PHRASE
A phrasal quantifier is a group of words that express quantity in terms of amount or number.
By the end of this lesson you should be able to:
- Identify phrasal quantifiers in sentences
- Use phrasal quantifiers in sentence construction
- Use phrasal quantifiers in sentence construction
In form 1 you were introduced to the correct use of rules in construction of English sentences. In form
two, we will further explore these rules. In this lesson we will discuss phrasal quantifiers
1. Identify phrasal quantifiers in sentences.
2. Use phrasal quantifiers in sentence construction.
What is a phrase?
As learnt earlier, a phrase is a group of words that forms part of a sentence and does not make sense on its own.
Phrasal Quantifier
A quantifier is a group of words that express quantity in terms of amount or number. Some words that
show quantity are:
Examples in sentences:
There is plenty of comfort in this house.
There are many youths abusing drugs in the society.
Uncountable nouns
These are substances, concepts etc that we cannot divide into separate elements. We cannot “count”
them. For example, we cannot count “milk”. We can count “bottles of milk” or “litres of milk”, but we
cannot count “milk” itself. “Bottles” and “litres” are quantifiers used to show or indicate the amount of milk being referred to. Study the illustration and see how another quantifier “A piece of” may be used with uncountable nouns.
Nouns that can be Countable and Uncountable.
Sometimes, the same noun can be countable and uncountable, often with a change of meaning.
Drinks (coffee, water, orange juice) are usually uncountable. But if we are thinking of a cup or a glass, we can say (in a restaurant, for example): Two teas and one coffee please.
Study the illustration given and suggest quantifiers that may be used to the nouns within countable.
- Plenty
- Few
- Little
- Many
- Some
- one
- two
- several
It is important for you to have adequate knowledge of primary auxiliary verbs, modal auxiliary verbs and subject-verb agreement rules in order to handle this lesson effectively.
We have three types of primary auxiliary verbs; these are ‘be’, ‘do’ and ‘have’. The three have other forms.
These forms are:
1. be:’; ‘am’, ‘is’,’was’,’are’, ‘been’, ‘being’ ‘were’, ‘be’.
2. do:’do’ ‘did’,’doing’, ‘done’.
3. have, ‘had’, ‘have’, ‘having’ and ‘has’.
The modal auxiliary verbs that are helpful in this particular lesson are ‘will’ and ‘shall’.
By the end of the lesson, you should be able to use the perfective and progressive aspect appropriately in sentences.
We have three types of primary auxiliary verbs; these are ‘be’, ‘do’, and ‘have’.
The three have other forms. These forms are:
1. ‘be’, ‘am’, ‘is’, ‘was’, ‘are’, ‘been’,’being’, ‘ were’ and ‘be’.
2. ‘do’, ‘do, ‘did’, ‘doing’ and ‘done’.
3. ‘have’, ‘had’, ‘have’, ‘having’ and ‘has’
The modal auxiliary verbs that are helpful in this particular lesson are: ‘will’ and ‘shall’.
Progressive Aspect
The progressive aspect is also referred to as the continuous aspect. It is used with the present, past and future tenses to show actions going on for a period of time.
John is walking to school
The perfect aspect is used with the past, present and future tense to indicate actions that have been
completed.
John has arrived at school.
Verbs
In this lesson, we will learn about verbs. In particular we shall look at the perfective and progressive
aspects of these verbs.
The progressive Aspect
John is going to school
For a temporary action which may not be happening at the time of speaking for example:(NOTE: the
action is not taking place at the moment of speaking)
For an action already arranged to take place in the near future,for example,
In the present progressive aspect, three forms of the verb ‘be’ that is ‘is’ ‘am’ and ‘are’ are used with the
main verb in its ____ing form as you may have noticed from the correct answers.
The past progressive.
This aspect is used to indicate:
a) An action that was happening at some time in the past for example, Anyango was sleeping in class.
b) Persistent habits, for example,
Nakato was always yawning.
Nakato was always yawning
Future progressive
This is the same as future continuous. It talks about;
a) Actions that will be going on for some time in the future, for example Juma will be going to school next week.
b) Actions in the future which are already planned, for example, Kamau will be meeting us next year.
The present perfect
This tense is used to:
a) Describe past events which though completed, their effect is still evident in the present.
a) Describe past events which though completed their effect is still evident in the present.
b) Describe actions that have been recently completed or finished. e.g
The plane has taken off
More examples:
The past perfect
The past perfect tense is used to:
Describe an action that was completed before a certain time in the past.
The future perfect
This aspect is used to describe actions and events which are expected to be completed or finished by a
certain time in the future.
More examples of Future perfect are:
They will have gone home by the time you arrive.
Jean will have cooked dinner by the time the guests arrive.
By midnight , we will have loaded the cargo onto the ship.
He will have left before you go to see him