My English Grammar Notes

Basic Sentence Patterns

• Composed of combinations of five verbs with different characteristics
• SV
• SVC
• SVO
• SVOO
• SVOC

Nouns

• Can serve as subjects, complements, objects, and appositives
• Abstract nouns have no concrete shape, so they are uncountable
• Material nouns, although concrete things, have indefinite shapes and are also uncountable
• In compound nouns, nouns can function as adjectives, but unless they are inherently plural, they cannot take a plural form

Complements

• Parts of speech that can be used include nouns, adjectives, time adverbs, place adverbs, and prepositional adverbs
• There is an equivalence relationship between the complement and the subject (or object); if the subject (or object) is a proper noun and the noun in the complement has a ‘unique’ nature, the complement must also be treated as a proper noun.

Appositives

• Noun complements remaining from reduced adjective clauses

Phrases

• Refers to two or more words placed together to form a semantic unit (which must be interpreted as a whole)

Noun Phrases

• Consist of three parts: determiners, adjectives, and nouns; any part may be omitted
• If a determiner is not used in a noun phrase, it is because the noun is not suitable for taking ‘a(n)’; this is what is called the ‘zero article’
• ‘a(n)’ is the weakened result of ‘one’, while ‘the’ is the weakened result of ‘that/those’
• For compound nouns like ‘someone’ or ‘anybody’, the determiner is already written together with the noun, so adjectives can only be placed after it
• Some Old English adjectives beginning with ‘a-‘ represent a temporary state, similar in flavor to the Latin ‘-ing’ suffix; they can be placed in the complement position but are not suitable for inclusion in noun phrases and can only be placed after the noun
• To place an adjective phrase within a noun phrase, the adjective phrase must be hyphenated to form a compound word, and its adjective cannot take a plural form unless it is inherently plural
• The more an adjective expresses an attribute of the noun, the closer it should be to the noun; the more immutable and objective the quality, the closer it should be to the noun; the more variable, temporary, and subjective the factor, the further it should be from the noun
• By abstracting common nouns and treating them as abstract nouns, they can adopt the zero article
• Whenever there is explicit reference or implication in the context, i.e., a demonstrative function indicating ‘that’, the definite article ‘the’ should be used
• If ‘the’ is added, it indicates that there are two or more of the thing
• Some loanwords or other idioms require placing the adjective after the noun

Determiners

• Can be categorized into types such as ‘a’, ‘the’, ‘this’, ‘some’, ‘five’, ‘John’s’, etc.
• Definite determiners (the, those, John’s)
• Indefinite determiners (a, any, many)
  • Partitive determiners (some)
  • Universal determiners (all)
• Predeterminers
  • Determiners that occupy the first position are called predeterminers; when used together with central determiners, predeterminers must be placed before them. This includes ‘all’, ‘both’, ‘half’, ‘one-third’, ‘one-fifth’, ‘double’, ‘twice’, ‘three times’, ‘such’, ‘what’, etc.
• Postdeterminers
  • Postdeterminers must occupy the last position in a noun phrase. When used together with predeterminers or central determiners, postdeterminers must be placed after them (of course, their position is still before adjectives). Postdeterminers include all numerals (three, 200), ordinal numbers (first, second, 300th, last), as well as ‘many’, ‘much’, ‘little’, ‘few’, etc.
• Central Determiners
  • The most frequently occurring determiners are central determiners, which include articles (a, an, the), demonstrative determiners (this, that, these, those), indefinite determiners (some, any, either), negative determiners (no, neither), universal determiners (every, each), and possessives (my, your, John’s), etc.
• Predeterminers, central determiners, and postdeterminers can co-occur in a single noun phrase
• If they all belong to central determiners, they are mutually exclusive, meaning only one can be used

Proper Nouns

• Because they refer to only one entity, they cannot take determiners
• If they refer to more than one entity, it means they are not proper nouns
• If the noun complement and appositive of a proper noun possess the characteristic of ‘only one’, they can be treated as proper nouns

Collective Nouns

• When referring to multiple members within a single unit, collective nouns do not take ‘-s’ but require a plural verb
• When referring to multiple units or groups, ‘-s’ can be added

Pronouns

• From a rhetorical perspective, repetition should be avoided as much as possible; when repetition is inappropriate but omission is impossible, pronouns should be used as substitutes
• If the antecedent is not the referent, relative pronouns cannot be used
• Pronouns must agree with their antecedents in person and number
• A pronoun must have one and only one antecedent, which should be a noun phrase

Adjectives

• Can only modify nouns
• Placed within noun phrases (conveying a more permanent tone)
• Placed in the complement position (conveying a potentially very temporary tone)
• Adjectives can only appear in noun phrases or in the complement position; if neither position seems apparent at first glance, it is likely a residual complement from a reduced adjective clause
• Cannot take a plural form unless inherently plural
• Adverbs can be attached to adjectives to modify them
• Adjectives in a broad sense
  • Adjective clauses
  • Reduced adjective clauses: participial phrases, appositives, infinitives
  • Prepositional phrases
  • Compound words
  • Single words

Verbs

• If the subject is third-person singular, the verb must add ‘-s’ in the present tense
• Causative verbs and sensory verbs cannot have uncertainty, so they cannot be used with auxiliary verbs or infinitives
• ‘Dynamic verbs’ represent ‘actions’, so they can have progressive forms and are suitable for expressing ‘currently doing’ or ‘continuously doing’ an action
• Linking Verbs
  • Connect the subject with the subsequent complement
• Intransitive Verbs
  • Can occur independently without involving other people or things
  • Have no passive voice
• Transitive Verbs
  • Must occur upon another object referred to as the object
  • There is a type of verb that can take two objects

Phrasal Verbs

• Adding a prepositional adverb after a verb creates a structure known as a ‘phrasal verb’
• Transitive, inseparable
  • The object must be placed after the phrase
• Intransitive Verbs
• Transitive, separable
  • The object can be placed after the phrase, or the phrase can be split with the object placed in the middle
  • If the object is a pronoun, the phrase must be split, with the object placed in the middle
• Phrasal verbs with three or more words, transitive, inseparable
  • If a phrasal verb consists of three words, typically the first is a verb, the second is a prepositional adverb, and the third is a preposition

-s Suffix Inflection

• Typically add ‘s’ to the suffix
• If the suffix is ‘s’, ‘x’, ‘z’, ‘ch’, or ‘sh’, add ‘es’
• If the word ends in a consonant plus y, drop the y and add -ies.
• If the word ends in a consonant plus o, add -es.
• If the word ends in a vowel plus o, add -s.
• If the word ends in f or fe, drop the f or fe and add -ves.

Pronunciation of the -s suffix

• Pronunciation of the -s suffix
• If the final sound is a voiceless consonant /p/, /k/, /f/ + s, it is pronounced /s/.
• If the final sound is a vowel or a voiced consonant /b/, /g/, /v/, /l/, /r/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/ + s, it is pronounced /z/.
• If the final sound is /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ + s (es), it is pronounced /ɪz/.
• The final ts is pronounced similarly to ㄘ; the final ds is pronounced similarly to ㄗ.

Verb tenses

• If you treat the verb ‘be’ as a verb, there are only two states: simple and perfect.
• If you take a past time as the starting point, the future tense is usually spelled with the past form ‘would’.
• Simple tense
  • Present (be)
  • Past (been)
  • Future (will be)
• Perfect tense
  • Present (have been)
  • Past (had been)
  • Future (will have been)

Participles

• Present participle (V-ing)
  • Carries the meaning of ongoing or continuous action.
  • Can be viewed as an adjective, simplifying complexity.
  • Must be a dynamic verb.
  • When used as a feeling adjective for ‘how something makes one feel’.
• Past participle (V-en)
  • Carries the meaning of passive or completed action.
  • Can be viewed as an adjective, simplifying complexity.
  • Must be a transitive verb.
  • When used as a feeling adjective for ‘how someone feels’.
• Infinitive (to V)
  • It is a variation of modal verbs, carrying an uncertain tone.
  • It can be viewed as the omission of another clause, omitting the subject and changing the modal verb to an infinitive.
  • It can be used as a noun, adjective, or adverb.
  • It must be followed by the base form of the verb, so the perfect tense is used to express past time.
  • The infinitive also has active and passive forms.
  • It is not suitable to be placed after a preposition.
  • When used as an adjective to modify a noun, because it is in phrase form, it is not suitable to be placed within a noun phrase, but should be placed after the noun phrase as a post-modifier.
• Gerund (V-ing)
  • Carries the meaning of action and continuity.
  • Its structure is close to that of a common noun.
  • A gerund phrase can be viewed as a noun clause with the subject and the verb ‘be’ omitted.

Modal verbs

• Carry an uncertain tone.
• Past forms indicate a more uncertain tone.
• It must be followed by the base form of the verb, so the perfect tense is used to express past time.
• If you want to use a more certain tone to express future events, you should avoid using modal verbs.
• Do and does help general verbs form negative sentences, questions, and short answers.

Adverbs

• Modify words other than nouns.
• Special adverbs can modify nouns.
• Generally speaking, ‘the’ is a determiner and should be part of a noun phrase. However, the superlative form of an adverb can also optionally add ‘the’, even though it is not within the noun phrase.

Adverb categories

• Manner, state
  • The typical spelling is an adjective plus the -ly suffix.
  • Used to modify verbs.
  • Should be placed as close to the verb as possible.
  • Usually placed after the verb; if there are main elements like an object or complement, it must be moved to the end of the sentence.
  • If moving it to the end causes the adverb to be too far from the verb it modifies, it can be moved before the verb.
• Emphasis
  • Can be divided into scope adverbs, intensifiers, and degree adverbs.
  • Can modify nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
  • Scope adverbs must be placed close to the object they modify; most are placed before, while a few must be placed after.
  • Intensifiers and degree adverbs are usually placed before the object they modify.
  • If you remove an intensifier, the tone just becomes weaker, and the meaning does not change. However, if you remove a degree adverb, the meaning of the sentence may change.
• Modifying sentences
  • Can be divided into conjunctive adverbs and disjunctive adverbs (residual manner/state adverbs from reduced clauses).
  • Usually placed at the beginning of the sentence, but can also be moved to positions between the subject and verb, or at the end of the sentence.
  • Regardless of the position, a comma is needed to separate it from the sentence.
• Adverbs also include categories such as time adverbs, place adverbs, and frequency adverbs.

Mood

• Indicative mood (factual)
  • Future events have not happened yet, so their truth cannot be determined; therefore, the future tense verb must include the modal verb ‘will’, because modal verbs all carry an uncertain tone.
  • Using the past form of a modal verb in the future tense indicates a more uncertain tone.
  • When stating two future events simultaneously, adverbial clauses expressing time or condition must use the present tense instead of the future tense, because one event must first be assumed to be factual and have occurred for the next step to happen.
• Conditional mood (uncertain)
  • Adding modal verbs creates an uncertain tone.
  • Modal verbs in past forms indicate a more uncertain tone.
  • Modal verbs must be followed by the base form of the verb, so the perfect tense is used to express past time.
• Subjunctive mood (contrary to fact)
  • Conditional clauses use the subordinating conjunction ‘if’.
  • Main clauses will always have modal verbs in past forms.
  • For present or past time, the hypothetical condition must first be taken as true, so modal verbs cannot be used in the conditional clause.
  • In the ‘present time contrary to fact’ subjunctive mood, when the conditional clause encounters the verb ‘be’, regardless of person, ‘were’ is always used. If ‘was’ is used, it is less formal, and the ‘contrary to fact’ tone is also weaker.
  • Present time
    • Expresses the contrary-to-fact mood using the past form of the verb.
  • Past time
    • Expresses the contrary-to-fact mood using the past perfect form of the verb.
    • Only modal verbs in past forms can be used.
  • Future time
    • Because it has not happened yet, uncertainty cannot be ruled out; in the conditional clause, the past form of the modal verb ‘shall’, which is ‘should’, is used to indicate a situation with extremely low probability.
    • Using the past form of ‘be going to,’ which is ‘were to,’ indicates absolute impossibility.
• Subjunctive mood (expressing a wish that has not been fulfilled).
  • Can be viewed as a conditional mood where the auxiliary verb is omitted to express a hope that has not yet come true.
  • Can be divided into imperative sentences (where the subject is also omitted) and indirect imperatives.

Prepositions

• Must be followed by a noun or gerund as the object.
• Prepositional phrases can function as adjective phrases or adverb phrases.
• Cannot be followed by an infinitive.
• Its position is usually after the object it modifies.
• Past participles are treated as adjectives (without passive voice) to be modified by adverbs; they are treated as passive voice verb phrases to be modified by ‘by’ prepositional phrases indicating ‘by whom’.
• Space
  • Point (at)
  • Line (on, along)
  • Surface (on)
  • Volume (in)
• Time
  • Point (at)
  • Long duration (in)
  • Specific dates (on)
• Other
  • made of (more direct)
  • made from (more indirect)
  • between (has the function of indicating specific positions)
  • among (does not have the function of indicating specific positions)
  • throw to (direction)
  • throw at (point)
  • from May to September (the start and end are not necessarily included)
  • from May through September (the start and end are both included)
  • above (relative height exceeding)
  • over (has the function of indicating a fixed point)
  • below (relative height lower)
  • under (has the function of indicating a fixed point)

Prepositional adverbs

• Look like prepositions but have no object following them, functioning directly as adverbs.

Subject-verb agreement

• If the subject contains the coordinating conjunction ‘but,’ the negative part is excluded, and the verb must agree with the affirmative part.
• If the subject contains the coordinating conjunction ‘or,’ there is no hint as to which part should be the subject, so the verb must agree with the part closest to it.
• If a noun phrase contains words indicating singularity such as ‘every,’ ‘each,’ ‘either,’ or ‘neither,’ the following noun must be singular, and the verb must be singular when used as the subject.
• Units of measurement, time, and money often appear in plural forms, but they do not necessarily need to be treated as plural when used as the subject.
• If the subject is empty, expressing only concepts of ‘all’ or ‘part’ without specifying what the thing is, then the number (singular or plural) is determined by the following preposition.
• ‘None’ is ‘not one,’ having both singular form and meaning, so it can take a singular verb. However, it can also be considered an empty word, allowing for a plural verb.
• ‘The number’ is ‘that number,’ referring to a specific number, so it is singular. ‘A number’ refers to a certain quantity, so it requires a plural verb.
• ‘A pair’ is ‘one pair,’ requiring a singular verb.
• Collective nouns require a singular verb when used to represent a single unit or group.

Conjunctions

• Used to mark the beginning of another clause.
• Coordinating conjunctions
  • Coordinating conjunctions (mainly ‘and,’ ‘or,’ and ‘but’) can be used to connect any two equal parts in a sentence (words or phrases), or to connect two equal clauses.
  • When connecting equivalent words, phrases, or clauses, both content and structure should be parallel; the closer the parallelism, the better.
  • Every element in a sentence, whether main or modifier, can be placed in two or more positions using coordinating conjunctions.
  • When coordinating conjunctions connect two independent simple sentences, they are usually separated by a comma. The comma can be omitted if the symmetry is good or the sentences are short.
• Subordinating conjunctions
  • Introduce noun clauses, adjective clauses, and adverb clauses.
  • If a subordinating conjunction has no meaning, the subordinate clause omits the subject and the ‘be’ verb, the part of speech of the subordinate clause remains unchanged, and the subordinating conjunction is not needed.
  • Subordinating conjunctions can be replaced by semicolons, but coordinating conjunctions cannot.

Compound sentences

• Two independent simple sentences connected by coordinating conjunctions like ‘and,’ ‘but,’ or ‘or,’ maintaining a parallel and symmetrical relationship between the two sentences with no distinction between main and subordinate, are called compound sentences, also known as coordinate clauses.

Complex sentences

• Complex sentences consist of two or more finite clauses, including main clauses and subordinate clauses.
• If a sentence is transformed into a noun, adjective, or adverb type using a subordinating conjunction and placed within a main clause, it is called a subordinate clause.
• Subordinate clauses in complex sentences are divided into noun clauses, adjective clauses, and adverb clauses.
• If a sentence becomes a subordinate clause and takes on a subjunctive mood, the auxiliary verb in the subordinate clause must be omitted, leaving the base form of the verb.
  

Clauses

• If two or more simple sentences are written within the same sentence, each simple sentence within it is called a ‘clause.’
• Finite clauses
  • Refers to clauses containing finite verbs. Finite verbs are verbs that possess person and tense changes, capable of forming a complete simple sentence.
• Non-finite clauses
  • Refers to clauses containing only non-finite verbs. Non-finite verbs are things traditionally called verbals in traditional grammar, such as present participles, past participles, gerunds, and infinitives.

Three levels of sentences

• English sentences can be divided into three levels: basic simple sentences, intermediate compound sentences, and advanced reduced clauses.
• Simple sentences
  • Must be finite clauses.
• Compound sentences
  • Are composed of two or more finite clauses connected by conjunctions.
• Reduced clauses
  • Are formed in complex sentences by trying to keep only one finite clause and rewriting the rest as non-finite clauses as much as possible.

Noun clauses

• Declarative sentences plus ‘that’.
  • Originally a complete, independent simple sentence, with the meaningless subordinating conjunction ‘that’ added at the beginning. Adverb clauses add meaningful subordinating conjunctions.
  • When functioning as the object after a transitive verb, because the object position is clearly a subordinate position, making it obvious that this is a noun clause, the subordinating conjunction ‘that’ can be omitted.
  • When functioning as a complement or appositive, the subordinating conjunction ‘that’ can be omitted as long as it does not cause difficulty in parsing or confusion in meaning.
  • When functioning as the subject, the subordinating conjunction ‘that’ cannot be omitted because it would cause difficulty in parsing.
  • Sometimes a noun clause is more important than the main clause. In this case, it can be treated as the main clause, while the original main clause is reduced and placed within parenthetical commas.
  • Cannot be used in the object position after a preposition.
• Modification of interrogative sentences introduced by question words
  • Using question words as subordinating conjunctions, which are meaningful subordinating conjunctions.
  • Information Question
    • Interrogative sentences introduced by question words (who, what, where, etc.) can be modified into forms like ‘who you are’ to become noun clauses, representing a question.
    • Question words can serve as subordinating conjunctions.
  • Yes/No Question
    • If an interrogative sentence does not contain a question word, it is called a Yes/No Question.
    • To change it into a noun clause, one can use the coordinating conjunction ‘Either…or…’ to rewrite it as a compound sentence, then change the initial ‘either’ to the subordinating conjunction ‘whether’ (meaning ‘if’).
    • ‘Whether’ is a question word synthesized from ‘which’ and ‘either.’ It cannot introduce an interrogative sentence with a question mark, but it can introduce a noun clause formed with ‘Either…or…’.
    • ‘Whether’ and ‘if’ can usually be used interchangeably. However, ‘if’ at the beginning of a sentence might be mistaken for an adverb clause meaning ‘if,’ and since prepositions can only be followed by nouns, only ‘whether’ can be used in those cases.
• Comment clauses
  • Place a comma at the end of the clause to separate it from the main clause, or insert a pair of commas around it within the main clause (typically between the subject and the verb).
  • This use of commas is similar to using parentheses; the content inside the parentheses is optional supplementary information.
• Quoted sentences.
  • Direct quotations place double quotation marks (“…”) before and after the quoted text.
  • Indirect quotations remove the double quotation marks and incorporate the quoted text directly into the main clause as a noun clause.
  • The quoted text can be moved to the beginning of the sentence for emphasis. In this case, the verb of the main clause may optionally be inverted before the subject, or it may remain in its normal position.

Adverbial clauses.

• Originally a complete, independent sentence, an adverbial clause is preceded by a meaningful subordinating conjunction. A noun clause is preceded by the meaningless subordinating conjunction ‘that’.
• The relationship between it and the main clause is somewhat like that of coordinate clauses.
• The main clause modified by an adverbial clause must be a complete sentence, whereas a noun clause does not require this.
• For adverbial clauses indicating future time or conditions, although the time of occurrence has not yet arrived, the tone must be treated as if that time has arrived, so the present tense is used.
• Once ‘that’ functions as a conjunction in combination with other words to express logical relationships, it becomes a conjunction for adverbial clauses.
• Information Question
  • First: Remove the question mark and restore the verb order to that of a non-interrogative sentence (this part is identical to forming a noun clause).
  • Second: Adding ‘no matter’ before the interrogative word (meaning ‘regardless’), or adding the suffix ‘-ever’ after the interrogative word (also meaning ‘regardless’), turns it into an adverbial clause.
• Yes/No Question
  • An additional subordinating conjunction ‘whether’ must be added, but in this context ‘whether’ is no longer interpreted as ‘if’ but as ‘regardless’.
  • If ‘whether’ is not added, adding ‘no matter’ instead yields the same result, still meaning ‘regardless’.

wh-ever and adverbial clauses.

• If ‘wh-ever’ is interpreted as ‘no matter wh-‘, approximating a concessive or conditional tone, it should be interpreted as an adverbial clause.
• If ‘wh-ever’ is interpreted as ‘anyone/anything that’, it is a relative clause where the relative pronoun is the object and the noun-class antecedent is omitted, so it should be interpreted as a modified noun clause.

Adjective clauses

• Also known as relative clauses, they modify noun-class antecedents. If no omission has occurred, they should be viewed as adjective clauses.
• The subordinating conjunction of a relative clause is an element repeated from the main clause, a relative word (wh-) formed by rewriting a pronoun or adverb. The subordinating conjunctions of noun clauses and adverbial clauses are both added externally (or formed by interrogative words).
• If the antecedent is a proper noun, indicating clarity and lack of ambiguity, parenthetical commas should be used for supplementary explanation.
• If the relative clause has no restrictive function, ‘that’ cannot be used as the relative word; instead, parenthetical commas should separate it from the antecedent, treating it as supplementary explanation.
• Relative pronouns.
  • If the relative pronoun is the object, it must be moved to the beginning of the sentence to mark the start of the relative clause, and the relative pronoun can be omitted because the relative clause still retains an SV structure.
  • If the relative pronoun is the subject, it cannot be omitted because doing so would cause difficulties in parsing the sentence.
  • When a relative clause has a restrictive function, ‘who’ and ‘which’ can be replaced by the demonstrative pronoun ‘that’.
  • In some situations, the requirement for restriction is very strong, and ‘that’ is generally chosen. Using ‘who’ or ‘which’ would be inappropriate in these cases, which include:
    • The antecedent is a word indicating a ‘clear scope’, such as all, anything, or everything.
    • The antecedent contains determiners like first, next, last, or only, or is modified by a superlative, thereby creating a clear restriction.
  • When a proper noun is the antecedent, the following relative clause is non-restrictive and serves only as optional supplementary explanation.
  • If the antecedent is a vague word, it may be omitted, but the relative word must be changed to a compound relative pronoun such as what, whatever, whoever (whomever), or whichever to replace the antecedent, upgrading the adjective clause to a noun clause.
    • If the antecedent is ‘the thing’, the relative pronoun can be changed to ‘what’ to replace the antecedent.
    • If the antecedent is ‘anything’, the relative pronoun can be changed to ‘whatever’ to replace the antecedent.
    • If the antecedent is ‘any one’, the relative pronoun can be changed to ‘whichever’ to replace the antecedent.
    • If the antecedent is ‘any person’, the relative pronoun can be changed to ‘whoever’ to replace the antecedent.
  • If separated by parenthetical commas and the repeated element cannot be borrowed, the antecedent or relative pronoun cannot be omitted. This is unless the relative pronoun is omitted together with the verb ‘be’.
  • A relative clause should be placed as close as possible to the object it modifies. However, if placing the relative clause directly after the antecedent causes misunderstanding, it must be moved away or the sentence structure must be further altered.
  • For people: who, whom, whose.
    • If the relative pronoun is moved to the beginning of the sentence, leaving its position as the object, both the subjective case ‘who’ and the objective case ‘whom’ are correct, unless the preposition is also moved to the beginning.
  • For things: which, whose, of which.
    • ‘Which’ itself lacks a possessive form. Its possessive form has two alternative expressions: borrowing the possessive ‘whose’ from ‘who’, or using the inanimate possessive form ‘of which’.
• Relative adverbs.
  • By repeating the antecedent in the main clause with an adverb, the relative adverb must be moved to the beginning of the sentence to mark the start of the relative clause, and the relative adverb can be omitted because adverbs are not the main part of speech.
  • If separated by parenthetical commas, the antecedent or relative word cannot be omitted because the repeated element cannot be borrowed.
  • If the antecedent of an adverbial class is a repeated or vague word, it may be omitted.
  • Antecedents of the noun class cannot be omitted. If they can be viewed as adverbial class, they may be omitted (prepositional phrases).
  • If a noun-class antecedent appears to be omissible, it is because the relative word is actually an interrogative word, and it should be viewed as a noun clause introduced by an interrogative word.
  • When a relative clause has a restrictive function, the relative adverb can be replaced by the demonstrative pronoun ‘that’.

Confusion regarding wh-.

Words spelled in the wh- shape that function as conjunctions can be divided into three types:

• Relative words, including relative pronouns (who, which) and relative adverbs (when, where, how, why), introduce relative clauses, which are adjective clauses modifying antecedents.
• Interrogative words (who, which, what, when, where, how, why) introduce noun clauses.
• Externally added subordinating conjunctions (when, where) introduce time adverbial clauses and place adverbial clauses.

Confusion regarding wh-ever.

Words spelled in the wh-ever shape that function as conjunctions can be divided into two types:

• Compound relative pronouns (what(ever), whoever, whichever), interpreted as ‘anything that’, ‘anyone that’, etc., introduce noun clauses.
• Conjunctions equivalent in usage to ‘no matter’ plus an interrogative word or the wh-ever spelling (whoever, whichever, whatever, whenever, wherever, however), expressing a ‘concessive’ tone, introduce adverbial clauses.

Confusion regarding that.

Words spelled ‘that’ that function as conjunctions can be divided into three types:

• An externally added, standalone, meaningless conjunction ‘that’ introduces a noun clause.
• Externally added meaningful conjunctions such as ‘so that’, ‘such that’, ‘in order that’, and ‘in that’ introduce adverbial clauses.
• Used similarly to relative pronouns (who, which) and relative adverbs (when, where, how, why), possessing a restrictive function and not separated by commas, they introduce relative clauses (adjective clauses).

Relative words.

• In addition to their function as pronouns/adverbs, they also have the function of conjunctions.

Pronouns	Relative pronouns.
he(she, they)	who
it(they)	which
his(her, their, its)	whose
him(her, them)	whom

Adverbs	Relative adverbs.
then	when
there	where
so	how
for a reason	why

Spelling of comparative forms.

• If ending in -y, change it to -i first, then add the suffix.
• Monosyllabic.
  • Suffix changes (tall, taller, tallest).
• Three syllables or more.
  • Split into two words (expensive, more/less expensive, most/least expensive).
• Two syllables.
  • If it has a typical adjective suffix (ed, ing, ful, less, ous, ive) or a typical adverb suffix (ly), split into two words; otherwise, it is flexible.

Reduction principle.

• Coordinate clauses.
  • If corresponding positions (subject with subject, verb with verb, etc.) are repeated, one may be flexibly omitted.
• Subordinate clauses.
  • Omit both the subject and the verb ‘be’, leaving the complement. However, if the elements are not repeated or empty, they should be retained to avoid changing the meaning.
  • If there is no verb ‘be’ but there is an auxiliary verb, it can be changed to ‘be’ plus an infinitive. If there is no auxiliary verb, it can be changed to ‘be’ plus Ving.
  • If the verb ‘be’ is not suitable for omission, it can be changed to ‘be’ plus ‘being’ to retain it.
  • If the subordinating conjunction is meaningless, omitting the subject and the verb ‘be’ means the subordinating conjunction is no longer needed.
  • If the part of speech and the meaning remain unchanged after reduction, it is a successful reduced clause.
  • Reduction of adjective clauses.
    • Omitting the relative word when it is the object is merely a general omission, because the relative clause still contains an SV structure, so this omission does not count as a true reduced clause.
    • If the relative word is the subject of the relative clause, then reducing it requires omitting the subject, which inevitably necessitates omitting the verb ‘be’ as well, so that the relative clause can maintain its adjectival nature.
    • If omitting the subject of an infinitive causes unclear meaning, a preposition can be added at the beginning of the sentence to accommodate the subject. However, if it is not an infinitive, the situation is different.
    • If the subject and the verb ‘be’ are reduced, leaving a noun complement, this is called an appositive. Although the part of speech conflicts with that of a relative clause, it can still be used.
  • Reduction of noun clauses.
    • If the subject cannot be omitted.
    • Change to an SVOC structure (a noun clause in SVC form must be in the object position, and the verb of the main clause must be applicable).
    • Using possessives to handle (reducing noun clauses to V-ing or converting them into nouns, when the subject cannot be omitted)
    • Adding prepositions to handle (only suitable for the special sentence pattern of SVC (omitting the prepositional phrase) + noun clause)
    • If an interrogative word (who, what, where, etc.) serves as a conjunction, the interrogative word must be retained because, unlike ‘that’, it carries meaning
  • Reduction of adverbial clauses
    • Although meaningful subordinating conjunctions are used, they can be omitted when they do not hinder the clarity of the sentence
    • If the reduced structure itself strongly implies a causal relationship, subordinating conjunctions indicating cause, such as ‘because’ and ‘since’, are usually omitted
    • Subordinating conjunctions that also function as prepositions, such as ‘before’, ‘after’, and ‘since’, must be treated as prepositions after clause reduction, so they can only be followed by noun phrases
    • The subject can only be omitted if it is identical to the subject of the main clause; however, if the complement after the ‘be’ verb is a participle, the subject can be retained while omitting the ‘be’ verb and the subordinating conjunction
    • During reduction, subordinating conjunctions can be changed to prepositions with similar meanings, but all redundant and empty words must be deleted

Inversion

• It is a sentence structure that moves the verb or auxiliary verb before the subject, which can emphasize tone, enhance clarity and conciseness, and create smoother transitions between sentences
• Cases where the comparative degree requires inversion
  • Auxiliary verbs or ‘be’ verbs in subordinate clauses should not be omitted
  • When the subject is followed by a long modifier
• Cases where relative clauses require inversion
  • Inversion is only possible when the relative pronoun must first move to the beginning of the sentence, causing an abnormal order