28/03/2023
***Basic English grammar***
EIGHT PARTS OF SPEECH
▪NOUNS -names of people, place, thing
▪PRONOUNS -replace nouns
▪VERBS -action words
▪ADJECTIVES - describe nouns
▪ADVERBS -describe verb, adjective or adverb
▪ARTICLES -the, a, an
▪PREPOSITION -relationship between words
▪CONJUNCTIONS -connecting words
▪INTERJECTIONS -exclamation
NOUN
Types:
•Common - names in general like girl, teacher.
•Proper - specific names like Marie.
•Concrete - exist physically like Cup.
•Compound - two or more word like Rainfall.
•Countable - having singular/plural form like bike--->bikes.
•Uncountable - substances, liquids & abstract.
•Abstract - no physical existence or emotion.
• Collective - set or group like TEAM.
Functions of noun:
-subjects
-direct objects
-indirects objects
-objects of preposition
-predicate nominatives
-object complements
PRONOUN
•Interrogative Who, Where, Why
•Possessive Mine, Yours, Our
•Reflexive Myself, Herself, Himself
•Reciprocal each other, one another
•Demonstrative this, that, these, those
•Indefinite several, few, many, all
•Relative Whom, Whose, That
•Personal
Number Singular(I) Plural(We)
Person 1st (I) 2nd(You) 3rd(He)
Case Subject(We) Object(Us)
Gender Masculine(He) Feminine(She) Neuter(It)
VERB
Intransitive No object
Transitive Has object
Infinitive to + Verb
Modal may/might/will
Auxiliary helps main verb
Voice of verb
Active -subject performs action.
I eat the apple.
Passive -subject received action.
The apple was eaten by me.
Moods of Verb
Declarative I eat an apple.
Interrogative Do you eat apples?
Imperatives Eat your apple.
Verb Tenses
•Simple
Present She writes a novel.
Past She wrote a novel.
Future She will write a novel.
•Continuous (Progressive)
Present C. She is writing a novel.
Past C. She was writing a novel.
Future C. She will be writing a novel.
•Perfect
Present P. She has written a novel.
Past P. She had written a novel.
Future P. She will have written a novel.
•Perfect Continuous
Present P.C. She has been writing a novel.
Past P.C. She had been writing a novel.
Future P.C. She will have been writing a novel.
ADJECTIVE
Clean Good
Comparative Cleaner Better
Superlative Cleanest Best
Adjective phrase - group of words
E.g young handsome
Adjective clause
E.g drinking milk
ADVERB
Degrees of Comparison
Quickly
Comparative More Quickly
Superlative Most Quickly
•Manner How Quickly
•Time When Later
•Place Where Here
•Frequency How often Never
Adverbial phrase He eats in his bed.
Adverbial clause He eats because he is hungry at night.
PREPOSITIONS
Place in, out, at, behind, under, on, up
Time in, on, at
Movement from, to, on, by
CONJUNCTIONS
Coordinating: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet
Correlative: both/&, either/or, neither/not
Subordinating: while, if, since, because, after
INTERJECTIONS
Hey! Ouch! Wow! Help! Alas!
SENTENCE
- group of words that are out together to mean something.
- has subject and verb.
Types:
1. SIMPLE SENTENCE has only one clause and obe independent variable.
The cat is happy.
2. COMPOUND SENTENCE has two or more clauses.
The dog is happy but the cat is sad.
3. COMPLEX SENTENCE has one clause with a relative clause.
The dog, which is eating the bone, is happy.
4. COMPLEX COMPOUND SENTENCE has many clauses, atleast one of which is a telative clause.
The dog, which is eating the bone, is happy but the cat is sad.
Purposes:
•Declarative Sentence (declaration)
The dog is happy.
•Interrogative Sentence (question)
Are you happy?
•Exclamatory Sentence (exclamation)
The dog is the happiest dog I've ever seen!
•Imperative Sentence (command)
Give the dog a bone.
Phrase -word or group of words that function as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence.
Clause -verb, its necessary grammatical arguments and any adjuncts affecting them.
- verb along with its subject and their modifiers.
SENTENCE PATTERNS
Independent clause- contains subject, verb and a complete thought.
Dependent clause- contains subject, verb but no complete thought.
1. Independent Clause
The way people write has changed.
2. Independent Clause; Independent Clause
The way people write has changed ; more people are writing than ever before.
3. Independent Clause; Conjunctive Adverb , Independent Clause
The way people write has changed; in addition, more people are writing than ever before.
4. Independent Clause; Coordinating Conjunction, Independent Clause
The way people write has changed, and more people are writing than ever before.
5. Independent, Nonrestrictive Modifier, Clause
Writing, which humans have done for thousands of years, has changed.
6. Independent, Restrictive Modifier, Clause
The writing that is done in the workplace has changed.
7. Subordinate Clause, Independent Clause
Because the way people write has changed, the way we teach writing has also changed.
8. Independent Clause, Subordinate Clause
The way people write has changed though many people claim otherwise.
GRAMMAR RULES
• A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a period , question or exclamation mark.
- My dog is very clever!
• The order of a basic positive sentence is Subject--Verb--Object.
- John loves Mary.
• Every sentence must have a subject and a verb. An object is optional.
- John teaches.
• The subject and verb must agree in number.
- John & Mary work in London.
• When two singular subjects are connected by or use a singular verb.
- John or Mary is coming tonight.
• Adjectives usually before a noun.
- I have a big dog.
• When using two or more adjectives together, the usual order is opinion--adj.+fact--adj.+noun.
- I saw a nice French table.
• Treat collective nouns as singular or plural.
- The committee are having sandwiches for lunch.
- My family likes going to the zoo.
• The words its and it's are two different words with different meanings.
- Here is your coffee.
- You're looking good.
• The words there, their and they're are three different words with different meanings.
- There was nobody at the part.
- I saw their new car.
- Do you think they're happy.
• The contraction he's can mean he is or he has.
- He's finished.
- He is working.
• The contraction he'd can mean he had or he would.
- He had eaten when I arrived.
- He would eat more if possible.
• Spell a proper noun with an initial capital letter.
- Is China in Asia?
• Spell a proper adjectives with an initial capital letter.
- London is an English town.
• Use a or an for countable nouns in general, the for specific countable nouns and all uncountable nouns.
- He always saves some of the money that he earns.
• Use a with words beginning with a consonant sound. Use an with words beginning with a vowel sound.
- a cat, a dog, an apple, an honorable noun
• Use many or few with countable nouns, use much or little for uncountable nouns.
- There is little traffic on the roads.
• To show possession use an apostrophe+s for singular.
• In general, use the active voice in preference to the passive voice.
PROPER SEQUENCE OF WORDS IN A SENTENCE
1. Articles
2. Opinion
3. Size
4. Age
5. Shape
6. Color
7. Material
8. Purpose
