Grammar

Grammar

What is Grammar?

And how grammar is your friend...

Grammar is the way we organize words to do the right phrases. Word grammar covers verbs and hours, names, adverbs, etc. Sentence grammar covers phrases, clauses, narrated words, etc. Grammar is the system for one language. Grammar is sometimes described as a language‘s “rules“, but in fact no language has any rules*. If we use the word “rules“, we suggest that someone creates the rules first, then speaks the language, like a new game. But languages didn‘t begin that way. Languages have begun with people making sounds that have evolved into words, sentences and sentences. No currently spoken language is corrected. All languages change over the years. What we call “grammar” is simply a reflection of a language at a particular time.

Is grammar required to learn a language? The short answer is “no”. Many people around the world speak their own first language without having studied its grammar. Children begin to speak before ever knowing the word “grammar”. But if you truly want to learn a foreign language, the long answer is “yes, grammar can help you learn a language faster and more efficiently.” It is important to think that grammar can help you, just like a friend. When you understand the grammar (or system) of a language, you may understand a lot of things yourself, without having to ask a teacher or look into a book.

So think about grammar as something good, something positive, something you can use to find your way – like a signpost or a card.

20 Grammatical rules.

Here are 20 simple rules and tips to help you avoid mistakes in English grammar. For more comprehensive rules please look under the appropriate topic (part of speech etc) on our grammar and other pages.

1. A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a period/full stop, a question mark or an exclamation mark. see Punctuation

The fat cat sat on the mat.
Where do you live?
My dog is very clever!

2. The order of a basic positive sentence is Subject-Verb-Object. (Negative and question sentences may have a different order.)

John loves Mary.
They were driving their car to Bangkok.

3. Every sentence must have a subject and a verb. An object is optional. Note that an imperative sentence may have a verb only, but the subject is understood.

John teaches.
John teaches English.
Stop! (i.e. You stop!)

4. The subject and verb must agree in number, that is a singular subject needs a singular verb and a plural subject needs a plural verb.

John works in London.
That monk eats once a day.
John and Mary work in London.
Most people eat three meals a day.

5. When two singular subjects are connected by or, use a singular verb. The same is true for either/or and neither/nor.

John or Mary is coming tonight.
Either coffee or tea is fine.
Neither John nor Mary was late.

6. Adjectives usually come before a noun (except when a verb separates the adjective from the noun).

I have a big dog.
She married a handsome Italian man.
(Her husband is rich.)

7. When using two or more adjectives together, the usual order is opinion-adjective + fact-adjective + noun. (There are some additional rules for the order of fact adjectives.)

I saw a nice French table.
That was an interesting Shakespearian play.

8. Treat collective nouns (e.g. committee, company, board of directors) as singular OR plural. In BrE a collective noun is usually treated as plural, needing a plural verb and pronoun. In AmE a collective noun is often treated as singular, needing a singular verb and pronoun.

The committee are having sandwiches for lunch. Then they will go to London. (typically BrE)
The BBC have changed their logo. (typically BrE)
My family likes going to the zoo. (typically AmE)
CNN has changed its logo. (typically AmE)

9. The words its and it’s are two different words with different meanings.

The dog has hurt its leg.
He says it’s two o’clock.

10. The words your and you’re are two different words with different meanings.

Here is your coffee.
You’re looking good.

11. The words there, their and they’re are three different words with different meanings.

There was nobody at the party.
I saw their new car.
Do you think they’re happy?

12. The contraction he’s can mean he is OR he has. Similarly, she’s can mean she is OR she has, and it’s can mean it is OR it has, and John’s can mean John is OR John has.

He is working
He has finished.
She is here.
She has left.
John is married.
John has divorced his wife.

13. The contraction he’d can mean he had OR he would. Similarly, they’d can mean they had OR they would.

He had eaten when I arrived.
He would eat more if possible.
They had already finished.
They would come if they could.

14. Spell a proper noun with an initial capital letter. A proper noun is a “name” of something, for example Josef, Mary, Russia, China, British Broadcasting Corporation, English.

We have written to Mary.
Is China in Asia?
Do you speak English?

15. Spell proper adjectives with an initial capital letter. Proper adjectives are made from proper nouns, for example Germany → German, Orwell → Orwellian, Machiavelli → Machiavellian.

London is an English town.
Who is the Canadian prime minister?
Which is your favourite Shakespearian play?

16. Use the indefinite article a/an for countable nouns in general. Use the definite article the for specific countable nouns and all uncountable nouns.

I saw a bird and a balloon in the sky. The bird was blue and the balloon was yellow.
He always saves some of the money that he earns.

17. Use the indefinite article a with words beginning with a consonant sound. Use the indefinite article an with words beginning with a vowel sound. see When to Say a or an

a cat, a game of golf, a human endeavour, a Frenchman, a university (you-ni-ver-si-ty)
an apple, an easy job, an interesting story, an old man, an umbrella, an honorable man (on-o-ra-ble)

18. Use many or few with countable nouns. Use much/a lot or little for uncountable nouns. see Quantifiers

How many dollars do you have?
How much money do you have?
There are a few cars outside.
There is little traffic on the roads.

19. To show possession (who is the owner of something) use an apostrophe + s for singular owners, and s + apostrophe for plural owners.

The boy‘s dog. (one boy)
The boys’ dog. (two or more boys)

20. In general, use the active voice (Cats eat fish) in preference to the passive voice (Fish are eaten by cats).

We use active in preference to passive.
Active is used in preference to passive.

Grammar Vocabulary

This is a short list of grammar terms and definitions. We have a longer list of grammar terms here.

active voice
In the active voice, the subject of the verb does the action (e.g. They killed the President). See also Passive Voice.

adjective
A word like big, red, easy, French etc. An adjective describes a noun or pronoun.

adverb
A word like slowly, quietly, well, often etc. An adverb modifies a verb.

article
The “indefinite” articles are a and an. The “definite article” is the.

auxiliary verb
A verb that is used with a main verb. Be, do and have are auxiliary verbs. Can, may, must etc are modal auxiliary verbs.

clause
A group of words containing a subject and its verb (for example: It was late when he arrived).

conjunction
A word used to connect words, phrases and clauses (for example: and, but, if).

infinitive
The basic form of a verb as in to work or work.

interjection
An exclamation inserted into an utterance without grammatical connection (for example: oh!, ah!, ouch!, well!).

modal verb
An auxiliary verb like can, may, must etc that modifies the main verb and expresses possibility, probability etc. It is also called “modal auxiliary verb”.

noun
A word like table, dog, teacher, America etc. A noun is the name of an object, concept, person or place. A “concrete noun” is something you can see or touch like a person or car. An “abstract noun” is something that you cannot see or touch like a decision or happiness. A “countable noun” is something that you can count (for example: bottle, song, dollar). An “uncountable noun” is something that you cannot count (for example: water, music, money).

object
In the active voice, a noun or its equivalent that receives the action of the verb. In the passive voice, a noun or its equivalent that does the action of the verb.

participle
The -ing and -ed forms of verbs. The -ing form is called the “present participle”. The -ed form is called the “past participle” (for irregular verbs, this is column 3).

part of speech
One of the eight classes of word in English – noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, conjunction and interjection.

passive voice
In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb (e.g. The President was killed). See also Active Voice.

phrase
A group of words not containing a subject and its verb (e.g. on the table, the girl in a red dress).

predicate
Each sentence contains (or implies) two parts: a subject and a predicate. The predicate is what is said about the subject.

preposition
A word like at, to, in, over etc. Prepositions usually come before a noun and give information about things like time, place and direction.

pronoun
A word like I, me, you, he, him, it etc. A pronoun replaces a noun.

sentence
A group of words that express a thought. A sentence conveys a statement, question, exclamation or command. A sentence contains or implies a subject and a predicate. In simple terms, a sentence must contain a verb and (usually) a subject. A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop (.), question mark (?) or exclamation mark (!).

subject
Every sentence contains (or implies) two parts: a subject and a predicate. The subject is the main noun (or equivalent) in a sentence about which something is said.

tense
The form of a verb that shows us when the action or state happens (past, present or future). Note that the name of a tense is not always a guide to when the action happens. The “present continuous tense”, for example, can be used to talk about the present or the future.

verb
A word like (to) work, (to) love, (to) begin. A verb describes an action or state.

Term	Definition
active voice	one of two voices in English; a direct form of expression where the subject performs or “acts” the verb; see also passive voice e.g: “Many people eat rice”
adjective	part of speech that typically describes or “modifies” a noun e.g: “It was a big dog.”
adjective clause	seldom-used term for relative clause
adjunct	word or phrase that adds information to a sentence and that can be removed from the sentence without making the sentence ungrammatical e.g: I met John at school.
adverb	word that modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb e.g: quickly, really, very
adverbial clause	dependent clause that acts like an adverb and indicates such things as time, place or reason e.g: Although we are getting older, we grow more beautiful each day.
affirmative	statement that expresses (or claims to express) a truth or “yes” meaning; opposite of negative e.g: The sun is hot.
affix	language unit (morpheme) that occurs before or after (or sometimes within) the root or stem of a word e.g: un- in unhappy (prefix), -ness in happiness (suffix)
agreement (also known as “concord”)	logical (in a grammatical sense) links between words based on tense, case or number e.g: this phone, these phones
antecedent	word, phrase or clause that is replaced by a pronoun (or other substitute) when mentioned subsequently (in the same sentence or later) e.g: “Emily is nice because she brings me flowers.”
appositive	noun phrase that re-identifies or describes its neighbouring noun e.g: “Canada, a multicultural country, is recognized by its maple leaf flag.”
article	determiner that introduces a noun phrase as definite (the) or indefinite (a/an)
aspect	feature of some verb forms that relates to duration or completion of time; verbs can have no aspect (simple), or can have continuous or progressive aspect (expressing duration), or have perfect or perfective aspect (expressing completion)
auxiliary verb (also called “helping verb”)	verb used with the main verb to help indicate something such as tense or voice e.g: I do not like you. She has finished. He can swim.
bare infinitive	unmarked form of the verb (no indication of tense, mood, person, or aspect) without the particle “to”; typically used after modal auxiliary verbs; see also infinitive e.g: “He should come“, “I can swim“
base form	basic form of a verb before conjugation into tenses etc e.g: be, speak
case	form of a pronoun based on its relationship to other words in the sentence; case can be subjective, objective or possessive e.g: “I love this dog”, “This dog loves me“, “This is my dog”
causative verb	verb that causes things to happen such as “make”, “get” and “have”; the subject does not perform the action but is indirectly responsible for it e.g: “She made me go to school”, “I had my nails painted”
clause	group of words containing a subject and its verb e.g: “It was late when he arrived“
comparative, comparative adjective	form of an adjective or adverb made with “-er” or “more” that is used to show differences or similarities between two things (not three or more things) e.g: colder, more quickly
complement	part of a sentence that completes or adds meaning to the predicate e.g: Mary did not say where she was going.
compound noun	noun that is made up of more than one word; can be one word, or hyphenated, or separated by a space e.g: toothbrush, mother-in-law, Christmas Day
compound sentence	sentence with at least two independent clauses; usually joined by a conjunction e.g: “You can have something healthy but you can’t have more junk food.”
concord	another term for agreement
conditional	structure in English where one action depends on another (“if-then” or “then-if” structure); most common are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd conditionals e.g: “If I win I will be happy”, “I would be happy if I won”
conjugate	to show the different forms of a verb according to voice, mood, tense, number and person; conjugation is quite simple in English compared to many other languages e.g: I walk, you walk, he/she/it walks, we walk, they walk; I walked, you walked, he/she/it walked, we walked, they walked
conjunction	word that joins or connects two parts of a sentence e.g: Ram likes tea and coffee. Anthony went swimming although it was raining.
content word	word that has meaning in a sentence, such as a verb or noun (as opposed to a structure word, such as pronoun or auxiliary verb); content words are stressed in speech e.g: “Could you BRING my GLASSES because I’ve LEFT them at HOME“
continuous (also called “progressive”)	verb form (specifically an aspect) indicating actions that are in progress or continuing over a given time period (can be past, present or future); formed with “BE” + “VERB-ing” e.g: “They are watching TV.”
contraction	shortening of two (or more) words into one eg: isn’t (is not), we’d’ve (we would have)
countable noun	thing that you can count, such as apple, pen, tree (see uncountable noun) e.g: one apple, three pens, ten trees
dangling participle	illogical structure that occurs in a sentence when a writer intends to modify one thing but the reader attaches it to another e.g: “Running to the bus, the flowers were blooming.” (In the example sentence it seems that the flowers were running.)
declarative sentence	sentence type typically used to make a statement (as opposed to a question or command) e.g: “Tara works hard”, “It wasn’t funny”
defining relative clause (also called “restrictive relative clause”)	relative clause that contains information required for the understanding of the sentence; not set off with commas; see also non-defining clause e.g: “The boy who was wearing a blue shirt was the winner”
demonstrative pronoun demonstrative adjective	pronoun or determiner that indicates closeness to (this/these) or distance from (that/those) the speaker e.g: “This is a nice car”, “Can you see those cars?”
dependent clause	part of a sentence that contains a subject and a verb but does not form a complete thought and cannot stand on its own; see also independent clause e.g: “When the water came out of the tap…”
determiner	word such as an article or a possessive adjective or other adjective that typically comes at the beginning of noun phrases e.g: “It was an excellent film”, “Do you like my new shirt?”, “Let’s buy some eggs”
direct speech	saying what someone said by using their exact words; see also indirect speech e.g: “Lucy said: ‘I am tired.'”
direct object	noun phrase in a sentence that directly receives the action of the verb; see also indirect object e.g: “Joey bought the car“, “I like it“, “Can you see the man wearing a pink shirt and waving a gun in the air?”
embedded question	question that is not in normal question form with a question mark; it occurs within another statement or question and generally follows statement structure e.g: “I don’t know where he went,” “Can you tell me where it is before you go?”, “They haven’t decided whether they should come“
finite verb	verb form that has a specific tense, number and person e.g: I work, he works, we learned, they ran
first conditional	“if-then” conditional structure used for future actions or events that are seen as realistic possibilities e.g: “If we win the lottery we will buy a car”
fragment	incomplete piece of a sentence used alone as a complete sentence; a fragment does not contain a complete thought; fragments are common in normal speech but unusual (inappropriate) in formal writing e.g: “When’s her birthday? – In December“, “Will they come? – Probably not“
function	purpose or “job” of a word form or element in a sentence e.g: The function of a subject is to perform the action. One function of an adjective is to describe a noun. The function of a noun is to name things.
future continuous (also called “future progressive”)	tense* used to describe things that will happen in the future at a particular time; formed with WILL + BE + VERB-ing e.g: “I will be graduating in September.”
future perfect	tense* used to express the past in the future; formed with WILL HAVE + VERB-ed e.g: “I will have graduated by then”
future perfect continuous	tense* used to show that something will be ongoing until a certain time in the future; formed with WILL HAVE BEEN + VERB-ing e.g: “We will have been living there for three months by the time the baby is born”
future simple	tense* used to describe something that hasn’t happened yet such as a prediction or a sudden decision; formed with WILL + BASE VERB e.g: “He will be late”, “I will answer the phone”
genitive case	case expressing relationship between nouns (possession, origin, composition etc) e.g: “John’s dog“, “door of the car“, “children’s songs“, “pile of sand“
gerund	noun form of a verb, formed with VERB-ing e.g: “Walking is great exercise”
gradable adjective	adjective that can vary in intensity or grade when paired with a grading adverb ; see also non-gradable adjective e.g: quite hot, very tall
grading adverb	adverb that can modify the intensity or grade of a gradable adjective e.g: quite hot, very tall
hanging participle	another term for dangling participle
helping verb	another term for auxiliary verb
imperative	form of verb used when giving a command; formed with BASE VERB only e.g: “Brush your teeth!”
indefinite pronoun	pronoun does not refer to any specific person, thing or amount. It is vague and “not definite”. e.g: anything, each, many, somebody
independent clause (also called “main clause”)	group of words that expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence; see also dependent clause e.g: “Tara is eating curry.“, “Tara likes oranges and Joe likes apples.”
indirect object	noun phrase representing the person or thing indirectly affected by the action of the verb; see also direct object e.g: “She showed me her book collection”, “Joey bought his wife a new car”
indirect question	another term for embedded question
indirect speech (also called “reported speech”)	saying what someone said without using their exact words; see direct speech e.g: “Lucy said that she was tired“
infinitive	base form of a verb preceded by “to”; see also bare infinitive e.g: “You need to study harder”, “To be, or not to be**: that is the question”
inflection	change in word form to indicate grammatical meaning e.g: dog, dogs (two inflections); take, takes, took, taking, taken (five inflections)
interjection	common word that expresses emotion but has no grammatical value; can often be used alone and is often followed by an exclamation mark e.g: “Hi!”, “er”, “Ouch!”, “Dammit!”
interrogative	(formal) sentence type (typically inverted) normally used when asking a question e.g: “Are you eating?”, “What are you eating?”