‫ملخص كتاب النحو للمرحله الثالثه والرابعه‬

‫‪A University Grammar of English‬‬

‫‪Randolph Quirk‬‬
‫‪Sidney Greenbaum‬‬

‫مكتبة ‪NBS‬‬
‫متخصصه‪ 5‬باللغه االنكليزيه‬

‫كركوك‪ /‬شارع المحافظه‪/‬عمارة العجائب‬

‫‪1‬‬
Chapter Two :Sentence Patterns.

1- SVA : She is in London.

2- SVC: He is a doctor .
3- SV: They clapped .
4- SVO: We studied linguistics .
5- SVOio : I gave him a pen .
6- SVOco : We made peter happy .
7- SVOA : I put the books on the table .

*General notes about the above patterns :

1- In pattern two ,The complement usually occurs as a noun or an
adjective .
2- In pattern three the verb is intransitive , it does not need object .
3- In pattern five , we have two objects , one of them is direct and the
other is indirect the animate is indirect while the inanimate object
is direct . the verbs that take two objects like “give , send , offer ,
take ,teach …etc .

-Realizations of SVOA .

1-S ---------------- Subject

The subjects can either be

noun phrase such as “Tom is here “ or

clause such as “What he said was wrong “ .

2- O --------------- the object

The object can also be :

1- NP : We bought a car .
2- Clause : I think that you are right .

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 who , where ,that ,…etc( ‫ دالئل العباره هي ضمائر< الوصل مثل‬: ‫مالحظه‬

3- Cos ---------- object complement

It is one of the three :
1- Adj: We made him happy .
2- NP : We made him a teacher .
3- Clause : This is what you have said .
4-
5- Adverbial : the word adverbial means “adverb”, NP” Prep” ,
“Clause” it is not only mean adverb for example
Ex/ He is at home . “at home” is an adverbial .

5-Verbs
The verbs are classified into “intensive” and Extensive “

The verbs in patterns one and two are intensive while in the rest of
the other patterns it is extensive .
Extensive are divided into either transitive or intransitive .
A-Transivitive verbs :
1- Mono-tranitive (SV0) : needs only one object
Ex/ She heard the explosion .
2-Ditranistive (SVoiod):She sent him a letter .

3-Complex tranisitive (SVOco) :We elected Tom a chairman .

-Stative and Dynamic Verbs

Introduction

Verbs in English can be classified into two categories: stative verbs and
dynamic verbs. Dynamic verbs (sometimes referred to as "action verbs")
usually describe actions we can take, or things that happen; stative verbs
usually refer to a state or condition which is not changing or likely to
change. The difference is important, because stative verbs cannot normally

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be used in the continuous (BE + ING) forms. This will explain the
differences between the two types of verb, and give lots of examples of each
kind

Dynamic verbs

There are many types of dynamic verbs, but most of them describe activities
or events which can begin and finish. Here are some examples:

Dynamic Verb Type Examples

play activity She plays tennis every Friday.

She's playing tennis right now.

melt process The snow melts every spring.

The snow is melting right now

hit momentary action When one boxer hits another, brain damage can
result. (This suggests only ONE punch.)

When one boxer is hitting another, brain damage can result. (This suggests
MANY repeated punches.)

Dynamic verbs, as you can see from the table above, can be used in the
simple and perfect forms (plays, played, has played, had played) as well as
the continuous or progressive forms (is playing, was playing, has been
playing, had been playing).

Stative verbs

Stative verbs usually refer to a state or condition which is quite static or

unchanging. They can be divided into verbs of perception or cognition
(which refer to things in the mind), or verbs of relation (which describe the
relationships between things). Here are some examples:

Stative Verb Type Examples

hate perception I hate chocolate.

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believe perception She believes in UFOs.

contain relation The box contains 24 cans of soda.

own relation Yong owns three motorbikes.

Note that we CANNOT use these verbs in the continuous (progressive)

forms; you CAN'T say "*Yong is owning three cars." Owning is a state, not
an action, so it is always in the simple form.

Example verbs

Here some common stative and dynamic verbs. The lists may help you to
understand what types of verbs are likely to be stative and what types are
commonly dynamic.

Stative Verbs love; hate; like; see; hear; sound; think (meaning "have
an opinion"); mind (meaning "care about"); recognize; seem; have (meaning
"own"); prefer; doubt; consist of; mean

Dynamic Verbs eat; drink; go; type; read; write; listen; speak; watch; say;
grow; work; sleep; cook; talk

Dynamic verbs, as you can see from the table above, can be used in the
simple and perfect forms (plays, played, has played, had played) as well as
the continuous or progressive forms (is playing, was playing, has been
playing, had been playing).

-The primary verbs “DO ,HAVE ,BE” .

1-“To Be”

- Margaret is a brilliant student. (lexical verb)

- Margaret is applying to Yale. (auxiliary verb)

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- Anne is happy . (Linking verb) .

2-“To Have”

- Frank has a good job. (lexical verb)

- Frank has just returned from a business trip. (auxiliary verb).

This verb carries many meanings like :

- Eat : I have my dinner .

- Drink: I have a cup of tea .
- Possess : I have a car .
- Face : I have a problem .

To Do

1- “Do” can appear as a (lexical verb)

- Nana does the crossword puzzle in the Sunday paper.

2- Also as (auxiliary verb).

- Nana doesn't go out much anymore.

3- It is also used for emphasis : I do study hard these days .

6- Pro-verb
Ex/ Robert cleaned his room but Tom did not do so .

-Marginal Modal “need”

“ Need” A verb that displays some but not all of the properties of an
auxiliary.

A marginal modal can be used as either an auxiliary or a main verb.

A- ‘need’ as a marginal modal auxiliary .

1- It is not used in affirmative sentence “only in negative and
interrogative” .

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 2- It is followed by “Bare infinitive”
3- It does not take (-s) with “he” ,she” , and “it”
4- In negative , we do not use “Do”

Ex/ He need not go home .

Ex / Need he go now ?

B- Need =want = as a main verb .

1- It is used in affirmative ,negative , and question sentences
2- It can be followed by “to infinitive” .
3- It takes (-s)with /he ,she ,it ).
4- We use “do” in negative sentences .
-He need not go home .
-He does not need to go home .
-Does he need to go home .

-Tense, Aspect, And Mood

These are the major contrasts in English. The following considerations are
basic:

English has (and has always had) only two tenses. We only mark the verb
for the present (which is a nul morpheme) and the past.

The English future is always implied by modals, and the gradations of

expression are very complex.

Aspect is the manner in which the action is regarded. For instance is it

regarded as having passed or having started after (or before) another thing?
Just as English implies the future, it tends to imply any complexities of past
action by referring it to an ongoing or not ongoing state or to other actions
which are or are not completed.

Mood is, in short, attitude, such as certainty, obligation, possibility, etc.

Tense and Aspect

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Present

timeless: she is generous

limited: he is being generous

instantaneous: I take my place

Past

The past and the perfective

Indefinite and definite

Past perfect

The past and the progressive

The perfect progressive

-Verbal meaning and the progressive

Not all verbs are capable of being used in a progressive construction. This is
one of those places where semantics is related to grammar. If the verb is
semantically dynamic (note the five classes of dynamic verbs at 3.35), then
it can be progressive. If the verb belongs to one of the two stative classes,
then it won't be made progressive in most variants of idiomatic English. To
create a progressive out of these verbs will sound foreign, because -- in fact
-- it is:

I am understanding your remarks.

The pretty box has been containing the candy.

-The Future

Historical linguists love to speculate on how it is that Germanic languages

have no "synthetic" future -- that is, they have no inflection to make a future
the way they can make a past, although other Indo-European languages have
such a future. In fact, we have at least eight ways of rendering the future

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through implication (and Old English had a similar inventory of futurities).
If proto-Germanic were as rich in suggesting the future periphrastically (that
is, using several words to do so), then the synthetic future may simply have
withered away.

Will and shall

-Be going to + infinitive: She likes animals ,she is going to be a vet .

-Present progressive: I’m meeting her tomorrow .
-Simple present: The train leaves at ten .
-Will/shall + progressive: Next year like this time , I will be studying in
London.
-Be about to + infinitive: He was about to hit me .
-Future time in the past: She was going to play football but she changed her
mind .
-Mood

We usually say that there are three moods: the indicative (i.e., the attitude of
indicating), the imperative (i.e., the attitude of giving commands), and the
subjunctive (the attitude of supposing what is unknown or contrary to fact).
The sense of the subjunctive is much more complex, however. It
encompasses the following five ways of dealing with gradations of the
known and the unknown:

1-The subjunctive

The subjunctive mood can be either

1- Mandative subjunctive : it consists of the following structure

(S+ demand ,suggest +that+S.+V.”base”+O.)

Ex/ I demand that Tom reconsider his decision .

Note/ in the deep structure of the sentence we have “should” or “to”

2- Formulaic Subjunctive :here we have special expressions .

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Ex/ God save the Queen!

3-Hypothetical mood : (something happens in unreal situations).

Ex / If I were you, I wouldn't waste time .

-The uses of the modal auxiliaries

-Can/Could.

1-Ability: be able to, know how to, be capable of…

Ex/ He can play the guitar very well.

2-Theoretical Possibility:

Can and could express general possibility as in You can sky on the hills (=
it is possible because there is enough snow) or occasional possibility ( very
much used related to people's behaviour) as in Measles can be dangerous
(=Sometimes it is possible for them to be dangerous) My mother can be very
shy.

3-Permission: It is used in much more informal situations than may.

Another difference with may as related to permission is given in the
following statements:

You may park here ( I give you permission)

You can park here ( Could be mine or others permission)

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-May/Might.

1-Factual Possibility:

May/ might + present infinitive: It indicates a chance that something is

possible: You may/might be right .

possibly true at the moment of speaking) He may/might tell his wife (=a
chance that something will happen in the future).

Normally either can be used but, might increases the doubt ( might is not the
past of may; it means possible but less likely)

May is not used in the interrogative unless it occurs after a wh- particle, but
it is better to use a paraphrase with to be likely to, do you think. Compare.

* May he be at home? When may we expect you? (= When are you likely
to arrive?

May/might + perfect infinitive: It is used when you are not certain about a
past action. When the uncertainty no longer exists in the present (i.e.
something did not happen but it was possible) then only might + perfect
infinitive is possible.

You shouldn't have drunk that wine. It may have been drugged (=we are still
uncertain if it has been drugged or not)

You shouldn't have drunk that wine. It might have been drugged (=he or we
know yet it wasn't drugged)

2-Permission: It is used for more formal and less common contexts than
can. May emphasis and authoritarian overtone.

3-There is a rare use of may as a quasi-subjunctive auxiliary to express wish,

normally in positive sentences.

Ex/ May the best man win!

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-Shall.

“Shall” is, on the whole and especially outside BrE, an infrequent auxiliary
with restricted use compared with would, should, will. It is only in the first
person of questions that it cannot be replaced by will. Shall I come now? *
Will I come now?. Apart from this meaning of intention on the part of the
speaker it has also other meanings although not very much used today.

1-Willingness on the part of the speaker in 2nd and 3rd person ( weak
volition) He shall get his money. You shall do exactly as you wish.

2-Insistence ( strong volition) and legal: You shall do as I say. He shall be

punished.

Shall can also be used today to:

3-Express suggestions: Shall we go scuba diving?

4-In emphatic expressions: We shall go and we shall win.

-“Ought To “and “Should”.

1-Both are used to express obligation and logical necessity but they are less
categorical than must and have to . Although they have similar meanings
should is used in a more subjective way, you give the subjective opinion
about something and ought to is for a more objective use. Compare:

You should/ought to go and see Mary some time (=subjective opinion about
something)

We ought to go and see Mary tomorrow, but I don't think we will. ( “should”
could not be possible here because you cannot give an advise to yourself
knowing beforehand that you are not going to fulfil it).

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Followed by the continuous infinitive ( ought to/should + continuous
infinitive) it refers to someone that is not fulfilling his obligation. He ought
to be studying for his exam.

Ex/He shouldn't be spending his time on the beach.

2- putative meaning after certain expressions.

Ex/I am sorry that this should have happened.

3-Tentative condition in conditional clauses:

Ex/ If you should change your mind, please let us know.

-Will/Would.

1-volition

(He will help you if you ask him/ Would you excuse me?) and insistence
(strong volition):

Ex/He will do it whatever you say/

Ex/It's your own fault: you would take the baby with you.

But they have independently other meanings:

WILL:

2-Intention: In this case it is usually contracted. I'll write as soon as I can.

3-Prediction: The game will be finished.

-WOULD

1-Characteristic activity:

Ex/ Every morning he would go for a long walk.

2-Hypothetical meaning in main clauses:

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Ex/ He would smoke too much if I didn't stop him.

3-Probability:

Ex/That would be his mother.

-Must.

1-Obligation in the present tense (= be obliged to, have to). The past tense is
supplied by had to . In this sense mustn't is not the negative, this form means
not allowed to. To convey the idea of no obligation we should use don't have
to, not be obliged to, needn't.

The difference between must and have to is seen in the following example:

Mother: You must wipe your feet when you come in.( the speaker is the
authority)

Small boy: I have to wipe my feet every time I come in ( the speaker is not
the authority)

Must, used in the 1st person singular denotes the idea of urgency:

Ex/ I must phone my mother and tell her the news (=you feel that the
obligation is something urgent)

2-Deduction: To say that something is logically necessary or that we

suppose that it is certain.

There is an ambulance at Peter's door: he must be ill ( that is the only

possibility since he lives alone)

3-Root necessity: this conveys the idea of something that is essential or

necessary.

Plants must receive a good supply of sun and moisture.

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-The tense of modals

Present Past

Can - could

May - might

Will - would

Shall – should

Must – had to

Ought to ----------

-The Noun Phrase

Like all phrases, the constituents of the English noun phrase can be analyzed
into both functional constituents and formal constituents. From a functional
point of view, the noun phrase has four major components, occurring in a
fixed order:

the determinative, that constituent which determines the reference of the

noun phrase in its linguistic or situational context;

premodification, which comprises all the modifying or describing

constituents before the head, other than the determiners;

the head, around which the other constituents cluster; and

postmodification, those which comprise all the modifying constituents

placed after the head.

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16
17
Depending on the context of situation, we choose determiners and modifiers
according to our needs in identifying and specifying the referent of the NP.
Sometimes we need several determiners and modifiers to clarify the referent
(all my books in that box); sometimes we need none at all (Liz).

That diagram is one way to represent the dual nature of a phrase. Each
phrase, remember, is a merger of both form and function, and, as complex as
it looks, the diagram illustrates only some of the complexities of the noun
phrase in English. (For a more thorough treatment, see Halliday 1994 and
Quirk et al. 1985.) Another way to illustrate some of the possible
arrangements of form and function in the noun phrase is presented in the
table below.

Some Examples of the Noun Phrase in English

FUNCTIONDeterminer Premodifier Head Postmodifier

(a) lions

E (b) the young

X (c) the information age

A (d) each of the children

M (e) some badly needed time with the family

P (f) this conclusion to the story

L (g) all my children

E (h) several new mysterybooks which we recently

enjoyed

S (i) such amarvelous data bank filled with information

(j) a better person than I

FORMS Pronoun Participle Noun Prepositional Phrase

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Article Noun Adjective Relative Clause

Quantifier Adjective Phrase Pronoun Nonfinite Clause

Notice that several form classes (i.e., word classes) can be "reused,"
meaning that the same form class (= word class) can take multiple functional
roles inside the same noun phrase. For example, in the noun phrase, it is
possible to use quantifiers to function as pre-determiners or as post-
determiners. Similarly, it is possible to use a noun (functioning as pre-
modifier in a noun phrase) and another noun (functioning as the head of that
same noun phrase), as in information age. This kind of "recycling" is known
as recursion. Notice also that phrases and even whole clauses can be
"recycled" into the noun phrase. This process of placing a phrase of clause
within another phrase or clause is called embedding. It is through the
processes of recursion and embedding that we are able to take a finite
number of forms (words and phrases) and construct an infinite number of
expressions. Furthermore, embedding also allows us to construct an
infinitely long structure, in theory anyway.

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-Determiners .

1. Pre-determiners .

They occur before central determiners such as articles, demonstratives and

possessives.

A- All , both ,half

-.They occur before the articles, demonstratives and possessives-

They don’t occur before determiners entailing quantification (every, each, -

etc.)

.They can be used pronominally-·

. Ex/ All (of) the students have passed the exam

B-The multipliers: once, twice /double, three times…

When they occur before the articles, demonstratives and possessives they ·
apply to the noun determined

When they occur before the indefinite determiner and determiners entailing ·
.quantification they apply to a measure specified by the following noun

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2-Central determiners .

-The articles

They are classified into definite (the) and indefinite (a/an and zero)-

-They are the commonest central determiners.

-Their distribution is dependent upon the class of accompanying noun.

·-They have a pronominal role

Central determiners also include the followings :

1. The demonstratives: this, that, these, those

2. The possessives: my, your, her, his, its, ours, your their

3. The wh-determiners: which, whose, whichever, whatever, etc.

4 The negative determiner: no

3 -Like the indefinite article they co-occur only with singular count
nouns

3.1 The universal determiners: every, each

3.2 The nonassertive dual determiner: either

3.3 The negative dual determiner: neither

4. Like the zero article they occur only with non-count and plural count
nouns

·They have a pronominal function

4.1 The general assertive determiner: some

4.2 The general nonassertive determiner: any

4.3 The quantitative determiner: eno

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3-Post-determiners .

These include the followings

1.Ordinals: first, last, other, fourth

2. Quantifiers: a lot of, plenty of, many, few, little:

Quantifiers are classifeied into :

A-Closed-system Quant. (many , a few ,few , several)=”With plural count

nouns “.

Ex / many books , a few books .

Ex/ few books (not many).

B-Open system quant.

A-NH(Count nouns).

Ex/ The class contains a great / large number of students .

B-NH(non-count nouns)

Ex/the room contains a large amount /deal of furniture .

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-Reference And The Articles

SPECIFIC/GENERIC REFERENCE [make sure you understand the

distinction indicated by the English articles a and the in terms of generic and
specific reference in both countable and non-countable nouns.]

-Generic Reference

Nationality words and adjectives as head [The important thing to note here is
probably that we only use the article "the" with the plural of a nationality
(e.g. "the Italians") when we want to specify the generic reference; many
semantically generic references are made in American English with the
simple plural: "Italians love pasta." It is particularly interesting to note
which nationalities allow the generic to be specified by terms such as
"Englishmen" or "Welsh."

-Specific Reference

Indefinite and definite [prior mention or the presupposition of a prior

mention is an important concept here. Be sure you understand it.]

Common nouns with zero article [This is an area where British and
American usage differ. While we may go "to church" (where there is a zero
article), we do not, in the States, go *"to hospital," or *"to university," but
rather we specify articles in those cases. Study the lists for other variations.]

Article usage with common nouns in intensive relation.

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-Unique Reference

1-Proper nouns
2-Personal nouns
3-Calendar items
4-Geographical names
5-Name + common noun
6-Proper nouns with definite article
Ex/ I met him in Easter .(Unique Reference).

Ex/ I prefer the tea of India . (“tea” is a common noun and it is partitive
generic )

-Number

Note/ [Master the chart on page 81]

1-Invariable Nouns

Invariable nouns ending in -s

Plural invariable nouns [pluralia tantum = "nouns that only occur in the
plural"]

2-Variable Nouns

Regular plurals [note the spelling rules.]

Compounds [usually, we make plural whatever is the "noun head," but

modern American usage tends now to favor adding the plural suffix on the
last element: "mother-in-laws," or "time-outs" etc. The more formal the
register, the less likely you are to encounter this usage, however.]

Irregular plurals [Excellent summation for spelling purposes.]

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-Gender

The gender is classified into :

1-Animate or 2- inanimate . (non-personal)

1-Animate includes the followings :

-Personal masculine/feminine nouns : Ex/brother , sister

-Personal dual gender : Teacher
-Common gender : Ex/ Baby
-Collective nouns: Ex/ family , team , committee ,….etc .

2- Non-personal :

Higher animals: such as “lion”

-Higher organisms these carry the following characteristics :
A- As geographical units , they are treated as an inanimate .
Ex/ Looking at this map, we see France here. It is one of the largest
countries of Europe .
B-As political or economic units
Ex/ France has been able to increase her exports .

-Lower animals and inanimate nouns : such as “box” ,”snake”

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CASE

Common/genitive case [The genitive case is the only case still marked in
English with an inflection, which we usually spell -'s ]

The forms of the genitive inflections [It will help if you teach that first you
make the noun plural, and then you make it genitive, and then you simplify
the ending: (1) boxes, men, spies; (2) boxes's, men's, spies's; (3) boxes',
men's, spies'. The simplification of the ending has to do with making s's into
simply s'. The reason is probably conventional, but I've heard it claimed that
we do this because s's cannot be pronounced.]

-Two genitives [-s and of ]

Genitive meanings

The choice of genitives

Choice of -s genitive [note that it's usually animate nouns which demand the
-s genitive]

Choice of the of genitive [mostly inanimate]

The group genitive [The group genitive is what appears to be responsible for
tendency toward moving the plural to the end of the phrase in compound
nouns like "mother-in-law." If so, what does that say about the domains of
plurality and genitivization in English?]

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-The genitive with ellipsis.

The noun in the sentence may be elliptied if the context makes it clear .the
term “ellipsis” means an omission of an element in the sentence .0

Ex/My car is faster than Jhon’s n.

Ex/ I shall be at Bill’s .

Double genitive

An (of) genitive when it is combined with (s’) genitive in a special structures

it is called “double genitive” .

Ex/ An opera of my friend’s .

-Pronouns.

-The characteristics of pronouns :

1-Pronouns do not admit determiners (you can't say "the he")

2-Pronouns often have an objective case (him or her, for instance)

3-Pronouns often have person distinction (we, you, they, for instance)

4-Pronouns often have overt gender contrast (he versus she)

5-Singular and plural forms of pronouns are often not morphologically

related (I versus we, for example)

CASE [Three cases: subjective, objective, genitive.]

PERSON [Make sure you understand the table on page 102.]

1-Personal Pronouns : “referring to people “

Ex/He gave her a pen .

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-Note/ the personal pronouns have two cases the subjective and the subject
complement .

Ex/ He hoped the passenger would be Tom and indeed it was he .

2-Reflexive Pronouns: theses may occur in the basic structure of the

sentence :

Ex/ She allowed herself a rest .

Reflexive pronouns can also be used for emphasis “Emphatic use”

Ex/ We ourselves could not come .

3-Possessive Pronouns: possessives like “my ,his ,her….etc “. They have

two functions either determiner or nominal
4-Relative Pronouns:who , whom ,which ,whose..etc .
5-Interrogative Pronouns: who ,whose ,what ,whom .
6-Demonstrative Pronouns: this ,that ….etc .

UNIVERSAL PRONOUNS AND DETERMINERS [Check these out; they

share both pronoun and determiner functions. Master the table on 109.].

-Partitive Pronouns

Non-assertive usage [It's what little kids are doing when they blame spilt
milk on "nobody": "Who did that?" "Nobody..." It's a pronoun which does
not assert an agent of action.]

-Either, neither, and the negatives

-Quantifiers
-NUMERALS
-The uses of one
-Cardinals and ordinals

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*The sentence

A sentence is the largest independent unit of grammar: it begins with a

capital letter and ends with a period, question mark, or exclamation point.
Adjective: sentential.

The sentence is traditionally (and inadequately) defined as a word or group

of words that expresses a complete idea and that includes a subject and a
verb.

1- Statement .

It is simple sentence which contains a subject ,verb ,with or without

complement .it is used to describe a state of affair or conveys message
.
Ex/ He is pilot .

2- Question (interrogative).

An interrogative sentence is a type of sentence that asks a question.

(Compare with sentences that make a statement, deliver a command, or
express an exclamation.)

Interrogative sentences are typically marked by inversion of the subject and

predicate: that is, the first verb in a verb phrase appears before the subject.

3- Command Sentence .

In English grammar, an imperative sentence is a type of sentence that gives

advice or instructions or that expresses a request or command. (Compare
with sentences that make a statement, ask a question, or express an
exclamation.) Also known as a directive or jussive.

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An imperative sentence typically begins with the base form of a verb, as in
Go now! The implied subject you is said to be "understood" (or elliptical):

Ex/ go now

-The simple sentence.

CLAUSE PATTERNS

You all know what a "subordinate" clause is, but make sure you know what
a "superordinate" clause is, too. The clause which contains the subordinate
clause is its superordinate. You have to understand the relationship between
the two to know how a sentence is working. Any clause, however, can be
comprise of any one of the seven clause types.

Observations about the seven types:

Every clause pattern begins in English SV.... The typology of English, we

say, is a Subject-Verb-Object language, and certainly the SV part of that is
clearly so.

The difference among the clausal types is a difference in complements.

Notice that every possible clause type specifies the verb (V intensive;
Vmonotransitive; etc), and that's what determines the kind of complement
you can have. So you have to know what is meant by these verb types.

The least difficult is the SV, where the verb takes NO completer.

You have two kinds of "intensive" or verb "to be" clauses:

You can have an adverb

You can have a subject complement, either adjectival or nominal.

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Notice that the "complex transitives" have embedded one or the other of
these. This is an important observation.

There is one simple transitive type, and the verb is marked "monotransitive"
because it permits only one object, and that's the direct object.

The ditransitive gives you the indirect and the direct objects. In other words,
a ditransitive verb takes two objects.

-Concord

It is the agreement between the subject and the verb in the sentence .

A-The verb is singular if :

1-the subject is a name of a field of study :

Ex/ Phonetics is ……………. .

2-the subject is a name of “disease” ending in (-s)

Ex/ Diabetes is a curable disease .

3-Expressions of time , distance , weight , or many .

Ex/ Five hours of talking in the phone is long .

4-Mathamtical operations

Ex/ Two and two makes four .

5-Names of games or sports .

EX/ Dominoes is interesting .

6-Names of Countries .

Ex/ The united States is big .

B- The verb is plural when :

1- Words joined by “and”

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 EX/ My father and my mother are retired .
2- Indefinite articles preceded the expression “number of”
Ex/ A number of students come late .
3- Nationality words : Ex/ The English like football .
4- Certain adjectives : (poor , rich ,young ,dead ,ill , elderly)

EX/ The poor are a lot .

5-Sport teams :

EX/ Liverpool are playing well .

-Singular and plural.

Ex/ the team is the best of the league .

Ex/ the team are wearing new shirts .

-Proximity Principle .
The verb according to the proximity principle accepts to the noun
close to it .
Ex/ Neither the mother ,nor the children are coming .
Ex/ Neither the children nor the mother is coming .

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