LÍNGUA INGLESA:

ESTRUTURA SINTÁTICA II

autora
SARAH LÚCIA BARBIERI

1ª edição
SESES
rio de janeiro  2016
Conselho editorial  luis claudio dallier, roberto paes e paola gil de almeida

Autora do original  sarah lúcia barbieri

Projeto editorial  roberto paes

Coordenação de produção  paola gil de almeida, paula r. de a. machado e aline

karina rabello

Projeto gráfico  paulo vitor bastos

Diagramação  bfs media

Revisão linguística  marianna la vega

Revisão de conteúdo  bianca dela nina

Imagem de capa  s.borisov | shutterstock.com

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qualquer sistema ou banco de dados sem permissão escrita da Editora. Copyright seses, 2016.

Dados Internacionais de Catalogação na Publicação (cip)

B236l Barbieri, Sarah Lucia

Lingua inglesa – estrutura sintática II / Sarah Lucia Barbieri.
Rio de Janeiro: SESES, 2016.
152 p: il.

isbn: 978-85-5548-339-4

1. Lingua inglesa – estudo e ensino. 2. Lingua inglesa - gramática.

I. SESES. II. Estácio.
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Diretoria de Ensino — Fábrica de Conhecimento

Rua do Bispo, 83, bloco F, Campus João Uchôa
Rio Comprido — Rio de Janeiro — rj — cep 20261-063
Sumário

Prefácio 5

1. Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases 7

1.1  The Preposition and its uses 8
1.2  The Meaning of Prepositions 9
1.3  Omission of Prepositions 25
1.4  Prepositional Phrases 26

2. Phrasal Verbs 33

2.1  Phrasal Verb: an Introduction 34

2.2  Concepts and Phrasal Verb Types 36
2.3  The Differences between Prepositional and Phrasal Verbs 37
2.4  Phrasal – Prepositional Verbs 56

3. Inversion in English 67

3.1  General Cases of Inversion 69

3.1.1 Questions 69
3.1.2 Statements 71
3.2  Inversion after negative adverbs 76
3.2.1  Patterns of Inversion With Fronted Negative Adverbs and
Expressions 78
3.2.2  Fronted Negative Objects and Conjunctions 80
3.3  Inversion after so that and such that 82
3.4  Inverted Implied conditional 83
4. Syntactic Relations 89

4.1  The English Sentence 90

4.1.1  Morphological Sentence Types 91
4.2  Sentence Structure 105
4.3  Sentence Problems 110

5. Syntax: Coordination 117

5.1  Clause Types 119

5.2  Coordinating Conjunctions 121
5.3  Syndetic, Asyndetic and Polysyndetic Coordination 130

4
Preface
Dear students,

In Linguistics, syntax refers to the rules that govern the ways in which words
combine to form phrases, clauses and sentences. Structures, on the other
hand, refer to the way language is arranged or organized by putting the parts
together in order to be identified as belonging to a certain language. Therefore,
this book on syntactic structures is going to present you with some of the rules
that govern the English Language so that you are able to build well-structured
phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs and even whole texts.
In the first chapter, we are going to revisit some rules and concepts related
to prepositions of place, time and manner, pointing out that there is some
systematicity in how the prototype meaning of certain prepositions is extended
beyond spatial relationships. We are also going to discuss the omission of
prepositions and the use of prepositional phrases. In the second chapter, we
are going to deal with phrasal verbs, also known as multiword verbs, which are
idiomatic combinations of a verb and a particle that can be an adverb and/or
a preposition. In the third chapter, we are going to talk about inversion, that
is, the syntactic rules which govern the subject-verb word order reverse in
English. In the fourth chapter, we are going to talk about syntactic relations:
the concept of sentence types and sentence structures. While the first refers
to the internal organization of different sentence structures which include
declarative, interrogative, negative and imperative sentences, the latter refers to
how clauses are related to each other to express complete ideas. Finally, in the
fifth chapter, we are going to talk about dependent and independent clauses,
and the way by which two independent clauses are combined by coordinating
conjunctions in order to form compound sentences.
I really hope you like the course and do your part to take the most advantage
of it!

Enjoy your studies!

5
6
 1
Prepositions and
Prepositional
Phrases
1.  Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases
Prepositions are notoriously difficult to learn and even long after EFL learners
of English have achieved a high level of proficiency, they still struggle with them.
According to Haraguchi (2007), some of the main reasons why Portuguese
native speakers face so many problems whenever dealing with prepositions are:
(a) there are many more prepositions in English than in Portuguese; (b) there
are many exceptions to the rules; (c) even though the use of prepositions seem
illogical, most of the times there are rules to be followed. Therefore, in this first
chapter of the book we are going to revisit the world of prepositions and try
to focus on the three dimensions which, according to Celce-Murcia & Larsen-
Freeman (1999), are the problem areas in which even proficient speakers
demonstrate variable performance with regard to which preposition to use:
form, meaning and use.

QUESTION
Are you always sure about which preposition to use for a particular meaning? Do you usually
say I’m going out to lunch or I’m going out for lunch? Why ? Do you know the rule?

GOALS TO BE REACHED
•  Have a broader understanding of prepositions of place, time and manner;
•  Know how to use prepositions at the end of sentences and questions;
•  Know the contexts in which the omission of the preposition is optional and the ones in
which the deletion is mandatory ;
•  Understand that you need lots of practice on prepositions: practice makes perfect!!

1.1  The Preposition and its uses

English prepositions, as well as Portuguese prepositions, are free morphemes.

The reason why prepositions received this name is due to the fact that they
precede nouns – they are pre-positions, that is, they are placed before (pre)

8• capítulo 1
nouns or pronouns. However, it does not mean that English prepositions must
always come before nouns. In this chapter, we are going to see that prepositions
can be positioned at the end of a wh-question and even at the beginning of some
specific wh-questions.
Prepositions connect words to other parts of a sentence and have a close
relationship with the word that follows. Many prepositions are single words,
such as about – after – away – before – during – for – on – out – since – to – with,
just to mention some examples; some complex prepositions, however, consist
of two or more words that function as single prepositions, such as: because of
– out of – on top of – in front of – in front of , among others.
There are two important basic rules governing the use of prepositions
in sentences:
1. After a preposition the verb has to be in the –ing form, except after the
preposition but1:
•  Always knock before entering the room.
•  By helping others, we help ourselves…
•  We thought about going to the club.
•  There was nothing to do but leave.

2. After a preposition we have to use object pronouns (me – you – him – her
–us – them) to refer to the object of the sentence:
•  This decision is up to you, dear!
•  I think they are talking about us…
•  There should be no secrets between you and me (between us).

1.2  The Meaning of Prepositions

One of the greatest challenges that the learning of prepositions impose both in
English and Portuguese is that depending on the context in which they are used,
that is, the words they are combined with, their meanings change. Therefore, it
is difficult to attribute a specific meaning to a preposition that would account
for all its instantiations, that is, all its uses. Prepositions, as well as all the other
words of a language, are polysemous (TAYLOR, 1993). According to Celce-
Murcia & Larsen- Freeman (1999, p. 404):

1  But is very rarely used as a preposition. It is usually used as a coordinating conjunction. The meaning of but as
a preposition is except (for), apart from.

capítulo 1 •9
 What possible meaning could in have that would hold in all of the possible instances?
Stephanie is in her room.
The room is in a mess.
Seth is in trouble.
In running out of the room, he knocked over the vase.
He’ll be back in an hour.

The meaning of the preposition in is more literal in the first sentence above,
in which it conveys a general notion of boundedness within an enclosure,
something like: in. In the other sentences, this boundedness is more abstract,
metaphorical or extended. Whenever the use of a word is more literal we say it
is prototypical. Have you ever heard the word “prototypical”?

CONCEPT
Prototypical examples are the best illustration of characteristics that the members of a
category have in common. So a pardal or a beija-flor would be a more prototypical birds than a
penguin: both the pardal and the beija-flor have wings and fly; but a penguin is also considered
a bird because penguins have feathers, lay eggs, and are warm-blooded. However, penguins
are not the best exemplars of birds as pardals and beija-flores are.

Prepositions are prototypically used to show spatial relations, but their

meanings can be metaphorically extended from physical to mental space to
also signal time and more abstract domains. According to Dirven (1993), the
preposition at extends from an orientation point in space to one in time, and
then beyond into state, area, manner, circumstance and cause. Take a look at
the following examples:
•  He was at the station. (physical space location)
•  John.Smith@example.com (e-mail address – @ = at – virtual space location)
•  He arrived at six o’clock. (location in time)
•  I am never at ease when working. (indicating state, condition)
•  The motor was running at full speed. (indicating manner)
•  She laughed at me! (indicate a cause or a source of an action or state)

10 • capítulo 1
 According to Celce-Murcia & Larsen- Freeman (1999), “when prepositions
are used in a nonspatial sense, their meanings are not random but highly
motivated”. In the examples above, it is easy to notice that the use of the
preposition at involves some kind of orientation notion which is clearly
perceived in the dimension of physical and virtual space and then time, but
becomes more abstract and metaphorical in other contexts.
Therefore, as the spatial sense of prepositions have already been proven
to be more prototypical, we are going to start our studies by looking into the
underlying semantics of common prepositions related to the spatial domain.

Prepositions of Place and Direction (Spatial Prepositions)

Whenever it comes to prepositions of spatial meaning, prepositions do not

always match up well from one language to another. Furthermore there are
language-specific gaps when expressing some universal spatial meanings.
The lack of correspondence from one language to another becomes even more
problematic when the meaning of prepositions is extended beyond expressing
spatial relations to establishing relations of a more abstract nature. Giving a
very simple example, if the learner does not understand the meaning of “drive
through”, in which the meaning of the spatial preposition is literal, it is going
to be even more difficult for this learner to understand the quotation by Frank
Sinatra “I’m for whatever gets you through the night.”, in which the meaning
of the preposition through is more abstract (time) or the sentence He guided
us through victory, which is more metaphorical in meaning. The great majority
of spatial prepositions have prototypical meanings. It means that if you
understand their spatial meaning, it is going to be much easier to understand
their extended meanings whenever they are used in other contexts.
Locating an object or person in space involves two or more entities.
Therefore, if I say
My son and my daughter are in the kitchen, for example, there are three
entities involved: son, daughter and kitchen. The preposition in denotes the
enclosure of one or more entities in a two or three dimensional space (a surface
or a volume) as shown in the diagram below:

capítulo 1 • 11
 inside in near beside in back of in front of

between off outside out

under
below
for with beneath across through

first

on last
around into
up

above
down
Figura 1.1  –  Prepositions.

After having shown the schematic representation of spatial (denoting place)

and path (denoting movement) prepositions, we are going to analyze their
meaning / use and try to understand the contexts in which each one of them
should be used.

12 • capítulo 1
 PREPOSITION MEANING AND USE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES - EXAMPLES
ABOVE higher than sth. The picture hangs above my bed.
You mustn’t go across this road here.
ACROSS from one side to the other side
There isn’t a bridge across the river.
The cat ran after the dog.
AFTER one follows the other
After you.
AGAINST directed towards sth. The bird flew against the window.
ALONG in a line; from one point to another They’re walking along the beach.
AMONG in a group I like being among people.
AROUND in a circular way We’re sitting around the campfire.
BEHIND at the back of Our house is behind the supermarket.
BELOW lower than sth. Death Valley is 86 meters below sea level.
BESIDE next to Our house is beside the supermarket.
Our house is between the supermarket
BETWEEN sth./sb. is on each side
and the school.
BY near He lives in the house by the river.
CLOSE TO near Our house is close to the supermarket.
DOWN from high to low He came down the hill.
FROM the place where it starts Do you come from Tokyo?
IN FRONT OF the part that is in the direction it faces Our house is in front of the supermarket.
INSIDE opposite of outside You shouldn’t stay inside the castle.
INTO entering sth. You shouldn’t go into the castle.
NEAR close to Our house is near the supermarket.
NEXT TO beside Our house is next to the supermarket.
OFF away from sth. The cat jumped off the roof.
ONTO moving to a place The cat jumped onto the roof.
OPPOSITE on the other side Our house is opposite the supermarket.
OUT OF leaving sth. The cat jumped out of the window.
OUTSIDE opposite of inside Can you wait outside?
OVER above sth./sb. The cat jumped over the wall.
PAST going near sth./sb. Go past the post office.
ROUND in a circle We’re sitting round the campfire.
THROUGH going from one point to the other point You shouldn’t walk through the forest.
I like going to Australia.
TO towards sth./sb. Can you come to me?
I’ve never been to Africa.
TOWARDS in the direction of sth. We ran towards the castle.
UNDER below sth. The cat is under the table.
UP from low to high He went up the hill.

Tabela 1.1  – 

Now we are going to take a closer look at some prepositions which denote
movement, since English learners usually have a lot of doubts related to their
meanings and specific use.

capítulo 1 • 13
 ©© TOMMISTOCK | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM ©© JACOB LUND | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM ©© ERLO BROWN | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM ©© BLUEORANGE STUDIO | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM ©© YIUCHEUNG | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

14 •
capítulo 1
Going over the bridge.

Going through the park.

Walking along the beach.

Walking towards the door.

Hurrying past the clothing shop.
©© ONEINCHPUNCH | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Going up the hill.

©© LOLOSTOCK | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Going down the stairs.

©© VOLODYMYR BALEHA | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Cross Oxford Street.

MULTIMEDIA
To read about the difference between the use of the prepositions in and at check
the link: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1535_
questionanswer/page39.shtml>
To listen to the very same explanation go to: <http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/
learningenglish/ask_about_english/mp3s/in_at.mp3>

Let’s practice the use of spatial and movement prepositions? The only way
to learn prepositions is practicing and trying to associate the preposition to the
context in which it is usually used.

capítulo 1 • 15
 ACTIVITIES
Practice I:
01. Complete the sentences with the correct preposition:
1. Jane is waiting for you ______ the bus stop.
2. The shop is ______ the end of the street.
3. My plane stopped ______ Dubai and Hanoi and arrived ______ Bangkok two hours late.
4. When will you arrive _____ the office?
5. Do you work _____ an office?
6. I have a meeting _____ New York.
7. Do you live _____ Japan?
8. Jupiter is _____ the Solar System.
9. The author’s name is _____ the cover of the book.
10. There are no prices _____ this menu.
11. You are standing _____ my foot.
12. There was a “no smoking” sign _____ the wall.
13. I live _____ the 7th floor _____ 21 Oxford Street _____ London.
14. There is some water _____ the bottle. The label _____ the bottle says that the water
contains 45 ppm of sodium ions. 
15. There is somebody _____ the door. The sign _____ the door says “Do not disturb”.
16. A: “Is there a bank near here?”
B: “Yes, there is one _____ the end of this block.”
17. Sheila came _____ New York two weeks ago to study English.
18. “Do you want to go _____ the movies tonight?”
19. Munich lies 530 meters _____ sea level.
20. The flight _____ Leipzig _____ London was via Frankfurt.

16 • capítulo 1
Prepositions of Time

Read the following conversation paying special attention to the

underlined phrases.
Liza: Hi, Mum. How’s it going?
Pam: Fine, thanks, dear. How was school?
Liza: Good. I’ve got a note for you from Mr. Hernandez.
Pam: Who’s Mr. Hernandez? Your Spanish teacher?
Liza: I don’t study Spanish, Mum. You know that.
Pam: True. But you could. It’s a very useful language. They speak it in many
countries !
Liza: Mum, he’s the new headmaster at college. And he isn’t Spanish – or
Mexican. He’s British. But I think he said his parents are from Argentina.
Pam: Argentina? Wow. The headmaster ... Ah yes, I remember him. I met
him at Christmas when I went to your school for that concert. In December,
anyway. A very nice man, yes.
Liza: Mum ...
Pam: It would be good to speak to him about his parents’ country. I could
interview him, then visit Argentina in summer… No, too hot. Maybe... in
autumn...
Liza: Well, he’d like to see you again too.
Pam: Really?
Liza: He wants you to go into school on Monday or Tuesday next week.
Pam: Oh? Have you done something wrong?
Liza: No, of course not! You know me. He wants to ask if you can give a talk
about your work and your blog, your travels, that sort of thing. One day in April,
during Careers Week.
Pam: So on Monday or Tuesday? What time?
Liza: In the afternoon or in the early evening. At 5 o’clock, if you can.
Pam: Hmm. I can go at half past four on Tuesday, if that’s OK.
Liza: I’ll ask.
Pam: Let me see. I’m away in Berlin for three days in April... but during your
school holidays, I think. I’m going to Germany to write about traditions at Easter
– oh, and then I’m away again at the end of the month. But I’m at home for two
or three weeks. I can’t go on Monday evening, because I have a yoga class, and

capítulo 1 • 17
then I have to work at night. I have a video call at eleven... Yes, definitely. I’ll go
in on Tuesday afternoon.
Liza: Can you write a note or send him an email, please?
Pam: I’ll phone him during the day tomorrow. I’m free for a few hours in
the morning.
Liza: OK, I’ll tell him. Where are you?
Pam: Here in town. I’m at the travel agent’s. I’m chatting to your friend
Melissa – I hadn’t seen her for months! I didn’t know she was working here;
she’s organizing my flights to Germany. Do you want to speak to her?
Liza: No, it’s OK, I’ll see her at the weekend. We’re going to a party on Friday
night.
Pam: OK, well, I’ll be home in about half an hour – at about 8 o’clock
probably. Pizza and a DVD tonight?

Have you noticed the underlined phrases in the dialogue? They are called
prepositional phrases since there are two or more words together which denote
time and this group of words composed by a preposition and a noun or a noun
phrase. Let’s see some examples:
•  I met him at Christmas (preposition + noun)
•  In the afternoon or in the early evening. At 5 o’clock, if you can. (preposition
+ noun phrase)

As we have already seen, time prepositions are extended metaphorical

meanings from physical (spatial meaning) to mental space (time meaning). To
understand this space – time relationship better, we are going to analyze the
meaning of three prepositions which are commonly used both as spatial and
time prepositions: in – on – at.
IN: as spatial preposition it denotes enclosure in a more literal meaning: in
a room, in a car, in a building, in a country, in an object (my wallet, my bag, a
box), and so on. As time preposition it conveys a general notion of boundedness
within a concept related to time: in January (boundedness within a month),
in 2001 (boundedness within a year), in the afternoon (boundedness within a
period of the day).

18 • capítulo 1
 ON: as spatial preposition it denotes physical contact on a one-dimensional
space (a line) or two-dimensional space (a surface): on a bus (the bus and all
collective means of transportation are considered a platform /surface), on this
street, on the wall, on the table, etc. As time preposition it denotes a period
that is not as general as the notion of years and decades, and it is not as specific
as the notion of hours: on Sunday (day of the week) or on September 11th, 2011
(date).
AT: as spatial preposition it denotes an orientation point in space: at the
station, at the corner2, at the table3, etc. As time preposition it conveys the
extended metaphorical meaning of orientation in time: at five o’clock, at
January 1st, 2001, at eighteen (age).
As you notice we go from a more general concept of time (longer periods
of time, such as months, years, seasons, weeks), through a more specific
expression of time (days, dates, special days) to a very specific expression of
time (hours, festivals). Take a look at the following illustration.

TIME IN – ON – AT LOCATION
Centuries The 1800’s England Country
Dcades The 80’s GENERAL (BIGGER)
Years 1970, 1981 London City
Months July, May IN
Weeks 2 Weeks Chinatown Neighborhood
MORE SPECIFIC
Mays 7th, 1964 MORE SPECIFIC
My Birthday Oxford Street Streets
Days Friday ON The corner Avenues
Weekends The Weekends
SMALLER
7 am VERY SPECIFIC 734 Oxford Street Adress
Hours 12 o’clock AT Specific
The Store
5 pm SMALLEST Location

Figura 1.2  – 

2  At/on the corner of a street = na esquina (orientation point, but not enclosed) vs. In the corner of a room = no
canto de um cômodo (enclosure)
3  At the table = sentar-se à mesa vs. On the table = sobre a mesa.

capítulo 1 • 19
 Now let’s take a look on the specific contexts in which these three time
prepositions are usually used.

IN ON AT

Months: in December
Seasons: In Summer
Years: In 1991
Days of the week: on Friday Clock times: at 7:30 AM/ at
Centuries: In the 21st century
Days + parts of days: on this time/ at the same time
Times of the day: in the morning,
Monday morning Times of the day: at lunchti-
afternoon, evening
Dates: on January 1st me/ at sunset
Longer periods of time: in the
Special days: on my birthday, Festivals: at Christmas/
past/ in the future , in the 1990’s
on Christmas Day at Easter
Period of time ahead: in five
Exception: On the weekend/ Exceptions: at night/ at the
minutes/ in a few days/ in
on weekends (Am.) moment/ at the weekend (Brit.)
six months
How long it takes: I learned to
drive in four weeks.

Tabela 1.2  – 

ATTENTION
When we say last, next, every, this we do not use in, on or at.
•  I went to London last June. (not in last June)
•  He’s coming back next Tuesday. (not on next Tuesday)
•  I go home every Easter. (not at every Easter)
•  We’ll call you this evening. (not in this evening)

At, in and on are very commonly used time prepositions. But we have some
other important prepositions to express time relations. Let’s see:

PREPOSITION MEANING AND USE EXAMPLES

from a certain point of time (past until
SINCE now)
since 1980

over a certain period of time (past until

FOR now)
for 2 years

AGO a certain time in the past 2 years ago

BEFORE earlier than a certain point of time before 2001
TO telling the time ten to six (5:50)

20 • capítulo 1
 PAST telling the time ten past six (6:10)
marking the beginning and end of a
TO / TILL / UNTIL period of time
from Monday to/till Friday

in the sense of how long something is

TILL / UNTIL going to last
He is on holiday until Friday.

in the sense of at the latest up to a I will be back by 6 o’clock.

BY certain time By 11 o’clock, I had read five pages.

Tabela 1.3  –  Available at: <http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/prepositions>.

•  During x While x For

We use during + noun to say when something happens:
•  I fell asleep during the film.
•  The lights went out during the exam.

We use while + subject + verb when the action happens:

•  I fell asleep while I was watching a film on TV.
•  The lights went out while I was taking a Math exam.

We use for + period of time to say how long something goes on:
•  I am going away for a week in November.
•  Where have you been? I have been waiting for ages!

•  In the end/at first x at the end/at the beginning

We use in the end to say what the final result of a situation was
•  We had a lot of problems with our car. In the end we sold it.
•  At first we didn’t get along very well, but in the end we became best friends!

We use at the end (of something) to say the time something ends.
•  At the end of the soccer game, the players exchanged their Tshirts.
•  At the beginning of the year, my family usually travels together on vacation.
•  On time x in time

We use in time (for sth / to do sth) when it is soon enough. Too late is
its opposite.
•  I arrived just in time to listen to my son’s speech at graduation.
•  Now it’s too late… Hanna has already left to the airport!

capítulo 1 • 21
 We use on time to say sth happens at the time that was planned. Late is
its opposite.
•  The train was late this morning, but it’s usually on time.
•  Be on time. Don’t be late.

CURIOSITY
We can say either “I’ll see you next Friday” or “I’ll see you on Friday” or even “I’ll see you Friday”.
In spoken English on is often left out with days of the week.
Dates: In British English we write “on 8th July” but say “on the eighth of July”.
Look at the difference in meaning between these two sentences:
We’re going away in two weeks.  (= we leave two weeks from now)
We’re going away for two weeks. (= our holiday will be two weeks long)

ACTIVITIES
Practice II:

02. Complete the sentences with the correct preposition and then underline the
prepositional phrase:

at on in for since during by until

a) Jorge has left town. He’ll be back _____ a week.

b) We’re throwing a party _____ Friday. Can you come?
c) I have a job interview next week. It’s _____ 8:15 _____ Wednesday afternoon.
d) Susan isn’t usually here ______ weekends. She goes to her parents’ house.
e) Public Transportation is very effective here. Trains and buses are almost always
_____ time.
f) The whole situation was very confusing: many things happening _____ the same time.
g) I couldn’t decide whether to stay home or go out. _____ the end I decided to go out.
h) I was woken up by a loud noise _____ the night.
i) I last saw my boyfriend _____ Friday night, but haven’t seen him ____ then.
j) Tom’s birthday is _____ the end of January. I’m not sure about the day.

22 • capítulo 1
k) Give me a call. I should be home _____ 8 o’clock.
l) I’ll be away _____ the 25th. I’ll be on vacation!

MULTIMIDIA
The more you practice the faster you memorize the correct use of prepositions! To
practice more prepositions of time go to: < http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/
grammar-vocabulary/grammar-videos/prepositions-time>

Other Common Prepositions

Besides the prepositions of place and time, we also have other important
prepositions as you will see in the following chart:

PREPOSITION MEANING AND USE EXAMPLES

FROM who gave it a present from Jane
who/what does it belong to a page of the book
OF what does it show the picture of a palace
BY who made it a book by Mark Twain
walking or riding on horseback on foot, on horseback
ON entering a public transport vehicle get on the bus
IN entering a car  / taxi get in the car
leaving a public transport
OFF vehicle
get off the train

OUT OF leaving a car  / taxi get out of the taxi

rise or fall of something
prices have risen by 10 percent
BY travelling (other than walking or
by car, by bus
horseriding)
AT for age she learned Russian at 45
ABOUT for topics, meaning what about we were talking about you
FOR idea of purpose, use, benefit I went to the bakery for some bread
she went there to see her cousins
idea of direction, delivery, move-
TO ment, communication
I am heading to the entrance of the
building

Tabela 1.4  –  Available at: <http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/prepositions>.

capítulo 1 • 23
 ATTENTION
TO vs. FOR: the preposition para in Portuguese can be translated to English both as to or for,
depending on the context. The basic difference between them is related to their meanings:
•  TO must be used whenever there is the idea of movement (going or coming), delivery,
direction or communication involved and also before a verb in the infinitive form (in this case
it is not a preposition, but an infinitive particle). Some examples:
•  The message was sent to Mr. Smith yesterday . (delivery)
•  They are going to the movies tonight. (direction)
•  I went to the bakery to buy some bread. (infinitive particle)
•  FOR must be used whenever there is the idea of destination, purpose, substitution,
compensation, use, benefit, reason or cause. Some examples:
•  Ann baked a cake for her son’s birthday. (use)
•  I put a note on the door for privacy. (reason)
•  We feel deeply sorry for your loss. (cause)
•  Other examples:
•  Mary wants to pay to Tom for the service.
•  You should go to the supermarket to buy some food for yourself.
•  I made a quick phone call to my mom. (I called with the intention of speaking with my mom)
•  I made a quick phone call for my mom. (My mom wasn’t able to make the call so I made
the call for her)

As you must have noticed, prepositions are polysemous, which means

that the same preposition assumes different meanings depending on the
context they are used. This is one of the reasons why learning the meaning
of prepositions is a great challenge. Another reason is the fact that languages
carve up semantic territory in different ways.

COMMENT
There are hardly any rules as to when to use which preposition. The only way to learn
prepositions is looking them up in a dictionary or checking a site on the Internet, reading a lot
in English (all genres) and learning useful phrases off by heart!!

24 • capítulo 1
1.3  Omission of Prepositions

There are some specific situations in which it is possible to omit the preposition.
It means that sometimes the preposition omission is optional and at other times
the preposition omission is mandatory. Let’s start talking about the first case.
•  Optional Omission of the Preposition
•  When the preposition ON is used before days of the week employed
alone; when it modifies another noun which expresses time such as morning,
afternoon, night; and dates:
Susan traveled to her parents’ town (on) Saturday.
My friends and I went bowling (on) Friday night.
Susan and Thomas got married (on) September 21st.
•  When the preposition FOR expresses a time span, that is, a period of time
between fixed points or marked by the continuation of a particular process,
for instance:
I have been working here (for) 10 years.
(For) how long have you had this car?

•  Mandatory Omission of the Preposition

•  When the time noun phrase contains a determiner used as a deictic, that is
a word which referent is dependent on the context in which it is said or written;
or when the head noun of the noun phrase contains after, before, last, next, or
this as part of its meaning (e.g. yesterday, tomorrow, today, tonight):
My husband woke up very early (*in) this morning to go to the airport.
I was at home (*on) last night.
My mother will travel to Europe (*on) tonight.

•  When the time noun phrase contains a universal quantifier like all or every:
We stayed in São Paulo (*for) all week.
I travel abroad (*in) every year.

•  When a noun denoting a place, such as home or downtown, or the adverbs

here and there are used with a verb of motion or direction:
My parents went (*to) home early.
Hanna comes (*to) here every single day.

capítulo 1 • 25
1.4 Prepositional Phrases

An important element of English sentences is the prepositional phrase. It

consists of a preposition (PREP) and its object (O). The object of a preposition
is a noun or a pronoun. Take a look at these examples:

Subject Verb O of Prep

Most of graduates students study in the library.
Prep

In the sentence above in the library is a prepositional phrase.

O of Prep
We enjoeyd the dinner party at your house last Saturday
Prep

In the sentence above at your house is a prepositional phrase.

We traveled to New York last month.

(place) (time)

In most English sentences, we mention PLACE before TIME.

Last month, we traveled to New York.
Sometimes a prepositional phrase comes at the beginning of a sentence.
When it happens, a comma is used to indicate the inversion.
Together a preposition and a noun constitute a prepositional phrase. We
use prepositional phrases for many purposes:

•  as adverbs of time and place:

We will be back in a few days.
They drove to Glasgow

•  as a post modifier in a noun phrase:

Helen is the girl in the red dress.
That man over there is the mayor of New York City.
We’ve got a new television with a thirty one inch screen.

26 • capítulo 1
 •  to show who did something:
The lion was killed by the hunter.
I saw a wonderful painting by Van Gogh

•  with the indirect object when it is after the direct object:

We gave five pounds to the woman on the corner.
They got a drink for me.

•  after certain verbs, nouns and adjectives:

The book belongs to me.
I had an argument with my brother.
I feel sorry for you.

FURTHER READING
HARAGUCHI, A.M. Preposições e Partículas Adverbiais em Inglês. São Paulo: Disal,
2007.

ACTIVITIES
03. Fill in the blanks with the correct preposition.
a) Our headquarters are _________ 88 Oxford Street. 
b) You can see all members of our staff ______ this photograph. 
c) The lady sitting ______ the armchair in the hall is waiting for you, Mr. Jones. 
d) I didn’t have time to read the whole article properly. I just looked at it quickly while I
was _______ the train. 
e) The information mentioned _____this booklet is out of date. You can’t use it. 
f) Where are those papers that I left_____ my desk? 
g) I saw a mistake ______ the beginning of the e-mail. 
h) What time did you arrive ______the train station? 
i) What time did you arrive ______ San Francisco? 
j) Don’t sit ______ this rocking chair - it’s broken. 
k) That man over there keeps staring ______ you, Mary. Do you know him? 
l) There aren’t many public toilets _______ downtown. 
m) We usually use the front entrance but there is another one ______ the back of the building.

capítulo 1 • 27
n) Tim is out of town _____ the moment. He’s _____ vacation.
o) You’ve got something _____ cheek. Take a look _____ the mirror. 

04. Complete the exercise with the following prepositions (on, of, at, in, with, for, by).
a) The first McDonald’s restaurant was opened _____ Dick and Mac McDonald _____ the
15th of May 1940.
b) The bestselling products _______ their restaurant were hamburgers.
c) So the McDonald brothers thought _____ a way to produce hamburgers more quickly.
d) This was introduced _____ 1948 and became known as the Speedee Service System.
e) The first franchised McDonald’s restaurant was opened _____ 1953, and today you can
find McDonald’s restaurants ________ more than 100 countries.
f) The meats ________the burgers vary ________ the culture ________the country.
g) Franchisees and future managers ________ McDonald’s restaurants are
trained__________ hamburger University, which is located _______ Oak Brook, a
suburb _________Chicago.
h) McDonalds is also known_________ its sponsorship ________ various international
sport events.
(Available at:< http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/prepositions/
exercises?16>)

05. Fill in the blanks with a preposition.

I’m Peter and I live __________Germany. __________ summer I like to travel __________
Italy, because __________ the weather and the people there. Last summer I took a plane
__________ Munich to Rome. __________ the airport we went to our hotel __________
bus. We stopped __________a small restaurant for a quick meal. The driver parked the
bus __________ the restaurant. Nobody could find the bus and the driver, so we waited
__________ the restaurant __________ one hour. The driver was walking _________the
small park __________ the restaurant which we did not know. So we were very angry
__________ him. But my holidays were great. We sat __________ campfires and went
dancing ___________ the early mornings.

06. Complete the following sentences with the correct preposition: to, toward, on, onto, in, or
into. Some sentences may have more than one possible correct answer. Note: a few verbs of
motion take only on rather than onto.
a) Peter has returned ______ his hometown.

28 • capítulo 1
b) The dog jumped ______ the lake.
c) Are the children still swimming ______ the pool?
d) Alex fell ______ the floor.
e) The airplane landed ______ the runway.
f) We drove _____ the river for an hour but turned north before we reached it.
g) The kids climbed ______ the monkey bars.
h) Jack got ______ Mary’s car.
i) The toddler spilled his cereal ______ the floor.
j) We shouted to the man on the ladder, “Hang ______!”
k) I went ______ the gym.
l) My neighbors moved the table ______ the dining room.
m) John left your keys ______ the table.
n) Mr. Barthes apologized for interrupting us and told us to carry ______ with our discussion.
o) I walk ______ the amusement park.
p) Tom drove Richard ______ the airport.
q) Gianna almost fell ______ the river.
r) The waitress noticed that there was no more Dr. Pepper ______ Sheila’s glass.
s) Liz and Sarah took the bus that was heading ______ the university.
t) Julia jumped ______ the stage and danced.

07. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate preposition: to or for.

a) I slept _____  only three hours last night.
b) It was my first trip _____  Europe.
c) Turn off the computer and go straight _____  bed.
d) This book was written _____ the people who want to learn how to play the cello.
e) I was late _____ school.
f) Take this vitamin, it’s good _____ your health.
g) Take these pills, they’re good _____ you.
h) Johnny be good _____ me.

CONNECTION
To have more practice on prepositions in general go to:
•  English Grammar Online – Available at: <https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/
grammar/prepositions>.

capítulo 1 • 29
•  Englishpage.com – Available at: <http://www.englishpage.com/
prepositions/prepositions.html>
•  Study English for Free – Available at: <http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_
list/prepositions.htm>

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Why do such little words as in, on and at, among other prepositions, cause so many difficulties
to ESL/EFL learners? Prepositions have the function of showing role relationships: they can
signal time, location, direction, possession, mark indirect objects, be agent of the passive.
When learning prepositions in another language, translation is not possible in most of
the cases, since one preposition in your native language might have several translations
depending on the situation.
In this chapter we have seen that prepositional phrases are an important element of
English sentences, “since prepositions are used to give adverbial function to nouns with
temporal or locative meaning in sentence-final adverbs. As a general rule, nouns do not
function on their own as adverbs in English”. (CELCE-MURCIA; LARSEN-FREEMAN, 1999,
p.87). We have also seen that there are some special situations in which prepositions are
either optionally or obligatorily omitted for many different reasons. However, there are some
general rules on how to use spatial prepositions which can be very valuable to explain their
nonspatial meaning, since their extended meanings are highly motivated4. As a conclusion,
we have to understand these general rules governing spatial prepositions because they are
the base of their extended meanings as well as practice using them a lot: practice makes
perfect!!

4  Motivation in cognitive linguistics means intralinguistic motivation, that is, there is form-meaning relationship.

30 • capítulo 1
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
AZAR , Betty Schrampfer . Understanding and Using English Grammar. Prentice Hall Regents
1999.
CELCE-MURCIA, M & LARSEN-FREEMAN, D. The Grammar Book. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle,
1999.
DIRVEN, R. Dividing Up Physical and Mental Space into Conceptual Categories by Means of English
Prepositions. In: C. ZELINSKY-WIBBELT (Ed.), Natural Language Processing , vol.3 (The Semantics
of Prepositions). The Hague: Mouton de Gruyter, 1993, p. 73 – 97.
HARAGUCHI, A.M. Preposições e Partículas Adverbiais em Inglês. São Paulo: Disal, 2007.
HEWINGS, Martin. Advanced Grammar in Use. 7 ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
MURPHY, Raymond. Grammar in Use Intermediate. 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2000.
SWAN, Michael. Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
TAYLOR, J. Prepositions: Patterns of Polysemization and Strategies of Disambiguation. In: C.
ZELINSKY-WIBBELT (Ed.), Natural Language Processing , vol.3 (The Semantics of Prepositions).
The Hague: Mouton de Gruyter, 1993, p. 151-175.

capítulo 1 • 31
32 • capítulo 1
 2
Phrasal Verbs
2.  Phrasal Verbs
In this second chapter, we are going to approach a topic that usually terrifies
or at least scares most of the non-native English speakers that for some reason
need to communicate using the English language. Who is NOT afraid of phrasal
verbs? The answer: only native English speakers, as far as I am concerned. All
other beings, and it does not matter their competence or proficiency level, are
very reluctant to use them or even puzzled by them. A phrasal verb often has a
meaning which is different from the original verb and the particle (s) they are
composed of. Are you ready? So let’s get down to work!

QUESTION
Have you ever heard of phrasal verbs? What do you really know about them? Can you define
what a phrasal verb is?

GOALS TO BE REACHED
•  Define what a phrasal verb is,
•  Identify the difference between a prepositional verb, a phrasal verb and a phrasal –
prepositional verb,
•  Understand why some phrasal verbs are separable and others are inseparable.

2.1  Phrasal Verb: an Introduction

Phrasal verbs are not unique to English, but they are different enough from verbs in
many languages of the world, and common enough in English, to pose a significant
learning challenge. Perhaps the most challenging dimension is in the meaning, for while
there is some semantic systematicity, there is still enough idiomaticity to cause difficulty
for ESL/EFL students. Furthermore, the meaning of idiomatic phrasal verbs is not only
obscure, it is often deceptive because while one expects to be able to figure out the

34 • capítulo 2
 meaning because words look so familiar, knowing the meaning of the parts does not
necessarily aid comprehension.
Celce-Murcia & Larsen- Freeman (1999, p.436)

Did you know that about forty percent of the English lexicon is of Germanic
origin and the other sixty percent comes from Latin sources? According to
Stockwell & Minkova (2003), the common words and expressions native English
speakers use on both spoken and written English on a daily basis come from the
Germanic origin and are called core lexicon. The other part, the portion which
comes from Latin sources through French and direct borrowing from Latin, is
considered to be the learned-literary vocabulary, the kind of vocabulary educated
people learn through the educational system. As a consequence, we can find a
great number of doublets (two equivalent forms) in the English language lexicon,
especially verbs. The learned-literary form is often used in formal written language,
but informal/ colloquial everyday English usually employs words from the core
lexicon. The verbs to enter and to exit, for instance, are learned-literary, while the
folk equivalent for the first are come in and go in and for the latter are go out and
come out . Compare other examples of doublets commonly used in English:

LEARNED-LITERARY (FORMAL) COLLOQUIAL ENGLISH (INFORMAL)

abandon give up
accelerate speed up, hurry up
advance move on, move up, go on, keep on
arrive come in, get in, get back
continue go on, keep on, keep up, stay on
enter come in, go in
exit go out, come out

Tabela 2.1  – 

The problem we Brazilians face while using the English language is related
to the fact that the learned-literary forms are similar to forms we use regularly
in Portuguese and, therefore, much easier for us to make use of. However, these
words which come from Latin are considered to be very formal and only used
in situations which require more elaborated discourse. As a result, in order to
make a pragmatically correct use of the language, we have to know how (the
structure) and when (situation/ audience) to use the lexicon of the language.
That is why we as users of the English language and teachers (to be) must know
phrasal verbs and actually use them on a regular basis.
capítulo 2 • 35
2.2 Concepts and Phrasal Verb Types

The term phrasal verb is not a consensus among the authors and the
terminology used to label this verb category varies according to the grammar
or the literature specialized in the field of English Language studies: Morgan
(1977) uses the term verb-particle construction; Lindner (1982) particle verbs;
Lewis (1993) poliwords; Swan (1995) two-word verbs; and Moon (1997) prefers
the term multi-word item.
No one can deny, however, that the term phrasal verb is the most popular
and widespread denomination for multi-word verbs.
According to Cambridge Dictionaries online1

Multi-word verbs are verbs which consist of a verb and one or two particles or preposi-
tions (e.g. up, over, in, down). There are three types of multi-word verbs: phrasal verbs,
prepositional verbs and phrasal-prepositional verbs. Sometimes the name ‘phrasal
verb’ is used to refer to all three types.

Figura 2.1 – Multi-word verbs <http://www.sk.com.br/sk-twow.html>

According to Quirk et al. (1985, p.1150), “the main category of multi-word

verbs consists of such combinations as drink up, dispose of, and get away with
[...] and these combinations are considered multi-word verbs only where they
behave as a single unit”. According to the authors, multi-word verbs are divided
into three subcategories, and for didactic purposes this is the terminology we
are going to adopt in this chapter:
•  Prepositional verbs – combination of a verb + preposition

1 Available at: < http://dictionary.cambridge.org/pt/gramatica/gramatica-britanica/verbs-multi-word-verbs>

36 • capítulo 2
 •  Phrasal verbs – combination of a verb + adverb
•  Phrasal-prepositional verbs – combination of a verb + adverb + preposition,
always in this specific order.

2.3  The Differences between Prepositional and Phrasal Verbs

A prepositional verb is the combination of a verb and a preposition which are

inseparable, that is, cannot be separated from each other, for example:
A masked raider broke into his house last night.
©© PHOTOGRAPHEE.EU | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

There are still many mothers who stay home to look after their children.
©© DNF STYLE | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

capítulo 2 • 37
 It can take weeks to get over an illness like that!
©© PRESSMASTER | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Prepositional verbs are transitive, which means that they are always
followed by an object that comes immediately after the preposition. The
object (underlined in the sentences above) can be a noun phrase or a pronoun.
Therefore, it is possible to substitute the underlined noun phrases for
a pronoun:
•  He lives in a beautiful house. A masked raider broke into it (his house) last
night.
•  Many children stay the whole day at school, but there are still many
mothers who stay home to look after them (their children).
•  He has been in hospital because of DHF (Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever) for
three days already. It can take weeks to get over it (an illness like that).

The first step to learn multi-word verbs is to understand the meaning and
the context in which they are usually used. The following list contains the most
commonly used prepositional verbs included in sentences and the translation
of these sentences to Portuguese.

38 • capítulo 2
Prepositional Verbs (inseparable)2

Allow for
Airplane passengers should allow for delays at the check-in counter.
Passageiros de avião devem estar preparados para demoras na fila de
embarque.
Apply for
He wants to apply for the job.
Ele quer se candidatar ao emprego.
Approve off
My mom doesn’t approve of me arriving home after midnight.
Minha mãe não aprova que eu chegue em casa após a meia-noite.
Attend to
The clerk will attend to your problem as soon as she is free.
A funcionária vai cuidar de seu problema assim que ela estiver desocupada.
Break into
We put an alarm in our house after a thief broke into it last year.
Instalamos um alarme em nossa casa depois de ela ter sido arrombada por
um ladrão no ano passado.
Call for
The job calls for English fluency.
O emprego exige fluência em inglês.
Call on
I sometimes call on my friends for help with problems.
Eu às vezes recorro a meus amigos em busca de ajuda para meus problemas.
Care for
He is not the kind of person who cares for others.
Ele não é do tipo que se preocupa com os outros.
Cheat on
Mary’s husband has been cheating on her.
O marido da Mary anda enganando-a/ traindo-a .
Come across
He came across an old friend.
Ele encontrou um velho amigo.
2  This list containing prepositional verbs as well as the ones containing phrasal verbs and phrasal-prepositonal
verbs were taken from: Schütz, Ricardo. “Multi-Word Verbs.” English Made in Brazil <http://www.sk.com.br/sk-twow.
html>. Online. June 21, 2014.

capítulo 2 • 39
 Comment on
The reporter commented on the need for better health care.
O repórter comentou a respeito da necessidade de melhor atendimento à
saúde.
Conform to
The army requires that all soldiers conform to strict rules.
O exército exige que todos os soldados submetam-se a regras rígidas.
Consent to
He will only consent to signing the contract if it complies with his demands.
Ele só vai concordar em assinar o contrato se o mesmo atender às suas
exigências.
Count on
We can’t count on you because you are never here when we need you.
Não podemos contar com você porque você nunca está aqui quando
precisamos.
Deal with
You’ll have to deal with the situation.
Você terá que saber lidar com a situação.
Do without
I dont have a car, so I’ll have to do without one untill I get a job.
Não tenho carro, portanto vou ter que me virar sem até conseguir um
emprego.
Get into
1. She got into the Federal University in her first try.
Ela conseguiu entrar na Universidade Federal em sua primeira tentativa.
2. His behavior isn’t normal. I don’t know what has got into him.
Seu comportamento não é normal. Não sei o que deu nele.
Get over
She got over the flu after being sick for a week.
Ele se recuperou da gripe depois de ficar doente durante uma semana.
Go into
I went into the museum when it started raining.–- Entrei no museu quando
começou a chover.
Go over
She will go over the essay to check for errors.
Ela vai revisar o texto para verificar se não há erros.

40 • capítulo 2
 Go through
1. My grandmother went through difficult times when my grandfather died.
Minha avó passou por momentos difíceis quando meu avô faleceu.
2. I’ve found a box of old documents but haven’t had time to go through
them yet.
Achei uma caixa com documentos antigos, mas ainda não tive tempo para
examiná-los.
Insist on
I insist on having a native speaking English teacher.
Insisto em ter um falante nativo como professor de inglês.
Leaf through
I like to leaf through books at the bookstore but I rarely buy any.
Gosto de folhear (dar uma olhada em) livros na livraria, mas raramente
compro algum.
Listen to
I like to listen to jazz music.
Gosto de escutar jazz.
Live on
They live on a small retirement pension.
Eles vivem de uma pequena aposentadoria.
Look after
When you grow up you’ll have to look after your parents.
Quando cresceres, terás que cuidar dos teus pais.
Look for
What are you looking for?
O que é que você está procurando?
Look into
I’ll look into that matter after the meeting.
Vou examinar essa questão depois da reunião.
Resort to
There is no need to resort to violence when resolving a problem.
Não é necessário recorrer à violência para resolver problemas.
Run into
I ran into an old friend yesterday.
Encontrei um velho amigo ontem.

capítulo 2 • 41
 Send for
1. You are very sick. I’ll send for the doctor.
Você está muito doente. Vou mandar chamar o médico. 2. I’m going to send
for information on American universities.
Vou pedir informações sobre universidades norte-americanas.
Stand by
He stood by her during the good times and the bad.
Ele manteve-se ao lado dela durante os bons e os maus momentos.
Stand for
1. BBC stands for British Broadcasting Corporation.
BBC significa “British Broadcasting Corporation”.
2. Our group stands for the rights and welfare of animals.
Nosso grupo defende os direitos e o bem-estar dos animais.

A phrasal verb, on the other hand, is the combination of a verb and an adverb.
Some phrasal verbs are transitive, that is, they must have an object, while others
are intransitive, that is, they are not followed by an object, and still others can
be either transitive or intransitive depending on the context they are included:
•  Come in. Take off your coat. (take off is always transitive)
•  The taxi broke down on the way to the airport and I thought I nearly missed
my flight. (break down is always intransitive)
•  The soldiers blew up the enemy bridges. (blow up can be transitive)
•  The bomb blew up. (blow up can also be intransitive) ©© DEAN DROBOT | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Another characteristic of phrasal verbs

is that whenever they are transitive, the
separation of the verb and the adverb can be
optional or compulsory. The separation is
optional if the direct object is NOT a pronoun.
Therefore, both of the following sentences are
grammatically correct:
•  Come in. Take your coat off.
•  Come in. Take it off.

42 • capítulo 2
 © MAXIM TARASYUGIN | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
•  The soldiers blew the enemy
bridges up.
•  The soldiers blew them up.

If the object is a personal pronoun (me, you, him, us, etc.), we always include
it before the adverb:
•  I’ve made some copies. Would you like me to hand them out?
Not: Would you like me to hand out them?
•  Oh, I can’t lift you up any more. You’re too big now!
Not: I can’t lift up you any more.
We usually put longer objects (underlined) after the adverb:
•  Many couples do not want to take on the responsibility of bringing up a
large family of three or four children.

ATTENTION
A few phrasal verbs seem to occur only with the verb and adverb separated:

How can I get the meassage though him? (get... thought = convey; transmit)
it

*How can I get through the message to him?

We’ll see this ordeal thought together. (see... thought = survive)

it

*We’ll see through this ordeal together.

The reason for the obligatory separation is probably to avoid the ambiguity with the
inseparable phrasal verbs that have the same form but a different meaning:
get through the lesson (get through = finish)
see through his excuse (see through = not be deceived by)

 • 43
capítulo 2
Transitive Phrasal Verbs (separable)3

•  Ask out
I’m going to ask her out.
Vou convidá-la para sair comigo.
•  Back up
The senator backed up the President’s economic plan.
O senador apoiou o plano econômico do presidente.
•  Blow out
He blew out the match after lighting the stove.
Ele apagou o fósforo depois de acender o fogão.
•  Blow up
The war plane fired a missile that blew up the bridge.
O avião de guerra disparou um míssil que explodiu a ponte.
•  Break in
1. Before you feel comfortable in your new shoes, you have to break them in.
Você tem que primeiro amaciar seus sapatos novos, para se sentir
confortável com eles. 2. The new trainee arrives tomorrow. It’ll take some time
to break him in.
O novo estagiário chega amanhã. Vai levar algum tempo para treiná-lo.
•  Break off
The U.S. broke off relations with Cuba in the 1960’s.
Os E.U.A. romperam relações com Cuba nos anos 60.
•  Break up
Break up the chocolate in small pieces.
Quebre o chocolate em pequenos pedaços.
•  Bring about
Economic problems brought about the devaluation of the Brazilian real.
Problemas econômicos causaram a desvalorização do real.
•  Bring forward
The meeting has been rescheduled for an earlier time. They decided to bring
it forward one week.
A reunião foi remarcada para uma data mais próxima. Eles decidiram
antecipá-la em uma semana.
3  This list containing phrasal verbs as well as the ones containing prepositional verbs and phrasal-prepositonal
verbs were taken from: Schütz, Ricardo. “Multi-Word Verbs.” English Made in Brazil <http://www.sk.com.br/sk-twow.
html>. Online. June 21, 2014.

44 • capítulo 2
 •  Bring in– The government will bring in new legislation to prevent econo-
mic power abuse.
O governo vai criar nova legislação para coibir abuso de poder econômico.
•  Bring up
1. Parents have the responsibility to bring up their children.
Os pais têm a responsabilidade de educar os filhos. 2. He brought up an
interesting subject in the meeting.
Ele abordou um assunto interessante na reunião.
•  Brush off
Pentagon brushes off criminal complaint against Rumsfeld.
O Pentágono desconsidera acusações criminais contra Rumsfeld.
•  Burn down
The fire burned down the house in a short time.
O fogo consumiu a casa em pouco tempo.
•  Burn up
We burned up all of the wood in the fireplace.
Queimamos toda a lenha na lareira.
•  Call off
I’m going to call off my medical appointment because I feel much better now.
Vou cancelar minha consulta médica porque me sinto bem melhor agora.
•  Call up
I’m going to call up my sister tonight.
Vou ligar para minha irmã hoje à noite.
•  Calm down
They’re having an argument. Let’s calm them down.
Eles estão tendo uma briga. Vamos acalmá-los.
•  Carry out
The manager has an assistant to carry out general tasks like typing and
answering the telephone.
O gerente tem um assistente para executar tarefas gerais, tais como
datilografar e atender o telefone.
•  Check out
Where did you get this information? I’ll check it out.
De onde você tirou estas informações? Eu vou verificar.
•  Clean up
Clean up your room, please.
Limpa e arruma teu quarto, por favor.

capítulo 2 • 45
 •  Clear up
I’m going to the bank to clear up the problem with my credit card.
Vou ao banco para esclarecer o problema com meu cartão de crédito.
•  Climb up
It takes more than 4 hours to climb up that mountain.
Leva mais do que 4 horas para escalar aquela montanha.
•  Count in
If you are going for a picnic, count me in.
Se forem fazer um piquenique, contem comigo.
•  Count out
If you support the war, count me out!
Se vocês estão apoiando a guerra, me deixem fora disso.
•  Cross out
I crossed out all the errors in the essay.
Risquei todos os erros do trabalho.
•  Cut off
1. The electric company cut off our service until we paid our bill.
A companhia de energia elétrica cortou nossa eletricidade até pagarmos
nossa conta.
2. We got cut off before we could finish the phone conversation.
A linha caiu antes que pudéssemos terminar nossa conversa por telefone.
•  Drive back
Our brave soldiers drove back the enemy forces.
Nossos bravos soldados repeliram as forças inimigas.
•  Figure out
The technician figured out the problem.
O técnico descobriu qual era o problema.
•  Fill in
We need your phone number. Please fill it in on this form.
Precisamos do seu número de telefone. Favor colocá-lo neste formulário.
•  Fill ou
Fill out the application form, please.
Preencha o formulário de inscrição, por favor.
•  Find out
The journalist found out that the politician was lying.
O jornalista descobriu que o político estava mentindo.

46 • capítulo 2
 •  Get back
I want to get my money back.
Quero receber meu dinheiro de volta.
•  Get down
Don’t let this situation get you down.
Não permita que esta situação lhe deprima.
•  Get out
Get out of here!
Cai fora daqui!
•  Give away
She gave away her old dress.
Ela desfez-se de seu vestido velho (dar de presente).
•  Give up
He gave up tennis.
Ele abandonou o tênis.
•  Hand in
Please answer the questions, put your name on this sheet and hand it in. –
Favor responder as questões, colocar seu nome na folha e entregá-la.
•  Hand out
The teacher handed out the answer sheet.
O professor distribuiu a folha de respostas.
•  Hang up
Hang up your coat in the closet after you take it off.
Pendure seu casaco no armário depois de tirá-lo.
•  Keep away
Keep the children away from dangerous places.
Mantenha as crianças longe de lugares perigosos.
•  Keep off
Keep your hands off me!
Não me toque!
•  Keep on
The company will keep him on the job.
A empresa vai mantê-lo no emprego.
•  Keep up
Keep up the good work.
Continue fazendo um bom trabalho.

capítulo 2 • 47
 •  Kick off
The bad players were kicked off the team.
Os maus jogadores foram eliminados do time.
•  Knock down
He was knocked down three times during the fight.
Ele foi derrubado três vezes durante a luta.
•  Leave behind
My books were too heavy, so I left them behind at the school.
Meus livros estavam muito pesados, então deixei-os na escola.
•  Let down
Don’t let me down.
Não me decepcione.
•  Let in
Let me in!
Deixe-me entrar!
•  Let out
I let the dog out and the cat in.
Deixei o cachorro sair e o gato entrar.
•  Light up
Light up the candles with these matches.
Acenda as velas com esses fósforos.
•  Lock up
The police locked him up.
A polícia o prendeu.
•  Look up
You have to look up the dollar exchange rate every day.
Você deve verificar a cotação do dólar todos os dias.
•  Make up
You can attend classes on Saturdays to make up for the classes you missed.
Você pode assistir aula aos sábados para recuperar as aulas que você perdeu.
•  Mark down
The shoes are really cheap. The store has marked them down by 30%!
Os sapatos são realmente baratos. A loja baixou os preços em 30%!
•  Pass over
Don’t bogart that joint my friend, pass it over to me.
Não fica te amarrando com o baseado, passa ele para mim.

48 • capítulo 2
 •  Pay back
I’ll pay you back as soon as I can.
Eu te devolvo o dinheiro assim que puder.
•  Pick up
1. He picked up the newspaper to read.
Ele pegou o jornal para ler.
2. He went to the States and picked up English in 4 months.
Ele foi aos Estados Unidos e aprendeu inglês em 4 meses.
•  Play down
He tries to play down the seriousness of his wife’s illness.
Ele tenta diminuir a gravidade da doença de sua esposa.
•  Point out
1. He pointed out the boat in the distance.
Ele apontou para o barco à distância.
2. He pointed out that I would have to learn English to get a good job.
Ele disse claramente que eu teria que aprender inglês para conseguir um
bom emprego.
•  Pull off
Nobody thought he could win the election, but he pulled it off in the end.
Ninguém acreditava que ele pudesse vencer as eleições, mas, no fim, ele
conseguiu.
•  Pull over
The police pulled him over for speeding.
A polícia o fez parar por excesso de velocidade.
•  Pump up
The coach really knows how to pump up the team.
O treinador realmente consegue motivar o time.
•  Put away
Put your things away and clean up the room!
Guarda tuas coisas e limpa o quarto!
•  Put back
When you are finished reading the book, please put it back on the shelf.
Quando você terminar de ler o livro, por favor, coloque-o de volta na
prateleira.

capítulo 2 • 49
 •  Put down
1. He put down the newspaper and took off his glasses.
Ele largou o jornal e tirou os óculos. 2. I’m going to put my ideas down on
paper .– Vou colocar minhas ideias no papel.
•  Put off
I think I’ll have to put off my dental appointment.
Acho que vou ter que cancelar minha hora marcada com o dentista.
•  Put on
He took his glasses out of his pocket and put them on.
Ele tirou os óculos do bolso e colocou-os.
•  Put out
The firemen put out the fire.
Os bombeiros apagaram o fogo.
•  Put together
They are planning to put together a new company.
Eles estão planejando formar uma nova empresa.
•  Rip off
The man who ripped me off is well-known to the police.
O homem que me logrou é bem conhecido da polícia.
•  Rule out
The government ruled out a cut in income tax.
O governo excluiu a possibilidade de diminuição do imposto de renda.
•  Run over
He ran over my bicycle with his car.
Ele passou por cima da minha bicicleta com seu carro.
•  Set apart
The quality of his work sets him apart from other painters.
A qualidade de seu trabalho distingue-o dos demais pintores.
•  Set up
1. He had a wealthy and influential father, who set him up in business right
after college.
Ele teve um pai rico e influente, que o colocou no ramo dos negócios assim
que concluiu seus estudos.
2. They set me up.
Eles me armaram uma enrascada.

50 • capítulo 2
 •  Sex up
They say that intelligence was sexed up to provide a reason to go to war.
Dizem que as informações dos serviços de espionagem foram manipuladas
para tornarem-se mais apetecíveis e criar motivos para ir à guerra.
•  Shut down
Shut the computer down and let’s go.
Desligue o computador e vamos.
•  Shut off
A device that automatically shuts off the gas in case of an earthquake.
Um dispositivo que automaticamente desliga (corta) o gás em caso de
terremoto.
•  Sort out
After collecting all the information, we have to sort it out.
Depois de coletar todas as informações, temos que organizá-las.
•  Spell out
Let me spell out the problem again.
Deixe-me explicar o problema de novo.
•  Stand up
Her new boyfriend stood her up on their second date.
O novo namorado dela deu bolo (não apareceu) no segundo encontro deles.
•  Take apart
In order to fix the machine you have to take it apart.
Para consertar a máquina, você tem que desmontá-la.
•  Take away
Take it away from here.
Tira isso daqui.
•  Take back
You should take back your purchase if you are not satisfied.
Você deve devolver a mercadoria se não estiver satisfeito com ela.
Take off
Hang up your coat in the closet after you take it off.
Pendure seu casaco no armário depois de tirá-lo.
•  Take out
He took his glasses out of his pocket and put them on.
Ele tirou os óculos do bolso e colocou-os.

capítulo 2 • 51
 •  Take over
Our teacher is leaving and a new one is taking over next week.
Nossa professora vai embora e uma nova assumirá semana que vem.
•  Take up
I’m planning to take up English next semester.
Estou planejando começar a estudar inglês no próximo semestre.
•  Talk out
I’m going to drink tonight and don’t try to talk me out of it.
Vou beber hoje de noite e não tente me convencer do contrário.
•  Talk over
We should talk over the plan and come to an agreement.
Devemos discutir o plano e chegar a um acordo.
•  Tear down
The old building is going to be torn down.
O prédio antigo vai ser demolido.
•  Throw away
Did you throw those papers away ...?
Você jogou fora aqueles papéis?
•  Throw out
Did you throw out the old newspapers?
Você jogou fora os jornais velhos?
•  Try on
She’s going to try on the new dress.
Ela vai experimentar o vestido novo.
•  Try out
He’s going to try out the new car.
Ele vai experimentar o carro novo.
•  Turn down
1. He turned down the job offer.
Ele recusou a oferta de emprego.
2. The music is too loud. Can you turn it down, please?
A música está muito alta. Você pode baixar o volume, por favor?
•  Turn in
The witnesses turned the thief in to the police.
As testemunhas entregaram o ladrão para a polícia.

52 • capítulo 2
 •  Turn off
I turned the TV off and went to sleep.
Desliguei a televisão e fui dormir.
•  Turn on
Mike turned on the gas heater.
O Mike ligou o aquecedor a gás.
•  Wake up
Wake up the children!
Acorde as crianças!
•  Warn off
Authorities in Rio warn off tourist from taking city buses.
As autoridades no Rio advertem os turistas a não tomarem ônibus urbanos.
•  Wash down
We had a sandwich washed down with beer.
Comemos um sanduíche e bebemos cerveja.
•  Work out
I was unable to work out the crossword puzzle.
Não consegui resolver as palavras cruzadas.
•  Write down
Why don’t you write it down, so that you don’t forget it.
Que tal você tomar nota disso para não esquecer?

Intransitive Phrasal Verbs

•  Back out
I hope he doesn’t back out of the deal.
Espero que ele não desista do negócio.
•  Break down
1. The poor woman broke down in tears.
A pobre mulher rompeu em lágrimas.
2. Peace talks between the warring countries have broken down.
Os diálogos pela paz entre os países em guerra fracassaram.
•  Break up
The couple decided to break up after their argument.
O casal decidiu romper o namoro depois da briga.

capítulo 2 • 53
 •  Catch on
The teacher repeats grammar exercises until the students catch on.
O professor repete exercícios gramaticais até que os alunos peguem a
matéria.
•  Come back
He came back to Brazil after two years abroad.
Ele retornou ao Brasil depois de passar dois anos no exterior.
•  Die out
Many languages have died out in the history of mankind.
Muitas línguas já desapareceram na história da humanidade.
•  Eat out
We don’t have any food at home. Why don’t we eat out? -– Não temos nada
de comida em casa. Que tal comermos fora?
•  Fall off
The door handle fell off.
A maçaneta da porta caiu.
•  Get down
When I saw the boy up in the tree, I told him to get down.
Quando vi o garoto em cima da ávore, eu disse a ele para descer.
•  Get up
I usually get up early.
Eu normalmente levanto cedo.
•  Give in
He gave in to the pressure.
Ele cedeu frente à pressão.
•  Go back
Why don’t you go back home?
Por que você não volta para casa?
•  Go off
I’m sorry I’m late; my alarm didn’t go off.
Desculpe o atraso; meu despertador não funcionou.
•  Go up
Peace agreements and international cooperation will go up like colorful
balloons bringing joy to the world.
Acordos de paz e cooperação internacional surgirão como balões coloridos,
trazendo alegria para o mundo.

54 • capítulo 2
 •  Grow up
He wants to be a doctor when he grows up.
Ele quer ser médico quando crescer.
•  Pull out
The best player pulled out of the tournament because of an injury.– O
melhor jogador abandonou o torneio devido a uma lesão.
•  Settle down
When he was about 30 he decided to settle down and raise a family.
Lá pelos 30 anos de idade, ele decidiu se acomodar e constituir família.
•  Show up
She waited for an hour but he never showed up for the date.
Ela esperou durante uma hora, mas ele não apareceu para o encontro.
•  Shut up
Shut up and listen to me!
Cala a boca e me escuta!
•  Sink in
Reality is finally beginning to sink in for the supporters of the
former government.
A realidade está finalmente sendo compreendida em sua plenitude por
aqueles que apoiavam o governo anterior.
•  Sit down
Sit down, please.
Sente-se, por favor.
•  Sleep in
Every morning I sleep in now that I’m retired.
Eu durmo até mais tarde todas as manhãs agora que estou aposentado.
•  Stand up
You have to stand up when the national anthem is played.
Você deve ficar de pé quando o hino nacional é tocado.
•  Stay over
It’s late to drive home. Why don’t you stay over?–- Já é meio tarde para você
voltar para casa dirigindo. Você não quer dormir aqui?
•  Strike back
The empire strikes back.
O império contra-ataca.

capítulo 2 • 55
 •  Throw up
After getting totally drunk he started to throw up.
Depois de se embebedar por completo, ele começou a vomitar.
•  Turn up
I invited a lot of people but only a few turned up.–Convidei muitas pessoas,
mas apenas algumas apareceram.
•  Work out
From now on, instead of eating junk food, I’m going to work out at the gym.
A partir de agora, em vez de me alimentar de comida artificial, vou malhar
na academia.

Due to the fact that both prepositional verbs and phrasal verbs are composed
by two words (two-word verbs) and it is hard to identify whether the second
word is a preposition or an adverb, it is difficult to tell a prepositional verb
from a phrasal verb. The point here is not memorizing their classification into
the correct category. The point is understanding the grammatical differences
between these two categories of two-word verbs and actually using them in
pragmatically correct sentences. As practice makes perfect, try to use multi-
word verbs on a regular basis.

2.4  Phrasal – Prepositional Verbs

A phrasal – prepositional verb is the combination of a verb, an adverb and a

preposition, always in this order. That is why some authors say that they are
phrasal verbs (verb + adverb) which take a specific preposition. However, in
these expressions the phrasal verb and preposition must be learned as a unit.
As they form a long expression, they are usually inseparable:
•  We look forward to meeting you next week. (look forward to = anticipate
with pleasure)

56 • capítulo 2
 CURIOSITY
Many EFL learners use a verb in the infinitive, instead of gerund, after the phrasal-prepositional
verb look forward to. As it is a three-word verb, the combination comprises a verb + adverb
+ a preposition. Therefore, to is a preposition and not an infinitive particle. As a consequence,
the verb used after it has to be in the gerund, since whenever we use a verb after a preposition
it must be in the –ing form of the verb!!

The only thing that can be added to such a string is an adverb or adverbial
phrase between the adverb and the preposition:
•  I haven’t kept up fully with my work. (fully = adverb)
•  Alex has cut down almost completely on his smoking. (almost completely
= adverbial phrase)

Many of these three-word verbs are often used in informal contexts, and
their meaning is difficult to guess from their individual parts:
•  Do you get on with your neighbors? (get on with = have a good
relationship with)

ATTENTION
Some phrasal-prepositional verbs also take a direct object after the verb as well as an object
of the preposition:

fix … up with put … down to put … up to

let … in on take … out on

4 [DO] [PO]
•  She fixed us up with a violin teacher. We’re really grateful to her. (fixed us
up with = arranged for us)

4  [DO] = Direct Object [PO] = Preposition Object

capítulo 2 • 57
 [DO] [PO]
•  We just put the accident down to bad luck; there’s no other reason. (put
down to = think the cause or reason is)

The list of phrasal- prepositional verbs is not as long as the previous ones
and many of them are often used in informal contexts:

Phrasal-prepositional verbs (three-word verbs)

•  Be up to
1. He’ll probably fail; he’s not up to the challenge.– Ele provavelmente vai
fracassar, pois não está à altura do desafio. 2. What are they up to?
O que eles andam tramando (fazendo)?
•  Break up with
I broke up with girlfriend.
Eu briguei com minha namorada.
•  Carry on with
The doctor told her to carry on with the treatment.–- O médico disse a ela
que continuasse com o tratamento.
•  Catch up with
I’ve been getting low grades, but I’ll study hard and catch up with the
other students.
Tenho recebido notas baixas, mas vou me esforçar e alcançar os demais
alunos.
•  Check out of
You have to check out of the hotel before noon.
Você tem que deixar o hotel antes do meio-dia.
•  Come up to
He came up to me and said: ‘you are under arrest.’
Ele chegou a mim e disse: “Você está preso.”
•  Come up with
He came up with an umbelievable explanation.
Ela veio com uma explicação inacreditável.
•  Crack down on
The police need to crack down on burglary.
A polícia precisa tomar medidas severas contra furto.

58 • capítulo 2
 •  Do away with
The school should do away with some of the regulations.- A escola deveria
acabar com alguns dos regulamentos.
•  Drop out of
Teenagers are dropping out of school in large numbers.
Adolescentes estão abandonando a escola em grande número.
•  Fool around with
He’s been fooling around with girls for years.
Faz anos que ele anda se divertindo com mulheres.
•  Get along with
How are you getting along with your girlfriend?
Como é que você anda se dando com sua namorada?
•  Get away with
He got away with shoplifting at first, but now he’s in trouble.
Ele se safou na época em que andava furtando lojas, mas agora está ferrado.
•  Get back at
I’m going to get back at him for what he did.
Vou me vingar dele pelo que ele me fez.
•  Get back from
She’s just got back from her trip.
Ela acabou de retornar da viagem.
•  Get down to
The boss told us to stop fooling around and get down to work.
O chefe mandou pararmos com as brincadeiras e nos concentrarmos no
trabalho.
•  Get on with
It seems that he’s getting on well with his new girlfriend.
Parece que ele está se dando bem com sua nova namorada.
•  Get out of
Get out of here!
Cai fora daqui!
•  Get through with
I have to get through with my work first.
Tenho que terminar meu trabalho primeiro.

capítulo 2 • 59
 •  Go down on
The book provides step-by-step instructions for going down on a woman.
O livro oferece instruções passo a passo sobre como fazer sexo oral com
uma mulher.
•  Keep out of
Keep out of this room.
Mantenha-se fora deste quarto.
•  Keep up with
Keep up with the good work.
Continue fazendo um bom trabalho.
•  Kick out of
The rowdy man was kicked out of the bar.
O homem desordeiro foi posto para fora do bar.
•  Look forward to
We are looking forward to meeting you.
Estamos na expectativa de nos encontrarmos com você.
•  Look out for
Look out for the careless drivers.
Cuidado com os motoristas descuidados.
•  Put up with
I’m not going to put up wth it.
Não vou aguentar isso.
•  Run away with
Don’t let your emotions run away with you.
Não deixe suas emoções tomarem conta de você.
•  Run out of
They ran out of gas in the middle of the desert.
Eles ficaram sem gasolina no meio do deserto.
•  Suck up to
Now that he’s the boss they’re all sucking up to him, hoping to get big raises.
Agora que ele é o chefe, estão todos puxando-lhe o saco, na esperança de
ganharem bons aumentos.
•  Watch out for
Watch out for the careless drivers.
Cuidado com os motoristas descuidados.

60 • capítulo 2
 MULTIMEDIA
Now that you have learned about the different categories of multi-word verbs and learned
the meaning and the use of many of them it is time to practice your listening skills and try to
identify them in the British Council Fast Phrasal comic-strip videos:
<http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/grammar-vocabulary/phrasal-verb-videos>
and do the exercises to learn and practice how to use phrasal verbs correctly. 

FURTHER READING
HOGAN, J.; IGREJA, J. R. Phrasal Verbs: como falar inglês como um americano. São Paulo:
Disal Editora, 2004.
STYCER, D.; RINALDI, E.; MEIRELLES, R. Aprenda Definitivamente 50 Phrasal Verbs
1. São Paulo: Coquetel Passatempos, 2014.
STYCER, D.; RINALDI, E.; MEIRELLES, R. Aprenda Definitivamente 50 Phrasal Verbs
2. Rio: Ediouro Publicações, 2014.

CONNECTION
To learn more about phrasal verbs go to:
<https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/phrasal-verbs-list.htm>
<http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/verbs/phrasal-verbs>
<http://random-idea-english.blogspot.com.br/search?q=phrasal+verbs>
<http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/phrasals.htm>

ACTIVITIES
01. Use the following verbs (I. believe, fill, get, look, put, switch, take, throw, turn, try)
and the prepositions (away, down, for, in, off, on, out) and form meaningful sentences.
Example: My parents are out. So I have to look after my baby-brother.
a) Quick! _______________ the bus. It’s ready to leave.
b) I don’t know where my book is. I have to ______________________it.
c) It’s dark inside. Can you________________ the light, please?

capítulo 2 • 61
d) ____________________the form, please.
e) I need some new clothes. Why don’t you _____________these jeans?
f) It’s warm inside. __________________ your coat.
g) This pencil is really old. You can _________________ it ________________.
h) It’s so loud here. Can you ____________________the radio a little?
i) The firemen were able to ____________________the fire in Church Street.
j) He had a hat, but he didn’t _____ it ______ .

02. Complete the sentences with the phrasal verbs below. Don’t forget to change the verbal
tense when necessary.

find out cut down look for

get on with look after get over
hold on come up with turn up
get away add up put off
take after put through

a) Have you ____________________if you won the competition yet?

b) I need to ____________________from work and take a holiday.
c) She still hasn’t ____________________the death of her cat.
d) My daughter is a great cook, she really ____________________her mother.
e) Could you ____________________a moment while I see if John is in his office?
f) Extension 28? I’ll ____________________.
g) She promised to ____________________her cigarette smoking to six a day.
h) He spent the entire night thinking and in the end ____________________a brilliant idea.
i) I’m afraid your story is not believable. It just doesn’t _________.
j) Cherry __________________ my cats while I was away on holiday.
k) We’re not ready yet, we are going to have to ____________________ the meeting until
next week.
l) I’m ____________________Judy’s address. Do you know it?
m) Mary __________________ twenty minutes late for the party.
n) I’m tired of waiting for Jane. Can we __________________ our work?

62 • capítulo 2
03. Complete the sentences with the phrasal verbs below. Don’t forget to change the verbal
tense when necessary.

come across break up take back

blow up give up take on
make up take up put up with
run out turn down go over
tell off set off

a) If you really want to lose weight, you need to _________________ eating desserts.
b) Let’s _______________ the grammar one more time before the test.
c) I was __________________ an old t-shirt when I ___________________ this photograph
of my high school class.
d) Look Magda, I’ve _________________your bad behavior long enough!
e) There is just too much work to be done. We’ll have to ____________________some new
employees.
f) You don’t think I believe that ridiculous story you ______________, do you?
g) I think you need to ________________ a new hobby to help you relax.
h) When the father saw what had happened he _____________________ and shouted at
his son.
i) I had to ____________________her offer of a job. The salary on offer was just not good
enough.
j) We ________________ at six in the morning on our drive to the coast.
k) Barbara and Jack ____________________last week. They just weren’t happy together.
l) We’d better stop soon. Otherwise, we’ll ___________________ gas.
m) I want you to ____________________every bad word you’ve said about my brother.
n) Unfortunately, I had to ____________________ Bob because of his poor
performance recently.

capítulo 2 • 63
04. Complete the sentences with the phrasal verbs below. Don’t forget to change the verbal
tense when necessary.

get into settle for turn up

give up take off show up for
do away with get together go out
get away with speed up run up to
take on come up to watch out for

a) Our flight was delayed, but we finally ____________________shortly after midnight.

b) He ___________________ cheating on his final exam!
c) I’m trying to give up smoking, but it’s almost impossible for me.
d) Let’s ____________________with Ted and Hanna soon.
e) Unfortunately, I ____________________late for my meeting and lost the contract.
f) Finally, the lights ________________and we had a good night’s sleep.
g) You won’t believe who__________________ the party! Brad Pitt!
h) I’m afraid I had to ____________________eggs and bacon. I really wanted to have
pancakes, but they were out of them.
i) He __________________ the club on recommendation from his friend Ricky
j) I ____________________and past the policeman doing 120 m.p.h.!
k) Unfortunately, our school had to ____________________the music department because
of lack of funds.
l) Make sure to ____________________pick-pockets when you go to the market.
m) The boy ____________________the man and returned his wallet.
n) Mary ____________________me at the party last night and introduced herself.
Direito de citação / Fragmentohttp://www.world-english.org/phrasalverbs.htm. Todos
direitos reservados.

64 • capítulo 2
05. Replace the words in italics with it or them. Sometimes you will need to change the word
order of the sentence.
a) I enjoy looking after children.
I enjoy looking after them.
b) I always wear out my shoes very quickly.
c) I like trying on clothes at shops.
d) I’m really looking forward to my summer vacation.
e) My parents often ask me to turn down my music.
f) I never look up new words in a dictionary.

CONNECTION
To have more practice on phrasal verbs go to:
<https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/phrasal-verbs >
<http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/phrasal-verbs/>

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Due to the fact that multi-word verbs are not found in the Portuguese language, these
categories of verbs are considered difficult to be learned, understood and used. As a
consequence, Portuguese native speakers prefer to use Latinized forms of verbs instead of
them. The point is that multi-word verbs are ubiquitous in English and can be found in different
genres: from literary texts to newspaper, magazine and even scientific articles; from the news
on TV to political speeches. They are widely used in both written and spoken English, and new
ones are formed all the time as they are a flexible way of creating new terms.
In this chapter we have learned that multi-word verbs are made up of two or three parts
that function as a single unit. They are divided into three categories: prepositional verbs, phrasal
verbs and prepositional-phrasal verbs depending on the number of components and word
class these components are part of. Some of them are transitive while others are intransitive;
some are separable while others inseparable. Knowing their meanings and how to use them in
pragmatically correct sentences is the most important issue about multi-word verbs!!

capítulo 2 • 65
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
AZAR , B. S. Understanding and Using English Gram­mar. Prentice Hall Regents, 1999.
CELCE-MURCIA, M.; LARSEN-FREEMAN, D. The Grammar Book: an ESL/EFL teacher’s course.
Boston: Heinle/Cengage Learning, 2ª edição, 1999.
LEWIS, M. The Lexical Approach. London: LTP, 1993.
LINDNER, S. What goes up doesn’t necessarily come down: The ins and outs of opposite,
in: CLS 8: 305-323, 1982.
MEYER, G. A. The Two-Word Verb: a dictionary of the verb-preposition phrases in American English.
Netherlands: Mouton de Gruyter, 1975.
MOON, R. Vocabulary connections: Multi-word items in English. In: SCHMITT, N.; McCARTHY, M. M.
(Ed), Vocabulary: Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, p.
40–63, 1997.
MORGAN, P. S. Figuring out figure out: Metaphor and the semantics of the English verb-particle
construction. In: Cognitive Linguistics 8 (4), 327-357, 1997.
QUIRK, R.; GREENBAUM, S.; LEECH, G.; SVARTVIK, J. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English
Language. New York: Longman, 1985.
STOCKWELL, R.; MINKOVA, D. English Words: History and Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2003.
SWAM, M. Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2 ed., 1995.

66 • capítulo 2
 3
Inversion in English
3.  Inversion in English
Do you remember the difficulties you went through trying to understand how to
make questions when you first started learning English? The question structure
in English is completely different from Portuguese: while in the latter we just use
a distinctive intonation pattern for questions (rising intonation), the first uses
inversion to form them. But inversion, which consists of the regular reversion
of the standard word order of a structure, is not restricted to questions. There
are other grammar specific situations in which the inversion is also mandatory.
Let’s go deeper into the subject?

QUESTION
Did you know that at an early stage in the history of English, questions were made with the
use of rising intonation, as it is in Portuguese? According to Celce-Murcia & Larsen- Freeman,
“only much later did inversion in question formation come into being. And the earliest form
of this inversion was with the subject and the verb: Know you the way to Ipswich?” (1999,
p.205). The rule which requires the inversion of the subject and verb took a long time to
become standard.

GOALS TO BE REACHED
•  Understand what inversion is all about and how it happens in English;
•  Learn the most common types of inversion in English;
•  Understand the patterns of inversion with fronted structures.

68 • capítulo 3
3.1  General Cases of Inversion

Inversion is used in many different contexts in English. Inversion means that

we have to place the verb before the subject since the standard word order in
English is SVO, that is, Subject – Verb – Object. The most widespread case of
inversion in English is obviously in questions. However, there are many other
situations in which inversion is either possible or even mandatory. So we are
going to get started with a review of inversion in questions and then we are
going to deal with other cases of inversion in English.

3.1.1  Questions

There are two different rules to make questions: Yes/No questions and
Information questions, also known as Wh-questions.
•  Yes/No Questions: the simplest question inversion rule. It’s just a matter
of reverting the subject – verb order of the structure:
You were absent last class.
•  Were you absent last class?
She will be here by seven.
•  Will she be here by seven?
My sister has already graduated.
•  Has your sister graduated?
His parents are coming with us.
•  Are his parents coming with us?

The questions above begin with a different auxiliary verb and the movement
they make to be the head of each sentence is called subject – operator inversion.
This rule moves the operator and the tense marker of the sentence to a position
before the subject. Therefore, the first question is in the past (were), the second
in the simple future (will), the third in the present perfect (have) and the last in
the present progressive (are).
Information questions: when a sentence has no auxiliary verb, we cannot
simply invert the subject and the verb of the sentence. Take a look at the
following example:
My daughter sings in a choir.
*Sings your son and daughter in a choir?

capítulo 3 • 69
 As we have already seen, this question structure was acceptable in earlier
forms of English, but is not acceptable in modern English anymore. There is a
parallelism between the question structure of this sentence and the previous
Yes/No question: the tense marker of the sentence is going to be placed to a
position before the subject, but we have to add an operator since there is no
auxiliary verb, only a main verb:
•  Does your daughter sing in a choir?

Whenever there is no auxiliary verb in the sentence, the operator do is added

and functions as an operator which is also the tense marker. It means that the
tense marker is going to be moved to a position before the subject and the main
verb has necessarily to lose its tense mark: does already contains the tense mark
so the verb sings loses its tense mark and becomes sing.
•  Wh-Questions: there are two basic wh-question structures in English:
one which requires inversion and one that does not. “Students struggle with
inversion, and errors such as *Where you are going? are common even at
intermediate stages” (CELCE-MURCIA & LARSEN-FREEMAN, 1999, p.241).
Furthermore, many advanced students do not know the difference between
these question structures and still others do not know that a wh-question that
does not require inversion and the use of the operator do/does exists. That is
why we are going to go deeper into the topic. Consider the following sentence:
Susan saw the President.
There are two possible wh-questions based on the information it contains:
•  Who(m) did you see? (who/whom + operator do in the past + subject)
•  Who saw the President? (who = subject + verb see in the past + object)

ATTENTION
The difference between who and whom: the interrogative pronoun who is used as the subject
of a question and it only refers to people. Whom, on the other hand, is used as the object of
a verb or preposition. In everyday spoken English, whom is rarely used; who is used instead.
Whom is used only in formal questions. Whenever there is a preposition preceded, whom and
not who is used.

70 • capítulo 3
 As the sentence contains information about two different people (Susan
and the President), the wh-questions are going to refer to them.
In the first wh-question, who/whom is used as the object of the verb see,
therefore, inversion applies. The operator (did) is the verb tense marker, so the
main verb (saw) loses its verb tense mark and becomes see.
In the second wh-question, who is used as the subject of the question,
therefore, inversion does not apply. It is the same as a sentence word order:
subject (who) + verb (saw) + object (the President).
This wh-question structure with no inversion is possible whenever the wh-
question pronoun functions as the subject of the question: possible only with
who or what:
•  What happened? (what = subject + happen in the past)
Of course, if an auxiliary verb is present in the sentence, then it will move
when inversion is applied. It will carry the tense, and operator addition is
not necessary.

CURIOSITY
According to Todeva (1991), the first to use rising intonation to make questions in English
were non-native speakers of English. The explanation, the author points out, is that there
is a parallelism between English evolution as a language and the learning of English as
both a second and foreign language. Together with that, there is the fact that it takes some
time for ESL/EFL learners to master the inversion rule and, as a consequence, in order to
make themselves clear, they transfer the rising question intonation pattern from their native
language to the language they are learning.

3.1.2  Statements

In statements, on the other hand, the canonical order is SVO, that is Subject +
Verb + Object, but sometimes this word order is reversed. There are two main
types of inversion in statements: optional inversion (when the main verb comes
before the subject) and necessary inversion (when the auxiliary comes before
the subject and the rest of the verb phrase follows the subject). Let’s understand
the difference:

capítulo 3 • 71
 There are two possible ways to invert the sentence below:
•  The famous couple stood on the red carpet.

©© STAS PONOMARENCKO | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

We can say either

•  On the red carpet the famous couple stood OR
•  On the red carpet stood the famous couple.

In the example above, the second sentence is not inverted because the
subject comes before the verb. The third sentence, however, is inverted and the
main verb comes before the subject. As a conclusion, inversion is not mandatory
in this case.
Now take a look at the following sentences:
•  I had rarely seen such a beautiful view.
If I decide to change the word order of the sentence above, inversion
is mandatory
•  Rarely had I seen such a beautiful view.
*Rarely I had seen such a beautiful view.

Notice that the previous sentence is not correct. In this example a negative
adverb (rarely) is placed at the beginning of the sentence and, therefore,
inversion is mandatory: the auxiliary comes before the subject and the rest of
the verb phrase follows the subject.
Inversion brings about fronting, which is the re-ordering of information in a
sentence to give emphasis in a particular place. That’s what happens in the first
set of examples in which inversion is optional. The phrase on the red carpet is

72 • capítulo 3
an adverb of place and does not demand that the subject and verb be inverted.
Then there are two possibilities: fronting and inversion. Fronting often causes
an element to be postponed until later in the sentence, focusing attention on it.
In the next session, we are going to deal with adverbs of place to understand the
difference between inversion and fronting.

ATTENTION
The term fronting is used when part of a sentence is moved from its normal position to the
beginning of the sentence. The part of the sentence moved to the front can be the object,
an adverb or even the main verb itself. Depending on the part of the sentence that is fronted,
inversion is possible or mandatory. In the case of adverbs of place and movement there is a
possibility of inversion however, when a negative adverbial is fronted, inversion is mandatory.

Adverbs of Place and Movement: whenever an adverb or an adverbial

expression of place comes at the beginning of the sentence, inversion is a
possibility, that is, the subject and verb can be inverted. However, as it is not a
question, the patterns of inversion for fronted structures are a little bit different
from the patterns of question inversion.
•  Down the hill rolled the baby carriage.
•  In the doorway stood the most beautiful girl.
•  On the table was all the money we had lost.

As we notice on the sentences above, we have the same order: adverb of

place + main verb + subject). However, as there is no obligation for inversion,
the following sentences are also possible:
•  Down the hill the baby carriage rolled.
•  In the doorway the most beautiful girl stood.
•  On the table all the money we had lost was.

As inversion is not mandatory, what usually happens is that the subject and
the verb change positions (there is usually inversion) when the main verb is verb
to be; when the main verb is a verb of place (e.g. sit, live, lie, stand) or even when
there is a verb of movement (go, walk, swim, fly). To sum up, inversion usually
takes place on the sentences above.

capítulo 3 • 73
 On the other hand, inversion usually does not happen when:
•  the verb takes an object (is transitive)
•  the subject is a subject pronoun (I, he, she, it, we, they, you)
•  a transitive verb is followed by an adverb of manner (happily, slowly)
•  the verb is in the progressive tenses.

Take a look at these examples:

•  She rushed into the department store.
•  Into the department store she rushed.

There is no inversion in the sentence above: rush is a verb of movement, but

in the sentence the subject she is a pronoun.
•  The children sat quietly on the floor.
•  On the floor, the children sat quietly.

There is no inversion in the sentence above: Sit is a verb of place, but it is

followed by an adverb of manner - quietly.
•  Sam was writing a story on a piece of paper.
•  On a piece of paper Sam was writing a story.

There is no inversion in the sentence above: write is not a verb of place or

movement and it is intransitive and the verb is in the past progressive tense.
As we notice, there are some rules for inversion to take place. Even though it
is a rhetorical device used mainly in formal and literary styles it may also occur
in everyday conversation, as we are going to
©© LUMEN | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

see in the next session.

Here  and  There: inversion can
happen after  here and there  when
they function as an adverb of place.
After  here  and  there, we can use a
main verb without an auxiliary verb or
modal verb:

74 • capítulo 3
 •  Here comes the bus!
•  There goes the phone. Can you take it?
•  Here’s your coffee.
•  My car’s gone!! There goes $20,000.00!!
•  I opened the door and there stood Jim, all covered in mud.
•  Bill looked out and  there was Rachel, walking along arm in arm with her
best friend.

In all the examples above, there and here function as an adverb of place.
Even though they are every day conversation sentences (there goes… is used
to talk about things being lost and to say that something, such the doorbell or
phone, is ringing), inversion takes place.
In the following sentence, the word there is omitted and the subject and
verb change position:
•  There’s a small store room next to the kitchen.
•  Next to the kitchen is a small store room.

However, if the subject is a personal pronoun, there is no inversion:

Here it comes.
There she goes.
Here it is!

Comparison: Concerning comparisons, we commonly have inversion after

as and then in formal written English:
•  I used to travel to the beach every summer, as did my best friend Alicia.
•  The printing process was invented in China, as was the paper.
•  Research shows that children watch much more TV programs than did
their parents three decades ago.
•  Many more young people have voted in the last elections than have
the elderly.

However, if the subject is a pronoun, there is no inversion:

•  Research shows that children nowadays eat much more junk food than
they did three decades ago.

capítulo 3 • 75
3.2  Inversion after negative adverbs

Some adverbs (such as hardly, little, never, only, scarcely, seldom, among
others) have a negative meaning. Often, we front these expressions, that is,
we put the expression at the beginning of the sentence, to emphasize some
information that is mentioned later in the sentence. It causes our sentence
to sound surprising, striking or even unusual. However, if you do not want to
sound quite formal, you can use the negative adverb later in the sentence:
•  Rarely had I seen such a beautiful view.
(Rarely is at the beginning, so we use inversion. This sentence emphasizes
what beautiful view it is.)
•  I have rarely seen such a beautiful view.
(Rarely is in the normal place, so we don’t use inversion. This is a standard
sentence with no special emphasis.)
Whenever using negative adverbs, the fronting of these expressions in not
an obligation. However, if you decide to front the negative adverb, inversion is
mandatory, that is, you must reverse subject – verb word order.
Here are some negative adverbs and adverb phrases that we often use
with inversion:

HARDLY Hardly had we left the hotel when it started to pour with rain.

SELDOM Seldom do we see such an amazing display of dance.

RARELY Rarely will you hear such beautiful music.

ONLY THEN Only then did I understand why the tragedy had happened.

SCARCELY Scarcely had I got off the bus when it crashed into the back of a car.

ONLY LATER Only later did she really think about the situation.

LITTLE Little did we know that we would never meet again.

ONLY IN THIS WAY Only in this way could John earn enough money to survive.

ON NO ACCOUNT On no account should you do anything without asking me first.

Tabela 3.1  – 

76 • capítulo 3
 In the following expressions, the inversion comes in the second part of
the sentence:
Notice that when the following expressions are fronted and immediately
followed by a clause (subject and verb) the inversion happens in the second part
of the sentence:

NOT UNTIL/ NOT TILL + Not until I saw John with my own eyes did I really believe he was
(CLAUSE) safe.

NOT SINCE Not since Lucy left college had she had such a wonderful time.

Only after I’d seen her flat did I understand why she wanted to live
ONLY AFTER there.

ONLY WHEN Only when we’d all arrived home did I feel calm.

ONLY BY Only by working extremely hard could we afford to eat.

Tabela 3.2 –

In the examples above the phrases not until/ not till, not since, only after,
only when are followed by a clause. As these expressions refer to time, the whole
clause is called adverb time clause

Not until I saw John with my own eyes did I really believe he was safe.
Adverb Time Clause Inversion

Only when we'd all arrived home did I feel calm.

Adverb Time Clause Inversion

We only use inversion when the adverb modifies the whole phrase and not
when it modifies the noun:

Subject
Hardly anyone passed the bar exam. (No inversion)
Verb

capítulo 3 • 77
3.2.1  Patterns of Inversion With Fronted Negative Adverbs and Expressions

As this inversion structure is somewhat different from anything we have in

Portuguese, many learners do have questions and doubts on how inversion
occurs. In order to really understand how it works we are going to see the
patterns of inversion with fronted structures.
•  Pattern 1: Simple Verbs
When we front a structure requiring inversion and the sentence has only
a simple verb, add the operator (do/ does/ did) except when the main verb is a
form of verb to be.
•  I never said such a thing!
•  Never did I say such a thing!
•  I realized my wallet was missing not till the next day.
•  Not till the next day did I realize my wallet was missing.

In the previous examples there are two different structures fronting the
sentences: a negative adverb in the first example and a negative expression
(not till) followed by a noun phrase (the next day). In both cases inversion takes
place in the first part of the sentence. However, if there negative expression (not
till) were followed by a clause, inversion would take place in the second part of
the sentence.
•  Not till I got home did I realize my wallet was missing.

•  Pattern 2: Complex Verbs

Complex verbs have a main verb and one or more auxiliaries. In sentences
with complex verbs, invert the first auxiliary and the subject.
•  Ashton Kutcher could never have left Demi Moore.
•  Never could Ashton Kutcher have left Demi Moore.
•  They would not stay in that old house for anything.
•  Not for anything would they stay in that house.

•  Pattern 3: Verb to be
When the verb of the sentence is to be and there are no auxiliaries, invert the
subject and the verb.
•  The doctor is seldom here on time.
•  Seldom is the doctor here on time.

78 • capítulo 3
 •  The bar exam was not canceled under any circumstances.
•  Under no circumstances was the bar exam canceled.

•  Pattern 4: Verb to be + Other Auxiliary Verbs

In sentences with fronted negative adverbs, invert the first auxiliary and
the subject.
•  There has never been so much corruption in Brazil before.
•  Never before has there been so much corruption in Brazil.
•  Mary could not have been anywhere else, but here.
•  Nowhere else could Mary have been, but here.

Now that the patterns of inversion are clear, let’s take a look at some of
the most common negative adverbs and expressions used in two different
structures and compare them: not fronted and fronted.

WORD/PHRASE NOT FRONTED FRONTED

(b) Never have I laughed so
NEVER (a) I have never laughed so hard!
hard!

(c) I have not missed my Portuguese
NOT ONCE class once this semester.
(e) I would not commute four hours a
NOT FOR + (NOUN) day for all the money in the world!
NOT UNTIL / NOT TILL (g) She did not realize the ring was
+ (NOUN) missing until the morning.
(d) Not once have I missed my
Portuguese class this semester.
(f) Not for all the money in
the world would I commute four
hours a day!
(h) Not until the morning did
she realize the ring was missing.

(i) We have not had so much rain (j) Not since April have we had
NOT SINCE + (NOUN) since April. so much rain.
(l) Under no circumstances
UNDER NO (k) You will not be allowed to leave
will you be allowed to leave (not
CIRCUMSTANCES under any circumstances.
any → no)
(m) We can not make an exception in (n) In no case can we make an
IN NO CASE any case. exception.

(o) This will not affect your grade in (p) In no way will this affect
IN NO WAY any way. your grade.

(q) I am not going to miss that con- (r) No way am I going to miss
NO WAY (INFORMAL) cert for any reason! that concert!

(s) I have not been anywhere that is (t) Nowhere have I been that is
NOWHERE as peaceful as this place. as peaceful as this place.

capítulo 3 • 79
 To sum up, whenever we decide to front negative adverbials, we must invert
the subject and auxiliary or the subject and the main verb (simple verb) of
the sentence.

MULTIMIDIA
To see a video about inversion after negative adverbs go to:
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuyvwMKJn8U>
Or this video about negative inversion:
< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SjDcvKIlI0>

3.2.2  Fronted Negative Objects and Conjunctions

As with the negative adverbials in the previous session, these fronted structures
require subject auxiliary or subject- verb inversion.

Noun Phrase Objects

PHRASE: not + singular noun*1
NOT FRONTED: Mary will not spend another penny on her daughter’s
education unless her grades improve.
FRONTED: Not another penny will Mary spend on her daughter’s education
unless her grades improve.
NOT FRONTED: I cannot spend another minute on this math assignment.
FRONTED: Not another minute can I spend on this math assignment.

Correlative Conjunctions
PHRASE: neither… nor
NOT FRONTED: Robert does not like coffee. Susan doesn’t either.
FRONTED: Robert does not like coffee. Neither does Susan. OR
FRONTED: Robert does not like coffee. Nor does Susan.
NOT FRONTED: I don’t have a penny left. No one else does either.
FRONTED: I don’t have a penny left. Neither does anyone else.

1  A plural form is possible with no, but the emphasis would not be as Strong as with the singular form.

80 • capítulo 3
 MULTIMIDIA
To read some explanations about the correct use of the words “either” and “neither” and
the difference between them, check the link: < http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/
learningenglish/radio/specials/1535_questionanswer/page41.shtml>
To listen to the same explanation check the link:< http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/
worldservice/learningenglish/ask_about_english/mp3s/either_neither.mp3>

PHRASE: not only… but also

NOT FRONTED: Melissa not only goes to college, but she also has a part-
time job.
FRONTED: Not only does Melissa go to college, but she also has a part-
time job.

PHRASE: no sooner (…than)2

NOT FRONTED: I had no sooner arrived at the station than the train came.
FRONTED: No sooner had I arrived at the station than the train came.

MULTIMIDIA
To listen to a very good explanation about the meaning of no sooner …than and its use check
the link: <http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/ask_about_english
/mp3s/questions_no_sooner.mp3

To read the same explanation check the link:< http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/

learningenglish/radio/specials/1535_questionanswer/page61.shtml>

Whenever neither, so and nor are used to make short agreements, they are
followed by the inverted subject –verb word order:
A: Jennifer is a movie buff.
B: So am I.
•  A: I have never been abroad.
B: Nor have I. (or Neither have I)

2  The expression ‘no sooner…than’ is used to suggest that one action or situation takes place/took place
immediately after another action or situation.

capítulo 3 • 81
 When we begin a clause with neither and nor to introduce a negative
addition to a previous negative clause or sentence, we also invert the subject -
verb word order:
•  For some time after the accident Alice couldn’t walk, and neither could
she move her arms.
•  Jessica doesn’t like cats, and neither does her husband. (or Nor does
her husband)

3.3  Inversion after so that and such that

Whenever we front an adverbial expressing extent, degree or comparison which

gives a more emphatic or exclamatory reading to the sentence as a whole,
subject –operator (do/ does/ did) inversion must be used with the adverbial
fronting. Therefore, when adverbial or adjectival phrases starting with so and
such are placed at the beginning of the sentence for emphatic effect, we have to
invert the subject-verb word order. Take a look at the pair of sentences below:
the first sentence of the pair follows the S-V-O standard pattern and the second
contains a fronted adverbial or adjectival phrase:
•  The students were so excited that they couldn’t stop talking about the
championship. (excited = adjective)
•  So excited were the students that they couldn’t stop talking about the
championship. (fronted adjectival phrase= so excited)

•  Paul’s remark was so stupid that everybody started laughing at him.

(stupid = adjective)
•  So stupid was Paul’s remark that everybody started laughing at him.
(fronted adjectival phrase = so stupid)

The fronted sentences above are formed by so + adjective. When it happens,

it is possible to substitute the fronted adjectival phrase by such + noun, as
shown in the examples below:
•  Such was Paul’s stupidity that everybody started laughing at him. (such =
so great)
•  Such was the student’s excitement that they couldn’t stop talking about
the championship. (such = so great)

82 • capítulo 3
 Note that so is followed by an adjective or adverb; whereas such is followed
by a noun or a noun phrase:

so + adjective or adverb + that

such + noun or noun phrase + that

In the pair of sentences below we have a fronted adverbial phrase and,

therefore, the substitution of so by such is not possible:
•  The athlete ran so quickly that the others didn’t catch up with him.
(quickly = adjective)

•  So quickly did the athlete run that the others didn’t catch up with him.
(fronted adverbial phrase = so quickly)

•  This author writes so beautifully that I have read all his articles.
(beautifully = adverb)

•  So beautifully does this author write that I have read all his articles.
(fronted adverbial phrase = so beautifully)

3.4  Inverted Implied conditional

With hypothetical conditionals with initial if clauses containing certain auxiliary

verbs such as had or should, it is possible to drop the initial if. Whenever it
happens subject/ operator inversion must follow. In the first sentence of the
following pairs, the first presents SV pattern while the second contains the
inverted implied conditional:
•  If Kate should call, please take a message.
•  Should Kate call, please take a message.

•  If I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t do that.

•  Were I in your shoes, I wouldn’t do that.

•  If I had known it was Peter’s birthday, I would have bought him a present.
•  Had I known it was Peter’s birthday, I would have bought him a present.

capítulo 3 • 83
 The inverted implied conditional can also be placed in the second clause of
the sentence:
•  I wouldn’t do that, were I in your shoes.
•  I would have bought Peter a present, had I known it was his birthday.

Note that were, had (past perfect) and should are the only verbs that can be
inverted in this way. (Besides, were is also used with he/ she/ it.)
The sentences containing inverted implied conditionals are rather more
formal than those with if. Negative clauses with inversion cannot include
contracted forms:
•  Had the plane not arrived on time, the director would have missed his
connecting flight. (not Hadn’t the plane…..)

CONNECTION
Further Reading about inversion in English:
Randon Idea English. Available at: <http://random-idea-english.blogspot.com.br/2014/
09/exploring-inversion-and-fronting.html> Access: Mar.10, 2015.
Fullspate EFL/ESL Materials. Available at:< http://fullspate.digitalcounterrevolution.
co.uk/efl-advanced-grammar/>. Access: Mar.10, 2015.

ACTIVITIES
01. Unscramble the words to form sentences containing inversion.
a) you book asked here the for is .
b) neither them my will wait mother won’t for and I.
c) that disappointment such cry was started her she to such.
d) money goes there my!
e) ever the lay behind had the most that beautiful mountain he seen valley.
f) to that feel bed exhausted he so he straight did went.
g) don’t have planning nor Sue and Thomas shown any signs children they have of one.
h) comes several Marie from as other of the class Sweden members do.
i) so his can really well can twin Peter sister and swim.
j) nor ever know him have I him I before neither seen.

84 • capítulo 3
02. Rewrite the following sentences into inversion sentences.
a) The coordinator in no way wanted to be associated with this project.
b) I had scarcely finished writing my essay when the examiner announced the end of the
exam.
c) Hanna and Paul had never been to such a fantastic hotel.
d) The arrested man understood little about the situation.
e) The children should on no account go on their own.
f) The actress had met such rude people nowhere before.
g) My husband seldom leaves home so early.
h) People rarely appreciate this musician’s talent.
i) The children had no sooner had lunch than the ceiling crashed onto the table.
j) The world would understand what had happened that day only the following morning.

03. First match the sentence halves and then rewrite them beginning with were, had (past
perfect) or should.
1. If I had enough money…
2. If the weather had been nice…
3. If you should need more money…
4. If Mike were my professor…
5. If you should change your mind…
6. If my sister had been better prepared…
7. If my parents were younger
8. If Mary should need any help
9. If I were offered the job
10. If my soccer team wins again today
a) go to the bank before four o’clock.
b) just give me a call.
c) I would travel abroad more often.
d) they would move to England with me.
e) she could call her neighbor.
f) I will go out and celebrate it.
g) my friends and I would have spent more time at the club.
h) I wouldn’t hesitate in accepting it.
i) she would have gotten the job.
j) I would be the best student of the course.

capítulo 3 • 85
 CONNECTION
For extra practice on inversion (advanced grammar) access the following link: <http://
fullspate.digitalcounterrevolution.co.uk/efl-advanced-grammar/>

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

English is quite strict about word order, the canonical order in positive (declarative) sentences
being: Subject - Verb - Object (SVO). When this order is changed, we realize there is something
special going on. Inversion, the reversal of the canonical subject – verb order, can be optional
or mandatory, depending on the words that come into play in the structure. Inversion is mostly
used in formal and narrative texts, exception being question forms, negative adverbs and a
few expressions like so do I / neither do I. A few forms of inversion, such as ‘there goes our
train’ or ‘here is your coffee’ are quite informal and can make your English sound more natural.
In this chapter, we have seen that inversion is mandatory in questions, after fronted
negative adverbials, after fronted implied conditional sentences (only those starting with
were, had and should), after fronted so…that/such… that; and after place adverbs here and
there. In other cases, it can be used as a rhetorical device, mainly in formal and literary styles,
especially after adverbials of place and movement.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
AZAR , Betty Schrampfer . Understanding and Using English Gram­mar. Prentice Hall Regents,
1999.
CELCE-MURCIA, M.; LARSEN-FREEMAN, D. The Grammar Book: an ESL/EFL teacher’s course.
Boston: Heinle/Cengage Learning, 2ª edição, 1999.
Fullspate EFL/ESL Materials. Available at:< http://fullspate.digitalcounterrevolution.co.uk/efl-
advanced-grammar/> Access: Mar.10, 2015.
QUIRK, R.; GREENBAUM, S.; LEECH, G.; SVARTVIK, J. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English
Language. New York: Longman, 1985.
Randon Idea English. Available at:< http://random-idea-english.blogspot.com.br/2014/09/
exploring-inversion-and-fronting.html> Access: Mar.10, 2015.
SWAM, M. Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2 ed., 1995.

86 • capítulo 3
TODEVA, E. Language Change Factors in a Broader Perspective. In: BORETZKI, N.; ENNINGER,
W.; JEBING, B.; STOLZ, T. (Eds.). Sprachwandel und seine Prizipien, Bochum : Uversitätsverlag
Dr.N.Brochmeyer, 1991, p. 71-85.

capítulo 3 • 87
88 • capítulo 3
 4
Syntactic Relations
4.  Syntactic Relations
Sentences are little packages of words that come together to express complete
thoughts. In this chapter we are going to deal with two different sentence
perspectives: (a) morphological sentence typology, which is directly related to
English sentence types: declarative sentences, interrogative sentences, negative
sentences and imperative sentences. And in the second part of the chapter
we are going to see the four different (b) English sentence structures: simple,
compound, complex and compound-complex sentences. The main difference
between sentence types and sentence structures is that while the first is related
to the word order and sentence constituents, the latter is related to how the
clauses are related to each other to express complete ideas.

GOALS TO BE REACHED
•  Understand the word order difference in English sentence types;
•  Learn about the different sentence structures;
•  Learn how to avoid problems in sentence structures.

QUESTION
Did you know that in English we cannot omit the subject of a sentence? Did you know
that we cannot include any word between the verb and its object? Did you know that place
generally comes before time in sentences?

4.1  The English Sentence

The grammatical definition of sentence is: a sentence contains a subject, a verb,

at least one independent clause, initial capitalization and end punctuation.
According to Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman (1999), the word order in English
sentences is less flexible than it is in many other languages, or than it used to
be in English 1,000 years ago. The reason is that English has lost most of its
inflectional system originally inherited from the Germanic languages, which

90 • capítulo 4
consisted of noun and adjective suffixes that reflected the gender, number and
case, as well as verb suffixes that reflected person and number of the subject
nouns and present and past tenses. Without these inflexions to mark the
subject and objects, English came to rely on a more fixed word order to tell the
subject apart from the object.

4.1.1  Morphological Sentence Types

There are basically four sentence types as concerning the word order in English
structures: declarative (also known as affirmative) sentences, interrogative
sentences (also known as questions), negative sentences and imperative
sentences. We are going to see their specific characteristics and the difference
among them.

Declarative Sentences

Like Portuguese, Spanish, French and other languages, the canonical word
order in English declarative (sometimes called indicative) sentences is SVP,
that is, Subject – Verb – Predicate. The Predicate can be either an object (O) or
the subject complement (SC), depending on the verb:

I love you. (transitive verb)

S V O

My glass is empty! (linking verb)

S V SC
©© ANTHONY MARAGOU | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

capítulo 4 • 91
 There is, however, a major difference between Portuguese and Spanish, on
the one hand, and English and French, on the other: both English and French
require that the subject of the sentence be included in the structure, whereas
Portuguese and Spanish does not have this requirement since the verb presents
person and number suffixation.
This rather fixed English word order operates in conjunction with
prepositions, which help to identify the semantic function of some objects that
are not direct objects. In the following sentence, the preposition from indicates
that Italy signals Jonathan’s origin:
•  Jonathan comes from Italy.

The verb, however, may or may not be followed by an object to fulfill its
meaning:

Our old dog died last month.

S V Adv.

In the previous sentence, the phrase last month is an adverb of time. There
is no object after the verb die. Verbs that are not followed by an object are called
intransitive verbs. Some common intransitive verbs in English are: arrive,
come, cry, live, go, rain, stay, walk, exist, among others.
Verbs that are followed by an object are called transitive verbs. If there is only
one object present in the sentence, it is generally the direct object. Common
transitive verbs are: build, cut, enjoy, find, like, dislike, make, need, send, use,
want, among others. The objects of verbs, as well as their subjects, are nouns or
pronouns.
And still some verbs can be followed by two objects. The verb and the object,
or objects, usually go together in the sentence structure. We do not include
words between them. If both objects are present in the sentence, the indirect
object normally comes before the direct object.

SUBJECT VERBS INDIRECT OBJECT DIRECT OBJECT PLACE TIME

I told Mary the whole story at school yesterday.
I told her the whole story at school yesterday.

Tabela 4.1  – 

92 • capítulo 4
 As shown in the chart above, the subject is placed at the beginning of the
sentence, followed by the verb and the objects. However, when the verb is
followed by two objects, the order they are placed can vary, that is, the direct
and indirect objects can be switched. If the indirect object is placed after the
direct object, the preposition to has to be included:

SUBJECT VERBS DIRECT OBJECT INDIRECT OBJECT PLACE TIME

I told the whole story to Mary at school yesterday.
I told the whole story to her at school yesterday.

Tabela 4.2  – 

If we decide to include an adverb in the sentence, usually the place goes

after the object(s) and the time goes after the place, as shown in the charts
above. If the verb is not followed by any object, the adverb is placed after the
verb, following this very same order:
•  Paul traveled to São Paulo on Saturday.
•  Tina walks to work every other day.
•  Don’t be late. Make sure you are here by noon.

If you do not want to put emphasis on the time, it is also possible to start the
sentence with the time adverb:
•  On Saturday Paul traveled to Paris.
•  Every other day Tina walks to work.

If there are more adverbs at the end of a sentence, the word order is normally:

Manner - Place – Time

•  Peter sang the song happily in the bathroom yesterday evening.

•  Sue drove slowly to her house last night.

Some time expressions are adverbs of frequency (always, every day, never,

usually). They are usually included before the main verb (except for be as a
main verb):

capítulo 4 • 93
 SUBJECT AUXILIARY/BE ADVERB MAIN VERB OBJECT/ PLACE / TIME
Tom   often go jogging in the evenings.
Janet doesn’t always play soccer.
My parents are usually   here in summer.
Rachel has never been abroad.

Tabela 4.3  – 

Interrogative Sentences

Interrogative sentences or questions can be divided mainly in two classes

according to the type of reply they expect: (1) Yes/no Questions; (2) WH-
Questions. We have already seen in the previous chapter (Inversion) that
interrogative sentences are the ones formally marked by inversion, that is, one
of its characteristics is that in any question we have to reverse the subject- verb
word order. They are also marked in one of two ways: Positive Yes/no questions
and Negative Yes/no questions.
•  Yes/no questions are often defined as questions for which either yes or no
is the expected answer. In this kind of question, the linking verb (e.g.: to be) or
the operator (do/ does/ did) is placed before the subject:
a. Are you hungry or thirsty?
b. Will your sister be waiting outside?
c. Did your brother call you last night?

In (a), verb to be is the only verb of the sentence and, therefore, it is followed
by the subject and the subject predicate. In (b), the auxiliary verb will (future) is
followed by the subject and the other verb which compose the future progressive
tense. In (c), the operator is followed by the subject, the transitive verb and its object.
It is also possible to ask negative yes/no questions. Negative questions are
always conducive, since there is negative orientation:
d. Aren’t you hungry or thirsty?
e. Won’t your sister be waiting outside?
f. Didn’t your brother call you last night?
In yes/no questions in which the verb is negative, usually a contraction
(aren’t/ won’t/ didn’t) is used. In very formal situation, however, the negative
particle not can be postponed and placed after the subject:
g. Does the President not live at the White House?

94 • capítulo 4
 The expected answer for (d) and (e) above is YES. In (f), it depends on the
whole situation, but if the addressee is very shocked or even very surprised the
expected answer is probably NO.

CONCEPT
“Negative orientation is complicated by an element of surprise or disbelief. The implication is
that the speaker had originally hoped for a positive response, but new evidence now suggest
that the response will be negative.” (QUIRK & ALL, 1985, p.808). Thus, (a) means You are
hungry, aren’t you?, (b) means Your sister will be waiting outside, won’t she? , and (c) means
Your brother called you last night, didn’t he?

As we can see, there is a close relationship between negative yes/no questions

and tag questions. That’s the reason why tag questions are considered the
most conducive kind of yes/no questions, which can convey either positive or
negative orientation:
h. Peter can come with us, can’t he?
i. You like pasta, don’t you?

A question tag is a question added at the end of a sentence. Speaker use

them mainly to make sure their information is correct or to seek agreement.
The most common patterns are:

Positive sentence → negative question tag

Negative sentence → positive question tag

Look at the following examples:

You’re American, aren’t you?

Positive Negative

You aren’t American, are you?

Negative Positive

capítulo 4  • 95
 In question tags we always use an auxiliary verb in the same verb tense as in
the main sentence and a subject pronoun.
j. Mary works in a bank, doesn’t she?

The sentence is in the present, so the auxiliary is do/does/don’t/doesn’t, in

this case doesn’t, because the sentence is affirmative, so the question tag has to
be negative, and the pronoun is she, because it is referring to Mary.
We cannot say: Mary works in a bank, doesn’t Mary?
Notice the meaning of yes or no in answers to question tags:

You’re coming to the party, aren’t you? “Yes.” (= I am coming.)

“No”. (= I’m not coming)

You’re not coming to work on Saturday, are you? “Yes.” (= I am going.)

“No”. (= I’m not going.)

ATTENTION
Tag questions are used to verify or check information that we think is true or to check
information that we aren’t sure is true. Sometimes we just use them for effect, when we are
trying to be sarcastic, or to make a strong point. So be sure to use them with care.
The meaning of a question tag depends on how we say it.
A question tag with rising intonation (when the voice goes up) is like a real question – it
is asking for confirmation. It means the speaker thinks he/she knows the answer but he/she
is not sure.
•  Your name is Anne, isn’t it?
•  You haven’t seen Anne today, have you?

A question tag with falling intonation (when the voice goes down) is not a real question,
you are only asking the other person to agree with you. It is a way of making conversation.
•  It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?
•  We have met before, haven’t we?

We can also use a negative sentence with a positive question and rising intonation (voice
goes up) when we want to make a request or ask for information.

96 • capítulo 4
•  You don’t know where John is, do you?
•  You couldn’t lend me your cell phone, could you?

Some special features

1. After Let’s … the question tag is shall we?

k. Let’s go to the club, shall we?

2. After the imperative, the question tag is will you?

l. Open the door, will you?
m. Don’t be late, will you?

3. When the subject is something or nothing, we use it in the question tag.

n. Something happened at Joe’s house, didn’t it?
o. Nothing bad happened, did it?

4. When the subject is somebody or nobody, we use they in the question tag.
p. Nobody phoned, did they?

5. When the main sentence is I am …, the question tag is aren’t I.

q. I am on time, aren’t I?

Answering yes/no questions: whenever you are asked a yes/no question

in English, native speakers expect a short answer. It is a cultural issue. Short
answers are used in both formal and informal situations. That’s why you should
understand how they work.

If the answer for the yes/ no question is affirmative, your short answer has
to be in the affirmative form. If the answer for the yes/ no questions is negative,
your short answer has to be in the negative form. It’s essential that you use the
auxiliary verb in the same verb tense used in the yes/no question. Note that
there is no contracted form in the affirmative short answer:
•  Are you a doctor? Yes, I am.
•  Do you speak English? Yes, I do.
•  Has Sue finished her test yet? Yes, she has.

capítulo 4 • 97
 •  Will Tom be here by noon? Yes, he will.
•  Did the children finish his homework? Yes, they did.

In negative short answers, on the other hand, you can use either the full or
the contracted form:
•  Are you a doctor? No, I am not. OR No, I’m not.
•  Do you speak English? No, I do not. OR No, I don’t.
•  Has Sue finished her test yet? No, she has not. OR No, she hasn’t.
•  Will Tom be here by noon? No, he will not. OR No, he won’t.
•  Did the children finish his homework? No, they did not. OR No, they
didn’t.

CONCEPT
According to Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman (1999), it is unlikely that the response to a
yes/no question will be in the form of a full sentence:
•  Does Jennifer always arrive on time at work?
•  Yes. She always arrives on time at work. OR
•  No. She not always arrives on time at work.
Although it is possible to give full answers, they may give the native speaker the
impression that the speaker is annoyed by the question. That’s why it is better to give short
answers instead. Research on the topic (RICHARDS, 1977; OLSEN, 1980), however, has
shown that replies to yes/no questions containing auxiliary or verb repetition made up to less
than 20 percent of the written corpus and less than 10 percent of the spoken English corpus:
native speakers are much more likely to answer questions with a direct yes (or its colloquial
variants yup, yeah, uh huh) or direct no (or its variants nah, nope, uh uh, not yet).

CONNECTION
For further reading and practice on interrogative sentences you can go to:
http://esl.about.com/od/question-forms/a/How-To-Ask-Questions.htm>

•  WH-Questions are also known as information questions since the expected

answer includes the receiving of some unknown or wanted information. This

98 • capítulo 4
kind of question is formed with the aid of one of the following interrogative
words (or wh-words):

who whom whose how what which where when why

Unlike yes/no questions, WH-questions generally have falling intonation.

As we have already seen in the previous chapter (Inversion), the word order in
questions in inverted as shown in the following chart:

QUESTION AUXILIARY OTHER INDIRECT DIRECT

SUBJECT
WORD VERB VERB(S) OBJECT OBJECT
WHAT IS your name?  

WHERE DOES your father live?

HOW DID Alex break  his leg?

WHO HAVE you sent that e-mail?

WHEN WILL John ask (out) me out?

Tabela 4.4  – 

As we can see, the word order in Wh-questions is always:

question word + auxiliary verb + S + other verbs + IO + DO

There is one exception regarding the word order above. Whenever we are
asking a question to find out the subject of the sentence, we are not supposed to
use an auxiliary verb (do/ does/ did). The verb is in the same form in a question
as it is in a statement.

QUESTION WORD VERB(S) PREDICATE

Who is at the door?

Who lives here?

What happened?

Tabela 4.5  – 

capítulo 4 • 99
 Have you noticed that the question word who is in the place of the subject?
r. Richard is at the door.
s. My parents live here.
t. An accident happened.

The use of an operator (do/ does/ did) as an auxiliary verb usually happens if
the question is in the simple present (do/does) or simple past (did). Whenever
it happens, the main verb of the sentence loses its final –(e)s (third person sing.
- present) or –ed (regular verbs in the simple past):
u. Where does Melissa live? (Mellissa lives in an apartment.)
v. When did they arrive? (They arrived yesterday)

On the other hand, if the verb tense of the sentence already includes an
auxiliary, this auxiliary verb is used in the question:
w. When will you be promoted? (I will be promoted next month!)
x. Why are teenagers always complaining? (Teenagers are
always complaining.)
y. Who has never been abroad? (Susan has never been abroad.)
z. Why were the kids crying? (The kids were crying because they
were hungry.)

ATTENTION
Besides the question words (WH-words) already mentioned, there are others formed
from how:
How much does it cost?
How old are you?
How long have you been waiting?
How often do you go to the movies?

Wh-questions can also be negative:

•  Who hasn’t had any coffee?
•  Why didn’t you tell me before?
•  When shouldn’t I call you?
•  Where doesn’t she go?

100 • capítulo 4
 CONCEPT
The questions starting with why don’t convey advice, but it often carries a critical and irritable
tone, since it is mainly used when the person you are talking to has not performed or is not
performing the recommended activity:
•  Why don’t you shave?
•  Why don’t you take your medicine regularly?
•  Whenever these questions begin with why not they convey the meaning of invitation,
suggestions or instructions:
•  Why not go by car?
•  Why not ignore his remarks?

CONNECTION
For further reading and practice on when to use do after who in questions (and when not to)
go to:
<http://random-idea-english.blogspot.com.br/2012/08/when-to-use-do-after-
who-in-questions.html>

Negative Sentences: The word order in negative sentences is in general the

same as in affirmative sentences. Note, however, that in negative sentences we
usually need either an auxiliary verb or an operator (do/ does/ did) when there is
no auxiliary in the sentence:

SUBJECT VERBS IO DO PLACE TIME

I have not told her the whole story at school yet.

I did not tell her the whole story at school yesterday.

am not going
I her the whole story at school tomorrow.
to tell

Tabela 4.6  – 

The negative particle not can appear in SVO (declarative sentence word
order), VSO (interrogative sentence word order) or even (S)VO (imperative
sentence):

capítulo 4 • 101
 a. Sally does not live in that condo in Miami anymore. (full form – often
used in formal written standard English)
b. Sally doesn’t live in that condo in Miami anymore. (contracted form –
more common in spoken English)

c. Is Sally not working at the moment? (negative question – full form)

d. Isn’t Sally working at the moment? (contracted negative question form)

e. Do not move! (negative imperative full form)

f. Don’t touch it! (negative imperative contracted form)

While on the sentence level not is the main negator, on the lexical level, no
functions as the negative determiner:
g. I have no money.
h. No one was at home to receive the package.

Analyzing all the examples above, (a) through (h), we can see that the meaning
of the negative is directly related to its scope. As it is usually said, everything
that comes after the negative particle is the scope of negation. Therefore, as not
is the particle which immediately follows an auxiliary or be verb, the scope of
not typically does not include the subject of the sentence because the Standard
English sentence pattern is S – V (subject and verb). We can, however, use the
determiner no to include the subject in the negation scope, as it happens in (h)
above.
Therefore, negation can occur at the level of words (lexical negation), at
the level of phrases (phrasal negation) and at the level of sentences (sentential
negation). At the level of words, we have to use the determiner no; at the phrase
level we have to use the particle not; and at the sentence level we can use either
no, as in (h) above, or not, as in (k) below:
i. I have no siblings.
j. I have decided not to call him.
k. Not once in my life have I been in such situation before!

In (i) the scope of negation is the word sibling, in (j) the scope is the phrase
to call him, and in (k) it is the whole sentence, since the particle not is used at
the beginning of the sentence. We have already seen in the previous chapter

102 • capítulo 4
(Inversion) that whenever a negative adverbial is placed at the beginning of the
sentence, as it happens in (k), we necessarily have to invert the subject-verb
canonical order of the sentence. That’s why in (k) the auxiliary have is placed
before the subject of the sentence, I.

In sum, as a rule, we can say that no expresses a negative idea and functions
as an adjective in front of a noun, whereas not is used to make a verb negative.
Both no and not can be used with other expressions to make negative adverbs:
l. I have no money. (no + noun or noun phrase)
m. I don’t have any money. (not + verb)
n. Under no circumstances will I lend you some money.
o. Not until much later did she realize that she had made a huge mistake.
The use of double negatives is not accepted as a correct structure in Standard
English. Therefore, sentences in which not has already been used, no words,
such as nothing and nowhere, are turned into any words, such as anything
and anywhere:
p. I haven’t done anything wrong!
q. I have done nothing wrong!
r. Mary isn’t going to travel anywhere.
s. Mary is going to travel nowhere.

In the same way, whenever a negative adverb is used in a sentence, the

verb cannot be in the negative form. The adverbs never and seldom used
in the sentences below are negative adverbs, so the verb has to be in the
affirmative form:
t. Mary and her husband Peter had never been treated so badly before.
u. Sarah seldom takes time off work.

Imperative Sentences

This is the last sentence type and it is normally associated with commands
and requests, that is, the communicative function of “getting someone to do
something”, as illustrated in the following sentences:
•  Go away!
•  Shut up, please!
•  Don’t even mention it!

capítulo 4 • 103
 An imperative sentence typically begins with the base form of the verb
(infinitive without to). The subject you is elliptical, which would seem to be
in violation of one of English fundamental phrase structure rules, which
indicates that every sentence must have both a subject and a predicate. Another
idiosyncrasy of imperative sentences is the fact that they are tenseless (no verb
tense associated to them) and take no modals. As this sentence type is associated
with command, imperatives are used when there is a status difference between
the speaker and the listener such that the first has the power to give orders or
commands to the latter to do something.
So, how are imperatives formed? As we normally use imperative sentences
when directly speaking to the person we are getting to do something, the
subject is the second person singular or plural, related to the person or people
the speaker is talking to. That’s why whenever we have to insert the object of a
reflexive verb, which has necessarily to be identical in reference to the subject
of the verb, the reflexive pronouns yourself / yourselves are the ones to be used:
•  Watch yourself! (singular)
•  Watch yourselves! (plural)

Negative imperatives are a little bit more complicated, since there are three
types that can occur:
•  Don’t mention it!
•  Don’t you mention it!
•  Do not mention it!

CURIOSITY
The structure containing an uncontracted negative and the inclusion of subject does not occur:
•  *Do not you mention it!
•  *Do you not mention it!

Even when verb to be is used as the main verb of the sentence, we have to use
a do operator:
•  Don’t be late!
•  Don’t you be late!
•  Do not be late!

104 • capítulo 4
 The only way to form a negative imperative without do operator, is using the
fronted negative adverb never:
•  Never be late again!
•  Don’t you ever be late again!

As we can see, the sentences above have the same meaning, but different
grammar structures. The omission of do operator in the first example is possible
because the negative adverb never used at the beginning of the sentence already
carries the negative meaning of don’t. That’s why never is substituted by don’t
+ ever in the second sentence.
As we have already mentioned before, imperatives can also be used for
requests. As imperatives are not considered a polite way of asking someone
something, adding please or kindly:
•  Pass the salt, please.
•  Please pass me the salt.
•  Kindly hand me the report.

Besides commands and requests, imperatives can be used as offers,

wishes, invitations, advice, directions, instructions. In the case of affirmative
imperatives, the use of the operator do enhances the politeness of the sentence
or even make them more emphatic:
•  Have a nice class. (wish)
•  Do have a nice class.

Other uses of imperatives:

Offer: Have another piece of pie.
Invitation: Come in.
Advice: Don’t forget you have a doctor’s appointment at 3:00!
Directions: Go straight ahead and then turn right.
Instructions: Add two cups of sugar.

4.2  Sentence Structure

In this second part of the chapter, we are going to deal with sentence structure.
First, however, it is necessary to understand the difference between phrases,
clauses and sentences. Since phrases form clauses, and clauses form sentences,
it is essential to refer first to these two constituents of sentences.

capítulo 4 • 105
 A phrase consists of one or more words. It is the immediate constituent
of a clause. Therefore, one or more phrases together form a clause. There are
different kinds of phrases: noun phrases, prepositional phrases, verb phrases,
adverb phrases, adjective phrases and even phrasal verbs are examples of
phrases. So, the best definition for the word phrase is “a group of two or more
words that express a single idea but do not usually form a complete sentence”
(MERRIAM-WEBSTER Online Dictionary1).
A clause is formed by the combination of a subject (noun or noun phrase)
and a verb (or verb phrase). It is the basic unit of English grammar. We have
already mentioned that the subject must be included in English, being
imperative sentences the only exception for this rule. Clauses are made up of
phrases. An independent clause (or main clause) is a complete sentence. It
contains the main subject and verb of a sentence.
•  Julia lives in Boston. (independent clause)
•  Where does Julia work? (independent clause)

On the other hand, dependent clauses (or subordinate clauses) are not
complete sentences. They must, however, contain a subject and a verb;
otherwise, they cannot be considered a clause. There are different kinds of
clauses depending on the function they have on the sentence: noun clauses,
adverb clauses, adjective clauses:

I know where Julia works.

Main Clause Subordinate Clause = Noun Clause

I talked to the man whose son saved my life.

Main Clause Subordinate Clause = Adjective Clause

He was talking on the phone when I arrived at the office, he

Main Clause Subordinate Clause = Adverb Clause of Time

It is usually assumed that the sentence is the highest-ranking unit of

grammar. A typical English sentence contains a mixture of simple and complex
units, that is, it is composed of a single word or a combination of words; as well
as a single clause or a combination of clauses. In sum, according to Quirk &
All (1985), sentences are the highest unit of grammar study and consist of one
1 Available at: < http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/phrase>

106 • capítulo 4
or more clauses, which consist of one or more phrases, which consist of one
or more words. Therefore, in order to know a little more about these highest
units of grammar, in this session we are going to see the difference among the
different kinds of sentences in English.

Simple Sentences

A simple sentence contains, at least, one subject and one verb and its main
characteristic is that it expresses a complete thought. It means that it can stand
alone as an independent clause. According to Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman
(1999), there are five basic simple sentence patterns in English:
•  The lights went off. (subject + verb)
•  Alice and her husband bought a puppy. (subject + verb + object)
•  John sent Ann some flowers. (subject + verb + IO + DO)
•  My closest friend Tina is very kind. (subject + verb + subject predicate)
•  He makes me happy. (subject + verb + object + object predicate)
A simple sentence isn’t necessarily short. The subject can be a single word
like the personal pronoun He, a noun phrase like My closest friend Tina or it
can be a double subject like Alice and her husband.

Compound Sentences

A compound sentence, also called multiple sentence, consists of two or more

clauses of equal grammatical importance. Therefore, compound sentences
refer to a sentence made up of two independent clauses (or complete sentences)
connected to one another with a coordinating conjunction.
The seven coordinating conjunctions are short, simple words. They have
only two or three letters. There’s an easy way to remember them - their initials
spell FANBOYS:

F A N B O Y S
FOR AND NOR BUT OR YET SO
Tabela 4.7  – 

The following are examples of compound sentences. The independent

clauses are underlined:

capítulo 4 • 107
 •  I hope they win the championship, for it would be a dream come true
for them.
•  It was raining hard, and there was a strong wind.
•  Richard didn’t buy the car, nor did he get married.
•  I arrived at the airport early, but the plane was late.
•  Mark and Betty will close their business or they will just leave town.
•  The doctors tried hard to save the boy, yet he died during the surgery.
•  Hanna doesn’t eat meat, so Barbara prepared a special vegetarian dish
for her.

The following short paragraph from Ernest Hemingway’s Another

Country contains several coordinated words, phrases, and clauses.

We were all at the hospital every afternoon, and there were different ways of walking
across the town through the dusk to the hospital. Two of the ways were alongside
canals, but they were long. Always, though, you crossed a bridge across a canal to enter
the hospital. There was a choice of three bridges. On one of them a woman sold roasted
chestnuts. It was warm, standing in front of her charcoal fire, and the chestnuts were
warm afterward in your pocket. The hospital was very old and very beautiful, and you
entered through a gate and walked across a courtyard and out a gate on the other side.
(Available at: http://grammar.about.com/od/basicsentencegrammar/a/
coordination.htm)

Complex Sentences

A complex sentence, like the simple sentence, consists of only one independent
(main) clause, but it has also one or more subordinate (dependent) clause(s)
which function as an element of the sentence. In this case, the constituents
of the sentence have an asymmetrical relation because of the subordination
of one or more clauses to the main clause. The following are examples of
complex sentences:
•  As soon as the singer finished her song, the audience burst into applause.
as soon as (subordinating conjunction)
the singer finished her song (adverbial clause)
the audience burst into applause (main clause)

108 • capítulo 4
 •  Hanna had a difficult childhood because her mother died when she was
very young.
Hanna had a difficult childhood (main clause)
because (subordinating conjunction)
her mother died (adverbial clause)
when (subordinating conjunction)
she was very young (adverbial clause).

The first sentence above is considered complex because there is one

subordinate clause followed by a main clause. The second sentence is also
complex since it is composed of a main clause and two subordinated clauses.

Compound- Complex Sentences

A compound-complex sentence is formed by two or more independent

sentences which, like the simple sentences, are linked by a coordinating
conjunction and one or more dependent (subordinated) clause(s). They are
a mixture of compound sentences and complex sentences. The following
sentence is an example of a compound-complex sentence:
•  Although Liza has always lived in Brazil, she is pretty fluent in English
and knows a lot about African culture since her mother was American and her
father was Nigerian

Although (subordinating conjunction)

Liza has always lived in Brazil (adverbial clause),
she is pretty fluent English (main clause)
and (coordinating conjunction)
(she) knows a lot about African culture (main clause)
since (subordinating conjunction)
her mother was American (adverbial clause)
and (coordinating conjunction)
her father was Nigerian (adverbial clause).

The sentence above consists of clauses that are linked both by coordination
- with the use of the conjunction and - and subordination - with the use of the
conjunctions although and since), which are the two major devices for linking
clauses within the same sentence.

capítulo 4 • 109
 MULTIMEDIA
To see a video about these four sentence types to go to: The 4 English Sentence Types –
simple, compound, complex, compound-complex. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=urr55rAreWc>

4.3  Sentence Problems

•  Fragments
In order to be considered a sentence, the group of words must necessarily
contain subject and verb and at least one independent or main clause. If a group
of words does not have an independent clause, it is a fragment, not a sentence.
Therefore, fragments are incomplete sentences. To correct a fragment we often
attach it to an independent clause and one way of doing it is removing the period
between the fragment and the main clause. Take a look at the following examples:
•  *The baby woke up. Because the doorbell rang.

The sentence The baby woke up expresses a complete thought and, though,
can stand by itself. It is an independent clause that can stand by itself - a simple
sentence. The second structure Because the doorbell rang doesn’t express a
complete thought, since it starts by a subordinating conjunction (because) and,
therefore, cannot stand by itself. It is not a sentence – it is a fragment. To correct
the mistake it must be attached to an independent clause in order to form a
complete sentence:
•  The baby woke up because the doorbell rang.
•  Because the doorbell rang, the baby woke up.

The order the clauses appear in the sentence is not important. If, however,
we start the sentence by the subordinate clause, a comma is used to separate
the dependent from the independent clause.

The following phrases are fragments not sentences:

•  Dr. Walker writing an article right now. (no auxiliary verb)
•  Were writing an important document. (no subject)

110 • capítulo 4
 •  Such an interesting subject. (no verb)
•  Because Ms. Jones is on vacation. (dependent clause)
•  Which is a renowned author. (dependent clause)

In order to be considered a sentence, the group of words must necessarily

contain subject and verb and at least one independent, or main clause. If a
group of words does not have an independent clause, it is a fragment, not a
sentence.
•  Run-on Sentences and Comma Splices

As we have already seen, a sentence is made up of at least one independent

clause. A sentence containing more than one independent clause must be
punctuated properly to avoid two kinds of errors: the run-on sentence and the
comma splice.
A run-on sentence is a group of words containing at least two independent
clauses without any punctuation separating them; the sentences are
“run together.”

Thomas and Susan were jogging in the morning, and old friend waved to them
Independent Clause Independent Clause

There are four different ways to correct a run-on sentence:

a. Separate the two independent clauses with a period. Capitalize the first
word of the second clause. So, don’t forget: a period and not a comma is used to
separate two independent clauses.
•  Thomas and Susan were jogging in the morning. An old friend waved
to them.

b. Separate the two independent clauses with a semicolon. Do not

capitalize the first word of the second clause.
•  Thomas and Susan were jogging in the morning; an old friend waved
to them.

c. Join the two independent clauses with a comma and a

coordinating conjunction.
•  Thomas and Susan were jogging in the morning, and old friend waved
to them.

capítulo 4  • 111
 d. Make one of the independent clauses dependent by adding a
subordinating conjunction, and separate the two clauses with a comma if the
dependent clause comes first.
•  When Thomas and Susan were jogging in the morning, an old friend
waved to them.

A comma splice is the joining of two independent sentences with only a

comma. A comma, however, does not provide adequate separation.

Alex and Hellen were on call the whole weekend, they were very tired.
Independent Clause Independent Clause

A comma splice can be corrected by the same four methods used to

correct a run-on sentence: using a period; a semicolon; a comma and a
coordinating conjunction; and making one of the clauses dependent by adding
a subordinating conjunction. However, there is a fifth way of correcting a
comma splice:
e. Converting one of the clauses into an adverbial –ing phrase if the
subjects of the two clauses are the same.
•  Having been on call the whole weekend, Alex and Hellen were very tired.

CONNECTION
To read more about sentences, fragments and run-ons go to:
http://advancegrammar.blogspot.com.br/2009/09/sentences-fragments-and
-run-ons.html
To read more about sentence structures go to:
http://advancegrammar.blogspot.com.br/search/label/SENTENCES

ACTIVITIES
Sentence Types

01. Identify and label each sentence, declarative, interrogative, negative or imperative. Write
the correct punctuation mark after each sentence.
a) Never have I seen Susan so excited about a project

112 • capítulo 4
b) Do you know where Greece is
c) Never do it again
d) The blue water in Greece is beautiful
e) Reading mythology will get you excited about traveling
f) Come with us
g) What happened to your brother
h) She is neither beautiful nor smart

02. Put in the correct question tags.

a) He loves to read the newspaper,____________?
b) You are American, _______________?
c) Miriam didn’t use the notebook _____________?
d) John has answered the professor’s question, _____________?
e) The boy isn’t from Chile, ______________?
f) Mary wasn’t watching television, ________________?
g) Jessica is sleeping right now,   ___________________?
h) They will arrive in London tomorrow,_________________?
i) He’s been to China,__________________?
j) He’s smart, ________________?
k) I’m late,__________________?    
l) Let’s go,  __________________?
m) Don’t smoke, _________________?
n) You have cleaned your room,__________________?
o) They don’t like Science, _____________________?
p) Peter played handball yesterday, _________________?
q) They are going home from school, ___________________?
r) Jane didn’t do her homework yesterday, _________________?
s) He could have bought a new car, __________________?
t) He had left his car outside the house, _________________?

Sentence Structure

03. Which sentence structure are the following: simple sentence, compound sentence,
complex sentence or compound-complex sentence?
a) Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, a little girl wished upon a star for her wicked
step-mother to be eaten by the evil dwarves inhabiting the nearby forest.

capítulo 4 • 113
b) Many scientists believe, and many politicians agree with their assessment, that climate
change will have a major effect on the economy.
c) Generally speaking, teachers at this institution need to undertake, of their own accord
of course, supplementary training courses outside of school hours in order to enhance
their skills and methodologies and to meet the demands of a new generation of students.
d) The doctor advised Heather to either increase her intake of essential nutrients with
vitamin supplements, or risk the health of her unborn baby.
e) The purchase price of the new equipment was certainly reasonable, but the timing of it
was questionable at best.
f) Phil organized the meeting while Jan took care of the catering, which turned out to be
the most memorable part of the afternoon.
g) The snowstorm had closed down the school, so Mindy’s kids, neither of whom wanted to
stay indoors all day, were allowed to go outside and play in the snow while Mindy made
them a special lunch.

04. How many independent clauses are in the following sentence?

The new recruits were somewhat shocked by the sergeant’s meanness, and some even
complained to the commanding officer, but nothing changed as a result of these complaints.

05. What is the main subject of the following sentence (the subject of the first
independent clause)?
Because of the poor weather, and despite the fact that no one really minded getting wet,
the concert was postponed and all ticket holders were given vouchers that they could use
either to get a refund or to exchange for the rescheduled performance date.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

In this chapter we have talked about the characteristics of sentence types and sentence
structures in English. We started off defining a sentence as “little packages of words that
come together to express complete thoughts” and pointing out that the word order in English
sentences is less flexible than it is in many other languages, Portuguese included. The
canonical order in English sentences is SVO, which means that first we have the Subject,
then the Verb and next the Object. We went on analyzing each one of the sentence types:
declarative sentences, interrogative sentences, negative sentences and imperative sentences.
In the second part of the chapter we talked about the four sentence structures we have in

114 • capítulo 4
English: simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences. We have seen that
the difference among them is a matter of the number of clauses they are composed of and
the way by which these clauses are linked: coordination or/ and subordination. We wrapped
out the chapter talking about some mistakes students usually make whenever trying to build
English sentences: since sentences are composed of clauses, and clauses are necessarily
composed of both a subject and a verb, any combination of words that do not meet this
standard rule is considered a fragment. We have also seen that punctuation mistakes can
lead to run-on sentences and comma splices.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
AZAR , Betty Schrampfer . Understanding and Using English Gram­mar. Prentice Hall Regents,
1999.
CELCE-MURCIA, M.; LARSEN-FREEMAN, D. The Grammar Book: an ESL/EFL teacher’s course.
Boston: Heinle/Cengage Learning, 2ª edição, 1999.
OLSEN, J. In Search of Y/N S-AUX: A Study of Answers to Yes-No Questions in English.
Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics
Society, 1980, p. 400-422. Available at: <http://journals.linguisticsociety.org/proceedings/index.php/
BLS/article/view/2110>
QUIRK, R.; GREENBAUM, S.; LEECH, G.; SVARTVIK, J. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English
Language. New York: Longman, 1985.
RICHARDS, J. Answers to Yes/No Questions. English Language Teaching Journal 31 (2), 1977, p.
136-141.
SWAM, M. Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2 ed., 1995.

capítulo 4 • 115
116 • capítulo 4
 5
Syntax:
Coordination
5.  Syntax: Coordination
“Coordination is the type of grammar construction in which two or more units
of the same status on the grammar hierarchy may constitute a single unit of
the same kind.” (QUIRK & ALL; 1985, p. 46) Therefore, coordination implies
the balance of elements that are of equal semantic value in the sentence. There
are three coordination possibilities: coordination of words (nouns, verbs,
adjectives and adverbs), coordination of phrases and coordination of clauses.
Coordination is the use of coordinating conjunctions (seen in the previous
chapter), conjunctive adverbs (with appropriate punctuation), or punctuation
to combine short independent clauses into a single sentence. In this chapter,
you are going to understand why coordination is central to the structure of
English sentences.

GOALS TO BE REACHED
•  Understand the difference between dependent and independent clauses;
•  Learn what coordination is all about;
•  Learn the different ways to coordinate units of equal semantic value in the sentence;
•  Learn how to correct fragments and avoid run-on sentences and comma splices in
sentence structures.

QUESTION
Did you know that in order to use linking words such as and, but, or and nor in English, you are
supposed to use words or phrases that have the same grammatical function in the sentence?
This is called parallel structure. The linking words used in this sentence pattern are called
coordinating conjunctions.

118 • capítulo 5
5.1  Clause Types

Clause, as we have already seen in chapter 4, is “any construction containing a

subject-verb relationship” (CELCE-MURCIA & LARSEN-FREEMAN; 1999, p. 20).
A verb and a subject together are sometimes enough to form a sentence as in:
•  The girl fell down.
©© MNSTUDIO | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

In this case, what is the difference between a clause and a sentence? Clauses,
such as the one above which can stand by itself, are labeled independent
or main clauses; and a clause which cannot stand by itself as a sentence is
labeled dependent, or subordinate clause. The latter is often preceded by a
subordinating conjunction or adverbial subordinator, such as:
•  [The girl fell down] [when she was ice skating].
•  [When the girl was ice skating,] [she fell down].

In the sentences above, the underlined clause is dependent, or subordinated,

because it cannot stand by itself: it makes no sense to say just “when she was
ice skating”. Some information is missing. What happened when she was ice
skating? Thus, in the sentence “[The girl fell down] when she was ice skating”,
the first bracketed clause is the independent or main clause, and the second
(underlined) is a subordinate or dependent clause.
In the sentences above, one clause (the underlined one) is made a
constituent of the other clause, that is, the subordinate clause is part of the
main clause. This is called subordination. Subordination and coordination are
the two major devices for linking clauses within the same sentence. The main
difference between subordination and coordination is the nature of the clauses
which constitute them:

capítulo 5 • 119
 SUBORDINATION: [INDEPENDENT CLAUSE] + [SUBORDINATE CLAUSE]

COORDINATION: [INDEPENDENT CLAUSE] + [INDEPENDENT CLAUSE]

Subordinate or dependent clauses, such as the underlined clauses, are

embedded in other clauses, and they are introduced by a subordinating
conjunction, such as when in the examples above. Independent clauses, on the
other hand, are more clearly-defined units than sentences, since the simple
combination of a subject and a verb that can stand by itself is enough to label a
clause as independent.
However, as in grammar there are always exceptions for the rule, not all
coordinated sentences are typical examples of the joining of two completely
independent clauses. According to Quirk & All (1985), grammar is to some
extent an undetermined system. Categories and structures often do not have
neat boundaries and, therefore, should be explored by gradience. Gradience is
a scale which relates two categories of description, such as subordination and
coordination, in terms of degrees of similarities and contrast. At the ends of
the scale are items which prototypically belong to one category and to another;
intermediate positions on the scale are taken by fuzzy cases, that is, items which
fail, in different degrees, to fulfill the criteria for one or the other category.
Whenever dealing with coordinating and subordinating conjunctions, we can
clearly notice that there is a scale relating such conjunctions, so that but and
even though, both which introduce the contrast idea, represent clear cases of
each category, whereas for, which introduces the same idea as “because”, is in
an intermediate position:

but for even though

Take a look at the following sentences:

120 • capítulo 5
 ©© FRANCESCO FACONTI | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
•  It was cold, but Josh still went
swimming.
•  Josh went swimming even
though it was cold.
•  Josh didn’t go swimming, for it
was cold.

As we can notice in the sentences above, but is prototypically a coordinating

conjunction, since it joins two independent clauses. Likewise, we can say
that even though is prototypically a subordinating conjunction, since it joins
an independent clause (I went swimming) and a dependent clause (even
though it was cold). We can also assure that for is closer to even though in its
syntactic behavior than to but, “and can reasonably be classed as a peripheral
subordinator” (QUIRK & ALL; 1985, p.90).

CONCEPT
Peripheral subordinator: for is not clearly considered a coordinator, such as and, or and but.
We call “pure” coordinators as prototypical because they are considered the best example
of the category. For is not considered the best example of coordinators nor subordinators.
That is why Quirk & All (1985) call it a “peripheral subordinator”: it can be placed somewhere
between coordinating and subordinating conjunctions, but its syntactic behavior is closer to
subordinators than coordinators.

5.2  Coordinating Conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions are short grammatical words connecting words,

phrases, or clauses that are roughly equal in form and function. Conjunctions
presumably exist and are used as a syntactic operator to make language
processing easier. The use of conjunctions can help eliminate redundancy and
repetition, making communication more efficient and effective. Conjunctions
can also clarify the relationship between phrases, clauses and sentences. When

capítulo 5 • 121
conjunctions are not used to combine the ideas expressed in the clauses, the
meaning of a sequence of simple sentences may be ambiguous.
•  The weather was stuffy. It was raining cats and dogs.
©© WINNERLANA | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Without the conjunction, the most likely interpretation of the sequence of

simple sentences above might be the idea of addition:
•  The weather was stuffy and it was raining cats and dogs.

People who live in hot climates, however, know that when it rains, the
weather usually gets cooler and the most likely interpretation of the relationship
between the sentences might be contrastive. As a consequence, we could
interpret the sentences in a different way:
•  The weather was stuffy, yet raining cats and dogs.

Thus, the use of conjunctions is essential to disambiguate the relationship

between clauses or even simple independent sentences, helping clarify
intended meaning.

ATTENTION
The most common coordinating conjunctions are and, or, and but. However, as we have
already seen in the previous chapter, simple coordinating conjunctions include nor, so, yet
and for as well.

122 • capítulo 5
Parallel Structure

Coordination, also known as conjunction, is the process of combining two

constituents of the same type to compose a larger constituent of the same
type. In grammar, this process is called compounding: two simple sentences
(independent clauses: subject + verb) that are combined by means of a comma
plus a connecting word, i.e., a conjunction, make a compound sentence; two
subjects that are combined with the conjunction make a compound subject.
•  [It was raining hard], and [there was a strong wind.] (compound sentence)
•  [Susan] and [her friend] are coming for Christmas. (compound subject)

There are several options for conjunction in English. The combination of

like constituents with a coordinating conjunction is called simple coordination:
•  Robert is extremely kind and generous. (adjective + adjective)

Another possibility is the ellipsis (omission) of redundancies in the

sentence, such as the elimination of verbs common to both clauses that are
going to be combined:
•  He is going to wash his car and (is going to) listen to some music.

As we notice, the easiest way to combine two constituents of the same type
is to use the coordinating conjunction and, which seems to mean much the
same as the plus sign in math (+). Let’s take a look at the constituents that and
may conjoin:
•  [bacon] and [eggs] (noun + noun)
•  [Susan] and [her friend] (NP + NP)
•  [kind] and [generous] (adjective + adjective)
•  [very kind] and [extremely generous] (AP + AP)
•  [wash] and [listen] (verb + verb)
•  [wash vigorously] and [loudly listen] (VP + VP)
•  [across the field] and [into the trees] (PrepP + PrepP)
•  [angrily] and [noisily] (adverb + adverb)
•  [quite angrily] and [rather noisily] (AdvP + AdvP)
•  [It was raining hard], and [there was a strong wind.] (Sentence + Sentence)

capítulo 5 • 123
 Sentences containing the sequences shown above naturally occur:
•  Bacon and eggs is one of the most standard breakfasts. 
•  The teenagers spoke quite angrily and rather noisily on the corridors.
•  Peter led Susan across the field and into the trees.

The conjoined constituents form a superconstituent of the same category.

The units and structures may be duplicated without affecting their position
in the sentence. The conjunctions used in this pattern are and (shown in the
previous examples), but, or, and nor (shown in the following examples):
•  These high-heeled shoes are new but comfortable. (new and comfortable)
•  You can go by air or by rail. (by air or by rail)
•  Susan did not travel, nor did she attend classes at college last week. (did
not travel nor attend classes)

The following diagrams illustrate the bifurcation of one unit into two linked
units of equal status:

SENTENCE

Clause

NP PREDICATE

Verb SC

These high-heeled shoes are new but comfortable

The constituent which contains the coordinated units, i.e., the Subject
Complement (SC), is internally composed by two equivalent units (adjective +
adjective) conjoined by the coordinating conjunction but.

124 • capítulo 5
 Prepositional Phrase
Conjoint

PrepP Conjunction PrepP

by air or by rail

The conjoint prepositional phrase, i.e., by air or by rail, is internally

composed by two equivalent units (PrepP + PrepP) conjoined by the coordinating
conjunction or.
It is important to point out that there is a possibility of multiple conjoined
structures and also that coordination can occur at different levels of the tree:
Subject: [Susan and her friend] are coming for Christmas.
Direct Object: Let’s get [some cheese, bread and a bottle of wine.]
Indirect Object: Peter sent [his wife and his mother] some flowers on
March 8th.
Obj. of Prep.: My mother agrees with [my son but not with my daughter].

Do not forget that whenever you include a conjoined Verb Phrase (VP),
all the verbs must be in the same verb tense or verb form (gerund; infinitive;
participle or even passive voice):
•  Peter enjoys reading books, listening to rock music and playing sports
(gerund)
•  The boy wants to watch TV or (to) play video games. (infinitive)
•  Sally looked for her book but couldn’t find it. (simple past)
•  My brother will leave at eight and (will) arrive at ten. (future)
•  John did not study, so he failed the exam. (past)
•  The prisoner was arrested, (was) taken to the police station, (was) booked
and (was) fingerprinted. (passive voice)

As we can see, coordination of shared auxiliary verb(s) or infinitive particle

to, is common. The implication of chronological sequence is used if the main
verb has dynamic meaning. Also, sentences which contain a series of nouns can
share the article, but it is more common to place the article before each noun:

capítulo 5 • 125
 •  Tina bought a book, a bag, a dress and a CD.
•  Tina bought a book, bag, dress and CD. (shared article)
•  *Tina bought a book, a bag, dress and CD. (incorrect)

Whenever we share a short grammatical word, there are two possibilities:

either you repeat it before each verb or noun or you include these grammatical
words only before the first verb or noun. That’s why the last sentence above
is wrong.

ATTENTION
A parallel structure may contain more than two parts. In a series, commas are used to separate
each unit. The final comma that precedes the conjunction is optional:
•  John, Josh, and Tina are coming to the party. (commas before and) OR
•  John, Josh and Tina are coming to the party. (no commas before and)

However, no commas are used if there are only two parts to a parallel structure:
•  *John, and Tina are coming to the party.

Paired Conjunctions

Though simple coordination does not present ESL/EFL learners many

problems, paired conjunctions, also known as correlative conjunctions, cause
them learning difficulties, since there are two-part correlative structures. In
these complex coordinated structures, one part of the correlative structure
precedes the first conjunction and the other correlative structure precedes the
second conjunction. The paired conjunctions include both…and, either…or,
neither…nor, not only…but also.

Both…and
The paired conjunction both…and presents a wide range of use possibilities
as those presented by the simple conjunctions, with the exception of full
sentence coordination:
•  Both [my mother] and [my father] visited me.
•  [My mother] and [my father] both visited me.
•  My mother is both [kind] and [generous].

126 • capítulo 5
 •  My mother is [kind] and [generous] both.
•  The author wrote the book both [enthusiastically] and [creatively].
•  The author wrote the book both [with enthusiasm] and [with creativity].
•  The author wrote the book with both [enthusiasm] and [creativity].
•  Josh wants both [to take] a vacation and [to travel].
•  Josh both wants to [take] a vacation and [travel].
•  Sue both [washed] the clothes and [ironed] them.

Have you noticed that some variants, in which the first correlative (both)
does not occur immediately before a constituent type identical to the one
before which the second occurs, are also possible? These variants have the same
meaning of their standard pattern, but some of these variants are, however,
considered more informal and perhaps less widely accepted.

The use of both in front of the first constituent type to reinforce or clarify the
conjoining function and, thus, emphasizing its additive meaning, is possible:
•  Alex has met Alice’s mother and father.
•  Alex has met both Alice’s mother and father.

However, both…and can separate the constituent parts, putting them on the
same footing, but dissociating them from the consequential or sequent relation:
•  Alex loves Alice and (therefore) wants to propose to her.
•  Alex both loves Alice and wants to propose to her.

Both…and can also distinguish the constituent parts rather than combining
them. Compare the following sentences:
•  Alex and Alice got divorced. (= from each other)
•  Both Alex and Alice got divorced. (= so now they can marry each other)

Either…or and Neither…nor

The paired conjunctions either…or and neither…nor present equivalent
syntactic constructions to both…and, since they present a wide range of
use possibilities and in that they are generally placed directly before the
options mentioned:
•  Either [my mother] or [my father] will visit me.
•  Neither [my mother] nor [my father] will visit me.

capítulo 5 • 127
 •  My mother can be either [kind] or [generous].
•  My mother is neither [kind] nor [generous].

•  The author wrote the book either [enthusiastically] or [creatively].

•  The author wrote the book neither [enthusiastically] nor [creatively].

•  Josh wants either [to take] a vacation or [to travel].

•  Josh wants neither [to take] a vacation nor [to travel].

There are variants to the last one of these pairs of sentences in which the
paired conjunctions appear in a different position. The following affirmative/
negative sentences have the same meaning as the last two above:
•  Josh wants either to [take] a vacation or [travel].
•  Josh wants neither to [take] a vacation nor [travel].

•  Josh either wants [to take] a vacation or [to travel].

•  Josh neither wants [to take] a vacation nor [to travel].

It is important to point out that either…or, unlike both…and and neither…

nor, can also be used at the clause level as well as the clausal level:
•  Either [Nick studies hard for the exam,] or [he’ll fail the course.] (Clause
+ Clause)

The use of either…or emphasizes the exclusive meaning of or:

•  Looking at the picture, either
©© XIXINXING | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

[Rick is very tall] or

[Nick is very short] because they are
about the same age.

128 • capítulo 5
 Nor and neither can be used as negative additive adverbs without being a
paired conjunction. In this case, the previous sentence is either explicitly or
implicitly negative:
•  He did not go to the party nor did he go to college last night. He
simply disappeared!
•  She never forgave him for the insult; neither could he get rid of that awful
feeling of being guilty for the whole situation.

As nor and neither are negative adverbs, the subject and the verb have to be
inverted. Notice that nor and neither in the examples above in not equivalent to
or plus not Rather, it is closest in meaning to and plus not:
•  He did not go to the party and he did not go to college last night. He
simply disappeared!
•  She never forgave him for the insult, and he could not get rid of that awful
feeling of being guilty for the whole situation.

As negative additive adverbs, nor and neither are interchangeable, since we

can use either one or the other without change of meaning.

Not (only)…but (also)

Some grammars include the combination of the negator not or not only
with a following but or but also as a paired conjunction. The meaning, however,
is essentially additive (like that of both…and) since it distinguishes rather than
equates the conjoined parts, focusing attention on the second conjoined since
the first conjoined is presented as already known:
•  Yesterday not only rained, but (also) snowed in my neighborhood.
•  Not only my mother, but (also) my father stopped by for a visit.
Notice that parallel structure is a rule for any paired conjunction. In the
following sentences, the meaning is that the emphasis suggests that the content
of the first clause is surprising but the second is still more surprising:
•  Not my brother, but his wife is the owner of the restaurant.
•  The news was given not to inform but to persuade the people that the
President was guilty of the offence.

capítulo 5 • 129
Paired Conjunctions: Subject – Verb Agreement

The correlatives both…and mark coordination in subject noun phrase:

•  She and I are in charge. (plural verb does not carry person distinctions)
•  Both she and I are in charge.
•  Both her knowledge and her experience are astonishing. (subject position)
•  Both my husband and my personal trainer arrived early. (two
different persons)
•  He was both my husband and my personal trainer. (only one person –
Subject Complement)

The subjects connected by both…and take a plural verb, as in the first and
second sentences above. In the third sentence, he is the subject and agrees with
the verb, was.
Subjects coordinated with or, either… or, neither…nor, or not (only)… but
(also) the principle of proximity applies and the last NP determines the person
of the verb:
•  Neither you, nor I, nor anyone else knows the correct answer.
•  Neither the professor nor the students are satisfied with the conditions
at college.
•  Not only my mother, but (also) my father is here for a visit.
•  Not only my brother, but also my parents are here for a visit.
•  Either my mother or I am going to help her out.

As the last sentence sounds awkward, native speakers may avoid it making
use of a modal auxiliary which is invariable for person:
•  Either my mother or I will be going to help her out.

5.3  Syndetic, Asyndetic and Polysyndetic Coordination

The term coordination is used by some grammarians for both syndetic

coordination and asyndetic coordination. The difference between the
two constructions is that syndetic coordination is marked by the use of
conjunctions to link the conjoined parts, usually labeled conjoins; whereas
asyndetic coordination presents no explicit coordinator, but the conjoins are

130 • capítulo 5
still coordinated. Finally, polysyndeton refers to the use of a coordinating
conjunction (and/or) after every term in the list, except the last. It is
considered just a matter of effect, or style. We are going to get started with
syndetic coordination and the different coordinating conjunctions we have
in English.

Syndetic Coordination

Syndetic coordination refers to the use of coordinating conjunctions, words

such as and, but, yet, or, nor, so and for to merely link clauses together. They do
not generate dependent clauses, since they do not become part of the clauses
they connect. Thus, the sentences:
•  Sally is intelligent, but she was also very stubborn.
•  Sally is intelligent and she is also very stubborn.
are formed by two independent clauses since the coordinating conjunctions
and/ but merely connects (or “coordinates”) them, and both of which could
stand by themselves as proper sentences.

ATTENTION
The use of for as a coordinating conjunction is somewhat archaic. On the other hand, the
use of nor occurs much more frequently with its correlative counterpart neither, which we
have already addressed in the previous session. That’s why we are not going to be discussing
them in this session.

The English language has seven coordinating conjunctions, represented by

the acronym FANBOYS:
For – signals reason or purpose (just like because)
•  [Lucy has been studying hard], for [she intends to be a doctor].

And – signals addition

•  Susan likes [tea] and [coffee].

Nor - signals a negative alternative idea to an already stated negative idea

•  [John doesn’t like tea], [nor does Ricky].

capítulo 5 • 131
 But - signals contrast
•  [Ricky likes tea], but [Alex likes coffee].

Or - signals an alternative or a choice

•  [Do you want to go out] or [are you tired]?

Yet - signals a contrasting idea that follows the preceding idea logically
(similar to but)
•  Richard is [lazy], yet [well intentioned].
So - signals effect, result or consequence
[I want to work as an interpreter in the future], so [I am studying English
at university].

CONNECTION
To read more about coordinating words, phrases and clauses go to: <http://grammar.about.
com/od/basicsentencegrammar/a/coordination.htm>

Asyndetic and Polysyndetic Coordination

The use of coordinating conjunctions is one way by which two independent

clauses may be joined together, which is called syndetic coordination. The other
way two independent clauses may be joined together is by using a semicolon
according to the pattern: Clause1; Clause 2.
•  [The football game is postponed]; [we will have to do something else].
•  [We had no idea who the redheaded man was]; [none of us had seen him
before].
•  [The Turkish bath is a dying institution]; [it now rarely found in
American cities].

In the sentences above, there are two independent clauses which are linked
together by the use of punctuation: the semicolon ( ; ) is used to coordinate
the independent clauses. Also if an independent clause containing internal
punctuation is joined to another independent clause by a coordinating

132 • capítulo 5
conjunction, it may be advisable to separate the two clauses with a semicolon
rather than a mere comma:
•  [It is not a good idea to miss a class]; yet [if you have to miss one,][ you
should make an effort to see a classmate’s notes.]

Besides being used to coordinate two independent clauses so that they form
a single sentence, asyndentic coordination can also be used as a rethorical
writing style. A sentence style that omits conjunctions where we would
ordinarily expect them is called asyndetic. Take a look at the following example:

At five o’clock in December, the sun has been gone for two hours. The air is cold. The
sparse streetlamps of Skansen provide a misty light. Down below, the city is just visi-
ble as smoky patches of light. Glassblowers and silversmiths are hard at work in the
open-air museum. Joona walks through the Christmas market in Bollnäs Square. Fires
are burning, horses are snorting, chestnuts are roasting. Children race through a stone
maze, others drink hot chocolate.
(Lars Kepler, The Hypnotist. Trans. by Ann Long. Picador, 2011)

Syndeton is an old rhetorical term for a sentence style that relies on

conjunctions. A style that uses many coordinate conjunctions is called
polysyndetic. Here’s an example:

He pulled the blue plastic tarp off of him and folded it and carried it out to the grocery
cart and packed it and came back with their plates and some cornmeal cakes in a
plastic bag and a plastic bottle of syrup. He spread the small tarp they used for a table
on the ground and laid everything out and he took the pistol from his belt and laid it on
the cloth and then he just sat watching the boy sleep.
(Cormac McCarthy, The Road. Knopf, 2006)

CURIOSITY
Asyndeton is a rhetorical term for a writing style that omits conjunctions between words,
phrases, or clauses. Adjective: asyndetic. The opposite of asyndeton is polysyndeton.

capítulo 5 • 133
 According to Edward Corbett and Robert Connors, “The principal effect of asyndeton is to
produce a hurried rhythm in the sentence” (Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, 1999).
In his study of Shakespeare’s style, Russ McDonald argues that the figure of asyndeton
works “by means of juxtaposition rather than coupling, thereby depriving the auditor of clear
logical relations” (Shakespeare’s Late Style, 2010).
(Source:< http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/asyndterm.htm>)

CONNECTION
To read about The Syndetic And Asyndetic Coordination English Language Essay go to:
<https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/the-syndetic-and-asyndetic-
coordination-english-language-essay.php>

ACTIVITIES
01. Identifying dependent and independent clauses: underline independent clauses once
and dependent clauses twice.
a) I’ll pay you back as soon as I get my paycheck.
b) Whenever there is poverty, there is potential for conflict.
c) Sophia is such a great chef that she could get a position in a world-class restaurant.
d) I learned more English spending three months in the USA than I did my high school
English classes.
e) If Michael passes his final exam, he’ll pass the course.
f) Although I don’t like cold weather, I’ll visit Europe in the winter.

02. Choose the correct completion. Sometimes more than one alternative may be right.
1. My roommate is friendly and ______ .
a. helpful b. kind c. generous

2. Jack opened the window and ______ .

a. turn on the fan. b. turned on the fan. c. closed the door.

3. Honesty and ______ are admirable qualities in a person.

a. generous b. intelligence c. kindness

134 • capítulo 5
4. Julia was listening to music and ______ at the same time.
a. study b. doing exercises c. does her homework

5. Everyone had a good time at the dinner party and _______ home happy.
a. go b. going c. went

6. No one enjoys ______ up at the end of the party.

a. staying and cleaning b. to stay and clean c. stay and clean

03. Write ‘C’ if the parallel structure is Correct; ‘I’ if it is Incorrect and make the necessary
corrections.
a) I admire John for his kindness, intelligence, and he is honest. ______
b) Abraham Lincoln was both a politician and a lawyer.______
c) The ship sailed across the lake smoothly and quiet. ______
d) Jack studies each problem carefully and works out a solution. ______
e) Aluminum is plentiful and relatively inexpensive. ______
f) Children are usually interested in but a little frightened by snakes. ______
g) Either fainting can result a lack of oxygen or a loss of blood. ______
h) Not only universities support medical research but also many government agencies.
______
i) The comedian made people laugh by telling jokes and make funny faces. ______
j) Physics explains why water freezes and how the sun produces heat. ______

04. Paired Conjunctions: subject – verb agreement.

a) Neither the students nor the professor ______ the result of the election. (know)
b) Neither the professor nor the students ______ the result of the election. (know)
c) Not only the students but also the professor ______ the answer. (know)
d) Not only the professor but also the students ______ the answer. (know)
e) Both the professor and the students ______ the result of the election. (know)
f) Both the students and the professor ______ the result of the election. (know)
g) Neither Alex nor Alice ______ going to study for the test. (be)
h) Either John or Mary ______ going to take care of the baby tonight. (be)
i) Not only Chris but also his brother ______ to go ice skating this weekend. (want)
j) Neither my siblings nor my husband _____ with my decision. (agree)

capítulo 5 • 135
05. Each of the following sentences exhibits coordination. Is it syndetic, asyndetic or
polysyndetic coordination? The conjoins have been bracketed.
a) [Michael] and [Paul] called you this morning.
( ) Syndetic
( ) Asyndetic
( ) Polysyndetic
b) You wouldn’t believe how many exams I’ve got. I’ve got [semantics] and [pragmatics] and
[sociolinguistics] and [psycholinguistics] and [syntax].
( ) Syndetic
( ) Asyndetic
( ) Polysyndetic
c) This wine has a [rich], [fruity], [full-bodied] quality.
( ) Syndetic
( ) Asyndetic
( ) Polysyndetic
d) I’d like [coffee], [milk] and [french toast] for breakfast.
( ) Syndetic
( ) Asyndetic
( ) Polysyndetic
e) It was [a happy time], [a carefree time], [a period of our lives which we will never forget].
( ) Syndetic
( ) Asyndetic
( ) Polysyndetic

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Parallelism, also known as parallel structure, is an important feature of English that makes
our speaking, and specially our writing, easier to understand. To make speech and writing
parallel, we are supposed to put all items in a series in the same grammatical form: singulars
with singulars, plurals with plurals, actives with actives, passives with passives, simple past
with simple past, gerunds with gerunds, etc. Coordination, also known as conjunction, is the
process of combining two constituents of the same type to compose a larger constituent
of the same type. There are three ways to coordinate words, phrases and clauses: syndetic
coordination, asyndetic coordination and polysyndetic coordination. Syndetic coordination, in
which a coordinating conjunction is present, is the most common type. Asyndetic coordination,

136 • capítulo 5
in which no coordinator is present, and polysyndetic coordination, in which a coordinator is
used before each word or phrase of a list or in which more than one coordinator is used to join
independent clauses, are used both as a grammatical tools and as a rethorical writing style.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
AZAR , Betty Schrampfer . Understanding and Using English Gram­mar. Prentice Hall Regents,
1999.
CELCE-MURCIA, M.; LARSEN-FREEMAN, D. The Grammar Book: an ESL/EFL teacher’s course.
Boston: Heinle/Cengage Learning, 2ª edição, 1999.
QUIRK, R.; GREENBAUM, S.; LEECH, G.; SVARTVIK, J. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English
Language. New York: Longman, 1985.
SWAM, M. Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2 ed., 1995.

ANSWER KEY
Chapter 1

06. Complete the sentences with the correct preposition:

a) Jane is waiting for you at the bus stop.
b) The shop is at the end of the street.
c) My plane stopped at Dubai and Hanoi and arrived in Bangkok two hours late.
d) When will you arrive at the office?
e) Do you work in an office?
f) I have a meeting in New York.
g) Do you live in Japan?
h) Jupiter is in the Solar System.
i) The author’s name is on the cover of the book.
j) There are no prices on this menu.
k) You are standing on my foot.
l) There was a “no smoking” sign on the wall.
m) I live on the 7th floor at 21 Oxford Street in London.
n) There is some water in the bottle. The label on the bottle says that the water contains
45 ppm of sodium ions. 

capítulo 5 • 137
o) There is somebody at the door. The sign on the door says “Do not disturb”.
p) A: “Is there a bank near here?”
B: “Yes, there is one at the end of this block.”
q) Sheila came to New York two weeks ago to study English.
r) “Do you want to go to the movies tonight?”
s) Munich lies 530 meters above sea level.
t) The flight from Leipzig to London was via Frankfurt.

07. Complete the sentences with the correct preposition and then underline the
prepositional phrase:
at on in for since during by until
a) Jorge has left town. He’ll be back in a week.
b) We’re throwing a party on Friday. Can you come?
c) I have a job interview next week. It’s at 8:15 on Wednesday afternoon.
d) Susan isn’t usually here on/at weekends. She goes to her parents’ house.
e) Public Transportation is very effective here. Trains and buses are almost always on time.
f) The whole situation was very confusing: many things happening at the same time.
g) I couldn’t decide whether to stay home or go out. In the end I decided to go out.
h) I was woken up by a loud noise during the night.
i) I last saw my boyfriend on Friday night, but haven’t seen him since then.
j) Tom’s birthday is at the end of January. I’m not sure about the day.
k) Give me a call. I should be home by 8 o’clock.
l) I’ll be away until the 25th. I’ll be on vacation!

08. Fill in the blanks with a preposition.

I’m Peter and I live in Germany. In summer I like to travel to Italy, because of the weather
and the people there. Last summer I took a plane from Munich to Rome. From the airport
we went to our hotel by bus. We stopped at a small restaurant for a quick meal. The driver
parked the bus behind the restaurant. Nobody could find the bus and the driver, so we
waited  outside the restaurant for one hour. The driver was walking through the small
park near the restaurant which we did not know. So we were very angry with him. But my
holidays were great. We sat round campfires and went dancing till the early mornings.

09. Complete the following sentences with the correct preposition: to, toward, on, onto, in, or
into. Some sentences may have more than one possible correct answer. Note: a few verbs of
motion take only on rather than onto.

138 • capítulo 5
a) Peter has returned to his hometown.
b) The dog jumped in/ into the lake.
c) Are the children still swimming in the pool?
d) Alex fell on/onto the floor.
e) The airplane landed on the runway.
f) We drove toward the river for an hour but turned north before we reached it.
g) The kids climbed on/ onto the monkey bars.
h) Jack got in/ into Mary’s car.
i) The toddler spilled his cereal on the floor.
j) We shouted to the man on the ladder: “Hang on!”
k) I went to the gym.
l) My neighbors moved the table into the dining room.
m) John left your keys on the table.
n) Mr. Barthes apologized for interrupting us and told us to carry on with our discussion.
o) I walk to the amusement park.
p) Tom drove Richard to the airport.
q) Ginna almost fell in/ into the river.
r) The waitress noticed that there was no more Dr. Pepper in Sheila’s glass.
s) Liz and Sarah took the bus that was heading toward the university.
t) Julia jumped on/ onto the stage and danced.

10. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate preposition: to or for.

a) 1. I slept for only three hours last night.
b) It was my first trip to Europe.
c) Turn off the computer and go straight to bed.
d) This book was written for the people who want to learn how to play the cello.
e) I was late for school.
f) Take this vitamin, it’s good for your health. (purpose)
g) Take these pills, they’re good for you. (purpose)
h) Johnny be good to me. (relationship)

Chapter 2

01. Use the following verbs (I. believe, fill, get, look, put, switch, take, throw, turn, try)
and the prepositions (away, down, for, in, off, on, out) and form meaningful sentences.

capítulo 5 • 139
 1. Quick! Get on the bus. It’s ready to leave.
2. I don’t know where my book is. I have to look for it.
3. It’s dark inside. Can you switch on the light, please?
4. Fill in the form, please.
5. I need some new clothes. Why don’t you try on these jeans?
6. It’s warm inside. Take off your coat.
7. This pencil is really old. You can throw it away.
8. It’s so loud here. Can you turn down the radio a little.
9. The firemen were able to put out the fire in Church Street.
10. He had a hat but he didn’t put it on.

02. Complete the sentences with the phrasal verbs below. Don’t forget to change the verbal
tense when necessary.
a) Have you found out if you won the competition yet?
b) I need to get away from work and take a holiday.
c) She still hasn’t gotten over the death of her cat.
d) My daughter is a great cook, she really takes after her mother.
e) Could you hold on a moment while I see if John is in his office?
f) Extension 28? I’ll put you through.
g) She promised to cut down her cigarette smoking to six a day.
h) He spent the entire night thinking and in the end came up with a brilliant idea.
i) I’m afraid your story is not believable. It just doesn’t add up.
j) Cherry looked after my cats while I was away on holiday.
k) We’re not ready yet, we are going to have to put off the meeting until next week.
l) I’m looking for Judy’s address. Do you know it?
m) Mary turned up twenty minutes late for the party.
n) I’m tired of waiting for Jane. Can we get on with our work?

03. Complete the sentences with the phrasal verbs below. Don’t forget to change the verbal
tense when necessary.
a) If you really want to lose weight, you need to give up eating desserts.
b) Let’s go over the grammar one more time before the test.
c) I was looking for an old t-shirt when I came across this photograph of my high school
class.
d) Look Magda, I’ve put up with your bad behavior long enough!
e) There is just too much work to be done. We’ll have to take on some new employees.
f) You don’t think I believe that ridiculous story you made up, do you?
g) I think you need to take up a new hobby to help you relax.

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h) When the father saw what had happened he blew up and shouted at his son.
i) I had to turn down her offer of a job. The salary on offer was just not good enough.
j) We set off at six in the morning on our drive to the coast.
k) Barbara and Jack broke up last week. They just weren’t happy together.
l) We’d better stop soon. Otherwise, we’ll run out of gas.
m) I want you to take back every bad word you’ve said about my brother.
n) Unfortunately, I had to tell off Bob because of his poor performance recently.

04. Complete the sentences with the phrasal verbs below. Don’t forget to change the verbal
tense when necessary.
a) Our flight was delayed, but we finally took off shortly after midnight.
b) He got away with cheating on his final exam!
c) I’m trying to give up smoking, but it’s almost impossible for me.
d) Let’s get together with Ted and Hanna soon.
e) Unfortunately, I turned up late for my meeting and lost the contract.
f) Finally, the lights went out and we had a good night’s sleep.
g) You won’t believe who showed up for the party! Brad Pitt!
h) I’m afraid I had to settle for eggs and bacon. I really wanted to have pancakes, but they
were out of them.
i) He got into the club on recommendation from his friend Ricky
j) I sped up and past the policeman doing 120 m.p.h.!
k) Unfortunately, our school had to do away with the music department because of lack of
funds.
l) Make sure to watch out for pick-pockets when you go to the market.
m) The boy ran up to the man and returned his wallet.
n) Mary came up to me at the party last night and introduced herself.

05. Replace the words in italics with it or them. Sometimes you will need to change the word
order of the sentence.
a) I enjoy looking after children.
I enjoy looking after them.
b) I always wear out my shoes very quickly.
I always wear them out very quickly.
c) I like trying on clothes at shops.
I like trying them on at shops.

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d) I’m really looking forward to my summer vacation.
I’m really looking forward to it.
e) My parents often ask me to turn down my music.
My parents often ask me to turn it down.
f) I never look up new words in a dictionary.
I never look them up in a dictionary.

Chapter 3

01. I. Unscramble the word to form sentences.

a) Here is the book you asked for.
b) My mother won’t wait for them, and neither will I.
c) Such was her disappointment that she started to cry.
d) There goes my money!
e) Behind the mountain lay the most beautiful valley that he had ever seen.
f) So exhausted did he feel that he went straight to bed.
g) Sue and Thomas don’t have children, nor have they shown any signs of planning one.
h) Marie comes from Sweden, as do several other members of the class.
i) Peter can swim really well, and so can his twin sister.
j) I neither know him, nor have I ever seen him before.

02. Rewrite the following sentences into inversion sentences.

a) In no way does the coordinator want to be associated with this project
b) Scarcely had I finished writing my essay when the examiner announced the end of
the exam
c) Never had Hanna and Paul been to such a fantastic restaurant.
d) Little did the arrested man understand about the situation.
e) On no account should the children go on their own.
f) Nowhere had the actress met such rude people before.
g) Seldom does my husband leave home so early.
h) Rarely do people appreciate this musician’s talent.
i) No sooner had the children had lunch than the ceiling crashed onto the dining table
j) Only the following morning would the world understand what had happened that day.

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03. First match the sentence halves and then rewrite them beginning with were, had (past
perfect) or should.
1. If I had enough money, I would travel abroad more often. (C)
2. If the weather had been nice, my friends and I would have spent more time at the club.
(G)
3. If you should need more money, go to the bank before four o’clock. (A)
4. If Mike were my professor, I would be the best student of the course. (J)
5. If you should change your mind, just give me a call. (B)
6. If my sister had been better prepared, she would have gotten the job. (I)
7. If my parents were younger, they would move to England with me. (D)
8. If Mary should need any help, she could call her neighbor. (E)
9. If I were offered the job, I wouldn’t hesitate in accepting it. (H)
10. If my soccer team wins again today, I will go out and celebrate it. (F)
Only sentences with were, had (past perfect) and should can be turned into inverted
implied conditional.
a) Had the weather been nice, my friends and I would have spent more time at the club.
b) Should you need more money, go to the bank before four o’clock.
c) Were Mike my professor, I would be the best student of the course.
d) Should you change your mind, just give me a call.
e) Had my sister been better prepared, she would have gotten the job.
f) Were my parents younger, they would move to England with me.
g) Should Mary need any help, she could call her neighbor.
h) Were I offered the job, I wouldn’t hesitate in accepting it.

Chapter 4

Sentence Types

01. Identify and label each sentence, declarative, interrogative, negative or imperative. Write
the correct punctuation mark after each sentence.
a) Never have I seen Susan so excited about a project. (negative)
b) Do you know where Greece is? (interrogative)
c) Never do it again! (Imperative)
d) The blue water in Greece is beautiful. (declarative)
e) Reading mythology will get you excited about traveling. (declarative)

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f) Come with us! (Imperative)
g) What happened to your brother? (Interrogative)
h) She is neither beautiful nor smart. (Negative)

02. Put in the correct question tags.

a) He loves to read the newspaper, doesn’t he?
b) You are American, aren’t you?
c) Miriam didn’t use the notebook did she?
d) John has answered the professor’s question, hasn’t he?
e) The boy isn’t from Chile, is he?
f) Mary wasn’t watching television, was she?
g) Jessica is sleeping right now, isn’t she?
h) They will arrive in London tomorrow, won’t they?
i) He’s been to China, hasn’t he?
j) He’s smart, isn’t he?
k) I’m late, am I not? (formal) / I’m late, aren’t I (common spoken English) ?    
l) Let’s go, shall we?
m) Don’t smoke, will you?
n) You have cleaned your room, haven’t you?
o) They don’t like Science, do they?
p) Peter played handball yesterday, didn’t he?
q) They are going home from school, aren’t they?
r) Jane didn’t do her homework yesterday, did she?
s) He could have bought a new car, couldn’t he?
t) He had left his car outside the house, hadn’t he?

Sentence Structure

03. Which sentence structure are the following: simple sentence, compound sentence,
complex sentence or compound-complex sentence?
a) Which sentence type is the following? (Simple)
one independent clause (a little girl wished upon a star)
b) 2. Which sentence type is the following? (Compound-Complex)
2 independent clauses, 1 noun clause
c) 3. Which sentence type is the following? (Simple)
1 independent clause: teachers need to undertake supplementary training courses

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d) 4. Which sentence type is the following? (Simple)
1 independent clause: The doctor advised Heather
e) 5. Which sentence type is the following? (Compound)
2 independent clauses.
f) 6. Which sentence type is the following? (Complex)
1 independent clause, 2 dependent clauses (1 adv., 1 adj.)
g) 7. Which sentence type is the following? (Compound-Complex)
2 independent clauses, 2 dependent clauses

04. How many independent clauses are in the following sentence? (3)

05. What is the main subject of the following sentence (the subject of the first independent
clause)? (Concert)
(Available at: http://www.engvid.com/the-4-english-sentence-types-simple-compound-
complex-compound-complex/#quiz)
Chapter 5

01. Identifying dependent and independent clauses: underline independent clauses once
and dependent clauses twice.
a) I’ll pay you back as soon as I get my pay check.
b) Whenever there is poverty, there is potential for conflict.
c) Sophia is such a great chef that she could get a position in a world-class restaurant.
d) I learned more English spending three months in the USA than I did my high school
English classes.
e) If Michael passes his final exam, he’ll pass the course.
f) Although I don’t like cold weather, I’ll visit Europe in the winter.

02. Choose the correct completion. Sometimes more than one alternative may be right.
a) My roommate is friendly and ______ .
a. helpful b. kind c. generous
b) Jack opened the window and ______ .
a. turn on the fan. b. turned on the fan. c. closed the door.
c) Honesty and ______ are admirable qualities in a person.
a. generous b. intelligence c. kindness
d) Julia was listening to music and ______ at the same time.
a. study b. doing exercises c. does her homework

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e) Everyone had a good time at the dinner party and _______ home happy.
a. go b. going c. went
f) No one enjoys ______ up at the end of the party.
a. staying and cleaning b. to stay and clean c. stay and clean

03. Write ‘C’ if the parallel structure is Correct; ‘I’ if it is Incorrect and make the necessary
corrections.
a) I admire John for his kindness, intelligence, and he is honest honesty. (Incorrect)
b) Abraham Lincoln was both a politician and a lawyer. (Correct)
c) The ship sailed across the lake smoothly and quietly. (Incorrect)
d) Jack studies each problem carefully and works out a solution. (Correct)
e) Aluminum is plentiful and relatively inexpensive. (Correct)
f) Children are usually interested in but a little frightened by snakes. (Correct)
g) Either Fainting can result either from a lack of oxygen or a loss of blood. (Incorrect)
h) Not only universities but also many government agencies support medical research but
also many government agencies. (Incorrect)
i) The comedian made people laugh by telling jokes and make making funny faces.
(Incorrect)
j) Physics explains why water freezes and how the sun produces heat. (Correct)

04. Paired Conjunctions: subject – verb agreement.

a) Neither the students nor the professor knows the result of the election. (know)
b) Neither the professor nor the students know the result of the election. (know)
c) Not only the students but also the professor knows the answer. (know)
d) Not only the professor but also the students know the answer. (know)
e) Both the professor and the students know the result of the election. (know)
f) Both the students and the professor know the result of the election. (know)
g) Neither Alex nor Alice knows going to study for the test. (be)
h) Either John or Mary is going to take care of the baby tonight. (be)
i) Not only Chris but also his brother wants to go ice skating this weekend. (want)
j) Neither my siblings nor my husband agrees with my decision. (agree)

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05. Each of the following sentences exhibits coordination. Is it syndetic, asyndetic or
polysyndetic coordination? The conjoins have been bracketed.
a) [Michael] and [Paul] called you this morning.
(X) Syndetic
( ) Asyndetic
( ) Polysyndetic
b) You wouldn’t believe how many exams I’ve got. I’ve got [semantics] and [pragmatics] and
[sociolinguistics] and [psycholinguistics] and [syntax].
( ) Syndetic
( ) Asyndetic
(X) Polysyndetic
c) This wine has a [rich], [fruity], [full-bodied] quality.
( ) Syndetic
(X) Asyndetic
( ) Polysyndetic
d) I’d like [coffee], [milk] and [french toast] for breakfast.
( ) Syndetic
(X) Asyndetic
( ) Polysyndetic
e) It was [a happy time], [a carefree time], [a period of our lives which we will never forget].
( ) Syndetic
(X) Asyndetic
( ) Polysyndetic

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