In the previous sections we noted that the verb is central to the English clause and that it is a word which describes an ‘action’ of some sort. But there are also other types of verbs. Would you, for example, categorise become, smell, resemble and possess as ‘action’ verbs? Clearly we need a more accurate and extended definition of a verb so that we can identify this word class with more precision. One common classification of the main types of verb is given below with examples:

• Activity: play, speak, run, telephone, bathe, organise, read, raise, look at, listen to, refuse, scratch. The vast majority of verbs are included in this class and are what we normally understand an ‘action’ word to be.
• Process: ripen, change, strengthen, grow, deteriorate, become, die, go, come, fall. This class of verbs is used to indicate a change from one state to another.
• Sensation: hurt, ache, sting, smart, itch. This is a small class of verbs that are used to refer to bodily sensations.
• Momentary: knock, beat, tap, nod, hop, jump. These verbs, although closely related to the first category, have a shorter duration of action.
• Cognition: know, remember, perceive, prefer, want, forget, understand. These verbs have less to do with an overt action since they involve mental or cognitive processes.
• Perception: see, smell, feel, taste, hear. This small class of verbs is closely linked with verbs of cognition, but centre on the senses rather than cerebral activity.
• Relational: be, consist of, own, have, seem, resemble, appear, sound, look (good), belong to. This category of verbs is used to connect two closely related concepts, usually either through equivalence or possession.

These seven categories cover, by and large, the main verb types in English and also constitute the sub-classes of a broader grammatical division of verbs into dynamic verbs and stative verbs. In the list above, categories 1 to 4 consist of dynamic verbs, while 5 to 7 contain stative verbs. Let’s look at a few examples to illustrate what is meant by the dynamic/stative contrast. Study the following pairs of sentences:

• I stay with friends every year.
• I am staying with friends at the moment.

• He eats sandwiches for lunch.
• He is eating a sandwich.

• We listen to Radio 1 in the morning.
• We are listening to Radio 1.

All of the sentences contain dynamic verbs taken from category 1 in the list above. The odd numbered sentences are all examples of the Present Simple tense which, in these cases, indicates an activity that occurs with regular frequency, namely every year, every lunchtime, and every morning. The even numbered sentences, however, limit the time of the activity to the moment of speaking and are therefore temporary in nature. The verbs are, therefore in the Present Continuous tense. Dynamic verbs, then, can be found in both simple and continuous tenses.

Now look at the following pairs of sentences which contain stative verbs taken from categories 5 to 7:

• I want to go home.
• *I am wanting to go home.

• We all love chocolate.
• *We are all loving chocolate.

• This bag belongs to me.
• *This bag is belonging to me.

The first sentence of each pair, with the Present Simple tense is grammatically acceptable, but the second sentence of each pair is not. As a general rule, then, stative verbs are not found with the continuous tenses, but there are specific times when most of the stative verbs can be used with a continuous tense. However, these situations are limited to specific uses or entail a change in the basic meaning of the verb, for example: I think you’re right and I’m thinking of you. In the first example I am giving you my opinion and so the verb refers to cognition, whereas in the second, the thinking is much more akin to an activity. You will probably find that this kind of distinction can be made for most of those stative verbs that can be used with both simple and continuous tenses.

How is the verb incorporated into larger grammatical structures, and how is its meaning and function extended?

The Verb Phrase

The following sentences help to illustrate the possible range of structures in the English verb phrase (in bold).

• I play the piano.
• The family left early.
• He is talking rubbish.
• Sarah can sing opera.
• I have been painting the lounge.
• We might be seeing each other next week.
• You should have been watching the baby.
• The wallet might have been lost at the party.
• The report must have been being prepared by the boss.

From these examples we can see that there may be up to four, possibly even five, separate words in the verb phrase of a clause and they all have a particular part to play in the overall meaning.

So, what are the individual elements of the verb phrase and how does each of them contribute to the meaning? Let’s first analyse some of the sentences above as an illustration:

Subject	Modal auxiliary verb	Primary auxiliary verb(s)	Main verb	Object
I	–	–	play	the piano.
He	–	is	talking	rubbish.
Sarah	can	–	sing	opera.
I	–	have been	painting	the house.
You	should	have been	watching	the baby.

You will notice that the various parts of the verb phrase have been divided into two main categories: auxiliary verbs and main verb. The former has been further sub-divided into modal auxiliary and primary auxiliary.

You may also have noticed that there are a number of different possible configurations of these elements; e.g. main verb only, modal auxiliary plus main verb, one primary auxiliary plus main verb, two primary auxiliaries plus main verb and so on. However, the only indispensable element of the verb phrase is the main verb, because it is here that the basic, unchanging meaning of the verb phrase lies.

We often want or need to give more information about a noun, about its qualities or characteristics, or we simply want to describe it in more detail. To modify nouns we use adjectives. Adjectives are usually found in one of two positions in a sentence,

• in attributive position – directly before the noun:
  • a tall building
  • an entertaining night out
  • the grey skies
• in predicative position – after a verb:
  • it’s becoming difficult to find good service
  • he’s kind

There are a few adjectives like aware, alive, asleep, awake that can only be used after a verb.

If we want to use more than one adjective, the rule-of-thumb is that the general meaning comes before the specific and opinion before description: a typical British summer, a beautiful silk blouse. If we need to use more than just two adjectives the table below is a guide (not a strict rule) to the ordering of adjectives.

	size	shape	colour	origin	material	use	noun
a		round		Dutch			cheese
the	small	square			wooden	bridge	table
some			blue		silk	head	scarves

A large number of adjectives in English are linked quite closely or can be derived from nouns by adding on special adjectival endings.

importance	important	clock	clockwise
intelligence	intelligent	friend	friendly
use	useful/less	enthusiasm	enthusiastic
depression	depressive	courage	courageous
sun	sunny	transience	transitory
articulation	articulate	centre	central

Another very common way of forming adjectives is to use the present and past participles of verbs. There are many examples of these, including interested, interesting, tired, tiring, excited, exciting, closed, broken, amusing. As a rule the past participle (usually, but not always, ending in –ed) tells us how someone feels about something, while the present participle ending in –ing tells us how something makes us feel, so:

I’m excited at the prospect of another change – tells you how I feel;

The prospect of another change is exciting (for me) – tells you how the prospect makes me feel.

It is also possible to make up adjectives based on a combination of words like

noun + past participle: wine-soaked, leather-bound

adjective + past participle: round-shouldered, blue-rinsed,

adverb + past participle: closely-knit, well-heeled

We also group adjectives under the terms gradeable and absolute. Gradeable adjectives are used to describe qualities that we can measure or grade in some way, whereas absolute adjectives denote either extreme qualities or qualities which are not measurable. So, hot, big, certain, interesting, cloudy are gradeables, while livid, starving, dead, female are absolutes. With gradeables we can use adverbs which either intensify or reduce the effect of the adjective:

an extremely hot country

a very clever dog

quite nice

rather dull

With absolutes, on the other hand, only the intensifying type of adverb can be used:

utterly wrong

completely insane

absolutely incredible

totally naked

Comparatives and superlatives of adjectives

When we need to compare a thing with one or more things of a similar type or when we want to single out one particular thing as being very special in relation to others, we use what are known as comparatives and superlatives. Examples of these are:

Comparatives

• India is hotter than Spain .
• This sweater is softer than that one.
• This year’s homework is more difficult.
• I’ve never seen a kinder gesture (compared with all the gestures I’ve seen)

Superlatives

• London is the most expensive city in the world to live in.
• He’s the best in the class.
• Shakespeare is the greatest British playwright ever.
• This is the closest I’ve ever come to beating him at tennis.

It is possible to intensify and reduce the effect of the comparative and superlative by using a certain range of words. So, for comparatives we can use, slightly, a little, a bit, considerably, a lot, far, a great deal, much, and for superlatives, simply/easily the best, altogether, by far, far and away etc.

The question remains, how do we form comparatives and superlatives? With adjectives of three or more syllables we use more to form comparatives and the most for superlatives: more enthusiastically, the most interesting, more economical, the most stupendous.

If the adjective has only one syllable, we simply add –er for comparatives and -est to make superlatives: looser, clearer, brave, the loosest, the clearest, the bravest (if the adjective already ends in an e the just r is added).

With most two-syllable adjectives we have the choice of either adding -er/-est to the end or using the form with more/the most: happier, more happy, the cleverest, the most clever, sunnier, more sunny.

With adjectives that are formed from the past and present participles of verbs such as bored, thrilling, fascinating, tired and those adjectives that have the typical adjective endings (e.g. -al, -ic, -able, – ful, less, -ive) shown in the previous table above it is best to use the more/the most form.

As with many other parts of the grammatical system, there are irregularly made comparatives and superlatives, these are:

• good – better – the best
• bad – worse – the worst

far – farther/further – the farthest/furthest

Nouns frequently occur in longer phrases with prepositions. These are very common words, but it is difficult to give a set of features by which we can recognise a preposition in a sentence. They are often short words like of, at, in, by, over, past, but can also be longer or even a number of separate words, with regard to, notwithstanding, in the course of, except, in spite of and so on.

They can also be made from a small number of verbs by adding –ed or –ing (i.e. the past and present participles): concerning, regarding, granted. Their position in a sentence is, however, limited to immediately before a noun or the –ing form of a verb (at night, by working hard) or before a longer phrase containing a noun:

• In my opinion he’s wrong.
• We’re sitting at the back.
• They should’ve spoken to the senior partner.
• She’s frightened of flying.
• I have some experience in accountancy.
• He helped me put out the fire.
• I need to put by a bit of money every month.

Prepositions can also appear at the end of a sentence, although there are still some native speakers who consider this to be poor grammar. However, in many instances avoiding the use of prepositions at the end of a sentence can lead to grammatically unacceptable results or overly formal language.

• Which one are you thinking of? (? …of which one are you thinking?)
• The whole audience was taken in.
• He was very easy to talk to.
• I couldn’t understand what he was talking about. (?…about what he was talking)

Prepositions are used to refer to many types of relationship within the sentence including

• time: in two weeks, during the night, after lunch
• place: at the airport, within the city walls, over the table
• movement: into the room, towards his house, through a tunnel
• cause and effect: due to a strike, because of her illness, owing to the rain
• contrast: despite the noise, in spite of his anger
• examples: like everyone else, such as the manager
• exception: everyone but you, all the people except me

There are, of course, many other prepositions in English with a wide range of meanings and for this reason prepositions are very difficult for learners to grasp with any certainty. Furthermore, some prepositions have more than one meaning and these may not be closely related:

• I mended it with glue. (by means of)
• She went with me to the airport. (accompanying)
• Your order will be ready by Saturday. (on or before Saturday)
• The missing child was found by the police.
• The stolen goods were found by a tree. (next to a tree)
• They went to France by air.

It might be better to begin this section on quantifiers by looking at a few of them and to see how they operate with nouns. In the list that follows a Yes indicates the type of noun(s) that the quantifier generally can be used with (there are, as so often with English, obscure exceptions). As before, U refers to uncountable nouns and C refers to countable nouns.

Quantifier	Singular nouns (C)	Plural nouns (C)	Uncountable nouns (U)
all	–	Yes	Yes
any	–	Yes	Yes
both	–	Yes	–
each	Yes	–	–
enough	–	Yes	Yes
every	Yes	–	–
few/a few/fewer	–	Yes	–
little/a little/less	–	–	Yes
many	–	Yes	–
more	–	Yes	Yes
some	–	Yes	Yes
a lot of	–	Yes	Yes

Quantifiers are used at the beginning of noun phrases:

• before a noun on its own: fewer answers
• before an adjective and noun: some useful phrases
• before an adverb, adjective and noun: every really pleasant experience

Normally two quantifiers cannot be used together before the same noun. However, the quantifiers all and both are found immediately before the or a possessive pronoun: all my relatives, both the ministers. You will also see the following combinations of quantifiers:

• a little less noise
• a few more questions
• every few minutes

Many, much, a lot of

These are all used to talk about a large quantity of something; many is used only with C nouns, much with U nouns and a lot of can be used with both.

Only many and much can be preceded by the words how, to form questions (how many / how much …?). The word too can be used to express a negative idea (too hot, too cold) and so, to show the speaker’s attitude to the quantity (so many that … /so much he couldn’t …). Many and much tend to be rather formal in use and are therefore often found in legal documents, academic papers and so on; in speech we often use phrases like a lot of, loads of, tons of, hundreds of.

Few, little

Again, the meaning of these two words is similar since they both refer to small quantities, except that few is found with C nouns and little with U nouns.

If they are used without the indefinite article, a, they have the sense of not enough and are negative in feeling (few events, little interest) but these are quite formal and we would normally prefer not many events and not much interest.

When few and little are used witha they simply mean a small quantity with no extra negative overtones: a few events (i.e. three or four) and a little interest (i.e. some interest, but not a lot).

Any

Any can be used before countable and uncountable nouns usually in questions and negative sentences:

• Are you bringing any friends with you?
• Do you have any coffee?
• I can’t remember any songs.
• He isn’t taking any chances.

If we stress the word any heavily when speaking, we are suggesting an unlimited choice from a range of things or an unrestricted quantity; in this case its use is not confined to just questions and negatives:

• Help yourself to any sandwiches. (the choice is yours)
• Don’t you like any Beatles song? (I can’t believe you dislike them all)
• I can’t see any difference. (nothing at all)

Some

Some is usually thought of as the positive counterpart to any in many circumstances.

• I’m bringing some friends with me.
• I have some coffee.

Like any it is used before both C and U nouns, and means an indefinite quantity but not a large amount. The general rule given above for the use of any in negative sentences and questions does not always hold in requests and offers where we often use some to mean a small amount of a known quantity:

• Would you like some cake? (here is the cake, do you want a piece of it?)
• Could I have some biscuits instead? (any would not be possible in this case)

If we stress the word some in positive and negative sentences and in questions, we are suggesting a limited quantity or number of something:

I like some Beatles songs. (but certainly not all)

• I can see some difference. (but not a lot)

It is almost impossible to discuss the noun phrase without referring at some stage to the class of words known as determiners, since more often than not a noun will occur with one or more words from this grammatical class. Determiners includes Articles (a/an, the) and Quantifiers.

Determiners consist of a relatively small number of mainly grammatical items that change very little and tend to serve only one specialised function in a sentence. Unlike verbs, nouns and adjectives as word classes, it is difficult, if not impossible, to add any new words to the class of determiners and for this reason it is called a closed set.

What kind of words make up this limited set? The most instantly recognisable is probably the articles namely the, a/an. In addition, there are others like: that, those, every, some, several, all, much, both, no, which can occupy the space before a noun.

Articles

As we noted above, the articles are the, usually referred to as the definite article, and a/an, the indefinite article. They both constitute part of the noun phrase and usually, provided there are no other determiners present, occupy the first position in the noun phrase. Here are six examples of articles being used in conjunction with other word classes:

• We noticed a smell.
• We noticed a strong smell.
• We noticed an unusually strong smell.
• I bought the present.
• I bought the expensive present.
• I bought the most expensive present.

The word unusually in the third sentence begins with a vowel sound, so the a needs to change to an to allow a more natural speech flow. We have an option not to use an article in front of either plural nouns or uncountable nouns; so:

• I’d like steak and chips.
• He always gives way to anger.

The table below should make it clear exactly when we can use articles with certain kinds of nouns.

Articles	Singular nouns	Plural nouns	Uncountable nouns
a/an	a chair	—	—
the	the chair	the chairs	the water
no article	—	chairs	water

It’s important not to let special cases blur the general rules. For example, it is possible to talk about “a wine” meaning “a type of wine” and similarly “the wines of Chile” meaning the various types or brands of wine from Chile. We can refer to “the waters of the Ganges” because although “water” is in general an uncountable or mass noun, “the waters” has a particular meaning and usage in the context of rivers and streams.

Although there are only three options when choosing which article to use, the rules governing their use can be rather confusing for learners. The basic rules are follows:

A/an

This is used when the noun that we wish to refer to is unknown to our listener/reader or is not part of the common ground that we share. It is most often used to introduce new information.

• I saw a UFO yesterday.
• Tell me a story.
• Have you ever seen a tornado?

The

By using the, we are signalling to our listener that s/he is very likely to know what we are referring to and that the context of our conversation should help them to identify this. We can use the, therefore, to

• refer backwards to something that we have already mentioned
• refer forwards to something that we can take for granted will happen
• refer to our common ground or shared knowledge

Here are some examples to illustrate each of those contexts:

• I was out the other day and I found a ten-pound note on the street. I couldn’t decide whether to keep the money or hand it in. (I have already talked about this money in the previous sentence.)
• We’ll need to take an axe to cut the trees . (i.e. those trees that we find in the place that we are going to.)
• Have you put the cat out? (i.e. our cat)

No article

If we want to refer to something general and the nouns that we are using are either plural or uncountable, we leave out articles.

• I really like funfairs. (generally; I have no specific funfair in mind.)
• It’s brought us nothing but trouble. (uncountable noun)

Some of the other times when an article is not needed are:

• with proper nouns like people’s names, countries, towns, cities, single mountains, streets, lakes (but notice the Philippines, The Hague, the UK, the High Street among others)
• meals – when are we having lunch, I have cereal for breakfast
• certain time expressions – next year, last month, this week, on Friday, at five o’clock
• in an institution – he’s in prison, I’m at school next week, do you go to university

The is used with certain fixed expressions where there is often common knowledge, for example places of entertainment, oceans and seas, hotels etc. the Alps, the cinema, the Pacific Ocean, the Hyatt.

Languages change all the time and it may be that English is changing more rapidly than other languages because it’s so widely used around the world. You only have to think of the vast growth of words related to computers over the last 20 years to see clear evidence of rapid change.

However, grammatical words change far less rapidly. There is change, but it is very slow so words like he, she, can, will, must, under, always and so on hardly change at all. Nevertheless, there is change and, for example, the use of words like whom and shall has declined steadily for many years. The possibility is that whom will have disappeared completely by some point in the not-too-distant future because it seems over-formal and old-fashioned to many people.

Understanding how to use whom means that we have to understand a little bit about subjects and objects in sentences.

The subject of a sentence is the central topic of the sentence, as in these examples:

• The driver rushed across the road.
• Those old cars are worth a lot of money.
• London is a modern city.
• They‘ve all passed with excellent results.
• Smoking is a bad habit.

The object of a sentence generally tells us more about what the subject did; these are direct objects:

• Anna sold the old car.
• The old farmer kicked the rusty bucket.
• His father decided to buy the old farm.

There are also indirect objects, and these tend to be recipients of objects or actions.

• He gave his wife a box of chocolates.
• The young man sent the beautiful girl a golden necklace.

Back to who and whom! We use who for the subject of a sentence, and whom for the object of the sentence. Consider this sentence:

• The police officer hit the thief.
  • Subject = The police officer
  • Direct object = the thief
  • Who hit the thief?
  • Whom did the policeman hit?
• The old woman gave the child a bar of chocolate.
  • Subject = The old woman
  • Indirect object = the child
  • Direct object = a bar of chocolate
  • Who gave the girl a bar of chocolate?
  • Whom did she give the chocolate to?
  • (or: To whom did she give the chocolate?)
• Mary will send the reward to the man who found her wallet.
  • Who will give the reward?
  • Whom will Mary give the reward to?

Although these examples may be clear, it might be helpful to have some sort of guideline to check which word is correct.

When you are unsure what word to use, try replacing the word who or whom with he or him. When the answer is he, we need who. When the answer is him, we need whom. If we use the examples above, we could do the following:

• Who hit the thief? He hit the thief, or Him hit the thief. He is correct so we need who.
• Whom did the policeman hit? The policeman hit him, or the policeman hit he. Him is correct so whom is used.
• Who gave the girl a bar of chocolate? He gave the girl the chocolate or Him gave the girl the chocolate. He is correct so who is used.
• Whom did she give the chocolate to? To he, or to him. Him is correct so we use whom.
• Who will give the reward? He will give … or him will give …?

Here are some more examples:

1. He’s the one who got distinction in his exams. (He got distinction.)
2. Emerson is the dentist whom I go to once a month. (I go to him.)
3. My mum talked to the fisherman whom she met in Grimsby. (She met him in Grimsby.)
4. To whom could the worried people turn? (Could they turn to him?)
5. The cheering crowds disagreed about who might win. (They thought he might win.)

The same rules apply for the use of whoever and whomever. So, are these correct?

Look at these sentences. Are they correct?

1. Mary is the woman whom I met at the party.
2. We’ll give the award to the one who tried hardest.
3. John talked to the doctor whom he met in Brighton.
4. That is the girl who got the job that I wanted.
5. We’re pleased with the woman who has been appointed.
6. It was our local police chief who was elected to parliament.
7. She was asked to check on who came late.
8. We wanted to know whom she had talked to.
9. I decided to go with whoever asked me first.
10. The award goes to whomever gets the most votes.

Note on the exercise: they are all correct!

(Grammar Practice Worksheet.)

We use some with countable or uncountable nouns to refer to a relatively small number or amount. We use this word to indicate the number or amount in a general way. The number or amount is not stated because we don’t know what it is, or we don’t really mind what it is. The word has a positive feel to it. Here are some example sentences.

• I bought some flowers and took them home to my wife.
• I met some interesting people when I was in Paris.
• Some of the petrol was dirty and that was why the car didn’t run smoothly.
• Some furniture was damaged in the fire.

We use any in much the same way, again because we don’t know or care what the exact number or amount is. However, there are two important differences. The word tends to have a negative feel to it and it is often used with words like not, didn’t, wasn’t, couldn’t, shouldn’t, mustn’t and so on. It is also often used in questions. Here are some example sentences:

• I didn’t see any mangoes in the market.
• You mustn’t put any hot oil in that saucepan.
• He looked carefully but he couldn’t find any beer in the garage.
• Have you seen any foxes in your back garden?
• Have you got any money? Yes, I have some. No, I haven’t got any.
• I don’t have any time today but I’ll have some time tomorrow.

We use no article at all when we are referring to a particular group or class of things. We also do this when we don’t know or care how many of those countable or uncountable nouns there are.

• Judges should be well educated but they are often old-fashioned.
• I like animals, but sheep are rather smelly.
• The shop sells petrol and it also sells food and newspapers and things like that.
• I think that education in China has changed a lot over the last 10 years.

Notice that sometimes a speaker/writer can choose two or more of these (some/any/no article) and they could all be correct. Here are two examples.

• I believe that (some or –) education is important for everyone on Earth.
• If you have (some or any or –) sense, you’ll leave us alone!

Complete these sentences using some, any or no article at all.

1. I believe that ……… people enjoy having fun.
2. The minister says that ……… trade is one way to build the economy.
3. They don’t sell ……… fruit at the shop but they have ……… vegetables.
4. The book says that they eat ……… leaves but I think they eat ……… fruit too.
5. It says here that ……… rice is grown in Asia.
6. If you don’t eat ……… food you’ll be hungry by lunchtime.
7. Have you ever read ……… books by Ian McEwan?
8. I don’t think he had ……… reason to shout at me like that.
9. I enjoy ……… wine but ……… beer gives me a headache.
10. I love ……… dofu. Is there ……… dofu left?

Complete this paragraph using some or any or no article.

Global warming will probably have serious consequences. In the future, ……… temperatures will rise and the results will be uncertain. It may mean that ……… deserts become drier. It may mean that ……… oceans rise and ……… small islands are flooded. In addition, ……… areas of low land may also be flooded. The loss of land will force ……… people to move to new areas. This may cause many problems. Will there be ……… easy answers? Probably not. In ……… areas, people will be welcomed; in other areas …… people will not be welcomed. Governments will have to take ……… difficult decisions. They will need to start thinking today about how people affect the climate. Governments must act! If they do not take ……… decisions, things will only get worse. It’s essential to take ……… action, now. Similarly, we need to take ……… action too. Turn off ……… lights, turn down the heaters, turn down the air-conditioning.

Completed paragraph:

Global warming will probably have serious consequences. In the future, (no article) temperatures will rise and the results will be uncertain. It may mean that (some or no article) deserts become drier. It may mean that (no article) oceans rise and some small islands are flooded. In addition, (no article is possible but probably some) areas of low land may also be flooded. The loss of land will force (some or no article) people to move to new areas. This may cause many problems. Will there be any easy answers? Probably not. In some areas, (some is possible but probably no article) people will be welcomed; in other areas (some is possible but probably no article) people will not be welcomed. Governments will have to take (some or no article) difficult decisions. They will need to start thinking today about how (no article) people affect the climate. Governments must act! If they do not take (some) important decisions, things will only get worse. It’s essential to take (some or no article) action, now. Similarly, we need to take (some or no article) action too. Turn off some lights, turn down the heaters, turn down the air-conditioning. Act now!

(Grammar Practice Worksheet.)

Both of these words ‘less’ and ‘fewer’ refer to an amount or number that is small in comparison with another amount or number that is understood from the context or the sentence.

These two words are often mixed up by learners and by some native speakers as well!

We use less with uncountable nouns. Like this:

• He has less money than me but he spends it more wisely. (Note that pennies, and pounds are countable but that the noun money is not; we cannot say one money, two money and so on.)
• She has less beauty than her sister but more intelligence.
• I bought less milk this week because we have still got some left over.
• She’s doing really well now and needs less support from us.

We also use less to modify adjectives and adverbs in a comparative sense. For instance:

• This book is less expensive than that one.
• She may be less beautiful than her sister but she is more intelligent.
• My broken arm is less painful now.
• His mother told him to eat less quickly to avoid indigestion.

We use fewer with countable nouns. Like this:

• He has fewer friends now and I really worry about that.
• Fewer houses have electric heating these days.
• Compared with last week, fewer members of the committee turned up.
• Tyres are well designed these days and there are fewer punctures.

Some people get a little confused about what is a countable noun. As we noted above, the word money is uncountable, but there are many more uncountable nouns that can confuse learners. These sentences are incorrect.

• (!) There is fewer grass in the fields this year.
• (!) We have fewer equipment for the expedition this year.

Learners and also native speakers regularly misuse these two words. People often use less when they should use fewer; the following sentences are incorrect.

• (!) There were less people at the meeting this year.
• (!) We have sold less homes this year because of the higher interest rates.
• (!) My Toyota car needs less repairs than my old Rover.

Other cases

In expressions about money and time, mathematical expressions of quantity and subjects such as computer programming, it is usual to use “less than” with count numbers. For example:

• My new camera cost less than $500.
• They waited for less than three hours for the flight to arrive.
• If x is less than 4 then …
• The car was travelling at less than 30 miles per hour.
• Your cabin baggage must weigh less than 10 kg.

Often this is because we are referring to the magnitude of the measured quantity (eg 3 hours, 30 mph, 25kg) rather than a count of individual units.

Can you correct these sentences?

1. Less/Fewer whales are found in the Arctic waters these days.
2. We have more space in the house now because we have less/fewer furniture.
3. There are less/fewer crew members wanting to stop off in Nairobi these days.
4. There are less/fewer policemen in the city nowadays.
5. We have less/fewer sheep on our farm nowadays.
6. There are less/fewer cyclists on the roads because it’s too dangerous.
7. Less/Fewer people nowadays smoke cigarettes.
8. Nowadays less/fewer diseases are untreatable than a hundred years ago.
9. There is less/fewer disease in the north than in the south.
10. She tried to make less/fewer mistakes with her homework.
11. There is less/fewer crime in my town and less/fewer crimes involve guns.
12. There is less/fewer work available and less/fewer jobs are advertised.

Use less or fewer to complete these sentences.

1. He decided to buy …… items in the market this week because they were heavy.
2. This course is far …… interesting this term than last year.
3. As his money was wasted on gambling, he found he had …… and …… friends.
4. It’s …… true today but some men still beat their wives.
5. This road is …… dangerous than that one.
6. She is far …… optimistic than she was last year.
7. He’s …… disappointed than I thought he would be.
8. Sale! Buy now while they are …… expensive!
9. There are far …… types of fruit available in the shops nowadays.
10. It’s difficult, but much …… difficult than the test we did last term.
11. Losing your wallet is …… of a disaster if you are near home.
12. You should walk …… hurriedly.

Normally there can be only one Subject, one Verb, one Object and one Complement per clause. This is not the case with Adverbials, however, which can occur an indefinite number of times in one clause. The Adverbials in the sentence below are shown in bold:

Fred had climbed /with some difficulty /into the train /on Friday night/.

This sentence could, in theory, be extended indefinitely simply by adding adverbials, but more than five per clause would perhaps be unusual. Adverbials serve a wide range of functions since they can give us information about notions such as place, movement, result, time, attitude, reason and so forth.

Adverbials more often than not consist of two or more words in a phrase as in the example above, while the term adverb is reserved for single words like then, now, yesterday, here, warmly, easily etc. To illustrate the breadth of the uses of Adverbials and adverbs further, look at the passage from Under the Volcano below – the Adverbials and adverbs are in bold and separated from each other by slashes:

The Consul sat /helplessly/ /in the bathroom/, /watching/ the insects which lay /at different angles from one another/ /on the wall/, /like ships/ /out in the roadstead/. A caterpillar started to wriggle /towards him/, /peering/ /this way and that/ /with interrogatory antennae/. A large cricket, with polished fuselage, clung /to the curtain/, /swaying/ it /slightly/ and cleaning its face /like a cat/.

As you can see, Adverbials crop up everywhere, although they may not be quite so common in everyday speech. Many of the Adverbials in the extract above tell how something was done (helplessly, peering, like a cat), or where (in the bathroom, on the wall, to the curtain); there is also one of movement, towards him. Other Adverbials can answer questions like why, when, how much, to what extent, about what, with what result as well as allowing the speaker/writer to give his/her opinion of or attitude towards something e.g. fortunately, sadly, frankly, thankfully, even more important and so on.

We will now look more closely at the ways in which words and phrases are grouped together and ordered within clauses and sentences to convey a particular meaning.

The main elements

To begin this section, we will, first of all, examine the two most vital parts of the clause structure and then move on to the other elements. Again, it will be useful to use a few examples to illustrate the grammatical ideas.

• He sneezed.
• Accidents happen.
• Speed kills.
• Yvonne left.
• Snakes crawl.

These clauses are all simple sentences consisting of only two words each. The first element in each sentence is called the Subject, while the second is the Verb. (Notice that I am using a capital letter here to talk about the verb as a clause element as opposed to the verb as a word class.) The Subject and the Verb are the minimum requirements for constructing a basic English clause (with the exception of directives like sit! and go!) and appear in that order in the vast majority of positive and negative statements. Although single words have been used to fill the Subject and Verb ‘slots’ in the examples above, much more complicated phrases can, of course, be made:

Subject	Verb
The tall, dark stranger	was singing
The retail prices index	has been rising
Shouting and screaming in arguments	doesn’t help
The newly-arrived refugees	weren’t able to understand
Being rejected by work mates	hurts
The poor grasshopper	couldn’t sleep

The Subject

As noted earlier, the subject of a positive or negative statement is usually the first element of a clause or sentence. The Subjects in the following sentences are in bold and the type of Subject is given in brackets:

• The tall, dark stranger was singing. (noun phrase)
• She stood still.(pronoun)
• To err is human. (verb)
• What he told me turned out to be a lie. (subordinate clause)

By far the most commonly used types of Subject are the noun phrase and the pronoun (I is the most frequently occurring word in the spoken language), while the verb – more correctly the verb infinitive with to – is seldom used in modern English. A subordinate clause as Subject is quite common both in speech and writing and usually begins with what(ever)…, the fact that… or that…:

• The fact that he likes skiing doesn’t interest me at all.
• That Jane failed her exam is a great disappointment.
• Whatever I hear about him surprises me.

The way to test whether a clause is functioning as the Subject is to try replacing it with a simpler grammatical element such as a pronoun or basic noun phrase and then checking the grammaticality of the clause. Applying this test to the sentences above would give:

• It doesn’t interest me at all.
• It is a great disappointment.
• It surprises me.

… all of which are grammatically acceptable. Notice that, although the Subject may consist of several words, a long phrase or even a subordinate clause, there can only be one grammatical Subject per clause.

Up to this point we have been discussing only positive and negative statements where the Subject is the first element of the clause. However, there is one very common situation where this word order is not used – namely, in questions. Here the Subject and part of the verb phrase constituting the Verb element are inverted. From some of the examples above we get:

• Was the tall, dark stranger singing?
• Has the retail prices index been rising?
• Doesn’t shouting and screaming in arguments help?
• Weren’t the newly-arrived refugees able to understand?
• Couldn’t the poor grasshopper sleep?

The Verb has a pivotal role in sentence structure. As with the Subject, the Verb can, and often does, consist of more than one word, but is treated as a single unit expressing not only the basic meaning of the main word (run, decide, imitate etc.), but also, among other things, the time that the action took place, whether the action is finished or not and the certainty of the action. In the examples below, the Verb is in bold:

• The cat sleeps all day.
• He is talking rubbish.
• We will be seeing each other next week.
• The wallet might have been lost at the party.

So, although there may be up to four, possibly even five words in the verb phrase of a clause, they are usually analysed as one Verb as an element of the clause. To demonstrate the importance of the Verb in a clause, try omitting the verb phrases from the examples above. Having done that, now omit each of the other elements in turn and see how the sense of the clause is affected.

The choice of the verb itself will often largely dictate what other elements may or may not be used in the clause. Verbs like yawn, sleep and scratch would seem to require an animate Subject, while laugh, talk and read usually need human Subjects (although the actions of animals are sometimes described in the same terms). Some verbs need only a Subject to make a complete clause (he yawned, the cat is sleeping, Barry jumped), while others appear to need some more elements – *he hit…, *they like…, *cars cost…; we will look at these other elements in the next section.

Other elements in the clause

Apart from the two main clause elements, Subject and Verb, there are three others which may or may not appear in the clause. These are the Object, the Complement and the Adverbial. The following sentence contains examples of each of these:

• The agency considered Harry indispensable for most jobs.

Using the definitions from the previous section, the agency is the Subject and considered is the Verb. The remaining elements are: Object – Harry, Complement – indispensable, Adverbial – for most jobs. We will now examine these in turn.

The Object

Here are some more examples of both people and things as Objects:

• He loves football.
• The dog bit the postman.
• The police have arrested three people.
• Sally opened the door to the dining room.
• The company sacked one hundred of its employees.
• Fifteen children from the school choir will be singing African folk songs.

As with the Subject, the Object can be anything from a single word (football) to a phrase (the door to the dining room). You will notice that the Object in each case directly follows the Verb. This is by far the most common position for the Object element in English, although, again, there are exceptions. English is, therefore, usually referred to as an SVO type language, meaning that the expected and most natural order of clause elements is Subject + Verb + Object. If you are a native speaker of English, this might seem so obvious as not to be worth comment. However, there are many languages in the world that do not follow this pattern; for example, Welsh and Irish are both VSO languages, while Japanese and Turkish are SOV. It appears that this latter type is more common than the English SVO.

The examples given so far contain what is usually called a direct object; that is, there is only one object in the clause and this is the main focus. But how do we analyse the Objects in the following sentences?

• A young boy showed her the way here.
• Several friends have told me the same story.
• The shop is sending my father a replacement.
• You gave them no warning.

The direct object is shown in bold; but that still leaves us with an extra element immediately following the Verb in each sentence which we have not accounted for. While the direct object is the main focus of the verb action, the remaining elements (her, me, my father, them) seem to be the recipients of the direct object. So, in the third

example, my father will be receiving the replacement. All of these sentences can in fact be rewritten to illustrate this idea of recipient with very little change in meaning:

• A young boy showed the way here to her.
• Several friends have told the same story to me.
• The shop is sending a replacement to my father.
• You gave no warning to them

The preposition to indicates the target of the action of the verb. These targets, given in bold, are referred to as indirect objects. Notice that in the second set of examples the indirect object is formed by using a prepositional phrase with to and also follows the direct object, whereas in the first set the indirect object precedes the direct object without to.