Unusual Structures

An absolute phrase is a noun or pronoun with a participle (being, having been, V-ing) that gives a reason or a condition for the main clause. It has its own subject, which is different from the subject of the main sentence.

✔ There being no bus service, the village is very isolated.
✔ It being a holiday, the office was closed.
✔ The sun having set, we went back home.
✔ Weather permitting, we shall play tomorrow.

The structure also comes after the main clause:

✔ The village is very isolated, there being no bus service.

There being is the one students get wrong. Here there is the little word that says something exists, so there being no bus service means because there is no bus service. The writer of the wrong version, their being no bus service, has replaced it with their, a word of ownership. Nobody owns a bus service in this sentence.

Their being is not wrong everywhere. In Their being late annoyed the teacher the phrase is the subject of the sentence and their shows whose lateness it was. The test is the meaning: existence, use there; ownership, use their.

An absolute phrase also needs its own subject. Being a pleasant evening, we went out for a drive is faulty, because being seems to belong to we. The correct form is It being a pleasant evening, we went out for a drive.

Lest means for fear that or so that … not. It joins an action to the danger the speaker wants to avoid.

✔ Walk carefully lest you should fall.
✔ Study hard lest you should fail.
✔ He wrapped the parcel well lest it should break.

Because lest already carries the idea of not, you must not add another negative:

✘ Walk carefully lest you should not fall. (use lest you should fall)

And you must not use will, would, may or can after it:

✘ Walk carefully lest you will fall. (use should fall)
✘ He worked hard lest he may fail. (use should fail)

The verb after lest is should + V1. A plain V1 is also correct in careful English (lest you fall), the old subjunctive, but when the options show both should fall and a plain form, take the should + V1 version.

Think of it this way: Walk carefully lest you should fall means Walk carefully, because you do not want to fall. The not is hidden inside lest.

Had better, would rather, would sooner and might as well are small idioms that behave like modal verbs. The verb that comes after them is the base form, V1, with no *to*.

✔ You had better leave now.
✔ You had better not wait any longer.
✔ Radhika would rather stay at home than go out in the rain.
✔ We might as well watch a film, as there is nothing else to do.

✘ You had better to leave now. (use leave)
✘ She would rather to stay at home. (use stay)

Had better gives advice or a warning about the present or the future, never the past, and the had is not a past tense. The negative is *had better not + V1*, not had better to not.

In would rather … than … both verbs are V1:

✔ I would rather walk than take a taxi.
✘ I would rather walk than taking a taxi.

When the speaker wants someone else to do something, the verb after would rather goes into V2, because the wish is a little unreal:

✔ I would rather you went now than waited for the rain.

The same logic holds for rather than. It joins two parts of the same form: a rule rather than the exception.

When two changes go together, English uses the pattern the + comparative, the + comparative. As one thing increases, the other increases (or decreases) with it.

✔ The more a culture expands, the less chance there is that it will become extinct.
✔ The more he earns, the more he wants to earn.
✔ The harder you work, the better the result will be.
✔ The sooner, the better.

Here the does not mean the definite article. It means by how much, and the sentence reads: by how much the culture expands, by that much less is the chance …

SSC checks three things in this pattern.

1. A comparative on both sides. The more, the less, the better, the higher. Never a superlative: the most … the most is wrong.
2. Only one comparative in each part. The more harder you work is a double comparative. The right form is The harder you work.
3. The verb of each clause agrees with its own subject. In The more a culture expand, the subject a culture is singular, so the verb is expands. In the more he want, the verb must be wants.

> After the more, the subject and verb keep their normal order, and the two halves normally use the same tense.

One of is followed by a plural noun, but the verb is singular, because the subject of the sentence is one, not the group.

✔ One of the proposals received by us seems very interesting.
✔ One of the boys from our school has been selected.
✔ Each one of them was wearing a face mask.
✔ Only one of these books belongs to the school library.

The words in between (of the proposals, from our school, received by us) are only describing. They do not change the subject. When you meet one of, jump straight to the verb and ask whether it is singular.

Two things are checked along with it.

1. The noun after of must be plural. One of the favourite teacher is wrong; write one of the favourite teachers.
2. One of those who / that. When the sentence goes on with who, that or which, the verb in that small clause is plural, because the clause describes the group: *He is one of those students who have never cheated.* So has is wrong there. Be careful with *Virat Kohli is one of the best batsmen that the world has seen*: here that is the object, the verb belongs to the world, and world is singular, so has is correct.

> The only one of … who is the exception. With the only one, the clause verb goes back to singular: *She is the only one of my friends who has a car.*

These four small words each have a fixed place.

Too has a negative meaning inside it. Too hot to drink means so hot that we cannot drink it. So do not put not next to it, and do not say too much clear or quite too simple. The adjective follows too directly.

Enough sits after the adjective: tall enough, not enough tall. With a noun it comes before: enough money. This is one of the most repeated slips in SSC: He was enough tall, The container is not enough big, She is enough wise.

So … that and such … that give a result. So takes an adjective or adverb; such takes a noun. That is the connector, not which or or.

✔ The hall was spacious enough to accommodate all the guests.
✔ She had grown so thin that she looked like a scarecrow.
✔ The news is too good to be true.

The little word to has two lives. Sometimes it belongs to the infinitive (to go), and then V1 follows. Sometimes it is a preposition (to the market), and then a noun or a V-ing follows. Most slips in this unit come from mixing these two.

Used to with V1 tells us about a habit or state that was true in the past and is no longer true. It has no present form of its own: He used to sits is wrong, and so is He is used to sit.

Be used to means be familiar with. The to is a preposition, so *I am used to getting up early* is correct, and I am used to get up early is wrong.

A quick test: put a noun in place of the verb. If to would still be correct (I look forward to the party), the to is a preposition and the verb must be V-ing (to meeting you).

> The negative of the past habit is did not use to + V1 (She did not use to eat fish). In not used to drinking, the meaning is different: not accustomed to.

Hardly, scarcely and barely look like positive words, but each one already means almost not. That is why two things go wrong with them.

1. No second negative. They are negative in meaning, so not, never, no and nobody must not be added.

✔ I could hardly believe my eyes.
✘ I couldn't hardly believe my eyes.
✔ There was scarcely anyone in the hall.
✘ There wasn't scarcely anyone in the hall.

2. Hardly is not hard. Hard is both an adjective and an adverb of effort (work hard, try hard). Hardly means barely.

✔ She worked hard to pass the exam.
✘ She worked hardly to pass the exam.
✔ No matter how hard she tried, she could not solve the equation.

With the time pattern, use when or before, never than:

✔ Hardly had he reached the station when the train left.
✔ Scarcely had the bell rung before the students rushed out.

> In SSC the word is mostly a trap of effort: work hardly, try hardly, In spite of hardly work. If the meaning is with great effort, the right word is hard.

When we say two things are not equal, we use not so … as (or the plainer not as … as).

✔ He is not so friendly as she is.
✔ The exam was not as easy as we had expected.
✔ This book is not so interesting as that one.

The partner of so or as here is as. Students replace it with like, that, than or so, and that is the error.

✘ He is not so friendly like she is.
✘ The exam was not so easy that we had expected.
✘ He is not such a clever boy that you are.

With a noun, such takes the same partner:

✔ He is not such a clever boy as you are.

Remember the difference between so … that and so … as. So … that gives a result (so tired that she slept). So … as is a comparison (not so tired as I). If the sentence is a comparison, the second word is as.

> As … as in a positive sentence needs no change: She is as tall as her brother. Only the negative form allows so in the first place.

Ordinary comparatives take than (taller than, better than). A small family of words takes to instead.

These words came into English from Latin comparatives, so senior already means older, superior already means higher. That is why than is not used, and also why more superior or more preferable is wrong: the word is already a comparative.

Prefer has its own shape. Use to and keep both sides in the same form.

✔ I prefer walking to driving.
✔ She prefers staying at home to going out.
✘ She prefers to stay at home than go out.
✘ The guests preferred orange juice than hot coffee.

In SSC, prefer … rather than is also treated as an error. If you do want rather than, use would rather: I would rather stay at home than go out.

Need and dare live two lives. Know which one the sentence is using.

The modal form is used mostly in negative and question sentences: You needn't wait, Need I go?, He daren't go out at night. In positive statements the ordinary verb is used: You need to wait.

So with a singular subject:

✔ The policy needs to become stricter. (ordinary verb, with -s)
✔ The policy need not change. (modal, no -s)
✘ The policy need to become stricter. (ordinary verb without -s)
✘ He needs not go there. (modal with -s)

In the same way, after in case or if the subject decides: *in case you need to ring me up*; *in case he needs to ring me up*.

> Radhika's check: look at what follows the verb. If to is there, the verb is an ordinary verb and must agree with its subject. If not is there, it is a modal and must stay in its base form.

When something should have been done already, we say It is (high) time + subject + V2. The past form carries the sense that the moment has come, and perhaps gone.

✔ It is high time you went home.
✔ It is time someone took concrete steps to reduce unemployment.
✔ It is about time we started the meeting.

The verb after the subject is V2, but the sentence is about the present. It is a gentle push: you should have gone by now.

✘ It is high time you must go home.
✘ It is high time you go home.
✘ It is high time you are going home.

High time is stronger than time, and about time is a little lighter. All three take the same past form.

There is also the infinitive pattern, It is time to + V1, when no new subject is named: It is time to go. So you choose between It is time to go (no subject) and It is time you went (with a subject).

> The same logic works for I wish, as if, and would rather you. In all of them the past form describes something that is not true or not yet done.