• What does ‘Miscellany’ mean?

Unit 15 – Presentation 1

“a mixture of different things”

• And what does it involve in this grammar book?

More subtle details of the English Grammar, like: 1. questions & their types, 2. the formation of verbs with ‘be’ & ‘get’ & 3. the typical subjects and object.

Very, for they generate information & make up a large amount of our daily discourse.

Are questions important?

INVERSION, i.e. reversing the positions of the helping verb and the subject of a clause/ sentence.

e.g. They are discussing last night’s events → Are they discussing last night’s events?

What is the main rule concerning questions in English?

Yes, 3:

a)In Subject Questionsb)In Indirect & Reported Questionsc)In Inverted Emphatic Forms, where inversion does not produce actual questions.

Are there any exceptions to the inversion rule for questions?

a) Yes/ No → Normal Question Type with inversion e.g. Have you often been there?

Possible Answers: Yes/ No (short) answers mainlye.g. Yes, I have OR No, I haven’t

BUT for the level, there are other possibilities: e.g. Not as often as I’d like/ More often than I care to remember/ You could say that/ etc

A) What are Display Questions?

b) Wh- Questions → Normal Question Type with inversion, as the previous ones, but starting with a Question word/ phrase to ask for specific information e.g. Where did you get this?

Possible Answers: Full or short answers responding to the type of info sought by the question word/ phrase

e.g. (here:) place/ origin → (I bought it) at the sales/ It was a gift from Mark.

A) What are Display Questions?

Those seeking the subject of a sentence and therefore not forming Inversion

Form: Who/ What/ Which/ How much/ How many + verb (in affirmative form) + rest of the sentencee.g. Somebody gave me a tip →

Who gave you a tip? Something was said → What was said?

B) What are Subject Questions?

Possible Answers: By subject alone OR by subject + helping verbe.g. Who offered you the flower? – Jason (did).

Subject Questions normally contrast with Normal Questions (i.e. Types Aa) & Ab) of the previous slides). Compare the following:

Something was said→ What was said? (Subject)They said something→ What did they say?

(Normal)

B) Possible answers to Subject Questions

a) Direct Qu.’s → Display OR Normal Questions (described previously in A & B).

e.g. Does he mean what he says? How long have you been staying here?

C) What are Direct Questions?

b) Indirect Qu.’s → those introduced by a phrase (& are therefore asked indirectly)

e.g. Do you know if he means what he says? Can you tell us how long you have been staying

here?

C) What are Indirect Questions?

c) Reported Qu.’s → those in Reported Speech(similar to Indirect ones but with ‘backshift’).

e.g. She asked (me) if he meant what he said. She wanted to know how long we had been staying there.

C) What are Reported Questions?

Possible Answers: various

C) Answers to Indirect & Reported Questions.

They are those of the form: Inversion + not & are formed in two ways:

i) with the contracted negative form of the helping verb inverted with the subject

e.g. Don’t you realise what’s happening? Isn’t he aware of the implications?

ii) with normal inversion, as in questions, but adding not after the subject (FORMAL)

e.g. Did she not anticipate the danger? Are we not to be concerned in the negotiations?

D) What are Negative-Interrogative Qu.’s?

They are used to:a) emphasise expectancy on the part of the

speakere.g. Haven’t they announced the exam dates yet?b) show that the person asking is fairly sure of the

answere.g. Weren’t you supposed to be at the office

today?c) show irony, sarcasm, exclamation, etce.g. Don’t you know the answer to that?

Aren’t we a little smug? Isn’t it lovely!

D) How are Negative-Interrogative Qu.’s used?

Possible Answers: Yes/ No short answers, depending on whether we agree or disagree with the point raisede.g. ‘Didn’t she promise to help you?’ - ‘No, she certainly didn’t!’ (disagreeing) OR ‘Yes, of course, she did.’ (agreeing) & various others: e.g. - ‘What do you think?’/ ‘I can manage perfectly on my own.’

D) Answers to Negative-Interrogative Qu.’s.

They are short types of questions, added to the end of an affirmative or negative statement, of the form:

Helping verb + (contracted ‘not’) + subject pronoun

•If the statement is positive (), the question tag is negative ()-interrogative (?)e.g. You know his wife (), don’t you? ()-(?)•If the statement is negative, the question tag is simply interrogativee.g. Yes, but she doesn’t know me (), does she? (?)

E) What are Question Tags?

They are used to:

a) ask a real question in a tentative waye.g. You’ve met him, haven’t you?

He isn’t married, is he? ORb) check whether a statement is true or not (conversation-starter questions)e.g. Well, I suppose earthquakes will happen, won’t

they?

E) How are Question Tags used?

Possible Answers: they agree with or contradict the statement, not the question tag, i.e. They’re coming, aren’t they? – Yes, they are. (agreeing)/ No, they aren’t! (contradicting)

She doesn’t know we’re going, does she? – No, she doesn’t. (agreeing)/ Of course, she does! (contradicting)

E) Answers to Question Tags

E) Exceptional Question Tags I

Imperative will you/ won’t you?

e.g. Get me a new copy, will you/ won’t you?

Negative Imperative will you? e.g. Don’t shout, will you?

Special Imperative shall we? e.g. Let’s have a light lunch, shall we?

There is(n’t)/ there are(n’t)

is(n’t) there?/ are(n’t) there?

e.g. There was nobody in to take your call, was there?

1st person of affirmative ‘Be’

aren’t I? e.g. I’m a rare specimen of gullibility, aren’t I?

E) Exceptional Question Tags II

Demonstrative Pronouns

is(n’t) it/ are(n’t) they?

e.g. This was not the final edition, was it?

Indefinite Pronouns are(n’t) they? e.g. Someone told him about it, didn’t they?

Auxiliary Verb ‘Have’

have(n’t) they? e.g. We haven’t made any real progress, have we?

Main Verb ‘Have’ do(n’t) they? e.g. She still has thirty pages to go through, doesn’t she?

a) Standard Questions → questions that anticipate a particular answer:

They are:• What does sb/ sth look like? → appearance• What is sb/ sth like? → (personal) qualities• What does sb like? → preferences• What is sb? → nationality/ job• What does sb do? → job/ profession/ occupation

F) What are a) Standard Qu.’s & b) Qu.’s that are not real?

b) Questions that are not real (I) → formulaic expressions used as niceties/ comments/ etc in greetings/ remarks/ etc:

• How do you do? → greeting sb you meet for the first time (Possible Answers: How do you do?/ Pleased/ Nice to meet you)

• How are you/ how are you doing/ how is it going? → greeting sb you know (Possible Answers: (Just) fine/ Not bad thanks./ I’ve been better)

F) What are a) Standard Qu.’s & b) Qu.’s that are not real?

b) Questions that are not real (II) → formulaic expressions used as niceties/ comments/ etc in greetings/ remarks/ etc:

• What’s the matter with you? → when sb is acting out of character (usu. not expecting an answer)

• (Well, well) What do you know? → to show surprise (but could also be ironic) (No answer is expected.)

• How should I know? → showing annoyance at sb’s suggestion that we should know sth we don’t (usu. not expecting an answer).

F) What are a) Standard Qu.’s & b) Qu.’s that are not real?

Brief answers of 2 main forms:i) For Uncertainty/ Avoidance of Repetition: with think,

believe, hope, etc + so/ not.e.g. "Is Jacob coming?’ – ‘I think so.’/ ‘I don’t think so.’/

‘I hope not.’/ ‘I’m afraid so.’ii) To Add Points to sb’s Words: POSITIVE: with too/

also/ as well OR so + helping verb + Subject e.g. ‘I love fiction films.’ – ‘I do, too/ as well.’/ ‘I also

do.’/ ‘So do I’. OR NEGATIVE: with not … either OR neither/ nor + helping verb + Subject

e.g. ‘I don’t believe his tall stories.’ – ‘I don’t, either.’/ ‘Neither/nor do I’.

G) What are Short Responses?

Along with have, they are the most important verbs in English because they are multi-purpose, i.e. they are used as helping or finite verbs, in passive/ auxiliary passive/ causative form & causal uses, covering different meanings, etc).

Are ‘be’ & ‘get’ important verbs?

Here we’ll be discussing their ability to combine with adjectives & adverbs to form new verbs and how these new verbs differ when formed with ‘be’ or ‘get’. So, first and foremost, we have:

Be & Get + adj.’s/ adv.’s new verbs

How are they examined here? I

The adjectives found here are usually words with no corresponding verbs, though they could be participles, too.

e.g. hungry, thirsty, afraid, frightened, etc

How are they examined here? II

As for their meaning, the ensuing verbs with be mean that the action/ state described has already been established, whereas with get the meaning is starting to be(come). Therefore,

How are they examined here? III

The same goes for adverbs, too:

How are they examined here? IV

while sometimes this practice is possible with nouns [esp. with ‘get’ (e.g. get pains)], and adverbials/ prepositional phrases [esp. with ‘be’ (e.g. be in pain)] & even verbs: be sleeping vs. get to sleep

English has two ways to deal with this problem: it and there, the two introductory or typical subjects, as they are sometimes referred to.

What happens when the subject or object of a verb sounds awkward in its proper place?

It’s used as such when the real subject of the sentence is:a) an infinitivee.g. It is fatal to make such grave mistakes.b) a gerunde.g. It is no use pleading with them.c) a noun clause (particularly a that clause) e.g. It is important that we talk to them

tonight.

A) How is ‘it’ used as a typical subject? I

NB. Don’t mix this use of introductory ‘it’ with the cases when it is used:i) in place of a neutral noun mentioned beforeii) as the ordinary subject of an impersonal verbiii) to identify a thing or personiv) in other impersonal or emphatic constructions,

like:e.g. It won’t be long before our plans are set in

motion. It was only yesterday he arrived.

A) How is ‘it’ used as a typical subject? II

After certain verbs, like: find, think, consider, make, prefer, when the real object of the sentence is:a) an infinitive at the end of the sentence

e.g. You make it very easy for me to come up with

the answer.

b) a noun clause at the end of the sentence

e.g. We found it odd that he should be asking for a

leave of absence in midwinter.

B) How is ‘it’ used as a typical object?

It’s used as such with intransitive verbs when the real subject of the sentence is:a) a noune.g. There came a time when it was very hard

for me to believe anything he was saying.b) a determinere.g. And suddenly, there appeared something out of nowhere.

C) How is ‘there’ used as a typical subject? I

NB. Don’t mix this use of introductory ‘there’ with the cases when it is used:i) as a place adverbe.g. Why would you want to go to Filby? There’s

absolutely nothing to do there.ii) in exclamatory/ emphatic sentences e.g. There goes the last train!

C) How is ‘there’ used as a typical subject? II