| VOCABULARY | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nouns | Adjectives | ||||
| country | early -- late | ||||
| family |   |
||||
| food | |||||
| meal | |||||
| meat | |||||
| place | |||||
| plate | |||||
| town | |||||
| work | |||||
| Structure Words | |||||
| be | out | ||||
| do | some | ||||
| have | but | ||||
| make | or | ||||
| may | when | ||||
| will | where | ||||
| before -- after | while | ||||
| for | |||||
STRUCTURE
1 . Nouns- PLURAL FORMS
All nouns ending in y after a consonant change the y to ie before the s of the plural.
- family -- families
NAMES OF SUBSTANCES ETC.
Up to this point, the nouns we have introduced have all been names that are applied to individual things of the same sort, which may be called "countables" (pot, drawer, flag, etc.). We come now to nouns of a different sort, that is, to nouns naming substances, of which separate examples are looked on as portions, not countables. Therefore, a, which has the sense of 'one',' is only used before the name of a substance in the sense 'a sort of,' an, correspondingly, the name of a substance may be used in the plural only in the sense 'sorts of.'
- This is a food.
These are foods.
When talking of a substance in general, we are the noun without any special word in front of it.
- Meat is not black.
When talking of an indefinite amount of a substance, the noun may similarly be used alone.
- I put food on the table..
The used before the name of a substance indicates 'this particular amount of it which we are talking about.'
- The food is on the table.
Nouns naming qualities, conditions, activities (though not single acts), and so on come under the same rules as names of substances.
- I will get work in the town.
NOTE . Country, in its root sense, is not treated as the name of a countable. but, unlike substance words, country in this sense is never used in the plural and never used unqualified. If not qualified in any other way, it requires the.
- I go to the country in a train.
2 . Adjectives
Some is another non-descriptive adjective. It is an adjective indicating an indefinite amount or an indefinite number greater than one.1 It is used before singular nouns naming substance etc. and before plural nouns naming countables or 'sorts.' It is never preceded by the or by a pointing or possessive adjective.
- He puts some food on the table..
He gives some flowers to the woman.
Some is also used as a pronoun, with the sense 'an indefinite numbed or amount of (wherever we are talking about).'
- The food is in the pot. She puts some on her plate.
The seats are against the wall. I take some to the table.
Some (and any of the other pronouns indicating quantity to which we shall be coming later) may be linked by of to the name of the thing or things to which it refers, provided this names a particular thing, or group and, if a noun, is therefore preceded by the or a pointing or possessive adjective.
- Some of the meat is here.
Some of the these are full.
She put some of it on her plate.
1 . For limitations on the use of some, see any (Step 15).
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3 . Pronouns
Turn to the Table on Page 3 and learn the plural forms of the Third Person.
| { men | } | |
| The | { women | } are in the room. |
| { man and the woman | } | |
| I take some food to them. | ||
| They put the food on their plates and take them to the table. | ||
| Some cushions are on the seat. Their covers are black. | ||
4 . Operators
| Root Form | Past | Present | Future |
| DO | DID | DO but He etc. DOES | WILL DO |
| HAVE | HAD | HAVE He etc. HAS | WILL HAVE |
| MAKE | MADE | MAKE but He etc MAKES | WILL MAKE |
Do is not the name of any particular act. We do something when we perform any action.
Special attention will have to be given to the words which may be used as objects of do, for these have been largely fixed by usage and cannot be discovered by the simple exercise of common sense. Not all names of acts or activities can be so used.
- I do this and you do that.
I do work in the country and he does work in a town.
We have things which are a part of us, and things of which we are the owners or which are in our possession, and things which are ours in some looser way.
- The box has a back and a front and sides.
They have a house in the town.
The man by the train has a flag.
I have a friend.
An important use is in describing a person or thing as accompanied by, or wearing, or carrying, or having attached to it, some other thing. In this case, the precise relation often has to be specified by a preposition etc.
- I have a friend with me.
The man has a flag in his hand..
In the simplest sense of make, the things we make are physical things.
- The men make a road.
She makes a curtain.
They make a wall.
As you will have seen, the Future Tense is formed by putting the auxiliary will, which is the same in all Persons, before the root form of the operator. The Future of all operators is formed in the same way.
Note (see Table on page 5.)
- The man will make a seat.
They will be quick.
The women of the family will do the work.
I will have a house in the country.
The porter will take their bags.
The auxiliary may, which is the same in all Persons, is used to indicate that something is possible, that is, that it possibly is a fact now or possibly will become one in the future. In either case, may is used in the Present Tense followed by the root form of he operator, the sense depending on the context.
- He may come here.
This train may be the early train.
She may take her family to the country.
5 . Negative Statements
-
You have already seen how negative statements are formed with the Present Tense of be. A negative with the Present Tense of have is formed in the same way, by putting not after the operator.
- She has not a ticket.
- I do not make pots.
She does not do work in the store.
- He will not give the picture to me.
This may not be (= is possibly not) the front of the house.
They may not go there.
6 . Prepositions
The opposites before and after. though originally naming positions in space, are more importantly used to indicate position in time. Before is still used for a position in space, but after is used in this way only when there is also present an idea of succession.
- He will do some work before the meal.
I may go into the town after my work.
I put some food before the man.
B and C are after A.
- They have food for a late meal.
This is a shelf for books
She may get some flowers for you.
7. Adverbs
Out names the opposite of the position in space which is named by in (which may also, as we shall see later, be used as an adverb).
- Some food is in the pot. She takes it out.
8 . Conjunctions
Or, like and, links words, phrases, or independent statements, presenting an alternative between what is so linked.
- The woman or her friend will be at the station. (But not both.)
This is not a shelf.
The food may be on the table or in the box.
The ticket may be in the drawer or he may have it in his pocket.
Note that when the subject of a sentence consists of two singular nouns or pronouns joined by or, the operator is singular.
- The man or the woman is in the house..
The conjunction but links only statements, the second of which presents a fact which to some extent opposes what has been said in the preceding statement.
- The front of the train is full but the back is not full.
A meal is on the table but it is not for me.
When two statements linked by and, or, or but have the same subject, not only is this frequently omitted in the second statement (as we have already seen in connection with and) but also any parts of the second statement which repeat the first (i.e. the operator, or operation and its object, etc.). Note that where not is needed in such a second statement it may be put in without the operator.
- I get my bag from the table and my books from the shelf.
He will not put the ticket in the box or give it to the man.
I will give these flowers to the woman but not those.
She will make a cover for the bed but not for the seat.
Where joins to the main statement a dependent statement indicating the place of the action etc. of the main statement. The word-order after a word introducing a dependent statement is the same as in an independent statement.
- She puts the meat where the other food is. (at the place at which)
I do not go where the others go. (to the place to which)
When similarly links a dependent statement indicating the time of the action etc.
- I come into the room when the meal is on the table. (at the time at which)
While similarly links a dependent statement indicating the time during or within which the action etc. takes place.
- I do work while my friends are here. (during the time in which)
Where- and while- statements of this sort are frequently put at the beginning of the sentence.1
Where and when may also be relative adverbs (acting, that is, as a conjunction and adverb at the same time).
With all the other operators, negative statements in the Present Tense are made by using the appropriate form of do (which is here an auxiliary), followed directly by not and completed by the root form of the operator.
- I do not make pots.
She does not do work in the store.
With the auxiliaries may and will, do is not required and not is placed immediately after the auxiliary.
- He will not give the picture to me.
This may not be (= is possibly not) the front of the house.
They may not go there.
1. Where-statements may also be transposed in this way, but with certain limitations which make it advisable for the learner to keep the straightforward order until he has had more experience.
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1 . Make a sentence in Basic describing what you see in each of these pictures, using the operator do in your sentence about (a), make in your sentence about (b), and have in your sentence about (c).
2 . Put these sentences into the Future Tense :
- (a) She makes a meal for the family.
(b) the man does not put the ticket in his pocket.
(c) The woman and her friend get some books at the store.
(d) The porter has not a flag in his hand.
(e) This train goes from the station when the other train goes.
3 . Put a conjunction in the blanks in these sentences :
- (a) She will put some food on there plates _____ not on my plate.
(b) A man _____ a woman is on that seat.
(c) He will be at his office _____ I am in the train.
(d) The box _____ the bag are full.
4 . Make up a sentence introducing :
- (a) for
(b) may
(c) when
(c) where
5 . Put these sentences into the negative form :
- (a) I may go with him when he comes.
(b) They make wide roads.
(c) She has a bag under her arm.
(d) The family will go to the country.
(e) The plates are round.
(f) The shelves in her office are not by the door.
(g) This ticket is across the other ticket.
6 . Put the right form of the operator in place of the root form given in brackets :
- (a) He will be there when the train (come) into the station.
(b) I will put the food where he (get) it.
(c) The porter takes the boxes to the train while we (get) the tickets.
(d) I will make a shelf while she (do) her work.
7. Translate into Basic :
(The following sentences should be given to the learner in his own language for translation into Basic.)
- Teacher's Link
STEP 6
| VOCABULARY | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nouns | Adjectives | ||
| brother | great -- small | ||
| daughter | married | ||
| day | |||
| father | |||
| fire | |||
| manager | |||
| morning | |||
| mother | |||
| night | |||
| potato |   | ||
| sister | |||
| son |
AN ENGLISH FAMILY
This family has a small house with white curtains and window-boxes full of flowers.The other houses in the street are small and have window-boxes and white curtains
Mr. Robinson is the manager of a small store in the town. Mrs. Robinson does the work of the house. They have a married daughter in the country. Their other daughter is with them. she makes cushions and curtains in the work-room of a great store. Their sons are not married. Fred is in an office and Tom is in the store where his father is the manager. He may be the manager after him.
Tom and Fred have a bedroom at the back of the house and their sister Ellen has the small room under them. Their father and mother have the front bedroom.
Ellen goes to her work in the morning. She has an early meal before the others and takes some food with her in her bag. Fred goes out after his sister but before his father and brother. The men do not take food with them. Tom and his father will get their meal at the store or at a place at the other side of the street, and Fred will have his food at the office.
In the morning Mrs. Robinson does the housework. After that, she goes across the street to the store and gets food for the meal at night. When the family comes in, she will put some potatoes and plates of meat on the table. Mr. Robinson may not have his meal with his family. On the days when he does late work at the store, he has a late meal after the others.
After the meal, Mr. Robinson takes a book and goes to this place by the fire while Ellen and her mother take the plates off the table. Fred and Tom may take their seats to the other side of the fire or they may go out with their friends. On the nights when they take Ellen and their mother to the pictures, they have a quick meal before they go. Mr. Robinson does not go to the pictures. This is a night when the family will not go out.
Notes
In reading these Steps, you will meet a number of important expansions of the prepositions. Most of these will be understood without difficulty because of their clear connection with the root use and the general sense of the passage in which they occur, but you should note them carefully so as to be able to use them correctly yourself.window-boxes full of flowers : a window-box is a box for a window, that is, a box on a window-still, for flowers. -- Of is used after full to point to that with which something is filled. -- Note the position of full. When an adjective is completed by a proposition etc., it is put immediately after , instead of before, the noun it qualities.
Mr. Robinson, Mrs. Robinson : In English, the polite title put before a man's surname for addressing or referring to him is Mr. (pronounced 'mister'). The corresponding title for a married woman is Mrs. (pronounced 'missiz'), and for an unmarried woman, Miss. The title Mister is shortened to Mr. ; Missis is abbreviated as Mrs. ; and Mistress is shortened to Miss. A woman, married or unmarried, can be addressed as Ms. (pronounced Mizz). A young man (under 13 years) may be called Master, but it is not necessary and it has no short form.
the work of the house : Note the wider sense of 'belonging to' in which of may be used. It covers such connections as 'to do with' and 'caused by' (see page 41).
a bedroom at the back of the house : That is, 'in the rear part of the house'. At is used in a similar way with front and side.
their father and mother : When two nouns that have some close association are joined by and, an adjective or a or ,i> the applies to both of them, the word that qualifies them both as frequently put before the first noun only and not repeated before the second.
Ellen goes to her work in the morning : Note that when a phrase indicating time and a phrase indicating place both come after a verb, the time-phase generally comes last, and with an adverb or place it must do so ('Fred goes out after his sister').
| in the morning :
at night : on the days : on the nights : | } The parallel between space and time makes it natural for space
} words to be used in descriptions of time. A systematic account of the } prepositions used in indicating time will be given later, but, for } present, note : |
- 1 . The use of on in on the days, on the nights.
2 . The use of in in in the morning.
3 . The idiomatic use of at in at night (at is never used with day or morning.
| she has an early meal :
will have his food : | } Have may be used with food-words in the sense of 'eat'
} or 'drink'. |
a place at the other side of the street : A place is not necessarily just a space or area. It may be a building, a town, and so on. At this (that, or the other) side of has a special use in relation to anything, such as a street, which can be regarded as a dividing line, cutting a space into two parts. With the names of such things, it means 'in one (or the other) of the spaces so separated', without necessarily suggesting nearness to the dividing thing, though it does so here. So English people may talk of a place in the interior of Canada as being at the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
after that : That here represents the performance of the housework. That and, less commonly, this are used for referring back to a fact, act, or condition previously mentioned or implied.
when the family comes in : In is here used by itself like an adverb. Many prepositions can be used in this way when the thing to which the direction or position elated is clear. Frequently, as here, come in == come home. Correspondingly, be in == be at home.
potatoes : Note the spelling, in accordance with the rule given in Step 3, of the plural of potato.
plates of meat == plates containing meat. Note the similarity between this use of of and that in full of. Of is the word used for linking the name of a container to that of what it contains, whether it is completely full of it or not. Examples are : a shelf of books, a box of tickets.
late work : work done later than the normal time of working.
the fire : Fire is the name given to the process or condition of burning. It is used with a or the in front of it when one is talking of a mass of burning material, whether it be a conflagration or a fire used for heating or cooking.
go out with their friends : Go out has a special use in the sense of "go from one's home", frequently, as here, with the further suggestion of an outing for entertainment. similarly, be out == 'be not at home'. Compare with the use of in noted earlier.
the pictures : That is, the motion pictures, the cinema.
before they go : Before is here a conjunction introducing a dependent statement. After may be used in the same way. Thus, the phrase after his sister, used in this Step, might be expanded to after his sister goes out.
The sense of these complex words is clear without a note : housework, work-room .
EXERCISES
1 . This is a picture of a family group. going from left to right, take each person in turn and state in Basic what his or her relation is to every other person in the group.
2 . Give the plurals of family, potato, woman, day, box, shelf.
3 Put a preposition in the blanks in these sentences : .
- (a) He goes to this bedroom _____ night.
(b) _____ the day when my daughter comes from the country, I will not go out.
(c) She has a pot _____ food in her hand.
(d) The manager goes to his office _____ the morning.
(e) The house _____ the narrow front is their house.
(f) I go _____ the street to the other side.
4 . Make up a sentence introducing :
- (a) or.
(b) but
(c) while
5. Translate into Basic :
(The following sentences should be given to the learner in his own language for translation into Basic.)
- Teacher's Link
6. Answer in Basic :
- (a) What does Ellen take with her when she goes out to work in the morning ?
(b) Which bedroom do Tom and Fred have ?
(c) What work does Ellen do ?
(d) Where do Tom and Fred sometimes take their mother and sister ?
(e) What does Mr. Robinson do after his meal ?
(f ) Describe the Robinson's house.