The Basic Teacher
STEP 5
Vocabulary
Read and memorize this nouns and adjectives.
Nouns
Country |
 |
Family |
 |
Food |
 |
Meal |
 |
Meat |
 |
Plate |
 |
Town |
 |
Place |
|
Work |
|
|
|
Adjectives
Early - Late
Structure words
Be |
Before – After |
Or |
Do |
For |
When |
Have |
Will |
Where |
Make |
Come |
While |
May |
Some |
|
Out |
But |
|
Structure
All nouns ending in “y” after a consonant change the “y” to “ie” before the “s” of the plural.
Up to this point, the nouns we have introduced have all been names that are applied to individual things of the same sort, which may be called "countable" (pot, drawer, flag, etc.). We come now to nouns of a different sort that is, to nouns naming substances of which separate examples are looked on as portions, not countable. Therefore, a, which has the sense of 'one',' is only used before the name of a substance in the sense 'a sort of,' an, correspondingly, the name of a substance may be used in the plural only in the sense 'sorts of.'
- This is a food.
- These are foods.
When talking of a substance in general, we are the noun without any special word in front of it.
When talking of an indefinite amount of a substance, the noun may similarly be used alone.
The used before the name of a substance indicates 'this particular amount of it which we are talking about.'
- The food is on the table.
Nouns naming qualities, conditions, activities (though not single acts), and so on come under the same rules as names of substances.
- I will get work in the town.
Notes:
Country, in its root sense, is not treated as the name of a countable. But, unlike substance words, country in this sense is never used in the plural and never used unqualified. If not qualified in any other way, it requires the.
- I go to the country in a train.
“Some” is another non-descriptive adjective. It is an adjective indicating an indefinite amount or an indefinite number greater than one. It is used before singular nouns naming substance etc. and before plural nouns naming countable or 'sorts.' It is never preceded by the or by a pointing or possessive adjective.
- He puts some food on the table.
- He gives some flowers to the woman.
“Some” is also used as a pronoun, with the sense 'an indefinite numbed or amount of (wherever we are talking about).'
- The food is in the pot. She puts some on her plate.
- The seats are against the wall. I take some to the table.
“Some” (and any of the other pronouns indicating quantity to which we shall be coming later) may be linked by of to the name of the thing or things to which it refers, provided this names a particular thing, or group and, if a noun, is therefore preceded by the or a pointing or possessive adjective.
- Some of the meat is here.
- She put some of it on her plate.
Review plural forms of the Third Person.
Men
The { Women } are in the room.
Man and the woman
- I take some food to them.
- They put the food on their plates and take them to the table.
- Some cushions are on the seat. Their covers are black.
Root Form |
Present |
Past |
Future |
DO |
DO |
DID |
WILL DO |
But:
He,she, it
DOES |
HAVE |
HAVE |
HAD |
WILL HAVE |
But:
He,she, it
HAS |
MAKE |
MAKE |
MADE |
WILL MAKE |
But:
He,she, it
MAKES |
Here are three more operators. Learn all the forms in the Table except the Past.
DO Do is not the name of any particular act. We do something when we perform any action.
Special attention will have to be given to the words which may be used as objects of do, for these have been largely fixed by usage and cannot be discovered by the simple exercise of common sense. Not all names of acts or activities can be so used.
- I do this and you do that.
- I do work in the country and he does work in a town.
HAVE We have things, which are a part of us, and things of which we are the owners or which are in our possession, and things which are ours in some looser way.
- The box has a back and a front and sides.
- They have a house in the town.
- The man by the train has a flag.
- I have a friend.
An important use is in describing a person or thing as accompanied by, or wearing, or carrying, or having attached to it, some other thing. In this case, the precise relation often has to be specified by a preposition etc.
- I have a friend with me.
- The man has a flag in his hand.
In the simplest sense of make, the things we make are physical things.
- The men make a road.
- She makes a curtain.
- They make a wall.
As you will have seen, the Future Tense is formed by putting the auxiliary will, which is the same in all Persons, before the root form of the operator. The Future of all operators is formed in the same way.
- The man will make a seat.
- They will be quick.
- The women of the family will do the work.
- I will have a house in the country.
- The porter will take their bags.
The auxiliary “May”, which is the same in all Persons, is used to indicate that something is possible, that is, that it possibly is a fact now or possibly will become one in the future. In either case, may is used in the Present Tense followed by the root form of he operator, the sense depending on the context.
- He may come here.
- This train may be the early train.
- She may take her family to the country.
You have already seen how negative statements are formed with the Present Tense of “be”. A negative with the Present Tense of “have” is formed in the same way, by putting not after the operator.
With all the other operators, negative statements in the Present Tense are made by using the appropriate form of “do” (which is here an auxiliary), followed directly by not and completed by the root form of the operator.
- I do not make pots.
- She does not do work in the store.
With the auxiliaries “may” and “will”, do is not required and not is placed immediately after the auxiliary.
- He will not give the picture to me.
- This may not be (is possibly not) the front of the house.
- They may not go there.
The opposites “before” and “after”, though originally naming positions in space, are more importantly used to indicate position in time. “Before” is still used for a position in space, but “after” is used in this way only when there is also present an idea of succession.
- He will do some work before the meal.
- I may go into the town after my work.
- I put some food before the man.
- B and C are after A.
The first use of “for” is as a pointer to a purpose or function.
- They have food for a late meal.
- This is a shelf for books
- She may get some flowers for you.
Out names the opposite of the position in space which is named by in (which may also, as we shall see later, be used as an adverb).
- Some food is in the pot. She takes it out.
“Or”, like and, links words, phrases, or independent statements, presenting an alternative between what is so linked.
- The woman or her friend will be at the station. (But not both.)
- This is not a shelf.
- The food may be on the table or in the box.
- The ticket may be in the drawer or he may have it in his pocket.
Note that when the subject of a sentence consists of two singular nouns or pronouns joined by or, the operator is singular.
- The man or the woman is in the house.
The conjunction “but” links only statements, the second statement will oppose what has been said in the preceding statement.
- The front of the train is full but the back is not full.
- A meal is on the table but it is not for me.
When two statements are linked by “and” or “or” but have the same subject, not only is this frequently omitted in the second statement (as we have already seen in connection with and) but also any parts of the second statement which repeat the first (i.e. the operator, or operation and its object, etc.).
Note that where not is needed in such a second statement it may be put in without the operator.
- I get my bag from the table and my books from the shelf.
- He will not put the ticket in the box or give it to the man.
- I will give these flowers to the woman but not those.
- She will make a cover for the bed but not for the seat.
“Where” joins to the main statement a dependent statement indicating the place of the action of the main statement. The word-order after a word introducing a dependent statement is the same as in an independent statement.
- She puts the meat where the other food is.
- I do not go where the others go.
“When” similarly links a dependent statement indicating the time of the action.
- I come into the room when the meal is on the table.
“While” similarly links a dependent statement indicating the time during or within which the action takes place.
- I do work while my friends are here.
“Where” and “While” are some of the statements of this sort are frequently put at the beginning of the sentence. 1
“Where” and “When” may also be relative adverbs (acting, that is, as a conjunction and adverb at the same time).
With all the other operators, negative statements in the Present Tense are made by using the appropriate form of do (which is here an auxiliary), followed directly by not and completed by the root form of the operator.
- I do not make pots.
- She does not do work in the store.
With the auxiliaries “may” and “will”, do is not required and not is placed immediately after the auxiliary.
- He will not give the picture to me.
- This may not be (is possibly not) the front of the house.
- They may not go there.
1 Where-statements may also be transposed in this way, but with certain limitations which make it advisable for the learner to keep the straightforward order until he has had more experience. |
Exercises
1. Make a sentence in Basic describing what you see in each of these pictures, using the operator “do” in your sentence about (a), “make” in your sentence about (b), and “have” in your sentence about (c).
A:
2. Put these sentences into the Future Tense.
- She makes a meal for the family.
A:
- The man does not put the ticket in his pocket.
A:
- The woman and her friend get some books at the store.
A:
- The porter has not a flag in his hand.
A:
- This train goes from the station when the other train goes.
A:
3. Put a conjunction in the blanks in these sentences.
- She will put some food on there plates _____ not on my plate.
A:
- A man _____ a woman is on that seat.
A:
- He will be at his office _____ I am in the train.
A:
- The box _____ the bag are full.
A:
4. Make up a sentence of each word
A:
A:
A:
A:
5. Put these sentences into the negative form:
- I may go with him when he comes.
A:
A:
- She has a bag under her arm.
A:
- The family will go to the country.
A:
A:
- The shelves in her office are not by the door.
A:
- This ticket is across the other ticket.
A:
6. Put the right form of the operator in place of the root form given in brackets:
- He will be there when the train (come) into the station.
A:
- I will put the food where he (get) it.
A:
- The porter takes the boxes to the train while we (get) the tickets.
A:
- I will make a shelf while she (do) her work.
A:
