Teach english new edition r

Adjective and preposition
Many adjectives are followed by specific prepositions, e.g. ‘interested in’, ‘keen on’, ‘happy 
about’, etc.
Adjectives as nouns
We can use some adjectives as if they were nouns, e.g. ‘the blind’, ‘the po or’, etc (see also 
collective nouns on page 
66
).
Adjective or adverb?
Some words can be both adjectives and adverbs, depending on whether they modify nouns 
or verbs. W hen we say ‘I had a late lunch’, ‘late’ is an adjective, but when we say ‘He arrived 
late’, it is an adverb. Although many adverbs end in ‘-ly’, a word like ‘deadly’ (‘a deadly 
disease’) is functioning as an adjective.
The verb phrase
In any discussion of verbs we need to bear in m ind two main parameters, 
tense 
and 
aspect.
A verb tense is the form of the verb we choose when we want to say what time (past, 
present, future, etc) the verb is referring to. However, this is complicated by the fact that 
we can use the same tense (or form) to talk about more than one time, as we saw on page 
63. The form of the verb also depends on whether we want to say the action is ongoing or 
whether it is complete. The aspect (continuous, simple, perfect, etc) which we choose for 
the verb describes this.
This section looks at three different types of verb: auxiliary verbs, m ain verbs and 
phrasal (multi-word) verbs, 
before going on to look at different verb forms, and verb 
complementation. We will then look at adverbs and adverbial phrases.
Auxiliary verbs
Auxiliary verbs are ‘be’, ‘do’ and ‘have’ and the modal auxiliary verbs ‘shall’, ‘should’, ‘will’, 
‘would’, ‘can’, ‘could’, ‘may’, ‘m ight’, ‘m ust’ and ‘ought to’. They are used with main verbs (see 
page 69) in affirmative sentences, negative sentences and question formation.
68

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Describing language
EXAMPLES
We 
are
staying at a friend’s house.
W eVe only just got our new computer.
She 
doesn’t
expect to be here very long.
You 
can’t
afford to pay for a hotel like that, 
can
you?
He 
ought to
find a place of his own at his age.
Could
you text me when you arrive?
Did
you live in Dubai once?
I 
would
never 
have
guessed if I 
hadn’t
seen him.
Notice that we often use contractions with auxiliaries, e.g. ‘don’t’ instead o f ‘do not’, ‘we’re’ 
instead o f ‘we are’.
Modal verbs are used to express the speaker’s judgm ent about something (‘you 
shouldn’t smoke’) or the likelihood of it happening (‘It m ight rain’). Modals are often used 
in conditional sentences (see page 74).
Main verbs
Main verbs can stand alone (e.g. ‘She shouted’, ‘They arrived’). However, where more than 
one verb is used, they express the m ain idea (e.g. ‘She was swimming’, ‘Have you seen her?’). 
This makes them different from auxiliary verbs since, as their name suggests, auxiliary 
verbs occur when m ain verbs are also present. However, some auxiliary verbs like ‘have’ and 
‘do’, can also take on main-verb status, e.g. ‘You’ve had your chance’, ‘Have you done your 
homework?’. Notice that ‘have’ is the auxiliary in the last example, but ‘do’ has the status of 
a main verb.
EXAMPLES
I don’t 
believe
you. You’re alw ays 
telling
stories.
He 
texted
his friend about the party.
He 
shouted
at us because we were 
laughing
at him.
I 
had
three cups of coffee.
Phrasal (multi-word) verbs
Phrasal verbs are form ed by adding a particle (adverb or preposition - or an adverb 
and
a preposition) to a verb to create new meanings. Thus ‘set out’ (‘We set out the following 
day’ or ‘He set out his agenda for the m eeting’) has a completely different meaning from 
‘set’ (e.g. ‘set an exam’, ‘set the table’); ‘put up with’ (‘I’m not going to put up with this any 
m ore’) has a completely different meaning from ‘p u t’ (e.g. ‘He put her photographs with 
the letters’). There are four basic types of phrasal verbs: