четвртак, 26. децембар 2013.

Inverzija posle priloga sa negativnim značenjem


U engleskom jeziku se izrazi sa ograničavajućim ili negativnim značenjem često stavljaju na početak rečenice. Razlog za to je naglašavanje onoga što želimo da kažemo, nešto što je neobično, originalno, iznenađujuće. Kada se upotrebe u rečenici, sa ovim izrazima upotrebljavamo inverziju:
  • 'Only at night do bats leave their cave.'
  • 'Only after I had returned home did I realize that I had left my watch in Emma's bathroom.'
Posle konstrukcije not only ... but also
  • Not only did we visit Cuba's capital, Havana, (but) we also spent three days exploring the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador.'

Inverzija se takođe upotrebljava u izrazima koji sadrže rečcu 'no' kada se nalaze na početku rečenice:
  • 'Under no circumstances are you (allowed) to walk home from school alone.'
  • 'In no way will I agree to sharing an office with Ben.

Isto pravilo važi za 'seldom', 'hardly', 'scarcely', 'rarely', 'never', 'never before' i 'no sooner'

  • Never before had I seen such realistic dinosaurs as there were in the BBC television series.' (This is a reference to a recent BBC series. If you want to know more have a look at the web site - Walking with Dinosaurs.)
  • 'No sooner had I arrived at the station than the train came in.'
  • 'Rarely do we see such brightly-coloured birds.'
  • 'Seldom do we walk on such green grass.'
  • 'Scarcely had we finished lunch when the bell rang for afternoon classes.

Ali, ako rečenica ne treba da ima taj element iznenađenja ili naglašavanja, treba je reći bez inverzije:
  • 'We had scarcely finished lunch when the bell rang for afternoon classes.


петак, 15. новембар 2013.

STATE AND ACTIVITY VERBS

STATE VERBS:
Verbs related to activities of the mind:
         admit, agree, believe, know, mean, prefer, realise, remember, think, understand, want 
Verbs related to emotions: 
         adore, care, like, dislike, love, hate, hope
Having or being: 
         appear, be, belong, contain, have, include, need, seem, possess, own
Verbs related to senses: 
         feel, hear, look, see, smell, sound, taste… 

Some state verbs can also refer to an activity. In this meaning they can be used in a continuous tense.  
HAVE
         We have a second-hand car. (have = possess > state) 
         We are having some tea. (have = drink > activity)

THINK
         I think it’s a great idea. (think = believe > state) 
         I’m thinking about my exam. (think = consider > activity) 

Verbs related to senses are followed by adjectives, not adverbs.

         The coffee smells great.
         You look nice.
         That soup tastes awful.
         Their new song sounds fantastic.

Read more:

http://www.grammaring.com/state-verbs-and-action-verbs
http://www.eclecticenglish.com/grammar/PresentContinuous1H.html

субота, 9. новембар 2013.

THE PASSIVE VOICE



* You use the passive voice to focus on the person or thing affected by an action.

* Only verbs that have an object can have a passive form. With verbs that can have two objects, either object can be the subject of the passive.

* You form the passive by using a form of `be' and a past participle.
BE” is used in appropriate tense

BE + Past participle
Mrs. Brown (teach) this class.
This class is taught by Mrs. Brown.
is being taught
has been taught
was taught
was being taught
had been taught
will be taught

1 When you want to talk about the person or thing that performs an action, you use the active voice.
Mr. Smith locks the gate at 6 o'clock every night.
The storm destroyed dozens of trees.

When you want to focus on the person or thing that is affected by an action, you use the passive voice.
The gate is locked at 6 o'clock every night.
Dozens of trees were destroyed.

2 The passive is formed with a form of the auxiliary `be', followed by the past participle of a main verb.
Two new stores were opened this year.
The room had been cleaned.

Continuous passive tenses are formed with a form of the auxiliary `be' followed by `being' and the past participle of a main verb.
Jobs are still being lost.
It was being done without his knowledge.

3 After modals you use the base form `be' followed by the past participle of a main verb.
What can be done?
We won't be beaten.

When you are talking about the past, you use a modal with `have been' followed by the past participle of a main verb.
He may have been given the car.
He couldn't have been told by Jimmy.

4 You form passive infinitives by using `to be' or `to have been' followed by the past participle of a main verb.
He wanted to be forgiven.
The car was reported to have been stolen.

5 In informal English, `get' is sometimes used instead of `be' to form the passive.
Our car gets cleaned every weekend.
He got killed in a plane crash.
  • Formal English – the same examples:
    • Our car is cleaned every weekend.
    • He was killed in a plane crash.


6 When you use the passive, you often do not mention the person or thing that performs the action at all. This may be because you do not know or do not want to say who it is, or because it does not matter.
Her boyfriend was shot in the chest.
Your application was rejected.
Such items should be carefully packed in tea chests.

7 If you are using the passive and you do want to mention the person or thing that performs the action, you use `by'.
He had been poisoned by his girlfriend.
He was brought up by an aunt.
“Hamlet” was written by Shakespeare.

You use `with' to talk about something that is used to perform the action.
A circle was drawn in the dirt with a stick.
He was killed with a knife.

8 Only verbs that usually have an object can have a passive form. You can say `people spend money' or `money is spent'.
An enormous amount of money is spent on beer.
The food is sold at local markets.

With verbs which can have two objects, you can form two different passive sentences. For example, you can say
`The secretary was given the key' or
`The key was given to the secretary'.
They were offered a new flat. Or: A new flat was offered to them.
The books will be sent to you. Or: You will be sent the new books
9 In certain occasions, intransitive verbs with a preposition can form passive as well.
He was often laughed at.

10 Instead of “people say / think / believe” we can use passive forms:
It is said that black cats bring bad luck.
It is thought that he will become the next president.

  It is believed that there is life in other planets.

четвртак, 31. октобар 2013.

PLURAL OF NOUNS

Most nouns make their plurals by simply adding –s to the end 
  • cat/cats, 
  • book/books, 
  • journey/journeys.
Nouns ending in -y
If the noun ends with a consonant plus -y, make the plural by changing -y to -ies:
singular
plural
berry
berries
activity
activities
daisy
daisies
Nouns ending in -ch, -s, -sh, -x, or -z
If the noun ends with -ch-s-sh-x, or -z, add -es to form the plural:
singular
plural
church
churches
bus
buses
fox
foxes
There’s one exception to this rule. If the -ch ending is pronounced with a ‘k’ sound, you add -s rather than -es:
singular
plural
stomach
stomachs
epoch
epochs
Nouns ending in -f or -fe
With nouns that end in a consonant or a single vowel plus -f or -fe, change the -f or -fe to -ves:
singular
plural
knife
knives
half
halves
Nouns ending in -o
Nouns ending in -o can add either -s or -es in the plural, and some can be spelled either way.
  •  As a general rule, most nouns ending in -o add -s to make the plural:
singular
plural
solo
solos
zero
zeros
avocado
avocados
  •  Those which have a vowel before the final -o always just add -s:
singular
plural
studio
studios
zoo
zoos
embryo
embryos
  • Here’s a list of the most common nouns ending in -o that are always spelled with -es in the plural:
singular
plural
buffalo
buffaloes
domino
dominoes
echo
echoes
embargo
embargoes
hero
heroes
mosquito
mosquitoes
potato
potatoes
tomato
tomatoes
torpedo
torpedoes
veto
vetoes
  • Here are some of the common nouns ending in -o that can be spelled with either -s or -es in the plural:
singular
plural
banjo
banjos or banjoes
cargo
cargos or cargoes
flamingo
flamingos or flamingoes
fresco
frescos or frescoes
ghetto
ghettos or ghettoes
halo
halos or haloes
mango
mangos or mangoes
memento
mementos or mementoes
motto
mottos or mottoes
tornado
tornados or tornadoes
volcano
volcanos or volcanoes
Some nouns have identical singular and plural. Many of these are the names of animals:
fish  sheep   deer
duck  bison   buffalo
moose  pike  salmon
trout  plankton   squid
swine  aircraft  spacecraft

Different forms of singular and plural

singular
plural
man
men
woman
women /wimin/
child
children
ox
oxen
mouse
mice
louse
lice
goose
geese
foot
feet
tooth
teeth
die
dice*
penny
pence**
* die – dice (in the context of gaming, where dice is also often used as the singular; and also in the semiconductor industry. Otherwise dies is used.)

** penny – pence (in the context of an amount of money in Britain). The 1p or 1-cent coins are called penniesPence is abbreviated p 

FOREIGN PLURALS

singular
plural
analysis
analyses
appendix
appendices/appendixes
axis
axes
basis
bases
cactus
cactuses / cacti
criterion
criteria
datum
data
diagnosis
diagnoses
index
indexes/indices
medium
mediums/media
oasis
oases
phenomenon
phenomena
octopus
octopuses/octopi
syllabus
syllabuses/syllabi
thesis
theses
For more information about different plural forms, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_plurals

Additional exercises http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/agreesum.html

Whatsapp Abbreviations

find out more: https://grammarvocab.com/short-forms-of-words-used-in-whatsapp/