This document summarizes key grammatical categories and semantic relations. It defines person, tense and number from a nominal and verbal point of view. It provides examples of 1st, 2nd and 3rd person pronouns and possessive determiners. It also defines and gives examples of present, past and future tense. Additionally, it defines paraphrase as restating the meaning of an original statement using different words, and contradiction as a combination of words that seem opposite and have no clear meaning. The conclusion reflects on how understanding these topics can enhance the role of being an English teacher.

1. 1
COLLABORATIVE STAGE
1. Explain and exemplify two (2) grammatical categories from the nominal and verbal
points of view:
Person: is a property of pronouns, and differentiates participants in a conversation.
The category of person has three terms:
1st person: the speaker, person speaking;
2nd person: the addressee/hearer, person spoken to; and
3rd person: the person or thing spoken about.
Person distinctions are expressed by the inflected forms of the pronouns, for example:
Personal pronouns: I, you, he, they
Personal possessive determiners: my, your his, their
Personal possessive pronouns mine yours his, theirs
Personal reflexive pronouns myself yourself himself, themselves (Brinton, 2010, p. 118)

2. 2
The form one expresses generic person (all persons) in English, but since it is often considered
rather formal, it coexists with other forms that also express generic:
1st p pl we We're often misinformed by the media.
2nd p you you never can tell.
3rd p sg one One doesn’t do that in polite company.
3rd p pl they They’ll find a cure for cancer soon.
The generic you is the most common in informal usage. Finally, a few apparently deviant uses of
person are the following:
3rd p for 2nd p your Excellency, your honor
3rd p for 1st p present company, the writer, your teacher,
Caesar (spoken by Caesar himself)
1st p for 2nd p we won’t do that anymore, will we (spoken by a parent to a child)
(Brinton, 2010, p. 119).

3. 3
Tense: is a property of verbs, is the linguistic indication of the time of an action. In fact, tense
establishes a relation: it indicates the time of an event in respect to the moment of speaking (or
some other reference point).
The only tense distinction expressed inflectionally in English is that between present and past,
as in walk/walked or sing/sung, even though it is conventional to talk about a three way distinction
between past, present, and future tense. However, the future is expressed periphrastically and thus
is not formally parallel to the past and present (Brinton, 2010, p. 124).
Examples
Present tense:
1. Habits: I walk to work everyday. She smokes. We eat dinner at 6:00.
2. States: She lives at home. I like chocolate. I believe you.
3. Generic statements: Beavers build dams. Tigers are ferocious.
4. Timeless statements: The sun sets in the west. Summer begins on June 21st.
5. Gnomic (proverbial) statements: A stitch in time saves nine. Haste makes waste.
6. Future statements: We leave tomorrow. I see the doctor this afternoon.
7. Instantaneous commentary: He shoots; he scores. Now I beat in two eggs.
8. Plot summary: Hamlet dies at the end of the play. Emma marries Mr. Knightley.
9. narration in the present (the “historical present”): Then he says …
10. Information present: I hear/see that Manfred has been promoted. (Brinton, 2010, p. 125)

4. 4
Past tense: generally it denotes a past time divorced from, or distinct from, the present moment:
1. An event or a state in past time: Haydn composed the symphony in 1758 or Handel lived in
England for a number of years;
2. Narration: Two days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge
3. Past habit: I drove to work last year
4. Politeness: I was hoping you would help. (Present hope; future help)
5. Hypothetical: If you studied more, you would do better.
Future tense: is expressed by a variety of periphrases as well as by the inflected simple tense:
1. Will/shall + infinitive: I will help you tomorrow.
2. The simple present: The party begins at 4:00.
3. The present progressive: We’re having guests for dinner.
4. Be going to, be about to + infinitive: The child is going to be sick. The boat is about to leave.
5. Shall/will + the progressive: I will be moving next week. (Brinton, 2010, p. 126)

5. 5
2. Define and give examples of basic semantic relations:
- Paraphrase; an utterance is a paraphrase of another when it has the same meaning as another.
In other words is when people use their own words to express someone else´s message or
ideas.
In a paraphrase, the ideas and meaning of the original source must be maintained.
Examples:
Original sentence: Paraphrased sentence:
Philip purchased an automobile Philip bought a car
Original sentence: Paraphrased sentence:
The police chased the burglar The burglar was chased by the police
Original sentence: Paraphrased sentence:
A dog bit Jhon Jhon was bitten by a dog
Original sentence:
Giraffes like Acacia leaves and hay, and they can consume 75 pounds of
food a day.
Paraphrased sentence:
A giraffe can eat up to 75 pounds of Acacia leaves and hay every day.

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- Contradiction: “a statement or sequence of utterances is logically contradictory; that is, if
one is true, the other must be false” (Brinton, 2010, p. 147).
Is a combination of words that seems to be the opposite of each other with the result that the
phrase has no clear meaning.
Examples:
Original sentence: Contradicts
He is an orphan His parents are living
Original sentence: Contradicts
Ata is a bachelor Ata is married
Original sentence: Contradicts
John is a middle age American man John is female

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CONCLUSION
How can these topics enhance your current or future role as an English teacher?
Language is not a bunch of words, is a system of communication that allow human beings can
communicate with each other, hence, in our role as an English teachers is necessary to have a
proper understanding about how language is learned though a correct use of semantics, because
when people can communicate their messages clearly the process of communication is reached
avoiding misinterpretation. Thus, the topics about morphology, grammatical categories and
semantic relations are fundamental issues that we need to know for a better teaching of English as
a second language.

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REFERENCES
Brinton, L. J., & Brinton, D. (2010). ‘The internal structure of words and processes of word
formation’, Chapter 4 in The Linguistic Structure of Modern English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins
Publishing Co. pp. 79-112. Available at
http://bibliotecavirtual.unad.edu.co:2051/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xww&AN=333441&la
ng=es&site=ehost-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_79
McCabe, A. (2011). ‘Language and Mind’, Chapter 4 in An Introduction to Linguistics and
Language Studies. London: Equinox Publishing Ltd. pp. 169-231. Available at
http://bibliotecavirtual.unad.edu.co:2051/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=547849&lang=
es&site=eds-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_169
Teke, A. (28 de Marzo de 2013). Paraphrase – Contradiction - Entailment. Prezi. Disponible
en https://prezi.com/6xu0af88axoq/paraphrase-contradiction-entailment/
Tokar, A. (2012). ‘Basic concepts’, Chapter 1 in Introduction to English Morphology.
Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang AG. pp. 1-24. Available at
http://bibliotecavirtual.unad.edu.co:2051/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=488085&lang=
es&site=eds-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_1