Comparative/superlative

   Comparative is the name for the grammar used when comparing two things. The two basic ways to compare are using as. .. as or than. Examples of each are shown below:

She's twice as old as her sister.

He's not as stupid as he looks!

I'm almost as good in math as in science.

This book is not as exciting as the last one.

This computer is better than that one.

She's stronger at chess than I am.

It's much colder today than it was yesterday.

Our car is bigger than your car.

This grammar topic is easier than most others.

I find science more difficult than mathematics.

Note: In each of the example sentences above, the comparative form of the adjective is shown. See the foot of this page for information about the comparison of adverbs.

When comparing with as .. as, the adjective does not change. When comparing with than, however, some changes are necessary, depending on the number of syllables the adjective has:

1-syllable adjectives: add -er to the adjective

My sister is much taller than me.

It's colder today than it was yesterday.

Note: If the word ends: consonant-vowel-consonant, then the last consonant is usually doubled in the comparative. Examples: big-bigger, fat-fatter, hot-hotter.

2-syllable adjectives ending in -y: change the -y to -ier

She's looking happier today.

This grammar topic is easier than the last one.

Why is everyone else luckier than me? †

Beware: Do not confuse adjectives and adverbs. 2-syllable adverbs ending in -y must be compared with the word more. Example: I drive more quickly (quicklier) than my brother.

Other 2-syllable adjectives: use more with the unchanged adjective

The shops are always more crowded just before Christmas.

Is there anything more boring than reading about grammar?

My sister is more careful with her writing than I am with mine.

Note: The comparative of some shorter 2-syllable adjectives can be formed with -er. Examples: simple-simpler, clever-cleverer, narrow-narrower. To be sure which comparative method to use, you will need to consult a good dictionary.

Adjectives with 3 or more syllables: use more with the unchanged adjective

Russian grammar is more difficult than English grammar.

My sister is much more intelligent than me.

I find math lessons more enjoyable than science lessons.

The older you get, the more irritating you become.

In the superlative you talk about one thing only and how it is the best, worst, etc. You do not compare two things. The following guidelines apply to the superlative:

1-syllable adjectives: add -est to the adjective (plus the)

My sister is the tallest in our family.

Yesterday was the coldest day of the year so far.

Note: If the word ends: consonant-vowel-consonant, then the last consonant is usually doubled in the superlative. Examples: big-biggest, fat-fattest, hot-hottest.

2-syllable adjectives ending in -y: change the -y to -iest (plus the)

The richest people are not always the happiest.

Which do you think is the easiest language to learn?

She's the luckiest person I know.

Beware: Do not confuse adjectives and adverbs. 2-syllable adverbs ending in -y form their superlative with the words the most. Example: Of all the people I know my father drives the most quickly (quickliest).

Other 2-syllable adjectives: use the most with the unchanged adjective

The most boring thing about ESL class is doing grammar exercises.

My sister is the most careful person I know.

Note: The superlative of some shorter 2-syllable adjectives can be formed with -er. Examples: simple-simplest, clever-cleverest, narrow-narrowest. To be sure which superlative method to use, you will need to consult a good dictionary.

Adjectives with 3 or more syllables: use the most with the unchanged adjective

Some people think that Russian is the most difficult language.

Albert Einstein was the most intelligent person in history.

My most enjoyable class is English.

You are the most irritating person I have ever met!

Following are two common irregular comparative/superlative forms:

good-better-the best

bad-worse-the worst

The following guidelines apply to the comparative/superlative of most adverbs:

1-syllable adverbs: add -er/-est

I can run faster than you. / I can run the fastest in my class.

She works harder than me.† / She works the hardest of all students.

Other adverbs: use more / the most*

She ran more quickly than me.† / Of all the students she ran the most quickly.

In informal English it is common to hear the adjectival comparative/superlative form of two-syllable adverbs. For example: She ran quicker than me.† | She ran the quickest.

Many educated English speakers prefer to use the nominative plus a verb rather than the accusative in such comparative sentences, especially in formal situations. They say, for example, My sister is taller than I am. or She ran more quickly than I did.

The alternative, omitting the verb as in the following examples, is considered to be even more formal and is avoided by most British English speakers: My sister is taller than I. or She ran more quickly than I.

Imperative

Instructions

1. Command someone to do something with an imperative verb such as in the sentence "Get me a cab" or "Put that down, now." Notice there is no direct subject in these sentences but the subject is implied. The command is directed at the person you are speaking to.

2.Instruct someone how to do something using imperative verbs such as in the sentence "click the left side of the mouse" or in the sentence "choose from the menu bar." You are advising someone and the subject is assumed, but not stated.

3.Use imperative verbs to advise someone such as in the sentence "take your time" or "try something new." Again, the subject is implied as you make your suggestions to the person you are speaking to.

4.Offer someone something using an imperative verb such as "to have" or "to take." You can write "have a piece of cake" or "take your time."

5.Change from a positive action to a negative action by using a form of "do not" in front of the imperative verb such as in the sentence "Don't touch that" or "Do not enter."

6.Use an exclamation mark at the end of the sentence when you are using an imperative verb to command someone to do something like in the following sentence: "Run for your life!"

7.Be very polite and use the word "do" in front of your imperative verb as in the sentence "Do come to the party." Suggest someone do something by adding the word "get" in front of your imperative verb as in the sentence "Get advice before you make your choice."

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Present simple tense

The Simple Present Tense is used:

1. To express general truths: Examples:
• The Sun rises in the east.
• Honey is sweet.
• Fortune favors the brave.
• London is the Capital city of United Kingdom.
• Two thirds of this earth is full of water.

2. To express the habitual actions: Examples:
• He drinks tea every morning.
• Mary comes to college by car.
• My watch keeps correct time.
• My son does not like tea. He prefers coffee.
• I get up at 4 o’clock every morning.

3. In the exclamatory sentences beginning with here and there to express what is actually taking place in the present. Examples:
• Here comes the bus!
• There she goes!

• What a beautiful building that is!
• Oh! He is so smart!
• There the procession goes a long time!

4. In vivid narrative, as substitute for simple past tense:
Examples:
• Shoran now rushes forward and deals a heavy blow to Rosa.
• Immediately The Sultan hurries to the hospital.

5. To express a future event that is part of a fixed programmer.
Examples:
• The next flight is at 7.00am tomorrow.
• The match starts at 9 o’clock in the morning.
• The train leaves at 5.35 pm.
• When does the hotel reopen?

6. To introduce Quotations: Examples:
• Keats says, “A thing of beauty is joy for ever”.
• Tagore says, “Beauty is the ultimate reality”.
• Osho says, “Self-knowledge is the ultimate knowledge”.

7. It is used, instead of the Simple Future tense, in clauses of time and of condition.
Examples:
• I shall wait till you finish your lunch.

• If it rains we shall get wet.

Look at these examples with the main verb like:

	subject	auxiliary verb		main verb
+	I, you, we, they			like	coffee.
	He, she, it			likes	coffee.
-	I, you, we, they	do	not	like	coffee.
	He, she, it	does	not	like	coffee.
?	Do	I, you, we, they		like	coffee?
	Does	he, she, it		like	coffee?

Look at these examples with the main verb be. Notice that there is no auxiliary:

	subject	main verb
+	I	am		French.
	You, we, they	are		French.
	He, she, it	is		French.
-	I	am	not	old.
	You, we, they	are	not	old.
	He, she, it	is	not	old.
?	Am	I		late?
	Are	you, we, they		late?
	Is	he, she, it		late?

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Prepositions

Basic Prepositions: Time and Place - at, in, on and to

A preposition describes a relationship between other words in a sentence. In itself, a word like "in" or "after" is rather meaningless and hard to define in mere words. For instance, when you do try to define a preposition like "in" or "between" or "on," you invariably use your hands to show how something is situated in relationship to something else. Prepositions are nearly always combined with other words in structures called prepositional phrases. Prepositional phrases can be made up of a million different words, but they tend to be built the same: a preposition followed by a determiner and an adjective or two, followed by a pronoun or noun (called the object of the preposition). This whole phrase, in turn, takes on a modifying role, acting as an adjective or an adverb, locating something in time and space, modifying a noun, or telling when or where or under what conditions something happened.

Prepositions of Time: at, on, and in

       We use at to designate specific times
       The train is due at 12:15 p.m.

      We use on to designate days and dates.
      My brother is coming on Monday.
      We're having a party on the Fourth of July.

      We use in for nonspecific times during a day, a month, a season, or a year.
       She likes to jog in the morning.
       It's too cold in winter to run outside.
       He started the job in 1971.
      He's going to quit in August.
Prepositions of Place: at, on, and in

      We use at for specific addresses.
      Grammar English lives at 55 Boretz Roadin Durham.

      We use on to designate names of streets, avenues, etc.
      Her house is on Boretz Road  and we use in for the names of land-      areas (towns, counties, states, countries, and continents).
     She lives in Durham.
     Durham is in Windham County.
     Windham County is in Connecticut.

Prepositions of Location: in, at, and on and No Preposition
IN (the) bed* the bedroom the car (the) class* the library* school*	AT class* home the library* the office school* work	ON the bed* the ceiling the floor the horse the plane the train	NO PREPOSITION downstairs downtown inside outside upstairs uptown
* You may sometimes use different prepositions for these locations.

Prepositions of Movement: to and No Preposition

      We use to in order to express movement toward a place.
     They were driving to work together.
     She's going to the dentist's office this morning.

    Toward and towards are also helpful prepositions to express movement.    
    These are simply variant spellings of the same word; use whichever sounds better to you.
    We're moving toward the light.
    This is a big step towards the project's completion.

    With the words home, downtown, uptown, inside, outside, downstairs, upstairs, we use no preposition.
    Grandma went upstairs
    Grandpa went home.
    They both went outside.

Prepositions of Time: for and since

      We use for when we measure time (seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years).
      He held his breath for seven minutes.
     She's lived there for seven years.
    The British and Irish have been quarreling for seven centuries.

     We use since with a specific date or time.
     He's worked here since 1970.
    She's been sitting in the waiting room since two-thirty.

Prepositions with Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs.

 Prepositions are sometimes so firmly wedded to other words that they have practically become one word. (In fact, in other languages, such as German, they would have become one word.) This occurs in three categories: nouns, adjectives, and verbs.

NOUNS and PREPOSITIONS
approval of awareness of belief in concern for confusion about desire for	fondness for grasp of hatred of hope for interest in love of	need for participation in reason for respect for success in understanding of

ADJECTIVES and PREPOSITIONS
afraid of angry at aware of capable of careless about familiar with	fond of happy about interested in jealous of made of married to	proud of similar to sorry for sure of tired of worried about

VERBS and PREPOSITIONS
apologize for ask about ask for belong to bring up care for find out	give up grow up look for look forward to look up make up pay for	prepare for study for talk about think about trust in work for worry about

A combination of verb and preposition is called a phrasal verb. The word that is joined to the verb is then called a particle. Please refer to the brief section we have prepared on phrasal verbs for an explanation.

                                                           Auxiliary Verbs


What are auxiliary verbs?

1. Auxiliary verbs (sometimes known as helping verbs) are verbs that are used to assist the verb.
2. Auxiliary verbs can not be used without a main verb.
3. Auxiliary verbs can not be used with modal verbs.
4. Auxiliary verbs are used to make sentences negative.
5. Auxiliary verbs are used to ask questions.
6. Auxiliary verbs are used in the sentence structure of the verb sentence.
   -Auxiliary verbs are used to ask questions.

      -Auxiliary verbs are used in the sentence structure of the verb sentence.
The 3 most common auxiliary verbs are:

• Do - Does - Did
• Do is used with the present simple tense. Do-Does are used as part of the sentence structure for negative statements/sentences with the present simple tense
• Do- Does are used as part of the sentence structure for questions, with the present simple tense.
• Did is used with the past simple tense.
• Did is used as part of the sentence structure for negative statements/sentences with the past simple tense
• Did is used as part of the sentence structure for questions, with the past simple tense.
• Be - Am - Is - Are -Was - Were
• Have - Has -Had

DO', 'BE' and 'HAVE' are the English auxiliary verbs used in a negative structure, a question or to show tense.


DESCRIPTIONS OF ENGLISH AUXILIARY VERBS:


1. 'DO', 'DON'T', 'DOES' and 'DOESN'T' are used for questions and negatives in the Present Simple Tense, and 'DID' and 'DIDN'T' are used in the Past Simple Tense.
2. 'BE' is used with the Present Participle in Continuous (Progressive) Verbs. It is also used with the Past Participle in the Passive.
3. 'HAVE' is used with the Past Participle to form the Perfect Aspect.
Examples of auxiliary verbs: Tom has lived in Boston for twenty years.
They didn't come to the party last night.
I was cooking dinner when you telephoned.
What are you doing tomorrow afternoon?


Here is a quick overview of auxiliary verb usage:
DO / DOES
Used simple present question and negative forms:
What time does he get up?
They don't drive to work. They take the bus.
DID
Used in simple past question and negative forms:
When did they arrive yesterday?
He didn't finish his homework last week.
IS / ARE / AM
Used in present continuous and for the future with 'going to':
They are working hard at the moment.
She is going to study medicine at university.
WAS / WERE
Past continuous:
I was watching TV when you arrived.
What were they doing while you were cooking dinner?
HAVE / HAS
Present perfect and present perfect continuous:
How long have you lived here?
I've been working since seven this morning.
HAD
Past perfect and past perfect continuous:
He had eaten by the time I arrived.
She had been studying for two hours when he finally telephoned.
WILL / WON'T
Future with 'will':
What will the weather be like tomorrow?
He won't understand.

                         Wh–Questions

Wh-Questions allow a speaker to find out more information about topics

QuestionWord                                    Function                              

 

what                                  aking for information about something            
                                         asking for repetition or confirmation 
               

 why                                  asking for a reason                      

                             

When                               asking about time                                             

 

where                               asking in or at what place or position                 

which                               asking about choice                                           

who                                 asking what or which person or people (subject)       
  

whom                              asking what or which person or people (object)         
 

whose                             asking about ownership                                         

 

why                                 asking for reason, asking what...for                        

 

why don't                         making a suggestion                                               

 

how                                asking about manner                                               


                                       asking about condition or quality                           

how + adj/adv                asking about extent or degree                                  

 

how far                           distance                                                      

 

how long                         length (time or space)                                  

 

how many                       quantity (countable)                                   

 

how much                       quantity (uncountable)                                

 

how old                           age                                                          

how come (informal)       asking for reason, asking why                   

    

The "grammar" used with wh- questions depends on whether the topic being asked about is the "subject" or "predicate" of a sentence. For the subject pattern, simply replace the person or thing being asked about with the appropriate wh-word.

(Someone has my baseball.) (Something is bothering you.)

Who has my baseball? What is bothering you?

For the predicate pattern, wh- question formation depends on whether there is an "auxiliary" verb in the original sentence. Auxiliary or "helping" verbs are verbs that precede main verbs. Auxiliary verbs are italicized in the following sentences.

I can do it.
They are leaving.
I have eaten my lunch.
I should have finished my homework.

To make a question using the predicate pattern, first form a yes/no question by inverting the subject and (first) auxiliary verb. Then, add the appropriate wh- word to the beginning of the sentence.

(You will leave some time.)	? will you leave When will you leave?
(He is doing something.)	? is he doing What is he doing?
(They have been somewhere.)	? have they been Where have they been?

If there is no auxiliary and the verb is "be," invert the subject and verb, then add the appropriate wh- word to the beginning of the sentence.

(He is someone.)	? is he Who is he?
(The meeting was some time.)	? was the meeting When was the meeting?

If there is no auxiliary and the verb is not "be," add do to the beginning of the sentence. Then add the appropriate wh-question word. Be sure to "transfer" the tense and number from the main verb to the word do.

(You want something.)	? do you want What do you want?
(You went somewhere.)	? did you go (past tense) Where did you go?
(She likes something.)	? does she like (third person -s) What does she like?