Focus on Grammar
An Intermediate Course for Reference and Practice

CONTENTS


   INTRODUCTION
 
PART I: PRESENT, PAST, AND FUTURE:
REVIEW AND EXPANSION
  Unit 1 PRESENT PROGRESSIVE AND
SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE

Magazine article about
cross-cultural communication:
What's Your Cross-Cultural IQ?
  Unit 2 IMPERATIVE
Article from a physical fitness magazine:
The Warrior Workout
  Unit 3 SIMPLE PAST TENSE
Biography of a 17th-century
Japanese poet: Matsuo Basho
  Unit 4 USED TO
Fashion column: FAQ about Jeans
  Unit 5 PAST PROGRESSIVE AND
SIMPLE PAST TENSE

Radio mystery play: The Alibi
  Unit 6 FUTURE
Newspaper article about
the car of the future:
Highway to the Future
  Unit 7 FUTURE TIME CLAUSES
Self-help magazine article about
setting goals: Go for It!
  Unit 8 WH- QUESTIONS:
SUBJECT AND PREDICATE

Court transcript: questioning a crime witness
  Review or SelfTest
  From Grammar to Writing:
  COMBINING SENTENCES WITH TIME WORDS
  Writing a paragraph about an experience

PART II: PRONOUNS AND PHRASAL VERBS
  Unit 9 REFLEXIVE AND
RECIPROCAL PRONOUNS

Article from a psychology
magazine: Self-Talk
  Unit 10 PHRASAL VERBS
Biography of a biologist
(Dr. Eloy Rodriguez): Planting Ideas
  Review or SelfTest
  From Grammar to Writing:

  USING PRONOUNS FOR COHERENCE
  Writing instructions

PART III: MODALS AND RELATED
VERBS AND EXPRESSIONS
  Unit 11 ABILITY: CAN, COULD, BE ABLE TO
Biography of a dancer
(Mary Verdi-Fletcher):
Born to Dance
  Unit 12 PERMISSION: MAY, COULD,
CAN, DO YOU MIND IF...
?

Information booklet
about the TOEFL:
Some Frequently Asked
Questions about the TOEFL® Test
  Unit 13 REQUESTS: WILL, WOULD,
COULD, CAN, WOULD YOU MIND ... ?

E-mail messages (business and personal)
  Unit 14 ADVICE: SHOULD, OUGHT TO,
HAD BETTER

Ad for a training school:
Capital Training Institute
  Unit 15 SUGGESTIONS: LET'S, COULD, WHY
DON'T ... ? WHY NOT ... ? HOW ABOUT. ..?

Travel brochure for International
Youth Hostels: Let's Travel!
  Review or SelfTest
  From Grammar to Writing:

  USING APPROPRIATE MODALS
  Writing informal notes

PART IV: PRESENT PERFECT
  Unit 16 PRESENT PERFECT: SINCE AND FOR
Biography of a tennis player: 
Martina Hingis
  Unit 17 PRESENT PERFECT: ALREADY AND YET
Transcript of a TV interview
with a flu vaccine specialist
  Unit 18 PRESENT PERFECT: INDEFINITE PAST
Online journal message from a TV
star to fans of his show, "Feldstein"
  Unit 19 PRESENT PERFECT AND SIMPLE PAST 
 TENSE

Magazine article about life styles:
Commutes Marriages
  Unit 20 PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE
Newspaper article about the
homeless: Living on the Streets
  Unit 21 PRESENT PERFECT AND PRESENT PERFECT 
PROGRESSIVE

Magazine article about elephants:
African Elephants
  Review or SelfTest
  From Grammar to Writing:

  THE TOPIC SENTENCE AND PARAGRAPH UNITY
  Writing a personal statement for a job application

PART V: ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS:
REVIEW AND EXPANSION
  Unit 22 ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS
Transcript of a conversation
between a couple visiting an
apartment for rent and its owner
  Unit 23 ADJECTIVES: COMPARATIVES
AND EQUATIVES

Restaurant review:
Bigger and (Often) Better
  Unit 24 ADJECTIVES: SUPERLATIVES
Greeting cards (holidays, birthday,
Valentine's Day, etc.)
  Unit 25 ADVERBS: EQUATIVES,
COMPARATIVES, SUPERLATIVES

Transcript of a TV halftime
report: two sportscasters
discussing a basketball game
  Review or SelfTest
  From Grammar to Writing:

  USING DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVES
  Writing a descriptive paragraph

PART VI: GERUNDS AND INFINITIVES
  Unit 26 GERUNDS: SUBJECT AND OBJECT
Online bulletin board about smoking:
Can't Stand Seeing Those Signs!
  Unit 27 GERUNDS AFTER PREPOSITIONS
School bulletin board
(different types of notices)
  Unit 28 INFINITIVES AFTER CERTAIN VERBS
Advice column: Ask Annie
  Unit 29 INFINITIVES OF PURPOSE
Ad for an electronic
pocket organizer: Datalator
  Unit 30 INFINITIVES WITH TOO AND ENOUGH
Transcript of a radio talk show about
voting rights for people under age eighteen
  Unit 31 GERUNDS AND INFINITIVES
Self-help magazine article about
remembering names: Stop Forgetting
  Review or SelfTest
  From Grammar to Writing:

  COMBINING SENTENCES
  WITH AND, BUT, SO, OR
  Writing a personal letter

PART VII: MORE MODALS AND RELATED
VERBS AND EXPRESSIONS
  Unit 32 PREFERENCES: PREFER, WOULD
PREFER, WOULD RATHER

Questionnaire about preferences:
Leisure Time Activities
  Unit 33 NECESSITY: HAVE (GOT) TO,
DON'T HAVE TO, MUST,
MUST NOT, CAN'T

Introduction to a driver's
manual: Becoming a Safe Driver
  Unit 34 EXPECTATIONS:
BE SUPPOSED TO

Excerpt from an etiquette
book: Wedding Wisdom
  Unit 35 FUTURE POSSIBILITY:
MAY, MIGHT, COULD

Transcript of a TV weather report
  Unit 36 ASSUMPTIONS: MUST,
HAVE (GOT) TO, MAY,
MIGHT, COULD, CAN'T

Excerpt from a Sherlock
Holmes story:
The Red-Headed League
  Review or SelfTest
  From Grammar to Writing:

  COMBINING SENTENCES WITH
  BECAUSE, ALTHOUGH, EVEN THOUGH

  Writing a business letter

PART VIII: NOUNS AND ARTICLES
  Unit 37 NOUNS AND QUANTIFIERS
History text about modern
explorer, Thor Heyerdahl:
Who Really Discovered America?
  Unit 38 ARTICLES:
INDEFINITE AND DEFINITE

Ad for a video game:
Space Defender
  Review or SelfTest
  
From Grammar to Writing:
  THE FORM OF AN ESSAY
  Writing a three-paragraph essay


APPENDICES
 1 Irregular Verbs
 2 Common Non-action (Stative) Verbs
 3 Verbs and Expressions
Commonly Used Reflexively
 4 Some Common Transitive
Separable Phrasal Verbs
 5 Some Common Intransitive Phrasal Verbs
 6 Common Participial Adjectives
 7 Irregular Comparisons of Adjectives,
Adverbs, and Quantifiers
 8 Some Adjectives that Form the Comparative
and Superlative in Two Ways
 9 Common Verbs Followed by the
Gerund (Base Form of Verb + -ing)
 10 Common Verbs Followed by the
Infinitive (To + Base Form of Verb)
 11 Common Verbs Followed by the
Gerund or the Infinitive
 12 Verbs Followed by
Objects and the Infinitive
 13 Common Adjective +
Preposition Expressions
 14 Common Verb +
Preposition Combinations
 15 Spelling Rules for the Present Progressive
 16 Spelling Rules for the Simple Present
Tense: Third-Person Singular (he, she, it)
 17 Spelling Rules for the Simple
Past Tense of Regular Verbs
 18 Spelling Rules for the Comparative (-er)
and Superlative (-est) Forms of Adjectives
 19 Spelling Rules for Adverbs Ending in -ly
 20 Contractions with Verb Forms
 21 Pronunciation Table
 22 Pronunciation Rules for the Simple Present
Tense. Third-Person Singular (he, she, it)
 23 Pronunciation Rules for the
Simple Past Tense of Regular Verbs

INDEX