c13-Misc.htm
A compilation by U Kyaw Tun and staff of TIL (Tun Institute of Learning, http://www.tuninst.net ). Not for sale.
In the United States, periods and commas go inside quotation marks regardless of logic.
In the United Kingdom, Canada, and islands under the influence of British education, punctuation around quotation marks is more apt to follow logic. In American style, then, you would write: My favorite poem is Robert Frost's "Design." But in England you would write: My favorite poem is Robert Frost's "Design".
13.01. Thesis Statement
13.02. Word Formation
13.03. Apposition
13.04.
Noun
and Pronoun Characteristics
13.04.01
Noun and Pronoun Case
Subject Case Object Case
Possessive Case
13.04.02.
Noun and Pronoun Number
13.04.03.
Noun and Pronoun Gender
13.04.04.
Noun and Pronoun Person
A thesis statement is a short passage -- usually only a single sentence -- summarising the fundamental argument of an essay or report. Typically, the thesis statement will appear near the end of your introductory paragraph.
The basic part of any word is the root; to it, you can add a prefix at the beginning and/or a suffix at the end to change the meaning. For example, in the word "unflattering", the root is simply "flatter", while the prefix "un-" makes the word negative, and the suffix "-ing" changes it from a verb into an adjective (specifically, a participle).
English itself does not use prefixes as heavily as it once did, but many English words come from Latin, which uses prefixes and suffixes (you can use the word affix to refer either to a prefix or a suffix) quite extensively. For example, the words "prefix", "suffix", and "affix" themselves are all formed from "fix" by the used of prefixes:
Note that both the "-d" of "ad" and the "-b" of "sub" change the last letter.
Here are some of the most common Latin prefixes (for the meanings of the Latin roots, look up the words in a good dictionary):
When two words, clauses, or phrases stand close together and share the same part of the sentence, they are in apposition and are called appositives.
In fact, an appositive is very much like a subject complement, only without the linking verb:
In addition to their various classifications,
nouns and
pronouns have three major characteristics: 1. case,
2. number, and
3. gender.
The case of a noun or pronoun determines how you
can use it in a
phrase or
clause. There are three cases in Modern English (as opposed to eight in
Classical Latin, four in German, and only two in French):
1. Subject case
2. Object case
3. Possessive case
You use the subject case for a noun or
pronoun which stands alone, is the
subject of a clause, is the
subject complement, or stands in
apposition to any of these.
Example:
The man travelled to Newfoundland.
He travelled to Newfoundland.
You use the object case for the
object of a
preposition, a
verb, or a
verbal, or for any noun or pronoun which stands in apposition to one of
these.
Example:
The taxi drove the man to the airport.
The taxi drove him to the airport.
You use the possessive case for any
noun or pronoun which acts an an
adjective, implicitly or explicitly modifying another element in the
sentence.
Example:
The baggage handlers lost the man's suitcase.
The baggage handlers lost his suitcase.
Nouns always take the same form in the subject case and the object case, while pronouns often change their form. Both nouns and pronouns usually change their form for the possessive case:
For further information, see possessive nouns, possessive pronouns, and possessive adjectives.
The number of a noun or pronoun is either
1.
singular, if it refers to one thing, or
2.
plural, if it refers to more than one thing (if the
noun or pronoun is the subject, then its number will also affect the verb). Note
the difference in number in the following examples:
Singular:
That woman is concerned about this issue.
She is concerned about this issue.
Plural:
Those women are concerned about this issue.
They are concerned about this issue.
It is important to note that the pronoun "they" is in the process of
becoming singular as well as plural. For example, one might say
A person called and they did not leave their name.
This construction allows the speaker to avoid identifying the gender of a person, and it has been common in speech for decades, if not for centuries. Be aware, however, that some people still consider it unacceptable for formal writing.
For more information, see noun plurals.
Unlike the Romance languages (such as French, Spanish, and Italian), English has three genders for nouns and pronouns: masculine, feminine, and neuter.
Generally, the English language uses natural gender rather than grammatical gender -- that is, the gender of a word is usually based on its biology (so there is little need to remember whether a word is masculine or feminine). A noun that refers to something with male sexual organs is masculine, a noun that refers to something with female sexual organs is feminine and most other nouns are neuter by default.
There was a time when you could use the masculine gender by default when you did not know a person's natural gender, but very few people accept this usage any longer.
UKT: The gender is a prominent issue in the Women's Rights Movement. Unlike our Myanmar culture (which is not only misunderstood but is grossly misrepresented in the West by Westerners and by some so-called Myanmars), the Judeo-Christian and other cultures tend to treat women differently than men. At one time women were barred from professions such as medicine which was considered to be the exclusive domain of men. Women were not allowed to vote let alone take a leading role in the governance of a country. See SoftGuide publications Woman Suffrage, woman_suffrage_encarta.htm
There are, moreover, a few tricky points. First, you may refer to all animals in the neuter gender, or you may refer to them by their natural gender:
Neuter
What a beautiful dog! Does it bite?
Natural Gender
What a beautiful dog! Does she bite?
Second, You usually assign mythical beings (such as gods) to a natural
gender, even if you do not believe that the beings have actual sexual organs:
God is great. God is good. Let us thank her for our food.
Finally, people sometimes assign natural gender to inanimate objects,
especially if they live or work closely with them. When engineers were mostly
men, for example, they tended to refer to large machines in the feminine:
She is a fine ship.
UKT: How do you refer to your homeland?
Europeans tend to refer to it as "fatherland".
Whereas Myanmars tend to refer to their country as "motherland" a. me. mranma pre /
For more information, see the discussion of gender-specific nouns.
Personal pronouns always belong to one of three persons:
1. first person if they refer to the speaker or
writer (or to a group including the speaker or writer),
2.
second person if they refer to the audience of the speaker or writer
(or to a group including the audience), and
3. third
person if they refer to anyone else (if the noun or pronoun is the
subject, then its person will also affect the verb).
Nouns and other types of
pronouns are always in the third person. Note the differences in person in the
following examples:
First Person
I will come tomorrow.
Bob showed the budget to us.
Second Person
You should not forget to vote.
Where is your coat?
Third Person
It arrived yesterday.
How can you stand working with them?
Traditionally, you were required to use the third person in formal academic writing, but some people now accept the first person. Whichever you choose, however, you must be consistent.
End of TIL file