SKELETON CHECKLIST

ADJ
FORM

 Collocation – fixed/semi-fixed expression

 Singular/plural - countable/uncountable
 Parsing e.g. adj+noun
 Person aspect 1st/2nd/3rd
 Imperative / interrogative / declarative
 Phrasal (adjective)
 Direct/indirect object / subject
 Ellipsis
 Use of capitals/inverted commas/exclamation etc
 participles (verbs that function as adjectives)
 Base form + suffix/prefix

USE

 Attributive / predicative adjectives (Adjectives that occur before and after a noun)
 Used as a classifier / pre-modifies the noun advicee.g. CLASSROOM advice


NOUN
 Phrasal (noun)
 Infinitive/gerund/present participle
 Participle infinites / gerunds – non-finite verbs (verbs that function as nouns)
 Nominalization from (verb)
 Passive / agent omitted
 -nominalization of the verb ‘read’

VERB
form

 Collocation – fixed/semi-fixed expression

 Singular/plural –(conjugation e.g. she’s washes (singular verb) – they wash (plural verb), is/are
 Regular/irregular
 Tense – past simple / present simple
 Bare infinitive / base form
 Phrasal (verb)
 Finite verb
 Transitive/intransitivef
 2nd person singular present simple of …
 Dummy / action / helping verbs
  Regular/irregular
 Delexicalised verb
 Participle - Present participle (ending -ing) Past participle (usually ending -ed, -d, -t, -en, or -n).
 part of a (non defining) relative clause
 … is part of verb phrase
 Spelling e.g. ‘e’ droped, double tt , ‘y – ie’ etc
 part of dependent / subordinate / embedded clause
 post-modifier of noun (wedding)
 ellipsis of relative pronoun ‘that/which’ / Reduced relative clause
 reduced passive structure / ellipsis of passive auxiliary (will be)
 part of a noun clause: ‘a beach wedding attended by Mrs Feeney’s father, Peter
 followed by agent (Mrs Feeney’s father)
 dynamic / stative
 linking verb
 mental / relational / material process

MEANING/USE

 Delexicalised use of ….
 Tense meaning
-expresses (a fact/general truth)
 (Semi-) fixed expression/phrase/lexical chunk/idiom/formulaic language

USE

INTENSIFIERS/QUANTIFIER
 Qualifying/modifying
 Weakens the adjective / hedges
 Intensifier
 Quantifier
 Adverbial phrase
 Parsing
 Filler/vague language

MULTI-WORD VERBS
 Separable/inseparable verb phrases
 Regular/irregular
 Past/present participle
 Adverb/adverbial partical e.g. (take) on/off/up
 (part of) tense
 Transitivity
 Passive
 Part of the clause that is the object of the verb (to allow)
 Bare infinitive/infinitive without to
 Used after (modal)
 Preposition (pay) for
GERUND
FORM

 Gerund
 Formed by adding suffix/morpheme/inflexional/bound morpheme/ –ing to the infinitive/baseform (take)
 Spelling: Final e dropped
 Needed after (be) used to / part of verb pattern / used after preposition (to)

USE

 Subject/object (of …)
 Delexicalised verb / the meaning is not within take but within the noun that follows it(command)
 Part of the collocation e.g. take command
 More concise / impersonal than saying If we raise…(raising)
 Starting with a verb varies the sentence structure in the paragraph and is a cohesive and stylistic device
 Head of a participle clause (confronting the daily hardship and boredom of prison life)

PRESENT PARTICIPLE
FORM
 Present participle
 Formed by adding suffix/morpheme/inflexional/bound morpheme/ –ing to the infinitive/baseform (keep)
 Used after (subordinating conjunction while)
 Finite/non-finite verb
 Takes its time reference from main verb in the sentence
 Transitivity

USE

 (Part of) participle clause

 It’s more concise / ellipsis of it is / takes the place of the adverbial clause while it is keeping/ it’s more concise than an
adverbial clause (while keeping … )

PASSIVE/PERFECT
PASSIVE

form

 passive
 Tense
 Parsing
 1st/2nd/3rd person
 Singular/plural
 Irregular/regular verb
 Past participle
 omitted agent

Meaning
  Used as a lexical chunk/collocation/fixed phrase/expression
 Tense meaning e.g. past simple Is a completed action
 Passive keeps person who was born as the subject/focus/theme / the agent isobvious/not important
 Language meaning e.g. was born: An event / activity in life story/biography
 Aspect meaning perfect/progressive/continuous/prospective/habitual/durative/iterative

PERFECT

form

 Past/perfect/ perfect simple/continuous

 Parsing
 Had is the (simple) past (of have)
 Irregular/regular verb
 Past participle of (send)
 1st/2nd/3rd person
 Singular/plural

Use/meaning

 Past perfect: an action completed before another e.g. Shows that the sending took place before Orwell died
 Present perfect: shows the relationship between past and present e.g. Orwell's work at the time that MacCarthy was
writing i.e. whenOrwell was still alive
 Specific time reference / There is no specific time reference

RELATIVE PRONOUNS/CLAUSES/PRONOUNS
Form

 relative pronoun
 That can be replaced by which but that is more common in spoken English
 That can be omitted because it is the object of the verb
 which cannot be omitted because it is the subject of the clause
 that cannot be used instead of which
 Ellipsis / omission of that /which when introducing non-essenial information
 Makes the text more concise / avoids repetition
 Defining/identifies / non-defining relative clause – comma used
 Proceeded by comma/no comma
 Reduced relative clause

Use

 Referring to a place/thing/person (eton)

 Avoids repetition (of eton)
 Anaphoric/cataphoric reference
 Gives extra/non-essential information (about Eton)
 Introduces essential information about the message
 Formal/informal style
 in which could be replaced by where
 introduces a subordinate clause

THAT
FORM
-defining subordinate clause
-no comma used
-relative pronoun
-demonstrative pronoun

USE – relative pronoun

-Used for defining information about people, objects of animals

-used o introduce essential/important/defining information
-introduces a subordinate clause
-Takes the place of the subject in the clause
-Can be replaced by which
-Refers back to (experiences)

USE – Demonstrative pronoun

-Anaphoric reference to the continuing inspiration of the previous paragraph

-By using that rather than this, it shows that the writer is leaving that topic behind now, and moving on to a new one
-Also probably a stylistic choice as this was used in a similar way at the beginning of the previous sentence and the author
wanted to avoid repetition
-It is the subject of the sentence

WHOSE
USE

Used o express belonging for humans and animals, and verrarel objects

WHICH
FORM

-non-defining subordinate clause

-separated by a comma

USE

 Used for information about objects and animals

 Introduces additional / extra information
 introduced by the relative pronoun which,
 which is the object of the clause
 a non-defining (or non-restrictive) relative clause as it does not define the noun phrase (driving up bus lanes) – it simply
adds additional information; if this clause were taken out the utterance would still keep its sense.
 in writing, commas need to be placed either side of the relative clause
 only which can be used here; who is not used as it is modifying a concept rather than a person; that cannot be used to
introduce non-defining relative clauses

WHO
FORM
-Defining/non-defining subordinate clause

USE

 introduced by the relative pronoun who,

 who is the subject of the clause
 who refers back (anaphora) to the noun defined by the relative clause (people)
 a defining (or restrictive) relative clause as it provides additional information about the people that is necessary for the
speaker’s message to be understood (she’s talking about people who cheat and not any other type of people) without
this information the sense of the utterance would be lost –
 it can be said to have an adjectival quality as it describes the people
 in writing, no comma needs to be placed before the relative clause
 who is used as we are talking about people and not objects, though that could also be used.

PRONOUN
FORM

 Personal/impersonal (it, there)/possessive/reflexive/indefinite/demonstrative/interrogative pronoun

 Singular/plural pronoun
 Conjunction – subordinate
 Used locatively / spacially
 pre-modified by (a determiner/quantifier + adjective)
 Object/subject of sentence

COHESION

 Anaphoric/cataphoric reference
 Reference to ….
 Introduces (examples)
 Avoids repetition / substitution for …

THIS/THAT/THESE/THOSE
FORM

 Singular/Plural
 Object/subject of sentence
 Demonstrative pronoun
 Determiner function
 Precedes a noun

USE

 indicate items in space or time

 pointing (deictic function) i.e. Near in time or distance: this, these / Far in time or distance: that, those
 Identifies the noun / refers to a clause
 Pronoun reference e.g. I want that, those are my books

FORM OF ‘TO’
 Forms part of infinitive / is the infinitive marker
 To + verb base form
  Part of noun pattern/collocation e.g.an opportunity to do something / part of verb pattern e.g.gave an opportunity to
get involved
 (Dependent) preposition
 Part of a subordinate clause
 Finite verb
 Introduces prepositional phrasee.g. to the scheme
 Present passive infinitive: I want to be invited
 Perfect passive infinitive: It should have been repaired
 The present progressive infinitive:I am happy to be helping
 The past progressive infinitive: I am happy to have been helping
 The present infinitive: I am happy to help
 The perfect infinitive: I am happy to have helped

USE

 Gives reason or purpose

 Infinitive used as a noun
 Infinitive used as an adjective e.g. I told you to wait
 Infinitive used as an adverb

BARE INFINITIVE
Uses of the bare infinitive IT IS NOT THE MAIN VERB
The infinitive is used without to after certain verbs like bid, let, make, see, hear, need, dare etc.
 I bade him go. (NOT I bade him to go.)
 Let him sit there. (NOT Let him to sit there.)
 She made me cry. (NOT She made me to cry.)
 I heard him sing a lovely song. (NOT I heard him to sing a lovely song.)

The bare infinitive is also used after the verbs will, would, shall, should, may, might, can, could and must.
 I will wait. (NOT I will to wait.)
 You must obey my instructions. (NOT You must to obey my instructions.)
 He can speak five languages. (NOT He can to speak five languages.)
 You should come to school in time. (NOT You should to come to school in time.)

The infinitive is also used without to after had better, would rather, sooner than and rather than.
 You had better ask his permission. (NOT You had better to ask his permission.)
 I would rather die than surrender. (NOT I would rather to die than surrender.)
 He would rather play than work.

ARTICLES
 Definite/indefinite
 The: Only one (Civil Service in India) / assumes reader knows there’s only one / shared knowledge
  Definite article generally used with organisations
 a/an: One (experience) referred to / Orwell had more than one experience
 Use of indefinite article an because of following initial vowel
 Zero article
 Zero article: (Reviews are) referred to for the first time here
 Zero article: (Reviews are) not post-modified/defined / are referred to in general / non-specific
 (following word) is singular/plural/countable/uncountable

QUESTIONS
 Auxiliary / dummy auxiliary /operator/do
 Person aspect singular/plural
 Subject/object pronoun – he or him
 Base form / bare infinitive / infinitive without to
 Regular/irregular
 Transitivity
 Tense
 Yes/no question / open/closed question
 To ask about (something with is always true)
 Stative/dynamic verb
 Interrogative pronoun/determiner
 Wh- word
 Tag question (ask for confirmation/agreement/opinion)
 Inverted auxiliary be with subject
 Anaphoric/cataphoric reference
 Subject question

DETERMINER
Form

 Cardinal number
 Quantifier

Meaning

 Specify/emphasise/state the number/quanity of …

 Part of a common phrase

Modals
WOULD

Form

 modal (auxiliary/verb)
 would + infinitive without ‘to /, bare infinitive / base form
 reported/indirect speech / reported events (1st conditional) / backshift from (‘If our families can’t..,)
 wedding will come’ / ‘will’ changes to ‘would’
 not contracted because of written genre
 frequent collocation / (lexical) chunk / fixed expression (would + recommend)
 often contracted in speech
Meaning / use

 future in the past / being used to report events

 real possibility (i.e. 1st conditional) / to express intention/volition
 shows determination
 parallels ‘could’ in early part of sentence
 a prediction / expression of certainty (will)
 refers to present time / expresses hypotheticality
 hedge / softener / less direct / more polite / to distance / more formal
 a past habitual / repeated action.
 a hypothetical consequence of an action

PREPOSITIONS – despite
DESPITE

 preposition + noun / gerund

 dependent clause
 can be used interchangeably with in spite / despite of

USE

-Signifies a concession
-used to contrast

CONJUNCTIONS
while/whilst
FORM

 subordinate conjunction
 synonymous with ‘while’

USE

 Indicates that something is or was happening when something else occurred

 introduce adverbial clauses of time.

WHEN
FORM

 Subordinate conjunction
 To talk about situations and conditions that are repeated or predictable, we can use either if or when + present verb
form:
USE

 emphasizes immediacy.
 introduces subordinate clause
 refer to the time of a future situation or condition

AND
FORM

 Coordinating conjunction

USE

 Connects clauses or sentences of equal importance

ADVERBS

THOUGH

FORM

-Adverb

USE

-add a new fact or opinion that changes what you have just said:

- modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb or a word group

- used after adding a fact, opinion, or question which seems surprising after what you have just said, or which makes what you
have just said seem less true.

GET
FORM
 multi-word verb / phrasal verb
 infinitive
 de-lexicalised verb get + (adverb) particle
 intransitive
 inseparable
 bare infinitive / base form
 verb + noun collocation
 get + noun phrase (indefinite article + adj. + countable noun)
 bare infinitive / base form
 verb phrase: get + multi-word verb / phrasal verb send off get acts as an auxiliary verb

PUNCTUATION
Ellipses
- (. . .)
-They’re used to show that information has been omitted from a quote, usually to shorten it.
-In fiction and poetry, they’re also used to build suspense, show a speaker’s voice is trailing off or faltering, or represent
incomplete thoughts.
- text messages and social media posts, where they’re frequently used to indicate pauses . . . or voices or thoughts fading away.

Period
- (.)
- to end a declarative sentence.

Comma
-(,)
-indicates a pause in a sentence, either between phrases, clauses, or items in a list.

Apostrophe
- (’)
- Creating possessive nouns (Jim’s house, the Kelleys’ car)
- Combining words into contractions (don’t, she’ll, weren’t)
-more casually, apostrophes are used to shorten words (government becomes gov’t and the 1970s becomes the ’70s)

Exclamation points
-(!)
-to make sentences exciting!
-not a good choice in any kind of formal, academic, or business writing.

Question marks
-(?)
-used to communicate that a sentence is a question.

Dash
-Emdash —En dash –
- indicate a sudden change in thought, an interruption in the flow of the sentence, faltering speech, or an abrupt halt to speech.

Quotation marks
- (“ ”)
-denote direct quotes.
-State the title of a work (His article, “Why Chocolate is the Best Flavor,” was published in Ice Cream magazine.)
-Signify a word within a sentence (Please refer to the champion as “winner.”)
-Communicate that a specific word is being used in a facetious disapproving way (The day-old pizza was “not that terrible.”)

Hyphens
- load(-)bearing
- used to create compound words

Parentheses
-()
- allow a writer to provide additional information
Connected speech
 Glotalisation/elision e.g. /t/ in what
 Assimilation
 Weak forms – schwa
 Catenation
 Sentence stress
 Insertion of schwa
 Intrusion
 Elision