Contents

Articles
English grammar

Adjective

17

English articles

23

Clause

29

English compound

37

English conditional sentences

45

Conjunction (grammar)

52

English determiners

54

Gender in English

59

Idiom

64

Interjection

69

Subjectauxiliary inversion

71

Noun

76

Pronoun

81

Phrase

85

English plurals

88

English possessive

109

Preposition and postposition

115

English verbs

126

English auxiliaries and contractions

135

English irregular verbs

143

English modal verbs

154

English passive voice

165

Phrasal verb

174

English subjunctive

181

Uses of English verb forms

187

Disputes in English grammar

213

References
Article Sources and Contributors

217

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

222

Article Licenses
License

223

English grammar

English grammar
English grammar

Adjectives

Adverbs

Articles

Clauses

Compounds

Conditionals

Conjunctions

Determiners

Gender

Idiom

Interjections

Inversion

Nouns

Pronouns

Phrases

Plurals

Possessives

Prepositions

Verbs

Auxiliaries, contractions
Irregular verbs
Modal verbs
Passive voice
Phrasal verbs
Subjunctive
Verb usage

Grammar disputes

English grammar is the body of rules that describe the structure of expressions in the English language. This
includes the structure of words, phrases, clauses and sentences.
There are historical, social, and regional variations of English. Divergences from the grammar described here occur
in some dialects of English. This article describes a generalized present-day Standard English, the form of speech
found in types of public discourse including broadcasting, education, entertainment, government, and news
reporting, including both formal and informal speech. There are certain differences in grammar between the standard
forms of British English, American English and Australian English, although these are inconspicuous compared with
the lexical and pronunciation differences.

English grammar

Word classes and phrases

There are eight word classes, or parts of speech, that are distinguished in English: nouns, determiners, pronouns,
verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions. (Determiners, traditionally classified along with
adjectives, have not always been regarded as a separate part of speech.) Interjections are another word class, but
these are not described here as they do not form part of the clause and sentence structure of the language.
Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs form open classes word classes that readily accept new members, such as the
noun celebutante (a celebrity who frequents the fashion circles), similar relatively new words. The others are
regarded as closed classes. For example, it is rare for a new pronoun to be admitted to the language.
English words are not generally marked for word class. It is not usually possible to tell from the form of a word
which class it belongs to except, to some extent, in the case of words with inflectional endings or derivational
suffixes. On the other hand, some words belong to more than one word class. For example run can serve as either a
verb or a noun (these are regarded as two different lexemes). Lexemes may be inflected to express different
grammatical categories. The lexeme run has the forms runs, ran, and running. Words in one class can sometimes be
derived from those in another. This has the potential to give rise to new words. The noun aerobics has recently given
rise to the adjective aerobicized.
Words combine to form phrases. A phrase typically serves the same function as a word from some particular word
class. For example, my very good friend Peter is a phrase that can be used in a sentence as if it were a noun, and is
therefore called a noun phrase. Similarly, adjective phrases and adverb phrases function as if they were adjectives or
adverbs, but with other types of phrases the terminology has different implications. For example, a verb phrase
consists of a verb together with any objects and other dependents; a prepositional phrase consists of a preposition
together with its complement (and is therefore usually a type of adverb phrase); and a determiner phrase is a type of
noun phrase containing a determiner.

Nouns
Nouns form the largest English word class. There are many common suffixes used to form nouns from other nouns
or from other types of words, such as -age (as in shrinkage), -hood (as in sisterhood), and so on, although many
nouns are base forms not containing any such suffix (such as cat, grass, France). Nouns are also often created by
conversion of verbs or adjectives, as with the words talk and reading (a boring talk, the assigned reading).
Unlike in many related languages, English nouns do not have grammatical gender (although many nouns refer
specifically to male or female persons or animals, like mother, father, bull, tigress; see Gender in English). Nouns
are sometimes classified semantically (by their meanings) as proper nouns and common nouns (Cyrus, China vs.
frog, milk) or as concrete nouns and abstract nouns (book, laptop vs. heat, prejudice). A grammatical distinction is
often made between count (countable) nouns such as clock and city, and non-count (uncountable) nouns such as milk
and decor. Some nouns can function to be either countable or uncountable such the word "wine" (This is a good
wine, I prefer red wine).
Countable nouns generally have singular and plural forms. In most cases the plural is formed from the singular by
adding -[e]s (as in dogs, bushes), although there are also irregular forms (woman/women, foot/feet, etc.), including
cases where the two forms are identical (sheep, series). For more details, see English plural.
Certain nouns can take plural verbs even though they are singular in form, as in The government were... (where the
government is considered to refer to the people constituting the government). This, a form of synesis, is more
common in British than American English. See English plural: Singulars with collective meaning treated as plural.
English nouns are not marked for case as they are in some languages, but they have possessive forms, formed by the
addition of -'s (as in John's, children's), or just an apostrophe (with no change in pronunciation) in the case of -[e]s
plurals and sometimes other words ending with -s (the dogs' owners, Jesus' love). More generally, the ending can be
applied to noun phrases (as in the man you saw yesterday's sister); see below. The possessive form can be used either

English grammar

as a determiner (John's cat) or as a noun phrase (John's is the one next to Jane's). For details, see English possessive.
Noun phrases
Noun phrases are phrases that function grammatically as nouns within sentences, for example as the subject or object
of a verb. Most noun phrases have a noun as their head.
An English noun phrase typically takes the following form (not all elements need be present):
Determiner + Pre-modifiers + NOUN + Postmodifiers/Complement

In this structure:
the determiner may be an article (the, a[n]) or other equivalent word, as described in the following section. In
many contexts it is required for a noun phrase to include some determiner.
pre-modifiers include adjectives and some adjective phrases (such as red, really lovely), and noun adjuncts (such
as college in the phrase the college student). Adjectival modifiers usually come before noun adjuncts.
a complement or postmodifier may be a prepositional phrase (...of London), a relative clause (like ...which we
saw yesterday), certain adjective or participial phrases (...sitting on the beach), or a dependent clause or infinitive
phrase appropriate to the noun (like ...that the world is round after a noun such as fact or statement, or ...to travel
widely after a noun such as desire).
An example of a noun phrase that includes all of the above-mentioned elements is that rather attractive young
college student to whom you were talking. Here that is the determiner, rather attractive and young are adjectival
pre-modifiers, college is a noun adjunct, student is the noun serving as the head of the phrase, and to whom you were
talking is a post-modifier (a relative clause in this case). Notice the order of the pre-modifiers; the determiner that
must come first and the noun adjunct college must come after the adjectival modifiers.
Coordinating conjunctions such as and, or, and but can be used at various levels in noun phrases, as in John, Paul,
and Mary; the matching green coat and hat; a dangerous but exciting ride; a person sitting down or standing up. See
Conjunctions below for more explanation.
Noun phrases can also be placed in apposition (where two consecutive phrases refer to the same thing), as in that
president, Abraham Lincoln,... (where that president and Abraham Lincoln are in apposition). In some contexts the
same can be expressed by a prepositional phrase, as in the twin curses of famine and pestilence (meaning "the twin
curses" that are "famine and pestilence").
Particular forms of noun phrases include:
phrases formed by the determiner the with an adjective, as in the homeless, the English (these are plural phrases
referring to homeless people or English people in general);
phrases with a pronoun rather than a noun as the head (see below);
phrases consisting just of a possessive;
infinitive and gerund phrases, in certain positions;
certain clauses, such as that clauses and relative clauses like what he said, in certain positions.

Determiners
English determiners constitute a relatively small class of words. They include the articles the, a[n] (and in some
contexts some), certain demonstrative and interrogative words such as this, that, and which, possessives such as my
and whose (the role of determiner can also be played by noun possessive forms such as John's and the girl's), various
quantifying words like all, many, various, and numerals (one, two, etc.). There are also many phrases (such as a
couple of) that can play the role of determiners.
Determiners are used in the formation of noun phrases (see above). Many words that serve as determiners can also be
used as pronouns (this, that, many, etc.)

English grammar

Determiners can be used in certain combinations, such as all the water and the many problems.
In many contexts, it is required for a noun phrase to be completed with an article or some other determiner. It is not
grammatical to say just cat sat on table; one must say my cat sat on the table. The most common situations in which
a complete noun phrase can be formed without a determiner are when it refers generally to a whole class or concept
(as in dogs are dangerous and beauty is subjective) and when it is a name (Jane, Spain, etc.) This is discussed in
more detail at English articles and Zero article in English.

Pronouns
Pronouns are a relatively small, closed class of words that function in the place of nouns or noun phrases. They
include personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, relative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, and some others,
mainly indefinite pronouns.
Personal pronouns
The personal pronouns of modern standard English, and the corresponding possessive forms, are as follows:
Nominative
1st pers. sing.

Oblique

Reflexive

Possessive determiner Possessive pronoun

me

myself

my

mine

2nd pers. sing./pl. you

you

yourself/yourselves

your

yours

3rd pers. sing.

she, he, it

her, him, it herself, himself, itself her, his, its

hers, his, (rare: its)

1st pers. pl.

we

us

ourselves

our

ours

3rd pers. pl.

they

them

themselves

their

theirs

The second-person forms such as you are used with both singular and plural reference. In the Southern United States,
y'all (you all) is used as a plural form, and various other phrases such as you guys are used in other places. An
archaic set of pronouns used for singular reference is thou, thee, thyself, thy, thine, which are still used in religious
services and can be seen in older works, such as Shakespeare's - in such texts, the word you is used as a plural form.
You can also be used as an indefinite pronoun, referring to a person in general (see generic you) compared to the
more formal alternative, one (reflexive oneself, possessive one's).
The third-person singular forms are differentiated according to the sex of the referent. For example, she can be used
to refer to a female person, sometimes a female animal, and sometimes an object to which female characteristics are
attributed, such as a ship or a country. A male person, and sometimes a male animal, is referred to using he. In other
cases it can be used. (See Gender in English.) The word it can also be used as a dummy subject, in sentences like It is
going to be sunny this afternoon.
The third-person plural forms such as they are sometimes used with singular reference, as a gender-neutral pronoun,
as in each employee should ensure they tidy their desk. Despite its long history, this usage is sometimes considered
ungrammatical. (See singular they.)
The possessive determiners such as my are used as determiners together with nouns, as in my old man, some of his
friends. The second possessive forms like mine are used when they do not qualify a noun: as pronouns, as in mine is
bigger than yours, and as predicates, as in this one is mine. Note also the construction a friend of mine (meaning
"someone who is my friend"). See English possessive for more details.

English grammar
Demonstrative and interrogative pronouns
The demonstrative pronouns of English are this (plural these), and that (plural those), as in these are good, I like
that. Note that all four words can also be used as determiners (followed by a noun), as in those cars. They can also
then form the alternative pronominal expressions this/that one, these/those ones.
The interrogative pronouns are who, what, and which (all of them can take the suffix -ever for emphasis). The
pronoun who refers to a person or people; it has an oblique form whom (though in informal contexts this is usually
replaced by who), and a possessive form (pronoun or determiner) whose. The pronoun what refers to things or
abstracts. The word which is used to ask about alternatives from what is seen as a closed set: which (of the books) do
you like best? (It can also be an interrogative determiner: which book?; this can form the alternative pronominal
expressions which one and which ones.) Which, who, and what can be either singular or plural, although who and
what often take a singular verb regardless of any supposed number. For more information see who.
All the interrogative pronouns can also be used as relative pronouns; see below for more details.
Relative pronouns
The main relative pronouns in English are who (with its derived forms whom and whose), which, and that.[2]
The relative pronoun which refers to things rather than persons, as in the shirt, which used to be red, is faded. For
persons, who is used (the man who saw me was tall). The oblique case form of who is whom, as in the man whom I
saw was tall, although in informal registers who is commonly used in place of whom.
The possessive form of who is whose (the man whose car is missing...); however the use of whose is not restricted to
persons (one can say an idea whose time has come).
The word that as a relative pronoun is normally found only in restrictive relative clauses (unlike which and who,
which can be used in both restrictive and unrestrictive clauses). It can refer to either persons or things, and cannot
follow a preposition. For example, one can say the song that [or which] I listened to yesterday, but the song to which
[not to that] I listened yesterday. The relative pronoun that is usually pronounced with a reduced vowel (schwa), and
hence differently from the demonstrative that (see Weak and strong forms in English). If that is not the subject of the
relative clause, it can be omitted (the song I listened to yesterday).
The word what can be used to form a free relative clause one that has no antecedent and that serves as a complete
noun phrase in itself, as in I like what he likes. The words whatever and whichever can be used similarly, in the role
of either pronouns (whatever he likes) or determiners (whatever book he likes). When referring to persons, who(ever)
(and whom(ever)) can be used in a similar way (but not as determiners).
There as pronoun
The word there is used as a pronoun in some sentences, playing the role of a dummy subject, normally of an
intransitive verb. The "logical subject" of the verb then appears as a complement after the verb.
This use of there occurs most commonly with forms of the verb be in existential clauses, to refer to the presence or
existence of something. For example: There is a heaven; There are two cups on the table; There have been a lot of
problems lately. It can also be used with other verbs: There exist two major variants; There occurred a very strange
incident.
The dummy subject takes the number (singular or plural) of the logical subject (complement), hence it takes a plural
verb if the complement is plural. In colloquial English, however, the contraction there's is often used where there are
would be expected.
The dummy subject can undergo inversion, Is there a test today? and Never has there been a man such as this. It can
also appear without a corresponding logical subject, in short sentences and question tags: There wasn't a discussion,
was there? There was.

English grammar
The word there in such sentences has sometimes been analyzed as an adverb, or as a dummy predicate, rather than as
a pronoun.[3] However, its identification as a pronoun is most consistent with its behavior in inverted sentences and
question tags as described above.
Because the word there can also be a deictic adverb (meaning "at/to that place"), a sentence like There is a river
could have either of two meanings: "a river exists" (with there as a pronoun), and "a river is in that place" (with there
as an adverb). In speech, the adverbial there would be given stress, while the pronoun would not in fact the
pronoun is often pronounced as a weak form, /(r)/.
Other pronouns
Other pronouns in English are often identical in form to determiners (especially quantifiers), such as many, a little,
etc. Sometimes the pronoun form is different, as with none (corresponding to the determiner no), nothing, everyone,
somebody, etc. Many examples are listed at Indefinite pronoun. Another indefinite (or impersonal) pronoun is one
(with its reflexive form oneself and possessive one's), which is a more formal alternative to generic you.

Verbs
Verbs form the second largest word class after nouns. The basic form of an English verb is not generally marked by
any ending, although there are certain suffixes that are frequently used to form verbs, such as -ate (formulate), -fy
(electrify), and -ise/ize (realise/realize). Many verbs also contain prefixes, such un- (unmask), out- (outlast), over(overtake), and under- (undervalue). Verbs can also be formed from nouns and adjectives by conversion, as with the
verbs snare, nose, dry, and calm.
Most verbs have three or four inflected forms: a third-person singular present tense form in -(e)s (writes, botches), a
present participle and gerund form in -ing (writing), a past tense (wrote), and though often identical to the past
tense form a past participle (written). Regular verbs have identical past tense and past participle forms in -ed, but
there are 100 or so irregular English verbs with different forms (see list). The verbs have, do and say also have
irregular third-person present tense forms (has, does /dz/, says /sz/). The verb be has the largest number of
irregular forms (am, is, are in the present tense, was, were in the past tense, been for the past participle).
Most of what are often referred to as verb tenses (or sometimes aspects) in English are formed using auxiliary verbs.
Apart from what are called the simple present (write, writes) and simple past (wrote), there are also continuous
(progressive) forms (am/is/are/was/were writing), perfect forms (have/has/had written, and the perfect continuous
have/has/had been writing), future forms (will write, will be writing, will have written, will have been writing), and
conditionals (also called "future in the past") with would in place of will. The auxiliaries shall and should sometimes
replace will and would in the first person. For the uses of these various verb forms, see English verbs and English
clause syntax.
The infinitive is the basic form of the verb (be, write, play), although there is also a "to-infinitive" (to be, to write, to
play) used in many syntactical constructions. There are also infinitives corresponding to other aspects: (to) have
written, (to) be writing, (to) have been writing. The second-person imperative is identical to the (basic) infinitive;
other imperative forms may be made with let (let us go, or let's go; let them eat cake).
A form identical to the infinitive can be used as a present subjunctive in certain contexts: It is important that he
follow them or ...that he be committed to the cause. There is also a past subjunctive (distinct from the simple past
only in the possible use of were instead of was), used in some conditional sentences and similar: if I were (or was)
rich...; were he to arrive now...; I wish she were (or was) here. For details see English subjunctive.
The passive voice is formed using the verb be (in the appropriate tense or form) with the past participle of the verb in
question: cars are driven, he was killed, I am being tickled, it is nice to be pampered, etc. The performer of the
action may be introduced in a prepositional phrase with by (as in they were killed by the invaders).
The English modal verbs consist of the core modals can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would, as well
as ought (to), had better, and in some uses dare and need. These do not inflect for person or number, and do not have

English grammar
infinitive or participle forms (except synonyms, as with be/being/been able (to) for the modals can/could). The
modals are used with the basic infinitive form of a verb (I can swim, he may be killed, we dare not move, need they
go?), except for ought, which takes to (you ought to go).
The copula be, along with the modal verbs and the other auxiliaries, form a distinct class, sometimes called "special
verbs" or simply "auxiliaries".[4] These have different syntax from ordinary lexical verbs, especially in that they
make their interrogative forms by plain inversion with the subject, and their negative forms by adding not after the
verb (could I...? I could not...). Apart from those already mentioned, this class may also include used to (although
the forms did he use to? and he didn't use to are also found), and sometimes have even when not an auxiliary (forms
like have you a sister? and he hadn't a clue are possible, though becoming less common). It also includes the
auxiliary do (does, did); this is used with the basic infinitive of other verbs (those not belonging to the "special
verbs" class) to make their question and negation forms, as well as emphatic forms (do I like you?; he doesn't speak
English; we did close the fridge). For more details of this, see do-support.
Some forms of the copula and auxiliaries often appear as contractions, as in I'm for I am, you'd for you would or you
had, and John's for John is. Their negated forms with following not are also often contracted (see Negation below).
For detail see English auxiliaries and contractions.
Verb phrases
A verb together with its dependents, excluding its subject, may be identified as a verb phrase (although this concept
is not acknowledged in all theories of grammar[5]). A verb phrase headed by a finite verb may also be called a
predicate. The dependents may be objects, complements, and modifiers (adverbs or adverbial phrases). In English,
objects and complements nearly always come after the verb; a direct object precedes other complements such as
prepositional phrases, but if there is an indirect object as well, expressed without a preposition, then that precedes the
direct object: give me the book, but give the book to me. Adverbial modifiers generally follow objects, although other
positions are possible (see under Adverbs below). Certain verbmodifier combinations, particularly when they have
independent meaning (such as take on and get up), are known as "phrasal verbs".
For details of possible patterns, see English clause syntax. See the Non-finite clauses section of that article for verb
phrases headed by non-finite verb forms, such as infinitives and participles.

Adjectives
English adjectives, as with other word classes, cannot in general be identified as such by their form, although many
of them are formed from nouns or other words by the addition of a suffix, such as -al (habitual), -ful (blissful), -ic
(atomic), -ish (impish, youngish), -ous (hazardous), etc.; or from other adjectives using a prefix: disloyal,
irredeemable, unforeseen, overtired.
Adjectives may be used attributively, as part of a noun phrase (nearly always preceding the noun they modify), as in
the big house, or predicatively, as in the house is big. Certain adjectives are restricted to one or other use; for
example, drunken is attributive (a drunken sailor), while drunk is usually predicative (the sailor was drunk).

English grammar
Comparison
Many adjectives have comparative and superlative forms in -er and -est, such as faster and fastest (from the positive
form fast). Spelling rules which maintain pronunciation apply to suffixing adjectives just as they do for similar
treatment of regular past tense formation; these cover consonant doubling (as in bigger and biggest, from big) and
the change of y to i after consonants (as in happier and happiest, from happy).
The adjectives good and bad have the irregular forms better, best and worse, worst; also far becomes farther,
farthest or further, furthest. The adjective old (for which the regular older and oldest are usual) also has the irregular
forms elder and eldest, these generally being restricted to use in comparing siblings and in certain independent uses.
For the comparison of adverbs, see Adverbs below.
Many adjectives, however, particularly those that are longer and less common, do not have inflected comparative
and superlative forms. Instead, they can be qualified with more and most, as in beautiful, more beautiful, most
beautiful (this construction is also sometimes used even for adjectives for which inflected forms do exist).
Certain adjectives are classed as ungradable. These represent properties that cannot be compared on a scale; they
simply apply or do not, as with pregnant, dead, unique. Consequently, comparative and superlative forms of such
adjectives are not normally used, except in a figurative, humorous or imprecise context. Similarly, such adjectives
are not normally qualified with modifiers of degree such as very and fairly, although with some of them it is
idiomatic to use adverbs such as completely. Another type of adjectives sometimes considered ungradable is those
that represent an extreme degree of some property, such as delicious and terrified.
Adjective phrases
An adjective phrase is a group of words that plays the role of an adjective in a sentence. It usually has a single
adjective as its head, to which modifiers and complements may be added.
Adjectives can be modified by a preceding adverb or adverb phrase, as in very warm, truly imposing, more than a
little excited. Some can also be preceded by a noun or quantitative phrase, as in fat-free, two-metre-long.
Complements following the adjective may include:

prepositional phrases: proud of him, angry at the screen, keen on breeding toads;
infinitive phrases: anxious to solve the problem, easy to pick up;
content clauses, i.e. that clauses and certain others: certain that he was right, unsure where they are;
after comparatives, phrases or clauses with than: better than you, smaller than I had imagined.

An adjective phrase may include both modifiers before the adjective and a complement after it, as in very difficult to
put away.
Adjective phrases containing complements after the adjective cannot normally be used as attributive adjectives
before a noun. Sometimes they are used attributively after the noun, as in a woman proud of being a midwife (where
they may be converted into relative clauses: a woman who is proud of being a midwife), but it is wrong to say *a
proud of being a midwife woman. Exceptions include very brief and often established phrases such as easy-to-use.
(Certain complements can be moved to after the noun, leaving the adjective before the noun, as in a better man than
you, a hard nut to crack.)
Certain attributive adjective phrases are formed from other parts of speech, without any adjective as their head, as in
a two-bedroom house, a no-jeans policy.

English grammar

Adverbs
Adverbs perform a wide range of functions. They typically modify verbs (or verb phrases), adjectives (or adjectival
phrases), or other adverbs (or adverbial phrases). However, adverbs also sometimes qualify noun phrases (only the
boss; quite a lovely place); pronouns and determiners (almost all); prepositional phrases (halfway through the
movie); or whole sentences, to provide contextual comment or indicate an attitude (Frankly, I don't believe you).
They can also indicate a relationship between clauses or sentences (He died, and consequently I inherited the estate).
Many English adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding the ending -ly, as in hopefully, widely, theoretically (for
details of spelling and etymology, see -ly). Certain words can be used as both adjectives and adverbs, such as fast,
straight, and hard. The adverb corresponding to the adjective good is well (note that bad forms the regular badly,
although ill is occasionally used in some phrases).
There are also many adverbs that are not derived from adjectives, including adverbs of time, of frequency, of place,
of degree and with other meanings. Some suffixes that are commonly used to form adverbs from nouns are -ward[s]
(as in homeward[s]) and -wise (as in lengthwise).
Most adverbs form comparatives and superlatives by modification with more and most: often, more often, most often;
smoothly, more smoothly, most smoothly (see also comparison of adjectives, above). However, a few adverbs retain
irregular inflection for comparative and superlative forms: much, more, most; a little, less, least; well, better, best;
badly, worse, worst; far, further (farther), furthest (farthest); or follow the regular adjectival inflection: fast, faster,
fastest; soon, sooner, soonest; etc.
Adverbs indicating the manner of an action are generally placed after the verb and its objects (We considered the
proposal carefully), although other positions are often possible (We carefully considered the proposal). Many
adverbs of frequency, degree, certainty, etc. (such as often, always, almost, probably, and various others such as just)
tend to be placed before the verb (they usually have chips), although if there is an auxiliary or other "special verb"
(see Verbs above), then the normal position for such adverbs is after that special verb (or after the first of them, if
there is more than one): I have just finished the crossword; She can usually manage a pint; We are never late; You
might possibly have been unconscious. Adverbs that provide a connection with previous information (such as next,
then, however), and those that provide the context (such as time or place) for a sentence, are typically placed at the
start of the sentence: Yesterday we went on a shopping expedition.[6]
A special type of adverb is the adverbial particle used to form phrasal verbs (such as up in pick up, on in get on, etc.)
If such a verb also has an object, then the particle may precede or follow the object, although it will normally follow
the object if the object is a pronoun (pick the pen up or pick up the pen, but pick it up).
Adverb phrases
An adverb phrase is a phrase that acts as an adverb within a sentence. An adverb phrase may have an adverb as its
head, together with any modifiers (other adverbs or adverb phrases) and complements, analogously to the adjective
phrases described above. For example: very sleepily; all too suddenly; oddly enough; perhaps shockingly for us.
Another very common type of adverb phrase is the prepositional phrase, which consists of a preposition and its
object: in the pool; after two years; for the sake of harmony.

Prepositions
Prepositions form a closed word class, although there are also certain phrases that serve as prepositions, such as in
front of. A single preposition may have a variety of meanings, often including temporal, spatial and abstract. Many
words that are prepositions can also serve as adverbs. Examples of common English prepositions (including phrasal
instances) are of, in, on, over, under, to, from, with, in front of, behind, opposite, by, before, after, during, through, in
spite of or despite, between, among, etc.

English grammar
A preposition is usually used with a noun phrase as its complement. A preposition together with its complement is
called a prepositional phrase. Examples are in England, under the table, after six pleasant weeks, between the land
and the sea. A prepositional phrase can be used as a complement or post-modifier of a noun in a noun phrase, as in
the man in the car, the start of the fight; as a complement of a verb or adjective, as in deal with the problem, proud of
oneself; or generally as an adverb phrase (see above).
English allows the use of "stranded" prepositions. This can occur in interrogative and relative clauses, where the
interrogative or relative pronoun that is the preposition's complement is moved to the start (fronted), leaving the
preposition in place. This kind of structure is avoided in some kinds of formal English. For example:
What are you talking about? (Possible alternative version: About what are you talking?)
The song that you were listening to... (more formal: The song to which you were listening...)
Notice that in the second example the relative pronoun that could be omitted.
Stranded prepositions can also arise in passive voice constructions and other uses of passive past participial phrases,
where the complement in a prepositional phrase can become zero in the same way that a verb's direct object would: it
was looked at; I will be operated on; get your teeth seen to. The same can happen in certain uses of infinitive
phrases: he is nice to talk to; this is the page to make copies of.

Conjunctions
Conjunctions express a variety of logical relations between items, phrases, clauses and sentences. The principal
coordinating conjunctions in English are and, or, and but, as well as nor, so, yet and for. These can be used in many
grammatical contexts to link two or more items of equal grammatical status, for example:
Noun phrases combined into a longer noun phrase, such as John, Eric, and Jill, the red coat or the blue one.
When and is used, the resulting noun phrase is plural. A determiner does not need to be repeated with the
individual elements: the cat, the dog, and the mouse and the cat, dog, and mouse are both correct. The same
applies to other modifiers. (The word but can be used here in the sense of "except": nobody but you.)
Adjective or adverb phrases combined into a longer adjective or adverb phrase: tired but happy, over the fields
and far away.
Verbs or verb phrases combined as in he washed, peeled, and diced the turnips (verbs conjoined, object shared);
he washed the turnips, peeled them, and diced them (full verb phrases, including objects, conjoined).
Other equivalent items linked, such as prefixes linked in pre- and post-test counselling,[7] numerals as in two or
three buildings, etc.
Clauses or sentences linked, as in We came but they wouldn't let us in. They wouldn't let us in, nor would they
explain what we had done wrong.
There are also correlative conjunctions, where as well as the basic conjunction, an additional element appears before
the first of the items being linked. The common correlatives in English are:

either...or (either a man or a woman);

neither...nor (neither clever nor funny);
both...and (they both punished and rewarded them);
not...but, particularly in not only...but also (not exhausted but exhilarated, not only football but also many other
sports).

Subordinating conjunctions make relations between clauses, making the clause in which they appear into a
subordinate clause. Some common subordinating conjunctions in English are:
conjunctions of time, including after, before, since, until, when, while;
conjunctions of cause and effect, including because, since, now that, as, in order that, so;
conjunctions of opposition or concession, such as although, though, even though, whereas, while;
conjunctions of condition: such as if, unless, only if, whether or not, even if, in case (that);

10

English grammar
the conjunction that, which produces content clauses, as well as words that produce interrogative content clauses:
whether, where, when, how, etc.
A subordinating conjunction generally comes at the very start of its clause, although many of them can be preceded
by qualifying adverbs, as in probably because..., especially if.... The conjunction that can be omitted after certain
verbs, as in she told us (that) she was ready. (For the use of that in relative clauses, see Relative pronouns above.)

Negation
As noted above under Verbs, a finite indicative verb (or its clause) is negated by placing the word not after an
auxiliary, modal or other "special" verb such as do, can or be. For example, the clause I go is negated with the
appearance of the auxiliary do, as I do not go (see do-support). When the affirmative already uses auxiliary verbs (I
am going), no other auxiliary verbs are added to negate the clause (I am not going). (Until the period of early
Modern English, negation was effected without additional auxiliary verbs: I go not.)
Most combinations of auxiliary verbs etc. with not have contracted forms: don't, can't, isn't, etc. (Also the
uncontracted negated form of can is written as a single word cannot.) On inversion of subject and verb (such as in
questions; see below), the subject may be placed after a contracted negated form: Should he not pay? or Shouldn't he
pay?
Other elements, such as noun phrases, adjectives, adverbs, infinitive and participial phrases, etc., can be negated by
placing the word not before them: not the right answer, not interesting, not to enter, not noticing the train, etc.
When other negating words such as never, nobody, etc. appear in a sentence, the negating not is omitted (unlike its
equivalents in many languages): I saw nothing or I didn't see anything, but not (except in non-standard speech) *I
didn't see nothing (see Double negative). Such negating words generally have corresponding negative polarity items
(ever for never, anybody for nobody, etc.) which can appear in a negative context, but are not negative themselves
(and can thus be used after a negation without giving rise to double negatives).

Clause and sentence structure

A typical sentence contains one independent clause and possibly one or more dependent clauses, although it is also
possible to link together sentences of this form into longer sentences, using coordinating conjunctions (see above).
A clause typically contains a subject (a noun phrase) and a predicate (a verb phrase in the terminology used above;
that is, a verb together with its objects and complements). A dependent clause also normally contains a subordinating
conjunction (or in the case of relative clauses, a relative pronoun or phrase containing one). English syntax is
essentially of SVO (subjectverbobject) type; the verb precedes its object in the verb phrase, and the subject of the
clause precedes the verb.

Questions
Like many other Western European languages, English historically allowed questions to be formed by inverting the
positions of verb and subject. Modern English permits this only in the case of a small class of verbs ("special verbs"),
consisting of auxiliaries as well as forms of the copula be (see subjectauxiliary inversion). To form a question from
a sentence which does not have such an auxiliary or copula present, the auxiliary verb do (does, did) needs to be
inserted, along with inversion of the word order, to form a question (see do-support). For example:
She can dance. Can she dance? (inversion of subject she and auxiliary can)
I am sitting here. Am I sitting here? (inversion of subject I and copula am)
The milk goes in the fridge. Does the milk go in the fridge? (no special verb present; do-support required)
The above concerns yes-no questions, but inversion also takes place in the same way after other questions, formed
with interrogative words such as where, what, how, etc. An exception applies when the interrogative word is the
subject or part of the subject, in which case there is no inversion. For example:

11

English grammar
I go. Where do I go? (wh-question formed using inversion, with do-support required in this case)
He goes. Who goes? (no inversion, because the question word who is the subject)
Note that inversion does not apply in indirect questions: I wonder where he is (not *... where is he). Indirect yes-no
questions can be expressed using if or whether as the interrogative word: Ask them whether/if they saw him.
Negative questions are formed similarly; however if the verb undergoing inversion has a contraction with not, then it
is possible to invert the subject with this contraction as a whole. For example:
John is going. (affirmative)
John is not going. / John isn't going. (negative, with and without contraction)
Is John not going? / Isn't John going? (negative question, with and without contraction)
See also English auxiliaries and contractions: Contractions and inversion.

Dependent clauses
The syntax of a dependent clause is generally the same as that of an independent clause, except that the dependent
clause usually begins with a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun (or phrase containing such). In some
situations (as already described) the conjunction or relative pronoun that can be omitted. Another type of dependent
clause with no subordinating conjunction is the conditional clause formed by inversion (see below).

Other uses of inversion

The clause structure with inverted subject and verb, used to form questions as described above, is also used in certain
types of declarative sentence. This occurs mainly when the sentence begins with an adverbial or other phrase that is
essentially negative or contains words such as only, hardly, etc.: Never have I known someone so stupid; Only in
France can such food be tasted.
In elliptical sentences (see below), inversion takes place after so (meaning "also") as well as after the negative
neither: so do I, neither does she.
Inversion can also be used to form conditional clauses, beginning with should, were (subjunctive), or had, in the
following ways:

should I win the race (equivalent to if I win the race);

were he a soldier (equivalent to if he were a soldier);
were he to win the race (equivalent to if he were to win the race, i.e. if he won the race);
had he won the race (equivalent to if he had won the race).

Other similar forms sometimes appear, but are less common. There is also a construction with subjunctive be, as in
be he alive or dead (meaning "no matter whether he is alive or dead").
Use of inversion to express a third-person imperative is now mostly confined to the expression long live X, meaning
"let X live long".

12

English grammar

Imperatives
In an imperative sentence (one giving an order), there is usually no subject in the independent clause: Go away until
I call you. It is possible, however, to include you as the subject for emphasis: You stay away from me.

Elliptical constructions
Many types of elliptical construction are possible in English, resulting in sentences that omit certain redundant
elements. Various examples are given in the article on Ellipsis.
Some notable elliptical forms found in English include:
Short statements of the form I can, he isn't, we mustn't. Here the verb phrase (understood from the context) is
reduced to a single auxiliary or other "special" verb, negated if appropriate. If there is no special verb in the
original verb phrase, it is replaced by do/does/did: he does, they didn't.
Clauses that omit the verb, in particular those like me too, nor me, me neither. The latter forms are used after
negative statements. (Equivalents including the verb: I do too or so do I; I don't either or neither do I.)
Tag questions, formed with a special verb and pronoun subject: isn't it?; were there?; am I not?

History of English grammars

The first published English grammar was a Pamphlet for Grammar of 1586, written by William Bullokar with the
stated goal of demonstrating that English was just as rule-based as Latin. Bullokar's grammar was faithfully modeled
on William Lily's Latin grammar, Rudimenta Grammatices (1534), used in English schools at that time, having been
"prescribed" for them in 1542 by HenryVIII. Bullokar wrote his grammar in English and used a "reformed spelling
system" of his own invention; but many English grammars, for much of the century after Bullokar's effort, were
written in Latin, especially by authors who were aiming to be scholarly. John Wallis's Grammatica Linguae
Anglicanae (1685) was the last English grammar written in Latin.
Even as late as the early 19th century, Lindley Murray, the author of one of the most widely used grammars of the
day, was having to cite "grammatical authorities" to bolster the claim that grammatical cases in English are different
from those in Ancient Greek or Latin.

Notes and references

[1] http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ w/ index. php?title=Template:English_grammar& action=edit
[2] Some linguists consider that in such sentences to be a complementizer rather than a relative pronoun. See English relative clauses: Status of
that.
[3] For a treatment of there as a dummy predicate, based on the analysis of the copula, see Moro, A., The Raising of Predicates. Predicative
Noun Phrases and the Theory of Clause Structure, Cambridge Studies in Linguistics, 80, Cambridge University Press, 1997.
[4] C.D. Sidhu, An Intensive Course in English, Orient Blackswan, 1976, p. 5.
[5] Dependency grammars reject the concept of finite verb phrases as clause constituents, regarding the subject as a dependent of the verb as
well. See the verb phrase article for more information.
[6] esl.about.com (http:/ / esl. about. com/ od/ grammarstructures/ a/ adverb_placement. htm)
[7] British Medical Association, Misuse of Drugs, Chapter 4, "Constraints of current practice."

13

English grammar

Bibliography
Grammar books
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Biber, Douglas; Johansson, Stig; Leech, Geoffrey; Conrad, Susan; Finegan, Edward (1999). Longman grammar
of spoken and written English. Pearson Education Limited. p.1203. ISBN0-582-23725-4.
Biber, Douglas; Leech, Geoffrey; Conrad, Susan; (2002). Longman student grammar of spoken and written
English. Pearson Education Limited. p.487. ISBN0-582-23726-2.
Bryant, Margaret (1945). A functional English grammar. D.C. Heath and company. p.326.
Bryant, Margaret; Momozawa, Chikara (1976). Modern English Syntax. Seibido. p.157.
Carter, Ronald; McCarthy, Michael (2006), Cambridge Grammar of English: A Comprehensive Guide,
Cambridge University Press, p.984, ISBN0-521-67439-5 A CD-Rom version is included.
Celce-Murcia, Marianne; Larsen-Freeman, Diane (1999). The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL teacher's course, 2nd
ed. Heinle & Heinle. p.854. ISBN0-8384-4725-2.
Chalker, Sylvia; Weiner, Edmund (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar. Oxford University Press.
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Cobbett, William (1883). A Grammar of the English Language, In a Series of Letters: Intended for the Use of
Schools and of Young Persons in General, but more especially for the use of Soldiers, Sailors, Apprentices, and
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Chicago: A. S. Barnes and Company.
Cobbett, William (2003, originally 1818). A Grammar of the English Language (Oxford Language Classics).
Oxford University Press. p.256. ISBN0-19-860508-0.
Curme, George O., College English Grammar, Richmond, VA, 1925, Johnson Publishing company, 414 pages . A
revised edition Principles and Practice of English Grammar was published by Barnes & Noble, in 1947.
Curme, George O. (1978; original 1931, 1935). A Grammar of the English Language: Volumes I (Parts of
Speech) & II (Syntax). Verbatim Books. p.1045. ISBN0-930454-03-0.
Declerck, Renaat (1990). A Comprehensive Descriptive Grammar of English. Kaitakusha,Tokyo. p.595.
ISBN4-7589-0538-X. Declerck in his introduction (p.vi) states that almost half his grammar is taken up by the
topics of tense, aspect and modality. This he contrasts with the 71 pages devoted to these subjects in The
Comprehensive Grammar of English. Huddleston and Pullman say they profited from consulting this grammar in
their Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. (p.1765)
Dekeyser, Xavier; Devriendt, Betty; Tops, Guy A. J.,; Guekens, Steven; (2004). Foundations of English
Grammar For University Students and Advanced Learners. Uitgeverij Acco, Leuven, Belgium. p.449.
ISBN978-90-334-5637-4.
Greenbaum, Sidney (1996). Oxford English Grammar. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. p.672.
ISBN0-19-861250-8.
Greenbaum, Sidney (1990). A Student's Grammar of the English Language. Addison Wesley Publishing
Company. p.496. ISBN0-582-05971-2.
Halliday, M. A. K.; Matthiessen, Christian M. I. M. (revised by) (2004). An Introduction to Functional Grammar,
3rd. edition. London: Hodder Arnold. p.700. ISBN0-340-76167-9.
Huddleston, Rodney D. (1984) Introduction to the grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Huddleston, Rodney D. (1988) English grammar: An outline. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Huddleston, Rodney D.; Pullum, Geoffrey K., eds. (2002). The Cambridge grammar of the English language.
Cambridge University Press. p.1860. ISBN0-521-43146-8.
Huddleston, Rodney D.; Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2005). A student's introduction to English grammar. Cambridge
University Press. p.320. ISBN0-521-61288-8.
Jespersen, Otto. (1937). Analytic Syntax. Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard, 1937. 170 p.

14

English grammar
Jespersen, Otto. (19091949). A modern English grammar on historical principles (Vols. 1-7). Heidelberg: C.
Winter.
Jespersen, Otto (1933). Essentials of English Grammar: 25th impression, 1987. London: Routledge. p.400.
ISBN0-415-10440-8.
Jonson, Ben (1756). "The English grammar: Made by Ben Jonson for the benefit of all strangers, out of his
observation of the English language now spoken and in use" (http://books.google.com/
?id=SaM_AAAAYAAJ&printsec=titlepage#PPA205,M1). The Works of Ben Jonson: Volume 7. London: D.
Midwinter et al.
Kolln, Martha J. (2006). Rhetorical Grammar: Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects, 5th edition. Longman.
p.336. ISBN0-321-39723-1.
Kolln, Martha J.; Funk, Robert W. (2008). Understanding English Grammar (8th Edition). Longman. p.453.
ISBN0-205-62690-4.
Korsakov, A. K. (Andre Konstantinovich). 1969. The use of tenses in English. Korsakov, A. K. Structure of
Modern English pt. 1. oai:gial.edu:26766 at http://www.language-archives.org/item/oai:gial.edu:26766
Maetzner, Eduard Adolf Ferdinand, 18051892. (1873). An English grammar; methodical, analytical, and
historical. J. Murray, London.Three Volumes, translated by Clair James Grece from the German edition
Englische Grammatik: Die Lehre von der Wort- und Satzfgung. Professor Whitney in his Essentials of English
Grammar recommends the German original stating "there is an English version, but it is hardly to be used." (p. vi)
Meyer-Myklestad, J., (1967). An Advanced English Grammar for Students and Teachers.
Universitetsforlaget-Oslo. p.627.
Morenberg, Max (2002). Doing Grammar, 3rd edition. New York: Oxford University Press. p.352.
ISBN0-19-513840-6.
Poutsma, Hendrik. A grammar of late modern English, Groningen, P. Noordhoff, 191429, 2 pt. in 5 v. Contents:
pt. I. The sentence: 1st half. The elements of the sentence, 1928. 2d half. The composite sentence, 1929.--pt. II.
The parts of speech: section I, A. Nouns, adjectives and articles, 1914. section I, B. Pronouns and numerals, 1916.
section II. The verb and the particles, 1926.
Quirk, Randolph; Greenbaum, Sidney; Leech, Geoffrey; & Svartvik, Jan. (1972). A grammar of contemporary
English. Harlow: Longman.
Quirk, Randolph (1985). A comprehensive grammar of the English language. Harlow: Longman. p.1779.
ISBN0-582-51734-6.
Schibsbye, Knud (1970). A Modern English Grammar: Second Edition. London: Oxford University Press. p.390.
ISBN0-19-431327-1. This book is a translation of Schibsbye's three volume Engelsk Grammatik published
between 1957 and 1961. Schibsbye was a student of Jespersen's and co-author of the sixth
volumeMorphologyof Jespersen's seven volume Modern English Grammar.
Sinclair, John, ed. (1991) Collins COBUILD English Grammar London: Collins ISBN 0-00-370257-X second
edition, 2005 ISBN 0-00-718387-9. Huddleston and Pullman say they found this grammar 'useful' in their
Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. (p.1765) A CD-Rom version of the 1st edition is available on the
Collins COBUILD Resource Pack ISBN 0-00-716921-3
Sledd, James. (1959) A short introduction to English grammar Chicago: Scott, Foresman.
Strang, Barbara M. H. (1968) Modern English structure (2nd ed.) London: Arnold.
Thomson, A. J. (Audrey Jean); Martinet, A. V. (Agnes V.) (1986). A practical English grammar:Fourth Edition.
Oxford University Press. p.384. ISBN0-19-431342-5.
Visser, F. Th. (Fredericus Theodorus) (2003). An historical syntax of the English language. Brill.
ISBN90-04-07142-3 (set) Check |isbn= value (help). 4th impression. pts. 1-2. Syntactical units with one
verb.--pt.3. 1st half. Syntactical units with two verbs.--pt.3. 2d half. Syntactical units with two and more verbs.
Whitney, William Dwight, (1877) Essentials of English Grammar, Boston: Ginn & Heath.
Zandvoort, R. W. (1972) A handbook of English grammar (2nd ed.) London: Longmans.

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English grammar

Monographs
Adams, Valerie. (1973). An introduction to modern English word-formation. London: Longman.
Bauer, Laurie. (1983). English word-formation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fries, Charles Carpenter. (1952). The structure of English; an introduction to the construction of English
sentences. New York: Harcourt, Brace.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1985/94). Spoken and written language. Deakin University Press.
Huddleston, Rodney D. (1976). An introduction to English transformational syntax. Longman.
Huddleston, Rodney D. (2009). The Sentence in Written English: A Syntactic Study Based on an Analysis of
Scientific Texts. Cambridge University Press. . p.352. ISBN0-521-11395-4.
Jespersen, Otto (1982). Growth and Structure of the English Language. Chicago and London: University of
Chicago Press. p.244. ISBN0-226-39877-3.
Jespersen, Otto (1992). Philosophy of Grammar. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. p.363.
ISBN0-226-39881-1.
Jespersen, Otto (1962). Selected Writings. London: Allen & Unwin. p.820.--includes Jespersen's monographs
Negation in English and Other Languages, and A System of Grammar.
Kruisinga, E. (1925). A handbook of present-day English. Utrecht: Kemink en Zoon.
Leech, Geoffrey N. (1971). Meaning and the English verb. London: Longman.
Marchand, Hans. (1969). The categories and types of present-day English word-formation (2nd ed.). Mnchen: C.
H. Beck.
McCawley, James D. (1998). The syntactic phenomena of English (2nd ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago
Press.
Onions, C. T. (Charles Talbut), (1904, 1st edition) An advanced English syntax based on the principles and
requirements of the Grammatical society. London: Keegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & co. A new edition of An
advanced English syntax, prepared from the author's materials by B. D. H. Miller, was published as Modern
English syntax in 1971.
Palmer, F. R. (1974). The English verb. London: Longman.
Palmer, F. R. (1979). Modality and the English modals. London: Longman.
Plag, Ingo. (2003). Word-formation in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Scheurweghs, Gustave. (1959). Present-day English syntax: A survey of sentence patterns. London: Longmans.

Further reading
Partridge, A. C. (1969). Tudor to Augustan English: a Study in Syntax and Style, from Caxton to Johnson, in
series, The Language Library. London: A. Deutsch. 242 p. SBN 233-96092-9

External links

Modern English Grammar (http://papyr.com/hypertextbooks/grammar/) by Daniel Kies

Basic Grammar Rules (http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/)
Lingola English Grammar (http://english.lingolia.com/en/grammar)
English Grammar Blog (http://www.englishgrammar.org/)

16

Adjective

17

Adjective
Examples

That's an interesting idea.

(attributive)
That idea is interesting.
(predicative)
Tell me something interesting.
(postpositive)
The good, the bad, and the ugly.
(substantive)

English grammar

Adjectives

Adverbs

Articles

Clauses

Compounds

Conditionals

Conjunctions

Determiners

Gender

Idiom

Interjections

Inversion

Nouns

Pronouns

Phrases

Plurals

Possessives

Prepositions

Verbs

Auxiliaries, contractions
Irregular verbs
Modal verbs
Passive voice
Phrasal verbs
Subjunctive
Verb usage

Grammar disputes

v
t

e [1]

In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase,
giving more information about the object signified.
Adjectives are one of the traditional eight English parts of speech, although linguists today distinguish adjectives
from words such as determiners that formerly were considered to be adjectives. In this paragraph, "traditional" is an
adjective, and in the preceding paragraph, "main" is.

Adjective

18

Distribution
Most, but not all, languages have adjectives. Those that do not, typically use words of another part of speech, often
verbs, to serve the same semantic function; an example, such a language might have a verb that means "to be big",
and would use as attributive verb construction analogous to "big-being house" to express what English expresses as
"big house". Even in languages that do have adjectives, one language's adjective might not be another's; for example,
whereas English uses "to be hungry" (hungry being an adjective), Dutch and French use "honger hebben" and "avoir
faim," respectively (literally "to have hunger", hunger being a noun), and whereas Hebrew uses the adjective ""
(zaqq, roughly "in need of"), English uses the verb "to need".
Adjectives form an open class of words in most languages that have them; that is, it is relatively common for new
adjectives to be formed via such processes as derivation. Bantu languages are well known for having only a small
closed class of adjectives, however, and new adjectives are not easily derived. Similarly, native Japanese adjectives
(i-adjectives) are a closed class (as are native verbs), although nouns (which are open class) may be used in the
genitive and there is the separate class of adjectival nouns (na-adjectives), which is also open, and functions
similarly to noun adjuncts in English.

Adjectives and adverbs

Many languages, including English, distinguish between adjectives, which qualify nouns and pronouns, and adverbs,
which modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Not all languages have exactly this distinction and many
languages, including English, have words that can function as both. For example, in English fast is an adjective in "a
fast car" (where it qualifies the noun car), but an adverb in "he drove fast" (where it modifies the verb drove).
In Dutch and German, adjectives and adverbs are usually identical in form and many grammarians do not make the
distinction, but patterns of inflection can suggest a difference:
Eine kluge neue Idee.
A clever new idea.
Eine klug ausgereifte Idee.
A cleverly developed idea.
Whether these are distinct parts of speech or distinct usages of the same part of speech is a question of analysis. It is
worth noting that while German linguistic terminology distinguishes adverbiale from adjektivische Formen, school
German refers to both as Eigenschaftswrter.

Determiners
Linguists today distinguish determiners from adjectives, considering them to be two separate parts of speech (or
lexical categories), but formerly determiners were considered to be adjectives in some of their uses. In English
dictionaries, which typically still do not treat determiners as their own part of speech, determiners are often
recognizable by being listed both as adjectives and as pronouns. Determiners are words that are neither nouns nor
pronouns, yet reference a thing already in context. Determiners generally do this by indicating definiteness (as in a
vs. the), quantity (as in one vs. some vs. many), or another such property.

Adjective

Types of use
A given occurrence of an adjective can generally be classified into one of four kinds of uses:
1. Attributive adjectives are part of the noun phrase headed by the noun they modify; for example, happy is an
attributive adjective in "happy people". In some languages, attributive adjectives precede their nouns; in others,
they follow their nouns; and in yet others, it depends on the adjective, or on the exact relationship of the adjective
to the noun. In English, attributive adjectives usually precede their nouns in simple phrases, but often follow their
nouns when the adjective is modified or qualified by a phrase acting as an adverb. For example: "I saw three
happy kids", and "I saw three kids happy enough to jump up and down with glee." See also Postpositive adjective.
2. Predicative adjectives are linked via a copula or other linking mechanism to the noun or pronoun they modify;
for example, happy is a predicate adjective in "they are happy" and in "that made me happy." (See also:
Predicative expression, Subject complement.)
3. Absolute adjectives do not belong to a larger construction (aside from a larger adjective phrase), and typically
modify either the subject of a sentence or whatever noun or pronoun they are closest to; for example, happy is an
absolute adjective in "The boy, happy with his lollipop, did not look where he was going."
4. Nominal adjectives act almost as nouns. One way this can happen is if a noun is elided and an attributive
adjective is left behind. In the sentence, "I read two books to them; he preferred the sad book, but she preferred
the happy", happy is a nominal adjective, short for "happy one" or "happy book". Another way this can happen is
in phrases like "out with the old, in with the new", where "the old" means, "that which is old" or "all that is old",
and similarly with "the new". In such cases, the adjective functions either as a mass noun (as in the preceding
example) or as a plural count noun, as in "The meek shall inherit the Earth", where "the meek" means "those who
are meek" or "all who are meek".

Adjectival phrases
An adjective acts as the head of an adjectival phrase. In the simplest case, an adjectival phrase consists solely of the
adjective; more complex adjectival phrases may contain one or more adverbs modifying the adjective ("very
strong"), or one or more complements (such as "worth several dollars", "full of toys", or "eager to please"). In
English, attributive adjectival phrases that include complements typically follow their subject ("an evildoer devoid of
redeeming qualities").

Other noun modifiers

In many languages, including English, it is possible for nouns to modify other nouns. Unlike adjectives, nouns acting
as modifiers (called attributive nouns or noun adjuncts) are not predicative; a beautiful park is beautiful, but a car
park is not "car". In plain English, the modifier often indicates origin ("Virginia reel"), purpose ("work clothes"), or
semantic patient ("man eater"), however, it may generally indicate almost any semantic relationship. It is also
common for adjectives to be derived from nouns, as in boyish, birdlike, behavioral, famous, manly, angelic, and so
on.
Many languages have special verbal forms called participles that can act as noun modifiers. In many languages,
including English, participles are historically adjectives, and have retained most of their original function as such.
English examples of this include relieved (the past participle of the verb relieve, used as an adjective in sentences
such as "I am so relieved to see you"), spoken (as in "the spoken word"), and going (the present participle of the verb
go, used as an adjective in sentences such as "Ten dollars per hour is the going rate").
Other constructs that often modify nouns include prepositional phrases (as in "a rebel without a cause"), relative
clauses (as in "the man who wasn't there"), other adjective clauses (as in "the bookstore where he worked"), and
infinitive phrases (as in "a cake to die for").

19

Adjective

20

In relation, many nouns take complements such as content clauses (as in "the idea that I would do that"); these are
not commonly considered modifiers, however.

Adjective order
In many languages, attributive adjectives usually occur in a specific order. In general, the adjective order in English
is:[1][2]
1. Determiners articles, adverbs, and other limiters.
2. Observation postdeterminers and limiter adjectives (e.g., a real hero, a perfect idiot) and adjectives subject to
subjective measure (e.g., beautiful, interesting), or objects with a value (e.g., best, cheapest, costly)
3. Size and Shape adjectives subject to objective measure (e.g., wealthy, large, round), and physical properties
such as speed.
4. Age adjectives denoting age (e.g., young, old, new, ancient, six-year-old).
5. Color adjectives denoting color (e.g., red, black, pale).
6. Origin denominal adjectives denoting source of noun (e.g., French, American, Canadian).
7. Material denominal adjectives denoting what something is made of (e.g., woolen, metallic, wooden).
8. Qualifier final limiter, often regarded as part of the noun (e.g., rocking chair, hunting cabin, passenger car,
book cover).
So, in English, adjectives pertaining to size precede adjectives pertaining to age ("little old", not "old little"), which
in turn generally precede adjectives pertaining to color ("old white", not "white old"). So, we would say "One
(quantity) nice (opinion) little (size) round (shape) old (age) white (color) brick (material) house."
This order may be more rigid in some languages than others; in some, like Spanish, it may only be a default
(unmarked) word order, with other orders being permissible.
Due partially to borrowings from French, English has some adjectives that follow the noun as postmodifiers, called
postpositive adjectives, such as time immemorial and attorney general. Adjectives may even change meaning
depending on whether they precede or follow, as in proper: They live in a proper town (a real town, not a village) vs.
They live in the town proper (in the town itself, not in the suburbs). All adjectives can follow nouns in certain
constructions, such as tell me something new.

Comparison of adjectives
In many languages, some adjectives are comparable. For example, a person may be "polite", but another person may
be "more polite", and a third person may be the "most polite" of the three. The word "more" here modifies the
adjective "polite" to indicate a comparison is being made, and "most" modifies the adjective to indicate an absolute
comparison (a superlative).
Among languages that allow adjectives to be compared, different means are used to indicate the comparison. Many
languages do not distinguish comparative from superlative forms.
In English, there are three different means to indicate comparison: most simple adjectives take the suffixes "-er" and
"-est", as
"big", "bigger", "biggest";
a very few adjectives are irregular:
"good", "better", "best",
"bad", "worse", "worst",
"old", "elder", "eldest" (in certain contexts only; the adjective is usually regular)
"far", "farther/further", "farthest/furthest"
"many", "more", "most" (usually regarded as an adverb or determiner)

Adjective

21
"little", "less", "least";

all others are compared by means of the words "more" and "most". There is no simple rule to decide which means is
correct for any given adjective, however. The general tendency is for simpler adjectives, and those from
Anglo-Saxon to take the suffixes, while longer adjectives and those from French, Latin, Greek do notbut
sometimes sound of the word is the deciding factor.
Many adjectives do not naturally lend themselves to comparison. For example, some English speakers would argue
that it does not make sense to say that one thing is "more ultimate" than another, or that something is "most
ultimate", since the word "ultimate" is already absolute in its semantics. Such adjectives are called non-comparable.
Nevertheless, native speakers will frequently play with the raised forms of adjectives of this sort. Although
"pregnant" is logically non-comparable (either one is pregnant or not), it is not uncommon to hear a sentence like
"She looks more and more pregnant each day", where a transference has taken place: grammatically the adjective is
comparative but in fact it is the appearance that is being compared. Likewise "extinct" and "equal" appear to be
non-comparable, but one might say that a language about which nothing is known is "more extinct" than a
well-documented language with surviving literature but no speakers, while George Orwell wrote "All animals are
equal, but some are more equal than others". These cases may be viewed as implying that the base form of the
adjective is not as absolute in its semantics as is usually thought.
Comparative and superlative forms are also occasionally used for other purposes than comparison. In English
comparatives can be used to suggest that a statement is only tentative or tendential: one might say "John is more the
shy-and-retiring type," where the comparative "more" is not really comparing him with other people or with other
impressions of him, but rather, could be substituting for "on the whole". In Italian, superlatives are frequently used to
put strong emphasis on an adjective: Bellissimo means "most beautiful", but is in fact more commonly heard in the
sense "extremely beautiful".

Restrictiveness
Attributive adjectives, and other noun modifiers, may be used either restrictively (helping to identify the noun's
referent, hence "restricting" its reference) or non-restrictively (helping to describe an already-identified noun). For
example:
"He was a lazy sort, who would avoid a difficult task and fill his working hours with easy ones."
"difficult" is restrictive - it tells us which tasks he avoids, distinguishing these from the easy ones: "Only
those tasks that are difficult".
"She had the job of sorting out the mess left by her predecessor, and she performed this difficult task with
great acumen."
"difficult" is non-restrictive - we already know which task it was, but the adjective describes it more
fully: "The aforementioned task, which (by the way) is difficult"
In some languages, such as Spanish, restrictiveness is consistently marked; for example, in Spanish la tarea difcil
means "the difficult task" in the sense of "the task that is difficult" (restrictive), whereas la difcil tarea means "the
difficult task" in the sense of "the task, which is difficult" (non-restrictive). In English, restrictiveness is not marked
on adjectives, but is marked on relative clauses (the difference between "the man who recognized me was there" and
"the man, who recognized me, was there" being one of restrictiveness).

Adjective

22

Agreement
In some languages, adjectives alter their form to reflect the gender, case and number of the noun that they describe.
This is called agreement or concord. Usually it takes the form of inflections at the end of the word, as in Latin:
puella bona

(good girl, feminine)

puellam bonam (good girl, feminine accusative/object case)

puer bonus

(good boy, masculine)

pueri boni

(good boys, masculine plural)

In the Celtic languages, however, initial consonant lenition marks the adjective with a feminine noun, as in Irish:
buachaill maith (good boy, masculine)
girseach mhaith (good girl, feminine)

Often a distinction is made here between attributive and predicative usage. Whereas English is an example of a
language in which adjectives never agree and French of a language in which they always agree, in German they
agree only when used attributively, and in Hungarian only when used predicatively.
The good () boys. The boys are good ().
Les bons garons.

Les garons sont bons.

Die braven Jungen. Die Jungen sind brav ().

A j () fik.

A fik jk.

References
[1] Order of adjectives (http:/ / learnenglish. britishcouncil. org/ en/ english-grammar/ adjectives/ order-adjectives) British Council.
[2] R.M.W. Dixon, "Where Have all the Adjectives Gone?" Studies in Language 1, no. 1 (1977): 19-80.

Bibliography
Dixon, R. M. W. (1977). "Where have all the adjectives gone?". Studies in Language 1: 1980. doi:
10.1075/sl.1.1.04dix (http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/sl.1.1.04dix).
Dixon, R. M. W.; R. E. Asher (Editor) (1993). The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (1st ed.). Pergamon
Press Inc. pp.2935. ISBN0-08-035943-4.
Dixon, R. M. W. (1999). Adjectives. In K. Brown & T. Miller (Eds.), Concise encyclopedia of grammatical
categories (pp.18). Amsterdam: Elsevier. ISBN 0-08-043164-X.
Warren, Beatrice. (1984). Classifying adjectives. Gothenburg studies in English (No. 56). Gteborg: Acta
Universitatis Gothoburgensis. ISBN 91-7346-133-4.
Wierzbicka, Anna (1986). "What's in a noun? (or: How do nouns differ in meaning from adjectives?)". Studies in
Language 10 (2): 353389. doi: 10.1075/sl.10.2.05wie (http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/sl.10.2.05wie).

Adjective

23

External links
Adjectives and Adverbs (http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/adjectives-adverbs)
Adjective article on HyperGrammar (http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/adjectve.
html)
Adjectives in English (http://linguapress.com/grammar/adjectives.htm)
Adjectives at the Internet Guide to Grammar and Writing (http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
adjectives.htm)

English articles
English grammar

Adjectives

Adverbs

Articles

Clauses

Compounds

Conditionals

Conjunctions

Determiners

Gender

Idiom

Interjections

Inversion

Nouns

Pronouns

Phrases

Plurals

Possessives

Prepositions

Verbs

Auxiliaries, contractions
Irregular verbs
Modal verbs
Passive voice
Phrasal verbs
Subjunctive
Verb usage

Grammar disputes

v
t

e [1]

The articles in English are the definite article the and the indefinite articles a and an (and sometimes some). Use of
the definite article implies that the speaker assumes the listener knows the identity of the noun's referent (because it
is obvious, because it is common knowledge, or because it was mentioned in the same sentence or an earlier
sentence). Use of an indefinite article implies that the speaker assumes the listener does not have to know the identity
of the referent. In some noun phrases no article is used.

English articles
Articles are a special case of determiners in English; for information about this class as a whole, see English
determiners.

Use of articles
The rules of English grammar require that in most cases a noun, or more generally a noun phrase, must be
"completed" with a determiner to clarify what the referent of the noun phrase is.[1] The most common determiners
are the articles the and a(n), which specify the presence or absence of definiteness of the noun. Other possible
determiners include words like this, my, each and many see English determiners. There are also cases where no
determiner is required, as in the sentence John likes fast cars.
The definite article the is used when the referent of the noun phrase is assumed to be unique or known from the
context. For example, in the sentence The boy with glasses was looking at the moon, it is assumed that in the context
the reference can only be to one boy and one moon. However, the definite article is not used:
with generic nouns (plural or uncountable): cars have accelerators, happiness is contagious, referring to cars in
general and happiness in general (compare the happiness I felt yesterday, specifying particular happiness);
with many proper names: John, France, London, etc.
The indefinite article a (before a consonant sound) or an (before a vowel sound) is used only with singular,
countable nouns. It indicates that the referent of the noun phrase is one unspecified member of a class. For example,
the sentence An ugly man was smoking a pipe does not refer to any specifically known ugly man or pipe.
No article is used with plural or uncountable nouns when the referent is indefinite (just as in the generic definite case
described above). However, in such situations, the determiner some is often added (or any in negative contexts and in
many questions). For example:
There are apples in the kitchen or There are some apples in the kitchen;
We do not have information or We do not have any information;
Would you like tea? or Would you like some tea? or Would you like any tea?
Additionally, articles are not normally used:
in noun phrases that contain other determiners (my house, this cat, America's history), although one can combine
articles with certain other determiners, as in the many issues, such a child (see English determiners: Combinations
of determiners).
with pronouns (he, nobody), although again certain combinations are possible (as the one, the many, the few).
preceding noun phrases consisting of a clause or infinitive phrase (what you've done is very good, to surrender is
to die).
If it is required to be concise, e.g. in headlines, signs, labels, and notes, articles are often omitted along with certain
other function words. For example, rather than The mayor was attacked, a newspaper headline might say just Mayor
attacked.
For more information on article usage, see the sections Definite article and Indefinite article below. For more cases
where no article is used, see Zero article in English.

24

English articles

Word order
In most cases, the article is the first word of its noun phrase, preceding all other adjectives and modifiers.[2]
The little old red bag held a very big surprise.
There are a few exceptions, however:
Certain determiners, such as all, both, half, double, precede the definite article when used in combination (all the
team, both the girls, half the time, double the amount).
The determiner such and exclamative what precede the indefinite article (such an idiot, what a day!).
Adjectives qualified by too, so, as and how generally precede the indefinite article: too great a loss, so hard a
problem, as delicious an apple as I have ever tasted, I know how pretty a girl she is.
When adjectives are qualified by quite (particularly when it means "fairly"), the word quite (but not the adjective
itself) often precedes the indefinite article: quite a long letter.
See also English determiners: Combinations of determiners and Determiners and adjectives.

Definite article
The only definite article in English is the word the, denoting person(s) or thing(s) already mentioned, under
discussion, implied, or otherwise presumed familiar to the listener or reader. The is the most commonly used word in
the English language.
"The" can be used with both singular and plural nouns, with nouns of any gender, and with nouns that start with any
letter. This is different from many other languages which have different articles for different genders and/or
numbers.

Pronunciation
In most dialects "the" is pronounced as // (with the voiced dental fricative // followed by schwa) when followed
by a consonant sound. In many dialects, including Received Pronunciation (standard educated speech of England),
the pronunciation [i] is used before words beginning with vowel sounds. The emphatic form of the word is /i/
(like thee) see Weak and strong forms in English.
In some Northern England dialects of English, the is pronounced [t] (with a dental t) or as a glottal stop, usually
written in eye dialect as t; in some dialects it reduces to nothing. This is known as definite article reduction. In
dialects that do not have the voiced dental fricative //, the is pronounced with the voiced dental plosive, as in /d/ or
/di/).

Etymology
The and that are common developments from the same Old English system. Old English had a definite article se, in
the masculine gender, seo (feminine), and t (neuter). In Middle English these had all merged into e, the ancestor
of the Modern English word the.

Usage
The principles of the use of the definite article in English are described above under Use of articles. (The word the is
also used with comparatives, in phrases like, the sooner the better, and, we were all the happier for it; this form of
the definite article has a somewhat different etymology from other uses of the definite article. (See the Wiktionary
entry the.)
An area in which the use or non-use of the is sometimes problematic is with geographic names. Names of rivers,
seas, mountain ranges, deserts, island groups and the like are generally used with the definite article (the Rhine, the
North Sea, the Alps, the Sahara, the Hebrides). Names of continents, islands, countries, regions, administrative units,

25

English articles
cities and towns mostly do not take the article (Europe, Skye, Germany, Scandinavia, Yorkshire, Madrid). However,
there are certain exceptions:
Countries and regions whose names are modified common nouns, or are derived from island groups, take the
article: the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, the Czech Republic, the Middle East, the
Philippines, the Seychelles. Note also the Netherlands.
Certain countries whose names derive from mountain ranges, rivers, deserts, etc. are sometimes used with an
article (the Lebanon, the Sudan),[3] but this usage is declining, although the Gambia is the recommended name of
that country. Since the independence of Ukraine (formerly sometimes called the Ukraine), most style guides have
advised dropping the article[4] (in some other languages there is a similar issue involving prepositions). Use of the
Argentine for Argentina is now old-fashioned.
Some names include an article for historical reasons, such as The Bronx, or to reproduce the native name (The
Hague).
Names beginning with a common noun followed by of take the article, as in the Isle of Wight (compare Christmas
Island). The same applies to names of institutions: Cambridge University, but the University of Cambridge.

Abbreviations for "the" and "that"

Since "the" is one of the most frequently used words in English, at various times short
abbreviations for it have been found:
Barred thorn:the earliest abbreviation, it is used in manuscripts in the Old English
language. It is the letter with a bold horizontal stroke through the ascender, and it
represents the word t, meaning "the" or "that" (neuter nom. / acc.)
and ( with a superscript e or t) appear in Middle English manuscripts for "e" and
"at" respectively.
y and yare developed from and and appear in Early Modern manuscripts and in print
(see Ye form below).
Occasional proposals have been made by individuals for an abbreviation. In 1916, Legros & Grant included in their
classic printers' handbook Typographical Printing-Surfaces, a proposal for a letter similar to to represent "Th",
thus abbreviating "the" to e.[5] Why they did not propose reintroducing to the English language "", for which
blocks were already available for use in Icelandic texts, or the y form is unknown.
In 2013 an Australian restaurateur named Paul Mathis proposed , which he nicknamed "The Tap", as a symbol for
"the." This symbol is the same as the Serbian Cyrillic letter (Tshe).

Ye form
In Middle English, the (e) was frequently abbreviated as a with a small e above it, similar to the abbreviation for
that, which was a with a small t above it. During the latter Middle English and Early Modern English periods, the
letter thorn () in its common script, or cursive, form came to resemble a y shape. As such the use of a y with an e
above it ( ) as an abbreviation became common. This can still be seen in reprints of the 1611 edition of the King
James Version of the Bible in places such as Romans 15:29, or in the Mayflower Compact. Historically the article
was never pronounced with a y sound, even when so written.

26

English articles

Indefinite article
The indefinite article of English takes the two forms a and an. Semantically they can be regarded as meaning "one",
usually without emphasis. They can be used only with singular countable nouns; for the possible use of some (or
any) as an equivalent with plural and uncountable nouns, see Use of some below.

Distinction between a and an

The form an is used before words starting with a vowel sound, regardless of whether the word begins with a vowel
letter.[6] This avoids the glottal stop (momentary silent pause) that would otherwise be required between a and a
following vowel sound. Where the next word begins with a consonant sound, a is used. Examples: a box; an apple;
an SSO (pronounced "es-es-oh"); a HEPA filter (HEPA is pronounced as a word rather than as letters); an hour (the
h is silent); a one-armed bandit (pronounced "won..."); an heir (pronounced "air"); a unicorn (pronounced "yoo-");
an herb in American English (where the h is silent), but a herb in British English.
Some speakers and writers use an before a word beginning with the sound /h/ in an unstressed syllable: an historical
novel, an hotel. However, where the "h" is clearly pronounced, this usage is now less common, and "a" is preferred.
Some dialects, particularly in England (such as Cockney), silence many or all initial h sounds (h-dropping), and so
employ an in situations where it would not be used in the standard language, like an 'elmet (standard English: a
helmet).
There used to be a distinction analogous to that between a and an for the possessive determiners my and thy, which
became mine and thine before a vowel, as in mine eyes. Other more or less analogous cases in different languages
include the Yiddish articles "a" ( )and "an" (( )used in essentially the same manner as the English ones), the
Hungarian articles a and az (used the same way, except that they are definite articles; juncture loss, as described
below, has occurred in that language too), and the privative a- and an- prefixes, meaning "not" or "without", in
Greek and Sanskrit.

Pronunciation
Both a and an are usually pronounced with a schwa: //, /n/. However, when stressed (which is rare in ordinary
speech), they are normally pronounced respectively as /e/ (to rhyme with day) and /n/ (to rhyme with pan). See
Weak and strong forms in English.

Etymology
An is the older form (related to one, cognate to German ein; etc.). An was originally an unstressed form of the
number n 'one'.

Usage
The principles for use of the indefinite article are given above under Use of articles.
In addition to serving as an article, a and an are also used to express a proportional relationship, such as "a dollar a
day" or "$150 an ounce" or "A sweet a day helps you work, rest and play", although historically this use of "a" and
"an" does not come from the same word as the articles.

Juncture loss
In a process called juncture loss, the n has wandered back and forth between the indefinite article and words
beginning with vowels over the history of the language, where for example what was once a nuncle is now an uncle.
The Oxford English Dictionary gives such examples as smot hym on the hede with a nege tool from 1448 for smote
him on the head with an edge tool, as well as a nox for an ox and a napple for an apple. Sometimes the change has
been permanent. For example, a newt was once an ewt (earlier euft and eft), a nickname was once an eke-name,

27

English articles
where eke means "extra" (as in eke out meaning "add to"), and in the other direction, a napron (meaning a little
tablecloth, related to the word napkin) became an apron, and a naddre became an adder. The initial n in orange was
also dropped through juncture loss, but this happened before the word was borrowed into English.

Use of some
The word some is sometimes used as a functional equivalent of a(n) with plural and uncountable nouns (also called a
partitive). For example, Give me some apples, Give me some water (equivalent to the singular countable forms an
apple and a glass of water). Grammatically this some is not required; it is also possible to use zero article: Give me
apples, Give me water. The use of some in such cases implies a more limited quantity. (Compare the forms
unos/unas in Spanish, which are the plural of the indefinite article un/una.)
In most negative clauses, and often in questions, the word any is used instead of some: Don't give me any apples; Is
there any water?
The determiner some can also have a more emphatic meaning: "some but not others" or "some but not many". For
example, some people like football, while others prefer rugby, or I've got some money, but not enough to lend you
any. It can also be used as an indefinite pronoun, not qualifying a noun at all (Give me some!) or followed by a
prepositional phrase (I want some of your vodka); the same applies to any.
Some can also be used with singular countable nouns, as in There is some person on the porch, which implies that
the identity of the person is unknown to the speaker (which is not necessarily the case when a(n) is used). This usage
is fairly informal, although singular countable some can also be found in formal contexts: We seek some value of x
such that...
When some is used with merely the function of an indefinite article, it is normally pronounced weakly, as [s()m]. In
other meanings it is pronounced [sm]. See Weak and strong forms in English.

Effect on alphabetical order

In sorting titles and phrases alphabetically, articles are usually excluded from consideration, since being so common
makes them more of a hindrance than a help in finding a desired item. For example, The Comedy of Errors is
alphabetized before A Midsummer Night's Dream, because the and a are ignored and comedy alphabetizes before
midsummer. In an index, the former work might be written "Comedy of Errors, The", with the article moved to the
end.

References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]

Greenbaum, Sidney (1996) The Oxford English Grammar. Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-861250-8
Disterheft, Dorothy (2004) Advanced Grammar. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice-Hall ISBN 0-13-048820-8
Swan, Michael How English Works, p. 25
Ukraine or "the Ukraine"? (http:/ / www. infoukes. com/ faq/ the_ukraine/ ) by Andrew Gregorovich, infoukes.com
Missed Opportunity for Ligatures (http:/ / blogs. msdn. com/ b/ fontblog/ archive/ 2006/ 08/ 10/ missed-opportunity-for-ligatures. aspx)
How to Use Articles (a/an/the) The OWL at Purdue (http:/ / owl. english. purdue. edu/ owl/ resource/ 540/ 01/ )

28

English articles

External links
Vietnamese learners mastering english articles (http://dissertations.ub.rug.nl/FILES/faculties/ppsw/2005/h.
n.thu/thesis.pdf)
"The Definite Article: Acknowledging 'The' in Index Entries" (http://www.theindexer.org/files/22-3/
22-3_119.pdf), Glenda Browne, The Indexer, vol. 22, no. 3 April 2001, pp.11922.
Low MH 2005: "The Phenomenon of the Word THE in English discourse functions and distribution patterns"
(http://cf.linguistlist.org/cfdocs/new-website/LL-WorkingDirs/pubs/diss/browse-diss-action.
cfm?DissID=11895) a dissertation that surveys the use of the word 'the' in English text.
When Do You Use Articles: A, An, The (http://www.brighthub.com/education/languages/articles/17249.
aspx)
Etymology of the word THE on the Online Etymology Dictionary (http://www.etymonline.com/index.
php?term=the)
Mastering A, An, The: English Articles Solved (http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-An-The-Articles-ebook/
dp/B007XIWNRK)

Clause
In grammar, a clause is the smallest grammar unit that can express a complete proposition.[1] A typical clause
consists of a subject and a predicate,[2] where the predicate is typically a verb phrase a verb together with any
objects and other modifiers. However the subject is sometimes not expressed; this is often the case in null-subject
languages if the subject is retrievable from context, but it also occurs in certain cases in other languages such as
English (as in imperative sentences and non-finite clauses).
A simple sentence usually consists of a single finite clause with a finite verb that is independent. More complex
sentences may contain multiple clauses. Main clauses (= matrix clauses, independent clauses) are those that can
stand alone as a sentence. Subordinate clauses (= embedded clauses, dependent clauses) are those that would be
awkward or incomplete alone.

Two major distinctions

A primary division for the discussion of clauses is the distinction between main clauses (= matrix clauses,
independent clauses) and subordinate clauses (= embedded clauses, dependent clauses).[3] A main clause can stand
alone, i.e. it can constitute a complete sentence by itself. A subordinate clause (= embedded clause), in contrast, is
reliant on the appearance of a main clause; it depends on the main clause and is therefore a dependent clause,
whereas the main clause is an independent clause.
A second major distinction concerns the difference between finite and non-finite clauses. A finite clause contains a
structurally central finite verb, whereas the structurally central word of a non-finite clause is often a non-finite verb.
Traditional grammar focuses on finite clauses, the awareness of non-finite clauses having arisen much later in
connection with the modern study of syntax. The discussion here also focuses on finite clauses, although some
aspects of non-finite clauses are considered further below.

29

Clause

30

Clauses according to a distinctive syntactic trait

Clauses can be classified according to a distinctive trait that is a prominent characteristic of their syntactic form. The
position of the finite verb is one major trait used for classification, and the appearance of a specific type of focusing
word (e.g. wh-word) is another. These two criteria overlap to an extent, which means that often no single aspect of
syntactic form is always decisive in determining how the clause functions. There are, however, strong tendencies.

Standard SV-clauses
Standard SV-clauses (subject-verb) are the norm in English. They are usually declarative (as opposed to exclamative,
imperative, or interrogative); they express information in a neutral manner, e.g.
The pig has not yet been fed. - Declarative clause, standard SV order
I've been hungry for two hours. - Declarative clause, standard SV order
...that I've been hungry for two hours.

- Declarative clause, standard SV order, but functioning as a subordinate clause

due to the appearance of the subordinator that

Declarative clauses like these are by far the most frequently occurring type of clause in any language. They can be
viewed as basic, other clause types being derived from them. Standard SV-clauses can also be interrogative or
exclamative, however, given the appropriate intonation contour and/or the appearance of a question word, e.g.
a. The pig has not yet been fed? - Rising intonation on fed makes the clause a yes/no-question.
b. The pig has not yet been fed! - Spoken forcefully, this clause is exclamative.
c. You've been hungry for how long?

- Appearance of interrogative word how and rising intonation make the clause a

constituent question

Examples like these demonstrate that how a clause functions cannot be known based entirely on a single distinctive
syntactic criterion. SV-clauses are usually declarative, but intonation and/or the appearance of a question word can
render them interrogative or exclamative.

Verb first clauses

Verb first clauses in English usually play one of three roles: 1. They express a yes/no-question via subject-auxiliary
inversion, 2. they express a condition as an embedded clause, or they express a command via imperative mood, e.g.
a. He must stop laughing. - Standard declarative SV-clause (verb second order)
b. Should he stop laughing? - Yes/no-question expressed by verb first order
c. Had he stopped laughing,... - Condition expressed by verb first order
d. Stop laughing! - Imperative formed with verb first order
a. They have done the job. - Standard declarative SV-clause (verb second order)
b. Have they done the job? - Yes/no-question expressed by verb first order
c. Had they done the job,... - Condition expressed by verb first order
d. Do the job! - Imperative formed with verb first order
Most verb first clauses are main clauses. Verb first conditional clauses, however, must be classifed as embedded
clauses because they cannot stand alone.

Clause

31

Wh-clauses
Wh-clauses contain a wh-word. Wh-words often serve to help express a constituent question. They are also prevalent,
though, as relative pronouns, in which case they serve to introduce a relative clause and are not part of a question.
The wh-word focuses a particular constituent and most of the time, it appears in clause-initial position. The following
examples illustrate standard interrogative wh-clauses. The b-sentences are direct questions (main clauses), and the
c-sentences contain the corresponding indirect questions (embedded clauses):
a. Sam likes the meat. - Standard declarative SV-clause
b. Who likes the meat? - Matrix interrogative wh-clause focusing on the subject
c. They asked who likes the meat. - Embedded interrogative wh-clause focusing on the subject
a. Larry sent Susan to the store. - Standard declarative SV-clause
b. Who did Larry send to the store?

- Matrix interrogative wh-clause focusing on the object, subject-auxiliary inversion

present

c. We know who Larry sent to the store.

- Embedded wh-clause focusing on the object, subject-auxiliary inversion

absent

a. Larry sent Susan to the store. - Standard declarative SV-clause

b. Where did Larry send Susan?

- Matrix interrogative wh-clause focusing on the oblique object, subject-auxiliary

inversion present

c. Someone is wondering where Larry sent Susan.

- Embedded wh-clause focusing on the oblique object,

subject-auxiliary inversion absent

One important aspect of matrix wh-clauses is that subject-auxiliary inversion is obligatory when something other
than the subject is focused. When it is the subject (or something embedded in the subject) that is focused, however,
subject-auxiliary inversion does not occur.
a. Who called you? - Subject focused, no subject-auxiliary inversion
b. Who did you call? - Object focused, subject-auxiliary inversion occurs
Another important aspect of wh-clauses concerns the absence of subject-auxiliary inversion in embedded clauses, as
illustrated in the c-examples just produced. Subject-auxiliary inversion is obligatory in matrix clauses when
something other than the subject is focused, but it never occurs in embedded clauses regardless of the constituent that
is focused. A systematic distinction in word order emerges across matrix wh-clauses, which can have VS order, and
embedded wh-clauses, which always maintain SV order, e.g.
a. Why are they doing that? - Subject-auxiliary inversion results in VS order in matrix wh-clause.
b. They told us why they are doing that. - Subject-auxiliary inversion is absent in embedded wh-clause.
c. *They told us why are they doing that. - Subject-auxiliary inversion is blocked in embedded wh-clause.
a. Who is he trying to avoid? - Subject-auxiliary inversion results in VS order in matrix wh-clause.
b. We know who he is trying to avoid. - Subject-auxiliary inversion is absent in embedded wh-clause.
c. *We know who is he trying to avoid. - Subject-auxiliary inversion is blocked in embedded wh-clause.

Clause

32

Relative clauses
Relative clauses are a mixed group. In English they can be standard SV-clauses if they are introduced by that or lack
a relative pronoun entirely, or they can be wh-clauses if they are introduced by a wh-word that serves as a relative
pronoun.
a. Something happened twice. - Standard declarative SV-clause
b. something that happened twice - Relative clause introduced by the relative pronoun that and modifying the indefinite
pronoun something

a. I know everyone. - Standard declarative SV-clause

b. everyone I know - Relative clause lacking a relative pronoun entirely and modifying the indefinite pronoun everyone
a. They left early - Standard declarative clause
b. the time when they left early - Relative clause introduced by the relative proform when and modifying the noun time
a. The woman sang a song. - Standard declarative SV-clause
b. the woman who sang a song. - Relative clause introduced by the relative pronoun who and modifying the noun woman
Being embedded clauses, relative clauses in English cannot display subject-auxiliary inversion.
A particular type of wh-relative-clause is the so-called free relative clause. Free relatives typically function as
arguments, e.g.
a. What he did was unexpected. - Free relative clause functioning as subject argument
b. He will flatter whoever is present. - Free relative clause functioning as object argument
These relative clauses are "free" because they can appear in a variety of syntactic positions; they are not limited to
appearing as modifiers of nominals. The suffix -ever is often employed to render a standard relative pronoun as a
pronoun that can introduce a free relative clause.

Clauses according to semantic predicate-argument function

Embedded clauses can be categorized according to their syntactic function in terms of predicate-argument structures.
They can function as arguments, as adjuncts, or as predicative expressions. That is, embedded clauses can be an
argument of a predicate, an adjunct on a predicate, or (part of) the predicate itself. The predicate in question is
usually the matrix predicate of a main clause, but embedding of predicates is also frequent.

Argument clauses
A clause that functions as the argument of a given predicate is known as an argument clause. Argument clauses can
appear as subjects, as objects, and as obliques. They can also modify a noun predicate, in which case they are known
as content clauses.
That they actually helped was really appreciated. - SV-clause functioning as the subject argument
They mentioned that they had actually helped. - SV-clause functioning as the object argument
What he said was ridiculous. - Wh-clause functioning as the subject argument
We know what he said. - Wh-clause functioning as an object argument
He talked about what he had said. - Wh-clause functioning as an oblique object argument
The following examples illustrate argument clauses that provide the content of a noun. Such argument clauses are
content clauses:
a. the claim that he was was going to change it

- Argument clause that provides the content of a noun (= content

clause)

b. the claim that he expressed - Adjunct clause (relative clause) that modifies a noun

Clause

33
a. the idea that we should alter the law - Argument clause that provides the content of a noun (= content clause)
b. the idea that came up - Adjunct clause (relative clause) that modifies a noun

The content clauses like these in the a-sentences are arguments. Relative clauses introduced by the relative pronoun
that as in the b-clauses here have an outward appearance that is closely similar to that of content clauses. The relative
clauses are adjuncts, however, not arguments.

Adjunct clauses
Adjunct clauses are embedded clauses that modify an entire predicate-argument structure. All clause types (SV-,
verb first, wh-) can function as adjuncts, although the stereotypical adjunct clause is SV and introduced by a
subordinator (= subordinate conjunction, e.g. after, because, before, when, etc.), e.g.
a. Fred arrived before you did. - Adjunct clause modifying matrix clause
b. After Fred arrived, the party started. - Adjunct clause modifying matrix clause
c. Susan skipped the meal because she is fasting. - Adjunct clause modifying matrix clause
These adjunct clauses modify the entire matrix clause. Thus before you did in the first example modifies the matrix
clause Fred arrived. Adjunct clauses can also modify a nominal predicate. The typical instance of this type of
adjunct is a relative clause, e.g.
a. We like the music that you brought. - Relative clause functioning as an adjunct that modifies the noun music
b. The people who brought music were singing loudly. - Relative clause functioning as an adjunct that modifies the
noun people

c. They are waiting for some food that will not come.

- Relative clause functioning as an adjunct that modifies the

noun food

Predicative clauses
An embedded clause can also function as a predicative expression. That is, it can form (part of) the predicate of a
greater clause.
a. That was when they laughed. - Predicative SV-clause, i.e. a clause that functions as (part of) the main predicate
b. He became what he always wanted to be. - Predicative wh-clause, i.e. wh-clause that functions as (part of) the main
predicate

These predicative clauses are functioning just like other predicative expressions, e.g. predicative adjectives (That
was good) and predicative nominals (That was the truth). They form the matrix predicate together with the copula.

Representing clauses
Some of the distinctions presented above are represented in syntax trees. These trees make the difference between
main and subordinate clauses very clear, and they also illustrate well the difference between argument and adjunct
clauses. The following dependency grammar trees show that embedded clauses are dependent on an element in the
main clause, often on a verb:[4]

Clause
The main clause encompasses the entire tree each time, whereas the embedded clause is contained within the main
clause. These two embedded clauses are arguments. The embedded wh-clause what we want is the object argument
of the predicate know. The embedded clause that he is gaining is the subject argument of the predicate is motivating.
Both of these argument clauses are directly dependent on the main verb of the matrix clause. The following trees
identify adjunct clauses using an arrow dependency edge:

These two embedded clauses are adjunct clauses because they provide circumstantial information that modifies a
superordinate expression. The first is a dependent of the main verb of the matrix clause and the second is a
dependent of the object noun. The arrow dependency edges identify them as adjuncts. The arrow points away from
the adjunct towards it governor to indicate that semantic selection is running counter to the direction of the syntactic
dependency; the adjunct is selecting its governor. The next four trees illustrate the distinction mentioned above
between matrix wh-clauses and embedded wh-clauses

The embedded wh-clause is an object argument each time. The position of the wh-word across the matrix clauses
(a-trees) and the embedded clauses (b-trees) captures the difference in word order. Matrix wh-clauses have V2 word
order, whereas embedded wh-clauses have (what amounts to) V3 word order. In the matrix clauses, the wh-word is a
dependent of the finite verb, whereas it is the head over the finite verb in the embedded wh-clauses.

34

Clause

35

Clauses vs. phrases

There has been confusion about the distinction between clauses and phrases. This confusion is due in part to how
these concepts are employed in the phrase structure grammars of the chomskyan tradition. In the 1970s, chomskyan
grammars began labeling many clauses as CPs (= complementizer phrases) or as IPs (= inflection phrases), and then
later as TPs (= tense phrases), etc. The choice of labels was influenced by the theory-internal desire to use the labels
consistently. The X-bar schema acknowledged at least three projection levels for every lexical head: a minimal
projection (e.g. N, V, P, etc.), an intermediate projection (e.g. N', V', P', etc.), and a phrase level projection (e.g. NP,
VP, PP, etc.). Extending this convention to the clausal categories occurred in the interest of the consistent use of
labels.
This use of labels should not, however, be confused with the actual status of the syntactic units to which the labels
are attached. A more traditional understanding of clauses and phrases maintains that phrases are not clauses, and
clauses are not phrases. There is a progression in the size and status of syntactic units: words < phrases < clauses.
The characteristic trait of clauses, i.e. the presence of a subject and a (finite) verb, is absent from phrases. Clauses
can be, however, embedded inside phrases.

Non-finite clauses
The central word of a non-finite clause is usually a non-finite verb (as opposed to a finite verb). There are various
types of non-finite clauses that can be acknowledged based in part on the type of non-finite verb at hand. Gerunds
are widely acknowledged to constitute non-finite clauses, and some modern grammars also judge many to-infinitives
to be the structural locus of non-finite clauses. Finally, some modern grammars also acknowledge so-called small
clauses, which often lack a verb altogether. It should be apparent that non-finite clauses are (by and large) embedded
clauses.

Gerund clauses
The underlined words in the following examples are considered non-finite clauses, e.g.,
a. Bill stopping the project was a big disappointment. - Non-finite gerund clause
b. Bill's stopping the project was a big disappointment. - Gerund with noun status
a. We've heard about Susan attempting a solution. - Non-finite gerund clause
b. We've heard about Susan's attempting a solution. - Gerund with noun status
a. They mentioned him cheating on the test. - Non-finite gerund clause
b. They mentioned his cheating on the test. - Gerund with noun status
Each of the gerunds in the a-sentences (stopping, attempting, and cheating) constitutes a non-finite clause. The
subject-predicate relationship that has long been taken as the defining trait of clauses is fully present in the
a-sentences. The fact that the b-sentences are also acceptable illustrates the enigmatic behavior of gerunds. They
seem to straddle two syntactic categories: they can function as non-finite verbs or as nouns. When they function as
nouns as in the b-sentences, it is debatable whether they constitute clauses, since nouns are not generally taken to be
constitutive of clauses.

Clause

36

to-infinitive clauses
Some modern theories of syntax take many to-infinitives to be constitutive of non-finite clauses.[5] This stance is
supported by the clear predicate status of many to-infinitives. It is challenged, however, by the fact that to-infinitives
do not take an overt subject, e.g.
a. She refuses to consider the issue.
a. He attempted to explain his concerns.
The to-infinitives to consider and to explain clearly qualify as predicates (because they can be negated). They do not,
however, take overt subjects. The subjects she and he are dependents of the matrix verbs refuses and attempted,
respectively, not of the to-infinitives. Data like these are often addressed in terms of control. The matrix predicates
refuses and attempted are control verbs; they control the embedded predicates consider and explain, which means
they determine which of their arguments serves as the subject argument of the embedded predicate. Some theories of
syntax posit the null subject PRO (=pronoun) to help address the facts of control constructions, e.g.
b. She refuses PRO to consider the issue.
b. He attempted PRO to explain his concerns.
With the presence of PRO as a null subject, to-infinitives can be construed as complete clauses, since both subject
and predicate are present.
One must keep in mind, though, that PRO-theory is particular to one tradition in the study of syntax and grammar
(Government and Binding Theory, Minimalist Program). Other theories of syntax and grammar (e.g. Head-Driven
Phrase Structure Grammar, Construction Grammar, dependency grammar) reject the presence of null elements such
as PRO, which means they are likely to reject the stance that to-infinitives constitute clauses.

Small clauses
Another type of construction that some schools of syntax and grammar view as non-finite clauses is the so-called
small clause. A typical small clause consists of a noun phrase and a predicative expression,[6] e.g.
We consider that a joke. - Small clause with the predicative noun phrase a joke
Something made him angry. - Small clause with the predicative adjective angry
She wants us to stay. - Small clause with the predicative non-finite to-infinitive to stay
The subject-predicate relationship is clearly present in the underlined strings. The expression on the right is a
predication over the noun phrase immediately to its left. While the subject-predicate relationship is indisputably
present, the underlined strings do not behave as single constituents, a fact that undermines their status as clauses.
Hence one can debate whether the underlined strings in these examples should qualify as clauses. The layered
structures of the chomskyan tradition are again likely to view the underlined strings as clauses, whereas the schools
of syntax that posit flatter structures are likely to reject clause status for them.

Clause

37

Notes
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]

For this basic definition in terms of a proposition, see Kroeger (2005:32).

For a definition of the clause that emphasizes the subject-predicate relationship, see Radford (2004327f.).
Most basic discussions of the clause emphasize the distinction between main and subordinate clauses. See for instance Crystal (1997:62).
Numerous dependency grammar trees like the ones produced here can be found, for instance, in Osborne and Gro (2012).
For an example of a grammar that acknowledges non-finite to-infinitive clauses, see Radford (2004:23).
For the basic characteristics of small clauses, see Crystal (1997:62).

References
Library resources about
Clause

Resources in your library (http://tools.wmflabs.org/ftl/cgi-bin/ftl?st=wp&su=Clause)

Crystal, D. 1997. A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics, fourth edition. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers.
Kroeger, P. 2005. Analysing Grammar: An Introduction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Osborne, T. and T. Gro 2012. Constructions are catenae: Construction Grammar meets Dependency Grammar.
Cognitive Linguistics 23, 1, 163-214.
Radford, A. 2004. English syntax: An introduction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

English compound
English grammar

Adjectives

Adverbs

Articles

Clauses

Compounds

Conditionals

Conjunctions

Determiners

Gender

Idiom

Interjections

Inversion

Nouns

Pronouns

Phrases

Plurals

Possessives

Prepositions

English compound

38

Verbs

Auxiliaries, contractions
Irregular verbs
Modal verbs
Passive voice
Phrasal verbs
Subjunctive
Verb usage

Grammar disputes

v
t

e [1]

A compound is a word composed of more than one free morpheme.

English compounds may be classified in several ways, such as the word classes or the semantic relationship of their
components.

Examples by word class

Modifier

Head

Compound

noun

noun

football

adjective

noun

blackboard

verb

noun

breakwater

preposition noun

underworld

noun

adjective

snowwhite

adjective

adjective

blue-green

verb

adjective

tumbledown

preposition adjective

over-ripe

noun

verb

browbeat

adjective

verb

highlight

verb

verb

freeze-dry

preposition verb

undercut

noun

preposition love-in

adverb

preposition forthwith

verb

preposition takeout

preposition preposition without

Compound nouns
Most English compound nouns are noun phrases (= nominal phrases) that include a noun modified by adjectives or
attributive nouns. Due to the English tendency towards conversion, the two classes are not always easily
distinguished. Most English compound nouns that consist of more than two words can be constructed recursively by
combining two words at a time. Combining "science" and "fiction", and then combining the resulting compound with
"writer", for example, can construct the compound "science fiction writer". Some compounds, such as salt and
pepper or mother-of-pearl, cannot be constructed in this way,

English compound

Types of compound nouns

Since English is a mostly analytic language, unlike most other Germanic languages, it creates compounds by
concatenating words without case markers. As in other Germanic languages, the compounds may be arbitrarily long.
However, this is obscured by the fact that the written representation of long compounds always contains spaces.
Short compounds may be written in three different ways, which do not correspond to different pronunciations,
however:
The "solid" or "closed" forms in which two usually moderately short words appear together as one. Solid
compounds most likely consist of short (monosyllabic) units that often have been established in the language for a
long time. Examples are housewife, lawsuit, wallpaper, basketball, etc.
The hyphenated form in which two or more words are connected by a hyphen. Compounds that contain affixes,
such as house-build(er) and single-mind(ed)(ness), as well as adjective-adjective compounds and verb-verb
compounds, such as blue-green and freeze-dried, are often hyphenated. Compounds that contain articles,
prepositions or conjunctions, such as rent-a-cop, mother-of-pearl and salt-and-pepper, are also often hyphenated.
The open or spaced form consisting of newer combinations of usually longer words, such as distance learning,
player piano, lawn tennis, etc.
Usage in the US and in the UK differs and often depends on the individual choice of the writer rather than on a
hard-and-fast rule; therefore, open, hyphenated, and closed forms may be encountered for the same compound noun,
such as the triplets container ship/container-ship/containership and particle board/particle-board/particleboard.
In addition to this native English compounding, there is the classical type, which consists of words derived from
Latin, as horticulture, and those of Greek origin, such as photography, the components of which are in bound form
(connected by connecting vowels, which are most often -i- and -o- in Latin and Greek respectively) and cannot stand
alone.

Analyzability (transparency)
In general, the meaning of a compound noun is a specialization of the meaning of its head. The modifier limits the
meaning of the head. This is most obvious in descriptive compounds (known as karmadharaya compounds in the
Sanskrit tradition), in which the modifier is used in an attributive or appositional manner. A blackboard is a
particular kind of board, which is (generally) black, for instance.
In determinative compounds, however, the relationship is not attributive. For example, a footstool is not a particular
type of stool that is like a foot. Rather, it is a stool for one's foot or feet. (It can be used for sitting on, but that is not
its primary purpose.) In a similar manner, an office manager is the manager of an office, an armchair is a chair with
arms, and a raincoat is a coat against the rain. These relationships, which are expressed by prepositions in English,
would be expressed by grammatical case in other languages. (Compounds of this type are known as tatpurusha in the
Sanskrit tradition.)
Both of the above types of compounds are called endocentric compounds because the semantic head is contained
within the compound itselfa blackboard is a type of board, for example, and a footstool is a type of stool.
However, in another common type of compound, the exocentric or (known as a bahuvrihi compound in the Sanskrit
tradition), the semantic head is not explicitly expressed. A redhead, for example, is not a kind of head, but is a
person with red hair. Similarly, a blockhead is also not a head, but a person with a head that is as hard and
unreceptive as a block (i.e. stupid). And, outside of veterinary surgery, a lionheart is not a type of heart, but a person
with a heart like a lion (in its bravery, courage, fearlessness, etc.).
Note in general the way to tell the two apart:
Can you paraphrase the meaning of the compound "[X . Y]" to A person/thing that is a Y, or ... that does Y, if Y is
a verb (with X having some unspecified connection)? This is an endocentric compound.

39

English compound
Can you paraphrase the meaning if the compound "[X . Y]" to A person/thing that is with Y, with X having some
unspecified connection? This is an exocentric compound.
Exocentric compounds occur more often in adjectives than nouns. A V-8 car is a car with a V-8 engine rather than a
car that is a V-8, and a twenty-five-dollar car is a car with a worth of $25, not a car that is $25. The compounds
shown here are bare, but more commonly, a suffixal morpheme is added, esp. -ed. Hence, a two-legged person is a
person with two legs, and this is exocentric.
On the other hand, endocentric adjectives are also frequently formed, using the suffixal morphemes -ing or -er/or. A
people-carrier is a clear endocentric determinative compound: it is a thing that is a carrier of people. The related
adjective, car-carrying, is also endocentric: it refers to an object, which is a carrying-thing (or equivalent, which
does carry).
These types account for most compound nouns, but there are other, rarer types as well. Coordinative, copulative or
dvandva compounds combine elements with a similar meaning, and the compound meaning may be a generalization
instead of a specialization. Bosnia-Herzegovina, for example, is the combined area of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but a
fighter-bomber is an aircraft that is both a fighter and a bomber. Iterative or amredita compounds repeat a single
element, to express repetition or as an emphasis. Day by day and go-go are examples of this type of compound,
which has more than one head.
Analyzability may be further limited by cranberry morphemes and semantic changes. For instance, the word
butterfly, commonly thought to be a metathesis for flutter by, which the bugs do, is actually based on an old bubbe
meise that butterflies are petite witches that steal butter from window sills. Cranberry is a part translation from Low
German, which is why we cannot recognize the element cran (from the Low German kraan or kroon, "crane"). The
ladybird or ladybug was named after the Christian expression "our Lady, the Virgin Mary".
In the case of verb+noun compounds, the noun may be either the subject or the object of the verb. In playboy, for
example, the noun is the subject of the verb (the boy plays), whereas it is the object in callgirl (someone calls the
girl).

Sound patterns
Stress patterns may distinguish a compound word from a noun phrase consisting of the same component words. For
example, a black board, adjective plus noun, is any board that is black, and has equal stress on both elements.[1] The
compound blackboard, on the other hand, though it may have started out historically as black board, now is stressed
on only the first element, black.[2] Thus a compound such as the White House normally has a falling intonation
which a phrase such as a white house does not.[3]

Compound modifiers
English compound modifiers are constructed in a very similar way to the compound noun. Blackboard Jungle,
leftover ingredients, gunmetal sheen, and green monkey disease are only a few examples.
A compound modifier is a sequence of modifiers of a noun that function as a single unit. It consists of two or more
words (adjectives, gerunds, or nouns) of which the left-hand component modifies the right-hand one, as in "the
dark-green dress": dark modifies the green that modifies dress.

40

English compound

Solid compound modifiers

There are some well-established permanent compound modifiers that have become solid over a longer period,
especially in American usage: earsplitting, eyecatching, and downtown.
However, in British usage, these, apart from downtown, are more likely written with a hyphen: ear-splitting,
eye-catching.
Other solid compound modifiers are for example:
Numbers that are spelled out and have the suffix -fold added: "fifteenfold", "sixfold".
Points of the compass: northwest, northwestern, northwesterly, northwestwards. In British usage, the hyphenated
and open versions are more common: north-western, north-westerly, north west, north-westwards.

Hyphenated compound modifiers

Major style guides advise consulting a dictionary to determine whether a compound modifier should be hyphenated;
the dictionary's hyphenation should be followed even when the compound modifier follows a noun (that is,
regardless of whether in attributive or predicative position), because they are permanent compounds (whereas the
general rule with temporary compounds is that hyphens are omitted in the predicative position because they are used
only when necessary to prevent misreading, which is usually only in the attributive position, and even there, only on
a case-by-case basis).
Generally, a compound modifier is hyphenated if the hyphen helps the reader differentiate a compound modifier
from two adjacent modifiers that modify the noun independently. Compare the following examples:
"small appliance industry": a small industry producing appliances
"small-appliance industry": an industry producing small appliances
The hyphen is unneeded when capitalization or italicization makes grouping clear:
"old English scholar": an old person who is English and a scholar, or an old scholar who studies English
"Old English scholar": a scholar of Old English.
"De facto proceedings" (not "de-facto")
If, however, there is no risk of ambiguities, it may be written without a hyphen: Sunday morning walk.
Hyphenated compound modifiers may have been formed originally by an adjective preceding a noun, when this
phrase in turn precedes another noun:

"Round table" "round-table discussion"

"Blue sky" "blue-sky law"
"Red light" "red-light district"
"Four wheels" "four-wheel drive" (historically, the singular or root is used, not the plural)

Others may have originated with a verb preceding an adjective or adverb:

"Feel good" "feel-good factor"
"Buy now, pay later" "buy-now pay-later purchase"
Yet others are created with an original verb preceding a preposition.

"Stick on" "stick-on label"

"Walk on" "walk-on part"
"Stand by" "stand-by fare"
"Roll on, roll off" "roll-on roll-off ferry"

The following compound modifiers are always hyphenated when they are not written as one word:
An adjective preceding a noun to which -d or -ed has been added as a past-participle construction, used before a
noun:

41

English compound
"loud-mouthed hooligan"
"middle-aged lady"
"rose-tinted glasses"
A noun, adjective, or adverb preceding a present participle:
"an awe-inspiring personality"
"a long-lasting affair"
"a far-reaching decision"
Numbers, whether or not spelled:

"seven-year itch"
"five-sided polygon"
"20th-century poem"
"30-piece band"
"tenth-storey window"
"a 20-year-old man" (as a compound modifier) and "the 20-year-old" (as a compound noun) but "a man, who
is 20 years old"
A numeral with the affix -fold has a hyphen (15-fold), but when spelled out takes a solid construction (fifteenfold).
Numbers, spelled out or not, with added -odd: sixteen-odd, 70-odd.
Compound modifiers with high- or low-: "high-level discussion", "low-price markup".
Colours in compounds:
"a dark-blue sweater"
"a reddish-orange dress".
Fractions as modifiers are hyphenated: "five-eighths inches", but if numerator or denominator are already
hyphenated, the fraction itself does not take a hyphen: "a thirty-three thousandth part". (Fractions used as nouns
have no hyphens: "I ate only one third of the pie.")
Comparatives and superlatives in compound adjectives also take hyphens:
"the highest-placed competitor"
"a shorter-term loan"
However, a construction with most is not hyphenated:
"the most respected member".
Compounds including two geographical modifiers:
"Afro-Cuban"
"African-American" (sometimes)
"Anglo-Indian"
But not
"Central American".
The following compound modifiers are not normally hyphenated:
Compound modifiers that are not hyphenated in the relevant dictionary or that are unambiguous without a
hyphen.
Where there is no risk of ambiguity:
"a Sunday morning walk"
Left-hand components of a compound modifier that end in -ly and that modify right-hand components that are
past participles (ending in -ed):
"a hotly disputed subject"
"a greatly improved scheme"
"a distantly related celebrity"

42

English compound

43

Compound modifiers that include comparatives and superlatives with more, most, less or least:
"a more recent development"
"the most respected member"
"a less opportune moment"
"the least expected event"
Ordinarily hyphenated compounds with intensive adverbs in front of adjectives:
"very much admired classicist"
"really well accepted proposal"

Using a group of compound nouns containing the same "head"

Special rules apply when multiple compound nouns with the same "head" are used together, often with a conjunction
(and with hyphens and commas if they are needed).
The third- and fourth-grade teachers met with the parents.
Both full- and part-time employees will get raises this year.
We don't see many 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children around here.

Compound verbs
modifier

head

examples

preposition verb

overrate, underline, outrun

adverb

verb

downsize, upgrade

adjective

verb

whitewash, blacklist, foulmouth

noun

verb

browbeat, sidestep, manhandle

preposition noun out-Herod, out-fox

A compound verb is usually composed of a preposition and a verb, although other combinations also exist. The
term compound verb was first used in publication in Grattan and Gurrey's Our Living Language (1925).
From a morphological point of view, some compound verbs are difficult to analyze because several derivations are
plausible. Blacklist, for instance, might be analyzed as an adjective+verb compound, or as an adjective+noun
compound that becomes a verb through zero derivation. Most compound verbs originally have the collective
meaning of both components, but some of them later gain additional meanings that may supersede the original,
emergent sense. Therefore, sometimes the resultant meanings are seemingly barely related to the original
contributors.
Compound verbs composed of a noun and verb are comparatively rare, and the noun is generally not the direct object
of the verb. In English, compounds such as *bread-bake or *car-drive do not exist. Yet, we find literal action words,
such as breastfeed, and washing instructions on clothing as for example hand wash.

English compound

Hyphenation
Compound verbs with single-syllable modifiers are solid, or unhyphenated. Those with longer modifiers may
originally be hyphenated, but as they became established, they became solid, e.g.,
overhang (English origin)
counterattack (Latin origin)
There was a tendency in the 18th century to use hyphens excessively, that is, to hyphenate all previously established
solid compound verbs. American English, however, has diminished the use of hyphens, while British English is
more conservative.

Phrasal verbs
English syntax distinguishes between phrasal verbs and prepositional verbs. Consider the following:
I held up my hand.
I held up a bank.
I held my hand up.
*I held a bank up.
The first three sentences are possible in English; the last one is unlikely. When to hold up means to raise, it is a
prepositional verb; the preposition up can be detached from the verb and has its own individual meaning "from lower
to a higher position". As a prepositional verb, it has a literal meaning. However, when to hold up means to rob, it is a
phrasal verb. A phrasal verb is used in an idiomatic, figurative or even metaphorical context. The preposition is
inextricably linked to the verb; the meaning of each word cannot be determined independently but is in fact part of
the idiom.
The Oxford English Grammar (ISBN 0-19-861250-8) distinguishes seven types of prepositional or phrasal verbs in
English:

intransitive phrasal verbs (e.g. give in)

transitive phrasal verbs (e.g. find out [discover])
monotransitive prepositional verbs (e.g. look after [care for])
doubly transitive prepositional verbs (e.g. blame [something] on [someone])
copular prepositional verbs. (e.g. serve as)
monotransitive phrasal-prepositional verbs (e.g. look up to [respect])
doubly transitive phrasal-prepositional verbs (e.g. put [something] down to [someone] [attribute to])

English has a number of other kinds of compound verb idioms. There are compound verbs with two verbs (e.g. make
do). These too can take idiomatic prepositions (e.g. get rid of). There are also idiomatic combinations of verb and
adjective (e.g. come true, run amok) and verb and adverb (make sure), verb and fixed noun (e.g. go ape); and these,
too, may have fixed idiomatic prepositions (e.g. take place on).

Misuses of the term

"Compound verb" is often used in place of:
1. "complex verb", a type of complex phrase. But this usage is not accepted in linguistics, because "compound" and
"complex" are not synonymous.
2. "verb phrase" or "verbal phrase". This is a partially, but not entirely, incorrect use. A phrasal verb can be a
one-word verb, of which compound verb is a type. However, many phrasal verbs are multi-word.
3. "phrasal verb". A sub-type of verb phrase, which have a particle as a word before or after the verb.

44

English compound

45

Notes
[1] When said in isolation, additional prosodic stress falls on the second word, but this disappears in the appropriate context.
[2] Some dictionaries mark secondary stress on the second element, board. However, this is a typographic convention due to the lack of
sufficient symbols to distinguish full from reduced vowels in unstressed syllables. See secondary stress for more.
[3] A similar falling intonation occurs in phrases when these are emphatically contrasted, as in "Not the black house, the white house!"

English conditional sentences

English grammar

Adjectives

Adverbs

Articles

Clauses

Compounds

Conditionals

Conjunctions

Determiners

Gender

Idiom

Interjections

Inversion

Nouns

Pronouns

Phrases

Plurals

Possessives

Prepositions

Verbs

Auxiliaries, contractions
Irregular verbs
Modal verbs
Passive voice
Phrasal verbs
Subjunctive
Verb usage

Grammar disputes

v
t

e [1]

As is typical for many languages, full conditional sentences in English consist of a condition clause or protasis
specifying a condition or hypothesis, and a consequence clause or apodosis specifying what follows from that
condition. The condition clause is a dependent clause, most commonly headed by the conjunction if, while the
consequence is contained in the main clause of the sentence. Either clause may appear first.
Different types of conditional sentences (depending largely on whether they refer to a past, present or future time
frame) require the use of particular verb forms (tenses and moods) to express the condition and the consequence. In
English language teaching the most common patterns are referred to as first conditional, second conditional and
third conditional; there is also a zero conditional and mixed conditional.

English conditional sentences

For more general information about the uses of verb tenses, moods and aspects in English, see Uses of English verb
forms.

Overview
In English conditional sentences, the condition clause (protasis) is a dependent clause, most commonly introduced by
the conjunction if. Other conjunctions or equivalent expressions may also be used, such as unless (meaning
"if...not"), provided (that), providing (that) and as long as. Certain condition clauses can also be formulated using
inversion without any conjunction; see Inversion in condition clauses below.
The apodosis, expressing the consequence of the stated condition, is generally the main clause of the sentence.
Depending on the sentence type, it may be a statement, question, or order. It may appear before or after the condition
clause:
If I see him, I will tell him. (declarative sentence, condition first)
I will tell him if I see him. (declarative sentence, condition second)
If you saw him, would you tell him? (interrogative sentence, condition first)
Would you tell him if you saw him? (interrogative sentence, condition second)
If you see it, photograph it. (imperative sentence, condition first)
Photograph it if you see it. (imperative sentence, condition second)
As with other dependent clauses in English, it is common for a comma to be used to separate the clauses if the
dependent clause comes first (as is done in the above examples). See Comma: Separation of clauses.
It is possible for the consequence clause to appear alone in a sentence, without a condition clause, if the condition
has been previously stated or is understood from the context. It may also be shortened by verb phrase ellipsis; a
minimal conditional sentence could therefore be something like "Would you?" or "I would."

English language teaching

In English language teaching, conditional sentences are often classified under the headings zero conditional, first
conditional (or conditional I), second conditional (or conditional II), third conditional (or conditional III) and
mixed conditional, according to the grammatical pattern followed, particularly in terms of the verb tenses and
auxiliaries used.

Zero conditional
"Zero conditional" refers to conditional sentences that express a factual implication, rather than describing a
hypothetical situation or potential future circumstance (see Types of conditional sentence). The term is used
particularly when both clauses are in the present tense; however such sentences can be formulated with a variety of
tenses/moods, as appropriate to the situation:
If you don't eat for a long time, you become hungry.
If the alarm went off, there's a fire somewhere in the building.
If you are going to sit an exam tomorrow, go to bed early tonight!
If aspirins will cure it, I'll take a couple tonight.
The first of these sentences is a basic zero conditional with both clauses in the present tense. The last is an example
of the use of will in a condition clause[1] (for more such cases, see below). The use of verb tenses, moods and aspects
in the parts of such sentences follows general principles, as described in Uses of English verb forms.
Occasionally, mainly in a formal and somewhat archaic style, a subjunctive is used in the condition clause (as in "If
the prisoner be held for more than five days, ...). For more details see English subjunctive. (See also Inversion in

46

English conditional sentences

condition clauses below.)

First conditional
"First conditional" or "conditional I" refers to a pattern used in predictive conditional sentences, i.e. those that
concern consequences of a possible future event (see Types of conditional sentence). In the basic first conditional
pattern, the condition is expressed using the present tense (having future meaning in this context), and the
consequence using the future construction with will (or shall):
If you make a mistake, someone will let you know.
If he asks me, I will/shall consider his proposal carefully.
The use of present tense in dependent clauses with future time reference is not confined to condition clauses; it also
occurs in various temporal and relative clauses (as soon as he arrives; take the first train that comes; etc.), as
described under Uses of English verb forms: Dependent clauses.
The present tense used in the condition clause may take the form of the simple present as in the above examples, or
the present progressive, present perfect or present perfect progressive as appropriate (according to general principles
for uses of English verb forms):
If he is sleeping when we arrive, we shan't wake him. (present progressive)
Will you wake him if he hasn't stirred by 10 o'clock? (present perfect)
If you have been working for more than ten hours when he returns, he will take your place. (present
perfect progressive)
The condition can also be expressed using the modal verb should. This form can be used to make an inverted
condition clause without a conjunction:
If you should make a mistake, ... (equivalent to "If you make a mistake")
Should you make a mistake, ... (inverted form again equivalent to the above).
Otherwise, the condition clause in a first conditional pattern is not normally formed with a modal verb, other than
can. However there are certain situations (often involving polite expressions) where will, would and could may be
used in such clauses; see Use of will and would in condition clauses below. For the occasional use of the subjunctive
in the condition clause, see under zero conditional above. In colloquial English, an imperative may be used with the
meaning of a condition clause, as in "go eastwards a mile and you'll see it" (meaning "if you go eastwards a mile,
you will see it").
Although the consequence in first conditional sentences is usually expressed using the will (or shall) future (usually
the simple future, though future progressive, future perfect and future perfect progressive are used as appropriate),
other variations are also possible it may take the form of an imperative, it may use another modal verb that can
have future meaning, or it may be expressed as a deduction about present or past time (consequent on a possible
future event):
If it rains this afternoon, come round to my place! (imperative)
If it rains this afternoon, we can/could/should/may/might find somewhere to shelter. (other modals)
If it rains this afternoon, then yesterday's weather forecast was wrong. (deduction about the past)
If it rains this afternoon, your garden party is doomed. (deduction placed in the present)
A particular case involves a condition clause that expresses a goal (this is often done using the be + to construction,
the going-to future or the verb want), and the main clause expresses something that is necessary for the achievement
of that goal, usually using a modal verb of necessity or obligation. In this case it is effectively the main clause, rather
than the dependent condition clause, that expresses a "condition".
If we want to succeed, we have to try harder.

47

English conditional sentences

If you are to get your pocket money, you must start behaving yourself.
As noted in the following section, it may be possible to express a statement about a hypothetical future situation
using either the first or second conditional pattern, with little specific difference in meaning.

Second conditional
"Second conditional" or "conditional II" refers to a pattern used to describe hypothetical, typically counterfactual
situations with a present or future time frame (for past time frames the third conditional is used). In the normal form
of the second conditional, the condition clause is in the past tense (although it does not have past meaning), and the
consequence is expressed using the conditional construction with the auxiliary would:
If I liked parties, I would attend more of them.
If it rained tomorrow, people would dance in the street.
The past tense (simple past or past progressive) of the condition clause is historically the past subjunctive. In modern
English this is identical to the past indicative, except in the first and third persons singular of the verb be, where the
indicative is was and the subjunctive were; in this case either form may be used. (Was is more colloquial, and were
more formal, although the phrase if I were you is common in colloquial language. For more details see English
subjunctive: Use of the past subjunctive.)
If I (he, she, it) was/were rich, there would be plenty of money available for this project.
If I (he, she, it) was/were speaking, you would not be allowed to interrupt like that.
When were is the verb of the condition clause, it can be used to make an inverted condition clause without a
conjunction. If the condition clause uses the past tense of another verb, it may be replaced by the auxiliary
construction was/were to + infinitive (particularly if it has hypothetical future reference); if this is done and were is
used, then inversion can be applied here too:
If I was rich, ... / If I were rich, ... / Were I rich, ...
If I flew, ... / If I was/were to fly, ... / Were I to fly, ...
Another possible pattern is if it wasn't/weren't for... (inverted form: were it not for ...), which means something like
"in the absence of ...". For clauses with if only, see Uses of English verb forms: Expressions of wish.
For the possible use of would or could in the condition clause as well, see Use of will and would in condition clauses
below.
The conditional construction of the main clause is usually the simple conditional; sometimes the conditional
progressive (e.g. would be waiting) is used. Occasionally, with a first person subject, the auxiliary would is replaced
by should (similarly to the way will is replaced by shall). Also, would may be replaced by another appropriate
modal: could, should, might.
When referring to hypothetical future circumstance, there may be little difference in meaning between the first and
second conditional (factual vs. counterfactual, realis vs. irrealis). The following two sentences have similar meaning,
although the second (with the second conditional) implies less likelihood that the condition will be fulfilled:
If you leave now, you will still catch your train.
If you left now, you would still catch your train.
Notice that in indirect speech reported in the past tense, the first conditional naturally changes to the second:
She'll kill me if she finds out.
He said I would kill him if I found out.

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English conditional sentences

Third conditional
"Third conditional" or "conditional III" is a pattern used to refer to hypothetical situations in a past time frame,
generally counterfactual (or at least presented as counterfactual, or likely to be counterfactual). Here the condition
clause is in the past perfect, and the consequence is expressed using the conditional perfect.
If you had called me, I would have come.
Would he have succeeded if I had helped him?
The condition clause can undergo inversion, with omission of the conjunction:
Had you called me, I would have come.
Would he have succeeded had I helped him?
Another possible pattern (similar to that mentioned under the second conditional) is if it hadn't been for... (inverted
form: had it not been for ...), which means something like "in the absence of ...", with past reference. For clauses
with if only, see Uses of English verb forms: Expressions of wish.
For the possible use of would in the condition clause, see Use of will and would in condition clauses. In the main
clause, the auxiliary would can be replaced by could, should or might, as described for the second conditional.
If only one of the two clauses has past reference, a mixed conditional pattern (see below) is used.

Mixed conditional
"Mixed conditional" usually refers to a mixture of the second and third conditionals (the counterfactual patterns).
Here either the condition or the consequence, but not both, has a past time reference.
When the condition refers to the past, but the consequence to the present, the condition clause is in the past perfect
(as with the third conditional), while the main clause is in the conditional mood as in the second conditional (i.e.
simple conditional or conditional progressive, but not conditional perfect).
If you had done your job properly, we wouldn't be in this mess now.
If I hadn't married Kelly, I wouldn't be living in Scotland now.
When the consequence refers to the past, but the condition is not expressed as being limited to the past, the condition
clause is expressed as in the second conditional (past, but not past perfect), while the main clause is in the
conditional perfect as in the third conditional:
If we were soldiers, we wouldn't have done it like that.
Other variations on the respective clause patterns are possible, as used accordingly in the second and third
conditionals.

Use of will and would in condition clauses

As noted above regarding the first conditional, will (or shall) is not normally used to mark future time reference in a
condition clause; instead an ordinary present tense is used:
If she wins (not: will win) tomorrow, I'll eat my hat.
However there are certain situations where will can appear in a condition clause. One type of situation is referred to
above under zero conditional, where will expresses futurity, but the sentence as a whole expresses factual implication
rather than a potential future circumstance: "If aspirins will cure it, I'll take a couple tonight" (the taking is not a
consequence of the curing, but a consequence of the expectation that they will cure).
More commonly, will appears used in condition clauses where it has a modal meaning, rather than marking the
future. (See uses of will.) Relevant meanings include willingness or persistence:[2]Wikipedia:Identifying reliable
sources
If you will excuse me, I think I will slip into something more comfortable. (willingness)

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English conditional sentences

If you will keep all the windows shut, of course you'll get headaches. (persistence)
In the second sentence will is stressed, and cannot be contracted to 'll.
Similarly, would is not generally used in the condition clauses of the counterfactual patterns (second and third
conditional) in standard English:
If I knew (not: would know) him, I would talk to him.
If you had written (not: would have written), it would have put my mind at rest.
However, some varieties of English regularly use would (contracted to 'd) and would have ('d have) in counterfactual
condition clauses, although this is often considered non-standard:
If you'd leave (standard: you left) now, you'd be on time.
If you'd have told (standard: you had told) me, we could've done something about it.
Such use of would is widespread especially in spoken American English in all sectors of society. It is not usually
found in more formal writing; however some sources describe it as acceptable US English, no longer labeling it
colloquial.[3][4]
There are also cases where would can appear in the condition clause in British English too, but these can be
considered to be modal uses of would, indicating willingness:
If you would listen to me once in a while, you might learn something.[5][6]Wikipedia:Identifying
reliable sources
Also, in cases where the event of the if-clause follows that of the main clause, use of would in the if-clause is
standard usage (this is similar to the aspirin example given above for will):
If it would make Bill happy, I would give him the money.
Would like and could are sometimes used in condition clauses for politeness:
I'll make a pot of tea if you would like some.
Please help Mrs Brown if you could.
For the use of should in future condition clauses, see under first conditional.

Inversion in condition clauses

Certain condition clauses (if-clauses) can be cast without any conjunction such as if or unless, instead using
subjectauxiliary inversion to indicate their meaning.
The principal constructions are as follows:
In the first conditional (where the condition clause expresses a possible future condition), inversion can be applied
to the form of the condition clause constructed using should:
If you feel hungry, ... (usual condition clause; present tense with future meaning)
If you should feel hungry, ... (should form of the condition clause)
Should you feel hungry, ... (inverted form)
In the second conditional (where the condition clause expresses a counterfactual present/future condition; this
may also occur in the mixed conditional), inversion is possible in the case where the verb is were the past
subjunctive:
If she were here, ... (usual condition clause)
Were she here, ...(inverted form)
As a special case of the above, when a condition clause based on a different verb (normally with hypothetical
future reference) is formulated using the were to construction, inversion is again possible (provided were and not
was is used):

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English conditional sentences

If you shot, ... (usual condition clause; past tense)
If you were to shoot, ... (were to construction)
Were you to shoot, ... (inverted form)
In the third conditional (where the condition clause expresses a counterfactual past condition; this may also occur
in the mixed conditional), the condition clause formed with the auxiliary had can be inverted:
If he had written, ... (usual condition clause; past perfect)
Had he written, ... (inverted form)
Inversion is also possible when the present subjunctive be is used (e.g. "Be he called on by God..." for "If he be
called on by God..."), but this is archaic usage for condition clauses; it is still occasionally found in dependent
clauses expressing "no matter whether ...", e.g. "Be they friend or foe ..." (equivalent to "Whether they be friend or
foe ..."). For similar examples see English subjunctive.

References
[1] lingua.org.uk: WILL with IF (http:/ / www. lingua. org. uk/ eq& a. html) (further down on the page)
[2] wordreference.com: single forum post (http:/ / forum. wordreference. com/ showpost. php?p=5478593& postcount=6) To stress willingness
or wish, you can use would or will in both clauses of the same sentence: If the band would rehearse more, they would play better. If the band
will rehearse more, they will play better. Both mean the same. (based on the examples and explanations from Practical English Usage,
Michael Swan, Oxford)
[3] perfectyourenglish.com: Learn English - Writing - American and British English - Differences in usage (http:/ / www. perfectyourenglish.
com/ writing/ american-and-british-usage-2. htm) "Conditional would is sometimes used in both clauses of an if-sentence. This is common in
spoken American English."
[4] Pearson Longman, Longman Exams Dictionary, grammar guide: It is possible to use would in both clauses in US English but not in British
English: US: The blockades wouldn't happen if the police would be firmer with the strikers. Br: The blockades wouldn't happen if the
police were firmer with the strikers.
[5] The English-Learning and Languages Review (http:/ / www. lingua. org. uk/ eq& a. html), "Questions and Answers". Retrieved 3 December
2012.
[6] forum.wordreference.com (http:/ / forum. wordreference. com/ showpost. php?p=5478593& postcount=6): To stress willingness or wish, you
can use would or will in both clauses of the same sentence: If the band would rehearse more, they would play better. If the band will rehearse
more, they will play better. Both mean the same. (based on the examples and explanations from Practical English Usage, Michael Swan,
Oxford)

51

Conjunction (grammar)

Conjunction (grammar)
In grammar, a conjunction (abbreviated CONJ or CNJ) is a part of speech that connects words, sentences, phrases
or clauses. A discourse connective is a conjunction joining sentences. This definition may overlap with that of other
parts of speech, so what constitutes a "conjunction" must be defined for each language. In general, a conjunction is
an invariable grammatical particle, and it may or may not stand between the items it conjoins.
The definition may also be extended to idiomatic phrases that behave as a unit with the same function, eg "as well
as", "provided that".
Many students are taught that certain conjunctions (such as "and", "but", "because", and "so") should not begin
sentences. But authorities such as the Chicago Manual of Style state that this teaching has "no historical or
grammatical foundation."
A simple literary example of a conjunction: "the truth of nature, and the power of giving interest" (Samuel Taylor
Coleridge's Biographia Literaria)

Coordinating conjunctions
Coordinating conjunctions, also called coordinators, are conjunctions that join, or coordinate, two or more items
(such as words, main clauses, or sentences) of equal syntactic importance. In English, the mnemonic acronym
FANBOYS can be used to remember the coordinators for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so.[1] These are not the only
coordinating conjunctions; various others are used, including:ch. 9:p. 171 "and nor" (British), "but nor" (British), "or
nor" (British), "neither" ("They don't gamble; neither do they smoke"), "no more" ("They don't gamble; no more do
they smoke"), and "only" ("I would go, only I don't have time").
Here are some examples of coordinating conjunctions in English and what they do:
as/because/for
present an explanation ("He is gambling with his health, as he has been smoking far too long.")
and
presents non-contrasting item(s) or idea(s) ("They gamble and they smoke.")
nor
presents a non-contrasting negative idea ("They do not gamble, nor do they smoke.")
but
presents a contrast or exception ("They gamble, but they don't smoke.")
or
presents an alternative item or idea ("Every day they gamble or they smoke.")
yet
presents a contrast or exception ("They gamble, yet they don't smoke.")
so
presents a consequence ("He gambled well last night so he smoked a cigar to celebrate.")

52

Conjunction (grammar)

Correlative conjunctions
Correlative' conjunctions' work in pairs to join words and groups of words of equal weight in a sentence. There are
six different pairs of correlative conjunctions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

either...or
not only...but (also)
neither...nor (or increasingly neither...or)
both...and
whether...or
just as...so

Examples:

You either do your work or prepare for a trip to the office.

Not only is he handsome, but he is also brilliant.
Neither the basketball team nor the football team is doing well.
Both the cross country team and the swimming team are doing well.
Whether you stay or you go, it's your decision.
Just as many Americans love basketball, so many Canadians love ice hockey.

Subordinating conjunctions
Subordinating conjunctions, also called subordinators, are conjunctions that join an independent clause and a
dependent clause. The most common subordinating conjunctions in the English language include after, although, as,
as far as, as if, as long as, as soon as, as though, because, before, if, in order that, since, so, so that, than, though,
unless, until, when, whenever, where, whereas, wherever, and while. Complementizers can be considered to be
special subordinating conjunctions that introduce complement clauses: e.g. "I wonder whether he'll be late. I hope
that he'll be on time". Some subordinating conjunctions (until and while), when used to introduce a phrase instead of
a full clause, become prepositions with identical meanings.
In many verb-final languages, subordinate clauses must precede the main clause on which they depend. The
equivalents to the subordinating conjunctions of non-verb-final languages such as English are either
clause-final conjunctions (e.g. in Japanese); or
suffixes attached to the verb, and not separate words
Such languages often lack conjunctions as a part of speech, because:
1. the form of the verb used is formally nominalised and cannot occur in an independent clause
2. the clause-final conjunction or suffix attached to the verb is a marker of case and is also used in nouns to indicate
certain functions. In this sense, the subordinate clauses of these languages have much in common with
postpositional phrases.
In other West Germanic languages like German and Dutch, the word order after a subordinating conjunction is
different from that in an independent clause, e.g. in Dutch want ("for") is coordinating, but omdat ("because") is
subordinating. The clause after the coordinating conjunction has normal word order, but the clause after the
subordinating conjunction has verb-final word order. Compare:
Hij gaat naar huis, want hij is ziek. ("He goes home, for he is ill.")
Hij gaat naar huis, omdat hij ziek is. ("He goes home because he is ill.")
Similarly, in German, "denn" (for) is coordinating, but "weil" (because) is subordinating:
Er geht nach Hause, denn er ist krank. ("He goes home, for he is ill.")
Er geht nach Hause, weil er krank ist. ("He goes home because he is ill.")

53

Conjunction (grammar)

54

References
[1] Merriam-webster.com (http:/ / www. merriam-webster. com/ dictionary)

External links
Wikitionary lists of conjuctions by language (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/
Category:Conjunctions_by_language)

English determiners
English grammar

Adjectives

Adverbs

Articles

Clauses

Compounds

Conditionals

Conjunctions

Determiners

Gender

Idiom

Interjections

Inversion

Nouns

Pronouns

Phrases

Plurals

Possessives

Prepositions

Verbs

Auxiliaries, contractions
Irregular verbs
Modal verbs
Passive voice
Phrasal verbs
Subjunctive
Verb usage

Grammar disputes

v
t

e [1]

An important role in English grammar is played by determiners words or phrases that precede a noun or noun
phrase and serve to express its reference in the context. The most common of these are the definite and indefinite
articles, the and a(n). Other determiners in English include demonstratives such as this and that, possessives such as
my and the boy's, and quantifiers such as all, many and three.
In many contexts the presence of some determiner is required in order to form a complete noun phrase. However, in
some cases complete noun phrases are formed without any determiner (sometimes referred to as "zero determiner" or

English determiners
"zero article"), as in the sentence Apples are fruit. Determiners can also be used in certain combinations, as in my
many friends or all the chairs.

Overview
The terminology used in accounts of English grammar to refer to determiners is very varied. Sometimes the term is
not used at all, and the words classed here as determiners (apart from the articles) are classed as adjectives (but see
Determiners and adjectives below). In the present article a broad view is taken of what constitutes a determiner; it
includes the articles and words and phrases that can substitute for them, as well as words and phrases serving as
quantifiers. This means that determiners as construed here include words from the determiner class, such as the, this,
my, many, etc., as well as nominal possessives (John's, the tall boy's) and other specifying or quantifying phrases
such as more than three, almost all, and this size (as in this size shoes).
Note that many words or phrases that serve as determiners can also play the role of pronouns; for example, the word
all is a determiner in the sentences All men are equal and I know all the rules, but a pronoun in All's well that ends
well. In other cases there is a related but distinct pronoun form; for example the determiners my and no have
corresponding pronouns mine and none.
Determiners that consist of phrases rather than single words might be called determiner phrases, although this should
probably be avoided as the term is also used to refer to a noun phrase headed by a determiner (see Determiner
phrase).

Common determiners
The following is a rough classification of determiners used in English, including both words and phrases:
Definite determiners, which imply that the referent of the resulting noun phrase is defined specifically:
The definite article the.
The demonstratives this and that, with respective plural forms these and those.
Possessives, including those corresponding to pronouns my, your, his, her, its, our, their, whose and the
Saxon genitives formed from other nouns, pronouns and noun phrases (one's, everybody's, Mary's, a boy's, the
man we saw yesterday's). These can be made more emphatic with the addition of own or very own.
Interrogatives which, what (these can be followed by -ever for emphasis).
Relative determiners: which (quite formal and archaic, as in He acquired two dogs and three cats, which
animals were then...); also whichever and whatever (which are of the type that form clauses with no
antecedent: I'll take whatever money they've got).
Indefinite determiners:
The indefinite article a or an (the latter is used when followed by a vowel sound).
The word some, pronounced [s()m] (see Weak and strong forms in English), used as an equivalent of the
indefinite article with plural and non-count nouns (a partitive).
The strong form of some, pronounced [sm], as in Some people prefer dry wine; this can also be used with
singular count nouns (There's some man at the door). For words such as certain and other see below.
The word any, often used in negative and interrogative contexts in place of the article-equivalent some (and
sometimes also with singular count nouns). It can also be used to express alternative (see below).
Quantifiers, which quantify a noun:
Basic words indicating a large or small quantity: much/many, little/few, and their comparative and superlative
forms more, most, less/fewer, least/fewest. Where two forms are given, the first is used with non-count nouns
and the second with count nouns (although in colloquial English less and least are frequently also used with
count nouns). The basic forms can be modified with adverbs, especially very, too and so (and not can also be
added). Note that unmodified much is quite rarely used in affirmative statements in colloquial English.

55

English determiners

56

Phrases expressing similar meanings to the above: a lot of, lots of, plenty of, a great deal of, tons of, etc. Many
such phrases can alternatively be analyzed as nouns followed by a preposition, but their treatment as phrasal
determiners is supported by the fact that the resulting noun phrase takes the number of the following noun, not
the noun in the phrase (a lot of people would take a plural verb, even though lot is singular).
Words and phrases expressing some unspecified or probably quite small amount: a few/a little (learners often
confuse these with few/little), several, a couple of, a bit of, a number of etc.
Cardinal numbers: zero (quite rare as determiner), one, two, etc. In some analyses these may not be treated as
determiners.
Other phrases expressing precise quantity: a pair of, five litres of, etc.
Words and phrases expressing multiples or fractions: half, half of, double, twice, three times, twice as much,
etc. Those like double and half (without of) are generally used in combination with definite determiners (see
Combinations of determiners below).
Words expressing maximum, sufficient or zero quantity: all, both, enough, sufficient, no.
Note that many of these quantifiers can be modified by adverbs and adverbial phrases such as almost, over,
more than, less than, when the meaning is appropriate.
Words that enumerate over a group or class, or indicate alternatives:
each, every (note that every can be modified by adverbs such as almost and practically, whereas each generally
cannot)
any (as in any dream will do; see also under indefinite determiners above), either, neither
Personal determiners:
The words you and we/us, in phrases like we teachers; you guys can be analysed as determiners.
Examples:
"As all we teachers know . . ."
"Us girls must stick together. " (informal)
These examples can be contrasted with a similar but different use of pronouns in an appositional
construction, where the use of other pronouns is also permitted but the pronouns cannot be preceded by
the (pre-) determiner "all".
Examples:
"I/we, the undersigned, . . . , "
"We, the undersigned, . . . , "
but not
All we, the undersigned, . . ."
Other cases:
The words such and exclamative what (these are followed by an indefinite article when used with a singular
noun, as in such a treat, what a disaster!)
Noun phrases used as determiners, such as this colour and what size (as in I like this colour furniture; What
size shoes do you take?)
Words such as same, other, certain, different, only, which serve a determining function, but are grammatically
more likely to be classed simply as adjectives, in that they generally require another determiner to complete the
phrase (although they still come before other adjectives). Note that the indefinite article in combination with
other is written as the single word another.
Consult Wiktionary for more information on the meanings and usage of the words listed here. It also contains a fairly
complete list of words that can be classed as determiners in English.

English determiners

Zero determiner
In some contexts a complete noun phrase can exist without any determiner (or with "zero determiner"). The main
types of such cases are:
with plural or uncountable nouns used to refer to a concept or members of a class generally: cars are useful (but
the cars when specific cars are being referred to); happiness is contagious (but the happiness when specific
happiness is referred to, as in the happiness that laughter engenders...).
with plural or uncountable nouns used to refer to some unspecified amount of something: there are cats in the
kitchen; I noticed water on the floor (here it is also possible to use some cats, some water).
with many proper names: Tom Smith, Birmingham, Italy, Jupiter.
with singular common nouns in some common expressions: smiling from ear to ear, leaving town today.
For more information, see English articles.

Combinations of determiners
Determiners can be used in certain combinations. Common examples are listed below:
A definite determiner can be followed by certain quantifiers (the many problems, these three things, my very few
faults).
The words all and both can be followed by a definite determiner (all the green apples, both the boys), which can
also be followed by a quantifier as above (all the many outstanding issues).
The word all can be followed by a cardinal number (all three things).
The word some can be followed by a cardinal number (some eight packets, meaning "approximately eight").
Words and phrases expressing fractions and multiples, such as half, double, twice, three times, etc. can be
followed by a definite determiner (half a minute, double the risk, twice my age, three times my salary,
three-quarters the diameter, etc.
The words such and exclamative what can be followed by an indefinite article (as mentioned in the section
above).
The word many can be used with the indefinite article and a singular noun (many a night, many an awkward
moment).
The words each and every can be followed by a cardinal number or other expression of definite quantity (each
two seats, every five grams of flour).
To specify a quantity within a definite class (as opposed to a definite class of a given quantity), it is often possible to
use a quantifier in pronoun form (often identical to the determiner form), followed by of and a definite determiner.
For example, three of the mice, few of my enemies, none of these pictures, much of John's information. An alternative
construction with possessives is to place of and the pronoun form of the possessive after the noun: few enemies of
mine, much information of John's.
As with other parts of speech, it is often possible to connect determiners of the same type with the conjunctions and
and or: his and her children, two or three beans.

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English determiners

Determiners and adjectives

In traditional English grammar, determiners were not considered a separate part of speech most of them would
have been classed as adjectives. However there are certain differences between determiners and ordinary adjectives
(although the boundary is not always entirely clear).
Determiners take the place (or can take the place) of articles in noun phrases, whereas adjectives do not. For
example, my house (not *the my house), but the big house.
Adjectives can generally be used in combination without restriction, whereas only certain combinations of
determiners are allowable (see section above). For example, a big green book is grammatical, but *every his book
is not.
Most adjectives can be used alone in predicative complement position, as in he is happy; determiners cannot (*he
is the is not a grammatical sentence), except where the same words are used as pronouns (the problem is this).
Most adjectives have comparative and superlative forms (happier, happiest; more beautiful, most beautiful),
whereas determiners generally are not (except much/many, few, little).
Determiners often have corresponding pronouns, while adjectives do not.
Adjectives can modify singular or plural nouns, while determiners are sometimes restricted to one or the other (as
with much and many).
When determiners and adjectives (or other modifiers) occur in the same noun phrase, the determiner generally comes
first: the big book, not *big the book. However there are certain exceptions when the determiner is the indefinite
article a(n): that article normally comes after an adjective modified with so, as, too or how. For example:

It was so terrible a disease that... (alternatively: ...such a terrible disease that...)

He was as rude a man as I have ever met.
That was too good an opportunity to miss.
I know how good a swimmer she is.

For more information about theoretical approaches to the status of determiners, see Noun phrase: Noun phrases with
and without determiners.

References
External links
Full list of English determiners on Wiktionary (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:English_determiners)

58

Gender in English

59

Gender in English
English grammar

Adjectives

Adverbs

Articles

Clauses

Compounds

Conditionals

Conjunctions

Determiners

Gender

Idiom

Interjections

Inversion

Nouns

Pronouns

Phrases

Plurals

Possessives

Prepositions

Verbs

Auxiliaries, contractions
Irregular verbs
Modal verbs
Passive voice
Phrasal verbs
Subjunctive
Verb usage

Grammar disputes

v
t

e [1]

A system of grammatical gender, whereby every noun was treated as either masculine, feminine or neuter, existed in
Old English, but fell out of use during the Middle English period. Modern English retains features relating to natural
gender, namely the use of certain nouns and pronouns (such as he and she) to refer specifically to persons or animals
of one or other sex, and certain others (such as it) for sexless objects although feminine pronouns may optionally
be used when referring to ships (and analogous machinery) and nation states.
Some aspects of gender usage in English have been influenced by the movement towards a preference for
gender-neutral language. This applies in particular to avoidance of the default use of the masculine he when referring
to a person of unspecified sex, and avoidance of the use of certain feminine forms of nouns (such as authoress and
poetess).

Gender in English

Gender in Old English

Old English had a system of grammatical gender similar to that of modern German, with three genders: masculine,
feminine, neuter. Determiners and attributive adjectives showed gender inflection in agreement with the noun they
modified. Also the nouns themselves followed different declension patterns depending on their gender. Moreover the
third-person personal pronouns, as well as interrogative and relative pronouns, were chosen according to the
grammatical gender of their antecedent.
For details of the declension patterns and pronoun systems, see Old English grammar.

Decline of grammatical gender

By the 11th century, the role of grammatical gender in Old English was beginning to decline.[1] The Middle English
of the 13th century was in transition to the loss of a gender system.[2] One element of this process was the change in
the functions of the words the and that (then spelt e and at; see also Old English determiners): previously these
had been non-neuter and neuter forms respectively of a single determiner, but in this period the came to be used
generally as a definite article and that as a demonstrative; both thus ceased to manifest any gender differentiation.
The loss of gender classes was part of a general decay of inflectional endings and declensional classes by the end of
the 14th century. While inflectional reduction seems to have been incipient in the English language itself, some
theories suggest that it was accelerated by contact with Old Norse, especially in midland and northern dialects.
Gender loss began in the north of England; the south-east and the south-west Midlands were the most linguistically
conservative regions, and Kent retained traces of gender in the 1340s. Late 14th-century London English had almost
completed the shift away from grammatical gender, and Modern English retains no morphological agreement of
words with grammatical gender.

Modern English
Gender is no longer an inflectional category in Modern English.[3] The only traces of the Old English gender system
are found in the system of pronounantecedent agreement, although this is now generally based on natural gender[4]
the sex, or perceived sexual characteristics (or asexual nature), of the pronoun's referent. Another manifestation of
natural gender that continues to function in English is the use of certain nouns to refer specifically to persons or
animals of a particular sex: widow/widower, actor/actress, cow/bull, etc.
Benjamin Whorf described grammatical gender in English as a covert grammatical category.[5] He noted that gender
as a property inherent in nouns (rather than in their referents) is not entirely absent from modern English: different
pronouns may be appropriate for the same referent depending on what noun has been used. For example, one might
say this child is eating its dinner, but my daughter is eating her (not its) dinner, even though child and daughter in
the respective sentences might refer to the same person.

Personal pronouns
The third-person singular personal pronouns are chosen according to the natural gender of their antecedent or
referent. As a general rule:
he (and its related forms him, himself, his) is used when the referent is a male person, and sometimes when it is a
male animal (or something else to which male characteristics are attributed);
she (and her, herself, hers) is used when the referent is a female person, sometimes when it is a female animal,
and sometimes when female characteristics are attributed to something inanimate this is common especially
with vessels such as ships and airplanes, and sometimes with countries. An Example is in God Bless America,
where one lyric is "Stand beside her, and guide her through the night with a light from above."
it (and itself, its) is used when the referent is something inanimate, often when it is an animal, and sometimes for a
child when the sex is unspecified.

60

Gender in English
Pronoun agreement is often with the natural gender of the referent (the person or thing denoted) rather than simply
the antecedent (a noun or noun phrase which the pronoun replaces). For example, one might say either the doctor
and his patients or the doctor and her patients, depending on one's knowledge or assumptions about the sex of the
doctor in question, as the phrase the doctor (the antecedent) does not itself have any specific natural gender. Also,
pronouns are sometimes used without any explicit antecedent. However, as noted above (the example with child and
daughter), the choice of pronoun may also be affected by the particular noun used in the antecedent.
(When the antecedent is a collective noun, such as family or team, and the pronoun refers to the members of the
group denoted rather than the group as a single entity, a plural pronoun may be chosen: compare the family and its
origins; the family and their breakfast-time arguments. See also synesis.)
Problems arise when the referent is a person of unknown or unspecified sex. Traditionally the male forms he etc.
have been used in such situations, but in contemporary English (partly because of the movement towards
gender-neutral language) this is often avoided. Possible alternatives include:

use of he or she, he/she, s/he, etc.

alternation or random mixture of use of she and he
use of singular they (common especially in informal language)
use of it (normally only considered when the antecedent is a word like child, baby, infant)

Although the use of she and he for inanimate objects is not very frequent in Standard Modern English, it is in fact
fairly widespread in some varieties of English. Gender assignment to inanimate nouns in these dialects is sometimes
fairly systematic. For example, in some dialects of southwest England, masculine pronouns are used for individuated
or countable matter, such as iron tools, while the neuter form is used for non-individuated matter, such as liquids, fire
and other substances.[6]
Animals
In principle, animals are triple-gender nouns, being able to take masculine, feminine and neuter pronouns. However,
animals viewed as less important to humans, also known as lower animals, are generally referred to using it; higher
(domestic) animals may more often be referred to using he and she, when their sex is known. If the sex of the animal
is not known, the masculine pronoun is often used with a sex-neutral meaning. For example,
Person A: Ah theres an ant
Person B: Well put him outside
Animate pronouns he and she are usually applied to animals when personification and/or individuation occurs.
Personification occurs whenever human attributes are applied to the noun. For example:
A widow bird sat mourning for her love.
Specifically named animals are an example of individuation, such as Peter Rabbit or Blob the Whale. In these
instances, it is more likely that animate pronouns he or she will be used to represent them.
These rules also apply to other triple-gender nouns, including ideas, inanimate objects, and words like infant and
child.

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Gender in English
Ships and countries
Traditionally ships, even ships named after men such as USS Barry, countries, and oceans have been referred to
using the feminine pronouns. The origins of this practice are not certain, and it is currently in decline (though still
more common for ships, particularly in nautical usage, than for countries). In Modern English, calling objects "she"
is an optional figure of speech, while in American English it is advised against by The Chicago Manual of Style.[7]
Transgender persons
In general, transgender individuals prefer to be referred to by the gender pronoun appropriate to the gender with
which they identify. Some genderqueer or similarly-identified people prefer not to use either he or she, but a
different pronoun such as they, zie, or so forth. Drag performers, when in costume, are usually referred to by the
gender pronouns for the gender they are performing (for example, drag queens are usually called "she" when in
drag).

Other pronouns
Other English pronouns are not subject to male/female distinctions, although in some cases a distinction between
animate (or rather human) and inanimate (non-human) referents is made. For example, the word who (as an
interrogative or relative pronoun) refers to a person or persons, and rarely to animals (although the possessive form
whose can be used as a relative pronoun even when the antecedent is inanimate), while which and what refer to
inanimate things (and non-human animals). Since these pronouns function on a binary gender system, distinguishing
only between animate and inanimate entities, this suggests that English has a second gender system which contrasts
with the primary gender system. It should also be noted that relative and interrogative pronouns do not encode
number. This is shown in the following example:
The man who lost his head vs. the men who lost their heads
Other pronouns which show a similar distinction include everyone/everybody vs. everything, no one/nobody vs.
nothing, etc.

Gender-specific words
Many words in modern English refer specifically to people or animals of a particular sex, although sometimes the
specificity is being lost (for example, duck need not refer exclusively to a female bird; cf. Donald Duck). As part of
the movement towards gender-neutral language, the use of many specifically female forms, such as poetess,
authoress, is increasingly discouraged.
An example of a word that still has a different spelling for the masculine and feminine is the word blonde. For
example: masculine:blond feminine:blonde

Gender neutrality in English

Gender neutrality in English became a growing area of interest among academics during Second Wave Feminism,
when the work of structuralist linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, and his theories on semiotics, became more well
known in academic circles. By the 1960s and 1970s, post-structuralist theorists, particularly in France, brought wider
attention to gender-neutrality theory, and the concept of supporting gender equality through conscious changes to
language. Feminists analyzing the English language put forward their own theories about the power of language to
create and enforce gender determinism and the marginalization of the feminine. Debates touched on such issues as
changing the term "stewardess" to the gender-neutral "flight attendant", "fireman" to "fire fighter", "mailman" to
"mail carrier", and so on. At the root of this contentiousness may have been feminists' backlash against the English
language's shift from "grammatical gender" to "natural gender" during the early Modern era coinciding with the
spread of institutional prescriptive grammar rules in English schools. These theories have been challenged by some

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Gender in English
researchers, with attention given to additional possible social, ethnic, economic, and cultural influences on language
and gender. The impact on mainstream language has been limited, yet has led to lasting changes in practice.
Features of gender-neutral language in English may include:
Avoidance of gender-specific job titles, or caution in their use;
Avoidance of the use of man and mankind to refer to humans in general;
Avoidance of the use of he, him and his when referring to a person of unspecified sex (see under Personal
pronouns above).
Certain naming practices (such as the use of Mrs and Miss to distinguish married and unmarried women) may also be
discouraged on similar grounds. For more details and examples, see Gender neutrality in English.

References
Notes
[1] : "[T]he major gender shift for inanimate nouns in written texts occurs in late Old English/early Middle English, but the seeds of change are
already present in Old English before 1000 AD."
[2] : "[G]rammatical gender remained healthy in the personal pronouns through late Old English; it is not until early Middle English that the
balance of gender concord in the pronouns tips towards natural gender, at least in the written language."
[3] Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (2002).
[4] 'English Language', (http:/ / encarta. msn. com/ encyclopedia_761564210_2/ English_Language. html) Encarta, (Microsoft Corporation,
2007). "The distinctions of grammatical gender in English were replaced by those of natural gender.". Archived (http:/ / www. webcitation.
org/ 5kwpdH4jo) 2009-10-31.
[5] Benjamin Lee Whorf, 'Grammatical Categories', Language 21 (1945): 111. See also Robert A. Hall Jr, 'Sex Reference and Grammatical
Gender in English' (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ stable/ 453074), American Speech 26 (1951): 170172.
[6] Compare the similar Early Modern English formation which is typified in the prose of the King James Bible (or Authorized Version), here
shewed in the Gospel of St Matthew, v,13: Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is
thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
[7] The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, p. 356. 2003. ISBN 0-226-10403-6.

Bibliography
Cameron, Deborah (2003). Feminism and Linguistic Theory (2nd ed.). New York,NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
ISBN978-0-312-08376-2.
Curzan, Anne (2003). Gender Shifts in the History of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN978-0-521-82007-3.

63

Idiom

64

Idiom
English grammar

Adjectives

Adverbs

Articles

Clauses

Compounds

Conditionals

Conjunctions

Determiners

Gender

Idiom

Interjections

Inversion

Nouns

Pronouns

Phrases

Plurals

Possessives

Prepositions

Verbs

Auxiliaries, contractions
Irregular verbs
Modal verbs
Passive voice
Phrasal verbs
Subjunctive
Verb usage

Grammar disputes

v
t

e [1]

An idiom (Latin: idioma, "special property", f. Greek: idima, "special feature, special phrasing", f. Greek:
idios, "ones own") is a combination of words that has a figurative meaning owing to its common usage. An
idiom's figurative meaning is separate from the literal meaning.[1] There are thousands of idioms and they occur
frequently in all languages. There are estimated to be at least twenty-five thousand idiomatic expressions in the
English language.[2]

Idiom

65

Examples
The following sentences contain idioms. The fixed words constituting the idiom in each case are bolded:[3]
a. She is pulling my leg. - to pull someone's leg means to trick them by telling them something untrue.
b. When will you drop them a line? - to drop someone a line means to send a note to someone.
c. You should keep an eye out for that. - to keep an eye out for something means to maintain awareness of it.
d. I can't keep my head above water. - to keep one's head above water means to manage a situation.
e. It's raining cats and dogs. - to rain cats and dogs means to rain very heavily (a downpour).
f. Oh no! You spilled the beans! - to spill the beans means to let out a secret.
Each of the word combinations in bold has at least two meanings: a literal meaning and a figurative meaning. Pulling
someone's leg means either that you literally grab their leg and yank it, or figuratively, it means that you tease them
by telling them a fictitious story. Such expressions that are typical for a language can appear as words, combinations
of words, phrases, entire clauses, and entire sentences. Idiomatic expressions in the form of entire sentences are
called proverbs,[citation needed] if they refer to a universal truth e.g.
g. The devil is in the details.
h. The early bird catches the worm.
i. Break a leg.
j. Waste not, want not.
Proverbs such as these have figurative meaning. When one says "The devil is in the details", one is not expressing a
belief in demons, but rather one means that things may look good on the surface, but upon scrutiny, problems are
revealed.

Derivations
Many idiomatic expressions, in their original use were not figurative but had literal meaning. For instance: "Spill the
Beans" Meaning to let out a secret is derived from Ancient Athens with the creation of democracy. The voting
process was achieved through the use of beans of different colors being placed into jars or bags; therefore to spill the
beans was to reveal the results, which were secret.
"Let the Cat Out of the Bag" With a meaning similar to the former, but the secret revealed in this case will likely
cause some problems. When buying a pig at the market in medieval times the pig would be put into a bag. Feral cats
were in no short supply and a dishonest merchant would switch a cat for a pig when the buyer was not looking.
Letting the cat out was to reveal the secret but also a troublesome ordeal for the new feline owner.
"Break a Leg" Meaning good luck in a performance/presentation etc... This common idiom comes from superstition.
It was thought that there were sprites, little fairy like creatures, backstage in theaters who would do exactly the
opposite of whatever they were told. To say break a leg was to make sure the sprites did not break the performers
leg.

Idiom

66

Compositionality
In linguistics, idioms are usually presumed to be figures of speech contradicting the principle of compositionality.[4]
This principle states that the meaning of a whole should be constructed from the meanings of the parts that make up
the whole. In other words, one should be in a position to understand the whole if one understands the meanings of
each of the parts that make up the whole. The following example is widely employed to illustrate the point:
Fred kicked the bucket.
Understood compositionally, Fred has literally kicked an actual, physical bucket. The much more likely idiomatic
reading, however, is non-compositional: Fred is understood to have died. Arriving at the idiomatic reading from the
literal reading is unlikely for most speakers. What this means is that the idiomatic reading is, rather, stored as a
single lexical item that is now largely independent of the literal reading.
In phraseology, idioms are defined as a sub-type of phraseme, the meaning of which is not the regular sum of the
meanings of its component parts.[5] John Saeed defines an idiom as collocated words that became affixed to each
other until metamorphosing into a fossilised term.[6] This collocation of words redefines each component word in the
word-group and becomes an idiomatic expression. Idioms usually do not translate well; in some cases, when an
idiom is translated directly word-for-word into another language, either its meaning is changed or it is meaningless.
When two or three words are often used together in a particular sequence, the words are said to be irreversible
binomials, or Siamese twins. Usage will prevent the words from being displaced or rearranged. For example, a
person may be left "high and dry" but never "dry and high". This idiom in turn means that the person is left in their
former condition rather than being assisted so that their condition improves. Not all Siamese twins are idioms,
however. "Reading, writing, and arithmetic" is a frozen trinomial,Wikipedia:Please clarify but it is usually taken
literally.

Translating idioms
Literal translation (word-by-word) of opaque idioms will not convey the same meaning in other languages. Idioms
from other languages that are analogous to kick the bucket in English are listed next:
Bulgarian: 'to kick the bell'
Czech: nathnout bakory 'pull the slippers'
Danish: at stille trskoene 'to take off the clogs',
Dutch: het loodje leggen 'to lay the piece of lead' or de pijp aan Maarten geven 'to give the pipe to
Maarten',
Finnish: potkaista tyhj 'to kick the void' or heitt veivins 'to toss away the crank' or kasvaa
koiranputkea 'to be growing cow parsley' or heitt lusikan nurkkaan 'to toss the spoon to the corner' or
oikaista koipensa 'to stretch the shanks'
French: manger des pissenlits par la racine 'to eat dandelions by the root' or casser sa pipe 'to break his
pipe' or passer l'arme gauche 'pass the weapon to the left',
German: den Lffel abgeben 'to give the spoon away' or ins Gras beien 'to bite into the grass' or sich
die Radieschen von unten ansehen 'look at the radishes from underneath',
Greek: 'to shake the horse-shoes',
Italian: tirare le cuoia 'to pull the skins',
Latvian: nolikt karoti 'to put the spoon down'[7]
Lithuanian: pakratyti kojas 'to shake the legs',
Norwegian: parkere tflene 'to park the slippers',

Idiom

67
Polish: kopn w kalendarz 'to kick the calendar', wcha kwiatki od spodu 'smell the flowers from
underneath', wycign kopyta 'to stretch the hooves'
Portuguese: bater as botas 'to beat the boots', esticar o pernil 'to stretch the leg', or fazer tijolo 'to make
a brick', plus comer capim pela raiz 'to eat grass by the root', abotoar o palet 'to button up the
blazer/coat', esticar as canelas 'to stretch the shanks',
Romanian: a da colul 'to turn the corner', or i-a sunat ceasul 'his clock has rung',
Russian: (sygrat' v yaschik) 'to play into the box', 'to give the oak',
'to throw back the hoofs'
Spanish: estirar la pata 'to stretch one's leg',[citation needed]
Swedish: trilla av pinnen 'to fall off the stick', or ta ner skylten 'take the sign down',
Tlingit: dkde kkw aawayaa 'to take ones basket into the woods',
Ukrainian: 'to cut the oak (as in building a coffin)',
Urdu: Patta kat jana 'to cut the leaf' Haathi Nikal Gaya Dum Phans gai ' The
whole Elephant was out but his tail was stuck out'

Some idioms are transparent.[8] Much of their meaning does get through if they are taken (or translated) literally. For
example, lay one's cards on the table meaning to reveal previously unknown intentions, or to reveal a secret.
Transparency is a matter of degree; spill the beans (to let secret information become known) and leave no stone
unturned (to do everything possible in order to achieve or find something) are not entirely literally interpretable, but
only involve a slight metaphorical broadening. Another category of idioms is a word having several meanings,
sometimes simultaneously, sometimes discerned from the context of its usage. This is seen in the (mostly
un-inflected) English language in polysemes, the common use of the same word for an activity, for those engaged in
it, for the product used, for the place or time of an activity, and sometimes for a verb.
Idioms tend to confuse those unfamiliar with them; students of a new language must learn its idiomatic expressions
as vocabulary. Many natural language words have idiomatic origins, but are assimilated, so losing their figurative
senses, for example, in Portuguese, the expression saber de corao 'to know by heart', with the same meaning as in
English, was shortened to 'saber de cor', and, later, to the verb decorar, meaning memorize.

Dealing with non-compositionality

The non-compositionality of meaning of idioms challenges theories of syntax. The fixed words of many idioms do
not qualify as constituents in any sense, e.g.
a. How do we get to the bottom of this situation?
The fixed words of this idiom (in bold) do not form a constituent in any theory's analysis of syntactic structure
because the object of the preposition (here this situation) is not part of the idiom (but rather it is an argument of the
idiom). One can know that it is not part of the idiom because it is variable, e.g. How do we get to the bottom of this
situation / the claim / the phenomenon / her statement / etc. What this means is that theories of syntax that take the
constituent to be the fundamental unit of syntactic analysis are challenged. The manner in which units of meaning
are assigned to units of syntax remains unclear. This problem has motivated a tremendous amount of discussion and
debate in linguistics circles and it is a primary motivator behind the Construction Grammar framework.[9]
A relatively recent development in the syntactic analysis of idioms departs from a constituent-based account of
syntactic structure, preferring instead the catena-based account.[10] Any word or any combination of words that are
linked together by dependencies qualifies as a catena.[11] The words constituting idioms are stored as catenae in the
lexicon, and as such, they are concrete units of syntax. The dependency grammar trees of a few sentences containing
non-constituent idioms illustrate the point:

Idiom

The fixed words of the idiom (in orange) in each case are linked together by dependencies; they form a catena. The
material that is outside of the idiom (in normal black script) is not part of the idiom. The following two trees
illustrate proverbs:

The fixed words of the proverbs (in orange) again form a catena each time. The adjective nitty-gritty and the adverb
always are not part of the respective proverb and their appearance does not interrupt the fixed words of the proverb.
A caveat concerning the catena-based analysis of idioms concerns their status in the lexicon. Idioms are lexical
items, which means they are stored as catenae in the lexicon. In the actual syntax, however, some idioms can be
broken up by various functional constructions.
The catena-based analysis of idioms provides a basis for an understanding of meaning compositionality. The
Principle of Compositionality can in fact be maintained. Units of meaning are being assigned to catenae, whereby
many of these catenae are not constituents.

Notes
[1] See The Oxford companion to the English language (1992:495f.).
[2] Concerning the estimate of the number of idioms in the English language, see Jackendoff (1997).
[3] Examples of idioms like the ones given here can be found in most any syntax or grammar book, or dictionary of linguistics terminology, e.g.
Crystal (1997:189), Radford (2004:187f.), Jurafsky and Martin (2000:597f.).
[4] That compositionality is the key notion for the analysis of idioms is emphasized in most accounts of idioms, e.g. Radford (2004:187f.). The
principle of compositionality is introduced and explained at an introductory level by Portner (2005:33f).
[5] See Meluk (1995:167-232).
[6] For Saeed's definition, see Saeed (2003:60).
[7] The Oxford Companion to the English Language (1992): 495f.
[8] Concerning the transparency of some idioms, see Gibbs, R. W. (1987)
[9] For an example of the discussion of the difficulty that the non-compositionality of idioms has motivated, see for instance Culicver and
Jackendoff (2005:32ff.).
[10] The catena unit was introduced to linguistics by William O'Grady (1998).
[11] For a definition of the catena and discussion, see Osborne and Gro (2012:173ff.).

68

Idiom

69

References

Crystal, A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics, 4th edition. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers.
Culicover, P. and R. Jackendoff. 2005. Simpler syntax. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Gibbs, R. 1987. Linguistic factors in children's understanding of idioms. Journal of Child Language, 14, 569586.
Jackendoff, R. 1997. The architecture of the language faculty. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Jurafsky, D. and J. Martin. 2008. Speech and language processing: An introduction to natural language
processing, computational linguistics, and speech recognition. Dorling Kindersley (India): Pearson Education,
Inc.
Leaney, C. 2005. In the know: Understanding and using idioms. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Meluk, I. 1995. Phrasemes in language and phraseology in linguistics. In M. Everaert, E.-J. van der Linden, A.
Schenk and R. Schreuder (eds.), Idioms: Structural and psychological perspectives, 167232. Hillsdale, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum.
OGrady, W. 1998. The syntax of idioms. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 16, 79-312.
Osborne, T. and T. Gro 2012. Constructions are catenae: Construction Grammar meets Dependency Grammar.
Cognitive Linguistics 23, 1, 163-214.
Portner, P. 2005. What is meaning?: Fundamentals of formal semantics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Radford, A. English syntax: An introduction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Saeed, J. 2003. Semantics. 2nd edition. Oxford: Blackwell.

External links
Idioms.in (http://idioms.in/) - Online English idioms dictionary.

Interjection
English grammar

Adjectives

Adverbs

Articles

Clauses

Compounds

Conditionals

Conjunctions

Determiners

Gender

Idiom

Interjections

Inversion

Nouns

Pronouns

Phrases

Plurals

Possessives

Prepositions

Interjection

70

Verbs

Auxiliaries, contractions
Irregular verbs
Modal verbs
Passive voice
Phrasal verbs
Subjunctive
Verb usage

Grammar disputes

v
t

e [1]

In grammar, an interjection or exclamation may be a word used to express an emotion or sentiment on the part of
the speaker (although most interjections have clear definitions). Filled pauses such as uh, er, um are also considered
interjections. Interjections are often placed at the beginning of a sentence.
An interjection is sometimes expressed as a single word or non-sentence phrase, followed by a punctuation mark.
The isolated usage of an interjection does not represent a complete sentence in conventional English writing. Thus,
in formal writing, the interjection will be incorporated into a larger sentence clause.
Interjection as a figure of speech refers to the use of one word. For example, lawyers in the United States of America
traditionally say: Objection! or soldiers: Fire!.

Examples in English
Conventions like Hi, Bye and Goodbye are interjections, as are exclamations like Cheers! and Hooray!. In fact, like a
noun or a pronoun, they are very often characterized by exclamation marks depending on the stress of the attitude or
the force of the emotion they are expressing. Well (a short form of "that is well") can also be used as an interjection:
"Well! That's great!" or "Well, don't worry." Much profanity takes the form of interjections. Some linguists consider
the pro-sentences yes, no, amen and okay as interjections, since they have no syntactical connection with other words
and rather work as sentences themselves. Expressions such as "Excuse me!", "Sorry!", "No thank you!", "Oh dear!",
"Hey that's mine!", and similar ones often serve as interjections. Interjections can be phrases or even sentences, as
well as words, such as "Oh!" "Pooh!" "Wow!" or "sup!".

Phonology
Several English interjections contain sounds that do not (or very rarely) exist in regular English phonological
inventory. For example:
Ahem [m], [m], [m], or [hm], ("attention!") may contain a glottal stop [] or a [] in any dialect
of English; the glottal stop is common in American English, some British dialects, and in other languages, such as
German.
Shh [] ("quiet!") is an entirely consonantal syllable.
Psst [ps] ("here!"), is another entirely consonantal syllable-word, and its consonant cluster does not occur
initially in regular English words.
Tut-tut [ ] ("shame..."), also spelled tsk-tsk, is made up entirely of clicks, which are an active part of regular
speech in several African languages. This particular click is dental. (This also has the spelling pronunciation [tt
tt].)
Ugh [x] ("disgusting!") ends with a velar fricative consonant, which otherwise does not exist in English, though
is common in languages like Spanish, German, and Gaelic.

Interjection

71

Whew or phew [u] ("what a relief!"), also spelled shew, may start with a bilabial fricative, a sound pronounced
with a strong puff of air through the lips. This sound is a common phoneme in such languages as Suki (a language
of New Guinea) and Ewe and Logba (both spoken in Ghana).
Gah [h] ("Gah, there's nothing to do!") ends with [h], which does not occur with regular English words.
Yeah [j] ("yes") ends with the short vowel [], or in some dialects [], neither of which are found at the end of
any regular English words.

References

Subjectauxiliary inversion
English grammar

Adjectives

Adverbs

Articles

Clauses

Compounds

Conditionals

Conjunctions

Determiners

Gender

Idiom

Interjections

Inversion

Nouns

Pronouns

Phrases

Plurals

Possessives

Prepositions

Verbs

Auxiliaries, contractions
Irregular verbs
Modal verbs
Passive voice
Phrasal verbs
Subjunctive
Verb usage

Grammar disputes

v
t

e [1]

Subjectauxiliary inversion (also called subjectoperator inversion) is a frequently occurring type of inversion in
English, whereby a finite auxiliary verb taken here to include finite forms of the copula be appears to "invert"
(change places) with the subject.[1] The word order is therefore Aux-S (auxiliarysubject), which is the opposite of
the canonical SV (subjectverb) order of declarative clauses in English. The most frequent use of subjectauxiliary
inversion in English is in the formation of questions, although it also has other uses, including the formation of

Subjectauxiliary inversion
condition clauses, and in the syntax of sentences beginning with negative expressions (negative inversion).
In certain types of English sentences, inversion is also possible with verbs other than auxiliaries; these are described
in the article on subject-verb inversion.

Overview
Subjectauxiliary inversion involves placing the subject after a finite auxiliary verb,[2] rather than before it as is the
case in typical declarative sentences (the canonical word order of English being subjectverbobject). The auxiliary
verbs which may participate in such inversion (e.g. is, can, have, will, etc.) are described at English auxiliaries and
contractions. Note that forms of the verb be are included regardless of whether or not they function as auxiliaries in
the sense of governing another verb form. (For exceptions to this restriction, see Inversion with other types of verb
below.)
A typical example of subjectauxiliary inversion is given below.
a. Sam has read the paper. - Statement
b. Has Sam read the paper? - Yesno question formed using inversion
Here the subject is Sam, and the verb has is an auxiliary. In the question, these two elements change places (invert).
If the sentence does not have an auxiliary verb, this type of simple inversion is not possible. Instead, an auxiliary
must be introduced into the sentence in order to allow inversion:[3]
a. Sam enjoys the paper. - Statement with the non-auxiliary verb enjoys
b. *Enjoys Sam the paper? - This is incorrect; simple inversion not possible with this type of verb
c. Does Sam enjoy the paper? - The sentence formulated with the auxiliary does now allows inversion
For details of the use of do, did and does for this and similar purposes, see do-support. For exceptions to the
principle that the inverted verb must be an auxiliary, see Inversion involving non-auxiliary verbs below. It is also
possible for the subject to invert with a negative contraction (can't, isn't, etc.). For example:
a. He isn't nice.
b. Isn't he nice? - The subject he inverts with the negated auxiliary contraction isn't
Compare this with the uncontracted form Is he not nice? and the archaic Is not he nice?).

Uses of subjectauxiliary inversion

The main uses of subjectauxiliary inversion in English are described in the following sections, although other types
can occasionally be found.[4] It should be noted that most of these uses of inversion are restricted to main clauses;
they are not found in subordinate clauses. However other types (such as inversion in condition clauses) are specific
to subordinate clauses.

In questions
The most common use of subjectauxiliary inversion in English is in question formation. It appears in yesno
questions:
a. Sam has read the paper. - Statement
b. Has Sam read the paper? - Question
and also in questions introduced by other interrogative words (wh-questions):
a. Sam is reading the paper. - Statement
b. What is Sam reading? - Question introduced by interrogative what

72

Subjectauxiliary inversion
Inversion does not occur, however, when the interrogative word is the subject or is contained in the subject. In this
case the subject remains before the verb (it can be said that wh-fronting takes precedence over subjectauxiliary
inversion):
a. Somebody has read the paper. - Statement
b. Who has read the paper? - The subject is the interrogative who; no inversion
c. Which fool has read the paper? - The subject contains the interrogative which; no inversion
Inversion also does not normally occur in indirect questions. For example:
a. "What did Sam eat?", Cathy wonders. - Inversion in a direct question
b. *Cathy wonders what did Sam eat. - Incorrect; inversion should not be used in an indirect question
c. Cathy wonders what Sam ate. - Correct; indirect question formed without inversion
Similarly:
a. We asked whether Tom had left. - Correct; indirect question without inversion
b. *We asked whether had Tom left. - Incorrect

Negative inversion
Another use of subjectauxiliary inversion is in sentences which begin with certain types of expressions which
contain a negation or have negative force. For example
a. Jessica will say that at no time.
b. At no time will Jessica say that. - Subject-auxiliary inversion with a fronted negative expression.
This is described in detail at negative inversion.

Inversion in condition clauses

Subjectauxiliary inversion can be used in certain types of subordinate clause expressing a condition:
a. If the general had not ordered the advance,...
b. Had the general not ordered the advance,... - Subject-auxiliary inversion of a counterfactual conditional clause
Note that when the condition is expressed using inversion, the conjunction if is omitted. More possibilities are given
at English conditional sentences: Inversion in condition clauses, and variations are described at English subjunctive:
Inversion.

Other cases
Subjectauxiliary inversion is used after the anaphoric particle so, mainly in elliptical sentences. The same
frequently occurs in elliptical clauses beginning with as.
a. Fred fell asleep, and Jim fell asleep too.
b. Fred fell asleep, and so did Jim.
c. Fred fell asleep, as did Jim.
Inversion also occurs following an expression beginning with so or such, as in:
a. We felt so tired (such tiredness) that we fell asleep.
b. So tired (Such tiredness) did we feel that we fell asleep.
Subjectauxiliary inversion may optionally be used in elliptical clauses introduced by the particle of comparison
than:
a. Sally knows more languages than her father does.

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Subjectauxiliary inversion
b. Sally knows more languages than does her father. - Optional inversion, with no change in meaning

Inversion with other types of verb

There are certain sentence patterns in English in which subjectverb inversion takes place where the verb is not
restricted to an auxiliary verb. Here the subject may invert with certain main verbs, e.g. After the pleasure comes the
pain, or with a chain of verbs, e.g. In the box will be a bottle. These are described in the article on subject-verb
inversion. Further, inversion was not limited to auxiliaries in older forms of English. Examples of non-auxiliary
verbs being used in typical subjectauxiliary inversion patterns may be found in older texts or in English written in
an archaic style:
Know you what it is to be a child? (Francis Thompson)
The verb have, when used to denote broadly defined possession (and hence not as an auxiliary), is still sometimes
used in this way in modern standard English:
Have you any idea what this would cost?

Inversion as a remnant of V2 word order

In some cases of subjectauxiliary inversion, such as negative inversion, the effect is to put the finite auxiliary verb
into second position in the sentence. In these cases, inversion in English results in word order that is like the V2
word order of other Germanic languages (Danish, Dutch, Frisian, Icelandic, German, Norwegian, Swedish, Yiddish,
etc.). These instances of inversion are remnants of the V2 pattern that formerly existed in English as it still does in its
related languages. Old English followed a consistent V2 word order.

Structural analyses
The structural analysis of subject-auxiliary inversion, and of inversion in general, challenges many theories of
sentence structure, in particular, those theories based on phrase structure. The challenge stems from the fact that
these theories posit the existence of a finite verb phrase constituent. The standard declarative sentence is divided into
two immediate constituents, a subject NP and a predicate VP. When subject-auxiliary inversion occurs, it appears to
violate the integrity of the predicate.[5] The canonical predicate is underlined in the following sentences:
a. Larry has started working. - Traditional VP predicate is a continuous combination of words.
b. Has Larry started working? - Traditional VP predicate is no longer continuous.
a. Susan will listen to the music. - Traditional VP predicate is a continuous combination of words.
b. Will Susan listen to the music? - Traditional VP predicate is no longer continuous.
The finite VP predicate is a continuous sequence of words in the a-sentences. In the b-sentences in contrast,
subject-auxiliary inversion breaks up the predicate. What this means is that in one sense or another, a discontinuity is
present in the structure.
One widespread means of addressing this difficulty is to posit movement. The underlying word order of the
b-sentences is deemed to be that shown in the a-sentences. To arrive at the inversion word order in the b-sentences,
movement is assumed.[6] The finite verb moves out of its base position after the subject into a derived position in
front of the subject.

74

Subjectauxiliary inversion

By moving out of its base position and into the derived position at the front of the clause, the integrity of the
predicate VP constituent can be maintained, since it is present at an underlying level of sentence structure.
An alternative analysis does not acknowledge the binary division of the clause into subject NP and predicate VP, but
rather it places the finite verb as the root of the entire sentence and views the subject as switching to the other side of
the finite verb. No discontinuity is perceived. Dependency grammars are likely to pursue this sort of analysis.[7] The
following dependency trees illustrate how this alternative account can be understood:

These trees show the finite verb as the root of all sentence structure. The hierarchy of words remains the same across
the a- and b-trees. If movement occurs at all, it occurs rightward (not leftward); the subject moves rightward to
appear as a post-dependent of its head, which is the finite auxiliary verb.

Notes
[1] For accounts and discussion of subject-auxiliary inversion, see for instance Quirk and Greenbaum (1979:63), Radford (1988:32f.), Downing
and Locke (1992:22f.), Ouhalla (1994:62ff.).
[2] Concerning the obligatory status of the verb that undergoes inversion as an auxiliary, see Radford (1988:149f.).
[3] Concerning do-support, see for instance Bach (1974:94), Greenbaum and Quirk (1990:232), Ouhalla (1994:62ff.).
[4] Concerning the environments illustrated here in which subject-auxiliary inversion can or must occur, they are illustrated and discussed in
numerous places in the literature, e.g. Bach (1974:93), Quirk et al. (1979:378f.), Greenbaum and Quirk (1990:232, 410f.), Downing and Locke
(1992:22f, 230f.).
[5] Concerning the difficulty that inversion generates for theories of syntax that build on the binary subject-predicate division of the clause, see
Lockwood (2002:52).
[6] For examples of the movement-type analysis of subject-auxiliary inversion, see for instance Ouhalla (1994:62ff.), Culicover (1997:337f.),
Adger (2003:294), Radford (1988: 411ff., 2004: 123ff).
[7] Concerning the dependency grammar analysis of inversion, see Gro and Osborne (2009: 64-66).

75

Subjectauxiliary inversion

76

References
Adger, D. 2003. Core syntax:A minimalist approach. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Bach, E. 1974. Syntactic theory. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
Culicover, P. 1997. Principles and parameters: An introduction to syntactic theory. Oxford, UK: Oxford
University Press.
Downing, A. and Locke, P. 1992. English grammar: A university course, second edition. London: Routledge.
Greenbaum, S. and R. Quirk. 1990. A student's grammar of the English language. Harlow, Essex, England:
Longman.
Gro, T. and T. Osborne 2009. Toward a practical dependency grammar theory of discontinuities. SKY Journal of
Linguistics 22, 43-90.
Lockwood, D. 2002. Syntactic analysis and description: A constructional approach. London: continuum.
Ouhalla, J. 1994. Transformational grammar: From rules to principles and parametrs. London: Edward Arnold.
Quirk, R. S. Greenbaum, G. Leech, and J. Svartvik. 1979. A grammar of contemporary English. London:
Longman.
Radford, A. 1988. Transformational Grammar: A first course. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Radford, A. 2004. English syntax: An introduction.Cambridge University Press.

Noun
Examples

The cat sat on the mat.

Please hand in your assignments by the end of the week.
Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Plato was an influential philosopher in ancient Greece.
Please complete this assignment with black or blue pen only, and keep your eyes on your own paper.
A noun can co-occur with an article or an attributive adjective. Verbs and adjectives can't. In the following, an asterisk
(*) in front of an example means that this example is ungrammatical.
1. the name (name is a noun: can co-occur with a definite article the.)
2. *the baptise (baptise is a verb: cannot co-occur with a definite article.)
3. constant circulation (circulation is a noun: can co-occur with the attributive adjective constant.)
4. *constant circulate (circulate is a verb: cannot co-occur with the attributive adjective constant.)
5. a fright (fright is a noun: can co-occur with the indefinite article a.)
6. *an afraid (afraid is an adjective: cannot co-occur with the article a.)
7. terrible fright (The noun fright can co-occur with the adjective terrible.)
8. *terrible afraid (The adjective afraid cannot co-occur with the adjective terrible.)

Nouns are a part of speech typically denoting a person, place, thing, animal or idea. In linguistics, a noun is a
member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the
object of a verb, or the object of a preposition.[1]
Lexical categories are defined in terms of the ways in which their members combine with other kinds of expressions.
The syntactic rules for nouns differ from language to language. In English, nouns are those words which can occur
with articles and attributive adjectives and can function as the head of a noun phrase.

Noun

History
The English word noun comes from the Latin nmen, meaning "name" or "noun", a cognate of the Ancient Greek
noma (also meaning "name" or "noun").
Word classes like nouns were first described by Pini in the Sanskrit language and by Ancient Greek grammarians,
and were defined by the grammatical forms that they take. In Greek and Sanskrit, for example, nouns are categorized
by gender and inflected for case and number.
Because nouns and adjectives share these three grammatical categories, grammarians sometimes do not distinguish
between the two. For example, Dionysius Thrax uses the term noma for both, with words of adjectival type largely
contained in the subclass that he describes as paraggn (plural paragg),[2] meaning "derived". See also the
section on substantive below.

Definitions of nouns
Nouns have sometimes been defined in terms of the grammatical categories to which they are subject (classed by
gender, inflected for case and number). Such definitions tend to be language-specific, since nouns do not have the
same categories in all languages.
Nouns are frequently defined, particularly in informal contexts, in terms of their semantic properties (their
meanings). Nouns are described as words that refer to a person, place, thing, event, substance, quality, quantity, etc.
However this type of definition has been criticized by contemporary linguists as being uninformative.[3]
Linguists often prefer to define nouns (and other lexical categories) in terms of their formal properties. These include
morphological information, such as what prefixes or suffixes they take, and also their syntax how they combine
with other words and expressions of particular types. Such definitions may nonetheless still be language-specific,
since syntax as well as morphology varies between languages. For example, in English it might be noted that nouns
are words that can co-occur with definite articles (as stated at the start of this article), but this would not apply in
Russian, which has no definite articles.
There have been several attempts, sometimes controversial, to produce a stricter definition of nouns on a semantic
basis. Some of these are referenced in the Further reading section below.

Forms of nouns
A noun in its basic form will often consist of a single stem, as in the case of the English nouns cat, man, table and so
on. In many languages nouns can also be formed from other nouns and from words of other types through
morphological processes, often involving the addition of prefixes and suffixes. Examples in English are the verbal
nouns formed from verbs by the addition of -ing, nouns formed from verbs using other suffixes such as organization
and discovery, agent nouns formed from verbs usually with the suffix -er or -or, as in actor and worker, feminine
forms of nouns such as actress, lioness, nouns formed from adjectives such as happiness, and many other types.
Nouns may be identical in form to words that belong to other parts of speech, often as a result of conversion (or just
through coincidence). For example the English word hit can be both a noun and a verb, and the German Arm/arm
can be a noun or an adjective. In such cases the word is said to represent two or more lexemes.
In many languages nouns inflect (change their form) for number, and sometimes for case. Inflection for number
usually involves forming plural forms, such as cats and children (see English plural), and sometimes other forms
such as duals, which are used in some languages to refer to exactly two of something. Inflection for case involves
changing the form of a noun depending on its syntactic function languages such as Latin, Russian and Finnish have
extensive case systems, with different forms for nominatives (used principally for verb subjects), accusatives (used
especially for direct objects), genitives (used to express possession and similar relationships) and so on. The only
real vestige of the case system on nouns in Modern English is the "Saxon genitive", where 's is added to a noun to

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Noun
form a possessive.

Gender
In some languages, nouns are assigned to genders, such as masculine, feminine and neuter (or other combinations).
The gender of a noun (as well as its number and case, where applicable) will often entail agreement in words that
modify or are related to it. For example, in French, the singular form of the definite article is le with masculine nouns
and la with feminines; adjectives and certain verb forms also change (with the addition of -e with feminines).
Grammatical gender often correlates with the form of the noun and the inflection pattern it follows; for example, in
both Italian and Russian most nouns ending -a are feminine. Gender also often correlates with the sex of the noun's
referent, particularly in the case of nouns denoting people (and sometimes animals). Nouns do not have gender in
Modern English, although many of them denote people or animals of a specific sex.

Classification of nouns
Proper nouns and common nouns
A proper noun or proper name is a noun representing unique entities (such as Earth, India, Jupiter, Harry, or BMW),
as distinguished from common nouns which describe a class of entities (such as city, animal, planet, person or car).

Countable and uncountable nouns

Count nouns or countable nouns are common nouns that can take a plural, can combine with numerals or counting
quantifiers (e.g., one, two, several, every, most), and can take an indefinite article such as a or an (in languages
which have such articles). Examples of count nouns are chair, nose, and occasion.
Mass nouns or uncountable (or non-count) nouns differ from count nouns in precisely that respect: they cannot take
plurals or combine with number words or the above type of quantifiers. For example, it is not possible to refer to a
furniture or three furnitures. This is true even though the pieces of furniture comprising furniture could be counted.
Thus the distinction between mass and count nouns should not be made in terms of what sorts of things the nouns
refer to, but rather in terms of how the nouns present these entities.[4][5]
Many nouns have both countable and uncountable uses; for example, beer is countable in "give me three beers", but
uncountable in "he likes beer".

Collective nouns
Collective nouns are nouns that refer to groups consisting of more than one individual or entity, even when they are
inflected for the singular. Examples include committee, herd, and school (of fish). These nouns have slightly
different grammatical properties than other nouns. For example, the noun phrases that they head can serve as the
subject of a collective predicate, even when they are inflected for.

Concrete nouns and abstract nouns

Concrete nouns refer to physical entities that can, in principle at least, be observed by at least one of the senses (for
instance, chair, apple, Janet or atom). Abstract nouns, on the other hand, refer to abstract objects; that is, ideas or
concepts (such as justice or hatred). While this distinction is sometimes exclusive, some nouns have multiple senses,
including both concrete and abstract ones; consider, for example, the noun art, which usually refers to a concept
(e.g., Art is an important element of human culture) but which can refer to a specific artwork in certain contexts
(e.g., I put my daughter's art up on the fridge).
Some abstract nouns developed etymologically by figurative extension from literal roots. These include drawback,
fraction, holdout, and uptake. Similarly, some nouns have both abstract and concrete senses, with the latter having

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Noun

79

developed by figurative extension from the former. These include view, filter, structure, and key.
In English, many abstract nouns are formed by adding noun-forming suffixes (-ness, -ity, -ion) to adjectives or verbs.
Examples are happiness (from the adjective happy), circulation (from the verb circulate) and serenity (from the
adjective serene).

Noun phrases
A noun phrase is a phrase based on a noun, pronoun, or other noun-like word (nominal) optionally accompanied by
modifiers such as determiners and adjectives. A noun phrase functions within a clause or sentence in a role such as
that of subject, object, or complement of a verb or preposition. For example, in the sentence "The black cat sat on a
dear friend of mine", the noun phrase the black cat serves as the subject, and the noun phrase a dear friend of mine
serves as the complement of the preposition on.

Pronouns
Nouns and noun phrases can typically be replaced by pronouns, such as he, it, which, and those, in order to avoid
repetition or explicit identification, or for other reasons. For example, in the sentence Janeth thought that he was
weird, the word he is a pronoun standing in place of the name of the person in question. The English word one can
replace parts of noun phrases, and it sometimes stands in for a noun. An example is given below:
John's car is newer than the one that Bill has.
But one can also stand in for bigger sub parts of a noun phrase. For example, in the following example, one can stand
in for new car.
This new car is cheaper than that one.

Substantive as a word for noun

Starting with old Latin grammars, many European languages use some form of the word substantive as the basic
term for noun (for example, Spanish sustantivo, "noun"). Nouns in the dictionaries of such languages are demarked
by the abbreviation s. or sb. instead of n, which may be used for proper nouns instead. This corresponds to those
grammars in which nouns and adjectives phase into each other in more areas than, for example, the English term
predicate adjective entails. In French and Spanish, for example, adjectives frequently act as nouns referring to people
who have the characteristics of the adjective. The most common metalanguage to name this concept is
nominalization. An example in English is:
This legislation will have the most impact on the poor.
Similarly, an adjective can also be used for a whole group or organization of people:
The Socialist International.
Hence, these words are substantives that are usually adjectives in English.
The word nominal also overlaps in meaning and usage with noun and adjective.

Noun

References
[1] Loos, Eugene E., et al. 2003. Glossary of linguistic terms: What is a noun? (http:/ / www. sil. org/ linguistics/ GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/
WhatIsANoun. htm)
[2] Dionysius Thrax. (http:/ / www. hs-augsburg. de/ ~harsch/ graeca/ Chronologia/ S_ante02/ DionysiosThrax/ dio_tech.
html) (Art of Grammar), section (10b): (On the noun). Bibliotheca Augustana.
, , , , , , . "There are seven types of derived [nouns]:
patronymic, possessive, comparative, superlative, diminutive, derived from a noun, [and] verbal."
[3] Jackendoff, Ray. 2002. Foundations of language: brain, meaning, grammar, evolution. Oxford University Press. Page 124.
[4] Krifka, Manfred. 1989. "Nominal Reference, Temporal Constitution and Quantification in Event Semantics". In R. Bartsch, J. van Benthem,
P. von Emde Boas (eds.), Semantics and Contextual Expression, Dordrecht: Foris Publication.
[5] Borer, Hagit. 2005. In Name Only. Structuring Sense, Volume I. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Further reading
Laycock, Henry (2005). " Mass nouns, Count nouns and Non-count nouns (http://post.queensu.ca/~laycockh/
Mass nouns Count nouns Non-count nouns.pdf)", Draft version of entry in Encyclopedia of Language and
Linguistics Oxford: Elsevier.
For definitions of nouns based on the concept of "identity criteria":
Geach, Peter. 1962. Reference and Generality. Cornell University Press.
For more on identity criteria:
Gupta, Anil. 1980, The logic of common nouns. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
For the concept that nouns are "prototypically referential":
Croft, William. 1993. "A noun is a noun is a noun - or is it? Some reflections on the universality of semantics".
Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, ed. Joshua S. Guenter,
Barbara A. Kaiser and Cheryl C. Zoll, 369-80. Berkeley: Berkeley Linguistics Society.
For an attempt to relate the concepts of identity criteria and prototypical referentiality:
Baker, Mark. 2003, Lexical Categories: verbs, nouns, and adjectives. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

External links
Nouns - Singular and Plural Agreement (http://www.brighthub.com/education/languages/articles/19457.
aspx)
ESL Guide to Countable and Uncountable Nouns (http://esl.about.com/od/grammarforbeginners/a/
g_cucount.htm)
Nouns (http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMAR/nouns.htm)

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81

Pronoun
Examples

I love you.
That reminds me of
something.
He looked at them.
Take it or leave it.
Who would say such a
thing?

In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a word or form that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase. It is a particular
case of a pro-form.
Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, although many modern theorists would not
regard them as a single distinct word class, because of the variety of functions performed by words which are classed
as pronouns.:134 Common types include the personal pronouns, relative pronouns, interrogative pronouns,
demonstrative pronouns and indefinite pronouns.
The use of pronouns often involves anaphora, where the meaning of the pronoun is dependent on another referential
element. This applies particularly to the (third-person) personal pronouns. The referent of the pronoun is often the
same as that of a preceding (or sometimes following) noun phrase, called the antecedent of the pronoun. For
example, in the sentence That poor man looks as if he needs a new coat, the antecedent of the pronoun he is the noun
phrase that poor man. (Pronouns used without antecedents are sometimes called unprecursed pronouns.) Another
type of antecedent is that found with relative pronouns, as in the woman who looked at you, where the woman is the
antecedent of the relative pronoun who.

Classification
Pronouns can be divided into several categories: personal, indefinite, reflexive, reciprocal, possessive,
demonstrative, interrogative and relative.

Personal
English personal pronouns:52
Person Number

Case
Subject

First

Object

Singular I

me

Plural

us

we

Second Singular you

you

Plural

you

Third

you

Singular he, she, it him, her, it

Plural

they

them

Personal pronouns may be classified by person, number and case. In the English language, there are three persons
(first, second and third), each of which can be divided into two forms by number (singular and plural), as in the
table. Third person also distinguishes gender (male, female or neuter).:5253

Pronoun
English has two cases, subject and object. Subject pronouns are used when the person or thing is the subject of the
sentence or clause (I like to eat chips, but she does not.). Object pronouns are used when the person or thing is the
object of the sentence or clause (John likes me but not her).:5253
Other distinctions include:
Second person formal and informal pronouns (T-V distinction). For example, vous and tu in French. There is no
distinction in modern English though Elizabethan English marked the distinction with "thou" (singular informal)
and "you" (plural or singular formal).
Inclusive and exclusive "we" pronouns indicate whether the audience is included. There is no distinction in
English.
Intensive pronouns, also known as emphatic pronouns, re-emphasize a noun or pronoun that has already been
mentioned. English uses the same forms as the reflexive pronouns; for example: "I did it myself " (contrast
reflexive use, I did it to myself.).
Direct and indirect object pronouns. English uses the same oblique form for both; for example: Mary loves him
(direct object); Mary sent him a letter (indirect object).
Prepositional pronouns come after a preposition. No distinct forms exist in English; for example: Anna and
Maria looked at him.
Disjunctive pronouns are used in isolation or in certain other special grammatical contexts. No distinct forms exist
in English; for example: Who does this belong to? Me.
Dummy pronouns are used when grammatical rules require a noun (or pronoun), but none is semantically required
(It is raining.).
Weak pronouns.

Reflexive
Reflexive pronouns are used when a person or thing acts on itself, for example, John cut himself. In English they all
end in -self or -selves and must refer to a noun phrase elsewhere in the same clause.:55

Reciprocal
Reciprocal pronouns refer to a reciprocal relationship (each other, one another). They must refer to a noun phrase in
the same clause.:55 An example in English is: They do not like each other.

Possessive
Possessive pronouns are used to indicate possession or ownership. Some occur as independent noun phrases: mine,
yours, hers, ours, yours, theirs. An example is: Those clothes are mine. Others do not: my, your, her, our, your,
their, as in, I lost my wallet. (Depending on the context, his and its can fall in either category.) Because the latter
have a syntactic role close to that of adjectives, always qualifying a noun, some grammarians classify them as
determiners. They replace possessive noun phrases. As an example, Their crusade to capture our attention could
replace The advertisers' crusade to capture our attention.:5556

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83

Demonstrative
Demonstrative pronouns (in English, this, that and their plurals these, those) often distinguish their targets by
pointing or some other indication of position; for example, I'll take these. They may also be anaphoric, depending on
an earlier expression for context, for example, A kid actor would try to be all sweet, and who needs that?:56

Indefinite
Indefinite pronouns, the largest group of pronouns, refer to one or more unspecified persons or things. One group in
English includes compounds of some-, any-, every- and no- with -thing, -one and -body, for example: Anyone can do
that. Another group, including many, more, both, and most, can appear alone or followed by of.:5455 In addition,
Distributive pronouns are used to refer to members of a group separately rather than collectively. (To each his
own.)
Negative pronouns indicate the non-existence of people or things. (Nobody thinks that.)

Relative
Relative pronouns (who, whom, whose, what, which and that) refer back to people or things previously mentioned:
People who smoke should quit now. They are used in relative clauses.:56 Indefinite relative pronouns have some of
the properties of both relative pronouns and indefinite pronouns. They have a sense of "referring back", but the
person or thing to which they refer has not previously been explicitly named: I know what I like.

Interrogative
Interrogative pronouns] ask which person or thing is meant. In reference to a person, one may use who (subject),
whom (object) or whose (possessive); for example, Who did that? In colloquial speech, whom is generally replaced
by who. Non-personal pronouns (which and what) have only one form.:5657
In many languages (e.g., Czech, English, French, Interlingua, and Russian), the sets of relative and interrogative
pronouns are nearly identical. Compare English: Who is that? (interrogative) to I know who that is.

Pronouns and determiners

Pronoun

Determiner

Personal (1st/2nd)

we

we Scotsmen

Possessive

ours

our freedom

Demonstrative

this

this gentleman

Indefinite

some

some frogs

Interrogative

who

which option

Pronouns and determiners are closely related, and some linguists think pronouns are actually determiners without a
noun or a noun phrase. The table shows their relationships in English.

Pronoun

The views of different schools

Pronouns have been classified as one of the parts of speech since at least the 2nd century BC when they were
included in the Greek treatise Art of Grammar. Objections to this approach have appeared among grammatical
theories in the 20th century. Their grammatical heterogeneity, many-sided pronouns were underlined, which were
classified as follows:Wikipedia:Please clarify

"indicative words" (Karl Brugmann, Karl Bhler, Uriel Weinreich);

"indexes" or "indicators" (Charles Sanders Peirce, William Edward Collinson);
"words with changeable signification" (Adolf Noreen);
"moveable identifiers" (Otto Jespersen, Roman Jakobson);
"updating" or "means of transferring from language to speech" (Charles Bally, mile Benveniste);
"words of subjective-objective lexical meaning" (Alexey Peshkovsky);
"word remnants" or "substitutes" (Lev Shcherba, Leonard Bloomfield, Zellig Harris);
"determiners whose NP complements have been deleted" (Paul Postal);
"represents" (Ferdinand Brunot);
"survivals of a special part of speech" (Viktor Vinogradov).

Pronominals
A pronominal is a phrase that acts as a pronoun. For example, in "I want that kind ", the phrase that kind stands for a
noun phrase that can be deduced from context, and may thus be called a pronominal.Wikipedia:Disputed statement

References
Further reading
Wales, Katie (1995). Personal pronouns in present-day English (Digital print. ed.). New York: Cambridge
University Press. ISBN9780521471022.

External links
English pronouns exercises (http://www.englishgrammar.org/category/pronouns/), by Jennifer Frost

84

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85

Phrase
In everyday speech, a phrase may refer to any group of words. In linguistics, a phrase is a group of words (or
sometimes a single word) that form a constituent and so function as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence. A
phrase is lower on the grammatical hierarchy than a clause.

Examples
Examine the following sentence:
The house at the end of the street is red.
The words in bold form a phrase; together they act like a noun (making them a noun phrase). This phrase can be
further broken down; a prepositional phrase functioning as an adjective can be identified:
at the end of the street
Further, a smaller prepositional phrase can be identified inside this greater prepositional phrase:
of the street
And within the greater prepositional phrase, one can identify a noun phrase:
the end of the street
And within this noun phrase, there is a smaller noun phrase:
the street
Phrases can be identified by constituency tests such as proform substitution (=replacement). The prepositional phrase
at the end of the street, for instance, could be replaced by an adjective such as nearby: the nearby house or even the
house nearby. The end of the street could also be replaced by another noun phrase, such as the crossroads to produce
the house at the crossroads.

Heads and dependents

Most phrases have an important word defining the type and linguistic features of the phrase. This word is the head of
the phrase and gives its name to the phrase category.[1] The heads in the following phrases are in bold:
too slowly - Adverb phrase (AdvP)
very happy - Adjective phrase (AP)
the massive dinosaur - Noun phrase (NP)
at lunch - Preposition phrase (PP)
watch TV - Verb phrase (VP)
The head can be distinguished from its dependents (the rest of the phrase other than the head) because the head of the
phrase determines many of the grammatical features of the phrase as a whole. The examples just given show the five
most commonly acknowledged types of phrases. Further phrase types can be assumed, although doing so is not
common. For instance one might acknowledge subordinator phrases:
before that happened - Subordinator phrase (SP)
This "phrase" is more commonly classified as a full subordinate clause and therefore many grammars would not
label it as a phrase. If one follows the reasoning of heads and dependents, however, then subordinate clauses should
indeed qualify as phrases. Most theories of syntax see most if not all phrases as having a head. Sometimes, however,
non-headed phrases are acknowledged. If a phrase lacks a head, it is known as exocentric, whereas phrases with
heads are endocentric.

Phrase

Representing phrases
Many theories of syntax and grammar represent sentence structure using trees. The trees provide schematic
illustrations of how the words of sentences are grouped. These representations show the words, phrases, and at times
clauses that make up sentences.[2] Any word combination that corresponds to a complete subtree can be seen as a
phrase. There are two competing principles for producing trees, constituency and dependency. Both of these
principles are illustrated here using the example sentence from above. The constituency-based tree is on the left, and
the dependency-based tree on the right:

The constituency-based tree on the left is associated with a traditional phrase structure grammar, and the tree on the
right is one of a dependency grammar. The node labels in the trees (e.g. N, NP, V, VP) mark the syntactic category
of the constituents. Both trees take a phrase to be any combination of words that corresponds to a complete subtree.
In the constituency tree on the left, each phrasal node (marked with P) identifies a phrase; there are therefore 8
phrases in the constituency tree. In the dependency tree on the right, each node that dominates one or more other
nodes corresponds to a phrase; there are therefore 5 (or 6 if the whole sentence is included) phrases in the
dependency tree. What the trees and the numbers demonstrate is that theories of syntax differ in what they deem to
qualify as a phrase. The constituency tree takes three word combinations to be phrases (house at the end of the street,
end of the street, and is red) that the dependency tree does not judge to be phrases. Which of the two tree structures
is more plausible can be determined in part by empirical considerations, such as those delivered by constituency
tests.

Confusion: phrases in theories of syntax

The common use of the term "phrase" is different from that employed by some phrase structure theories of syntax.
The everyday understanding of the phrase is that it consists of two or more words, whereas depending on the theory
of syntax that one employs, individual words may or may not qualify as phrases.[3] The trees in the previous section,
for instance, do not view individual words as phrases. Theories of syntax that employ X-bar theory, in contrast, will
acknowledge many individual words as phrases. This practice is due to the fact that sentence structure is analyzed in
terms of a universal schema, the X-bar schema, which sees each head as projecting at least three levels of structure: a
minimal level, an intermediate level, and a maximal level. Thus an individual noun, such as Susan in Susan laughed,
will project up to an intermediate level and a maximal level, which means that Susan qualifies as a phrase. This
concept of the phrase is a source of confusion for students of syntax.

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87

Many other theories of syntax do not employ the X-bar schema and are therefore less likely to encounter this
confusion. For instance, dependency grammars do not acknowledge phrase structure in the manner associated with
phrase structure grammars and therefore do not acknowledge individual words as phrases, a fact that is evident in the
dependency grammar trees above and below.

The verb phrase (VP) as a source of controversy

Most if not all theories of syntax acknowledge verb phrases (VPs), but they can diverge greatly in the types of verb
phrases that they posit. Phrase structure grammars acknowledge both finite verb phrases and non-finite verb phrases
as constituents. Dependency grammars, in contrast, acknowledge just non-finite verb phrases as constituents. The
distinction is illustrated with the following examples:
The Republicans may nominate Newt. - Finite VP in bold
The Republicans may nominate Newt. - Non-finite VP in bold
The syntax trees of this sentence are next:

The constituency tree on the left shows the finite verb string may nominate Newt as a phrase (= constituent); it
corresponds to VP1. In contrast, this same string is not shown as a phrase in the dependency tree on the right.
Observe that both trees, however, take the non-finite VP string nominate Newt to be a phrase, since in both trees
nominate Newt corresponds to a complete subtree.
Since there is disagreement concerning the status of finite VPs (whether they are constituents or not), empirical
considerations are needed. Grammarians can (again) employ constituency tests to shed light on the controversy.
Constituency tests are diagnostics for identifying the constituents of sentences and they are thus essential for
identifying phrases. The results of most constituency tests do not support the existence of a finite VP constituent.[4]

Notes
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]

Kroeger 2005:37
For a good introduction and discussion of phrases and the tree structures that represent phrases, see Sobin (2011:29ff.).
Finch (2000:112) sees a phrase consisting of two or more words; individual words do not count as phrases.
Concerning the inability of most constituency tests to identify finite VP as a constituent, see Miller (2011:54f.) and Osborne (2011:323f.).

References

Finch, G. 2000. Linguistic terms and concepts. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Kroeger, Paul 2005. Analyzing grammar: An introduction. Cambridge University Press.
Miller, J. 2011. A critical introduction to syntax. London: continuum.
Osborne, Timothy, Michael Putnam, and Thomas Gross 2011. Bare phrase structure, label-less structures, and
specifier-less syntax: Is Minimalism becoming a dependency grammar? The Linguistic Review 28: 315-364.
Sobin, N. 2011. Syntactic analysis: The basics. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

Phrase

88

External links
The Phrase Finder (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/) - The meanings and origins of phrases, sayings,
and idioms
Phrases.net (http://www.phrases.net/) - A large collection of common phrases that can be heard and translated
to several languages.
Phras.in (http://phras.in) - An online tool that helps choosing the correct phrasing, based on web results
frequency.
phraseup* (http://www.phraseup.com) - A writing assistant that helps with completing sentences by finding the
missing words we can't recall.
Fraze.it (http://www.fraze.it) - A search engine for sentences and phrases. Supports six languages, filtered by
form, zone, context, etc.

English plurals
English grammar

Adjectives

Adverbs

Articles

Clauses

Compounds

Conditionals

Conjunctions

Determiners

Gender

Idiom

Interjections

Inversion

Nouns

Pronouns

Phrases

Plurals

Possessives

Prepositions

Verbs

Auxiliaries, contractions
Irregular verbs
Modal verbs
Passive voice
Phrasal verbs
Subjunctive
Verb usage

Grammar disputes

v
t

e [1]

English nouns are inflected for grammatical number, meaning that if they are of the countable type, they generally
have different forms for singular and plural. This article discusses the variety of ways in which English plural nouns

English plurals

89

are formed from the corresponding singular forms, as well as various issues concerning the usage of singulars and
plurals in English. For plurals of pronouns, see English personal pronouns.
Phonological transcriptions provided in this article are for Received Pronunciation and General American. For more
information, see English phonology.

Regular plurals
The plural morpheme in English is suffixed to the end of most nouns. Regular English plurals fall into three classes,
depending upon the sound that ends the singular form:
Where a singular noun ends in a sibilant sound /s/, /z/, //, //, /t/ or /d/ the plural is formed by adding /z/. The
spelling adds -es, or -s if the singular already ends in -e:
kiss

kisses

/ksz/

phase

phases

/fezz/

dish

dishes

/dz/

massage massages /msz/ or /msz/

witch

witches

/wtz/

judge

judges

/ddz/

When the singular form ends in a voiceless consonant (other than a sibilant) /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/ (sometimes) or //
the plural is formed by adding /s/. The spelling adds -s:
lap

laps

/lps/

cat

cats

/kts/

clock clocks /klks/

cuff

cuffs

/kfs/

death deaths /ds/

For all other words (i.e. words ending in vowels or voiced non-sibilants) the regular plural adds /z/, represented
orthographically by -s:
boy

boys

/bz/

girl

girls

/rlz/

chair chairs /trz/

Phonologically, these rules are sufficient to describe most English plurals. However, certain complications arise in
the spelling of certain plurals, as described below.

Plurals of nouns in -o
With nouns ending in o preceded by a consonant, the plural in many cases is spelled by adding -es (pronounced /z/):

English plurals

90

hero

heroes (or heros)

potato

potatoes

volcano volcanoes or volcanos

However many nouns of foreign origin, including almost all Italian loanwords, add only -s:
canto

cantos

hetero

heteros

photo

photos

zero

zeros

piano

pianos

portico

porticos

pro

pros

quarto (paper size) quartos

kimono

kimonos

Plurals of nouns in -y
Nouns ending in a y preceded by a consonant usually drop the y and add -ies (pronounced /iz/ (or /aiz/ in words
where the y is pronounced /ai/):
cherry cherries
lady

ladies

sky

skies

Words ending in quy also follow this pattern:

soliloquy soliloquies

However, nouns of this type which are proper nouns (particularly names of people) form their plurals by simply
adding -s:[1][2] the two Kennedys, there are three Harrys in our office. With place names this rule is not always
adhered to: Germanys and Germanies are both used,[3] and Sicilies and Scillies are the standard plurals of Sicily and
Scilly. Nor does the rule apply to words that are merely capitalized common nouns: P&O Ferries (from ferry).
Other exceptions include lay-bys and stand-bys.
Words ending in a y preceded by a vowel form their plurals by adding -s:
day

days

monkey monkeys

However the plural form (rarely used) of money is usually monies, although moneys is also found.[4]

English plurals

91

Near-regular plurals
In Old and Middle English voiceless fricatives /f/, // mutated to voiced fricatives before a voiced ending. In some
words this voicing survives in the modern English plural. In the case of /f/ changing to /v/, the mutation is indicated
in the orthography as well; also, a silent e is added in this case if the singular does not already end with -e:
bath

baths

/bz/, /bz/

[5] mouths /maz/

mouth
calf

calves

/kvz/, /kvz/

leaf

leaves

/livz/

knife

knives

/navz/

life

lives

/lavz/

[6]

In addition, there is one word where /s/ is voiced in the plural:

house houses /hazz/

Many nouns ending in /f/ or // (including all words where /f/ is represented orthographically by gh or ph)
nevertheless retain the voiceless consonant:
moth moths (voiced /mz/ is rare but does occur in New England and Canada)[citation needed]
proof proofs

Some can do either:

dwarf

[7] dwarfs/dwarves

hoof

hoofs/hooves

elf

elfs/elves

roof

roofs (commonly voiced as /ruvz/ to rhyme with hooves, but rooves is a rare archaic spelling)

staff
turf

[8]

staffs/staves
turfs/turves (latter rare)

Notes:
[1] English Irregular Plural Nouns (http:/ / www2. gsu. edu/ ~wwwesl/ egw/ crump. htm)
[2] UNIT S4: YS OR IES? (http:/ / hopelive. hope. ac. uk/ GAPS/ Code/ Unit S4/ UNITS4. htm)
[3] Book titles include Mary Fulbrook, The Two Germanies. 1945-1990 (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996); Henry Ashby Turner, The two
Germanies since 1945 (New Haven: Yale UP, 1987).
[4] Entry for "money" in dictionary.com (http:/ / dictionary. reference. com/ browse/ money)
[5] In a Canadian accent, the mutation to a voiced consonant produces a change in the sound of the preceding diphthong ( or ).
[6] The Toronto Maple Leafs ice hockey team is a special case; see below.
[7] For dwarf, the common form of the plural was dwarfs as, for example, in Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs until J. R. R.
Tolkien popularized dwarves; he intended the changed spelling to differentiate the "dwarf" fantasy race in his novels from the cuter and
simpler beings common in fairy tales, but his usage has since spread. Multiple astronomical dwarf stars and multiple nonmythological short
human beings, however, remain dwarfs.
[8] For staff ( or ) in the sense of "a body of employees", the plural is always staff; otherwise, both staffs and staves () are acceptable, except in
compounds, such as flagstaffs. Staves is rare in North America except in the sense of "magic rod", or the musical notation tool; stave of a
barrel or cask is a back-formation from staves, which is its plural. (See the Plural to singular by back-formation section below.)

English plurals

Irregular plurals
There are many other less regular ways of forming plurals, usually stemming from older forms of English or from
foreign borrowings.

Nouns with identical singular and plural

Some nouns have identical singular and plural. Many of these are the names of animals:
bison
buffalo
deer
duck[1]
fish
moose
pike
sheep
salmon
trout
swine
plankton
squid
The plural deers is listed in some dictionaries.[2] As a general rule, game or other animals are often referred to in the
singular for the plural in a sporting context: "He shot six brace of pheasant", "Carruthers bagged a dozen tiger last
year", whereas in another context such as zoology or tourism the regular plural would be used. Eric Partridge refers
to these sporting terms as "snob plurals" and conjectures that they may have developed by analogy with the common
English irregular plural animal words "deer", "sheep" and "trout".[3] Similarly, nearly all kinds of fish have no
separate plural form (though there are exceptionssuch as rays, sharks or lampreys). As to the word fish itself, the
plural is usually identical to the singular, although fishes is sometimes used, especially when meaning "species of
fish". Fishes is also used in iconic contexts, such as the Bible story of the loaves and fishes, or the reference in The
Godfather, "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes."
Other nouns that have or may have identical singular and plural forms include:
aircraft; watercraft; spacecraft; hovercraft; ocean-going craft
the blues[4]
cannon (sometimes cannons)
head[5]
iris (usually irises, but iris can be the plural for multiple plants; in medical contexts irides is used)
stone - as a unit of weight equal to 14 pounds (occasionally stones)[6]
series, species (and other words in -ies)
counsel (barrister, lawyer, opinion/advice)
Notes:
[1] http:/ / oxforddictionaries. com/ definition/ english/ duck
[2] E.g. Collins English Dictionary, 6th ed. (Glasgow: HarperCollins, 2003).
[3] Partridge, Eric, Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English, revised by Janet Whitcut (New York and London: W. W. Norton, 1997), pp.
23839.
[4] Referring to individual songs in the blues musical style: "play me a blues"; "he sang three blues and a calypso"

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93

[5] Referring, in the plural, to animals in a herd: "fifty head of cattle"

[6] As a unit of weight equal to 14 pounds

Certain names of peoples are not inflected for the plural:

Chinese (and others in -ese)
Swiss
Qubcois (Qubcoise)
This includes most names for Native American peoples, for example:
Blackfoot
Cherokee
Cree
Comanchee
Delaware
Hopi
Iroquois
Kiowa
Navajo
Ojibwa
Sioux
Zuni
Some exceptions include Algonquins, Apaches, Aztecs, Black Hawks, Chippewas, Hurons, Incas, Mayans,
Mohawks, Oneidas, and Seminoles.
Certain other words borrowed from foreign languages such as Japanese and Mori are not inflected in the plural; see
Irregular plurals from other languages below.

Plurals in -(e)n
The plural of a few nouns can also be formed from the singular by adding -n or -en, stemming from the Old English
weak declension. Only the following three are commonly found:
ox

oxen

(particularly when referring to a team of draft animals, sometimes oxes in nonstandard American English)

child

children (only possible plural; originated as a double plural, with -en added to Old English plural cildra/cildru, which also led to the
archaic plural childer as in Childermas)

brother brethren (archaic as plural of brother in its most common meaning, but often seen as plural of brother meaning a member of a religious
[1]
congregation or fraternal organization; originated as a double plural, with -en added to Early Middle English brether)

The following -(e)n plurals are found in dialectal, rare, or archaic usage:

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94

bee

been

(dialectal, Ireland)

cow

kine

(archaic/regional; actually earlier plural "kye" [cf. Scots "kye" - "cows"] plus -en suffix, forming a double plural)

eye

eyen

(rare, found in some regional dialects)

shoe

shoon

(rare/dialectal)

house

housen

(rare/dialectal, used by Rudyard Kipling in Puck of Pook's Hill)

hose

hosen

(rare/archaic, used in King James Version of the Bible)

knee

kneen

(archaic/obsolete)

tree

treen

(archaic/obsolete, used by William Browne)

aurochs aurochsen (alternative plural, also aurochs)

The word box, referring to a computer, may be pluralized semi-humorously to boxen in the hacker subculture. In the
same context, multiple VAX computers are sometimes called Vaxen particularly if operating as a cluster, but
multiple Unix systems are usually Unices along the Latin model.

Apophonic plurals
The plural is sometimes formed by simply changing the vowel sound of the singular (these are sometimes called
mutated plurals):
foot

feet

goose

geese

louse

lice

dormouse dormice
man

men

mouse

mice (including in a computing context, though sometimes mouses is used there)

tooth

teeth

woman

women /wmn/

This group consists of words that historically belong to the Old English consonantal declension, see Germanic
umlaut: I-mutation in Old English. There are many compounds of man and woman that form their plurals in the same
way: postmen, policewomen, etc.
When referring to the computer mouse, both mouses and mice are accepted.
The plural of mongoose is mongooses. Mongeese is wrong, as it is a back-formation by mistaken analogy to goose /
geese. It is often used in a jocular context.

English plurals

Miscellaneous irregular plurals

Some words have irregular plurals that do not fit any of the types given here.
person people (also persons, in more formal contexts; people can also be a singular noun with plural
peoples.)
die dice (in the context of gaming, where dice is also often used as the singular; and also in the
semiconductor industry. Otherwise dies is used.)
penny pence (in the context of an amount of money in Britain). The 1p or 1-cent coins are called pennies.
Pence is abbreviated p (also in speech, as "pee"). For 10 pences see Headless nouns below.

Irregular plurals from Latin and Greek

English has borrowed a great many words from Latin and Classical Greek. The general trend with loanwords is
toward what is called Anglicization or naturalization, that is, the re-formation of the word and its inflections as
normal English words. Many nouns (particularly ones from Latin) have retained their original plurals for some time
after they are introduced. Other nouns have become Anglicized, taking on the normal "s" ending. In some cases, both
forms are still competing.
The choice of a form can often depend on context: for a linguist, the plural of appendix is appendices (following the
original language); for some physicians, the plural of appendix is appendixes. Likewise, a radio or radar engineer
works with antennas, but an entomologist deals with antennae. The choice of form can also depend on the level of
discourse: traditional Latin plurals are found more often in academic and scientific contexts, whereas in daily speech
the Anglicized forms are more common. In the following table, the Latin plurals are listed, together with the
Anglicized forms when these are more common.
Different paradigms of Latin pronunciation can lead to confusion as to the number or gender of the noun in question.
As traditionally used in English, including scientific, medical, and legal contexts, Latin nouns retain the classical
inflection with regard to spelling; however the pronunciation of those inflections are anglicized. The entomologist
may write antennae but pronounces it /ntni/. This may cause confusion for those who have learned a more
authentic model of Latin pronunciation. The word alumnus/a is notorious in this regard, as a given inflection
according to the traditional Anglicized model of Latin pronunciation sounds the same as a different number or
gender in the more authentic model of pronunciation.
The fact that many of these plurals do not end in -s has led some of them to be reinterpreted as singular forms. This
is particularly the case with the words datum and medium (as in a "medium of communication"), where the original
plurals data and media are now, in many contexts, used more commonly as singular mass nouns: "The media is
biased"; "This data shows us that ..." (although a number of scientists, especially of British origin, still say "These
data show us that ..."). See below for more information. A similar process is causing words such as criteria and
phenomena to be used as singular by some speakers, although this is still considered incorrect in standard usage (see
below).
Final a becomes -ae (also -), or just adds -s:

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96

alumna

alumnae

formula

formulae/formulas

encyclopaedia (or encyclopdia) / encyclopedia encyclopaedias / encyclopedias (encyclopaediae and encyclopediae are rare)

Scientific abbreviations for words of Latin origin ending in -a, such as SN for supernova, can form a plural by adding
-e, as SNe for supernovae.
Final ex or ix becomes -ices (pronounced /siz/), or just adds -es:
index

indices

/ndsiz/

or indexes

matrix matrices /metrsiz/

vertex vertices

/vrtsiz/

Some people treat process as if it belonged to this class, pronouncing processes /prssiz/ instead of standard
/prssz/. Since the word comes from Latin processus, whose plural in the fourth declension is processs with a
long u, this pronunciation is by analogy, not etymology.
Final is becomes es (pronounced /iz/):
axis

axes

/ksiz/

genesis

geneses

/dn..siz/

nemesis nemeses /nmsiz/

crisis

crises

/krasiz/

testis

testes

/tstiz/

Axes (/ksiz/), the plural of axis, is pronounced differently from axes (/ksz/), the plural of ax(e).
Final ies remains unchanged:
series

series

species species

Final um becomes -a, or just adds -s:

addendum

addenda

agendum
(obsolete, not
listed in most
dictionaries)

agenda means a "list of items of business at a meeting" and has the plural agendas

corrigendum

corrigenda

datum

data (Now usually treated as a singular mass noun in both informal and educated usage, but usage in scientific publications
shows a strong American/British divide. American usage generally prefers to treat data as a singular in all contexts, including
[2][3][4]
[5]
in serious and academic publishing.
British usage now widely accepts treating data as singular in standard English,
[6]
[7]
including educated everyday usage at least in non-scientific use. British scientific publishing usually still prefers treating
[8]
[9]
data as a plural. Some British university style guides recommend using data for both the singular and the plural use and
[10]
some recommend treating it only as a singular in connection with computers.
)
In engineering, drafting, surveying, and geodesy, and in weight and balance calculations for aircraft, a datum (plural datums or
data) is a reference point, surface, or axis on an object or the Earth's surface against which measurements are made.

forum

fora/forums

medium

media (in communication systems and digital computers. This is now often treated as a singular mass noun)/
mediums (spiritualists, or items of medium size)

English plurals

97

memorandum

memoranda/memorandums

millennium

millennia

ovum

ova

spectrum

spectra (as in power spectrum in electrical engineering)

Final us becomes -i (second declension, [a]) or -era or -ora (third declension), or just adds -es (especially in
fourth declension, where it would otherwise be the same as the singular):
alumnus

alumni

corpus

corpora

census

censuses

focus

foci

genus

genera

prospectus prospectuses (plural prospectus is rare although technically correct)

radius

radii

campus

Campuses (The Latinate plural form campi is sometimes used, particularly with respect to colleges or universities; however, it is
sometimes frowned upon. By contrast, the common plural form campuses is universally accepted.)

succubus

succubi

stylus

styli

syllabus

syllabi/syllabuses (in fact the Latin plural is syllabs)

viscus

viscera

virus

viruses/virii ( see Plural form of words ending in -us#Virus )

cactus

cactuses/cacti (in Arizona many people avoid either choice with cactus as both singular and plural.)

fungus

fungi

hippopotamus hippopotamuses/hippopotami
octopus

[11]
octopuses (note: octopi also occurs, although it is strictly speaking unfounded,
because it is not a Latin noun of the second
declension, but rather a Latinized form of Greek -, eight-foot. The theoretically correct form octopodes is rarely used.)

platypus

platypuses (same as octopus: platypi occurs but is etymologically incorrect, and platypodes, while technically correct, is even rarer
than octopodes)

terminus

termini/terminuses

uterus

uteri/uteruses

Final us remains unchanged in the plural (fourth declension - the plural has a long to differentiate it from the
singular short ):
meatus meatus (or meatuses)
status

status (but usually statuses)

Colloquial usages based in a humorous fashion on the second declension include Elvii to refer to multiple Elvis
impersonators and Loti, used by petrolheads to refer to Lotus automobiles in the plural.
Some Greek plurals are preserved in English (cf. Plurals of words of Greek origin):
Final on becomes -a:

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98

automaton

automata

criterion

criteria

phenomenon phenomena
polyhedron

polyhedra

Final as in one case changes to -antes:

Atlas Atlantes (statues of the Titan); but
atlas

atlases (map collections)

Final ma in nouns of Greek origin can become -mata, although -s is usually also acceptable, and in many cases
more common.
stigma

stigmata/stigmas

stoma

stomata/stomas

schema

schemata/schemas

dogma

dogmata/dogmas

lemma

lemmata/lemmas

anathema anathemata/anathemas

Irregular plurals from other languages

Some nouns of French origin add an -x, which may be silent or pronounced /z/:
beau

beaux or beaus

bureau

bureaux or bureaus

chteau chteaux or chteaus

tableau tableaux or tableaus

See also French compounds below.

Foreign terms may take native plural forms, especially when the user is addressing an audience familiar with the
language. In such cases, the conventionally formed English plural may sound awkward or be confusing.
Nouns of Slavic origin add -a or -i according to native rules, or just -s:
kniazhestvo kniazhestva/kniazhestvos
kobzar

kobzari/kobzars

oblast

oblasti/oblasts

Nouns of Hebrew origin add -im or -ot (generally m/f) according to native rules, or just -s:

English plurals

99

cherub

cherubim/cherubs

seraph

seraphim/seraphs

matzah matzot/matzahs
kibbutz kibbutzim/kibbutzes

Ot is pronounced os (with unvoiced s) in the Ashkenazi dialect.

Many nouns of Japanese origin have no plural form and do not change:
benshi

benshi

otaku

otaku

samurai samurai

Other nouns such as kimonos, ninjas, futons, and tsunamis are more often seen with a regular English plural.
In New Zealand English, nouns of Mori origin can either take an -s or have no separate plural form. Words more
connected to Mori culture and used in that context tend to retain the same form, while names of flora and fauna
may or may not take an -s, depending on context. Many regard omission as more correct:
[12]

kiwi

kiwi/kiwis

kowhai

kowhai/kowhais

[13] Mori/(occasionally Moris)

Mori
marae

marae

tui

tuis/tui

waka

waka

Notes:
[1] Dictionary.com entry for "brother" (http:/ / dictionary. reference. com/ browse/ brethren).
[2] "Sometimes scientists think of data as plural, as in These data do not support the conclusions. But more often scientists and researchers think
of data as a singular mass entity like information, and most people now follow this in general usage." http:/ / www. bartleby. com/ 61/ 51/
D0035100. html
[3] "...of the 136 distinguished consultants on usage polled for the 1975 Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage, 49% responded that they use
"The data is..." in writing. Also, in casual speech, 65% use data as singular. Those who defend "The data is..." often point to the fact that
agenda is also, strictly, a plural, but is nearly always regarded as a single list and takes a singular verb. You'll probably never hear anyone ask:
"Are the agenda interesting?" http:/ / www. gi. alaska. edu/ ScienceForum/ ASF3/ 334. html
[4] Summary of dictionary sources and scholarly usage (http:/ / www. iq. harvard. edu/ blog/ sss/ archives/ 2007/ 09/ how_many_data_a. shtml)
[5] New Oxford Dictionary of English, 1999
[6] "...in educated everyday usage as represented by the Guardian newspaper, it is nowadays most often used as a singular." http:/ / www. eisu2.
bham. ac. uk/ johnstf/ revis006. htm
[7] AskOxford: data (http:/ / www. askoxford. com/ concise_oed/ data?view=uk)
[8] http:/ / www. eisu2. bham. ac. uk/ johnstf/ revis006. htm
[9] UoN Style Book - Singular or plural - Media and Public Relations Office - The University of Nottingham (http:/ / www. nottingham. ac. uk/
public-affairs/ uon-style-book/ singular-plural. htm)
[10] http:/ / openlearn. open. ac. uk/ mod/ resource/ view. php?id=182902
[11] AskOxford: What are the plurals of 'octopus', 'hippopotamus', 'syllabus'? (http:/ / www. askoxford. com/ asktheexperts/ faq/ aboutgrammar/
plurals?view=uk)
[12] When referring to the bird, kiwi may or may not take an -s; when used as an informal term for a New Zealander, it always takes an -s.
[13] Mori, when referring to a person of that ethnicity, does not usually take an -s. Many speakers avoid the use of Mori as a noun, and instead
use it only as an adjective.

Some words borrowed from Inuktitut (spoken in Canada and Alaska) retain the original plurals:

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100

Inuk

Inuit

inukshuk

inukshuit

Iqalummiuq

Iqalummiut ("inhabitant of Iqaluit")

Nunavimmiuq Nunavimmiut ("inhabitant of Nunavik")

Nunavummiuq Nunavummiut ("inhabitant of Nunavut")

Nouns from languages other than the above generally form plurals as if they were native English words:
canoe

canoes

cwm

cwms (Welsh valley)

igloo

igloos

kangaroo

kangaroos

kayak

kayaks

kindergarten kindergartens (in the original German, the plural form would be Kindergrten)
pizza

pizzas

sauna

saunas

ninja

ninjas

Plurals of compound nouns

The majority of English compound nouns have one basic term, or head, with which they end. These are nouns and
are pluralized in typical fashion:
able seaman

able seamen

head banger

head bangers

yellow-dog contract yellow-dog contracts

Some compounds have one head with which they begin. These heads are also nouns and the head usually pluralizes,
leaving the second, adjectival, term unchanged:
attorney general

attorneys general

bill of attainder

bills of attainder

court martial

courts martial

director general

directors general

fee simple absolute

fees simple absolute

governor-general

governors-general

passerby

passersby

ship of the line

ships of the line

son-in-law

sons-in-law

minister-president

ministers-president

procurator fiscal (in Scotland) procurators fiscal

It is common in informal speech to instead pluralize the last word in the manner typical of most English nouns, but
in edited prose, the forms given above are preferred.

English plurals

101

If a compound can be thought to have two heads, both of them tend to be pluralized when the first head has an
irregular plural form:
man-child

men-children

manservant

menservants

woman doctor women doctors

Two-headed compounds in which the first head has a standard plural form, however, tend to pluralize only the final
head:
city-state

city-states

nurse-practitioner nurse-practitioners
scholar-poet

scholar-poets

In military usage, the term general, as part of an officer's title, is etymologically an adjective, but it has been adopted
as a noun and thus a head, so compound titles employing it are pluralized at the end:
brigadier general brigadier generals
major general

major generals

For compounds of three or more words that have a head (or a term functioning as a head) with an irregular plural
form, only that term is pluralized:
man-about-town

men-about-town

man-of-war

men-of-war

woman of the street women of the street

For many other compounds of three or more words with a head at the front especially in cases where the
compound is ad hoc and/or the head is metaphorical it is generally regarded as acceptable to pluralize either the
first major term or the last (if open when singular, such compounds tend to take hyphens when plural in the latter
case):
ham on rye

hams on rye/ham-on-ryes

jack-in-the-box

jacks-in-the-box/jack-in-the-boxes

jack-in-the-pulpit jacks-in-the-pulpit/jack-in-the-pulpits

With a few extended compounds, both terms may be pluralizedagain, with an alternative (which may be more
prevalent, e.g., heads of state):
head of state

heads of states/heads of state

son of a bitch sons of bitches/sons-of-a-bitch

With extended compounds constructed around o', only the last term is pluralized (or left unchanged if it is already
plural):

English plurals

102

cat-o'-nine-tails cat-o'-nine-tails
jack-o'-lantern

jack-o'-lanterns

will-o'-the-wisp will-o'-the-wisps

See also the Headless nouns section below.

French compounds
Many English compounds have been borrowed directly from French, and these generally follow a somewhat
different set of rules. French-loaned compounds with a head at the beginning tend to pluralize both words, according
to French practice:
agent provocateur agents provocateurs
entente cordiale

ententes cordiales

fait accompli

faits accomplis

ide fixe

ides fixes

For compounds adopted directly from French where the head comes at the end, it is generally regarded as acceptable
either to pluralize both words or only the last:
beau geste

beaux gestes/beau gestes

belle poque

belles poques/belle poques

bon mot

bons mots/bon mots

bon vivant

bons vivants/bon vivants

bel

[1]

homme beaux hommes

Notes:
[1] If the adjectives beau "beautiful/handsome", nouveau "new", or vieux "old" precede a masculine singular noun beginning with a vowel or a
mute "h", they are changed to bel, nouvel, and vieil to help ease the pronunciation. The normal plural rule applies to plural nouns.

French-loaned compounds longer than two words tend to follow the rules of the original language, which usually
involves pluralizing only the head at the beginning:
aide-de-camp aides-de-camp
cri du coeur

cris du coeur

coup d'tat

coups d'tat

tour de force

tours de force

but:
tte--tte tte--ttes

A distinctive case is the compound film noir. For this French-loaned artistic term, English-language texts variously
use as the plural films noirs, films noir, and, most prevalently, film noirs. The 11th edition of the standard
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2006) lists film noirs as the preferred style. Three primary bases may be
identified for this:
1. Unlike other compounds borrowed directly from French, film noir is used to refer primarily to English-language
cultural artifacts; a typically English-style plural is thus unusually appropriate.

English plurals

103

2. Again, unlike other foreign-loaned compounds, film noir refers specifically to the products of popular culture;
consequently, popular usage holds more orthographical authority than is usual.
3. English has adopted noir as a stand-alone noun in artistic contexts, leading it to serve as the lone head in a variety
of compounds (e.g., psycho-noir, sci-fi noir).

Plurals of letters and abbreviations

The plural of individual letters is normally written with -'s: there are two h's in this sentence; mind your p's and q's;
dot the i's and cross the t's.
Some people extend this use of the apostrophe to other cases, such as plurals of numbers written in figures (e.g.
"1990's"), words used as terms (e.g. "his writing uses a lot of but's"). However others prefer to avoid this method
(which can lead to confusion with the possessive -'s), and write 1990s, buts; this is the style recommended by the
Chicago Manual of Style.
Likewise, acronyms and initialisms are normally pluralized simply by adding (lowercase) -s, as in MPs, although the
apostrophe is sometimes seen. Use of the apostrophe is more common in those cases where the letters are followed
by periods (B.A.'s), or where the last letter is S (as in PS's and CAS's, although PSs and CASs are also acceptable; the
ending -es is also sometimes seen).
English (like Latin and many other European languages) can form a plural of certain one-letter abbreviations by
doubling the letter: p. ("page"), pp. ("pages"). Other examples include ll. ("lines"), ff. ("following lines/pages"), hh.
("hands", as a measure), PP. ("Popes"), ss. (or ) ("sections"), vv. ("volumes"). Some multi-letter abbreviations can
be treated the same way, by doubling the final letter: MS ("manuscript"), MSS ("manuscripts"); op. ("opus"), opp.
("opera" as plural of opus).
However often the abbreviation used for the singular is used also as the abbreviation for the plural; this is normal for
most units of measurement and currency, as in 10 m ("10 metres").

Headless nouns
In The Language Instinct, linguist Steven Pinker discusses what he calls "headless words", typically bahuvrihi
compounds, like lowlife and flatfoot, in which life and foot are not heads semantically; that is, a lowlife is not a type
of life, and a flatfoot is not a type of foot. When the common form of such a word is singular, it is treated as if it has
a regular plural, even if the final constituent of the word is usually pluralized in a nonregular fashion. Thus the plural
of lowlife is lowlifes, not "lowlives", according to Pinker. Other proposed examples include:
sabertooth sabertooths
still life

still lifes

tenderfoot tenderfoots

An exception is Blackfoot, of which the plural can be Blackfeet, though that form of the name is officially rejected by
the Blackfoot First Nations of Canada.
Another analogous case is that of sport team names such as the Florida Marlins and Toronto Maple Leafs. For these,
see Teams and their members below.
When a headless compound ends with an irregular plural noun, the compound may be pluralized by adding an -s to
the irregular plural. An example is 10 pences, the plural of 10 pence meaning a 10-pence coin (also 10p's,
pronounced "10 pees").

English plurals

104

Defective nouns
Plurals without singulars
Some nouns have no singular form. Such a noun is called a plurale tantum. Examples include cattle, thanks, clothes
(originally a plural of cloth).
A particular set of nouns, describing things having two parts, comprises the major group of pluralia tantum in
modern English:
glasses (a pair of spectacles), pants, panties, pantyhose, pliers, scissors, shorts, suspenders, tongs
(metalworking & cooking), trousers, etc.
These words are interchangeable with a pair of scissors, a pair of trousers, and so forth. In the American fashion
industry it is common to refer to a single pair of pants as a pant though this is a back-formation, the English word
(deriving from the French pantalon) was originally singular. In the same field, one half of a pair of scissors separated
from the other half is, rather illogically, referred to as a half-scissor. Tweezers used to be part of this group, but
tweezer has come into common usage only since the second half of the twentieth century.
There are also some plural nouns whose singular forms exist, though they are much more rarely encountered than the
plurals:
nuptial

nuptials
[1] phalanges

phalanx
tiding

tidings

victual

victuals

viscus

viscera

Notes:
[1] In medical terminology, a phalanx is any bone of the finger or toe. A military phalanx is pluralized phalanxes.

Singulars without plurals

Mass nouns (or uncountable nouns) do not represent distinct objects, so the singular and plural semantics do not
apply in the same way. Some examples:
Abstract nouns
deceit, information, cunning, and nouns derived from adjectives, such as honesty, wisdom, beauty,
intelligence, poverty, stupidity, curiosity, and words ending with "ness", such as goodness, freshness, laziness,
and nouns which are homonyms of adjectives with a similar meaning, such as good, bad (can also use
goodness and badness), hot, and cold.
In the arts and sciences
chemistry, geometry, surgery, the blues,[1] jazz, rock and roll, impressionism, surrealism. This includes those
that look plural but function as grammatically singular in English: mathematics (and in British English the
shortened form 'maths'), physics, mechanics, dynamics, statics, thermodynamics, aerodynamics, electronics,
hydrodynamics, robotics, acoustics, optics, computer graphics, cryptography, ethics, linguistics, etc.; e.g.,
Mathematics is fun; Cryptography is the science of codes and ciphers; theromodynamics is the science of heat.
Data often functions as a singular in terms such as 'data collection' or 'data processing'.
Chemical elements and other physical entities:
aluminum (US) / aluminium (UK), copper, gold, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, equipment, furniture, traffic, air
and water

English plurals
Notes:
[1] Referring to the musical style as a whole.

Some mass nouns can be pluralized, but the meaning in this case may change somewhat. For example, when I have
two grains of sand, I do not have two sands; I have sand. There is more sand in your pile than in mine, not more
sands. However, there could be the many "sands of Africa" either many distinct stretches of sand, or distinct types
of sand of interest to geologists or builders, or simply the allusive The Sands of Mars.
It is rare to pluralize furniture in this way and information is never pluralized.
There is only one class of atoms called oxygen, but there are several isotopes of oxygen, which might be referred to
as different oxygens. In casual speech, oxygen might be used as shorthand for "oxygen atoms", but in this case, it is
not a mass noun, so it is entirely sensible to refer to multiple oxygens in the same molecule.
One would interpret Bob's wisdoms as various pieces of Bob's wisdom (that is, don't run with scissors, defer to those
with greater knowledge), deceits as a series of instances of deceitful behavior (lied on income tax, dated my wife),
and the different idlenesses of the worker as plural distinct manifestations of the mass concept of idleness (or as
different types of idleness, "bone lazy" versus "no work to do").
The pair specie and species both come from a Latin word meaning "kind", but they do not form a singular-plural
pair. In Latin, specie is the ablative singular form, while species is the nominative form, which happens to be the
same in both singular and plural. In English, species behaves similarly as a noun with identical singular and
plural while specie is treated as a mass noun, referring to money in the form of coins (the idea is of "[payment] in
kind").

Singulars as plural and plurals as singular

Plural words becoming singular
Plural in form but singular in construction
Certain words which were originally plural in form have come to be used almost exclusively as singulars (usually
uncountable); for example billiards, measles, news, mathematics, physics etc. Some of these words, such as news,
are strongly and consistently felt as singular by fluent speakers. These words are usually marked in dictionaries with
the phrase "plural in form but singular in construction" (or similar wording). Others, such as aesthetics, are less
strongly or consistently felt as singular; for the latter type, the dictionary phrase "plural in form but singular or plural
in construction" recognizes variable usage.
Plural form became a singular form
Some words of foreign origin are much better known in their (foreign-morphology) plural form, and are often not
even recognized by English speakers as having plural form; descriptively, in English morphology many of these
simply are not in plural form, because English has naturalized the foreign plural as the English singular. Usage of the
original singular may be considered pedantic, hypercorrective, or incorrect[1] by some speakers. In the examples
below, the original plural is now commonly used as a singular, and in some cases a regular English plural
(effectively a double plural) has been formed from it.

105

English plurals

106

Original singular Original plural/ Common plural

common singular
[2]

agendum

agenda

agendas

alga

algae

algae

bacterium

bacteria

bacteria

biscotto

biscotti

biscotti

candelabrum

candelabra

candelabras

datum

data

data (mass noun)

graffito

graffiti

graffiti (mass noun)

insigne

insignia

insignias

panino

panini

paninis (currently gaining use)

paparazzo

paparazzi

paparazzi

spaghetto

spaghetti

spaghetti (mass noun)

[3]

Notes:
[1] "The word agenda, for example, was originally plural (from agendum: 'something to be acted on') but is nowadays used only as a singular,
and nobody in their right mind would insist that it should be used as a plural." http:/ / www. eisu2. bham. ac. uk/ johnstf/ revis006. htm
[2] An agenda commonly is used to mean a list of agenda.
[3] A single piece of data is sometimes referred to as a data point. In engineering, drafting, surveying, and geodesy, and in weight and balance
calculations for aircraft, a datum (plural datums or data) is a reference point, surface, or axis on an object or the earths surface against which
measurements are made.

Magazine was derived from Arabic via French. It was originally plural, but in French and English, it is always
regarded as singular.
Some other words whose plurals are sometimes misused as singulars include:
criterion

criteria

phenomenon phenomena

Back-formation
Some words have unusually formed singulars and plurals, but develop "normal" singular-plural pairs by
back-formation. For example, pease (modern peas) was in origin a singular with plural peasen. However, pease
came to be analysed as plural by analogy, from which a new singular pea was formed; the spelling of pease was also
altered accordingly, surviving only in the name of the dish pease porridge or pease pudding. Similarly, termites was
the three-syllable plural of termes; this singular was lost, however, and the plural form reduced to two syllables.
Syringe is a back-formation from syringes, itself the plural of syrinx, a musical instrument. Cherry is from Norman
French cherise. Phases was once the plural of phasis, but the singular is now phase.
Kudos is a singular Greek word meaning praise, but is often taken to be a plural. At present, however, kudo is
considered an error, though the usage is becoming more common as kudos becomes better known. The name of the
Greek sandwich style gyros is increasingly undergoing a similar transformation.
The term, from Latin, for the main upper arm flexor in the singular is the biceps muscle (from biceps brachii);
however, many English speakers take it to be a plural and refer to the muscle of only one arm, by back-formation, as
a bicep. The correct although very seldom used Latin plural would be bicipites.
The word sastrugi (hard ridges on deep snow) is of Russian origin and its singular is sastruga; but the imaginary
Latin-type singular sastrugus has sometimes been used.

English plurals

Geographical plurals used as singular

Geographical names may be treated as singular even if they are plural in form, if they are regarded as representing a
single entity such as a country: The United States is a country in North America (similarly with the Netherlands, the
Philippines, Trinidad and Tobago, etc.) However if the sense is a group of geographical objects, such as islands or
mountains, a plural-form name will be treated as plural: The Hebrides are a group of islands off the coast of
Scotland.

Singulars with collective meaning treated as plural

A number of words like army, company, crowd, fleet, government, majority, mess, number, pack, and party may
refer either to a single entity or the members of the set composing it. If the latter meaning is intended, the word
(though singular in form) may be treated as if it were a plural, in that it may take a plural verb and be replaced with a
plural pronoun: the government are considering their position (alternatively the government is considering its
position). See synesis.
Thus, as H. W. Fowler describes, in British English they are "treated as singular or plural at discretion"; Fowler notes
that occasionally a "delicate distinction" is made possible by discretionary plurals: "The Cabinet is divided is better,
because in the order of thought a whole must precede division; and The Cabinet are agreed is better, because it takes
two or more to agree."[1]

Plurals of numbers
The following rules apply to the plurals of numerical terms such as dozen, score, hundred, thousand, million, and
similar:
When modified by a number, the plural is not inflected, that is, has no -s added. Hence one hundred, two million,
four score, etc. (The resulting quantitative expressions are treated as numbers, in that they can modify nouns
directly: three dozen eggs, although of is used before pronouns or definite noun phrases: three dozen of them/of
those eggs.)
When not modified by a number, the plural takes -s as usual, and the resulting expression is not a number (it
requires of if modifying a noun): I have hundreds, dozens of complaints, the thousands of people affected.
When the modifier is a vaguer expression of number, either pattern may be followed: several hundred (people) or
several hundreds (of people).
When the word has a specific meaning rather than being a simple expression of quantity, it is pluralized as an
ordinary noun: Last season he scored eight hundreds [=scores of at least 100 runs]. The same applies to other
numbers: My phone number consists of three fives and four sixes.
Note the expressions by the dozen etc. (singular); in threes [=in groups of three] etc. (plural); eight sevens are
fifty-six etc.

Nouns used attributively

Nouns used attributively to qualify other nouns are generally in the singular, even though for example, a dog catcher
catches more than one dog, and a department store has more than one department. This is true even for some binary
nouns where the singular form is not found in isolation, such as a trouser mangle or the scissor kick. This is also true
where the attribute noun is itself qualified with a number, such as a twenty-dollar bill, a ten-foot pole or a two-man
tent. The plural is used for pluralia tantum nouns: a glasses case is for eyeglasses, while a glass case is made of glass
(but compare eyeglass case); also an arms race versus arm wrestling. The plural may be used to emphasise the
plurality of the attribute, especially in British English but very rarely in American English: a careers advisor, a
languages expert. The plural is also more common with irregular plurals for various attributions: women killers are
women who kill, whereas woman killers are those who kill women.

107

English plurals

Teams and their members

In the names of sports teams, sometimes a noun will be given a regular plural in -s even though that noun in normal
use has an irregular plural form (a particular case of headless nouns as described above). For example, there are
teams called the Florida Marlins and the Toronto Maple Leafs, even though the word marlin normally has its plural
identical to the singular, and the plural of leaf is leaves. (This does not always apply; for example, there is the
Minnesota Lynx, not *Lynxes.) Some teams use a non-standard plural spelling in their names, such as the Boston
Red Sox and Chicago White Sox.
When a sport team's name is plural, the corresponding singular is often used to denote a member of that team; for
example a player for the Cincinnati Reds may be referred to as a (Cincinnati) Red. This also applies to the St. Louis
Blues ice hockey team, even though it is named after the song the "St. Louis Blues", and thus blues was originally a
singular identical to its plural.
When a team's name is plural in form but cannot be singularized by removing an -s, as in Boston Red Sox, the plural
is sometimes used as a singular (a player may be referred to as "a Red Sox").
When a team's name is singular, as in Miami Heat and Colorado Avalanche, the same singular word may also
sometimes be used to denote a player (a Heat, an Avalanche). When referring to more than one player, it is normal
to use Heat players or Avalanche players (although in the latter case the team's plural-form nickname Avs is also
available).
For the (especially British) treatment of teams as plural even if they have singular names, see Singulars with
collective meaning treated as plural above.

Adjectives as collective plurals

Certain adjectives can be used, uninflected, as plurals denoting people of the designated type. For example
unemployed and homeless can be used to mean "unemployed people" and "homeless people", as in There are two
million unemployed. Such usage is common with the definite article, to denote people of a certain type generally: the
unemployed, the homeless.
This is common with certain nationalities: the British, the Dutch, the English, the French, the Irish, the Spanish, the
Welsh, and those where the adjective and noun singular and plural are identical anyway, including the Swiss and
those in -ese (the Chinese etc.). In the case of most nationalities, however, the plural of the demonym noun is used
for this purpose: (the) Americans, (the) Poles. Cases where the adjective formation is possible, but the noun provides
a commonly used alternative, include the Scottish (or more commonly (the) Scots), the Danish (or (the) Danes), the
Finnish (or (the) Finns), the Swedish (or (the) Swedes).
The noun is normally used anyway when referring to specific sets of people (five Frenchmen, a few Spaniards),
although the adjective may be used especially in case of a group of mixed or unspecified sex, if the demonym nouns
are gender-specific: there were five French (or French people) in the bar (if neither Frenchmen or Frenchwomen
would be appropriate).

108

English plurals

109

References
[1] Fowler, H. W., A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, 2nd ed., revised by Sir Ernest Gowers (New York and Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1965), 403.

External links
Rules for Irregular Plural Formation of Nouns (http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/egw/pluralsn.htm) summary
by Pat Byrd, Department of Applied Linguistics & ESL, Georgia State University
An Algorithmic Approach to English Pluralization (http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~damian/papers/
HTML/Plurals.html) by Damian Conway
Freebase Pluraliser API (http://english-utilities.freebaseapps.com/pluralize?text=moose&text=mouse) plural
names of freebase.com topics by David Huynl

English possessive
English grammar

Adjectives

Adverbs

Articles

Clauses

Compounds

Conditionals

Conjunctions

Determiners

Gender

Idiom

Interjections

Inversion

Nouns

Pronouns

Phrases

Plurals

Possessives

Prepositions

Verbs

Auxiliaries, contractions
Irregular verbs
Modal verbs
Passive voice
Phrasal verbs
Subjunctive
Verb usage

Grammar disputes

v
t

e [1]

In English, possessive words or phrases exist for nouns and most pronouns, as well as some noun phrases. These can
play the roles of determiners (also called possessive adjectives when corresponding to a pronoun) or of nouns.

English possessive
Nouns, noun phrases and some pronouns generally form a possessive with the suffix -'s (or in some cases just by
adding an apostrophe to an existing -s). This form, particularly in English language teaching, is sometimes called the
Saxon genitive, reflecting the suffix's derivation from a genitive case ending in Old English (which in older
scholarship was known as Anglo-Saxon). Personal pronouns, however, have irregular possessives, and most of them
have different forms for possessive determiners and possessive pronouns, such as my and mine or your and yours.
Possessives are one of the means by which genitive constructions are formed in modern English, the other principal
one being the use of the preposition of. It is sometimes stated that the possessives represent a grammatical case,
called the genitive or possessive case, though many linguists do not accept this view, regarding the -'s ending as a
clitic rather than as a case ending.

Formation of possessive construction

Nouns and noun phrases
The possessive form of an English noun, or more generally a noun phrase, is made by suffixing a morpheme which
is represented orthographically as 's (the letter s preceded by an apostrophe), and is pronounced in the same way as
the regular English plural ending -(e)s: namely as /z/ when following a sibilant sound (/s/, /z/, //, //, /t/ or /d/), as
/s/ when following any other voiceless consonant (/p/, /t/, /k/, /f/ or //), and as /z/ otherwise. For example:
Mitch /mt/ has the possessive Mitch's /mtz/
luck /lk/ has the possessive luck's /lks/
man /mn/ has the possessive man's /mnz/
Note the distinction from the plural in nouns whose plural is irregular: man's vs. men, wife's vs. wives, etc.
In the case of plural nouns ending in -s, and in the case of certain other nouns ending in -s, the possessive is indicated
in writing just by adding an apostrophe, and is not indicated in the pronunciation:
the possessive of cats is cats', both words being pronounced /kts/
the possessive of Jesus is most commonly Jesus', both words being pronounced /dizs/
Singular nouns ending in -s can also form a possessive regularly by adding -'s, as in Charles's /t(r)lzz/. The
Chicago Manual of Style recommends this more modern style, while stating that adding just an apostrophe (e.g.
Jesus') is also correct.[1] The Elements of Style and the Canadian Press Stylebook prefer the form in -s's with the
exception of classical and Biblical proper names (Jesus' teachings, Augustus' guards) and common phrases that do
not take the extra s (e.g. "for goodness' sake").[2][3] For more on style guidance for this and other issues relating to
the construction of possessives in English, see Possessive apostrophe.
More generally, the -'s morpheme can be attached finally to noun phrases, even if the head noun does not end the
phrase. For example, the phrase the king of Spain can form the possessive the king of Spain's, and the phrase the man
we saw yesterday can form the man we saw yesterday's. This property is taken as evidence that -'s is a clitic rather
than a case ending; see Status of the possessive as a grammatical case below.

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English possessive

Pronouns
Unlike with other noun phrases which only have a single possessive form, personal pronouns in English have two
possessive forms: possessive determiners (used to form noun phrases such as "her success") and possessive pronouns
(used in place of nouns as in "I prefer hers", and also in predicative expressions as in "the success was hers"). In
most cases these are different from each other.
For example, the pronoun I has possessive determiner my and possessive pronoun mine; you has your and yours; he
has his for both; she has her and hers; it has its for both (though rarely used as a possessive pronoun); we has our and
ours; they has their and theirs. The archaic thou has thy and thine. For a full table and further details, see English
personal pronouns.
Note that possessive its has no apostrophe, although it is sometimes written with one in error, by confusion with the
common possessive ending -'s and the contraction it's used for it is and it has. Possessive its was originally formed
with an apostrophe in the 17th century, but this was dropped in the early 19th century, presumably to make it more
similar to the other personal pronoun possessives.[4]
The interrogative and relative pronoun who has the possessive whose. In its relative (but not interrogative) use,
whose can also serve as a possessive of which (i.e. to refer to things and abstracts as well as people).
Other pronouns that form possessives (mainly indefinite pronouns) do so in the same way as nouns, with -'s, for
example one's, somebody's (and somebody else's). Certain pronouns, such as the demonstratives this, that, these,
those, do not have possessive forms.

Syntactic functions of possessive words or phrases

English possessives play two principal roles in syntax:
the role of possessive determiners (more popularly called possessive adjectives; see Possessive: Terminology)
standing before a noun, as in my house or John's two sisters;
the role of possessive pronouns (although they may not always be called that), standing independently in place of
a noun, as in mine is large; they prefer John's.

As determiners
Possessive noun phrases such as "John's" can be used as determiners. When a form corresponding to a personal
pronoun is used as a possessive determiner, the correct form must be used, as described above (my rather than mine,
etc.).
Possessive determiners are not used in combination with articles or other definite determiners. For example, it is not
correct to say *the my hat, *a my hat or *this my hat; an alternative is provided in the last two cases by the "double
genitive" as described in the following section a hat of mine (also one of my hats), this hat of mine. Possessive
determiners can nonetheless be combined with certain quantifiers, as in my six hats (which differs in meaning from
six of my hats). See English determiners for more details.
A possessive adjective can be intensified with the word own, which can itself be either an adjective or a pronoun: my
own (bed), John's own (bed).
In some expressions the possessive has itself taken on the role of a noun modifier, as in cow's milk (used rather than
cow milk). It then no longer functions as a determiner; adjectives and determiners can be placed before it, as in the
warm cow's milk, where idiomatically the and warm now refer to the milk, not to the cow.
Possessive relationships can also be expressed periphrastically, by preceding the noun or noun phrase with the
preposition of, although possessives are usually more idiomatic where a true relationship of possession is involved.
Some examples:
the child's bag might also be expressed as the bag of the child

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English possessive
our cats' mother might be expressed as the mother of our cats
the system's failure might be expressed as the failure of the system
Another alternative in the last case may be the system failure, using system as a noun adjunct rather than a
possessive.

As pronouns
Possessives can also play the role of nouns or pronouns; namely they can stand alone as a noun phrase, without
qualifying a noun. In this role they can function as the subject or object of verbs, or as a complement of prepositions.
When a form corresponding to a personal pronoun is used in this role, the correct form must be used, as described
above (mine rather than my, etc.).
Examples:
I'll do my work, and you do yours. (here yours is a possessive pronoun, meaning "your work", and standing as the
object of the verb do)
My car is old, Mary's is new. (here Mary's means "Mary's car" and stands as the subject of its clause)
Your house is nice, but I prefer to stay in mine. (here mine means "my house", and is the complement of the
preposition in)

Double genitive

that hard heart of thine ("Venus and Adonis" line 500)

this extreme exactness of his ("Tristram Shandy", chapter 1.IV)
Any Friend of Nicholas Nicklebys is a Friend of Mine
a picture of the kings (that is, a picture owned by the king, as distinguished from a picture of the king, one in
which the king is portrayed)

Some writers regard this as a questionable usage, although it has a history in careful English. "Moreover, in some
sentences the double genitive offers the only way to express what is meant. There is no substitute for it in a sentence
such as Thats the only friend of yours that Ive ever met, since sentences such as Thats your only friend that Ive
ever met and Thats your only friend, whom Ive ever met are not grammatical." "[T]he construction is confined to
human referents: compare a friend of the Gallery/ no fault of the Gallery."[5] Some object to the name, as the "of"
clause is not a genitive. Alternative names are "double possessive" and "oblique genitive". The Oxford English
Dictionary says that this usage was "Originally partitive, but subseq[uently became a] ... simple possessive ... or as
equivalent to an appositive phrase...".

In predicative expressions
When they are used as predicative expressions, as in this is mine and that pen is John's, the intended sense may be
either that of a pronoun or of a predicate adjective; however their form (mine, yours, etc.) in this case is the same as
that used in other sentences for possessive pronouns.

Use of whose
The following sentences illustrate the uses of whose:
As the possessive of interrogative who: Whose pen is this? Whose do you prefer? For whose good is this being
done?
As the possessive of relative who (normally only as determiner, not pronoun): This is the man whose pen we
broke. That is the woman in whose garden you woke up.
As the possessive of relative which (again, normally only as determiner): It is an idea whose time has come
(alternatively ...of which the time has come).

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English possessive

Semantics
Possessives, as well as their synonymous constructions with of, express a range of relationships that are not limited
strictly to possession in the sense of ownership. Some discussion of such relationships can be found at Possession
(linguistics) and at Possessive: Semantics. Some points as they relate specifically to English are discussed below.

Actions
When possessives are used with a verbal noun or other noun expressing an action, the possessive may represent
either the doer of the action (the subject of the corresponding verb) or the undergoer of the action (the object of the
verb). The same applies to of phrases. When a possessive and an of phrase are used with the same action noun, the
former generally represents the subject and the latter the object. For example:
Freds dancing (or the dancing of Fred) Fred is the dancer (only possible meaning with this verb)
the proposal's rejection or the rejection of the proposal the proposal is rejected
Fred's rejection of the proposal Fred is the rejecter, the proposal is rejected

Time periods
Time periods are sometimes put into possessive form, to express the duration of or time associated with the modified
noun:
the Hundred Years War
a day's pay
two weeks notice
The paraphrase with of is often un-idiomatic or ambiguous in these cases.

Expressing for
Sometimes the possessive expresses who the thing is for, rather than to whom it belongs:
womens shoes
childrens literature
These cases would be paraphrased with for rather than of (shoes for women).

Appositive genitive
Sometimes genitive constructions are used to express a noun in apposition to the main one, as in the Isle of Man, the
problem of drug abuse. This may be occasionally be done with a possessive (as in Dublins fair city, for the fair city
of Dublin), but this is a rare usage.

History
The 's clitic originated in Old English as an inflexional suffix marking genitive case. In the modern language, it can
often be attached to the end of an entire phrase (as in "The King of Spain's wife" or "The man whom you met
yesterday's bicycle"). As a result, it is normally viewed by linguists as a clitic, i.e. an affix that cannot be a word by
itself but is grammatically independent of the word it is attached to, as in forms such as 'm (as in I'm) or n't (as in
don't). [6]
A similar form of the clitic existed in the Germanic ancestor of English, and exists in some modern Germanic
languages.
In OldEnglish, -es was the ending of the genitive singular of most strong declension nouns and the masculine and
neuter genitive singular of strong adjectives. The ending -e was used for strong nouns with Germanic -stems, which
constituted most of the feminine strong nouns, and for the feminine genitive singular form of strong adjectives.[7]

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English possessive

114

Gender

Singular Plural

Strong masculine -es

Weak

-a

feminine

-e

-a

neuter

-es

-a

m. / f. / n. -an

-ena

In Middle English the -es ending was generalised to the genitive of all strong declension nouns. By the sixteenth
century, the remaining strong declension endings were generalized to all nouns. The spelling -es remained, but in
many words the letter -e- no longer represented a sound. In those words, printers often copied the French practice of
substituting an apostrophe for the letter e. In later use, -'s was used for all nouns where the /s/ sound was used for the
possessive form, and the -e- was no longer omitted. Confusingly, the -'s form was also used for plural noun forms.
These were derived from the strong declension -as ending in Old English. In Middle English, the spelling was
changed to -es, reflecting a change in pronunciation, and extended to all cases of the plural, including the genitive.
Later conventions removed the apostrophe from subjective and objective case forms and added it after the -s in
possessive case forms. See Apostrophe: Historical development
In the Early Modern English of 1580 to 1620 it was sometimes spelled as "his" as a folk etymology, e.g. "St. James
his park"; see his genitive.
Another remnant of the Old English genitive is the adverbial genitive, where the ending -s (without apostrophe)
forms adverbs of time: nowadays, closed Sundays. There is a literary periphrastic form using of, as in of a summer
day. There are also forms in -ce, from genitives of number and place: once, twice, thrice; whence, hence, thence.
There is also the "genitive of measure": forms such as "a five-mile journey" and "a ten-foot pole" use what is
actually a remnant of the Old English genitive plural which, ending in /a/, had neither the final /s/ nor underwent the
foot/feet vowel mutation of the nominative plural. In essence, the underlying forms are "a five of miles (O.E. gen. pl.
mla) journey" and "a ten of feet (O.E. gen. pl. fta) pole".[8]

Status of the possessive as a grammatical case

English possessives are sometimes said to represent a grammatical case, called the "possessive case" or "genitive
case". Historically, the possessive morpheme represented by -'s was a case marker, as noted in the previous section.
In Modern English, however, many grammarians consider it to be a clitic rather than a case ending. This is
evidenced by phrases like the king of England's horse if the -'s were a true case ending, it would be expected on
king rather than England (*the king's of England horse), since the horse belongs to the king and not to England.
(Compare the German das Pferd des Knigs von England, where Knig "king" takes the genitive case. Older English
provides constructions like the King's dochter of Noroway, from the ballad "Sir Patrick Spens", meaning "the
daughter of the King of Norway".)
Because the ending is in fact separable from the head noun (king) and attaches to the noun phrase as a whole, it is
more likely to be analyzed as a clitic. It is claimed that traditional grammarians are uncomfortable with this analysis
because they like to view English grammar through the lens of classical languages like Latin and Ancient Greek,
which had well-developed case systems.[9]

English possessive

Notes
[1] The Chicago Manual of Style (http:/ / www. chicagomanualofstyle. org/ CMS_FAQ/ PossessivesandAttributives/
PossessivesandAttributives22. html)
[2] The Elements of Style
[3] The Canadian Press Stylebook, 14th Edition. ISBN 978-0-920009-42-0.
[4] http:/ / www. etymonline. com/ index. php?term=its
[5] page 162 under the heading double genitive in
[6] Is the English Possessive''s Truly a Right-Edge Phenomenon? (http:/ / www. humanities. manchester. ac. uk/ medialibrary/ llc/ files/
possessives/ poss-iclce-2. pdf)
[7] Campbell, A. Old English Grammar. Oxford University Press. Oxford 1959. Chapter IX
[8] The Origins and Development of the English Language, Volume 1, John Algeo, Thomas Pyles Cengage Learning, 2009, p 96
[9] Payne, John & Rodney Huddleston. 2002. Nouns and noun phrases. In Rodney Huddleston & Geoffrey K. Pullum (eds.), The Cambridge
grammar of the English language, 323523. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43146-8. (Relevant section is pp.
479481.)

External links
Using the possessive in English (http://linguapress.com/grammar/possessives.htm) A guide for learners of
English

Preposition and postposition

Prepositions (or more generally adpositions, see below) are a grammatically distinct class of words whose most
central members characteristically express spatial or temporal relations (such as the English words in, under,
towards, before) or serve to mark various syntactic functions and semantic roles (such as the English words of,
for).[1] In that the primary function is relational, a preposition typically combines with another constituent (called its
complement) to form a prepositional phrase, relating the complement to the context in which the phrase occurs.
The word preposition comes from Latin, a language in which such a word is usually placed before its complement.
(Thus it is pre-positioned.) English is another such language. In many languages (e.g. Urdu, Turkish, Hindi, Korean
and Japanese), the words with this grammatical function come after, not before, the complement. Such words are
then commonly called postpositions. Similarly, circumpositions consist of two parts that appear on both sides of
the complement. The technical term used to refer collectively to prepositions, postpositions, and circumpositions is
adposition. Some linguists use the word "preposition" instead of "adposition" for all three cases.[2]
Some examples of English prepositions (marked as bold) as used in phrases are:
as an adjunct (locative, temporal, etc.) to a {noun} (marked within curly brackets)
the {weather} in May
{cheese} from France with live bacteria
as an adjunct (locative, temporal, etc.) to a {verb}
{sleep} throughout the winter
{danced} atop the tables for hours
as an adjunct (locative, temporal, etc.) to an {adjective}
{happy} for them
{sick} until recently
Adpositions perform many of the same functions as case markings, but adpositions are syntactic elements, while
case markings are morphological elements.

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Definitional issues
There are many different types of adpositions, and some adpositions can also be classified as verbs, nouns, or
adjectives. It is thus impossible to provide an absolute definition that picks out all and only the adpositions in every
language. The following features, however, are often required of adpositions.
An adposition prototypically combines syntactically with exactly one complement phrase, most often a noun
phrase (or, in a different analysis, a determiner phrase). (In some analyses, an adposition need have no
complement. See below.) In English, this is generally a noun (or something functioning as a noun, e.g., a gerund),
called the object of the preposition, together with its attendant modifiers.
An adposition establishes the grammatical relationship that links its complement to another word or phrase in the
context. In English, it may also establish a semantic relationship, which may be spatial (in, on, under, ...),
temporal (after, during, ...), or logical (via, ...) in nature. The World Atlas of Language Structures treats a word as
an adposition if it takes a noun phrase as complement and indicates the grammatical or semantic relationship of
that phrase to the verb in the containing clause.
An adposition determines certain grammatical properties of its complement (e.g. its case). In English, the objects
of prepositions are always in the objective case (where such case is available: i.e. pronouns). In Koine Greek,
certain prepositions always take their objects in a certain case (e.g., always takes its object in the dative), and
other prepositions may take their object in one of several cases, depending on the meaning of the preposition (e.g.,
takes its object in the genitive or in the accusative, depending on the meaning).
Adpositions are non-inflecting (or "invariant"); i.e., they do not have paradigms of forms (for different tenses,
cases, genders, etc.) in the same way as verbs, adjectives, and nouns in the same language. There are exceptions,
though, for example in Celtic languages (see Inflected preposition).

Properties
The following properties are characteristic of most adpositional systems.
Adpositions are among the most frequently occurring words in languages that have them. For example, one
frequency ranking for English word forms[3] begins as follows (adpositions in bold):
the, of, and, to, a, in, that, it, is, was, I, for, on, you,
The most common adpositions are single, monomorphemic words. According to the ranking cited above, for
example, the most common English prepositions are the following:
on, in, to, by, for, with, at, of, from, as,
Adpositions form a closed class of lexical items and cannot be productively derived from words of other
categories.

Stranding
Preposition stranding is a syntactic construct in which a preposition with an object occurs somewhere other than
immediately next to its object. For example: Whom did you give it to? where to refers to whom, which is placed at
the beginning of the sentence because it is an interrogative word. The above sentence is much more common and
natural than the equivalent sentence without stranding: To whom did you give it? Preposition stranding is most
commonly found in English, as well as North Germanic languages such as Swedish. The existence of preposition
stranding in German and Dutch is debated. Preposition stranding is also found in languages outside the Germanic
family, such as Vata and Gbadi (languages of the NigerCongo) and the dialects of some North American French
speakers.

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Stranding and English prescriptivism

Students are commonly taught that prepositions cannot end a sentence, although there is no rule prohibiting that use.
Similar rules arose during the rise of classicism, when they were applied to English in imitation of classical
languages in which they were found, such as Latin.
Winston Churchill is said to have written, "This is the sort of English up with which I will not put", illustrating the
awkwardness that would result from a rule against the use of terminal prepositions. However, the attribution of this
quote to Churchill is almost certainly apocryphal.[4] The example is also not a perfect example, because in that
sentence up is a particle of the verb "put" rather than a true preposition. A correct rearrangement would be "This is
the sort of English with which I will not put up" (preposition in bold), which still sounds awkward, at least in casual
speech.

Classification
Adpositions can be organized into subclasses according to various criteria. These can be based on directly observable
properties (such as the adposition's form or its position in the sentence) or on less visible properties (such as the
adposition's meaning or function in the context at hand).

Simple vs complex
Simple adpositions consist of a single word, while complex adpositions consist of a group of words that act as one
unit. Some examples of complex prepositions in English are:
in spite of, with respect to, except for, by dint of, next to
The boundary between simple and complex adpositions is not clear-cut and for the most part arbitrary. Many simple
adpositions are derived from complex forms (e.g. with + in within, by + side beside) through
grammaticalization. This change takes time, and during the transitional stages the adposition acts in some ways like a
single word, and in other ways like a multi-word unit. For example, current German orthographic conventions
recognize the indeterminate status of the following adpositions, allowing two spellings:[5]
anstelle / an Stelle ("instead of"), aufgrund / auf Grund ("because of"), mithilfe / mit Hilfe ("thanks to"),
zugunsten / zu Gunsten ("in favor of"), zuungunsten / zu Ungunsten ("to the disadvantage of"), zulasten / zu
Lasten ("at the expense of")
The boundary between complex adpositions and free combinations of words is also a fuzzy one. For English, this
involves structures of the form "preposition + (article) + noun + preposition". Many sequences in English, such as in
front of, that are traditionally regarded as prepositional phrases are not so regarded by linguists.[6] The following
characteristics are good indications that a given combination is "frozen" enough to be considered a complex
preposition in English:

It contains a word that cannot be used in any other context: by dint of, in lieu of.
The first preposition cannot be replaced: with a view to but not *for/without a view to
It is impossible to insert an article, or to use a different article: on *an/*the account of, for the/*a sake of
The range of possible adjectives is very limited: in great favor of, but not *in helpful favor of
The number of the noun cannot be changed: by virtue/*virtues of
It is impossible to use a possessive determiner: in spite of him, not *in his spite

Complex prepositions develop through the grammaticalization of commonly used free combinations. This is an
ongoing process that introduces new prepositions into English.[7]

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Classification by position
The position of an adposition with respect to its complement allows the following subclasses to be defined:
A preposition precedes its complement to form a prepositional phrase.
German: auf dem Tisch, French: sur la table, Polish: na stole ("on the table")
A postposition follows its complement to form a postpositional phrase.
Chinese: zhuzi shng (lit. "table on"), Finnish: (minun) kanssani (lit. "my with"), Turkish:
benimle (or "benim ile"), Latin: mecum (both lit. "me with")
A circumposition consists of two or more parts and it is positioned on both sides of the main word.
Circumpositions are very common in Pashto and Kurdish. Here are some examples in Northern Kurdish
(Kurmanji) (also found in the Kurdish Wiktionary or "Wkferheng"):
bi ... re ("with")
di ... de ("in", for things, not places)
di ... re ("via, through")
ji ... re ("for")
ji ... ve ("since")
The terms "preposition" and "postposition" are more commonly used than the general adposition. Whether a
language has primarily prepositions or postpositions is seen as an important aspect of its typological classification,
correlated with many other properties of the language.
It is usually straightforward to establish whether an adposition precedes or follows its complement. In some cases,
the complement may not appear in a typical position. For example, in preposition stranding constructions, the
complement appears before the preposition:
{How much money} did you say the guy wanted to sell us the car for?
She's going to the Bahamas? {Whom} with?
In other cases, the complement of the adposition is absent:
I'm going to the park. Do you want to come with?
French: Il fait trop froid, je ne suis pas habille pour. ("It's too cold, I'm not dressed for [the situation].")
The adpositions in the examples are generally still considered prepositions because when they form a phrase with the
complement (in more ordinary constructions), they must appear first.
Some adpositions can appear on either side of their complement; these can be called ambipositions (Reindl 2001,
Libert 2006):
He slept {through the whole night}/{the whole night through}.
German: {meiner Meinung nach}/{nach meiner Meinung} ("in my opinion")
An ambiposition entlang (along). It can be put before or after the noun related to it (but with different noun cases
attached to it).
die Strae entlang
entlang der Strae
along the road
Another adposition surrounds its complement, called a circumposition:
A circumposition has two parts, which surround the complement to form a circumpositional phrase.
English: from now on
Dutch: naar het einde toe ("towards the end", lit. "to the end to")

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Mandarin: cng bngxing l ("from the inside of the refrigerator", lit. "from refrigerator
inside")
French: un dtail prs ("except for one detail", lit. "at one detail near")
Swedish: fr tre timmar sedan ("three hours ago", lit. "for three hours since")
"Circumposition" can be a useful descriptive term, though most circumpositional phrases can be broken down into a
more hierarchical structure, or given a different analysis altogether. For example, the Mandarin example above could
be analyzed as a prepositional phrase headed by cng ("from"), taking the postpositional phrase bngxang l
("refrigerator inside") as its complement. Alternatively, the cng may be analyzed as not a preposition at all (see the
section below regarding coverbs).
An inposition is an adposition between constituents of a complex complement.[8]
Ambiposition is sometimes used for an adposition that can function as either a preposition or a postposition.[9]
Melis (2003) proposes the descriptive term interposition for adpositions in the structures such as the following:
word for word, page upon page, (French) coup sur coup (one after another, repeatedly), (Russian)
(with each other)
An interposition is not an adposition which appears inside its complement as the two nouns do not form a single
phrase (there is no *word word or *page page). Examples of actually interposed adpositions can be found in Latin
(e.g. summa cum laude, lit. "highest with praise"). But they are always related to a more basic prepositional structure.

Classification by complement
Noun phrases are the most typical complements to adpositions, but adpositions can in fact be the adjuncts to a
variety of syntactic categories, much like verbs.
noun phrases:
It was on {the table}.
adpositional phrases:
Come out from {under the bed}.
adjectives and adjective phrases:
The scene went from {blindingly bright} to {pitch black}.
adverbs or adverb phrases:
I worked there until {recently}
infinitival or participial verb phrases:
Let's think about {solving this problem}.
insist on {staying home}
nominal clauses:
We can't agree on {whether to have children or not}
full sentences (see Conjunctions below)
Also like verbs, adpositions can appear without a complement; see Adverbs below.
Some adpositions could be described as combining with two complements:
{With Sammy president}, we can all come out of hiding again.
{For Sammy to become president}, they'd have to seriously modify the Constitution.
It is more commonly assumed, however, that Sammy and the following predicate first forms a "small clause", which
then becomes the single complement of the preposition. (In the first example above, a word (such as as) may be
considered to be elided, which, if present, would clarify the grammatical relationship.)
An adposition can also, in itself, function as a complement:

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as the complement of a {noun}
a {thirst} for revenge
an {amendment} to the constitution
as the complement of an {adjective} or {adverb}
{attentive} to their needs
{separately} from its neighbors
as the complement of {another preposition}
{until} after supper
{from} beneath the bed

Semantic classification
Adpositions can be used to express a wide range of semantic relations between their complement and the rest of the
context. The following list is not an exhaustive classification:
spatial relations: location (inclusion, exclusion, proximity), direction (origin, path, endpoint)
temporal relations
comparison: equality, opposition, price, rate

content: source, material, subject matter

agent
instrument, means, manner
cause, purpose
Reference

Most common adpositions are highly polysemous, and much research is devoted to the description and explanation
of the various interconnected meanings of particular adpositions. In many cases a primary, spatial meaning can be
identified, which is then extended to non-spatial uses by metaphorical or other processes.
In some contexts, adpositions appear in contexts where their semantic contribution is minimal, perhaps altogether
absent. Such adpositions are sometimes referred to as functional or case-marking adpositions, and they are lexically
selected by another element in the construction, or fixed by the construction as a whole.
English: dispense with formalities, listen to my advice, good at mathematics
Russian: otvechat' na vopros (lit. "answer on the question"), obvinenie v obmane ("accusation in [i.e. of] fraud")
Spanish: soar con ganar el ttulo ("dream with [i.e. about] winning the title"), consistir en dos grupos ("consist
in [i.e. of] two groups")
It is usually possible to find some semantic motivation for the choice of a given adposition, but it is generally
impossible to explain why other semantically motivated adpositions are excluded in the same context. The selection
of the correct adposition in these cases is a matter of syntactic well-formedness.
Subclasses of spatial adpositions
Spatial adpositions can be divided into two main classes, namely directional and static ones. A directional
adposition usually involves motion along a path over time, but can also denote a non-temporal path. Examples of
directional adpositions include to, from, towards, into, along and through.
Bob went to the store. (movement over time)
A path into the woods. (non-temporal path)
The fog extended from London to Paris. (non-temporal path)
A static adposition normally does not involve movement. Examples of these include at, in, on, beside, behind, under
and above.
Bob is at the store.

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Directional adpositions differ from static ones in that they normally can't combine with a copula to yield a predicate,
though there are some exceptions to this, as in Bob is from Australia, which may perhaps be thought of as special
uses.
Fine: Bob is in his bedroom. (in is static)
Bad: *Bob is to his bedroom. (to is directional)
Directional spatial adpositions can only combine with verbs that involve motion; static prepositions can combine
with other verbs as well.
Fine: Bob is lying down in his bedroom.
Bad: *Bob is lying down into/from his bedroom.
When a static adposition combines with a motion verb, it sometimes takes on a directional meaning. The following
sentence can either mean that Bob jumped around in the water, or else that he jumped so that he ended up in the
water.
Bob jumped in the water.
In some languages, directional adpositions govern a different case on their complement than static ones. These are
known as casally modulated prepositions. For example, in German, directional adpositions govern accusative while
static ones govern dative. Adpositions that are ambiguous between directional and static interpretations govern
accusative when they are interpreted as directional, and dative when they are interpreted as static.
in seinem Zimmer (in his-DATIVE room) "in his room" (static)
in sein Zimmer (in his-ACCUSATIVE room) "into his room" (directional)
Directional adpositions can be further divided into telic ones and atelic ones. To, into and across are telic: they
involve movement all the way to the endpoint denoted by their complement. Atelic ones include towards and along.
When telic adpositions combine with a motion verb, the result is a telic verb phrase. Atelic adpositions give rise to
atelic verb phrases when so combined.[10]
Static adpositions can be further subdivided into projective and non-projective ones. A non-projective static
adposition is one whose meaning can be determined by inspecting the meaning of its complement and the meaning
of the preposition itself. A projective static adposition requires, in addition, a perspective or point of view. If I say
that Bob is behind the rock, you need to know where I am to know on which side of the rock Bob is supposed to be.
If I say that your pen is to the left of my book, you also need to know what my point of view is. No such point of
view is required in the interpretation of sentences like your pen is on the desk. Projective static prepositions can
sometimes take the complement itself as "point of view," if this provides us with certain information. For example, a
house normally has a front and a back, so a sentence like the following is actually ambiguous between two readings:
one has it that Bob is at the back of the house; the other has it that Bob is on the other side of the house, with respect
to the speaker's point of view.
Bob is behind the house.
A similar effect can be observed with left of, given that objects that have fronts and backs can also be ascribed lefts
and rights. The sentence, My keys are to the left of the phone, can either mean that they are on the speaker's left of
the phone, or on the phone's left of the phone.[11]

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Classification by grammatical function

Particular uses of adpositions can be classified according to the function of the adpositional phrase in the sentence.
Modification
adverb-like
The athlete ran {across the goal line}.
adjective-like
attributively
A road trip {with children} is not the most relaxing vacation.
in the predicate position
The key is {under the plastic rock}.
Syntactic functions
complement
Let's dispense with the formalities.
Here the words dispense and with complement one another, functioning as a unit to mean forego, and
they share the direct object (the formalities). The verb dispense would not have this meaning without the
word with to complement it.
{In the cellar} was chosen as the best place to hide the bodies.
Adpositional languages typically single out a particular adposition for the following special functions:
marking possession
marking the agent in the passive construction
marking the beneficiary role in transfer relations

Proper vs improper
Some languages such as Portuguese, Spanish and Italian divide prepositions into proper and improper.[12][13][14][15]
Proper prepositions, also called essential prepositions, are exclusively prepositions. Improper prepositions, also
called accidental prepositions, can have other syntactic roles. Greek divides prepositions into proper and improper,
but with a different meaning.[16]

Overlaps with other categories

Adverbs
There are many similarities in form between adpositions and adverbs. Some adverbs are clearly derived from the
fusion of a preposition and its complement, and some prepositions have adverb-like uses with no complement:
{down the stairs}/downstairs, {under the ground}/underground.
{inside (the house)}, {aboard (the plane)}, {underneath (the surface)}
It is possible to treat all of these adverbs as intransitive prepositions, as opposed to transitive prepositions, which
select a complement (just like transitive vs intransitive verbs). This analysis[17] could also be extended to other
adverbs, even those that cannot be used as "ordinary" prepositions with a nominal complement:
here, there, abroad, downtown, afterwards,
A more conservative approach is to say simply that adverbs and adpositional phrases share many common functions.

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Particles
Phrasal verbs in English are composed of a verb and a "particle" that also looks like an intransitive preposition. The
same can be said for the separable verb prefixes found in Dutch and German.
give up, look out, sleep in, carry on, come to
Dutch: opbellen ("to call (by phone)"), aanbieden ("to offer"), voorstellen ("to propose")
German: einkaufen ("to purchase"), aussehen ("to resemble"), anbieten ("to offer")
Although these elements have the same lexical form as prepositions, in many cases they do not have relational
semantics, and there is no "missing" complement whose identity can be recovered from the context.

Conjunctions
The set of adpositions overlaps with the set of subordinating conjunctions (or complementizers):

(preposition) before/after/since the end of the summer

(conjunction) before/after/since the summer ended
(preposition) It looks like another rainy day
(conjunction) It looks like it's going to rain again today

All of these words can be treated as prepositions if we extend the definition to allow clausal complements. This
treatment could be extended further to conjunctions that are never used as ordinary prepositions:
unless they surrender, although time is almost up, while you were on the phone

Coverbs
In some languages, the role of adpositions is served by coverbs, words that are lexically verbs, but are generally used
to convey the meaning of adpositions.
For instance, whether prepositions exist in Chinese is sometimes considered an open question. Coverbs are often
referred to as prepositions because they appear before the noun phrase they modify. However, unlike prepositions,
coverbs can sometimes stand alone as main verbs. For instance, in Standard Chinese, do can be used in a
prepositional or a verb sense:
q ("to go") is the main verb: W do Bijng q. ("I go to Beijing.")
do ("to arrive") is the main verb: W do le. ("I have arrived.")

Case affixes
From a functional point of view, adpositions and morphological case markings are similar. Adpositions in one
language can correspond precisely to case markings in another language. For example, the agentive noun phrase in
the passive construction in English is introduced by the preposition by, while in Russian it is marked by the
instrumental case. Sometimes both prepositions and cases can be observed within a single language. For example,
the genitive case in German is in many instances interchangeable with a phrase using the preposition von.
Despite this functional similarity, adpositions and case markings are distinct grammatical categories:
Adpositions combine syntactically with their complement phrase. Case markings combine with a noun
morphologically.
Two adpositions can usually be joined with a conjunction and share a single complement, but this is normally not
possible with case markings:
{of and for the people} vs. Latin populi et populo, not *populi et -o ("people-genitive and -dative")
One adposition can usually combine with two coordinated complements, but this is normally not possible with
case markings:
of {the city and the world} vs. Latin urbis et orbis, not *urb- et orbis ("city- and world-genitive")

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Preposition and postposition

Case markings combine primarily with nouns, whereas adpositions can combine with phrases of many different
categories.
A case marking usually appears directly on the noun, but an adposition can be separated from the noun by other
words.
Within the noun phrase, determiners and adjectives may agree with the noun in case (case spreading), but an
adposition only appears once.
A language can have hundreds of adpositions (including complex adpositions), but no language has this many
distinct morphological cases.
It can be difficult to clearly distinguish case markings from adpositions. For example, the post-nominal elements in
Japanese and Korean are sometimes called case particles and sometimes postpositions. Sometimes they are analysed
as two different groups because they have different characteristics (e.g. ability to combine with focus particles), but
in such analysis, it is unclear which words should fall into which group.
Japanese: (densha de, "by train")
Korean: (Hangug-e, "to Korea")
Turkish and Finnish have both extensive case-marking and postpositions, and here there is evidence to help
distinguish the two:
Turkish: (case) sinemaya (cinema-dative, "to the cinema") vs (postposition) sinema iin ("for the cinema")
Finnish: (case) talossa (house-inessive, "in the house") vs (postposition) "talon edess (house-gen in front, "in
front of the house")
In these examples, the case markings form a word with their hosts (as shown by vowel harmony, other word-internal
effects and agreement of adjectives in Finnish), while the postpositions are independent words.
Some languages, like Sanskrit, use postpositions to emphasize the meaning of the grammatical cases, and eliminate
possible ambiguities in the meaning of the phrase. For example: (Rmea saha, "in company of Rma"). In
this example, "Rmea" is in the instrumental case, but, as its meaning can be ambiguous,the postposition saha is
being used to emphasize the meaning of company.
In Indo-European languages, each case often contains several different endings, some of which may be derived from
different roots. An ending is chosen depending on gender, number, whether the word is a noun or a modifier, and
other factors.

Word choice
The choice of preposition (or postposition) in a sentence is often idiomatic, and may depend either on the verb
preceding it or on the noun which it governs: it is often not clear from the sense which preposition is appropriate.
Different languages and regional dialects often have different conventions. Learning the conventionally preferred
word is a matter of exposure to examples. For example, most dialects of American English have "to wait in line", but
some have "to wait on line". Because of this, prepositions are often cited as one of the most difficult aspects of a
language to learn, for both non-native speakers and native speakers.[18] Where an adposition is required in one
language, it may not be in another. In translations, adpositions must be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, and one
may be either supplied or omitted. For instance:
Speakers of English learning Spanish or Portuguese have difficulty distinguishing between the prepositions por
and para, as both frequently correspond to for in English.
The German preposition von might be translated as by, of, or from in English depending on the sense.

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Notes
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]

Huddleston & Pullum (2002), chapter 7.

An example is Huddleston & Pullum (2002) ("CGEL"), whose choice of terms is discussed on p. 602.
WordCount website (http:/ / www. wordcount. org/ main. php)
http:/ / itre. cis. upenn. edu/ ~myl/ languagelog/ archives/ 001715. html
Duden: Neue Rechtschreibung Crashkurs ( Regel 11 (http:/ / www. duden. de/ deutsche_sprache/ neue_rechtschreibung/ crashkurs/
getrenntzusammen/ regel_11. php)).
[6] CGEL, p. 618ff; Pullum (2005).
[7] Quirk and Mulholland (1964).
[8] Haspelmath, "Adpositions"; citing Martin Haspelmath et al., eds, World Atlas of Language Structures (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2005).
[9] Haspelmath, "Adpositions".
[10] Zwarts, Joost. 2005. "Prepositional Aspect and the Algebra of Paths." Linguistics and Philosophy 28.6, 739779.
[11] Creswell, Max. 1978. "Prepositions and points of view." Linguistics and Philosophy, 2: 141.
[12] http:/ / www. castellanocorrecto. uji. es/ preposiciones_3. htm
[13] http:/ / italian. about. com/ od/ prepositions/ prepositions. htm
[14] http:/ / www. filologia. org. br/ xiicnlf/ 16/ 07. pdf
[15] http:/ / www. educacao. cc/ lingua-portuguesa/ preposicao-essenciais-acidentais-e-contracao/
[16] http:/ / www. clas. ufl. edu/ users/ jmarks/ summergreek/ gk-studyguides/ greek_prepositions. pdf
[17] Notably that of CGEL, pp. 61216.
[18] Regarding the use and misuse of prepositions see:

References
Mark, L Hernandez The power of the letter (2001). ISBN 978-0-534-42066-6.
Bennett, David C. (1975) Spatial and Temporal Uses of English Prepositions: An Essay in Stratificational
Semantics. London: Longman.
Emonds, Joseph E. (1985) A Unified Theory of Syntactic Categories. Dordrecht: Foris.
Haspelmath, Martin. (2003) "Adpositions". International Encyclopedia of Linguistics. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford
University Press. ISBN 0-19-513977-1.
Huddleston, Rodney, and Geoffrey K. Pullum. (2002) The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43146-8.
Jackendoff, Ray S. (1973) "Base Rules for PPs". In S. R. Anderson and P. Kiparsky (eds), A Festschrift for
Morris Halle, pp.345356. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
Koopman, Hilda. (2000) "Prepositions, postpositions, circumpositions, and particles". In The Syntax of Specifiers
and Heads, pp.204260. London: Routledge.
Libert, Alan R. (2006) Ambipositions. LINCOM studies in language typology (No. 13). LINCOM. ISBN
3-89586-747-0.
Maling, Joan. (1983) "Transitive adjectives: A case of categorial reanalysis". In F. Heny and B. Richards (eds),
Linguistic Categories: Auxiliaries and Related Puzzles, Vol. 1, pp.253289. Dordrecht: Reidel.
Melis, Ludo. (2003) La prposition en franais. Gap: Ophrys.
Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2005) " Phrasal Prepositions in a Civil Tone (http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/
languagelog/archives/001871.html)." Language Log. Accessed 9 September 2007.
Quirk, Randolph, and Joan Mulholland. (1964) "Complex Prepositions and Related Sequences". English Studies,
suppl. to vol. 45, pp.6473.
Rauh, Gisa. (1991) Approaches to Prepositions. Tbingen: Gunter Narr.
Reindl, Donald F. (2001) "Areal Effects on the Preservation and Genesis of Slavic Postpositions". In Lj. ari and
D. F. Reindl On Prepositions (= Studia Slavica Oldenburgensia 8), pp.85100. Oldenburg:
Carl-von-Ossietzky-Universitat Oldenburg.
Thatcher, David (2008) Saving Our Prepositions: A Guide for the Perplexed (http://www.
savingourprepositions.com) by angel martinez

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126

External links
Prepositions in the German language: Prepositions I (http://www.deutsched.com/Grammar/Lessons/
0206prep1.php), Prepositions II (http://www.deutsched.com/Grammar/Lessons/0207prep2.php)
Merriam Webster Editor's take on whether it is ok to end a sentence with a Preposition (http://www.
merriam-webster.com/video/0025-preposition.htm)
With or Without a Complement: The Form and Function of Prepositions (http://www.rockpicklepublishing.
com/essays/formandfunctionofprepositions.html)
The Functions of Prepositions in English (http://www.brighthub.com/education/languages/articles/22684.
aspx)
Some prepositions (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/594/02/)
: " ?" ( ) (http://www.study.
ru/support/lib/note141.html)
List of participles and adjectives with prepositions (http://www.phrasal.info/
List-of-participles-and-adjectives-with-prepositions.html)

English verbs
English grammar

Adjectives

Adverbs

Articles

Clauses

Compounds

Conditionals

Conjunctions

Determiners

Gender

Idiom

Interjections

Inversion

Nouns

Pronouns

Phrases

Plurals

Possessives

Prepositions

Verbs

Auxiliaries, contractions
Irregular verbs
Modal verbs
Passive voice
Phrasal verbs
Subjunctive
Verb usage

Grammar disputes

English verbs

127

v
t

e [1]

Verbs constitute one of the main word classes in the English language. Like other types of words in the language,
English verbs are not heavily inflected. Most combinations of tense, aspect, mood and voice are expressed
periphrastically, using constructions with auxiliary verbs and modal verbs.
Generally, the only inflected forms of an English verb are a third person singular present tense form in -s, a past
tense (also called preterite), a past participle (which may be the same as the past tense), and a form in -ing that serves
as a present participle and gerund. Most verbs inflect in a simple regular fashion, although there are about 200
irregular verbs; the irregularity in nearly all cases concerns the past tense and past participle forms. The copula verb
be has a larger number of different inflected forms, and is highly irregular.
For details of the uses of particular verb tenses and other forms, see the article Uses of English verb forms. For
certain other specific topics, see the articles listed in the box to the right.

Inflected forms
Principal parts
A regular English verb has only one principal part, from which all the forms of the verb can be derived. This is the
base form or dictionary form. For example, from the base form exist, all the inflected forms of the verb (exist, exists,
existed, existing) can be predictably derived. The base form is also called the bare infinitive; another common way of
referring to verbs is to use the to-infinitive, e.g. "to exist".
Most of the irregular verbs have three principal parts, since the simple past and past participle are unpredictable. For
example, the verb write has the principal parts write (base form), wrote (past), written (past participle); the remaining
forms (writes, writing) are derived regularly. Note that some irregular verbs have identical past tense and past
participle forms (as the regular verbs do), as with sendsentsent.
The verbs do, say and have additionally have irregular third person singular present tense forms (see below). The
copular verb be is highly irregular, with the forms be, am, is, are, was, were, been and being. On the other hand
modal verbs (such as can and must) are defective verbs, being used only in a limited number of forms. For details on
the forms of verbs of these types, see Copular, auxiliary and defective verbs below.

Base form
The base form or plain form of a verb is not generally marked by any ending, although there are certain suffixes that
are frequently used to form verbs, such as -ate (formulate), -fy (electrify), and -ise/ize (realise/realize). Many verbs
also contain prefixes, such un- (unmask), out- (outlast), over- (overtake), and under- (undervalue). Some verbs are
formed from nouns and adjectives by conversion, as with the verbs snare, nose, dry, and calm.
The base form is used in the following ways:

It serves as the bare infinitive, and in forming the to-infinitive (e.g. to write); for uses see Non-finite forms below.
It serves as the simple present tense, except in the third person singular (I/you/we/they write regularly).
It is used as an imperative: Write these words.
It is used as a subjunctive: I suggested that he write a novel.

For the verb be, which uses different forms for the simple present, and modal verbs, which are not used in the
infinitive, imperative or subjunctive, see Copular, auxiliary and defective verbs below.

English verbs

Third person singular present

Almost all verbs have a third person singular present indicative form, with the suffix -[e]s. In terms of spelling, it is
formed in most cases by adding -s to the verb's base form: run runs. However if the base form ends in one of the
sibilant sounds (/s/, /z/, //, //, /t/, /d/), and its spelling does not end in a silent e, then -es is added: buzz buzzes;
catch catches. Verbs ending in a consonant plus o also typically add -es: veto vetoes. Verbs ending in a
consonant plus y add -es after changing the y to an i: cry cries.
In terms of pronunciation, the ending is pronounced as /z/ after sibilants (as in lurches), as /s/ after voiceless
consonants other than sibilants (as in makes), and as /z/ otherwise (as in adds). These are the same rules as apply,
with nouns, to the pronunciation of the regular plural ending -[e]s and the possessive -'s. The spelling rules given
above are also very similar to those for the plural of nouns.
The third person singular present of have is irregular: has /hz/ (with the weak form /hz/ when used an auxiliary,
also contractable to -'s). The verbs do and say also have irregular forms, which however look like regular forms in
writing: does /dz/ and says /sz/.
For the verb be, modal verbs and other auxiliaries, see Copular, auxiliary and defective verbs below.
The form described in this section is used with third person singular subjects as the simple present tense (in the
indicative mood): He writes novels all the time. (This tense has other uses besides referring to present time; for
example, in I'll be glad if he writes, it refers to future time.)

Past tense
The past tense, or preterite, may be formed regularly or irregularly.
With regular verbs, the past tense is formed (in terms of spelling) by adding -ed to the base form (play played).
Normal rules for adding suffixes beginning with a vowel apply: If the base form ends in e then only d is added (like
liked); if the base form ends in a consonant followed by y then the y is changed to i before adding the ending (try
tried; an exception is the verb sky (a ball), which can form skied or skyed).
Various rules apply for doubling final consonants. If the base form ends in a single vowel followed by a single
consonant (except h, silent t, w, x and y), then unless the final syllable is completely unstressed, the consonant is
doubled before adding the -ed (ship shipped, but fathom fathomed). For most base forms ending in c, the
doubled form used is ck, and this is used regardless of stress (panic panicked; exceptions include zinc zincked
or zinced, arc usually arced, spec specced or spec'ed, sync sometimes synched). In British English, the
doubling of l occurs regardless of stress (travel travelled; but paralleled is an exception), and when two
separately-pronounced vowels precede the l (dial dialled, fuel fuelled).
If the final syllable has some partial stress, especially for compound words, the consonsant is usually doubled:
backflip backflipped, hobnob hobnobbed, kidnap kidnapped etc. In some cases both alternatives are
acceptable, e.g. dialog dialoged or dialogged, gambol gambolled, hiccup hiccupped or hiccuped, program
programed or programmed. Note however catalog cataloged, pyramid pyramided, format formatted
(but combat combat(t)ed). Other variations not entirely consistent with these rules include bus bused or
bussed, bias biased or biassed and focus focused or focussed, .
The pronunciation of the past tense ending follows analogous rules to those for the third person present tense ending
described above: if the base form ends in /t/ or /d/ then a new syllable /d/ is added (as in drifted, exceeded); if the
base form ends in an unvoiced consonant sound other than /t/ then the ending is pronounced /t/ (as in capped,
passed); otherwise the ending is pronounced /d/ (as in buzzed, tangoed). Consequently, in the 17th and 18th
centuries, the latter two pronunciations were routinely spelled -'d, but -ed was later restored.
For the past tense of irregular verbs, see English irregular verbs. Some of these can be classed as Germanic strong
verbs, such as sing (past sang), while others are weak verbs with irregularly pronounced or irregularly spelt past
forms, such as say (past tense said /sd/).

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English verbs
The verb be has two past tense forms: was (first and third person singular) and were (plural and second person).
The past tense (preterite) form is used in what is called the simple past, in sentences such as We lit the fire and He
liked to dance. One of the uses of this tense is to refer not to a past situation, but to a hypothetical (present or future)
situation in a dependent clause: If I knew that, I wouldn't have to ask. This is sometimes called the "past
subjunctive", particularly in the case of were, which can replace was in such sentences; see English subjunctive.

Past participle
The past participle of regular verbs is identical to the preterite (past tense) form, described in the previous section.
For irregular verbs, see English irregular verbs. Some of these have different past tense and past participle forms
(like singsangsung); others have the same form for both (like makemademade). In some cases the past tense is
regular but the past participle is not, as with showshowedshown.
For uses of the past participle, see Non-finite forms below.

Present participle
The present participle (also used as a gerund) is formed by adding the suffix -ing to the base form: go going. A
final silent e is dropped (believe believing); final ie changes to y (lie lying), and consonant doubling applies as
for the past tense (see above): dab dabbing, panic panicking.
Some exceptions include forms such as singeing, dyeing, ageing, rueing, cacheing and whingeing, where the e may
be retained to avoid confusion with otherwise identical words (e.g. singing), to clarify pronunciation (for example to
show that a word has a soft g or ch), or for aesthetic reasons.
In standard English the ending is pronounced //, although in many regional dialects the final consonant sound is
pronounced /n/, sometimes represented in eye dialect by spellings such as huntin' (see g-dropping).
For uses of the present participle and gerund, see Non-finite forms below.

Copular, auxiliary and defective verbs

The copular verb be has multiple irregular forms in the present tense: am for first person singular (which together
with the subject pronoun is often contracted to I'm), is for third person singular (often contracted to 's), and are for
plural and second person (often contracted to 're chiefly after the pronouns you, we, they). It also has two past tense
forms: was for first and third person singular, and were for plural and second person (also used as a past subjunctive
with all persons; see English subjunctive). The past participle is been, and the present participle and gerund is the
regular being. The base form be is used regularly as an infinitive, imperative and (present) subjunctive. For archaic
forms, see the next section.
English has a number of modal verbs which generally do not inflect (most of them are surviving preterite-present
verbs), and so have only a single form, used as a finite verb with subjects of all persons and numbers. These verbs
are can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must, ought (to), as well as need and dare (when used with a
bare infinitive), and in some analyses used (to) and had better. (The forms could, might, should and would are
considered to be the past tenses of can, may, shall and will respectively, although they are not always used as such.)
These verbs do not have infinitive, imperative or participle forms, although in some cases there exists a synonymous
phrase that can be used to produce such forms, such as be able to in the case of can and could. The negation of can is
the single word cannot. There are contracted forms 'll and 'd for will and would (in some cases possibly considered to
be from shall and should).
Other verbs used as auxiliaries include have, chiefly in perfect constructions (the forms has, have and had can
contract to 's, 've and 'd), and do (does, did) in emphatic, inverted and negated constructions (see do-support).
For more detail of the above, including contractions of negated forms (isn't, won't, etc.), see English auxiliaries and
contractions.

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English verbs
Another example of a defective verb is beware, which is used only in those forms in which be remains unchanged,
namely the infinitive, subjunctive and imperative.

Archaic forms
Formerly, particularly in the Old English period, the English language had a far greater degree of verb inflection than
it does now (other Germanic languages generally retain a greater variety of inflected forms than English does). Some
of the forms used in Early Modern English have now fallen out of use, but are still encountered in old writers and
texts (e.g. Shakespeare, the King James Bible) and in archaisms.
One such form was the third person singular form with the suffix -eth [], pronounced as a full syllable. This was
used in some dialects rather than the modern -s, e.g. he maketh ("he makes"), he runneth ("he runs"), he goeth ("he
goes"). In some verbs, a shortened form -th appears: he hath ("he has"), he doth ("he does"; pronounced as if written
duth), he saith or he sayeth ("he says"). The forms hath and doth are found in some proverbs ("Hell hath no fury like
a woman scorned", "The lady doth protest too much").
Another set of forms are associated with the archaic second person singular pronoun thou, which often have the
ending -est, pronounced as a full syllable, e.g. thou makest ("you make"), thou leadest ("you lead"). In some verbs, a
shortened form -st appears: thou hast ("you have"), thou dost ("you do"; rhymes with must). In the case of the verb
be, such forms included art (present tense), wast (past), wert (past subjunctive) and beest (present subjunctive;
pronounced as two syllables).
For example, several such forms (as well as other archaic forms such as yea for "yes", thy for "your", and mine
enemies for "my enemies") appear in Psalm 23 from the King James Bible:
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod
and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup
runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
for ever.
For more information see Old English verbs, English subjunctive, and Indo-European copula (for the history of the
verb be).

Syntactic constructions
Expressing tenses, aspects and moods
Apart from the simple past tense described above, English verbs do not have synthetic (inflected) forms for
particular tenses, aspects or moods. However there are a number of periphrastic (multi-word) constructions with verb
forms that serve to express tense-like or aspect-like meanings; these constructions are commonly described as
representing certain verb tenses or aspects (in English language teaching they are often simply called tenses). For the
usage of these forms, see Use of verb forms below. More detail can be found in the article Uses of English verb
forms.

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English verbs
Simple and progressive
The progressive (or continuous) aspect is expressed with a form of be together with the present participle of the verb.
Thus present progressive (present continuous) constructions take forms like am writing, is writing, are writing, while
the past progressive (past continuous, also called imperfect) is was writing, were writing. There is a progressive
infinitive (to) be writing and a progressive subjunctive be writing. Other progressive forms, made with compound
forms of be, are described below.
The basic present and past tenses of the verb are called simple present (present simple) and simple past (past simple),
to distinguish them from progressive or other compound forms. Thus the simple present of the above verb is write or
writes, and the simple past (also called preterite) is wrote.
Perfect
The perfect aspect is expressed with a form of the auxiliary have together with the past participle of the verb. Thus
the present perfect is have written or has written, and the past perfect (pluperfect) is had written. The perfect
combines with the progressive aspect (see above) to produce the present perfect progressive (continuous) have/has
been writing and the past perfect progressive (continuous) had been writing. There is a perfect infinitive (to) have
written and a perfect progressive infinitive (to) have been writing, and corresponding present participle/gerund forms
having written and having been writing. A perfect subjunctive (have written) is also sometimes used. Future and
conditional perfect forms are given below.
Future and conditional
What is often called the future tense of English is formed using the auxiliary will. The simple future is will write, the
future progressive (continuous) is will be writing, the future perfect is will have written, and the future perfect
progressive (continuous) is will have been writing. Traditionally (though now usually in formal English only) shall is
used rather than will in the first person singular and plural; see shall and will.
The conditional, or "future-in-the-past", forms are made analogously to these future forms, using would (and should)
in place of will (and shall).

Expressing passive voice

The passive voice in English is normally expressed with a form of the copula verb be (or sometimes get) together
with the past participle of the main verb. Here be is not a stative verb, so may occur in progressive forms. Examples:

The house was built last year.

The house is being built at the moment.
The house will be built by our firm. (a prepositional phrase with by expresses the performer of the action)
I was given a report. (here the subject of the passive corresponds to the indirect object of the active)
He was said to know the killer's identity (special construction related to indirect speech)

For details, see English passive voice.

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English verbs

Imperatives
Imperatives are expressed with the base form of the verb, normally with no subject: Take this outside! Be good! It is
possible to add the second person pronoun you for emphasis: You be good!
More details can be found in the article Imperative mood.

Questions, negation, inversion and emphasis

Questions are formed by subjectauxiliary inversion (unless the interrogative word is part of the subject). If there is
otherwise no auxiliary, the verb do (does, did) is used as an auxiliary, enabling the inversion. This also applies to
negation: the negating word not must follow an auxiliary, so do is used if there is no other auxiliary.
Inversion is also required in certain other types of sentences, mainly after negative adverbial phrases; here too do is
used if there is no other auxiliary.
The construction with do as auxiliary is also used to enable emphasis to be added to a sentence.
For details of the above constructions, see do-support.

Use of verb forms

This section describes how the verb forms introduced in the preceding sections are used. More detail can be found in
the article Uses of English verb forms and in the articles on the individual tenses and aspects.

Finite forms
In referring to an action taking place regularly (and not limited to the future or to the past), the simple present is
used: He brushes his teeth every morning. For an action taking place at the present time, the present progressive
construction is used: He is brushing his teeth now. With some verbs expressing a present state, particularly the
copula be and verbs expressing a mental state, the present simple is generally used: They are here; I know that.
However other state verbs use the present progressive or present simple depending on whether the state is considered
temporary or permanent: The pen is lying on the table; Paris lies on the Seine.
For past actions or states, the simple past is generally used: He went out an hour ago; Columbus knew the shape of
the world. However for completed actions for which no past time frame is implied or expressed, the present perfect
is normally used: I have made the dinner (i.e. the dinner is now ready). For an action in the course of taking place, or
a temporary state existing, at the past time being referred to (compare uses of the present progressive above), the past
progressive is used: We were sitting on the beach when... For an action that was completed before the past time being
referred to, the past perfect is used: We had sat down on the blanket when...
For actions or events expected to take place in the future, the construction with will can be used: The president will
arrive tomorrow. Future events are also often expressed using the be going to construction: She is going to arrive
tomorrow. Planned events can also be referred to using the present progressive (She is arriving tomorrow) or, if
precisely scheduled, the simple present (She arrives tomorrow). The future progressive and future perfect can be
used analogously to the past equivalents: We will be sitting on the beach this afternoon; We will have left the house
by 4 o'clock. However in subordinate clauses expressing a condition or a time reference, present forms are used
rather than the forms with will: If/When you get (not will get) there...
When expressing actions or events lasting up to a specified time, the appropriate perfect construction is used (with
the progressive if expressing a temporary state that would generally be expressed with a progressive form): We have
been having some problems lately; I have lived here for six years; We had been working since the previous evening;
We will have been working for twelve hours by the time you arrive.
The use of tense and aspectual forms in condition and conditional clauses follows special patterns; see conditional
mood. For use of tenses in indirect speech, see sequence of tenses. For the use of subjunctive forms, see English

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subjunctive.

Non-finite forms
The bare infinitive, identical to the base form of the verb, is used as a complement of most modal verbs and certain
other verbs (I can write; They made him write; I saw you write), including in negated and inverted sentences formed
using do-support (He doesn't write; Did you write?).
Preceded by to, it forms the to-infinitive, which has a variety of uses, including as a noun phrase (To write is to
learn) and as the complement of many verbs (I want to write), as well as with certain adjectives and nouns (easy to
ride; his decision to leave), and in expressions of purpose (You did it to spite me).
The past participle has the following uses:
It is used with the auxiliary have in perfect constructions: They have written; We had written before we heard the
news. (With verbs of motion, an archaic form with be may be found in older texts: he is come.)
It is used as a passive participle, with be or get, to form the passive voice: This book was written last year; Trees
sometimes get gnawed down by beavers.
It is used to form passive participial phrases, which can be used adjectivally or adverbally (a letter written on his
computer; Beaten to a pulp, he was carried away) and as complements of certain verbs (I got my car mended;
They had me placed on a list).
It may be used as a simple adjective: as a passive participle in the case of transitive verbs (the written word, i.e.
"the word that is written"), and as a perfect active participle in the case of some intransitive ones (a fallen tree,
i.e. "a tree that has fallen").
The present participle has the following uses:
It is used with forms of be, in progressive (continuous) constructions: He is writing another book; I intend to be
sitting on the beach.
It can form participial phrases, which can be used adjectivally or adverbally: The man sitting over there is drunk;
Being a lawyer, I can understand this; I saw her sitting by the tree.
It can serve as a simple adjective: It is a thrilling book.
The same form used as a gerund has the following uses:
It forms verbal phrases that are then used as nouns: Lying in bed is my favorite hobby.
It forms similar phrases used as a complement of certain verbs: He tried writing novels.
The logical subject of a phrase formed with a gerund can be expressed by a possessive, as in I do not like your/Jim's
drinking wine, although a non-possessive noun or pronoun is often used instead, especially in informal English: I do
not like you/Jim drinking wine. The latter usage, though common, is sometimes considered ungrammatical or
stylistically poor; it is given names like fused participle[1] and geriple[2] since it is seen to confuse a participle with a
gerund. For more information see fused participle.
Gerund forms are often used as plain verbal nouns, which function grammatically like common nouns (in particular,
by being qualified by adjectives rather than adverbs): He did some excellent writing (compare the gerund: He is
known for writing excellently). Such verbal nouns can function, for instance, as noun adjuncts, as in a writing desk.

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English verbs

Objects and complements

Verbs are used in certain patterns which require the presence of specific arguments in the form of objects and other
complements of particular types. (A given verb may be usable in one or more of these patterns.)
A verb with a direct object is called a transitive verb. Some transitive verbs have an indirect object in addition to the
direct object. Verbs used without objects are called intransitive. Both transitive and intransitive verbs may also have
additional complements that are not considered objects.
A single (direct) object generally follows the verb: I love you. If there is an indirect object, it precedes the direct
object (I gave him the book), although an indirect object can also be expressed with a prepositional phrase following
the direct object (and this method is usual when the direct object is a personal pronoun): I gave the book to John; I
bought them for you.
Other complements may include prepositional phrases, non-finite clauses and content clauses, depending on the
applicable verb pattern. These complements normally follow any objects. For example:
I insist on coming. (this use of the verb insist involves a prepositional phrase with on)
I expect to arrive tomorrow. (this use of expect involves a to-infinitive phrase)
I asked him whether he was coming. (this use of ask involves a direct object (him) and an interrogative content
clause)
More examples can be found at Gerund: Verb patterns with the gerund.
English has a number of ergative verbs: verbs which can be used either intransitively or transitively, where in the
intransitive use it is the subject that is receiving the action, and in the transitive use the direct object is receiving the
action while the subject is causing it. An example is sink: The ship sank (intransitive use); The explosion sank the
ship (transitive use). Other common examples include open, sink, wake, melt, boil, collapse, explode, freeze, start,
sell.
For more details on how verbs are built up into clauses, see English clause syntax.

Phrasal verbs
Many English verbs are used in particular combinations with adverbial modifiers such as on, away, out, etc. Often
these combinations take on independent meanings. They are referred to as phrasal verbs. (This term may also include
verbs used with a complement introduced by a particular preposition that gives it a special meaning, as in take to
(someone).)
The adverbial particle in a phrasal verb generally appears close after the verb, though it may follow the object,
particularly when the object is a pronoun: Hand over the money or Hand the money over, but Hand it over.

Notes
[1] H.W. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, 1926
[2] Penguin guide to plain English, Harry Blamires (Penguin Books Ltd., 2000) ISBN 978-0-14-051430-8 pp.144-146

References
Gilman, E. Ward (editor in chief) Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (Merriam-Webster, 1989)
ISBN 0-87779-132-5
Greenbaum, Sidney. The Oxford English Grammar. (Oxford, 1996) ISBN 0-19-861250-8
McArthur, Tom, The Oxford Companion to the English Language (Oxford, 1992) ISBN 0-19-863136-7

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135

External links
English Verb Tense Table (http://istudyenglishonline.com/english-tenses/)
Sequence of Tenses (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/601/01/) at the Online Writing Lab at
Purdue University
Modals and auxiliary verbs in English (http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/syntax-textbook/box-modals.
html)
The English Verb Tense System: A dynamic presentation using the Cuisenaire Rods (http://www.
uneeducationpourdemain.org/en/pedagogical-articles/silent-way/
231-the-english-verb-tense-system-a-dynamic-presentation-using-the-cuisenaire-rods-glenys-hanson)

English auxiliaries and contractions

English grammar

Adjectives

Adverbs

Articles

Clauses

Compounds

Conditionals

Conjunctions

Determiners

Gender

Idiom

Interjections

Inversion

Nouns

Pronouns

Phrases

Plurals

Possessives

Prepositions

Verbs

Auxiliaries, contractions
Irregular verbs
Modal verbs
Passive voice
Phrasal verbs
Subjunctive
Verb usage

Grammar disputes

v
t

e [1]

In English grammar, certain verb forms are classified as auxiliary verbs.[1] Exact definitions of this term vary; an
auxiliary verb is generally conceived as one with little semantic meaning of its own, which modifies the meaning of
another verb with which it co-occurs. In English, verbs are often classed as auxiliaries on the basis of certain
grammatical properties, particularly as regards their syntax primarily whether they participate in subjectauxiliary

English auxiliaries and contractions

inversion, and can be negated by the simple addition of not after them.
Certain auxiliaries have contracted forms, such as 'd and 'll for had/would and will/shall. There are also many
contractions formed from the negations of auxiliary verbs, ending in n't (a reduced form of not). These latter
contractions can participate in inversion as a unit (as in Why haven't you done it?, where the uncontracted form
would be Why have you not done it?), and thus in a certain sense can be regarded as auxiliary verbs in their own
right.
For details about the verbs classed as modal auxiliaries, see English modal verbs.

Auxiliary verbs
Auxiliaries as helping verbs
An auxiliary verb is most generally understood as a verb that "helps" another verb by adding grammatical
information to it.[2] On this basis, the auxiliary verbs of English may be taken to include:
forms of the verb do (do, does, did), when used with other verbs to enable the formation of questions, negation,
emphasis, etc. (see do-support);
forms of the verb have, when used to express perfect aspect;
forms of the verb be, when used to express progressive aspect or passive voice;
the modal verbs, used in a variety of meanings, principally relating to modality.
The following are examples of sentences containing the above types of auxiliary verbs:
Do you want tea? do is an auxiliary accompanying the verb want, used here to form a question.
He had given his all. had is an auxiliary accompanying the past participle given, expressing perfect aspect.
We are singing. are is an auxiliary accompanying the present participle singing, expressing progressive aspect.
It was destroyed. was is an auxiliary accompanying the past participle destroyed, expressive passive voice.
He can do it now. can is a modal auxiliary accompanying the verb do.
However the above understanding of auxiliary verbs is not always strictly adhered to in the literature, particularly in
the case of forms of the verb be, which may be called auxiliaries even when they do not accompany another verb.
Other approaches to defining auxiliary verbs are described in the following sections.

Auxiliaries as verbs with special grammatical behavior

There is a group of English verbs which have certain special grammatical (syntactic) properties that distinguish them
from other verbs. This group consists mainly of verbs that are auxiliaries in the above sense verbs that add
grammatical meaning to other verbs and thus some authors use the term "auxiliary verb", in relation to English, to
denote precisely the verbs in this group. However not all enumerations of English auxiliary verbs correspond exactly
to the group of verbs having these grammatical properties. This group of verbs may also be referred to by other
names, such as "special verbs".[3]
The principal distinguishing properties of verbs in this special group are as follows:
They can participate in what is called subjectauxiliary inversion, i.e. they can swap places with the subject of the
clause, to form questions and for certain other purposes. For example, inversion of subject and verb is possible in
the sentence They can sing (becoming Can they sing?); but it is not possible in They like to sing it is not correct
to say *Like they to sing? (instead do-support is required: Do they like to sing?).[4]
They undergo negation by the addition of not after them. For example, one can say They cannot sing, but not
*They like not to sing (again do-support is required: They don't like...).[5]
Other distinct features of verbs in this group include their ability to introduce verb phrase ellipsis (I can sing can
be shortened to I can in appropriate contexts, whereas I like to sing cannot be shortened to I like), and the

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positioning of certain adverbs directly after them (compare I can often sing with I often like to sing).
The group of verbs with the above properties consists of:

the finite indicative forms of the verb be: am, is, are, was, were;
the finite indicative forms of the verb have: have, has, had, principally when used to make perfect verb forms;
the finite indicative forms of the verb do: do, does, did, when used to provide do-support;
the principal modal verbs can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would;
certain other verbs, sometimes but not always classed as modals: ought; dare and need in certain uses; had in had
better; and sometimes used in used to (see the relevant sections of English modal verbs for details).

If membership of this syntactic class is considered to be the defining property for auxiliary verbs, it is therefore the
above-listed verbs that will be considered as auxiliaries. Additionally, non-indicative and non-finite forms of the
same verbs (when performing the same functions) are usually described as auxiliaries too, even though all or most of
the distinctive syntactical properties do not apply to them specifically. This concerns be (as infinitive, imperative and
subjunctive), being and been; and when used in the expression of perfect aspect, have, having and had.
The chief difference between this syntactic definition of "auxiliary verb" and the functional definition given in the
section above is that the syntactic definition includes the verb be even when used simply as a copular verb, in
sentences like I am hungry and It was a cat, where it does not accompany any other verb.[6] For this and other
differences in the sets of words identified as auxiliaries by various authors, see the following section.
Sometimes, non-auxiliary uses of have follow auxiliary syntax, as in Have you any ideas? and I haven't a clue. Other
lexical verbs do not do this in modern English, although they did so formerly, and such uses as I know not... can be
found in archaic English.

Differences in listings of auxiliary verbs

Lists or sets of auxiliary verbs in English, as given by various authors, generally consist of most or all of the verbs
mentioned in the above sections, though with minor discrepancies.[7]
The main differences between the various proposed sets of auxiliary verbs are noted below.
For the reasons mentioned above, forms of the verb be may or may not be regarded as auxiliaries when used as a
copula not accompanying any other verb.[8]
The verb ought is sometimes excluded from the class of auxiliaries (specifically the modal auxiliaries) on the
grounds that, unlike the principal modals, it requires the to-infinitive rather than the bare infinitive.[9]
The verbs dare and need are not always considered auxiliaries (or modals);[10] their auxiliary-like syntactic
behavior (and their modal-like invariance) applies only to some instances of these verbs see dare and need.
The verbs had and used in the expressions had better and used to are not always included among the auxiliaries or
modals; in the case of used to questions and negations are in any case more frequently formed using do-support
than with auxiliary syntax.[11]
Other verbs with modal-like or auxiliary-like function may sometimes be classed as auxiliaries even though they
do not have auxiliary-like syntactic behavior; this may apply to have in the expression have to, meaning
"must".[12]
As mentioned below, the contractions of negated forms of auxiliary verbs (isn't, shouldn't, etc.) behave in a certain
sense as if they were auxiliaries in their own right, in that they can participate as a whole in subjectauxiliary
inversion.

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Meaning contribution
Forms of the verbs have and be, used as auxiliaries with a main verb's past participle and present participle
respectively, express perfect aspect and progressive aspect. When forms of be are used with the past participle, they
express passive voice. It is possible to combine any two or all three of these uses:
The room has been being cleaned for the past three hours.
Here the auxiliaries has, been and being (each followed by the appropriate participle type) combine to express
perfect and progressive aspect and passive voice.
The auxiliary do (does, did) does not necessarily make any meaning contribution (?), although it can be used to add
emphasis to a clause. This is called the emphatic mood in English. An example of this use is found in "I do go to
work on time every day." Also, "Do" does help in the formation of questions, negations, etc., as described in the
article on do-support. Some other languages, such as German do not have an emphatic mood, and such emphasis is
given either by the tone of voice of the speaker or by the use of adverbs.
Other auxiliaries the modal verbs contribute meaning chiefly in the form of modality, although some of them
(particularly will and sometimes shall) express future time reference. Their uses are detailed at English modal verbs,
and tables summarizing their principal meaning contributions can be found in the articles Modal verb and Auxiliary
verb.
For more details on the uses of auxiliaries to express aspect, mood and time reference, see English clause syntax.

Contractions
Contractions are a common feature of English, particularly in ordinary speech and informal writing. They usually
involve the elision of a vowel an apostrophe being inserted in its place in written English possibly accompanied
by other changes. Many of these contractions involve auxiliary verbs and their negations, although not all of these
have common contractions, and there are also certain other contractions not involving these verbs.
Certain contractions tend to be restricted to speech and very informal writing, such as John'd or Mary'd for
"John/Mary would" (compare the personal pronoun forms I'd and you'd, which are more likely to be encountered in
relatively informal writing). This applies in particular to constructions involving consecutive contractions, such as
wouldn't've for "would not have".
Contractions in English are generally not mandatory as in some other languages. It is almost always acceptable to
use the uncontracted form, although in speech this may seem overly formal. This is often done for emphasis: I am
ready! The uncontracted form of an auxiliary or copula must be used in elliptical sentences where its complement is
omitted: Who's ready? I am! (not *I'm!).
Some contractions lead to homonymy, which sometimes causes errors in writing. Confusion is particularly common
between it's (for "it is/has") and the pronoun possessive its, and sometimes similarly between you're and your. For
the confusion of have or 've with of (as in "would of" for would have), see Weak and strong forms in English.
Contractions of the type described here should not be confused with abbreviations, such as Ltd. for "Limited
(company)". Abbreviations also include acronyms and initialisms.

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English auxiliaries and contractions

Contracted auxiliaries
The following contractions of auxiliary verbs (including forms of be, whether as a strict auxiliary or as a copula) are
used:

'm for am, in I'm (for I am)

's for is, as in it's (for it is), the man's (for the man is, although the same form is used for the possessive)
're for are, mostly in we're, you're and they're
've for auxiliary have, mostly in I've, you've, we've and they've
's for auxiliary has (the examples given above for is could also be intended as it has and the man has)
'd for auxiliary had, mostly in I'd, you'd etc. and who'd (including in the expression had better), and similarly for
would
'll for will (sometimes interpreted as shall)
in very informal English, 's for does and 'd for did, as in What's (What does) he do there? Who'd (Who did) you
see there?
The contraction 's (representing is, 'has or does) is pronounced in the same way as the regular plural ending -(e)s and
possessive ending 's, namely as /z/ when following a sibilant sound, as /s/ when following any other voiceless
consonant, and as /z/ otherwise.

Negative contractions
Contractions of negated auxiliary verbs in Standard English are formed by reducing the negative grammatical
particle not to n't, a clitic or suffix which is fused to the root verb form (which is modified in a few cases). The n't
may form a separate syllable, as in isn't and wouldn't (which are two-syllable words), or may become part of the
preceding syllable, as in the monosyllables don't, aren't and weren't.
The standard contractions for negation of auxiliaries are as follows:

From forms of be: isn't, aren't, wasn't, weren't

From forms of have: haven't, hasn't, hadn't
From forms of do: don't, doesn't, didn't
From modal verbs: can't (the full form is the single word cannot), couldn't, mayn't (rare), mightn't, mustn't,
shan't (for shall not), shouldn't, won't (for will not), wouldn't, daren't, needn't, oughtn't, usedn't (rare).

The above contractions can appear when the verb follows auxiliary-type syntax as defined in the section Auxiliaries
as verbs with special grammatical behavior. This includes all uses of be, and for some speakers have when used to
denote possession (as in I haven't a clue). For details of the usage of the modal contractions, see the relevant sections
of English modal verbs. For the possibility of inverting a negative contraction with the clause subject, see
Contractions and inversion below.
The following four of the standard negative contractions involve changes to the form of the auxiliary.
In can't (for cannot), the vowel may change can has // in the strong form and // in the more common weak
form, whereas can't has // in RP and // in standard American pronunciation. It was formerly written "ca'n't".
In don't there is again a vowel change, from the /u/ of do to the /o/ (//) of don't.
In shan't (for shall not), the /l/ sound is dropped, and the vowel changes (in RP, from the // or weaker // of
shall to the // of shan't). This contraction is not common in American English. It evolved from "shalln't", and
was formerly written "sha'n't".
In won't (for will not), again the /l/ sound is dropped, and the vowel is /o/ (//) rather than the // of will. It
derives from "woll not", a former alternative form of will not. It was formerly written "wo'n't", the first
apostrophe representing the missing "ll".
Note that there is no standard contraction for am not. This is known as the "amn't gap". Some non-standard
contractions for this and certain other negations are described in the following sections.

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Contractions representing am not
Although there is no contraction for am not in standard English, there are certain colloquial or dialectal forms that
may fill this role. These may be used in declarative sentences, whose standard form contains I am not, and in
questions, with standard form am I not? In the declarative case the standard contraction I'm not is available, but this
does not apply in questions, where speakers may feel the need for a negative contractions to form the analog of isn't
it, aren't they, etc. (see Contractions and inversion below).
The following are sometimes used in place of am not in the cases described above:
The contraction ain't may stand for am not, among its other uses. For details see the next section, and the separate
article on ain't.
The word amnae for "am not" exists in Scots, and has been borrowed into Scottish English by many speakers.[13]
The contraction amn't (formed in the regular manner of the other negative contractions, as described above) is a
standard contraction of am not in some dialects of mainly Hiberno-English (Irish English) and Scottish English.
In Hiberno-English the question form (amn't I?) is used more frequently than the declarative I amn't. (The
standard I'm not is available as an alternative to I amn't in both Scottish English and Hiberno-English.) An
example appears in Oliver St. John Gogarty's impious poem The Ballad of Japing Jesus: "If anyone thinks that I
amn't divine, / He gets no free drinks when I'm making the wine". These lines are quoted in James Joyce's
Ulysses, which also contains other examples: "Amn't I with you? Amn't I your girl?" (spoken by Cissy Caffrey to
Leopold Bloom in Chapter 15).
The contraction aren't, which in standard English represents are not, is a very common means of filling the
"amn't gap" in questions: Aren't I lucky to have you around? Some twentieth-century writers described this usage
as "illiterate" or awkward; today, however, it is reported to be "almost universal" among speakers of Standard
English. Aren't as a contraction for am not developed from one pronunciation of "an't" (which itself developed in
part from "amn't"; see the etymology of "ain't" in the following section). In non-rhotic dialects, "aren't" and this
pronunciation of "an't" are homonyms, and the spelling "aren't I" began to replace "an't I" in the early part of the
20th century,[14] although examples of "aren't I" for "am I not" appear in the first half of the 19th century, as in
"St. Martin's Day", from Holland-tide by Gerald Griffin, published in The Ant in 1827: "aren't I listening; and isn't
it only the breeze that's blowing the sheets and halliards about?"
There is therefore no completely satisfactory first-person alternative to aren't you? and isn't it? in standard English.
The grammatical am I not? sounds stilted or affected, while aren't I? is grammatically dubious, and ain't I? is
considered substandard. Nonetheless, aren't I? is the solution adopted in practice by most speakers.
Other colloquial contractions
Ain't (described in more detail in the article ain't) is a colloquialism and contraction for "am not", "is not", "are not",
"has not", and "have not".[15] In some dialects "ain't" is also used as a contraction of "do not", "does not", and "did
not". The usage of "ain't" is a perennial subject of controversy in English.[16]
"Ain't" has several antecedents in English, corresponding to the various forms of "to be not" and "to have not".
"An't" (sometimes "a'n't") arose from "am not" (via "amn't") and "are not" almost simultaneously. "An't" first appears
in print in the work of English Restoration playwrights. In 1695 "an't" was used as a contraction of "am not", and as
early as 1696 "an't" was used to mean "are not". "An't" for "is not" may have developed independently from its use
for "am not" and "are not". "Isn't" was sometimes written as "in't" or "en't", which could have changed into "an't".
"An't" for "is not" may also have filled a gap as an extension of the already-used conjugations for "to be not".
"An't" with a long "a" sound began to be written as "ain't", which first appears in writing in 1749. By the time "ain't"
appeared, "an't" was already being used for "am not", "are not", and "is not". "An't" and "ain't" coexisted as written
forms well into the nineteenth century.
"Han't" or "ha'n't", an early contraction for "has not" and "have not", developed from the elision of the "s" of "has
not" and the "v" of "have not". "Han't" also appeared in the work of English Restoration playwrights. Much like

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"an't", "han't" was sometimes pronounced with a long "a", yielding "hain't". With H-dropping, the "h" of "han't" or
"hain't" gradually disappeared in most dialects, and became "ain't". "Ain't" as a contraction for "has not"/"have not"
appeared in print as early as 1819. As with "an't", "han't" and "ain't" were found together late into the nineteenth
century.
Some other colloquial and dialect contractions are described below:
"Bain't" or "baint", apparently a contraction of "be not", is found in a number of works employing eye dialect,
including J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Uncle Silas.[17] It is also found in a ballad written in Newfoundland dialect.[18]
"Don't" is a standard English contraction of "do not". However, "don't" also functions colloquially as a
contraction of "does not": Emma? She don't live here anymore.
"Hain't", in addition to being an antecedent of "aint", is a contraction of "has not" and "have not" in some dialects
of English, such as Appalachian English. It is reminiscent of "hae" ("have") in Lowland Scots. In dialects that
retain the distinction between "hain't" and "ain't", "hain't" is used for contractions of "to have not" and "ain't" for
contractions of "to be not". In other dialects, "hain't" is used either in place of, or interchangeably with "ain't".
"Hain't" is seen for example in Chapter 33 of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: I hain't come
back - I hain't been GONE. ("Hain't" is to be distinguished from "haint", a slang term for ghost (i.e., a "haunt"),
famously used in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird.)

Contractions not involving auxiliaries

The following contractions used in English do not involve either auxiliaries (as defined in this article) or their
negations:

let's for let us when used to make first-person plural imperatives

in some nonstandard dialects, 's for as used for the relative pronoun that
o' in o'clock (originally a contraction of the words of (the))
't for it, archaic except in stock uses such as 'Twas the night before Christmas
'em for them (in fact from the old form hem see English personal pronouns)
'im, 'er, 'is, etc. for him, her, his, etc. see Weak and strong forms in English
y'all, for you all, used as a plural second-person pronoun, mainly in the United States

Some forms of syncope may also be considered contractions, such as wanna for want to, gonna for going to, and
others common in colloquial speech.

Contractions and inversion

In cases of subjectauxiliary inversion, particularly in the formation of questions, the negative contractions can
remain together as a unit and invert with the subject, thus acting as if they were auxiliary verbs in their own right.
For example:
He is going. Is he going? (regular affirmative question formation)
He isn't going. Isn't he going? (negative question formation; isn't inverts with he)
The alternative is not to use the contraction, in which case only the verb inverts with the subject, while the not
remains in place after it:
He is not going. Is he not going?
Note that the form with isn't he is no longer a simple contraction of the fuller form (which must be is he not, and not
*is not he). Some more examples:
Why haven't you washed? / Why have you not washed?
Can't you sing? / Can you not sing? (the full form cannot is redivided in case of inversion)
Where wouldn't they look for us? / Where would they not look for us?

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The contracted forms of the questions are more usual in informal English. They are commonly found in tag
questions. For the possibility of using aren't I (or other dialectal alternatives) in place of the uncontracted am I not,
see Contractions representing am not above.
The same phenomenon sometimes occurs in the case of negative inversion:
Not only doesn't he smoke, ... / Not only does he not smoke, ...

Notes
[1] Palmer, 1965, p. 19. See also Warner, 1993.
[2] The Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 1989, defines an auxiliary verb as "a verb used to form the tenses, moods, voices, etc. of
other verbs".
[3] C.D. Sidhu, An Intensive Course in English, Orient Blackswan, 1976, p. 5.
[4] For examples of the inversion diagnostic used to identify auxiliaries, see for instance Radford (1997:50f., 494), Sag and Wasow (1999:308f.),
and Kroeger (2004:253).
[5] The negation diagnostic for identifying auxiliary verbs is employed for instance by Radford (1997:51), Adgar (2003:176f.), and Culicover
(2009:177f.).
[6] See Finch (2000:13) concerning the necessity that a given auxiliary verb should accompany a main verb.
[7] For lists of auxiliary verbs as given by various authors, see for instance Radford (2004:324), Crystal (1997:35), and Jurafsky and Martin
(2000:322).
[8] Jurafsky and Martin (2000:320) state that copula be is an auxiliary verb. Bresnan (2001:18f.) produces and discusses examples of
subjectauxiliary inversion using the copula. Crystal (1997:35) lists be as an auxiliary verb without distinguishing between its various uses
(e.g. as a copula or not). Radford (2004:324) suggests that copula be is not an auxiliary, but does not address why it behaves like an auxiliary
with respect to the criteria he employs (e.g. inversion) for identifying auxiliaries. Copular verbs may be identified as auxiliaries in other
languages also: Tesnire (1959) repeatedly refers to the copula tre in French as an auxiliary verb, and Eroms (2000:138f.) discusses the
copula sein in German as a Hilfsverb ("helping/auxiliary verb").
[9] Palmer (1965:19) includes ought (to) as an auxiliary verb, but Warner (1993:8) does not, on the grounds that the following infinitive requires
the particle to.
[10] For some discussion of the status of dare as a "marginal modal", see Fowler (1996:195f). Palmer (1965:19) includes dare and need as
auxiliaries.
[11] Palmer (1965:40) gives arguments for including better or (ha)d better as auxiliaries, but Warner (1993:3) does not include them. Fowler's
Modern English Usage (1996:195) lists used to as a "marginal modal". Palmer (1965:19) includes it with the auxiliaries, but Warner (1993:8)
does not, on the grounds that the following infinitive requires the particle to.
[12] Jurafsky and Martin (2000:22) list have as a modal auxiliary when it appears as have to.
[13] It is used in declarative sentences rather than questions.
[14] "aren't I", Merriam-Webster's dictionary of English usage (1995)
[15] "ain't", Merriam-Webster's dictionary of English usage, 1995.
[16] Ryan Dilley, " Why poor grammar ain't so bad (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 2/ hi/ uk_news/ 1235401. stm)" BBC, September 10, 2001,
accessed May 13, 2009.
[17] J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Uncle Silas, ch. 53 (http:/ / ebooks. adelaide. edu. au/ l/ lefanu/ silas/ chapter53. html).
[18] The Outharbour Planter (http:/ / www. wtv-zone. com/ phyrst/ audio/ nfld/ 07/ planter. htm) by Maurice A. Devine [1859-1915] of Kings
Cove, Bonavista Bay, NL: "The times bain't what they used to be, 'bout fifty ye'rs or so ago", as published in Old-Time Songs And Poetry Of
Newfoundland: Songs Of The People From The Days Of Our Forefathers (http:/ / www. wtv-zone. com/ phyrst/ audio/ nfld/ doyle. htm) (First
edition, p.9, 1927).

References
Allerton, D. 2006. Verbs and their Satellites. In Handbook of English Linguistics. Aarts 7 MacMahon (eds.).
Blackwell.
Adger, D. 2003. Core syntax. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Bresnan, J. 2001. Lexical-Functional Syntax. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.
Culicover, P. 2009. Natural language syntax. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Crystal, D. 1997. A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics, 4th edition. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers.
Engel, U. 1994. Syntax der deutschen Sprache, 3rd edition. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag.
Eroms, H.-W. 2000. Syntax der deutschen Sprache. Berlin: de Gruyter.
Finch, G. 2000. Linguistic terms and concepts. New York: St. Martin's Press.

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English auxiliaries and contractions

143

Fowler's Modern English Usage. 1996. Revised third edition. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Jurafsky, M. and J. Martin. 2000. Speech and language processing. Dorling Kindersley (India): Pearson
Education, Inc.
Kroeger, P. 2004. Analyzing syntax: A lexical-functional approach. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Lewis, M. The English Verb 'An Exploration of Structure and Meaning'. Language Teaching Publications. ISBN
0-906717-40-X
Osborne, T. and T. Gro 2012. Constructions are catenae: Construction Grammar meets Dependency Grammar.
Cognitive Linguistics 23, 1, 165-216.
Palmer, F. R., A Linguistic Study of the English Verb, Longmans, 1965.
Radford. A. 1997. Syntactic theory and the structure of English: A minimalist approach. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press.
Radford, A. 2004. English syntax: An introduction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Rowlett, P. 2007. The syntax of French. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Sag, I. and T. Wasow. 1999. Syntactic theory: A formal introduction. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.
Tesnire, L. 1959. lemnts de syntaxe structurale. Paris: Klincksieck.
Warnant, L. 1982. Structure syntaxique du franais. Librairie Droz.
Warner, Anthony R., English Auxiliaries, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1993.

English irregular verbs

English grammar

Adjectives

Adverbs

Articles

Clauses

Compounds

Conditionals

Conjunctions

Determiners

Gender

Idiom

Interjections

Inversion

Nouns

Pronouns

Phrases

Plurals

Possessives

Prepositions

Verbs

Auxiliaries, contractions
Irregular verbs
Modal verbs
Passive voice
Phrasal verbs
Subjunctive
Verb usage

Grammar disputes

English irregular verbs

144

v
t

e [1]

The English language has a large number of irregular verbs, approaching 200 in normal useand significantly more
if prefixed forms are counted. In most cases, the irregularity concerns the past tense (also called preterite) or the past
participle.
The other inflected parts of the verbthe third person singular present indicative in -[e]s, and the present participle
and gerund form in -ingare formed regularly in most cases. There are a few exceptions: the verb be has irregular
forms throughout the present tense; the verbs have, do and say have irregular -[e]s forms; and certain defective verbs
(such as the modal auxiliaries) lack most inflection.
The irregular verbs include many of the most common verbs: the dozen most frequently used English verbs are all
irregular. New verbs (including loans from other languages, and nouns employed as verbs, such as to facebook)
follow the regular inflection, unless they are compound formations from an existing irregular verb (such as housesit,
from sit).
Irregular verbs in Modern English typically derive from verbs that followed more regular patterns at a previous stage
in the history of the language. In particular, many such verbs derive from Germanic strong verbs, which make many
of their inflected forms through vowel gradation, as can be observed in Modern English patterns such as
singsangsung. The regular verbs, on the other hand, with their preterites and past participles ending in -ed, follow
the weak conjugation, which originally involved adding a dental consonant (-t or -d). Nonetheless, there are also
many irregular verbs that follow or partially follow the weak conjugation.
For information on the conjugation of regular verbs in English, as well as other points concerning verb usage, see
English verbs.

Development
Most English irregular verbs are native, derived from verbs that existed in Old English. Nearly all verbs that have
been borrowed into the language at a later stage have defaulted to the regular conjugation. There are a few
exceptions, however, such as the verb catch (derived from Old Northern French cachier), whose irregular forms
originated by way of analogy with native verbs such as teach.
Most irregular verbs exist as remnants of historical conjugation systems. When some grammatical rule became
changed or disused, some verbs kept to the old pattern. For example, before the Great Vowel Shift, the verb keep
(then pronounced "kehp") belonged to a group of verbs whose vowel was shortened in the past tense; this pattern is
preserved in the modern past tense kept (similarly crept, wept, leapt, left). Verbs such as peep, which have similar
form but arose after the Vowel Shift, take the regular -ed ending.
The force of analogy tends to reduce the number of irregular verbs over time, as irregular verbs switch to regular
conjugation patterns (for instance, the verb chide once had the irregular past tense chid, but this has given way to the
regular formation chided). This is more likely to occur with less common verbs (where the irregular forms are less
familiar); hence it is often the more common verbs (such as be, have, take) that tend to remain irregular. Many verbs
today have coexisting irregular and regular forms (as with spelt and spelled, dreamt and dreamed, etc.), a sign that
the irregular form might be on the wane.
In a few cases, however, analogy has operated in the other direction (a verb's irregular forms arose by analogy with
existing irregular verbs). This is the case with the example of catch given above; others include wear and string,
which were originally weak verbs, but came to be conjugated like the similar sounding strong verbs bear and swing.
The verb forms described in this article are chiefly those that are accepted in standard English; many regional
dialects have different irregular forms. In particular, it is fairly common in some types of non-standard speech to use

English irregular verbs

(standard) past tenses as past participles, and vice versa.

Groups
The irregular verbs of Modern English form several groups with similar conjugation pattern and historical origin.
These can be broadly grouped into two classes the Germanic weak and strong groups although historically some
verbs have moved between these groups. There are also a few anomalous cases: the verbs be and go, which
demonstrate suppletion; the verb do; and the defective modal verbs.

Strong verbs
A large number of the irregular verbs derive from Germanic strong verbs, which display the vowel shift called
ablaut, and do not add an ending such as -ed or -t for the past forms. These sometimes retain past participles with the
ending -[e]n, as in givegavegiven and rideroderidden, but in other cases this ending has been dropped, as in
comecamecome and singsangsung. This verb group was inherited from the parent Proto-Germanic language,
and before that from the Proto-Indo-European language. It was originally a system of regular verbs, and in Old
English and modern German the system remains more or less regular; however in Modern English relatively few
verbs continue to follow such a pattern, and they are classed as irregular.
Verbs that retain a strong-type inflection in modern English and add -[e]n in the past participle include bear, beat,
beget, bite, blow, break, choose, cleave, draw, drive, eat, fall, fly, forbid, forget, forsake, freeze, give, grow, know,
lie, ride, rise, see, shake, shear, slay, smite, speak, steal, stride, strive, swear, take, tear, throw, tread, wake, weave,
and write.
Those that do not add -[e]n in the usual past participle include become, begin, bind, burst, cling, come, drink, fight,
find, fling, get (but with past participle gotten in American English), grind, hang, hold, let, ring, run, shed, shine,
shit, shoot, shrink, sing, sink, sit, slide, sling, slink, slit, spin, spring, stand, sting, stink, strike, swim, swing, win,
wind and wring.
The verbs sow and swell are now usually regular in the past tense, but retain the strong-type past participles sown and
swollen. Other verbs retain participles in -n for certain adjectival uses, such as drunken and sunken. The verb crow is
now regular in the past participle, but the strong past tense crew is sometimes used.
Some originally weak verbs have taken on strong-type forms by analogy with strong verbs. These include dig, dive
(when dove is used as the past tense), hide, mow, prove (when proven is used as the past participle), saw (past
participle sawn), sew (past participle sewn), show (past participle shown), spit, stick, strew, string, and wear (analogy
with bear).
For indication of the groups of strong verbs the listed words belong to, see the table at List of English irregular verbs.

Weak verbs
Some other irregular verbs derive from Germanic weak verbs, forming past tenses and participles with a -d or -t
ending (or from originally strong verbs that have switched to the weak pattern). The weak conjugation is also the
origin of the regular verbs in -ed; however various historical sound changes (and sometimes spelling changes) have
led to certain types of irregularity in some verbs. The main processes are as follows (some verbs have been subject to
more than one of these).[1]
Some weak verbs with long vowels in their present tense stems (such as keep) took a short vowel in the past tense
and past participle (kept).[2]
In some weak verbs ending in a final -t or -d, this final consonant coalesced (contracted) with the weak past
ending to leave a single -t or -d in the past forms.
Some verbs ending in l or n had their past ending irregularly devoiced to -t, and in a few verbs ending with a v or
z sound (leave, lose), both that sound and the past ending were devoiced. (The regular ending -ed is also devoiced

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English irregular verbs

after voiceless consonants in regular verbs, as described under English verbs: Past tense, but this is not now
shown in the spelling for example, the -ed in blessed and whipped is pronounced as a t, and these words were
formerly written blest and whipt. The spelling -t following a voiceless consonant is retained for verbs that display
an irregularity, as in kept and cost.)
Some weak verbs continue the vowel shift called Rckumlaut ("reverse umlaut"). Details of the history of these
verbs can be found under Germanic weak verb; those with -gh- in the spelling were also affected by the Germanic
spirant law.
A few weak verbs have undergone additional contractions or vowel shortenings in their past or present tense
forms.
A few verbs are regular in their spoken forms, but have irregular spelling.
The irregular weak verbs (being in normal use) can consequently be grouped as follows:
Verbs with vowel shortening: creep, flee, hear, keep, leap, shoe (when shod is used), sleep, sweep and weep. (Of
these, creep, flee, leap, sleep and weep derive from verbs that were originally strong.)
Verbs with vowel shortening and devoicing of the ending: deal, dream, feel, kneel, lean, leave, lose (originally
strong) and mean. Some of the verbs in this and in the preceding group have alternative regular forms, such as
dreamed and leaped.
Verbs with coalescence of consonants: bet, bid, cast, cost, cut, fit, hit, hurt, knit, put, quit, rid, set, shed, shut,
split, spread, thrust, wed and wet. Some of these verbs have alternative regular forms, such as wedded and wetted.
(The verb hoist behaves similarly to verbs in this group, but this was originally itself a past form of the now
obsolete verb hoise; similarly clad was originally and sometimes still is a past form of clothe.)
Verbs with coalescence of consonants and devoicing of the ending: bend, build, lend, rend, send, spend.
Verbs with coalescence of consonants and vowel shortening: bleed, breed, feed, lead, light, meet, read (past tense
and past participle also spelt read, but pronounced with a short vowel), and speed.
Verbs with devoicing of the ending and no other irregularity: burn, dwell, learn, smell, spell, spill and spoil. Most
of these have regular -ed forms as alternatives.
Verbs continuing the Rckumlaut pattern: bringbrought, buybought, seeksought, sellsold, teachtaught,
telltold, and thinkthought. The borrowed verb catch (caught) has also fallen into this pattern as a result of
analogy.
Verbs with additional contractions and shortenings: havehashad, makemade, saysayssaid (where says and
said are pronounced with a short vowel //). (The verb do has a similar vowel shortening in does and done; see
below.)
Verbs irregular only in spelling: laylaid, paypaid (although in the meaning "let out", of a rope etc., pay may
have the regular spelling payed).
For weak verbs that have adopted strong-type past tense or past participle forms, see the section above on strong
verbs. More information on the development of some of the listed verbs can be found at List of irregular verbs.

Anomalous cases
The following verbs do not fit exactly into any of the above categories:
The modal verbs, which are defective verbs they have only a present indicative form and (in some cases) a
preterite, lacking nonfinite forms (infinitives, participles, gerunds), imperatives, and subjunctives (although some
uses of the preterites are sometimes identified as subjunctives). Moreover they do not add -s in the third person
singular this is because they derive either from preterites, or from Germanic preterite-present verbs, which were
conjugated using the (strong-type) preterite form with present tense meaning. (Additional "true" preterites with
past tense meaning were formed with the addition of dentals in the manner of the weak verbs.) The chief verbs of
this class are cancould, maymight, shallshould, willwould, and must and ought (These last two have no
preterites. They were originally preterites themselves). There are also dare and need, which follow the same

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English irregular verbs

pattern (no -s) in some contexts: "Dare he jump? She needn't worry" (dare derives from a preterite-present verb,
but need is from an Old English regular verb). See English modal verbs: Etymology.
Two verbs (be and go) that contain suppletive forms, i.e. one or more of their parts came from an entirely
different root. With go this applies to the past tense went, which is originally from the verb wend. With be it
applies to a number of different forms (see below). For details, see Indo-European copula (for be) and the article
on the verb go. Derived from be is the defective verb beware, which does not inflect in normal use and which
appears only in those forms in which the plain form of be would be used, namely the infinitive, the imperative,
and the subjunctive.
The verb do, which has the reduplicated form did for its past tense (an irregularity that can be traced back to
Proto-Germanic). Its past participle done can be compared to typical strong participles in -[e]n; however both this
and the third person present tense does feature a short vowel in modern pronunciation: /dn/, /dz/.

Verbs with irregular present tenses

Apart from the modal verbs, which are irregular in that they do not take an -s in the third person (see above), the only
verbs with irregular present tense forms are be, do, have and say (and prefixed forms of these, such as undo and
gainsay, which conjugate in the same way as the basic forms).
The verb be has multiple irregular forms. In the present indicative it has am in the first person singular, is in the third
person singular, and are in the plural and second person singular. (Its present subjunctive is be, as in "I suggest that
you be extremely careful.") It also has two past tense forms: was for the first and third persons singular, and were for
the plural and second person singular (although there are certain subjunctive uses in which were can substitute for
was). The past participle is been, and the present participle and gerund forms are regular: being. For more details see
Indo-European copula.
As mentioned above, apart from its other irregularities, the verb do has the third person present indicative does
pronounced with a short vowel: /dz/.
The verb have has a contracted third person present indicative form: has /hz/ (weak pronunciation /hz/). This is
formed similarly to the verb's past tense had.
The verb say displays vowel shortening in the third person present indicative (although the spelling is regular): says
/sz/. The same shortening occurs in the past form said /sd/. (Compare the diphthong in the plain form say /se/.)
For shortened forms of certain verbs and of their negations ('s, 're, won't, etc.), see English auxiliaries and
contractions.

Coincident forms
In regular English verbs, the past tense and past participle have the same form. This is also true of most irregular
verbs that follow a variation of the weak conjugation, as can be seen in the list below. Differences between the past
tense and past participle (as in singsangsung, riseroserisen) generally appear in the case of verbs that continue
the strong conjugation, or in a few cases weak verbs that have acquired strong-type forms by analogyas with show
(regular past tense showed, strong-type past participle shown). However, even some strong verbs have identical past
tense and participle, as in clingclungclung.
In some verbs, the past tense, past participle, or both are identical in form to the basic (infinitive) form of the verb.
This is the case with certain strong verbs, where historical sound changes have led to a leveling of the vowel
modifications: for example, let has both past tense and past participle identical to the infinitive, while come has the
past participle identical (but a different past tense, came). The same is true of the verbs listed above under weak
verbs as having undergone coalescence of final consonants (and without other irregularities such as vowel shortening
or devoicing of the ending): bet, bid, etc. (these verbs have infinitive, past tense and past participle all identical,
although some of them also have alternative regular forms in -ed). The verb read has the same spelling in all three

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English irregular verbs

forms, but not the same pronunciation, as it exhibits vowel shortening.
In a few cases the past tense of an irregular verb has the same form as the infinitive of a different verb. For example,
bore and found may be past tenses of bear and find, but may also represent independent (regular) verbs of different
meaning. Another example is lay, which may be the past tense of lie, but is also an independent verb (regular in
pronunciation, but with irregular spelling: laylaidlaid). In fact lay derives from a causative of the verb from which
lie derives. The two verbs are sometimes confused, with lay used in the intransitive senses prescriptively reserved for
lie.

Prefixed verbs
Nearly all of the basic irregular verbs are single-syllable words. (Their irregular inflected forms are normally
single-syllable also, except for the past participles in -en like chosen and risen.) However many additional irregular
verbs are formed by adding prefixes to the basic ones: understand from stand, become from come, mistake from
take, and so on. (These prefixed forms are generally omitted from the list below, but a large number appear in the
table at List of English irregular verbs.) As a general rule, prefixed verbs are conjugated identically to the
corresponding basic verbs; for example, we have understandunderstoodunderstood and becomebecamebecome,
following the patterns of standstoodstood and comecamecome. However there are occasional differences: in
British English, for instance, the past participle of get is got, while that of forget is forgotten.
Only a few irregular verbs of more than one syllable cannot be analyzed as prefixed compounds of monosyllables.
The only ones in normal use are beginbeganbegun and forsakeforsookforsaken (these both derive from prefixed
verbs whose unprefixed forms have not survived into Modern English). There is also beseechbesoughtbesought
(this is from Old English bescan "to seek or inquire about", making it equivalent to be- + seek, but it has moved
away from seek in both form and meaning); however the form besought is now archaic, the verb normally being
conjugated regularly (beseeched).

List
The following is a list of the irregular verbs that generally occur in standard modern English. It omits many rare,
dialectal, and archaic forms, as well as most verbs formed by adding prefixes to basic verbs (unbend, understand,
mistake, etc.). It also omits past participle forms that remain in use only adjectivally (clad, sodden, etc.). For a more
complete list, with derivations, see List of English irregular verbs. Further information, including pronunciation, can
be found in Wiktionary.

a- : for abide, arise, awake, see bide, rise, wake

be (am, is, are) was, were been
be- : for befall, beset, etc. see fall, set, etc.
bear bore borne [spelt born in passive and adjectival uses relating to birth]
beat beat beaten
become became become
beget begot begot(ten) [Biblical past tense: begat]
begin began begun
bend bent bent
bet bet bet [past tense and participle also sometimes betted]
beware defective verb [see anomalous cases above]
bid bid bid [as in an auction]
bid bade/bid bidden/bid [meaning "request"]

bide bided/bode bided/bidden [but abide mostly uses the regular forms only]
bind bound bound
bite bit bitten

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English irregular verbs

bleed bled bled

blow blew blown
break broke broken
breed bred bred
bring brought brought
build built built
burn burnt/burned burnt/burned
burst burst burst
buy bought bought
can could [defective; see anomalous cases above]
cast cast cast [prefixed forms broadcast, forecast, etc. sometimes take -ed[3]]
catch caught caught
choose chose chosen
clad clad/cladded clad/cladded [clad is also sometimes used as past form of clothe]
cleave clove/cleft cloven/cleft [but regular when meaning "adhere"]
cling clung clung
come came come

cost cost cost [but regular when meaning "calculate the cost of"]
creep crept/creeped crept/creeped
crow crowed/crew crowed [crew normally used only of a cock's crowing]
cut cut cut
dare regular except for possible third person singular present dare (see anomalous cases above)
deal dealt dealt
dig dug dug
dive dived/dove dived [the form dove is chiefly American]
do (does /dz/) did done
drag dragged/drug dragged/drug [the form drug is chiefly dialectal]
draw drew drawn
dream dreamed/dreamt dreamed/dreamt
drink drank drunk
drive drove driven
dwell dwelt/dwelled dwelt/dwelled
eat ate eaten
fall fell fallen
feed fed fed
feel felt felt
fight fought fought
find found found
fit fit/fitted fit/fitted
flee fled fled
fling flung flung
fly flew flown
for(e)- : for forgo, foresee, etc. see go, see, etc.
forbid forbade/forbid forbidden
forget forgot forgotten

forsake forsook forsaken

freeze froze frozen

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English irregular verbs

get got gotten/got [past participle got in British English, gotten in American, but see have got]
gild gilded/gilt gilded/gilt
give gave given
go went gone [see also have been]
grind ground ground
grow grew grown
hang hung/hanged hung/hanged [the form hanged is more common in the sense of execution by hanging]
have (has) had had
hear heard heard
hew hewed hewn/hewed
hide hid hidden
hit hit hit
hoist hoist/hoisted hoist/hoisted
hold held held
hurt hurt hurt
in- : for inlay, input, etc. see lay, put, etc.
inter- : for interlay, interweave, etc. see lay, weave, etc.

keep kept kept

kneel knelt/kneeled knelt/kneeled
knit knit/knitted knit/knitted
know knew known
lay laid laid
lead led led
lean leaned/leant leaned/leant
leap leaped/leapt leaped/leapt
learn learned/learnt learned/learnt
leave left left
lend lent lent
let let let
lie lay lain [but regular when meaning "tell an untruth"]
light lit/lighted lit/lighted
lose lost lost
make made made
may might [defective; see anomalous cases above]
mean meant meant
meet met met
mis- : for misspeak, mistake, etc. see speak, take, etc.
mow mowed mowed/mown
must defective [see anomalous cases above]
need regular except for possible third person singular present need (see anomalous cases above)
off- : for offset see set, etc.
ought defective [see anomalous cases above]
out- : for outbid, output, etc. see bid, put, etc.
over- : for overbid, overdo, etc. see bid, do, etc.
pay paid paid [but sometimes spelt regularly when meaning "let out" (rope etc.)]

plead pleaded/pled pleaded/pled

pre- : for prepay, preset, etc. see pay, set, etc.

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English irregular verbs

prove proved proved/proven

put put put
quit quit quit
re- : for redo, remake, etc. see do, make, etc.
read /rid/ read /rd/ read /rd/
rend rent rent
rid rid/ridded rid/ridded/ridden
ride rode ridden
ring rang rung
rise rose risen
run ran run
saw sawed sawn/sawed
say (says /sz/) said said
see saw seen
seek sought sought
sell sold sold
send sent sent

set set set

sew sewed sewn/sewed
shake shook shaken
shall should [defective; see anomalous cases above]
shear sheared/shore shorn/sheared
shed shed shed
shine shone/shined shone/shined
shit shat/shit/shitted shat/shit/shitted
shoe shoed/shod shoed/shod
shoot shot shot
show showed shown/showed
shrink shrank/shrunk shrunk
shut shut shut
sing sang sung
sink sank sunk
sit sat sat
slay slew/slayed slain/slayed
sleep slept slept
slide slid slid
sling slung slung
slink slunk slunk
slit slit slit
smell smelled/smelt smelled/smelt
smite smote smitten
sneak sneaked/snuck sneaked/snuck [snuck is chiefly American, and it is regarded as informal]
sow sowed sown/sowed
speak spoke spoken
speed sped/speeded sped/speeded

spell spelled/spelt spelled/spelt

spend spent spent

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English irregular verbs

spill spilled/spilt spilled/spilt

spin spun spun
spit spat/spit spat/spit [the form spit rather than spat is common in America]
split split split
spoil spoiled/spoilt spoiled/spoilt
spread spread spread
spring sprang/sprung sprung
stand stood stood
stave staved/stove staved/stove
steal stole stolen
stick stuck stuck
sting stung stung
stink stank stunk
strew strewed strewn/strewed
stride strode stridden/strode
strike struck struck
string strung strung

strive strove/strived striven/strived

swear swore sworn
sweat sweated/sweat sweated/sweat
sweep swept swept
swell swelled swollen/swelled
swim swam swum
swing swung swung
take took taken
teach taught taught
tear tore torn
tell told told
think thought thought
throw threw thrown
thrust thrust/thrusted thrust/thrusted
tread trod trodden/trod
un- : for unbend, unweave, etc. see bend, weave, etc.
under- : for underlie, undergo, understand, etc. see lie, go, stand, etc.
up- : for upset see set, etc.
wake woke woken
wear wore worn
weave wove woven
wed wed/wedded wed/wedded
weep wept wept
wet wet/wetted wet/wetted
will would [defective; see anomalous cases above]
win won won
wind wound wound [but regular in the meanings connected with air and breath]
with- : for withdraw, withhold, withstand, see draw, hold, stand

wring wrang/wrung wrung

write wrote written

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English irregular verbs

In language acquisition
Steven Pinker's book Words and Rules describes how mistakes made by children in learning irregular verbs throw
light on the mental processes involved in language acquisition. The fact that young children often attempt to
conjugate irregular verbs according to regular patterns indicates that their processing of the language involves the
application of rules to produce new forms, in addition to the simple reproduction of forms that they have already
heard.
See also Regular and irregular verbs: Linguistic study.

References
[1] These processes are described in Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, entry for "-ed".
[2] The conditions under which this and other instances of long and short vowel alternation arose in English are not fully understood. See for
example Minkova D., Stockwell R.P., The origins of long-short allomorphy in English, in: Advances in English Historical Linguistics, Fisiak,
Krygier (eds.), de Gruyter, 1998.
[3] For example, broadcasted is acceptable as the past participle and past simple of the verb broadcast, especially in the technical meanings. See
www.usingenglish.com (http:/ / www. usingenglish. com/ reference/ irregular-verbs/ broadcast. html)

External links
conjugation.com (http://www.conjugation.com) Conjugation of regular and irregular verbs
Morphological Classification of the English Irregular Verbs (http://www.verbbusters.com/wiki/classification.
php)
Classification of English Irregular Verbs per groups (http://www.englishirregularverbs.com)
English Irregular Verbs in exercises for Android (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.
pmqsoftware.game.irregularverbs&hl=en)
English Irregular Verbs in exercises for Android (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ru.devera.
verbs)

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English modal verbs

154

English modal verbs

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v
t

e [1]

The modal verbs of English are a small class of auxiliary verbs used mostly to express modality (properties such as
possibility, obligation, etc.). They can be distinguished from other verbs by their defectiveness (they do not have
participle or infinitive forms) and by the fact that they do not take the ending -(e)s in the third-person singular.
The principal English modal verbs are can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will and would. Certain other
verbs are sometimes, but not always, classed as modals; these include ought, had better, and (in certain uses) dare
and need. Verbs which share some but not all of the characteristics of the principal modals are sometimes called
"semimodals".

English modal verbs

Modal verbs and their features

The verbs customarily classed as modals in English have the following properties:
They do not inflect, except insofar as some of them come in presentpast (presentpreterite) pairs. They do not
add the ending -(e)s in the third-person singular (the present-tense modals therefore follow the preterite-present
paradigm).
They are defective: they are not used as infinitives or participles (except occasionally in non-standard English; see
Double modals below), nor as imperatives, nor (in the standard way) as subjunctives.
They function as auxiliary verbs: they modify the meaning of another verb, which they govern. This verb
generally appears as a bare infinitive, although in some definitions a modal verb can also govern the to-infinitive
(as in the case of ought).
They have the syntactic properties associated with auxiliary verbs in English, principally that they can undergo
subjectauxiliary inversion (in questions, for example) and can be negated by the appending of not after the verb.
The following verbs have all of the above properties, and can be classed as the principal modal verbs of English.
They are listed here in presentpreterite pairs where applicable:
can and could
may and might
shall and should
will and would
must (no preterite; see etymology below)
Note that the preterite forms are not necessarily used to refer to past time, and in some cases they are near synonyms
to the present forms. Note that most of these so-called preterite forms are most often used in the subjunctive mood in
the present tense. The auxiliary verbs may and let are also used often in the subjunctive mood. Famous examples of
these are "May The Force be with you," and "Let God bless you with good." These are both sentences that express
some uncertainty, hence they are subjunctive sentences.
The verbs listed below mostly share the above features, but with certain differences. They are sometimes, but not
always, categorized as modal verbs.[1] They may also be called "semimodals".
The verb ought differs from the principal modals only in that it governs a to-infinitive rather than a bare infinitive
(compare he should go with he ought to go).
The verbs dare and need can be used as modals, often in the negative (Dare he fight?; You dare not do that.; You
need not go.), although they are more commonly found in constructions where they appear as ordinary inflected
verbs (He dares to fight; You don't need to go). There is also a dialect verb, nearly obsolete but sometimes heard
in Appalachia and the Deep South of the United States: darest, which means "dare not", as in "You darest do
that."
The verb had in the expression had better behaves like a modal verb, hence had better (considered as a compound
verb) is sometimes classed as a modal or semimodal.
The verb used in the expression used to (do something) can behave as a modal, but is more often used with
do-support than with auxiliary-verb syntax: Did she used to do it? and She didn't use to do it are more common
than Used she to do it? and She used not (usedn't) to do it.
Other English auxiliaries appear in a variety of inflected forms and are not regarded as modal verbs. These are:
be, used as an auxiliary in passive voice and continuous aspect constructions; it follows auxiliary-verb syntax
even when used as a copula, and in auxiliary-like formations such as be going to, is to and be about to;
have, used as an auxiliary in perfect aspect constructions, including the idiom have got (to); it is also used in have
to, which has modal meaning, but here (as when denoting possession) have only rarely follows auxiliary-verb
syntax (see also must below);
do; see do-support.

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English modal verbs

For more general information about English verb inflection and auxiliary usage, see English verbs and English
clause syntax. For details of the uses of the particular modals, see Usage of specific verbs below.

Etymology
The modals can and could are from Old English can(n) and cu, which were respectively present and preterite forms
of the verb cunnan ("to be able"), The silent l in the spelling of could results from analogy with would and should.
Similarly, may and might are from Old English mg and meahte, respectively present and preterite forms of magan
("may, to be able"); shall and should are from sceal and sceolde, respectively present and preterite forms of sculan
("to owe, be obliged"); and will and would are from wille and wolde, respectively present and preterite forms of
willan ("to wish, want").
The aforementioned Old English verbs cunnan, magan, sculan and willan followed the preterite-present paradigm
(or in the case of willan, a similar but irregular paradigm), which explains the absence of the ending -s in the third
person on the present forms can, may, shall and will. (The original Old English forms given above were first and
third person singular forms; their descendant forms became generalized to all persons and numbers.)
The verb must comes from Old English moste, part of the verb motan ("to be able to, be obliged to"). This was
another preterite-present verb, of which moste was in fact the preterite (the present form mot gave rise to mote, which
was used as a modal verb in Early Modern English; but must has now lost its past connotations and has replaced
mote). Similarly, ought was originally a past form it derives from ahte, preterite of agan ("to own"), another Old
English preterite-present verb, whose present tense form ah has given the modern (regular) verb owe (and ought was
formerly used as a past tense of owe).
The verb dare also originates from a preterite-present verb, durran ("to dare"), specifically its present tense dear(r),
although in its non-modal uses in Modern English it is conjugated regularly. However need comes from the regular
Old English verb neodian (meaning "to be necessary") the alternative third person form need (in place of needs),
which has become the norm in modal uses, became common in the 16th century.[2]

Syntax
A modal verb serves as an auxiliary to another verb, which appears in infinitive form (the bare infinitive, or the
to-infinitive in the cases of ought and used as discussed above). Examples: You must escape; This may be difficult.
The verb governed by the modal may be another auxiliary (necessarily one that can appear in infinitive form this
includes be and have, but not another modal, except in the non-standard cases described below under Double
modals). Hence a modal may introduce a chain (technically catena) of verb forms, in which the other auxiliaries
express properties such as aspect and voice, as in He must have been given a new job.
Modals can appear in tag questions and other elliptical sentences without the governed verb being expressed: ...can
he?; I mustn't.; Would they?
Like other auxiliaries, modal verbs are negated by the addition of the word not after them. (The modification of
meaning may not always correspond to simple negation, as in the case of must not.) The modal can combines with
not to form the single word cannot. Most of the modals have contracted negated forms in n't which are commonly
used in informal English: can't, mustn't, won't (from will), etc.
Again like other auxiliaries, modal verbs undergo inversion with their subject, in forming questions and in the other
cases described in the article on subjectauxiliary inversion: Could you do this?; On no account may you enter.
When there is negation, the contraction with n't may undergo inversion as an auxiliary in its own right: Why can't I
come in? (or: Why can I not come in?).
More information on these topics can be found at English clause syntax.

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English modal verbs

Past forms
The preterite (past) forms given above (could, might, should and, would, corresponding to can, may, shall and will,
respectively) do not always simply modify the meaning of the modal to give it past time reference. The only one
regularly used as an ordinary past tense is could, when referring to ability: I could swim may serve as a past form of I
can swim.
All the preterites are used as past equivalents for the corresponding present modals in indirect speech and similar
clauses requiring the rules of sequence of tenses to be applied. For example, in 1960 it might have been said that
People think that we will all be driving hovercars by the year 2000, whereas at a later date it might be reported that
In 1960, people thought we would all be driving hovercars by the year 2000.
This "future-in-the-past" usage of would can also occur in independent sentences: I moved to Green Gables in 1930;
I would live there for the next ten years.
In many cases, in order to give modals past reference, they are used together with a "perfect infinitive", namely the
auxiliary have and a past participle, as in I should have asked her; You may have seen me. Sometimes these
expressions are limited in meaning; for example, must have can only refer to certainty, whereas past obligation is
expressed by an alternative phrase such as had to (see Replacements for defective forms below).

Conditional sentences
The preterite forms of modals are used in counterfactual conditional sentences, in the apodosis (then-clause). The
modal would (sometimes should as a first-person alternative) is used to produce the conditional construction which is
typically used in clauses of this type: If you loved me, you would support me. It can be replaced by could (meaning
"would be able to") and might (meaning "would possibly") as appropriate.
When the clause has past time reference, the construction with the modal plus perfect infinitive (see above) is used:
If they (had) wanted to do it, they would (could/might) have done it by now. (The would have done construction is
called the conditional perfect.)
The protasis (if-clause) of such a sentence typically contains the past tense of a verb (or the past perfect construction,
in the case of past time reference), without any modal. The modal could may be used here in its role as the past tense
of can (if I could speak French). However all the modal preterites can be used in such clauses with certain types of
hypothetical future reference: if I should lose or should I lose (equivalent to if I lose); if you would/might/could stop
doing that (usually used as a form of request).
Sentences with the verb wish (and expressions of wish using if only...) follow similar patterns to the if-clauses
referred to above, when they have counterfactual present or past reference. When they express a desired event in the
near future, the modal would is used: I wish you would visit me; If only he would give me a sign.
For more information see English conditional sentences and English subjunctive.

Replacements for defective forms

As noted above, English modal verbs are defective in that they do not have infinitive, participle, imperative or
(standard) subjunctive forms, and in some cases past forms. However in many cases there exist equivalent
expressions that carry the same meaning as the modal, and can be used to supply the missing forms. In particular:
The modals can and could, in their meanings expressing ability, can be replaced by am/is/are able to and
was/were able to. Additional forms can thus be supplied: the infinitive (to) be able to, the subjunctive and (rarely)
imperative be able to, and the participles being able to and been able to.
The modals may and might, in their meanings expressing permission, can be replaced by am/is/are allowed to and
was/were allowed to.

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English modal verbs

The modal must in most meanings can be replaced by have/has to. This supplies the past and past participle form
had to, and other forms (to) have to, having to.
When will or shall expresses the future, the expression am/is/are going to has similar meaning. This can supply
other forms: was/were going to, (to) be going to, being/been going to.
The modals should and ought to might be replaced by am/is/are supposed to, thus supplying the forms was/were
supposed to, (to) be supposed to, being/been supposed to.

Contractions and reduced pronunciation

As already mentioned, most of the modals in combination with not form commonly used contractions: can't, won't,
etc. Some of the modals also have contracted forms themselves:
The verb will is often contracted to 'll; the same contraction may also represent shall.
The verb would (or should, when used as a first-person equivalent of would) is often contracted to 'd.
The had of had better is also often contracted to 'd. (The same contraction is also used for other cases of had as an
auxiliary.)
Certain of the modals generally have a weak pronunciation when they are not stressed or otherwise prominent; for
example, can is usually pronounced /kn/. The same applies to certain words following modals, particularly auxiliary
have: a combination like should have is normally reduced to /d(h)v/ or just /d/ "shoulda". Also ought to can
become /t/ "oughta". See Weak and strong forms in English.

Usage of specific verbs

Can and could
The modal verb can expresses possibility in either a dynamic, deontic or epistemic sense, that is, in terms of innate
ability, permissibility, or possible circumstance. For example:
I can speak English means "I am able to speak English" or "I know how to speak English".
You can smoke here means "you may (are permitted to) smoke here" (in formal English may or might is
sometimes considered more correct than can or could in these senses).
There can be strong rivalry between siblings means that such rivalry is possible.
The preterite form could is used as the past tense or conditional form of can in the above meanings (see Past forms
above). It is also used to express possible circumstance: We could be in trouble here. It is preferable to use could,
may or might rather than can when expressing possible circumstance in a particular situation (as opposed to the
general case, as in the "rivalry" example above, where can or may is used).
Both can and could can be used to make requests: Can/could you pass me the cheese? means "Please pass me the
cheese" (where could indicates greater politeness).
It is common to use can with verbs of perception such as see, hear, etc., as in I can see a tree. Aspectual distinctions
can be made, such as I could see it (ongoing state) vs. I saw it (event). See can see.
The use of could with the perfect infinitive expresses past ability or possibility, either in some counterfactual
circumstance (I could have told him if I had seen him), or in some real circumstance where the act in question was
not in fact realized: I could have told him yesterday (but in fact I didn't). The use of can with the perfect infinitive,
can have..., is a rarer alternative to may have... (for the negative see below).
The negation of can is the single word cannot, only occasionally written separately as can not.[3] Though cannot is
preferred (as can not is potentially ambiguous), its irregularity (all other uncontracted verbal negations use at least
two words) sometimes causes those unfamiliar with the nuances of English spelling to use the separated form. Its
contracted form is can't (pronounced /knt/ in RP and some other dialects). The negation of could is the regular
could not, contracted to couldn't.

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English modal verbs

The negative forms reverse the meaning of the modal (to express inability, impermissibility or impossibliity). This
differs from the case with may or might used to express possibility: it can't be true has a different meaning than it
may not be true. Thus can't (or cannot) is often used to express disbelief in the possibility of something, as must
expresses belief in the certainty of something. When the circumstance in question refers to the past, the form with the
perfect infinitive is used: he can't (cannot) have done it means "I believe it impossible that he did it" (compare he
must have done it).
Occasionally not is applied to the infinitive rather than to the modal (stress would then be applied to make the
meaning clear): I could not do that, but I'm going to do it anyway.

May and might

The verb may expresses possibility in either an epistemic or deontic sense, that is, in terms of possible circumstance
or permissibility. For example:
The mouse may be dead means that it is possible that the mouse is dead.
You may leave the room means that the listener is permitted to leave the room.
In expressing possible circumstance, may can have future as well as present reference (he may arrive means that it is
possible that he will arrive; I may go to the mall means that I am considering going to the mall).
The preterite form might is used as a synonym for may when expressing possible circumstance (as can could see
above). It is sometimes said that might and could express a greater degree of doubt than may. For uses of might in
conditional sentences, and as a past equivalent to may in such contexts as indirect speech, see Past forms above.
May (or might) can also express irrelevance in spite of certain or likely truth: He may be taller than I am, but he is
certainly not stronger could mean "While it is (or may be) true that he is taller than I am, that does not make a
difference, as he is certainly not stronger."
May can indicate presently given permission for present or future actions: You may go now. Might used in this way is
milder: You might go now if you feel like it. Similarly May I use your phone? is a request for permission (might
would be more hesitant or polite).
A less common use of may is to express wishes, as in May you live long and happy (see also English subjunctive).
When used with the perfect infinitive, may have indicates uncertainty about a past circumstance, whereas might have
can have that meaning, but it can also refer to possibilities that did not occur but could have in other circumstances
(see also conditional sentences above).
She may have eaten the cake (the speaker does not know whether she ate cake).
She might have eaten cake (this means either the same as the above, or else means that she did not eat cake but
that it was or would have been possible for her to eat cake).
Note that the above perfect forms refer to possibility, not permission (although the second sense of might have might
sometimes imply permission).
The negated form of may is may not; this does not have a common contraction (mayn't is obsolete). The negation of
might is might not; this is sometimes contracted to mightn't, mostly in tag questions and in other questions expressing
doubt (Mightn't I come in if I took my boots off?).
The meaning of the negated form depends on the usage of the modal. When possibility is indicated, the negation
effectively applies to the main verb rather than the modal: That may/might not be means "That may/might not-be",
i.e. "That may fail to be true". But when permission is being expressed, the negation applies to the modal or entire
verb phrase: You may not go now means "You are not permitted to go now" (except in rare cases where not and the
main verb are both stressed to indicate that they go together: You may go or not go, whichever you wish).

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English modal verbs

Shall and should

The verb shall is used in some (particularly formal) varieties of English in place of will, indicating futurity, when the
subject is first person (I shall, we shall).
With second- and third-person subjects, shall indicates an order, command or prophecy: Cinderella, you shall go to
the ball! It is often used in writing laws and specifications: Those convicted of violating this law shall be imprisoned
for a term of not less than three years; The electronics assembly shall be able to operate within a normal
temperature range.
Shall is sometimes used in questions (in the first, or possibly third, person) to ask for advice or confirmation of a
suggestion: Shall I read now?; What shall we wear?
Should is sometimes used as a first-person equivalent for would (in its conditional and "future-in-the-past" uses), in
the same way that shall can replace will. Should is also used to form a replacement for the present subjunctive in
some varieties of English, and also in some conditional sentences with hypothetical future reference see English
subjunctive and English conditional sentences.
Should is often used to describe an expected or recommended behavior or circumstance. It can be used to give advice
or to describe normative behavior, though without such strong obligatory force as must or have to. Thus You should
never lie describes a social or ethical norm. It can also express what will happen according to theory or expectations:
This should work. In these uses it is equivalent to ought to.
Both shall and should can be used with the perfect infinitive (shall/should have (done)) in their role as first-person
equivalents of will and would (thus to form future perfect or conditional perfect structures). Also shall have may
express an order with perfect aspect (you shall have finished your duties by nine o'clock). When should is used in this
way it usually expresses something which would have been expected, or normatively required, at some time in the
past, but which did not in fact happen (or is not known to have happened): I should have done that yesterday ("it
would have been expedient, or expected of me, to do that yesterday").
The negative forms are shall not and should not, contracted to shan't and shouldn't. The negation effectively applies
to the main verb rather than the auxiliary: you should not do this implies not merely that there is no need to do it, but
that there is a need not to do it.

Will and would

The modal will is often used to express futurity (The next meeting will be held on Thursday). Since this is an
expression of time rather than modality, constructions with will (or sometimes shall; see above and at shall and will)
are often referred to as the future tense of English, and forms like will do, will be doing, will have done and will have
been doing are often called the simple future, future progressive (or future continuous), future perfect, and future
perfect progressive (continuous). With first-person subjects (I, we), in varieties where shall is used for simple
expression of futurity, the use of will indicates particular willingness or determination.
Future events are also sometimes referred to using the present tense (see Uses of English verb forms), or using the
going to construction.
Will as a modal also has a number of different uses:[4][5]
It can express habitual aspect; for example, he will make mistakes may mean that he frequently makes mistakes
(here the word will is usually stressed somewhat, and often expresses annoyance).
It can express strong probability with present time reference, as in That will be John at the door.
It can be used to give an order, as in You will do it right now.
The preterite form would is used in some conditional sentences, and as a past form of future will as described above
under Past forms. (It is sometimes replaced by should in the first person in the same way that will is replaced by
shall.) Other uses of would include:

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English modal verbs

Expression of politeness, as in I would like... (for "I want") and Would you (be so kind as to) do this? (for "Please
do this").
Expression of habitual aspect in past time, as in Back then, I would eat early and would walk to school.[6]
Both will and would can be used with the perfect infinitive (will have, would have), either to form the future perfect
and conditional perfect forms already referred to, or to express perfect aspect in their other meanings (e.g. there will
have been an arrest order, expressing strong probability).
The negated forms are will not (contracted to won't) and would not (contracted to wouldn't). In the modal meanings
of will the negation is effectively applied to the main verb phrase and not to the modality (e.g. when expressing an
order, you will not do it expresses an order not to do it, rather than just the absence of an order to do it). For
contracted forms of will and would themselves, see Contractions and reduced pronunciation above.

Must and had to

The modal must expresses obligation or necessity: You must use this form; We must try to escape. It can also express
a confident assumption (the epistemic rather than deontic use), such as in It must be here somewhere.
An alternative to must is the expression had to (in the present tense sometimes have got to), which is often more
idiomatic in informal English when referring to obligation. This also provides other forms in which must is defective
(see Replacements for defective forms above) and enables simple negation (see below).
When used with the perfect infinitive (i.e. with have and the past participle), must expresses only assumption: Sue
must have left means that the speaker confidently assumes that Sue has left. To express obligation or necessity in the
past, had to or some other synonym must be used.
The formal negation of must is must not (contracted to mustn't). However the negation effectively applies to the main
verb, not the modality: You must not do this means that you are required not to do it, not just that you are not
required to do it. To express the lack of requirement or obligation, the negative of have to or need (see below) can be
used: You don't have to do it; You needn't do it.
The above negative forms are not usually used in the sense of confident assumption; here it is common to use can't
to express confidence that something is not the case (as in It can't be here or, with the perfect, Sue can't have left).
Mustn't can nonetheless be used as a simple negative of must in tag questions and other questions expressing doubt:
We must do it, mustn't we? Mustn't he be in the operating room by this stage?

Ought to and had better

Ought is used with meanings similar to those of should expressing expectation or requirement. The principal
grammatical difference is that ought is used with the to-infinitive rather than the bare infinitive, hence we should go
is equivalent to we ought to go. Because of this difference of syntax, ought is sometimes excluded from the class of
modal verbs, or is classed as a semimodal.
The reduced pronunciation of ought to (see Contractions and reduced pronunciation above) is sometimes given the
eye dialect spelling oughta.
Ought can be used with perfect infinitives in the same way as should (but again with the insertion of to): you ought
to have done that earlier.
The negated form is ought not or oughtn't, equivalent in meaning to shouldn't (but again used with to).
The expression had better has similar meaning to should and ought when expressing recommended or expedient
behavior: I had better get down to work (it can also be used to give instructions with the implication of a threat: you
had better give me the money or else). The had of this expression is similar to a modal: it governs the bare infinitive,
it is defective in that it is not replaceable by any other form of the verb have, and it behaves syntactically as an
auxiliary verb. For this reason the expression had better, considered as a kind of compound verb, is sometimes
classed along with the modals or as a semimodal.

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English modal verbs

The had of had better can be contracted to 'd, or in some informal usage (especially American) can be omitted. The
expression can be used with a perfect infinitive: you'd better have finished that report by tomorrow. There is a
negative form hadn't better, used mainly in questions: Hadn't we better start now? It is more common for the
infinitive to be negated by means of not after better: You'd better not do that (meaning that you are strongly advised
not to do that).

Dare and need

The verbs dare and need can be used both as modals and as ordinary conjugated (non-modal) verbs. As non-modal
verbs they can take a to-infinitive as their complement (I dared to answer her; He needs to clean that), although dare
may also take a bare infinitive (He didn't dare go). In their uses as modals they govern a bare infinitive, and are
usually restricted to questions and negative sentences.
Examples of the modal use of dare, followed by equivalents using non-modal dare where appropriate:

Dare he do it? ("Does he dare to do it?")

I daren't (or dare not) try ("I don't dare to try")
How dare you!; How dare he! (idiomatic expressions of outrage)
I dare say (another idiomatic expression, here exceptionally without negation or question syntax)

The modal use of need is close in meaning to must expressing necessity or obligation. The negated form need not
(needn't) differs in meaning from must not, however; it expresses lack of necessity, whereas must not expresses
prohibition. Examples:
Need I continue? ("Do I need to continue? Must I continue?")
You needn't water the grass ("You don't have to water the grass"; compare the different meaning of You mustn't
water...)
Modal need can also be used with the perfect infinitive: Need I have done that? It is most commonly used here in the
negative, to denote that something that was done was (from the present perspective) not in fact necessary: You
needn't have left that tip.

Used to
The verbal expression used to expresses past states or past habitual actions, usually with the implication that they are
no longer so. It is followed by the infinitive (that is, the full expression consists of the verb used plus the
to-infinitive). Thus the statement I used to go to college means that the speaker formerly habitually went to college,
and normally implies that this is no longer the case.
Used to may be classed among the modals or semimodals on the ground that it is invariant and defective in form like
the other modals, and can follow auxiliary-verb syntax: it is possible to form questions like Used he to come here?
and negatives like He used not (rarely usedn't) to come here. More common, however, (though not the most formal
style) is the syntax that treats used as a past tense of an ordinary verb, and forms questions and negatives using did:
Did he use to come here? He didn't use to come here.
Note the difference in pronunciation between the ordinary verb use /juz/ and its past form used /juzd/ (as in scissors
are used to cut paper), and the verb forms described here: /just/ and (when supported by did) /jus/.
The verbal use of used to should not be confused with the adjectival use of the same expression, meaning "familiar
with", as in I am used to this, we must get used to the cold. When the adjectival form is followed by a verb, the
gerund is used: I am used to going to college in the mornings. (The pronunciation of the adjectival used in this
expression is also /just/.)

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English modal verbs

Manage to
"Manage to" can be used modaly, with "to manage to do something" meaning that the action is definitely achieved,
but connotating that the agent was near the limit of their ability to do so.
For instance, "he managed to eat it" means that he definitely ate it, but connotates that he would not have been able
to if the "difficulty" of doing so had been raised much higher (eg. if the quantity of the food was somewhat greater,
or if it was somewhat more repulsive to him).
"Manage to" is not always included in lists of English modals.

Double modals
In formal standard English usage, more than one modal verb is not used consecutively, as modals are followed by an
infinitive, which they themselves lack. They can only be combined with non-modal constructions that have a modal
function, such as have to, which in spite of its function is not a modal verb. Thus, might have to is acceptable, but
might must is not, even though must and have to can normally be used interchangeably.
A greater variety of double modals appears in some regional dialects. In Southern American English, for example,
phrases such as might could or ought to should are sometimes used in conversation.[7][8] The double modal may
sometimes be redundant, as in "I ought to should do something about it", where ought to and should are synonymous
and either one could be removed from the sentence. In other double modals, the two modal verbs convey different
meanings, such as "I might could do something about it tomorrow", where could indicates the ability to do
something and might shows uncertainty about that ability.
These kinds of double modal phrases are not regarded as standard, although a combination of a modal with a
modal-like construction may be used instead. "I might could do something about it" is more often expressed as "I
might be able to do something about it", which is considered more standard. Similarly used to could, which appears
for example in country singer Bill Carlisle's 1951 song "Too Old to Cut the Mustard":
I used to could jump just like a deer,
But now I need a new landing gear.
I used to could jump a picket fence,
But now I'm lucky if I jump an inch.[9]
is usually expressed as used to be able to. Double modals can also be avoided by replacing one of the modal verbs
with an appropriate adverb, such as using probably could or might possibly in place of might could.
Double modals also occur in the closely related Germanic language Scots.

Comparison with other Germanic languages

Many English modals have cognates in other Germanic languages, albeit with different meanings in some cases.
Unlike the English modals, however, these verbs are not generally defective; they can inflect, and have forms such as
infinitives, participles and future tenses (for example using the auxiliary werden in German). Examples of such
cognates include:
in German: mssen ("to have to"), knnen ("to be able to"), sollen, cognates of must, can and shall respectively.
For the verbs can and may, when used in the sense of giving permission as opposed to the ability to do something,
they are equivalent in meaning to the German modal verb drfen (to be allowed to) rather than knnen. For
example, knnen wir singen? and drfen wir singen? can both mean can we sing?, although the first literally
means do we have the ability to/can we sing? while the second means do we have permission to/may we sing?
German also has two more modal verbs, wollen (to want to do something) and mgen (to like to do something),
whose English equivalents are technically not modal verbs (for example wir wollen singen and wir mgen singen
are, respectively we want to sing and we like to sing, requiring a construction using the to-infinitive). Some

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English modal verbs

negative forms have different meanings in German. For example German nicht mssen does mean in English not
necessarily have to while the English form must not does mean in German nicht drfen ("not allowed to").
in Dutch: mogen, moeten, kunnen, zouden, cognates of may, must, can and should.
in Danish: mtte, kunne, ville, skulle, cognates of may/must, can, will, shall.

References
[1] See Palmer, F. R., Mood and Modality, Cambridge Univ. Press, second edition, 2001, p. 33, and A Linguistic Study of the English Verb,
Longmans, 1965. For an author who rejects ought as a modal because of the following particle to (and does not mention had better), see
Warner, Anthony R., English Auxiliaries, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1993. For more examples of discrepancies between different authors'
listings of modal or auxiliary verbs in English, see English auxiliaries.
[2] Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, entry for "need".
[3] Dictionary.com (http:/ / dictionary. reference. com/ browse/ cannot)
[4] Fleischman, Suzanne, The Future in Thought and Action, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1982, pp. 86-97.
[5] Comrie, Bernard, Tense, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1985, pp. 21, 47-48.
[6] Spanish Conditional. StudySpanish.com (http:/ / www. studyspanish. com/ verbs/ lessons/ conditional. htm)
[7] Kenneth G. Wilson, "Double Modal Auxiliaries", The Columbia Guide to Standard American English (http:/ / www. bartleby. com/ 68/ 3/
2003. html), 1993.
[8] David Rubin, "might could (double modal)", The Mavens' Word of the Day (http:/ / www. randomhouse. com/ wotd/ index.
pperl?date=20001120), Random House, November 20, 2000.
[9] The Carlisles, "Too Old To Cut The Mustard", 1951 single. Lyrics by Bill Carlisle reproduced here under fair use policy.

External links
Verbs in English Grammar, wikibook
modal auxiliaries (http://modal-auxiliaries.sonance.net/) Website/Project that collects phrases containing
modal auxiliaries on the web (in German and English)
modal auxiliaries (http://modal-auxiliaries.sonance.net/) Website/Project that collects phrases containing
modal auxiliaries on the web (in German and English)
Modal auxiliary verbs: special points (http://www.englishgrammar.org/modal-auxiliary-verbs-special-points/)

164

English passive voice

165

English passive voice

English grammar

Adjectives

Adverbs

Articles

Clauses

Compounds

Conditionals

Conjunctions

Determiners

Gender

Idiom

Interjections

Inversion

Nouns

Pronouns

Phrases

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Verbs

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Grammar disputes

v
t

e [1]

The passive voice is a grammatical construction (specifically, a "voice"). The noun or noun phrase that would be the
object of an active sentence (such as Our troops defeated the enemy) appears as the subject of a sentence with
passive voice (e.g. The enemy was defeated by our troops).
The subject of a sentence or clause featuring the passive voice denotes the recipient of the action (the patient) rather
than the performer (the agent). The passive voice in English is formed periphrastically: the usual form uses the
auxiliary verb be (or get) together with the past participle of the main verb.
For example, Caesar was stabbed by Brutus uses the passive voice. The subject denotes the person (Caesar) affected
by the action of the verb. The agent is expressed here with the phrase by Brutus, but this can be omitted. The
equivalent sentence in active voice is Brutus stabbed Caesar, in which the subject denotes the doer, or agent, Brutus.
A sentence featuring the passive voice is sometimes called a passive sentence, and a verb phrase in passive voice is
sometimes called a passive verb.
English allows a number of passive constructions which are not possible in many of the other languages with similar
passive formation. These include promotion of an indirect object to subject (as in Tom was given a bag) and
promotion of the complement of a preposition (as in Sue was operated on, leaving a stranded preposition).

English passive voice

Use of the English passive varies with writing style and field. Some publications' style sheets discourage use of the
passive voice, while others encourage it. Although some purveyors of usage advice, including George Orwell (see
Politics and the English Language, 1946) and William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White (see The Elements of Style, 1919),
discourage use of the passive in English, its usefulness is generally recognized, particularly in cases where the
patient is more important than the agent, but also in some cases where it is desired to emphasize the agent.

Identifying the English passive

The passive voice is a specific grammatical construction; not every expression that serves to take focus away from
the performer of an action is classified as an instance of passive voice. The essential components of the English
passive voice are a form of the auxiliary verb be (or sometimes get), and the past participle of the main verb denoting
the action. For example:
... that all men are created equal...[1]
We have been cruelly deceived.
The captain was struck by a missile.
I got kicked in the face during the fight.
(For exceptions, see Additional passive constructions below.) The agent (the doer of the action) may be specified,
using a prepositional phrase with the preposition by, as in the third example, but it is equally possible to omit this, as
is done in the other examples.
A distinction is made between the above type of clause, and those of similar form in which the past participle is used
as an ordinary adjective, and the verb be or similar is simply a copula linking the subject of the sentence to that
adjective. For example:
I am excited (right now).
This would not normally be classed as a passive sentence, since the participle excited is used adjectivally to denote a
state, not to denote an action of excitation (as it would in the passive the electron was excited with a laser pulse). See
Stative and adjectival uses below.
Sentences which do not follow the pattern described above are not considered to be in the passive voice, even if they
have a similar function of avoiding or marginalizing reference to the agent. An example is the sentence A stabbing
occurred, where mention of the stabber is avoided, but the sentence is nonetheless cast in the active voice, with the
verbal noun stabbing forming the subject of the simple past tense of the verb occur. (Similarly There was a
stabbing.) Occasionally, however, writers misapply the term "passive voice" to sentences of this type.[2] An example
of this loose usage can be found in the following extract from an article from The New Yorker about Bernard Madoff
(bolding and italics added; bold text indicates the verbs misidentified as passive voice):
Two sentences later, Madoff said, "When I began the Ponzi scheme, I believed it would end shortly, and
I would be able to extricate myself, and my clients, from the scheme." As he read this, he betrayed no
sense of how absurd it was to use the passive voice in regard to his scheme, as if it were a spell of bad
weather that had descended on him . . . In most of the rest of the statement, one not only heard the
aggrieved passive voice, but felt the hand of a lawyer: "To the best of my recollection, my fraud began
in the early nineteen-nineties."[3]
The intransitive verbs would end and began are in fact in the active voice. Although the speaker uses the words in a
manner that subtly diverts responsibility from him, this is not accomplished by use of passive voice.[4]

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English passive voice

Reasons for using the passive voice

The passive voice can be used without referring to the agent of an action; it may therefore be used when the agent is
unknown or unimportant, or the speaker does not wish to mention the agent.
Three stores were robbed last night. (the identity of the agent may be unknown)
A new cancer drug has been discovered. (the identity of the agent may be unimportant in the context)
Mistakes have been made on this project. (the speaker may not wish to identify the agent)
The last sentence illustrates a frequently criticized use of the passive the evasion of responsibility by failure to
mention the agent (which may even be the speaker himself).
Agentless passives are common in scientific writing, where the agent may be irrelevant:
The mixture was heated to 300C.
However the passive voice can also be used together with a mention of the agent, using a by-phrase. In this case the
reason for use of the passive is often connected with the positioning of this phrase at the end of the clause (unlike in
the active voice, where the agent, as subject, normally precedes the verb). Here, in contrast to the examples above,
passive constructions may in fact serve to place emphasis on the agent, since it is natural for information being
emphasized to come at the end:
Don't you see? The patient was murdered by his own doctor!
In more technical terms, such uses can be expected in sentences where the agent is the focus (comment, rheme),
while the patient (the undergoer of the action) is the topic or theme (see Topiccomment). There is a tendency for
sentences to be formulated so as to place the focus at the end, and this can motivate the choice of active or passive
voice:
My taxi hit an old lady. (the taxi is the topic, the lady is the focus)
My mother was hit by a taxi. (the mother is the topic, the taxi is the focus)
Similarly, the passive may be used because the noun phrase denoting the agent is a long one (containing many
modifiers), since it is convenient to place such phrases at the end of a clause:
The breakthrough was achieved by Burlingame and Evans, two researchers in the university's genetic engineering
lab.[]
In some situations, the passive may be used so that the most dramatic word, or punchline, appears at the end of the
sentence.

Style advice
Advice against the passive voice
Many language critics and language-usage manuals discourage use of the passive voice. This advice is not usually
found in older guides, emerging only in the first half of the twentieth century. In 1916, the British writer Arthur
Quiller-Couch criticized this grammatical voice:
Generally, use transitive verbs, that strike their object; and use them in the active voice, eschewing the
stationary passive, with its little auxiliary itss and wass, and its participles getting into the light of your
adjectives, which should be few. For, as a rough law, by his use of the straight verb and by his economy
of adjectives you can tell a mans style, if it be masculine or neuter, writing or 'composition'.[5]
Two years later, in the original 1918 edition of The Elements of Style, Cornell University Professor of English
William Strunk, Jr. warned against excessive use of the passive voice:
The active voice is usually more direct and vigorous than the passive . . . This rule does not, of course,
mean that the writer should entirely discard the passive voice, which is frequently convenient and
sometimes necessary . . . The need to make a particular word the subject of the sentence will often . . .

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determine which voice is to be used. The habitual use of the active voice, however, makes for forcible
writing. This is true not only in narrative concerned principally with action, but in writing of any kind.
Many a tame sentence of description or exposition can be made lively and emphatic by substituting a
transitive in the active voice for some such perfunctory expression as there is or could be heard.[6]
In 1926, in the authoritative A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926), Henry Watson Fowler recommended
against transforming active voice forms into passive voice forms, because doing so "...sometimes leads to bad
grammar, false idiom, or clumsiness."
In 1946, in the essay Politics and the English Language, George Orwell recommended the active voice as an
elementary principle of composition: "Never use the passive where you can use the active."
The Columbia Guide to Standard American English (1993) stated that:
Active voice makes subjects do something (to something); passive voice permits subjects to have
something done to them (by someone or something). Some argue that active voice is more muscular,
direct, and succinct, passive voice flabbier, more indirect, and wordier. If you want your words to seem
impersonal, indirect, and noncommittal, passive is the choice, but otherwise, active voice is almost
invariably likely to prove more effective.
Krista Ratcliffe, a professor at Marquette University, notes the use of passives as an example of the role of grammar
as "...a link between words and magical conjuring [...]: passive voice mystifies accountability by erasing who or what
performs an action [...]."

Advice in favor of the passive voice

Jan Freeman, a reporter for The Boston Globe, said that the passive voice does have its uses, and that "all good
writers use the passive voice." For example, despite Orwell's advice to avoid the passive, his Politics and the English
Language (1946) employs passive voice for about 20 percent of its constructions. By comparison, a statistical study
found about 13 percent passive constructions in newspapers and magazines.
Passive writing is not necessarily slack and indirect. Many famously vigorous passages use the passive voice, as in
these examples:
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made
straight, and the rough places plain. (King James Bible, Isaiah 40:4)
Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this sun of York. (Shakespeare's Richard III, I.1,
ll. 12)
For of those to whom much is given, much is required. (John F. Kennedy's quotation of Luke 12:48 in his address
to the Massachusetts legislature, 9 January 1961.)[7]
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. (Winston Churchill addressing the
House of Commons, 20 August 1940.)
MerriamWebster's Dictionary of English Usage (1994) recommends the passive voice when identifying the object
(receiver) of the action is more important than the subject (agent), and when the agent is unknown, unimportant, or
not worth mentioning:

The child was struck by the car.

The store was robbed last night.
Plows should not be kept in the garage.
Kennedy was elected president.

The principal criticism against the passive voice is its potential for evasion of responsibility. This is because a
passive clause may omit the agent even where it is important:
We had hoped to report on this problem, but the data were inadvertently deleted from our files.

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English passive voice

(See weasel words.) However, the passive can also be used to emphasize the agent, and it may be better for that role
than the active voice, because the end of a clause is the ideal place to put something you wish to emphasize, or a long
noun phrase, as in the examples given in the previous section:
Don't you see? The patient was murdered by his own doctor!
The breakthrough was achieved by Burlingame and Evans, two researchers in the university's genetic engineering
lab.
Geoffrey Pullum writes that "The passive is not an undesirable feature limited to bad writing, it's a useful
construction often needed for clear expression, and every good writer uses it."

Passive constructions
Canonical passives
In the most commonly considered type of passive clause, a form of the verb be (or sometimes get) is used as an
auxiliary together with the past participle of a transitive verb; that verb is missing its direct object, and the patient of
the action (that which would be denoted by the direct object of the verb in an active clause) is denoted instead by the
subject of the clause. For example, the active clause:
John threw the ball.
contains threw as a transitive verb with John as its subject and the ball as its direct object. If we recast the verb in the
passive voice (was thrown), then the ball becomes the subject (it is "promoted" to the subject position) and John
disappears:
The ball was thrown.
The original subject (the agent) can optionally be re-inserted using the preposition by.
The ball was thrown by John.
The above example uses the verb be (in the past tense form was) to make the passive. It is often possible to use the
verb get as an alternative (possibly with slightly different meaning); for example, the active sentence "The ball hit
Bob" may be recast in either of the following forms:
Bob was hit by the ball.
Bob got hit by the ball.
The auxiliary verb of the passive voice (be or get) may appear in any combination of tense, aspect and mood, and
can also appear in non-finite form (infinitive, participle or gerund). See the article on English verb forms for more
information. Notice that this includes use of the verb be in progressive aspect, which does not normally occur when
be is used as a simple copula. Some examples:

The food is being served. (present progressive passive)

The stadium will have been built by next January. (future perfect passive)
I would have got injured if I had stayed in my place. (conditional perfect passive with get)
It isn't nice to be insulted. (passive infinitive)
Having been humiliated, he left the stage. (passive present participle, perfect aspect)

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English passive voice

Promotion of indirect objects

Unlike some other languages, English also allows passive clauses in which an indirect object, rather than a direct
object, is promoted to the subject. For example:
John gave Mary a book. Mary was given a book (by John).
In the active form, gave is the verb; John is its subject, Mary its indirect object, and a book its direct object. In the
passive forms, the indirect object has been promoted and the direct object has been left in place. (In this respect,
English resembles dechticaetiative languages.)
It is normally only the first-appearing object that can be promoted; promotion of the indirect object takes place from
a construction in which it precedes the direct object (i.e. where there is no to or for before the indirect object),
whereas promotion of the direct object in such cases takes place from a construction in which the indirect object
follows the direct (this time being accompanied by to or for; see English grammar: Verb phrases). For example:
John gave Mary a book. Mary was given a book. (and not normally: ??A book was given Mary.)
John gave a book to Mary. A book was given to Mary. (and not: *Mary was given a book to.)
Similar restrictions apply to the prepositional passive, as noted in the following section.

Prepositional passive
It is also possible, in some cases, to promote the object of a preposition. This may be called the prepositional
passive, or sometimes the pseudo-passive (although the latter term can also have other meanings, particularly in
descriptions of other languages).
They talked about the problem. The problem was talked about.
In the passive form here, the preposition is "stranded"; that is, it is not followed by an object.
The prepositional passive is common especially in informal English. However some potential uses appear
grammatically unacceptable; compare the following examples given by Pullum:
Someone has slept in this bunk. This bunk has been slept in. (fully acceptable)
Someone has slept above this bunk. ??This bunk has been slept above. (barely acceptable)
The second sentence appears unacceptable because sleeping above a bunk does not change its state; the verb phrase
been slept above does not express a "relevantly important property" of the bunk.
It is not possible to promote a prepositional object if the verb also has a direct object; any passive rendering of the
sentence must instead promote the direct object. For example:
Someone has put a child in this bunk. *This bunk has been put a child in. (unacceptable)
Someone has put a child in this bunk. A child has been put in this bunk. (acceptable)

Stative and adjectival uses

A type of clause that is similar or identical in form to the passive clauses described above has the past participle used
to denote not an action, but a state being the result of an action. For example, the sentence The window was broken
may have two different meanings:
The window was broken, i.e Someone or something broke the window. (action, event)
The window was broken, i.e. The window was not intact. (resultant state)
The first sentence is an example of the canonical English passive as described above. However the second case is
distinct; such sentences are not always considered to be true passives, since the participle is being used adjectivally;
they are sometimes called false passives. If they are considered to be passives, they may be called stative (or static,
or resultative) passives, since they represent a state or result. By contrast the canonical passives, representing an
action or event, may then be called dynamic or eventive passives.

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English passive voice

The ambiguity in such sentences arises because the verb be is used in English both as the passive auxiliary and as the
ordinary copular verb for linking to predicate adjectives. When get is used to form the passive, there is no ambiguity:
The window got broken cannot have a stative meaning. (For ways in which some other languages make this
distinction, see Passive voice: Stative and dynamic passive.) If a distinct adjective exists for the purpose of
expressing the state, then the past participle is less likely to be used for that purpose; this is the case with the verb
open, for which there exists an adjective open, so the sentence The door was opened more likely refers to the action
rather than the state, since in the stative case one could simply say The door was open.
Past participles of transitive verbs can also be used as adjectives (as in a broken doll), and the participles used in the
above-mentioned "stative" constructions are often considered to be adjectival (in predicative use). Such constructions
may then also be called adjectival passives (although they are not normally considered true passives). For example:
She was relieved to find her car.
Here, relieved is an ordinary adjective, though it derives from the past participle of relieve.[8] In other sentences that
same participle may be used to form the true (dynamic) passive: He was relieved of duty.
When the verb being put into the passive voice is a stative verb anyway, the distinctions between uses of the past
participle become less clear, since the canonical passive already has a stative meaning. (For example: People know
his identity His identity is known.) However it is sometimes possible to impart a dynamic meaning using get as
the auxiliary, as in get known with the meaning "become known".

Passive constructions without an exactly corresponding active

Some passive constructions are not derived exactly from a corresponding active construction in the ways described
above. This is particularly the case with sentences containing content clauses (usually that-clauses). Given a sentence
in which the role of direct object is played by such a clause, for example
They say (that) he cheats.
it is possible to convert this to a passive by promoting the content clause to subject; in this case, however, the clause
typically does not change its position in the sentence, and an expletive it takes the normal subject position:
It is said that he cheats.
Another way of forming passives in such cases involves promoting the subject of the content clause to the subject of
the main clause, and converting the content clause into a non-finite clause with the to-infinitive. This infinitive is
marked for grammatical aspect to correspond to the aspect (or past tense) expressed in the content clause. For
example:

They say that he cheats. He is said to cheat.

They think that I am dying. I am thought to be dying.
They report that she came back / has come back. She is reported to have come back.
They say that she will resign. e.g. She is said to be going to resign.

Some verbs are used almost exclusively in the passive voice. This is the case with rumor, for example. The
following passive sentences are possible:
He was rumored to be a war veteran. / It was rumored that he was a war veteran.
but it is not possible to use the active counterpart *They rumored that he was a war veteran. (This was once possible,
but has fallen out of use.)
Another situation in which the passive uses a different construction than the active involves the verb make, meaning
"compel". When this verb is used in the active voice it takes the bare infinitive (without the particle to), but in the
passive voice it takes the to-infinitive. For example:
They made Jane attend classes.
Jane was made to attend classes.

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English passive voice

Double passives
The construction called double passive can arise when one verb appears in the to-infinitive as the complement of
another verb.
If the first verb takes a direct object ahead of the infinitive complement (this applies to raising-to-object verbs, where
the expected subject of the second verb is raised to the position of object of the first verb), then the passive voice
may be used independently for either or both of the verbs:

We expect you to complete the project. (you is raised from subject of complete to object of expect)
You are expected to complete the project. (passive voice used for expect)
We expect the project to be completed. (passive voice used for complete; now the project is raised to object)
The project is expected to be completed. (double passive)

Other verbs which can behave similarly to expect in such constructions include order, tell, persuade, etc., leading to
such double passives as The man was ordered to be shot and I was persuaded to be ordained.
Similar constructions sometimes occur, however, when the first verb is raising-to-subject rather than
raising-to-object that is, when there is no object before the infinitive complement. For example, with attempt, the
active voice construction is simply We attempted to complete the project. A double passive formed from that
sentence would be:
The project was attempted to be completed.
with both verbs changed simultaneously to the passive voice, even though the first verb takes no object it is not
possible to say *We attempted the project to be completed, which is the sentence from which the double passive
would appear to derive.
This latter double passive construction is criticized as questionable both grammatically and stylistically. Fowler[9]
calls it "clumsy and incorrect", suggesting that it springs from false analogy with the former (acceptable) type of
double passive, though conceding its usefulness in some legal and quasi-legal language. Other verbs mentioned
(besides attempt) with which the construction is found include begin, desire, hope, propose, seek and threaten.
Similarly, The American Heritage Book of English Usage declares this construction unacceptable.[10] It nonetheless
occurs in practice in a variety of contexts.[11]

Additional passive constructions

Certain other constructions are sometimes classed as passives. The following types are mentioned by Pullum.
A bare passive clause is similar to a typical passive clause, but without the passive auxiliary verb (so it is a
non-finite clause consisting of a subject together with a verb phrase based on a past participle with the passive
construction). These can be used in such contexts as newspaper headlines:
City hall damaged by hail
and as modifiers (adverbial phrases), i.e. nominative absolutes:
Our work done, we made our way back home.
That said, there are also other considerations.
Other constructions are mentioned in which a passive past participial clause is used, even though it is not introduced
by the auxiliary be or get (or is introduced by get with a direct object):

I had my car cleaned by a professional.

Jane had her car stolen last week.
You ought to get that lump looked at.
This software comes pre-installed by the manufacturer.

In the concealed passive, the present participle or gerund form (-ing form) appears rather than the past participle.
This can appear after need, and for some speakers after want (with similar meaning). For example:

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English passive voice

Your car needs washing. (meaning "needs to be washed"; some speakers might say needs washed)
That rash needs looking at by a specialist.
His hair wants cutting.
(An idiomatic expression with the same construction is ... doesn't bear thinking about.) The verbs need and want also
have similar uses with an object:
I need/want my room painting.
See also English clause syntax: Non-finite clauses.

Middle voice and passival

The term middle voice is sometimes used to refer to verbs used without a passive construction, but in a meaning
where the grammatical subject is understood as undergoing the action. The meaning may be reflexive:
Fred shaved, i.e. Fred shaved himself
but is not always:
These cakes sell well, i.e. [we] sell these cakes [successfully]
The clothes are soaking, i.e. [the water] is soaking the clothes
Only certain verbs can be used with such meanings. However a more general construction, formerly used in English,
was the passival, where the progressive aspect of a verb was used in the active voice, but with passive meaning.
Examples of this would be:
The house is building (modern English: The house is being built)
The meal is eating (modern English: The meal is being eaten)
The passival was displaced in the early 19th century by the passive progressive (the form is being built as given
above).[12][13] It has been suggested that the passive progressive appeared just to the east of Bristol and was
popularized by the Romantic poets.[14] Only certain verbs can be used with passival-type sentences in modern
English, such as the verb soak in the example given above.

External links
Confusion over avoiding the passive [15]

References
[1] From the United States Declaration of Independence (1776).
[2] Mark Liberman, "'Passive Voice' 1397-2009 R.I.P.," (http:/ / languagelog. ldc. upenn. edu/ nll/ ?p=1227) in Language Log, 2009 March
12.
[3] Nancy Franklin, "The Dolor of Money," (http:/ / www. newyorker. com/ talk/ 2009/ 03/ 23/ 090323ta_talk_franklin) The New Yorker, 2009
March 23, at 24, 25.
[4] Mark Liberman, "The aggrieved passive voice," (http:/ / languagelog. ldc. upenn. edu/ nll/ ?p=1242) in Language Log, 2009 March 16.
[5] Arthur Quiller-Couch, On the Art of Writing (http:/ / www. bartleby. com/ 190/ 7. html) ch. 7 (1916).
[6] William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style (http:/ / www. bartleby. com/ 141/ strunk5. html) ch. 3, sec. 11 (1918).
[7] Address to Massachusetts legislature (Jan. 9, 1961) (http:/ / wayback. archive. org/ web/ 20120415064938/ http:/ / www. jfklibrary. org/
Research/ Ready-Reference/ JFK-Speeches. aspx)
[8] Language Log: How to defend yourself from bad advice about writing (http:/ / itre. cis. upenn. edu/ ~myl/ languagelog/ archives/ 003722.
html)
[9] H.W. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, Second Revised Edition, 1965. Entry for double passives.
[10] The American Heritage Book of English Usage, ch. 1, sect. 24 "double passive." Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996. (http:/ / www.
webcitation. org/ 5QdHYrkv6). Accessed 13 November 2006.
[11] Neal Whitman, Double Your Passive, Double Your Fun, in Literal Minded. http:/ / literalminded. wordpress. com/ 2005/ 05/ 16/
double-your-passive-double-your-fun/ . Accessed 13 November 2006.
[12] The House is Building? Why you never learned the passival tense, even though it used to be proper English grammar. (http:/ / www. slate.
com/ articles/ podcasts/ lexicon_valley/ 2012/ 05/

173

English passive voice

174

lexicon_valley_when_the_progressive_passive_replaced_the_passival_in_english_grammar_. html), by Mike Vuolo, Slate, May 29, 2012

[13] A peeve for the ages (http:/ / languagelog. ldc. upenn. edu/ nll/ ?p=2903), January 13, 2011
[14] Platt and Denison (http:/ / www. manchester. ac. uk/ research/ David. denison), " The language of the Southey-Coleridge Circle" (http:/ /
www. hf. uib. no/ forskerskole/ LittHistsynt/ southey. pdf), Language Sciences 2000
[15] http:/ / www. lel. ed. ac. uk/ grammar/ passives. html

Phrasal verb
English grammar

Adjectives

Adverbs

Articles

Clauses

Compounds

Conditionals

Conjunctions

Determiners

Gender

Idiom

Interjections

Inversion

Nouns

Pronouns

Phrases

Plurals

Possessives

Prepositions

Verbs

Auxiliaries, contractions
Irregular verbs
Modal verbs
Passive voice
Phrasal verbs
Subjunctive
Verb usage

Grammar disputes

v
t

e [1]

The term phrasal verb is commonly applied to two or three distinct but related constructions in English: a verb and
a particle and/or a preposition co-occur forming a single semantic unit. This semantic unit cannot be understood
based upon the meanings of the individual parts in isolation, but rather it must be taken as a whole. In other words,
the meaning is non-compositional and thus unpredictable.[1] Phrasal verbs that include a preposition are known as
prepositional verbs and phrasal verbs that include a particle are also known as particle verbs. Additional
alternative terms for phrasal verb are compound verb, verb-adverb combination, verb-particle construction, two-part
word/verb, and three-part word/verb (depending on the number of particles), and multi-word verb.[2]

Phrasal verb

175

Examples
One can discern at least three main types of phrasal verb constructions depending upon whether the verb combines
with a preposition, a particle, or both.[3] The words constituting the phrasal verb constructions in the following
examples are in bold:
Verb + preposition (prepositional phrasal verbs)[4]
a. Who is looking after the kids? after is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase after the kids.
b. They pick on Joseph. on is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase on Joseph.
c. I ran into an old friend. into is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase into an old friend.[5]
d. She takes after her mother. after is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase after her mother.
e. Sam passes for a linguist. for is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase for a linguist.
f. You should stand by your friend. by is a preposition that introduces the prepositional phrase by your friend.
Verb + particle (particle phrasal verbs)
a. They brought that up twice. up is a particle, not a preposition.
b. You should think it over. over is a particle, not a preposition.
c. Why does he always dress down? down is a particle, not a preposition.
d. You should not give in so quickly. in is a particle, not a preposition.
e. Where do they want to hang out? out is a particle, not a preposition.
f. She handed it in. in is a particle, not a preposition.
Verb + particle + preposition (particle-prepositional phrasal verbs)
a. Who can put up with that? up is a particle and with is a preposition.[6]
b. She is looking forward to a rest. forward is a particle and to is a preposition.
c. The other tanks were bearing down on my panther. down is a particle and on is a preposition.
d. They were really teeing off on me. off is a particle and on is a preposition.
e. We loaded up on Mountain Dew and chips. up is a particle and on is a preposition
f. Susan has been sitting in for me. in is a particle and for is a preposition.
The difference between these types of phrasal verbs lies with the status of the element(s) that appear in addition to
the verb. When the element is a preposition, it is the head of a full prepositional phrase and the phrasal verb is a thus
a prepositional phrasal verb. When the element is a particle, it can not (or no longer) be construed as a preposition,
but rather it is a particle by virtue of the fact that it does not take a complement.[7] Finally, many phrasal verbs are
combined with both a preposition and a particle.
The aspect of these types of phrasal verbs that unifies them under the single banner phrasal verb is the fact that their
meaning cannot be understood based upon the meaning of their parts taken in isolation. When one picks on someone,
one is not selecting that person for something, but rather one is harassing them. When one hangs out, one is in no
way actually hanging from anything. The meaning of the two or more words together is often drastically different
from what one might guess it to be based upon the meanings of the individual parts in isolation.
As a class, particle phrasal verbs belong to the same category as the so-called separable verbs of other Germanic
languages. They are commonly found in everyday, informal speech as opposed to more formal English and Latinate
verbs, such as to get together rather than to congregate, to put off rather than to postpone (or to deter), or to do up
rather than to fasten.

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176

Some notes on terminology

The terminology of phrasal verbs is inconsistent. Modern theories of syntax tend to use the term phrasal verb to
denote particle verbs only; they do not view prepositional verbs as phrasal verbs.[8] The EFL/ESL literature (English
as a foreign or second language), in contrast, tends to employ the term phrasal verb to encompass both prepositional
and particle verbs.[9] The terminology used to denote the particle is also inconsistent. Sometimes it is called an
adverb, and at other times an intransitive prepositional phrase.[10] The inconsistent use of terminology in these areas
is a source of confusion about what does and does not qualify as a phrasal verb and about the status of the particle or
a preposition.
Concerning the history of the term phrasal verb, Tom McArthur writes:
"...the term phrasal verb was first used by Logan Pearsall Smith, in Words and Idioms (1925), in which
he states that the OED Editor Henry Bradley suggested the term to him."
The value of this choice and its alternatives (including separable verb for Germanic languages) is debatable. In
origin the concept is based on translation linguistics; as many single-word English and Latinate words are
translatable by a phrasal verb complex in English, therefore the logic is that the phrasal verb complex must be a
complete semantic unit in itself. One should consider in this regard that the actual term phrasal verb suggests that
such constructions should form phrases. In most cases however, they clearly do NOT form phrases. Hence the very
term phrasal verb is misleading and a source of confusion, which has motivated some to reject the term outright.[11]

A diagnostic
When a particle phrasal verb is transitive, it can look just like a prepositional phrasal verb. This similarity is another
source of confusion, since it obscures the difference between prepositional and particle phrasal verbs. A simple
diagnostic distinguishes between the two, however. When the object of a particle verb is a definite pronoun, it can
and usually does precede the particle.[12] In contrast, the object of a preposition can never precede the preposition:[13]
a. You can bank on Susan. on is a preposition.
b. *You can bank her on. The object of the preposition cannot precede the preposition.
a. You can take on Susan. on is a particle.
b. You can take her on. The object of the particle verb can precede the particle.
a. He is getting over the situation. over is a preposition.
b. *He is getting it over. The object of a preposition cannot precede the preposition.
a. He is thinking over the situation. over is a particle.
b. He is thinking it over. The object of the particle verb can precede the particle.
The object of a preposition must follow the preposition, whereas the object of the particle verb can precede the
particle especially if it is a definite pronoun, since definite pronouns are very light.

Catenae
The aspect of phrasal verb constructions that makes them difficult to learn for non-native speakers of English is that
their meaning is non-compositional. That is, one cannot know what a given phrasal verb construction means based
upon what the verb alone and/or the preposition and/or particle alone mean, as emphasized above. This trait of
phrasal verbs is also what makes them interesting for linguists, since they appear to defy the principle of
compositionality. An analysis of phrasal verbs in terms of catenae (=chains), however, is not challenged by the
apparent lack of meaning compositionality. The verb and particle/preposition form a catena, and as such, they
qualify as a concrete unit of syntax. The following dependency grammar trees illustrate the point:[14]

Phrasal verb

177

The words of each phrasal verb construction are highlighted in orange. These words form a catena because they are
linked together in the vertical dimension. They constitute units of meaning, and these units are stored as multi-part
wholes in the lexicon.

Shifting
A confusing aspect of phrasal verbs concerns the distinction between prepositional phrasal verbs and particle phrasal
verbs that are transitive, as discussed and illustrated above. Particle phrasal verbs that are transitive allow some
variability in word order depending on the relative weight of the constituents involved. Shifting often occurs when
the object is very light, e.g.
a. Fred chatted up the girl with red hair. Canonical word order
b. Fred chatted her up. Shifting occurs because the definite pronoun her is very light.
c. Fred chatted the girl up. - The girl is also very light.
d. ?Fred chatted the redhead up. - A three-syllable object can appear in either position for many speakers.
e. ??Fred chatted the girl with red hair up. Shifting is unlikely unless it is sufficiently motivated by the weight of the
constituents involved.

a. They dropped off the kids from the war zone. Canonical word order
b. They dropped them off. Shifting occurs because the definite pronoun them is very light.
c.

??

They dropped the kids from the war zone off.

Shifting is unlikely unless it is sufficiently motivated by the

weight of the constituents involved.

a. Mary made up a really entertaining story. Canonical word order

b. Mary made it up. Shifting occurs because the definite pronoun it is very light.
c. ??Mary made a really entertaining story up. Shifting is unlikely unless it is sufficiently motivated by the weight
of the constituents involved.

Shifting occurs between two (or more) sister constituents that appear on the same side of their head. The lighter
constituent shifts leftward and the heavier constituent shifts rightward, and this happens in order to accommodate the

Phrasal verb

178

relative weight of the two. Dependency grammar trees are again used to illustrate the point:

The trees illustrate when shifting can occur. English sentence structures that grow down and to the right are easier to
process. There is a consistent tendency to place heavier constituents to the right, as is evident in the a-trees. Shifting
is possible when the resulting structure does not contradict this tendency, as is evident in the b-trees. Note again that
the particle verb constructions (in orange) qualify as catenae in both the a- and b-trees. Shifting does not alter this
fact.

Origin of phrasal verbs

Prepositions and adverbs can have a literal meaning which is spatial or "orientational", and then, as happens with all
words, metaphorical meanings develop that are systematic extensions from the original core meaning.[15] Many
verbs in English can interact with an adverb or a preposition, and the verb + preposition/adverb complex is readily
understood when used in its literal sense.
He walked across the square.
She opened the shutters and looked outside'.
When he heard the crash, he looked up'.
The function of the prepositional phrase/particle in such clauses is to show the relationship between the action
(walked, opened, looked) and the relative positioning, action or state of the subject. Even when such prepositions
appear alone and are hence adverbs/particles, they have a retrievable prepositional object. Thus, He walked across
clearly shows that the "walking" is "across" a given area. In the case of He walked across the square, across the
square is a prepositional phrase (with across as its head word). In both cases, the single-word/multi-word expression
(across and across the square) is independent of the verb. The action of the subject (walking) is being portrayed as
having happened in/at/on/over a certain location (across the square). Similarly in She opened the shutters and looked
outside and When he heard the crash, he looked up, outside is logically outside (of) the house, and up is similarly an
adjunct (= upwards, in an upwards direction, he is looking in a direction that is higher than where his eyes were
previously directed).
Phrasal verbs are represented in many languages by compound verbs. An intermediate state is in Dutch, where de
lamp aansteken (to light the lamp) becomes, in a principal clause, ik steek de lamp aan (I light the lamp).

Phrasal verb

179

Phrasal nouns
An extension of the concept of phrasal verb is that of phrasal noun, where a verb+particle complex is
nominalized.[16] The particle may come before or after the verb.
standby: We are keeping the old equipment on standby, in case of emergency.
back-up: Neil can provide technical backup if you need it.
onset: The match was halted by the onset of rain.
input: Try to come to the meeting we'd value your input.
If the particle is in first place, then the phrasal noun is never written with a hyphen, if the particle comes second, then
there is sometimes a hyphen between the two parts of the phrasal noun.
The two categories have different values. Particle-verb compounds in English are of ancient development, and are
common to all Germanic languages, as well as to Indo-European languages in general. Those such as onset tend to
retain older uses of the particles; in Old English on/an had a wider domain, which included areas which are now
covered by at and in in English. Some such compound nouns have a corresponding phrasal verb but some do not,
partly because of historical developments. The modern English verb+particle complex set on exists, but it means
"start to attack" (set itself means start a process). In modern English there is no exact verbal phrase equivalent to the
older set on, but rather various combinations which give different nuances to the idea of starting a process, such as
winter has set in, set off on a journey, set up the stand, set out on a day trip, etc. Verb-particle compounds are a more
modern development in English, and focus more on the action expressed by the compound; that is to say, they are
more overtly "verbal".

Notes
[1] That unpredictable meaning is the defining trait of phrasal verb constructions is widely assumed. See for instance Huddleston and Pullum
(2002:273) and Allerton (2006:166).
[2] Concerning these terms, see McArthur (1992:72ff.).
[3] Declerck, R. Comprehensive Descriptive Grammar of English, A 1991 Page 45 "The term multi-word verb can be used as a cover term for
phrasal verbs, prepositional verbs, prepositional phrasal verbs and combinations like put an end to."
[4] The Collins Cobuild English Grammar (1995:162) is a source that takes prepositional verbs to be phrasal verbs. Many other grammars, in
contrast, distinguish between prepositional verbs (the additional word is a preposition) and phrasal verbs (the additional word is a particle).
[5] Ron Cowan The Teacher's Grammar of English: A Course Book and Reference 2008 Page 176
"The Adverb Insertion Test Earlier, we saw that intransitive phrasal verbs usually do not permit the insertion of an adverb between the
verb and the particle, and the same is true of transitive phrasal verbs, as (25a) and (25b) show. In contrast, prepositional verbs do permit
adverb insertion, as (25c) demonstrates.
(25) a. *He turned quickly out the light. = separable phrasal verb.
b. *He ran unexpectedly into his cousin = inseparable phrasal verb.
c. He stared intently at the target = prepositional verb.
The Relative Clause Test Relative clauses in which the relative pronoun is the object of a preposition permit the two patterns shown in (26).
(26) a. The man [that they were waitings/or] was late b. The man [ for whom they were waiting] was late. In (26a), the preposition for is at the
end of the relative clause enclosed by square brackets, but (26b) shows that this preposition can also occur at the beginning of the clause
before the relative pronoun whom."
[6] Jeanette S. DeCarrico The structure of English: studies in form and function Volume 1 Page 80 2000 "4.6.3 Prepositional Phrasal Verbs
It is also possible to find phrasal verbs that are themselves followed by a preposition. These structures are called prepositional phrasal verbs
or multiword verbs. Examples are put up with (e.g., I can't put up with "
[7] For a list of the particles that occur with particle phrasal verbs, see Jurafsky and Martin (2000:319).
[8] For examples of accounts that use the term phrasal verb to denote just particle verbs (not prepositional verbs as well), see for example
Tallerman (1998:130), Adger (2003:99f.), and Haiden (2006).
[9] This fact can be easily verified by googling "phrasal verb". The online resources for EFL/ESL learners produce lists of phrasal verbs. These
lists include both particle phrasal verbs and prepositional phrasal verbs.
[10] Huddleston and Pullum (2002:273), for instance, use both particle and intransitive preposition to call what is being called a particle here.
[11] Huddleston and Pullum (2002:274) reject the term phrasal verb precisely because the relevant word combinations often do not form phrases.
[12] For an example of the shifting diagnostic used to distinguish particle verbs from prepositional verbs, see Tallerman (1998:129).
[13] Concerning the difference between particles and prepositions with phrasal verbs, see Jurafsky and Martin (2000:318).

Phrasal verb

180

[14] That constructions (including phrasal verb constructions) are catenae is a point established at length by Osborne and Gro (2012).
[15] Concerning the extension of literal meaning to metaphorical meaning with phrasal verbs, see Knowles and Moon (2006:17).
[16] Concerning the term phrasal noun, see McCarthy and O'dell (2007).

References

Adger, D. 2003. Core syntax: A minimalist approach. Oxford, UK:

Oxford University Press.

Long, T. (ed.). 1979. Longman dictionary of English idioms.

Longman Group Limited.

Allerton, D. 2006. Verbs and their satellites. In The handbook of

linguistics, ed. by B. Aarts and A. McMahaon, 126149. Malden, M.:
Blackwell Publishing.

Macmillan phrasal verbs plus dictionary. 2005 Oxford:

Macmillan Education 2005.

Collins Cobuild English Grammar 1995. London: HarperCollins

Publishers.

McArthur, T. 1992. The Oxford companion to the English

language. Oxford University Press.

Haiden, M. 2006. Verb particle constructions. In M. Everaert and H. van

Riemsdijk, The Blackwell companion to syntax, volume V. 344375.
Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

McCarthy M. and F. O'dell. 2007. English phrasal verbs in use.

Cambridge University Press.

Juraffsky, D. and J. Martin. 2000. Speech and language processing.

Dorling Kindersley, India: Pearson Education.

Osborne, T. and T. Gro 2012. Constructions are catenae:

Construction Grammar meets Dependency Grammar. Cognitive
Linguistics 23, 1, 163214.

Huddleston, R. and G. Pullum 2002. The Cambridge grammar of the

English language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Oxford phrasal verbs dictionary. 2001.

Knowles, M. and R Moon. 2006. Introducing metaphor. London:

Routledge, 2006.

Tallerman, M. 1998. Understanding syntax. London: Arnold.

External links
Ordered list of phrasal verbs (http://www.uazone.org/friends/esl4rus/pvlist.html)
Dictionary of phrasal verbs (http://www.phrasal.info)

English subjunctive

English subjunctive
The subjunctive mood in English grammar includes particular verb forms that are used in certain clauses, chiefly
dependent clauses, to express necessity, desire, purpose, suggestion and similar ideas, or a counterfactual condition.
In Modern English the subjunctive form of a verb is in many cases the same as a corresponding indicative form, and
thus subjunctives are not a very visible grammatical feature of English. For most verbs, the only distinct subjunctive
form is found in the third-person singular of the present tense, where the subjunctive lacks the -s ending: It is
necessary that he see a doctor (contrasted with the indicative he sees). However, the verb be has not only a distinct
present subjunctive (be, as in I suggest that they be removed) but also a past subjunctive were (as in If I were rich,
...).
These two tenses of the subjunctive have no particular connection in meaning with present and past time.
Terminology varies; sometimes what is called the present subjunctive here is referred to simply as the subjunctive,
and, the form were may be treated just as an alternative irrealis form of was rather than a past subjunctive.
Another case where present subjunctive forms are distinguished from indicatives is when they are negated: compare
I recommend they not enter the competition (subjunctive) with I hope they do not enter the competition (indicative).

Forms
English has present subjunctive and past subjunctive forms, which can be compared with the corresponding present
indicative and past indicative forms (the familiar present and past tense forms of verbs). The distinction between
present and past is one of tense; the distinction between indicative and subjunctive is one of mood. Note that these
terms are used here merely as names for forms that verbs take; the use of present and past forms is not limited to
referring to present and past time. (Sometimes the term subjunctive is used only to refer to what is called here the
present subjunctive.)
The present subjunctive is identical to the bare infinitive (and imperative) of the verb in all forms. This means that,
for almost all verbs, the present subjunctive differs from the present indicative only in the third-person singular form,
which lacks the ending -(e)s in the subjunctive.
Present indicative: I own, you own, he/she/it owns, we own, they own
Present subjunctive: (that) I own, (that) you own, (that) he/she/it own, (that) we own, (that) they own
With the verb be, however, the two moods are fully distinguished:
Present indicative: I am, you are, he/she/it is, we are, they are
Present subjunctive: (that) I be, (that) you be, (that) he/she/it be, (that) we be, (that) they be
Note also the defective verb beware, which lacks indicative forms, but has a present subjunctive: (that) I beware...
The two moods are also fully distinguished when negated. Present subjunctive forms are negated by appending the
word not before them.
Present indicative: I don't own, you don't own, he/she/it doesn't own...; I am not...
Present subjunctive: (that) I not own, (that) you not own, (that) he/she/it not own...; (that) I not be...
The past subjunctive exists as a distinct form only for the verb be, which has the form were throughout:
Past indicative: I was, you were, he/she/it was, we were, they were
Past subjunctive: (if) I were, (if) you were, (if) he/she/it were, (if) we were, (if) they were
In the past tense there is no difference between the two moods as regards manner of negation: I was not; (if) I were
not. Verbs other than be are described as lacking a past subjunctive, or possibly as having a past subjunctive identical
in form to the past indicative: (if) I owned; (if) I did not own.

181

English subjunctive
Certain subjunctives (particularly were) can also be distinguished from indicatives by the possibility of inversion
with the subject, as described under Inversion below.

Compound forms, auxiliaries and modals

A compound past subjunctive form is made with were (the past subjunctive of be) followed by a verb's to-infinitive
(corresponding to indicative forms like I was to own). For example:
(if) I were to own, (if) you were to own, (if) he were to own, ...
Another compound past subjunctive form made using were is the subjunctive of the past continuous: (if) he were
singing.
A pluperfect subjunctive may be considered to exist; its form (had with past participle) does not differ from the
corresponding indicative, but a distinction can be sought in the possibility of inversion: had I sung... (equivalent to if
I had sung).
Occasionally a present perfect subjunctive is seen, as in It is important that he have completed two years of Spanish
before graduation.
The English modal verbs do not have present subjunctive forms, except for synonyms such as be able to as a
subjunctive corresponding to the indicative modal can. However would, should, could and might can in some
contexts be regarded as past subjunctives of will, shall, can and may respectively. (They may also be described
simply as the past forms of the latter modals, or as modals or auxiliaries in their own right.)
The auxiliary should is used to make another compound form which may be regarded as a subjunctive, and in any
case is frequently used as an alternative to the simple present subjunctive. For example:
With present subjunctive: It's important that he be cured.
With should: It's important that he should be cured.
The should form can undergo inversion as described below.

Use of the present subjunctive

The main use of the English present subjunctive, called the mandative or jussive subjunctive,[1] occurs in that clauses
(declarative content clauses; the word that can sometimes be omitted) expressing a circumstance which is desired,
demanded, recommended, necessary, or similar. Such a clause may be dependent on verbs like insist, suggest,
demand, prefer,[2] adjectives like necessary, desirable,[3] or nouns like recommendation, necessity;[4] it may be part
of the expression in order that... (or some formal uses of so that...); it may also stand independently as the subject of
a clause or as a predicative expression.
The form is called the present subjunctive because it resembles the present indicative in form, not because it need
refer to the present time. In fact this form can equally well be used in sentences referring to past, future or
hypothetical time (the time frame is normally expressed in the verb of the main clause).
Examples:

I insist (that) he leave now.

We asked that it be done yesterday.
It might be desirable that you not publish the story.
I support the recommendation that they not be punished.
I braked in order that the car stay on the road.
That he appear in court is a necessary condition for his being granted bail.

Note that after some words both indicative and subjunctive are possible, with difference in meaning:
I insist that he is here (indicative, a forceful assertion of the fact that he is here)
I insist that he be here (subjunctive, a demand that the condition of his being here be fulfilled)

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English subjunctive
Notice that the subjunctive is not generally used after verbs such as hope and expect, or after verbs that use a
different syntax, such as want (it is not usual to say *I want that he wash up; the typical syntax is I want him to wash
up).
Another use of the present subjunctive is in clauses with the conjunction lest, which generally express a potential
adverse event:
I am running faster lest she catch me (i.e. "in order that she not catch me")
I was worried lest she catch me (i.e. "that she might catch me")
The present subjunctive is occasionally found in clauses expressing a condition, such as If I be found guilty... (more
common is am or should be; for more information see English conditional sentences). This usage is mostly
old-fashioned or excessively formal, although it is found in some common fixed expressions such as if need be.
Perhaps somewhat more common is the use after whether in the sense of "no matter whether": Whether they be
friend or foe, we shall give them shelter. In both of these uses it is possible to invert subject and verb and omit the
conjunction; see Inversion below. Analogous uses are occasionally found after other conjunctions, such as unless
(and possibly until), whoever, wherever, etc.: I shall not do it unless I be instructed;[5] Whoever he be, he shall not
go unpunished.
In most of the above examples a form with should can be used as an alternative: I insist that he should leave now etc.
This is more common in British English than American English. In some cases, such as after in order that, another
alternative is to use may or (especially with past reference) might:
I am putting your dinner in the oven in order that it (may) keep warm.
He wrote it in his diary in order that he (might) remember.
A present subjunctive verb form is sometimes found in a main clause, with the force of a third-person imperative
(and such forms can alternatively be analyzed as imperatives). This is most common nowadays in established
phrases, such as (God) bless you, God save the Queen, heaven forbid, peace be with you, truth be told, so be it,
suffice it to say, long live..., woe betide... It can be found used more broadly in some archaic English.[6] An
equivalent construction is that with may and subject-verb inversion: May God bless you etc.
See also Archaic uses below.

Use of the past subjunctive

As already mentioned, the only distinct past subjunctive form in English (i.e. form that differs from the
corresponding past indicative) is were, which differs when used with a first- or third-person singular subject (where
the indicative form is was). As with the present subjunctive, the name past subjunctive refers to the form of the verb
rather than its meaning; it does not have to (and in fact usually does not) refer to past time.
The main use of the past subjunctive form is in counterfactual if clauses (see English conditional sentences: Second
conditional):
If I were a badger, I would choose that color.
He would let us know if he were planning to arrive late.
Note that the indicative form was can be used equally well in sentences of this type, but were is sometimes preferred
especially in more formal English. According to the Random House College Dictionary, "Although the [were]
subjunctive seems to be disappearing from the speech of many, its proper use is still a mark of the educated speaker."
When were is used, an inverted form without if is possible (see Inversion below); this is not possible with was. A
common expression involving were is if I were you.
The same principles of usage apply to the compound past subjunctive form were to..., which appears in "second
conditional" condition clauses, usually with hypothetical future reference:
If she were/was to go... or Were she to go... (equivalent to if she went)

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English subjunctive
The past subjunctive form may be used similarly to express counterfactual conditions after suppose, as if, as though,
unless, etc.
Suppose that I were there now.
She looks as though she were going to kill him.
There is also the set expression as it were.
The past subjunctive can also be used in some that clauses expressing a wish contrary to fact or unlikely to be
fulfilled (see also Uses of English verb forms: Expressions of wish):
I wish [that] he were here now.
If only the door were unlocked.
I would rather [that] she were released.
As above, was can be used instead of were in these examples. After it's (high) time... the use of were is occasionally
found, but was is far more common. The example with would rather can also be cast in the present subjunctive,
expressing greater confidence that the action is feasible: I would rather she be released.
See also Archaic uses below.

Distinguishing from past indicative after if

Confusion sometimes arises in the case of if clauses containing an ordinary past indicative was. Compare:
1. If he was in class yesterday, he learned it.
2. If he was/were in class today, he would be learning it.
The first if clause contains a simple past indicative, referring to past time (it is not known whether or not the
circumstance in fact took place). The second, however, expresses a counterfactual circumstance connected with the
present, and therefore contains (or may contain) a past subjunctive.
Since in sentences like the second example were is preferred in formal registers, failure to distinguish between the
two types sometimes leads were to be inappropriately substituted for was in sentences like the first. This is an
example of hypercorrection.
This hypercorrection of was to were can also occur in cases where if does not express a condition, but serves as an
alternative to whether in indirect questions. Some examples of this usage are quite old:
Johnny asked me if I were afraid. (Barbara in Night of the Living Dead, 1968)
... he asked me if I were about to return to London ... (Mary Shelley, The Last Man, 1833)
He asked me if I were a Priest. (The Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine Vol. 3, December 1824)

Inversion
As noted in the sections above, some clauses containing subjunctive verb forms, or other constructions that have the
function of subjunctives, may exhibit subjectauxiliary inversion (an auxiliary or copular verb changes places with
the subject of the clause).
The most common example of this is in condition clauses, where inversion is accompanied by the omission of the
conjunction if. This is described in more detail at English conditional sentences: Inversion in condition clauses. The
principal constructions are:
Inversion with should: Should you feel hungry,... (equivalent to If you (should) feel hungry)
Inversion with were as simple past subjunctive: Were you here,... (equivalent to If you were here,...)
Inversion with were in compound forms: Were he to shoot,... (equivalent to If he were to shoot, i.e. If he shot)
Inversion with had in the pluperfect, referring to usually counterfactual conditions in the past: Had he written,...
(equivalent to If he had written)

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English subjunctive

185

Inversion is also possible in the case of the (rarer) use of the present subjunctive in condition clauses, and in other
clauses with somewhat different meaning, where the omitted conjunction would be something like whether, although
or even if. These are generally archaic, except for some instances where the meaning of the clause is "no matter
whether ... or ... " (second and third examples below).

Be he called on by God, ... (equivalent to "If he be (i.e. If he is) called on by God, ...")
Be they friend or foe, ... (equivalent to "(No matter) whether they be friend or foe, ...")
Be he alive or be he dead (from Jack and the Beanstalk).
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home (from "Home! Sweet Home!"; meaning "even if" or "even
though")

In some examples, preserved in set expressions and well-known phrases, inversion may take place with
non-auxiliary verbs: come what may; come Monday (etc.). (See also Archaic uses below.) There are also
imperative-type (jussive) uses such as Long live the King! A more common way of expressing such jussives is with
inversion of the auxiliary may: May they always be happy!

Historical subjunctive forms

The first table below shows the present and past subjunctive endings in use at various stages of the development of
English: in Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English and Modern English.[7] Forms which differ from the
corresponding indicative are bolded. - denotes zero ending.
Present tense

Past tense

Singular

Plural

First person Second person Third person

Singular

Plural

First & third person Second person

Old English

-e

-e

-e

-en

-d-e

-d-e

-d-on

Middle English

-e

-e

-e

-e(n)

-d-e(n)

Early Modern English

-d

-d

-d

Modern English

For comparison, the corresponding indicative endings are also given:

Present tense

Past tense

Singular

Plural

First person Second person Third person

Singular

Plural

First & third person Second person

Old English

-e

-st

-e

-a

-d-e

-d-est

-d-on

Middle English

-e, -

-st, -est

-th, -s

-e(n)

-d(e)

-d-st

-d-e(n)

Early Modern English

-est, -st

-s, -th

-d

-d-st

-d

Modern English

-s

-d

-d

-d

The irregular verb be has a larger number of distinct forms, these being derived from different stems (a case of
suppletion). See the Wiktionary articles on be, am, is, were, etc.
As the tables show, in Early Modern English the past subjunctive was distinguishable from the past indicative not
only in the verb to be (as in Modern English), but also in the informal second-person singular (thou form) of all
verbs. For example: indicative thou sattest, but subjunctive thou sat. The -(e)st ending was also absent in principle in
the present subjunctive, although it was sometimes nonetheless added; for example, thou best appears frequently as
a present subjunctive in the works of Shakespeare and some of his contemporaries.

English subjunctive

Archaic uses
Subjunctive verb forms were formerly used more widely in English than they are today. Cases of such usage can be
encountered in samples of archaic or pseudo-archaic English, and in certain set expressions that have been preserved
in the modern language.
Examples of subjunctive uses in archaic English:
I will not let thee go, except [=unless] thou bless me. (King James Bible, Genesis 32:26)
Though he were dead, yet shall he live. (John 11:25)
Murder, though it have no tongue, will speak. (Shakespeare, Hamlet)
Examples of set expressions that preserve archaic subjunctive uses:

until death do us part or until death us do part (a part of certain marriage vows)
far be it from me
would that it were
albeit (a synthesis of all be it, i.e. although it be)
be it enacted (a common English language enacting clause)

The expression "the powers that be" however does not contain a subjunctive: it is a Biblical quotation from Romans
13:1 where it translates a present participle, using the archaic alternative indicative form "be" for "are".
Some further examples can be found in the sections on usage above.

Notes
[1] Quirk, Randolph; Greenbaum, Sidney; Leech, Geoffrey; Svartik, Jan (1985). "A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language".
Longman. ISBN 0-582-51734-6
[2] Other verbs after which subjunctives may be used include propose, suggest, recommend, move (in the parliamentary sense), demand, ask,
mandate, prefer, request, ask, desire, advise, urge, specify, instruct, order, demand, insist, require, mandate, rule, necessitate, suffice,
advocate, vote, would rather.
[3] Other adjectives after which subjunctives may be used include imperative, important, adamant, necessary, preferable, optional, permissible,
acceptable, okay, all right, satisfactory, desirable, advisable, sufficient, necessary, mandatory, urgent, vital, crucial, essential, fitting, right,
appropriate, better, expedient, legitimate.
[4] Other nouns after which subjunctives may be used include insistence, proposal, preference, request, desire, advice, suggestion, option,
alternative, recommendation, demand, requirement, necessity, imperative, condition, mandate, specification, rule, ruling, edict, instruction,
principle, prerequisite, order, qualification, ultimatum, vote, motion.
[5] Another example: Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is, that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce
the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between you and us. George Haven Putnam
[6] An example is America, America, God shed His grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood (from "America the Beautiful").
Similarly the traditional English text of the Aaronic blessing is cast entirely in the subjunctive, with jussive force: The Lord bless thee and
keep thee. The Lord make His face to shine upon thee. The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace.
[7] The Cambridge history of the English language. Richard M. Hogg, Roger Lass, Norman Francis Blake, Suzanne Romaine, R. W. Burchfield,
John Algeo. (2000).

Bibliography
Curme, George O. (1977). A Grammar of the English Language. Verbatim. ISBN 0-930454-01-4 (reprint of 1931
edition from D. C. Heath and Company)
Chalker, Sylvia (1995). Dictionary of English Grammar. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860055-0
Fowler, H. W. (1926). A Dictionary of Modern English Usage. Oxford University Press.
Hardie, Ronald G. (1990). English Grammar. Harper Collins. ISBN 0-00-458349-3
James, Francis (1986). Semantics of the English Subjunctive. Univ. of British Columbia Press.
Nesfield, J. C. (1939). Manual of English Grammar and Composition. Macmillan.

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187

External links
Subjunctive in English (http://www.englishpage.com/minitutorials/subjunctive.html) at englishpage.com
The English subjunctive: scholarly opinions (http://www.ceafinney.com/subjunctive/excerpts.html) at
ceafinney.com

Uses of English verb forms

English grammar

Adjectives

Adverbs

Articles

Clauses

Compounds

Conditionals

Conjunctions

Determiners

Gender

Idiom

Interjections

Inversion

Nouns

Pronouns

Phrases

Plurals

Possessives

Prepositions

Verbs

Auxiliaries, contractions
Irregular verbs
Modal verbs
Passive voice
Phrasal verbs
Subjunctive
Verb usage

Grammar disputes

v
t

e [1]

This article describes various English language verb forms. This includes:
Finite verb forms such as go, goes and went
Nonfinite forms such as (to) go, going and gone
Combinations (catenae) of such forms with auxiliary verbs, such as was going and would have gone
The uses considered include expression of tense (time reference), aspect, mood and modality, in various
configurations.
For details of how inflected forms of verbs are produced in English, see English verbs. For the grammatical structure
of clauses, including word order, see English clause syntax. For certain other particular topics, see the articles listed

Uses of English verb forms

in the box to the right.

Inflected forms of verbs

A typical English verb may have five different inflected forms:
The base form or plain form (go, write, climb), which has several usesas an infinitive, imperative, present
subjunctive, and present indicative except in the third-person singular
The -s form (goes, writes, climbs), used as the present indicative in the third-person singular
the past tense or preterite (went, wrote, climbed)
The past participle (gone, written, climbed) this is identical to the past tense in the case of regular verbs and
some irregular ones (here the first two verbs are irregular and the third regular)
The -ing form (going, writing, climbing), used as a present participle, gerund, and (de)verbal noun
The verb be has a larger number of different forms (am, is, are, was, were, etc.), while the modal verbs have a more
limited number of forms. Some forms of be and of certain other auxiliary verbs also have contracted forms ('s, 're,
've, etc.).
For full details of how these inflected forms of verbs are produced, see English verbs.

Verbs in combination
In English, verbs frequently appear in combinations containing one or more auxiliary verbs and a nonfinite form
(infinitive or participle) of a main (lexical) verb. For example:
The dog was barking very loudly.
My hat has been cleaned.
Jane does not really like us.
The first verb in such a combination is the finite verb, the remainder are nonfinite (although constructions in which
even the leading verb is nonfinite are also possible see Perfect and progressive nonfinite constructions below).
Such combinations are sometimes called compound verbs; more technically they may be called verb catenae, since
they are not generally strict grammatical constituents of the clause. As the last example shows, the words making up
these combinations do not always remain consecutive.
For details of the formation of such constructions, see English clause syntax. The uses of the various types of
combination are described in the detailed sections of the present article. (For another type of combination involving
verbs items such as go on, slip away and break off see Phrasal verb.)

Tenses, aspects and moods

As in many other languages, the means English uses for expressing the three categories of tense (time reference),
aspect and mood are somewhat conflated (see tenseaspectmood). In contrast to languages like Latin, though,
English has only limited means for expressing these categories through verb conjugation, and tends mostly to
express them periphrastically, using the verb combinations mentioned in the previous section. The tenses, aspects
and moods that may be identified in English are described below (although the terminology used differs significantly
between authors). Note that in common usage, particularly in English language teaching, particular
tenseaspectmood combinations such as "present progressive" and "conditional perfect" are often referred to
simply as "tenses".

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Uses of English verb forms

==Present
For specific uses of present tense constructions, see the sections below on simple present, present progressive,
present perfect and present perfect progressive.
Past
Past tense forms express circumstances existing at some time in the past, although they also have certain uses in
referring to hypothetical situations (as in some conditional sentences, dependent clauses and expressions of wish).
They are formed using the finite verb in its preterite (simple past) form.
Certain uses of the past tense may be referred to as subjunctives; however the only distinction in verb conjugation
between the past indicative and past subjunctive is the possible use of were in the subjunctive in place of was. For
details see English subjunctive.
Future
English is sometimes described as having a future tense, although since future time is not specifically expressed by
verb inflection, some grammarians identify only two tenses (present or present-future, and past). The English
"future" usually refers to a periphrastic form involving the auxiliary verb will (or sometimes shall when used with a
first-person subject; see shall and will). There also exist other ways of referring to future circumstances, including
the going to construction, and the use of present tense forms (see above). For particular grammatical contexts where
the present tense substitutes for the future, see conditional sentences and dependent clauses below. For discussion
and comparison of the various other ways of making future reference in English, see going-to future.
For specific uses of future constructions formed with will/shall, see the sections below on simple future, future
progressive, future perfect and future perfect progressive.
Future-in-the-past
A "future-in-the-past" tense (or form) is sometimes referred to.[1] This takes essentially the same form as the
conditional, that is, it is made using the auxiliary would (or sometimes should in the first person; see shall and will).
This form has a future-in-the-past meaning in sentences such as She knew that she would win the game. Here the
sentence as a whole refers to some particular past time, but would win refers to a time in the future relative to that
past time. See Future tense: Expressions of relative tense involving the future.
For specific uses, see the sections below referring to the conditional (Simple conditional, Conditional progressive,
Conditional perfect, Conditional perfect progressive).

Aspects
Simple
"Simple" forms of verbs are those appearing in constructions not marked for either progressive or perfect aspect (I
go, I don't go, I went, I will go, etc., but not I'm going or I have gone).
Simple constructions normally denote a single action (perfective aspect), as in Brutus killed Caesar, a repeated
action (habitual aspect), as in I go to school, or a relatively permanent state, as in We live in Dallas. They may also
denote a temporary state (imperfective aspect), in the case of stative verbs that do not use progressive forms (see
below).
For uses of specific simple constructions, see the sections below on simple present, simple past, simple future and
simple conditional.

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Uses of English verb forms

Progressive
The progressive or continuous aspect is used to denote a temporary action or state that began at a previous time and
continues into the present time (or other time of reference). It is expressed using a form of the auxiliary verb to be
(conjugated appropriately for tense etc.) together with the present participle (-ing form) of the main verb: I am
reading; Were you shouting?; He will be sitting over there.
Certain stative verbs make limited use of progressive aspect. Their nonprogressive forms (simple or nonprogressive
perfect constructions) are used in many situations even when expressing a temporary state. The main types are
described below.
The copular verb to be does not normally use progressive forms (I am happy, not *I am being happy). However
its progressive aspect is used in appropriate situations when the verb expresses the passive voice (We are being
followed), and when it has the meaning of "behave" or "act as" (You are being very naughty; He's being a pest).
The verb to have does not use progressive forms when it expresses possession, broadly understood (I have a
brother, not *I'm having a brother), but it does use them in its active meanings (I'm having a party; She's having
a baby; He was having a problem starting his car). See also have got below. Other verbs expressing a state of
possession or similar, such as possess, own, belong and owe, also do not normally use progressive forms.
Verbs of mental state, sense perception and similar (know, believe, want, think, see, hear, need, etc.) are generally
used without progressive aspect, although some of them can be used in the progressive to imply an ongoing, often
temporary situation (I am feeling lonely), or an activity (I am thinking about a problem). See also can see below.
Verbs denoting positional state normally do use the progressive if the state is temporary: He is standing in the
corner. (Compare permanent state: London stands on the banks of the Thames.)
For specific uses of progressive (continuous) constructions, see the sections below on present progressive, past
progressive, future progressive and conditional progressive. For progressive infinitives, see Perfect and progressive
nonfinite constructions. For the combination of progressive aspect with the perfect (he has been reading) see perfect
progressive.
Perfect
The perfect aspect is used to denote the circumstance of an action's being complete at a certain time. It is expressed
using a form of the auxiliary verb have (appropriately conjugated for tense etc.) together with the past participle of
the main verb: She has eaten it; We had left; When will you have finished?
Perfect forms can also be used to refer to states or habitual actions, even if not complete, if the focus is on the time
period before the point of reference (We had lived there for five years). If such a circumstance is temporary, the
perfect is often combined with progressive aspect (see the following section).
The implications of the present perfect (that something occurred prior to the present moment) are similar to those of
the simple past, although the two forms are generally not used interchangeably the simple past is used when the
time frame of reference is in the past, while the present perfect is used when it extends to the present. For details, see
the relevant sections below. For all uses of specific perfect constructions, see the sections below on the present
perfect, past perfect, future perfect and conditional perfect.
By using nonfinite forms of the auxiliary have, perfect aspect can also be marked on infinitives (as in should have
left and expect to have finished working), and on participles and gerunds (as in having seen the doctor). For the
usage of such forms, see the section below on perfect and progressive nonfinite constructions.
Note that while all of the constructions referred to here are commonly referred to as perfect (based on their
grammatical form), some of them, particularly nonpresent and nonfinite instances, might not be considered truly
expressive of the perfect aspect. This applies particularly when the perfect infinitive is used together with modal
verbs: for example, he could not have been a genius might be considered (based on its meaning) to be a past tense of
he cannot/could not be a genius;[2] such forms are considered true perfect forms by some linguists but not others. For
the meanings of such constructions with the various modals, see English modal verbs.

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Uses of English verb forms

Perfect progressive
The perfect and progressive (continuous) aspects can be combined, usually in referring to the completed portion of a
continuing action or temporary state: I have been working for eight hours. Here a form of the verb have (denoting
the perfect) is used together with been (the past participle of be, denoting the progressive) and the present participle
of the main verb.
In the case of the stative verbs, which do not use progressive aspect (see the above section on the progressive), the
plain perfect form is normally used in place of the perfect progressive: I've been here for half an hour (not *I've been
being here...).
For uses of specific perfect progressive (perfect continuous) constructions, see the sections below on the present
perfect progressive, past perfect progressive, future perfect progressive and conditional perfect progressive. For
perfect progressive infinitives, participles and gerunds, see Perfect and progressive nonfinite constructions.

Moods
Indicative
Indicative mood, in English, refers to finite verb forms that are not marked as subjunctive and are not imperatives or
conditionals. They are the verbs typically found in the main clauses of declarative sentences and questions formed
from them, as well as in most dependent clauses (except for those that use the subjunctive). The information that a
form is indicative is often omitted when referring to it: the simple present indicative is usually referred to as just the
simple present, etc. (unless some contrast of moods, such as between indicative and subjunctive, is pertinent to the
topic).
Subjunctive
Certain types of clause, mostly dependent clauses, use a verb form identified with the subjunctive mood. The present
subjunctive takes a form identical to the bare infinitive, as in It is necessary that he be restrained. There is also a past
subjunctive, distinct from the indicative only in the possible use of were in place of was in certain situations: If I
were you, ...
For details of the formation and usage of subjunctive forms in English, see English subjunctive.
Imperative
An independent clause in the imperative mood uses the base form of the verb, usually with no subject (although the
subject you can be added for emphasis). Negation uses do-support (i.e. do not or don't). For example:
Now eat your dinner.
You go and stand over there!
Don't ever say that word again.
Sentences of this type are used to give an instruction or order. When they are used to make requests, the word please
(or other linguistic device) is often added for politeness:
Please pass the salt.
First person imperatives (cohortatives) can be formed with let us (usually contracted to let's), as in "Let's go". Third
person imperatives (jussives) are sometimes formed similarly, with let, as in "Let him be released."
More detail can be found in the Imperative mood article.

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Uses of English verb forms

Conditional
The status of the conditional mood in English is similar to that of the future tense: it may be considered to exist
provided the category of mood is not required to be marked morphologically. The English conditional is expressed
periphrastically with verb forms governed by the auxiliary verb would (or sometimes should with a first-person
singular subject; see shall and will). The modal verb could is also sometimes used as a conditional (of can).
In certain uses, the conditional construction with would/should may also be described as "future-in-the-past".
For uses of specific conditional constructions, see the sections below on simple conditional, conditional progressive,
conditional perfect and conditional perfect progressive, as well as the section on conditional sentences (and the main
article on English conditional sentences).

Active and passive voice

The active voice (where the verb's subject is understood to denote the doer, or agent, of the denoted action) is the
unmarked voice in English. To form the passive voice (where the subject denotes the undergoer, or patient, of the
action), a periphrastic construction is used. In the canonical form of the passive, a form of the auxiliary verb be (or
sometimes get) is used, together with the past participle of the lexical verb.
Passive voice can be expressed in combination together with tenses, aspects and moods, by means of appropriate
marking of the auxiliary (which for this purpose is not a stative verb, i.e. it has progressive forms available). For
example:
This room is tidied regularly. (simple present passive)
It had already been accepted. (past perfect passive)
Dinner is being cooked right now. (present progressive passive)
The uses of these various passive forms are analogous to those of the corresponding tenseaspectmood
combinations in the active voice.
The passive forms of certain of the combinations involving the progressive aspect are quite rare; these include the
present perfect progressive (it has been being written), past perfect progressive (it had been being written), future
progressive (it will be being written), future perfect progressive (it will have been being written), conditional
progressive (it would be being written) and conditional perfect progressive (it would have been being written).
Because of the awkwardness of these constructions, they may be paraphrased, for example using the expression in
the process of (it has been in the process of being written, it will be in the process of being written, and similar).
For further details of passive constructions, see English passive voice.

Negation and questions

Negation of verbs usually takes place with the addition of the particle not (or its shortened form n't) to an auxiliary or
copular verb, with do-support being used if there is otherwise no auxiliary. However if a sentence already contains a
negative word (never, nothing, etc.), then there is not usually any additional not.
Questions (interrogative constructions) are generally formed using subjectauxiliary inversion, again using
do-support if there is otherwise no auxiliary. In negative questions, it is possible to invert with just the auxiliary
(should we not help?) or with the contracted negation (shouldn't we help?).
For full details on negation and question formation, see do-support, English auxiliaries and contractions, and the
Negation and Questions sections of the English Grammar article.

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Uses of English verb forms

Modal verbs
English has the modal verbs can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would, and also (depending on
classification adopted) ought (to), dare, need, had (better), used (to). These do not add -s for the third-person
singular, and they do not form infinitives or participles; the only inflection they undergo is that to a certain extent
could, might, should and would function as preterites (past tenses) of can, may, shall and will respectively.
A modal verb can serve as the finite verb introducing a verb catena, as in he might have been injured then. These
generally express some form of modality (possibility, obligation, etc.), although will and would (and sometimes shall
and should) can serve among their other uses to express future time reference and conditional mood, as
described elsewhere on this page.
For details of the uses of modal verbs, see English modal verbs.

Uses of verb combination types

Simple present
The simple present or present simple is a form that combines present tense with "simple" (neither perfect nor
progressive) aspect. In the indicative mood it consists of the base form of the verb, or the -s form when the subject is
third-person singular (the verb be uses the forms am, is, are). However with nonauxiliary verbs it also has a
periphrastic form consisting of do (or third-person singular does) with the bare infinitive of the main verb this
form is used in questions (and other clauses requiring inversion) and negations, and sometimes for emphasis. For
details of this, see do-support.
The principal uses of the simple present are given below. More examples can be found in the article Simple present.
To refer to an action or event that takes place habitually. Such uses are often accompanied by frequency adverbs
and adverbial phrases such as always, often, from time to time and never. Examples:
I always take a shower.
He writes for a living.
This contrasts with the present progressive, which is used for actions taking place at the present moment.
With stative verbs in senses that do not use progressive aspect, to refer to a present or general state, whether
temporary, permanent or habitual. (In senses that do use progressive aspect, the present simple is used when the
state is permanent or habitual.)
You are happy.
I know what to do.
Denmark lies to the north of Germany.
When quoting someone or something, even if the words were spoken in the (usually very recent) past:
The label says "External use only."
Mary says she's ready.
To refer to a single completed action, as in recounting the events of a story in the present tense (see historical
present), and in such contexts as newspaper headlines, where it replaces the present perfect:
In Hamlet, Ophelia drowns in a stream.
40-year-old wins gold medal
Sometimes to refer to an arranged future event, usually with a reference to time:
We leave for Berlin tomorrow at 1 pm.
In providing a commentary on events as they occur, or in describing some theoretical sequence of events:

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I chop the chives and add them to the mixture.
According to the manager's new idea, I welcome the guests and you give the presentation.
In many dependent clauses referring to the future, particularly condition clauses, clauses expressing place and
time, and many relative clauses (see Dependent clauses below):
If he finds your sweets, he will eat them.
We will report as soon as we receive any information.
In certain situations in a temporal adverbial clause, rather than the present progressive:
We can see the light improving as we speak.
In colloquial English it is common to use can see, can hear for the present tense of see, hear, etc., and have got for
the present tense of have (denoting possession). See have got and can see below.
For the present subjunctive, see English subjunctive. For uses of modal verbs (which may be regarded as instances of
the simple present) see English modal verbs.

Present progressive
The present progressive or present continuous form combines present tense with progressive aspect. It thus refers to
an action or event conceived of as having limited duration, taking place at the present time. It consists of a form of
the simple present of be together with the present participle of the main verb.
We are cooking the dinner now.
This often contrasts with the simple present, which expresses repeated or habitual action (We cook dinner every day).
However sometimes the present continuous is used with always, generally to express annoyance about a habitual
action:
You are always making a mess in the study.
Certain stative verbs do not use the progressive aspect, so the present simple is used instead in those cases (see
Progressive above).
The present progressive can be used to refer to a planned future event:
We are tidying the attic tomorrow.
It also appears with future reference in many condition and time clauses and other dependent clauses (see Dependent
clauses below):
If he's sleeping when you arrive, wake him up.
I will finish the job while the children are playing.
It can also refer to something taking place not necessarily at the time of speaking, but at the time currently under
consideration, in the case of a story or narrative being told in the present tense (as mentioned above under present
simple):
The king and queen are conversing when Hamlet enters. it is mainly used in sentence
For the possibility of a present subjunctive progressive, see English subjunctive.

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Present perfect
The present perfect (traditionally called simply the perfect) combines present tense with perfect aspect, denoting the
present state of an action's being completed, that is, that the action took place before the present time. (It is thus often
close in meaning to the simple past tense, although the two are not usually interchangeable.) It is formed with the
present tense of the auxiliary have (namely have or has) and the past participle of the main verb.
The choice of present perfect or past tense depends on the frame of reference (period or point in time) in which the
event is conceived as occurring. If the frame of reference extends to the present time, the present perfect is used. For
example:
I have written a letter this morning. (if it is still the morning)
He has produced ten plays. (if he is still alive and professionally active)[3]
They have never traveled abroad. (if they are still alive and considered capable of traveling)
If the frame of reference is a time in the past, or a period that ended in the past, the past tense is used instead. For
example: I wrote a letter this morning (it is now afternoon); He produced ten plays (he is now dead or his career is
considered over, or a particular past time period is being referred to); They never traveled abroad (similarly). See
under Simple past for more examples. The simple past is generally used when the occurrence has a specific past time
frame either explicitly stated (I wrote a book in 1995; the water boiled a minute ago), or implied by the context
(for example, in the narration of a sequence of events). It is therefore normally incorrect to write a sentence like *I
have written a novel yesterday; the present perfect cannot be used with an expression of past time such as
yesterday.[4]
With already or yet, traditional usage calls for the present perfect: Have you eaten yet? Yes, I've already eaten.
However, current informal American speech tends to use the simple past: Did you eat yet? Yes, I ate already.
Use of the present perfect often draws attention to the present consequences of the past action or event, as opposed to
its actual occurrence.[] The sentence she has come probably means she is here now, while the simple past she came
does not. The sentence, Have you been to the fair? suggests that the fair is still going on, while the sentence, Did
you go to the fair? could mean that the fair is over.[5] (See also been and gone below.) Some more examples:
I have eaten. (implies that I'm no longer hungry)
We have made the dinner. (implies that the dinner is now ready to eat)
The weather has gotten cloudier. (implies that it is now more cloudy than previously)
It may also refer to an ongoing state or habitual action, particularly in saying for how long, or since when, something
is the case. For example
I have lived in Paris for five years.
He has held the record since he won his Olympic gold.
We have eaten breakfast together every morning since our honeymoon.
This implies that I still live in Paris, that he still holds the record and that we still eat together every morning
(although the first sentence may also refer to some unspecified past period of five years). When the circumstance is
temporary, the present perfect progressive is often appropriate in such sentences (see below); however, if the verb is
one that does not use the progressive aspect, the basic present perfect is used in that case too:
Amy has been on the swing for ten minutes.
The present perfect may refer to a habitual circumstance, or a circumstance being part of a theoretical or story
narrative being given in the present tense (provided the circumstance is of an event's having taken place previously):
Whenever I get home, John has usually already arrived.
According to the plan, the speeches have already been given when the cake is brought out.

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The present perfect may also be used with future reference, instead of the future perfect, in those dependent clauses
where future occurrence is denoted by present tense (see Dependent clauses below). For example:
When you have written it, show it to me.
For the possibility of a present perfect subjunctive, see English subjunctive. For special use of the present perfect of
get to express possession or obligation, see have got below. For the use of have been in place of have gone, see been
and gone below.

Present perfect progressive

The present perfect progressive (or present perfect continuous) construction combines some of this perfect
progressive aspect with present tense. It is formed with the present tense of have (have or has), the past participle of
be (been), and the present participle of the main verb.
This construction is used for ongoing action in the past that continues right up to the present or has recently finished:
I have been writing this paper all morning.
Why are his eyes red? He has been crying.
It is frequently used when stating for how long, or since when, something is the case:
She has been working here since 1997.
How long have you been sitting there?
They have been arguing about it for two weeks.
In these sentences the actions are still continuing, but it is the past portion of them that is being considered, and so
the perfect aspect is used. (A sentence without perfect aspect, such as I am sitting here for three hours, implies an
intention to perform the action for that length of time.) With stative verbs that are not used in the progressive, and for
situations that are considered permanent, the present perfect (nonprogressive) is used instead; for examples of this
see Present perfect above.

Simple past
The simple past or past simple, sometimes also called the preterite, consists of the bare past tense of the verb (ending
in -ed for regular verbs, and formed in various ways for irregular ones see English verbs for details). In most
questions (and other situations requiring inversion), when negated, and in certain emphatic statements, a periphrastic
construction consisting of did and the bare infinitive of the main verb is generally used instead see do-support.
The simple past is used for a single event in the past, for past habitual action, or for a past state:
He took the money and ran.
I visited them every day for a year.
I knew how to fight even as a child.
However for action that was ongoing at the time referred to, the past progressive is generally used instead. For
stative verbs that do or do not use progressive aspect when expressing a temporary state, see Progressive. For the use
of could see in place of saw etc., see Have got and can see below.
The simple past is often close in meaning to the present perfect. The simple past is used when the event is conceived
as occurring at a particular time in the past, or during a period that ended in the past (i.e. it does not last up until the
present time). This time frame may be explicitly stated, or implicit in the context (for example the past tense is often
used when describing a sequence of past events).
I was born in 1980.
We turned the oven off two minutes ago.
She placed the letter on the table, sighed, and left the house.

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For further discussion and examples, see Present perfect above.
Various compound constructions exist for denoting past habitual action. The sentence When I was young, I played
football every Saturday might alternatively be phrased using used to (... I used to play ...) or using would (... I would
play...).
The past simple is also used without past reference in some instances: in condition clauses and some other dependent
clauses referring to hypothetical circumstances (see Conditional sentences and Dependent clauses below), and after
certain expressions of wish. For the past subjunctive (were in place of was), see English subjunctive. For the use of
the past tense in indirect speech and similar contexts, see Indirect speech below.

Past progressive
The past progressive or past continuous construction combines progressive aspect with past tense, and is formed
using the past tense of be (was or were) with the present participle of the main verb. It indicate an action that was
ongoing at the past time being considered:
At three o'clock yesterday, I was working in the garden.
For stative verbs that do not use the progressive aspect, the simple past is used instead (At three o'clock yesterday we
were in the garden).
The past progressive is often used to denote an action that was interrupted by an event,[6][7] or for two actions taking
place in parallel:
While I was washing the dishes, I heard a loud noise.
While you were washing the dishes, Sue was walking the dog.
(Interrupted actions in the past can also sometimes be denoted using the past perfect progressive, as described
below.)
The past progressive can also be used to refer to past action that occurred over a range of time and is viewed as an
ongoing situation:
I was working in the garden all day yesterday.
This could also be expressed using the simple past, as I worked..., which implies that the action is viewed as a
unitary event (although the effective meaning is not much different).
The past progressive shares certain special uses with other past tense constructions; see Conditional sentences,
Dependent clauses, Expressions of wish, and Indirect speech.

Past perfect
The past perfect, sometimes called the pluperfect, combines past tense with perfect aspect; it is formed by combining
had (the past tense of the auxiliary have) with the past participle of the main verb. It is used when referring to an
event that took place prior to the time frame being considered.[8] This time frame may be stated explicitly, as a stated
time or the time of another past action:
We had finished the job by 2 o'clock.
He had already left when we arrived.
The time frame may also be understood implicitly from the previous or later context:
I was eating ... I had invited Jim to the meal but he was unable to attend. (i.e. I invited him before I
started eating)
I had lost my way. (i.e. this happened prior to the time of the past events I am describing or am about to
describe)

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Compare He had left when we arrived (where his leaving preceded our arrival), with the form with the simple past,
He left when we arrived (where his leaving was concurrent with or shortly after our arrival).
Note that unlike the present perfect, the past perfect can readily be used with an adverb specifying a past time frame
for the occurrence. For example, while it is incorrect to say *I have done it last Friday (the use of last Friday,
specifying the past time, would require the simple past rather than the present perfect), there is no such objection to a
sentence like "I had done it the previous Friday".[9]
The past perfect can also be used for states or repeated occurrences pertaining over a period up to a time in the past,
particularly in staing "for how long" or since when". However, if the state is temporary and the verb can be used in
the progressive aspect, the past perfect progressive would normally be used instead. Some examples with the plain
past perfect:
I had lived in that house for 10 years.
The children had been in their room since lunchtime.
For other specific uses of the past perfect, see Conditional sentences, Dependent clauses, Expressions of wish, and
Indirect speech.

Past perfect progressive

The past perfect progressive or past perfect continuous (also known as the pluperfect progressive or pluperfect
continuous) combines perfect progressive aspect with past tense. It is formed by combining had (the past tense of
auxiliary have), been (the past participle of be), and the present participle of the main verb.
Uses of the past perfect progressive are analogous to those of the present perfect progressive, except that the point of
reference is in the past. For example:
I was tired because I had been running.
By yesterday morning they had already been working for twelve hours.
Among the witnesses was John Smith, who had been staying at the hotel since July 10.
This form is sometimes used for actions in the past that were interrupted by some event[10] (compare the use of the
past progressive as given above). For example:
I had been working on my novel when she entered the room to talk to me.
This implies that I stopped working when she came in (or had already stopped a short time before); the plain past
progressive (I was working...) would not necessarily carry this implication.
If the verb in question does not use the progressive aspect, then the plain past perfect is used instead (see examples in
the previous section).
The past perfect progressive may also have additional specific uses similar to those of the plain past perfect; see
Conditional sentences, Dependent clauses, Expressions of wish, and Indirect speech.

Simple future
The term simple future or future simple, as applied to English, generally refers to the combination of the modal
auxiliary verb will with the bare infinitive of the main verb. Sometimes (particularly in more formal or old-fashioned
English) shall is preferred to will when the subject is first person (I or we); see shall and will for details. The
auxiliary is often contracted to 'll; see English auxiliaries and contractions.
This construction can be used to indicate what the speaker views as facts about the future, including confident
predictions:
The sun will rise tomorrow at 6:14.
It will rain later this week.

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It may be used to describe future circumstances that are subject to some condition (see also Conditional sentences):
He will go there if he can.
However English also has other ways of referring to future circumstances. For planned or scheduled actions the
present progressive or simple present may be used (see those sections for examples). There is also a going-to future,
common in colloquial English, which is often used to express intentions or predictions (I am going to write a book
some day; I think that it is going to rain). Use of the will/shall construction when expressing intention often indicates
a spontaneous decision:
I know! I'll use this book as a door stop.
Compare I'm going to use..., which implies that the intention to do so has existed for some time.
Use of present tense rather than future constructions in condition clauses and certain other dependent clauses is
described below under Conditional sentences and Dependent clauses.
The modal verbs will and shall also have other uses besides indicating future time reference. For example:
I will pass this exam. (often expresses determination in addition to futurity)
You will obey me! (insistence)
I will not do it! (negative insistence, refusal)
At this moment I will tolerate no dissent. (strong volition)
He hasn't eaten all day; he will be hungry now. (confident speculation about the present)
One of his faults is that he will make trouble unnecessarily. (habit)
Shall we get to work? (suggestion)
For more examples see will and shall in the article on modal verbs, and the article shall and will.

Future progressive
The future progressive or future continuous combines progressive aspect with future time reference; it is formed
with the auxiliary will (or shall in the first person; see shall and will), the bare infinitive be, and the present participle
of the main verb. It is used mainly to indicate that an event will be in progress at a particular point in the future:
This time tomorrow I will be taking my driving test.
I imagine we will already be eating when you arrive.
The usual restrictions apply, on the use both of the future and of the progressive: simple rather than progressive
aspect is used with some stative verbs (see Progressive), and present rather than future constructions are used in
many dependent clauses (see Conditional sentences and Dependent clauses below).
The same construction may occur when will or shall is given one of its other uses (as described under Future simple),
for example:
He will be sitting in his study at this time. (confident speculation about the present)

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Future perfect
The future perfect combines perfect aspect with future time reference. It consists of the auxiliary will (or sometimes
shall in the first person, as above), the bare infinitive have, and the past participle of the main verb. It indicates an
action that is to completed sometime prior to a future time of perspective, or an ongoing action continuing up to a
future time of perspective (compare uses of the present perfect above).
I shall have finished my essay by Thursday.
When I finally search him he will have disposed of the evidence.
By next year we will have lived in this house for half a century.
For the use of the present tense rather than future constructions in certain dependent clauses, see Conditional
sentences and Dependent clauses below.
The same construction may occur when will or shall is given one of its other meanings (see under Simple future); for
example:
He will have had his tea by now. (confident speculation about the present)
You will have completed this task by the time I return, is that understood? (giving instruction)

Future perfect progressive

The future perfect progressive or future perfect continuous combines perfect progressive aspect with future time
reference. It is formed by combining the auxiliary will (or sometimes shall, as above), the bare infinitive have, the
past participle been, and the present participle of the main verb.
Uses of the future perfect progressive are analogous to those of the present perfect progressive, except that the point
of reference is in the future. For example:
He will be very tired because he will have been working all morning.
By 6 o'clock we will have been drinking for ten hours.
For the use of present tense in place of future constructions in certain dependent clauses, see Conditional sentences
and Dependent clauses below.
The same construction may occur when the auxiliary (usually will) has one of its other meanings, particularly
expressing a confident assumption about the present:
No chance of finding him sober now; he'll have been drinking all day.

Simple conditional
The simple conditional or conditional simple, also called conditional present, and in some meanings
future-in-the-past simple, is formed by combining the modal auxiliary would with the bare infinitive of the main
verb. Sometimes (particularly in formal or old-fashioned English) should is used in place of would when the subject
is first person (I or we), in the same way that shall may replace will in such instances; see shall and will. The
auxiliary is often shortened to 'd; see English auxiliaries and contractions.
The simple conditional is used principally in a main clause accompanied by an implicit or explicit condition
(if-clause). (This is described in more detail in the article on English conditional sentences; see also Conditional
sentences below.) The time referred to may be (hypothetical) present or future. For example:
I would go tomorrow (if she asked me).
If I were you, I would see a doctor.
If she had bought those shares, she would be rich now.
In some varieties of English, would (or 'd) is also regularly used in the if-clauses themselves (If you'd leave now,
you'd be on time), but this is often considered nonstandard. This is widespread especially in spoken American

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English in all registers, though not usually in more formal writing.[11] There are also situations where would is used
in if-clauses in British English too, but these can usually be interpreted as a modal use of would (e.g. If you would
listen to me once in a while, you might learn something).[12] For more details, see English conditional sentences: Use
of will and would in condition clauses.
For the use of would after the verb wish and the expression if only, see Expressions of wish.
The auxiliary verbs could and might can also be used to indicate the conditional mood, as in the following:
If the opportunity were here, I could do the job. (= ... I would be able to do ... )
If the opportunity were here, I might do the job. (= ... maybe I would do ...)
Forms with would may also have "future-in-the-past" meaning:
We moved into the cottage in 1958. We would live there for the next forty years.
See also Indirect speech and Dependent clauses. For other possible meanings of would and should (as well as could
and might), see the relevant sections of English modal verbs.

Conditional progressive
The conditional (present) progressive or conditional continuous combines conditional mood with progressive aspect.
It combines would (or the contraction 'd, or sometimes should in the first person, as above) with the bare infinitive be
and the present participle of the main verb. It has similar uses to those of the simple conditional (above), but is used
for ongoing actions or situations (usually hypothetical):
Today she would be exercising if it were not for her injury.
He wouldn't be working today if he had been given the time off.
It can also have future-in-the-past meanings:
We didn't know then that we would be waiting another three hours.
For the use of would in condition clauses, see Simple conditional above (see also Conditional sentences and
Dependent clauses below). For use in indirect speech constructions, see Indirect speech. For other uses of
constructions with would and should, see English modal verbs. For general information on conditionals in English,
see English conditional sentences (and also Conditional sentences below).

Conditional perfect
The conditional perfect construction combines conditional mood with perfect aspect, and consists of would (or the
contraction 'd, or sometimes should in the first person, as above), the bare infinitive have, and the past participle of
the main verb. It is used to denote conditional situations attributed to past time, usually those that are or may be
contrary to fact.
I would have set an extra place if I had known you were coming.
I would have set an extra place (but I didn't because someone said you weren't coming). (implicit
condition)
For the possibility of use of would in the condition clauses themselves, see Simple conditional (see also Dependent
clauses below). For more information on conditional constructions, see Conditional sentences below, and the article
English conditional sentences.
The same construction may have "future-in-the-past" meanings (see Indirect speech). For other meanings of would
have and should have, see English modal verbs.

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Uses of English verb forms

Conditional perfect progressive

The conditional perfect progressive or conditional perfect continuous construction combines conditional mood with
perfect progressive aspect. It consists of would (or sometimes should in the first person, as above) with the bare
infinitive have, the past participle been and the present participle of the main verb. It generally refers to a conditional
ongoing situation in hypothetical (usually counterfactual) past time:
I would have been sitting on that seat if I hadn't been late for the party.
Similar considerations and alternative forms and meanings apply as noted in the above sections on other conditional
constructions.

Have got and can see

In colloquial English, particularly British English, the present perfect of the verb get, namely have got or has got, is
frequently used in place of the simple present indicative of have (i.e. have or has) when denoting possession, broadly
defined. For example:
Formal: I have three brothers; Does he have a car?
Informal: I've got three brothers; Has he got a car?
Note that in American English, the form got is used in this idiom, even though the standard past participle of get is
gotten.
The same applies in the expression of present obligation: I've got to go now may be used in place of I have to (must)
go now.
In very informal registers, the contracted form of have or has may be omitted altogether: I got three brothers.[13]
Another common idiom is the use of the modal verb can (or could for the past tense or conditional) together with
verbs of perception such as see, hear, etc., rather than the plain verb. For example:
I see three houses or I can see three houses.
I hear a humming sound or I can hear a humming sound.
Aspectual distinctions can be made, particularly in the past tense:
I saw it (event) vs. I could see it (ongoing state).

Been and gone

In perfect constructions apparently requiring the verb go, the normal past participle gone is often replaced by the past
participle of the copula verb be, namely been. This gives rise to sentences of contrasting meaning.
When been is used, the implication is that, at the time of reference, the act of going took place previously, but the
subject is no longer at the place in question. When gone is used, the implication is again that the act of going took
place previously, but that the subject is still at (or possibly has not yet reached) that place. For example:
My father has gone to China. (he is in China, or on his way there, now)
My father has been to China. (he has visited China at some time in his life)
When I returned, John had gone to the shops. (he was out of the house)
When I returned, John had been to the shops. (the shopping was done, John was likely back home)
Note that been is used in such sentences as if it were a verb of motion (being followed by adverbial phrases of
motion, such as those starting with to), which is different from its normal uses as part of the copula verb be.
Compare:
Sue has been to the beach. (as above; Sue went to the beach at some time before now)
Sue has been on the beach. (use of been simply as part of be; she spent time on the beach)

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The above sentences with the present perfect can be further compared with alternatives using the simple past, such
as:
My father went to China.
As usual, this tense would be used if a specific past time frame is stated ("in 1995", "last week") or is implied by the
context (e.g. the event is part of a past narrative, or my father is no longer alive or capable of traveling). Use of this
form does not in itself determine whether or not the subject is still there.

Conditional sentences
A conditional sentence usually contains two clauses: an if-clause or similar expressing the condition (the protasis),
and a main clause expressing the conditional circumstance (the apodosis). In English language teaching, conditional
sentences are classified according to type as first, second or third conditional; there also exist "zero conditional" and
mixed conditional sentences.
A "first conditional" sentence expresses a future circumstance conditional on some other future circumstance. It uses
the present tense (with future reference) in the condition clause, and the future with will (or some other expression of
future) in the main clause:
If he comes late, I will be angry.
A "second conditional" sentence expresses a hypothetical circumstance conditional on some other circumstance,
referring to nonpast time. It uses the past tense (with the past subjunctive were optionally replacing was) in the
condition clause, and the conditional formed with would in the main clause:
If he came late, I would be angry.
A "third conditional" sentence expresses a hypothetical (usually counterfactual) circumstance in the past. It uses the
past perfect in the condition clause, and the conditional perfect in the main clause:
If he had come late, I would have been angry.
A "mixed conditional" mixes the second and third patterns (for a past circumstance conditional on a not specifically
past circumstance, or vice versa):
If I knew Latin, I wouldn't have made that mistake just now.
If I had got married young, I would have a family by now.
The "zero conditional" is a pattern independent of tense, simply expressing the dependence of the truth of one
proposition on the truth of another:
If Brian is right, then Fred has the jewels.
See also the following sections on expressions of wish and dependent clauses.

Expressions of wish
Particular rules apply to the tenses and verb forms used after the verb wish and certain other expressions with similar
meaning.
When the verb wish governs a finite clause, the past tense (simple past or past progressive as appropriate) is used
when the desire expressed concerns a present state, the past perfect (or past perfect progressive) when it concerns a
(usually counterfactual) past state or event, and the simple conditional with would when it concerns a desired present
action or change of state. For example:
I wish you were here. (past tense for desired present state)
Do you wish you were playing in this match? (past progressive for present ongoing action)
I wish I had been in the room then. (past perfect for counterfactual past state)

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Uses of English verb forms

I wish they had locked the door. (past perfect for counterfactual past action)
I wish you would shut up! (desired present action)
Do you wish it would rain? (desired present change of state)
The same forms are generally used independently of the tense or form of the verb wish:
I wished you were there. (past tense for desired state at the time of wishing)
The same rules apply after the expression if only:
If only he knew French!
If only I had looked in the bedroom!
If only they would stop talking!
In finite clauses after would rather and it's (high) time, the past tense is used:
I'd rather you came with me.
It's time they gave up.
After would rather the present subjunctive is also sometimes possible: I'd rather you/he come with me.
After all of the above expressions (though not normally it's (high) time) the past subjunctive were may be used
instead of was:
I wish I were less tired.
If only he were a trained soldier.
Note that other syntactic patterns are possible with most of these expressions. The verb wish can be used with a
to-infinitive or as an ordinary transitive verb (I wish to talk; I wish you good health). The expressions would rather
and it's time can also be followed by a to-infinitive.
After the verb hope the above rules do not apply; instead the logically expected tense is used, except that often the
present tense is used with future meaning:
I hope you get better soon.

Indirect speech
Verbs often undergo tense changes in indirect speech. This commonly occurs in content clauses (typically
that-clauses and indirect questions), when governed by a predicate of saying (thinking, knowing, etc.) which is in the
past tense or conditional mood.
In this situation the following tense and aspect changes occur relative to the original words:
Present changes to past:
"I like apples." He said that he liked apples.
"We are riding." They claimed that they were riding.
"You have sinned." I was told that I had sinned.
Simple past changes to past perfect (and sometimes past progressive to past perfect progressive):
"They finished all the wine earlier." He thought they had finished all the wine earlier.
This change does not normally apply, however, when the past tense is used to denote an unreal rather than a
past circumstance (see expressions of wish, conditional sentences and dependent clauses):
"I would do anything you asked." He said he would do anything she asked.
Future changes to conditional, also referred to as future-in-the-past (i.e. will/shall changes to would/should):
"The match will end in a draw." He predicted that the match would end in a draw.
The modals can and may change to their preterite forms could and might :

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"We may attend." She told us that they might attend.
Verb forms not covered by any of the above rules (verbs already in the past perfect, or formed with would or other
modals not having a preterite equivalent) do not change. Note that application of the above rules is not compulsory;
sometimes the original verb tense is retained, particularly when the statement (with the original tense) remains
equally valid at the moment of reporting:
"The earth orbits the sun." Copernicus stated that the earth orbits the sun.
Note also that the above tense changes do not apply when the verb of saying (etc.) is not past or conditional in form;
in particular there are no such changes when that verb is in the present perfect: He has said that he likes apples.
For further details, and information about other grammatical and lexical changes that take place in indirect speech,
see indirect speech and sequence of tenses. For related passive constructions (of the type it is said that and she is
said to), see English passive voice: Passive constructions without an exactly corresponding active.

Dependent clauses
Apart from the special cases referred to in the sections above, many other dependent clauses use a tense that might
not logically be expected in particular the present tense is used when the reference is to future time, and the past
tense is used when the reference is to a hypothetical situation (in other words, the form with will is replaced by the
present tense, and the form with would by the past tense). This occurs in condition clauses (as mentioned above), in
clauses of time and place, and in many relative clauses:
If he finds your sweets, he will eat them.
We will report as soon as we receive any information.
The bomb will explode where it lands.
Go up to the first person that you see.
In the above examples, the simple present is used instead of the simple future, even though the reference is to future
time. Examples of similar uses with other tenseaspect combinations are given below:
We will wash up while you are tidying. (present progressive instead of future progressive)
Please log off when you have finished working. (present perfect instead of future perfect)
If we were that hungry, we would go into the first restaurant that we saw. (simple past instead of simple
conditional)
We would be searching the building while you were searching the grounds. (past progressive instead of
conditional progressive)
In that case the dogs would find the scent that you had left. (past perfect instead of conditional perfect)
This does not apply to all dependent clauses, however; if the future time or hypothetical reference is expressed in the
dependent clause independently of the main clause, then a form with will or would in a dependent clause is possible:
This is the man who will guide you through the mountains.
We entered a building where cowards would fear to tread.

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Uses of nonfinite verbs

The main uses of the various nonfinite verb forms (infinitives, participles and gerunds) are described in the following
sections. For how these forms are made, see Inflected forms of verbs above. For more information on distinguishing
between the various uses that use the form in -ing, see -ing: Uses.

Bare infinitive
A bare infinitive (the base form of the verb, without the particle to), or an infinitive phrase introduced by such a
verb, may be used as follows:
As complement of the auxiliary do, in negations, questions and other situations where do-support is used:
Do you want to go home?
Please do not laugh.
As complement of will (shall) or would (should) in the future and conditional constructions described above:
The cat will come home.
We should appreciate an answer at your earliest convenience.
More generally, as complement of any of the modal verbs can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would
(including would rather), and also dare and need in their modal-like uses:
I can speak Swedish.
Need you use so much flour?
I dare say he will be back.
As complement of the expression had better:
You had better give back that telephone.
As second complement of the transitive verbs let (including in the expression "let's ...", short for "let us"), make,
have (in the sense of cause something to be done) and bid (in archaic usage). These are examples of
raising-to-object verbs (the logical subject of the governed infinitive is raised to the position of direct object of the
governing verb):
That made me laugh. (but passive voice: I was made to laugh; see under to-infinitive below)
We let them leave.
Let's play Monopoly!
I had him look at my car.
She bade me approach her. (archaic)
As second or sole complement of the verb help (the to-infinitive can also be used):
This proposal will help (to) balance the budget.
Can you help me (to) get over this wall?
As second complement of verbs of perception such as see, hear, feel, etc., although in these cases the present
participle is also possible, particularly when an ongoing state rather than a single action is perceived:
We saw him try to escape. (with present participle: We saw him trying to escape.)
She felt him breathe on her neck. (with present participle: She felt him breathing on her neck.)
As a predicative expression in pseudo-cleft sentences of the following type:
What I did was tie the rope to the beam.
What you should do is invite her round for dinner.
After why, in elliptical questions:

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Uses of English verb forms

Why bother?
The form of the bare infinitive is also commonly taken as the dictionary form or citation form (lemma) of an English
verb. For perfect and progressive (continuous) infinitive constructions, see Perfect and progressive nonfinite
constructions below.

To-infinitive
The to-infinitive consists of the bare infinitive introduced by the particle to. Outside of dictionary headwords, it is
commonly used as a citation form of the English verb ("How do we conjugate the verb to go?") It is also commonly
given as a translation of foreign infinitives ("The French word boire means 'to drink'.")
Other modifiers may be placed between to and the verb (as in to boldly go; to slowly drift away), but this is
sometimes regarded by some as a grammatical or stylistic error see split infinitive for details.
The main uses of to-infinitives, or infinitive phrases introduced by them, are as follows:
As complement of the modal and auxiliary verbs ought (to) and used (to):
We ought to do that now.
I used to play outside every day when I was a child.
As complement of many other verbs used intransitively, including need and dare (when not used as modal-like
verbs), want, expect, try, hope, agree, refuse, etc. These are raising-to-subject verb, where the logical subject is
promoted to the position of subject of the governing verb. With some verbs the infinitive may carry a significantly
different meaning from a gerund: compare I stopped to talk to her with I stopped talking to her, or I forgot to buy
the bread with I forgot buying the bread.
I need to get to a telephone.
Try not to make so many mistakes.
They refused to assist us.
As second complement of certain transitive verbs. These are mostly raising-to-object verbs, as described above
for the bare infinitive; however, in some cases, it is the subject of the main clause that is the logical subject of the
infinitival clause, as in "John promises Mary to cook", where the person who will cook is John (the subject of the
main sentence), and not Mary (the object).
I want him to be promoted.
He expects his brother to arrive this week.
As an adverbial modifier expressing purpose, or sometimes result (also expressible using in order to in the first
case, or so as to in either case):
I came here to listen to what you have to say.
They cut the fence to gain access to the site.
She scored three quick goals to level the score.
As a subject of a sentence or as a predicative expression. (A gerund can often be used for this also.[14])
To live is to suffer.
For them to be with us in this time of crisis is evidence of their friendship.
In apposition to a subject expletive pronoun it, in sentences of the following type:
It is nice to live here.
It makes me happy to feed my animals.
Alone in certain exclamations or elliptical sentences, and in certain sentence-modifying expressions:
Oh, to be in England ...

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Uses of English verb forms

To think that he used to call me sister.
To be honest, I don't think you have a chance.
In certain fixed expressions, such as in order to (see above), so as to, as if to, about to (meaning on the point of
doing something), have to (for obligation or necessity). For more on the expression am to, is to, were to, etc.
(usually expressing obligation or expectation), see am to.
We are to demolish this building.
He smiled as if to acknowledge his acquiescence.
In elliptical questions (direct or indirect), where no subject is expressed (but for those introduced by why, see bare
infinitive above):
Well, what to do now?
I wondered whether to resign at that point.
As a modifier of certain nouns and adjectives:
the reason to laugh
the effort to expand
anxious to get a ticket
As a relative clause (see English relative clauses: Nonfinite relative clauses). These modify a noun, and often
have a passive-like construction where the object (or a preposition complement) is zero in the infinitive phrase,
the gap being understood to be filled by the noun being modified. An alternative in the prepositional case is to
begin with a prepositional phrase containing a relative pronoun (as is done sometimes in finite relative clauses).
the thing to leave behind (the thing understood as the object of leave)
a subject to talk loudly about (a subject understood as the complement of about; see also stranded
preposition)
a subject about which to talk loudly (alternative to the above, somewhat more formal)
the man to save us (no passive-like construction, the man understood as the subject of save)
As a modifier of an adjective, again with a passive-like construction as above, here with the gap understood to be
filled by the noun modified by the adjective phrase:
easy to use
nice to look at
In many of the above uses, the implied subject of the infinitive can be marked using a prepositional phrase with for:
"This game is easy for a child to play", etc. However this does not normally apply when the infinitive is the
complement of a verb (other than the copula, and certain verbs that allow a construction with for, such as wait:
"They waited for us to arrive"). It also does not apply in elliptical questions, or in fixed expressions such as so as to,
am to, etc. (although it does apply in in order to).
When the verb is implied, the to-infinitive may be reduced to simply to: "Do I have to?" See verb phrase ellipsis.
For perfect and progressive infinitives, such as (to) have written and (to) be writing, see Perfect and progressive
nonfinite constructions below.

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Uses of English verb forms

Present participle
The present participle is one of the uses of the -ing form of a verb. This usage is adjectival or adverbial. The main
uses of this participle, or of participial phrases introduced by it, are as follows. (Uses of gerunds and verbal nouns,
which take the same -ing form, appear in sections below.)
In progressive and perfect progressive constructions, as described in the relevant sections above:
The man is fixing my bike.
We had been working for nine hours.
As an adjective phrase modifying a noun:
the flower opening up
the news supporting the point
As an adjectival phrase modifying a noun phrase that is the object of a verb, provided the verb admits this
particular construction. (For alternative or different constructions used with certain verbs, see the sections on the
bare infinitive and to-infinitive above.)
I saw them digging a hole.
We prefer it standing over there.
As an adverbial phrase, where the role of subject of the nonfinite verb is usually understood to be played by the
subject of the main clause (but see dangling participle). A participial clause like this may be introduced by a
conjunction such as when or while.
Looking out of the window, Mary saw a car go by. (it is understood to be Mary who was looking out of
the window)
We peeled the apples while waiting for the water to boil.
More generally, as a clause or sentence modifier, without any specifically understood subject
Broadly speaking, the project was successful.
In a nominative absolute construction, where the participle is given an explicit subject (which normally is
different from that of the main clause):
The children being hungry, I set about preparing tea.
The meeting was adjourned, Sue and I objecting that there were still matters to discuss.
For present participle constructions with perfect aspect (e.g. having written), see Perfect and progressive nonfinite
constructions below.
Present participles may come to be used as pure adjectives (see Types of participle). Examples of participles that do
this frequently are interesting, exciting, and enduring. Such words may then take various adjectival prefixes and
suffixes, as in uninteresting and interestingly.

Past participle
English past participles have both active and passive uses. In a passive use, an object or preposition complement
becomes zero, the gap being understood to be filled by the noun phrase the participle modifies (compare similar uses
of the to-infinitive above). Uses of past participles and participial phrases introduced by them are as follows:
In perfect constructions as described in the relevant sections above (this is the chief situation where the participle
is active rather than passive):
He has fixed my bike.
They would have sung badly.
In forming the passive voice:

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Uses of English verb forms

My bike was fixed yesterday.
A new church is being built here.
As an adjectival predicative expression used in constructions with certain verbs (some of these are described
under English passive voice):
Will you have your ear looked at by a doctor?
I found my bike broken.
As an adjective phrase directly modifying a noun (see also reduced relative clause):
The bag left on the train cannot be traced.
Used adverbially, or (with a subject) in a nominative absolute construction:
Hated by his family, he left the town for good.
The bomb defused, he returned to his comrades.
The last type of phrase can be preceded with the preposition with: With these words spoken, he turned and left.
As with present participles, past participles may function as simple adjectives: "the burnt logs"; "we were very
excited". These normally represent the passive meaning of the participle, although some participles formed from
intransitive verbs can be used in an active sense: "the fallen leaves"; "our fallen comrades".

Gerund
The gerund takes the same form (ending in -ing) as the present participle, but is used as a noun (or rather the verb
phrase introduced by the gerund is used as a noun phrase). Many uses of gerunds are thus similar to noun uses of the
infinitive. Uses of gerunds and gerund phrases are illustrated below:
As subject or predicative expression:
Solving problems is satisfying.
My favorite activity is spotting butterflies.
As object of certain verbs that admit such constructions:
I like solving problems.
We tried restarting the computer.
In a passive-type construction after certain verbs, with a gap (zero) in object or complement position, understood
to be filled by the subject of the main clause (see English passive voice: Additional passive constructions):
That floor wants/needs scrubbing.
It doesn't bear thinking about.
As complement of certain prepositions:
No one is better at solving problems.
Before jogging, she stretches.
After investigating the facts, we made a decision.
That prevents you from eating too much.
It is considered grammatically correct to express the agent (logical subject) of a gerund using a possessive form (they
object to my helping them), although in informal English a simple noun or pronoun is often used instead (they object
to me helping them). For details see fused participle.
For gerund constructions with perfect aspect (e.g. (my) having written), see Perfect and progressive nonfinite
constructions below.

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Uses of English verb forms

Perfect and progressive nonfinite constructions

There are also nonfinite constructions that are marked for perfect, progressive or perfect progressive aspect, using the
infinitives, participles or gerunds of the appropriate auxiliaries. The meanings are as would be expected for the
respective aspects: perfect for prior occurrence, progressive for ongoing occurrence at a particular time. (Passive
voice can also be marked in nonfinite constructions with infinitives, gerunds and present participles in the
expected way: (to) be eaten, being eaten, having been eaten, etc.)
Examples of nonfinite constructions marked for the various aspects are given below.
Bare infinitive:
You should have left earlier. (perfect infinitive; for similar constructions and their meanings see English
modal verbs)
She might be revising. (progressive; refers to an ongoing action at this moment)
He must have been working hard. (perfect progressive; i.e. I assume he has been working hard)
To-infinitive:
He is said to have resigned. (perfect infinitive; for this particular construction see said to)
I expect to be sitting here this time tomorrow. (progressive)
He claims to have been working here for ten weeks. (perfect progressive)
Present participle:
Having written the letter, she went to bed. (perfect)
The man having left, we began to talk. (perfect, in a nominative absolute construction)
Having been standing for several hours, they were beginning to feel tired. (perfect progressive)
Past participle:
We have been waiting a long time. (progressive, used only as part of a perfect progressive construction)
Gerund:
My having caught the spider impressed the others. (perfect)
We are not proud of having been drinking all night. (perfect progressive)
Other aspectual, temporal and modal information can be marked on nonfinite verbs using periphrastic constructions.
For example, a "future infinitive" can be constructed using forms such as (to) be going to eat or (to) be about to eat.

Deverbal uses
Certain words are formed from verbs, but are used as common nouns or adjectives, without any of the grammatical
behavior of verbs. These are sometimes called verbal nouns or adjectives, but they are also called deverbal nouns
and deverbal adjectives, to distinguish them from the truly "verbal" forms such as gerunds and participles.
Besides its nonfinite verbal uses as a gerund or present participle, the -ing form of a verb is also used as a deverbal
noun, denoting an activity or occurrence in general, or a specific action or event (or sometimes a more distant
meaning, such as building or piping denoting an object or system of objects). One can compare the construction and
meaning of noun phrases formed using the -ing form as a gerund, and of those formed using the same -ing form as a
deverbal noun. Some points are noted below:
The gerund can behave like a verb in taking objects: crossing the river cost many lives. The deverbal noun does
not take objects, although the understood object may be expressed by a prepositional phrase with of: the crossing
of the river cost many lives (an indirect object is expressed using to or for as appropriate: the giving of the award
to John).

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The gerund takes modifiers (such as adverbs) that are appropriate to verbs: eating heartily is good for the health.
The deverbal noun instead takes modifiers appropriate to nouns (especially adjectives): his hearty eating is good
for his health.
The deverbal noun can also take determiners, such as the definite article (particularly in denoting a single action
rather than a general activity): the opening of the bridge was delayed. Gerunds do not normally take determiners
except for possessives (as described below).
Both deverbal nouns and gerunds can be preceded by possessive determiners to indicate the agent (logical
subject) of the action: my taking a bath (see also above under gerund and at fused participle for the possible
replacement of my with me); my taking of a bath. However with the deverbal noun there are also other ways to
express the agent:
Using a prepositional phrase with of, assuming that no such phrase is needed to express an object: the singing
of the birds (with a gerund, this would be the birds' singing). In fact both possessives and of phrases can be
used to denote both subjects and objects of deverbal nouns, but the possessive is more common for the subject
and of for the object; these are also the assumed roles if both are present: John's wooing of Mary
unambiguously denotes a situation where John wooed Mary, not vice versa.
Using a prepositional phrase with by (compare similar uses of by with the passive voice): the raising of taxes
by the government. This is not possible with the gerund; instead one could say the government's raising taxes.
Where no subject is specified, the subject of a gerund is generally understood to be the subject (or "interested
party") of the main clause: I like singing loudly means I like it when I myself sing; Singing loudly is nice implies
the singer is the person who finds it nice. This does not apply to deverbal nouns: I like loud singing is likely to
mean that I like it when others sing loudly. This means that a sentence may have alternative meanings depending
on whether the -ing form is intended as a gerund or as a deverbal noun: in I like singing either function may be the
intended one, but the meaning in each case may be different (I like to sing, if gerund; I like hearing others sing, if
deverbal noun).
Some -ing forms, particularly those such as boring, exciting, interesting, can also serve as deverbal adjectives
(distinguished from the present participle in much the same way as the deverbal noun is distinguished from the
gerund). There are also many other nouns and adjectives derived from particular verbs, such as competition and
competitive from the verb compete (as well as other types such as agent nouns). For more information see verbal
noun, deverbal noun and deverbal adjective. For more on the distinction between the various uses of the -ing form of
verbs, see -ing.

Notes
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]

For example, Jacqueline Morton, English Grammar for Students of French, 6th Edition, Olivia and Hill Press, 2009, p. 82.
Tim Stowell. UCLA. Tense and Modals. Page 9. (http:/ / www. linguistics. ucla. edu/ people/ stowell/ Stowell-Tense& Modals. pdf)
Sequence of Tenses. Guide to Grammar and Writing. (http:/ / owl. english. purdue. edu/ handouts/ grammar/ g_seqtense. html)
The Meaning of Aspect. Edict Functional Grammar. (http:/ / www. edict. com. hk/ vlc/ funcgrammar/ medial/ aspect. htm)
Chapter 6: Verbs: Perfect and Progressive Aspect. (http:/ / www. oup. com/ us/ pdf/ grammar/ TexAns06. pdf)
Differentiating between Simple Past and Past Progressive. eWriting. (http:/ / flang1. kendall. mdc. edu/ 3/ 340/ Lecture2/ L340Lecture2. htm)
Quiz: Past Continuous and Past Simple Interrupted Activities. BBC World Service Learning English (http:/ / downloads. bbc. co. uk/
worldservice/ learningenglish/ flatmates/ episode70/ quiz. pdf)
[8] Conditional Verb Forms. Guide to Grammar and Writing. (http:/ / grammar. ccc. commnet. edu/ GRAMMAR/ conditional. htm)
[9] Comrie, Bernard, Tense, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1985, pp. 7879.
[10] Past Perfect Progressive Tense (http:/ / www. eng. fju. edu. tw/ iacd_99S/ grammar_composition/ Tenses/ new_page_7. html)
[11] Pearson Longman, Longman Exams Dictionary, grammar guide: "It is possible to use would in both clauses in U.S. English, but not in
British English: U.S.: The blockades wouldn't happen if the police would be firmer with the strikers. British: The blockades wouldn't
happen if the police were firmer with the strikers."
[12] The English-Learning and Languages Review (http:/ / www. lingua. org. uk/ eq& a. html), "Questions and Answers". Retrieved 3 December
2012.
[13] Have got, Peter Viney, wordpress.com (http:/ / peterviney. wordpress. com/ about/ elt-articles/ have-got/ )

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213

[14] "Being is doing" may be more natural than the abstract and philosophical sounding "To be is to do." See English Page - Gerunds and
Infinitives Part 1 (http:/ / englishpage. com/ gerunds/ part_1. htm)

References
Raymond Murphy, English Grammar in Use, 3rd edition, 2004

Disputes in English grammar

English grammar

Adjectives

Adverbs

Articles

Clauses

Compounds

Conditionals

Conjunctions

Determiners

Gender

Idiom

Interjections

Inversion

Nouns

Pronouns

Phrases

Plurals

Possessives

Prepositions

Verbs

Auxiliaries, contractions
Irregular verbs
Modal verbs
Passive voice
Phrasal verbs
Subjunctive
Verb usage

Grammar disputes

v
t

e [1]

In English, numerous grammatical constructions are in dispute. These disputes can be so impassioned a given
grammatical construct may continue to irritate even after it has officially been resolved.

Disputes in English grammar

Examples
The following are disputed usages in Standard English:
Generic you e.g., "Brushing your teeth is a good habit." as opposed to "Brushing one's teeth is a good habit"
Split infinitives e.g., "To boldly go where no one has gone before." as opposed to "To go boldly where no one
has gone before"
Conjunction beginning a sentence e.g., "But that would be grammatically incorrect."
Double genitive e.g. "a friend of theirs" as opposed to "a friend of them" or "their friend"
Gender-neutral language in English

The singular they e.g., "Someone forgot their shoes."

Which pronoun to use in referring to generic antecedents e.g., "No one would want this to happen to him /
her / him or her / them"
The use of like as a conjunction e.g., "Like I said," as opposed to "As I said,"
The validity of aren't as a negative First Person Singular conjunction for to be in interrogative uses "Aren't I
the one about whom you were talking?"
Whether to use the subjunctive mood e.g., "I wish I were/was a better man."
Whether to use who or whom in various contexts.

Whether to use the active voice or passive voice in various contexts.

The use of less or fewer with count nouns.
The following are non-standard English usages, which are nonetheless popular:
Double negatives e.g., "We don't need no education."
Certain double modals e.g., "You might could use it."
The use (spoken and written) of the word ain't and other similar constructions.

Factors in disputes
The following circumstances commonly feature in disputes:
No central authority
Unlike some languages, such as French, which has the Acadmie franaise, Italian, which has the Accademia
della Crusca, or Spanish, with the Real Academia Espaola, English has no authoritative governing academy.
For this reason, different works of reference can be considered authoritative. Some people argue that, lacking a
recognized authority, correctness is defined by common use. That is, once its use is sufficiently prevalent, a
certain construction or use becomes "correct".
Tradition
Older or better-established constructionsor those perceived as such are considered superior by some (even
those constructions that are little used anywhere but in the most formal writing and therefore considered
obsolete by many).
Education
In contrast to tradition, many newer constructions and innovations originate from, or are associated with
poorly educated or inexperienced users or users of non-standard varieties. Such uses are often rejected by
some speakers as mistakes or corruptions, while embraced by others.
Authority
Use by widely respected authors may lend credibility and favor to a particular construction: for instance,
Ernest Hemingway is known for beginning sentences with And;[1] however, this is not a uniform rule: for
instance, the intentional use of a non-standard style, such as an eye dialect, would not influence the canonical
style.

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Disputes in English grammar

Etymology
In cases involving the syntax of a specific word, the etymology of the word might be seen as supporting one
construction over another. For example, some have objected to the phrase under the circumstances, pointing
out the Latin root of the word circumstance suggests a ring or circle enclosing where one stands. See also
etymological fallacy.
Logic and consistency
Often, speakers will argue that a certain use is inherently more logical than another, or that it is more
consistent with other undisputed usages.
Clarity
Since the purpose of language is communication, as set out in the Gricean maxims, a speaker who finds a
given construction to be clearer than another may well consider it to be more correct.
Clarity and consistency
Likewise, a speaker who finds that some construction can produce ambiguities (even if only in some
circumstances) may avoid it altogether.
Differences in style and register
Certain styles and registers of speech may be stigmatized by some users. For example, uncommon but
"technically correct" uses may be perceived as hypercorrections or may be perceived as pretentious by some,
but others may consider the avoidance of the same use a mark of ignorance.
Speakers and writers frequently do not consider it necessary to justify their positions on a particular use, taking it for
granted that a given use is correct or incorrect. The position is often complicated by the user's reliance on false ideas
about linguistic matters, such as the impression that a particular expression is newer than it really is.

Prescription and description

The prescriptivist and descriptivist approaches often clash: the former prescribes how English should be spokena
teacher showing students how to write; the latter describes how English is spokena sociolinguist studying word
use in a population. An extreme prescriptivist might maintain that even if every sentence in current English uses a
certain construction, that construction may still be incorrect. Conversely, an extreme descriptivist might maintain
that there is no such thing as incorrect use. In practice, however, speakers lie between these two extremes, holding
that because English changes with time and is governed in large measure by convention, a construction may be
considered correct once it is used by a majority of speakers, but also that a given sentence is incorrect if it violates
the conventions of English that apply to its context.

Different forms of English

One complicating factor is that there are many forms of English, often with different conventions; what is plainly
grammatical in one form may be plainly ungrammatical in another.

English internationally
English is spoken worldwide, and the Standard Written English grammar generally taught in schools around the
world will vary only slightly. However, the English usage in one country is not always the same as the English usage
of another. For example, in addition to the differences in accent, spelling, and vocabulary, there are many points of
spoken grammar that differ between and among the British, American, Australian, and other varieties of the English
language in everyday use. Ordinarily, speakers will accept many national varieties as correct but may deem only one
to be correct in a given setting, in the same way that an educated English-speaker might regard correct French as
correct without considering it as correct English. Nonetheless, disputes can sometimes arise: for example, in India it

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Disputes in English grammar

is a matter of some debate whether British, American, or Indian English is the best form for use.

Regional dialects and ethnolects

In contrast to their generally high level of tolerance for the dialects of other English-speaking countries, speakers
often express disdain for features of certain regional or ethnic dialects, such as Southern American English's use of
y'all, Geordies' use of "yous" as the second person plural personal pronoun, and non-standard forms of "to be" such
as "The old dock bes under water most of the year" (Newfoundland English) or "That dock be under water every
other week" (African-American Vernacular English).
Such disdain may not be restricted to points of grammar; speakers often criticize regional accents and vocabulary as
well.
Arguments related to regional dialects must center on questions of what constitutes Standard English. For example,
since fairly divergent dialects from many countries are accepted widely as Standard English, it is not always clear
why certain regional dialects, which may be very similar to their standard counterparts, are not.

Register
Different constructions are acceptable in different registers of English. For example, a given construction will often
be seen as too formal or too informal for a situation.
Speakers do not always distinguish between Standard English and the English of formal registers. For example, they
might say that a given construction is incorrect for formal writing but acceptable in ordinary writing or in everyday
speech. While linguists will often describe a construction as being correct in a certain register but not in another,
English speakers as a whole tend to view "correct English" as a singular entity either viewing informal registers as
allowing deviations from correctness or viewing formal registers as imposing additional syntactic constraints beyond
mere correctness, or both.

References
[1] Call for Papers on Hemingway's influence on grammar (http:/ / academics. utep. edu/ Default. aspx?tabid=14836)

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Article Sources and Contributors

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Wafry, Waggers, Wars, Wasell, WikHead, WikipedianMarlith, Wikipeterproject, William Avery, WinterSpw, Woohookitty, Xanzzibar, , , 512 anonymous edits
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EdwardLockhart, Gfoley4, J.delanoy, Jamhead98, John of Reading, MarkSweep, Mcoupal, Msrasnw, NawlinWiki, RPlunk2853, Rich Farmbrough, Roehl Sybing, Sluzzelin, The Thing That
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Benedict AS, BirdValiant, Carlosguitar, DBetty, Deflective, Doric Loon, Dpv, Drmies, Electriceel, Eslsongs, FilipeS, Flamingspinach, Gilgamesh, Glenyshanson, Grover cleveland, Haghshenas
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Eisfbnore, Eman2129, Eric Kvaalen, Grover cleveland, Hyacinth, Ihcoyc, JZCL, Jimp, Johnuniq, JorisvS, Kwamikagami, Majorsheisskopf, Medeis, Mfwitten, Oalp1003, Paradoxian, Rppeabody,
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