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There are hundreds of grammar rules but the basic ones refer to sentence structure and parts of speech, which are noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition and conjunction. Let’s look at the way sentences are put together and the words that form them.
Some of the most basic and important English grammar rules relate directly to sentence structure. Some of these rules specify that:
Another term for a sentence is an independent clause.
Basic to any language is the sentence, which expresses a complete thought and consists of a subject and a predicate.
Once you have a general idea of the basic grammar rules for sentence structures, it is also helpful to learn about the parts of speech.
Some parts of Speech are
1. Noun identification
2. Count, Mass, and Collective Nouns
3. Plural and Possessive Nouns
What is a noun? A noun is a person, place, thing, quality, animal, idea or activity.
For example:
Person — Maria
Place — Detroit
Thing — Desk
Quality — Width
Animal — Dog
Idea — Independence
Activity — Navigation
The functions of nouns
Nouns sometimes function differently in sentences. For example:
Subject: Maria likes ice cream
Object of Preposition: He gave the ice cream to Maria
Subject complement: The best customer is Maria
Grammar vocabulary: Nominal means any word, or group of words, used as a noun. The nominal word used in the original noun example is Maria.
Types of Nouns
Count Nouns
Count nouns are anything that can be counted. They are singular or plural. Plurals usually end with “s.”
Singular — Car
Plural — Cars
Singular — Chair
Plural — Chairs
Irregular Examples
Singular — Mouse
Plural — Mice
Singular — Child
Plural — Children
Most nouns ending in s, sh, o, or ch need an -es suffix to be plural
Singular — Bus
Plural — Buses
Singular — Dish
Plural — Dishes
Nouns ending in a consonant followed by y become plural by changing y to I and adding -es
Singular — Mystery
Plural — Mysteries
Mass Nouns are nouns that cannot be counted and they usually do not have a plural form
Collective nouns refer to groups of people and/or things. Unlike mass nouns, they can usually be counted, so they usually have plural forms.
Examples:
Singular — Staff
Plural — Staffs
Singular — Herd
Plural — Herds
Plural Nouns
The Plural nouns are the nouns that have been changed into their plural states by adding -s or -es. Remember your irregular nouns, such as mice and children! They too are plural nouns.
Possessive Nouns
Nouns can be possessive and express ownership, usually following the use of “of.”
Example: The life of Maria
Most singular possessives are formed by adding an apostrophe and “s.” If the noun is plural, the possessive form becomes “s” and apostrophe.
Singular Common: Dog
Singular Possessive: Dog’s
Plural Common: Dogs
Plural Possessive: Dogs’
Exception: if the plural noun does not end with an “s,” the possessive is formed by adding an apostrophe and “s.”
Example:
Singular Common: Woman
Singular Possessive: Woman’s
Plural Common: Women
Plural Possessive: Women’s
A pronoun takes the place of an unknown noun. The unknown noun is called the “antecedent.”
Example: Maria wondered if she was late for work.
Maria is the antecedent of “she.” Instead of saying: Maria wondered if Maria was late for work, “she” appears to take the place of “Maria.”
The Nine forms of Pronouns:
Example:
Correct: When Maria bought the detergent, she used her credit card.
Incorrect: When Maria bought the detergent, they used his credit card.
Pronoun Cases
Nominative Cases: I, you, he, she, it, we, they, who
The nominative or subjective, case pronoun is the subject of the sentence.
Examples: She went to the store.
Who has the book?
I am he.
This is she.
Objective Cases: Me, you, him, her, it, us, them, whom
These function as direct or indirect objects.
Examples:
Personal Pronouns can refer to the person/people speaking (First person,) spoken to (second person,) or spoken ABOUT (third person.)
The First person subject singular: I
First person subject plural: We
The First person object singular: me
First person object plural: us
Possessive Pronouns
Like regular nouns, personal pronouns can also be possessive. Possessive Determiners are possessive forms of personal pronouns. Possessive Determiners must have the following noun.
The First person determiner singular: My (book)
First person determiner plural: Our (book)
The First person pronoun singular: Mine
First person pronoun plural Ours
Example: They have MY bags but they know they’re MINE.
My — Determiner, dependent on “Bags”
Mine– stands in place of “My bags.”
Indefinite Pronouns
These have no specific antecedents. These are usually identified with general words like: all, any, some, or none.
Examples:
Singular: another, both, nobody, everything, nothing, somebody, everyone, no one, something, etc.
Plural: all, many, most, much, some
Examples: Somebody has her bags.
Plural: Everyone knows about Maria’s bags.
Indefinite pronouns are only pronouns if they are used ALONE. If they are used with a noun, they become indefinite adjectives.
Interrogative Pronouns
These are used to ask questions and can be personal or non-personal
The Personal subject: Who/Whoever
Personal object: Whom/Whomever
Personal possessive: Whose
Non-personal subject: Which
Non-personal subject: What
Example:
Demonstrative Pronouns
These substitute specific nouns, usually when someone is gesturing toward something.
Singular: This/That
Plural: These/Those
Example: These are for her.
A verb is an active part of speech. It can also express a state of being or the relationship between two things. It is most powerful when following a noun. Example: He HIT her. Verbs are the most complicated part of speech because they can sometimes become nouns, depending on their use.
The three kinds of verbs: transitive verbs, intransitive verbs, and linking verbs.
Transitive verbs
These take objects. Transitive verbs carry the action of the subject and apply it to the object.
Example: She TOOK the bags.
Intransitive verbs
These do not take an object but express actions that do not require the agent doing something to something else.
Example: She LEFT.
Linking verbs
These link the agent with the rest of the sentence and explain the link between the subject and the rest of the sentence.
Examples: appear, grow, seem, smell, taste
Example: Maria seems tired from shopping.
An adverb is a word that is used to change or qualify the meaning of an adjective, a verb, a clause, another adverb, or any other type of word or phrase with the exception of determiners and adjectives that directly modify nouns.
Adverbs can always be used to modify verbs. Notice that the second of these two sentences is much more interesting simply because it contains an adverb:
Adverbs are often formed by adding the letters “-ly” to adjectives. This makes it very easy to identify adverbs in sentences. There are many exceptions to this rule; everywhere, nowhere, and upstairs are a few examples
Examples of Adverbs:
A word belonging to one of the major form classes in any of numerous languages and typically serving as a modifier of a noun to denote a quality of the thing named, to indicate its quantity or extent, or to specify a thing as distinct from something else
In the following examples, the highlighted words are adjectives:
Types of Adjectives
Possessive Adjectives
As the name indicates, possessive adjectives are there to indicate possession. They are
Demonstrative Adjectives
Like the article the, demonstrative adjectives are to indicate or demonstrate specific people, animals, or things. These, those, this and that are demonstrative adjectives.
Coordinate Adjectives
Coordinate adjectives are separated by commas or the word and, and appear one after another to modify the same noun.
Numbers Adjectives
When we use number adjectives in sentences, numbers are almost always adjectives. You can tell that a number is an adjective when it answers the question “How many?”
A conjunction is a part of speech that is used to connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences. Conjunctions are considered to be invariable grammar particle, and they may or may not stand between items they conjoin.
Types of Conjunctions
There are several different types of conjunctions that do various jobs within sentence structures. These include:
Conjunction Examples
A preposition is a word which will link nouns, pronouns, or phrases to other words within a sentence. Prepositions are usually short words, and they are normally placed directly in front of nouns. In some cases, you’ll find prepositions in front of gerund verbs.
Examples
Verbs come in three tenses: past, present, and future.
The following table illustrates the proper use of verb tenses:
Simple Present | Simple Past | Simple Future |
I read nearly every day. | Last night, I read an entire novel. | I will read as much as I can this year. |
Present Continuous | Past Continuous | Future Continuous |
I am reading Shakespeare at the moment. | I was reading Edgar Allan Poe last night. | I will be reading Nathaniel Hawthorne soon. |
Present Perfect | Past Perfect | Future Perfect |
I have read so many books I can’t keep count. | I had read at least 100 books by the time I was twelve. | I will have read at least 500 books by the end of the year. |
Present Perfect Continuous | Past Perfect Continuous | Future Perfect Continuous |
I have been reading since I was four years old. | I had been reading for at least a year before my sister learned to read. | I will have been reading for at least two hours before dinner tonight. |
There are 2 types of Voices of Verbs. They are
Active Voice
When the subject is the door of the action (verb), the voice of the verb is active.
To make an active voice:
Subject + main verb
Example: He passed the test.
In this sentence, the subject He did the action which was passing the test.
Passive Voice
The verb is in passive voice when the subject receives the action.
To make a passive voice:
Subject + auxiliary verb (to be) + main verb (past participle*)
Example: The test was passed by him.
In this sentence, the subject test did not do the action. It was “him” who did. The subject “test” receives the action done by him.
Uses of passive voice
Passive voice is used to:
1. Give importance to the object.
Rather than saying: Aldrin won the presidency; we say:
The presidency was won by Aldrin. (presidency is given more importance).
what are Idioms?
Examples
Common idioms that refer to people include:
Idioms that refer to your actions would be:
Some idioms use colour words to convey other meanings.
For example, there are several that use the word “blue:”
What is a synonym?
Examples
Here is a list of adjectives and their synonyms that are commonly used to describe people.
What is an Antonym?
Working with Antonyms
Sometimes you need to take two steps to enlarge your findings when doing antonym research:
Step 1:
Step 2:
Categories of Antonyms – General English
There are three categories of antonyms:
Graded antonyms
Complementary antonyms
Relational antonyms
Examples
What is Reading Comprehension?
Reading Comprehension consists of two levels of processing.
Deep processing involves semantic processing, which happens when we encode the meaning of a word and relate it to similar words
Shallow processing involves structural and phonemic recognition, the processing of sentence and word structure and their associated sounds.
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