GRAMMAR III – Part 2

Kristina Michelle Silva Speakes

MA in English Language and Linguistics

University of Arizona

Mestre em Educação, Política, Sociedade

PUC-SP
 Program of Study
Visible thinking & thinking routines

Noun phrases
Articles

Countability

Indefinite pronouns and other elements that

substitute for nouns
Quantifiers

Reference & possession

Nouns as adjectives
Primary Resources
 Making Thinking Visible

 Component of Harvard University School of

Education's Project Zero
 Finding ways to create cultures of thinking in
classrooms by making thinking processes
visible.
 http://www.pz.harvard.edu/projects/visible-
thinking
 CONNECT – EXTEND -
CHALLENGE
CONNECT – Think of at least one way that our
previous sections (NOUN PHRASE,
ARTICLES, COUNTABILITY) have connected
to what you already know.

EXTEND – Think of the ways in which our

previous sections have extended or stretched
your knowledge.

CHALLENGE – What are the challenges you still

face or the new challenges that have arisen?
 Structure of the Noun Phrase

 NP → (det)3 AP N(-pl) (PrepP)

pro
 Review - Articles

Expand the headlines using articles

Government is right to ignore Second

Referendum Protesters

Meghan and Harry hire celebrity nanny

recommended by Clooney's
 Indefinite Pronouns

some any no every

-body somebody anybody nobody everybody

-one someone anyone no one everyone

-thing something anything nothing everything

 Indefinite Pronouns

-body and -one mean “person” in general.

-thing refers to an inanimate or abstract
concept or to an entity not clearly identifiable
as a person.
These pronouns require singular verbs.
Somebody is coming.
No one sees in the dark.
 Indefinite Pronouns

Both anyone and any one are possible, but

they mean different things.
Use anyone when there is an indefinite
meaning.
Use any one when “one” means the number 1.
Anyone could have gotten into the unlocked
house.
Any one of the teenagers could have gotten
into the house, but the others would have had
to wait outside.
 Plural pronouns – singular nouns

It has become increasingly common to use plural

pronouns to refer to singular nouns. In fact, this
practice has been officially adopted by the
editorial boards of publications like the New
York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Everyone has their own way of studying.

Every student should take care of their own
materials.
 -body? -one?

-body → signals distance, contexts that are

hypothetical, general and distant, there is a
neutral or negative stance towards the NP

-one → nearness (both spatially and

psychologically), contexts that are concrete,
proximate, intimate, where the speaker / writer
expresses a positive stance towards the NP.
 For example...

This present is for someone who is an

important part of my life.
Can somebody please close that door? It's too
loud outside.
Reflexive and Reciprocal Pronouns

The children hit themselves.

The children hit each other.

???
Asystemic use of reflexive pronouns

What about yourself?

We expected yourself to take the lead.
The text was first copyedited by my mother and
myself.

May reflect the speakers insecurity over how /

when to use reflexive pronouns. May also
reflect a desire to use a more phonetically
salient form.
 Each other or one another?

Each other → 2 participants, inanimate

reference, informal
One another → more than 2 participants,
formal contexts, animate reference, when the
sentence uses a temporily ordered sequence.

They chased one another around the

playground.
 Now practice

T: I saw Albert.
S1: Albert saw me.
S2: I saw Albert and Albert saw me.
S1: Albert and I saw each other.
Phil hit George.
Sally likes Sam.
Mary cooks for Bill.
Sally takes care of her husband, John.
 Partitives, Colletives, and
Quantifiers
Being able to communicate the amount or
quantity of something is an important human
need. We meet this need, of course, through
language. However, the need is so great that
we have devised multiple ways of doing this.

Partitives, collectives and quantifiers are some

of the different ways we have elaborated to
help us communicate amounts.
 Partitives

A phrase (generally a noun + of) that precedes

another noun and helps quantity how much of
the second noun there is.
A drop of water
A deck of cards
A grain of rice
A spoonful of sugar
Generally used to quantify noncount nouns, but
not always. Count nouns can also be quantified
in this way.
 Partitives

Subject-verb agreement should consider the

partitive.
A loaf of bread costs R10.
Two loaves of bread cost R20.
 Pair of...(a special case)

Some plural count nouns without a singular form

are viewed strictly as pairs – things having two
equal parts – and the partitive count noun pair
is used with these nouns.
A pair of trousers x *a trouser
A pair of scissors x *a scissor
A pair of tongs x *a tong
 Idiomatic partitives

A head of lettuce / A herd of cattle

cabbage A flock of burds
An ear of corn A school of fish
A stalk of celery A pride of lions
A bunch of grapes A gang of theives
A loaf of bread A troupe of actors
A clove of garlic A team of ball players
A sprig of parsely A crew of helpers
 Now practice

Partitives can generally be grouped into

categories. Create a list of partitives for each of
these categories.
Precise measure (liters, cups)
Container-based
Portion-based (slice)
Individual members of a category (word)
Parts or fractions
Shape
 Collectives

Specific count nouns that can be used in partitive

constructions to refer to groups of people and
animals.

A team of ball players

A flock of birds
 Collectives

 These collective nouns may take singular or

plural subject-verb agreement.
 American English tends to favor singular
forms.
– The team has been outstanding this year.
 It's more common to find plural forms in British
English.
– The team have been outstanding this year.
 2 main types of collectives
Common
 a/the class Generic
 a/the team  the clergy
 a/the herd  the bourgeoisie
 a/the government  the intelligensia
 the aristocracy
Unique
 the Vatican
 the Kremlin
 Congress
 Parliament
 Quantifiers

Quantifiers indicate a non-specific amount or

quantity of the noun that follows.

Quantifiers can be determiners or – when the

reference is clear – pronouns.
 I want some ice cream.
 I want some, too.
The diagonal lines connect groups that logically contradict each
other.

Quantifiers that modify count nouns are above the lines and
quantifiers that modify noncount nouns are below.

Where there is no line the quantifier can be used with count or

noncount nouns.

Amounts vary from none to all.

 Minimal contradictions with
quantifiers
There were some famous people at the party.
That's not true. There were no famous people at
the party.

All the dancers wore colorful costumes.

No, not all. Some wore only black.
 Quantifiers with special
characteristics
Any – one or more, no matter which
Both – always followed by plural nouns signalling quantities of 2
Each – all of the members of a group, referred to individually
Every – all of the members of a group, referred to collectively,
always followed by a noun
Either / neither – similar to both, but they take singual verbs
Enough - sufficient
 3 – 2 – 1 BRIDGE

 Write your response in a place you can find

later.
 Write 3 thoughts or ideas you have about
learning English grammar at an advanced
level.
 Write 2 questions you have about the topics to
be explored.
 Create 1 analogy about advanced grammar or
about learning advanced grammar.