Grammar Flashcards
Relative clauses are phrases to add information to the person or object.
Defining relative clauses add essential information in the phrase.
Non-defining relative clauses add extra information, non-essential. It is necessary to use commas, to use the correct pronoun (who or which), can quantify the noun ( many or half of which), we can comment on a whole sentence. When the information is about the object of the non-defining relative clause, we use whom not who, in formal and spoken English.
The woman who found my wallet handed it in to reception.
My friend’s birthday, which was last Friday, was great fun.
The people, half of whom had never voted before, elected a new leader.
The pigeons, which were all over the square, left a terrible mess, which was disgusting.
My German teacher, whom I really admired, retired last year.
The woman whom I called this morning was my secretary.
Prepositions:
We can use the prepositions in, on and at to say where things are. They go before nouns.
I am in the kitchen.
My dog likes sleeping on the sofa.
The children eat lunch at school.
in
We use in to talk about a place that is inside a bigger space, such as a box, a house, a city or a country.
The clothes are in the wardrobe.
The children are playing in the park.
There’s a bookshop in the shopping centre.
My grandmother was born in Sweden.
We also use in with other physical locations such as:
in the world
in water / the sea / a river / a lake / a pool
in the mountains / the countryside / a valley / the forest
in a car / a taxi
on
We use on to talk about location on a surface.
The books are on the desk.
We live on the fifth floor.
There are pictures on the wall.
She likes to sit on the floor.
We also use on for some types of public transport.
He’s on the bus now.
You can’t make phone calls on a plane.
They go to school on the train.
We also use on for lines (including rivers, borders, streets, etc.) and islands.
London is on the River Thames.
The Pyrenees are on the border of Spain and France.
There’s a market on James Street.
I’d love to live on the Isle of Wight.
at
We use at in many common phrases, especially when we are talking about a place for a specific activity.
I’m at work.
She’s working at home today.
The children are at school.
See you at the train station!
They’re at the supermarket.
I met him at a party.
We also use at for addresses or exact positions.
I live at 15 Craig Street.
She’s sitting at a desk.
He’s waiting at the entrance.
Please sit at the back of the room.
Adverbials of manner
Level: beginner
Adverbs of manner are usually formed from adjectives by adding –ly:
bad > badly quiet > quietly sudden > suddenly
but sometimes there are changes in spelling:
easy > easily gentle > gently careful > carefully
The adverb formed from good is well:
You speak English very well.
Adverbs of manner normally come after the verb:
He spoke angrily.
or after the object:
He opened the door quietly.
If an adjective already ends in -ly, we use the phrase in a …. way to express manner:
silly: He behaved in a silly way.
friendly: She spoke in a friendly way.
A few adverbs of manner have the same form as the adjective:
They all worked hard.
She usually arrives late/early.
I hate driving fast.
Be careful!
hardly and lately have different meanings from hard and late:
He could hardly walk. = It was difficult for him to walk.
I haven’t seen John lately. = I haven’t seen John recently.
We often use phrases with like as adverbials of manner:
She slept like a baby.
He ran like a rabbit.
Adverbials of manner and link verbs
We very often use adverbials with like after link verbs:
Her hands felt like ice.
It smells like fresh bread.
Be careful!
We do not use adverbs of manner after link verbs. We use adjectives instead:
They looked happy. (NOT happily)
That bread smells delicious. (NOT deliciously)
Where adverbials go in a sentence
We normally put adverbials after the verb:
He spoke angrily.
They live just here.
We will go in a few minutes.
If the verb has an object or complement we put the adverbial after the object or complement:
He opened the door quietly.
She left the money on the table.
We saw our friends last night.
You are looking tired tonight.
But adverbials of frequency (how often) usually come in front of the main verb:
We usually spent our holidays with our grandparents.
I have never seen William at work.
If we want to emphasise an adverbial, we can put it at the beginning of a clause:
Last night we saw our friends.
In a few minutes we will go.
Very quietly he opened the door.
If we want to emphasise an adverb of manner, we can put it in front of the main verb:
He quietly opened the door.
She had carefully put the glass on the shelf.
Intensifiers
We use words like very, really and extremely to make adverbs stronger:
She speaks English very well.
They behaved really foolishly.
He put the glass down extremely carefully.
We call these words intensifiers. Other intensifiers are:
amazingly exceptionally incredibly remarkably particularly
We also use enough to say more about an adverb, but enough comes after its adverb:
She didn’t win. She didn’t play well enough.
Mitigators
We use words like fairly, rather and quite to make adverbs less strong:
She speaks English fairly well.
They behaved rather foolishly.
The children played quite happily.
We call these words mitigators. Mitigators are the opposite of intensifiers.
Adverbials of place
Most adverbials of place are prepositional phrases:
They are in France at present.
Come and sit next to me.
But we also use adverbs:
abroad downstairs nearby overseas
ahead here next door there
away indoors out of doors upstairs
They are abroad at present.
Come and sit here.
We use adverbials of place to describe location, direction and distance.
Location
We use adverbials to talk about where someone or something is:
He was standing by the table.
You’ll find it in the cupboard.
You’ll find it inside.
Sign your name here – at the bottom of the page.
Stand here.
They used to live nearby.
Direction
We use adverbials to talk about the direction in which someone or something is moving:
Walk past the bank and keep going to the end of the street.
It’s difficult to get into the car because the door is so small.
They always go abroad for their holidays.
Distance
We use adverbials to show how far things are:
Birmingham is 250 kilometres from London.
We live in Birmingham. London is 250 kilometres away.
We often have an adverbial of place at the end of a clause:
The door is very small, so the car is difficult to get into.
We’re in Birmingham. London is 250 kilometres away.
Our house is down a muddy lane, so it’s very difficult to get to.
Can I come in?
Adverbials of location
We use prepositions to talk about where someone or something is:
above among at behind below beneath
beside between by in in between inside
near next to on opposite outside over
round through under underneath
He was standing by the table.
She lives in a village near Glasgow.
You’ll find it in the cupboard.
Adverbials of location 1
We use phrases with of as prepositions:
at the back of at the top of at the bottom of at the end of
on top of at the front of in front of in the middle of
There were some flowers in the middle of the table.
Sign your name here – at the bottom of the page.
I can’t see. You’re standing in front of me.
We can use right as an intensifier with some of these adverbials:
He was standing right next to the table.
There were some flowers right in the middle of the table.
There’s a wood right behind our house.
We also use adverbs for location:
abroad here indoors upstairs
overseas there outdoors downstairs
away round out of doors home
nearby around next door
Children love to play out of doors.
Did you see anybody there?
We have one bedroom downstairs.
Don’t leave things lying around.
Adverbials of direction
Level: beginner
We use prepositions to talk about direction:
across along back back to down into
onto out of past through to towards
She ran out of the house.
Walk past the bank and keep going to the end of the street.
We use adverbs and adverb phrases for both location and direction:
everywhere abroad indoors upstairs home
anywhere away outdoors downstairs back
somewhere here inside up in
nowhere there outside down out
I would love to see Paris. I’ve never been there. (place)
We’re going to Paris. We fly there tomorrow. (direction)
The bedroom is upstairs. (place)
He ran upstairs to the bedroom. (direction)
We often have adverbials of direction or location at the end of a clause:
This is the room we have our meals in.
Be careful you don’t let the cat out.
There were only a few people around.
Adverbials of distance
We use prepositions to show how far things are:
Birmingham is 250 kilometres from London.
Birmingham is 250 kilometres away from London.
It is 250 kilometres from Birmingham to London.
Sometimes we use an adverbial of distance at the end of a clause:
We were in London. Birmingham was 250 kilometres away.
Birmingham was 250 kilometres off.
London and Birmingham are 250 kilometres apart.
Adverbials of probability
We use adverbials of probability to show how certain we are about something. The commonest adverbials of probability are:
certainly definitely maybe possibly
clearly obviously perhaps probably
maybe and perhaps usually come at the beginning of the clause:
Perhaps the weather will be fine.
Maybe it won’t rain.
Other adverbs of possibility usually come in front of the main verb:
He is certainly coming to the party.
Will they definitely be there?
We will possibly come to England next year.
or after the present simple or past simple of be:
They are definitely at home.
She was obviously very surprised.
But these adverbs sometimes come at the beginning of a clause for emphasis:
Obviously she was very surprised.
Possibly we will come to England next year.
Comparative adverbs
We can use comparative adverbs to show change or make comparisons:
I forget things more often nowadays.
She began to speak more quickly.
They are working harder now.
We often use than with comparative adverbs:
I forget things more often than I used to.
Girls usually work harder than boys.
We use these words and phrases as intensifiers with comparatives:
much far a lot quite a lot
a great deal a good deal a good bit a fair bit
I forget things much more often nowadays.
We use these words and phrases as mitigators:
a bit slightly rather
a little a little bit just a little bit
She began to speak a bit more quickly.
Superlative adverbs
We can use superlative adverbs to make comparisons:
His ankles hurt badly, but his knees hurt worst.
It rains most often at the beginning of the year.
We use these words and phrases as intensifiers with superlatives:
easily by far much
When we intensify a superlative adverb, we often put the in front of the adverb:
In our office, Jill works by far the hardest.
Of the three brothers, Brian easily runs the fastest.
How to form comparative and superlative adverbs
We make comparative and superlative adverbs using the same rules as for comparative and superlative adjectives. For example:
One syllable: Jill works fast. > faster > fastest
One syllable ending in –e: They arrived late. > later > latest
Two or more syllables: Alan finished the test quickly. > more quickly > most quickly
well: She speaks English well. > better > best
badly: She speaks German badly. > worse > worst
far: He’ll go far. > farther/further > farthest/furthest
