English for Japanese

By Kin Zang

 

English for Japanese is the first ever English grammar book written specifically for Japanese learners. It assumes little prior knowledge of English grammar but also contains advanced rules even that even the most proficient users will find useful. In other words, this book can be used by a beginner to start learning grammar while advanced users can find the alternative perspective of this book extremely helpful.

 

KEY FEATURES OF THIS BOOK

 

1. Written specifically for Japanese learners.

2. Teaches grammar from elementary level all the way to advanced level.

3. Contains hundreds of example sentences in Japanese context.

4. Contains the most up-to-date grammar rules researched from the most authoritative sources

5. Written in simple English for even beginners to understand

6. A vast listing of specific usage cases at all levels.

 

We hope you master English Language. And we hope you will help other learn as well by sharing this first of a kind book with everyone you think will benefit from it.

 

This book is intended to be a self-study guide. The various chapters are arranged in a way that is easy to navigate through.

 

Grammar books are normally categorized by their contents into descriptive and prescriptive grammars. Descriptive grammar simply describes the rules of the language reflecting how people actually use these rules. Prescriptive grammar tells people what is correct from incorrect usage. Learners will find this book a combination of both approaches.

 

The first chapter contains elementary grammar. It introduces the parts of speech in English. It also goes a few step back and introduces you to the concept of sound and syllable which are extremely important especially in spoken English. If you want to speak English that anyone can understand, you need to speak in pronunciation that others can understand. You need to learn the sound systems in English.

 

The following chapters then look at individual parts of speech in great depth. Too much in depth that they contain all the significant rules governing their usage in English. You will find them useful not only as learning materials but also as reference material for later use.

 

Once we finish looking individually at word classes (parts of speech), we look at higher units. These include phrases, clauses and sentences.

 

By the end of that section, you should be able to analyze English sentence with a high degree of confidence and use those rules to build your most mesmerizing and persuasive sentences ever. After all, this book is not just another grammar book. It is a book that teaches you communication.

 

Throughout the book, you will come across plenty of cases and examples of how to use certain rules. All special cases are shown in bullets () under the headings marked "Usage".

 

The last part contains special exercises that will test your skills. Make sure you do them. Your knowledge of English grammar would have drastically improved between the time you opened the first page of this book and the test.

 

That much we guarantee.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kin Zang
• Release date: Jun 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393913214

Book preview

PREFACE

Introduction

CHAPTER ONE: BASIC GRAMMAR

A. ALPHABET

B. PARTS OF SPEECH

I. NOUN

II. PRONOUN

III. ADJECTIVE

IV. VERB

V. ADVERB

VI. PREPOSITION

VII. CONJUNCTION

VIII. INTERJECTION

C. VOWEL SOUND AND CONSONANT SOUND

D. BRIEF NOTE ON SYLLABLE

CHAPTER TWO: NOUNS

A. Types of Nouns

I. Proper Noun

II. Common Noun

III. Concrete Noun and Abstract Noun

IV. Collective Noun

V. Compound Noun

B. Singular and Plural Forms of Nouns

I. Regular and Irregular Plurals

II. Plural for Compound Noun

C. Gender

D. Cases of Nouns

I. Subjective Case

II. Objective Case

III. Possessive Case

E. Noun Ending

CHAPTER THREE: PRONOUNS

A. Types of pronouns

I. Personal Pronoun

II. Reflexive Pronoun

III. Demonstrative Pronoun

IV. Interrogative Pronoun

V. Indefinite Pronoun

VI. Relative Pronoun

VII. Reciprocal Pronoun

B. Antecedent

I. Number

II. Person

III. Gender (refer Gender under nouns)

CHAPTER FOUR: ADJECTIVES

A. Types of Adjectives

I. Pronominal Adjective

II. Quantitative Adjective

III. Qualitative Adjective

IV. Interrogative Adjective

V. Proper Adjective

VI. Compound Adjective

B. Position of Adjectives

I. Attributive Adjective

II. Predicative Adjective

C. The Order of Adjectives

D. Nouns as Adjectives

E. Participles as Adjectives

F. Adjective Endings

G. The Comparison of Adjectives

I. Degrees of Comparison

II. Forming Comparative and Superlative Degrees for Adjectives with Regular Comparison

III. Adjectives with Irregular Comparison

IV. Absolute Adjectives

CHAPTER FIVE: VERBS

A. Types of Verbs

I. Action Verb

II. Linking Verb

III. Auxiliary Verb/Helping Verb

B. The Five Principal Forms of a Verb

IV. Base Form

V. –s Form

VI. –ing Participle Form

VII. Past Form

VIII. –ed Participle Form

C. Verbs and Tenses

I. The Simple Tenses

II. The Complex Tenses

D. Mood

I. Indicative Mood

II. Imperative Mood

III. Subjunctive Mood

E. Singular Verb and Plural Verb

F. Verb Agreement

I. Person

II. Number

G. Regular Verbs and Irregular Verbs

I. Regular Verbs

II. Irregular Verbs

H. Finite and Non-Finite Verbs

I. Finite Verb

II. Non-Finite Verb

I. Phrasal Verbs

J. Verb Order

K. Verbal

I. Gerund

II. Infinitive

III. Participle

L. Non-Progressive Verbs

CHAPTER SIX: ADVERBS

A. Types of Adverbs

I. Adverbs that Modify Adjectives and Other Adverbs

II. Adverbs that Modify Verbs

III. Interrogative Adverbs

B. Characteristics of Adverbs

C. Adverb Comparison

D. Order of Adverbs

E. Adverbs and Adjectives

CHAPTER SEVEN: PREPOSITIONS

A. Types of Preposition

I. Prepositions of Place

II. Prepositions of Time

III. Prepositions of Direction

IV. Marginal Prepositions

B. Simple and Complex Prepositions

C. Preposition and Adverb

CHAPTER EIGHT: CONJUNCTIONS

A. Types of Conjunctions

I. Coordinating Conjunction

II. Correlative Conjunction

III. Subordinating Conjunction

IV. Conjunctive Adverbs

CHAPTER NINE: ARTICLES

A. Introduction

B. Types of Articles

I. Indefinite Article

II. Definite Article

III. Zero Article

CHAPTER TEN: PHRASES

A. Introduction

B. Types of phrases

I. Noun Phrase

II. Verb Phrase

III. Adjective Phrase

IV. Adverb Phrase

V. Prepositional Phrase

CHAPTER ELEVEN: CLAUSES

A. Introduction

B. Types of Clauses

I. Independent Clause

II. Dependent Clause

C. Adjective Clause and Comma

CHAPTER TWELEVE: THE SENTENCE

A. Introduction

B. Parts of Sentence

I. The Subject

II. The Predicate

C. Expansion of Subject and Predicate

III. Expansion of Subject

IV. Expansion of Predicate

D. Sentence Classification

I. By Purpose

II. By Structure

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: WORD ORDER IN SENTENCE

A. Subject and verb

B. Verb and Object

C. Noun and Adjective

D. Pronoun and Antecedent

E. Adverb

F. Preposition

G. Indirect Object

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: ACTIVE VOICE AND PASSIVE VOICE

A. Active Voice

B. Passive Voice

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: REPORTED SPEECH: DIRECT SPEECH AND INDIRECT SPEECH

A. Direct Speech

B. Indirect Speech

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE STATEMENT

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: QUESTIONS

A. Introduction

B. Types of Questions

I. Closed Questions

II. Open Questions

III. Tag Questions

IV. Indirect Question

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: CONDITIONAL SENTENCES

A. Introduction

B. Types of Conditional Sentences

I. Zero Conditional

II. First Conditional

III. Second Conditional

IV. Third Conditional

CHAPTER NINETEEN: SENTENCE CONNECTORS

A. Similarity

B. Contrast

C. Cause and Effect

D. Sequence

E. Explanation

F. Emphasis

G. Time

H. Exemplification

I. Particularization

J. Correction

K. Conclusion

CHAPTER TWENTY: SENTENCE COHESION

A. Substitution

B. Ellipsis

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: PUNCTUATION

A. Apostrophe (‘)

B. Colon (:)

C. Comma (,)

D. Dash (–)

E. Ellipsis (...)

F. Exclamation Mark (!)

G. Hyphen (-)

H. Parentheses (())

I. Period (.)

J. Question Mark (?)

K. Quotation Marks ( )

L. Semicolon (;)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: COMMON USAGE ERRORS

A. Verbs

I. Tense shift

II. Needless Passive

III. Misuse of irregular verb forms

IV. Lack of agreement between subject and verb

V. Omission of Linking Verb

B. Pronouns

I. Incomplete Comparison

C. Sentences

I. Sentence Fragment

II. Run-on Sentences

III. Mixed Construction

IV. Faulty Parallelism

D. Commonly Confused Words

EXERCISES

I. Exercise one

II. Exercise Two

III. Exercise Three

IV. Exercise Four

V. Exercise Five

VI. Exercise Six

VII. Exercise Seven

VIII. Exercise Eight

IX. Exercise Nine

X. Exercise Ten

XI. Exercise Eleven

XII. Exercise Twelve

XIII. Exercise Thirteen

XIV. Exercise Fourteen

XV. Exercise Fifteen

XVI. Exercise Sixteen

XVII. Exercise Seventeen

XVIII. Exercise Eighteen

XIX. Exercise Nineteen

XX. Exercise Twenty

XXI. Exercise Twenty-one

XXII. Exercise Twenty-two

XXIII. Exercise Twenty-three

XXIV. Exercise Twenty-four

XXV. Exercise Twenty-five

XXVI. Exercise Twenty-six

XXVII. Exercise Twenty-seven

XXVIII. Exercise Twenty-eight

XXIX. Exercise Twenty-nine

XXX. Exercise Thirty

XXXI. Exercise Thirty-one

XXXII. Exercise Thirty-two

ANSWERS

I. Exercise One

II. Exercise Two

III. Exercise Three

IV. Exercise Four

V. Exercise Five

VI. Exercise Six

VII. Exercise Seven

VIII. Exercise Eight

IX. Exercise Nine

X. Exercise Ten

XI. Exercise Eleven

XII. Exercise Twelve

XIII. Exercise Thirteen

XIV. Exercise Fourteen

XV. Exercise Fifteen

XVI. Exercise Sixteen

XVII. Exercise Seventeen

XVIII. Exercise Eighteen

XIX. Exercise Nineteen

XX. Exercise Twenty

XXI. Exercise Twenty-one

XXII. Exercise Twenty-two

XXIII. Exercise Twenty-three

XXIV. Exercise Twenty-four

XXV. Exercise Twenty-five

XXVI. Exercise Twenty-six

XXVII. Exercise Twenty-seven

XXVIII. Exercise Twenty-eight

XXIX. Exercise Twenty-nine

XXX. Exercise Thirty

XXXI. Exercise Thirty-one

XXXII. Exercise Thirty-two

Annex I: List of Common Irregular Verbs

Annex II: List of Commonly Misspelled Words

Annex III: Common Adjective + Preposition Expressions

Annex IV: List of Latin Abbreviations

PREFACE

This is the first English grammar book that is written specifically for Japanese learners of English language.  Existing English grammar books make no attempt to address the specific challenges faced by learners of different cultures. They see learners as a homogenous group with same challenges and strengths pursing the same objectives. That, however, is not the case.

Context, especially to beginners, is a major factor in learning. Having to learn an alien context while learning a foreign language is a double imposition on the imagination of a learner. This book is a result of the recognition of the importance of context in learning. Therefore, it presents the English grammar in the context of a Japanese learner.

In drawing up this perspective, the book has used example sentences that a Japanese learner can relate to. They are simplified explanations. They focus on rules and aspects of grammar that a Japanese learner can use.

The example sentences are mostly hypothetical. A sizable collection of prose and verse by Japanese authors on a variety of subjects does exist, a definite alternative to fabricated situations of the example sentences. However, the former has been used to keep the focus on the rules of the language and not on matters related to styles and other choices.

Even though simplicity is not a trait common amongst most Japanese users of English, the need for simplicity in communication cannot be overstated. All users should strive for effective simplicity while mindful of the risk of over-simplification which this book has been quite liberal with.

In order to be a fuller user of English, it is necessary for you to be familiar with all aspects of the language beyond any doubt. A common adage to the support of this statement is you need to know the rules to break them. However, there are a number of rules not quite applicable to this level of learning. Such rules have been left out of this book and can be picked up later on as you advance to higher levels.

There is no doubt that this book will help you achieve mastery of English language that will go on to help you with confident communication and achieve mastery of other sciences that you may pursue.

KEY FEATURES OF THIS BOOK

1. Written specifically for Japanese learners.

2. Teaches grammar from elementary level all the way to advanced level.

3. Contains hundreds of example sentences in Japanese context.

4. Contains the most up-to-date grammar rules researched from all across the world.

5. Written in simple English for even beginners to understand

6. A vast listing of specific usage cases at all levels.

We hope you master English Language. And we hope you will help other learn as well by sharing this first of a kind book with everyone you think will benefit from it.

Introduction

This book is intended to be a self-study guide. The various chapters are arranged in a way that is easy to navigate through.

Grammar books are normally categorized by their contents into descriptive and prescriptive grammars. Descriptive grammar simply describes the rules of the language reflecting how people actually use these rules. Prescriptive grammar tells people what is correct from incorrect usage. Learners will find this book a combination of both approaches.

The first chapter contains elementary grammar. It introduces the parts of speech in English. It also goes a few step back and introduces you to the concept of sound and syllable which are extremely important especially in spoken English. If you want to speak English that anyone can understand, you need to speak in pronunciation that others can understand. You need to learn the sound systems in English.

The following chapters then look at individual parts of speech in great depth. Too much in depth that they contain all the significant rules governing their usage in English. You will find them useful not only as learning materials but also as reference material for later use.

Once we finish looking individually at word classes (parts of speech), we look at higher units. These include phrases, clauses and sentences.

By the end of that section, you should be able to analyse English sentence with a high degree of confidence and use those rules to build your most mesmerizing and persuasive sentences ever. After all, this book is not just another grammar book. It is a book that teaches you communication.

Throughout the book, you will come across plenty of cases and examples of how to use certain rules. All special cases are shown in bullets () under the headings marked "Usage".

The last part contains special exercises that will test your skills. Make sure you do them. Your knowledge of English grammar would have drastically improved between the time you opened the first page of this book and you test yourself with the exercises.

That much we guarantee.

CHAPTER ONE: BASIC GRAMMAR

A.  ALPHABET

English alphabet has twenty-six letters. These letters are divided into two types:  five vowels and twenty-one consonants.

As shown in the table above, the five vowels are a, e, i, o and u. The remaining twenty-one letters are consonants.

B.  PARTS OF SPEECH

In English, words are divided into eight parts of speech. These are nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. Words are divided into these parts of speech according to the roles these words play in a sentence.  In any given sentence, every word plays or performs one of the following roles or functions: naming; expressing, doing or being; modifying; connecting; or, expressing emotions. Naming is done by nouns and pronouns; expressing, doing or being by verbs; modifying by adjectives and adverbs; connecting by prepositions and conjunctions; and, expressing emotions by interjections.

Learning to identify the different parts of speech according to these functions is the key to understanding grammar.

Usage

● A word can belong to more than one part of speech. Consider the following examples.

a)  Turn on the light. (light is used as noun)

b)  I prefer light colours in my room. (light is an adjective)

c)  Please light a fire outside. (light is a verb)

You can see that the word light is used as a noun, an adjective and as a verb in the three sentences above. A number of other words can similarly belong to more than one part of speech. To which part of speech a particular word belongs is determined by how it functions in a sentence.

● The modern term for parts of speech is word classes.

The following section looks at the various parts of speech in more detail. Since interjection does not have any major significance in grammar and has only a tiny group of words under it, interjection is left out from this section. Instead, articles, while considered to be a part of adjectives by many, are looked at as a separate part of speech in this section due to the importance of articles in grammar.

I.  NOUN

A noun is a part of speech that names a person, place, thing, activity, event, idea or a quality.

Person:  Yume, woman, Kota, teacher, doctor

Place:   Tokyo, Earth, Australia, city

Thing:   house, mobile phone, cow, sparrow

Activity: riding, swimming

Event:  birthday, National Day

Idea:  Buddhism, righteousness

Quality: wisdom, virtue

In the examples below, all the bolded words are noun.

a)  Hana has a black dog called Lucky.

b)  In Shanghai, dogs chase black cars.

c)  The swollen river swept away a big tree.

d)  I prefer health over wealth.

II.  PRONOUN

A pronoun is a part of speech that is used as a substitute for noun or another pronoun. Some of the common pronouns are he, she, it, we, they, I, you, anyone and somebody.

Like nouns, pronouns can refer to people, places, events, activities, ideas or things.

All the bolded words in the examples below are pronouns.

a)  Himari has a car. It is red.

b)  Niko kicked the dog after it bit her.

In example a), the pronoun is it. The pronoun replaces the noun car. Without the pronoun it, the noun car has to be repeated and the example sentence would be: Himari has a car. The car is red.

Similarly, in example b), the pronouns it and her replace dog and Niko respectively.

III.  ADJECTIVE

An adjective is a word that describes a noun or a pronoun by giving more details about the noun or the pronoun the adjective describes. All the bolded words in the following sentences are adjectives.

a)  Yuka has a black dog.

b)  My teacher is very young.

c)  It is a beautiful day.

d)  I have a small bedroom.

e)  He has three sisters and one brother.

As you would see, adjectives answer questions such as What kind? Which one? How many? Whose? etc.

Most adjectives express quality; they tell us what something is like.

a)  A tall man walked into my house.

In this example, the adjective tall describes man which is a noun. Here the adjective describes the man by pointing out that it was not just any man but a tall man.

In the example sentence below, the adjective angry describes the pronoun he by giving more information about the mood of he.

a)  He was angry.

IV.  VERB

A verb is a word that expresses an action, a process or a state of being. A verb is the core of every sentence and the most important part of speech. We cannot have a sentence without a verb. Even if there is only one word in a sentence, it has to be a verb.

In the following examples, all the bolded words are verbs.

a)  Yuka went home after school.

b)  I cooked the dinner last night.

c)  I am Riko.

d)  There was a flood in the village.

e)  He has been walking for days.

V.  ADVERB

An adverb is a part of speech that describes or modifies a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a clause or a sentence.

All the bolded words in the following examples are adverbs.

a)  Akari walked home slowly.

b)  He walks very fast.

c)  The dog barked fiercely.

Adverbs answer questions such as How? When? Where? Why? How much? etc.

The following examples show how adverbs describe or modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, clauses and sentences.

Verbs

a)  Yuko danced beautifully.

b)  The bus left the station early.

In example a), the adverb beautifully describes the verb danced by showing the manner in which Yuko danced. In example b), the adverb early gives more information about the verb left.

Adjectives

a)  Kaito is very happy.

b)  The dog is completely fearless.

In example a) and b) above, very and completely are adverbs that describe adjectives happy and fearless respectively.

Other Adverbs

a)  He is almost always serious.

b)  Kaito walks too quickly.

In the examples, almost and too are adverbs that describe the other adverbs always and quickly respectively.

Clauses

Some adverbs modify clauses.

a)  Saki knocked on the door until someone opened it.

In the example sentence, until is the adverb that describes the verb knocked by showing how long Saki knocked on the door.

Sentences

Some adverbs modify a whole sentence instead of just a part of the sentence.

a)  Frankly, I don’t know the answer to your question.

In the example, frankly modifies the whole sentence and it expresses the speaker’s opinion about what is being said.

Some sentences, adverbs link the sentence to a preceding sentence as in the example below:

a)  I failed in the mid-term examination. However, I passed all subjects in the final examination.

Here, the adverb however links the second sentence to the first one. Some other examples of sentence adverb are similarly, accordingly and therefore.

VI.  PREPOSITION

A preposition is a connecting word that shows how a noun or a pronoun is related to the sentence that contains the noun or the pronoun. In other words, a preposition shows relationship between nouns, pronouns and