[...]... reluctant most foolish most vicious The reason why English has two different sets of comparative and superlative forms is historical Adjectives of native English origin usually form their comparative and superlative forms with -er and -est endings Adjectives borrowed from French usually form their comparative and superlative forms with more and most Adjectives of English origin tend to be one and two syllable... use the noun as a plural For example: *X They have had really bad lucks over the last few years *Throughout the book, X signifies an incorrect choice or answer Nouns 5 Count nouns Most count nouns in English form their plural by adding a sibilant sound written as -s or -es Plurals formed this way are called regular plurals Some nouns form their plural in other ways They are called irregular plurals... cough-coughs; laugh-laughs; cuff-cuffs; sniff-sniffs /θ/ path-paths; lath-laths; monolith-monoliths, bath-baths 2 If the noun ends in a voiced consonant sound (except a sibilant) or any vowel (all vowels in English are voiced), then the plural is formed with the voiced sibilant /z/, which is also spelled -s Here are examples of all the consonant sounds that this rule applies to: /b/ lab-labs; web-webs; blob-blobs;... flame-flames; home-homes /n/ hen-hens; teen-teens; moon-moons; loan-loans; tune-tunes; throne-thrones /ŋ/ ring-rings; thing-things; throng-throngs; rung-rungs; song-songs Since all vowels are voiced in English, this rule also governs the plural of all words ending in a vowel sound For example: sea-seas; zoo-zoos; cow-cows; bee-bees; show-shows; tree-trees Words ending in the letter y are little more... bay 3 box 4 clock 5 rose 6 mist 7 dish 8 try 9 cottage 10 colleague 11 clause 12 clash 13 hedge 14 phone 15 freeze 16 share 17 duty 18 patch 19 allowance 20 sheet For a variety of historical reasons, English has some plurals that are formed in an irregular way 9 10 Noun Phrases Seven words form their plural by a vowel change alone: Singular foot goose louse man mouse tooth woman Plural feet* geese... the following sentence: The computer’s screen is flickering Here the possessive form tells us that the screen is a component of the computer In this section, however, we are going to focus solely on how English forms the possessive Before Shakespeare’s time the possessive form of nouns was spelled exactly the same as the plural form: with an -s By Shakespeare’s time, however, writers had began to distinguish... Order of modifiers: Predicate adjective: True adjective: The moon was The moon was moon was rising in the eastern sky moon was rising in the eastern sky Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives English is unusual in that it has not one but two ways of forming the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives One way, as we have seen, is by adding -er and -est onto the base form of the adjective...This page intentionally left blank 1 Nouns Proper and common nouns There are two basic types of nouns in English: proper nouns and common nouns Proper nouns are the names of specific individuals, places, and things; common nouns are the names of classes of persons, places, and things For example, Ruth Ginsburg,... forms with more and most Adjectives of English origin tend to be one and two syllable words Adjectives of French origin tend to be polysyllabic, that is two, three, and even four syllables Over time, English speakers tended to forget about historical origin and instead associated the -er and -est endings with short adjectives and more and most with long adjectives As a result, nearly all adjectives... most exploited most recorded most respected most strained most startled -ED Base exploited recorded respected strained startled A few irregular comparatives and superlatives survive from older forms of English: Adjective bad good Comparative worse better Superlative worst best 24 Noun Phrases The adjective far is peculiar in that it has two sets of comparative and superlative forms with slightly different . class="bi x0 y0 w0 h1" alt="" ENGLISH GRAMMAR DRILLS (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd i 3/16/09 12:33:52 PM This page intentionally left blank ENGLISH GRAMMAR DRILLS Mark Lester New York Chicago. achiev- ing a native-like command of English grammar. While the book covers most areas of English grammar, it has a heavy concentration on those aspects of grammar that have proven to be the greatest. writing out the exercises. English Grammar Drills is organized into three parts: Part 1 covers noun phrases, the fi rst of the two fundamental building blocks of English grammar. Noun phrases function