The Present Simple. Formation
Word order in English sentence
| SUBJECT | VERB | OBJECT | ADVERBIALS |
| How? Where? When? | |||
| I | learned | the poem | in class yesterday. |
| We | ate | our meal | in silence. |
NOTE: We can also put the time reference at the beginning: Yesterday the class discussed a very important problem.
Declarative and negative sentences
DECLARATIVE
A declarative sentence states facts or opinions; it ends with a period. Declarative sentences always have a subject and a predicate. The subject can be simple with a noun phrase or it can be a compound subject. Compound subjects are made of more than one simple subject combined with a conjunction such as “and”, “or”, and “but”. Example:
The class discussed a very important problem yesterday.
I will tell you the story at school tomorrow.
NEGATIVE
A negative sentence (or statement) states that something is not true or incorrect. A negative adverb has to be added in order to negate or “cancel” the validity of the sentence. This “negation” element is created according to the following general rule.
The Negation Rule: In English, in order to claim that something is not true, you form a negative sentence by adding the word “not” after the first auxiliary verb in the positive sentence. If there is no auxiliary verb in the positive sentence, as in the Present Simple and Past Simple tenses, then you add one (in both these cases, the auxiliary verb “do”).
When an auxiliary verb (including modals) is used, the main verb is not inflected (no s or ed ending), meaning that either the base form or past participle is used. The verb to be uses a different negation pattern. Example:
I did not tell them anything.
I have not enough money to purchase шею
Interrogative sentence
An interrogative sentence asks a question; it ends with a question mark.
Are you leaving Minsk for Moscow tomorrow?
There are following types of questions:
General questions:Has he been working?
Special questions: When did she get the letter?
Disjunctive questions: He is not friendly, is he?
Alternative questions: Are you a lecturer or a student!
Indirect questions: / wonder if you can help me.
Types of question (ToQ). General question
"Yes/no"-questions, i.e. questions which can be answered 'yes' or 'no' (general questions).
The typical word order is auxiliary verb + subject group + main verb + object + adverbial modifier
Is she typing?
Has he been working?
ToQ. Alternative
The typical word order is auxiliary verb + subject group + main verb + object + adverbial modifier
Are you a lecturer or a student!
ToQ. Special
The scheme of all types of special questions except questions about the subject of the sentence is interrogative word + auxiliary verb + subject group + main verb + object + adverbial modifier
When did she get the letter?
Mind the word order in questions about the subject of the sentence: interrogative word + predicate + object + adverbial modifier
Who plays the piano well?
ToQ Indirect
Mind the direct word order in indirect questions. The indirect questions are not normal questions. They have the same word order as statements and we do not use the verb do to form a question. They usually come after introductory phrases combined with interrogative pronouns and adjectives (who, whom, what, which, whose), adverbs(when, where, how, why) orif, whether.
Word order in an indirect question is the same as in a normal statement sentence:
SUBJECT + VERB + ...
Can you tell me where I can buy ink for the printer?
8. The constructions “It is/ there is (are)”
We use there is and there are to say that something exists. We use there is for singular and there are for plural.
There is one table in the classroom.
The negative is formed by putting not after is or are:
There is not a horse in the field.
The pronoun it can be either a notional or a formal subject. In the latter case we must distinguish the impersonal it, the introductory or anticipatory it and the emphatic it.
The impersonal it is used to talk about times, distances, temperatures and weather. These words don't have another subject.
It is 8 a. m.
9. The agreement of the subject and the predicate in the sentences with the construction “there + be”
Если после оборота there is/are стоят два или несколько подлежащих, то сказуемое обычно согласуется с первым из них:
There is a pen and a lot of pencils on the desk.
На парте ручка и много карандашей.
There area lot of pencils and a pen on the desk.
На парте много карандашей и одна ручка.
Pronouns: personal, possessive, demonstrative
The pronoun is a part of speech, which points out objects and their qualities without naming them.
Pronouns fall under the following groups:
I) Personal pronouns: /, he, she, it, we, you, they.
2) Possessive pronouns: my, his, her, its, our, your, their.
3) Demonstrative pronouns: this (these), that (those), such, (the) same.
Imperative sentences
An imperative sentence requests or demands action; it ends with a period. Some imperative sentences sound like questions. These sentences do not require a response in words; they suggest or require an action by someone.
Will you please call Dale Jennings.
Open / don't open the window.
The numeral
A numeral is a figure, a letter, a word (or their combinations) representing a number. It divided on 5 main groups:
Cardinal numbers 12 111 36
Ordinal numbers and dates 21st May 1905
Fractions and decimals 1/4 = one and a quarter; 1/3 = one and a third; 1.75 = one point seven five
Percentages 26% = twenty-six per cent.
Arithmetic 2+2=4; 6 x 4 = 24 (six times/multiplied by four equals/is twenty-four)
Cardinal numbers
Cardinal numerals indicate the number of items and answers the question "How many?"
379 = three hundred and seventy nine; 2,860 = two thousand eight hundred and sixty; 5,084 = five thousand and eighty-four; 470,000 = four hundred and seventy thousand; 2,550,000 = two million, five hundred and fifty thousand; 3,000,000,000 = three billion.
NOTE: There is no plural 's' after hundred, thousand, million and billion when they are part of a number. On their own, they can be plural, thousands of people; millions of insects.
Ordinal numbers
Ordinal numbers refer to a position in a series and answers the question “Which?”
1st 2nd 3rd 4th ect.
Higher ordinals are not often written in words, unless they are round numbers (thousandth, millionth, billionth). They are written using digits and letters as described below. Here are some rules that should be borne in mind.
The suffixes -th, -st, -nd and -rd are occasionally written superscript above the number itself.
If the tens digit of a number is 1, then write "th" after the number. For example: 13th, 19th, 112th, 9,311th.
If the tens digit is not equal to 1, then use the following table:
The Present Simple. Formation
The Present Indefinite is formed from the infinitive without the particle to:
In the 3rd person singular the ending -s or -es (after o, s, ss, ch, tch, x) is added.
Interrogative and negative forms are formed with do/does and do not (don't) /does not (doesn't) and a bare infinitive:
NOTES:
1) For giving emphasis with positive statements in the present do/does is added.
/ do know him. Я в самом деле знаю его
2) Negative Yes/No questions express surprise.
Don V you know about it? Разве вы не знаете об этом ?
3) Why don't ...? is used for a suggestion. Why don't you help us? - Good idea!
Spelling Rules: Whenj follows a consonant we change у into i and add es: he/she tries, copies, carries; but verbs ending in у following a vowel obey the general rule he/she plays ,obeys, says.