The Grammar of English
1. ARTICLES: Definite: the Indefinite: a (becomes 'an' before a noun starting with a vowel sound)
2. NOUNS are the names of things: man, book, wind, crowd, happiness, America, Tuesday
Common nouns are the names of ordinary things: man, table, wind
Proper nouns are those things that always have a capital letter:
America, Tuesday, June
Collective nouns are the names of groups of things: crowd, flock, herd
Abstract nouns are the names of intangible things: happiness, bravery, kindness
3. PRONOUNS are words that are used instead of nouns:
Personal: I, me, we, us, you, he, him, she, her, it.
Possessive: mine, ours, yours, his, hers, its. The book is yours (your book)
Demonstrative: this, that, these, those. That (that thing) is good
Relative: who, whom, which, (that). The man, who (he) lived there, was nice.
Interrogative: who, what, which, when, where, how, why.
What (thing) do you want? Where (at what place) are you?
Why (for what reason) are you there? I don't know how (in what manner) you do it.
4. ADJECTIVES describe, or modify nouns: big, beautiful, crazy, green, soft, good
Adjectives can have degrees:
positive: big, good, beautiful
comparative: bigger, better, more beautiful
superlative: biggest, best, most beautiful
PRONOMINAL adjectives:
Personal: my, our, your, his, her, its, their.
Demonstrative: this, that, these, those. this book, those dogs
Relative: whose, which, what. at whose house, on which day
5. VERBS are 'doing' 'having' or 'being' words: be, do, say, have, run, wash,
Verbs have tenses (or times)
Present tense: I do, he does
Past tense: I did, he did
Future tense: I will do, he will do
Verbs also have two participles, present and past
Present participle: doing (I am doing, I was doing)
Past participle: done (I have done, I had done)
As can be seen, these participles are used in compound tenses of the verb.
Verbs can be finite or infinite. These are generally the same verb & depend on how a verb is used in a particular context.
A finite verb has a subject: I love you
An infinite verb does not have a subject (and often has the word 'to' in front of it):
I want to love you; I can love you
Verbs can be transitive or intransitive. These are generally different verbs.
A transitive verb has a direct object:
I love you, he is fixing the car, she makes money
An intransitive verb does not have a direct object:
I went to town, you sat in the seat.
In these examples, 'town' and 'seat' are indirect objects.
The verb 'to be' does not have a direct object: I am a teacher ('teacher' is the subject of 'am', not the object)
Verbs can be active or passive:
I did the gardening (active)
The gardening was done by me (passive)
Modal verbs: These are verbs which are used with other verbs to modify the verb:
I should, might, may, would take the dog for a walk
6. ADVERBS describe, or modify verbs: quickly, thoroughly, nicely
She did it thoroughly, you speak beautifully
They also modify adjectives: She is very pretty, it was extraordinarily good
Or other adverbs: He speaks extremely highly of you
Adverbial phrases are simply adverbs which are expressed in more than one word.
Compare: I travelled slowly (adverb)
& I travelled on the bus (adverbial phrase)
7. CONJUNCTIONS join sentences together. There are two types:
Coordinate Conjunctions join sentences of equal weight:
We are having lunch in town and going to the pictures
I know her but not him
Subordinate Conjunctions join sentences of unequal weight:
We are going to town if it does not rain
I got wet because I didn't have an umbrella
In the resulting sentence, the clause that starts with the subordinate conjunction is the subordinate clause, the other is the main clause.
8. A PREPOSITION is a word which comes before a noun or pronoun and shows the position of some other word in the sentence:
John is on the beach, Mary is in the house, The kids are at the pictures.
2. NOUNS are the names of things: man, book, wind, crowd, happiness, America, Tuesday
Common nouns are the names of ordinary things: man, table, wind
Proper nouns are those things that always have a capital letter:
America, Tuesday, June
Collective nouns are the names of groups of things: crowd, flock, herd
Abstract nouns are the names of intangible things: happiness, bravery, kindness
3. PRONOUNS are words that are used instead of nouns:
Personal: I, me, we, us, you, he, him, she, her, it.
Possessive: mine, ours, yours, his, hers, its. The book is yours (your book)
Demonstrative: this, that, these, those. That (that thing) is good
Relative: who, whom, which, (that). The man, who (he) lived there, was nice.
Interrogative: who, what, which, when, where, how, why.
What (thing) do you want? Where (at what place) are you?
Why (for what reason) are you there? I don't know how (in what manner) you do it.
4. ADJECTIVES describe, or modify nouns: big, beautiful, crazy, green, soft, good
Adjectives can have degrees:
positive: big, good, beautiful
comparative: bigger, better, more beautiful
superlative: biggest, best, most beautiful
PRONOMINAL adjectives:
Personal: my, our, your, his, her, its, their.
Demonstrative: this, that, these, those. this book, those dogs
Relative: whose, which, what. at whose house, on which day
5. VERBS are 'doing' 'having' or 'being' words: be, do, say, have, run, wash,
Verbs have tenses (or times)
Present tense: I do, he does
Past tense: I did, he did
Future tense: I will do, he will do
Verbs also have two participles, present and past
Present participle: doing (I am doing, I was doing)
Past participle: done (I have done, I had done)
As can be seen, these participles are used in compound tenses of the verb.
Verbs can be finite or infinite. These are generally the same verb & depend on how a verb is used in a particular context.
A finite verb has a subject: I love you
An infinite verb does not have a subject (and often has the word 'to' in front of it):
I want to love you; I can love you
Verbs can be transitive or intransitive. These are generally different verbs.
A transitive verb has a direct object:
I love you, he is fixing the car, she makes money
An intransitive verb does not have a direct object:
I went to town, you sat in the seat.
In these examples, 'town' and 'seat' are indirect objects.
The verb 'to be' does not have a direct object: I am a teacher ('teacher' is the subject of 'am', not the object)
Verbs can be active or passive:
I did the gardening (active)
The gardening was done by me (passive)
Modal verbs: These are verbs which are used with other verbs to modify the verb:
I should, might, may, would take the dog for a walk
6. ADVERBS describe, or modify verbs: quickly, thoroughly, nicely
She did it thoroughly, you speak beautifully
They also modify adjectives: She is very pretty, it was extraordinarily good
Or other adverbs: He speaks extremely highly of you
Adverbial phrases are simply adverbs which are expressed in more than one word.
Compare: I travelled slowly (adverb)
& I travelled on the bus (adverbial phrase)
7. CONJUNCTIONS join sentences together. There are two types:
Coordinate Conjunctions join sentences of equal weight:
We are having lunch in town and going to the pictures
I know her but not him
Subordinate Conjunctions join sentences of unequal weight:
We are going to town if it does not rain
I got wet because I didn't have an umbrella
In the resulting sentence, the clause that starts with the subordinate conjunction is the subordinate clause, the other is the main clause.
8. A PREPOSITION is a word which comes before a noun or pronoun and shows the position of some other word in the sentence:
John is on the beach, Mary is in the house, The kids are at the pictures.
