GRAMMAR REVIEW – WEEK 8

       I.            NEGATION

1)      Construction:

You must use an auxiliary with a negation about a verb. NOT is attached to the auxiliary:

                He doesn’t (does not) want to go. Didn’t he tell you? Maybe you haven’t talked to him yet.

NO is attached to a noun:

                I have no money. = I do not have money.

2)      Negative sentences:

You can only use one marker of a negation in a sentence:

Il ne vient jamais => He never comes. Je n’ai vu personne. => I haven’t seen anyone.

_  No/Not is incompatible with never, nobody, nothing, etc… Use ever, anybody, anything !

_  Moi non plus: me neither. // Je ne l’ai pas vu non plus; I haven’t seen him either.

Pay attention to the spelling:

no one (2 words) = nobody : There was no one at the station.

none= not one: How many friends came? None! None of my friends came. Not even a single one!

=>  REVIEW EXERCISE: exercise Week8 Negations

     II.            GENITIVES

1)      Use:

The genitive can be used to express possession, with people, animals or organizations:

John’s house. = it belongs to John. It is his house.

It can indicate than an element belongs to a class, a type (and not to a particular person)

A boys’ school. A butcher’s knife

The genitive is also used to indicate a relation between two elements:

Yesterday’s party was quite boring. (the party does not “belong” to yesterday!)

DO NOT systematically translate “de” with a genitive! Use “of” for things, ideas,…

Une tasse de café: a cup of coffee (not a coffee’s cup!), le nom du livre: the name of the book

2)      Construction: The X of (the) Y => (the) Y’s X

Pay attention to spelling and exceptions:

Singular: NOUN’s noun = the man’s coat / Plural: NOUNS’ noun = his parents’ house

Singular ending in –s: the rule still applies! = Charles’s wife

Exception: if a plural noun does not end in –s, we use ‘s: a children’s book

Pay attention to the use of articles:

“The wife of this man” = this man’s wife

BUT “the wife of Ø Terry” = Ø Terry’s wife

“The palace of Ø Queen Elizabeth” = Ø Queen Elizabeth’s palace

BUT “The palace of the queen” = the queen’s palace)

=>  REVIEW EXERCISE: exercise Week8 Genitives

 IF YOUR SCORE WAS LOWER THAN 90% ON THESE EXERCISES, READ MORE AND DO ADDITIONAL EXERCISES:

 English grammar in use (with answers) [425 MUR] (+ CD-ROM in Centre de Langues Salle Multimedia)

Unit 81 (genitive), Unit 85 – 86 (negation)

Grammaire raisonnée 2 [425 PER] (livre + livret de corrigé des exercices)

  Chapitre 10 (génitif), Chapitre 3 – énoncés négatifs