English Grammar and Morphology Study Guide

English Grammar and Morphology Guide

Aprende a distinguir los diferentes tipos de frases (noun phrase, verb phrase, adjective phrase, adverb phrase y prepositional phrase), la diferencia entre coordination y subordination, y los tipos de cláusulas verbales (-ing clause, to-clause o -en clause). Además, debes reconocer los elementos sintácticos como Subject, Verb, Object (Direct e Indirect), Adverbial (Time, Place, Manner, etc.) y Complement (Subject y Object), junto con las 9 partes de la oración: sustantivo (noun), verbo (verb), adjetivo (adjective), adverbio (adverb), pronombre (pronoun), determinante (determiner), conjunción (conjunction), interjección (interjection) y preposición (preposition).

Morphology and Word Formation

• Free morpheme (root): Can stand alone. Examples: teach, girl, book.
• Bound morpheme (base/affix): Needs another morpheme to occur. It can be:
  • Derivational: Affixes that change the meaning or word class.
  • Inflectional: Provides grammatical information (e.g., 3rd person singular, plural, -ing).
• Compounding: Combining two roots or words:
  • Noun + Noun: bookcase
  • Noun + Adjective: greenhouse
  • Noun + Verb: playground
  • Preposition + Noun: indoors
  • Noun + Adjective: worldwide
  • Adjective + Adjective: red-hot
  • Preposition + Adjective: outstanding
  • Noun + Verb: steamroller
  • Adjective + Verb: dry-clean
  • Preposition + Verb: outlive
  • Verb + Verb: breakdance
• Reduplication: bye-bye, so-so.
• Blending: smoke + fog = smog.
• Clipping: Kathe, auto, bike.
• Acronyms: Abreviación de un término largo, ej. ONU, DDHH.
• Coining: nylon, ketchup.
• Onomatopoeia: Sonidos de la naturaleza o tecnología, ej. click, moo.
• Zero morpheme: Invariable forms, ej. fish / fish.

Nouns and Adjectives

• Animate nouns: Refer to living or imagined beings (e.g., unicorn).
• Inanimate nouns: Refer to non-living objects (e.g., book).
• Syntactic flexibility of -ing forms:
  • Noun: Running is good for you.
  • Adjective: Running shoes.
  • Verb: She's running.
• Adjectives: Elements modifying a noun.
• Possessive adjectives: my dog, its tail.
• Definite quantifiers: one, two, three, a, an.
• Indefinite quantifiers: some, any, little, few, a lot.
• Degrees of adjectives:
  • Comparative inflection: -er (e.g., bigger).
  • Superlative inflection: -est (e.g., biggest).
  • Inferiority: less + adj + than.
  • Equality: as + adj + as.

Verbs and Prepositions

• Finite verbs: Verbs with a subject that show tense (past, present) or number (singular, plural). They can be the main verb in a sentence (e.g., I play, I have played).
• Non-finite verbs: Verbs that are not conjugated (e.g., to play). Infinitives can function as subjects (e.g., To live is to die) or express purpose (e.g., I just called to say I love you).
• Intransitive verb: Can stand alone without requiring an object (e.g., I swim).
• Transitive verb: Requires an object (e.g., She wrote a letter).
• Linking verb: Connects the subject to a subject complement.
• Prepositions: Express relations of time, place, direction, etc.

Conjunctions and Interjections

• Conjunctions: Words used to link words, phrases, and clauses.
  • Coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet. Used to join independent clauses or parallel phrases (e.g., Lilacs and violets are purple).
  • Subordinating conjunctions: Introduce dependent clauses: after, although, as, because, before, if, how, once, since, than, though, till, until, when, where, whether, while (e.g., After she had learned to drive, Alice felt more independent).
  • Correlative conjunctions: Appear in pairs: both... and, either... or, not only... but also, so... as, whether... or (e.g., Both my brother and sister learned English on their own).
• Interjections: Words used to express emotion (e.g., mmm, wow, ouch).

Syntax and Sentence Structure

Syntax refers to the grammatical rules governing sentence structure in a language.

• Simple sentence: A single independent clause (e.g., I sing).
• Compound sentence: Multiple independent clauses joined together with no dependent clauses (e.g., I went shopping yesterday and I bought a pen).
• Complex sentence: One or more independent clauses with at least one dependent clause (e.g., If you want to be a teacher, you can do it).

Sentence Constituents

• The Subject: The agent or performer of the action. It can be realized by:
  • Noun phrase: The car is white.
  • Pronoun: He is tall.
  • Gerund: Smoking is bad.
  • Infinitive: To study grammar is fun.
  • Noun clause: What he said is right.
• Direct Object (DO): Answers the question what? or whom? (e.g., I made a cake).
• Indirect Object (IO): The recipient or beneficiary of the action (e.g., I wrote a letter to my mom).
• Adverbial Adjunct: Expresses circumstances such as time, place, or manner (e.g., naturally, tomorrow, in the garden).
• Subject Complement (SC): Follows a linking verb to describe or identify the subject:
  • Adjective: I am happy.
  • Adjectival phrase: I am very happy.
  • Noun phrase: I am your friend.
• Objective Complement (OC): Describes or qualifies the direct object (e.g., He painted the house green; They elected him president).

Pronouns and Adverbs

• Pronouns: Parts of speech that refer to or replace a noun or noun phrase.
  • Subject pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, they.
  • Object pronouns: me, you, him, her, it, us, them.
  • Reflexive pronouns: Used when the subject is also the object (e.g., He killed himself): myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.
  • Intensive pronouns: Used for emphasis (e.g., I made a sandwich for the president himself).
  • Possessive pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs.
  • Interrogative pronouns: Used to introduce questions (e.g., Who killed the president?).
  • Indefinite pronouns: nobody, somebody, nothing, all, everybody, anybody, no one, everything, anything, none.
  • Relative pronouns: Introduce a relative clause: that, what, which, who, when, where, why (e.g., Do you know the girl who is eating with Ana?).
• Adverbs:
  • Time: early.
  • Manner: loudly.
  • Place: there.
  • Frequency: sometimes.
  • Degree: a lot, totally, almost.
  • Comment adverbs: Provide an evaluation or viewpoint (e.g., My house burned down. Fortunately, I saved my cat).

Phrases and Clauses

• Phrase: A group of words without a subject and finite verb predicate (e.g., before the first test, broken into a thousand pieces).
  • Noun phrase: the car
  • Verb phrase: might have been driving
  • Adverbial phrase: very quickly
  • Adjectival phrase: quite smart
  • Prepositional phrase: in the navy
• Clause: Contains a subject and a verb; can form part of a complex sentence (e.g., because she smiled at him).
• Adverb clauses: Subordinate clauses indicating time, place, or manner (e.g., My father worked hard all his life until he retired).
• Clause patterns:
  • -ing clause + V + NP: Smoking weed is my addiction.
  • S + V + SC + to-clause: I am very happy to be here.
  • Relative clause + V + SC: [The person] who lived here was a pimp.