The Compounds

"Compound"
is an English word or expression which meaning is a combination between the meanings of
two or more elements.

In grammar, it has the same meaning, but its elements are words. In the examples above, each compound has two elements (two words), but it can be more than two ones. Generaly, compounds with more tham two elements has hyphens between each of two elements. Some examples of compounds with more tham two components: "day-by-day", "day-after-day", "son-in-law", etc. In lingusitics, a compound is a "lexeme" (a meaningful unit of a language) with more tham one stem. A stem is a part of a word. In a compound, a stem is a complete word that is part of the word. For example, in "catfish", "cat" and "fish" are two complete words that are parts of another complete word ("catfish"). The meaning of the compound is always very different from the meanings of its components in isolation. 

The ralationship between the elements of a compound may be marked with a case or other morpheme. Because of this, there are noun-noun compounds, verb-noun compounds and verb-verb compounds. A noun-noun compound is a compound with to nouns. Noun-noun compounds are compounds as that of the examples in the box above the tis text.
A verb-noun compound is a compound with a verb and its object. The argument of the verb is incorporated into de verb, with is usually turned into a gerund. Examples: "breastfeeding", "freewriting", "outlining", etc. 
A verb-verb compound is a sequence of more than one verb acting toghether to determine clause structure. It can be a serial verb or a compound verb. It is a serial verb if two sequential ations are expressed in a single cause. For example: "to be going" ("I am going home.", "She was going to the church in that moment.", etc.

In the next post: "Compound Verbs". 

Noun Phrases and Phrasal Verbs

Above: Some types of noun phrases with examples.

A noun phrase 

is a phrase 

which as a noun or an indefinite noun as its head word.

Some examples of phrasal verbs.

A phrasal verb

is a verb with

a particle and/or a preposition

forming a single

semantic unit. 

- Noun Phrases:

A noun phrase or nominal phrase is a phrase which has a noun or indefinite pronoun as a head word, or which performs the same grammatical function as such a phrase. Remember: in English, a phrase is not the same that a sentence (see http://essengl.blogspot.com.br/search/label/5%20-%20Language%20Idiom%20Sentence%20and%20Phrase). Noun phrases are the most frequently occurring phrase type. 

Noun phrases are a very common cross-linguistically. "Cross-linguistically" is term used to refer to linguistic interferences and cross meanings. It refers to speakers and writers applying knowledge from their native language to another language. It occurs, for example, when someone does not have a native-level command of a language, as when translating into a second language. 

In the most recent theories of English grammar, noun phrases with determiners are analyzed as having the determiner rather than the noun as their head. In this case, they are also called "determiner phrases". In the examples bellow, the noun phrases are underlined and the head noun are in blue. 

• The election year politics are very important to some people.
• Almost every animal has a specific behavior.

Sometimes, noun phrases are identified by the possibility of pronoun substitution.

• They love you.
• The last weekend I passed in that city was wonderful. 

- Phrasal Verbs:

As you can see in the illustration above, the term "phrasal verb" is applied to at least two words: a verb and a particle. Sometimes there are also a preposition. In both the cases, the two or three words forms a single semantic unit that cannot be understood based upon the meanings of the individual parts in isolation. It always must be taken as a whole. As the meaning is non-compositional, is is unpredictable. 

A phrasal verb can be a prepositional phrasal verb or a particle phrasal verb. Off course it is  a prepositional phrasal verb when it includes a preposition, and it is a particle phrasal verbal when it includes a particle.

Here are some examples of prepositional phrasal verbs:

• They are looking after the kids. 
• I am waiting for you.
• Shirley will come on tomorrow.

Examples of particle phrasal verbs:

• They brought that up twice. 
• Could you think it over?

A phrasal verb can be also a particle-prepositional phrasal verb. It happens when it has a verb, a particle and a preposition. Examples:

• I can put up with that.
• She is looking forward to a rest. 

It is important to observe that the difference types of phrasal verbs lies with the status of the elements that are used in addition to the verbs. When the element is a preposition, it is the head of a full prepositional phrase. In this case, a phrasal verb is a prepositional phrasal verb. 

When the element is a particle, it cannot be construed as a preposition. If this is a particle, it cannot be used as a complement. As a complement is used with different meanings, it is difficult to give a single precise definition. A complement can be used as a word, phrase or clause that is necessary to complete the meaning of a given expression.

Illustrations: Google Archive. 

In the next post: "The Compounds". 

Language, Idiom, Sentence and Phrase

 In English, "language" is not always the same that "idiom", and "sentence" is not the same that "phrase". 

- Languages and Idioms.

In Portuguese language, "idioma" ("idiom") and "linguagem" ("language") are the same thing, but in English language they are different things. A language is the system of sounds and words used by persons to express their thoughts, feelings, messages, information, etc. It is also the particular language system used by a people or nation. Some examples of languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, etc.
An idiom can be:

• the style of writing, music, etc., associated with  a particular period, person or group of persons. In this case, there are popular, religious and classical idioms. 
• the language or dialect of a group of people or a country. 
• a phrase or sentence whose meaning is not clear from the meaning of individual words and must be learnt as a whole unit. 

In other words, an idiom is a particular case in which the meaning of a phrase is difficult or impossible to guess by looking at the meanings of the individual words it countains. For example, the phrase "We are in the same boat" has a literal meaning that is easy to understand and also has a common idiomatic meaning: "We are in a same situation."

Some other examples of idioms: 

• You are in my heart.  - I love you.
• I am so blue. I am very sad.
• Too many cooks spoil the broth. - Too many people involved in a same work will cause bad results.
• On your bike! - An expression to say to somebody to go away.

- Senteces and Phrases:

A sentence is a sequence of words that express a complete thought. For example: My house is yellow. 

So, a sentece has at least a noun phrase ("My house") and a verb phrase ("is yellow"). It means that a phrase is not a sentence because it lacks a subject or a predicate or both. A sentence has a subject and a predicate. 

A phrase does not give enough information about the predicate or the subject. A sentence always give complete information. So, all you have to know what is a sentence and what is a phrase is:

• Sentence: noun phrase + verb phrase
• Sentence: subject + predacate
• Phrase: only subject or only pedicate
• Phrase: sometimes it lacks the subject and the predicate.
  

In the next post: "Noun phrases and Verb Phrases".

The Countable and The Uncountable Nouns

Some countable and uncountable nouns. 

The two biggest groups of nouns are countable nouns and uncountable nouns.

Most countable nouns - or "count nouns" - are words for separate things. Uncountable nouns - or "uncount nouns" or "mass nouns" - are usually words  for things  which are thought of as a quantity of mass, not as separate itens. See examples of both the cases in the picture. However, there are some nouns that seems to be countable nouns but they are not. Examples: furniture (a kit of pieces like a sofa, some chairs, some beds, etc., in a house), information (a set of news or data), equipment (a kit of itens with just one finality), etc.

- Countable Nouns:

A countable noun can be a singular form and a plural form. In a singular form, it must always have a determiner in front of it. Some examples of determiners: any, no, the, which, what, whose, and the possessive determiners: my, their, your, his, her, etc. Countable nouns in the singular form can be also used with "a", "another", "that", "every", "either", "neither", etc. In the plural forms, they cam be used with "both", "enough", "few", "many", "more", "most", "other", "several", "some", "these", "those", or without a determiner at all:

• I'm having a dinner with friends tomorrow.
• She's learning to play piano this month. 

Countable nouns are the most common type of noun. In some cases they have only one meaning. In other cases they have several meanings but all their meanings are countable.

- Uncountable Nouns:

An uncountable noun has only one form, not a separate singular and plural. They can be used without any determiner in front, or with the following determiners: "enough", "little", "more", "most", "much", "other", "some", "that" and "this". They can be used with "any", "no", "the", "what", "which", "whose" and the possessive determiners "my", "their", "your", "his", "her", etc.
In other words, we can say taht uncountable nouns are substances, concepts, etc., that we cannot divide into separate elements. They are things that we cannot count. As we usually treat uncountable nouns as singular, we use singular verbs. Examples:

• This information is very important.
• All the water of the sea is salty.
• The population of this country has many cultural aspects.

With nouns as "furniture", "equipment" and "information", as with many other uncountable nouns, we can talk about mounts of the thing or saparate parts by using some phrases like "a piece of", "three parts of", "half of", etc. Examples:

• Half of Brazilian people is in rural zones.
• This is a piece of the cake I buyed yesterday.

In the next post: the diferences between "language" and "idiom". 

A few more information about nouns.

Foto: Google Archive
Text: Elias Alves

You can say "much water", but not "many water".
You can say "many chairs", but not "much chairs". 

"Much" is a word used to mean intensity (of temperature, for example) or volume (of water, sugar, gas, hours, days, years, etc.). Examples:

• I like you so much.
• You are working for many hours.
• I drink much water.
• There are many furnitures in this room.

I am talking about nouns and adjectives. I said you what is a noun in the post before this, but you need to know that nouns are of different types according to whether they have but a singular and a plural form, whether they must be used with a determiner and whether a verb shoud be singular or plural in order to agree with the noun. 

A determiner is a word that introduces a noun. Some examples of determiners: a, an, the, every, this, those, many, etc.

• There is a car in the parking.
• My car needs a new airbag.
• I have to work every day.
• I tould you about those children.
• You lived in that house for many years.

So, a determiner is a word that needs another word after that to make sense. 

There are two big groups of nouns: the countable and the uncountable nouns. The countable nouns are used to refer to countable things. Examples: many chairs, many children, many days, few chairs, few children, few days, etc.

The uncountable nouns are used to refer to uncountable things. Examples: much water, much love, few sugar, few importance, etc.

In the next post, I will tell you about a few more about countable and uncountable nouns.

Nouns and Pronouns

Photo: Google Archive
Text: Elias Alves

Many students have difficuties to identify a noun or a pronoun in a sentence because sometimes a pronoun is used in place of a noun. 

In English grammar, a noun is a word used to name or indentify any of a class or group of things, people, places or ideas or a particular one of these. In English you often find two nouns next to each other  without linking words or "apostropher s" ('s). Some examples:

• The chair back (the back of the chair);
• The children hollyday (the hollyday of the children);
• The family party (The party of the family). 

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun or a noun phrase. A noun phrase is a phrase with the same function of a noun in a sentence. Some examples of pronouns:

• Personal pronouns - I, she, he, you, they and it.
• Reflexive pronouns - me, myself, her, herself, him, himself, yours, yourself, yourselves, ourselves, theirselves, them and thenselves.
• Possessive pronouns - my, mine, her, his, your, their and its.
• Demonstrative pronouns - this, that, these, those.
  • 
    

As you can see, the wword "her" is a possessive pronoun in some cases and a reflexive pronoun in others. Examples:

• She buyed her car last week. (possessive pronoun)
• Mario sent a message for her. (reflexive pronoun)

In the next post, I will aproach the nouns again with more details. 

Presentation

Hello, friends!

The goal of this blog is to offer to the readers some easy orientations about some essential basic knowledges of English grammar. As you know, English is still the most important language around the world in commercial terms. The advancement of the world economic globalization contributes very much to the increase  of its importance in all the professional activities.
You cannot to learn English or anyother language reading postages in blogs. It's necessary the frequence in presential classes to learn a language. However, this blog can help you to obtain some important basic informations about English grammar in easy ways. You can colaborate with comments and suggestions. Please, try to write your comments and suggestions in English. 

Thank you very much.