Grammar Tip # 6: WORD FORMATION

The following list does not include the adjectives derived from participle forms of verbs e.g.(verb) interest (adjective) interesting /interested nor does the list include the adverbs derived by adding suffix "-ly" at the end of adjectives. eg.(adjective) deep (adverb) deeply.

Notice that this chart shows word formation starting with the letter "A". If you click on the following link, the chart will continue alphabetically WORD FORMATION CHARTS.


                                           -A-

VERBS	NOUN	ADJECTIVE	ADVERB
enable	ability	able unable	ably
	absence absentee	absent
	accident	accidental
accommodate	accommodation
acknowledge	acknowledgement
act	action activity activist actress actor	active inactive
activate	activation
add	addition additive	additional additive
	adequacy inadequacy	adequate inadequate
admire	admiration	admirable	admirably
	advantage disadvantage	advantageous disadvantageous
advertise	advertisement advertiser
admit	admission admittance
adopt	adoption
advise	advice advisability	advisable inadvisable	advisably inadvisably
	affection	affectionate unaffectionate
affect	effect	effective ineffective
agree disagree	agreement disagreement	agreeable disagreeable	agreeably disagreeably
	alcohol	alcoholic	alcoholically
allow	allowance
	ambition	ambitious
amuse	amusement
annoy	annoyance
excite	excitement
	anxiety	anxious
apologize	apology	apologetic	apologetically
appear disappear	appearance disappearance	apparent	apparently
applaud	applause applauder
apply	application applicant	applicable	applicably
appoint	appointment
appreciate	appreciation	appreciative
approve disapprove	approval disapproval
argue	argument argumentation	arguable argumentative	arguably
arrange	arrangement
arrive	arrival
assist	assistance
associate	association
assume	assumption
astonish	astonishment
attend	attendance
	attention	attentive
attract	attraction attractiveness unattractiveness	attractive unattractive
avoid	avoidance	avoidable unavoidable	avoidably unavoidably

Source: http://www.bedavaingilizce.com/advanced/index.php Good site.

These links below are great reading about Word Formation:
-BRIGHTHUB_Back Formation and Derivation. Also Conversion, Compounding, Clipping and Blending.
-Assets.cambridge.org Pdf. Article by Ingo Plag on Word Formation.
-WORD BUILDING LIST. Compiled by Tomasz Szczégola, Poland.


EXERCISES TO PRACTISE
Flo-Joe.co.ukflo-joe.co.uk
Englishexercises.org
International House, Bristol

Have a good week,
Inma.

COMPLAINT LETTERS: TIPS, SAMPLES AND TEMPLATES

Useful Links

http://www2.elc.polyu.edu.hk/CILL/eiw/complaint_letter_constructor.htm  View this site as a slide or text, plus exercises.
http://www.samples-help.org.uk/sample-letters/ Very useful.
http://www.businessballs.com/complaintsletters.htm  Different types and templates.
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/dear-sir-and-other-business-conventions/ Good site for writing tips. Rocío, here's someone else wondering the same thing you did in class today: 'Calling someone "Dear" when you're writing a complaint?' :)
http://www.docdownload.com.au/document/content.psp?group=legal,75614&content=44072 Here's to download all sorts of legal templates.


HOW TO GREET AND SAY GOODBYE 

Valediction

A valediction (derivation from Latin vale dicere, 'to say farewell'), or complimentary close in American English, is an expression used to say farewell, especially a word or phrase used to end a letter or message, or the act of saying parting words- whether brief, or extensive.

For the greetings counterpart to valediction, see 'salutation' below.

Valedictions normally immediately precede the signature in written correspondence. The word or words used express respect, esteem, or regard for the person to whom the correspondence is directed, and the exact form used depends on a number of factors — including:

• the formality of the correspondence
• the relationship to the recipient

Conventions also change over time, and of course differ by language.

English valedictions typically contain the possessive pronoun yours. "Yours truly" and "yours sincerely" (or its American English variant, "sincerely yours"). Earlier style closings were usually much longer, and often a complete sentence.

 

Formal valediction

English language valediction typically contain the word yours, a contraction of your servant; valediction was traditionally voluminous, a complete sentence of the form:

I am, Sir, your most humble and obedient servant,

A.B.

Or:

I beg to remain, Sir, your most humble and obedient servant,

A.B.

This form is occasionally abbreviated to

Your obt svt,

A.B.

The phrase et cetera may be used in place of the remainder of the valediction, as in

I am, etc.,

A.B.

As well as

YOS,

A.B.

Yours sincerely or faithfully

In British English, valedictions have largely been replaced by the use of "Yours sincerely" or "Yours faithfully", a shorter form of the archaic "I am yours sincerely". "Yours sincerely" is typically employed in British English when the recipient is addressed by name and is known to the sender to some degree, whereas "Yours faithfully" is used when the recipient is not known by name (i.e. the recipient is addressed by a phrase such as "Dear Sir/Madam"). One way to remember this is the saying "S and S never go together" (for Sir and Sincerely respectively) or remembering "Sir Faithful". When the recipient's name is known, but not previously met or spoken with, some people prefer the use of the more distant Yours faithfully, at the risk of annoying the recipient.

In the American English, "Sincerely yours" or "Sincerely" is commonly used in formal correspondence. "Faithfully yours" is rare. Other formulas such as "Best wishes" and "Best regards" (see below) are also common in formal correspondence. In contrast to British English (see above) there is no special convention for combining these with any particular salutation.

Yours truly,

Yours truly can carry either or both of two connotations: as a valediction, and by implication, as an informal reference by a person to themselves – "the speaker".

"Yours truly" is also used in professional correspondence when writing to a client by his name, but signing the letter in the name of the firm where neither "Yours faithfully" or "Yours sincerely" would be appropriate e.g. Dear Mr. Brown ................Yours truly, Smith & Jones

As valediction

Commonly appearing in the US as "Yours truly," or "Yours very truly," use in the UK was an indication that the signatory was of a higher status than the recipient. Since this could be regarded as offensive, and since most valedictions are designed to show respect to the recipient, or at the very least courtesy, it was rarely used and has now become entirely obsolete.

As self-reference

• "Yours truly made the cake" – a more prudish way to say "I made the cake".
• "If yours truly hadn't been sick that day..."

In this manner, one may sarcastically refer to a third person present in the conversation:

• "Everything was going fine before yours truly, here, showed up..."

Yours aye

"Yours aye" is a Scottish expression  meaning "yours always"

Yours hopefully

"Yours hopefully" is occasionally used in letters of respect or complaint.

Yours, etc.

Used historically for abbreviated endings. Can be found in older newspaper letters to the editor, and often in US legal correspondence. "&c." may be seen instead of "etc." (see et cetera).

In Jane Austen books, some letters are signed Yours, etc. or Yours Sincerely, etc.

Regards, kind regards, best regards

Increasingly common in business usage, "regards," "kind regards" and especially "best regards" are often used as a semi-formal valediction in emails. In informal usage, "best regards" and "kind regards" are often abbreviated to "BR" or "KR". The use of "kind regards" is most likely derived from the more formal, "kindest regards," which is itself a phrase derived from the even more formal combination of "Kindest regards, I remain,""yours" or "truly yours" or any one of a number of valedictions in common usage.

Miscellaneous

Other less formal expressions exist, often some variant of Best wishes such as All my best or, simply, Best. For family members or intimates, an expression such as Your friend, Your loving son or (in the case of lovers) Your Albert may be used; or the name may simply be preceded with All my love or Love.

Less commonly, other adverbs or adverbial phrases may be used, in keeping with the tone of the letter, such as In solidarity or Fraternally. Christian clergy often use Yours in Christ, Sincerely in Christ, or Yours sincerely in Christ.

Within the United States military services, two complimentary closings are standard. Respectfully is used by a senior addressing a service member of lower rank. Very Respectfully or Respectfully Submitted are used by a junior addressing a service member of higher rank. The closing Very Respectfully may be abbreviated "V/R" in brief emails and short notes (or, similarly, "R/S" for Respectfully Submitted), but these closings are always written out in formal correspondence.

 

Valedictions in e-mail

Valedictions in formal e-mail are similar to valedictions in letters: on the whole, they are variations of "regards" and "yours". However, a wide range of popular valedictions are used in casual e-mail but very rarely in letters. These include:

• Cheers
• Thanks
• Keep in touch
• Take care
• Warmly
• Love
• N/R
• Best
• All the best
• GLHF (meaning: good luck, have fun)

E-mail messages, especially those used for very brief communication, are commonly signed off without valedictions, these being replaced by automatically appended signature texts. Some are not signed at all, since a sender's name is usually provided in the message headers.

Salutation

A salutation is a greeting, in particular a formal greeting used in a letter. Salutations usually take the form "Dear [recipient's given name]". For each style of salutation there is an accompanying style of complimentary close (valediction).

The salutation "Dear" in combination with a name or a title is by far the most commonly used salutation in both British and American English, in both formal and informal correspondence. It is commonly followed by either by an honorific and a surname, such as "Dear Mr. Smith", or by a given name, such as "Dear John". However, it is not common in English to use both a title of address and a person's given name: "Dear Mr. John Smith" would normally not be a correct form. A comma follows the salutation, while a colon is used in place of a comma only in American business correspondence. This rule applies regardless of the level of formality of the correspondence.

If the name of the intended recipient is unknown, the most often acceptable salutations are:

Dear Sir or Madam: (If the reader is most likely a male or the sex of the reader is entirely unknown.)

Dear Madam or Sir: (If the reader is most likely female.)

To Whom It May Concern: (If the writer wishes to exclude the sex of the reader from the salutation and/or to convey that the reader should forward the copy to one more suited to receive or respond appropriately.)

"Gentlemen", commonly used in the past, is today often thought inappropriate unless one is certain one is addressing a group that is entirely male.

In older British usage and current American usage, "Mr.", "Mrs.", and "Dr." are typically followed by a period (full stop), as is "Ms." even though it is not really a contraction, but it is common in recent British usage to drop the period after all such titles. Professional titles such as "Professor" or "Doctor" are frequently used both in business and in social correspondence. Dignitaries and holders of certain public offices are sometimes addressed by their titles, e.g. "Dear Lord Mayor", although in American practice the office is commonly prefixed by "Mr." or "Madam", as in "Dear Mr. President", or "Dear Madam Secretary".

"Miss" is generally reserved for unmarried women. "Ms." is for cases in which the marital status is either unknown to the writer or is irrelevant. For example, if you are writing a business letter to submit a bid to a female purchasing agent, "Ms." is entirely appropriate. "Mrs." is reserved for married women, and usually only those who have taken their husband's last name. In older conventions, "Miss" is always for unmarried women and "Mrs." is for married women. "Ms.", in such cases, is not used.

Messrs. or Messieurs is a term used to address many men rather than "Mr Pink, Mr White, et al." Messrs is the abbreviation (pronounced "messers") for messieurs and is used in English.

Similarly, Mesdames is a term to address many women or a mixture of married and unmarried women. It is pronounced "medam".

On occasion, one may use "Sir" or "Madam" by itself as the salutation. The severe and old-fashioned formality of such a salutation makes it appropriate for very formal correspondence (for example, addressing a head of state, or a letter to the editor), but in the same way the formality and stiffness of such a salutation would make its use in friendly social correspondence inappropriate.

From Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.

Grammar Tip # 4: The Passive Voice

Passive Voice Chart
Verb tenses & aspects	Active voice	Passive voice
Present simple	John sells cars.	Cars are sold by John.
Past simple	John sold cars.	Cars were sold by John.
Present continuous	John is selling cars.	Cars are being sold by John.
Past continuous	John was selling cars.	Cars were being sold by John.
Present perfect	John has sold cars.	Cars have been sold by John.
Past perfect	John had sold cars.	Cars had been sold by John.
Future simple	John will sell cars.	Cars will be sold by John.
Conditional	John would sell cars.	Cars would be sold by John.
Future perfect	John will have sold cars.	Cars will have been sold by John.
Conditional perfect	John would sell cars.	Cars would have been sold by John.
Future be going to	John is going to sell cars.	Cars are going to be sold by John.
Future in the past	John was going to sell cars.	Cars were going to be sold by John.

YOU WILL FIND ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PASSIVE IN ENGLISH IN THE FOLLOWING LINKS:

• ALL ABOUT PASSIVE. Click here and browse the whole site  Highly recommended.
• Tutorial on PASSIVE
• Myths about PASSIVE USE

Reflections Upon English passive voice

The passive voice is a grammatical construction (a "voice") in which the subject of a sentence or clause denotes the recipient of the action rather than the performer. In the English language, the English passive voice is formed with an auxiliary verb (usually be or get) plus a participle (usually the past participle) of a transitive verb.

For example, "Caesar was stabbed by Brutus" uses the passive voice. The subject denotes the individual (Caesar) affected by the action of the verb. The counterpart to this in active voice is, "Brutus stabbed Caesar," in which the subject denotes the doer, or agent, Brutus.

A sentence featuring the passive voice is sometimes called a passive sentence, and a verb phrase in passive voice is sometimes called a passive verb. English differs from languages in which voice is indicated through a simple inflection, since the English passive is periphrastic, composed of an auxiliary verb plus the past participle of the transitive verb.

Use of the English passive varies with writing style and field. Some style sheets discourage use of passive voice, while others encourage it.

Identifying the English passive

In the following excerpt from the 18th-century United States Declaration of Independence (1776), the bold text identifies passive verbs; italicized text identifies the one active verb (hold) and the copulative verb  are:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.

In this case, the agent ("the Creator") of the passive construction can be identified with a by phrase. When such a phrase is missing, the construction is an agentless passive. For example, "Caesar was stabbed" is a perfectly grammatical full sentence, in a way that "stabbed Caesar" and "Brutus stabbed" are not. Agentless passives are common in scientific writing, where the agent may be irrelevant (e.g. "The mixture was heated to 300°C").

It is not the case, however, that any sentence in which the agent is unmentioned or marginalised is an example of the passive voice. Sentences like "There was a stabbing" or "A stabbing occurred" are not passive. See "Misapplication of the term," below for more discussion of this misconception.

Usage and style

Against the passive voice

Many language critics and language-usage manuals discourage use of the passive voice. This advice is not usually found in older guides, emerging only in the first half of the twentieth century.

The Columbia Guide to Standard American English (1993) stated that:

Active voice makes subjects do something (to something); passive voice permits subjects to have something done to them (by someone or something). Some argue that active voice is more muscular, direct, and succinct, passive voice flabbier, more indirect, and wordier. If you want your words to seem impersonal, indirect, and noncommittal, passive is the choice, but otherwise, active voice is almost invariably likely to prove more effective.

For the passive voice

Passive writing is not necessarily slack and indirect. Many famously vigorous passages use the passive voice, as in these examples:

• Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. (King James Bible, Isaiah 40:4)
• Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this sun of York. (Shakespeare's Richard III, I.1, ll. 1–2)
• For of those to whom much is given, much is required. (John F. Kennedy's quotation of Luke 12:48 in his address to the Massachusetts legislature, 9 January 1961.)
• Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. (Winston Churchill addressing the House of Commons, 20 August 1940.)

Merriam–Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (1994) recommends the passive voice when identifying the object (receiver) of the action is more important than the subject (agent), and when the agent is unknown, unimportant, or not worth mentioning:

• The child was struck by the car.
• The store was robbed last night.
• Plows should not be kept in the garage.
• Kennedy was elected president.

The principal criticism against the passive voice is its potential for evasion of responsibility. This is because a passive clause may omit the agent even where it is important:

• We had hoped to report on this problem, but the data were inadvertently deleted from our files.

However, the passive can also be used to emphasize the agent, and it may be better for that role than the active voice, because the end of a clause is the ideal place to put something you wish to emphasize:

• Don't you see? The patient was murdered by his own doctor!

Similarly, the passive may be useful when modifying the agent, as heavily modified noun phrases also tend to occur last in a clause:

• The breakthrough was achieved by Burlingame and Evans, two researchers in the university's genetic engineering lab.

Passive constructions

In general, the passive voice is used to place focus on the grammatical patient, rather than the agent. This properly occurs when the patient is the topic of the sentence. However, the passive voice can also be used when the focus is on the agent.

Canonical passives

Passive constructions have a range of meanings and uses. The canonical use is to map a clause with a direct object o a corresponding clause where the direct object has become the subject. For example:

• John threw the ball.

Here threw is a transitive verb with John as its subject and the ball as its direct object. If we recast the verb in the passive voice (was thrown), then the ball becomes the subject (it is "promoted" to the subject position) and John disappears:

• The ball was thrown.

The original "demoted" subject can typically be re-inserted using the preposition by.

• The ball was thrown by John.

Promotion of other objects (Double object passive)

One non-canonical use of English's passive is to promote an object other than a direct object. It is usually possible in English to promote indirect objects as well. For example:

• John gave Mary a book. → Mary was given a book.
• John gave Mary a book. → Mary was given a book by John.

In the active form, gave is the verb; John is its subject, Mary its indirect object, and a book its direct object. In the passive forms, the indirect object has been promoted and the direct object has been left in place. (In "A book was given to Mary", the direct object is promoted and the indirect object left in place).

It is also possible, in some cases, to promote the object of a preposition:

• They talked about the problem. → The problem was talked about.

In the passive form here, the preposition is "stranded"; that is, it is not followed by an object.

Promotion of content clauses

It is possible to promote a content clause that serves as a direct object. In this case, however, the clause typically does not change its position in the sentence, and an expletive it takes the normal subject position:

• They say that he left. → It is said that he left

Stative passives

The passives described above are all eventive (or dynamic) passives. Stative (or static, or resultative) passives also exist in English; rather than describing an action, they describe the result of an action. English does not usually distinguish between the two. For example:

• The window was broken.

This sentence has two different meanings, roughly the following:

• [Someone] broke the window.
• The window was not intact.

The former meaning represents the canonical, eventive passive; the latter, the stative passive. (The terms eventive and stative/resultative refer to the tendencies of these forms to describe events and resultant states, respectively. The terms can be misleading, however, as the canonical passive of a stative verb is not a stative passive, even though it describes a state.)

Some verbs do not form stative passives. In some cases, this is because distinct adjectives exist for this purpose, such as with the verb open:

• The door was opened. → [Someone] opened the door.
• The door was open. → The door was in the open state.

Adjectival passives

Adjectival passives are not true passives; they occur when a participial adjective (an adjective derived from a participle) is used predicatively. For example:

• She was relieved to find her car undamaged.

Here, relieved is an ordinary adjective, though it derives from the past participle of relieve, and that past participle may be used in canonical passives:

• He was relieved of duty.

In some cases, the line between an adjectival passive and a stative passive may be unclear.

Passives without active counterparts

In a few cases, passive constructions retain all the sense of the passive voice, but do not have immediate active counterparts. For example:

• He was rumored to be a war veteran. ← *[Someone] rumored him to be a war veteran.

(The asterisk here denotes an ungrammatical construction.) Similarly:

• It was rumored that he was a war veteran. ← *[Someone] rumored that he was a war veteran.

In both of these examples, the active counterpart was once possible, but has fallen out of use.

Double passives

It is possible for a verb in the passive voice—especially an object-raising verb—to take an infinitive complement that is also in the passive voice:

• The project is expected to be completed in the next year.

Commonly, either or both verbs may be moved into the active voice:

• [Someone] expects the project to be completed in the next year.
• [Someone] is expected to complete the project in the next year.
• [Someone] expects [someone] to complete the project in the next year.

In some cases, a similar construction may occur with a verb that is not object-raising in the active voice:

•  ?The project will be attempted to be completed in the next year. ← *[Someone] will attempt the project to be completed in the next year. ← [Someone] will attempt to complete the project in the next year.

(The question mark here denotes a questionably-grammatical construction.) In this example, the object of the infinitive has been promoted to the subject of the main verb, and both the infinitive and the main verb have been moved to the passive voice. The American Heritage Book of English Usage declares this unacceptable, but it is nonetheless recommended in a variety of contexts.

Misapplication of the term

Occasionally, writers misapply the term passive voice to sentences that do not identify the actor. For example, this extract from The New Yorker magazine refers to the American embezzler Bernard Madoff; bold text identifies the mis-identified passive voice verbs:

Two sentences later, Madoff said, “When I began the Ponzi scheme, I believed it would end shortly, and I would be able to extricate myself, and my clients, from the scheme.” As he read this, he betrayed no sense of how absurd it was to use the passive voice in regard to his scheme, as if it were a spell of bad weather that had descended on him . . . In most of the rest of the statement, one not only heard the aggrieved passive voice, but felt the hand of a lawyer: “To the best of my recollection, my fraud began in the early nineteen-nineties.”

The intransitive verbs would end and began are in the active voice; however, how the speaker uses the words subtly diverts responsibility from him. In The Elements of Style, Strunk and White mis-apply the passive voice term to several active voice constructions; Prof. Geoffrey Pullum writes:

Of the four pairs of examples offered to show readers what to avoid and how to correct it, a staggering three out of the four are mistaken diagnoses. “At dawn the crowing of a rooster could be heard” is correctly identified as a passive clause, but the other three are all errors:

• “There were a great number of dead leaves lying on the ground” has no sign of the passive in it anywhere.

• “It was not long before she was very sorry that she had said what she had”, also contains nothing that is even reminiscent of the passive construction.

• “The reason that he left college was that his health became impaired”, is presumably fingered as passive because of impaired, but that’s a mistake. It’s an adjective here.

PLEASE BE PROACTIVE USING PASSIVE. COMMENTS, QUESTIONS AND DOUBTS IN CLASS, AS USUSAL. (HERE AS WELL, OF COURSE!)

HAVE A NICE WEEK.