Lesson 1

Lesson 1
Nouns and Adjectives
der
ReminPlease don't get deceived by the simple appearance of Lesson One.
In fact, it lays the sound foundations of all upcoming lessons
and is often referred to later on when your studying gets stuck.

Nouns
A NOUN is the NAME of anything.

1. John kicked the football through the goal. (goal - a wooden frame)

2. The result was one goal to nil. (goal - a point)

3. His team won a narrow victory.

4. His wish came true.

5. John got excited and drank up a can of beer.

1 When we WRITE, a noun has to be decided first.

n. v.
a. before a verb. - John kicked
v. n.
b. after a verb. - kicked the football
We put a noun prep. n.
c. after a preposition. - through the goal
v. n.
d. after a 'be'. - was one goal

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Lesson 1
2 When we READ, a verb or preposition should catch our eyes first. Then a noun comes next.

a. Before any verb we can find a subject noun

- John kicked.

b. After a verb we can find an object noun

- kicked the football.

c. After a preposition we can find an object noun

- through the goal.

d. After a be we can find a complement noun

- was one goal.

3 Now turn our thoughts the other way round.

Any words or a group of words will be taken as nouns when they are found in these
four positions:
a. Before a verb.
b. After a transitive verb.
c. After a preposition.
d. After a be.
This important concept will help us understand the formation of noun phrases, gerunds
(pages 89 - 91) and even noun clauses (pages 150, 155, 237, 310, 312, 324).

Kinds of Nouns:
1. 2.

2
 Lesson 1

A name for a special person,

1. Proper Noun place or company, such as John,
Paris, IBM, etc.

2. Common Nouns Things that we can see

and touch, such as
a. Concrete Noun
(countable) book, table, cup, bottle,
car, house, etc.

b. Collective Noun
(countable) A number or collection that we
treat as a whole, such as family,
mob, flock, army, fleet, etc.

Something that we cant touch or

c. Abstract Noun see but only feel, such as happiness,
(uncountable) success, bravery,
energy, wisdom,
honesty, etc.

d. Mass Noun Things that dont have separate units,

(uncountable) such as wood, water, gold, cotton,
homework, money, advice, travel,
weather, jewelry, news, etc. In
two pieces of gold, we count pieces.

:
Note
A common noun is the name used for any one of a class, such as book (concrete),
family (collective), happiness (abstract) and copper (mass). It is contrasted with a
proper noun, which is used for a special person or place.

3
Lesson 1

A. Please put the underlined nouns of the following passage in the boxes
below.

d H i s S h a d o w
The Dog a n
f
a b r id g e w ith a piece o
ing
dog, is cross ee his shado
w
Lucky, a little eh a p p e n s t o s
outh when h shadow to be
meat in his m ta k e s h is o w n
below. He mis . Now he wan
ts
in the water pie c e o f m e a t
with a bigger atch it. Whil
e he
another dog t r ie s t o s n
gs meat and th drops into
the
the other do t in h is m o u
piece of mea ever. Sadly, L
ucky
does so, the a r k n e s s f o r
appears in d ands.
water and dis h is f a m il y with empty h
join dy.)
goes back to r y t h in g if you are gree
e ev e
(You may los

Proper Concrete Collective Abstract Mass

4
 Lesson 1
Why do we classify a noun?
From the kind of noun we can get: (1) its exact meaning, (2) its countable or
uncountable nature. This nature will guide us to the correct uses of: (3) articles
(a, an, the), (4) verb forms (singular / plural) and (5) adjectives of quantity.

(1) We come to understand the meaning of a noun according to its type.

My cat Beauty does not like fish. (proper noun)
Mary is still a beauty in her middle age. (concrete noun)
Everybody admires her beauty. (abstract noun)
(2) Countable or uncountable nature of a noun carries a different meaning.
Beer [U] an alcoholic drink (mass noun uncountable)
Beer is sold here.
[C] a bottle, can or glass of beer (concrete noun countable)
Give us two beers, please. (=two bottles, two cans or two glasses)
(3) Countable concrete and collective nouns take articles (a, an, the); uncountable
mass and abstract nouns dont.
concrete n. collective n. proper n.
In a bar the attendants were serving a group of tourists from an India town.
mass n. abstract n.
Beer brings temporary pleasure to drinkers. (no articles)

(4) Some nouns in singular number take a singular verb under one meaning, and
in plural number take a plural verb for another meaning.
Singular Plural
FORCE - strength FORCES - army
MANNER - method of doing things MANNERS - politeness
PAPER - sheet PAPERS - documents
RETURN - coming back RETURNS - profits
WATER - liquid WATERS - an area of water

The return of the companys former CEO was good news to the staff.
The returns on the new investment of the company were encouraging.
(5) Some adjectives of quantity such as many and few are used to qualify
countable nouns, while much and little to describe uncountable nouns.
mass n.
Much beer has been sold during holidays.
concrete n.
At the close of business hours, only a few beers were left unsold.
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Lesson 1

m e !
r n a
w y o u r n ame!
y ou Kneo ! me!
o w y o u r n a m a
Kn ow
Knowyour n

First name
Christian name Middle name Last
Middle name Lastname
name

Ronald
GEORGE Wilson
WALKER Reagan
BUSH
Surname
Surname
First name
Christian name
Familyname
Family name
Forename
Forename
(Given Name)
(Given Name)

We usually write:
Ronald W. Reagan or Ronald Reagan

Barack Hussein Obama

Teacher: A noun is the name of a person or

a thing. Who can give me a noun?
First boy: A cow.
Teacher: Very good. Another noun?!
Second boy: Another cow!

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 Lesson 1
Nouns: singular and plural
Nouns that refer to only one are singular.
Nouns that refer to more than one are plural.
Singular Plural Exceptions
book books
Regular horse horses
cat cats

dish dishes
bench benches
Nouns that end in box boxes stomachs
a hissing sound buzz buzzes monarchs
(-sh,-ch,-s,-x,-z) ass asses (ch pronounced as k)
glass glasses
inch inches

photos
potato potatoes
Nouns that end in pianos
tomato tomatoes
-o casinos
echo echoes
hippos

life lives
knife knives
loaf loaves proofs
Nouns that end in shelf shelves beliefs
-f or -fe thief thieves chiefs
dwarf dwarfs/ dwarves
scarf scarfs/ scarves
wharf wharfs/ wharves

duty duties
army armies keys
Nouns that end in lady ladies days
-y city cities valleys
fly flies monkeys
body bodies (A vowel before y)

man men
tooth teeth
Nouns that dont goose geese
follow any of these child children
rules mouse mice
sheep sheep
ox oxen
German Germans
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Lesson 1
The following nouns are used ONLY in the singular:
News / Information (No news is good news.)
Aerobics (Aerobics is a form of exercise.)
Physics (Physics is a science subject.)
Garbage / Trash (Garbage is collected on Wednesdays in this town.)
Equipment (Our office equipment is said to be up-to-date.)
Baggage / Luggage (Too much baggage / luggage is not allowed on the plane.)
Furniture (The furniture of the home suits the style of the house.)
The following nouns are used ONLY in the plural:
Sweets (My sister bought a packet of sweets to suck on her way to school.)
Thanks (It was thanks to my uncle that I got the job.)
Riches (Some people wanted fame, while others were crazy about riches.)
Goods (Our company supplies honest goods at honest prices.)
Fireworks (Last night the whole city was entertained with fireworks.)
Wages (The little shop pays very low wages per week.)
Remains (The remains of yesterdays lunch were still seen lying on the table.)
Some nouns in certain expressions must be in plural number:
exchange seats; shake hands; make friends with; take turns; be friends with
E.g. We may change trains at the next station. (NOT train)

Singular Plural Examples

cloth (C) cloths a yard of cloth
clothing (U) an item of clothing
clothes (C) a suit of clothes

1. In winter people wear heavy clothing like hats, scarves, boots, and overcoats.
2. Many cloths of high quality are used for making fashionable and expensive clothes.

Some Final Words on Nouns at this early stage:

1. A noun has first to be classified as countable (concrete and collective) or
uncountable (abstract and mass).
2. Countable nouns require articles (a, an, the); uncountable nouns dont.
3. Countable nouns take singular / plural verbs; uncountable nouns only singular.
tr. v. n. prep. n.
4. Before a noun we find a transitive verb / preposition, e.g. ... show love, ... in love.
After a noun we find a transitive / intransitive verb. E.g. Birds eat worms. Birds fly.
n. tr. v. n. int. v.
Please refer to Lesson 2.
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 Lesson 1

An adjective adds information to a noun.

We say that the adjective qualifies the noun.
Usually an adjective goes before a noun or comes after a linking verb.
(Please see page 19.)

Any word that adds information to a noun is an adjective.

adjective noun
The adjective qualifies the noun.

Adjectives are classified in order to make a neat stacking (arrangement) for

a smooth, natural description of a noun. (Please see page 12.)

1. Demonstrative Adjectives (this, that, these, those, the, a(n), etc.)

These adjectives point out people, things, etc.

This and these refer to things close to the speaker.

That and those point at things less close to the speaker.
This and that go with singular nouns.
These and those go with plural nouns.
The goes with both singular and plural nouns.

This house is old. (singular)

That house is old. (singular)
These houses are new. (plural) This house
Those houses are new. (plural)
The school is open. (singular)
The children are playing. (plural)

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Lesson 1

2. The Possessive (noun in the possessive form used as an adjective)

This kind of adjectives shows ownership.

That is Johns car.

Johns shows ownership or possession.

Johns car = The car that belongs to John.

The Possessive answers the question, 'Whose?'

Whose car? John's.

Formation of the Possessive:

1. The Possessive of a noun whether singular or plural is formed by adding s to the noun:

the boys book; the kings crown; the familys income;

mens club; childrens school; peoples leader

2. When a noun ends in s, the Possessive is formed by adding an apostrophe ()

after the s:

the boys school; the students teacher

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 Lesson 1

3. Adjectives of Quantity
some money much patience
enough food all his wealth some money
no sense whole amount
many days each boy

These adjectives answer the question: How much or how many?

Note:
Many goes with countable nouns. (concrete and collective nouns)
Much goes with uncountable nouns. (abstract and mass nouns)

4. Adjectives of Quality (opinion, size/shape/age, color, proper adjectives)

i ii iii iv v vi

i iv i ii iii iv
a nice man an old car a beautiful big round old table
ii v v vi
a large city a blue shirt a black Japanese car
iii vi
a square table the English language
thin man

These adjectives answer the question: Of what kind?

Note:
Adjectives of opinion include beautiful, ugly, nice, bad, dirty, good ... .
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Lesson 1

N OU N QUALIFIES ANOTH
A NOEURN NOUN
A noun can be used as an adjective to qualify another noun in order to show the
Function or Element of the second noun.

Function:
n. n.
A beauty salon (A salon that provides beauty services)
adj. n.
A beautiful salon (A salon that looks beautiful)
n. n.
An information center (A center that provides information)
adj. n.
An informative talk (A talk that gives people helpful ideas)

Element:
n. n.
A gold chain (A chain that has the element of gold)
adj. n.
Golden hair (Hair that has bright yellow color)
n. n.
A silk suit (A suit that is made of silk)
adj. n.
A silky voice (A gentle voice that is like soft silk)

Word order of the adjectives

opinion size shape age color proper adj.
The chairmans two beautiful large round old brown Indian teak tables.

demonstrative possessive of quantity of quality noun used as adj.

(1 ) (2) (3) (4 ) to show element

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 Lesson 1
Collocation (matching of different parts of speech)
A noun and an adjective are close partners.
An adjective can qualify a few nouns, and, likewise, a noun can be qualified by a
few adjectives.

Adjectives Nouns

{
charm

female
intuition (= feeling)
a ... dog
a ... officer
a ... fig-tree

{
a ... role
a ... person

vital
(= chief)
a ... game
clues
importance

Adjectives Nouns

{
all-round

education
secondary
full-time
adult
consumer

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Lesson 1

{
a new
a rare
the human species
an extinct (singular and plural)
an endangered

The secret of writing good English lies in a good match between nouns and adjectives.
ONLY through extensive reading can a learner acquire such a kind of valuable knowledge.

B. Please underline all the adjectives in this passage.

Janets family had a big, old house with a beautiful

garden, a lot of flowers and many old trees. One morning,
Janet came in from the garden. She was a tall, fat woman,
thirty years old. It was the hottest day of the year, but
5 she wore a warm, brown skirt and yellow shirt. She went
into the kitchen to get a refreshing drink of cold water.
Just then the back door opened. And her mother came in.
Her mother Molly was a tall, dark woman with gray hair.

A black and white dog came into the kitchen after her
10 and ran across to her. She sat down, put her hands on
its head and said to Janet, I usually did the same to you
when you as a kid were having a sad and depressed look.

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 Lesson 1
Comparison of Adjectives
Most adjectives have the positive degree, the comparative degree followed by than to
compare 2 things, and the superlative degree preceded by the to compare more than 2 things.

All one-syllable adjectives follow the -er / -est pattern.

Positive Comparative Superlative
tall taller tallest
quick quicker quickest
old older/elder oldest/eldest
If the vowel of the positive is short, the last consonant is doubled.
big bigger biggest
red redder reddest
wet wetter wettest
If the positive ends in -e, only -r and -st are added.
brave braver bravest
cute cuter cutest
wide wider widest

If the positive ends in -y, it changes to -ier and -iest.

dry drier driest
sly slier /slyer sliest /slyest
shy shier /shyer shiest /shyest

Most two-syllable adjectives, especially those ending in -able, -ful, -ing, -ish, -ive, -less
and -ous, take MORE / (LESS) in the comparative and MOST / (LEAST) in the superlative.

readable more readable most readable

hopeful more hopeful most hopeful
charming more charming most charming
foolish more foolish most foolish
active more active most active

Other two-syllable adjectives follow the -er / -est pattern as the one-syllable adjectives do.
clever cleverer cleverest
simple simpler simplest
happy happier happiest
friendly friendlier friendliest
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Lesson 1

However, some two-syllable adjectives can take EITHER -er / -est OR more / most:
common; stupid; pleasant; handsome; polite; gentle
e.g. Your servant was stupider than I thought.
Your servant was more stupid than I thought.

Irregular Comparison
The following Adjectives are exceptions:

good better best

bad worse worst
little less, lesser least
much more most
many more most
far farther/further farthest/furthest

:
sENTENCE WRITING Note
MOST
can be used
We use as...as with the positive degree. without the
John is as fat as Jack. to mean very.
Mary is not as fat as John.
E.g.
We use than with the comparative degree. -The movie
John is fatter than Mary. was most
This dress is more beautiful than that dress. interesting.

The is used with the superlative degree. -People

opposed
John is the fattest of the three boys.
the bill most
Mary is the most beautiful girl in the class.
strongly.
This is the fastest car on the running track.

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 Lesson 1

To Learn English (1)

Clear and correct English makes people easily understand you, and they would
immediately decide that you are well educated. As a result, they truly respect you:
this brings to your career every chance of success.

However, to achieve good English, people need some basic tools for the long,
steep climb to the goal. These are determination, patience and effort.

To begin with, the meaning of a word varies according to what part of speech it
is. Often, a different part of speech of a word carries a different meaning:

Examples:
1) The dog was taken ill. (adjective - sick)
Poverty is an ill. (noun - problem)

2) The children are running about. (adverb - in different directions)

The report is about the weather. (preposition - concerning)
The movie is about to start. (adjective - soon going)

3) To understand a clause, we first find out its verb and next its subject/object.
Tokyo office costs cost a lot of money.
(Cost is a transitive verb, meaning need)
(Costs is a plural noun, meaning expenses, subject of the transitive verb cost.)
Bush ducks shoe throw in Iraq.
(Ducks is a transitive verb, meaning avoids.)
(Throw is a noun, object of ducks.)
(Shoe is a noun, used as an adjective to qualify throw.)
So English is a language of definition (to read according to rules).

Remarks:
Was taken ill (idiomatic expression) = fell ill
Bush ducks shoe throw in Iraq is newspaper English, which usually omits the
articles (a,an,the). Traditional English is Bush ducks a shoe throw in Iraq.
(Throw is a countable noun, which requires an article.)

17
Lesson 2

Lesson 2
Verbs
A VERB tells us something about a person or thing and is
the most important word in a sentence.

When we write, we first have some nouns in our mind, such as key
and door. (Please refer back to page 1.) Then we look for a suitable
verb opens to match the nouns like this:

Subject Verb Object

(noun) (noun)
A key opens a door.

* Key and door are countable concrete nouns, which need an article a.

Here the noun key governs the verb opens. It is subject (the action doer) of the verb.

The second noun door (the action receiver) is the object governed by the verb opens.

Transitive verb
The verb opens is a transitive verb because it passes the action from the action doer key
(subject) to the action receiver door (object). A transitive verb must take an object.

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 Lesson 2
Intransitive verb
Subject Verb
The world laughs.
The action verb laughs stops with the action doer world (subject).
There is no action receiver (object).

Why is it first and foremost to classify a verb?

The answer is easily seen in the following examples:
intr. v.
1. He stopped to smoke. (= He walked no farther and stood there and smoked.)
tran. v.
2. He stopped smoking. (= He gave up smoking and smoked no more.)
In 1, the intransitive 'stopped' ends with the subject 'he', and 'to smoke' tells us why he
stopped. (Please see page 98.)
In 2, the transitive 'stopped' means 'quitted' and takes the noun (gerund) 'smoking' as its
object. (Please see page 90 for more explanations of gerunds.)

xa mples:
More E
intr. v.
She turned, and dropped the ball. (= She went round and dropped the ball.)
tran. v.
She turned and dropped the ball. (= She turned the ball and dropped it.)

Linking verb (Please see page 100.)

The linking verb be (am, is, are, was, were, been, being, be) is used most frequently. It
links a noun or an adjective with the subject to make the meaning of a sentence complete.

Subject Complement
John is a doctor.
(noun) (linking v.) (noun)

Subject Complement
John is happy.
(noun) (linking v.) (adjective)

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Lesson 2
Complements
Both the noun doctor and the adjective happy are complements of is. There are
many other linking verbs, such as seem, appear, become, grow, turn, prove, look,
come, go, feel, get, etc. They take a noun or an adjective as their complements, NOT
as objects.
ample:
For Ex The weather looks fine.
n. link. v. adj.
The weather looks fine.

We can understand the sentence in two ways:

The adjective fine is complement of the
linking verb looks.
The adjective fine qualifies the noun
weather.

Noun or adjective?
If we put a noun instead of an adjective after a linking verb, we say the two nouns
refer to the same person or thing.

John becomes a teacher. (John = a teacher )

So the following sentence is incorrect.

John is happiness.

John is a man, and happiness is an abstract noun. They are different things. Here
we must use the adjective form happy instead.

John is happy. ( = happy John / a happy man)

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 Lesson 2

Tips
A verb in different types suggests different meanings:
Play
The children are playing. (intransitive are having fun)
n. (obj)
The wife played the violin badly. (transitive performed)
n. adj.
The husband played deaf. (linking pretended)

The following are the most frequently used sentence patterns:

(1) SV
(subject + intransitive verb / transitive verb in the passive voice)
My dog barked.
A rat was caught.

(2) SVO
(subject + transitive verb + object)
The dog killed the rat. (concrete noun)
The rat stole some food. (mass noun)

(3) SVC
(subject + linking verb + complement)
The food was cheese. (mass noun)
The cheese smelt good. (adjective)

(4) SVOC (Please see page 105.)
(subject + transitive verb + object + complement)
I called the dog a good boy. (concrete noun)
The dog made me happy. (adjective)

(5) SVOO
(subject + transitive verb + object + object)
I gave the dog some cookies.
Tom handed Susan a present.

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Lesson 2

A. Please find out the sentence pattern of each of the following sentences.

Example: The tree has been blown away. ( 1 ) SV

1. Someone is coming.
2. She is the champion.
3. Tiffany feels bad.
4. All of the witnesses are being investigated.
5. Tom found his wallet.
6. We showed the official our passports.
7. I found Tom sleepy.

B. The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs

In paragraph 1, please write I for intransitive verb, T for transitive verb and
L for linking verb. The first one has been done for you.

PARAGRAPH 1
(I)
The night fell. A farmer came to his gooses nest. He found a heavy, yellow egg
there. He felt strange, Someone has played a trick on me. Still, he took it home but
was very happy because the egg was a lump of gold.

22
 Lesson 2

In paragraph 2, try to look for a noun/pronoun in the FOUR positions:

( 1 ) before a verb,
( 2 ) after a transitive verb,
( 3 ) after a linking verb,
( 4 ) after a preposition.
The 1st sentence has been done for you.

PARAGRAPH 2
(1) (2) (4) (4)
The farmer sold the egg for a handsome sum of money. Every evening the goose
laid an egg of gold, and very soon he became a rich man.

In paragraph 3, try to write subject for the noun/pronoun before a verb, object
after a transitive verb OR a preposition, and complement after a linking verb.

PARAGRAPH 3
subj. subj. compl. subj.
As the farmer grew rich, he turned greedy man. But he didnt want to get only one
egg everyday. He said, Id better cut the goose open to take all the eggs out of her at
one time. So he cut open the goose but found nothing. Now he became an unhappy
man. (N.B. There is no a before greedy man. Please see turn on page 104.)

For ONLY, please point out which is a noun and which is a verb in the
following sentence.

Shaw saw saws saw saws.

See page 95 for tips.

23
Lesson 2

TRANSITIVE VERBS NOUNS

discipline
custom
world peace
living standard
preserve a persons outlook
historic buildings (prevent decay)
food (prevent decay)

electricity, water, etc.

(not to waste)
land, forest or other natural resources
(prevent them from damage)
conserve historic buildings (prevent decay)
food (prevent waste)

Note:
Both historic buildings and food can be governed by either preserve or conserve.

Here we can see how an object noun can be governed by several transitive verbs and
qualified by several adjectives. If the noun is uncountable, no article is needed.

VERBS ADJECTIVES NOUN

keep strict, lax
maintain tough
proper discipline (uncountable)
impose
lack normal

24
 Lesson 2
Likewise, a transitive verb can also govern a few different nouns, and each noun can be
qualified by a few adjectives, too. If the noun is countable, an article is needed.

main, major, great

grave, deep
little
express genuine concern
public
growing (uncountable)

sincere
deepest
express a humble apology
public
profound (countable)

Verbs, adjectives and nouns are 3 in 1. And we should not study an English word singly.
Verb + (a/ an/ the/ no article) + adjective + noun is a core pattern of sentence-writing.
To read more and to consult dictionaries often will help (to) pave the way to success.

C. Please say what part of speech each word in italics is in the following sentences.

int. v. adj.
Example: I spring over the garden gate to pick some spring flowers.

1. Bath the little dog in this bath, and wrap it up with a bath towel.

2. Iron this shirt with an electric iron on this iron table made of iron from the USA.

3. Water this plant with water from these water bottles.

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Lesson 2
Summary (At this first stage, it is good enough to understand the following.)
To think this way

Word(s) = Subject = Noun

(before a verb) (before a verb)

Word(s) Object Noun

(after a verb / prep.) = =(after a verb / prep.)

Word(s) = Complement = Noun / Adjective

(after a linking verb) (after a linking verb)
To think the other way

(See P.107.)

Here is a little test for OUTSTANDING learners.

Please find out the subjects and objects in the following sentences:
EXAMPLES:
A wolf walking by the mountains side in the evening saw his
own shadow.
wolf subject of the transitive verb saw.
side object of the preposition by.
evening object of the preposition in.
shadow object of the transitive verb saw.
1. A frog braver than the rest putting his head above the
water cried to the boys loudly.
2. Near an apple tree grew a rose bush. (Please refer to P.294.)
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 Lesson 2
Suffixes

Different suffixes can help us easily understand whether a word is a noun,

verb or adjective and hence their meanings. (Please try to memorize them.)

Of Nouns
(1) Denoting mainly the agent or doer of a thing.
n) -ar (-er, -eer, -ier, -ary)
-ain (-an, -en, -o

ca pt ai n, mu sic ian , scho lar, teac her, engin eer,

cit ize n, su rg eo n. finan cier, miss iona ry.

-ate (-ee, -ey, -y

) -er (-ar, -or, -yer)
ad vo ca te , em ploye e, pai nte r, beg gar ,
at to rn ey , com pa ny . sai lor , em plo yer .

(2) Denoting state, action, result of an action.

-ance (-ence) -dom

-age
brilliance , assistan ce, fre edo m, wis dom ,
marriage , leakage,
excellence, innocence. kin gdo m.
bondage .

-ice (-ise)
-ion -th
-cy
ser vice, pra cti ce,
fan cy , acc ura cy , act ion , uni on , he alt h, gr ow th ,
exe rcis e.
ba nk ru ptc y opi nio n. st re ng th .

-ness -ment
-ship
dar kne ss, goo dne ss, fr ien ds hip , pa rt ne rs hip , punis hme nt, judgm ent,
swe etn ess , bol dne ss. ha rds hip . impr ovem ent.

-ty -ure -ling -y

dif ficu lty , ple asu re, pict ure , duck ling, darli ng, victo ry, stor y,
bea uty , cru elt y. tre asu re. nest ling. mise ry.

27
Lesson 2
Suffixes

Of Adjective

-y -ary
-al with the quality of;
ne ces sa ry , ordin ar y,
na tio na l, us ua l, we alt hy , hea lth y,
contr ar y.
fin a l, gr ad ua l, leg a l. gre edy nee dy, dirt y.

-lent
ble) -ive
-ed -ble (-ible, -a
having;
act ive , att ent ive , excelle nt , vio len t,
ab le , po ss ib le ,
gif ted , lea rne d, . tur bul en t.
lau gh ab le , se ns ib le att rac tiv e.
tale nte d.

-ish
-ful -less
somewhat like;
full of; free from, without;

hope ful, joyf ul, fea rle ss, sha me les s, girlis h, fooli sh,

beau tifu l, fruit ful. ho pel ess , sen sel ess . wom anis h.

-en -ous
-ate made of;
-ar
dan ger ou s,
fam ilia r, sim ila r, for tun at e, obs tin at e, woo den, golde n,
cop iou s, ted iou s.
re gu lar . tem per at e. woo len, eart hen .

Of Verb
-se (transitive)
-ish (transitive) to make; -en (transitive)
-fy (transitive)
causative, forming;
publi sh, puni sh, cleanse, rinse,
sim pli fy , pu rif y, weak en, sweeten, hard en,
bani sh. realise.
te rri fy , ve rif y. wide n, stre ngth en.

28
 Lesson 2

To Learn English (2)

An English word must be learned together with other words at the same time. This
word-matching, or word-combining is called collocation. Such a close connection among
words spreads through the whole language. It includes proverbs, idioms, phrasal verbs,
and many fixed expressions.
Examples:
No news is good news. (Proverb)
Dancing is not my cup of tea. (Idiom)
We ran out of money after our holidays. (Phrasal verb)
The story is about love at first sight. (Fixed expression)

There are many types of matching as the following sentence shows.

:Adjective :Adverb

AA very
veryreasonably
reasonably large
large company
company have recently bought
has recently bought 50,000
50,000 shares
shares wholly
wholly through
through aa leading
leading stockbroker.
stockbroker.
subject tran. v. object prep. object

Tips to learn
collocations:
1. Through all kinds of
Adverb Adverb Adverb reading materials.
2. With dictionaries.
very reasonably recently
quite reasonably very cheaply buy
large
utterly (adverb) rather quickly (verb)
(adjective)
fairly quite

Adjective Adverb Adjective

50,000 wholly a
large shares partly through leading stockbroker
20% (noun) completely (prep.) large (noun)

29
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