English
Grammar
Articles
and Demonstratives
Short
descriptive words used before nouns. Technically, they function as
adjectives.
Indefinite articles: a or an
Definite articles:
the
Demonstrative adjectives: this, that, these, those
Nouns
Person, place, thing or idea usually preceded by articles or
demonstratives. Nouns can be proper or common. In the English language, all
proper nouns are capitalized (such as John, Houston, and Eaton Centre). Nouns
can be used in certain cases depending on their function in the sentence. The
four main cases are:
Nominative (subject): The dog is running.
She has to go now.
Accusative (direct object): I love
you. They feed the animals.
Dative (indirect object):
Give the ball to me./Give me the ball. I bought this for
him./I bought him this.
Genitive (possessive): That is
Michael's house. William is the prince of Wales.
Adjectives
Words that describe the attributes of nouns, such as beauty,
color, age, goodness and size. In English, adjectives precede the noun they
describe. Examples of adjectives include: pretty, red, old, nice,
large.
Comparative Form: This form adds either -er to the
adjective or more before the adjective to show comparisons. He is
taller than Susie. I think I am more intelligent than my
brother.
Superlative Form: This form adds either -est to the
adjective or most before the adjective to show superiority. She is the
smartest student in the class. This is the most beautiful painting
I've ever seen.
Possessive adjectives: These show personal possession
before a noun; my, your, his, her, its, our, their.
Pronouns
Words that substitute for nouns to prevent redundancy. The
demonstrative pronouns are the same as the demonstrative adjectives except they
are followed by a verb and not a noun.
Personal pronouns: These show
whether a person is represented as speaking, being spoken to, or spoken of;
I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it, we, us, they, them.
Possessive
pronouns: These show possession; mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours,
theirs.
Relative pronouns: These relate to an antecedent, or a
preceding noun or phrase; who, whose, whom, that, which,
what.
Interrogative pronouns: These are used in asking questions;
who, which, what.
Indefinite pronouns: These forms refer to no
one person or thing in particular; each, every, either, neither, all, any,
few, some, several, one, other, another, none, both, such.
Verbs
Words
that express action or emotion. Verbs can be conjugated in many tenses of past,
present, and future. The six forms that verbs are conjugated into are first,
second, and third person singular and plural. Some examples of verbs include:
run, laugh, write, think.
Transitive verbs: Verbs which have direct
objects (no prepositions are needed to connect verb and object); He sees the
house. We believe you.
Intransitive verbs: Verbs which do
not have a direct object. This includes both intransitive verbs which take an
indirect object (usually with a preposition), such as I spoke to him, and
intransitive verbs which have no object at all, such as I aged slowly.
Note that the same verb may be used in one context as a transitive verb (I
read the green book), in another context as an intransitive verb with an
indirect object (I read to my little sister), and in yet another context
as an indirect verb with no object (I happily read all day).
Active
voice: When the subject is represented as acting; The boy loves his
mother.
Passive voice: When the subject is acted upon; The mother
is loved by the boy.
Indicative mood: Makes a direct statement or
declaration, in the form of fact. The river flows westward. The girl is very
pretty. He was bad today. I will be ready tomorrow.
Imperative mood:
Expresses commands, requests, permission and always has the subject in the
second person (you) which is understood. Be on time. Talk to your mother. Give
me the book.
Subjunctive mood: Indicates doubt, supposition,
uncertainty and presumes or imagines an action or state. If he were here,
he would know what to do. It is necessary that you be on time.
Simple Past tense: I cried
Past Progressive (or Continuous): I
was crying
Past Emphatic: I did cry
Present Perfect: I have
cried
Present
Perfect Progressive: I
have been crying
Past Perfect: I had cried
Past Perfect
Progressive : I had been crying
Simple Present tense: I
love
Present
Progressive:
I am loving
Present Emphatic: I do love
Simple Future
tense: I will write
Future Perfect: I will have
written
Future Perfect Progressive: I will have been
writing
Conditional: I would speak
Past Conditional: I
would have spoken
Auxiliary
verbs:
The "helper" verbs are used before infinitives (can, could, may, will, would,
should, must, might) or participles (have). Have is also used in the compound
tenses (you have seen, they had been.)
Participles:
Present and past participles are derived from the verb and act as a verb form,
adjective or noun. Present participles are formed by adding -ing to the verb,
while past participles are formed by adding -ed to regular verbs. Present
participles imply a continuance of action, state or being. She is reading
the book. Past participles imply the completion of an action, state or being. I
have loved. Participles can also act as adjectives when placed before
nouns. He is a reading man.
Gerunds:
Gerunds are also formed by adding -ing to the verb, but they function as a
verbal noun and are normally preceded by articles or demonstratives. The
singing was excellent.
Adverbs
Words that describe a verb, an adjective, or even another
adverb. Simply put, an adverb is to a verb what an adjective is to a noun. Most
adverbs in English end in -ly. Examples of adverbs include: quickly, happily,
loudly, often, sometimes, never.
Conjunctions
Words that connect two words, phrases or sentences. Coordinating
conjunctions connect two independent clauses (sentences that can stand alone)
together, while subordinating conjunctions combine a subordinate to a principal
element in the sentence. Examples of coordinating conjunctions include: and,
or, nor but, for. Examples of subordinating conjunctions include: after,
although, as, as if, as much as, as though, because, before, how, if, in order
that, provided, since, than, that, though, unless, until, when, where, while.
Prepositions
Short words that show the relationship between the objects which
the words express. Nouns and pronouns most often follow prepositions. Examples
of prepositions include: about, above, across, after, against, along, among,
around, at before, behind, below, beneath, beside(s), between, beyond, but, by,
concerning, down, during except, for, from, in(to), like, of, off, on, over,
past, since, through(out), toward, under(neath), until, unto, up, with, within,
without.
Sentences
Sentences are made up of two parts - subjects and predicates.
Simply put, the predicate is the verb and everything that follows it, while the
subject is whatever comes before the verb.
Independent Clause: A
subject and predicate that can stand on its own as a sentence.
Dependent
or Subordinate Clause: Part of a sentence that cannot stand on its own,
usually introduced by a subordinating conjunction.
Phrase: Consists of
two or more words expressing some relation of ideas, but does not contain a
subject and a verb and most often found after prepositions.
Grammar
Articles
and Demonstratives
Short
descriptive words used before nouns. Technically, they function as
adjectives.
Indefinite articles: a or an
Definite articles:
the
Demonstrative adjectives: this, that, these, those
Nouns
Person, place, thing or idea usually preceded by articles or
demonstratives. Nouns can be proper or common. In the English language, all
proper nouns are capitalized (such as John, Houston, and Eaton Centre). Nouns
can be used in certain cases depending on their function in the sentence. The
four main cases are:
Nominative (subject): The dog is running.
She has to go now.
Accusative (direct object): I love
you. They feed the animals.
Dative (indirect object):
Give the ball to me./Give me the ball. I bought this for
him./I bought him this.
Genitive (possessive): That is
Michael's house. William is the prince of Wales.
Adjectives
Words that describe the attributes of nouns, such as beauty,
color, age, goodness and size. In English, adjectives precede the noun they
describe. Examples of adjectives include: pretty, red, old, nice,
large.
Comparative Form: This form adds either -er to the
adjective or more before the adjective to show comparisons. He is
taller than Susie. I think I am more intelligent than my
brother.
Superlative Form: This form adds either -est to the
adjective or most before the adjective to show superiority. She is the
smartest student in the class. This is the most beautiful painting
I've ever seen.
Possessive adjectives: These show personal possession
before a noun; my, your, his, her, its, our, their.
Pronouns
Words that substitute for nouns to prevent redundancy. The
demonstrative pronouns are the same as the demonstrative adjectives except they
are followed by a verb and not a noun.
Personal pronouns: These show
whether a person is represented as speaking, being spoken to, or spoken of;
I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it, we, us, they, them.
Possessive
pronouns: These show possession; mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours,
theirs.
Relative pronouns: These relate to an antecedent, or a
preceding noun or phrase; who, whose, whom, that, which,
what.
Interrogative pronouns: These are used in asking questions;
who, which, what.
Indefinite pronouns: These forms refer to no
one person or thing in particular; each, every, either, neither, all, any,
few, some, several, one, other, another, none, both, such.
Verbs
Words
that express action or emotion. Verbs can be conjugated in many tenses of past,
present, and future. The six forms that verbs are conjugated into are first,
second, and third person singular and plural. Some examples of verbs include:
run, laugh, write, think.
Transitive verbs: Verbs which have direct
objects (no prepositions are needed to connect verb and object); He sees the
house. We believe you.
Intransitive verbs: Verbs which do
not have a direct object. This includes both intransitive verbs which take an
indirect object (usually with a preposition), such as I spoke to him, and
intransitive verbs which have no object at all, such as I aged slowly.
Note that the same verb may be used in one context as a transitive verb (I
read the green book), in another context as an intransitive verb with an
indirect object (I read to my little sister), and in yet another context
as an indirect verb with no object (I happily read all day).
Active
voice: When the subject is represented as acting; The boy loves his
mother.
Passive voice: When the subject is acted upon; The mother
is loved by the boy.
Indicative mood: Makes a direct statement or
declaration, in the form of fact. The river flows westward. The girl is very
pretty. He was bad today. I will be ready tomorrow.
Imperative mood:
Expresses commands, requests, permission and always has the subject in the
second person (you) which is understood. Be on time. Talk to your mother. Give
me the book.
Subjunctive mood: Indicates doubt, supposition,
uncertainty and presumes or imagines an action or state. If he were here,
he would know what to do. It is necessary that you be on time.
Simple Past tense: I cried
Past Progressive (or Continuous): I
was crying
Past Emphatic: I did cry
Present Perfect: I have
cried
Present
Perfect Progressive: I
have been crying
Past Perfect: I had cried
Past Perfect
Progressive : I had been crying
Simple Present tense: I
love
Present
Progressive:
I am loving
Present Emphatic: I do love
Simple Future
tense: I will write
Future Perfect: I will have
written
Future Perfect Progressive: I will have been
writing
Conditional: I would speak
Past Conditional: I
would have spoken
Auxiliary
verbs:
The "helper" verbs are used before infinitives (can, could, may, will, would,
should, must, might) or participles (have). Have is also used in the compound
tenses (you have seen, they had been.)
Participles:
Present and past participles are derived from the verb and act as a verb form,
adjective or noun. Present participles are formed by adding -ing to the verb,
while past participles are formed by adding -ed to regular verbs. Present
participles imply a continuance of action, state or being. She is reading
the book. Past participles imply the completion of an action, state or being. I
have loved. Participles can also act as adjectives when placed before
nouns. He is a reading man.
Gerunds:
Gerunds are also formed by adding -ing to the verb, but they function as a
verbal noun and are normally preceded by articles or demonstratives. The
singing was excellent.
Adverbs
Words that describe a verb, an adjective, or even another
adverb. Simply put, an adverb is to a verb what an adjective is to a noun. Most
adverbs in English end in -ly. Examples of adverbs include: quickly, happily,
loudly, often, sometimes, never.
Conjunctions
Words that connect two words, phrases or sentences. Coordinating
conjunctions connect two independent clauses (sentences that can stand alone)
together, while subordinating conjunctions combine a subordinate to a principal
element in the sentence. Examples of coordinating conjunctions include: and,
or, nor but, for. Examples of subordinating conjunctions include: after,
although, as, as if, as much as, as though, because, before, how, if, in order
that, provided, since, than, that, though, unless, until, when, where, while.
Prepositions
Short words that show the relationship between the objects which
the words express. Nouns and pronouns most often follow prepositions. Examples
of prepositions include: about, above, across, after, against, along, among,
around, at before, behind, below, beneath, beside(s), between, beyond, but, by,
concerning, down, during except, for, from, in(to), like, of, off, on, over,
past, since, through(out), toward, under(neath), until, unto, up, with, within,
without.
Sentences
Sentences are made up of two parts - subjects and predicates.
Simply put, the predicate is the verb and everything that follows it, while the
subject is whatever comes before the verb.
Independent Clause: A
subject and predicate that can stand on its own as a sentence.
Dependent
or Subordinate Clause: Part of a sentence that cannot stand on its own,
usually introduced by a subordinating conjunction.
Phrase: Consists of
two or more words expressing some relation of ideas, but does not contain a
subject and a verb and most often found after prepositions.