My English Assigments Part 2

Posted by : dini safitri Sabtu, 28 Mei 2016

A. DEGREES OF COMPARISON

Degrees of Comparison are used when we compare one person or one thing with another.

There are three Degrees of Comparison in English.

They are:

1. Positive degree.

2. Comparative degree.

3. Superlative degree.

Let us see all of them one by one.

1.Positive degree.

When we speak about only one person or thing, We use the Positive degree.

Examples:

• This house is big.

In this sentence only one noun “The house" is talked about.

• He is a tall student.

• This flower is beautiful.

• He is an intelligent boy.

Each sentence mentioned above talks about only one noun.

2.Comparative degree.

When we compare two persons or two things with each other,

We use both the Positive degree and Comparative degree.

Examples:

a. This house is bigger than that one. (Comparative degree)

This house is not as big as that one. (Positive degree)

The term “bigger" is comparative version of the term “big".

Both these sentences convey the same meaning.

b. This flower is more beautiful than that. (Comparative)

This flower is not as beautiful as that. (Positive)

The term “more beautiful" is comparative version of the term “beautiful".

Both these sentences convey the same meaning.

c. He is more intelligent than this boy. (Comparative)

He is not as intelligent as this boy. (Positive)

The term “more intelligent" is comparative version of the term “intelligent".

Both these sentences convey the same meaning.

d. He is taller than Mr. Hulas. (Comparative)

He is not as tall as Mr. Hulas. (Positive)

The term “taller" is comparative version of the term “tall".

Both these sentences convey the same meaning.

When we compare more than two persons or things with one another,

We use all the three Positive, Comparative and Superlative degrees.

Examples:

a. This is the biggest house in this street. (Superlative)

This house is bigger than any other house in this street. (Comparative)

No other house in this street is as big as this one. (Positive)

The term “biggest" is the superlative version of the term “big".

All the three sentences mean the same meaning.

b. This flower is the most beautiful one in this garden. (Superlative)

This flower is more beautiful than any other flower in this garden. (Comparative)

No other flower in this garden is as beautiful as this one. (Comparative)

The term “most beautiful" is the superlative version of the term “beautiful".

All the three sentences mean the same meaning.

c. He is the most intelligent in this class. (Superlative)

He is more intelligent than other boys in the class. (Comparative)

No other boy is as intelligent as this boy. (Positive)

The term “most intelligent" is superlative version of the term “intelligent".

Both these sentences convey the same meaning.

d. He is the tallest student in this class. (Superlative)

He is taller than other students in this class. (Comparative)

No other student is as tall as this student. (Positive)

The term “tallest" is superlative version of the term “tall".

He is the tallest student in the class.

The term “tallest" is an adjective.

Among the members of the group, Mr. Clinton speaks most effectively.

The term “effectively" is an adverb.

B. QUESTION WORDS

The most common question words in English are the following:

WHO

WHO is only used when referring to people. (= I want to know the person)

Who is the best football player in the world?
Who are your best friends?
Who is that strange guy over there?

WHERE

WHERE is used when referring to a place or location. (= I want to know the place)

Where is the library?
Where do you live?
Where are my shoes?

WHEN

WHEN is used to refer to a time or an occasion. (= I want to know the time)

When do the shops open?
When is his birthday?
When are we going to finish?

WHY

WHY is used to obtain an explanation or a reason. (= I want to know the reason)

Why do we need a nanny?
Why are they always late?
Why does he complain all the time?

Normally the response begins with "Because..."

WHAT

WHAT is used to refer to specific information. (= I want to know the thing)

What is your name?
What is her favourite colour?
What is the time?

WHICH

WHICH is used when a choice needs to be made. (= I want to know the thing between alternatives)

Which drink did you order – the rum or the beer?
Which day do you prefer for a meeting – today or tomorrow?
Which is better - this one or that one?

HOW

HOW is used to describe the manner that something is done. (= I want to know the way)

How do you cook paella?
How does he know the answer?
How can I learn English quickly?

With HOW there are a number of other expressions that are used in questions:

How much – refers to a quantity or a price (uncountable nouns)

How much time do you have to finish the test?
How much is the jacket on display in the window?
How much money will I need?

How many – refers to a quantity (countable nouns)

How many days are there in April?
How many people live in this city?
How many brothers and sister do you have?

Read more about How much vs. How many.

How often – refers to frequency

How often do you visit your grandmother?
How often does she study?
How often are you sick?

How far – refers to distance

How far is the university from your house?
How far is the bus stop from here?

C. PASSIVE AND ACTIVE VOICES

he passive voice is especially helpful (and even regarded as mandatory) in scientific or technical writing or lab reports, where the actor is not really important but the process or principle being described is of ultimate importance. Instead of writing "I poured 20 cc of acid into the beaker," we would write "Twenty cc of acid is/was poured into the beaker." The passive voice is also useful when describing, say, a mechanical process in which the details of process are much more important than anyone's taking responsibility for the action: "The first coat of primer paint is applied immediately after the acid rinse."

We use the passive voice to good effect in a paragraph in which we wish to shift emphasis from what was the object in a first sentence to what becomes the subject in subsequent sentences.

The executive committee approved an entirely new policy for dealing with academic suspension and withdrawal. The policy had been written by a subcommittee on student behavior. If students withdraw from course work before suspension can take effect, the policy states, a mark of "IW" . . . .

The paragraph is clearly about this new policy so it is appropriate that policy move from being the object in the first sentence to being the subject of the second sentence. The passive voice allows for this transition.†

PASSIVE VERB FORMATION

The passive forms of a verb are created by combining a form of the "to be verb" with the past participle of the main verb. Other helping verbs are also sometimes present: "The measure could have been killed in committee." The passive can be used, also, in various tenses. Let's take a look at the passive forms of "design."

Tense	Subject	Auxiliary		Past Participle
Tense	Subject	Singular	Plural	Past Participle
Present	The car/cars	is	are	designed.
Present perfect	The car/cars	has been	have been	designed.
Past	The car/cars	was	were	designed.
Past perfect	The car/cars	had been	had been	designed.
Future	The car/cars	will be	will be	designed.
Future perfect	The car/cars	will have been	will have been	designed.
Present progressive	The car/cars	is being	are being	designed.
Past progressive	The car/cars	was being	were being	designed.

A sentence cast in the passive voice will not always include an agent of the action. For instance if a gorilla crushes a tin can, we could say "The tin can was crushed by the gorilla." But a perfectly good sentence would leave out the gorilla: "The tin can was crushed." Also, when an active sentence with an indirect object is recast in the passive, the indirect object can take on the role of subject in the passive sentence:

Active	Professor Villa gave Jorge an A.
Passive	An A was given to Jorge by Professor Villa.
Passive	Jorge was given an A.

Only transitive verbs (those that take objects) can be transformed into passive constructions. Furthermore, active sentences containing certain verbs cannot be transformed into passive structures. To have is the most important of these verbs. We can say "He has a new car," but we cannot say "A new car is had by him." We can say "Josefina lacked finesse," but we cannot say "Finesse was lacked." Here is a brief list of such verbs*:

resemble	look like	equal	agree with
mean	contain	hold	comprise
lack	suit	fit	become

VERBALS IN PASSIVE STRUCTURES

Verbals or verb forms can also take on features of the passive voice. An infinitive phrase in the passive voice, for instance, can perform various functions within a sentence (just like the active forms of the infinitive).

Subject: To be elected by my peers is a great honor.

Object: That child really likes to be read to by her mother.

Modifier: Grasso was the first woman to be elected governor in her own right.

The same is true of passive gerunds.

Subject: Being elected by my peers was a great thrill.

Object: I really don't like being lectured to by my boss.

Object of preposition: I am so tired of being lectured to by my boss.

With passive participles, part of the passive construction is often omitted, the result being a simple modifying participial phrase.

[Having been] designed for off-road performance, the Pathseeker does not always behave well on paved highways.

D. CONDITIONAL SENTENCES / IF-CLAUSES TYPE I, II UND III

Conditional Sentences are also known as Conditional Clauses or If Clauses. They are used to express that the action in the main clause (without if) can only take place if a certain condition (in the clause with if) is fulfilled. There are three types of Conditional Sentences.

CONDITIONAL SENTENCE TYPE 1

→ It is possible and also very likely that the condition will be fulfilled.

Form: if + Simple Present, will-Future

Example: If I find her address, I’ll send her an invitation.

CONDITIONAL SENTENCE TYPE 2

→ It is possible but very unlikely, that the condition will be fulfilled.

Form: if + Simple Past, Conditional I (= would + Infinitive)

Example: If I found her address, I would send her an invitation.

CONDITIONAL SENTENCE TYPE 3

→ It is impossible that the condition will be fulfilled because it refers to the past.

Form: if + Past Perfect, Conditional II (= would + have + Past Participle)

Example: If I had found her address, I would have sent her an invitation.

E. DEFINITION OF AN ADJECTIVE CLAUSE

In order to understand an adjective clause, let's define the two words individually. An adjective is a word that describes or modifies a noun. A clause is a group of words that has both a subject and a verb. If the clause expresses a complete thought, then it is a complete sentence. If it doesn't, it is what we call a dependent clause, as it depends on the main clause of the sentence to form a complete thought. An adjective clause, then, is a group of words that has both a subject and a verb that modifies a noun in a sentence. Adjective clauses are dependent clauses.

Relative Pronouns

Adjective clauses begin with the 'signal words' or 'relative pronouns'. Here is a list of the most-used relative pronouns:

which
who
whoever
whomever
that
whose

It is important to recognize relative pronouns because they signal the beginning of adjective clauses in sentences. They also act as the actual subjects and sometimes the objects in the adjective clauses.

EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE

When we see a relative pronoun in a sentence, we know that this is most likely the beginning of an adjective clause. Keep in mind that as with other grammar rules in the English language, there are often exceptions. Here is an example:

Who is the author of the book?

The word 'who' is the subject of this sentence; it does not signal the beginning of an adjective clause.

However, the word 'who' does signal the beginning of an adjective clause in the following sentence:

Mrs. Jones, who faints easily, saw the wild mouse and screamed.

The clause 'who faints easily' is an adjective clause that modifies the proper noun 'Mrs. Jones.'

How Adjective Clauses Function

Now that we have that cleared up, let's move on to see some examples of how adjective clauses work in sentences. See if you can identify the adjective clauses in the following three sentences:

1. Pamela is the girl who won the surfing contest.
2. The black car that ran the red light got in an accident.
3. People are sometimes superstitious about black cats which are common symbols of Halloween.

SOURCE :

https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/conditional-sentences

http://study.com/academy/lesson/adjective-clause-definition-examples-quiz.html

http://www.grammar.cl/Notes/Question_Words.htm

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/passive.htm