Comprehensive English Grammar and Reading Comprehension Study Guide

Background and Introduction to English Proficiency

• Objective: English proficiency tests are designed to assess a student's level in English grammar and usage.

• Areas of Coverage:

  • Listening comprehension

  • Fluency development

  • Oral intelligibility

  • Reading

  • Grammar

  • Writing

  • Vocabulary development

Parts of Speech: Nouns

• Definition: A noun is a name of a person, a thing, an animal, an event, or a place (e.g., John, pencil, horse, Monday, or church).

• Functions: Nouns usually serve as subjects in a sentence, as objects of verbs, and as complements of verbs and prepositions.

  • Subject Example: "John is the leader of the band." (John is the subject being talked about).

  • Object Example: "He sharpened the pencil." (Pencil is the receiver of the action word 'sharpened').

  • Complement Example: "We went to church." (Church acts as a complement to the preposition 'to').

Types of Nouns

• Concrete Nouns: Things that can be perceived via the five senses ($see, hear, smell, taste, or touch$). Examples: mother, music, perfume, chocolate, fabric.

• Abstract Nouns: Things that cannot be perceived through the senses; these are uncountable. Examples: hope, love, improvement, ideas, knowledge, justice, music, energy.

• Collective Nouns: Refers to a group or collection of things and people. Considered singular if acting as a single unit, but plural if pertaining to individual members. Examples: choir, bunch, class, flock, police, baggage, furniture.

• Common Nouns: Any one of a class of people or things (e.g., boy, pencil, country, month, dog).

• Proper Nouns: Specific people or things; the first letter must be capitalized (e.g., Paul, Mongol, Philippines, July, Pluto).

• Compound Nouns: Made up of two or more words acting as a single unit (e.g., matchbox, sister-in-law, pay day).

• Singular Nouns: Refers to a single person, thing, or unit (e.g., meal, bush, baby, knife, alumnus, child, mouse).

• Plural Nouns: Refers to more than one person, thing, or place. Formed by adding s, es, ies, ves, i, or by changing the spelling. Examples: meals, bushes, babies, knives, alumni, children, mice.

• Plural-looking Nouns: Plural in form but singular in meaning. Examples: economics, politics, news, measles.

• Singular-Looking Nouns: Nouns pertaining to a single object but considered plural as they have two identical parts. Examples: scissors, pants, tweezers, binoculars, glasses, pajamas.

• Count Nouns: Things that can be counted (can be singular or plural).

  • Singular: Use 'a' or 'an'.

  • Plural: Use 'many', 'several', 'a large number of', 'some', or 'few'.

  • Questions/Negatives: Use 'any'.

• Mass Nouns: Things that cannot be counted but can be measured. They may be too small, particles, liquids, gases, concepts, or activities.

  • Particles: rice, corn, dirt, dust, sugar.

  • Liquids: water, coffee, tea, milk.

  • Gases: smoke, pollution, steam.

  • Rules: Do not add 's'. Plural forms use quantifiers (e.g., bottles of apple juice, sacks of sand, gallons of water, bowls of rice). Use 'much', 'large amount of', 'a great deal of', and 'little'.

  • Common Misused Mass Nouns: advice, hair, baggage, bread, behavior, data, damage, traffic, progress, weather, furniture, equipment, permission, scenery, work, homework, garbage, vocabulary, food.

Parts of Speech: Pronouns

• Definition: Pronouns are "nouns in disguise" that take the place of nouns.

• Functions:

  • Subject: "He is the leader of the band."

  • Receiver of Action: "He sharpened it."

  • Complement to Verb: "We went there."

Types of Pronouns

• Personal Pronouns:

  • Subjective: I, You, He, She, It, We, They.

  • Possessive: My, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, our, ours, their, theirs.

  • Objective: Me, you, him, her, them, us.

• Reflexive Pronouns: End in -self or -selves. They add information by pointing back to a noun or pronoun near the beginning of the sentence; usually act as objects of verbs. Example: "We watched ourselves on the TV monitor."

• Intensive Pronouns: End in -self or -selves. Used for emphasis; usually come after the subject. Example: "The President himself admitted his fault."

• Demonstrative Pronouns: Direct attention to a specific person, place, or thing.

  • Singular: This, That. Plural: These, Those.

  • Examples: "Of the colors available, I like this best." "Those are the special guests who need assistance."

• Relative Pronouns: Begin a subordinate clause and connect it to another idea. Examples: That, which, who, whom, whose. "We saw a person whose essay had won the prize."

• Interrogative Pronouns: Used to begin a question. Examples: What, which, who, whom, whose. Note the difference: "Whose pencil is this?" vs. "Who's the girl in the red dress?"

• Indefinite Pronouns: Refer to people/places/things without specifying which ones.

  • Singular: another, anybody, anyone, anything, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, little, much, neither, nobody, no one, nothing, one, other, somebody, someone, something.

  • Plural: both, few, many, others, several.

  • Both (Variable): all, any, more, most, none, some.

Prepositions

• Definition: Small words that typically come before noun phrases and pronouns to denote place, time, reason, etc.

Preposition of Time

• IN: Used for long periods (months, seasons, years, decades, centuries). Examples: "in August", "in $1982$", "in the $21\text{st}$ century", "in winter". Also used for parts of the day ("in the morning") and future duration ("in a few minutes", "in four weeks").

• ON: Used before days, dates, and holidays. Examples: "on Friday", "on the $25\text{th}$ of July", "on Christmas Day".

• AT: Used for specific times of the day and specific periods. Examples: "at $7:00$ in the morning", "at bedtime".

• FOR: Used to measure time (seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years). Example: "for seven minutes".

• SINCE: Used with a specific date or time. Example: "since two-thirty".

Preposition of Location/Place

• IN: Used for enclosed areas/containers (pool, garden), and for towns, provinces, cities, countries, and villages (in Sta. Cruz, in Laguna, in the Philippines).

• ON: Used for surfaces (wall, television), specific directions (on the left), and vehicles with surfaces to navigate (on the plane, on the bus, on the ship). Also used to designate names of streets/roads (on Lopez Avenue).

• AT: Used for particular spots/buildings (bus stop, corner), places of activity (library, concert, home), and specific addresses including house numbers (at $55$ Boretz Road).

Prepositions of Movement

• TO: Expresses movement toward a destination. Example: "going to the dentist's office".

• TOWARD/TOWARDS: Used to indicate direction.

Verbs and Verbals

• Transitive Verbs: Verbs that take a direct object (the receiver of the action). Examples: "She read the whole book." "She sang an old song."

• Intransitive Verbs: Verbs that do not need a direct object. Examples: "She reads every day." "She sang badly."

• Verbals: Verbs used as other parts of speech.

  1. Gerunds: Verbs used as nouns, formed by adding -ing. Can be subjects. Example: "Writing is time consuming."

  2. Participles: Verbs used as adjectives. Example: "The frightened man ran quickly."

  3. Infinitives: Verbs used as nouns and adverbs (to + base form). Example: "To jog is useful."

Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjectives

• Definition: Words that describe or modify nouns and pronouns. They can follow linking verbs (seem, taste, feel, look, grow, remain, smell).

• Types:

  1. Adjective of Number: Includes articles (a, an, the) and quantifiers (many, few, much, little).

     • 'A': Before singular nouns starting with consonants.

     • 'An': Before singular nouns starting with vowels or silent 'h' (e.g., an honest man).

     • 'The': For particular things (the sun, the world, the Philippines).

  2. Adjective of Quality: (Beautiful, dirty, clean, strong).

  3. Adjective of Size, Length, Shape, and Width: (Big, short, round, fat).

  4. Adjective of Age.

• Comparison:

  • Comparatives: Used for two people or things; uses -er or 'more'. Example: "Walk a little faster."

  • Superlatives: Used for three or more; uses 'the' + -est or 'most'. Example: "Peter is the oldest among the three."

Adverbs

• Definition: Words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Usually end in -ly.

• Types:

  1. Adverbs of Place: Refer to direction or location (down, towards, up). "The balloon floated up."

  2. Adverbs of Time: Refer to when the action happens.

Conjunctions

• Definition: Words that connect parts of a sentence (and, but, or, because, when).

1. Coordinating Conjunctions: Connect words or groups of words of equal rank (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so - FANBOYS). Example: "This is a useful rule, but difficult to remember."

2. Correlative Conjunctions: Used in pairs (both…and, not only…but also, neither…nor, either…or, whether…or). Example: "Both my sister and my brother play the piano."

3. Subordinating Conjunctions: Connect a dependent clause to an independent clause (after, although, if, unless, so that, therefore, because). Example: "Because he loved acting, he refused to stop."

Subject and Verb Agreement Rules

• Rule 1: Agreement in Number: Singular subjects take singular verbs; plural subjects take plural verbs. Examples: "The DOG growls." vs. "The DOGS growl."

• Rule 2: Intervening Clauses: Phrases or clauses between the subject and verb do not affect agreement. Examples: "The CLOWN with the sad eyes looks…" "ONE of the girls is absent." "Your theory, as well as his, lacks support."

• Rule 3: Positive and Negative Subjects: The verb agrees with the positive subject. Examples: "JOE, not the other men, was sent…" "The DOGS, not the trainer, were…"

• Rule 4: One of and Only one of:

  • One of: Verb agrees with the antecedent (plural). "She was one of the LADIES who were…"

  • Only one of: Verb agrees with the word 'one' (singular). "He was only ONE of the men who was…"

• Rule 5: OR/NOR: For compound subjects joined by or/nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject.

• Rule 11: Confusing Nouns: Nouns plural in form but singular in meaning take singular verbs (Physics, news). Words with two identical parts (eyeglasses, pants) are plural unless preceded by "pair of".

• Rule 12: Indefinite Pronouns:

  • Singular: each, somebody, everybody. "Each of the answers is correct."

  • Plural: many, few, several, both.

• Rule 13: Pronouns and Antecedents: For all, any, more, most, none, and some, the verb depends on the noun following 'of'. Examples: "Some of the FRUIT is rotten." "Most of the PIECES are lost."

• Rule 14: Amounts and Measurements: Expressions stating amounts of time, money, or weight are usually singular. Examples: "THREE WEEKS is a long time." "TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS is a lot."

Verb Usage: Tenses

Simple Tenses

1. Present Tense: Uses s-form or base form; used for habitual actions, regularly occurring actions, or constant truths (never, usually, always, every day). Examples: "The earth rotates on its axis." "Birds fly south in the fall."

2. Past Tense: Formed by adding -d/-ed for regular verbs; used for completed actions (yesterday, ago, last week). Example: "The art exhibit opened last week."

3. Future Tense: Formed with will/shall + base form; used for future actions (tomorrow, later, next month). Example: "Ed will take the test tomorrow."

Perfect Tenses

4. Present Perfect Tense: Formed with HAVE/HAS + past participle. Used for actions that started in the past and continue to the present.

5. Present Perfect Progressive Tense: Formed for continuing actions started in the past (using since, for). Examples: "I have been working there since…" "I have been living in the Philippines…"

6. Past Perfect Progressive Tense: Used for past continuing actions interrupted by another action (using when). Example: "I had been talking on the phone when…"

7. Future Perfect Progressive Tense: Used for continuing future action completed by a specific time (using by the time, before, after). Example: "I will have been waiting for two hours."

Emphatic Forms

13. Present Emphatic Form: Formed with do/does + base form for emphasis, questions, or negatives. Example: "The course does require a term paper."

14. Past Emphatic Form: Formed with did + base form. Example: "Rose did apologize for her rudeness."

Conditionals and Redundancies

Conditionals

• Conditional 1: Future Real: Situations that take place if a certain condition is met. Structure: If + present simple, result with will. Example: "If it rains, we will stay at home."

• Conditional 2: Present Unreal: Imaginary or hypothetical situations. Provides a "were" conjugation for 'to be' regardless of subject. Structure: If + past simple, would + base form. Example: "I would lower taxes if I were the President."

• Conditional 3: Past Unreal: Refers to the past; hypothetical results of past events. Structure: If + past perfect, would have + past participle. Example: "If he had known that, he would have decided…"

Redundancies

• Definition: Elements that are more than necessary (pleonasm or tautology).

• Practice Examples for Identification:

  1. The diskette stores a total of $1.4$ megabytes.

  2. After a time interval of $15$ minutes, the power…

  3. The radar system operated for a time duration…

  4. The car's fuel system has a built-in alarm feature.

  5. This command is for the purpose of saving…

Mechanics: Lists After a Colon

• Usage: Colons are used to introduce lists.

• Incorrect: "The dictionary can be used for these purposes: looking up…"

• Correct: "The dictionary can be used for these purposes: looking up irregular verbs."

Reading Comprehension

I. Vocabulary and Context Clues

• Vocabulary: Dictionary meaning.

• Context Clues: Derived meaning from surrounding words (synonyms, antonyms). Example: "He was only ten years old… was my brother's son. (Nephew)"

II. Titles and Main Ideas

• Main Idea: The central point. Often located in the beginning of a passage. Example: "Many outdoor enthusiasts enjoy various activities…"

IV. Tone and Attitude

• Tone: The attitude of the writer towards the topic.

VI. Explicit vs. Implicit Information

• Explicit: Stated directly.

• Implicit: Requires inference.

• Inference: A mental process, an assumption starting point.

• Example (Supreme Court passage): "Some people incorrectly assume that the Supreme Court is distant and mechanical…"

VII. Figurative vs. Literal Meaning

• Literal Meaning: Based on the context and construction of the actual words used.

Sample Exercise Solutions

Exercise 1: Singular and Plural Nouns

1. Wife: Singular

2. Mice: Plural (Singular: Mouse)

3. Eyeglasses: Plural

Exercise 2: Mass and Count Nouns

1. There is so much smoke (Mass noun).

2. There are plenty of fish (Count noun).

Exercise 3: Articles

1. Are you shopping for a health club to join?

2. Shop wisely! You could end up choosing (no article).

Exercise 4: Pronouns

3. Vinny, you & she will come. (Subjective case)

4. My father took my brother and me out. (Objective case)