1.

THE ARTICLE

The definition of the article in English is very general and does not go beyond the following:
articles are determinatives which serve to give precision to the nouns/noun equivalents to which
they are attached. On the other hand, the definite article the is by far the commonest word in
English, and with a and an makes up 8.5% of all text (Berry, 1993: V).
As articles in English can only function as determinatives of nouns/noun equivalents and are never
used alone, some linguists argue that they should not even be considered an independent part of
speech and never be treated as such but, for practical purposes, it is far easier and simpler to accept
the old tradition of the article as a separate part of speech
At the present stage of language development, the article in English is an invariable part of
speech. As far as its position is concerned, be it definite or indefinite, it is proclitic, i.e. it is placed
before the noun/noun equivalent it determines.
In certain approaches (Levichi, 1970: 61-66) the authors identify 3 kinds, the definite article, the
indefinite article and the zero article and within each class other subclasses, e.g. anaphoric,
generic, anticipatory, numerical, non-significant etc. For practical reasons we prefer to disregard
these classifications and go only for definite and indefinite articles and within each type of article
to describe the uses of the article or where it is not used.

1.1. The definite article

As far as its origin is concerned, the definite article goes back to a demonstrative adjective and
pronoun, which in Old English had both the meaning of Modern English that and the meanings
and functions of the definite article (Levichi, 1970: 60).
1.1.1. Form
The definite article is the same for singular and plural and for all genders, for animate and
inanimate nouns, e.g. the boy, the boys, the girl, the girls, the table, the tables, the writing, the
writings, the dog, the dogs etc.
The definite article has an invariable form in writing, THE, but it is pronounced differently,
depending on the initial sound of the following word; it is pronounced before consonants and
semivowels and [i] before vowels, e.g.
The [] dog is a friendly animal.
The [] girls have already left.
The [] definite article is not difficult.
or
The [i] interior has been redecorated recently.
He was heading for the [i] other flight of stairs when somebody called out his name.
She put the [i] apple on the shelf.
NOTE:
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It is the sound, not the spelling of the next word that matters, e.g. o is a vowel, but it is
pronounced as a semivowel, [w], in words like:
one [wn],

once [wns]

(to give smb. the `[] once-over, just the [] one, the [] one/s, the [] one-horse, the []
one-man band, the [] one way, the [] one-sided);
He was driving slowly on the [] one-way street, trying to find her house;
The [] one you gave me was blue;
U is also a vowel, but it is pronounced as a semivowel, [j], in the following words:
ubiquity [ju:bikwiti]
ubiquitous [ju:bikwits]

udometer [ju:dmit]
UFO [ju:fu]

The correct pronunciation of the definite article in front of these words is [] and not otherwise.
The mispronunciation of the definite article in this position is very common with non-native
speakers, e.g. in the following examples, some beginners pronounce the definite article as [i]
instead of [] as they should, misled by the fact that the noun following the definite article begins
in a vowel, u, never considering its pronunciation. So, the next examples are meant to prove the
point:
She goes to the [] university every day;
The [] United States of America fight terrorism;
The letter w in initial position is pronounced as a semivowel, [w], and, the definite article is
pronounced [], e.g.
waistband [weistbnd]

waffle [wfl]
wagon [wgn]

There are 4 words and their derivatives in English beginning in h, which is never pronounced;
consequently, in front of these words the definite article is pronounced [i]. These words are:
heir [e]

honest [nst]

honour [n]

hour [au]

He was the first of the heirs [i ez];

The honest [i nst] participant is always rewarded;
The honour [i n] of the participants has never been questioned;
It was the hour [i au] of truth;
In Modern English there is a large number of words obtained from the initial letters of longer titles
or names (initialisms or alphabetisms) which are spoken as individual letters, e.g. BBC
[bi:bi:ci:], USA [ju: es ei]; if these abbreviations begin in the consonants f, h, l, m, n, r, s, which
are pronounced with a vowel [ef/ei/el/em/en/a:/es] the pronunciation of the definite article is
[i], e.g. FA (= Football Association), FAA (= Fleet Air Arm), FAO (= Food and Agriculture
Organization), FBA (= Fellow of British Academy), FBI (= Federal Bureau of Investigation),
FCO (= Foreign and Commonwealth Office), SOS (= save our souls; an international codesignal of extreme distress and urgent appeal for help).
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However, if these terms consisting of more than one word are pronounced in extenso, i.e.
pronouncing all the words they consist of, the definite article is pronounced according to the general
rules.
The pronunciation of the definite article the is usually weak, [], but it also has a stressed
pronunciation, [i], that is used in certain instances, e.g.

the definite article becomes a noun by conversion and is used as a subject, for instance, in a
sentence: THE [i] is the definite article in English;
it acquires an emphatic form because the speaker wants to contrast it with another element: I
want THE [i] book I lent you not just any English book (= I want a special book, not just any
book);
it may get the force of a superlative: Shakespeare is THE [i] poet (= Shakespeare este poetul
prin excelen);
when an orator needs to make a pause for effect, and, accidentally, this is done on the definite
article, he/she may choose to pronounce it [i] in order to avoid [];
the emphatic pronunciation also draws the audiences attention that something important may
follow or, simply, draw their straying away attention to the orator.

1.1.2. Position
The definite article usually stands
before a noun, e.g. the student, the university, the food, the stadium, the attention, the
development etc.
before modifiers, e.g. the nice book, the best book, the first competitor, the second interview
etc. or
other determinatives or pronouns, e.g. the other delegate, the same interest, the others etc.
in George the Fifth, Jude the Obscure, Richard the Lion-Hearted, Alfred the Great, Stephen
the Great, Canto the Third the position of the definite article is justified by the fact that the
adjective or ordinal numeral is used postpositionally for emphasis and then the definite article
precedes them in a very logical way.
but it can also stand after nouns like in: night errant, major general, lieutenant general,
secretary general, poet laureate etc.
1.1.3. THE DEFINITE ARTICLE IS USED:
1) The definite article is used to show that the noun/noun equivalent has already been mentioned
previously, either in the same sentence or earlier in the course of communication, (what in some
books is referred to as anaphoric) e.g.
They have a son and two daughters, but the son is an adult person and already has a family
of his own;
My mother bought a new dress yesterday, but the dress was so expensive that she changed
her mind and took it back today;
There are also set phrases in which the definite article refers back to something which was not
mentioned previously but which the speaker knows about or can identify easily, e.g. at the (that)
time, under the (these/those) circumstances, nothing of the (this) kind, to rise to (this/that)
occasion etc.

The speaker/reader may sometimes refer to an object already known to the former, to current
notions known to the interlocutors, or to objects that are singularly identifiable under the
circumstances, e.g.
Have you read the newspaper? (=the newspaper that our family usually buys and reads);
Have you locked the door? (=the door to our home);
Turn on the radio! (=the radio we have in the house/on the table etc.);
The telephone is ringing. (=probably the phone in the house);
2) There is a special class of objects or groups of objects of which there is or we assume there is
only one in the context, e.g. the sun, the moon, the earth, the sea, the ocean, the North Pole, the
South Pole, the equator, the Renaissance, the human race etc. or the kitchen, the city hall, the
Queen, the last president etc. All could be made more definite, e.g. the sun belonging to the Earth,
the North Pole of the Earth, the kitchen of this house, the queen of the country etc.
3) When a noun comes after a preposition, the definite article is almost always necessary, the
sequence preposition + definite article + noun is a very common structure, e.g. under the table,
on the wall, in the street, in the sky, in the field, after the lesson, behind the door, beyond the
river, near the village, for the children, through the gates, at the museum, from the park, on the
floor, into the drawer, on the way, by the way etc.
4) The definite article appears in certain set phrases. Usage is not infrequently the only logical
explanation! E.g. to get the upper hand, to break the ice, to take the trouble, all the time, to tell the
time, what s the time?, to paint the devil blacker than he is, to join the colours, to have the time of
one s life etc.
5) The definite article can also display a generic function; it shows that the noun/noun equivalent is
used in its most general sense. The general sense of a noun/noun equivalent can be rendered in
various ways, the definite article being one of them along with the indefinite article (see under
indefinite article) and the non-use of article or zero article (see under the definite article is no
used); it can be used with individual nouns in the singular, e.g.
The dog is a friendly animal;
The article is a part of speech;
The tiger is one of the big cats;
The Siberian tiger is in danger of becoming extinct;
Doctors advise that fat/sugar should not be used in large quantities (uncountable);
Sometimes all three forms can be used alternatively, e.g. The dog is a friendly animal = A dog is a
friendly animal = Dogs are friendly animals, while in other situations the meaning prevents the use
of all 3 forms, e.g. The Siberian tiger is in danger of becoming extinct has an alternative form in
Siberian tigers are in danger of becoming extinct. The indefinite article may discharge a generic
function, e.g. *A Siberian tiger is in danger of becoming extinct but it is unacceptable because of
the illogical meaning of such a construction: the death of one animal cannot endanger the whole
species. To conclude, countable nouns can take any of the forms, i.e. with a definite article, an
indefinite article and the plural form (with zero article; uncountable nouns can only function
without any article (or, as it is specified in other grammars, with the zero article).
6) The definite article is also used before nouns made definite by the addition of a clause or a
phrase, e.g. the girl in red dress, the man with the suitcase, the dog with the short tail, the boy
who came yesterday, the man (that) I saw, the book (which) Mary bought 2 days ago. The

indefinite article is not forbidden in front of such nouns, but the meaning is different and the
speaker should be able to distinguish between the two, e.g.
I saw a girl in blue crossing the street (= unidentified) and
I saw the girl in blue crossing the street (= previously identified and now reference being
made to her).
7) The definite article is used before superlatives, e.g.
The nicest girl in our school is Johns friend;
Mary is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen;
This dictionary is the most expensive I have ever had;
English grammar seems the easiest in the world;
8) The definite article is used before ordinal numerals, e.g. the first, the second, the third, the fifth,
the hundredth, the fifty-seventh etc.
9) The definite article realizes the substantivisation of adjectives (see under Adjectives)

10) The definite article and the proper names of persons: proper nouns are understood to have
unique reference, e.g. Jane, Peter, Mike, and in a given conversation refer to one particular person.
Here no the comes before the proper noun because the definite meaning is built into the noun
itself. However, if we need to distinguish two or more persons having the same name the definite
article is used, e.g.

or

I would like to talk to Mr Smith, please.

Which Mr Smith do you want to talk to, because we have three.
The Smith from the accounts office, please.
Susan came yesterday to ask for an English grammar book.
Which Susan?
The Susan next door (= not the Susan who works in your office);

Sometimes a whole family can be referred to by the + family name in the plural, e.g.
The Browns have just come (=all the members of the Brown family: mother, father and the
son/s daughter/s);
The Kennedys (the spelling rule does not apply here) (father, mother and the two
sons/daughters) have called to tell us they were not coming to the party;
11) The definite article with titles and ranks: all military ranks (sergeant, lieutenant, major,
captain, colonel, general, commander), academic titles (professor, doctor), doctor (=physician),
counsellor, president judge, governor etc. are preceded by the definite article when used alone, i.e.
without the surname, e.g.
The sergeant was very furious;
The general was invited to the party;
I went to see the doctor;
The professor was never late;
The president detains the highest authority in state;
However, when a person is called by his/her title or rank, the definite article is dropped, e.g.

Could I talk to you for a minute, professor (= A putea s v rein un minut, domnule
profesor?)
May I ask you something, doctor? (= Pot s v ntreb ceva, domnule doctor?)
Someone is looking for you, general (= V caut cineva, domnule general)
NOTE: in other languages the equivalent constructions often take a Mr/Mrs e.g. Domnul/Doamna
in Romanian.
The definite article is also dropped when the title or rank precedes the surname of the respective
person, e.g.
Professor Johnson was invited to a Congress in Italy (= Profesorul Johnson a fost invitat la un
Congres n Italia);
Doctor Brown is the best neurologist in our city (= Doctorul Brown este cel mai bun neurolog
din ora);
General Hamilton has taken over the command of the army (= Generalul Hamilton a preluat
comanda armatei).
The definite article is also used before titles containing the preposition OF, e.g. the Duke of York,
the Earl of Southampton, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Marquis of Bath etc.
12) The definite article is used:
before geographical (/or other) proper names of seas, rivers, groups of islands, chains of
mountains, deserts, regions, e.g. the Black Sea, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Dead
Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Danube, the Mississippi,
the Thames, the Nile, the Bermudes, the Azores, the Bahamas, the Bismark Islands, the
Carpathians, the Rocky Mountains, the Alps, the Hymalaya, the Caucasus, the Sahara, the
Arabian Desert, the Gobi Desert, the Kalahari Desert, the Great Australian Desert, the
Riviera, the Suez Canal etc.
before names consisting of adjective + noun (provided the adjective is not one of the cardinal
points), e.g. the New Forest, the High Street, the Great Britain, the United Kingdom, the
English Channel, the British Museum, the White House etc.
before names consisting of a noun + OF + noun, e.g. the Cape of Good Hope, the Gulf of
Mexico, the United States of America, the USA, the Bay of Biscay, the University of Berlin,
the Commonwealth of Australian States and Territories, the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland, the People s Republic of China, the Tower of London etc.
before names of newspapers, e.g. the Times, the Guardian, the Washington Post, the
Independent, the Wall Street Journal etc.
before simple geographical names of places, countries etc., e.g. the City, the Mall, the Strand,
the Hague etc.
sometimes there are alternatives in use, the tendency being to use the form without the definite
article (Berry, 1993: 56-57), e.g. (the) Sudan, (the) Yemen, the Argentine or Argentina, the
Cameroon or Cameroun, (the) Ukraine, (the) Ivory Coast etc.
names of organisations, usually abbreviations, fall under two categories: if the name is
pronounced letter for letter, the definite article is obligatory, e.g. the UN, the BBC, the FBI, the
CIA, the MI5, the EC etc.; if an abbreviation is pronounced as a word, it takes no article, e.g.
OPEC, although the expanded name does take a definite article, the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries; NATO, but the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; UNICEF, but the
United Nation Children s Fund etc.
13) In principle, neither the definite nor the indefinite article is used with names of meals, e.g.
8

She invited us to dinner;

Dinner is served at 8 oclock;
However, when the name of the meal is preceded by a modifier or is followed by a prepositional
phrase or a relative clause, it can be preceded either by the definite or the indefinite article, e.g.
They served us a very good lunch;
The dinner given in the honour of the ambassador was held at the Hilton Hotel;
and the indefinite one, e.g.
They gave us a very special breakfast;
I was invited to a dinner given to welcome the new members of the Club;
14) The definite article is used in the construction: to play the instrument, e.g. to play the
piano/flute/the oboe/guitar/etc.
John plays the piano better than his sister;
Mary learned to play the guitar when she was 10 etc.
15) The definite article has a distributive function when used with nouns expressing a unit, e.g.
He is paid by the hour;
The apples are four to the pound etc.
16) It is also used before nationality names or nouns showing the origin of persons or things, e.g.
the English, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Swiss, the French, the Veronese, BUT, the Germans,
the Americans, the Romanians, the Russians, the Spaniards etc.

1.1.4. THE DEFINITE ARTICLE IS NOT USED

1) The definite article is not used with proper names of people except in the situations mentioned
under THE DEFINITE ARTICLE IS USED
2) The definite article is not used with geographical proper names except in the situations shown
under THE DEFINITE ARTICLE IS USED
3) The definite article is not used before names of games, e.g.
He plays football every day;
The boys play volley ball at school etc.
4) The definite article is not used before abstractions, except when they are used in a particular
sense, e.g. care, death, hatred, honesty, honour, hunger, love, e.g.

but
or

Men fear death (Oamenii se tem de moarte)

The death of the President was a real tragedy for the country (= Moartea primului ministru a
fost o adevarat tragedie pentru ar);
Honesty is very rare nowadays (= Cinstea e rar n zilele noastre)

but

The honesty of the competitors made the contest a triumph (= Cinstea concurenilor a fcut ca
ntrecerea s fie un triumf) etc.

5) The definite article is not normally used before names of meals except in the cases shown under
THE DEFINITE ARTICLE IS USED
6) The definite article is not used before countable nouns in the plural when they are used in the
general sense, see under THE DEFINITE ARTICLE IS USED
7) The definite article is not normally used before parts of the body, articles of clothing, objects
belonging to a specific person, its place being taken by the possessive adjective, e.g.
My head aches;
Put up your right hand;
Take off your coat and put it on the chair;
Where have I put my glasses?;
8) The definite article is not used in certain set phrases consisting of preposition + noun, in which
the definite article is usually compulsory, e.g. by hand, at hand, on foot, from head to toe, from top
to toe, by chance, by mistake, at present, at first sight, hand in hand, arm in arm, from cover to
cover, from corner to corner, face to face, from dawn to dusk, from beginning to end, from right
to left, from north to south, day by day, day after day, from end to end, from place to place, from
time to time, to be in danger, in general, to be on duty, piece by piece, to learn by heart, to keep in
mind, good for food, just in time, to look for help/aid, to put in order etc. These set phrases should
be learned by heart.
9) The word nature, when referring to the physical world including all living things as well as
the land and the seas is used without a definite article, e.g.
Everybody likes nature;
If we do not take care of nature, human life on Earth may be in danger;
This is an opportunity to enjoy the beauties of nature in Alaska;
No article is required when the meaning of the word is the basic characteristic of a person or an
animal, e.g.
The pony has a very gentle nature;
It is not in my nature to be pushy or aggressive;
The word nature has still another meaning, that of basic quality and feature of something + OF,
when it is preceded by the definite article, e.g.
It is the nature of plastic to melt under high temperatures;
They must understand the nature of our opposition to nuclear testing;
10) The word home if not preceded or followed by a descriptive word or phrase is used alone,
without the definite article, e.g. to go home, to be home, to stay home, to run home, to send
someone home, to arrive home etc.,
I was sick on the plane home;
I went home to France;
How was your journey home?
10

When preceded or followed by a descriptive phrase, home is used with the definite article (or the
possessive adjective), e.g.
John and Mary invited us to their new home;
They arrived at the brides home;
11) There are several nouns denoting places; when these places are visited or used for their primary
purpose, the structure is motion verb + preposition (TO/FROM/AT) + noun, e.g. bed, church,
court, hospital, prison, sea, town, school, college, jail, camp, exchange, harbour, port, hall,
university, work (place of work) etc., e.g.
to go/run/hurry + TO + noun
to be/stay/remain + AT + noun
to come/return/come back + FROM + noun
Mary goes to school every day (= she is a schoolgirl and this is her programme);
Paul ran to church to get there before the Mass was over (= he is a church-goer)
Her mother did not feel well and Mary insisted on taking her to hospital (= to be cured)
His parents are very sad because their only son has been in prison for over two years (= he
has been doing time)
She went to bed early last night (= one sleeps in bed)
They are at sea as far as I know (= they are either sailors or taking a cruise)
She never goes to work by bus (= to the place where she works)
They go to town sometimes to buy food (= the speakers own town)
Where have you been? - We were in town.
But, if the place is not used or visited for its primary purpose, then the definite article is used in
front of the noun, e.g.
They went to the church to see the carvings (= they are tourists)
Mother went to the school last week to talk to the principal (= she was afraid her son might
have missed some classes)
He went to the prison to deliver some lectures on social matters (= he was invited to deliver
the speech)
NOTE: the words office (place of work), cathedral, cinema and theatre always take the definite
article, e.g.
I think he is at the office (= the place where he works)
He never goes to the office on foot (= to the place where he works)
This Sunday they decided to go to the cathedral (= presumably the Mass was more impressive
there)
They never go to the cinema after 10 p.m.
You could not find us at home because we were at the theatre last night.
To be in office = to hold an official position (= a deine o funcie oficial)
To be out of office = to be no longer in power (= a nu mai deine o funcie oficial)

11

1.2. THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE

The indefinite article has the same origins as the numeral one, and is one of the most frequently
used words in English. The indefinite article in English only exists for the singular form of
countable nouns; for the plural and uncountable nouns certain indefinite adjectives are used and
they will be treated under the respective heading (see indefinite adjectives)
1.2.1. FORM
The indefinite article is a [] and an [n]; it has a unique form for all genders, e.g. a boy, a girl, a
chair. The two forms of the indefinite articles follow the same rules of pronunciation as the definite
article. Where the definite article is pronounced [], the indefinite article is pronounced [];
where the definite article is pronounced [i] the indefinite article is pronounced [n].
The form a is also pronounced [ei], as an emphatic form, in the following instances:
for emphasis, when the speaker makes a pause for effect, e.g. The members of the
parliament were invited to a [ei] ......... what do you think? ...... bullfight !
when the indefinite article is used as a subject of the sentence, e.g. A [ei] is the indefinite article
in English and one of the most frequently used words in the language;
if the indefinite article a is stressed, e.g. She said: what a [ei] man!
1.2.2. Position
The indefinite article stands before the noun, but after rather, quite, such, half or after too, so, how
+ adjective, e.g.
This is rather a heavy box;
It is rather a shame that we cannot leave early;
There is a book on the table;
Paul and Mary have bought a new house;
but
What a man!
It was such a fine day!
He is too good a man not to choose in the team!
1.2.3. THE USES OF THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE
The indefinite article is used with countable nouns in the singular. Countable nouns refer to things
which are regarded as separate units. Most countable nouns refer to things which can be seen,
touched, measured (= concrete nouns), e.g. table, chair, computer, desk, boy, girl, man, woman,
etc. However, some countable nouns refer to things which cannot be seen, touched or measured (=
abstract nouns), e.g. address, effect, election, idea, issue, method, problem, remark, scheme, etc.
NOTE: Attention should be paid to those nouns which are uncountable in English but are countable
in other languages and the students tend to apply the pattern of their mother tongue to English,
making a series of typical mistakes (see also under Noun), e.g. advice, baggage, furniture,
homework, information, knowledge, luggage, news etc.
The indefinite article is used to express indefinite meaning of singular countable nouns. It always
implies the idea of number as its origin is in the numeral ONE. The main uses of the indefinite
article a/an are:
12

1) The indefinite article is used before a singular countable noun when it is mentioned for the first
time and represents no particular person or thing, e.g.
Mary needs a passport;
My friends bought a house;
2) It is used in expressions of price, speed, ratio, e.g., 50 a meter, 10p a dozen etc.: here the
indefinite article is replaceable by the Latin PER, but never by the numeral ONE, e.g.
The car was running a wild 90 miles an/per hour;
She had to take the antibiotics 3 times a/per day;
3) The indefinite article is used as an alternative to the numeral ONE, but the numeral ONE
cannot replace the indefinite article in all cases (see above), e.g.

but

1,000 = a/one thousand

1,000,000 = a/one million
She paid a rent of 100 (a/one hundred) pounds a/per week - the indefinite article before the
noun week cannot be replaced by one;

In other types of statement a/an and one are not normally interchangeable, because ONE + noun
normally mean one only/not more than one (Thomson and Martinet, 1997: 17):
A shotgun is no good (= it is the wrong sort of thing)
One shotgun is no good (= one is not enough, I need 50)
4) The indefinite article is used with a noun complement; names of professions, e.g.
It was a rebellion;
It is going to be a success;
She is a teacher (= e profesoar)
He is an actor while his wife is a painter (= El e actor iar soia lui e pictori)
No article is needed when the profession is unique, e.g. headmaster, principal, manager, director,
spokesman, spokesperson, etc., e.g.
John Williams is headmaster;
Our friend is sales manager;
NOTE: Notice the difference between the two structures: while the indefinite article in English is
compulsory, in Romanian its presence in this construction is a mistake.
5) The indefinite article is placed before a singular countable noun which is used as an example of
a class of things), e.g.
A dog is a friendly animal (All dogs are friendly animals);
A dog likes to eat far more than a human being (Any dog likes that more than any human
being);
6) The indefinite article is used before proper names of people, usually placed before
Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms + surname to show that the respective person is a stranger to the speaker or the
speaker does not know of him/her. Imagine the chairmans secretary entering her boss office and
13

saying: - A Mr Brown would like to talk to you, Sir. It is obvious that the secretary does not know
Mr Brown or of him.
7) The indefinite article is also used in set phrases; the use of the indefinite article in them can only
be accounted for by tradition: not a word, not a trace, not a thought, at a draught, once a month,
once upon a time, once in a while, for a time, to pay a call on somebody, just a moment, to catch
a cold, as a matter of fact, as a rule, many a + noun in the singular (many a students etc.) etc.
8) The indefinite article, a, is used with little and few to distinguish them from the meanings of the
forms without the indefinite article. Little and few are adjectives or pronouns, while little can be an
adverb, too.
Little shows a small quantity and can be used before uncountable nouns (adjective) or instead of the
same kind of nouns (pronouns), while few shows a small number of things and can be used before
countable nouns (adjective) in the plural or to replace similar nouns (pronouns) in the plural. Used
without an indefinite article they mean a small quantity or number or what the speaker considers to
be a small quantity or number. The additional meaning is that the respective quantity or number is
also insufficient under the circumstances (in Romanian: puin/ or puini/-e), e.g.
I have little coffee left and I must buy some before the guests come. (= Am cafea puin i
trebuie s cumpr pn nu-mi vin musafirii)
I have only recently moved to this town and I have few friends here (= M-am mutat doar de
curnd n oraul acesta i am puini prieteni aici).
NOTE:
a) This meaning is generally confined to written English;
b) Particularly in spoken English the use of little or few is avoided in such contexts because of the
possible confusion with the other forms (a little and a few), so alternative constructions are
preferred, e.g.
I dont have enough coffee and I must buy some before the guests come
I have only recently moved to this town and I dont have too many friends here.
c) Little and few can be used more freely when they are qualified by SO, VERY, TOO,
EXTREMELY, COMPARATIVELY, RELATIVELY etc., e.g.
She was reluctant to going to that place because she knew so little about it and its
inhabitants;
Some of the students have too many dictionaries while others have too few! etc.
Used with the indefinite article, the two adjectives preserve the meaning referring to the small
quantity or number, but either of them is considered enough under the circumstances (in Romanian:
un pic/puin or civa/cteva), e.g.

or

If you want we can go to my place. I have a little coffee left and we can chat over a cup of
coffee (= Dac vrei, putem s mergem la noi. Mai am un pic de /puin cafea i putem s
tragem o brf la o cecu de cafea)
I have a few grammar books and if you want I can lend you one (= Am cteva cri de
gramatic, i dac vrei pot s-i mprumut i ie una.)

14

1.2.4. THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE IS NOT USED

The indefinite article is not used with plural nouns as it does not have a plural form, e.g. a boy/boys,
a chair/chairs, an egg/eggs, an hour/hours etc. An indefinite adjective is used with plural count
nouns, e.g. some, any etc.
It is not used before uncountable nouns, e.g. names of substances: bread, beer, cloth, coffee,
cream, dust, gin, glass, oil, paper, tea etc.; abstract nouns: advice, beauty, courage, experience,
fear, help, hope, information, relief, suspicion, work etc. (used in a particular sense, some of these
nouns can be used with an indefinite article); nouns considered uncountable in English: baggage,
damage, furniture, luggage, parking, shopping, weather etc.
NOTE:
a) many mass/uncountable nouns can become countable when having a second meaning or referring
to an amount of something in a container, e.g. if someone is offered a drink of whisky, it is
normally assumed that it is a certain quantity less than a bottle, so the standard question would be
Will/Would you like a whisky, professor? , i.e. a glass of whisky. However, a beer can mean a
bottle, a glass, a pint, a can of that beverage. Here is a list of words which are frequently used in
this way: beer, brandy, coffee, Coke, gin, lager, rum, sherry, sugar, vodka, whisky, yoghurt etc.
b) Berry says that (1993:12) an uncountable noun can be converted into a countable noun when
the speaker means a type of or a variety of something. For example, cheese is a general word
for that particular food and a cheese is a variety or kind of cheese, just as wine is the general word
and a wine is a variety of wine, e.g.
... a wine of the region.
I was impressed by a wine from Friuli.
Supper consisted of onion soup, black sausage with tomato salad and a local cheese with
herbs.
Words which are frequently used in this way: beer, brandy, cheese, coffee, detergent, jam, lager
meat, medicine, metal, paint, perfume, sauce, soup, tea, whisky, wine, wood etc.
The indefinite article is not used before names of meals, except in special conditions, when they are
preceded by an adjective or when the noun has a post determiner, e.g.

or
or
but

Students have lunch at 12;

We have dinner at 8;
My aunt invited us to dinner;
Mary was invited to a dinner given by her new boss;
They were served a very special breakfast;

15

2. THE NOUN

Along with the verb, the noun is the most important part of speech in English. The noun is defined
as the part of speech that denotes things* (=beings, objects, ideas, feelings, actions, states,
qualities etc.). Unlike the article, it has a meaning of its own and in the morphological system of the
English language it is a principal part of speech. Some examples: dog, man, Peter, Mary, Johnson,
Brown, table, fidelity, love, hatred, reading, doctor, redness, intention, bread, England, America,
New York, London, the Danube, the Mississippi, the Rocky Mountains etc.
NOTE* (Palmer, 1971: 39) argues that the term thing used so frequently to define the noun is far
from being clear and his demonstration starts from Nesfields definition of a noun as a word used
for naming anything and that thing in the definition stands for person, place, quality, action,
feeling, collection etc. And Palmer goes on to say that: This is clearly a notional definition at its
worst!. For how do we know what a thing is? Is fire a thing? Is peace? Is hope or intention?
Moreover, can we say that red is the name of a colour and is not red then a noun? And Palmer
offers a practical solution but recognizes that a definition of nouns in terms of things is
completely circular. How can we identify thing? There is an easy answer, he says. We do so by
using an article or such words as his, this, in front of the nouns the fire, the suffering, the place
- and by making them the subject of the sentence.

2.1. Classification
According to form, nouns can be:

simple
derivatives
compounds
obtained by other means

simple: a very large number of nouns in English consist of one root, and frequently have only a
single syllable, e.g. boy, girl, table, chair, man, woman, France, John, Williams, America etc.
derivatives/nouns obtained by derivation, i. e. nouns obtained by affixation from other words
(adjectives, verbs, other nouns or, to a smaller extent, other parts of speech);

OPTIONAL FOR ID (LDL) STUDENTS

2.2. Proper noun forming suffixes
- SON (= son of) attaches to proper nouns making up family names, e.g. Richard/SON,
William/SON, Robert/SON, Ander/SON, David/SON etc.
- TOWN - attaches either to proper or common nouns, making up proper names denoting places,
e.g. Georgetown, Jamestown, Capetown, Abbotstown, Beavertown, Bridgetown, Campbelltown,
Camptown, Charlestown, Chestertown etc.
- BURG(H) or BOROUGH attaches to proper or common nouns , making up proper nouns
denoting towns, usually older (in the UK) or which used to be primarily inhabited by a Germanic
population or immigrants, if the place is located in the USA, e.g. Edinburg or Edinborough,
16

Johannesburg, Crowborough, Childesburg, Beachburg, Blossburg, Attenburg, Arnoldsburg,

Christiansburg, Attleborough, Attleboro (variant), Austinburg etc.
- CHESTER/-CESTER/-CASTER (< Lat. castrum), e.g. Manchester, Rochester, Lancaster,
Leicester, Chichester, Dorchester, Colchester etc.
- SHIRE, usually attaches to proper names to make up proper nouns denoting a larger area, e.g.
Lancashire, Warwickshire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Berkshire, Cambridgeshire, Cardiganshire etc.
- LAND, meaning country, county, larger area, attaches to common or proper nouns, making up
proper names like: England, Iceland, Scotland, Finland, Ireland, Ashland, Auckland, Broomland,
Cornland, Cumberland etc.
- FIELD , attaches to a large variety of nouns, making up nouns denoting places like: Darfield,
Deerfield, Ashfield, Bakersfield, Bayfield, Bettisfield, Bloomfield, Broomfield, Chatfield,
Chipperfield etc.
- VILLE (<Fr. Ville) attaches to proper or common nouns, producing proper nouns denoting
names of places; this suffix is extremely productive particularly in the USA in the areas formerly
detained by the French, and then the model spread all over the territory, e.g. Danville, Brookville,
Bartlesville, Bartonville, Barkeyville, Barryville, Beatyville, Barkersville, Abbeville, Andersonville,
Beachville, Beamsville, Baysville, Bonneville, Adamsville, Angerville, Chesterville, Clarkville,
Clintonville, Cedarville, Centerville, Cartersville etc.
- FORD is relatively productive, making up names of places originally situated near/around/along
a ford; e.g. Abbotsford, Ashford, Battleford, Bedford, Bradford, Battesford, Bayford, Cainsford,
Crawford etc.
The suffixes mentioned above are very productive in the formation of place names (except - SON),
but the list is much longer. This is not the place to have this subject extensively discussed, but some
other potent suffixes can be mentioned, e.g. - bury, - bridge, - crook, - hill, - port, - well, - wood, view etc.
2.3. Common noun forming suffixes
- ER/OR/AR [verb + (-er/or/ar)], denoting the doer of the action designated by the base, e.g.
learn/er, command/er, write/r, stop/per, dig/ger, sing/er, sail/er (=the ship) etc.; act/or, sail/or,
direct/or; beg/gar etc.
- [noun + (-er)], to denote the class of individuals professionally connected with what is
expresssed by the nominal base, e.g. bottle/r, neddle/r, jewel/ler, glove/r, tile/r, garden/er, rope/r,
girdle/r etc.
[proper/common noun + (-er)] to denote the inhabitant of the place the noun base denotes,
e.g. London/er, New-Zealand/er, Dublin/er, New-York/er, cottage/r, village/r, island/er,
highland/er, southern/er, mid-eastern/er, western/er etc.
- EER [noun +(-eer)] to denote someone/something connected to the noun base; the nature of the
connection is occupational, e.g. pamphlet/eer, basket/eer, profit/eer, vacation/eer, racket/eer,
auction/eer etc.
- EE [transitive verbs that take animate direct object nouns + (-ee)], the resulting noun denotes
the person who suffers the action designated by the base verb, e.g. employ/ee, assign/ee, grant/ee,
refer/ee, trust/ee, transfer/ee, nomin/ee, divorc/ee, train/ee, evacu/ee etc.
- ANT/ENT [verb + (-ant/ent)]; it makes up nouns denoting objects/persons who perform the
action designated by the base verb, e.g. attend/ant, defend/ant, contamin/ant, depend/ant, resid/ent,
solv/ent, adher/ent, oppon/ent, refer/ent etc.
- ISM [proper/common noun + (-ism)]; the resulting nouns denote a system, a principle, a
doctrine, e.g. Calvin/ism, Aristotel/ism, Platon/ism, Euphu/ism, Petrarch/ism, Lenin/ism,
Gibbon/ism, pagan/ism, expression/ism, ego/ism, protestant/ism, impression/ism, favourit/ism,
behaviour/ism, defet/ism, hero/ism etc.
17

- IST [noun + (ist)] attached to other nouns, this suffix produces nouns denoting professions; it is
very productive in Modern English and usually attaches to Latin and Greek bases, e.g.
anatomy/anatomist, alchemy/ alchimist, archeology/archeologist, botany/botanist, caricature/
caricaturist, cartoon/cartoonist, economy/economist, physics/physicist, psychiatry/psychiatrist,
piano/pianist, parachute/parachutist etc.
- ATION (and its allomorphs: - ITION, -UTION, - TION, -ION) attaches to verb bases producing
deverbal abstract nouns. The attachment of this suffix, and its allomorphs, requires a lot of
adjustments of the nouns, which are of no concern here, e.g. edify/edification, certify/certification,
pacify/pacification, simplify/simplification, organise/organisation, authorise/authorisation,
civilise/civilisation, contemplate/contemplation, modulate/modulation, translate/translation,
situate/situation, saturate/saturation, educate/education accuse/accusation, inform/information,
derive/derivation,
consume/consumption,
presume/presumption,
assume/assumption,
deduce/deduction,
seduce/seduction,
introduce/
introduction,,
conceive/conception,
perceive/perception, deceive/deception, receive/reception, describe/description, prescribe/
prescription, redeem/redemption, absorb/absorption, destroy/ destruction, add/addition,
compete/competition, define/definition, imbibe/imbibition, revolve/revolution, dissolve/ dissolution,
resolve/resolution, solve/solution; concede/ concession, prevent/prevention, revise/revision,
percuss/percussion, etc.
- MENT, closely rivals -ATION. It usually attaches to Romance or native verb bases to make up
abstract nouns meaning: act of X- ing, concrete place connected with X, e.g. achieve/achievement,
advance/advancement, appoint/appointment, commence/commencement, assess/assessment,
manage/management, treat/treatment, amuse/amusement, assort/assortment, engage/ engagement,
amaze/amazement, settle/settlement etc.
NOTE: not all words ending in -MENT are derivatives, e.g. element, monument, garment regiment,
ferment, torment, sediment, segment; some of these words can be both nouns and verbs.
- AL attaches to Romance and native verb bases, producing abstract nouns, e.g. arrive/arrival,
acquit/acquittal, deny/denial, remove/removal, try/trial, dispose/disposal, revive/revival, refuse/
refusal, recite/recital, survive/survival, approve/approval, propose/ proposal, betray/betrayal etc.
- NESS is very productive in Mod. English and usually attaches to:
[adj. + (-ness)], e.g. bitter/bitterness, bright/brightness, clean/ness, cool/coolness,
good/goodness, greedy/greediness, hard/hardness, idle/idleness, thick/thickness, big/bigness,
dull/ dullness, common/commonness, kind/kindness etc.
[complex adj. + (ness)] e.g. wrongheaded/wrongheadedness, levelheaded/levelheadedness,
kindhearted/kindheartedness, shortsighted/shortsightedness, straightforward/straightforwardness etc.
[participial adj. + (-ness)], e.g. drunken/drunkenness, ashamed/ashamedness, devoted/
devotedness, unexpected/unexpectedness, loving/lovingness, knowing/knowingness, etc.
- ITY [adjective + (-ity)] generates nouns meaning: state or quality characterized by X; because
this suffix frequently modifies the base stress pattern it is less productive than NESS. The suffix ITY attaches to adjectives ending in -able, -ic, -al, -ous as well as to a large variety of others, e.g.
implacable/implaccability, capable/capability, respectable/respectability, agreeable/agreeability,
invincible/invincibility, compatible/compatibility, accountable/ accountability, eccentric
/eccentricity, authentic/authenticity, electric/electricity, elastic/elasticity, public/publicity,
fatal/fatality, brutal/brutality, casual/casualty, technical/technicality, formal/formality original/
originality etc.
The attachment of the suffix triggers stress and pronunciation changes in the following words,
e.g. curious/curiosity, fabulous/fabulosity, various/variety, simultaneous/ simultaneity,
atrocious/atrocity, credulous/credulity; profane/profanity, verbose/verbosity, sterile/ sterility,
obese/obesity, serene/serenity, profound/profundity etc.
- DOM [common nouns + (-dom)] makes up abstract nouns starting from concrete ones, e.g.
king/kingdom, sheriff/sheriffdom, rebel/rebeldom, spinster/spinsterdom, savage/savagedom,
beggar/ beggardom, duke/dukedom, saint/saintdom, scholar/scholardom etc.
18

- HOOD [common nouns + (-hood)], with the meaning state characterized by X; e.g.
child/childhood, priest/priesthood (preoie), man/manhood, boy/boyhood, baby babyhood,
maiden/maidenhood, widow/widowhood, neighbour/ neighbourhood, monk/monkhood, woman/
womanhood etc. while some of the - HOOD nouns have developed a second meaning, group of
people characterized by X, brother/brotherhood, priest/priesthood (preoime), maiden/maidenhood,
sister/sisterhood etc.
- SHIP [common nouns + (-ship)] produces abstract nouns denoting status or condition
characterized by X, e.g. friend/friendship, champion/championship, kin/kinship, lord/lordship,
companion/companionship, member/membership, doctor/doctorship, craftsman/craftsmanship etc.
-ERY, and its allomorphs -ry, -y, triggered by the final consonant (t/d/n) apply to nominal bases,
generating a variety of meanings, e.g. place of activity, behaviour characteristic of X, group of
people of X, e.g. swan/swannery, hen/hennery, rabbit/rabbitry, pigeon/pigeonry, nun/nunnery,
baker/ bakery, grocer/grocery, brewer/brewery; bigot/bigotry, snob/snobbery, slave/slavery,
devil/devilry,
savage/savagery,
pedant/pedantry;
weapon/weaponry,
jewel/jewellry,
machine/machinery, pot/ pottery, peasant/peasantry etc.
- ANCE and its allomorph, -ence, attaches to verbs, producing nouns denoting processes, e.g.
continue/continuance, appear/appearance, clear/clearance, assist/assistance, inherit/inheritance,
accept/ acceptance; prefer/preference, confer/conference etc.
The above mentioned suffixes are by no means the only noun-forming suffixes in English, but are,
most assuredly, the most important through their productivity in Modern English.
END OF THE OPTIONAL PART
3. Compounds
Compound nouns play an important role in English today because of their large number in the
contemporary language; they can be divided into several classes, according to various criteria, e.g.
Transparency of meaning (transparent, non-transparent)
Constituting elements (structure, i.e. noun + noun, verb + an adverbial particle or
preposition, adjective + noun, pronoun + noun etc.)
Spelling (one word, two words, hyphenated); this criterion is not identically observed in all
varieties of English;
Direct compounds or conversions of already compound verbs or adjectives etc.
Examples: armchair, blackboard, butterfly, blackmail, drive-in, blackout, passer-by, man servant,
woman servant, self-confidence, mother-in-law, father-in-law etc., step-mother, editor-in-chief, hewolf, she-wolf, tomcat, pussycat, boy friend, girl friend etc.
4. Nouns obtained by other means of word-formation, e.g. UNO (unidentified flying objects), VIP
(very important person), exam (<examination), Jap (< Japanese), strength (< strong), length (<
long) etc.
According to other criteria, nouns can be:
proper and common, e.g. John, Thomas, William, England, Romania, the Alps, the Danube, or
mountain, boy, electricity, development, reading, pronunciation, x-rays, book, carry-on etc.
concrete and abstract, e.g. book, girl, car, engine, airport, soup, radio, elephant, or beauty,
development, sincerity, poverty, tolerance, arrival, neighbourhood, relationship etc.
countable and uncountable/mass, e.g. table/s, chair/s, woman/ women, work/s, wife/wives, or
bread, advice, information, coffee, sugar, luggage, knowledge, hair etc.

19

2.4. Grammatical categories of nouns

It is in the tradition of English teaching to identify 3 main morphological categories a noun can
have, i.e. number, gender and case, although gender and case very weakly represented in modern
English.

2.5. Number
Definition - the form which a noun takes in order to show that we refer to ONE or MORE
representatives of a class of notions is called number of nouns; the two forms are called singular
when the noun renders a single noun and plural when the noun assumes a form that shows more
than one element (this interpretation is not always perfect, but seems to be the most acceptable for
now).
Number in English is closely associated with the concept of countability. Nouns fall, mainly, under
two classes commonly referred to as countable and uncountable, or count nouns/mass nouns. The
chief grammatical differences are that the uncountable ones generally have no plural form (*butters,
*oils, *breads, *informations ) and they cannot take the indefinite article a/an (*a butter, *an oil,
*a bread, *an information), while countable can (a cat, a dog, an egg). The uncountable nouns can
take some/any/etc. or phrases denoting quantity, e.g. Would you like some bread? It is, however,
possible to 'switch' countable nouns into uncountable and vice versa. We can say Would you like
some giraffe? to people who eat giraffe, or A petrol I like very much is Brand X. Countable nouns
may be treated as uncountable if they are regarded as food, and uncountable as countable when the
meaning is 'a kind of...' But the semantics alone is not enough; some words belong to both classes,
e.g. cake: Would you like a cake? Would you like some cake?
According to the category of number Leon Levitchi found that nouns can be classified as:
Individual nouns: a) individual nouns proper; b) defective individual nouns.
Unique nouns: a) proper noun equivalents; b) nouns of material; c) abstract nouns considered as
'unique'.
Collective nouns: a) collective nouns proper; b) nouns of multitude; c) individual nouns of
multitude.
2.5.1. Individual nouns proper
The nouns in this class have both a singular and a plural form; the plural form is mostly regular
although there is a large range of irregular forms as well (*all these forms will be given below);
they agree in number with the verb, i.e. the singular form takes a verb in the singular while the
plural noun takes a plural verb; they can be modified by adjectives or other nouns, and can take
determiners like: the indefinite article, indefinite adjectives etc., e.g.
The boy is hungry/Boys are hungry;
The book shelves are empty;
2.5.1.1. Regular plurals

The plural of regular nouns is made up by adding the inflectional suffix -s to the singular:
book/books, bag/bags, chin/chins, dog/dogs door/doors, reporter/reporters experience/
experiences, example/ examples, waiter/waiters, discussion/discussions, house/houses etc.

20

Nouns ending in a sibilant, i.e. -s, -ss, -z, -zz, -sh, (t)ch, -x form the plural by adding -es
[iz]: bus/buses, glass/glasses, buzz/ buzzes, bush/bushes, church/churches, box/boxes;

A number of nouns ending in -o form the plural by adding -es, e.g. tomato/tomatoes,
potato/potatoes, hero/heroes, mosquito/ mosquitoes, negro/negroes, volcano/volcanoes etc.,
but piano/ pianos, radio/radios, photo/photos, kilo/kilos, soprano/sopranos casino/casinos,
cuckoo/cuckoos, embryo/embryos, kangaroo/ kangaroos, studio/studios etc. add only an -s.
Actually, nouns ending in -o have become regular in American English and there is a similar
tendency in British English, although this fact has not been formally accepted yet.

Nouns ending in -y preceded by a consonant [consonant + (-y)] or those ending in quy

form the plural by dropping the -y and adding -ies, e.g. country/countries, city/cities,
lady/ladies, baby/babies, candy/candies, soliloquy/soliloquies, colloquy/ colloquies etc.

Nouns ending in -y preceded by a vowel [vowel + (-y)] form the plural by adding -s, e.g.
boy /boys, day/days, guy/guys, donkey/ donkeys, play/plays, toy/toys etc.

Several nouns ending in -f or -fe drop the final -f or -fe and add -ves. These nouns are:
calf/calves, half/halves, knife/knives, leaf/leaves, life/lives, loaf/loaves, self/selves,
sheaf/sheaves, shelf/shelves, thief/thieves, wife/wives, wolf/wolves, elf/elves. Exception:
still life still lifes.

The nouns hoof, scarf, and warf take either -s or -ves

hoof//hoofs/hooves, scarf//scarfs/scarves, warf/ /warfs/ warves;

other nouns ending in -f or -fe add -s in the ordinary way: cliff/cliffs, roof/roofs, safe/
safes, handkerchief/handkerchiefs, etc.

in the plural, i.e.

The word house/s has an irregular pronunciation in the plural, i.e. [hauziz].
2.5.1.2. Irregular plurals
:
There are nouns that form their plural by vowel change, e.g. man/men; woman/women, foot/feet,
tooth/teeth, goose/geese, louse/lice, mouse/mice; child/children, ox/oxen, titmouse/titmice,
dormouse/dormice, but mongoose/ mongooses
The plural of some words which retain their original Greek or Latin forms preserve the original
forms (according to the rules of Greek or Latin) e.g.
-sis > -ses, pronounced [sis/si:z] e.g. analysis/analyses, axis/axes, crisis/crises, basis/bases,
diagnosis/diagnoses, oasis/oases, paranthesis/parantheses, synthesis/syntheses, thesis/theses,
ellipsis/ellipses etc.
-um > -a, e.g. agendum/agenda, erratum/errata, memorandum/memoranda, sanatorium/
sanatoria/sanatoriums, symposium/symposia, aquarium/aquaria, bacterium/ bacteria, datum/
data, mausoleum/mausolea/mausoleums, spectrum/spectra/spectrums, stadium/stadia/ stadiums,
stratum/ strata etc.
-us > -i, e.g. terminus/termini, bronchus/bronchi, focus/foci, radius/radii, cactus/cacti, fungus/
fungi, bacillus/bacilli, nucleus/nuclei etc.
a > -ae, e.g. formula/formulae, alga/algae, larva/larvae etc.
-non > a, e.g. phenomenon/phenomena, criterion/criteria;
Some Latin nouns may observe both the Latin and the English rules, the Latin forms being
preferred by scientists and educated people in general while the English ones are used in current
speech: dogma/dogmae/dogmas, formula/formulae/formulas, gymnasium/gymnasia/gymnasiums,
stadium/stadiums etc.
21

Nouns can have two different plurals with different meanings, e.g. appendix/appendixes/
appendices (medical term), index/indexes (in books)/indices (in mathematics) etc.
There is quite a large number of nouns (not necessarily of Latin origin) which have double plural
forms implying change of meaning (Levichi, 1970: 30)), e.g.
Singular

Plural

ashes - cenu
brothers - frai (n familie)
brethren - frai (n comunitate)
casualty - rnit
casualties - pierderi (rnii, mori)
cloth
stof, material
cloths - stofe, materiale
clothes - haine, mbrcminte
colour - culoare
colours - culori
- vopsele, culori
- drapel
compass - busol
compasses - busole
- compas
content - coninut/cuprins
contents - coninuturi/cuprinsuri
- coninut/capacitate
- coninuturi/capaciti
- (no pl.) coninut (nu form)
custom - obicei, datin
customs - obiceiuri, datini
- vam; taxe vamale
direction - direcie
directions - direcii;
- directive
due - (no pl.) cele cuvenite
dues - taxe, impozite
- cotizaii
element- element
elements - elemente
- elemente = stihii
- rudimente, baze
facility- (no pl.) uurin, facilitate facilities - faciliti = condiii favorabile
faciliti = aparatur, echipament
genius - geniu
geniuses - genii (acelai sens)
(persoan superdotat)
genii - genii (= duhuri)
ground - (no pl.) pmnt, sol; teren grounds - grdin, parc (n jurul casei)
- za, drojdii, sedimente
- motive = cauze; temei
honour - onoare, cinste (no pl.) honours - onoruri
minute - minut
minutes - minute
- proces verbal
moral - moral (a unei fabule etc.) morals - moravuri, moralitate
regard - (no pl.) consideraie, stim regards - complimente
respect - (no pl.) stim, respect, respects - salutri, omagii, consideraie
ash - (no pl.) scrum
brother - frate

and more.
2.5.1.3. The plural of compound nouns
There is a general rule according to which the last word in a compound is made plural if it is a noun
and carrying the main idea, e.g.

22

noun + noun, e.g. boy - friend/boy - friends, travel - agent/travel - agents, cow-elephant/
cow-elephants, bookstore/bookstores etc.
the first noun is made plural in compounds consisting of noun + preposition + noun, e.g.
lady-in-waiting/ladies-in-waiting, editor-in-chief/editors-in-chief, sister-in-law/sisters-inlaw, brother-in-law/ brothers-in-law, ward-of-court/wards-of-court etc.
the first word is made plural in compounds made up of verb + (- er) nouns + adverbial
particles, e.g. passer-by/passers-by, hanger-on/hangers-on, looker-on/lookers-on, runnerup/runners-up etc.
a verb (without nominal ending ) + adverbial particle nouns get the inflectional suffix at
the very end, e.g. take-off/take-offs, break-in/break-ins etc.
compound nouns that have no nouns in their structure get the - s at the very end, e.g.
merry-go-round/merry-go-rounds, forget-me-not/forget-me-nots etc.
in compounds consisting of man/woman + noun both elements are made plural, e.g. man
servant/men servants, woman servant/women servants, man driver/men drivers, woman
driver/ women drivers etc.

2.5.2. Defective individual nouns

Defective individual nouns are always plural and take a plural verb; they usually denote
garments consisting of two parts e.g. breeches, pants, pyjamas, trousers, shorts or tools and
instruments also consisting of two parts, e.g. binoculars, glasses, pliers, scales, scissors, shears,
spectacles, compasses, tongs etc., e.g.
Where are my glasses?
Your binoculars are broken;
But we can also say:
I bought a very nice pair of spectacles for Mary yesterday;
We need a new pair of compasses;
There are some nouns denoting parts of the body, e.g. bowels, whiskers, entrails, sinews which
take a plural verb and plural determiners; these nouns cannot be used as singulars.
There are also other words like: arms, damages, earnings, goods/wares, greens, grounds,
outskirts, pains, particulars, premises/ quarters, riches, savings, stairs, surroundings, valuables,
spirits whose form in - s has a completely different meaning from the form without - s (the stem
can be a noun, an adjective, or a present participle; that is why the use of the term plural has been
avoided); some of the words mentioned above do not even have an un-sed form; they take a plural
verb and plural determiners, e.g.
These stairs are dirty again;
Our valuables are in the safe etc.
The noun news is plural in form but can only take a verb in the singular, and the accepted predeterminers are in the singular or indefinite, e.g.
The news is good;
Some news is better not told.
The nouns means (mijloc, mijloace), series (serie, serii) and species (specie specii) are always
plural in form but can be used with a singular or a plural verb according to the speakers wish.
They can be used with singular, plural or indefinite pre-determiners, e.g.
Their means of solving the problem was not the best one can think of.
Some modern means of preventing tuberculosis are really very efficient.
23

A series of lectures will be delivered by a famous professor starting tomorrow.

There is a species of big cats/felines which is almost extinct.
The noun money has only a singular form and can take only a singular verb; money is replaced
by the pronoun it; it can take determiners in the singular and also some, any e.g.
This is my money, it is not yours;
Mary needs some money etc.
2.5.3. Proper noun equivalents
These nouns have only the singular number and denote individualized or unique objects; they are
much like any other proper nouns but
these common nouns coincide with the proper names of the objects themselves, e.g. the earth, the
sun, the moon, the east, the west, the south, the north, nature, heaven, hell, paradise;
names of languages, e.g. English, French, German, Romanian, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, etc.
These nouns cannot be used generically, i.e. to represent a class of objects; many of them are used
with a definite article. Sometimes, for stylistic reasons, they can be used with an
(indefinite/definite) article + adjective, e.g. a burning hot sun was shining....; a full moon
appeared from behind the trees; his life was the most insufferable hell etc. Some of these nouns
can, accidentally, be used in the plural, a fact that brings about a slight change in meaning, e.g.
There are many suns in the universe.
2.5.4. Nouns of materials
The nouns in this class denote materials and substances and they are usually mass nouns, e.g.
bread, beer, cloth, coffee, cream, dust, gin, glass, gold, ice, jam, oil, paper, sand, soap, stone, tea,
water, wine, wood etc.; they take a singular verb and they are not normally used with the indefinite
article a/an; we can say, however, e.g. two coffees, please (= two cups of coffee), he had three
beers (= three glasses of beer/three cans of beer). If you want to be more specific, you can use
words such as, e.g. loaf, slice, cup, cake, bar, piece, jar, spoonful, can, glass, bottle, kilo, pound
etc. But we can only say
His house is made of fine wood; (material)
Japanese houses are usually made of paper; (material)
That is a building made of steel and glass etc.(material)
Look below for other examples, e.g.
a loaf/slice of bread,
a piece of toast
a pound of pork/beef/mutton
a glass/pint/crate of beer
a bar of chocolate
a lump/a pound of sugar,
a pinch of salt
a whiff of garlic
a piece of evidence,
etc.
That piece of information was definitely incorrect;
My mother has bought a very expensive piece of furniture etc.

24

Certain nouns of material have two different meanings of which one can have a plural form, e.g.
glass (material) - uncountable, but glass (= pahar)/glasses, paper (material - uncountable, but
paper/papers (= newspaper)/newspapers, steel (= material) - uncountable, but steel/steels
(varieties of ~), iron (= material )/irons (= fieruri de clcat) etc.
A few nouns of materials have only the plural form and take a plural verb, e.g.victuals, dregs,
sweepings, spirits etc.
2.5.5. Abstract nouns considered as unique
Nouns in this category only have the singular form, although there are situations when they are
used in the plural, but then their abstract character is less obvious, e.g. ...his comings and goings,
Shakespeare's writings etc. The nouns in this class can be grouped as follows, e.g.

actions and states, e.g. reading, expectation, course, writing etc. that can be used in the plural,
e.g.
Our expectations have been met etc.

qualities, e.g. readiness, timeliness, neighbourhood, childhood, friendliness, strength, length,

width, depth, truth, etc.; these nouns are only used in the singular with a verb in the singular,
e.g.
The truth is that I didn't know about their marriage etc.

philosophical and aesthetical categories, e.g. philosophy, history, music, literature, the new,
the old, the beautiful, the infinite, the sublime, the fantastic, the grotesque; these nouns are
always used in the singular and take a verb in the singular, e.g.
The beautiful is one of the most important aesthetic categories;
The infinite is difficult to understand etc.

feelings, e.g. love, hatred, pity, desire, mercy, courage, death, fear, hope, relief, suspicion;
they are always used in the singular and take a singular verb, e.g.
Love is the noblest feeling in the world etc.

doctrines, schools, currents, games, e.g. chess, tennis, football, basketball, rugby, handball,
cricket, backgammon, illuminism, classicism, socialism, capitalism, nationalism,
Renaissance, Romaticism, etc. One should not forget that -ism is pronounced [-izm]. E.g..
Football is an interesting game but rugby requires more strength;
Nationalism is not always good;

other categories, e.g. wealth, poverty, childhood, age, philosophy, history, music, literature,
art, white, read, yellow, chess, tennis, football etc., e.g.
Yellow is my favourite colour;
Old age is never pleasant;
Football is the most widespread team game in the world;

The following abstract nouns are considered uncountable in English, e.g. advice, news,
information, knowledge, baggage, luggage, furniture, hair; they take a verb in the singular
and cannot be used with an indefinite article, though with some/any can; if the speaker wants to
show very specifically that he means only one item of the respective nouns, he can use one
piece of, one item of, etc., e.g.

25

Hair (all the hair on ones head) is considered uncountable, but if we consider each hair separately,
we can say one hair, two hairs etc., e.g.
Her hair is black; whenever she finds a grey hair she pulls it out;
Certain nouns can be countable when used in a particular sense, e.g.
experience meaning something which happened to someone is countable, e.g. He had an
exciting experience/some exciting experiences;
work meaning - occupation/employment/a job/jobs is uncountable, e.g. He is looking for
work, while
works can mean factory, moving parts of a machine, or can refer to literary or musical
compositions, e.g. Shakespeares complete works were published by one of the most
famous publishing houses in England.
help can be countable in: My children are a great help to me; A good map would be a great
help.
relief is also countable in: It was a relief to sit down.
knowledge in: He had a good knowledge of mathematics.
Similarly, a mercy/pity/shame/wonder introduced by it can be used with that-clauses/an
infinitive, e.g.
It is a pity (that) you were not here;
Its a shame (that) he was not paid,
It would be a pity to cut down these trees;
A fear/fears, a hope/hopes, a suspicion/suspicions introduced by there can be used with a thatclause, e.g.
There is a fear/There are fears that he has been murdered;
We can also have a suspicion that etc.

names of sciences - a number of words ending in -ics and denoting names of sciences are plural
in form and usually take a plural verb, but a singular verb is also possible, e.g.
His mathematics is/are weak;
In our country physics is/are taught only in middle and high school;

names of diseases and games - in spite of the plural form, these nouns take only a verb in the
singular, e.g. measles, mumps, rickets; billiards, marbles, draughts, skittles etc., e.g.
Measles is a contagious disease;
Mumps is more dangerous in adults than in children;

2.5.6. Collective nouns proper

Collective nouns proper e.g. crew, family, team, jury, government, committee, club, corporation,
ministry, majority, mankind etc. are all nouns denoting a group of people, therefore, semantically
they are plurals (and take a plural verb) although in point of grammar they are singulars (and can
take a singular verb). They are used as collective nouns, taking a verb in the plural, when the
speaker wants to point out that every member of the group has performed a certain action, or the
speaker can decide to use a verb in the singular if he is not interested in that emphasis; so, it can be
said:
26

The jury are considering their verdict or

The jury is considering its verdict and the meaning is just the same.
However, there are rare instances when the word is clearly used to mean a single group or unit and
then the verb should be in the singular, e.g.
Our team is the best;
Their family consists of 4 persons etc.
Our team are wearing their new jerseys;
The committee have decided to support us (each and every member).
The nouns in this class can be preceded by possessive adjectives or demonstrative adjectives in the
singular only, e.g.
Her family were away;
That government was denied the right to rule the country any longer etc.
These same nouns can function as regular countable nouns, e.g. crew/crews, family/families,
team/teams, jury/juries, government/ governments etc., taking a verb in the singular or in the plural
as required, e.g.
Mr. Browns family is large but our families are even larger;
The government of our country has decided to join the EU and is taking the adequate
measures;
The post-war governments were engaged in a cold war that lasted for decades;
People, animals or things are taken as collective nouns by words with a restrictive usage, e.g.
a panel of experts
a troupe of dancers
a staff of teachers
a bevy of girls
a company of actors
a gang of thieves
2.5.7. Nouns of multitude
Nouns of multitude are a variety of the collective nouns, the former being rather inconsistent as far
as their characteristics are concerned; the most frequent are: people, gentry, folk, poultry, the
military, police, clergy, foot (infantry), vermin, cattle; the common characteristic is that all take
exclusively a verb in the plural; BUT while people, folk, poultry can take some, demonstratives in
the plural and numerals, others, like military, police, clergy or foot cannot, e.g.
Some/Five/These people are waiting in the other room, but we cannot say
* Thirty police are following the thief. Instead, we must say
Thirty policemen are following the thief;
We can say
Some folk are very inquisitive but we cannot say
*Some police are doing their jobs etc.

27

Names of peoples as the English, the French, the Swiss, the Japanese, the Chinese, the Spanish,
the Dutch and any such names ending in -ss, -(t)ch, -ese take a plural verb e.g.
The English have won the match;
The French like red wine and cheese etc.
2.5.8. Individual nouns of multitude
Individual nouns of multitude are, in fact, nouns denoting various creatures, e.g.
Deer, sheep never change and take either a singular or a plural verb.
They saw three deer in the Nottingham forest.
A sheep was grazing on the meadow.
They bought ten sheep and a cow.
Fish, carp, cod, mackerel, pike, plaice, salmon, squid, trout etc. normally take a singular verb.
These nouns do not change in the plural but if used in a plural sense they would take a plural verb;
they can take numerals and the verb form is dictated by the determiners, if there are any, e.g.
Mary has bought three trout;
My friend has sold ten sheep;
John caught ten salmon yesterday;
There are some nouns denoting varieties of fish that can be used in the plural form and would
take a plural verb, e.g. crabs, eels, herrings, lobsters, sardines, sharks.
The noun game, used by sportsmen to mean an animal/animals hunted, is always in the singular,
takes a singular verb and indefinite pre-determiners. Nouns like duck, partridge, pheasant etc.
have a dual functioning, sportsmen use them in the singular form, meaning both a singular and a
plural, while other people would normally add an -s for the plural and use either a singular or a
plural verb, depending on the form chosen.

2.6. Gender
In an inflected language, GENDER is a grammatical category of nouns; usually masculine,
feminine and neuter they are declined in accordance with the corresponding declension patterns of
the respective language (see any of the Romance languages, German, Slavic languages etc.). In such
a language articles and adjectives are also inflected and agree in number, gender and case with the
noun they modify. Therefore, in an inflected language it is important to know whether a noun
belongs to any of the grammatical genders in order to attach to it the modifiers in the corresponding
form (see Romanian, e.g. cas frumoas, biat frumos, scaun frumos etc.)
English is an analytical language, i.e. one in which the relations among words are mainly based on
the use of prepositions, auxiliary verbs, word order etc. and very little on changing the basic form of
the words. If the category of number is strongly represented in nouns, that of gender is
grammatically absent because nouns in English cannot be classified in terms of agreement with
articles, adjectives or even verbs (Palmer, F. idem) - articles and adjectives are invariable as far as
gender is concerned. According to Frank Palmer, treating English nouns in terms characteristic of
Latin only because that is the type of grammar mostly accepted in European linguistics is a mistake,
on the one hand, and a grave distortion of the English.

28

In conclusion, when discussing English gender (another term is needed, but sex is not acceptable
and another one has not yet been invented), readers should be warned that the term is used to mean
reference to biological sex and not to the abstract grammatical category. Modern linguists suggest
that English nouns should be divided into two large classes:
animate - within this class, according to their natural sex, nouns can denote males and females,
usually referred to as he or she (though it is sometimes possible);
inanimate - i.e. nouns denoting things, abstractions, natural phenomena, feelings, actions, states,
qualities etc.
Within the class of animate nouns male and female are rendered by a variety of means, e.g.
pairs of distinct words (not instances of derivation), e.g. bachelor/spinster, boy/girl,
brother/sister, bull/cow, cock/hen, daddy/mammy, dog/bitch, drake/duck, earl/countess,
father/ mother, gander/goose, fox/vixen, stallion/mare, king/queen, husband/wife, lord/lady,
man/woman, master/mistress, monk/nun, nephew/niece, ox/cow, ram/ewe, son/daughter,
uncle/aunt, wizard/witch etc.
suffixation, from nouns denoting male creatures, e.g. actor/ actress, baron/baroness,
emperor/empress, heir/heiress, tiger/ tigress, host/hostess, lion/lioness, prince/princess,
steward/
stewardess,
waiter/waitress,
hero/heroine,
administrator/administratrix,
sultan/sultana etc.
using different words that clearly state the sex of the key noun, e.g. man/woman, preceding
or following the key noun, man/maid, lord/lady, boy/girl, cock/hen, bull/cow etc. can be used
to make up compounds whose gender is clearly stated; male and female are very general in use
and can be chosen whenever we do not know what other word to choose to distinguish a female
creature from the male one, e.g. man servant/woman servant, man character/woman
character, (man) teacher/woman teacher. Man/ woman/lady in front position, however, are
not very common in distinguishing the sexes of the nouns denoting professions because this
distinction is either irrelevant in the context or, if necessary, it can be done by using the personal
pronoun, possessive adjectives or pronouns or various other lexical means, e.g. My English
teacher is a very special person - the sex is not stated, but the speaker might continue: She is a
real professional - this time the sex has been stated, or It is a she who etc.
There are lots of nouns denoting professions and various other notions which have only one form
for both sexes, the distinction being made in the context, e.g. architect, artist, associate, author,
beginner, buyer, child, client, companion, owner, painter, photographer, physician, physicist,
manager, passenger, philosopher, physiologist, pilot, player, worker, writer etc. In final position,
however, man/woman/person are usually interchangeable and necessary to state the profession and
the sex of the person performing it. Such nouns denoted initially male persons, but, in the course of
time the term for the other sex appeared necessary, e.g. gentleman/gentlewoman, policeman/
policewoman,
salesman/
saleswoman,
milkman/milkwoman,
chairman/chairwoman/
chairperson, barman/barmaid, landlord/landlady, boyfriend/girlfriend (=lover/sweetheart),
schoolboy/schoolgirl etc.
Birds and animals can be distinguished, by specific words (cock/hen, bull/cow etc.) e.g. cocksparrow/hen-sparrow, cock-bird/hen-bird, bull camel/cow camel, bull elephant/cow elephant, and
also male or female bird or animal.

proper nouns and the personal pronoun he/she are sometimes used to distinguish sex in
animals, e.g. tomcat, Tomcat/pussycat, Pussycat, Billy goat/Nanny goat etc., he wolf/she wolf,
he parrot/she parrot, he bear/she bear, he eagle/she eagle; the terms male and female can also
do the trick.

29

For animals and birds there is a common gender noun that is used as the name of the species and
also two distinct names for the two biological sexes, e.g.
Common gender
male animal
female
bear
cat
cattle
deer
dog
duck
elephant
fox
fowl
goat
goose
horse
lion
pig
sheep
tiger

he-bear
tomcat
bull
buck
dog
drake
bull-elephant
fox
cock
he-goat
Billy-goat
gander
stallion
lion
boar
ram
tiger

she-bear
pussycat
cow
doe
bitch
duck
cow-elephant
vixen
hen
she-goat
Nanny-goat
goose
mare
lioness
sow
ewe
tigress

2.6.1. Sex and gender determiners

Nouns denoting beings other than man are either masculine or feminine, when their sex is expressed
by pairs of antonyms (see above). Nouns denoting beings other than man and having no gender
antonyms are generally treated as objects and are therefore replaceable by it. This happens
particularly when no special attention is given to them, when it is considered unnecessary to specify
their sex, when the animals are very small, or when their sex is unknown. Special attention should
be paid to pet animals, animals presented as characters in fables etc. because they are treated either
as masculine or feminine, e.g.

or

Soon a little folk of sparrows and other small birds assembled to feed as usual. One of them
sat on the edge of the tray and was just going to hop in, when she spied the caterpillar.
(John Lubbock, The Beauties of Nature).
The brave little insect never remained there, she came out in the search of her friends (ibid.);
The fox had only thin soup to eat, and he put it in a flat soup-plate.
The crane was a tall bird. She had a long neck and a long bill, so she could not eat from a
soup-plate (Stories about Insects and Birds);

Such examples point to the importance of context in order to establish both the gender of the noun
and the speakers attitude towards the animal etc. which it denotes. In their dictionary state, these
nouns resemble nouns in the inanimate class; it is important to notice that sometimes the gender of
nouns is determined by subjective criteria, such as the speakers attitude of love, depreciation,
indifference etc. not only by objective ones (real sex).
Personification can affect a large variety of inanimate nouns, and, consequently, these nouns take
sex-marked determiners (his/her, him/her) and the Saxon genitive, e.g. ships (vessels of any kind)
and cars are generally feminine and take feminine determiners; train and plane are occasionally
feminine etc.

30

2.7. Case
Like in all languages the case expresses a relation between certain parts of speech but the
category of the case has acquired specific characteristics in English.
2.7.1. The nominative
The nominative is the basic form of the noun, and syntactically, may discharge the function of:

a subject, e.g.
John/The student has been asked to repeat the question;
The doctors were very busy;
Tom and Jerry are famous cartoon characters etc.

a predicative, e.g.
His son was an extremely good student;
Michaela is a very good teacher etc.;

an apposition, e.g.
Mr Brown, the English teacher, invited all his students to a party;
The adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain s masterpiece, was written in the second
half of the 19th century etc.;

the nominative of address replaces in certain grammars the vocative, e.g. Come in, John!

There are also several constructions with the nominative

the nominative with the infinitive, e.g.

Tom was believed to have escaped disguised as a clown;
He is thought to be hiding in the woods;
He is supposed to be washing the car;
They are believed to have landed in America etc.

This construction is used after:

intransitive verbs: seem, appear, happen, chance, prove, turn out etc., e.g.
He seemed to be happy with his present;
They appeared to like their new house;
declarative verbs in the passive: say, declare, report, announce, assert, proclaim, pronounce,
reveal, suppose, e.g.
The little boy was reported to be missing;
John Williams was declared to be guilty of murder;
after the link verb BE + likely/unlikely, sure, certain, e.g.
31

She is unlikely to arrive tonight;

He is likely to leave tomorrow;
He is sure to finish soon;

the nominative with the present participle, e.g.

They were caught stealing the apples;
She was found writing a letter etc.

In meaning this construction is very similar with the Nominative with the Accusative; the
nominative with the present participle is frequent with verbs that can take the Accusative with the
present participle (see, hear, notice, watch, feel, observe, find, leave, set, catch, send etc.). It
consists of subject + verb in the passive + present participle, e.g.
The girl was seen leaving the house;
The man was found dying;
The boy was caught stealing apples;
She was left crying.

The Absolute Nominative Construction (Gleanu, Comiel, 1992: 199). The absolute
nominative is used when the subject of the construction with the infinitive or participle (present
or past) is different from the subject of the clause containing a predicative verb. The absolute
nominative construction contains in its structure a noun in the nominative and an
infinitive/present or past participle which is in predicative relation with the noun, e.g.
They forwarded the heavy equipment by sea, the perishables to be sent by air;
The original text being too difficult, he asked for a translation;
His hopes attained, he was perfectly happy.

NOTE: the subject of the Absolute Nominative Construction with the present participle may be
anticipated by IT or THERE, e.g.
There being nothing to say, they sat looking at each other.
This construction is used to contract adverbial clauses of time, cause, condition and they are
infrequent in spoken language, but rather frequent in written English.
2.7.2. The genitive or the possessive case
The genitive, or more frequently called the case of possession, or the possessive case expresses a
multitude of relations in English. There are two types of genitive in English, i.e. the synthetic
genitive or Saxon genitive and the analytical one or prepositional as it is usually called. The uses
of the two forms of the genitive are not exclusive; they are sometimes interchangeable although
there are instances when only one can be used, the other form being, normally, unacceptable.
2.7.2.1. Form
The synthetic genitive is marked by an s or only by a () which is attached to the noun/noun
equivalent representing the possessor and is followed by the object possessed; depending on the
form of the noun it is attached to, one or the other of the specific endings is used, e.g.

32

 possessor + the (s) inflection + object possessed is used when there is:
common nouns in the singular e.g. the childs book, my mothers watch; his sons name etc.;
irregular plural nouns, e.g. the mens coats; the womens hairstyle; the childrens parents etc.;
names consisting of several words, e.g. Henry the Eighths wife, the Prince of Waless
helicopter etc.
with compounds, the mark of the genitive being added after the last word, e.g. my brother-inlaws car, the editor-in-chiefs authority etc.;
with abbreviations, e.g. the PMs secretary, the VIPs escort etc.
An apostrophe () is added after:
` nouns in the regular plural, e.g. the boys book, his parents arrival, the wolves habits etc.
classical names ending in -s usually add only an apostrophe (), e.g. Archimedes law,
Sophocles plays, Hercules works, Pythagoras theorem etc.
other names ending in -s can take either an s or only an apostrophe (), e.g. Mr Jones house
or Mr Joness house; Yeats poems or Yeatss poems etc.
NOTES:
attributes of nouns in the genitive are not inflected, e.g. my sister Marys new dress, his friend
Peters contribution to the paper.
the genitive of a group is marked only at the end, e.g.
John and Marys apartment = John and Mary own the same apartment;
Mother and fathers decision = mother and father made the same decision, while
if the object is own separately, the sign of the genitive is added to each of them, e.g.
Johns and Georges cousins = Johns cousins + Georges cousins;
The boys and the girls suits = the boys suits + the girls suits etc.
2.7.2.2. Uses of the synthetic/Saxon genitive
The synthetic genitive is used:

preferentially with several classes of nouns, although the prepositional construction can be
sometimes used alternatively e.g. with common nouns denoting persons; it is not normal,
however, to say *the son of the man when the man s son is easier and clearly renders the
essence of the construction, i.e. the man has a son or that the son belongs to a man; so, we say
the woman s daughter, the aunt s refusal, the teacher s trip to London, a rich man s car etc.
The prepositional construction is preferred when the possessor is followed by a post determiner
(an of-phrase, a relative clause etc.), e.g.
John is the son of the man who came to our house yesterday.

with proper nouns, names of persons, e.g. Jack s son, Henry s brother, Shakespeare s poems,
Washingtons fame, dr. Browns surgery, my daughters new dress etc.
with common or proper nouns denoting animals, e.g. the cats bowl, the horse s shoe, Spot s tail
etc.
with names of countries, especially when the speaker attaches importance/affection to them (=
personification), e.g.
33

Englands sons have always fought for her freedom and welfare etc.
Europes future depends on all its inhabitants.
Taiwans economic development has been astonishing lately.

with nouns denoting chronological divisions, measurements, distances, prices, weight, and the
word worth, e.g. a ten minutes talk, a day s work, yesterday s newspaper, a ten minutes talk,
at ten miles distance, ten pounds worth of ice cream etc.
personification of the nouns denoting vehicles and mechanical things, e.g. ships, trains, cars,
airplanes: the ship s mast, the glider s wings, the train s heating system etc.
in phrases and idioms, e.g. a foot s difference, at a stone s throw, for heaven s sake, for
goodness s sake,
to ones hearts content
to my minds eye
to a hairs breadth
to get ones moneys worth
an old wifes tale

in double genitives (a prepositional genitive and a synthetic one); the original sense of such
structures was selectively used but in Modern English the meaning has extended considerably,
e.g.
He was a friend of Smiths;
Have you read that book of Johns? (slight derogatory attitude) etc.
The double genitive is important because it enables the speaker to make a difference in meaning
between, e.g.
a picture of my mother (= the picture showing my mother) and
a picture of my mothers (= the picture belongs to my mother)
a painting of Rembrantd (= a painting showing Rembrandt) and
a painting of Rembrantds (= one painted by him)
in the implicit genitive: initially, this type of constructions contained a standard synthetic
genitive which, for the sake of simplicity and in order to make the construction shorter
(particularly in written media) has agglutinated to the word preceding it and the apostrophe ()
marking the genitive has been dropped, e.g. the United Nations Organization < the United
Nations Organization, the Students Organization < the Students Organization etc.

names of the owners of some businesses can take a synthetic genitive form, e.g. Sotheby s,
Claridge s etc.; some very well-known shops call themselves by the possessive form and some
drop the apostrophe (), e.g. Foyles, Harrods, Carmens etc.

Omission of the accompanying noun

When a noun has been mentioned previously or when it would be a word like house, office,
church, shop, surgery etc. and particularly when the synthetic genitive is preceded by a preposition
the head noun is usually left out and only the genitive is retained, e.g.

or

Is it your bicycle? No, it is my brothers. (the object was mentioned before, so there is no need
to repeat it);
to go to the bakers (shop), to go to the doctors (surgery), the entrance to Saint James
(church);
They are going to their uncles (house);
Lets go to Anns (house);
We bought it at the greengrocers (shop) etc.
34

2.7.2.3. The analytical/prepositional genitive

It is an alternative form to the synthetic genitive; its form is object possessed + OF + possessor,
e.g. the colour of the fence, the wall of the house, the roof of the house etc. This type of genitive
is used:
when differences in meaning are involved, e.g. a picture of my mother = a picture representing
my mother; a picture of my mother s = a picture belonging to my mother (it is irrelevant what is
in the picture);
when a prepositional phrase or relative clause must be attached to the possessor and the use of
the synthetic genitive would generate confusion, e.g. * This is the boy s book who came
yesterday is incorrect because it means that the book came yesterday, so This is the book of
the boy who came yesterday is the only admissible form etc.
the prepositional form is preferred when the modifying noun phrase is long, e.g. the departure
of the 4.30 train for London and not *the 4.30 train for London s departure which is at least
confusing;
in a partitive genitive, e.g. a cloud of dust, a barrel of beer, a bottle of milk, a glass of water, a
vase of flowers, a litre of oil, a game of cards, a pair of scissors, a pair of shoes, a pair of
trousers etc.
the genitive of gradation which is a synonym of the absolute superlative, e.g. the book of books,
the beauty of all beauties, the king of kings, the prince of princes etc.
NOTE: with inanimate possessors the prepositional genitive may be replaced by attributive
constructions, e.g. the walls of the house = the house walls; the keys of the car = the car keys; the
legs of the table = the table legs etc.
2.7.3. The dative case
The dative is the case which shows towards whom or towards what the action denoted by the
verb is directed and syntactically, discharges the function of an indirect object. The dative is
marked by the prepositions TO and FOR or by strict word order, e.g.
He gave the man a book = he gave a book to the man (the construction is used under certain
conditions);
He made me a sandwich = he made a sandwich for me.
The preposition FOR is used when the action is made in somebody s place/benefit (see above).
The relative interrogative pronoun corresponding to the dative is WHO (the form WHOM theoretically correct - is considered very formal and is never used in spoken language), e.g.
WHO does this car belong to? is perfectly acceptable in English today; the form with the
preposition preceding WHOM is considered formal and rather old fashioned.
*To WHO(m) does this car belong ?
The preposition FOR is used with the following verbs: buy, choose, do, leave, make, order,
reserve, spare, prescribe etc., e.g.
(1) Mother bought her/Mary a nice dress.
(2) Mother bought a pair of shoes for her/Mary.
35

(3) I made him a sandwich.

(4) I made the sandwich for Mary because she was busy packing.
NOTE: - forms 1 and 3 are commonly used, unless the direct object is long or is followed by a post
determiner, a relative clause etc.
Sometimes verbs that usually take a TO indirect object may take a FOR indirect object provided
the user is aware of the difference, e.g. I wrote a letter TO my mother (=for her to receive) and I
wrote a letter FOR my mother (=presumably she has a broken arm and is not able to write the letter
herself = instead of her)
The dative case is used:
after certain intransitive verbs that require a personal indirect object: come, happen, occur,
propose, submit, surrender, yield etc., e.g.
He came to me/my mother;
It never happened to him to meet such a wonderful person;
It occurred to her that he might be just lying to her;
He proposed to her and he never thought that she would refuse him.
after transitive verbs (see page 58/1, 2, 3)
after certain nouns: attitude, cruelty, kindness, surprise etc. The indirect object is introduced by
the preposition TO, e.g.
Her attitude to animals was surprising;
The warriors cruelty to their prisoners was astounding;
It was a surprise to me that the police released the delinquent in a matter of hours;
after certain adjectives that imply comparison: adequate, corresponding, equal, equivalent,
similar, inferior, superior, e.g.
The result was not equal to his effort;
Man is superior to animals;
Johns paper is very similar to Peters;
2.7.3.1. The place of the direct and indirect objects
For the sake of simplicity, and in order to deal with this issue only once, we will consider the order
of the direct object and indirect object at a time, in the following paragraphs.
When the objects are expressed by nouns, the preferred order is VERB+INDIRECT OBJECT +
DIRECT OBJECT, e.g. I gave John/my friend/the man a book. However, if the user wants to
adds a determiner after the direct object, the two objects switch places and the indirect object is
introduced by the preposition TO/FOR, e.g. I gave a book to the man in blue/who came
yesterday/you met two days ago.
Direct and indirect objects expressed by nouns and/or pronouns - table of compatibilities:
I gave the man a book.
I gave a book to the man (in blue).
*I gave him it (unacceptable).
36

I gave it to him.
*I gave the man it (unacceptable).
I gave it to the man.
When the direct object is expressed by a pronoun form, the direct object must come immediately
after the verb and the indirect object is introduced on the second position by the preposition
TO/FOR. According to the place of the direct and indirect objects, verbs fall into 3 main classes:
1) of the type GIVE: deny, hand, lend, offer, pay, read, tell, throw, write, that can be followed by
the direct and indirect objects in either order, depending only on other constraints, e.g.

or

I lent John a lot of money;

I lent a lot of money to one of your best friends.
They offered me a well-paid job;
They offered a well-paid job to one of the immigrants who passed the job interview.

2) of the type ASK (some are double transitive verbs): cost, save, charge, wish etc. that require the
person object (if there is one) on the first position, immediately after the verb, e.g.
I asked (John/them) a lot of questions;
*I asked a question to John (unacceptable)
They charged (us) a lot;
It cost (them/my parents) a fortune.
3) of the type EXPLAIN: address, announce, communicate, describe, introduce mention, relate,
repeat etc. that require the indirect object to be introduced by a preposition, whether it comes after
the direct object or not, e.g.
The teacher explained (the lesson/it) to his students;
*The teacher explained his students the lesson (unacceptable)
She introduced him to her parents;
She addressed the letter/it to her mother.

2.7.4. The accusative case

The accusative is the case of the direct object and its place in a sentence is after a transitive verb; for
the place of the direct object see the explanations under the dative case, section 2.7.3.1. The
accusative is unmarked in English and can be identified according to its place or prepositions, other
than TO/FOR.
There are double transitive verbs that can be used with two direct objects, e.g. ask, envy, excuse,
forgive, save, strike etc. Examples:
She asked him several questions;
They envy me my beautiful garden;
They saved me a lot of trouble.

37

The accusative is used:

after transitive verbs: drink, eat, meet, need, plant, seek etc., e.g.
She drinks a coffee every day;
We ate the cake with pleasure;
We met them at the station;
He needs love;
They planted some fruit trees;

the accusative of content is an accusative akin to the verb which the former accompanies;
usually an intransitive verb is used as a transitive one in these combinations, e.g. to dream a nice
dream, to smile a broad smile, to live a miserable life, to laugh a loud laugh, to die a heroic
death, to fight a just fight, to weep bitter tears, to smell sweet smell etc.
They lived a miserable life in spite of their hard work.
My parents died in WW 2 but they were strongly convinced that they were fighting a just
fight for the liberation of their country.
The child was smiling in his sleep and the mother was convinced that he was dreaming a
beautiful dream.

after prepositions other than TO/FOR, e.g.

She is looking at John/at me;
I left the book with the secretary;
She put her bag on the chair.

The direct object can be expressed by:

a noun/pronoun (see under dative the table of compatibilities).

According to (Gleanu Frnoag, Comiel, 1992: 185) the direct object can also be expressed by:

a non-significant IT - certain intransitive verbs can be followed by IT as a formal direct

object, e.g. to lord it - a o face pe stpnul, to carry it - a nvinge, to catch it - a o pi; a o ncasa, to
foot it - a merge pe jos, to rough it - a face fa, a se descurca, e.g.
The explorers had to rough it when they got into the jungle;
John is a nice person but sometimes he likes to lord it.

a compulsory reflexive pronoun: to behave oneself, to calm oneself, to comb oneself, to

enjoy oneself, to excuse oneself, to help oneself, to lose oneself, to wash oneself etc. When used in
a sentence the pronoun ONESELF must be replaced by the corresponding form of the reflexive
pronoun myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves, e.g.
Children should behave themselves when they are with grownups;
Peter had a huge birthday party and I was also invited; I enjoyed myself tremendously;
There are verbs that can take both a reflexive pronoun and a noun/personal pronoun in the
accusative, BUT the meanings are different: to wash oneself/somebody, to hurt oneself/somebody,
to dress oneself/somebody, to comb oneself/somebody, to shave oneself/ somebody, , e.g.
38

She washed herself and put on her nicest dress

She washed her (=her daughter) and dressed her
He hurt himself while (he was) repairing the car
He hurt him (=his friend) unintentionally in the heat of the game

reciprocal pronouns: each other, one another, e.g.

They helped each other;
The children helped one another;
They hit each other before anyone could stop them.

2.7.4.1. Constructions with the accusative

2.7.4.1.1. The accusative with the infinitive
The accusative with the infinitive is an extremely useful construction as it keeps the structure
short while communicating a lot; e.g. in the structure
I want (V1)

to go (V2)

both verbs refer to the same subject; if a noun/pronoun/noun equivalent in the accusative is
introduced between V1 and V2, the meaning changes, i.e. the predicate refers to its subject while
V2 refers to the accusative form
I want (V1)

you/John/ (accusative)

to go (V2)

means that I want that somebody else (i.e. you or John) to do the second action, i.e. to go.
A detailed classification of the most frequently used verbs as V1 in this construction is possible
(Gleanu Frnoag, Comiel, 1992: 195-196).
Verbs (V1) that take the accusative with a LONG infinitive:

verbs expressing mental activities: think, know, consider, expect, suppose, believe,
imagine, fancy, understand etc, e.g.
They know him to be very good at maths;
We expected them to come yesterday;
Mary supposed her brother to be married;

verbs expressing desire or intention: want, wish, desire, intend, mean etc., e.g.
We wanted them to stay overnight;
They wished Paul to leave immediately;
Do you mean him to leave or stay?

verbs expressing feelings: like, dislike, love, hate, prefer etc., e.g.
Id like him/John to come at once;
Hed love his son to become an artist;
39

I hate you to be troubled/disturbed when you work;

verbs expressing an order or permission: command, order, request, allow, compel, force
etc. e.g.
The mother allowed her son/him to go to the disco with friends;
They requested us to fill in the forms;
The police forced the thief to surrender;

with declarative verbs: declare, pronounce, report (with an animate subject), e.g.
They declared him/John to be good for the job;
The president reported them to be fit to do the work;

some prepositional verbs: count on, depend on, wait for, hope for etc., e.g.
They waited for the weather to change;
She depended on him/her former husband to pay the taxes for their children;

Verbs (V1) that take an accusative with a SHORT infinitive:

verbs of the senses: see, hear, watch, feel, notice, perceive, observe etc. e.g.
Has any of you seen John take the book?
Did you watch the children play tennis yesterday?
Last night I heard him come home late, unlock the door and enter the hall.

causative verbs: cause, make, have, get, induce and let, e.g.
What made you think he was wrong?
They did not let him come before noon;
I had him repair his bicycle on the terrace;

The passive form of the accusative with the infinitive construction ALWAYS requires a long
infinitive as V2, with all types of V1, except LET which takes a V2 in the short infinitive, e.g.
They were reported to be in London already;
The students were allowed to leave sooner than usual;
They were seen to take the plane;
Let cannot normally be used in passive sentences. Instead be allowed (with a to-infinitive), or
another verb or phrase with the same meaning is used, e.g.
They were allowed to go;
Nobody had permission to park their car next to the presidents residence
Another use of the accusative with the infinitive is after adjectives and nouns. The two prepositions
used are TO and FOR + adjective (see under constructions with the adjectives ); it + be +
adjective/noun + FOR/TO + object + Infinitive.
Adjectives frequently used in this construction: unusual, lovely, interesting, marvellous, nice,
wonderful, ridiculous etc., e.g.
40

It is unusual (for him) to come home so early;

It was marvellous (for the kids) to have a new bicycle to ride;
Nouns: madness, stupidity, disaster, accident, etc., e.g.
It was a disaster for us to have to leave so soon;
It was an accident for him to cross the street without making sure the traffic lights were
green;

2.7.4.1.2. The accusative with the present participle

This construction is chiefly used with verbs of the senses as V1 and the verbs find, leave, set,
catch, send. The verbs of the senses can be followed by a present participle as an alternative of the
infinitive; the meaning then changes, i.e. the accusative with the infinitive states that the speaker has
seen the whole action expressed by the infinitive, while the construction with the present participle
suggests that the speaker has seen only part of the action expressed by the participle, e.g.
I saw him cross the street (= I saw the entire action of the crossing of the street)
I saw him crossing the street (= I saw only part of the action and I only assume that the rest
was also performed)
In most instances the above difference is irrelevant, but in others it may be very important. Students
are advised to use the construction with the present participle when in doubt.
With the verbs find, leave, set, catch, send only the present participle can be used as V2, so no
confusion can appear, e.g.
We found him washing his car;
Mary left her son writing his homework;
They caught her stealing apples from the neighbours;
2.7.4.1.3. The accusative with the past participle
This construction observes the following pattern: subject + predicate + noun/ pronoun/ noun
equivalent in the accusative + past participle. The general meaning is an action that refers to the
accusative. It is used mainly with:

verbs of the senses: see, hear, feel, notice, watch, observe etc., e.g.

She saw her car parked near the house;

They heard their names called by the teacher;
verbs expressing an order: order, command, charge, compel, decree, demand, direct,
enjoin, instruct, ordain, prescribe, request, require etc., e.g.
The captain ordered the trench finished in 2 hours;
The professor requested the paper concluded the following day;

the causative verbs HAVE and GET (= to have/get something done). The meaning is to
employ someone to do something for the subject, e.g.
41

She had her hair cut (= she employed someone to cut her hair);
We have our house cleaned/done every week (= we employ someone to clean/to do the house
for us every week);
HAVE/GET + object + past participle construction can also be used colloquially to replace a
passive verb, usually one concerning some accident or misfortune (Thomson, Martinet, 1997: 122
B), e.g.
He had/got his fruit stolen before he had a chance to pick it (= His fruit was stolen before he
had a chance to pick it).
He had/got two of his teeth knocked out in the fight (= Two of his teeth were knocked out in
the fight).

3. THE ADJECTIVE

The adjective denotes some characteristic of an object, interpreted either as a quality (positive
or negative, objective or subjective), or as a space, time, quantity etc. coordinate. There are
several kinds of adjectives, e.g.
Demonstrative: this, these, that, those
Indefinite: some, any
Negative: no
Distributive: each, every, either, neither
Quantitative: some, any, no, little, few, many, much
Interrogative: which, what, whose
Possessive: my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their
Of quality: good, red, simple, political, medical, remarkable, easy, beautiful etc.

3.1. Adjectives of quality

3.1.1. Various classifications of adjectives
A. According to form, adjectives can be:

simple, e.g. good, red, simple, nice, early, positive, negative, sombre, sober, modern,
ready, wide, fat, far, fresh, new, soft, old, late, dark etc.

compound, e.g.

adjective + adjective: light blue, dark brown, Anglo-Saxon, red-hot, deaf-mute, politicoeconomic, icy-cold, lukewarm etc.
adjective + present participle: good-looking, easy-going, early-rising, dark-looking, hardworking, high-flying etc.
derivatives, e.g. mechanical, customary, profitable, chgildish, economic, moneyless, shortsighted, inspiration, exploitation, unpronounceable, reflective, womanhood, sufficient etc.
adjective + past participle: clean-cut, clean-shaven, deep-seated, far-fetched, far-gone, freshoiled, high-strung, modern-built, ready-made, true-born, widespread, newfound, softspoken, short-lived, long-lived etc.
42

noun + adjective: bloodthirsty, night-blind, colour-blind, football-mad, carefree, duty-free,

waterproof, light-proof, homesick, watertight, train-sick etc.
noun + present participle: heart-breaking, awe-inspiring, breath-taking, earth-shaking,
freedom-loving, soul-destroying etc.
noun + past participle: man-made, home-made, frost-bitten, wind-shaken, awe-struck, godforbidden, spellbound, horror-struck, airborne, communist infiltrated, factory-packed etc.
pronoun (self/all) + adjective/noun: self-assertive, self-conscious, self-evident, self-important,
self-pleased, self-sufficient, all-fair, all-black, all-holy, all-complete, all-just, all-action, allcash, all-electric, all-female, all-male, all-rubber, all-steel, all-woman, all- wool, etc.
pronoun (self/all) + present participle: all-affecting, all-arranging, all-binding, all-destroying,
self-destroying, self-killing, self-serving, all-absorbing, all-consuming, all-demanding, allengulfing, all-knowing, all-loving, all-pervading, all-prevailing, all-seeing etc.
adjective (frequently in the comparative of superiority) + most: innermost, uppermost,
farthermost, inmost (=all these are superlatives).
well + past participle/adverb: well-acquainted, well-adjusted, well-advised, well-affected,
well-appointed, well-balanced, well-behaved, well-beloved, well-born, well-chosen, wellconditioned, well-built, well-connected, well-covered, well-cut, well-defined, well-deserved,
well-endowed, well-earned, well-established, well-fed, well-grounded, well-groomed, wellinformed, well-intentioned, well-kept, well-mannered, well-matched, well-off etc.
ill + past participle/preposition + adjective: ill-at-ease, ill-advised, ill-affected, ill-assorted,
ill-behaved, ill-bred, ill-considered, ill-defined, ill-disposed, ill-favoured, ill-founded, illgotten, ill-humoured, ill-judged, ill-mannered, ill-natured, ill-starred, ill-timed etc.
derivatives, e.g. mechanical, customary, profitable, childish, economic, moneyless, shortsighted, inspiration, exploitation, unpronounceable, reflective, womanhood, sufficient etc
complex adjectives (composition + derivation), i.e. adjective + noun +[-ed] e.g. pigheaded, white-skinned, kind-hearted, blue-eyed, large-windowed, heavy-walled, darkskinned etc.
without formal indices, (simple or compound) i.e. the adjectives in this class are not marked for
the morphological class they belong to, e.g. dear, good, nice, far, high, fast, direct, near, clean,
bad, simple, light blue, Anglo-Saxon, clean-cut, waterproof, self-evident etc.
with formal indices, (derivatives or complex adjectives) i.e. adjectives in this class have a special
ending that makes them identifiable as adjectives; the rules of suffixation are complex, but for
obvious reasons they need not be given here. The most productive adjective-forming suffixes
are:
THIS PART IS OPTIONAL FOR THE ID STUDENTS
- able/-ible - attaches to noun and verb bases, e.g. comfortable, fashionable, honourable,
knowledgeable, pleasurable, valuable, charitable, hospitable, miserable, personable, reasonable,
companionable, acceptable, admirable, adorable, advisable, dependable, enjoyable, identifiable,
irritable, manageable, noticeable, preferable, profitable, remarkable, washable; accessible,
comprehensible, convertible, corruptible, deductible, digestible, discernible, divisible, permissible
etc.
- al - attaches to nouns, e.g. accidental, additional, classical, continental, departmental, emotional,
experimental, fanatical, historical, institutional, mechanical, musical, oriental, political,
residential, statistical, sentimental, traditional, transitional, vocational etc.
- an/-ian/-n - attaches to names of places to describe someone or something that comes from that
place: African, American, Arabian, Asian, Austrian, Brazilian, Californian, Chilean, Cuban,

43

Egyptian, European, Hungarian, Indian, Italian, Jamaican, Korean, Nigerian, Romanian,

Russian, Scandinavian, Syrian etc.
- ary/-ery - attaches mainly to nouns, e.g. cautionary, complementary, complimentary, customary,
disciplinary, honorary, legendary, momentary, parliamentary, planetary, rudimentary, salutary,
secondary, voluntary etc.
- based - attaches to nouns, e.g. acid-based, class-based, education-based, export-based, marketbased, money-based, nuclear-based, protein-based, water-based etc. or to adjectives/adverbs, e.g.
broad-based, broadly-based, firmly-based, solidly-based, soundly-based, widely-based etc.
- bound - attaches to nouns, e.g. class-bound, culture-bound, desk-bound, duty-bound,
earthbound, fog-bound, home-bound, honour-bound, house-bound, snowbound, tradition-bound,
wheelchair-bound, westbound, city-bound, London-bound, inbound etc.
- esque - attaches to proper nouns of famous people, e.g. Beethovenesque, Chaplinesque,
Dantesque, Hydenesque, Hoffmanesque, Pinteresque, Rembrandtesque, Tarzanesque etc.
- fold - attaches to numerals, e.g. twofold, threefold, fourfold, sixfold, tenfold, eightfold etc.
- free - attaches to nouns, e.g. accident-free, additive-free, caffeine-free, carefree, crime-free,
debt-free, disease-free, dust-free, duty-free, guilt-free, ice-free, meat-free, nuclear-free, oxygenfree, pain-free, rent-free, pollution-free, stress-free, sugar-free, tax-free, trouble-free etc.
- ful - attaches to nouns, e.g. beautiful, boastful, cheerful, deceitful, delightful, dutiful, forceful,
graceful, harmful, helpful, hopeful, joyful, merciful, peaceful, playful, successful, shameful,
tactful etc.
- ic - attaches to nouns, e.g. acidic, acrobatic, alcoholic, angelic, atomic, autocratic, democratic,
diplomatic, enthusiastic, heroic, idiotic, ironic, linguistic, magnetic, patriotic, pedantic,
photographic, poetic, artistic, capitalistic, idealistic, journalistic, nationalistic, opportunistic, etc.
- ish - attaches to proper/common nouns and adjectives, e.g. British, Danish, English, Finnish,
Irish, Jewish, Polish, Scottish, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish; amateurish, babyish, boyish, childish,
devilish, foolish, girlish, hellish, nightmarish, snobbish, wolfish, womanish, OR biggish,
blackish, brownish, dampish, darkish, fattish, flattish, greenish, longish, lowish, oldish, reddish,
smallish etc.
- led - attaches to nouns and adjectives, e.g. American-led, communist-led, community-led,
consumer-led, employee-led, investment-led, market-led, Muslim-led, moderate-led, oppositionled, worker-led etc.
- less - attaches to nouns, e.g. airless, brainless, childless, endless, flawless, harmless, heartless,
helpless, hopeless, lifeless, meaningless, motherless, motionless, nameless, powerless, restless,
seedless, speechless, spineless, tactless, tuneless etc.
- like - attaches to nouns, e.g. animal-like, baby-like, bird-like, childlike, clocklike, dagger-like,
desert-like, dog-like, doll-like, dreamlike, flower-like, ladylike, prison-like, vice-like etc.
- made - attaches to nouns and adjectives, e.g. American-made, British-made, country-made,
custom-made, factory-made, foreign-made, French-made, fresh-made, hand-made, home-made,
machine-made, man-made, purpose-made, ready-made, tailor-made etc.

44

- minded - attaches to adjectives that refer to potential qualities of the human mind, e.g. absentminded, broadminded, dirty-minded, evil-minded, generous-minded, liberal-minded, meanminded, narrow-minded, open-minded, practical-minded, serious-minded, single-minded, strongminded, tough-minded etc.
- most - attaches to adjectives (as an equivalent of the superlative relative form), e.g. easternmost,
hindmost, innermost, lowermost, nethermost, northernmost, outermost, rearmost, southernmost,
topmost, uppermost, westernmost etc.
- ous - attaches to nouns, e.g. adventurous, ambiguous, ambitious, anonymous, cautious,
contemptuous, continuous, courageous, courteous, curious, dangerous, enormous, famous,
furious, gracious, mysterious, nervous, obvious, previous, religious, serious, spontaneous,
various etc.
- proof - attaches to nouns, e.g. accident-proof, bullet-proof, burglar-proof, child-proof, dustproof, fire-proof, flameproof, frost-proof, greaseproof, heatproof, inflation-proof, leak-proof,
rainproof etc.
- related - attaches to nouns, e.g. age-related, career-related, city-related, disaster-related, drinkrelated, drug-related, income-related, injury-related, job-related, oil-related, race-related, schoolrelated, smoking-related, stress-related, tobacco-related, work-related etc.
- rich - attaches to nouns, e.g. carbon-rich, cash-rich, energy-rich, fat-rich, fiber-rich,
information-rich, mineral-rich, nitrate-rich, nutrient-rich, oil-rich, oxygen-rich, protein-rich,
resource-rich, sugar-rich etc.
- ridden - attaches to nouns, e.g. bullet-ridden, class-ridden, clich-ridden, debt-ridden, draughtridden, fear-ridden, flood-ridden, guilt-ridden, mouse-ridden, penalty-ridden, plague-ridden,
rumour-ridden, scandal-ridden, storm-ridden, tension-ridden, terror-ridden etc.
- side - attaches to nouns, e.g. bedside, desk-side, dockside, fireside, graveside, hearthside, hillside,
kerb-side, lakeside, mountainside, Oceanside, park-side, poolside, ringside, riverside, roadside
etc.
- size/sized - attaches to nouns, e.g. apple-sized, button-sized, cat-sized, city-size, coin-sized,
cottage-size, envelope-sized, finger-size, fist-sized, mansion-size, man-sized, page-size, pea-size,
pin-size, postcard-sized etc.
- some - attaches to nouns and verbs, e.g. adventuresome, bothersome, burdensome, flavoursome,
loathsome, lonesome, meddlesome, quarrelsome, venturesome, awesome, fearsome, irksome,
tiresome, troublesome, wearisome, worrisome etc.
- stricken - attaches to nouns, e.g. awe-stricken, famine-stricken, fear-stricken, grief-stricken,
guilt-stricken, horror-stricken, panic-stricken, plague-stricken, poverty-stricken, terror-stricken
etc.
- style - attaches to nouns and adjectives, e.g. American-style, antique-style, baroque-style, Britishstyle, buffet-style, bungalow-style, commando-style, English-style, European-style, military-style,
modern-style, new-style, Tudor-style, Victorian-style etc.
- type - attaches to common/proper nouns and adjectives, e.g. academic-type, Burmese-type,
church-type, European-type, executive-type, gothic-type, hormone-type, hospital-type, militarytype, police-type, schoolboy-type, snack-type, war-type, Western-type etc.
45

- wright - attaches to nouns, e.g. Cartwright, millwright, playwright, shipwright, wainwright,

wheelwright etc.
END OF THE OPTIONAL PART
B. According to position adjectives can be attributive and predicative:
a) in attributive position adjectives can be placed before or after the noun/noun equivalent:
1. in general, adjectives precede the noun they modify, e.g. good girl, nice person, early train,
interesting book, blue-eyed woman, Anglo-Saxon literature, elderly person, extreme sports etc.
As far as the adjectives of quality are concerned (Thomson and Martinet, 1997: 35) the authors give
a fairly usual order of these, explaining that several variations are possible.
The adjective closest to the noun is marked a) and the most frequently encountered order is the
following:
a) adjectives of size (except little),
b) adjectives of general description (excluding adjectives of personality and emotion),
c) adjectives of age and size,
d) adjectives of shape,
e) of colour,
f) of material,
g) of origin,
h) of purpose (these are usually gerunds used to form compounds: walking stick, riding boots,
reading lamp, washing machine etc.); examples: a long sharp knife, a small square table, red
velvet curtains, an old plastic bucket, an elegant Swiss clock etc.
Adjectives of personality and emotion come after adjectives of physical description, including dark,
fair, pale, but before colours, e.g. a small suspicious official, a pale anxious girl, an inquisitive
brown dog, a long patient queue, a kindly black doctor etc. The adjectives little, old and young
are often used, not to give information, but as part of an adjective - noun combination. They are
often placed next to their nouns, e.g.
Your son is a nice little boy (Fiul tu este un bieel drgu/simpatic).
That young man drives too fast (Tnrul acela conduce prea repede);

Adjectives that have one meaning when used attributively and another when (if) used
predicatively. They belong to various subclasses, e.g.
NOTE: some of the adjectives listed below can have the same meaning when used attributively and
predicatively. The reader should be aware that no classification can be perfectly delimited and this
fact is true not only here but for all classifications in any grammar book.
Intensifiers (in the positive or negative sense): certain, pure, clear, mere, outright, sure,
simple, true, real, definite, sheer, utter, complete, perfect, extreme, absolute, close, very,
entire, firm total, great, strong etc; slight, feeble
Examples: A certain fact was not taken into consideration at all
You are a complete fool if you think that religious intolerance has been eradicated
He has donated his entire salary to the charity organisation helping the orphans
He did not make the slightest effort to help his family
A close friend of mine from France has recently visited Romania and found it extremely
interesting
46

In a good detective story the reader discovers the criminal at the very end of the book

Restrictive adjectives: they restrict the reference of the noun, e.g. certain, precise, exact,
former, old, present, occasional, small, late, hard, big, good, bad, excellent etc.
My former English teacher has just got married
We visited Ann yesterday and we met an old friend who had recently come back from China
John is a very bad swimmer
Small farmers should get more financial help from the government
Although very young and inexperienced, Tom is a hard worker
Little + old + noun is possible: a little old lady, but little + young is not. When used to give
information, old and young occupy position c), e.g. a young coloured man, an old Welsh harp etc.
Adjectives of personality/emotion can precede or follow young/old, e.g. a young ambitious
man/an ambitious young man, depending on what the speaker wants to emphasize, as the first
adjective counting from left to right carries a stronger stress; the adjective little can be used
similarly in position c), e.g. a handy little calculator, an expensive little hotel, a little sandy beach,
a little grey foal; but small is usually better than little if size is emphasized.
2. There are, however, cases in which adjectives follow the nouns they modify, forming a sort of
compounds, e.g. knight errant, attorney general, secretary general, court martial, those
present/absent, poet laureate, literature proper etc.
b) in predicative position adjectives of quality follow a verb such as: be, become, seem, or verbs
like appear, get/grow (= become), feel, keep, look (=appear), make, smell, sound, taste, turn,
e.g.
Tom became rich;
Ann seems happy/nice;
Your mother has become impossible;
Tom felt cold;
He made her happy;
He got/grew impatient.
The idea sounds interesting;
They feel tired;
Adjectives in this position are called predicative adjectives while the verbs used in this way are
called link verbs or copulas.
The verbs appear, get/grow (=become), feel, keep, look (=appear), make smell, sound, taste,
turn when not used as link verbs can be modified by adverbs in the usual way, e.g.
He looked calm (adjective) =he had a calm expression
He looked calmly (adverb) at the angry crowd (looked =a deliberate action)
She turned pale (adjective) =she became pale
He turned angrily (adverb) to the man behind him (turned =a deliberate action)
According to this criterion, adjectives fall, mainly, into 4 different classes; the delimitation of the
four classes is not perfect.
I.

Adjectives that can function as both attributes and predicatives and the meaning remains
the same (Tom is a good student or The teacher is good)
47

II. Adjectives that can function as both attributes and predicatives but whose meaning changes
depending on the position (He is a little farmer compared to *The farmer is little)
III. Adjectives (denominal adjectives) that can function as attributes and very rarely, if ever, as
predicatives (medical, instrumental, historical etc.)
IV. Adjectives that can function only as predicatives; all the adverbial adjectives, beginning in a- ,
e.g. afloat, adeck, ajar, alone etc. plus well or ill.
3.1.2. Substantivisation of adjectives
Quite a large number of adjectives referring to the human character or to the human condition can
get a definite article (the) in order to represent a class of persons having the respective quality.
These nouns have a plural meaning and take only a plural verb, e.g. blind, deaf, disabled,
healthy, sick, living, dead, rich, poor, unemployed, wounded, quick, mute etc, e.g.
The poor are people who have a difficult life.
The mute and deaf are usually instructed in special schools;
The unemployed were put on a list with the view of finding jobs for them;
Adjectives denoting groups of people belonging to various nationalities (adjectives ending in -sh, ch, -se, -ss) take a definite article and generate collective nouns denoting those groups of people.
They are always written with a capital letter and take a plural verb, e.g. the French, the Dutch, the
English, the Swiss, the Welsh, the Irish, the Burmese, the Siamese, the Chinese, the Japanese
etc., e.g.
The French have a very good wine;
The Swiss make famous watches;
The Chinese are very good at cooking;
Other nationality adjectives take a definite article and a plural form, e.g. the Spaniards, the
Italians, the Romanians, the Americans, the Russians, the Germans etc.
Certain colours that refer to the skin colour of the people take a definite article and a plural form to
denote: the whites, the blacks, the red-skinned etc.
There are occasional adjectives with a singular meaning, e.g. the accused, the unexpected etc.
3.1.3. Degrees of comparison
The forms assumed by an adjective to show that a quality may exist in various degrees with
two objects or with one and the same object at different times are called degrees of
comparison. There are three degrees of comparison in English, i.e. a) the positive degree, b) the
comparative degree, and c) the superlative degree.
The positive degree is the basic form of the adjective, e.g.
That book is interesting;
She has a nice dress;
The weather is dry;
The comparative expresses a comparison between two or more objects; when we compare things
we may find that the quality exists in equal amount in two objects, and this is the comparative of
equality; the form is as + an adjective in the positive degree + as, e.g.
48

This book is as interesting as the one you bought yesterday;

Her dress is as nice as mine.
The inequality of the quality expressed can be compared from either end, i.e. from the lower end or
from the upper end; in the former situation, when the user views the comparison from the lower end
a comparative of inferiority is implied; this can be done in various ways, i.e.
-

by negating the comparative of equality: not as/so + an adjective in the positive degree + as,
e.g.
My book is not as/so interesting as yours,
Your sister is not as/so beautiful as Mary,
This ring is not as big as that one;

by using less + an adjective in the positive degree + than, e.g.

My book is less interesting than I thought,
Your sister is less beautiful than Mary,
* This ring is less big than that one is not incorrect, but the form with not so/as is more usual;

If the comparison is viewed from the upper end the form is called comparative of superiority*, and
this can be done with a suffix (adjective in the positive degree + -er), or with an adverb (more + an
adjective in the positive degree) + than, e.g.
Her dress is nicer than Mary's;
That book is more interesting than I thought;
The superlative shows that the quality of an object is in its highest degree; this can be seen as

relative* - when the object is chosen from a limited number of elements or a restricted area; the
superlative relative is constructed either with a suffix (an adjective in the positive degree + est) or with the adverb most + an adjective in the positive degree; in both cases the
construction is preceded by the definite article the, e.g.
She is the nicest person in our class;
Mary is the most beautiful girl in our town;
This is the most interesting book on grammar of all the books you lent me;

The only two prepositions that can be used with the superlative relative are in (to select from a
limited area) and of (to select from a group or a certain number of things);
absolute when the quality exists in an object in the highest degree possible; the absolute
superlative is made up of the adverb very + an adjective in the positive degree, e.g.
She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen;
This is the most expensive dress you could have bought;
You have a very interesting profession.
*SPELLING NOTE on the comparative of superiority and the superlative relative:
-

*Monosyllabic adjectives take the suffixes -er or -est to form the comparative of superiority
and the superlative relative, e.g. nice/nicer/nicest, dry/drier/driest, big/bigger/biggest etc.,
except right, wrong, real, just which do not normally have degrees of comparison;
49

Plurisyllabic adjectives take only the adverbs more and the most, e.g. beautiful more
beautiful, the most beautiful/interesting, more interesting, the most interesting etc;etc.
- Bisyllabic adjectives take either one or the other of the two forms, depending on their ending,
so
- bisyllabic adjectives ending in -er, -y, -ly, ow, -ble/ple, e.g. clever/cleverer/cleverest,
pretty/prettier/prettiest,
holy/holier/
holiest,
narrow/narrower/narrowest,
noble/nobler/noblest, happy/ happier/ the happiest (but unhappy takes more and the
most) etc; while
bisyllabic adjectives ending in -re and -ful take the adverbs more and the most, e.g.
obscure/more obscure/the most obscure, careful/more careful/the most careful etc; certain
adjectives ending in ful can also take er and est, e.g. cheerful,cheerful(l)er, the
cheerful(l)est or cheerful, more cheerful, the most cheerful etc.
Adjectives that can used in the comparative of superiority and the superlative relative by employing
both formation patterns, i.e. by suffixation and with more and the most, e.g.
- monosyllabic adjectives: free, calm, sound, vague, frank
- disyllabic adjectives: angry, likely, healthy, friendly, happy, bitter, humble, noble
narrow, handsome, pleasant, quiet, common etc
- adjectives made negative by prefixes: unhappy, insincere, unpleasant, impolite etc.
The degrees of comparison of compound adjectives
To make it easier for the learners the comparative of superiority and the relative superlative of
compound adjectives can be summarized as follows:
- compound adjectives generally take more and the most, with a few exceptions that are
better not mentioned here, e.g. intelligent-looking/more intelligent-looking/the most
intelligent-looking, bad-looking/more bad-looking/ or worse-looking/the most badlooking or the worst-looking, ill-advised/more ill-advised/the most ill-advised, illmannered/more ill-mannered/the most ill-mannered,, short-sighted/more shortsighted/the most short-sighted, strong-headed/more strong-headed/the most strongheaded, heart-broken/more heart-broken/the most heart-broken etc.
There are several adjectives that have irregular comparisons, e.g.
good, well
bad(ly), ill
little
many, much
far
near
old
late
hind
fore

better
worse
less
more
farther
further
nearer
older
elder
later
latter
hinder
former

the best
the worst
the least
the most
the farthest (of distance only)
the furthest (used more widely)
the nearest / the next
the oldest (of people and things)
the eldest (of people only)
the latest
the last
the hindmost/the hindermost
the foremost

elder and eldest imply seniority rather than age. They are chiefly used for comparisons within
family, i.e. brothers and sisters; elder refers to two elements while eldest implies more than two,
e.g. my elder brother(=I only have one brother who is older than me), her eldest son/daughter
(=there are more than two brothers or sisters in the family) etc; but elder is not used with than, so
older is necessary here, e.g.
50

He is older than I am/me (elder would not be possible).

In colloquial English with boys/girls/children, e.g.
His eldest son is at school, the other is still at home (he has only two sons). Although formally
incorrect, this use is particularly common when eldest, oldest are used in constructions
like the one above or Tom is the eldest.
Other constructions with comparisons:
Parallel increase is expressed by the + comparative ...... the + comparative, e.g.
House agent: Do you want a big house?
Ann: Yes, the bigger, the better.
Tom: But the smaller it is, the less it will cost to heat it,
The more expensive the book is, the more people will buy it etc.
Gradual increase or decrease is expressed by two comparatives joined by the conjunction and,
e.g. The weather is getting warmer and more beautiful every year etc.
Gerunds and infinitives can be part of the comparison, e.g.
Riding a horse is not as easy as riding a motor cycle;
It is nicer/more fun to go with someone than to go alone;
Reading is easier than writing etc.
Comparisons with like and as in theory like (a preposition) is used only with nouns, pronouns and
gerunds, e.g.
He swims like a fish;
You look like a ghost;
Be like Peter: go jogging;
The windows were all barred it was like being in prison; while as (a conjunction) is used
when there is a finite verb, e.g.
Do as Peter does: go jogging;
Why don't you cycle to work as we do? But in colloquial English like is often used here
instead of as: Cycle to work like we do.
Like + noun is a comparison while as + noun is actually what the noun says, e.g.
He worked like a slave (very hard, as slaves do) and
He worked as a slave (he was a slave);
She used her umbrella as a weapon (she struck him with it).
When the same verb is required before and after than/as an auxiliary can be used instead of the
second verb, e.g.
I earn less than he does;
He knows more than I did at his age etc.
When the second sentence is reduced to subject (first and second persons, singular and plural: I, we,
you) and verb, and there is no change of tense, it is usually possible to omit the verb, e.g.
51

I am not as old as you (are);

He has more time than I (have);
When than/as is followed by the third person (he, she, it, they) plus verb, the verb is normally kept,
e.g.
You are stronger than he is;
She sings louder than he does.
In colloquial English however, it is customary to drop the pronoun in the nominative and the verb,
and use the personal pronoun in the accusative: me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them only, e.g.
He has more time than me;
You are stronger than him;
These rules also apply to comparisons made with adverbs, e.g.
I swim better than he does/than him;
They work harder than we do/than us;
You can't type as fast as I can/as me.
3.1.3.1. Synonyms of the absolute superlative
The standard absolute superlative is constructed with the adverb very + an adjective in the
positive degree. For many reasons, subjective and objective, there is a strong tendency to avoid the
standard absolute superlative and use instead other forms and devices; the speaker has a large
variety of options to choose from, each form being useful in one context or other:
a) adverbs like awfully, exceedingly, extremely, grossly, deeply, surprisingly, extraordinarily,
highly, greatly, terribly, tremendously, mighty etc. are often used instead of the adverb very etc.,
e.g.
Father was extremely tired when he came home;
John Bell's novel was surprisingly interesting;
It is terribly cold there;
Mighty is the approximate equivalent of the Romanian tare used as an adverb for the absolute
superlative, therefore it is usually thought of as a colloquial/popular form of the absolute
superlative.
b) rather is an adverb that has several meanings which are distinguished by collocation. If the idea
is accepted that adjectives as well as adverbs can mainly fall into 3 classes according to the extent
they express something desirable, likeable etc. or something undesirable or negative, then
rather is used with positive adjectives or adverbs, its meaning being nearly equivalent to very,
e.g.
She is rather clever (= She is very clever);
The book you bought is a rather interesting one;
Her sister is a rather beautiful woman and an excellent actress;
It is a rather a good play - is definitely a recommendation while
It is a fairly good play - would discourage others from going to see it.
c) quite is another adverb used instead of very in the following two instances:
52

1) used with a word or phrase which expresses the idea of completeness and which cannot be
associated with the adverb very, e.g. all right, certain, determined, empty, finished, full, ready,
right, sure, wrong etc., e.g.
I'm quite ready;
That bottle is quite empty;
She was quite certain about it;
You are quite right;
You are quite wrong about that.
2) with very strong adjectives/adverbs which cannot be associated with the adverb very, e.g.
amazing(ly), extraordinary/ extraordinarily, horrible/horribly, perfect(ly), fantastic(ally), e.g.
It was quite extraordinary to hear it from him;
Don' be impatient, I'm quite ready etc.
d) most (without the) in front of adjectives (or adverbs) is not used to express a relative superlative
but an absolute superlative equivalent with extremely, etc.
The doctor was most unhappy to tell the woman about her husbands accident (=
extremely/very unhappy)
His fiance is most beautiful (= very beautiful)
e) prefixes are often used to make up a form that is very close to the standard absolute superlative,
e.g. ultra-, extra-, over-, super-, hyper- etc.: ultracentral, ultramodern, ultramarine, ultrashort,
superabundant, superfine, overactive, overambitious, overgenerous, oversensitive, hypersensitive,
hyperactive, e.g.
She has an ultracentral apartment (very centrally placed);
They got everything from an overgenerous sponsor (very generous);
f) an apparently analytical genitive is sometimes used to express the existence of a quality in the
highest degree; the construction is not meant to be taken literally; it sometimes has an equivalent in
Romanian and sometimes does not, e.g. a mountain of a wave (= un munte de val)
g) the genitive of gradation which is a synonym of the absolute superlative, e.g. the book of books,
the beauty of all beauties, the king of kings, the prince of princes etc.
h) combinations of prepositions and nouns, e.g. beyond/past/without compare (=dincolo de orice
comparaie/fr termen de comparaie); without equal (=fr egal) etc., e.g.
That girl is beautiful beyond compare;
Our childhood with our grandparents was happy beyond compare/without equal;
i) the repetition of the same adjective/adverb suggests that the quality exists in the highest
degree; this synonym of absolute superlative is sometimes used in poetry as a poetic device, e.g. My
love's like a red, red rose (Robert Burns); again, children who do not master the standard absolute
superlative very frequently express the same idea by repeating the adjective/adverb, e.g. and
then we saw a big, big house ... (= very big house); ... the green, green grass of home...;
j) the synonymic substitution for an absolute superlative; the two terms of the construction are
synonyms and their association is meant to enhance the idea that the quality exists in the highest
degree; these constructions are fixed forms, generally (but not always) having an equivalent in other
53

languages, Romanian included, e.g. null and void (= nul i neavenit); safe and sound (= teafr si
nevtmat); hard and fast (= very rigid, about a rule); each and every (= absolut fiecare); far and
away (= categoric, fr ndoial); lord and master (= domn i stpn) etc.
k) the hyperbole this is an exaggerated statement made for effect and not intended to be taken
literally, e.g. scared to death (= speriat de moarte); immensely obliged (= approx. din cale afar de
obligai); full to the brim (= plin pn la buz).
l) a superlative + adjective ending in able/-ible (possible, imaginable etc.) construction enhances
the idea of superlative, e.g.
That was the best movie possible;
This is the sweetest child imaginable
m) the simile another class of synonyms of the absolute superlative is a comparison of equality
comparing elements belonging to different spheres of notions and is meant to emphasize a certain
characteristic of one of the elements:
1. Comparisons implying beings:
as agile as a monkey
as blind as a bat
as brave as a lion
as busy as a bee
as cunning as a fox
as drunk as a lord
as fast as a deer
as fat as a pig

sprinten ca o maimu
orb ca o crti
curajos ca un leu
harnic ca o furnic/albin
viclean ca o vulpe
beat cri etc.
iute ca o cprioar
gras ca un porc

2. Comparisons implying objects:

as bitter as gall
as black as coal
as clear as crystal

amar ca fierea
negru ca tciunele
curat ca cristalul

l) the metaphor (or implicit comparison) is defined as a series of words meant to indicate
something different from the literal meaning, e.g. He has the heart of a stone (=he is not easily
moved); a bookworm is un soarece de biblioteca; an oyster is a person who does not talk; He
is a fox; ... blowing hot and cold...; a naughty child is a monkey etc.
m) litotes is the use of negative to express the contrary, e.g.
It is not bad! Actually means that something is very good;
He is not a coward (=somebody is very brave).
3.2. Relative adjectives
Another modifier of the noun/noun equivalent is the relative adjective, so called because it shows
qualities characterizing an object by referring it to another object. Generally, relative adjectives are
used attributively and do not have degrees of comparison, e.g. a brick house, a wooden hut, a silk
dress, a stone wall, a gold mine; the general meaning is that of made of or containing ....

54

4/5. DETERMINATIVE ADJECTIVES AND PRONOUNS

For practical reasons adjectives and pronouns of the same kind will be considered together; the
main difference between an adjective and a pronoun of the same kind lies in the fact that the
adjective goes with the noun/noun equivalent while the corresponding pronoun expresses the same
thing and also replaces the noun/noun equivalent, e.g. a demonstrative adjective is a word that
determines a noun/noun equivalent while a demonstrative pronoun expresses the same meaning as
the demonstrative adjective, but unlike the latter it also replaces the noun/noun equivalent: this
book is mine (adjective), this is mine (pronoun).
Adjectives
1. Demonstrative
2. Indefinite + negative
3. Possessive
4. Interrogative
5. Relative whose
6. Adverbial
7. -----------8. -----------9. ------------

Pronouns
Demonstrative
Indefinite + negative
Possessive
Interrogative
Relative
-----------Personal
Reflexive/emphatic
Reciprocal

4/5.1. Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns

Demonstrative adjectives
this/these
that/those
the same
another
the other
other
such

Pronouns
this/these
that/those
the same
another
the other(s)
others
such

This/these, that/those used as adjectives, agree in number with the nouns/noun equivalents they
determine and are the only adjectives to do so, e.g.
This beach was quite empty last year;
These children only came yesterday;
That exhibition closed a month ago;
Those pencils are not mine;
When used as pronouns the idea of number is still there, referring either to one object or to more
than one (= plural), e.g.
This is my book and that is Ann's;
These are longer than those (ones).

55

Those can be followed by a defining/restrictive relative clause (atributiv propriu-zis), e.g.

Those who could not walk were carried on stretchers;
Those who are interested can apply now;
This/That can represent a previously mentioned noun/phrase or clause, e.g.
They are digging up my road; they do this every summer;
He said I wasn't a good wife. Wasn't that a horrible thing to say?
When there is some idea of comparison or selection, the pronoun one/ones is often placed after
this/these, that/those, but it is not essential except when these demonstratives are followed by an
adjective, e.g.

but

This chair is too low; I'll sit on that (one);

I like this (one) best;
I like this blue one/these blue ones, in the last example one/ones cannot be left out.

The same (acelai, aceeai, aceiai, aceleai); as an adjective the same can be used with all kinds of
nouns, countable or mass, singular or plural, e.g.
The same person(s) I saw yesterday told me to buy that book;
Nothing has changed, the same old books on the same old shelves;
As a pronoun the same can represent a previously mentioned noun, phrase or any longer unit e.g.
The same was said about his parents, the same here can stand for a word, a sentence or a
whole story.
Another (un alt, o alt) is singular in meaning and as an adjective takes a singular noun while as a
pronoun it replaces a singular countable noun, e.g.
Give me another book, I don't like this (one);
Then another young man showed up and told me to go back at once;
I saw a man shooting, then another and another etc.
There are exceptional cases when another can be associated with a plural noun because this plural
noun can be taken as a unit, e.g.
I had a five-day vacation and the whole family went for a trip into the mountains; a winter
storm came and we couldn't leave, so I called my boss and asked for another three days
off.
Another is sometimes opposed to one, e.g. One says yes, another says no.
Other (an adjective) (ali, alte) can take plural countable nouns, e.g.
She does not know what to say, other things are more important now;
Don't show yourself, other people may come soon etc.
The other (cellalt, cealalt, ceilali, celelalte) as an adjective takes singular or plural countable
nouns, e.g.
56

One man came yesterday, while the other person has just arrived; ... because other women
never came etc.
The other(s) (cellalt, cealalt, ceilali, celelalte) as a pronoun can replace any countable noun in
the singular or in the plural, e.g.
One said yes, the other said no;
Most of the people came this way, the others took another road etc.
Such (an adjective and a pronoun) can be a determiner referring back to something that has
already been mentioned; it can take a plural or replace a plural noun, e.g.
Such good students are rarely met, or
Such were the participants that everybody felt happy etc.
In the singular, an indefinite article follows such, e.g.
She is such a nice girl!
It was such an interesting book that I could not put it down.

4/5.2. Indefinite and negative adjectives and pronouns

Most of them are both adjectives and pronouns and the meaning is the same in either form,
therefore the explanation will be one.
Adjectives

Pronouns
a) numerical

several
several
many/more/most
many/more/most
(a) few
(a) few
each
each
every/all
- /all
both
both
either
either
neither
neither
b) numerical and quantitative
some
some
any
any
no
none
lots of
a lot
enough
enough
c) quantitative
(a) little
(a) little
much/more/most
much/more/most
d) only pronouns
some/any/no + body/thing/one;
the same as above + else

57

Several, which is both an adjective and a pronoun, is not followed by ones, unless there is a
qualitative adjective after it, e.g.
Several persons told me the same thing;
I know several people who do not like fish;
Did you buy any books? Yes, I bought several; and also
There are several new ones on the table.
Many/more/most more and most can be used quite freely, and so can many with negative verbs,
e.g.
They didn't buy many books;
He gets a lot of books, but she doesn't get many;
They make more mistakes than admitted;
Most people are not familiar with these notions. But many with affirmative and interrogative verbs
has a restricted use, i.e. many is possible with affirmative verbs when preceded by a good/a great,
or when modified by so/as/too and very, e.g.
I made a good many friends there;
He has had so many jobs that he doesn't even remember their number.
When not modified, many is usually replaced by a lot/lots of (+ noun) or by a lot/lots (pronouns),
e.g.
I saw a lot/lots of seabirds;
I expect you saw a lot, too.
Compare the following: He hasn't won many races; but you've won a lot/lots of races or You've won
a lot/a great many races. The same restrictions of use are applied to much/more/most, i.e. the
quantitative indefinite adjective and pronoun that is mentioned under c) above. Examples:

but

We don't have much coffee;

They drink too much;
He spends a lot/lots of/a great deal of money on his house;

compare with

or

He didn't eat much fruit;

She ate a lot/lots of/a great deal of fruit;
She ate a lot/a great deal.

Little and few (adjectives and pronouns) denote scarcity or lack and have almost the force of a
negative, e.g.
There was little time for consultation;
Little is known about the side-effects of this drug;
Few towns have such splendid trees etc.
This use of little and few is mainly confined to written English, probably because in conversation
little and few might easily be confused with a little and a few. In conversation, therefore, little and
few are normally replaced by hardly any or a negative verb + much/many, e.g.
58

We saw little = We saw hardly anything/We didn't see much;

Tourists come here but few stay overnight = Tourists come here but hardly any stay overnight
etc.
But little and few can be used more freely when they are qualified by so/very/too/extremely/
comparatively/relatively etc., e.g.
I'm unwilling to try a drug I know so little about;
They have too many technicians, we have too few;
There are fewer butterflies every year.
Only placed before a few means a small number in the speaker's opinion, e.g.
Only a few of our customers have accounts.
But quite placed before a few increases the number considerably, e.g.
I have quite a few books on English morphology (=quite a lot of books).
A little/little can be adverbs mainly used with verbs e.g. They grumbled a little about having to
wait, and with 'unfavourable adjectives/adverbs', e.g. a little anxious, a little annoyed, a little
impatient etc., and with comparative adjectives and adverbs, e.g.
The paper should be a little thicker;
Cant you walk a little faster?
All /each/every all means a number of people or things considered as a group, while each/every
means a number of people or things considered individually.
Each is an adjective and a pronoun while every is an adjective only; each can be used of two or
more persons or things, and is normally used of small numbers; every is not normally used of small
numbers, e.g. Every man had a weapon = All the men had weapons; Each man had a weapon = the
speaker went to each man in turn and checked that he had a weapon (Thomson and Martinet 1997:
64). Each can be followed by of + these/those/nouns/pronouns in the accusative, e.g. each of
these/the boys/them/us. Each can be associated with the personal pronoun, e.g.
We each sent in a report;
They each have been questioned etc.
All as a pronoun can be followed by of + the/this/these/that/those/ possessives/proper nouns in
the possessive case; e.g. all of the students were there; all of his life he has only; all of these were
bought; all of Toms boys were; the preposition of can be omitted in the examples above, but it
cannot be left out in the construction all+ of + personal pronoun, e.g.
all of it; all of us etc.
All of it was rotten;
All of us went by train;
All of them were invited to the party
If, for some reason, the preposition of must be left out, all follows the noun, e.g.

59

I want it all;
They wanted us all etc;
The teacher wanted to see us all.
Both (an adjective and a pronoun) means one and the other and takes a plural verb, e.g.
Both (doors) were open;
Both (students) handed in the applications in time;
Both (kids) were fond of playing football
A personal pronoun in the nominative/accusative + both is also possible, e.g.
We both knew him or Both of us knew him;
They called us both or They called both of us.
When one of these pronoun + all/both combinations is the subject of a compound tense the
auxiliary verb usually precedes all/both, e.g.
We are all waiting and not *We all are waiting
You must both help me;
We are all ready;
We are both ready etc.
Either/neither are both adjectives and pronouns. Either means any one of the two and takes a
singular verb, e.g.
I have two English books; you can take either (of them);
Either of you come here and help me.
Either + a negative verb can be replaced by neither + a positive verb, e.g.
I havent read either of these (books) = I have read neither of these (books).
When neither is the subject of a verb it cannot be replaced by either + a negative verb, e.g. only
Neither of them knew the way is possible. Neither means not one and not the other of the two. It
takes a singular verb and can sometimes replace either + a negative verb, except when it is the
subject of a construction (see above). Either/neither can take a prepositional phrase: of +
the/these/personal pronoun/possessives, e.g.
I tried both keys but neither of them worked;
Neither of them knew the way;
Neither boy knew the way;
Ive read neither of these books.
Personal pronouns and possessive adjectives associated with either/neither (singular adjectives or
pronouns) used of people should technically be he/him, she/her, and his/her, but in colloquial
English the plural forms of the personal adjectives or pronouns are generally used, e.g.
Neither of them knows the way, do they?
Neither of them had brought their passports, hadnt they?
Either ..or/

neither. nor are double conjunctions, e.g.

Neither threats nor arguments had any effect on him;

60

You must either go at once or wait till tomorrow.

The double conjunctions must connect identical parts of speech or identical constructions (two
nouns, two pronouns, two verbal forms etc)
b) Numerical and quantitative adjectives and pronouns.
Some and any are used mainly with plural countable nouns and mass nouns (nite), e.g.
SOME, e.g.
There are some students waiting for you;
Some people are used to staying up late;
She bought some pencils;
Some is used in affirmative structures (= an affirmative verb) while any is mainly used in
interrogative and negative structures, e.g.
Are there any students there?
There arent any books on that table.
Some is also used
with singular countable nouns to mean vreun/vreo/o/un/oarecare, e.g.
Hes living at some place in Africa;
Ive read that story in some book or other etc.

with plural countable nouns to contrast with other + noun/others, e.g.

Some people learn languages quickly (while others dont);
Some people like their coffee hot (other people like their coffee cold) etc.

with countable or mass nouns to mean a considerable quantity/number (it is always

stressed), e.g.
I willl be away for some time (fairly long time);
Mr, Green spoke at some length (considerable length);
The railway station is at some distance (quite a long way);

in interrogative constructions when they refer to a part of the whole or of a quantity, e.g.
Could I take some apples, please?
Do you have some change about you?

in interrogative sentences if the question does not refer to some (Levichi), e.g.
Why are there so many mistakes in some exercises?
Do you want to suggest that some people dont like fish? etc.

As pronouns some and any follow the same rules as those mentioned above, e.g.
Did you buy any stamps? Yes, I bought some/No I did not buy any etc.

61

ANY, e.g.
As already mentioned, any is used with countable or mass nouns mainly in negative and
interrogative constructions, as an equivalent of some, e.g.,
I havent seen any books on the table;
Did you buy any apples yesterday?
There isnt any coffee left.
Any is also used:

with hardly/barely/scarcely (which are almost negative), e.g.

I have hardly any spare time;
She has hardly any money to live on;

with without when without any means with no, e.g.

She crossed the frontier without any difficulty/with no difficulty;
He is able to swim across the lake without any visible effort/with no effort etc.

after if and whether and in expressions of doubt, e.g.

If you need any money, let me know;
I dont think there is any petrol in the tank;

in affirmative sentences with the meaning of orice, oricare, indiferent, e.g.

Any book on horse riding will tell you how to mount a horse;
Any grownup knows that hard work is the only way out of poverty;
Can I take a book? Of course, you can take any etc.

No (an adjective) and none (a pronoun) can be used with an affirmative verb to express a negative
(as an alternative to any + a negative verb); it can be used with countable or mass nouns, e.g.
I have no apples = I dont have any apples;
I had some last year, but I have none this year/but I dont have any this year;
No work was done;
None of the tourists wanted to climb the mountain etc.
A lot of/a lot(see under many/more/most, section 4/5.2)
Enough is both an adjective and a pronoun on the one hand, and an adverb on the other. As an
adjective enough precedes the noun/noun equivalent it determines, e.g.
She has enough money to buy whatever she wants to;
You have enough time to get there on foot;
I could not tell whether it was enough or not etc.
As an adverb enough follows the adjective/adverb/verb it modifies, e.g.
She is tall enough to be a basketball player;
62

We worked enough for today;

She speaks English well enough etc.(for more details see under adverb)
c) Quantitative adjectives and pronouns for practical reasons quantitative adjectives and pronouns
have been dealt with in parallel with other adjectives and adverbs, so, for
little (see under little and few, section 4/5.2)
Much/more/most (see under many/more/most and few above)
d) pronouns some, any and no combine with body, thing and one, the resulting compounds being
pronouns. These compounds are: somebody, something, someone, anybody, anything, anyone;
nobody, nothing, no one; as compounds of some, any and no they follow the rules for some, any
and no (see under some, any and no), e.g.
Someone wants to speak to you on the phone;
Somebody gave me a ticket for the concert;
No one/Nobody has ever given me a free ticket for anything;
These pronouns can be used in the possessive case, e.g.
It is nobodys business.
Someones passport has been stolen;
These pronouns have a singular meaning and take a singular verb, so personal pronouns and
possessive adjectives should logically be he/him, she/her etc. However, plural forms are more
common:
Has anyone left their luggage on the train?
No one saw Tom go out, didnt they?
Else can be placed after the pronouns mentioned above as well as after everyone, everybody,
everything (pronouns also) and after the adverbs somewhere, anywhere, nowhere, everywhere,
e.g. somebody else, anybody else, somewhere else etc. (compounds with alt- in Romanian, e.g.
altcineva, altundeva etc.), e.g.
Im afraid I cant help you; youll have to ask someone else;
There isnt anyone else to ask;
somewhere else etc. - forms can be used in the possessive case, e.g.
By mistake, I took someone elses coat;
Was anyone elses luggage opened? etc.
4/5.3. Possessive adjectives and pronouns
Form:

Person
I
II
III

IV
V
VI

Adjectives
my
your
his
her
its
our
your
their

Pronouns
mine
yours
his
hers
---ours
yours
theirs
63

Possessive adjectives and pronouns in English have only one form which refers to the possessor
and not to the thing(s) possessed, and do not agree in number, gender or case with the object(s)
possessed, e.g.
This is our room and that is yours;
This is their car; that is theirs too;
Ive got your pen. You are using mine etc.
In Romanian, however, things are a little more complicated and for the benefit of the Romanian
learners all the pronominal or adjectival forms will be given in order to make it clear that there is
only one form in English for the four Romanian ones (which must agree in number, gender and case
with the object/s possessed), i.e.
PERS. Possessive Adjective
1 (eu) meu, mea, mei, mele
2 (tu) tu, ta, ti, tale
3 (ea) ei
(el) lui
(el, ea)su, sa, si, sale
4 (noi)

Possessive pronoun
al meu, a mea, ai mei, ale mele
al tu, a ta, ai ti, ale tale
al, a, ai, ale ei
al, a, ai, ale lui
al su, a sa, ai si, ale sale

There are also other means of expressing possession, i.e. object(s) possessed + of + possessive
pronoun, e.g. friends of mine/yours/his (prieteni de-ai mei/ti/lui).
Own (propriu/proprie/proprii) can be used after possessive adjectives to emphasize the idea of
possession, e.g.
He couldnt trust his own friends;
She didnt want to see me, her own mother! etc.
Parts of ones body, pieces of clothing or personal belongings are most frequently preceded by a
possessive adjective, e.g.
Put on your coat !
Where are my glasses?
Wash your hands!
My head aches;
4/5.4. Interrogative adjectives and pronouns
For persons: Nominative case: who (pronoun), dative/accusative cases: whom/who (pronoun), of
which whom is the technically correct one, but who is used, especially in spoken English;
possessive case: whose (adjective and pronoun); what can also be used for persons and its form is
invariable.
For things: what (adjective and pronoun) has an invariable form.
For persons and things when the choice is restricted: which has an invariable form.
Who, whose, which, what, when used as subjects are usually followed by an affirmative verb, e.g.

64

Who told you this?

Who comes tomorrow?
Whose book is this?
Whose words are these?
What went wrong?
But with who, whose etc. + be + noun or personal/distributive pronoun, an interrogative verb is
used, e.g.
Who is he? Whose is that?
What is that noise?
What can also be used in other constructions, e.g.

what + action + for? meaning why?, e.g.

What did you do that for? = Why did you do that? or
What did you go there for?= Why did you go there?

what + be..+ like? is a request for description or comment (animate/inanimate),e.g.

What was your trip like? (possible answer: It was too long and difficult to enjoy)
What was the weather like? (possible answer: It was cold and windy);
What is your friend like? (possible answer: He is nice and friendly).

what + do/does/did + they/he/she/it + look like? is a request for description only, e.g.
What does she look like? (possible answer: She is tall and slender);
What does it/the car look like? (possible answer: It is brand new and as quick as one could
imagine).

what + be + you/he/she/they? is a question eliciting an answer about ones profession, e.g.

What are you? (possible answer: I am a teacher).

what (and how) are used in questions about age and measurements, i.e.
depth/height/length/width, although in conversation it would be more usual to say how
old/deep/high/ tall/long/wide?
Formal English

Conversation

What age are you? What is your age?

What height is she? What is his height?
What is the weight of the parcel?

How old are you?

How tall is he?
How heavy is it?

Ever can be placed after who/what (as well as after the adverbs where, why, when, how) although
it
is
not
necessary;
when
added,
it
emphasizes
the
speakers
surprise/astonishment/anger/irritation/dismay. It has the same meaning as on earth/in the world
and it is not polite, e.g.
Who ever are you? (it expresses the speakers irritation, the other person is probably an
intruder);
Who ever told you about it? =Who on earth told you about it?
65

What ever are you doing in my room? =What on earth are you doing in my room?
Who ever and what ever (two words) are different from whoever (pronoun only) or whatever
(pronoun and adjective); whoever means the one who, he/she who (whoever, whichever and
whatever are relative adjectives/pronouns, but it seems logical to mention them here as well), e.g.
Whoever gains the most points wins the competition;
Whoever gets home first stars cooking the dinner;
Whoever cleans the windows doesnt make a good job of it;
You can eat whatever you like;
You can watch whatever programme you like.
In order to emphasize the importance of a request or command whatever you do is often placed
before or after it, e.g.
Whatever you do, dont mention my name;
Whatever you do, dont spend that money.

4/5.5. Adverbial adjectives

They are hundreds of words that begin in a- that is usually attached to nouns, adjectives or verbs,
e.g. aback, abask, abeam, ablaze, abloom, ablush, aboard, abreast, acock, adrift, afar, afield,
afloat, afoot, afore, afresh, agap, etc.
These words are neither pure adjectives nor pure adverbs since they partly show the state of an
object and partly its characteristic at a given moment; they are classed as adjectives, however,
because of the following reasons:
1. state being a transient quality of something, the general meaning of these words falls under the
heading of qualitative adjectives;
2. they are morphologically non-flexional; some may combine with more and the most, e.g. more
afraid, more alive etc.;
3. syntactically they combine with other parts of speech, like any other qualitative adjectives: with
adverbs, e.g. he was painfully alive to the great universal things (Jack London); with
prepositional combinations, e.g. He walked away under a sky of clear steel-blue, alive with stars
(Galsworthy);
4. They combine with infinitives, e.g. He is afraid to come back;
5. they are usually predicatives, e.g.
They are asleep;
The door was ajar;
The crew were ashore.

4/5.6. Relative pronouns

Relative pronouns introduce relative clauses which can be a) defining/ restrictive relative clauses
or b) non-defining/non-restrictive relative clauses;
a) Defining relative clauses describe the preceding noun in such a way as to distinguish it from
the other nouns of the same class. A clause of this kind is essential to the clear understanding of

66

the noun, e.g. The man who came yesterday refused to give me his name - who came yesterday is
the relative clause; if we omit it, it is not clear what man we are talking about.
Relative pronouns used in defining/restrictive relative clauses:

for things: N. who/that, D. and Acc. Who(m)/that, G. whose;

for things: N., D., Acc. which/that, G. whose/of which

Examples:
-

for persons, nominative: The man who robbed you has been arrested: that is a possible
alternative after all, everyone, everybody, no one, nobody and those; if in doubt, use who, e.g.
Everyone who/that knew him liked him;

for persons, accusative: the pronoun changes from the formally correct, whom, to the more usual
one, who, then to that or it is left out altogether, e.g. The man whom/who/that/-----I saw told me
to come back yesterday;
-

for persons, genitive: People whose rents have been raised can appeal;

for things, nominative: This is the picture which/that caused such a sensation; that is a
possible alternative to which, but when in doubt, use which;

for things, accusative: the pronoun changes from which to that or is left out completely, e.g.
The car which/that/----- I hired broke down;

for things, genitive: A house whose walls were made of glass cost a fortune;

A defining/restrictive relative clause can be replaced by an infinitive or a participle (see section

1.6.1.2.)
b) Non-defining/non-restrictive relative clauses are placed after nouns that are definite already, so
they do not define the noun, but merely add something to it by giving some more information
about it; unlike defining relative clauses, they are not essential in the sentence and can be omitted
without causing confusion; the pronouns, however, can never be omitted as they play an important
role in the subordinate clause. This construction is fairly formal and more common in written
than in spoken English.
Relative pronouns in non-defining relative clauses:

for persons: N. who, D., Acc. who(m), G. whose

for things: N.,D., Acc. which, G. whose, of which

Examples:
-

for persons, nominative: My friend, who doesnt like fishing at all, went fishing yesterday;

for persons, accusative: Peter, who(m) everyone suspected, turned out to be innocent; --for
persons, genitive: Ann, whose children are at school today, is trying to get a job;

for objects, nominative: That block, which cost $2 million to build, has been empty for years;

67

for objects, accusative: These books, which you can get at any bookshop, will give you all the
information you need;

for objects, genitive: This house, whose windows were all broken, was a depressive sight.

Which (ceea ce) can also modify a whole main clause, or a longer unit that was reported before,
e.g.

or

Apart from his talent, he was tall and handsome, which made the jury select him for the main
part in the movie;
(a longer unit), which left him poor and broke.

Both in defining and non-defining relative clauses the preposition, if there is one, should be kept
after the verb it belongs to. The preposition may precede the relative pronoun sometimes, but this
construction is rather formal and is never used in spoken English, although it may appear in written
form: so, it is more usual to say The man I was travelling with was from San Francisco than The
man with whom I was travelling was from S.F, in which the preposition precedes the relative
pronoun; the same is true for all instances of relative pronouns associated with prepositions.
The importance of commas in relative clauses
A defining relative clause is written without commas, while a non-defining relative one is always
put between commas, or comes after a comma, at the end of the sentence. The presence of commas
is very important as the meaning changes when commas are inserted, e.g.
The students who wanted to go on a trip were disappointed when it started to rain (=not all
were disappointed, only those who wanted to go on a trip) and
The students, who wanted to go on a trip, were disappointed (all wanted to go on a trip and all
were disappointed).

4/5.7. Personal pronouns

Pronouns are words which replace nouns; the personal pronoun has an anaphoric function, i.e.
they replace nouns previously mentioned or notions the interlocutor(s) is/are already informed
about.
The personal pronoun has number (singular and plural), gender (masculine and feminine, and the
inanimate it), and case (nominative, and dative/accusative):
Person/number
I singular
II singular
III singular

I plural
II plural
III plural

Nominative
I
you
Thou*
he
she
it
we
you
they

Dative/ Accusative
(for/to) me
(for/to) you
(for/to) thee*
(for/to) him
(for/to) her
(for/to) it
(for/to) us
(for/to) you
(for/to) them

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*Thou and *thee are old forms that can be found in literature or in extremely formal speech; very
infrequently encountered in contemporary English.
For the position of the pronoun objects see under noun, the category of the case (section 2.7)
Synonyms of personal pronouns:
-

myself can stand for I, e.g.

John and myself went on foot;

or after as/than/but, e.g.

No person has ever been more intolerably tortured than myself;
-

we can stand for I as the so-called modest we or royal we, e.g. an author writing an article
may choose to write: We experimented all the, instead of : I experimented all the;

we is sometimes used instead of you especially

- when talking down (doctor to patient)
How are we feeling today? or
- when talking to children, e.g.
Are we hungry?
We havent eaten anything today.

the undersigned can be used instead of the first person singular in applications;
The pronoun IT has been explained under noun, the category of gender; it has other functions as
well, e.g.
Demonstrative IT- very much like the demonstrative adjective, when the pronoun could be
replaced by a demonstrative, e.g.
Who is it?
Have you ever drunk wine? It is very tasty.
Its all right.
Impersonal IT- used with time, weather, distance etc., e.g.
It is late;
It is early;
What time is it?
It is cold;
Introductory-anticipatory IT - it introduces the sentence and anticipates the logical subject/object,
being itself a formal grammatical subject or object; it also introduces passive constructions (for
other introductory functions see under adjective of quality), e.g.

69

It is easy to learn English;

It is clear that he wont do it;
It is said/it is believed/it is suspected that etc.
Introductory-emphatic IT- sometimes the speaker feels that it is not strong enough to use only the
subject and the predicate, he feels the need to emphasize the subject, e.g. The doctor prescribed the
medicine (= Doctorul mi-a prescris medicamentul) is not convincing enough, so the speaker says: It
is/was the doctor who prescribes/prescribed the medicine (= Doctorul e cel care mi-a prescris
medicamentul); or It was only yesterday that I found out the truth; It was the teacher who told me
what to do etc.
An emphatic-predicate IT- when it refers to person/thing/situation which is final or ultimate, e.g.
This is it! Thats it!
An empty-meaningless IT- because of the compulsory presence of a subject, e.g. It is Monday; It
is raining etc, very much like b), the impersonal IT.

4/5.8. Reflexive and emphatic pronouns

The form of the reflexive pronoun is the same as the emphatic pronoun, the two can be
distinguished in use.
Person/Number

Reflexive/Emphatic/Emphasizing pronoun

I singular
II singular
III singular

I plural
II plural
III plural

myself
yourself
himself
herself
itself
ourselves
yourselves
themselves

The indefinite reflexive/emphasizing pronoun is oneself.

1) as reflexive pronouns they are used as objects of a verb when the action of the verb returns to the
doer, i.e. when the subject and the object are the same person; the word order is: subject + verb +
reflexive pronoun, e.g.
I cut myself;
He cant shave himself;
Reflexive pronouns can be used after verb + preposition, e.g.
He spoke to himself;
Look after yourself!.
The preposition by preceding any of these pronouns changes their meaning to alone, not
accompanied or without help, e.g.
He was sitting there by himself =he was sitting there alone;
I did it by myself =I did it without any help etc.
70

2) as emphatic pronouns, they have a different place, i.e. subject + emphatic pronoun + verb +
object OR subject +verb + object + emphatic pronoun, e.g.
Ann herself opened the door =Ann opened the door herself;
The king himself gave her the medal;
She made the cake herself =She herself made the cake etc.
4/5.9. Reciprocal pronouns
They are one another and each other; both can be used for two or more, but each other is
preferred when there are no more than two, e.g.
Tom and Ann looked at each other;
The reciprocal pronoun can be used in the genitive, e.g.
The boys whispered in each others ears;
It was a general fight, people tearing each others clothes etc.
In contemporary usage each other is frequently preferred over one another, even when there are
more than two people present.

6. THE NUMERAL
The numeral is a word that denotes an abstract number or the abstract numerical order of
objects; it can be a noun, an adjective or a pronoun.
The question they answer are: how many? how much? which?
Irrespective of their morphological status, numerals are invariable, e.g.
Ten multiplied by two is twenty (noun);
Ten students left by bus (adjective);
Not all the students were present, ten had left earlier (pronoun);
The first (student) asked whether to stay or to leave (pronoun/ noun)
Numerals can be classed according to various criteria, e.g.
1) according to form:
a) simple: one, two, three, nine, ten, eleven etc.
b) compound: twenty two, fifty one etc.
c) by derivation: thirteen, fourteen, thirty, sixty and all the ordinal numeral etc.
2) according to content:
a) cardinal numerals
b) ordinal numerals
c) fractional numerals
d) multiplicative numerals
e) distributive numerals
f) adverbial numerals of recurrence
6.1. Cardinal numerals
a) cardinal numerals show the number of objects:
1
one
10 ten
2
two
20 twenty
3
three
30 thirty
4
four
40
forty
5
five
50 fifty
6
six
60 sixty
71

7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19

seven
eight
nine
ten
eleven
twelve
thirteen
fourteen
fifteen
sixteen
seventeen
eighteen
nineteen

70 seventy
80 eighty
90 ninety
100 one hundred
1,000 one thousand
1,000,000 one million
1,000,000,000 one billion

How to use the cardinal numeral:

-

numerals hundred, thousand, million, billion do not get a plural suffix when used with
numbers, e.g. 3,000 = three thousand, 5,000,000 = five million; however when used to show an
indefinite number, they are used in the plural , e.g. thousands and thousands of people, tens of
millions of books etc.
use and before the tens, e.g. 1,157 is read one thousand one hundred and fifty seven; 3,004
reads three thousand and four etc.
a comma (,) is used instead of a full stop (.) to separate millions from hundreds of thousands,
thousands from hundreds, e.g. 3,457,908 etc. and a full stop (.) instead of a comma (,) in
decimal fractions, e.g. 5.7; 234.987 etc.
years are read as follows: the first two figures together and the last two together, e.g. 1991 =
nineteen ninety one; 1809 = eighteen oh nine; starting with 2000 the years are read as follows:
2000 = two thousand; normally for the first nine years of each century oh[ou] is used to express
0 (zero), but exceptionally for the first decade of the 21 st century and is used to express 0
(zero) so 2001 is read two thousand and one etc.
the cardinal numeral is also used instead of the ordinal numeral to show the number of a house,
bus, flat, chapter, section, volume etc, e.g. book ten; section nine; volume three; flat twenty
seven etc.
telephone numbers: there are several ways of reading the telephone numbers; they are usually
read figure by figure if the figures are different, e.g. 41 72 45 = four one seven two four five; if
there is a kind of symmetry in the number, it may be read by twos, e.g. 41 56 41 = forty one
fifty six forty one; if a figure is repeated, it is read double; e.g. 45 33 22 = four five (or
forty five) double three double two; or 55 77 08 double five double seven 0 (oh OR zero) eight
etc.
telling the time: the traditional way of telling the time uses prepositions (past and to) and
cardinal numerals for hours and minutes etc., e.g. it is twenty to five or it is twenty past five;
there is a newer form that has been forced upon users by international use (flights, train etc.) and
which consists in the juxtaposition of two cardinal numbers, the first telling the hour and the
second telling the minutes, e.g. five twenty five (am or pm); four fifty (am or pm) etc, 1002
becomes ten oh[ou] two; the military have a special way of telling the time, when it is a whole
number, e.g. for two oclock sharp = two hundred hours etc.

6.2. Ordinal numerals

the first
the third
the fifth etc.

the second
the fourth

72

Except the first three ordinal numerals whose form is different, the others are formed from the
cardinal numeral, and all are preceded by the.
Uses:
telling the date: the date may be written in various ways, but it is read as follows: the + the
numeral + of + name of the month and then the year, e.g. June, 4th , 2000 = the fourth of June,
two thousand etc.
to show regular intervals, e.g. every third week = o dat la trei sptmni, twice every second week
etc.
6.3. Fractional numerals
- common fractions: 2/3 = two thirds; =one fourth; 4/6 = four sixths; half; 3 = three
and a half etc.
- decimal fractions: special attention should be paid to the fact that instead of comma in the
European system, a full stop/a period is used in the Anglo-Saxon system, e.g. 5.6; 3.56; 2.8765;
1.2 etc.
6.4. Multiplicative numerals
Show how many times a quantity or number increases, e.g.
- adjectival use:
double - dublu
threefold - ntreit
fourfold - mptrit
The form is an ordinal numeral + fold.
adverbial use:
twice - dublu, ndoit, de dou ori
three times, threefold - ntreit, de trei ori
four times, fourfold - mptrit, de patru ori
a hundred times - de o sut de ori
6.5. Distributive numerals
These numerals show the distribution and grouping of objects:
(one) by one - (unul) cte unul
by twos - cte doi
by threes - cte trei
6.6. Adverbial numeral of recurrence
Shows how many times an action is repeated or how many times a quantity or number is
larger/smaller than another quantity or number, e.g.
once - o dat
twice, two times - de dou ori
three times, thrice - de trei ori
four times - de patru ori
once and a half - o dat i jumtate
three times a year - de trei ori pe an
many times - de multe ori

73

7. THE ADVERB

The adverb is defined as the part of speech showing the characteristic of an action, of a state,
or of a quality; it has degrees of comparison and syntactically it is an adverbial (of manner, time,
place etc).
Adverbs proper fall under 8 classes, e.g.
of manner: well, badly, quickly, slowly, fast, bravely, happily, hard, beautifully etc.
of place: here, there, somewhere, by, up, down, here, there, near, backward, right, left, far, etc.
of time: now, nowadays, today, then, before, afterwards, eventually, formerly, previously, soon,
just, early, immediately etc.
of frequency: always, seldom, scarcely, hardly, ever, never, occasionally, often, sometimes,
usually, frequently, once, twice, weekly, daily, lately, recently, since, still, yet.
sentence adverbs: certainly, definitely, luckily, surely, apparently, evidently, obviously,
presumably, undoubtedly, perhaps, possibly etc.
of degree: fairly, hardly, rather, quite, too, very, absolutely, almost, barely, completely, enough,
entirely, extremely, far, just, much, nearly, only, really, scarcely, so etc.
interrogative adverbs: when?, where?, why?, how?
relative adverbs: when, where, why, how etc.
The classification above is just one of the several possible. Within the same class, several
subclasses can be identified, but an exhaustive classification is not necessarily helpful to the user of
the book.
Form:
According to form, adverbs can be unmarked or marked by the ending ly (some adverbs of
manner, of frequency, of degree and some sentence adverbs).
NOTE learners should be aware of the fact that there are two kinds of words ending in ly:
a) noun + ly, the resulting word being an adjective, e.g. friend/ly, leisure/ly, kind/ly, like/ly,
lone/ly, day/daily, week/ly, month/ly, year/ly etc, With the exceptions underlined in the above
enumeration the other adjectives can be used as adverbs as a result of conversion.
The words friendly, likely, lonely have no adverbial form; in order to supply this deficiency a
similar adverb or adverb phrase is used, e.g.
friendly (adjective) in a friendly way (adverb phrase)
likely (adjective) probably (adverb)
lonely (adjective) no adverbial form
b) adjective + ly, the resulting word being invariably an adverb; certain spelling notes should be
observed.
7.1. The formation of the adverbs with the suffix ly
Adjective + (-ly) adverb of manner etc.
ly is added to a large number of adjectives, without any changes, e.g.
Adjective
Adverb
clear
clearly
clean
cleanly
slow
slowly
fair
fairly
ly with the exception of adjectives ending in ple, -tle, -ble all other adjectives ending in e
retain the final vowel before the adverbial ending, e.g.
Adjective
Adverb
immediate
immediately
74

approximate
approximately
definite
definitely
sure
surely
exceptions:
true
truly
due
duly
whole
wholly
The adjectives in -ple, -ble, -tle drop the final e and add a y and NOT -ly, e.g.
simple
simply
probable
probably
capable
capably
sensible
sensibly
gentle
gently
ly adjectives ending in a final l produce adverbs like (- lly, one l belongs to the word proper,
while the second is part of the suffix ly).
beautiful
beautifully
final
finally
careful
carefully
hopeful
hopefully
helpful
helpfully
ly irrespective of the preceding letter, adjectives ending in y, change the final y into i,
before adding the adverbial ending e.g.
happy
happily
ready
readily
creepy
creepily
stealthy
stealthily
ally adjectives ending in ic add ally in order to form the corresponding adverb, e.g.
enthusiastic
enthusiastically
automatic
automatically
theologic(al)
theologically
dramatic
dramatically
Pronunciation note the ending is pronounced [kli], e.g.
Exception: public publicly.
7.2. Classification of the adverb of manner
Adverbs and adjectives with the same form (fast adj = fast adv)
Adverbs ending in ly, whose meaning is restricted or different from the corresponding
adjective=adverb form (hard adj, adv, hardly adv. etc.)
Standard adverbs ending in ly, whose adjectives get a final ly to make up the adverb, (clear adj
clearly adv. etc)
7.3. Adverbs and adjectives with the same form
back, close*, deep*, direct*, early, easy*, early, enough, far, fair*, fast, free*, hard*, high*, ill, just*,
kindly, late*, light*, left, little, long, low, much/more/most*, near*, pretty*, quick*, right* (with
several meanings), short*, still, straight, well, wide*, wrong*, cheap*, dear*, dear*, last*, sharp*,
tight*, loud*, clean*, clear* ; e.g.
Constructions with adverbs
They came in through the back door.
Write back immediately.
She did not come back.
She came close to me.
They are close friends.
He dived deep in the clear water.

She had deep feelings for her

75

relatives.
You can travel to Paris direct. They took the most direct route to
London.
Starred verbs in the list also have a ly form.
7.4. Degrees of comparison
Adverbs have degrees of comparison and constructions with the comparative very much like
adjectives of the same type, e.g.
adverbs and adjectives with the same form take suffixes (see section 3.4).
adverbs ending in ly, irrespective of the number of syllables take more and the most like
plurisyllabic and other types of adjectives (see section 3.4)
For constructions with comparisons, see section 3.4.
7.5. The place/position of adverbs
In an non-emphatic structure, the adverbs of manner, place, and time come in this very order. There
are, however, instances in which this order is only partly observed.
7.6. Adverbs of manner
They come immediately after an intransitive verb or after the object of a transitive one when the
object is short, e.g.
Mary dresses fashionably.
They danced gracefully.
We work hard.
She speaks English well and never
*She speaks well English (unacceptable)
With object sentence, the length of the object affects the place of the adverb, the latter preceding
such objects, e.g.
They gracefully followed the directions of their dance teacher.
John, Marys step brother, suspiciously considered the will of their deceased father.
With prepositional objects, the adverb of manner can be placed after the object or before the
preposition, e.g.
My parents looked after their grandson/him.
My parents looked carefully after their grandson/him.
The teacher looked after the kids very anxiously
The teacher looked very anxiously after the kids.
If the adverb of manner is placed after a clause or phrase, it is considered to modify that clause or
phrase, e.g. (Thomson & Martinet, 1997: 52).
They secretly decided to leave the town (their decision was to be secret)
They decided to leave the town secretly (their departure was to be secret).
John generously accepted to accommodate the two strangers (his acceptance was generous)
John accepted to accommodate them generously (the accommodation he offered was
generous).
Most of the adverbs used as above are concerned with character and intelligence, i.e. foolishly,
generously, kindly, stupidly etc.
Badly and well can be used as adverbs of manner or degree, their function depending on their
position.
Adverbs of manner
He speaks English badly.
He speaks French well.

Adverbs of degree
The school badly wants repair.
She was badly injured in the car
76

The employer paid her badly/well. crash.

They get on well together.
Their trip was badly organized while ours was well set up.
The guide knew the district very The children were well dressed for well.
the occasion.
She may well refuse to come.
7.7. Adverbs of place
They are away, everywhere, here, nowhere, somewhere, there, abroad, adeck, upstairs etc. and in
the house, in the street, on the chair, on the table, near him, under the carpet, above the lamp,
beyond the mountains, around the house, in the doorway etc.
Some - , any - , nowhere follow the rules of some, any, no (see section 4/5.2).
Ive met him somewhere
She hasnt seen me anywhere or
She has seen me nowhere.
Adverbs of place come after an intransitive verb or after the direct object of a transitive one. If there
is an adverb of manner, this precedes the adverb of place, e.g.
She used to work well in her own apartment.
John smoked only one cigarette in his room
The adverbs away, down, in, off, over, round, up etc. are used to make up phrasal verbs, which
are so frequently encountered in English.
7.8. Adverbs of time
The most frequent are afterwards, eventually, lately, now, recently, soon, then, today, tomorrow,
yesterday, and the adverb phrases of time, e.g. at once, since then, till 6 etc, in the morning, at
noon, in the afternoon, at dusk, in the evening, at night, at dawn, last year, next year, this time
next week, by the end of the month etc.
Adverbs of time can be placed either at the end of the structure, after the adverb of manner +
adverb of place, or at the very beginning, without change of meaning.

77

7.9. Adverbs of frequency

The most usual adverbs of frequency are: always, continually, frequently, occasionally,
sometimes, usually, ever, hardly ever, never, rarely, scarcely ever, seldom etc.
When the adverb of frequency is taken out of its standard place and put at the very
beginning of the structure it gets emphasis, e.g.
Standard

Emphatic

I seldom wake up at 6 a.m.

Seldom I wake up at 6 a.m.
She often comes to school by car
Often she comes to school by car.
He sometimes works very late. Sometimes he works very late.
Negative adverbs follow the rule of other negative constructions in English.
Adverbs of frequency are not compatible with continuous tenses, except always which
changes the meaning of the sentence.
7.10. Sentence adverbs
Sentence adverbs express some degrees of certainty; they modify the whole
clause/sentence and express the users opinion. Some of the most useful are: actually,
apparently, certainly, clearly, evidently, obviously, presumably, probably, undoubtedly,
definitely, perhaps, possibly, surely, admittedly (un)fortunately, frankly, honestly,
(un)luckily, naturally, officially. They can be placed in front or in end position, e.g.
Actually, I dont know him well.
I dont know him well, actually.
Apparently he is an honest man.
He is an honest man apparently.
She is, definitely, one of our best students.
Frankly, why should I accept his suggestion when he never listens to me.
7.11. Adverbs of degree
They are absolutely, almost, barely, completely, enough, entirely, extremely, fairly, far,
hardly, just, much, nearly, only, quite, rather, really, scarcely, so, too, very, a little.
ome of these adverbs where treated elsewhere in the book (see under the respective
headings).
These adverbs of degree can modify an adjective or another adverb. With the exception
of enough which is used in post-position, all the other adverbs of degree are placed in
front of an adjective or another adverb. The following adverbs of degree can also modify
verbs, e.g. almost, barely, enough, hardly, just, (a) little, much, nearly, quite, rather,
really, and scarcely, e.g.
Much is the only one used in post position.
She worked much.
I like it much.
They had contributed much.

78

Some adverbs of degree need special attention: only, fairly, rather, quite, hardly,
scarcely, barely.
ONLY
In theory only is placed next to the word it applies. In written English this place is
compulsory, but in spoken English in which intonation is also relevant it is usually
placed immediately after the subject. Both only and the intended word are stressed, e.g.
Written English:
Mary borrowed only three books. (not five).
Mary only made that cake (but someone else bought the ingredients)
Tom asked Marys address for himself only (he was not to give it to someone else)
Tom asked Marys address only (not her age, employment etc.)
Spoken English:
Mary 'only borrowed three books.
Mary 'only made that cake.
Tom 'only asked Marys address for himself.
Tom 'only asked Marys address.
FAIRLY AND RATHER
Fairly means moderately;
Rather means moderately or is the equivalent of very;
Fairly is used with favourable adjectives or adverbs, i.e. which express a desirable,
positive quality.
Mary is fairly beautiful.
Tom is a fairly good driver.
He was fairly interested in history.
Rather means moderately when used with unfavourable/ undesirable/negative
adjectives or adverbs, e.g.
Mary is rather stupid.
This book was rather expensive.
Tom is a rather/rather a bad swimmer.
Rather means very when used with favourable adjectives or adverbs, e.g.
Tom is rather intelligent is much more complimentary than
Tom is fairly intelligent.
This book is rather interesting.
Mary is rather beautiful.
The largest part of adjectives and adverbs are neither favourable nor unfavourable,
their meaning depending on the larger context. In such instances the use of fairly or
rather depends on the speaker or on logic, e.g. temperatures/various tastes are a good
example:
This wine is fairly sweet (I like sweet wines)
This wine is rather sweet (I like dry wines)
Rather can be used before alike, like, similar, different, dissimilar, and before
comparatives, with the meaning a little or slightly (see Thomson & Martinet, 1997:
61); rather a can be used with certain nouns that show a negative concept:
disappointment, disadvantage, nuisance, pity, shame etc.

79

The son is rather like his grand father ;

The water was rather deep there.
They were rather friendly.
Its rather a shame that he hasnt come to Marys birthday party.
Its rather a pity that we cant go on that trip.
Rather can also express a sort of surprise on the part of the speaker when used with
verbs of liking or disliking, e.g.
Tom rather likes driving in heavy traffic.
I rather like the smell of cigarette smoke.
Mary rather enjoys working nights.
QUITE
This is a word that can generate confusion for learners because it has different meanings,
which enable it to function in the following structures, e.g.
words or phrases that express the idea of completeness: all right, certain, determined,
empty, finished, full, ready, sure, wrong etc.
adjectives or adverbs that express a quality existing in the highest degree; such words
are not used in the absolute superlative, e.g. amazing, extraordinary, horrible,
formidable, fantastic, terrible, perfect, shocking, remarkable etc.
with other adjectives or adverbs quite means moderately; it is frequently associated
with the adjectives good, interesting, nice etc.
Examples:
(a)Are you ready yet?
Im quite ready.
Marys glass was quite full, which means that she has not tasted the wine.
(b) That coincidence seemed quite extraordinary;
That accident was quite terrible;
(c) That new novel is quite good.(= moderately good)
HARDLY an almost negative adverb is usually associated with only, ever, at all, can,
to convey an nearly negative meaning, e.g.
Jane has hardly any money left after she bought her new car (=very little money
left)
John has seen hardly any wild animals in wilderness (=very few).
I have hardly ever eaten pike (=very rarely)
It hardly rained at all this summer (=very little)
She can hardly speak Chinese (=she speaks very little Chinese).
I can hardly swim (=I am a bad swimmer)
Scarcely is a synonym of hardly and can replace the latter in most instances; scarcely,
though, is less frequently used than hardly.
Barely (= not more than/only just) is preferred to express age; e.g.
Mary was barely 15 when she graduated.
Mother can barely see the T.V.

80

7.11. Inversion of the verb

Quite a large number of adverbs or adverb phrases can be taken out of their standard
position in the sentence, and placed first. These adverbs are usually restrictive or have a
negative sense, e.g. hardlyever, hardly when, in no circumstances, neither/nor,
never, no sooner than, not only, not till, nowhere, on no account, only by, only in
this way, only then, only when, scarcely ever, scarcely when, seldom, so etc.
I have hardly ever eaten fish.
Hardly ever have I eaten fish.
He did not realize he had lost his wallet till he had to buy something.
Not till he had to buy something did he realize that he had lost his wallet.
This exhibit must not be touched on no account.
On no account must this exhibit be touched.
She has never before asked to cheat on somebody.
Never before has she been asked to cheat on somebody

8. PREPOSITIONS AND CONJUNCTIONS

8.1. Prepositions
Introduction
Prepositions are words normally placed before nouns or pronouns. Prepositions can
also be followed by verbs but, except after but and except, the verb must be in the
gerund form:
She is talking of buying a new house.
They succeeded in getting away with it..
Users have two main problems with prepositions. They have to know (a) whether in any
construction a preposition is required or not, and (b) which preposition to use when one is
required.
8.1.1. Alternative position of prepositions
A. Prepositions normally precede nouns or pronouns. In two constructions, however, it
is possible, in informal English, to move the preposition to the end of the sentence;
this place of the preposition is thought to be more frequently used than the formal
structure, when the preposition is put at the beginning of the structure, e.g.
In questions beginning with a preposition + whom/which/what/ whose/where:
To whom were you listening? (formal)
Who were you listening to? (informal)
In which room does he keep the money? (formal)

81

Which room does he keep the money in? (informal)

2. Similarly, in relative clauses, a preposition placed before whom/ which can be moved
to the end of the clause. The relative pronoun (reduced to that) is then often omitted:
The people with whom I was travelling were nice and pleasant to talk to (formal)
The people I was travelling with were nice and pleasant to talk to (informal)
The company from which I bought my TV set belongs to my brother-in-law
(formal)
The company I bought my TV set from belongs to my brother-in-law (informal)
But in phrasal verbs the preposition/adverb remains after its verb, so the formal type of
construction is not possible, i.e.
The kids I was looking after were very naughty, could not be rewritten with after +
whom
*The children after whom I was looking were very naughty, and
Which bridge did you blow up? could not be rewritten with up + which.
*Up which bridge did they blow?
Time and date are usually expressed by the following prepositions: at, on, by, before, in
at a time/at an age
at dawn, at dusk, at midnight, at nine, at midnight, at 9.30; at the age of nine;
on a day/date:
on Monday on 24 August on Easter Day
Exceptions
at night
at Christmas, at Easter (the period, not the day only)
on the morning/afternoon/evening/night of a certain date:
We arrived on the morning of the tenth;
by a time/date/period = at that time or before/not later than that date.
The train leaves at 9.10, so you had better be at the station by 9.00.
before can be preposition, conjunction or adverb:
Before finishing your work; (preposition)
Before you finish your work; (conjunction)
I met her somewhere before. (adverb)
on time
on time = at the time arranged, not before, not after:
The 8.15 train started on time. (It started at 8.15)
in time/in time for + noun = not late; in good time (for) = with a comfortable margin:
Passengers should be in time for their train.
Students should be at school in good time; (Perhaps school began at 8.00 and I they
arrived at 7.45)
at the beginning/end
at the beginning (of)/at the end (of) = literally at the beginning/end:

82

At the beginning of a book there is often a table of contents.

At the end there may be an index.
in the beginning/at first = in the early stages. It implies that later on there was a change
in the end/at last = eventually/after some time:
At first she opposed the marriage, but in the end she gave her consent.
Time: from, since, for, during
from is normally used with to or till/until:
Students have classes from nine to two.
from can also be used of place:
Where are you from?
since is used for time, never for place, and means from that time to the time referred to.
It is often used with a present perfect or past perfect tense, e.g.
Mary has been working with us since last year (from last year till now)
since can also be an adverb, e.g.
John and me/I left school in 1990. We havent met since.
since can also be a conjunction of time:
He has stayed with us ever since he left the orphanage.
It is two years since I last met Tom.
for is used of a period of time:
Bake it for two hours.
He was in the army for 10 years;.
during and for
during is used with known periods of time, i.e. periods known by name, such as
Christmas, Easter or periods which have been already defined:
during the Middle Ages during 1881
during the summer (of that year)
during his youth
for (indicating purpose) may be used before known periods:
I went there/I rented a house for my winter holidays.
for has various other uses:
She asked for &100 for her new green dress.
I made a big juicy sandwich for Tom.
Travel and movement makes use of a variety of prepositions, e.g. from, to, at, in, by, on,
into, onto, off, out, out of
we travel from our starting place to our destination (but not home)
arrive at/in, get to, reach (without preposition)
we arrive in a town or country, at or in a village, at any other destination;
get to/reach can be used with any destination;
home
We can use a verb of motion etc. + home without a preposition:
It took us an hour to get home.
John drove me home in his Mercedes;
But if home is immediately preceded by a word or phrase a preposition is necessary:
She decided to go back to her parents home.
Transport: by, on, get in/into/on/onto/off/out of

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We can travel by car (but in the/my car), by bus/train/plane/helicopter/ hovercraft etc.

and by sea/air. We can also travel by a certain route, or by a certain place (though via is
more usual):
We went by the M4.
We went via Reading.
We can walk or go on foot.
We can cycle or go on a bicycle or by bicycle.
We can ride or go on horseback.
We get into a public or private vehicle;
We get on/onto a public vehicle;
We get on/onto a horse/bicycle.
We get out of a public or private vehicle;
We get off a public vehicle, a horse, bicycle, etc;
get in/into/out/out of can also be used of buildings, institutions and countries instead of
go/come/return etc. when there is some difficulty in entering or leaving. in and out here
are used as adverbs.
Ive lost my keys! How are we going to get into the flat/to get in? (adverb)
The house is on fire! We had better get out! (adverb)
Its difficult to get into a university nowadays.
8.1.2. Prepositions used with adjectives and participles
absorbed in
involved in
according to
keen on
accustomed to
liable for/to
afraid of
nervous of
anxious for/about
owing to
Verb + preposition constructions. There are a great many other verbs which can be
followed by prepositions and some of these are listed below, e.g.
accuse smb. of
insist on
apologize (to smb.) for
live on
apply to sb/for sth
long for
Notice also feel like + noun/pronoun = feel inclined to have something:
Do you feel like a coffee/a snack/a drink/a meal/a rest?
feel like + gerund = feel inclined to do something:
I dont feel like walking today;
She does not feel like having another glass of beer, as it looks;
8.1.3. Gerunds after prepositions
The only exceptions to the gerund rule are except and but (preposition), which take the
bare infinitive:
I could do nothing except agree.
He did nothing but complain.
However, when but is used as a conjunction, it can be followed directly by either a full
infinitive or a gerund, e.g.
When you are young, driving a car is agreeable, but driving it all day long might
become monotonous.
To drive a car is agreeable, but to drive it all the time might become monotonous;

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8.2. Conjunctions
Conjunctions are words expressing coordinating or subordinating relations between pairs
of nouns/adjectives/adverbs/verbs/phrases/clauses. They do not change their form and do
not have a syntactic function in the sentence but establish relations of coordination or
subordination between the clauses of a sentence.
8.2.1. Coordinating conjunctions
Coordinating conjunctions connect pairs of words of the same type, having the same
function in the sentence, or pairs of the same type of clauses within a sentence; they fall
under three main groups, e.g.
Copulative: and, as well, both and, not only but also
They play football and tennis as a pastime.
I make the payments and keep the accounts.
Both men and women were accepted to work in the company.
John was there as well as his friend, Tom;
Disjunctive: or, either or, neither nor, e.g.
You either work or leave;
I am not very sure, she lives either in San Francisco or in London;
She can neither read nor write Chinese but she speaks it fluently;
Adversative: but, e.g.
She was beautiful but very whimsical;
I bought her a new dress but she did not like it;
8.2.2. Subordinating conjunctions
Subordinating conjunctions connect a subordinating clause to a main clause, and they
fall under several subclasses, e.g.
General subordinating conjunctions: that; if, whether, which can introduse several types
of subordinate clauses;
Special subordinating conjunctions which introduce subordinate clauses:
of manner: (exactly) as, (just) as;
of place: where, wherever;
of time: when, since, till/until, while/as, before, after, as, as soon as, hardly when, no
sooner than, immediately, the sooner, whenever, while
of reason: as, since, because;

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of purpose: so that, in order that/so (that); for fear (that), lest;

of condition: if, provided (that), on condition (that), as long as, so long as, unless,
of result: so that, so, so/such (that);
of concession: (even) though, although, while, whereas,even if/though;
of comparison: as as, as if/as though;
NOTE. Cojunctions have more than one meaning and may introduce more than one type
of clauses

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