Grammar for Summer: Rest, Relaxation

 

In the United¹ States, summer is a time when students can have fun, rest, and relax -- at least those not attending summer school.

In many countries around the world, summer is also a time to take long vacations or short trips to beautiful places.

In today's Everyday Grammar, we will explore the grammar of rest, relaxation², and summer fun. You will learn how the verb³ have plays a central part in describing fun times.

Let's begin with a few important ideas.

Have

Have is an unusual verb. It can act as a main verb, as in:

We had fun!

Or it can act as an auxiliary⁴ verb, as in:

I have visited this place many times.

For today's report, let's only explore have in its use as a main verb.

One common structure⁵ is have + a noun⁶ phrase⁷. A noun phrase is a group of words that act like a noun in a sentence.

Have + a noun phrase can mean to own or possess⁸ something.

But it can also have other meanings that are very commonly used. Many of these meanings express fun and relaxation.

Meals and drinks

When people go on trips, or even have time to relax at home, they are often more careful about preparing and eating meals.

Students who do not have to hurry to school may be more likely to have a big breakfast. Or perhaps families on trips take more care to have large dinners.

In any of these cases, the structure have + a noun phrase can mean to eat or drink something.

For example, a person might say any of the following:

Do you want to have lunch?

I'd like to have a snack.

Enjoying something

Have + a noun phrase can take on other meanings, too.

One meaning is to enjoy something.

So, young people could describe a situation in which they had fun, or had a good time, or even had a blast⁹.

The three statements¹¹ are nearly the same in meaning, with have a blast being the strongest statement¹⁰ of them all.

Consider this example:

Parent: How was your day? Did you play with your friends?

Child: Yes! I went to Teddy's house, and we had a blast!

Parent: What did you do?

Child: We set fire to a ...

Parent: You did what?

Child: Just kidding!

Getting a chance or the time to do something

On summer trips, families and others finally get a chance to do something fun or different.

This leads us to the final meaning of have + a noun phrase: to get a chance or the time to do something. The most common expressions are have a chance or have time.

Consider these two examples:

When I go on summer vacation, I will have a chance to read books and play video games.

When I take a vacation from work, I will have time to see friends and go hiking¹²!

Closing thoughts

While the examples we explored today are about summer vacations or trips, you can use these structures¹³ to talk about all kinds of fun and relaxing times and activities. English grammar can be fun... especially when you use grammar lessons to talk about great times!

Words in This Story

relax – v. to spend time resting and enjoying yourself

auxiliary verb – n. Grammar : a verb (such as have, be, may, do, shall, will, can, or must) that is used with another verb to show the verb's tense, to form a question, etc.

snack – n. a small amount of food eaten between meals

1 united   

adj.和谐的；团结的；联合的，统一的

参考例句：

• The whole nation is closely united.全国人民紧密团结。
• The two men were united by community of interests.共同的利益使两个人结合在一起。

2 relaxation   

n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐

参考例句：

• The minister has consistently opposed any relaxation in the law.部长一向反对法律上的任何放宽。
• She listens to classical music for relaxation.她听古典音乐放松。

3 verb   

n.[语]动词

参考例句：

• The sentence is formed from a verb and two nouns.这句子由一个动词和两个名词构成。
• These are the finite forms of a verb.这些是一个动词的限定形式。

4 auxiliary   

adj.辅助的，备用的

参考例句：

• I work in an auxiliary unit.我在一家附属单位工作。
• The hospital has an auxiliary power system in case of blackout.这家医院装有备用发电系统以防灯火管制。

5 structure   

n.结构，构造，建筑物；v.构成；

参考例句：

• Doctors study the structure of the human body.医生研究人体构造。
• A flower has quite a complicated structure.一朵花的结构相当复杂。

6 noun   

n.名词

参考例句：

• What kind of noun is this?这是哪类名词？
• This word is a collective noun.这个词是个集体名词。

7 phrase   

n.短语，词组；成语，习语

参考例句：

• The phrase was caught on and immediately became popular.这个短语被采用后很快就流行了。
• That's exactly the phrase I was looking for.这就是我一直找的那个短语。

8 possess   

vt.持有，占有，使拥有，克制，支配，迷住

参考例句：

• To possess wealth is not always to be happy.拥有财富未必一定幸福。
• Some animals possess the characteristic of man.有些动物具有人类的特征。

9 blast   

v.炸毁，摧毁；n.爆炸，爆破，一阵，汽笛声

参考例句：

• A huge bomb blast rocked central London last night.昨晚一次剧烈的炸弹爆炸震动了伦敦市中心。
• Not until last week was the project in full blast.工程直到上星期才全部开工。

10 statement   

n.陈述；声明；综述

参考例句：

• The government will put out a new statement tomorrow.政府将于明天发布一项新声明。
• Put down your statement in black and white.把你的话用白纸黑字写下来。

11 statements   

n.声明( statement的名词复数 )；（思想、观点、文章主题等的）表现；（文字）陈述；结算单

参考例句：

• We are faced with two apparently contradictory statements. 我们面前这两种说法显然是矛盾的。
• The report is inconsistent with the financial statements. 这个报告与财务报表内容不一致。

12 hiking   

n.徒步旅行

参考例句：

• He has been hiking round Scotland for a month.他围着苏格兰徒步旅行了一个月。
• Hiking is not yet popular in China.徒步旅行在中国还不流行。

13 structures   

n.结构( structure的名词复数 )；[生物学]构造；机构；构造物v.组织( structure的第三人称单数 )；安排；制定

参考例句：

• All three structures dated to the third century and were tentatively identified as shrines. 这3座建筑都建于3 世纪，并且初步鉴定为神庙。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Flexibility of labour was obtained through the breakup of old trade union structures. 打破了旧的工会结构之后，雇用劳工可以灵活处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》