General Person Pronouns

As we have said, the general person pronouns are “one” and “you.” ETS loves them, and will make sure you know the agreement rules.

If one works hard, one will do well.

If you work hard, you will do well.

not: If one works hard, he will do well

Agreement

The testmakers will test your knowledge of all the pronouns and what they should agree with.

They are especially fond of possessive pronouns. Here is a brief list of subjects that are often tested

for agreement.

Subject Pronoun

Those of us... our

Those of you... your

Some of us... our

Some of you... your

Each of us... our

Each of you... your

Each student.... his

Each of my students.... his

Possessing the Gerund

Remember that a gerund (-ing form of a verb) can be a noun. Therefore, it can be possessed like a simple noun. At first, this is difficult to understand. Most students assume that the gerund is a verb, an action. But unless the gerund is preceded by a conjugated form of the verb “to be,” it is not a verb. Be careful. Often, it is much easier to understand if you replace the noun gerund with the expression: “the action of…” (That is, of course you can possess the simple noun, “action.”)

They were pleased with our asking about the new furniture.

(They were pleased with our “action of asking...”)

My smoking is very unpopular in my family.

(My “action of smoking....”)

IV. Modifiers

Modifiers include any words or expressions that are modifying (or describing) another word. Adjectives, adverbs, nouns, verbs, and phrases can all be modifiers. In fact, almost any word in English can modify another word. The rule for modifiers, however is fundamental. To determine if a word or expression is a modifier, you must be able to reduce a sentence to its simple parts or essentials. Look at this example.

Although designed to hold more than 100 people, the only smoking section in the 20-story building fills quickly during the ten-minute breaks.

The simple sentence is:

The section fills quickly.

The modifiers are:

Although designed to hold more than 100 people, (modifying phrase)

only (adjective)

smoking (gerund adjective)

quickly (adverb)

20-story (noun modifier)

ten-minute (noun modifier)

The prepositional phrases (extra information) are:

in the 20-story building

during the ten-minute breaks.

So, reducing the sentence to its essentials can help you understand how words are being used. “Smoking” is not a verb, but an adjective. “20-story” and “ten-minute” are adjectives, not nouns.

Simple Modifiers

Simple modifiers are basic adjectives and adverbs that describe, respectively, nouns and verbs. Let’s take a moment and look at the problem of word order.

Adjectives

Adjectives can be separated into two categories: fact and opinion. Factual adjectives deal with color, size, weight, condition, etc. Opinion adjectives deal with judgments and preferences. Opinion adjectives usually precede factual adjectives.

This is a beautiful new house.

(not: This is a new beautiful house.)

He is a handsome young man.

(not: He is a young handsome man.)

Adverbs

Adverbs describe the way the action of a sentence is performed. They are almost always in the -ly form. But be careful: just seeing -ly is not sufficient to call something an adverb. (For example, “lately,” is a time preposition, meaning “recently.”) Adverbs will usually come after a simple verb, after the object, or in the middle of a compound verb. Of course, there are exceptions.

I work quickly on the computer.

(My action of working is quick.)

He listens carefully so he doesn’t miss anything important.

(His action of listening is careful.)

My friend speaks English and Chinese perfectly.

(My friends’ action of speaking is perfect.)

Adverbs can also be used before adjectives.

This is a terribly expensive restaurant.

He was incredibly fast at computerized tests.

I am reasonably good at grammar.

And they can come before the past participle (as a modifier).

The woman was seriously injured in the riot.

The new TOEFL is badly organized.

He is rarely occupied at this hour.

Modifiers of Manner

Modifiers of manner describe “how” something was done. As we have said before, understanding how words are used in a sentence is essential. Look at these comparisons.

The coffee tastes bad. I performed badly.

He liked the quick service. The staff served quickly.

The rain was very heavy. It was raining heavily.

In the first column, only adjectives are used as modifiers: “bad coffee,” “quick service,” “heavy rain.” In the second column, adjectives are used as adverbs: “badly performed,” “quickly served,” “heavily raining.”

Be very careful with what we call the “feel verbs”: to taste, smell, hear, see, think, etc. These verbs take adjectives. Compare:

The man sees badly; he needs glasses. (His action of seeing is bad)

The coffee tastes bad. (The coffee, not the action of tasting, is bad)

The music was very quiet. (The music—noun— was quiet)

The music was played quietly. (The action of playing was quiet)

He looked so serious. (The man was serious)

He looked seriously at the project. (The action was serious)