Descriptive Writing
In this type of essay you normally describe people, scenes, or events. Remember that a good description relies upon careful observation and that to get a good mark you need to show an eye for detail, a wide vocabulary, and the ability to use figurative language as a means to engage the reader's imagination. Tasks do tend to be fairly bland (especially at GCSE) so the art comes in making 'a silk purse out of a sow's ear'.
Problems
· Wandering off of the topic
· Telling a story
· Listing features
· Describing things without any knowledgeable foundation
Guidelines
· Don't get side-tracked into writing a vague and rambling piece founded on only one part of the topic
· Follow your plan carefully
· Develop each part of your plan as fully as possible
· Think of a nuber of adjectives that could be usefully employed to expand on a topic, but don't become a 'thesaurus child' - language has to be used with care and accuracy to be truly effective, and a random list of synonymous adjectives is not a good use of language.
· Involve all the senses, not just sight - remember to describe sounds (via onomatopoeia), smells, tastes, textures.
· Make use of contrasts - people in a good mood and a bad mood, a location at different times of the year
· Use figurative language - metaphor, simile, onomatopoeia, personification. Imagery in particular can be used as a means to engage the individual response of the reader - they like that!
· Using the present tense can make your description more immediate - but it can be difficult to sustain. Whatever tense you use you must be consistent
· Using a third person omniscient narrator can make you more detached and dispassionate - a good idea with this sort of a task
· Remember that punctuation can be used for effect - a full stop or a comma in the right place can have a lot of impact.
Descriptions of People
To describe a person well you will need to use observational skills, dealing with the following aspects:
· Physical features - facial features, colouring, hight and body shape
· Age
· Clothing
· Posture
· Speech
· Mannerisms
· Their job
· How they relate to other people
Each of these headings might be used as the basis for a paragraph, but remember that you are not simply producing a 'wanted poster'.
Possible tasks:
· Your hero
· The oldest person you know
· Someone you can't stand
· Your favourite relative
· Your most memorable teacher
· Someone you feel sorry for
· Your next door neighbour
· Your best friend
Descriptions of Scenes
The most important thing here is to try to visualise the scene in your mind as you write, but don't just think about its visual impact, remember the other senses as well. It might be a good idea to start with what you see as the most significant aspect of the place.
Possible tasks:
· The supermarket
· School assembly
· Thunderstorm in the city
· A location in winter and summer
· A country lane in autumn
· Your garden
Description of Events
Beware of telling a story
Possible tasks:
· The circus
· The concert
· A helicopter flight over your local area
· Walking to school
· The worst/best lesson ever
· A ceremony you have taken part in
OverviewDescriptive writing is the act of -- or art of -- writing to describe. Writers often seek to describe places, people, objects, sounds, tastes, smells -- or anything, really--which they feel can be captured in words. The writer’s goal is to render description so precisely that the reader sees (or hears or smells or tastes or touches) the object of the description in exactly the way that the writer intends. In order to achieve this, the writer must focus on precise use of details in crafting his or her description; anyone can write a basic description of a place, or person, or sound -- but the memorable descriptive passage is the one which is crafted of specific details which the writer has captured in precise and well-wrought phrases and sentences. Dominant ImpressionThe key element in writing a memorable description is the point of view of the writer (or speaker) of the passage. The dominant impression can be thought of as the way the writer feels about the object of the description; for instance, a writer may regard a place as hospitable and inviting, or as cold and forbidding. Likewise, a writer may regard a person as warm and friendly, or aloof and reserved. In conveying the chosen dominant impression, the writer must both select details carefully, and present them with the impression in mind. All good descriptions are crafted with steady attention to the dominant impression. back to top of page"Show, Don’t Tell"There’s a simple reason that this is perhaps the most commonly used phrase where descriptive writing is concerned (and that you may well have heard it plenty of times already): this is truly the fundamental principle of descriptive writing. When it comes to describing something, “telling” the reader about it comes off as flat, vague, and not particularly memorable; “showing” the reader the object -- describing it in such a way as to paint it in words, and bring it to life in the reader’s eye -- renders the object far more vivid, visible, and active. But what, exactly, are "telling" and "showing?" Telling is another way of saying “summarizing.”Here’s a writer “telling” readers about a room:"It was a nice room, a warm room. It was a happy place to be."The reader reads this and says to her or himself, "okay. But why? What did the room look like? Why was it a happy place to be? Was it warm, or hot? Or does the writer mean warm in terms of temperature? I can’t really see or feel this room; I wish I’d been given more details." These two sentences may represent exactly how the writer feels about the room, but to the reader they aren’t vivid enough to register this room as any different from any other room. More importantly, the reader is unable to experience the qualities of this room that the writer intends; because the reader has only been “told” about the room (and told in very vague terms), the room itself remains fuzzy and unclear (essentially invisible), and the qualities of niceness, warmth, and happiness are merely the writer’s impressions of the room, nothing the reader can connect to. Far more vivid and communicative is to show the reader the room (with emphasis on the aspects of the room which provoke in the writer the feelings she or he receives). Here’s a brief passage which attempts to “show” that the room is “warm”:Sunlight pours through the window, pooling on the down comforter which lies across the bed. A block of light also angles across the wall opposite the bed, highlighting the pale orange color of the room. A thick red carpet sprawls over the floor, a corner of it lit too by a sunbeam; the room’s windows admit the sun along two walls, and tiny dust motes hover in the bright streaks which glaze the room.
Here the writer never says "warm," but attempts to present a series of details which demonstrate this quality of the room. Perhaps just the first sentence of this description conveys this quality; however, the writer has decided to continue describing the room in order to render a clear picture (and feeling) of the room for the reader. Each reader will respond differently to this description; however, it’s fairly clear in its presentation of this room as a warm and comfortable place, and the writer is well on the way to describing it in such a way as to make this room unique.ObservationIt isn’t possible to create a unique description of an object without first taking time to observe it. But to observe something means more than just to look at it -- the writer seeks not only the general details which comprise the basic profile of this object (the apple is red, roundish, and large for an apple), but the specific details which make the object unique (the apple has two leaves still attached to the stem, it doesn’t stand straight when resting on a tabletop, on its left side a streak of yellow shines underneath the red, a small bruise hangs just below the apple’s crown on its back side). As a writer, one must ask why this object is not any object; what details about it make it unlike any other -- and specifically, unlike any other of its kind (in the case of the apple, the writer seeks the details which make this apple not just another red apple; the writer seeks to write such a precise description that the reader could pick this apple out of a bowl of six other apples).back to top of pageUsing All Five SensesUp to here, most of the emphasis has been placed on visual details; there’s little doubt that in describing most things, visual properties form the dominant portions of our descriptions. This is because for most of us, our sight is the sense which is the primary -- and dominant -- sense through which we perceive our world. What something looks like is extraordinarily important in our ability to perceive it, particularly when we are trying to perceive something solely through a written description. However, the best descriptive writing evokes objects through the use of more than just sight. The more a writer can capture an object through senses such as sound, smell, touch, and even taste, the more vivid and unique the writer’s description becomes. If, in describing the apple above, the writer includes the aroma of the apple (if it had one), or a sense of what the apple’s skin might feel like, or even if the writer imagines the possible taste of an apple like this, the description of the apple becomes even more specific and memorable. In observing an object one aims to describe, the goal is always to try to see past the obvious -- and this most certainly includes observing not only the visual qualities of something, but attempting to perceive it through all five senses. Strong VerbsGood descriptive writing also employs the use of strong, specific verbs. Central in choosing verbs is -- as always -- the avoidance of the verb “to be”. To say a thing “is,” or “was,” is not nearly as active -- and therefore specific -- as choosing a sharper verb. Consider these two versions of the same sentence:The sunlight was on the propane tank.The sunlight stretched over the propane tank.
Clearly the second sentence is more interesting; here the sunlight becomes active. In the first sentence, there’s nothing interesting about the sun’s presence -- it’s simply there. Here are a few more examples of active verbs in action (taken from writing teacher Natalie Goldberg):The fiddles boiled the air with their music.The lilacs sliced the sky into purple.Her husband’s snores sawed her sleep in half.I exploded when I saw her.My blood buzzed like a hornet’s nest.
A good rule of thumb is that the more unexpected the verb (as in “boiled” in describing how fiddles sound, or”sliced” in describing flowers), the more specific and memorable a sentence will be.However, it’s also important to remember that active verbs can’t be used in every sentence; and sometimes, more general verbs like “run, see, go, said,” etc., are exactly what you need in a given sentence. The goal, as a writer, is to make your choice a conscious one -- choose the verb you want, not the verb that comes to you most easily. Push yourself to use specific, active verbs whenever possible, and to choose your verbs (and all your words) carefully and deliberately all the time. Place DescriptionOnce a writer has become skilled at precise observation, and good at capturing the details which make for unique description, the next goal is to be able to describe pointedly. This means, simply, to be able to offer the reader the portrait of the object -- in this case a place -- which evokes the dominant impression the writer wishes the description to evoke. If a writer wants the reader to “see” a sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge as beautiful and inspiring, he or she will attempt to present the description of this scene in just this way; similarly, a writer may intend this same sunset to register as a sad moment, and will then present the details of this scene in such a way as to evoke those emotions. Writers, when they describe, are usually aiming to do more than merely render a clear portrait of a place; usually the intent is to render a portrait which also evokes a feeling (as above, the description of the room was intended to capture its warmth). Descriptions of PeopleAs with descriptions of place, descriptions of people aim not only to portray the basic essential features of a person, but also to offer some presentation of the character’s personality. Again, this is done through the details the writer chooses to focus on, rather than through telling. The writer never says "he was quite uptight," or "she was lazy," but attempts to array her or his details to convey this impression of the person being described. About this page:These materials were created and collected by Andy Spear at Head Royce School.
What is a Narrative ?To begin, this is probably the type of writing with which you are most familiar, both as a reader and a writer. Basically a narrative is a story, and most of us were raised on stories, from children’s books to the novels and short stories we read today, both for class and for pleasure. Most of us have also been writing or dictating narratives of one form or another since we began to connect words into sentences. Think back to first grade when you drew the pictures on the top half of the page and wrote the accompanying story down below in the large blue lines that helped you keep your letters consistently sized. You were writing narratives.A narrative has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It is governed by plot, it moves through events, usually in a rough chronological order, and one thing seems to follow another in some logical sequence.A story isn't really worth writing about unless there is some larger truth that can be gained from the events themselves. There must be movement or growth from the beginning to the end; things are not the same at the end of the tale as they were at the beginning. It should also be evident that the writer has given thought to the relationship between the events of the narrative. This reflection on and careful reconstruction of events is what makes for a good narrative..
Appropriate Topic Selection: Pick an event that you can transform into an engaging story. The scope of this event should not be too broad or too narrow. An example of a topic too broad for a 1-2 page essay would be your entire experience at summer camp one year, while one too narrow might be a short conversation with another person. Keep the length of your assignment in mind when you select a topic.In addition to picking a topic of appropriate scope, also be sure that you are writing a narrative essay, not a description. For example, the subject of a descriptive essay could be, “When I was a kid, I always used to ride my bike around the neighborhood”; a narrative essay topic, in contrast, might be, “Once when I was five, I rode my bike” and something significant happened on that one particular bike ride. The topic should be a specific, one-time event with a distinct beginning, middle, and end. Appropriate Point of View: If you are writing fiction, you can choose in whose shoes you will stand to tell the story. With the nonfiction narrative essay, however, you must use the first person, "I," since you are a key player in the action and your viewpoint is the lens through which your reader will see the experience. Element of Conflict: A good story includes some kind of conflict, some complication that the protagonist (main character) runs up against. This doesn't necessarily have to be an external struggle between two people; it could also be an internal conflict (e.g. the struggle going on inside of the protagonist between what he/she wants as an individual and what he/she knows is best for the larger community). In the sample essay by George Orwell, the external conflict is between the narrator and the elephant, but the more significant conflict is internal: the struggle between the narrator's need to save face and his desire to get out of there, to avoid killing the elephant.Climax: The climax of a story is defined as the place at which the conflict comes to a point of crisis, a high point in the tension, an important turning point. After this high point, the narrative has some kind of resolution. However, resolution does not mean everything has to wrap up happily and neatly. Nonetheless, there does need to be a sense of having arrived at a new level of understanding or awareness.Selection of Significant Details:When you write about your event, you will not include every little thing that happened. A narrative is not an exact transcription. It is up to you to determine which of the many parts of the experience are important. But how do you make that choice? What are you trying to illustrate with your story? Which of the details are essential to getting that idea across? Keep those. Which parts are unrelated to, even distracting from the main idea? Omit those. Rythm: Selecting the significant details is essential, but it is also important to think about how you move through the event in the retelling. You may spend one sentence quickly summarizing a week in which not much happened, and then invest four paragraphs on a five-minute interaction or event, if that is the top moment of the experience. It is also important to think about the order in which you present the events, saving the key, climactic episode for last. This is called "climactic sequencing."Use of description: A good story also makes use of description. When a character or setting is introduced, by all means, use some of your freshly-learned vocabulary in a description. “I was strolling leisurely on the path when ....” is richer than “I was walking on the road”. But do so only if the idea about that person or place you are conveying is in some way related to the point of your story. Be careful not to let the descriptive mode take over the narrative.Use of Appropriate Dialogue: Although not required, most stories include the actual words of people involved in the event--fragments of conversations that actually happened. Dialogue can enhance the reader's sense of "being there" in the moment with the narrator. Be careful, however, not to put in dialogue for the sake of having dialogue. Just as you select significant details, so too should you select only significant parts of dialogue. Dull dialogue is an instant turn off. What if you can't remember the exact words? Don't worry, so long as you are true to the voice of the speaker and content of what was said.
1. Write a narrative writing about any memorable experience or encounter you have had with a medical, religious or educational person or institution.2. Write a narrative wiring about an experience in which pressure from others caused you to act against your better judgment. 3. Write a narrative writing about an encounter with prejudice directed against you as a student, teenager, female, male, or member of an ethnic or religious minority, etc and tell how you coped with it.4. Write a narrative writing about an experience or encounter you have had while traveling.5. Write a narrative writing about a memorable “first” experience you have had ”first day at a new school, first time riding a bike, first real failure or rejection, first crush, etc. “
A comparison and contrast essay is one of the most common and popular forms of writing. At its heart, this style of essay depends upon the act of mind at the root of all thinking: the comparison. We isolate two items and mentally set them alongside of each other in order to note what properties they have in common and what properties each possesses that the other lacks. The compare/contrast essay presents in a straightforward and organized way the results of such a mental exercise. In organizing the results of the comparison, such an essay presents an original thesis that seeks to explain the similarities and/or differences rather than merely note them. An effective thesis will reduce the many points of likeness or difference to one or two basic patterns or meanings, bringing order to what might seem chaotic or random.There are two basic ways to organize a compare/contrast essay: parallel construction and integrated construction:Parallel Structure and Integrated StructureThere are two ways to organize your compare/contrast essay. Each takes careful preplanning and organization. Here is the difference between the two.Parallel ConstructionIn order to write a paper with parallel construction, a student must write about each character in separate paragraphs using the same categories of comparison. For example, if a student compares two characters in The Joy Luck Club, she would compare the family backgrounds, personalities, and relationship choices for EACH character in the same order in each paragraph. The similarlities and differences will evolve naturally through the discussion.Integrated ConstructionIn the integrated contruction, the writer must weave back and forth within a single paragraph, disclosing the similarities and differences at the same time. According to Writers in Training, a writer would use the model: "A is like this, while B is like this; A does this, but B does that." An integrated paragraph works well to distinguish the differences between two items that may appear similar.
Taken and adapted from Head-Royce Humanities website
An argumentative essay is a thesis-based essay on a topic that can be debated. In other words, the essay defends a thesis which can be argued for and against. The purpose of this type of essay is twofold: to persuade the reader to take one side of an issue, while giving serious attention to the other side. Argumentative essays can address topics ranging from the very personal, to the historical, social/political, to the literary, but whatever the topic, there must be at least two sides that can be intelligently defended.Steps to writing an argumentative essay:o Sample topics o Brainstorming § pro/con list § evaluating the evidence § defining your terms o Creating a thesis o Creating an outline o Concession paragraphs o Introductory paragraphs o Conclusions o Essay Models § Personal topic (9th grade) "Grades in Education" § Literary topic (11th grade) "Is Odysseus a Good Leader?"
Taken and adapted from Head-Royce Humanities website
LEARN North Carolina | http://www.learnnc.org
On this page: navigation column previous pages/topics header body sidebar tools search additional pages
· Home
· Website Guide
· Search
· Help
Teaching & Learning
· Lesson Plans
· Articles
· Online Courses
· Best of the Web
· Standard Course of Study
· New Teacher Support
· Field Trips: Discover NC!
· Education Reference
· Multimedia Library
For Students
· Primary: K | 1 | 2
· Elementary: 3 | 4 | 5
· Middle: 6 | 7 | 8
· Secondary: 9–12
About LEARN NC
· About LEARN NC
· Staff & Contributors
· Partners
· Local Coordinators
· Get Email Updates
· Contact LEARN NC
LEARN NC, a program of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Education, finds the most innovative and successful practices in K–12 education and makes them available to the teachers and students of North Carolina — and the world.
The five features of effective writing · Part 3
Organization
By Kathleen Cali
In this series
The five Features of Effective Writing — focus, organization, support and elaboration, style, and conventions — are a valuable tool for understanding good writing and organizing your writing instruction. By teaching these features, you can help your students become more effective writers in any genre, at any level, and make your writing instruction easier to manage at the same time. This series of articles, written with the support of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, will show you how.
1. Teaching the features of effective writing
2. Focus
3. Organization
4. Support and elaboration
5. Style
6. Conventions
7. Further reading
Learn more
Learn more about English language arts, features of effective writing, organization, and writing.
Tools
· Printer-friendly format
· Download this edition in PDF format
Legal
This page copyright ©2003. Terms of use
When I was a writing resource teacher, I was a fountain of formulas, ready to spout forth the appropriate formula for each type of writing: “First, Next, Last” for narratives, ASO2 (Audience, Situation, Opinion, Two Reasons) for persuasive writing, and of course, the all-purpose five-paragraph essay. For many students, writing instruction rarely extends beyond these simplistic recipes. But teaching organization is much more complicated than teaching students the formula for a five-paragraph essay. Although formulaic writing can help scaffold students’ early efforts at writing a particular genre, the scaffolding must eventually be removed to allow students to grow as writers.
If focus is the foundation for constructing a piece of writing, organization is the the structural framework for that writing. Organization is important to effective writing because it provides readers with a framework to help them fulfill their expectations for the text. A well-organized piece of writing supports readers by making it easy for them to follow, while a poorly organized piece leads readers through a maze of confusion and confounded or unmet expectations.
Organization, simply put, is the logical progression and completeness of ideas in a text. Instruction in organization focuses on two areas: text structures specific to the particular genre and the cohesive elements that tie clauses, sentences, and paragraphs together into a cohesive whole.
Text structures
A text structure is the framework of a text’s beginning, middle, and end. Different narrative and expository genres have different purposes and different audiences, and so they require different text structures. Beginnings and endings help link the text into a coherent whole.
Beginnings: hooking your reader
Where to begin is a crucial decision for a writer. Just as a good beginning can draw a reader into a piece of writing, a mediocre beginning can discourage a reader from reading further. The beginning, also called the lead or the hook, orients the reader to the purpose of the writing by introducing characters or setting (for narrative) or the topic, thesis, or argument (for expository writing). A good beginning also sets up expectations for the purpose, style, and mood of the piece. Good writers know how to hook their readers in the opening sentences and paragraphs by using techniques such as dialogue, flashback, description, inner thoughts, and jumping right into the action.
What’s in the middle?
The organization of the middle of a piece of writing depends on the genre. Researchers have identified five basic organizational structures: sequence, description, cause and effect, compare and contrast, and problem and solution.
Sequence uses time, numerical, or spatial order as the organizing structure. Some narrative genres that use a chronological sequence structure are personal narrative genres (memoir, autobiographical incident, autobiography), imaginative story genres (fairytales, folktales, fantasy, science fiction), and realistic fiction genres. Narrative story structures include an initiating event, complicating actions that build to a high point, and a resolution. Many narratives also include the protagonist’s goals and obstacles that must be overcome to achieve those goals.
As early as kindergarten, children can be introduced to basic informational genres that are organized sequentially, including learning structures for writing instructions, experimental recounts and experimental procedures. Older students can learn to use timelines to organize biographies, oral histories, and recounts of current and historical events.
Description is used to describe the characteristic features and events of a specific subject (”My Cat”) or a general category (”Cats”). Descriptive reports may be arranged according to categories of related attributes, moving from general categories of features to specific attributes.
Children’s initial attempts at descriptive reports often are “All About” reports that have little internal organization. Informational alphabet books and riddle books can be used to introduce kindergarten children to the writing of descriptive reports through shared or interactive writing. Older children can learn to develop categories of related attributes to organize their reports by using webs, concept maps, and software such as Inspiration and Kidspiration. Expectation outlines (Spiegel, 1981) are another strategy that can help students anticipate the categories of information found in a report.
Cause and Effect structure is used to show causal relationships between events. Cause and effect structures organize more sophisticated narratives as childen become more adept at showing the relationship between events. Young children also can begin to extend opinion essays by giving reasons to support their opinions using the word because. Signal words for cause and effect structures also include if…then, as a result, and therefore.
Comparison and Contrast structure is used to explain how two or more objects, events, or positions in an argument are similar or different. Graphic organizers such as venn diagrams, compare/contrast organizers, and data matrices can be used to compare features across different categories. Primary grade children can begin to use words such as same and different to compare things. Other words used to signal comparison and contrast organizational structures include alike, in contrast, similarities, differences, and on the other hand.
Problem and Solution requires writers to state a problem and come up with a solution. Although problem/solution structures are typically found in informational writing, realistic fiction also often uses a problem/solution structure that children can learn to identify.
Endings: beyond “happily ever after”
Anyone who has watched a great movie for ninety minutes only to have it limp to the finish with weak ending knows that strong endings are just as critical to effective writing as strong beginnings. And anyone who has watched the director’s cut of a movie with all the alternate endings knows that even great directors have trouble coming up with satisfying endings for their movies. Just like directors, writers have to decide how to wrap up the action in their stories, resolving the conflict and tying up loose ends in a way that will leave their audience satisfied. Student writers struggle with writing strong endings, often relying on the weak “I had a lot of fun” summation or the classic “It was just a dream” ending to rescue them from their stories.
The type of ending an author chooses depends on his or her purpose. When the purpose is to entertain, endings may be happy or tragic, or a surprise ending may provide a twist. Endings can be circular, looping back to the beginning so readers end where they began, or they can leave the reader hanging, wishing for more. Endings can be deliberately ambiguous or ironic, designed to make the reader think, or they can explicitly state the moral of the story, telling the reader what to think. Strong endings for expository texts can summarize the highlights, restate the main points, or end with a final zinger statement to drive home the main point to the audience.
Cohesion: the glue that holds the structure together
If narrative and expository structures are the framework, cohesive elements such as transition words are the glue that holds these structural elements together. Transition words show the relationship between different sentences and ideas. Poor writers tend to loosely connect their sentences with and and then. Good writers use transition words that show causal and logical relationships between words, sentences and paragraphs, such as because and after.
Transition words
There are six categories of transition words:
1. Spatial order. Words used in descriptive writing to signal spatial relationships, such as above, below, beside, nearby, beyond, inside, and outside.
2. Time order. Words used in writing narratives, and instructions to signal chronological sequence, such as before, after, first, next, then, when, finally, while, as, during, earlier, later, and meanwhile.
3. Numerical order. Words used in expository writing to signal order of importance, such as first, second, also, finally, in addition, equally important, and more or less importantly.
4. Cause/effect order. Words used in expository writing to signal causal relationships, such as because, since, for, so, as a result, consequently, thus, and hence.
5. Comparison/contrast order. Words used in expository writing to signal similarities and differences, such as (for similarities) also, additionally, just as, as if, as though, like, and similarly; and (for differences) but, yet, only, although, whereas, in contrast, conversely, however, on the other hand, rather, instead, in spite of, and nevertheless.
6. General/specific order. Words used in descriptive reports and arguments to signal more specific elaboration on an idea, such as for example, such as, like, namely, for instance, that is, in fact, in other words, and indeed.
Guiding questions for organization
These guiding questions for organization can help students make sure that they have provided coherent transitions between the ideas in their writing.
· Does your piece have a clear beginning, middle, and end?
· Does your piece have a strong beginning that hooks the reader?
· Does your piece have a strong ending that fits the focus?
· Are the ideas and actions connected to each other?
· Can your reader follow the piece logically from beginning to end?
· Is it complete? Does it feel finished?
References
Spiegel, D. L. (1981). Six alternatives to the directed reading activity. The Reading Teacher, 34, 914-922.
next
Keep current on the best teaching and learning resources for North Carolina classrooms! Sign up for monthly email updates from LEARN NC. Just send an email to lnc-updates-request@vote.learn.unc.edu with "subscribe" in the subject line.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
A GRAIN OF WHEAT
A Grain of Wheat is the third and best-known novel by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, a novelist from Kenya. The novel weaves several stories together during the state of emergency in Kenya's struggle for independence (1952-1959), focusing on the quiet Mugo, whose life is ruled by a dark secret. The plot revolves around his home village's preparations for Kenya's independence day celebration (Uhuru day). Former resistance fighters General R and Koinandu plan on publicly executing the traitor who betrayed Kihika (a heroic resistance fighter hailing from the village) on that day.
Abstract
The background of the story is in Kenya when the county is on the edge of independence. Mugo is a poor orphaned man who has suffered a lot and is indifferent to what is going on around him and he expects the rest of the world to leave him alone. This happens until Kihika recruits him by force to join the rest of the freedom fighters. Resenting this, he betrays Kihika to the colonial government. Consequently, Kihika is hanged. No one suspects Mugo.
In fact, people worship him and see him as a hero. Unfortunately, it is Karanja,
a man who collaborates with the colonialists and a home guard who becomes the main suspect and a number of people want to carry out their revenge on him especially Kihika’s fellow freedom fighters Lt. Koinandu and General R. Karanja and Gikonyo were enemies due to their competition for Mumbi. Mumbi chooses Gikonyo, a carpenter, over Karanja. When Gikonyo is sent to prison by the colonial government like most men in the country, Karanja sets out to seduce Mumbi who gives in and is impregnated. On the other hand, the Europeans in the country have their own devils to deal with. John Thompson a one time District Officer and his wife Margery are considering living the country soon before the colonialists hand over power to the Africans. Unknown to Thompson, Margery was having an affair with Dr. Van Dyke, a meteorologist. Everyone knew except Thompson. The affair ended when Dr. Van Dyke was crushed by a train. Dr. Lynd, a
librarian, worked with Thompson and hated the Africans as she had once been
attacked and raped by them. She and her boyfriend Roger Mason were planning to leave to Uganda as soon as Kenya got its independence to avoid the blood killings they predicted would be meted out on all Europeans by the Africans. When Gikonyo is released from prison he eagerly goes home looking forward to seeing Mumbi only to find her with Karanja’s child. Angry more so, because he couldn’t get back at Karanja as he was the new chief with immense powers he ignores Mumbi and mistreats her and she decides to leave for her parent’s home. Meanwhile, as the Independence Day celebrations draw near, Mugo is appointed by the villagers to give a speech in honor of Kihika’s memory. Mwaura is sent to Githima to tempt Karanja to attend the celebrations as the freedom fighters intend to wring out the confession out of him before the crowd. Things take a turn when General R asks for Kihika’s betrayer to confess and instead of Karanja, Mugo confesses. Everyone at the rally is shocked at the revelation. Karanja and Gikoknyo’s enmity is brought to an end through a race that none of the wins as they both tripped and fell with Gikonyo breaking his left arm. He is resigned to Mumbi and Karanja leaves the village.
A full summary of the novel
Ngungi wa Thiong’o has used flashbacks in his work to tease his readers. I am among readers who enjoyed the book and here under I would like to share with you what I enjoyed. The whole story in the novel centres on Mugo as the central character. And the story is divided in three eras namely; Pre – colonial, colonial and postcolonial.
Pre-colonial era
This was the era before independence. The novelist describes Thabai Ridge mainly at the Rung’ei Trading Center, the place where people meet to undergo different activities among others, searching for their basic needs. The center is occupied with many African and Indian shops. African shops are made of tin-roofed and Indian shops are made of corrugated iron sheets. It is a big center because even the iron snake uses to stop there before it goes to Kisumu and Kampala (pg 62).
It is every Sundays, where the center is always occupied with many people because two trains from Kampala and Mombasa meet there. After the departure of the train young people continue with their affairs. Love affairs often hatch there. Girls normally wash their clothes and plait their hairs on Saturday and go to the station on Sundays. The train becomes an obsession if one misses it sorrow seized one’s heart for the rest of the week (pg 63).
From the station they normally go to dance in Kinenia forest whereby the dances usually end in fights. Men from Thabai ridge is always the winner and take girls from other ridges. This leads to all girls loving men from Thabai. (pg 63).
Gikonyo is among young people who go to the station every Sunday. He is immigrant from the other ridge. He came still a very child strapped on his mother’s back. His father Waruhiu who worked as a squatter on European farms married to new wife and ordered Gikonyo’s mother to leave his home claiming that her thighs did not yield warm.
At Thabai Wangari (Gigonyo’mother) sends her son to school though he does not stay long because of lack of school fees. But she has learned a little carpentry, which he uses to earn his daily life. (pg 64) The ambition of Gikonyo was to own a piece of land where he could settle his mother. The ambition increases much when he sees or hears of Mumbi. Mumbi is said to be the most beautiful girl in all ridges.
Mumbi is the daughter of Mbugua and a sister to Kishika and Kiriuki. Wanjiku is her mother. Kariuki attendes school and loves books as in the evening he reads books using the light from the wood fire.Gikonyo loves Kariuki and Mumbi. And when he goes to Mumbi he uses to go with sweets. He tells funny stories to Kariuki and rarely speaks when Mumbi comes (pg 67). Other boys who love Mumbi are Karanja and Richard son Rev. Jackson. Richard is at last year at Siriana Secondary school and would later go to Uganda or England to complete his learning. Richard often stole from home at night to go and see Mumbi at Thabai still Mumbi has refused him. So Gikonyo always asks himself,“she has refused such a man, what chance have I? ” (pg 67).
One day Mumbi takes a Panga to Gikonyo to fix it with a new wooden handle because the old one was burnt. Gikonyo promises her to fix it freely. As they continue gossiping (Mazungumzo) come Karanja, Kihika and Gitogo to the workshop of Gikonyo. This situation makes Gikongo to be unhappy. Soon Mumbi decides to live where Karanja escorts her,“Come my faithful ” Mumbi tells Karanja.They leave in the darkness. Then Gikonyo changes suddenly and becomes envious of Karanja. When Karanja comes back everyone notice that he is quite and thoughtful.” He! Man! The man sitting next to him, have you fallen in love with that girl? Everybody laughs except Gikonyo” (pg 71)
The following day Gikonyo takes the Panga with him to Mumbi’s home after fixing it with a new handle. He is happy because Mumbi is present. As they start talking, suddenly enter Kihika and Karanja. As usually Kihika is a politician and whenever he is politics rules the meeting. They join political debate, Kihika, Mumbi, Karanja and Gikongo.
Kihika began politics since his childhood whereby he was chased from Mahiga primary school. When he was young he was sent to mahiga school under the advice of Reverend Jackson Kigondu. Jackson was a friend of Mbugua and he used to hate politics to the extent of calling it a sin (pg 74). Kigunda was the first group of Christians to be killed in Rung’ei by Panga.
When at school Kihika was against his leader Muniu when he called circumcision for women a wicked custom. The punishment to Kihika was to be whipped ten times and finally was to say thanks.Kihika resisted against the whips and from that time Kihika run from school and left for ever.
While at Mumbis home at the very same day Kihika is serious preaching unity to his fellow young who happen to meet there,but his fellow Karanja is seen supporting and praising the whites since they have fire weapons (pg 77). While on political talks, come Mumbi’s friends; Wambuku and Njeri.“ At the sight of Wambuku, Kihika’s face brightens” ,writes Ngugi. Suddenly Njeri shouts the coming of the train hence, all of them leave conversation and go to the station. Gikonyo and Mumbi slowdown and remain behind while others run faster. Karanja is the leading during thie race to the station.
Gikonyo and Mumbi start walking side by side and stop to the forest. Mumbi bends against a tree trunk and start saying.“ you have put a lot of hard work into fixing, the mother was so pleased” Gikonyo seems to be happy as her says, “I mean it was small piece of work and I liked doing it” (pg 79).
Then the author writes that in the forest Gikonyo held Mumbi and gradually fall her to the ground. The long grass covered them. “Mumbi breathed hard but could not dare to speak. One by one, Gikonyo removed her clothes as if performing a dark ritual in the wood. Now her body gleamed in the sun. Her eyes were soft, and will and submissive and defiant. Gikonyo passed his hands through her hair and over her breasts, slowly coaxing and something stiffness from her body, until she lay in his hands, suddenly Gikonyo found himself suspended in a void” (pg 80).
Karanja has arrived to the station and he does not see Mumbi hence he is unhappy. But Kihika continues with political speech. “ in Kenya we want independence. But first we have to be ready and carry the cross. I die for you, you die for me, we become a sacrifice for one another” (pg 83).
They soon Karanja, Kihika and others except Gikonyo and Mumbi reach to Kinenia forest. They dance two by two. Kihika with Wambuku, the girl who is not beautiful except when she laughs (pg 84). The girl who real wants love with Kihika as she says, “you will not go away from me. You will not leave me alone” she even persuades Kihika to leave liberation struggle as she says, “you have got land, Kihika . Mbugua’s land is also yours. In any case, the land in the rift valley didn’t belong to our tribe”.
Time went on and Gikonyo marries to Mumbi. He is very happy as he says, “Before I was nothing. Now I was a man, during our short period of married life, Mumbi made me feel it was all important…. I took the woman in my arms; do you know a banana stem? I peeled off layer after layer, and I put out my trembling hands, to reach the Kiana coiled inside, everyday I found a new Mumbi. Together we plunged into he forest. And I was not afraid of the darkness ” (pg 86).
During Colonial era
This era is accompanied by struggling for independence.One day leaders of the party held a meeting at Rungei and Kihika was selected to speak. As follows, “This is not 1920, what we now want is action, a blow which will tell…. Read his speech on page 15. After the speech he went to the forest with his men. (Pg16) but Karanja didn’t take oath instead he joined the home guard and worked as librarian (pg 31).
From there, things on Thabai become more than worse. People woke up and found themselves ringed round with black and white soldiers. Gunfire smoked in the sky, people held their stomach, some locked themselves in latrines, shopkeepers in their sacks. Gitogo deaf and dumb who lived with his old mother used to bring her food was also shot dead (pg 6). He continues ruing when something hit him on the back.
Thousands of people including Mugo and Gikonyo were detained Mungo had no parents. They dead long time ago and he was left to his widow aunt known Waitherero. Waitherero treated Mungo badly. When Kihika joined the forest, his father Mbugua said “what has come into his head? Don’t I have enough land to last him all his life?” Wambui his mother also wept. (pg 89).
Kihika and his men continued the battle whereby they succeeded to attack one of the garrisons. They broke it and let the prisoners out into the night and set fire on the garrison. They then run back to the forest with fresh suppliers of men and guns to continue the war.The colonial administration suspected Kihika to be involved with the event, hence a price was put on his head that anybody who brought Kihika, dead or alive would receive a huge sum of money. (pg 169).
And people who were in other detention camps were tortured to the maximum (pg 115). They were given small shares the situation which led Mugo one day to organize a boycott. The response to boycott was the death of eleven men (pg 117).
One day Kihika shot Robson a colonial officer; another chief Muruithia the name was also shot by one of forest fighter. The chief did not die and he was taken to Timoro hospital. A week later two men carrying a basketful of food went to visit the sick chief. There, they shot him dead and jumped through the window and went back to the forest (pg 129). From there, Karanja became a chief.
During his regime, Karanja led other home guards into the forest to hunt down the freedom fighters. Even the few remaining fit men were taken to detention camps (pg 129).In detention camps, men who had taken the oath were persuaded to confess so that they be left free to go home and meet their children and wives. Hence Mugo who hadn’t taken the oath was left free.
And those who had remained at home; they were taken to dig trenches under the supervision of soldiers and home guards. Home guards used to beat any body that slowed down in any way. They worked for very long hour with very low wages. Women were allowed out two hours before sunset to go and look for food.
The D.O used to permit soldiers to pick women and carry them to their tents (pg 126). One day home guards came and whipped Wambuku a situation which upset Mugo and came to help her. In terror Mugo pushed forward and held the whip before the home guard could hit a women a fifth time. More home guards gathered the seen and whips descended on Mugo’s body. Then he was taken to the cell where he was tortured severely hence detained.
Wambuku died on the trench and her body was thrown it into the grave dug a few yards from the trench. Other two women died and another hole was dug by trench. Children and old people were not allowed to work but they were sitting aside and see their daughters, mothers and children bear whips (pg 127).
Let us now turn to Kihika’s death. We are told that the price was put on his head. The day Kihika shot dead the D.O, he went to Mugo and informed the issue. So because Mugo disliked to be included in any affairs. He thought that if he engaged with Kihika, the soldiers would kill him… “Why should Kihika drag me into a struggle and problems I have not created? Why ? ……. I am not his brother…” I have not done harm to anybody . I only looked after my little shamba and crops. And now I must spend my life in prison because of the folly of one man.” (pg 169). Kihika left the place and promised to meet with Mugo at Rung’ei market on Sunday.
As Mugo remembered there was a price on Kihika’s head, he went to the DO and reported that he saw Kihika. The D.O shot saliva into the dark face of Mugo. Mugo moved back a step and lifted his left hand to rub off the saliva (pg 173) as the D O says, “Many people have already given us false information concerning this terrorist. Hear? Because they want the reward, we shall hang you here, outside do you here? .”
Hence Kihika was then captured alone at the edge of the Kinenia forest and hanged in public one Sunday at Rung’ei market.
During the operation of trench Mumbi used to attend while her husband in detestation. Her mother and Kariuki had nothing to eat. Karanja the man whom people knew that he might be the one betrayed Kihika used to bring some food to Mumbi (pg 127) “Take this maize flour and bread or else you will die. I did not betray Kihika, I did not.” said Karanja when Mumbi rejected the maize flour.
Karanja helped Mumbi in various matters including education affairs when Kariuki passed KAPE he gave the letter to the boy and went to school. Karanja also helped them to build a house because it was passed the order that all houses within the place they must be removed and the land remained in the hand of white people.
But Karanja used to tell Mumbi that those were detained would never come back (pg 128) “ One day Karanja brought a list of those who are going to come from detention camps. The name of Gikonyo was there. That I laughed even welcomed Karanja’s cold lips on my face …” (pg 131) “ I let Karanja make love to me…” says Mumbi.
Gikonyo from detention
After six years of detention Gikonyo came home and found his wife with a child, a child of Karanja. He went to report his arrival to the chief (Karanja). Gikonyo was shaken with bitter incomprehension being commended by his friend to enter the office. “Listen carefully you have now come back into a normal life in the village. People here obey the law, hear? No meetings at night, no story about Gandhi and unity and all that the white man is here to stay” (pg 130).
Gikonyo unexpectedly stood up, and without knowing what he was doing, started for the door, Karanja let him go up to the door and then shouted “stop” Gikonyo stopped, as if paralyzed by the voice and turned round waiting (pg 103).
Karanja a man who took the oath with Gikonyo to fight the white man was now talking to him about the power of white man. A man with whom he used to play the guitar, who often came to the workshop for gossip, was now shouting at him.
As Gikonyo on the way to home had only one intention to kill Mumbi. When he reached at home the door was closed,“Open the door. Open the door you who auction your bodies on the market” suddenly the door opened and he fell on the floor and hit his head against the hearthstones.
Uhuru Day celebration
After the country had attained her independence, all colonialists were to leave. Mr Burton was one of the earliest settlers, who encouraged by the British Government to settle in Kenya after the railway to Uganda was finished. His children were born in Kenya, went to school there, the boys to the prince of Wales school and girls to Kenya High School and when home to England for their University education.
Since it was the end of him to stay in Kenya, Mr Burton wanted to sell the land he loved and go home to Britain (pg 53) Therefore Gikonyo and his men already contacted Mr. Burton and made preliminary arrangements and Mr. Burton wanted cash so, Gikonyo had gone to see the M.P to Nairobi to find out if he could recommended them get government loan. The M.P promised them to go for the answer.
Gikonyo the allocated day of seeing the M.P when arrived he boarded the bus from Rung’ei to Nairobi. The bus was called A DILIGENT CHILD. Before the reached to Nairobi, two African policemen stopped the bus. One come in and counted the number of passengers. The bus had two pass angers extra. Then the cashier took the two policemen outside and waved the driver to go on. He drove a few yards and stopped. Soon the, cashier came running and get into the bus. “ They just wanted a few shillings for tea”. He said and people in the bus laughed. (pg 54).
He reached to Nairobi city directly to the office of M.P, he found a crowd of people waiting outside the office of M.P because he was not in.But people were used to broken appointments and broken promises. Sometimes they would keep on coming, day after day, without seeing their representatives (pg 54).
When the MP came it was Gikonyo’s turn, “now about these loans. They are difficult to get, but I am trying my best within a few days. I may have good news fro you” So he told him he would inform. them.
“These days people had organized the day to remember all freedom fighter” says M.P, “It’s about these Uhuru celebration at Rung’ei. Please thank the branch and elders for inviting me, but on that day all the members of parliament have been invited to various functions here. So apologize to the people for me and say I can’t come”. Said the MP to Gikonyo. But soon the MP bought the plot for himself. (Mjanja kuwahi).
All the eight ridges at Thabai were talking about Mugo to address the meeting during Uhuru celebration to honor freedom fighters. It had been arranged that during celebration, the betrayer of Kihika would be killed. And the majority knew Karanja as the betrayer so he was to die on that day.
But Mugo rejected to lead the celebration despite persuasion from elders. While people were in preparation for Uhuru, Mumbi had been chased away by Gikonyo. Therefore while Mumbi at home elders used her to go to persuade Mugo to address the meeting. Mumbi was seen confused. She never forgot what general R.Said that Karanja would be killed for his part in Kihika’s death. Should this be done in the name of her brother? (pg 158).
So what she did it was for her to inform Karanja not to attend the meeting then she went to persuade Mugo to address the meeting. Mugo told Mumbi that he was he who betrayed Kihika and he would love the same to her (pg 161).
All this time Karanja was leaving at Githima. So Mwaura went to persuade Karanja to attend the celebration. During the day of celebration there were different sports and games. Among people who run for races Karanja and Gikonyo were there. Fortunately Gikonyo fell down and broke his leg. He was sent to Timoro hospital.
General R. was there to address the mass. Rev. King’ori prayed to open the meeting (pg 182). After addressing meeting the General asked for the betrayer to come in front! Mugo came to the platform and said, “ You asked for Judas! You asked for the man stands before you, now Kihika came to me by night. He put his life into my hands and I sold it to the white man. And this thing has eaten into my life all these years” (pg 193). The multitude didn’t believe their eyes hence they all departed and it was the end of the meeting.
Karanja who was sitting aside looking that, he left for Githima by using NARROW ESCAPE BUS. His entire journey was a companied by heavy rain. On the way he met Mumbi going to see Gikonyo to hospital and he asked to see a child.
At the hospital Gikonyo had lost his desire to kill Mumbi as he said, “ will you go back to the house, light the fire and see things don’t decay?” (213). She consented hence Gikonyo was so happy as he says, “ I will change the woman figure” He then caved a three leg stool for his wife. Soon Mumbi, the child and Gikonyo made life new and worked hard as today they have bought a lorry and other good things.
CONTENT
THEMES
1. Betrayal (Main theme)
Betrayal in most of African countries has become a normal thing to such an extent many nations are now living under conflicts and poverty. The novelist Ngugi discusses this theme deeply through various spheres by using Mugo, Karanja, Gikonyo, and M.P in his novel to represent our today society as follows,
(a) The MP betrays the cooperative group led by Gikonyo. He buys the farm form Mr. Burton instead of helping them to get loan from the government as it was agreed.
(b) Mugo betrays Kihika the leader of the people hence he betrays the entire society.
(c) Karanja betrays the society by collaborating with the white colonialists.
(d) Mumbi betrays Gikonyo her husband by having a child with Karanja.
(e) Gikonyo betrays the society by denouncing the oath and comes to see his wife Mumbi.
(f) The Africans leaders betray the masses after independence. These leaders are enjoying the lion’s share of the national cake while living in cities.
2. Alienation
(a) Alienation of a person from the society.
Mugo is lonely since his child hood. He does not have any stand in his society and he does not want to involve himself in various matters. The society wants him to be their Moses but he fails to understand and in the end he was alienated.
Karanja created a war between himself and his society. He confesses the oath and becomes a collaborator by becoming a home guard and later a chief in favour of the white man. His main intention is to get Mumbi.
(b) Alienation of African culture.
The African traditions were alienated from the European culture. Example the conflict with teacher Muniu and Kihika, was because of circumcision. The already Pacified Christians consider circumcision as a seen but for African culture circumcision is acceptable.
(c) Self alienation
Mugo does not know his real self as he was feared by the sound of his own voice. The sense of guilt of betraying Kihika keeps on lingering in his minds to the extent of bringing a genuine case of self-alienation. He has no hope and desperate, everything repeats it self. The day ahead would just look like yesterday and the day before.
(d) Land alienation
Europeans took the fertile land and leave Africans with unfertile land, and Africans were forced to go and work in plantations of the white settlers instead of working to their land.
3. Building the future.
The Kenyans after being tired of colonialism, they decide to fight for independence. Gikonyo and his cooperative group intended to make their future life better through various activities. However all the attempts to build the future were blocked buy their leaders. This is vividly seen in the novel when the M.P blocks them to get the government to buy the farm
4. Exploitation
The novelist presents exploiters in two groups namely; European exploiters and Africa exploiters. Europeans confiscated all the fertile land and caused Africans to remain landless hence they (Africans) were forced to work in white man plantations and paid low wages. For example they took Gikonyo’s land when he was in detention camps
The African elites (people with authority and economic power) stepped into the shoes left behind by colonialists. A good example is the MP.
5. Oppression
Oppression being restriction of people’s freedom by those in power. People have been oppressed through various aspects namely; economically, politically and socially.
For example Africans experienced the following oppression;
§ They were forced out of their land and their houses were set fire without any compensation.
§ They were forced to work on white man plantations
§ They were denied the rights to education because of their poverty. Refer Gikonyo who was chased because his mother had no school fees.
§ They were used as slaves to white man. For example Karanja is sent by Dr. Lynd to buy meat for her dog.
§ Also when Mugo went to report to the D.O on the issue of Kihika he was humiliated by being spate of saliva on his face.
§ Waiyaki was buried alive as a lesson to those who were against white man.
§ Kihika when tried to fight for African culture (circumcision for women) he was chased from school forever.
§ They were beaten and put into detention camps without trial. Refer to Gikonyo, Mugo and Harry Thuku. And Africans who remained at home were forced to pay tax.. Also whites like Thomson and Dr. Lynd harassed Kenyans. Karanja’s harassed his fellow Kenyans.
6. Role and Position of women
The novelist portrays a woman in various aspects as follows;
§ As person who takes care of her family
Women in this society play the role of taking care of their families in absence of their husbands. For example while, Gikonyo was in detention camps Mumbi took care of Gikonyo’s mother and the house.
§ As patriotic person
Women have been portrayed as the link between Maumau fighter in the forest and those in villages as symbol of patriotism. For example Wambui took the pistol to the freedom fighters that went to fight in the forest.
§ As people who value education
Women have been portrayed as people who value education in the society despite their poverty. For example Mumbi used to dig trenches to find money to pay school fees for their children and young brother Kariuki. She also learned reading and writes thus why he wrote a letter to rescue Karanja on the issue of killing him during Uhuru celebration.
§ As worthless people
Women were humiliated, sexually abused and degraded by their husbands and soldiers. For example in digging trenches, soldiers were allowed to take women and sleep with them in their tents. Mumbi was beaten by her husband and stopped to sleep with her. General R’s mother was being beaten by her husband; and Dr Lynd was raped by Lt Koinandu.
§ As people with sympathy
Women also were portrayed as people with great sympathy. This being shown by Wambuku, Kihika’s mother now she wept when Kihika went to the forest fight for the Whites. On this issue Nyeri also wept because Kihika was his boy friend. Mumbi cried when Gikonyo was detained.
Conflict
Many conflicts have been pointed out by the author at various stages of development, during, pre and post independence. It is during the colonial era when great social, political and economic conflicts arose and some continued up to the post – independence.
(a) Political conflict
Taking people to concentration camps during the state of emergence lied to political conflicts between colonialists and the Africans. Thus why European killed Kihika and Waiyaki while Africans killed Dr. Thomson and other betrayers to Africans.
(b) Social conflict
The introduction of the European culture made traditionalists to be in conflicts with the brain washed elites. This led to the death of Rev. Kigondu the father of Richard.
Alienation of a person from others also led to social conflicts. For example Gikonyo was taken to concentration camp leaving behind his wife Mumbi and when he came back he found her with a child who took advantage of Gikonyo’s absence. Gikonyo therefore became in social conflicts with Mumbi and Karanja.
Dehumanisation of the people by the colonial government, Africans were demolished from and fertile land forced to live in unfertile land. This led to social conflict.
(c) Economic conflict
Europeans introduced an exploitative system of production whereby Kenyans were exploited. Kenyans had to pay tax; and they were lowly paid for the hard labour. Hence the conflict between Africans and Europeans arose following a war to fight for their rights.
7. Corruption
Most of people who are taking corruption are government leaders who were honoured by the government to fight corruption. For example the novelist shows when the two policemen took bribe from the bus conductor on the way to Nairobi.Also MP corrupted his people (Gikonyo and his men on Burton’s farm).
8. Sacrifice
Ngungi uses a “A grain of wheat” symbolically to show us that in order for the Kenyans to get their freedom from the colonialists they would be ready to die for their country. Waiyaki, Kihika, Harry Thuku are among the freedom fighters that sacrificed their lives for the freedom of Kenya. Colonialists at Kibwezi bury Waiyaki alive with his head facing the center of the earth so that it will be a warning to other Kenyans never to challenge the power of the white man.
Kihika is caught and hanged by the neck at Rung’ei. Wambui risks her life by hiding a pistol in her grain to escape from the White man.
MESSAGES
The author has put forward a number of messages. These include: -
1. Courage is vital in any fight against an enemy. For example Kihika says, “what we went in Kenya are women and men who will not run before the sword” (pg 89).
2. Unity is very important in the liberation struggle. Thus why Kihika united with other men to fight for independence and hence they attained it.
3. It is important to forgive past events even if they are unforgettable. Example Mumbi and Gikonyo forgive each other’s guilt and they reconcile. As a result, they are living in harmony and prosperity.
4. We should be aware of traitors in our efforts to build a better society. For example betrayals by Mugo’s Karanja and the MP.
5. Hardworking is the source of prosperity; Example Gikonyo was respected and admired as he soon was recognized as a very big businessman.
6. Women should not be looked down on as they can play important roles in the society. Example Mumbi, Wami and Wambui were talking about the duties they have as contribution to the building of the nation.
Perspective
Centered on the pre-Independence Kenyan struggle between the Mau Mau liberation fighters and the British colonial government, A GRAIN OF WHEAT gives a portrayal of the struggle that few writers have ever depicted. One gets a good picture of the Mau Mau fighters, the attitude of the Colonialists, their the detention camps, the nature of the war, the bloody encounters, the ruthlessness of some of the soldiers of Colonial army and the direction to independence for the African continent. Betrayal, hopes and dreams, horrors and loss are all parts of the story.
FORM
PLOT
The central action in this novel by Ngugi wa Thiong'o takes place in December of 1963 in a village in Kenya that is preparing for the coming of Uhuru (Independence). However, the plot is non-linear, with a wealth of flashbacks and various twists and turns. There are also multiple storylines which are well woven into a fascinating tapestry. The main story is indeed the coming of Independence Day, part of which involves identifying the person who betrayed Kihika, one of the leading freedom fighters from the village. Many of the flashbacks along this storyline involve the fight for freedom as well as details about what occurred in the detention camps. Another prominent storyline is that involving a love triangle between Mumbi and her two suitors, Gikonyo and Karanja. A third interesting storyline involves Mugo, a man whom everyone recognizes as different yet feels drawn to.
TITLE
This title comes from 1Corintias 15 verse 36 – 38 which says “.. Thou food, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain. But God givent it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body”.
A grain of wheat has to die and be buried in order that later it will germinate into a new powerful plant which will give rise to more grains. Similarly, Jesus Christ, according to the Christian belief, died in order to bring about man’s liberation from sins.The Kenyans were struggling for liberation thus why there had to be a savior who had to die and be a sacrifice for the people’s liberation. These were Waiyaki, Kihika and Harry Thuku.
CHARACTERS
The loner Mugo, a hero of the British concentration camps where he led a hunger strike and he also tried to stop a village guard from beating a pregnant woman to death. Although he is thought to be a hero through the whole book, he is the traitor of Kihika betraying him to the British in a selfish act to save himself.
Gikonyo, an ambitious carpenter and business man who's married to Mumbi. Confessed to taking the oath of the resistance while in a concentration camp, securing an early release only to find that his wife had had a child with his hated rival Karanja while he was away.
"Gikonyo's secret ambition was to own a piece of land where he could settle his mother. But this needed money. The ambition to acquire wealth increased whenever he saw or thought of Mumbi, a girl whose voice and face caused an anguished throb in him. But he thought his heart was beating in the wilderness. Surely Mumbi, the most beautiful girl on the ridge, would never deign to bring him a calabash fill with cool water and say: drink this for me. Nevertheless, he waited and groped his way slowly. He saw Mumbi moving in the country paths among the pea-flowers, and green beans and maize plants, and he braced himself to make his desires known. But courage failed him. He greeted her and passed on." --pg. 87,
Mumbi, wife of Gikonyo and sister of Kihika. While Gikonyo was imprisoned she was ultimately forced to sleep with Karanja who had been appointed village chief by the colonial power through collaboration.
Karanja, collaborator with the British and widely suspected to be the traitor who betrayed Kihika
Kihika, resistance fighter who conquered a police station and killed the hated District Officer Robson before being caught and hanged after being betrayed by Mugo.
John Thompson an early British settler, believes in the ideals of Colonial Imperialism
SETTING
This is a powerful book by Ngugi Wa Thiongo and it is set in pre-independence days in Kenya in the early 1950's - 60's. The place, a rural village in the heart of central Kenya, and through Ngugi's eyes, the landscape becomes alive with the sights, sounds and smells of the area.
Abstract
The background of the story is in Kenya when the county is on the edge of independence. Mugo is a poor orphaned man who has suffered a lot and is indifferent to what is going on around him and he expects the rest of the world to leave him alone. This happens until Kihika recruits him by force to join the rest of the freedom fighters. Resenting this, he betrays Kihika to the colonial government. Consequently, Kihika is hanged. No one suspects Mugo.
In fact, people worship him and see him as a hero. Unfortunately, it is Karanja,
a man who collaborates with the colonialists and a home guard who becomes the main suspect and a number of people want to carry out their revenge on him especially Kihika’s fellow freedom fighters Lt. Koinandu and General R. Karanja and Gikonyo were enemies due to their competition for Mumbi. Mumbi chooses Gikonyo, a carpenter, over Karanja. When Gikonyo is sent to prison by the colonial government like most men in the country, Karanja sets out to seduce Mumbi who gives in and is impregnated. On the other hand, the Europeans in the country have their own devils to deal with. John Thompson a one time District Officer and his wife Margery are considering living the country soon before the colonialists hand over power to the Africans. Unknown to Thompson, Margery was having an affair with Dr. Van Dyke, a meteorologist. Everyone knew except Thompson. The affair ended when Dr. Van Dyke was crushed by a train. Dr. Lynd, a
librarian, worked with Thompson and hated the Africans as she had once been
attacked and raped by them. She and her boyfriend Roger Mason were planning to leave to Uganda as soon as Kenya got its independence to avoid the blood killings they predicted would be meted out on all Europeans by the Africans. When Gikonyo is released from prison he eagerly goes home looking forward to seeing Mumbi only to find her with Karanja’s child. Angry more so, because he couldn’t get back at Karanja as he was the new chief with immense powers he ignores Mumbi and mistreats her and she decides to leave for her parent’s home. Meanwhile, as the Independence Day celebrations draw near, Mugo is appointed by the villagers to give a speech in honor of Kihika’s memory. Mwaura is sent to Githima to tempt Karanja to attend the celebrations as the freedom fighters intend to wring out the confession out of him before the crowd. Things take a turn when General R asks for Kihika’s betrayer to confess and instead of Karanja, Mugo confesses. Everyone at the rally is shocked at the revelation. Karanja and Gikoknyo’s enmity is brought to an end through a race that none of the wins as they both tripped and fell with Gikonyo breaking his left arm. He is resigned to Mumbi and Karanja leaves the village.
A full summary of the novel
Ngungi wa Thiong’o has used flashbacks in his work to tease his readers. I am among readers who enjoyed the book and here under I would like to share with you what I enjoyed. The whole story in the novel centres on Mugo as the central character. And the story is divided in three eras namely; Pre – colonial, colonial and postcolonial.
Pre-colonial era
This was the era before independence. The novelist describes Thabai Ridge mainly at the Rung’ei Trading Center, the place where people meet to undergo different activities among others, searching for their basic needs. The center is occupied with many African and Indian shops. African shops are made of tin-roofed and Indian shops are made of corrugated iron sheets. It is a big center because even the iron snake uses to stop there before it goes to Kisumu and Kampala (pg 62).
It is every Sundays, where the center is always occupied with many people because two trains from Kampala and Mombasa meet there. After the departure of the train young people continue with their affairs. Love affairs often hatch there. Girls normally wash their clothes and plait their hairs on Saturday and go to the station on Sundays. The train becomes an obsession if one misses it sorrow seized one’s heart for the rest of the week (pg 63).
From the station they normally go to dance in Kinenia forest whereby the dances usually end in fights. Men from Thabai ridge is always the winner and take girls from other ridges. This leads to all girls loving men from Thabai. (pg 63).
Gikonyo is among young people who go to the station every Sunday. He is immigrant from the other ridge. He came still a very child strapped on his mother’s back. His father Waruhiu who worked as a squatter on European farms married to new wife and ordered Gikonyo’s mother to leave his home claiming that her thighs did not yield warm.
At Thabai Wangari (Gigonyo’mother) sends her son to school though he does not stay long because of lack of school fees. But she has learned a little carpentry, which he uses to earn his daily life. (pg 64) The ambition of Gikonyo was to own a piece of land where he could settle his mother. The ambition increases much when he sees or hears of Mumbi. Mumbi is said to be the most beautiful girl in all ridges.
Mumbi is the daughter of Mbugua and a sister to Kishika and Kiriuki. Wanjiku is her mother. Kariuki attendes school and loves books as in the evening he reads books using the light from the wood fire.Gikonyo loves Kariuki and Mumbi. And when he goes to Mumbi he uses to go with sweets. He tells funny stories to Kariuki and rarely speaks when Mumbi comes (pg 67). Other boys who love Mumbi are Karanja and Richard son Rev. Jackson. Richard is at last year at Siriana Secondary school and would later go to Uganda or England to complete his learning. Richard often stole from home at night to go and see Mumbi at Thabai still Mumbi has refused him. So Gikonyo always asks himself,“she has refused such a man, what chance have I? ” (pg 67).
One day Mumbi takes a Panga to Gikonyo to fix it with a new wooden handle because the old one was burnt. Gikonyo promises her to fix it freely. As they continue gossiping (Mazungumzo) come Karanja, Kihika and Gitogo to the workshop of Gikonyo. This situation makes Gikongo to be unhappy. Soon Mumbi decides to live where Karanja escorts her,“Come my faithful ” Mumbi tells Karanja.They leave in the darkness. Then Gikonyo changes suddenly and becomes envious of Karanja. When Karanja comes back everyone notice that he is quite and thoughtful.” He! Man! The man sitting next to him, have you fallen in love with that girl? Everybody laughs except Gikonyo” (pg 71)
The following day Gikonyo takes the Panga with him to Mumbi’s home after fixing it with a new handle. He is happy because Mumbi is present. As they start talking, suddenly enter Kihika and Karanja. As usually Kihika is a politician and whenever he is politics rules the meeting. They join political debate, Kihika, Mumbi, Karanja and Gikongo.
Kihika began politics since his childhood whereby he was chased from Mahiga primary school. When he was young he was sent to mahiga school under the advice of Reverend Jackson Kigondu. Jackson was a friend of Mbugua and he used to hate politics to the extent of calling it a sin (pg 74). Kigunda was the first group of Christians to be killed in Rung’ei by Panga.
When at school Kihika was against his leader Muniu when he called circumcision for women a wicked custom. The punishment to Kihika was to be whipped ten times and finally was to say thanks.Kihika resisted against the whips and from that time Kihika run from school and left for ever.
While at Mumbis home at the very same day Kihika is serious preaching unity to his fellow young who happen to meet there,but his fellow Karanja is seen supporting and praising the whites since they have fire weapons (pg 77). While on political talks, come Mumbi’s friends; Wambuku and Njeri.“ At the sight of Wambuku, Kihika’s face brightens” ,writes Ngugi. Suddenly Njeri shouts the coming of the train hence, all of them leave conversation and go to the station. Gikonyo and Mumbi slowdown and remain behind while others run faster. Karanja is the leading during thie race to the station.
Gikonyo and Mumbi start walking side by side and stop to the forest. Mumbi bends against a tree trunk and start saying.“ you have put a lot of hard work into fixing, the mother was so pleased” Gikonyo seems to be happy as her says, “I mean it was small piece of work and I liked doing it” (pg 79).
Then the author writes that in the forest Gikonyo held Mumbi and gradually fall her to the ground. The long grass covered them. “Mumbi breathed hard but could not dare to speak. One by one, Gikonyo removed her clothes as if performing a dark ritual in the wood. Now her body gleamed in the sun. Her eyes were soft, and will and submissive and defiant. Gikonyo passed his hands through her hair and over her breasts, slowly coaxing and something stiffness from her body, until she lay in his hands, suddenly Gikonyo found himself suspended in a void” (pg 80).
Karanja has arrived to the station and he does not see Mumbi hence he is unhappy. But Kihika continues with political speech. “ in Kenya we want independence. But first we have to be ready and carry the cross. I die for you, you die for me, we become a sacrifice for one another” (pg 83).
They soon Karanja, Kihika and others except Gikonyo and Mumbi reach to Kinenia forest. They dance two by two. Kihika with Wambuku, the girl who is not beautiful except when she laughs (pg 84). The girl who real wants love with Kihika as she says, “you will not go away from me. You will not leave me alone” she even persuades Kihika to leave liberation struggle as she says, “you have got land, Kihika . Mbugua’s land is also yours. In any case, the land in the rift valley didn’t belong to our tribe”.
Time went on and Gikonyo marries to Mumbi. He is very happy as he says, “Before I was nothing. Now I was a man, during our short period of married life, Mumbi made me feel it was all important…. I took the woman in my arms; do you know a banana stem? I peeled off layer after layer, and I put out my trembling hands, to reach the Kiana coiled inside, everyday I found a new Mumbi. Together we plunged into he forest. And I was not afraid of the darkness ” (pg 86).
During Colonial era
This era is accompanied by struggling for independence.One day leaders of the party held a meeting at Rungei and Kihika was selected to speak. As follows, “This is not 1920, what we now want is action, a blow which will tell…. Read his speech on page 15. After the speech he went to the forest with his men. (Pg16) but Karanja didn’t take oath instead he joined the home guard and worked as librarian (pg 31).
From there, things on Thabai become more than worse. People woke up and found themselves ringed round with black and white soldiers. Gunfire smoked in the sky, people held their stomach, some locked themselves in latrines, shopkeepers in their sacks. Gitogo deaf and dumb who lived with his old mother used to bring her food was also shot dead (pg 6). He continues ruing when something hit him on the back.
Thousands of people including Mugo and Gikonyo were detained Mungo had no parents. They dead long time ago and he was left to his widow aunt known Waitherero. Waitherero treated Mungo badly. When Kihika joined the forest, his father Mbugua said “what has come into his head? Don’t I have enough land to last him all his life?” Wambui his mother also wept. (pg 89).
Kihika and his men continued the battle whereby they succeeded to attack one of the garrisons. They broke it and let the prisoners out into the night and set fire on the garrison. They then run back to the forest with fresh suppliers of men and guns to continue the war.The colonial administration suspected Kihika to be involved with the event, hence a price was put on his head that anybody who brought Kihika, dead or alive would receive a huge sum of money. (pg 169).
And people who were in other detention camps were tortured to the maximum (pg 115). They were given small shares the situation which led Mugo one day to organize a boycott. The response to boycott was the death of eleven men (pg 117).
One day Kihika shot Robson a colonial officer; another chief Muruithia the name was also shot by one of forest fighter. The chief did not die and he was taken to Timoro hospital. A week later two men carrying a basketful of food went to visit the sick chief. There, they shot him dead and jumped through the window and went back to the forest (pg 129). From there, Karanja became a chief.
During his regime, Karanja led other home guards into the forest to hunt down the freedom fighters. Even the few remaining fit men were taken to detention camps (pg 129).In detention camps, men who had taken the oath were persuaded to confess so that they be left free to go home and meet their children and wives. Hence Mugo who hadn’t taken the oath was left free.
And those who had remained at home; they were taken to dig trenches under the supervision of soldiers and home guards. Home guards used to beat any body that slowed down in any way. They worked for very long hour with very low wages. Women were allowed out two hours before sunset to go and look for food.
The D.O used to permit soldiers to pick women and carry them to their tents (pg 126). One day home guards came and whipped Wambuku a situation which upset Mugo and came to help her. In terror Mugo pushed forward and held the whip before the home guard could hit a women a fifth time. More home guards gathered the seen and whips descended on Mugo’s body. Then he was taken to the cell where he was tortured severely hence detained.
Wambuku died on the trench and her body was thrown it into the grave dug a few yards from the trench. Other two women died and another hole was dug by trench. Children and old people were not allowed to work but they were sitting aside and see their daughters, mothers and children bear whips (pg 127).
Let us now turn to Kihika’s death. We are told that the price was put on his head. The day Kihika shot dead the D.O, he went to Mugo and informed the issue. So because Mugo disliked to be included in any affairs. He thought that if he engaged with Kihika, the soldiers would kill him… “Why should Kihika drag me into a struggle and problems I have not created? Why ? ……. I am not his brother…” I have not done harm to anybody . I only looked after my little shamba and crops. And now I must spend my life in prison because of the folly of one man.” (pg 169). Kihika left the place and promised to meet with Mugo at Rung’ei market on Sunday.
As Mugo remembered there was a price on Kihika’s head, he went to the DO and reported that he saw Kihika. The D.O shot saliva into the dark face of Mugo. Mugo moved back a step and lifted his left hand to rub off the saliva (pg 173) as the D O says, “Many people have already given us false information concerning this terrorist. Hear? Because they want the reward, we shall hang you here, outside do you here? .”
Hence Kihika was then captured alone at the edge of the Kinenia forest and hanged in public one Sunday at Rung’ei market.
During the operation of trench Mumbi used to attend while her husband in detestation. Her mother and Kariuki had nothing to eat. Karanja the man whom people knew that he might be the one betrayed Kihika used to bring some food to Mumbi (pg 127) “Take this maize flour and bread or else you will die. I did not betray Kihika, I did not.” said Karanja when Mumbi rejected the maize flour.
Karanja helped Mumbi in various matters including education affairs when Kariuki passed KAPE he gave the letter to the boy and went to school. Karanja also helped them to build a house because it was passed the order that all houses within the place they must be removed and the land remained in the hand of white people.
But Karanja used to tell Mumbi that those were detained would never come back (pg 128) “ One day Karanja brought a list of those who are going to come from detention camps. The name of Gikonyo was there. That I laughed even welcomed Karanja’s cold lips on my face …” (pg 131) “ I let Karanja make love to me…” says Mumbi.
Gikonyo from detention
After six years of detention Gikonyo came home and found his wife with a child, a child of Karanja. He went to report his arrival to the chief (Karanja). Gikonyo was shaken with bitter incomprehension being commended by his friend to enter the office. “Listen carefully you have now come back into a normal life in the village. People here obey the law, hear? No meetings at night, no story about Gandhi and unity and all that the white man is here to stay” (pg 130).
Gikonyo unexpectedly stood up, and without knowing what he was doing, started for the door, Karanja let him go up to the door and then shouted “stop” Gikonyo stopped, as if paralyzed by the voice and turned round waiting (pg 103).
Karanja a man who took the oath with Gikonyo to fight the white man was now talking to him about the power of white man. A man with whom he used to play the guitar, who often came to the workshop for gossip, was now shouting at him.
As Gikonyo on the way to home had only one intention to kill Mumbi. When he reached at home the door was closed,“Open the door. Open the door you who auction your bodies on the market” suddenly the door opened and he fell on the floor and hit his head against the hearthstones.
Uhuru Day celebration
After the country had attained her independence, all colonialists were to leave. Mr Burton was one of the earliest settlers, who encouraged by the British Government to settle in Kenya after the railway to Uganda was finished. His children were born in Kenya, went to school there, the boys to the prince of Wales school and girls to Kenya High School and when home to England for their University education.
Since it was the end of him to stay in Kenya, Mr Burton wanted to sell the land he loved and go home to Britain (pg 53) Therefore Gikonyo and his men already contacted Mr. Burton and made preliminary arrangements and Mr. Burton wanted cash so, Gikonyo had gone to see the M.P to Nairobi to find out if he could recommended them get government loan. The M.P promised them to go for the answer.
Gikonyo the allocated day of seeing the M.P when arrived he boarded the bus from Rung’ei to Nairobi. The bus was called A DILIGENT CHILD. Before the reached to Nairobi, two African policemen stopped the bus. One come in and counted the number of passengers. The bus had two pass angers extra. Then the cashier took the two policemen outside and waved the driver to go on. He drove a few yards and stopped. Soon the, cashier came running and get into the bus. “ They just wanted a few shillings for tea”. He said and people in the bus laughed. (pg 54).
He reached to Nairobi city directly to the office of M.P, he found a crowd of people waiting outside the office of M.P because he was not in.But people were used to broken appointments and broken promises. Sometimes they would keep on coming, day after day, without seeing their representatives (pg 54).
When the MP came it was Gikonyo’s turn, “now about these loans. They are difficult to get, but I am trying my best within a few days. I may have good news fro you” So he told him he would inform. them.
“These days people had organized the day to remember all freedom fighter” says M.P, “It’s about these Uhuru celebration at Rung’ei. Please thank the branch and elders for inviting me, but on that day all the members of parliament have been invited to various functions here. So apologize to the people for me and say I can’t come”. Said the MP to Gikonyo. But soon the MP bought the plot for himself. (Mjanja kuwahi).
All the eight ridges at Thabai were talking about Mugo to address the meeting during Uhuru celebration to honor freedom fighters. It had been arranged that during celebration, the betrayer of Kihika would be killed. And the majority knew Karanja as the betrayer so he was to die on that day.
But Mugo rejected to lead the celebration despite persuasion from elders. While people were in preparation for Uhuru, Mumbi had been chased away by Gikonyo. Therefore while Mumbi at home elders used her to go to persuade Mugo to address the meeting. Mumbi was seen confused. She never forgot what general R.Said that Karanja would be killed for his part in Kihika’s death. Should this be done in the name of her brother? (pg 158).
So what she did it was for her to inform Karanja not to attend the meeting then she went to persuade Mugo to address the meeting. Mugo told Mumbi that he was he who betrayed Kihika and he would love the same to her (pg 161).
All this time Karanja was leaving at Githima. So Mwaura went to persuade Karanja to attend the celebration. During the day of celebration there were different sports and games. Among people who run for races Karanja and Gikonyo were there. Fortunately Gikonyo fell down and broke his leg. He was sent to Timoro hospital.
General R. was there to address the mass. Rev. King’ori prayed to open the meeting (pg 182). After addressing meeting the General asked for the betrayer to come in front! Mugo came to the platform and said, “ You asked for Judas! You asked for the man stands before you, now Kihika came to me by night. He put his life into my hands and I sold it to the white man. And this thing has eaten into my life all these years” (pg 193). The multitude didn’t believe their eyes hence they all departed and it was the end of the meeting.
Karanja who was sitting aside looking that, he left for Githima by using NARROW ESCAPE BUS. His entire journey was a companied by heavy rain. On the way he met Mumbi going to see Gikonyo to hospital and he asked to see a child.
At the hospital Gikonyo had lost his desire to kill Mumbi as he said, “ will you go back to the house, light the fire and see things don’t decay?” (213). She consented hence Gikonyo was so happy as he says, “ I will change the woman figure” He then caved a three leg stool for his wife. Soon Mumbi, the child and Gikonyo made life new and worked hard as today they have bought a lorry and other good things.
CONTENT
THEMES
1. Betrayal (Main theme)
Betrayal in most of African countries has become a normal thing to such an extent many nations are now living under conflicts and poverty. The novelist Ngugi discusses this theme deeply through various spheres by using Mugo, Karanja, Gikonyo, and M.P in his novel to represent our today society as follows,
(a) The MP betrays the cooperative group led by Gikonyo. He buys the farm form Mr. Burton instead of helping them to get loan from the government as it was agreed.
(b) Mugo betrays Kihika the leader of the people hence he betrays the entire society.
(c) Karanja betrays the society by collaborating with the white colonialists.
(d) Mumbi betrays Gikonyo her husband by having a child with Karanja.
(e) Gikonyo betrays the society by denouncing the oath and comes to see his wife Mumbi.
(f) The Africans leaders betray the masses after independence. These leaders are enjoying the lion’s share of the national cake while living in cities.
2. Alienation
(a) Alienation of a person from the society.
Mugo is lonely since his child hood. He does not have any stand in his society and he does not want to involve himself in various matters. The society wants him to be their Moses but he fails to understand and in the end he was alienated.
Karanja created a war between himself and his society. He confesses the oath and becomes a collaborator by becoming a home guard and later a chief in favour of the white man. His main intention is to get Mumbi.
(b) Alienation of African culture.
The African traditions were alienated from the European culture. Example the conflict with teacher Muniu and Kihika, was because of circumcision. The already Pacified Christians consider circumcision as a seen but for African culture circumcision is acceptable.
(c) Self alienation
Mugo does not know his real self as he was feared by the sound of his own voice. The sense of guilt of betraying Kihika keeps on lingering in his minds to the extent of bringing a genuine case of self-alienation. He has no hope and desperate, everything repeats it self. The day ahead would just look like yesterday and the day before.
(d) Land alienation
Europeans took the fertile land and leave Africans with unfertile land, and Africans were forced to go and work in plantations of the white settlers instead of working to their land.
3. Building the future.
The Kenyans after being tired of colonialism, they decide to fight for independence. Gikonyo and his cooperative group intended to make their future life better through various activities. However all the attempts to build the future were blocked buy their leaders. This is vividly seen in the novel when the M.P blocks them to get the government to buy the farm
4. Exploitation
The novelist presents exploiters in two groups namely; European exploiters and Africa exploiters. Europeans confiscated all the fertile land and caused Africans to remain landless hence they (Africans) were forced to work in white man plantations and paid low wages. For example they took Gikonyo’s land when he was in detention camps
The African elites (people with authority and economic power) stepped into the shoes left behind by colonialists. A good example is the MP.
5. Oppression
Oppression being restriction of people’s freedom by those in power. People have been oppressed through various aspects namely; economically, politically and socially.
For example Africans experienced the following oppression;
§ They were forced out of their land and their houses were set fire without any compensation.
§ They were forced to work on white man plantations
§ They were denied the rights to education because of their poverty. Refer Gikonyo who was chased because his mother had no school fees.
§ They were used as slaves to white man. For example Karanja is sent by Dr. Lynd to buy meat for her dog.
§ Also when Mugo went to report to the D.O on the issue of Kihika he was humiliated by being spate of saliva on his face.
§ Waiyaki was buried alive as a lesson to those who were against white man.
§ Kihika when tried to fight for African culture (circumcision for women) he was chased from school forever.
§ They were beaten and put into detention camps without trial. Refer to Gikonyo, Mugo and Harry Thuku. And Africans who remained at home were forced to pay tax.. Also whites like Thomson and Dr. Lynd harassed Kenyans. Karanja’s harassed his fellow Kenyans.
6. Role and Position of women
The novelist portrays a woman in various aspects as follows;
§ As person who takes care of her family
Women in this society play the role of taking care of their families in absence of their husbands. For example while, Gikonyo was in detention camps Mumbi took care of Gikonyo’s mother and the house.
§ As patriotic person
Women have been portrayed as the link between Maumau fighter in the forest and those in villages as symbol of patriotism. For example Wambui took the pistol to the freedom fighters that went to fight in the forest.
§ As people who value education
Women have been portrayed as people who value education in the society despite their poverty. For example Mumbi used to dig trenches to find money to pay school fees for their children and young brother Kariuki. She also learned reading and writes thus why he wrote a letter to rescue Karanja on the issue of killing him during Uhuru celebration.
§ As worthless people
Women were humiliated, sexually abused and degraded by their husbands and soldiers. For example in digging trenches, soldiers were allowed to take women and sleep with them in their tents. Mumbi was beaten by her husband and stopped to sleep with her. General R’s mother was being beaten by her husband; and Dr Lynd was raped by Lt Koinandu.
§ As people with sympathy
Women also were portrayed as people with great sympathy. This being shown by Wambuku, Kihika’s mother now she wept when Kihika went to the forest fight for the Whites. On this issue Nyeri also wept because Kihika was his boy friend. Mumbi cried when Gikonyo was detained.
Conflict
Many conflicts have been pointed out by the author at various stages of development, during, pre and post independence. It is during the colonial era when great social, political and economic conflicts arose and some continued up to the post – independence.
(a) Political conflict
Taking people to concentration camps during the state of emergence lied to political conflicts between colonialists and the Africans. Thus why European killed Kihika and Waiyaki while Africans killed Dr. Thomson and other betrayers to Africans.
(b) Social conflict
The introduction of the European culture made traditionalists to be in conflicts with the brain washed elites. This led to the death of Rev. Kigondu the father of Richard.
Alienation of a person from others also led to social conflicts. For example Gikonyo was taken to concentration camp leaving behind his wife Mumbi and when he came back he found her with a child who took advantage of Gikonyo’s absence. Gikonyo therefore became in social conflicts with Mumbi and Karanja.
Dehumanisation of the people by the colonial government, Africans were demolished from and fertile land forced to live in unfertile land. This led to social conflict.
(c) Economic conflict
Europeans introduced an exploitative system of production whereby Kenyans were exploited. Kenyans had to pay tax; and they were lowly paid for the hard labour. Hence the conflict between Africans and Europeans arose following a war to fight for their rights.
7. Corruption
Most of people who are taking corruption are government leaders who were honoured by the government to fight corruption. For example the novelist shows when the two policemen took bribe from the bus conductor on the way to Nairobi.Also MP corrupted his people (Gikonyo and his men on Burton’s farm).
8. Sacrifice
Ngungi uses a “A grain of wheat” symbolically to show us that in order for the Kenyans to get their freedom from the colonialists they would be ready to die for their country. Waiyaki, Kihika, Harry Thuku are among the freedom fighters that sacrificed their lives for the freedom of Kenya. Colonialists at Kibwezi bury Waiyaki alive with his head facing the center of the earth so that it will be a warning to other Kenyans never to challenge the power of the white man.
Kihika is caught and hanged by the neck at Rung’ei. Wambui risks her life by hiding a pistol in her grain to escape from the White man.
MESSAGES
The author has put forward a number of messages. These include: -
1. Courage is vital in any fight against an enemy. For example Kihika says, “what we went in Kenya are women and men who will not run before the sword” (pg 89).
2. Unity is very important in the liberation struggle. Thus why Kihika united with other men to fight for independence and hence they attained it.
3. It is important to forgive past events even if they are unforgettable. Example Mumbi and Gikonyo forgive each other’s guilt and they reconcile. As a result, they are living in harmony and prosperity.
4. We should be aware of traitors in our efforts to build a better society. For example betrayals by Mugo’s Karanja and the MP.
5. Hardworking is the source of prosperity; Example Gikonyo was respected and admired as he soon was recognized as a very big businessman.
6. Women should not be looked down on as they can play important roles in the society. Example Mumbi, Wami and Wambui were talking about the duties they have as contribution to the building of the nation.
Perspective
Centered on the pre-Independence Kenyan struggle between the Mau Mau liberation fighters and the British colonial government, A GRAIN OF WHEAT gives a portrayal of the struggle that few writers have ever depicted. One gets a good picture of the Mau Mau fighters, the attitude of the Colonialists, their the detention camps, the nature of the war, the bloody encounters, the ruthlessness of some of the soldiers of Colonial army and the direction to independence for the African continent. Betrayal, hopes and dreams, horrors and loss are all parts of the story.
FORM
PLOT
The central action in this novel by Ngugi wa Thiong'o takes place in December of 1963 in a village in Kenya that is preparing for the coming of Uhuru (Independence). However, the plot is non-linear, with a wealth of flashbacks and various twists and turns. There are also multiple storylines which are well woven into a fascinating tapestry. The main story is indeed the coming of Independence Day, part of which involves identifying the person who betrayed Kihika, one of the leading freedom fighters from the village. Many of the flashbacks along this storyline involve the fight for freedom as well as details about what occurred in the detention camps. Another prominent storyline is that involving a love triangle between Mumbi and her two suitors, Gikonyo and Karanja. A third interesting storyline involves Mugo, a man whom everyone recognizes as different yet feels drawn to.
TITLE
This title comes from 1Corintias 15 verse 36 – 38 which says “.. Thou food, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain. But God givent it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body”.
A grain of wheat has to die and be buried in order that later it will germinate into a new powerful plant which will give rise to more grains. Similarly, Jesus Christ, according to the Christian belief, died in order to bring about man’s liberation from sins.The Kenyans were struggling for liberation thus why there had to be a savior who had to die and be a sacrifice for the people’s liberation. These were Waiyaki, Kihika and Harry Thuku.
CHARACTERS
The loner Mugo, a hero of the British concentration camps where he led a hunger strike and he also tried to stop a village guard from beating a pregnant woman to death. Although he is thought to be a hero through the whole book, he is the traitor of Kihika betraying him to the British in a selfish act to save himself.
Gikonyo, an ambitious carpenter and business man who's married to Mumbi. Confessed to taking the oath of the resistance while in a concentration camp, securing an early release only to find that his wife had had a child with his hated rival Karanja while he was away.
"Gikonyo's secret ambition was to own a piece of land where he could settle his mother. But this needed money. The ambition to acquire wealth increased whenever he saw or thought of Mumbi, a girl whose voice and face caused an anguished throb in him. But he thought his heart was beating in the wilderness. Surely Mumbi, the most beautiful girl on the ridge, would never deign to bring him a calabash fill with cool water and say: drink this for me. Nevertheless, he waited and groped his way slowly. He saw Mumbi moving in the country paths among the pea-flowers, and green beans and maize plants, and he braced himself to make his desires known. But courage failed him. He greeted her and passed on." --pg. 87,
Mumbi, wife of Gikonyo and sister of Kihika. While Gikonyo was imprisoned she was ultimately forced to sleep with Karanja who had been appointed village chief by the colonial power through collaboration.
Karanja, collaborator with the British and widely suspected to be the traitor who betrayed Kihika
Kihika, resistance fighter who conquered a police station and killed the hated District Officer Robson before being caught and hanged after being betrayed by Mugo.
John Thompson an early British settler, believes in the ideals of Colonial Imperialism
SETTING
This is a powerful book by Ngugi Wa Thiongo and it is set in pre-independence days in Kenya in the early 1950's - 60's. The place, a rural village in the heart of central Kenya, and through Ngugi's eyes, the landscape becomes alive with the sights, sounds and smells of the area.
SYNTAX
SYNTAX.....is the study of language, which deals with the
i) Word classes and their functions,
ii) Combination of words into phrases, clauses and sentences,
iii) Classification and analysis of sentences.
Word classes
· are parts of speech as nouns,pronouns,adjectives,verbs, conjunction ,preposition etc.
· they are categorized into two groups namely;
a) Open word classes (or major word class) and
b) Closed word classes (or minor word class)
Closed word classes
These are sometimes called closed system because they cannot normally be extended by creating new other members. These are;
· Determiners
· Pronouns
· Conjunctions
· Prepositions
· Auxiliary verbs
PRONOUNS
A pronouns is a word that takes the place of a noun as
Eg.Juma is studying can be replaced by He is studying
Classes of pronouns
· Personal pronoun
Refers to a specific person or thing by indicating the person speaking (the first person), the person being addressed (the second person), or any other person or thing being discussed (third person)
Examples Singular Plural
First person I , me we,us
Second person You you
Third person He, him, her, she,it they,them
· Possessive pronouns
These are personal pronouns which indicate ownership.
Examples Singular Plural
First person my,mine our,ours
Second person Your,yours your,yours
Third person his, her, hers, its their, theirs
· Reflexive and intensive pronouns
The reflexive and intensive pronouns are formed when –self or –selves is added to certain personal and possessive pronouns
Examples
Myself, yourself, himself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves, himself, herself, itself and yourself
A reflexive pronoun refers to a noun or another pronoun and indicates that the same person or thing is involved.
Examples
i. I promised myself that I would practice more
ii. She taught herself to play the guitar
iii. Form five students organized tuition by themselves
An intensive pronoun adds emphasis to another noun or pronoun
i. You yourself cant answer that riddle
ii. Juan himself painted his room
iii. I wrote that poem myself
· Demonstrative pronoun, points out specific persons, places, things, or ideas
i. This is the record I want
ii. Play that again
iii. These were left here after last night’s party
· Interrogative pronouns
An interrogative pronoun is a pronoun used to form question
i. Who are the captains?
ii. Whom should I ask to help?
iii. Whose did you use?
· Relative pronouns
Is apronoun that is used to introduce a relative (subordinate) clause
i. George W.Bushi,the man who initiated Iraq war,was once sued of driving drunken {the relative pronoun who begins the subordinate clause who initiated Iraq war}
ii. Zitto Kabwe was fired from the Bunge, which is allocated in Dodoma Town.{the relative pronoun which begins the subordinate clause which is allocated in Dodoma Town}
iii. A woman that married Masoud was nicknamed Dolly.
· Indefinite Pronouns:
Are pronouns which refer to persons,places or things in a more general way than a noun does.these include: someone, anyone no one ,everyone, each somebody ,anybody, nobody ,everybody,(n)either something ,anything,, nothing ,and everything.
Examples:
Somebody is coming to dinner.
Neither of us believes a word Harry says.
Both are expected at the airport at the same time.
Several have suggested canceling the meeting.
Indefinite pronouns can use apostrophes to indicate possessive case.
Examples:
The accident is nobody’s fault.
How will the roadwork affect one's daily commute?
DETERMINERS
Determiners are words placed in front of a noun to make it clear what the noun refers to. For example the word “people” by itself is a general reference to some group of human beings. If some one says “ these people”, we know which group they are talking about, and if they say, “ a lot of people” we know how big the group is.
Classes of Determines
There are several classes of determiners
· Articles; a, an and the...
· Quantifiers; a lot of, many, a few, all, both,most,enough, little, much, some ,every,each,any,no..
· Cardinal numbers; one, two, three, four, five, six, seven...
· Demonstratives; this, that, those...
· Possessive adjectives; my, our, your, their...
· Ordinal numbers; first,second,third,forth…
· General ordinals, last, latter, next, previous, and subsequent.
Pronouns and Determiners
There is considerable overlap between the determiner class and the subclass of pronouns. Many words can be both:
Pronoun
Determiner
This is a very boring book
This book is very boring
That's an excellent film
That film is excellent
As this table shows, determiners always come before a noun, but pronouns are more independent than this.
Possessive Pronoun
Determiner
The white car is mine
My car is white
Yours is the blue coat
Your coat is blue
The car in the garage is his/hers
His/her car is in the garage
Types of determiners
· Pre determiners; all, both, half, double, twice, such. One-third.
· Central determiners; all articles, demonstratives, possessives, quantifiers.
· Post-determiners; cardinals, ordinals.
Note on quantifiers
Quantifiers are words that precede and modify nouns. They tell us how many or how much. Selecting the correct quantifier depends on your understanding the distinction between Count and Non-Count Nouns.
The following quantifiers will work with count nouns:
Many trees a few trees few trees several treesa couple of trees none of the trees
The following quantifiers will work with non-count nouns:
not much dancing a little dancinglittle dancing a bit of dancing a good deal of dancing a great deal of dancing
The following quantifiers will work with both count and non-count nouns:
All of the trees/dancing some trees/dancing most of the trees/dancing enough trees/dancing a lot of trees/dancing lots of trees/dancing plenty of trees/dancing a lack of trees/dancing
1. There is an important difference between "a little" and "little"and between "a few" and "few" . If I say that Laurent has a little experience in management that means that although Laurent is no great expert he does have some experience and that experience might well be enough for our purposes. If I say that Laurent has little experience in management that means that he doesn't have enough experience.
2. If I say that Hilda owns a few books on Latin American literature that means that she has some books — not a lot of books, but probably enough for our purposes. If I say that Hilda owns few books on Latin American literature, that means she doesn't have enough for our purposes and we'd better go to the library.
Note that the quantifier "most of the" must include the definite article the when it modifies a specific noun, whether it's a count or a non-count noun: "most of the instructors at this college have a doctorate"; "most of the water has evaporated." With a general plural noun, however (when you are not referring to a specific entity), the "of the" is dropped:
· Most colleges have their own admissions policy.
· Most students apply to several colleges.
The Ordering of Determiners
Determiners occur before nouns, and they are distinguished in three classes of determiners.
Predeterminer
Central Determiner
Postdeterminer
Noun
I met
all
my
many
friends
Predeterminers
Predeterminers specify quantity in the noun which follows them, and they are
· "Multiplying" expressions, including expressions ending in times:
twice my salary double my salary ten times my salary
· Fractions
half my salary one-third my salary
· The words all and both:
all my salary both my salaries
Central Determiners
The definite article the and the indefinite article a/an are the most common central determiners: all the book half a chapter
As many of our previous examples show, the word my can also occupy the central determiner slot. This is equally true of the other possessives: all your money all his/her money all our money all their money
The demonstratives, too, are central determiners:
all these problems twice that size four times this amount
Post determiners
Cardinal and ordinal numerals occupy the post determiner slot:
the two children his fourth birthday
This applies also to general ordinals:
my next project our last meeting your previous remark her subsequent letter
Other quantifying expressions are also post determiners:
my many friends our several achievements the few friends that I have
ARTICLES
An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. The three main articles in the English language are the, an and a. An article is sometimes called a Noun marker, although this is generally considered to be an archaic term.
WHAT IS A DEFINITE ARTICLE? Definite article refers to some specific thing as contrasted with "a" or "an" which does not refer to one specific individual or individuals of a noun.
Thus, if I say "the book", you know to which book I refer, as opposed to "a book" which is general and does not refer to any specific book.
Uses of the definite article.
· Is used to refer to the noun that has been previously mentioned
Examples
i. I saw a funny-looking dog yesterday [first mention, indefinite]. It looked like a cross between a Pekinese and a German shepherd. When it saw my cat, the dog ran away [second mention, definite].
ii. A man is walking down a road. There is a dog with the man.
iii. Combine butter, sugar and eggs. Add flour to the mixture.
· Is used to refer to something existing in a certain place
Examples
i. The Prime Minister will arrive tomorrow {Because there is only one Prime Minister in a country, and so it is clear to whom you are referring} Similarly, if there is only one hospital in the town, you can say
ii. He's been working in the hospital for two years. But you couldn't say this in Mwanza, where there are many hospitals. You would have to name the particular hospital in your first reference to it.
· Is used to referring to unique objects:
Examples
i. The sun
ii. The earth
iii. The Pope
iv. The sky
v. The equator
· Is used for superlative or ranking adjective
Examples
i. The tallest girl in the class is 6'2" tall. [There can be only one girl who is the tallest.]
ii. Please read the fourth paragraph on page 3. [There can be only one fourth paragraph.]
iii. Today is the most important day of my life. [There can be only one day that is the most important.]
iv. Mwanza City is the most populous city in the lake zone
v. I enjoyed the first part, but I was disappointed at the end
vi. She is the principal researcher
· Is used when the noun is post modified
Post modification means that if the noun is followed by a dependent clause (who/which/that) or a prepositional phrase (of/in/to...), it is made definite
Example
i. The man who lives next door is Chinese
ii. We take the regular collection of garbage for granted
iii. The journey to Vancouver take three days by train
iv. No one expected the results that were found
v. Do you remember the girl who went camping with us?
· Used to refer to systems of communication and the mass media.
Examples
i. The telephone is the system of communication
ii. I am listening to the radio Tanzania Dar es Salaam
iii. The newspapers are all in agreement on the latest financial disaster.
Exception: television usually has no article: Did you see him on television?
· Is used to refer to all means of transportation:
i. How long does it take on the bus?
ii. The lorry was bombed last week as we were in it
iii. The subway is quicker
Exception if you use the construction "by PLUS means of transport," there is no article: I go by subway].
· Used to refer to all forms of entertainment in general rather than in particular
i. I enjoy seeing the ballet.
ii. I never miss the nightclub
To refer to a particular event, use the indefinite article:
i. I saw a good movie last night.
· Used to refer to place/object of activity nouns:
Certain nouns refer to either a place/object or to an activity. When they refer to an activity, do not use the definite article: Examples
Activity
Object
I go to bed at 11 o'clock.
Don't jump on the bed.
She went to school for many years.
The school was too small.
Many families eat dinner together.
The dinner was delicious.
I shower before breakfast.
The breakfast was delicious.
They are at church.
The church is very old.
She is in class.
The class is in Room 102.
· Used to refer to the periods of time:
Names of decades, centuries and historic periods take the definite article, as they are a form of unique reference:
i. The 1960s were a time of student rebellion
ii. I will never for get the year 2000 in my life
iii. During the famine century, many Tanzania perished
· Is used to refer to something specific that is known to both the writer/speaker and the reader/listener.
WHAT IS AN INDEFINITE ARTICLE? The indefinite article is just the opposite of the definite article. In English, the indefinite articles are "a, an, some, any." They are "indefinite" because they do not refer to a particular thing as "the" does, but simply refer to an individual or individuals of the noun in a broad sense.
Example
i. I point to a bookshelf full of books and say, "Give me the book.", pointing to the largest book on the shelf. or
ii. I point to a bookshelf full of books and say, "Give me a book.", waving my finger only in the general direction of the top shelf.
In the second scenario, you are free to pick any book that might be on the bookshelf because "a" does not refer to a particular book. However, in the first scenario, it is clear that I'm referring to a particular book because of the word "the."
Uses of indefinite article
· Is used to refer to collective nouns take the indefinite article
Examples
i. A box of matches
ii. A deck of cards
iii. A bar of soap
iv. A herd of cows.
· Used when the noun has been mentioned for the first mention
i. I saw a funny-looking dog yesterday [first mention, indefinite]. It looked like a cross between a Pekinese and a German shepherd. When it saw my cat, the dog ran away [second mention, definite].
ZERO ARTICLES
Zero article means no article.Several kinds of nouns never use articles.
· We do not use articles with the names of languages
Example "He was learning Chinese." [But when the word Chinese refers to the people, the definite article might come into play: "The Chinese are hoping to get the next Olympics."]),
· We don’t use article for the names of sports eg. ("She plays badminton and basketball."), and
· We don’t use article for the names academic subjects ("She's taking economics and math. Her major is Religious Studies.")
· Common count nouns are used without articles in certain special situations:
Use zero article when idiomatic expressions using be and go
Example
We'll go by train. (as opposed to "We'll take the train.)He must be in school.
· With seasons use ziro artcle
Example
In spring, we like to clean the house.
· With institutions use zero article
Example
He's in church/college/jail/class.
· With meals use zero article
Example
Breakfast was delicious. He's preparing dinner by himself.
· With diseases use zero article
Example
He's dying of pneumonia.Appendicitis nearly killed him.She has cancer
(You will sometimes hear "the measles," "the mumps," but these, too, can go without articles.)
· With time of day use zero article
Example
We traveled mostly by night.We'll be there around midnight.
GENERIC AND SPECIFIC REFERENCE
Generic reference is used when one refers to a whole group or class, to generalize about all possible members of a group. There are five patterns one can use: Generic reference: We can refer to something in a generic way by using any of the three articles. We can do the same thing by omitting the article altogether.
i. A beagle makes a great hunting dog and family companion.
ii. An airedale is sometimes a rather skittish animal.
iii. The golden retriever is a marvelous pet for children.
Irish setters are not the highly intelligent animals they used to be.
a) No article PLUS plural count noun:
It's astonishing what gymnasts can do.
b) No article PLUS non count noun:
Love can cause a lot of suffering.
c) Indefinite article PLUS singular count noun:
It's astonishing what a gymnast can do. This pattern cannot be used to discuss the location or existence of something/someone.
d) Definite article PLUS singular count noun:
It's astonishing what the gymnast can do.
e) Definite article PLUS plural nationality noun:
The Chinese have an ancient culture.
CONJUNCTION
Conjunction is a word that used to link words, phrases, and clauses, as in the following example:
i) I ate the pizza and the pasta.
ii) Call the movers when you are ready.
Co-ordinating Conjunctions
You use a co-ordinating conjunction ("and," "but," "or," "nor," "for," "so," or "yet") to join individual words, phrases, and independent clauses.
Coordinating conjunctions go in between items joined, not at the beginning or end.
· Subordinating Conjunctions
A subordinating conjunction introduces a dependent clause and indicates the nature of the relationship among the independent clause(s) and the dependent clause(s).
The most common subordinating conjunctions are
"after," "although," "as," "because," "before," "how," "if," "once," "since," "than," "that," "though," "till," "until," "when," "where," "whether," and "while."
Examples
1. After she had learned to drive, Alice felt more independent.
The subordinating conjunction "after" introduces the dependent clause "After she had learned to drive."
2. If the paperwork arrives on time, your cheque will be mailed on Tuesday.
Similarly, the subordinating conjunction "if" introduces the dependent clause "If the paperwork arrives on time."
3. Gerald had to begun his thesis over again when his computer crashed.
The subordinating conjunction "when" introduces the dependent clause "when his computer crashed."
4. Midwifery advocates argue that home births are safer because the mother and baby are exposed to fewer people and fewer germs.
In this sentence, the dependent clause "because the mother and baby are exposed to fewer people and fewer germs" is introduced by the subordinating conjunction "because."
· Correlative Conjunctions
Correlative conjunctions always appear in pairs -- you use them to link equivalent sentence elements. The most common correlative conjunctions are "both...and," "either...or," "neither...nor,", "not only...but also," "so...as," and "whether...or." (Technically correlative conjunctions consist simply of a co-ordinating conjunction linked to an adjective or adverb.)
Example
i. Both my grandfather and my father worked in the steel plant.
ii. Bring either a Jello salad or a potato scallop.
iii. Corinne is trying to decide whether to go to medical school or to go to law school.
iv. The explosion destroyed not only the school but also the neighbouring pub.
AUXILIARY VERBS
The most common auxiliary verbs are "be," "do," and "have", and you may also use these verbs on their own. You use "Will" and "shall" to express future time.
Examples
i. She is the chief engineer.
ii. The tea cups are in the china cabinet.
iii. Garth does this kind of thing frequently.
Other common auxiliaries are "can," "could," "may," "might," "must," "ought," "should," "will," and "would." A verb like these is called a modal auxiliary and expresses necessity, obligation, or possibility.
Examples
Zora was pleased to learn that she could take several days off.
The small freckled girl told her neighbours that she would walk their dog for an appropriate fee.
Henry told Eliza that she ought to have the hole in the bucket fixed.
The principal told the assembled students that the school board might introduce a dress code next autumn.
According to the instructions, we must leave this goo in our hair for twenty minutes.
Note auxiliary verbs are distinguished from other verbs by two characteristics:
Support role: They are each followed by a non-finite verb (raining, been, overcharged) which they 'support' in various ways. The term 'auxiliary verb' refers to this support role. (Think of 'auxiliary teacher', a support teacher.)
Inversion role.: They are syntactically special in a number of ways that are quite separate from the support role; for example, English auxiliary verbs are unlike other verbs in allowing subject inversion:
Example; It is raining. - Is it raining?
'Catenative verbs'
The trouble is that these two characteristics are separate and each define a different group of verbs, to which grammarians give distinct names:Support role verbs that combine with a following non-finite verb are often called 'catenative verbs' (where the term 'catenative' means 'chaining' - Latin catena, 'chain'). This term includes verbs like get, keep, start, help as well as the traditional auxiliary verbs:
Examples
i) She was/got chosen for the job.
ii) She was/kept talking.
iii) She ought/started to talk.
iv) She will/helped wash up.
Inversion, etc.: verbs that allow subject inversion (and other grammatical patterns to be listed below) are called 'operators', so the rule for subject inversion is: 'put an operator before the subject'.
Examples
i) She is ready. - Is she ready?
ii) She has some money. - Has she any money?
Characteristics auxiliary verbs
· Subject inversion:
i) He was run over by a bus. - Was he run over by a bus?
ii) He got run over by a bus. - but: *Got he run over by a bus?
· Negation. A clause is made negative by adding not or suffixed n't after its finite auxiliary verb:
o It is not raining. - It isn't raining.
o He is not ready. - He isn't ready.
o But not: *He got not run over by a bus. - NOR: *He gotn't run over by a bus.
· Do-support. If a clause is negative or interrogative but does not already contain an auxiliary, the appropriate form of do is added. Adding do is NOT possible before an auxiliary.
i) He did not get run over by a bus. - Did he get run over by a bus?
ii) But not: *He did not be run over by a bus. NOR: *Did he be run over by a bus?
iii) Nor: *He did not be ready. nor: *Did he be ready?
· Adverbs. Some adverbs (e.g. never, sometimes, soon, obviously) can occur in 'medial' position, which is either just before or (preferably) after an auxiliary verb or just before (but not after) a non-auxiliary.
§ People never get run over. but: *People get never run over.
§ People never are run over. - People are never run over.
§ He never is ready. - He is never ready.
· Contraction. Many auxiliary verbs have a 'contracted' form, but no non-auxiliary does:
i) It is raining. - It's raining.
ii) It keeps raining. but: *Itk'ps raining.
iii) He is ready. - He's ready.
INTERJECTION
An interjection is a word added to a sentence to convey emotion. It is not grammatically related to any other part of the sentence.
You usually follow an interjection with an exclamation mark. Interjections are uncommon in formal academic prose, except in direct quotations.
The highlighted words in the following sentences are interjections:
Ouch, that hurt!
Oh no, I forgot that the exam was today.
Hey! Put that down!
I heard one guy say to another guy, "He has a new car, eh?"
I don't know about you but, good lord, I think taxes are too high!
LINKING VERBS( copular)
A linking verb implies state of being or condition for the subject, not action. It links the subject to an equivalent word in the sentence. Examples
a. The test indicates that Neema is a genius.
b. Toni Morrison was the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Linking verbs or copular verbs link a subject to a complement.they MUST be followed by a complement in order to make the sentence complete. The complement can be a subject complement or an adverbial, and occurs in two sentence types which are of the Subject-Verb-Complement (SVC) and Subject-Verb-Adverbial (SVA) pattern.
Types:
There are two groups of linking verbs:
i) Current linking verbs and
ii) Resulting linking verbs.
Current linking verbs.Current linking verbs indicate a state. Resulting linking.Resulting linking verbs indicate that the role of the verb complement is a result of the process described in the verb.
· Subject-Verb-Complement
A. The complement is a noun phrase or noun clause:
This is a really nice outfit.
The anwer is that we don't want to go to the party.
He became a beggar.
B. To be can occur between the linking verb and the complement. Although this "to be" is not necessary, both American English and British English prefer an infinitive construction with to be rather than simply a noun phrase.
She seems (to be) all right.
He proved (to be) a good husband.
She appears (to be) exhausted.
Some linking verbs are restricted as to the words that may occur in their complement. Examples are: rest (assured), run (wild), plead (innocent), fall (silent).
C. The complement is an adjective.
He became very restless (when his son did not come home on time).
Your house looks very clean.
She stayed calm.
Subject-Verb-Adverbial
The main linking verb that allows an adverbial as complementation is to be. The most common adverbials are place and time adverbials.
Tom is in the bathroom..
My uncle lives in Belgium.
The party will be at three o'clock.
The Verb BE:
Some grammarians refer to the verb be as "the copula" since this is its main function in English. All the forms of be can be used as a linking verb. Be is the main verb of the sentence, rather than the auxiliary and is used in both SVC and SVA patterns.
i) I am at the office between 9 and 5.
ii) This is a really good class.
iii) Those books were very expensive.
iv) The students have been exhausted since the midterm.
v) Their wedding will be in early May.
LISTS OF THE MOST COMMON LINKING VERBS:
· Current Linking Verbs
Appear John appeared happy when the company promoted him.
Be The graduate students are in Classroom South, Room 106.
Feel She felt really happy with the new baby.
Lie The pieces lay scattered over the floor.
Look This person looks really tired.
Remain Everybody remained silent for a few minutes.
Seem This secretary seems (to be) very efficient.
Smell That perfume smelled so fresh.
Sound She sounded very surprised when she heard the news.
Stay Everybody stayed calm when the fire alarm went off.
Taste This grapefruit tastes very bitter.
· Resulting Linking Verbs
Become He became a successful business man.
Get She got upset with her students.
Grow The professor grew unhappy because the students were not listening well.
Fall My brother fell in love at the party.
Prove The new secretary proved (to be) very friendly.
Run The children ran wild.
Turn The milk turned sour.
NOUN
A noun is a word used to name a person, animal, place, thing, and abstract idea. Nouns are usually the first words which small children learn. The highlighted words in the following sentences are all nouns:
a. Late last year our neighbours bought a goat.
b. Portia White was an opera singer.
A noun can function in a sentence as a subject, a direct object, an indirect object, a subject complement, an object complement, an appositive, an adjective or an adverb.
Noun Plurals
Most nouns change their form to indicate number by adding "-s" or "-es", as illustrated in the following pairs of sentences:
When Matthew was small he rarely told the truth if he thought he was going to be punished.
Many people do not believe that truths are self-evident.
As they walked through the silent house. they were startled by an unexpected echo.
I like to shout into the quarry and listen to the echoes that returned.
Possessive Nouns
In the possessive case, a noun or pronoun changes its form to show that it owns or is closely related to something else. Usually, nouns become possessive by adding a combination of an apostrophe and the letter "s."
You can form the possessive case of a singular noun that does not end in "s" by adding an apostrophe and "s," as in the following sentences:
The red suitcase is Cassandra's.
The only luggage that was lost was the prime minister's.
The exhausted recruits were woken before dawn by the drill sergeant's screams.
The miner's face was covered in coal dust.
You can form the possessive case of a singular noun that ends in "s" by adding an apostrophe alone or by adding an apostrophe and "s," as in the following examples:
The bus's seats are very uncomfortable.
The bus' seats are very uncomfortable.
The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus's eggs.
The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus' eggs.
Felicia Hemans's poetry was once more popular than Lord Byron's.
Felicia Hemans' poetry was once more popular than Lord Byron's.
You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does not end in "s" by adding an apostrophe and a "s," as in the following examples:
The children's mittens were scattered on the floor of the porch.
The sheep's pen was mucked out every day.
Since we have a complex appeal process, a jury's verdict is not always final.
The men's hockey team will be play as soon as the women's team is finished.
The hunter followed the moose's trail all morning but lost it in the afternoon.
You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does end in "s" by adding an apostrophe:
The concert was interrupted by the dogs' barking, the ducks' quacking, and the babies' squalling.
The janitors' room is downstairs and to the left.
My uncle spent many hours trying to locate the squirrels' nest.
The archivist quickly finished repairing the diaries' bindings.
Religion is usually the subject of the roommates' many late night debates.
Using Possessive Nouns
· functions as an adjective modifying another noun:
i. The miner's face was covered in coal dust.
Here the possessive noun "miner's" is used to modify the noun "face" and together with the article "the," they make up the noun phrase that is the sentence's subject.
ii. The concert was interrupted by the dogs' barking, the ducks' quacking, and the babies' squalling.
In this sentence, each possessive noun modifies a gerund. The possessive noun "dogs"' modifies "barking", "ducks"' modifies "quacking," and "babies"' modifies "squalling."
iii. The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus's eggs.
In this example the possessive noun "platypus's" modifies the noun "eggs" and the noun phrase "the platypus's eggs" is the direct object of the verb "crushed."
iv. My uncle spent many hours trying to locate the squirrels' nest.
In this sentence the possessive noun "squirrels"' is used to modify the noun "nest" and the noun phrase "the squirrels' nest" is the object of the infinitive phrase "to locate."
Types of Nouns
In fact, grammarians have developed a whole series of noun types, including the proper noun, the common noun, the concrete noun, the abstract noun, the countable noun (also called the count noun), the non-countable noun (also called the mass noun), and the collective noun. You should note that a noun will belong to more than one type: it will be proper or common, abstract or concrete, and countable or non-countable or collective.
Proper Nouns
You always write a proper noun with a capital letter, since the noun represents the name of a specific person, place, or thing. The names of days of the week, months, historical documents, institutions, organisations, religions, their holy texts and their adherents are proper nouns. A proper noun is the opposite of a common noun
Examples
i) The Marroons were transported from Jamaica and forced to build the fortifications in Halifax.
ii) Many people dread Monday mornings.
iii) Beltane is celebrated on the first of May.
iv) Abraham appears in the Talmud and in the Koran.
v) Last year, I had a Baptist, a Buddhist, and a Gardnerian Witch as roommates.
Common Nouns
A common noun is a noun referring to a person, place, or thing in a general sense -- usually, you should write it with a capital letter only when it begins a sentence. A common noun is the opposite of a proper noun.
Examples
i) According to the sign, the nearest town is 60 miles away.
ii) All the gardens in the neighbourhood were invaded by beetles this summer.
iii) I don't understand why some people insist on having six different kinds of mustard in their cupboards.
iv) The road crew was startled by the sight of three large moose crossing the road.
v) Many child-care workers are underpaid.
Concrete Nouns
A concrete noun is a noun which names anything (or anyone) that you can perceive through your physical senses: touch, sight, taste, hearing, or smell. A concrete noun is the opposite of a abstract noun.
Examples
i) The judge handed the files to the clerk.
ii) Whenever they take the dog to the beach, it spends hours chasing waves.
iii) The real estate agent urged the couple to buy the second house because it had new shingles.
iv) As the car drove past the park, the thump of a disco tune overwhelmed the string quartet's rendition of a minuet.
v) The book binder replaced the flimsy paper cover with a sturdy, cloth-covered board.
Abstract Nouns
An abstract noun is a noun which names anything which you can not perceive through your five physical senses, and is the opposite of a concrete noun.
Examples
i) Buying the fire extinguisher was an afterthought.
ii) Tillie is amused by people who are nostalgic about childhood.
iii) Justice often seems to slip out of our grasp.
iv) Some scientists believe that schizophrenia is transmitted genetically.
Countable Nouns
A countable noun (or count noun) is a noun with both a singular and a plural form, and it names anything (or anyone) that you can count.
Examples
i) We painted the table red and the chairs blue.
ii) Since he inherited his aunt's library, Jerome spends every weekend indexing his books.
iii) Miriam found six silver dollars in the toe of a sock.
iv) The oak tree lost three branches in the hurricane.
v) Over the course of twenty-seven years, Martha Ballad delivered just over eight hundred babies.
Non-Countable Nouns
A non-countable noun (or mass noun) is a noun which does not have a plural form, and which refers to something that you could (or would) not usually count. A non-countable noun always takes a singular verb in a sentence.
Examples
i) Joseph Priestly discovered oxygen.
ii) Oxygen is essential to human life.
iii) We decided to sell the furniture rather than take it with use when we moved.
You cannot make the noun "furniture" plural.
i) The furniture is heaped in the middle of the room.
ii) The crew spread the gravel over the roadbed.
You cannot make the non-countable noun "gravel" plural.
i) Gravel is more expensive than I thought.
Collective Nouns
A collective noun is a noun naming a group of things, animals, or persons. You could count the individual members of the group, but you usually think of the group as a whole is generally as one unit. You need to be able to recognise collective nouns in order to maintain subject-verb agreement. A collective noun is similar to a non-countable noun, and is roughly the opposite of a countable noun.
Examples
i) The flock of geese spends most of its time in the pasture.
ii) The jury is dining on take-out chicken tonight.
iii) The steering committee meets every Wednesday afternoon.
iv) The class was startled by the bursting light bulb.
NOUN PHRASE
How to spot a noun phrase? Noun phrases are built around a noun. This is the head of a noun phrase. However, noun phrases are often much more complex than just the head noun and a possible determiner, like a cat or these dogs. Very often there are all sorts of elements modifying the head and it can be quite difficult to decide where exactly the noun phrase begins and ends. A good way of deciding this is to try to replace the noun phrase with a pronoun (he, she, it, they, etc.). Remember that pronouns replace whole noun phrases, not just the head noun.
A. STRUCTURE OF NOUN PHRASES
(Determiner(s))
(Premodifier(s))
HEAD
(Postmodifier(s))
Predet. (half, all, double)
Adjective
Noun
Relative clause
Central (the, a, this)
Participle
Pronoun
Prepositional phrase
Postdet. (seven, many, few)
Noun
Nominal adjective (e.g. the red)
Adverb
Genitive
Adjective
Adverb
POSTMODIFICATION (i.e. after the head)
(1) Relative clauses, both finite and non-finite
i) [The girl who spoke to him] is my best friend. / [The girl speaking to him] is my best friend.
ii) [The question that was debated in Parliament yesterday] was about abortion laws. / [The question debated in Parliament yesterday] was about abortion laws.
iii) [The question that will be debated tomorrow] is whether income tax should be increased. / [The question to be debated tomorrow] is whether income tax should be increased.
Restrictive relative clauses are not separated with commas, non-restrictive ones are:
My wife who speaks five languages… vs. My wife, who speaks five languages,…
(2) Prepositional phrases (common postmodifiers!)
i) the road to London, a man of courage, the key to a prolonged recovery, the pleasure of your company, his life after the war, a man like John, a tree by a stream, passengers on board the ship
(3) Adverb phrases
ii) [The road back] was dense with traffic.
( 4) Adjective phrases
iii) [Anyone keen on modern jazz] should not miss this opportunity.
PREMODIFICATION (i.e. before the head)
1) Adjective
iv) I visited [his delightful cottage].
v) …his really quite unbelievably delightful cottage… (modifier modified)
2) Participle
i) I visited [his crumbling cottage].
ii) I visited [his completed cottage].
3) -s genitive
i) I visited [his fisherman’s cottage]. (belongs/ed to a fisherman? resembles a fisherman’s cottage?)
4) Noun
ii) I visited [his country cottage].
5) Adverb
iii) I visited [his far-away cottage].
6) Clause
iv) I visited [his pop-down-for-the-week-end cottage].
v) a do-it-yourself store
VARIATIONS IN MODIFICATION
a) a single head:
The girl in the corner talking to Peter…
His brilliant last book…
b) multiple head:
The girl and the boy in the corner…
The new table and chairs…
c) modifier modified:
The girl (in the corner (nearest the door))…
His (((quite) unbelievably) delightful) cottage…
d) discontinuous modification:
You’ll meet a man tomorrow carrying a heavy parcel.
APPOSITION
Appositive structures are common in formal, written texts. Two or more noun phrases are in apposition when they have identity of reference, i.e. they refer to the same thing. Sometimes apposition is indicated with the conjunction or, or with linking adverbials like that is, in other words, namely.
[Linguistics] or [the study of language] attracts many students.
[The outcome], that is [her re-election], was a complete surprise.
He was examined by [James Kelly] [the doctor].
He was examined by [James Kelly], [a doctor].
The hope in Northern Ireland is that [Sinn Fein,] [the political army of the I.R.A.,] will be...
B. FUNCTIONS OF NOUN PHRASES
On sentence or clause level you can find NPs in the following syntactic functions:
Subject: My earliest memory of theatre is going to the Hippodrome…
Direct object: Sign your name there.
Indirect object: I always tell people I’m not a musical person.
Subject Complement: She is a very nice person.
Object Complement: They elected him president.
Adverbial: You have to wait a long time. It’s coming out this way.
You can also find nouns and noun phrases within other phrases:
Complement of a preposition: Let’s go there [in the morning].
Premodifier of a noun: a country cottage
Premodifier of an adjective: It’s sixteen feet long.
A vocative — an addressed person's name or substitute name — is often a single word but sometimes takes the form of a noun phrase. A vocative is always treated as a parenthetical element and is thus set off from the rest of the sentence with a comma or a pair of commas (if it appears within the flow of a sentence). When vocatives are proper nouns (usually the case), they are also referred to as "nouns of address." Vocatives are like adverbs: they can pop up almost anywhere in the sentence. Do not, however, get into the habit of throwing commas at people's names; unless the name refers to someone who is actually being addressed, it is not a vocative and will not necessarily be parenthetical:
i) He told Jorge to turn the boat around.
ii) Jorge, turn the boat around
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition, a noun or pronoun that serves as the object of the preposition, and, more often than not, an adjective or two that modifies the object. Ernest Hemingway apparently fell in love with the rhythms of his prepositional phrases at the beginning of his short story "Hills Like White Elephants":
The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. Close against the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the bar, to keep out flies. The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building. It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped at this junction for two minutes and went on to Madrid.
Prepositional phrases usually tell when or where: "in forty minutes," "in the sun, against the side, etc." Prepositional phrases can perform other functions, however: Except Jo, the children were remarkably like their father.
A prepositional phrase at the beginning of a sentence constitutes an introductory modifier, which is usually a signal for a comma. However, unless an introductory prepositional phrase is unusually long, we seldom need to follow it with a comma.
You may have learned that ending a sentence with a preposition is a serious breach of grammatical etiquette. It doesn't take a grammarian to spot a sentence-ending preposition, so this is an easy rule to get caught up on (!). Although it is often easy to remedy the offending preposition, sometimes it isn't, and repair efforts sometimes result in a clumsy sentence. Based on shaky historical precedent, the rule itself is a latecomer to the rules of writing. Those who dislike the rule are fond of recalling Churchill's rejoinder: <"That is nonsense up with which I shall not put." We should also remember the child's complaint (attributed to E.B. White): "What did you bring that book that I don't like to be read to out of up for?"
APPOSITIVE PHRASE
An appositive is a re-naming or amplification of a word that immediately precedes it. (An appositive, then is the opposite of an oppositive.) Frequently another kind of phrase will serve in apposition.
My favorite teacher, a fine chess player in her own right, has won several state-level tournaments. [Noun phrase as appositive]
The best exercise, walking briskly, is also the least expensive. [Gerund phrase as appositive]
Tashonda's goal in life, to become an occupational therapist, is within her grasp this year, at last. [Infinitive phrase as appositive]
ABSOLUTE PHRASE
Usually (but not always, as we shall see), an absolute phrase (also called a nominative absolute) is a group of words consisting of a noun or pronoun and a participle as well as any related modifiers. Absolute phrases do not directly connect to or modify any specific word in the rest of the sentence; instead, they modify the entire sentence, adding information. They are always treated as parenthetical elements and are set off from the rest of the sentence with a comma or a pair of commas (sometimes by a dash or pair of dashes). Notice that absolute phrases contain a subject (which is often modified by a participle), but not a true finite verb.
Their reputation as winners secured by victory, the New York Liberty charged into the semifinals.
The season nearly finished, Rebecca Lobo and Sophie Witherspoon emerged as true leaders.
The two superstars signed autographs into the night, their faces beaming happily.
When the participle of an absolute phrase is a form of to be, such as being or having been, the participle is often left out but understood.
The season [being] over, they were mobbed by fans in Times Square.
[Having been] Stars all their adult lives, they seemed used to the attention.
Another kind of absolute phrase is found after a modified noun; it adds a focusing detail or point of focus to the idea of the main clause. This kind of absolute phrase can take the form of a prepositional phrase, an adjective phrase, or a noun phrase.
The old firefighter stood over the smoking ruins, his senses alert to any sign of another flare-up.
His subordinates, their faces sweat-streaked and smudged with ash, leaned heavily against the firetruck.
They knew all too well how all their hard work could be undone — in an instant.
It is not unusual for the information supplied in the absolute phrase to be the most important element in the sentence. In fact, in descriptive prose, the telling details will often be wrapped into a sentence in the form of an absolute phrase:
Coach Nykesha strolled onto the court, her arms akimbo and a large silver whistle clenched between her teeth.
The new recruits stood in one corner of the gym, their uniforms stiff and ill fitting, their faces betraying their anxiety.
A noun phrase can also exist as an absolute phrase:
Your best friends, where are they now, when you need them?
And then there was my best friend Sally — the dear girl — who has certainly fallen on hard times.
It might be useful to review the material on Misplaced Modifiers because it is important not to confuse an absolute phrase with a misplaced modifier.
INFINITIVE PHRASE
An infinitive phrase consists of an infinitive — the root of the verb preceded by to — and any modifiers or complements associated with it. Infinitive phrases can act as adjectives, adverbs, and nouns.
Her plan to subsidize child care won wide acceptance among urban politicians. [modifies plan, functions as an adjective]
She wanted to raise taxes. [noun-object of the sentence]
To watch Uncle Billy tell this story is an eye-opening experience. [noun-subject of the sentence]
To know her is to love her. [noun, predicate nominative]
Juan went to college to study veterinary medicine. [tells us why he went, so it's an adverb]
GERUND PHRASE
Gerunds, verbals that end in -ing and that act as nouns, frequently are associated with modifiers and complements in a gerund phrase. These phrases function as units and can do anything that a noun can do. Notice that other phrases, especially prepositional phrases, are frequently part of the gerund phrase.
Cramming for tests is not a good study strategy. [gerund phrase as subject]
John enjoyed swimming in the lake after dark. [gerund phrase as object]
I'm really not interested in studying biochemistry for the rest of my life. [gerund phrase as object of the preposition in ]
Reviewing the general uses of gerunds and infinitives might not be a bad idea. Click HERE.
PARTICIPIAL PHRASE
Present participles, verbals ending in -ing, and past participles, verbals that end in -ed (for regular verbs) or other forms (for irregular verbs), are combined with complements and modifiers and become part of important phrasal structures. Participial phrases always act as adjectives. When they begin a sentence, they are often set off by a comma (as an introductory modifier); otherwise, participial phrases will be set off by commas if they are parenthetical elements.
The stone steps, having been worn down by generations of students, needed to be replaced. [modifies "steps"]
Working around the clock, the firefighters finally put out the last of the California brush fires. [modifies "firefighters"]
The pond, frozen over since early December, is now safe for ice-skating. [modifies "pond"]
CLAUSES:
Definition
A clause is a group of related words containing a subject and a verb A clause can be usefully distinguished from a phrase, which is a group of related words that does not contain a subject-verb relationship, such as "in the morning" or "running down the street" or "having grown used to this harassment." A review of the different kinds of phrases might be helpful.
Words We Use to Talk about Clauses
Learning the various terms used to define and classify clauses can be a vocabulary lesson in itself. This digital handout categorizes clauses into independent and dependent clauses. This simply means that some clauses can stand by themselves, as separate sentences, and some can't. Another term for dependent clause is subordinate clause: this means that the clause is subordinate to another element (the independent clause) and depends on that other element for its meaning. The subordinate clause is created by a subordinating conjunction or dependent word.
An independent clause, "She is older than her brother" (which could be its own sentence), can be turned into a dependent or subordinate clause when the same group of words begins with a dependent word (or a subordinating conjunction in this case): "Because she is older than her brother, she tells him what to do."
Clauses are also classified as restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses. (The words essential and nonessential are sometimes used and mean the same thing as restrictive and nonrestrictive, respectively. British grammarians will make this same distinction by referring to clauses with the terms defining and non-defining.) A nonrestrictive clause is not essential to the meaning of the sentence; it can be removed from the sentence without changing its basic meaning. Nonrestrictive clauses are often set apart from the rest of the sentence by a comma or a pair of commas (if it's in the middle of a sentence).
Professor Villa, who used to be a secretary for the President, can type 132 words a minute.
Review the Notorious Confusables section on the difference between That and Which for additional clarification on the distinction between restrictive and nonrestrictive.
Relative clauses are dependent clauses introduced by a Relative Pronoun (that, which, whichever, who, whoever, whom, whomever, whose, and of which). Relative clauses can be either restrictive or nonrestrictive. Review the section on Comma Usage for additional help in determining whether relative clauses are restrictive or nonrestrictive (parenthetical or not) and whether commas should be used to set them off from the rest of the sentence. In a relative clause, the relative pronoun is the subject of the verb (remember that all clauses contain a subject-verb relationship) and refers to (relates to) something preceding the clause.
Giuseppe said that the plantar wart, which had been bothering him for years, had to be removed.
(In this sentence, the clause in this color is a restrictive [essential] clause [a noun clause — see below] and will not be set off by a comma; the underlined relative clause [modifying "wart"] is nonrestrictive [nonessential — it can be removed from the sentence without changing the meaning of the sentence] and is set off by commas.)
Some relative clauses will refer to more than a single word in the preceding text; they can modify an entire clause or even a series of clauses.
Charlie didn't get the job in administration, which really surprised his friends.Charlie didn't get the job in administration, and he didn't even apply for the Dean's position, which really surprised his friends.
A relative clause that refers to or modifies entire clauses in this manner is called a sentential clause. Sometimes the "which" of a sentential clause will get tucked into the clause as the determiner of a noun:
Charlie might very well take a job as headmaster, in which case the school might as well close down.
Elliptical Clauses:
Finally, everybody's favorite clause is the Santa Clause, which needs no further definition:
Independent Clauses
Independent Clauses could stand by themselves as discrete sentences, except that when they do stand by themselves, separated from other clauses, they're normally referred to simply as sentences, not clauses. The ability to recognize a clause and to know when a clause is capable of acting as an independent unit is essential to correct writing and is especially helpful in avoiding sentence fragments and run-on sentences..
Needless to say, it is important to learn how to combine independent clauses into larger units of thought. In the following sentence, for example,
Bob didn't mean to do it, but he did it anyway.
we have two independent clauses — "Bob didn't mean to do it" and "he did it anyway" — connected by a comma and a coordinating conjunction ("but"). If the word "but" is missing from this sentence, the sentence would be called a comma splice: two independent clauses would be incorrectly connected, smooshed together, with only a comma between them. Furthermore, a long series of clauses of similar structure and length begins to feel monotonous, leading to what is called "Dick and Jane" or primer language (after the kind of prose that we find in first grade textbooks or "primers"). (See the section on Avoiding Primer Language for advice and exercises on combining sentences.) It would also be helpful at this time to review the section on Punctuation Between Two Independent Clauses.
Clauses are combined in three different ways: coordination, subordination, and by means of a semicolon. Coordination involves joining independent clauses with one of the coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for, yet, and sometimes* so. Clauses thus connected are usually nicely balanced in length and import.
Ramonita thought about joining the church choir, but she never talked to her friends about it.
Subordination involves turning one of the clauses into a subordinate element (one that cannot stand on its own) through the use of a Subordinating Conjunction (sometimes called a dependent word) or a Relative Pronoun. When the clause begins with a subordinating word, it is no longer an independent clause; it is called a dependent or subordinate clause because it depends on something else (the independent clause) for its meaning. There are other ways of combining ideas — by turning independent clauses into various kinds of modifying phrases. Again, see the section on Avoiding Primer Language.
Although Ramonita often thought about joining the choir, she never talked to her friends about it.
Ramonita never talked to her friends about joining the choir, because she was afraid they would make fun of her.
Yasmin is Ramonita's sister. Yasmin told Ramonita to join the choir no matter what her friends said. Joining these with the use of a relative clause:Yasmin, [who is] Ramonita's sister, told Ramonita to join the choir. . . .
Semicolons can connect two independent clauses with or without the help of a conjunctive adverb (transitional expression). Semicolons should be used sparingly and only when the two independent clauses involved are closely related and nicely balanced in terms of length and import.
Ramonita has such a beautiful voice; many couples have asked her to sing at their wedding.
Ramonita's voice has a clear, angelic quality; furthermore, she clearly enjoys using it.
Dependent Clauses
Dependent Clauses cannot stand by themselves and make good sense. They must be combined with an independent clause so that they become part of a sentence that can stand by itself. (Review the section on Commas Usage for advice and plenty of exercises on the punctuation requirements when dependent and independent clauses are combined.) Unlike independent clauses, which simply are what they are, dependent clauses are said to perform various functions within a sentence. They act either in the capacity of some kind of noun or as some kind of modifier. There are three basic kinds of dependent clauses, categorized according to their function in the sentence. Remember that a dependent clause always contains a subject and a verb, but it cannot stand by itself.
Adverb clauses provide information about what is going on in the main (independent) clause: where, when, or why. "When the movie is over, we'll go downtown." or "John wanted to write a book because he had so much to say about the subject."
Adjective clauses work like multi-word adjectives. "My brother, who is an engineer, figured it out for me." or "The bridge that collapsed in the winter storm will cost millions to replace." A special kind of adjective clause begins with a relative adverb (where, when, and why) but nonetheless functions as adjectivally.
Noun clauses can do anything that nouns can do. "What he knows [subject] is no concern of mine." or "Do you know what he knows [object]?" or "What can you tell me about what he has done this year [object of the preposition "about"]?"
What they did with the treasure remains a mystery.Whatever you want for dessert is fine with me.That you should feel this way about her came as a great surprise to us.
Juan finally revealed what he had done with the money.Her husband spent whatever she had saved over the years.I don't know what I should do next.
In fact, he wrote a book about what he had done over the years.We are interested in what he does for a living.
The trouble was that they had never been there before.The biggest disappointment of last season was that the women's team didn't make it to the final four.
My brother, who now teaches math in a small college, never liked math in high school.The dealership that sold more cars ended up actually losing money.The Federated Bank, which was founded nearly two centuries ago, folded during the state's economic crisis.
The team had fallen behind by ten points before they were able to figure out the opponent's defense.Since he started working nights, he doesn't see much of his kids.While Josie sat inside watching television, Gladys shoveled the driveway.
Combinations of Clauses
Review the section on Sentence Variety for help in understanding the variety of sentence patterns. It is difficult to know if you're using different patterns unless you keep in mind the way that clauses are combined in larger sentence-units of thought. Pay special attention to the variety of sentence types: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences. These are defined by their essential ingredients, the clauses that make them up. There is also a quiz at the end of that section that will test your ability to distinguish among the kinds of clauses that make up a sentence.
Elliptical Clauses
Elliptical Clauses are grammatically incomplete in the sense that they are missing either the relative pronoun (dependent word) that normally introduces such a clause or something from the predicate in the second part of a comparison. The missing parts of the elliptical clause can be guessed from the context and most readers are not aware that anything is missing. In fact, elliptical clauses are regarded as both useful and correct, even in formal prose, because they are often elegant, efficient means of expression. (The omitted words are noted in brackets below).
Coach Espinoza knew [that] this team would be the best [that] she had coached in recent years.
Though [they were] sometimes nervous on the court, her recruits proved to be hard workers.
Sometimes the veterans knew the recruits could play better than they [could play].
GERUNDS AND INFINITIVES:
Both gerunds and infinitives can be nouns
which means they can do just about anything that a noun can do. Although they name things, like other nouns, they normally name activities rather than people or objects. Here are five noun-uses of gerunds and infinitives (and one additional non-noun use, the adjective complement, that we throw in here, free of charge).
Gerunds and infintives can both function as the subject of a sentence:
Playing basketball takes up too much of her time.
To play basketball for UConn is her favorite fantasy.
It is not impossible for an infinitive to appear at the beginning of a sentence as the subject (as in Ib), but it is more common for an infinitive to appear as a Subject Complement:
Her favorite fantasy is to play basketball for UConn.
The gerund can also play this role:
Her favorite fantasy is playing basketball for UConn.
Both of these verbal forms can further identify a noun when they play the role of Noun Complement and Appositive:
Her desire to play basketball for UConn became an obsession.
I could never understand her desire to play basketball for UConn.
Her one burning desire in life, playing basketball for UConn, seemed a goal within reach.
The infinitive is often a complement used to help define an abstract noun. Here is a very partial list of abstract nouns, enough to suggest their nature. Try following these adjectives with an infinitive phrase (their desire to play in the championship game, a motivation to pass all their courses, her permission to stay up late, a gentle reminder to do your work) to see how the phrase modifies and focuses the noun.
adviceappealcommanddecisiondesirefactinstructionmotivation
opportunityorderpermissionplanpossibilitypreparationproposalrecommendation
refusalreminderrequestrequirementsuggestiontendencywish
Infinitive phrases often follow certain adjectives. When this happens, the infinitive is said to play the role of Adjective Complement. (This is not a noun function, but we will include it here nonetheless.)
She was hesitant to tell the coach of her plan.
She was reluctant to tell her parents, also.
But she would not have been content to play high school ball forever.
Here is a list of adjectives that you will often find in such constructions.
aheadamazedanxiousaptashamedboundcarefulcertaincontentdelighted
determineddisappointedeagereligiblefortunategladhappyhesitantliablelikely
luckypleasedproudreadyreluctantsadshockedsorrysurprisedupset
Although we do not find many infinitives in this next category, it is not uncommon to find gerunds taking on the role of Object of a Preposition:
She wrote a newspaper article about dealing with college recruiters.
She thanked her coach for helping her to deal with the pressure.
Two prepositions, except and but, will sometimes take an infinitive.
The committee had no choice except to elect Frogbellow chairperson.
What is left for us but to pack up our belongings and leave?
And, finally, both gerunds and infinitives can act as a Direct Object:
Here, however, all kinds of decisions have to be made, and some of these decisions will seem quite arbitrary. The next section is about making the choice between gerund and infinitive forms as direct object.
Verbs that take other verb forms as objects are called catenatives (from a word that means to link, as in a chain). Catenatives can be found at the head of a series of linked constructions, as in "We agreed to try to decide to stop eating between meals." Catenatives are also characterized by their tendency to describe mental processes and resolutions. (Kolln)
Although it is seldom a serious problem for native English speakers, deciding whether to use a gerund or an infinitive after a verb can be perplexing among students for whom English is a second language. Why do we decide to run, but we would never decide running? On the other hand, we might avoid running, but we would not avoid to run. And finally, we might like running and would also like to run. It is clear that some verbs take gerunds, some verbs take infinitives, and some verbs take either. The following tables of verbs should help you understand the various options that regulate our choice of infinitive or gerund.
The verbs in the table below will be followed by an infinitive. We decided to leave. He manages, somehow, to win. It is threatening to rain. Notice that many, but not all, of these verbs suggest a potential event.
Some of the verbs in the following table may be followed by a gerund if they are describing an "actual, vivid or fulfilled action" (Frodesen). We love running. They began farming the land. These are described, also, below.
Emotion
caredesirehate
hatelikeloathe
loveregretyearn
Choice or Intent
agreechoosedecidedecideexpect
hopeintendneedplanprefer
prepareproposerefusewantwish
Initiation, Completion, Incompletion
beginceasecommencefail
gethesitatemanageneglect
starttryundertake
Mental Process
forgetknow how
learn
remember
Request and Promise
demandoffer
promiseswear
threatenvow
Intransitives
appearhappen
seem
tend
Miscellaneous
affordarrange
claimcontinue
pretendwait
The verbs in the next table will often be followed by an infinitive, but they will also be accompanied by a second object. We asked the intruders to leave quietly. They taught the children to swim. The teacher convinced his students to try harder.
The verbs in blue, with an asterisk, can also follow the same pattern as the verbs in the table above (i.e., the second object is optional). We all wanted to go. They promised to be home early.
Communication
adviseask*beg*challengecommandconvince
forbidinviteorderpermitpersuadepromise*
remindrequiretellwarnurge
Instruction
encouragehelp
instructteach
train
Causing
allowcausechoose
forcegethire
need*would like*
Miscellaneous
dare*expect*
trustprepare*
want*
Gerunds accompany a form of the verb to go in many idiomatic expressions: Let's go shopping. We went jogging yesterday. She goes bowling every Friday night.
The following verbs will be followed by a gerund. Did I mention reading that novel last summer? I recommend leaving while we can. I have quit smoking These verbs tend to describe actual events.
Initiation, Completion and Incompletion
anticipateavoidbeginceasecomplete
delayfinishget throughgive uppostpone
quitriskstartstoptry
Communication
admitadvisedenydiscuss
encouragementionrecommend
reportsuggesturge
Continuing Action
continuecan't help
practiceinvolve
keepkeep on
Emotion
appreciatedislikeenjoyhatelike
loveminddon't mindmissprefer
regretcan't standresentresisttolerate
Mental Process
anticipateconsiderforget
imaginerecallremember
seecan't seeunderstand
The verbs in the following table can be followed by either an infinitive or a gerund, and there will be virtually no difference in the meaning of the two sentences. I like to play basketball in the park. I like playing basketball in the park.
attemptbegincontinuehate
likeloveneglectprefer
regretcan't standstandstart
The verbs in this next, very small table can be followed by either an infinitive or a gerund, but there will be a difference in meaning. I stopped smoking means something quite different, for instance, from I stopped to smoke. The infinitive form will usually describe a potential action.
forget
remember
stop
Finally, the verbs below will be followed by either a gerund or a simple verb and a second subject will be required. I saw the team losing its composure. I overheard my landlord discussing a rent increase. (I heard Bill sing/singing.) These verbs involve the senses.
Verbs Involving Senses
feelhearlisten to
look atnoticeobserve
overhearseewatch
Verbs of perception — hear, see, watch — and a handful of other verbs — help, let, and make — will take what is called the bare infinitive, an infinitive without the particle "to." This is true of these verbs only in the active voice.
We watched him clear the table.
They heard the thief crash through the door.
She made me do it.
We helped her finish the homework.
Using Possessives with Gerunds
Do we say "I can't stand him singing in the shower," or do we say "I can't stand his singing in the shower"? Well, you have to decide what you find objectionable: is it him, the fact that he is singing in the shower, or is it the singing that is being done by him that you can't stand? Chances are, it's the latter, it's the singing that belongs to him that bugs you. So we would say, "I can't stand his singing in the shower."
On the other hand, do we say "I noticed your standing in the alley last night"? Probably not, because it's not the action that we noticed; it's the person. So we'd say and write, instead, "I noticed you standing in the alley last night." Usually, however, when a noun or pronoun precedes a gerund, that noun or pronoun takes a possessive form. This is especially true of formal, academic writing.
There are exceptions to this. (What would the study of language be without exceptions?)
When the noun preceding the gerund is modified by other words, use the common form of that noun, not the possessive.
Federico was pleased by Carlos's making the Dean's List for the first time.but
Federico was pleased by Carlos, his oldest son, making the Dean's List for the first time.
When the noun preceding the gerund is plural, collective, or abstract, use the common form of that noun, not the possessive.
Professor Villa was amazed by her students working as hard as they did.
The class working collaboratively was somebody else's idea.
It was a case of old age getting the better of them.
There are certain situations in which the possessive and the gerund create an awkward combination. This seems to be particularly true when indefinite pronouns are involved.
I was shocked by somebody's making that remark.This would be greatly improved by saying, instead . . .
I was shocked that somebody would make that remark.
This is also true when the "owner" of the gerund comes wrapped in a noun phrase:
I was thankful for the guy next door shoveling snow from my driveway.
Common Uncountable English Nouns
Food and Drink: bacon, beef, beer, bread, broccoli, butter, cabbage, candy, cauliflower, celery, cereal, cheese, chicken, chocolate, coffee, corn, cream, fish, flour, fruit, ice cream, lettuce, meat, milk, oil, pasta, rice, salt, spinach, sugar, tea, water, wine, and yogurt
Nonfood Substances: air ,cement, coal, dirt, gasoline, gold, ice, leather, paper, petroleum, plastic, rain, rubber, silver, snow, soap, steel, wood and wool. Abstract nouns: advice, anger, beauty, confidence, courage, employment, fun, happiness, health, honesty, information, intelligence, knowledge, love, poverty, satisfaction, truth, and wealth
i) Word classes and their functions,
ii) Combination of words into phrases, clauses and sentences,
iii) Classification and analysis of sentences.
Word classes
· are parts of speech as nouns,pronouns,adjectives,verbs, conjunction ,preposition etc.
· they are categorized into two groups namely;
a) Open word classes (or major word class) and
b) Closed word classes (or minor word class)
Closed word classes
These are sometimes called closed system because they cannot normally be extended by creating new other members. These are;
· Determiners
· Pronouns
· Conjunctions
· Prepositions
· Auxiliary verbs
PRONOUNS
A pronouns is a word that takes the place of a noun as
Eg.Juma is studying can be replaced by He is studying
Classes of pronouns
· Personal pronoun
Refers to a specific person or thing by indicating the person speaking (the first person), the person being addressed (the second person), or any other person or thing being discussed (third person)
Examples Singular Plural
First person I , me we,us
Second person You you
Third person He, him, her, she,it they,them
· Possessive pronouns
These are personal pronouns which indicate ownership.
Examples Singular Plural
First person my,mine our,ours
Second person Your,yours your,yours
Third person his, her, hers, its their, theirs
· Reflexive and intensive pronouns
The reflexive and intensive pronouns are formed when –self or –selves is added to certain personal and possessive pronouns
Examples
Myself, yourself, himself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves, himself, herself, itself and yourself
A reflexive pronoun refers to a noun or another pronoun and indicates that the same person or thing is involved.
Examples
i. I promised myself that I would practice more
ii. She taught herself to play the guitar
iii. Form five students organized tuition by themselves
An intensive pronoun adds emphasis to another noun or pronoun
i. You yourself cant answer that riddle
ii. Juan himself painted his room
iii. I wrote that poem myself
· Demonstrative pronoun, points out specific persons, places, things, or ideas
i. This is the record I want
ii. Play that again
iii. These were left here after last night’s party
· Interrogative pronouns
An interrogative pronoun is a pronoun used to form question
i. Who are the captains?
ii. Whom should I ask to help?
iii. Whose did you use?
· Relative pronouns
Is apronoun that is used to introduce a relative (subordinate) clause
i. George W.Bushi,the man who initiated Iraq war,was once sued of driving drunken {the relative pronoun who begins the subordinate clause who initiated Iraq war}
ii. Zitto Kabwe was fired from the Bunge, which is allocated in Dodoma Town.{the relative pronoun which begins the subordinate clause which is allocated in Dodoma Town}
iii. A woman that married Masoud was nicknamed Dolly.
· Indefinite Pronouns:
Are pronouns which refer to persons,places or things in a more general way than a noun does.these include: someone, anyone no one ,everyone, each somebody ,anybody, nobody ,everybody,(n)either something ,anything,, nothing ,and everything.
Examples:
Somebody is coming to dinner.
Neither of us believes a word Harry says.
Both are expected at the airport at the same time.
Several have suggested canceling the meeting.
Indefinite pronouns can use apostrophes to indicate possessive case.
Examples:
The accident is nobody’s fault.
How will the roadwork affect one's daily commute?
DETERMINERS
Determiners are words placed in front of a noun to make it clear what the noun refers to. For example the word “people” by itself is a general reference to some group of human beings. If some one says “ these people”, we know which group they are talking about, and if they say, “ a lot of people” we know how big the group is.
Classes of Determines
There are several classes of determiners
· Articles; a, an and the...
· Quantifiers; a lot of, many, a few, all, both,most,enough, little, much, some ,every,each,any,no..
· Cardinal numbers; one, two, three, four, five, six, seven...
· Demonstratives; this, that, those...
· Possessive adjectives; my, our, your, their...
· Ordinal numbers; first,second,third,forth…
· General ordinals, last, latter, next, previous, and subsequent.
Pronouns and Determiners
There is considerable overlap between the determiner class and the subclass of pronouns. Many words can be both:
Pronoun
Determiner
This is a very boring book
This book is very boring
That's an excellent film
That film is excellent
As this table shows, determiners always come before a noun, but pronouns are more independent than this.
Possessive Pronoun
Determiner
The white car is mine
My car is white
Yours is the blue coat
Your coat is blue
The car in the garage is his/hers
His/her car is in the garage
Types of determiners
· Pre determiners; all, both, half, double, twice, such. One-third.
· Central determiners; all articles, demonstratives, possessives, quantifiers.
· Post-determiners; cardinals, ordinals.
Note on quantifiers
Quantifiers are words that precede and modify nouns. They tell us how many or how much. Selecting the correct quantifier depends on your understanding the distinction between Count and Non-Count Nouns.
The following quantifiers will work with count nouns:
Many trees a few trees few trees several treesa couple of trees none of the trees
The following quantifiers will work with non-count nouns:
not much dancing a little dancinglittle dancing a bit of dancing a good deal of dancing a great deal of dancing
The following quantifiers will work with both count and non-count nouns:
All of the trees/dancing some trees/dancing most of the trees/dancing enough trees/dancing a lot of trees/dancing lots of trees/dancing plenty of trees/dancing a lack of trees/dancing
1. There is an important difference between "a little" and "little"and between "a few" and "few" . If I say that Laurent has a little experience in management that means that although Laurent is no great expert he does have some experience and that experience might well be enough for our purposes. If I say that Laurent has little experience in management that means that he doesn't have enough experience.
2. If I say that Hilda owns a few books on Latin American literature that means that she has some books — not a lot of books, but probably enough for our purposes. If I say that Hilda owns few books on Latin American literature, that means she doesn't have enough for our purposes and we'd better go to the library.
Note that the quantifier "most of the" must include the definite article the when it modifies a specific noun, whether it's a count or a non-count noun: "most of the instructors at this college have a doctorate"; "most of the water has evaporated." With a general plural noun, however (when you are not referring to a specific entity), the "of the" is dropped:
· Most colleges have their own admissions policy.
· Most students apply to several colleges.
The Ordering of Determiners
Determiners occur before nouns, and they are distinguished in three classes of determiners.
Predeterminer
Central Determiner
Postdeterminer
Noun
I met
all
my
many
friends
Predeterminers
Predeterminers specify quantity in the noun which follows them, and they are
· "Multiplying" expressions, including expressions ending in times:
twice my salary double my salary ten times my salary
· Fractions
half my salary one-third my salary
· The words all and both:
all my salary both my salaries
Central Determiners
The definite article the and the indefinite article a/an are the most common central determiners: all the book half a chapter
As many of our previous examples show, the word my can also occupy the central determiner slot. This is equally true of the other possessives: all your money all his/her money all our money all their money
The demonstratives, too, are central determiners:
all these problems twice that size four times this amount
Post determiners
Cardinal and ordinal numerals occupy the post determiner slot:
the two children his fourth birthday
This applies also to general ordinals:
my next project our last meeting your previous remark her subsequent letter
Other quantifying expressions are also post determiners:
my many friends our several achievements the few friends that I have
ARTICLES
An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. The three main articles in the English language are the, an and a. An article is sometimes called a Noun marker, although this is generally considered to be an archaic term.
WHAT IS A DEFINITE ARTICLE? Definite article refers to some specific thing as contrasted with "a" or "an" which does not refer to one specific individual or individuals of a noun.
Thus, if I say "the book", you know to which book I refer, as opposed to "a book" which is general and does not refer to any specific book.
Uses of the definite article.
· Is used to refer to the noun that has been previously mentioned
Examples
i. I saw a funny-looking dog yesterday [first mention, indefinite]. It looked like a cross between a Pekinese and a German shepherd. When it saw my cat, the dog ran away [second mention, definite].
ii. A man is walking down a road. There is a dog with the man.
iii. Combine butter, sugar and eggs. Add flour to the mixture.
· Is used to refer to something existing in a certain place
Examples
i. The Prime Minister will arrive tomorrow {Because there is only one Prime Minister in a country, and so it is clear to whom you are referring} Similarly, if there is only one hospital in the town, you can say
ii. He's been working in the hospital for two years. But you couldn't say this in Mwanza, where there are many hospitals. You would have to name the particular hospital in your first reference to it.
· Is used to referring to unique objects:
Examples
i. The sun
ii. The earth
iii. The Pope
iv. The sky
v. The equator
· Is used for superlative or ranking adjective
Examples
i. The tallest girl in the class is 6'2" tall. [There can be only one girl who is the tallest.]
ii. Please read the fourth paragraph on page 3. [There can be only one fourth paragraph.]
iii. Today is the most important day of my life. [There can be only one day that is the most important.]
iv. Mwanza City is the most populous city in the lake zone
v. I enjoyed the first part, but I was disappointed at the end
vi. She is the principal researcher
· Is used when the noun is post modified
Post modification means that if the noun is followed by a dependent clause (who/which/that) or a prepositional phrase (of/in/to...), it is made definite
Example
i. The man who lives next door is Chinese
ii. We take the regular collection of garbage for granted
iii. The journey to Vancouver take three days by train
iv. No one expected the results that were found
v. Do you remember the girl who went camping with us?
· Used to refer to systems of communication and the mass media.
Examples
i. The telephone is the system of communication
ii. I am listening to the radio Tanzania Dar es Salaam
iii. The newspapers are all in agreement on the latest financial disaster.
Exception: television usually has no article: Did you see him on television?
· Is used to refer to all means of transportation:
i. How long does it take on the bus?
ii. The lorry was bombed last week as we were in it
iii. The subway is quicker
Exception if you use the construction "by PLUS means of transport," there is no article: I go by subway].
· Used to refer to all forms of entertainment in general rather than in particular
i. I enjoy seeing the ballet.
ii. I never miss the nightclub
To refer to a particular event, use the indefinite article:
i. I saw a good movie last night.
· Used to refer to place/object of activity nouns:
Certain nouns refer to either a place/object or to an activity. When they refer to an activity, do not use the definite article: Examples
Activity
Object
I go to bed at 11 o'clock.
Don't jump on the bed.
She went to school for many years.
The school was too small.
Many families eat dinner together.
The dinner was delicious.
I shower before breakfast.
The breakfast was delicious.
They are at church.
The church is very old.
She is in class.
The class is in Room 102.
· Used to refer to the periods of time:
Names of decades, centuries and historic periods take the definite article, as they are a form of unique reference:
i. The 1960s were a time of student rebellion
ii. I will never for get the year 2000 in my life
iii. During the famine century, many Tanzania perished
· Is used to refer to something specific that is known to both the writer/speaker and the reader/listener.
WHAT IS AN INDEFINITE ARTICLE? The indefinite article is just the opposite of the definite article. In English, the indefinite articles are "a, an, some, any." They are "indefinite" because they do not refer to a particular thing as "the" does, but simply refer to an individual or individuals of the noun in a broad sense.
Example
i. I point to a bookshelf full of books and say, "Give me the book.", pointing to the largest book on the shelf. or
ii. I point to a bookshelf full of books and say, "Give me a book.", waving my finger only in the general direction of the top shelf.
In the second scenario, you are free to pick any book that might be on the bookshelf because "a" does not refer to a particular book. However, in the first scenario, it is clear that I'm referring to a particular book because of the word "the."
Uses of indefinite article
· Is used to refer to collective nouns take the indefinite article
Examples
i. A box of matches
ii. A deck of cards
iii. A bar of soap
iv. A herd of cows.
· Used when the noun has been mentioned for the first mention
i. I saw a funny-looking dog yesterday [first mention, indefinite]. It looked like a cross between a Pekinese and a German shepherd. When it saw my cat, the dog ran away [second mention, definite].
ZERO ARTICLES
Zero article means no article.Several kinds of nouns never use articles.
· We do not use articles with the names of languages
Example "He was learning Chinese." [But when the word Chinese refers to the people, the definite article might come into play: "The Chinese are hoping to get the next Olympics."]),
· We don’t use article for the names of sports eg. ("She plays badminton and basketball."), and
· We don’t use article for the names academic subjects ("She's taking economics and math. Her major is Religious Studies.")
· Common count nouns are used without articles in certain special situations:
Use zero article when idiomatic expressions using be and go
Example
We'll go by train. (as opposed to "We'll take the train.)He must be in school.
· With seasons use ziro artcle
Example
In spring, we like to clean the house.
· With institutions use zero article
Example
He's in church/college/jail/class.
· With meals use zero article
Example
Breakfast was delicious. He's preparing dinner by himself.
· With diseases use zero article
Example
He's dying of pneumonia.Appendicitis nearly killed him.She has cancer
(You will sometimes hear "the measles," "the mumps," but these, too, can go without articles.)
· With time of day use zero article
Example
We traveled mostly by night.We'll be there around midnight.
GENERIC AND SPECIFIC REFERENCE
Generic reference is used when one refers to a whole group or class, to generalize about all possible members of a group. There are five patterns one can use: Generic reference: We can refer to something in a generic way by using any of the three articles. We can do the same thing by omitting the article altogether.
i. A beagle makes a great hunting dog and family companion.
ii. An airedale is sometimes a rather skittish animal.
iii. The golden retriever is a marvelous pet for children.
Irish setters are not the highly intelligent animals they used to be.
a) No article PLUS plural count noun:
It's astonishing what gymnasts can do.
b) No article PLUS non count noun:
Love can cause a lot of suffering.
c) Indefinite article PLUS singular count noun:
It's astonishing what a gymnast can do. This pattern cannot be used to discuss the location or existence of something/someone.
d) Definite article PLUS singular count noun:
It's astonishing what the gymnast can do.
e) Definite article PLUS plural nationality noun:
The Chinese have an ancient culture.
CONJUNCTION
Conjunction is a word that used to link words, phrases, and clauses, as in the following example:
i) I ate the pizza and the pasta.
ii) Call the movers when you are ready.
Co-ordinating Conjunctions
You use a co-ordinating conjunction ("and," "but," "or," "nor," "for," "so," or "yet") to join individual words, phrases, and independent clauses.
Coordinating conjunctions go in between items joined, not at the beginning or end.
· Subordinating Conjunctions
A subordinating conjunction introduces a dependent clause and indicates the nature of the relationship among the independent clause(s) and the dependent clause(s).
The most common subordinating conjunctions are
"after," "although," "as," "because," "before," "how," "if," "once," "since," "than," "that," "though," "till," "until," "when," "where," "whether," and "while."
Examples
1. After she had learned to drive, Alice felt more independent.
The subordinating conjunction "after" introduces the dependent clause "After she had learned to drive."
2. If the paperwork arrives on time, your cheque will be mailed on Tuesday.
Similarly, the subordinating conjunction "if" introduces the dependent clause "If the paperwork arrives on time."
3. Gerald had to begun his thesis over again when his computer crashed.
The subordinating conjunction "when" introduces the dependent clause "when his computer crashed."
4. Midwifery advocates argue that home births are safer because the mother and baby are exposed to fewer people and fewer germs.
In this sentence, the dependent clause "because the mother and baby are exposed to fewer people and fewer germs" is introduced by the subordinating conjunction "because."
· Correlative Conjunctions
Correlative conjunctions always appear in pairs -- you use them to link equivalent sentence elements. The most common correlative conjunctions are "both...and," "either...or," "neither...nor,", "not only...but also," "so...as," and "whether...or." (Technically correlative conjunctions consist simply of a co-ordinating conjunction linked to an adjective or adverb.)
Example
i. Both my grandfather and my father worked in the steel plant.
ii. Bring either a Jello salad or a potato scallop.
iii. Corinne is trying to decide whether to go to medical school or to go to law school.
iv. The explosion destroyed not only the school but also the neighbouring pub.
AUXILIARY VERBS
The most common auxiliary verbs are "be," "do," and "have", and you may also use these verbs on their own. You use "Will" and "shall" to express future time.
Examples
i. She is the chief engineer.
ii. The tea cups are in the china cabinet.
iii. Garth does this kind of thing frequently.
Other common auxiliaries are "can," "could," "may," "might," "must," "ought," "should," "will," and "would." A verb like these is called a modal auxiliary and expresses necessity, obligation, or possibility.
Examples
Zora was pleased to learn that she could take several days off.
The small freckled girl told her neighbours that she would walk their dog for an appropriate fee.
Henry told Eliza that she ought to have the hole in the bucket fixed.
The principal told the assembled students that the school board might introduce a dress code next autumn.
According to the instructions, we must leave this goo in our hair for twenty minutes.
Note auxiliary verbs are distinguished from other verbs by two characteristics:
Support role: They are each followed by a non-finite verb (raining, been, overcharged) which they 'support' in various ways. The term 'auxiliary verb' refers to this support role. (Think of 'auxiliary teacher', a support teacher.)
Inversion role.: They are syntactically special in a number of ways that are quite separate from the support role; for example, English auxiliary verbs are unlike other verbs in allowing subject inversion:
Example; It is raining. - Is it raining?
'Catenative verbs'
The trouble is that these two characteristics are separate and each define a different group of verbs, to which grammarians give distinct names:Support role verbs that combine with a following non-finite verb are often called 'catenative verbs' (where the term 'catenative' means 'chaining' - Latin catena, 'chain'). This term includes verbs like get, keep, start, help as well as the traditional auxiliary verbs:
Examples
i) She was/got chosen for the job.
ii) She was/kept talking.
iii) She ought/started to talk.
iv) She will/helped wash up.
Inversion, etc.: verbs that allow subject inversion (and other grammatical patterns to be listed below) are called 'operators', so the rule for subject inversion is: 'put an operator before the subject'.
Examples
i) She is ready. - Is she ready?
ii) She has some money. - Has she any money?
Characteristics auxiliary verbs
· Subject inversion:
i) He was run over by a bus. - Was he run over by a bus?
ii) He got run over by a bus. - but: *Got he run over by a bus?
· Negation. A clause is made negative by adding not or suffixed n't after its finite auxiliary verb:
o It is not raining. - It isn't raining.
o He is not ready. - He isn't ready.
o But not: *He got not run over by a bus. - NOR: *He gotn't run over by a bus.
· Do-support. If a clause is negative or interrogative but does not already contain an auxiliary, the appropriate form of do is added. Adding do is NOT possible before an auxiliary.
i) He did not get run over by a bus. - Did he get run over by a bus?
ii) But not: *He did not be run over by a bus. NOR: *Did he be run over by a bus?
iii) Nor: *He did not be ready. nor: *Did he be ready?
· Adverbs. Some adverbs (e.g. never, sometimes, soon, obviously) can occur in 'medial' position, which is either just before or (preferably) after an auxiliary verb or just before (but not after) a non-auxiliary.
§ People never get run over. but: *People get never run over.
§ People never are run over. - People are never run over.
§ He never is ready. - He is never ready.
· Contraction. Many auxiliary verbs have a 'contracted' form, but no non-auxiliary does:
i) It is raining. - It's raining.
ii) It keeps raining. but: *Itk'ps raining.
iii) He is ready. - He's ready.
INTERJECTION
An interjection is a word added to a sentence to convey emotion. It is not grammatically related to any other part of the sentence.
You usually follow an interjection with an exclamation mark. Interjections are uncommon in formal academic prose, except in direct quotations.
The highlighted words in the following sentences are interjections:
Ouch, that hurt!
Oh no, I forgot that the exam was today.
Hey! Put that down!
I heard one guy say to another guy, "He has a new car, eh?"
I don't know about you but, good lord, I think taxes are too high!
LINKING VERBS( copular)
A linking verb implies state of being or condition for the subject, not action. It links the subject to an equivalent word in the sentence. Examples
a. The test indicates that Neema is a genius.
b. Toni Morrison was the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Linking verbs or copular verbs link a subject to a complement.they MUST be followed by a complement in order to make the sentence complete. The complement can be a subject complement or an adverbial, and occurs in two sentence types which are of the Subject-Verb-Complement (SVC) and Subject-Verb-Adverbial (SVA) pattern.
Types:
There are two groups of linking verbs:
i) Current linking verbs and
ii) Resulting linking verbs.
Current linking verbs.Current linking verbs indicate a state. Resulting linking.Resulting linking verbs indicate that the role of the verb complement is a result of the process described in the verb.
· Subject-Verb-Complement
A. The complement is a noun phrase or noun clause:
This is a really nice outfit.
The anwer is that we don't want to go to the party.
He became a beggar.
B. To be can occur between the linking verb and the complement. Although this "to be" is not necessary, both American English and British English prefer an infinitive construction with to be rather than simply a noun phrase.
She seems (to be) all right.
He proved (to be) a good husband.
She appears (to be) exhausted.
Some linking verbs are restricted as to the words that may occur in their complement. Examples are: rest (assured), run (wild), plead (innocent), fall (silent).
C. The complement is an adjective.
He became very restless (when his son did not come home on time).
Your house looks very clean.
She stayed calm.
Subject-Verb-Adverbial
The main linking verb that allows an adverbial as complementation is to be. The most common adverbials are place and time adverbials.
Tom is in the bathroom..
My uncle lives in Belgium.
The party will be at three o'clock.
The Verb BE:
Some grammarians refer to the verb be as "the copula" since this is its main function in English. All the forms of be can be used as a linking verb. Be is the main verb of the sentence, rather than the auxiliary and is used in both SVC and SVA patterns.
i) I am at the office between 9 and 5.
ii) This is a really good class.
iii) Those books were very expensive.
iv) The students have been exhausted since the midterm.
v) Their wedding will be in early May.
LISTS OF THE MOST COMMON LINKING VERBS:
· Current Linking Verbs
Appear John appeared happy when the company promoted him.
Be The graduate students are in Classroom South, Room 106.
Feel She felt really happy with the new baby.
Lie The pieces lay scattered over the floor.
Look This person looks really tired.
Remain Everybody remained silent for a few minutes.
Seem This secretary seems (to be) very efficient.
Smell That perfume smelled so fresh.
Sound She sounded very surprised when she heard the news.
Stay Everybody stayed calm when the fire alarm went off.
Taste This grapefruit tastes very bitter.
· Resulting Linking Verbs
Become He became a successful business man.
Get She got upset with her students.
Grow The professor grew unhappy because the students were not listening well.
Fall My brother fell in love at the party.
Prove The new secretary proved (to be) very friendly.
Run The children ran wild.
Turn The milk turned sour.
NOUN
A noun is a word used to name a person, animal, place, thing, and abstract idea. Nouns are usually the first words which small children learn. The highlighted words in the following sentences are all nouns:
a. Late last year our neighbours bought a goat.
b. Portia White was an opera singer.
A noun can function in a sentence as a subject, a direct object, an indirect object, a subject complement, an object complement, an appositive, an adjective or an adverb.
Noun Plurals
Most nouns change their form to indicate number by adding "-s" or "-es", as illustrated in the following pairs of sentences:
When Matthew was small he rarely told the truth if he thought he was going to be punished.
Many people do not believe that truths are self-evident.
As they walked through the silent house. they were startled by an unexpected echo.
I like to shout into the quarry and listen to the echoes that returned.
Possessive Nouns
In the possessive case, a noun or pronoun changes its form to show that it owns or is closely related to something else. Usually, nouns become possessive by adding a combination of an apostrophe and the letter "s."
You can form the possessive case of a singular noun that does not end in "s" by adding an apostrophe and "s," as in the following sentences:
The red suitcase is Cassandra's.
The only luggage that was lost was the prime minister's.
The exhausted recruits were woken before dawn by the drill sergeant's screams.
The miner's face was covered in coal dust.
You can form the possessive case of a singular noun that ends in "s" by adding an apostrophe alone or by adding an apostrophe and "s," as in the following examples:
The bus's seats are very uncomfortable.
The bus' seats are very uncomfortable.
The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus's eggs.
The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus' eggs.
Felicia Hemans's poetry was once more popular than Lord Byron's.
Felicia Hemans' poetry was once more popular than Lord Byron's.
You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does not end in "s" by adding an apostrophe and a "s," as in the following examples:
The children's mittens were scattered on the floor of the porch.
The sheep's pen was mucked out every day.
Since we have a complex appeal process, a jury's verdict is not always final.
The men's hockey team will be play as soon as the women's team is finished.
The hunter followed the moose's trail all morning but lost it in the afternoon.
You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does end in "s" by adding an apostrophe:
The concert was interrupted by the dogs' barking, the ducks' quacking, and the babies' squalling.
The janitors' room is downstairs and to the left.
My uncle spent many hours trying to locate the squirrels' nest.
The archivist quickly finished repairing the diaries' bindings.
Religion is usually the subject of the roommates' many late night debates.
Using Possessive Nouns
· functions as an adjective modifying another noun:
i. The miner's face was covered in coal dust.
Here the possessive noun "miner's" is used to modify the noun "face" and together with the article "the," they make up the noun phrase that is the sentence's subject.
ii. The concert was interrupted by the dogs' barking, the ducks' quacking, and the babies' squalling.
In this sentence, each possessive noun modifies a gerund. The possessive noun "dogs"' modifies "barking", "ducks"' modifies "quacking," and "babies"' modifies "squalling."
iii. The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus's eggs.
In this example the possessive noun "platypus's" modifies the noun "eggs" and the noun phrase "the platypus's eggs" is the direct object of the verb "crushed."
iv. My uncle spent many hours trying to locate the squirrels' nest.
In this sentence the possessive noun "squirrels"' is used to modify the noun "nest" and the noun phrase "the squirrels' nest" is the object of the infinitive phrase "to locate."
Types of Nouns
In fact, grammarians have developed a whole series of noun types, including the proper noun, the common noun, the concrete noun, the abstract noun, the countable noun (also called the count noun), the non-countable noun (also called the mass noun), and the collective noun. You should note that a noun will belong to more than one type: it will be proper or common, abstract or concrete, and countable or non-countable or collective.
Proper Nouns
You always write a proper noun with a capital letter, since the noun represents the name of a specific person, place, or thing. The names of days of the week, months, historical documents, institutions, organisations, religions, their holy texts and their adherents are proper nouns. A proper noun is the opposite of a common noun
Examples
i) The Marroons were transported from Jamaica and forced to build the fortifications in Halifax.
ii) Many people dread Monday mornings.
iii) Beltane is celebrated on the first of May.
iv) Abraham appears in the Talmud and in the Koran.
v) Last year, I had a Baptist, a Buddhist, and a Gardnerian Witch as roommates.
Common Nouns
A common noun is a noun referring to a person, place, or thing in a general sense -- usually, you should write it with a capital letter only when it begins a sentence. A common noun is the opposite of a proper noun.
Examples
i) According to the sign, the nearest town is 60 miles away.
ii) All the gardens in the neighbourhood were invaded by beetles this summer.
iii) I don't understand why some people insist on having six different kinds of mustard in their cupboards.
iv) The road crew was startled by the sight of three large moose crossing the road.
v) Many child-care workers are underpaid.
Concrete Nouns
A concrete noun is a noun which names anything (or anyone) that you can perceive through your physical senses: touch, sight, taste, hearing, or smell. A concrete noun is the opposite of a abstract noun.
Examples
i) The judge handed the files to the clerk.
ii) Whenever they take the dog to the beach, it spends hours chasing waves.
iii) The real estate agent urged the couple to buy the second house because it had new shingles.
iv) As the car drove past the park, the thump of a disco tune overwhelmed the string quartet's rendition of a minuet.
v) The book binder replaced the flimsy paper cover with a sturdy, cloth-covered board.
Abstract Nouns
An abstract noun is a noun which names anything which you can not perceive through your five physical senses, and is the opposite of a concrete noun.
Examples
i) Buying the fire extinguisher was an afterthought.
ii) Tillie is amused by people who are nostalgic about childhood.
iii) Justice often seems to slip out of our grasp.
iv) Some scientists believe that schizophrenia is transmitted genetically.
Countable Nouns
A countable noun (or count noun) is a noun with both a singular and a plural form, and it names anything (or anyone) that you can count.
Examples
i) We painted the table red and the chairs blue.
ii) Since he inherited his aunt's library, Jerome spends every weekend indexing his books.
iii) Miriam found six silver dollars in the toe of a sock.
iv) The oak tree lost three branches in the hurricane.
v) Over the course of twenty-seven years, Martha Ballad delivered just over eight hundred babies.
Non-Countable Nouns
A non-countable noun (or mass noun) is a noun which does not have a plural form, and which refers to something that you could (or would) not usually count. A non-countable noun always takes a singular verb in a sentence.
Examples
i) Joseph Priestly discovered oxygen.
ii) Oxygen is essential to human life.
iii) We decided to sell the furniture rather than take it with use when we moved.
You cannot make the noun "furniture" plural.
i) The furniture is heaped in the middle of the room.
ii) The crew spread the gravel over the roadbed.
You cannot make the non-countable noun "gravel" plural.
i) Gravel is more expensive than I thought.
Collective Nouns
A collective noun is a noun naming a group of things, animals, or persons. You could count the individual members of the group, but you usually think of the group as a whole is generally as one unit. You need to be able to recognise collective nouns in order to maintain subject-verb agreement. A collective noun is similar to a non-countable noun, and is roughly the opposite of a countable noun.
Examples
i) The flock of geese spends most of its time in the pasture.
ii) The jury is dining on take-out chicken tonight.
iii) The steering committee meets every Wednesday afternoon.
iv) The class was startled by the bursting light bulb.
NOUN PHRASE
How to spot a noun phrase? Noun phrases are built around a noun. This is the head of a noun phrase. However, noun phrases are often much more complex than just the head noun and a possible determiner, like a cat or these dogs. Very often there are all sorts of elements modifying the head and it can be quite difficult to decide where exactly the noun phrase begins and ends. A good way of deciding this is to try to replace the noun phrase with a pronoun (he, she, it, they, etc.). Remember that pronouns replace whole noun phrases, not just the head noun.
A. STRUCTURE OF NOUN PHRASES
(Determiner(s))
(Premodifier(s))
HEAD
(Postmodifier(s))
Predet. (half, all, double)
Adjective
Noun
Relative clause
Central (the, a, this)
Participle
Pronoun
Prepositional phrase
Postdet. (seven, many, few)
Noun
Nominal adjective (e.g. the red)
Adverb
Genitive
Adjective
Adverb
POSTMODIFICATION (i.e. after the head)
(1) Relative clauses, both finite and non-finite
i) [The girl who spoke to him] is my best friend. / [The girl speaking to him] is my best friend.
ii) [The question that was debated in Parliament yesterday] was about abortion laws. / [The question debated in Parliament yesterday] was about abortion laws.
iii) [The question that will be debated tomorrow] is whether income tax should be increased. / [The question to be debated tomorrow] is whether income tax should be increased.
Restrictive relative clauses are not separated with commas, non-restrictive ones are:
My wife who speaks five languages… vs. My wife, who speaks five languages,…
(2) Prepositional phrases (common postmodifiers!)
i) the road to London, a man of courage, the key to a prolonged recovery, the pleasure of your company, his life after the war, a man like John, a tree by a stream, passengers on board the ship
(3) Adverb phrases
ii) [The road back] was dense with traffic.
( 4) Adjective phrases
iii) [Anyone keen on modern jazz] should not miss this opportunity.
PREMODIFICATION (i.e. before the head)
1) Adjective
iv) I visited [his delightful cottage].
v) …his really quite unbelievably delightful cottage… (modifier modified)
2) Participle
i) I visited [his crumbling cottage].
ii) I visited [his completed cottage].
3) -s genitive
i) I visited [his fisherman’s cottage]. (belongs/ed to a fisherman? resembles a fisherman’s cottage?)
4) Noun
ii) I visited [his country cottage].
5) Adverb
iii) I visited [his far-away cottage].
6) Clause
iv) I visited [his pop-down-for-the-week-end cottage].
v) a do-it-yourself store
VARIATIONS IN MODIFICATION
a) a single head:
The girl in the corner talking to Peter…
His brilliant last book…
b) multiple head:
The girl and the boy in the corner…
The new table and chairs…
c) modifier modified:
The girl (in the corner (nearest the door))…
His (((quite) unbelievably) delightful) cottage…
d) discontinuous modification:
You’ll meet a man tomorrow carrying a heavy parcel.
APPOSITION
Appositive structures are common in formal, written texts. Two or more noun phrases are in apposition when they have identity of reference, i.e. they refer to the same thing. Sometimes apposition is indicated with the conjunction or, or with linking adverbials like that is, in other words, namely.
[Linguistics] or [the study of language] attracts many students.
[The outcome], that is [her re-election], was a complete surprise.
He was examined by [James Kelly] [the doctor].
He was examined by [James Kelly], [a doctor].
The hope in Northern Ireland is that [Sinn Fein,] [the political army of the I.R.A.,] will be...
B. FUNCTIONS OF NOUN PHRASES
On sentence or clause level you can find NPs in the following syntactic functions:
Subject: My earliest memory of theatre is going to the Hippodrome…
Direct object: Sign your name there.
Indirect object: I always tell people I’m not a musical person.
Subject Complement: She is a very nice person.
Object Complement: They elected him president.
Adverbial: You have to wait a long time. It’s coming out this way.
You can also find nouns and noun phrases within other phrases:
Complement of a preposition: Let’s go there [in the morning].
Premodifier of a noun: a country cottage
Premodifier of an adjective: It’s sixteen feet long.
A vocative — an addressed person's name or substitute name — is often a single word but sometimes takes the form of a noun phrase. A vocative is always treated as a parenthetical element and is thus set off from the rest of the sentence with a comma or a pair of commas (if it appears within the flow of a sentence). When vocatives are proper nouns (usually the case), they are also referred to as "nouns of address." Vocatives are like adverbs: they can pop up almost anywhere in the sentence. Do not, however, get into the habit of throwing commas at people's names; unless the name refers to someone who is actually being addressed, it is not a vocative and will not necessarily be parenthetical:
i) He told Jorge to turn the boat around.
ii) Jorge, turn the boat around
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition, a noun or pronoun that serves as the object of the preposition, and, more often than not, an adjective or two that modifies the object. Ernest Hemingway apparently fell in love with the rhythms of his prepositional phrases at the beginning of his short story "Hills Like White Elephants":
The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. Close against the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the bar, to keep out flies. The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building. It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped at this junction for two minutes and went on to Madrid.
Prepositional phrases usually tell when or where: "in forty minutes," "in the sun, against the side, etc." Prepositional phrases can perform other functions, however: Except Jo, the children were remarkably like their father.
A prepositional phrase at the beginning of a sentence constitutes an introductory modifier, which is usually a signal for a comma. However, unless an introductory prepositional phrase is unusually long, we seldom need to follow it with a comma.
You may have learned that ending a sentence with a preposition is a serious breach of grammatical etiquette. It doesn't take a grammarian to spot a sentence-ending preposition, so this is an easy rule to get caught up on (!). Although it is often easy to remedy the offending preposition, sometimes it isn't, and repair efforts sometimes result in a clumsy sentence. Based on shaky historical precedent, the rule itself is a latecomer to the rules of writing. Those who dislike the rule are fond of recalling Churchill's rejoinder: <"That is nonsense up with which I shall not put." We should also remember the child's complaint (attributed to E.B. White): "What did you bring that book that I don't like to be read to out of up for?"
APPOSITIVE PHRASE
An appositive is a re-naming or amplification of a word that immediately precedes it. (An appositive, then is the opposite of an oppositive.) Frequently another kind of phrase will serve in apposition.
My favorite teacher, a fine chess player in her own right, has won several state-level tournaments. [Noun phrase as appositive]
The best exercise, walking briskly, is also the least expensive. [Gerund phrase as appositive]
Tashonda's goal in life, to become an occupational therapist, is within her grasp this year, at last. [Infinitive phrase as appositive]
ABSOLUTE PHRASE
Usually (but not always, as we shall see), an absolute phrase (also called a nominative absolute) is a group of words consisting of a noun or pronoun and a participle as well as any related modifiers. Absolute phrases do not directly connect to or modify any specific word in the rest of the sentence; instead, they modify the entire sentence, adding information. They are always treated as parenthetical elements and are set off from the rest of the sentence with a comma or a pair of commas (sometimes by a dash or pair of dashes). Notice that absolute phrases contain a subject (which is often modified by a participle), but not a true finite verb.
Their reputation as winners secured by victory, the New York Liberty charged into the semifinals.
The season nearly finished, Rebecca Lobo and Sophie Witherspoon emerged as true leaders.
The two superstars signed autographs into the night, their faces beaming happily.
When the participle of an absolute phrase is a form of to be, such as being or having been, the participle is often left out but understood.
The season [being] over, they were mobbed by fans in Times Square.
[Having been] Stars all their adult lives, they seemed used to the attention.
Another kind of absolute phrase is found after a modified noun; it adds a focusing detail or point of focus to the idea of the main clause. This kind of absolute phrase can take the form of a prepositional phrase, an adjective phrase, or a noun phrase.
The old firefighter stood over the smoking ruins, his senses alert to any sign of another flare-up.
His subordinates, their faces sweat-streaked and smudged with ash, leaned heavily against the firetruck.
They knew all too well how all their hard work could be undone — in an instant.
It is not unusual for the information supplied in the absolute phrase to be the most important element in the sentence. In fact, in descriptive prose, the telling details will often be wrapped into a sentence in the form of an absolute phrase:
Coach Nykesha strolled onto the court, her arms akimbo and a large silver whistle clenched between her teeth.
The new recruits stood in one corner of the gym, their uniforms stiff and ill fitting, their faces betraying their anxiety.
A noun phrase can also exist as an absolute phrase:
Your best friends, where are they now, when you need them?
And then there was my best friend Sally — the dear girl — who has certainly fallen on hard times.
It might be useful to review the material on Misplaced Modifiers because it is important not to confuse an absolute phrase with a misplaced modifier.
INFINITIVE PHRASE
An infinitive phrase consists of an infinitive — the root of the verb preceded by to — and any modifiers or complements associated with it. Infinitive phrases can act as adjectives, adverbs, and nouns.
Her plan to subsidize child care won wide acceptance among urban politicians. [modifies plan, functions as an adjective]
She wanted to raise taxes. [noun-object of the sentence]
To watch Uncle Billy tell this story is an eye-opening experience. [noun-subject of the sentence]
To know her is to love her. [noun, predicate nominative]
Juan went to college to study veterinary medicine. [tells us why he went, so it's an adverb]
GERUND PHRASE
Gerunds, verbals that end in -ing and that act as nouns, frequently are associated with modifiers and complements in a gerund phrase. These phrases function as units and can do anything that a noun can do. Notice that other phrases, especially prepositional phrases, are frequently part of the gerund phrase.
Cramming for tests is not a good study strategy. [gerund phrase as subject]
John enjoyed swimming in the lake after dark. [gerund phrase as object]
I'm really not interested in studying biochemistry for the rest of my life. [gerund phrase as object of the preposition in ]
Reviewing the general uses of gerunds and infinitives might not be a bad idea. Click HERE.
PARTICIPIAL PHRASE
Present participles, verbals ending in -ing, and past participles, verbals that end in -ed (for regular verbs) or other forms (for irregular verbs), are combined with complements and modifiers and become part of important phrasal structures. Participial phrases always act as adjectives. When they begin a sentence, they are often set off by a comma (as an introductory modifier); otherwise, participial phrases will be set off by commas if they are parenthetical elements.
The stone steps, having been worn down by generations of students, needed to be replaced. [modifies "steps"]
Working around the clock, the firefighters finally put out the last of the California brush fires. [modifies "firefighters"]
The pond, frozen over since early December, is now safe for ice-skating. [modifies "pond"]
CLAUSES:
Definition
A clause is a group of related words containing a subject and a verb A clause can be usefully distinguished from a phrase, which is a group of related words that does not contain a subject-verb relationship, such as "in the morning" or "running down the street" or "having grown used to this harassment." A review of the different kinds of phrases might be helpful.
Words We Use to Talk about Clauses
Learning the various terms used to define and classify clauses can be a vocabulary lesson in itself. This digital handout categorizes clauses into independent and dependent clauses. This simply means that some clauses can stand by themselves, as separate sentences, and some can't. Another term for dependent clause is subordinate clause: this means that the clause is subordinate to another element (the independent clause) and depends on that other element for its meaning. The subordinate clause is created by a subordinating conjunction or dependent word.
An independent clause, "She is older than her brother" (which could be its own sentence), can be turned into a dependent or subordinate clause when the same group of words begins with a dependent word (or a subordinating conjunction in this case): "Because she is older than her brother, she tells him what to do."
Clauses are also classified as restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses. (The words essential and nonessential are sometimes used and mean the same thing as restrictive and nonrestrictive, respectively. British grammarians will make this same distinction by referring to clauses with the terms defining and non-defining.) A nonrestrictive clause is not essential to the meaning of the sentence; it can be removed from the sentence without changing its basic meaning. Nonrestrictive clauses are often set apart from the rest of the sentence by a comma or a pair of commas (if it's in the middle of a sentence).
Professor Villa, who used to be a secretary for the President, can type 132 words a minute.
Review the Notorious Confusables section on the difference between That and Which for additional clarification on the distinction between restrictive and nonrestrictive.
Relative clauses are dependent clauses introduced by a Relative Pronoun (that, which, whichever, who, whoever, whom, whomever, whose, and of which). Relative clauses can be either restrictive or nonrestrictive. Review the section on Comma Usage for additional help in determining whether relative clauses are restrictive or nonrestrictive (parenthetical or not) and whether commas should be used to set them off from the rest of the sentence. In a relative clause, the relative pronoun is the subject of the verb (remember that all clauses contain a subject-verb relationship) and refers to (relates to) something preceding the clause.
Giuseppe said that the plantar wart, which had been bothering him for years, had to be removed.
(In this sentence, the clause in this color is a restrictive [essential] clause [a noun clause — see below] and will not be set off by a comma; the underlined relative clause [modifying "wart"] is nonrestrictive [nonessential — it can be removed from the sentence without changing the meaning of the sentence] and is set off by commas.)
Some relative clauses will refer to more than a single word in the preceding text; they can modify an entire clause or even a series of clauses.
Charlie didn't get the job in administration, which really surprised his friends.Charlie didn't get the job in administration, and he didn't even apply for the Dean's position, which really surprised his friends.
A relative clause that refers to or modifies entire clauses in this manner is called a sentential clause. Sometimes the "which" of a sentential clause will get tucked into the clause as the determiner of a noun:
Charlie might very well take a job as headmaster, in which case the school might as well close down.
Elliptical Clauses:
Finally, everybody's favorite clause is the Santa Clause, which needs no further definition:
Independent Clauses
Independent Clauses could stand by themselves as discrete sentences, except that when they do stand by themselves, separated from other clauses, they're normally referred to simply as sentences, not clauses. The ability to recognize a clause and to know when a clause is capable of acting as an independent unit is essential to correct writing and is especially helpful in avoiding sentence fragments and run-on sentences..
Needless to say, it is important to learn how to combine independent clauses into larger units of thought. In the following sentence, for example,
Bob didn't mean to do it, but he did it anyway.
we have two independent clauses — "Bob didn't mean to do it" and "he did it anyway" — connected by a comma and a coordinating conjunction ("but"). If the word "but" is missing from this sentence, the sentence would be called a comma splice: two independent clauses would be incorrectly connected, smooshed together, with only a comma between them. Furthermore, a long series of clauses of similar structure and length begins to feel monotonous, leading to what is called "Dick and Jane" or primer language (after the kind of prose that we find in first grade textbooks or "primers"). (See the section on Avoiding Primer Language for advice and exercises on combining sentences.) It would also be helpful at this time to review the section on Punctuation Between Two Independent Clauses.
Clauses are combined in three different ways: coordination, subordination, and by means of a semicolon. Coordination involves joining independent clauses with one of the coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for, yet, and sometimes* so. Clauses thus connected are usually nicely balanced in length and import.
Ramonita thought about joining the church choir, but she never talked to her friends about it.
Subordination involves turning one of the clauses into a subordinate element (one that cannot stand on its own) through the use of a Subordinating Conjunction (sometimes called a dependent word) or a Relative Pronoun. When the clause begins with a subordinating word, it is no longer an independent clause; it is called a dependent or subordinate clause because it depends on something else (the independent clause) for its meaning. There are other ways of combining ideas — by turning independent clauses into various kinds of modifying phrases. Again, see the section on Avoiding Primer Language.
Although Ramonita often thought about joining the choir, she never talked to her friends about it.
Ramonita never talked to her friends about joining the choir, because she was afraid they would make fun of her.
Yasmin is Ramonita's sister. Yasmin told Ramonita to join the choir no matter what her friends said. Joining these with the use of a relative clause:Yasmin, [who is] Ramonita's sister, told Ramonita to join the choir. . . .
Semicolons can connect two independent clauses with or without the help of a conjunctive adverb (transitional expression). Semicolons should be used sparingly and only when the two independent clauses involved are closely related and nicely balanced in terms of length and import.
Ramonita has such a beautiful voice; many couples have asked her to sing at their wedding.
Ramonita's voice has a clear, angelic quality; furthermore, she clearly enjoys using it.
Dependent Clauses
Dependent Clauses cannot stand by themselves and make good sense. They must be combined with an independent clause so that they become part of a sentence that can stand by itself. (Review the section on Commas Usage for advice and plenty of exercises on the punctuation requirements when dependent and independent clauses are combined.) Unlike independent clauses, which simply are what they are, dependent clauses are said to perform various functions within a sentence. They act either in the capacity of some kind of noun or as some kind of modifier. There are three basic kinds of dependent clauses, categorized according to their function in the sentence. Remember that a dependent clause always contains a subject and a verb, but it cannot stand by itself.
Adverb clauses provide information about what is going on in the main (independent) clause: where, when, or why. "When the movie is over, we'll go downtown." or "John wanted to write a book because he had so much to say about the subject."
Adjective clauses work like multi-word adjectives. "My brother, who is an engineer, figured it out for me." or "The bridge that collapsed in the winter storm will cost millions to replace." A special kind of adjective clause begins with a relative adverb (where, when, and why) but nonetheless functions as adjectivally.
Noun clauses can do anything that nouns can do. "What he knows [subject] is no concern of mine." or "Do you know what he knows [object]?" or "What can you tell me about what he has done this year [object of the preposition "about"]?"
What they did with the treasure remains a mystery.Whatever you want for dessert is fine with me.That you should feel this way about her came as a great surprise to us.
Juan finally revealed what he had done with the money.Her husband spent whatever she had saved over the years.I don't know what I should do next.
In fact, he wrote a book about what he had done over the years.We are interested in what he does for a living.
The trouble was that they had never been there before.The biggest disappointment of last season was that the women's team didn't make it to the final four.
My brother, who now teaches math in a small college, never liked math in high school.The dealership that sold more cars ended up actually losing money.The Federated Bank, which was founded nearly two centuries ago, folded during the state's economic crisis.
The team had fallen behind by ten points before they were able to figure out the opponent's defense.Since he started working nights, he doesn't see much of his kids.While Josie sat inside watching television, Gladys shoveled the driveway.
Combinations of Clauses
Review the section on Sentence Variety for help in understanding the variety of sentence patterns. It is difficult to know if you're using different patterns unless you keep in mind the way that clauses are combined in larger sentence-units of thought. Pay special attention to the variety of sentence types: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences. These are defined by their essential ingredients, the clauses that make them up. There is also a quiz at the end of that section that will test your ability to distinguish among the kinds of clauses that make up a sentence.
Elliptical Clauses
Elliptical Clauses are grammatically incomplete in the sense that they are missing either the relative pronoun (dependent word) that normally introduces such a clause or something from the predicate in the second part of a comparison. The missing parts of the elliptical clause can be guessed from the context and most readers are not aware that anything is missing. In fact, elliptical clauses are regarded as both useful and correct, even in formal prose, because they are often elegant, efficient means of expression. (The omitted words are noted in brackets below).
Coach Espinoza knew [that] this team would be the best [that] she had coached in recent years.
Though [they were] sometimes nervous on the court, her recruits proved to be hard workers.
Sometimes the veterans knew the recruits could play better than they [could play].
GERUNDS AND INFINITIVES:
Both gerunds and infinitives can be nouns
which means they can do just about anything that a noun can do. Although they name things, like other nouns, they normally name activities rather than people or objects. Here are five noun-uses of gerunds and infinitives (and one additional non-noun use, the adjective complement, that we throw in here, free of charge).
Gerunds and infintives can both function as the subject of a sentence:
Playing basketball takes up too much of her time.
To play basketball for UConn is her favorite fantasy.
It is not impossible for an infinitive to appear at the beginning of a sentence as the subject (as in Ib), but it is more common for an infinitive to appear as a Subject Complement:
Her favorite fantasy is to play basketball for UConn.
The gerund can also play this role:
Her favorite fantasy is playing basketball for UConn.
Both of these verbal forms can further identify a noun when they play the role of Noun Complement and Appositive:
Her desire to play basketball for UConn became an obsession.
I could never understand her desire to play basketball for UConn.
Her one burning desire in life, playing basketball for UConn, seemed a goal within reach.
The infinitive is often a complement used to help define an abstract noun. Here is a very partial list of abstract nouns, enough to suggest their nature. Try following these adjectives with an infinitive phrase (their desire to play in the championship game, a motivation to pass all their courses, her permission to stay up late, a gentle reminder to do your work) to see how the phrase modifies and focuses the noun.
adviceappealcommanddecisiondesirefactinstructionmotivation
opportunityorderpermissionplanpossibilitypreparationproposalrecommendation
refusalreminderrequestrequirementsuggestiontendencywish
Infinitive phrases often follow certain adjectives. When this happens, the infinitive is said to play the role of Adjective Complement. (This is not a noun function, but we will include it here nonetheless.)
She was hesitant to tell the coach of her plan.
She was reluctant to tell her parents, also.
But she would not have been content to play high school ball forever.
Here is a list of adjectives that you will often find in such constructions.
aheadamazedanxiousaptashamedboundcarefulcertaincontentdelighted
determineddisappointedeagereligiblefortunategladhappyhesitantliablelikely
luckypleasedproudreadyreluctantsadshockedsorrysurprisedupset
Although we do not find many infinitives in this next category, it is not uncommon to find gerunds taking on the role of Object of a Preposition:
She wrote a newspaper article about dealing with college recruiters.
She thanked her coach for helping her to deal with the pressure.
Two prepositions, except and but, will sometimes take an infinitive.
The committee had no choice except to elect Frogbellow chairperson.
What is left for us but to pack up our belongings and leave?
And, finally, both gerunds and infinitives can act as a Direct Object:
Here, however, all kinds of decisions have to be made, and some of these decisions will seem quite arbitrary. The next section is about making the choice between gerund and infinitive forms as direct object.
Verbs that take other verb forms as objects are called catenatives (from a word that means to link, as in a chain). Catenatives can be found at the head of a series of linked constructions, as in "We agreed to try to decide to stop eating between meals." Catenatives are also characterized by their tendency to describe mental processes and resolutions. (Kolln)
Although it is seldom a serious problem for native English speakers, deciding whether to use a gerund or an infinitive after a verb can be perplexing among students for whom English is a second language. Why do we decide to run, but we would never decide running? On the other hand, we might avoid running, but we would not avoid to run. And finally, we might like running and would also like to run. It is clear that some verbs take gerunds, some verbs take infinitives, and some verbs take either. The following tables of verbs should help you understand the various options that regulate our choice of infinitive or gerund.
The verbs in the table below will be followed by an infinitive. We decided to leave. He manages, somehow, to win. It is threatening to rain. Notice that many, but not all, of these verbs suggest a potential event.
Some of the verbs in the following table may be followed by a gerund if they are describing an "actual, vivid or fulfilled action" (Frodesen). We love running. They began farming the land. These are described, also, below.
Emotion
caredesirehate
hatelikeloathe
loveregretyearn
Choice or Intent
agreechoosedecidedecideexpect
hopeintendneedplanprefer
prepareproposerefusewantwish
Initiation, Completion, Incompletion
beginceasecommencefail
gethesitatemanageneglect
starttryundertake
Mental Process
forgetknow how
learn
remember
Request and Promise
demandoffer
promiseswear
threatenvow
Intransitives
appearhappen
seem
tend
Miscellaneous
affordarrange
claimcontinue
pretendwait
The verbs in the next table will often be followed by an infinitive, but they will also be accompanied by a second object. We asked the intruders to leave quietly. They taught the children to swim. The teacher convinced his students to try harder.
The verbs in blue, with an asterisk, can also follow the same pattern as the verbs in the table above (i.e., the second object is optional). We all wanted to go. They promised to be home early.
Communication
adviseask*beg*challengecommandconvince
forbidinviteorderpermitpersuadepromise*
remindrequiretellwarnurge
Instruction
encouragehelp
instructteach
train
Causing
allowcausechoose
forcegethire
need*would like*
Miscellaneous
dare*expect*
trustprepare*
want*
Gerunds accompany a form of the verb to go in many idiomatic expressions: Let's go shopping. We went jogging yesterday. She goes bowling every Friday night.
The following verbs will be followed by a gerund. Did I mention reading that novel last summer? I recommend leaving while we can. I have quit smoking These verbs tend to describe actual events.
Initiation, Completion and Incompletion
anticipateavoidbeginceasecomplete
delayfinishget throughgive uppostpone
quitriskstartstoptry
Communication
admitadvisedenydiscuss
encouragementionrecommend
reportsuggesturge
Continuing Action
continuecan't help
practiceinvolve
keepkeep on
Emotion
appreciatedislikeenjoyhatelike
loveminddon't mindmissprefer
regretcan't standresentresisttolerate
Mental Process
anticipateconsiderforget
imaginerecallremember
seecan't seeunderstand
The verbs in the following table can be followed by either an infinitive or a gerund, and there will be virtually no difference in the meaning of the two sentences. I like to play basketball in the park. I like playing basketball in the park.
attemptbegincontinuehate
likeloveneglectprefer
regretcan't standstandstart
The verbs in this next, very small table can be followed by either an infinitive or a gerund, but there will be a difference in meaning. I stopped smoking means something quite different, for instance, from I stopped to smoke. The infinitive form will usually describe a potential action.
forget
remember
stop
Finally, the verbs below will be followed by either a gerund or a simple verb and a second subject will be required. I saw the team losing its composure. I overheard my landlord discussing a rent increase. (I heard Bill sing/singing.) These verbs involve the senses.
Verbs Involving Senses
feelhearlisten to
look atnoticeobserve
overhearseewatch
Verbs of perception — hear, see, watch — and a handful of other verbs — help, let, and make — will take what is called the bare infinitive, an infinitive without the particle "to." This is true of these verbs only in the active voice.
We watched him clear the table.
They heard the thief crash through the door.
She made me do it.
We helped her finish the homework.
Using Possessives with Gerunds
Do we say "I can't stand him singing in the shower," or do we say "I can't stand his singing in the shower"? Well, you have to decide what you find objectionable: is it him, the fact that he is singing in the shower, or is it the singing that is being done by him that you can't stand? Chances are, it's the latter, it's the singing that belongs to him that bugs you. So we would say, "I can't stand his singing in the shower."
On the other hand, do we say "I noticed your standing in the alley last night"? Probably not, because it's not the action that we noticed; it's the person. So we'd say and write, instead, "I noticed you standing in the alley last night." Usually, however, when a noun or pronoun precedes a gerund, that noun or pronoun takes a possessive form. This is especially true of formal, academic writing.
There are exceptions to this. (What would the study of language be without exceptions?)
When the noun preceding the gerund is modified by other words, use the common form of that noun, not the possessive.
Federico was pleased by Carlos's making the Dean's List for the first time.but
Federico was pleased by Carlos, his oldest son, making the Dean's List for the first time.
When the noun preceding the gerund is plural, collective, or abstract, use the common form of that noun, not the possessive.
Professor Villa was amazed by her students working as hard as they did.
The class working collaboratively was somebody else's idea.
It was a case of old age getting the better of them.
There are certain situations in which the possessive and the gerund create an awkward combination. This seems to be particularly true when indefinite pronouns are involved.
I was shocked by somebody's making that remark.This would be greatly improved by saying, instead . . .
I was shocked that somebody would make that remark.
This is also true when the "owner" of the gerund comes wrapped in a noun phrase:
I was thankful for the guy next door shoveling snow from my driveway.
Common Uncountable English Nouns
Food and Drink: bacon, beef, beer, bread, broccoli, butter, cabbage, candy, cauliflower, celery, cereal, cheese, chicken, chocolate, coffee, corn, cream, fish, flour, fruit, ice cream, lettuce, meat, milk, oil, pasta, rice, salt, spinach, sugar, tea, water, wine, and yogurt
Nonfood Substances: air ,cement, coal, dirt, gasoline, gold, ice, leather, paper, petroleum, plastic, rain, rubber, silver, snow, soap, steel, wood and wool. Abstract nouns: advice, anger, beauty, confidence, courage, employment, fun, happiness, health, honesty, information, intelligence, knowledge, love, poverty, satisfaction, truth, and wealth
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)