners can combine with other determiners. Half is used
for uncountable nouns, half of the is used for countable nouns. When two things are the same we
use both, when they have nothing in common we use the two. We use all when we’re referring to a
group and we’re not interested in the members that make up that group. We use every when we’re
referring to three or more members of a group collectively. We use each when we’re interested in
referring to every single member of a group.
Chapter 4: Possessives
Possessives are possessive determiners. They indicate a relationship between the possessor and a
noun in possession. Possessive <s>. It’s better to avoid this construction if the possessor is not a
person or an animate being. The x of y construction for persons or animate beings is odd. If you’re
referring to a specific possession, it’s best to use a double genitive, a combination of <s> and x of y.
possessive determiners look much like adjectives in that they give information about who possesses
the noun (my, your). Possessive pronouns however, don’t look like adjectives. They don’t follow the
noun, they replace it (mine, yours). The possessive reciprocal determiner (each other’s) can take the
place of the regular possessive determiner but it’s use is similar to the regular reciprocal pronoun.
Chapter 5: Adjectivals
Adjectivals are words and phrases that allow us to give information about a quality of a noun, what
that noun is made of, what properties it has, or what condition it’s in. in addition, a small group of
adjectivals denote relationships between nouns. Adjectives are only one of the shapes that an
adjectival can take. In addition to adjectives, there are also adjective phrases which can be [adjective
+ preposition], preposition phrases, or relative clauses. Adjectives located immediately before or
after the noun or pronoun that they modify are called attributive. Adjectives that are separated from
the noun phrase by a copula are called predicative. Adjectives which seem to occur as an absolute
“either-is-or-isn’t” are called non-gradable adjectives. Other adjectives can vary in size, extent, or
degree and we call there gradable adjectives. Comparison is difficult with non-gradable adjectives,
you’d need to use a construction like both…and. Gradable adjectives have a comparative grade to
express that one noun or set of nouns has more of the quality denoted by the adjective than another
noun. They also have superlative grades if one noun or set of nouns possesses more of that quality
than any other. The base adjective is called the positive grade. It’s word length that determines
whether an adjective is inflected or whether <r>/<er> and <st>/<est> are used. One-syllable
adjectives are inflected, while adjectives with more than two syllables are preceded by more and
most. There are some exceptions to this rule (p.64). Determiners and adjectives can be stacked
before a noun. This is the order in which they occur: value size age/temperature shape
colour origin substance. For example: expensive large old square blue French wooden tables.
Chapter 6: Prepositions
Prepositions are single words (simple prepositions) or groups of words (complex prepositions) that
link a noun or noun phrase or pronoun to some other part of the sentence. They express the spatial,
directional, temporal or logical relationship of their object to the rest of the sentence. Lists of tricky
prepositions can be found in the chapter.
Chapter 7: Verbs
- State verbs: refer to a permanent and unchanging situation. To love, to live, to own.
- Achievement verbs: refer to a change from one state to another. To find, to see, to realize.
- Accomplishment verbs: refer to a process that may or may not lead to an endpoint. To draw, to
boil, to sink.
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