English grammar drills part 13 docx

76 Noun Phrases
The general rule is that the antecedent of a refl exive pronoun is the nearest preceding noun
that plays the role of subject or object of a verb. Here are some more examples of objects being the
antecedent:
Mary wanted Ralph to dress himself as a pirate for the costume party.
I wish you would behave yourself.
We will give them a chance to redeem themselves.
She told the kids to behave themselves.
Very often in conversation you will hear a refl ective pronoun that seems to have no anteced-
ent. For example:
Take care of yourself!
Behave yourselves, now!
Do yourselves a favor.
Don’t hurt yourself!
Just be yourself and you will be fi ne.
All of these sentences are commands with an understood you (which can be either singular or
plural) as subject. The understood you is the antecedent to the refl exive pronouns yourself or
yourselves.
(You) take care of yourself!
(You) behave yourselves, now!
(You) do yourselves a favor.
(You) don’t hurt yourself!
(You) just be yourself and you will be fi ne.
Exercise 5.4
Fill in the blank with the appropriate refl exive pronoun. Confi rm your answer by underlining the
pronoun’s antecedent. If the antecedent is understood, insert you.
He tends to repeat .
He tends to repeat himself.
1. Please! I can do it by .
2. They refused to allow to give up hope.
3. My little girl always sings to sleep.

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Pronouns 77
4. I told them that I would do it by .
5. It was so noisy that we couldn’t hear think.
6. The trip could almost pay for .
7. The workers were putting out of a job.
8. It was such an interesting book that the pages seemed to turn .
9. The system is designed to shut off in the event of an emergency.
10. Don’t be so hard on .
11. All successful politicians believe in .
12. We wanted the children to be able to look after .
13. Jane encouraged Sam to do it .
14. Try doing it by .
15. I can’t stand traveling by .
There is another, completely different use of refl exive pronouns as well. We can add refl exive
pronouns to a sentence just for emphasis. For example, consider the following sentence:
I wouldn’t turn down the offer myself.
Here the refl exive pronoun myself has been added to an already complete sentence just for
emphasis. Unlike a normal refl exive pronoun that plays the role of object of a verb or a pronoun,
this pronoun has no grammatical role at all. We can delete it:
I wouldn’t turn down the offer myself
.
or move it right after its antecedent:
I myself wouldn’t turn down the offer.
Here are some more examples of refl exive pronouns added for emphasis, each with a para-
phrase showing that the emphatic refl exive pronoun can be deleted or moved to a position imme-
diately following the antecedent.
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78 Noun Phrases
He wouldn’t do that himself.

Deleted: He wouldn’t do that.
Moved: He himself wouldn’t do that.
They did not know the answers themselves.
Deleted: They did not know the answers.
Moved: They themselves did not know the answers.
We intended to go to Italy ourselves.
Deleted: We intended to go to Italy.
Moved: We ourselves intended to go to Italy.
She decorated the new house herself.
Deleted: She decorated the new house.
Moved: She herself decorated the new house.
Needless to say, we cannot delete or move a refl exive pronoun used in the normal way since it
is the object of the verb or of a preposition.
I cut myself.
Deleted: X I cut myself
.
Moved: X I myself cut.
We wanted to fi nish it by ourselves.
Deleted: X We wanted to fi nish it by ourselves
.
Moved: X We ourselves wanted to fi nish it by.
Exercise 5.5
Underline the refl exive pronouns in the following sentences. Write emphatic or functional above
each one as appropriate. If the pronoun is emphatic, confi rm your answer by moving it to a posi-
tion next to its antecedent.
emphatic
I gave him the assignment myself.
I myself gave him the assignment.
1. The District Attorney took the case himself.
2. The engine started running again by itself.

3. They saw the accident on the freeway themselves.
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Pronouns 79
4. I couldn’t help smiling myself.
5. Their mortgage takes nearly half their income itself.
6. Senator Blather declared himself the winner.
7. She proposed the idea herself.
8. You need to separate yourself from the rest of the candidates.
9. I did all the necessary paperwork myself.
10. The consultants were opposed to the new project themselves.
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80
6
Gerunds and Infi nitives
Gerunds and infi nitives are verb forms used as nouns. (Infi nitives can also be used as other
parts of speech, but in this chapter we will deal only with infi nitives used as nouns.) Here are
some examples of gerunds and infi nitives used as subjects (in italics).
Gerunds
Breathing is diffi cult when you are at high altitudes.
Eating was the last thing on my mind.
Driving is a privilege, not a right.
Swimming is my only real form of exercise.
Infi nitives
To live is the goal of every creature.
To doubt is to hesitate.
To lose would be unthinkable.
To refuse would be dishonorable.
Gerunds and gerund phrases
Gerunds are the present participle forms of verbs. Present participles are formed by adding
-ing to the base (or dictionary) forms of verbs. Present participles are mostly regular. The most

common variation is the result of normal spelling rules for fi nal silent e and doubled conso-
nant spellings. For example, the fi nal e of hope is dropped when we add a suffi x beginning with
a vowel: hope-hoping; and the fi nal consonant of hop doubles when we add a suffi x beginning
with a vowel: hop-hopping. The double consonant rule does not apply to words that do not have
the stress on the last syllable (budget-budgeting) or when the fi nal consonant is preceded by two
vowels (sleep-sleeping).
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Gerunds and Infi nitives 81
Exercise 6.1
The base or dictionary forms of some verbs are listed in the fi rst column. In the second column,
write the gerund (present participle) form of each verb. All of the words follow normal spelling
rules.
Base form Gerund (present participle)
advertise advertising
1. amuse
2. become
3. choose
4. clap
5. date
6. fi t
7. focus
8. give
9. group
10. judge
11. loop
12. manage
13. mine
14. model
15. profi t
16. research

17. service
18. stay
19. travel
20. veto
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82 Noun Phrases
A gerund phrase is a gerund together with all of its modifi ers and/or complements. The
difference between a gerund and a gerund phrase is exactly the same as the difference between
a noun and a noun phrase. For example, compare the following pairs of gerunds and gerund
phrases. The gerunds are in italics, and the entire gerund phrase is underlined.
Working takes all my waking hours.
Working on this project takes all my waking hours.
Complaining won’t do you any good.
Complaining about the poor service won’t do you any good.
Running really helps me lose weight.
My running twenty miles a week really helps me lose weight.
Working out takes a lot of self-discipline.
Working out every day at the gym takes a lot of self-discipline.
Since gerund phrases are noun phrases, they can always be identifi ed by the third-person
pronoun replacement test (see Chapter 4). Gerund phrases (as well as infi nitive phrases) are
always singular, and since they are inanimate, gerund (and infi nitive) phrases can always be
replaced by it. For example:
It
Working on this project takes all my waking hours.
It
Complaining about the poor service won’t do you any good.
It
My running twenty miles a week really helps me lose weight.
It
Working out every day at the gym takes a lot of self-discipline.

It takes a lot of self-discipline.
To this point, we have only looked at gerund phrases that function as subjects. Gerunds can
play all noun roles: subject, object of a verb, object of a preposition, and predicate nominative (the
complement of a linking verb). Here are some examples of gerund phrases playing the other roles:
Object of a verb
it
I hate spending so much money on gasoline.
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