What is Grammar?Grammar is the system of a language. People sometimes describe grammar as the "rules" of a language; but in fact no language has rules*. If we use the word "rules", we suggest that somebody created the rules first and then spoke the language, like a new game. But languages did not start like that. Languages started by people making sounds which evolved into words, phrases and sentences. No commonly-spoken language is fixed. All languages change over time. What we call "grammar" is simply a reflection of a language at a particular time.

Do we need to study grammar to learn a language? The short answer is "no". Very many people in the world speak their own, native language without having studied its grammar. Children start to speak before they even know the word "grammar". But if you are serious about learning a foreign language, the long answer is "yes, grammar can help you to learn a language more quickly and more efficiently." It's important to think of grammar as something that can help you, like a friend. When you understand the grammar (or system) of a language, you can understand many things yourself, without having to ask a teacher or look in a book.

So think of grammar as something good, something positive, something that you can use to find your way - like a signpost or a map.

* Except invented languages like Esperanto. And if Esperanto were widely spoken, its rules would soon be very different.

Glossary of English Grammar Terms This glossary of English grammar terms relates to the English language. Some terms here may have additional or extended meanings when applied to other languages. For example, "case" in some languages applies to pronouns and nouns. In English, nouns do not have case and therefore no reference to nouns is made in its definition here. 

Term Definition

active voiceone of two voices in English; a direct form of expression where the subject performs or "acts" the verb; see also passive voiceeg: "Many people eat rice"

adjectivepart of speech that typically describes or "modifies" a nouneg: "It was a big dog."

adjective clause seldom-used term for relative clause

adjunctword or phrase that adds information to a sentence and that can be removed from the sentence without making the sentence ungrammaticaleg: I met John at school.

adverbword that modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverbeg: quickly, really, very

adverbial clausedependent clause that acts like an adverb and indicates such things as time, place or reasoneg: Although we are getting older, we grow more beautiful each day.

affirmativestatement that expresses (or claims to express) a truth or "yes" meaning; opposite of negativeeg: The sun is hot.

affixlanguage unit (morpheme) that occurs before or after (or sometimes within) the root or stem of a wordeg: 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 numbereg: this phone, these phones

antecedentword, phrase or clause that is replaced by a pronoun (or other substitute) when mentioned subsequently (in the same sentence or later)eg: "Emily is nice because she brings me flowers."

appositivenoun phrase that re-identifies or describes its neighbouring nouneg: "Canada, a multicultural country, is recognized by its maple leaf flag."

articledeterminer 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 voiceeg: 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 infinitiveeg: "He should come", "I can swim"

base formbasic form of a verb before conjugation into tenses etceg: be, speak

caseform of a pronoun based on its relationship to other words in the sentence; case can be subjective, objective or possessiveeg: "I love this dog", "This dog loves me", "This is my dog"

causative verbverb that causes things to happen such as "make", "get" and "have"; the subject does not perform the action but is indirectly responsible for iteg: "She made me go to school", "I had my nails painted"

clausegroup of words containing a subject and its verbeg: "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)eg: colder, more quickly

complementpart of a sentence that completes or adds meaning to the predicateeg: Mary did not say where she was going.

compound nounnoun that is made up of more than one word; can be one word, or hyphenated, or separated by a spaceeg: toothbrush, mother-in-law, Christmas Day

compound sentence

sentence with at least two independent clauses; usually joined by a conjunctioneg: "You can have something healthy but you can't have more junk food."

concord another term for agreement

conditionalstructure in English where one action depends on another ("if-then" or "then-if" structure); most common are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd conditionalseg: "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 languageseg: I walk, you walk, he/she/it walks, we walk, they walk; I walked, you walked, he/she/it walked, we walked, they walked

conjunctionword that joins or connects two parts of a sentenceeg: 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 speecheg: "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"eg: "They are watching TV."

contractionshortening of two (or more) words into oneeg: isn't (is not), we'd've (we would have)

countable nounthing that you can count, such as apple, pen, tree (see uncountable noun)eg: 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 anothereg: "Running to the bus, the flowers were blooming." (In the example sentence it seems that the flowers were running.)

declarative sentencesentence type typically used to make a statement (as opposed to a question or command)eg: "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 eg: "The boy who was wearing a blue shirt was the winner"

demonstrative pronoundemonstrative adjective

pronoun or determiner that indicates closeness to (this/these) or distance from (that/those) the speakereg: "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 clauseeg: "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 phraseseg: "It was an excellent film", "Do you like my new shirt?", "Let's buy some eggs"

direct speechsaying what someone said by using their exact words; see also indirect speech eg: "Lucy said: 'I am tired.'"

direct object

noun phrase in a sentence that directly receives the action of the verb; see also indirect object eg: "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 structureeg: "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 verbverb form that has a specific tense, number and personeg: 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 possibilitieseg: "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 writingeg: "When's her birthday? - In December", "Will they come? - Probably not"

function

purpose or "job" of a word form or element in a sentenceeg: 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-ingeg: "I will be graduating in September."

future perfecttense* used to express the past in the future; formed with WILL HAVE + VERB-edeg: "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

eg: "We will have been living there for three months by the time the baby is born"

future simpletense* used to describe something that hasn't happened yet such as a prediction or a sudden decision; formed with WILL + BASE VERBeg: "He will be late", "I will answer the phone"

genitive casecase expressing relationship between nouns (possession, origin, composition etc)eg: "John's dog", "door of the car", "children's songs", "pile of sand"

gerundnoun form of a verb, formed with VERB-ingeg: "Walking is great exercise"

gradable adjectiveadjective that can vary in intensity or grade when paired with a grading adverb ; see also non-gradable adjectiveeg: quite hot, very tall

grading adverbadverb that can modify the intensity or grade of a gradable adjectiveeg: quite hot, very tall

hanging participle another term for dangling participle

helping verb another term for auxiliary verb

imperativeform of verb used when giving a command; formed with BASE VERB onlyeg: "Brush your teeth!"

indefinite pronounpronoun does not refer to any specific person, thing or amount. It is vague and "not definite".eg: 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 clauseeg: "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 eg: "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 speecheg: "Lucy said that she was tired"

infinitivebase form of a verb preceded by "to"**; see also bare infinitiveeg: "You need to study harder", "To be, or not to be: that is the question"

inflectionchange in word form to indicate grammatical meaning eg: dog, dogs (two inflections); take, takes, took, taking, taken (five inflections)

interjectioncommon word that expresses emotion but has no grammatical value; can often be used alone and is often followed by an exclamation markeg: "Hi!", "er", "Ouch!", "Dammit!"

interrogative(formal) sentence type (typically inverted) normally used when asking a questioneg: "Are you eating?", "What are you eating?"

interrogative pronounpronoun that asks a question.eg: who, whom, which

intransitive verbverb that does not take a direct object; see also transitive verbe.g. "He is working hard", "Where do you live?"

inversion

any reversal of the normal word order, especially placing the auxiliary verb before the subject; used in a variety of ways, as in question formation, conditional clauses and agreement or disagreementeg: "Where are your keys?","Had we watched the weather report, we wouldn't have gone to the beach", "So did he", "Neither did she"

irregular verbsee irregular verbs list

verb that has a different ending for past tense and past participle forms than the regular "-ed"; see also regular verb eg: buy, bought, bought; do, did, done

lexicon, lexis all of the words and word forms in a language with meaning or function

lexical verb another term for main verb

linking verbverbs that connect the subject to more information (but do not indicate action), such as "be" or "seem"

main clause another term for independent clause

main verb(also called "lexical verb")

any verb in a sentence that is not an auxiliary verb; a main verb has meaning on its owneg: "Does John like Mary?", "I will have arrived by 4pm"

modal verb(also called "modal")

auxiliary verb such as can, could, must, should etc; paired with the bare infinitive of a verb

eg: "I should go for a jog"

modifierword or phrase that modifies and limits the meaning of another wordeg: the house => the white house, the house over there, the house we sold last year

moodsentence type that indicates the speaker's view towards the degree of reality of what is being said, for example subjunctive, indicative, imperative

morphemeunit of language with meaning; differs from "word" because some cannot stand alonee.g. un-, predict and -able in unpredictable

multi-word verb

verb that consists of a basic verb + another word or words (preposition and/or adverb)eg: get up (phrasal verb), believe in (prepositional verb), get on with (phrasal-prepositional verb)

negativeform which changes a "yes" meaning to a "no" meaning; opposite of affirmativeeg: "She will not come", "I have never seen her"

nominative case another term for subjective case

non-defining relative clause(also called "non-restrictive relative clause")

relative clause that adds information but is not completely necessary; set off from the sentence with a comma or commas; see defining relative clause eg: "The boy, who had a chocolate bar in his hand, was still hungry"

non-gradable adjective

adjective that has a fixed quality or intensity and cannot be paired with a grading adverb; see also gradable adjective eg: freezing, boiling, dead

non-restrictive relative clause

another term for non-defining relative clause

noun

part of speech that names a person, place, thing, quality, quantity or concept; see also proper noun and compound nouneg: "The man is waiting", "I was born in London", "Is that your car?", "Do you like music?"

noun clauseclause that takes the place of a noun and cannot stand on its own; often introduced with words such as "that, who or whoever"eg: "What the president said was surprising"

noun phrase (NP)

any word or group of words based on a noun or pronoun that can function in a sentence as a subject, object or prepositional object; can be one word or many words; can be very simple or very complexeg: "She is nice", "When is the meeting?", "The car over there beside the lampost is mine"

numberchange of word form indicating one person or thing (singular) or more than one person or thing (plural) eg: one dog/three dogs, she/they

objectthing or person affected by the verb; see also direct object and indirect object eg: "The boy kicked the ball", "We chose the house with the red door"

objective casecase form of a pronoun indicating an objecteg: "John married her", "I gave it to him"

part of speechone of the classes into which words are divided according to their function in a sentenceeg: verb, noun, adjective

participleverb form that can be used as an adjective or a noun; see past participle, present participle

passive voiceone of two voices in English; an indirect form of expression in which the subject receives the action; see also active voiceeg: "Rice is eaten by many people"

past tense(also called "simple past")

tense used to talk about an action, event or situation that occurred and was completed in the pasteg: "I lived in Paris for 10 years", "Yesterday we saw a snake"

past continuoustense often used to describe an interrupted action in the past; formed with WAS/WERE + VERB-ingeg: "I was reading when you called"

past perfecttense that refers to the past in the past; formed with HAD + VERB-ed eg: "We had stopped the car"

past perfect continuous

tense that refers to action that happened in the past and continued to a certain point in the past; formed with HAD BEEN + VERB-ingeg: "I had been waiting for three hours when he arrived"

past participle

verb form (V3) - usually made by adding "-ed" to the base verb - typically used in perfect and passive tenses, and sometimes as an adjectiveeg: "I have finished", "It was seen by many people", "boiled eggs"

perfectverb form (specifically an aspect); formed with HAVE/HAS + VERB-ed (present perfect) or HAD + VERB-ed (past perfect)

person

grammatical category that identifies people in a conversation; there are three persons: 1st person (pronouns I/me, we/us) is the speaker(s), 2nd person (pronoun you) is the listener(s), 3rd person (pronouns he/him, she/her, it, they/them) is everybody or everything else

personal pronounpronoun that indicates personeg: "He likes my dogs", "They like him"

phrasal verb

multi-word verb formed with a verb + adverbeg: break up, turn off (see phrasal verbs list)NB: many people and books call all multi-word verbs "phrasal verbs" (see multi-word verbs)

phrasetwo or more words that have a single function and form part of a sentence; phrases can be noun, adjective, adverb, verb or prepositional

pluralof a noun or form indicating more than one person or thing; plural nouns are usually formed by adding "-s"; see also singular, number eg: bananas, spoons, trees

position

grammatically correct placement of a word form in a phrase or sentence in relation to other word formseg: "The correct position for an article is at the beginning of the noun phrase that it describes"

positivebasic state of an adjective or adverb when it shows quality but not comparative or superlativeeg: nice, kind, quickly

possessive adjectiveadjective (also called "determiner") based on a pronoun: my, your, his, her, its, our, theireg: "I lost my keys", "She likes your car"

possessive casecase form of a pronoun indicating ownership or possessioneg: "Mine are blue", "This car is hers"

possessive pronounpronoun that indicates ownership or possessioneg: "Where is mine?", "These are yours"

predicate

one of the two main parts (subject and predicate) of a sentence; the predicate is the part that is not the subjecteg: "My brother is a doctor", "Who did you call?", "The woman wearing a blue dress helped me"

prefixaffix that occurs before the root or stem of a wordeg: impossible, reload

preposition

part of speech that typically comes before a noun phrase and shows some type of relationship between that noun phrase and another element (including relationships of time, location, purpose etc)eg: "We sleep at night", "I live in London", "This is for digging"

prepositional verbmulti-word verb that is formed with verb + prepositioneg: believe in, look after

present participle-ing form of a verb (except when it is a gerund or verbal noun)eg: "We were eating", "The man shouting at the back is rude", "I saw Tara playing tennis"

present simple (also called "simple present")

tense usually used to describe states and actions that are general, habitual or (with the verb "to be") true right now; formed with the basic verb (+ s for 3rd person singular)eg: "Canada sounds beautiful", "She walks to school", "I am very happy"

present continuous (also called "present progressive")

tense used to describe action that is in process now, or a plan for the future; formed with BE + VERB-ingeg: "We are watching TV", "I am moving to Canada next month"

present perfect

tense that connects the past and the present, typically used to express experience, change or a continuing situation; formed with HAVE + VERB-ed eg: "I have worked there", "John has broken his leg", "How long have you been in Canada?"

present perfect continuous

tense used to describe an action that has recently stopped or an action continuing up to now; formed with HAVE + BEEN + VERB-ingeg: "I'm tired because I've been running", "He has been living in Canada for two years"

progressive another term for continuous

pronounword that replaces a noun or noun phrase; there are several types including personal pronouns, relative pronouns and indefinite pronounseg: you, he, him; who, which; somebody, anything

proper nounnoun that is capitalized at all times and is the name of a person, place or thingeg: Shakespeare, Tokyo, EnglishClub.com

punctuation standard marks such as commas, periods and question marks within a

sentenceeg: , . ? ! - ; :

quantifierdeterminer or pronoun that indicates quantityeg: some, many, all

question tagfinal part of a tag question; mini-question at end of a tag questioneg: "Snow isn't black, is it?"

question word another term for WH-word

reciprocal pronoun

pronoun that indicates that two or more subjects are acting mutually; there are two in English - each other, one anothereg: "John and Mary were shouting at each other", "The students accused one another of cheating"

reduced relative clause(also called "participial relative clause")

construction similar to a relative clause, but containing a participle instead of a finite verb; this construction is possible only under certain circumstances eg: "The woman sitting on the bench is my sister", "The people arrested by the police have been released"

reflexive pronounpronoun ending in -self or -selves, used when the subject and object are the same, or when the subject needs emphasiseg: "She drove herself", "I'll phone her myself"

regular verbsee regular verbs list

verb that has "-ed" as the ending for past tense and past participle forms; see also irregular verbeg: work, worked, worked

relative adverbadverb that introduces a relative clause; there are four in English: where, when, wherever, whenever; see also relative pronoun

relative clause

dependent clause that usually starts with a relative pronoun such as who or which, or relative adverb such as whereeg: "The person who finishes first can leave early" (defining), "Texas, where my brother lives, is big" (non-defining)

relative pronounpronoun that starts a relative clause; there are five in English: who, whom, whose, which, that; see also relative adverb

reported speech another term for indirect speech

restrictive relative clause

another term for defining relative clause

second conditional "if-then" conditional structure used to talk about an unlikely possibility in

the futureeg: "If we won the lottery we would buy a car"

sentence

largest grammatical unit; a sentence must always include a subject (except for imperatives) and predicate; a written sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop/period (.), question mark (?) or exclamation mark (!); a sentence contains a complete thought such as a statement, question, request or commandeg: "Stop!", "Do you like coffee?", "I work."

serieslist of items in a sentenceeg: "The children ate popsicles, popcorn and chips"

singular

of a noun or form indicating exactly one person or thing; singular nouns are usually the simplest form of the noun (as found in a dictionary); see also plural, number eg: banana, spoon, tree

split infinitivesituation where a word or phrase comes between the particle "to" and the verb in an infinitive; considered poor construction by some eg: "He promised to never lie again"

Standard English (S.E.)

"normal" spelling, pronunciation and grammar that is used by educated native speakers of English

structure word

word that has no real meaning in a sentence, such as a pronoun or auxiliary verb (as opposed to a content word, such as verb or noun); structure words are not normally stressed in speecheg: "Could you BRING my GLASSES because I've LEFT them at HOME"

subject

one of the two main parts (subject and predicate) of a sentence; the subject is the part that is not the predicate; typically, the subject is the first noun phrase in a sentence and is what the rest of the sentence "is about"eg: "The rain water was dirty", "Mary is beautiful", "Who saw you?"

subjective casealso called "nominative"

case form of a pronoun indicating a subjecteg: Did she tell you about her?

subjunctive

fairly rare verb form typically used to talk about events that are not certain to happen, usually something that someone wants, hopes or imagines will happen; formed with BARE INFINITIVE (except past of "be")eg: "The President requests that John attend the meeting"

subordinate clause another term for dependent clause

suffixaffix that occurs after the root or stem of a wordeg: happiness, quickly

superlative, superlative adjective

adjective or adverb that describes the extreme degree of somethingeg: happiest, most quickly

SVOsubject-verb-object; a common word order where the subject is followed by the verb and then the objecteg: "The man crossed the street"

syntax sentence structure; the rules about sentence structure

tag question

special construction with statement that ends in a mini-question; the whole sentence is a tag question; the mini-question is a question tag; usually used to obtain confirmationeg: "The Earth is round, isn't it?", "You don't eat meat, do you?"

tense

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.

third conditional"if-then" conditional structure used to talk about a possible event in the past that did not happen (and is therefore now impossible)eg: "If we had won the lottery we would have bought a car"

transitive verbaction verb that has a direct object (receiver of the action); see also intransitive verbeg: "The kids always eat a snack while they watch TV"

uncountable nouns(also called "mass nouns" or "non-count")

thing that you cannot count, such as substances or concepts; see also countable nouns eg: water, furniture, music

usageway in which words and constructions are normally used in any particular language

V1, V2, V3referring to Verb 1, Verb 2, Verb 3 - being the base, past and past participle that students typically learn for irregular verbs eg: speak, spoke, spoken

verbword that describes the subject's action or state and that we can change or conjugate based on tense and person eg: (to) work, (to) love, (to) begin

voiceform of a verb that shows the relation of the subject to the action; there are two voices in English: active, passive

WH-questionquestion using a WH-word and expecting an answer that is not "yes" or "no"; WH-questions are "open" questions; see also yes-no question eg: Where are you going?

WH-word(also called "question word")

word that asks a WH-question; there are 7 WH-words: who, what, where, when, which, why, how

word orderorder or sequence in which words occur within a sentence; basic word order for English is subject-verb-object or SVO

yes-no questionquestion to which the answer is yes or no; yes-no questions are "closed" questions; see also WH-questioneg: "Do you like coffee?"

zero conditional"if-then" conditional structure used when the result of the condition is always true (based on fact)eg: "If you dial O, the operator comes on"

* note that technically English does not have a real future tense** some authorities consider the base form of the verb without "to" to be the true infinitive

Glossary of English Grammar TermsActive VoiceIn the active voice, the subject of the verb does the action (eg They killed the President). See also Passive Voice.

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

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

ArticleThe "indefinite" articles are a and an. The "definite article" is the.

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

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

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

InfinitiveThe basic form of a verb as in to work or work.

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

Modal VerbAn auxiliary verb like can, may, must etc that modifies the main verb and expresses possibility, probability etc. It is also called "modal auxiliary verb".

NounA 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).

ObjectIn 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.

ParticipleThe -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 SpeechOne of the eight classes of word in English - noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, conjunction and interjection.

Passive VoiceIn the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb (eg The President was killed). See also Active Voice.

PhraseA group of words not containing a subject and its verb (eg on the table, the girl in a red dress).

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

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

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

SentenceA 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 (!).

SubjectEvery 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.

TenseThe 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.

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

English Parts of SpeechThere are thousands of words in any language. But not all words have the same job. For example, some words express "action". Other words express a "thing". Other words "join" one word to another word. These are the "building blocks" of the language. Think of them like the parts of a house. When we want to build a house, we use concrete to make the foundations or base. We use bricks to make the walls. We use window frames to make the windows, and door frames to make the doorways. And we use cement to join them all together. Each part of the house has its own job. And when we want to build a sentence, we use the different types of word. Each type of word has its own job.

We can categorize English words into 8 basic types or classes. These classes are called "parts of speech".

Some grammar books categorize English into 9 or 10 parts of speech. At EnglishClub, we use the traditional categorization of 8 parts of speech (see table for more details).

It's quite important to recognize parts of speech. This helps you to analyze sentences and understand them. It also helps you to construct good sentences.

In this lesson, we have an overview of the eight parts of speech, followed by a quiz to check your understanding:

Parts of Speech TableThis is a summary of the 8 parts of speech*. You can find more detail if you click on each part of speech.

part of speech

function or "job" example words example sentences

Verb action or state(to) be, have, do, like, work, sing, can, must

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Noun thing or personpen, dog, work, music, town, London, teacher, John

This is my dog. He lives in my house. We live in London.

Adjective describes a nouna/an, the, 2, some, good, big, red, well, interesting

I have two dogs. My dogs are big. I like big dogs.

Adverbdescribes a verb, adjective or adverb

quickly, silently, well, badly, very, really

My dog eats quickly. When he is very hungry, he eats really quickly.

Pronoun replaces a noun I, you, he, she, some Tara is Indian. She is beautiful.

Prepositionlinks a noun to another word

to, at, after, on, but We went to school on Monday.

Conjunctionjoins clauses or sentences or words

and, but, whenI like dogs and I like cats. I like cats and dogs. I like dogs but I don't like cats.

Interjectionshort exclamation, sometimes inserted into a sentence

oh!, ouch!, hi!, wellOuch! That hurts! Hi! How are you? Well, I don't know.

* Some grammar sources categorize English into 9 or 10 parts of speech. At EnglishClub.com, we use the traditional categorization of 8 parts of speech. Examples of other categorizations are:

Verbs may be treated as two different parts of speech: o Lexical Verbs (work, like, run)o Auxiliary Verbs (be, have, must)

Determiners may be treated as a separate part of speech, instead of being categorized under Adjectives

Parts of Speech ExamplesHere are some sentences made with different English parts of speech:

verb

Stop!

noun verb

John works.

noun verb verb

John is working.

pronoun verb noun

She loves animals.

noun verb adjective noun

Animals like kind people.

noun verb noun adverb

Tara speaks English well.

noun verb adjective noun

Tara speaks good English.

pronoun verb preposition adjective noun adverb

She ran to the station quickly.

pron. verb adj. noun conjunction pron. verb pron.

She likes big snakes but I hate them.

Here is a sentence that contains every part of speech:

interjection pron. conj. adj. noun verb prep. noun adverb

Well, she and young John walk to school slowly.

What are Verbs?The verb is king in English. The shortest sentence contains a verb. You can make a one-word sentence with a verb, for example: "Stop!" You cannot make a one-word sentence with any other type of word.

Verbs are sometimes described as "action words". This is partly true. Many verbs give the idea of action, of "doing" something. For example, words like run, fight, do and work all convey action.

But some verbs do not give the idea of action; they give the idea of existence, of state, of "being". For example, verbs like be, exist, seem and belong all convey state.

A verb always has a subject. (In the sentence "John speaks English", John is the subject and speaks is the verb.) In simple terms, therefore, we can say that verbs are words that tell us what a subject does or is; they describe:

action (Ram plays football.) state (Anthony seems kind.)

There is something very special about verbs in English. Most other words (adjectives, adverbs, prepositions etc) do not change in form (although nouns can have singular and plural forms). But almost all verbs change in form. For example, the verb to work has five forms:

to work, work, works, worked, working

Of course, this is still very few forms compared to some languages which may have thirty or more forms for a single verb.

Verb ClassificationWe divide verbs into two broad classifications:

1. Helping Verbs

Imagine that a stranger walks into your room and says:

I can. People must. The Earth will.

Do you understand anything? Has this person communicated anything to you? Probably not! That's because these verbs are helping verbs and have no meaning on their own. They are necessary for the grammatical structure of the sentence, but they do not tell us very much alone. We usually use helping verbs with main verbs. They "help" the main verb. (The sentences in the above examples are therefore incomplete. They need at least a main verb to complete them.) There are only about 15 helping verbs.

2. Main Verbs

Now imagine that the same stranger walks into your room and says:

I teach. People eat. The Earth rotates.

Do you understand something? Has this person communicated something to you? Probably yes! Not a lot, but something. That's because these verbs are main verbs and have meaning on their own. They tell us something. Of course, there are thousands of main verbs.

In the following table we see example sentences with helping verbs and main verbs. Notice that all of these sentences have a main verb. Only some of them have a helping verb.

helping verb main verb

John likes coffee.

You lied to me.

They are happy.

The children are playing.

We must go now.

I do not want any.

Helping verbs and main verbs can be further sub-divided, as we shall see on the following pages.

Helping VerbsHelping verbs are also called "auxiliary verbs".

Helping verbs have no meaning on their own. They are necessary for the grammatical structure of a sentence, but they do not tell us very much alone. We usually use helping verbs with main verbs. They "help" the main verb (which has the real meaning). There are only about 15 helping verbs in English, and we divide them into two basic groups:

Primary helping verbs (3 verbs)

These are the verbs be, do, and have. Note that we can use these three verbs as helping verbs or as main verbs. On this page we talk about them as helping verbs. We use them in the following cases:

be o to make continuous tenses (He is watching TV.)o to make the passive (Small fish are eaten by big fish.)

have o to make perfect tenses (I have finished my homework.)

do o to make negatives (I do not like you.)

o to ask questions (Do you want some coffee?)o to show emphasis (I do want you to pass your exam.)o to stand for a main verb in some constructions (He speaks faster than she does.)

Modal helping verbs (10 verbs)

We use modal helping verbs to "modify" the meaning of the main verb in some way. A modal helping verb expresses necessity or possibility, and changes the main verb in that sense. These are the modal verbs:

can, could may, might will, would, shall, should must ought to

Here are examples using modal verbs:

I can't speak Chinese. John may arrive late. Would you like a cup of coffee? You should see a doctor. I really must go now.

Semi-modal verbs (3 verbs)The following verbs are often called "semi-modals" because they are partly like modal helping verbs and partly like main verbs:

need dare used to

Main VerbsMain verbs are also called "lexical verbs".

Main verbs have meaning on their own (unlike helping verbs). There are thousands of main verbs, and we can classify them in several ways:

Transitive and intransitive verbs

A transitive verb takes a direct object: Somebody killed the President. An intransitive verb does not have a direct object: He died. Many verbs, like speak, can be transitive or intransitive. Look at these examples:

transitive:

I saw an elephant. We are watching TV. He speaks English.

intransitive:

He has arrived. John goes to school. She speaks fast.

Linking verbs

A linking verb does not have much meaning in itself. It "links" the subject to what is said about the subject. Usually, a linking verb shows equality (=) or a change to a different state or place (>). Linking verbs are always intransitive (but not all intransitive verbs are linking verbs).

Mary is a teacher. (mary = teacher) Tara is beautiful. (tara = beautiful) That sounds interesting. (that = interesting) The sky became dark. (the sky > dark) The bread has gone bad. (bread > bad)

Dynamic and stative verbs

Some verbs describe action. They are called "dynamic", and can be used with continuous tenses. Other verbs describe state (non-action, a situation). They are called "stative", and cannot normally be used with continuous tenses (though some of them can be used with continuous tenses with a change in meaning).

dynamic verbs (examples):

hit, explode, fight, run, go

stative verbs (examples):

be like, love, prefer, wish impress, please, surprise hear, see, sound belong to, consist of, contain, include, need appear, resemble, seem

Regular and irregular verbs

This is more a question of vocabulary than of grammar. The only real difference between regular and irregular verbs is that they have different endings for their past tense and past participle forms. For regular verbs, the past tense ending and past participle ending is always the same: -ed. For irregular verbs, the past tense ending and the past participle ending is variable, so it is necessary to learn them by heart.

regular verbs: base, past tense, past participle

look, looked, looked work, worked, worked

irregular verbs: base, past tense, past participle

buy, bought, bought cut, cut, cut do, did, done

Here are lists of regular verbs and irregular verbs.

One way to think of regular and irregular verbs is like this: all verbs are irregular and the so-called regular verbs are simply one very large group of irregular verbs.

Often the above divisions can be mixed. For example, one verb could be irregular, transitive and dynamic; another verb could be regular, transitive and stative.

NounsIt's not easy to describe a noun. In simple terms, nouns are "things" (and verbs are "actions"). Like food. Food (noun) is something you eat (verb). Or happiness. Happiness (noun) is something you want (verb). Or human being. A human being (noun) is something you are (verb).

What are Nouns?The simple definition is: a person, place or thing. Here are some examples:

person: man, woman, teacher, John, Mary place: home, office, town, countryside, America thing: table, car, banana, money, music, love, dog, monkey

The problem with this definition is that it does not explain why "love" is a noun but can also be a verb.

Another (more complicated) way of recognizing a noun is by its:

1. Ending2. Position3. Function

1. Noun Ending

There are certain word endings that show that a word is a noun, for example:

-ity > nationality -ment > appointment -ness > happiness -ation > relation -hood > childhood

But this is not true for the word endings of all nouns. For example, the noun "spoonful" ends in -ful, but the adjective "careful" also ends in -ful.

2. Position in Sentence

We can often recognise a noun by its position in the sentence.

Nouns often come after a determiner (a determiner is a word like a, an, the, this, my, such):

a relief an afternoon the doctor this word my house such stupidity

Nouns often come after one or more adjectives:

a great relief a peaceful afternoon the tall, Indian doctor this difficult word my brown and white house such crass stupidity

3. Function in a Sentence

Nouns have certain functions (jobs) in a sentence, for example:

subject of verb: Doctors work hard.

object of verb: He likes coffee. subject and object of verb: Teachers teach students.

But the subject or object of a sentence is not always a noun. It could be a pronoun or a phrase. In the sentence "My doctor works hard", the noun is "doctor" but the subject is "My doctor".

Countable NounsCountable nouns are easy to recognize. They are things that we can count. For example: "pen". We can count pens. We can have one, two, three or more pens. Here are some more countable nouns:

dog, cat, animal, man, person bottle, box, litre coin, note, dollar cup, plate, fork table, chair, suitcase, bag

Countable nouns can be singular or plural:

My dog is playing. My dogs are hungry.

We can use the indefinite article a/an with countable nouns:

A dog is an animal.

When a countable noun is singular, we must use a word like a/the/my/this with it:

I want an orange. (not I want orange.) Where is my bottle? (not Where is bottle?)

When a countable noun is plural, we can use it alone:

I like oranges. Bottles can break.

We can use some and any with countable nouns:

I've got some dollars. Have you got any pens?

We can use a few and many with countable nouns:

I've got a few dollars.

I haven't got many pens.

"People" is countable. "People" is the plural of "person". We can count people:

There is one person here. There are three people here.

Uncountable NounsUncountable nouns are substances, concepts etc that we cannot divide into separate elements. We cannot "count" them. For example, we cannot count "milk". We can count "bottles of milk" or "litres of milk", but we cannot count "milk" itself. Here are some more uncountable nouns:

music, art, love, happiness advice, information, news furniture, luggage rice, sugar, butter, water electricity, gas, power money, currency

We usually treat uncountable nouns as singular. We use a singular verb. For example:

This news is very important. Your luggage looks heavy.

We do not usually use the indefinite article a/an with uncountable nouns. We cannot say "an information" or "a music". But we can say a something of:

a piece of news a bottle of water a grain of rice

We can use some and any with uncountable nouns:

I've got some money. Have you got any rice?

We can use a little and much with uncountable nouns:

I've got a little money. I haven't got much rice.

Uncountable nouns are also called "mass nouns".

Here are some more examples of countable and uncountable nouns:

Countable Uncountable

dollar money

song music

suitcase luggage

table furniture

battery electricity

bottle wine

report information

tip advice

journey travel

job work

view scenery

When you learn a new word, it's a good idea to learn whether it's countable or uncountable.

Nouns that can be Countable and UncountableSometimes, the same noun can be countable and uncountable, often with a change of meaning.

Countable Uncountable

There are two hairs in my coffee! hair I don't have much hair.

There are two lights in our bedroom. light Close the curtain. There's too much light!

Shhhhh! I thought I heard a noise.There are so many different noises in the city.

noiseIt's difficult to work when there is too much noise.

Have you got a paper to read? (newspaper)Hand me those student papers.

paperI want to draw a picture. Have you got some paper?

Our house has seven rooms. room Is there room for me to sit here?

We had a great time at the party.How many times have I told you no?

time Have you got time for a coffee?

Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's greatest works.

work I have no money. I need work!

  Drinks (coffee, water, orange juice) are usually uncountable. But if we are thinking of a cup or a glass, we can say (in a restaurant, for example):

Two teas and one coffee please.

Proper Nouns (Names)A proper noun is the special word (or name) that we use for a person, place or organization, like John, Marie, London, France or Sony. A name is a noun, but a very special noun - a proper noun.

Possessive 'sWhen we want to show that something belongs to somebody or something, we usually add 's to a singular noun and an apostrophe ' to a plural noun, for example:

the boy's ball (one boy) the boys' ball (two or more boys)

Notice that the number of balls does not matter. The structure is influenced by the possessor and not the possessed.

one ball more than one ball

one boythe boy's ball the boy's balls

more than one boythe boys' ball the boys' balls

The structure can be used for a whole phrase:

the man next door's mother (the mother of the man next door) the Queen of England's poodles (the poodles of the Queen of England)

Although we can use of to show possession, it is more usual to use possessive 's. The following phrases have the same meaning, but #2 is more usual and natural:

1. the boyfriend of my sister2. my sister's boyfriend

Proper Nouns (Names)

We very often use possessive 's with names:

This is Mary's car. Where is Ram's telephone? Who took Anthony's pen? I like Tara's hair.

When a name ends in s, we usually treat it like any other singular noun, and add 's:

This is Charles's chair.

But it is possible (especially with older, classical names) to just add the apostrophe ':

Who was Jesus' father?

Irregular Plurals

Some nouns have irregular plural forms without s (man > men). To show possession, we usually add 's to the plural form of these nouns:

singular noun plural noun

my child's dog my children's dog

the man's work the men's work

the mouse's cage the mice's cage

a person's clothes people's clothes

Noun as AdjectiveAs you know, a noun is a person, place or thing, and an adjective is a word that describes a noun:

adjective noun

clever teacher

small office

black horse

Sometimes we use a noun to describe another noun. In that case, the first noun "acts as" an adjective.

nounas adjective noun

history teacher

ticket office

race horse

The "noun as adjective" always comes first

If you remember this it will help you to understand what is being talked about:

a race horse is a horse that runs in races a horse race is a race for horses a boat race is a race for boats a love story is a story about love a war story is a story about war a tennis ball is a ball for playing tennis tennis shoes are shoes for playing tennis a computer exhibition is an exhibition of computers a bicycle shop is a shop that sells bicycles

The "noun as adjective" is singular

Just like a real adjective, the "noun as adjective" is invariable. It is usually in the singular form.

Right Wrong

boat race boat races NOT boats race, boats races

toothbrush toothbrushes NOT teethbrush, teethbrushes

shoe-lace shoe-laces NOT shoes-lace, shoes-laces

cigarette packet cigarette packets NOT cigarettes packet, cigarettes packets

In other words, if there is a plural it is on the real noun only.

A few nouns look plural but we usually treat them as singular (for example news, billiards, athletics). When we use these nouns "as adjectives" they are unchanged:

a news reporter, three news reporters one billiards table, four billiards tables an athletics trainer, fifty athletics trainers

Exceptions:When we use certain nouns "as adjectives" (clothes, sports, customs, accounts, arms), we use them in the plural form:

clothes shop, clothes shops sports club, sports clubs customs duty, customs duties accounts department, accounts departments arms production

How do we write the "noun as adjective"?

We write the "noun as adjective" and the real noun in several different ways:

two separate words (car door) two hyphenated words (book-case) one word (bathroom)

There are no easy rules for this. We even write some combinations in two or all three different ways: (head master, head-master, headmaster)

How do we say the "noun as adjective"?

For pronunciation, we usually stress the first word:

shoe shop boat-race bathroom

Can we have more than one "noun as adjective"?

Yes. Just like adjectives, we often use more than one "noun as adjective" together. Look at these examples:

car production costs: we are talking about the costs of producing cars

noun asadjective

noun asadjective noun

costs

production costs

car production costs

England football team coach: we are talking about the coach who trains the team that plays football for England

noun asadjective

noun asadjective

noun asadjective noun

coach

team coach

football team coach

England football team coach

Note: in England football team coach can you see a "hidden" "noun as adjective"? Look at the word "football" (foot-ball). These two nouns (foot+ball) have developed into a single noun (football). This is one way that words evolve. Many word combinations that use a "noun as adjective" are regarded as nouns in their own right, with their own dictionary definition. But not all dictionaries agree with each other. For example, some dictionaries list "tennis ball" as a noun and other dictionaries do not.

government road accident research centre: we are talking about a centre that researches into accidents on the road for the government

noun asadjective

noun asadjective

noun asadjective

noun asadjective noun

centre

research centre

accident research centre

road accident research centre

government road accident research centre

Newpapers often use many nouns together in headlines to save space. Look at this example:

BIRD HEALTH RESEARCH CENTRE MURDER MYSTERY

To understand headlines like these, try reading them backwards. The above headline is about a MYSTERY concerning a MURDER in a CENTRE for RESEARCH into the HEALTH of BIRDS.

Note, too, that we can still use a real adjective to qualify a "noun as adjective" structure:

empty coffee jar honest car salesman delicious dog food rising car production costs famous England football team coach

Compound NounsA compound noun is a noun that is made with two or more words. A compound noun is usually [noun + noun] or [adjective + noun], but there are other combinations (see below). It is important to understand and recognize compound nouns. Each compound noun acts as a single unit and can be modified by adjectives and other nouns.

There are three forms for compound nouns:

1. open or spaced - space between words (tennis shoe)2. hyphenated - hyphen between words (six-pack)3. closed or solid - no space or hyphen between words (bedroom)

Here are some examples of compound nouns:

noun + noun bus stop Is this the bus stop for the number 12 bus?

fire-fly In the tropics you can see fire-flies at night.

football Shall we play football today?

adjective + noun

full moon I always feel crazy at full moon.

blackboard Clean the blackboard please.

software I can't install this software on my PC.

verb(-ing) + noun

breakfast We always eat breakfast at 8am.

washing machine

Put the clothes in the red washing machine.

swimming pool What a beautiful swimming pool!

noun + verb(-ing)

sunrise I like to get up at sunrise.

haircut You need a haircut.

train-spotting His hobby is train-spotting.

verb + preposition check-out Please remember that check-out is at 12 noon.

noun +prepositional phrase

mother-in-law My mother-in-law lives with us.

preposition + noun underworldDo you think the police accept money from the underworld?

noun + adjective truckful We need 10 truckfuls of bricks.

PronunciationCompound nouns tend to have more stress on the first word. In the phrase "pink ball", both words are equally stressed (as you know, adjectives and nouns are always stressed). In the compound noun "golf ball", the first word is stressed more (even though both words are nouns, and nouns are always stressed). Since "golf ball" is a compound noun we consider it as a single noun and so it has a single main stress - on the first word. Stress is important in compound nouns. For example, it helps us know if somebody said "a GREEN HOUSE" (a house which is painted green) or "a GREENhouse" (a building made of glass for growing plants inside).

British/American differencesDifferent varieties of English, and even different writers, may use the open, hyphenated or closed form for the same compound noun. It is partly a matter of style. There are no definite rules. For example we can find:

container ship container-ship containership

If you are not sure which form to use, please check in a good dictionary.

Plural forms of compound nounsIn general we make the plural of a compound noun by adding -s to the "base word" (the most "significant" word). Look at these examples:

singular plural

a tennis shoe three tennis shoes

one assistant headmaster five assistant headmasters

the sergeant major some sergeants major

a mother-in-law two mothers-in-law

an assistant secretary of state three assistant secretaries of state

my toothbrush our toothbrushes

a woman-doctor four women-doctors

a doctor of philosophy two doctors of philosophy

a passerby, a passer-by two passersby, two passers-by

Note that there is some variation with words like spoonful or truckful. The old style was to say spoonsful or trucksful for the plural. Today it is more usual to say spoonfuls or truckfuls. Both the old style (spoonsful) and the new style (spoonfuls) are normally acceptable, but you should be consistent in your choice. Here are some examples:

old style plural(very formal)

new style plural

teaspoonful 3 teaspoonsful of sugar 3 teasponfuls of sugar

truckful 5 trucksful of sand 5 truckfuls of sand

bucketful 2 bucketsful of water 2 bucketfuls of water

cupful 4 cupsful of rice 4 cupfuls of rice

Some compound nouns have no obvious base word and you may need to consult a dictionary to find the plural:

higher-ups also-rans go-betweens has-beens good-for-nothings grown-ups

Note that with compound nouns made of [noun + noun] the first noun is like an adjective and therefore does not usually take an -s. A tree that has apples has many apples, but we say an apple tree, not apples tree; matchbox not matchesbox; toothbrush not teethbrush.

With compound nouns made of [noun + noun] the second noun takes an -s for plural. The first noun acts like an adjective and as you know, adjectives in English are invariable. Look at these examples:

long plural form becomes ›plural compound noun[noun + noun]

100 trees with apples 100 apple trees

1,000 cables for telephones 1,000 telephone cables

20 boxes for tools 20 tool boxes

10 stops for buses 10 bus stops

4,000 wheels for cars 4,000 car wheels

AdjectivesAn adjective is a word that tells us more about a noun. (By "noun" we include pronouns and noun phrases.)

An adjective "qualifies" or "modifies" a noun (a big dog).

Adjectives can be used before a noun (I like Chinese food) or after certain verbs (It is hard).

We can often use two or more adjectives together (a beautiful young French lady).

It is sometimes said that the adjective is the enemy of the noun. This is because, very often, if we use the precise noun we don't need an adjective. For example, instead of saying "a large, impressive house" (2 adjectives + 1 noun) we could simply say "a mansion" (1 noun).

DeterminersDeterminers are words like the, an, my, some. They are grammatically similar. They all come at the beginning of noun phrases, and usually we cannot use more than one determiner in the same noun phrase.

Articles:

a, an, the

A, An or The?When do we say "the dog" and when do we say "a dog"? (On this page we talk only about singular, countable nouns.)

The and a/an are called "articles". We divide them into "definite" and "indefinite" like this:

Articles

Definite Indefinite

the a, an

We use "definite" to mean sure, certain. "Definite" is particular.

We use "indefinite" to mean not sure, not certain. "Indefinite" is general.

When we are talking about one thing in particular, we use the. When we are talking about one thing in general, we use a or an.

Think of the sky at night. In the sky we see 1 moon and millions of stars. So normally we would say:

I saw the moon last night. I saw a star last night.

Look at these examples:

the a, an

The capital of France is Paris. I have found the book that I lost. Have you cleaned the car? There are six eggs in the fridge. Please switch off the TV when you finish.

I was born in a town. John had an omelette for lunch. James Bond ordered a drink. We want to buy an umbrella. Have you got a pen?

Of course, often we can use the or a/an for the same word. It depends on the situation, not the word. Look at these examples:

We want to buy an umbrella. (Any umbrella, not a particular umbrella.) Where is the umbrella? (We already have an umbrella. We are looking for our umbrella, a

particular umbrella.)

This little story should help you understand the difference between the and a, an:

A man and a woman were walking in Oxford Street. The woman saw a dress that she liked in a shop. She asked the man if he could buy the dress for her. He said: "Do you think the shop will accept a cheque? I don't have a credit card."

Possessive Adjectives: my, your, his, her, its, our, their, whose

Warning! These are adjectives. Don't confuse them with pronouns!

We use possessive adjectives to show who owns or "possesses" something. The possessive adjectives are:

my, your, his, her, its, our, their whose (interrogative)

number person genderpossessiveadjective

example sentence

singular

1st male/female my This is my book.

2nd male/female your I like your hair.

3rd

male his His name is "John".

female her Her name is "Mary".

neuter its The dog is licking its paw.

plural

1st male/female our We have sold our house.

2nd male/female your Your children are lovely.

3rd male/female/neuter theirThe students thanked their teacher.

singular/plural 1st/2nd/3rdmale/female (not neuter)

whose Whose phone did you use?

 Compare:

your = possessive adjectiveyou're = you are

its = possessive adjectiveit's = it is OR it has

their = possessive adjectivethey're = they arethere = adverb (I'm not going there / look over there / there is a car outside)

whose = possessive adjectivewho's = who is OR who has

 

Be careful! There is no apostrophe (') in the possessive adjective "its". We use an apostrophe to write the short form of "it is" or "it has". For example:it's raining = it is rainingit's finished = it has finished

I'm taking my dog to the vet. It's broken its leg.

Other determiners:

each, every

Each, EveryEach and every have similar but not always identical meanings.

Each = every one separatelyEvery = each, all

Sometimes, each and every have the same meaning:

Prices go up each year. Prices go up every year.

But often they are not exactly the same.

Each expresses the idea of 'one by one'. It emphasizes individuality.

Every is half-way between each and all. It sees things or people as singular, but in a group or in general.

Consider the following:

Every artist is sensitive. Each artist sees things differently. Every soldier saluted as the President arrived. The President gave each soldier a medal.

Each can be used in front of the verb:

The soldiers each received a medal.

Each can be followed by 'of':

The President spoke to each of the soldiers. He gave a medal to each of them.

Every cannot be used for 2 things. For 2 things, each can be used:

He was carrying a suitcase in each hand.

Every is used to say how often something happens:

There is a plane to Bangkok every day. The bus leaves every hour.

Verbs with each and every are always conjugated in the singular.

either, neither some, any, no

Some, AnySome = a little, a few or a small number or amount

Any = one, some or all

Usually, we use some in positive (+) sentences and any in negative (-) and question (?) sentences.

some any example situation

+I have some money.

I have $10.

-I don't have any money.

I don't have $1 and I don't have $10 and I don't have $1,000,000. I have $0.

?Do you have any money?

Do you have $1 or $10 or $1,000,000?

  In general, we use something/anything and somebody/anybody in the same way as some/any.

Look at these examples:

He needs some stamps. I must go. I have some homework to do. I'm thirsty. I want something to drink. I can see somebody coming.

He doesn't need any stamps. I can stay. I don't have any homework to do. I'm not thirsty. I don't want anything to drink. I can't see anybody coming.

Does he need any stamps? Do you have any homework to do? Do you want anything to drink? Can you see anybody coming?

We use any in a positive sentence when the real sense is negative.

I refused to give them any money. (I did not give them any money) She finished the test without any difficulty. (she did not have any difficulty)

Sometimes we use some in a question, when we expect a positive YES answer. (We could say that it is not a real question, because we think we know the answer already.)

Would you like some more tea? Could I have some sugar, please?

much, many; more, most little, less, least few, fewer, fewest what, whatever; which, whichever both, half, all several

enough

Some grammarians do not consider determiners as adjectives, but give them a class of their own.

Adjective OrderThere are 2 basic positions for adjectives:

1. before the noun2. after certain verbs (be, become, get, seem, look, feel, sound, smell, taste)

adj. noun verb adj.

1 I like big cars.

2 My car is big.

In this lesson we look at the position of adjectives in a sentence, followed by a quiz to check your understanding:

Comparative AdjectivesWhen we talk about two things, we can "compare" them. We can see if they are the same or different. Perhaps they are the same in some ways and different in other ways. We can use comparative adjectives to describe the differences.

We can use comparative adjectives when talking about two things (not three or more things).

In the example below, "bigger" is the comparative form of the adjective "big":

A1 A2

A1 is bigger than A2.

In this lesson we will look first at how we make comparative adjectives, and then at how we use them:

Formation of Comparative AdjectivesThere are two ways to make or form a comparative adjective:

short adjectives: add "-er"

long adjectives: use "more"

Short adjectives

1-syllable adjectives old, fast

2-syllable adjectives ending in -yhappy, easy

Normal rule: add "-er" old → older

Variation: if the adjective ends in -e, just add -r late → later

Variation: if the adjective ends in consonant, vowel, consonant, double the last consonant

big → bigger

Variation: if the adjective ends in -y, change the y to i happy → happier

Long adjectives

2-syllable adjectives not ending in -ymodern, pleasant

all adjectives of 3 or more syllablesexpensive, intellectual

Normal rule: use "more"modern → more modernexpensive → more expensive

With some 2-syllable adjectives, we can use '-er' or 'more':

quiet → quieter/more quiet clever → cleverer/more clever narrow → narrower/more narrow simple → simpler/more simple

ExceptionThe following adjectives have irregular forms:

good → better well (healthy) → better bad → worse far → farther/further

Use of Comparative AdjectivesWe use comparative adjectives when talking about 2 things (not 3 or 10 or 1,000,000 things, only 2 things).

Often, the comparative adjective is followed by "than".

Look at these examples:

John is 1m80. He is tall. But Chris is 1m85. He is taller than John. America is big. But Russia is bigger. I want to have a more powerful computer. Is French more difficult than English?

If we talk about the two planets Earth and Mars, we can compare them as shown in the table below:

Earth Mars

Diameter (km) 12,760 6,790 Mars is smaller than Earth.

Distance from Sun (million km) 150 228 Mars is more distant from the Sun.

Length of day (hours) 24 25A day on Mars is slightly longer than a day on Earth.

Moons 1 2 Mars has more moons than Earth.

Surface temperature (degrees Celcius)

22 -23 Mars is colder than Earth.

  Although we use comparative adjectives when talking about two things (not three or more things), in fact one or both of the things may be a group of things.

Mt Everest is higher than all other mountains.

Here, we are talking about hundreds of mountains, but we are still comparing one thing (Mt Everest) to one other thing (all other mountains).

Superlative AdjectivesA superlative adjective expresses the extreme or highest degree of a quality. We use a superlative adjective to describe the extreme quality of one thing in a group of things.

In the example below, "biggest" is the superlative form of the adjective "big":

A B C

A is the biggest.

Formation of Superlative AdjectivesAs with comparative adjectives, there are two ways to form a superlative adjective:

short adjectives: add "-est" long adjectives: use "most"

We also usually add 'the' at the beginning.

Short adjectives

1-syllable adjectives old, fast

2-syllable adjectives ending in -y happy, easy

Normal rule: add "-est" old → the oldest

Variation: if the adjective ends in -e, just add -st late → the latest

Variation: if the adjective ends in consonant, vowel, consonant, double the last consonant

big → the biggest

Variation: if the adjective ends in -y, change the y to i happy → the happiest

Long adjectives

2-syllable adjectives not ending in -y modern, pleasant

all adjectives of 3 or more syllables expensive, intellectual

Normal rule: use "most"

modern → the most modernexpensive → the most expensive

  With some 2-syllable adjectives, we can use '-est' or 'most':

quiet → the quietest/most quiet clever → the cleverest/most clever

narrow → the narrowest/most narrow simple → the simplest/most simple

ExceptionThe following adjectives have irregular forms:

good → the best bad → the worst far → the furthest

Use of Superlative AdjectivesWe use a superlative adjective to describe one thing in a group of three or more things. Look at these examples:

John is 1m75. David is 1m80. Chris is 1m85. Chris is the tallest. Canada, China and Russia are big countries. But Russia is the biggest. Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.

If we talk about the three planets Earth, Mars and Jupiter, we can use superlative adjectives as shown in the table below:

Earth Mars Jupiter

Dia-meter (km)

12,760 6,790 142,800 Jupiter is the biggest.

Dis-tance from Sun (million km)

150 228 778Jupiter is the most distant from the Sun.

Length of day (hours) 24 25 10 Jupiter has the shortest day.

Moons 1 2 16 Jupiter has the most moons.

Surface temp.(degrees Celcius)

22 -23 -150 Jupiter is the coldest.

  When we compare one thing with itself, we do not use "the":

England is coldest in winter. (not the coldest) My boss is most generous when we get a big order. (not the most generous)

Gradable and Non-gradable Adjectives

Adjectives describe qualities (characteristics) of nouns.

Some qualities can vary in intensity or grade (for example: rather hot, hot, very hot; hot, hotter, the hottest).

The adjective hot is gradable.

Other qualities cannot vary in intensity or grade because they are: a. extremes (for example: freezing)b. absolutes (for example: dead)c. classifying (for example: nuclear)

The adjectives freezing, dead and nuclear are non-gradable.

Gradable Adjectives

A gradable adjective can be used with "grading adverbs" that vary the adjective's grade or intensity. Look at these examples:

grading adverbs a little, dreadfully, extremely, fairly, hugely, immensely, intensely, rather, reasonably, slightly, unusually, very

+

gradable adjectivesangry, big, busy, clever, cold, deep, fast, friendly, good, happy, high, hot, important, long, popular, rich, strong, tall, warm, weak, young

A gradable adjective can also have comparative and superlative forms:

EC Tip: "Gradable adjectives" are also called "qualitative adjectives". "Grading adverbs" are also called "submodifiers".

big, bigger, the biggest hot, hotter, the hottest important, more important, the most important

Look at these example sentences:

My teacher was very happy with my homework.

That website is reasonably popular. But this one is more popular. He said that Holland was a little cold and Denmark was rather cold. But Sweden was the

coldest.

EC Tip: The adjective dead is non-gradable because it is an absolute. Dead is dead. We cannot be more or less dead. One person cannot be "deader" than another. Other absolutes include: correct, unique, perfect

Non-gradable Adjectives

A non-gradable adjective cannot be used with grading adverbs:

It was rather freezing outside. The dog was very dead. He is investing in slightly nuclear energy.

Non-gradable adjectives do not normally have comparative and superlative forms:

freezing, more freezing, the most freezing dead, deader, the deadest nuclear, more nuclear, the most nuclear

Often, non-gradable adjectives are used alone:

EC Tip: Don't try to learn lists of gradable and non-gradable adjectives! It's better to understand what makes an adjective gradable or non-gradable. This is a matter of logic and common sense. Most native-speakers have never heard of gradable and non-gradable adjectives. They just "feel" that it doesn't make sense to say "fairly excellent" or "very unique". You probably have the same idea in your language.

It was freezing outside. The dog was dead. He is investing in nuclear energy.

However, a non-gradable adjective can be used with "non-grading adverbs" (which usually just give the adjective extra impact), for example:

non-grading adverbs non-gradable adjectives

absolutely awful

extremeutterly excellent

completely terrified

totally dead

absolutenearly impossible

virtually unique

essentially chemical

classifyingmainly digital

almost domestic

Here are some example sentences with non-gradable adjectives:

Her exam results were absolutely awful. She will have to take the exam again. Is there anything like it in the world? It must be virtually unique. It starts an essentially chemical reaction.

Adjectives that can be gradable and non-gradable

Some adjectives may have more than one meaning or sense. It's possible for the same adjective to be gradable with one sense and non-gradable with another sense. For example:

adjective common =

He's got a very old car. gradable not young

I saw my old boyfriend yesterday. non-gradable former, ex-

He has some dreadfully common habits. gradable vulgar

"The" is a very common word in English. gradable prevalent

The two countries' common border poses problems. non-gradable shared

Adverbs used with gradable and non-gradable adjectives

The adverbs really (very much) and fairly and pretty (both meaning "to a significant degree, but less than very") can often be used with gradable and non-gradable adjectives:

gradable non-gradable

Please don't forget! It's really important. He was really terrified.

He's a fairly rich man. It's a fairly impossible job.

He's pretty tall. It's pretty ridiculous when you think about it.

"Quite" with gradable and non-gradable adjectives

The meaning of the adverb "quite" changes according to the type of adjective we use it with:

adjective quite =

It's quite warm today. gradable fairly, rather

Are you quite certain? non-gradable completely, absolutely

Reference 

Non-gradable adjectives

Although we don't recommend that you learn lists of non-gradable adjectives, here are some for reference. You can decide for yourself whether they are extreme, absolute or classifying.

alive, awful, black, boiling, certain, correct, dead, domestic, enormous, environmental, excellent, freezing, furious, gigantic, huge, immediately, impossible, miniscule, mortal, overjoyed, perfect, pregnant, principal, ridiculous, superb, terrible, terrified, unique, unknown, white, whole

Non-grading adverbs

Again, no need to learn lists. Here are a few examples. There are many more. Remember that you cannot use all non-grading adverbs with all non-gradable adjectives. Some collocate (go together). Some don't.

absolutely, almost, completely, entirely, exclusively, fully, largely, mainly, nearly, perfectly, practically, primarily, utterly, virtually

AdverbsAdverbs are an important part of speech. They usually answer questions such as how?, where?, when?, how often? and how much?

What is an Adverb?An adverb is a word that tells us more about a verb. It "qualifies" or "modifies" a verb (The man ran quickly). In the following examples, the adverb is in bold and the verb that it modifies is in italics.

John speaks loudly. (How does John speak?) Afterwards she smoked a cigarette. (When did she smoke?) Mary lives locally. (Where does Mary live?)

But adverbs can also modify adjectives (Tara is really beautiful), or even other adverbs (It works very well). Look at these examples:

Modify an adjective:- He is really handsome. (How handsome is he?)- That was extremely kind of you.

Modify another adverb:- She drives incredibly slowly. (How slowly does she drive?)- He drives extremely fast.

Note that adverbs have other functions, too. They can:

Modify a whole sentence: Obviously, I can't know everything. Modify a prepositional phrase: It's immediately inside the door.

Adverb Form

We make many adverbs by adding -ly to an adjective, for example:

quick (adjective) > quickly (adverb) careful (adjective) > carefully (adverb) beautiful (adjective) > beautifully (adverb)

There are some basic rules about spelling for -ly adverbs. See the table below:

Adjective ending do this adjective adverb

most adjectives add -ly

quicknicesolecareful

quicklynicelysolelycarefully

-able or -ible change -e to -yregrettablehorrible

regrettablyhorribly

-y change -y to -ily happy happily

-ic change -ic to -ically economic economically

But not all words that end in -ly are adverbs. The words friendly, lovely, lonely and neighbourly, for example, are all adjectives.

And some adverbs have no particular form. Look at these examples:

well, fast, very, never, always, often, still

Note that the form of an adverb can also change to make it comparative or superlative.

Kinds of AdverbsHere you can see the basic kinds of adverbs.

Adverbs of Manner

Adverbs of Manner tell us the manner or way in which something happens. They answer the question "how?". Adverbs of Manner mainly modify verbs.

He speaks slowly. (How does he speak?) They helped us cheerfully. (How did they help us?) James Bond drives his cars fast. (How does James Bond drive his cars?)

We normally use Adverbs of Manner with dynamic (action) verbs, not with stative or state verbs.

He ran fast. She came quickly. They worked happily. She looked beautifully. It seems strangely. They are happily.

Adverbs of Place

Adverbs of Place tell us the place where something happens. They answer the question "where?". Adverbs of Place mainly modify verbs.

Please sit here. (Where should I sit?) They looked everywhere. (Where did they look?) Two cars were parked outside. (Where were two cars parked?)

Adverbs of Time

Adverbs of Time tell us something about the time that something happens. Adverbs of Time mainly modify verbs.

They can answer the question "when?":

He came yesterday. (When did he come?) I want it now. (When do I want it?)

Or they can answer the question "how often?":

They deliver the newspaper daily. (How often do they deliver the newspaper?) We sometimes watch a movie. (How often do we watch a movie?)

Adverbs of Degree

Adverbs of Degree tell us the degree or extent to which something happens. They answer the question "how much?" or "to what degree?". Adverbs of Degree can modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs.

She entirely agrees with him. (How much does she agree with him?) Mary is very beautiful. (To what degree is Mary beautiful? How beautiful is Mary?) He drove quite dangerously. (To what degree did he drive dangerously? How dangerously did he

drive?)

Adverb PositionWhen an adverb modifies a verb, there are usually 3 possible positions within the sentence or clause:

1. FRONT - before subject Now I will read a book.

2. MID - between subject + verb I often read books.

3. END - after verb/object I read books carefully.

When an adverb modifies an adjective or another adverb, it usually goes in front of the word that it modifies, for example:

adverb adjective

She gave him a really dirty look.

adverb adverb

We quite often study English.

The position of an adverb often depends on the kind of adverb (manner, place, time, degree). The following table gives you some guidelines for placement based on the kind of adverb.

Warning: these are guidelines only, and not complete. There are many exceptions.

kind of adverb mainly modifies

sentence

usual position

adverb

manner verbs She stroked his hair gently. END

place verbs He was working here. END

time

definite

verbs

He finished the job yesterday. END

frequency We often go to Paris. MID

degreeverbs, adjectives and adverbs

I nearly died. MID

It was terribly funny. before adjective

He works really fast. before adverb

Adverbs of FrequencyAdverbs of Frequency are Adverbs of Time that answer the question "How frequently?" or "How often?". They tell us how often something happens. Here are some examples:

a. daily, weekly, yearlyb. often, sometimes, rarely

You probably see a difference between a) and b) above. With words like daily we know exactly how often. The words in a) describe definite frequency. On the other hand, words like often give us an idea about frequency but they don't tell us exactly. The words in b) describe indefinite frequency.

We separate them into two groups because they normally go in different positions in the sentence.

Adverbs of definite frequencyExamples:

hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly every second, once a minute, twice a year once, twice, once or twice, three times

Adverbs of definite frequency, like all adverbs of definite time, typically go in END position. Look at these examples:

Most companies pay taxes yearly. The manager checks the toilets every hour. The directors meet weekly to review progress.

Sometimes, usually for reasons of emphasis or style, some adverbs of definite frequency may go at the FRONT, for example:

Every day, more than five thousand people die on our roads.

Adverbs of indefinite frequencyExamples:

never, seldom, sometimes, often, always

Adverbs of indefinite frequency mainly go in MID position in the sentence. They go before the main verb (except the main verb "to be"):

We usually go shopping on Saturday. I have often done that. She is always late.

Occasionally, sometimes, often, frequently and usually can also go at the beginning or end of a sentence:

Sometimes they come and stay with us. I play tennis occasionally.

Rarely and seldom can also go at the end of a sentence (often with "very"):

We see them rarely. John eats meat very seldom.

PronounsPronouns are small words that take the place of a noun. We can use a pronoun instead of a noun. Pronouns are words like: he, you, ours, themselves, some, each... If we didn't have pronouns, we would have to repeat a lot of nouns. We would have to say things like:

Do you like the president? I don't like the president. The president is too pompous.

With pronouns, we can say:

Do you like the president? I don't like him. He is too pompous.

Personal Pronouns

100% always, constantly

usually, normally

frequently, regularly

often

50% sometimes

occasionally

rarely, infrequently

seldom

hardly ever

0% never

Personal pronouns represent specific people or things. We use them depending on:

number: singular (eg: I) or plural (eg: we) person: 1st person (eg: I), 2nd person (eg: you) or 3rd person (eg: he) gender: male (eg: he), female (eg: she) or neuter (eg: it) case: subject (eg: we) or object (eg: us)

We use personal pronouns in place of the person or people that we are talking about. My name is Josef but when I am talking about myself I almost always use "I" or "me", not "Josef". When I am talking direct to you, I almost always use "you", not your name. When I am talking about another person, say John, I may start with "John" but then use "he" or "him". And so on.

Here are the personal pronouns, followed by some example sentences:

number person gender

personal pronouns

subject object

singular

1st male/female I me

2nd male/female you you

3rd

male he him

female she her

neuter it it

plural

1st male/female we us

2nd male/female you you

3rd male/female/neuter they them

Examples (in each case, the first example shows a subject pronoun, the second an object pronoun):

I like coffee. John helped me.

Do you like coffee? John loves you.

He runs fast. Did Ram beat him?

She is clever.

Does Mary know her?

It doesn't work. Can the engineer repair it?

We went home. Anthony drove us.

Do you need a table for three? Did John and Mary beat you at doubles?

They played doubles. John and Mary beat them.

When we are talking about a single thing, we almost always use it. However, there are a few exceptions. We may sometimes refer to an animal as he/him or she/her, especially if the animal is domesticated or a pet. Ships (and some other vessels or vehicles) as well as some countries are often treated as female and referred to as she/her. Here are some examples:

This is our dog Rusty. He's an Alsation. The Titanic was a great ship but she sank on her first voyage. My first car was a Mini and I treated her like my wife. Thailand has now opened her border with Cambodia.

For a single person, sometimes we don't know whether to use he or she. There are several solutions to this:

If a teacher needs help, he or she should see the principal. If a teacher needs help, he should see the principal. If a teacher needs help, they should see the principal.

We often use it to introduce a remark:

It is nice to have a holiday sometimes. It is important to dress well. It's difficult to find a job. Is it normal to see them together? It didn't take long to walk here.

We also often use it to talk about the weather, temperature, time and distance:

It's raining. It will probably be hot tomorrow. Is it nine o'clock yet? It's 50 kilometres from here to Cambridge.

Demonstrative Pronounsdemonstrate (verb): to show; to indicate; to point to

A demonstrative pronoun represents a thing or things:

near in distance or time (this, these) far in distance or time (that, those)

near far

singular this that

plural these those

Here are some examples with demonstrative pronouns, followed by an illustration:

This tastes good. Have you seen this? These are bad times. Do you like these?

That is beautiful. Look at that! Those were the days! Can you see those?

This is heavier than that. These are bigger than those.

Do not confuse demonstrative pronouns with demonstrative adjectives. They are identical, but a demonstrative pronoun stands alone, while a demonstrative adjective qualifies a noun.

That smells. (demonstrative pronoun) That book is good. (demonstrative adjective + noun)

Normally we use demonstrative pronouns for things only. But we can use them for people when the person is identified. Look at these examples:

This is Josef speaking. Is that Mary? That sounds like John.

Possessive PronounsWe use possessive pronouns to refer to a specific person/people or thing/things (the "antecedent") belonging to a person/people (and sometimes belonging to an animal/animals or thing/things).

We use possessive pronouns depending on:

number: singular (eg: mine) or plural (eg: ours) person: 1st person (eg: mine), 2nd person (eg: yours) or 3rd person (eg: his) gender: male (his), female (hers)

Below are the possessive pronouns, followed by some example sentences. Notice that each possessive pronoun can:

be subject or object refer to a singular or plural antecedent

number person gender (of "owner") possessive pronouns

singular

1st male/female mine

2nd male/female yours

3rdmale his

female hers

plural

1st male/female ours

2nd male/female yours

3rd male/female/neuter theirs

Look at these pictures. Mine is the big one. (subject = My picture) I like your flowers. Do you like mine? (object = my flowers)

I looked everywhere for your key. I found John's key but I couldn't find yours. (object = your key)

My flowers are dying. Yours are lovely. (subject = Your flowers)

All the essays were good but his was the best. (subject = his essay) John found his passport but Mary couldn't find hers. (object = her passport) John found his clothes but Mary couldn't find hers. (object = her clothes)

Here is your car. Ours is over there, where we left it. (subject = Our car) Your photos are good. Ours are terrible. (subject = Our photos)

Each couple's books are colour-coded. Yours are red. (subject = Your books) I don't like this family's garden but I like yours. (subject = your garden)

These aren't John and Mary's children. Theirs have black hair. (subject = Their children) John and Mary don't like your car. Do you like theirs? (object = their car)

Notice that the following (with apostrophe [']) do NOT exist: her's, your's, their's

Notice that the interrogative pronoun whose can also be a possessive pronoun (an interrogative possessive pronoun). Look at these examples:

There was $100 on the table and Tara wondered whose it was. This car hasn't moved for two months. Whose is it?

Interrogative PronounsWe use interrogative pronouns to ask questions. The interrogative pronoun represents the thing that we don't know (what we are asking the question about).

There are four main interrogative pronouns: who, whom, what, which

Notice that the possessive pronoun whose can also be an interrogative pronoun (an interrogative possessive pronoun).

subject object

person who whom

thing what

person/thing which

person whose (possessive)

  Notice that whom is the correct form when the pronoun is the object of the verb, as in "Whom did you see?" ("I saw John.") However, in normal, spoken English we rarely use whom. Most native speakers would say (or even write): "Who did you see?"

Look at these example questions. In the sample answers, the noun phrase that the interrogative pronoun represents is shown in bold.

question answer

Who told you? John told me. subject

Whom did you tell? I told Mary. object

What's happened? An accident's happened. subject

What do you want? I want coffee. object

Which came first? The Porsche 911 came first. subject

Which will the doctor see first?The doctor will see the patient in blue first.

object

There's one car missing. Whose hasn't arrived?

John's (car) hasn't arrived. subject

We've found everyone's keys. Whose did you find?

I found John's (keys). object

Note that we sometimes use the suffix "-ever" to make compounds from some of these pronouns (mainly whoever, whatever, whichever). When we add "-ever", we use it for emphasis, often to show confusion or surprise. Look at these examples:

Whoever would want to do such a nasty thing? Whatever did he say to make her cry like that? They're all fantastic! Whichever will you choose?

Reflexive Pronounsreflexive (adj.) [grammar]: reflecting back on the subject, like a mirror

We use a reflexive pronoun when we want to refer back to the subject of the sentence or clause. Reflexive pronouns end in "-self" (singular) or "-selves" (plural).

There are eight reflexive pronouns:

reflexive pronoun

singularmyselfyourselfhimself, herself, itself

pluralourselvesyourselvesthemselves

Look at these examples:

reflexive pronouns

the underlined words are NOT the same person/thing

the underlined words are the SAME person/thing

John saw me. I saw myself in the mirror.

Why does he blame you? Why do you blame yourself?

David sent him a copy. John sent himself a copy.

David sent her a copy. Mary sent herself a copy.

My dog hurt the cat. My dog hurt itself.

We blame you. We blame ourselves.

Can you help my children? Can you help yourselves?

They cannot look after the babies. They cannot look after themselves.

Intensive pronouns

Notice that all the above reflexive pronouns can also act as intensive pronouns, but the function and usage are different. An intensive pronoun emphasizes its antecedent. Look at these examples:

I made it myself. OR I myself made it. Have you yourself seen it? OR Have you seen it yourself? The President himself promised to stop the war. She spoke to me herself. OR She herself spoke to me. The exam itself wasn't difficult, but exam room was horrible. Never mind. We'll do it ourselves. You yourselves asked us to do it.

They recommend this book even though they themselves have never read it. OR They recommend this book even though they have never read it themselves.

Reciprocal Pronounsreciprocal (adj.): given or done in return; [grammar] expressing mutual action

We use reciprocal pronouns when each of two or more subjects is acting in the same way towards the other. For example, A is talking to B, and B is talking to A. So we say:

A and B are talking to each other.

The action is "reciprocated". John talks to Mary and Mary talks to John. I give you a present and you give me a present. The dog bites the cat and the cat bites the dog.

There are only two reciprocal pronouns, and they are both two words:

each other one another

When we use these reciprocal pronouns:

there must be two or more people, things or groups involved (so we cannot use reciprocal pronouns with I, you [singular], he/she/it), and

they must be doing the same thing

Look at these examples:

John and Mary love each other. Peter and David hate each other. The ten prisoners were all blaming one another. Both teams played hard against each other. We gave each other gifts. Why don't you believe each other? They can't see each other. The gangsters were fighting one another. The boats were bumping against each other in the storm.

You probably notice that each other is used in more examples above than one another. That's because in general we use each other more often than one another, which sounds a little formal. Also, some people say that we should use one another only for three or more people or things, but there is no real justification for this.

Indefinite Pronouns

That's Not My Job!This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

An indefinite pronoun does not refer to any specific person, thing or amount. It is vague and "not definite". Some typical indefinite pronouns are:

all, another, any, anybody/anyone, anything, each, everybody/everyone, everything, few, many, nobody, none, one, several, some, somebody/someone

Note that many indefinite pronouns also function as other parts of speech. Look at "another" in the following sentences:

He has one job in the day and another at night. (pronoun) I'd like another drink, please. (adjective)

Most indefinite pronouns are either singular or plural. However, some of them can be singular in one context and plural in another. The most common indefinite pronouns are listed below, with examples, as singular, plural or singular/plural.

Notice that a singular pronoun takes a singular verb AND that any personal pronoun should also agree (in number and gender). Look at these examples:

Each of the players has a doctor. I met two girls. One has given me her phone number.

Similarly, plural pronouns need plural agreement:

Many have expressed their views.

pronoun meaning example

singular

anotheran additional or different person or thing

That ice-cream was good. Can I have another?

anybody/anyone no matter what person Can anyone answer this question?

anything no matter what thingThe doctor needs to know if you have eaten anything in the last two hours.

eachevery one of two or more people or things, seen separately

Each has his own thoughts.

either one or the other of two people or Do you want tea or coffee? / I don't

things mind. Either is good for me.

enough as much or as many as needed Enough is enough.

everybody/everyone all peopleWe can start the meeting because everybody has arrived.

everything all thingsThey have no house or possessions. They lost everything in the earthquake.

less a smaller amount"Less is more" (Mies van der Rohe)

little a small amount Little is known about his early life.

much a large amount Much has happend since we met.

neithernot one and not the other of two people or things

I keep telling Jack and Jill but neither believes me.

nobody/no-one no personI phoned many times but nobody answered.

nothing no single thing, not anythingIf you don't know the answer it's best to say nothing.

one an unidentified personCan one smoke here? | All the students arrived but now one is missing.

othera different person or thing from one already mentioned

One was tall and the other was short.

somebody/someone an unspecified or unknown personClearly somebody murdered him. It was not suicide.

something an unspecified or unknown thingListen! I just heard something! What could it be?

you an unidentified person (informal) And you can see why.

plural

both two people or things, seen togetherJohn likes coffee but not tea. I think both are good.

few a small number of people or things Few have ever disobeyed him and

lived.

fewera reduced number of people or things

Fewer are smoking these days.

many a large number of people or things Many have come already.

others other people; not usI'm sure that others have tried before us.

several more than two but not manyThey all complained and several left the meeting.

they people in general (informal)They say that vegetables are good for you.

singular or plural

allthe whole quantity of something or of some things or people

All is forgiven.All have arrived.

any no matter how much or how manyIs any left?Are any coming?

morea greater quantity of something; a greater number of people or things

There is more over there.More are coming.

most the majority; nearly allMost is lost.Most have refused.

none not any; no person or persons

They fixed the water so why is none coming out of the tap?I invited five friends but none have come.*

somean unspecified quantity of something; an unspecified number of people or things

Here is some.Some have arrived.

such of the type already mentionedHe was a foreigner and he felt that he was treated as such.

* Some people say that "none" should always take a singular verb, even when talking about countable nouns (eg five friends). They argue that "none" means "no one", and "one" is obviously singular. They say that "I invited five friends but none has come" is correct and "I invited five friends but none have come" is incorrect. Historically and grammatically there is

little to support this view. "None" has been used for hundreds of years with both a singular and a plural verb, according to the context and the emphasis required.

Relative PronounsA relative pronoun is a pronoun that introduces a relative clause. It is called a "relative" pronoun because it "relates" to the word that it modifies. Here is an example:

The person who phoned me last night is my teacher.

In the above example, "who":

relates to "person", which it modifies introduces the relative clause "who phoned me last night"

There are five relative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, that*

Who (subject) and whom (object) are generally only for people. Whose is for possession. Which is for things. In non-defining relative clauses, that is used for things. In defining relative clauses (clauses that are essential to the sentence and do not simply add extra information) that can be used for things and people**.

Relative pronouns can refer to singular or plural, and there is no difference between male and female.

Look at these examples showing defining and non-defining relative clauses:

example sentences S=subject, O=object, P=possessive

notes

defining relative clauses

S

- The person who phoned me last night is my teacher.- The person that phoned me last night is my teacher.

That is preferable

- The car which hit me was yellow.- The cars that hit me were yellow.

That is preferable

O - The person whom I phoned last night is my teacher.- The people who I phoned last night are my teachers.- The person that I phoned last night is

Whom is correct but very formal. The relative pronoun is optional.

my teacher.- The person I phoned last night is my teacher.

- The car which I drive is old.- The car that I drive is old.- The car I drive is old.

That is preferable to which. The relative pronoun is optional.

P

- The student whose phone just rang should stand up.- Students whose parents are wealthy pay extra.

- The police are looking for the car whose driver was masked.- The police are looking for the car of which the driver was masked.

Of which is usual for things, but whose is sometimes possible

non-defining relative clauses

S

- Mrs Pratt, who is very kind, is my teacher.

- The car, which was a taxi, exploded.- The cars, which were taxis, exploded.

O

- Mrs Pratt, whom I like very much, is my teacher.- Mr and Mrs Pratt, who I like very much, are my teachers.

Whom is correct but very formal. Who is normal.

- The car, which I was driving at the time, suddenly caught fire.

P

- My brother, whose phone you just heard, is a doctor.

- The car, whose driver jumped out just before the accident, was completely destroyed.- The car, the driver of which jumped out just before the accident, was completely destroyed.

Of which is usual for things, but whose is sometimes possible

*Not all grammar sources count "that" as a relative pronoun. **Some people claim that even in defining relative clauses we cannot use "that" for people but must use "who/whom". There is no good reason for such a claim; there is a long history of "that" for people in defining relative clauses from Chaucer, Shakespeare and the Authorized Version of The Bible to Fowler's and Churchill.

Pronoun CasePronouns (and nouns) in English display "case" according to their function in the sentence. Their function can be:

subjective (they act as the subject) objective (they act as the object) possessive (they show possession of something else)

The following table shows the different forms for pronouns depending on case.

subjective case objective casepossessive case

personal pronouns singular 1st I me mine

2nd you you yours

3rdhesheit

himherit

hishersits

plural 1st we us ours

2nd you you yours

3rd they them theirs

relative/interrogative pronouns

who whom whose

whoever whomever

which/that/what which/that/what

indefinite pronouns everybody everybody everybody's

A problem of case: Mary and I or Mary and me?

1. Mary and I are delighted to be here today. (NOT Mary and me)2. The letter was addressed to Mary and me. (NOT Mary and I)

In 1, Mary and I are subjects, which is why the pronoun takes the subjective case ("I"). In 2, Mary and I are objects, which is why the pronoun takes the objective case ("me"). An easy way to check the correct case is to try the sentence without Mary. Would you say "I am delighted to be here" or "Me am delighted to be here"? Would you say "The letter was addressed to me" or "The letter was addressed to I"?

English PrepositionsA preposition is a word governing, and usually coming in front of, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element, as in:

She left before breakfast.

What did you come for?(For what did you come?)

English Preposition Rule

There is one very simple rule about prepositions. And, unlike most rules, this rule has no exceptions.

RuleA preposition is followed by a "noun". It is never followed by a verb.

By "noun" we include:

noun (dog, money, love) proper noun (name) (Bangkok, Mary) pronoun (you, him, us) noun group (my first job) gerund (swimming)

A preposition cannot be followed by a verb. If we want to follow a preposition by a verb, we must use the "-ing" form which is really a gerund or verb in noun form.

Quick Quiz: In the following sentences, why is "to" followed by a verb? That should be impossible, according to the above rule:

I would like to go now. She used to smoke.

Here are some examples:

Subject + verb preposition "noun"

The food is on the table.

She lives in Japan.

Tara is looking for you.

The letter is under your blue book.

Pascal is used to English people.

She isn't used to working.

I ate before coming.

Answer to Quick Quiz: In these sentences, "to" is not a preposition. It is part of the infinitive ("to go", "to smoke").

Prepositions of Place: at, in, on

In general, we use:

at for a POINT in for an ENCLOSED SPACE on for a SURFACE

at in on

POINT ENCLOSED SPACE SURFACE

at the corner in the garden on the wall

at the bus stop in London on the ceiling

at the door in France on the door

at the top of the page in a box on the cover

at the end of the road in my pocket on the floor

at the entrance in my wallet on the carpet

at the crossroads in a building on the menu

at the front desk in a car on a page

Look at these examples:

Jane is waiting for you at the bus stop. The shop is at the end of the street. My plane stopped at Dubai and Hanoi and arrived in Bangkok two hours late. When will you arrive at the office? Do you work in an office? I have a meeting in New York. Do you live in Japan? Jupiter is in the Solar System. The author's name is on the cover of the book. There are no prices on this menu. You are standing on my foot. There was a "no smoking" sign on the wall. I live on the 7th floor at 21 Oxford Street in London.

Notice the use of the prepositions of place at, in and on in these standard expressions:

at in on

at home in a car on a bus

at work in a taxi on a train

at school in a helicopter on a plane

at university in a boat on a ship

at college in a lift (elevator) on a bicycle, on a motorbike

at the top in the newspaper on a horse, on an elephant

at the bottom in the sky on the radio, on television

at the side in a row on the left, on the right

at reception in Oxford Street on the way

Prepositions of Time: at, in, onWe use:

at for a PRECISE TIME in for MONTHS, YEARS, CENTURIES and LONG PERIODS on for DAYS and DATES

at in on

PRECISE TIME

MONTHS, YEARS, CENTURIES and LONG PERIODS

DAYS and DATES

at 3 o'clock in May on Sunday

at 10.30am in summer on Tuesdays

at noon in the summer on 6 March

at dinnertime in 1990 on 25 Dec. 2010

at bedtime in the 1990s on Christmas Day

at sunrise in the next centuryon Independence Day

at sunset in the Ice Age on my birthday

at the moment in the past/future on New Year's Eve

Look at these examples:

I have a meeting at 9am. The shop closes at midnight. Jane went home at lunchtime. In England, it often snows in December. Do you think we will go to Jupiter in the future? There should be a lot of progress in the next century. Do you work on Mondays? Her birthday is on 20 November. Where will you be on New Year's Day?

Notice the use of the preposition of time at in the following standard expressions:

Expression Example

at night The stars shine at night.

at the weekend* I don't usually work at the weekend.

at Christmas*/Easter I stay with my family at Christmas.

at the same time We finished the test at the same time.

at present He's not home at present. Try later.

Notice the use of the prepositions of time in and on in these common expressions:

in on

in the morning on Tuesday morning

in the mornings on Saturday mornings

in the afternoon(s) on Sunday afternoons

in the evening(s) on Monday evening

When we say last, next, every, this we do not also use at, in, on.

I went to London last June. (not in last June)

He's coming back next Tuesday. (not on next Tuesday) I go home every Easter. (not at every Easter) We'll call you this evening. (not in this evening)

ConjunctionsA conjunction is a word that "joins". A conjunction joins two parts of a sentence.

Here are some example conjunctions:

Coordinating Conjunctions Subordinating Conjunctions

and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so although, because, since, unless

We can consider conjunctions from three aspects.

Form

Conjunctions have three basic forms:

Single Wordfor example: and, but, because, although

Compound (often ending with as or that)for example: provided that, as long as, in order that

Correlative (surrounding an adverb or adjective)for example: so...that

Function

Conjunctions have two basic functions or "jobs":

Coordinating conjunctions are used to join two parts of a sentence that are grammatically equal. The two parts may be single words or clauses, for example:- Jack and Jill went up the hill.- The water was warm, but I didn't go swimming.

Subordinating conjunctions are used to join a subordinate dependent clause to a main clause, for example:- I went swimming although it was cold.

Position

Coordinating conjunctions always come between the words or clauses that they join.

Subordinating conjunctions usually come at the beginning of the subordinate clause.

Coordinating ConjunctionsThe short, simple conjunctions are called "coordinating conjunctions":

and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so

A coordinating conjunction joins parts of a sentence (for example words or independent clauses) that are grammatically equal or similar. A coordinating conjunction shows that the elements it joins are similar in importance and structure:

+

Look at these examples - the two elements that the coordinating conjunction joins are shown in square brackets [ ]:

I like [tea] and [coffee]. [Ram likes tea], but [Anthony likes coffee].

Coordinating conjunctions always come between the words or clauses that they join.

When a coordinating conjunction joins independent clauses, it is always correct to place a comma before the conjunction:

I want to work as an interpreter in the future, so I am studying Russian at university.

However, if the independent clauses are short and well-balanced, a comma is not really essential:

She is kind so she helps people.

When "and" is used with the last word of a list, a comma is optional:

He drinks beer, whisky, wine, and rum. He drinks beer, whisky, wine and rum.

The 7 coordinating conjunctions are short, simple words. They have only two or three letters. There's an easy way to remember them - their initials spell:

F A N B O Y S

ForAnd

Nor But Or Yet So

Subordinating ConjunctionsThe majority of conjunctions are "subordinating conjunctions". Common subordinating conjunctions are:

after, although, as, because, before, how, if, once, since, than, that, though, till, until, when, where, whether, while

A subordinating conjunction joins a subordinate (dependent) clause to a main (independent) clause:

+

Look at this example:

main orindependent clause

subordinate ordependent clause

Ram went swimming although it was raining.

subordinatingconjunction

  A subordinate or dependent clause "depends" on a main or independent clause. It cannot exist alone. Imagine that somebody says to you: "Hello! Although it was raining." What do you understand? Nothing! But a main or independent clause can exist alone. You will understand very well if somebody says to you: "Hello! Ram went swimming."

A subordinating conjunction always comes at the beginning of a subordinate clause. It "introduces" a subordinate clause. However, a subordinate clause can sometimes come after and sometimes before a main clause. Thus, two structures are possible:

+Ram went swimming although it was raining. 

+Although it was raining, Ram went swimming.

InterjectionsHi! That's an interjection. :-)

Interjection is a big name for a little word. Interjections are short exclamations like Oh!, Um or Ah! They have no real grammatical value but we use them quite often, usually more in speaking than in writing. When interjections are inserted into a sentence, they have no grammatical connection to the sentence. An interjection is sometimes followed by an exclamation mark (!) when written.

Interjections like er and um are also known as "hesitation devices". They are extremely common in English. People use them when they don't know what to say, or to indicate that they are thinking about what to say. You should learn to recognize them when you hear them and realize that they have no real meaning.

The table below shows some interjections with examples.

interjection meaning example

ah

expressing pleasure "Ah, that feels good."

expressing realization "Ah, now I understand."

expressing resignation "Ah well, it can't be heped."

expressing surprise "Ah! I've won!"

alas expressing grief or pity "Alas, she's dead now."

dear

expressing pity "Oh dear! Does it hurt?"

expressing surprise "Dear me! That's a surprise!"

eh asking for repetition "It's hot today." "Eh?" "I said it's hot

today."

expressing enquiry "What do you think of that, eh?"

expressing surprise "Eh! Really?"

inviting agreement "Let's go, eh?"

er expressing hesitation "Lima is the capital of...er...Peru."

hello, hullo

expressing greeting "Hello John. How are you today?"

expressing surprise "Hello! My car's gone!"

hey

calling attention "Hey! look at that!"

expressing surprise, joy etc "Hey! What a good idea!"

hi expressing greeting "Hi! What's new?"

hmmexpressing hesitation, doubt or disagreement

"Hmm. I'm not so sure."

oh, o

expressing surprise "Oh! You're here!"

expressing pain "Oh! I've got a toothache."

expressing pleading "Oh, please say 'yes'!"

ouch expressing pain "Ouch! That hurts!"

uh expressing hesitation "Uh...I don't know the answer to that."

uh-huh expressing agreement "Shall we go?" "Uh-huh."

um, umm expressing hesitation "85 divided by 5 is...um...17."

well

expressing surprise "Well I never!"

introducing a remark "Well, what did he say?"

What Is A Sentence? In simple terms, a sentence is a set of words that contain:

1. a subject (what the sentence is about, the topic of the sentence)2. a predicate (what is said about the subject)

Look at this simple example:

<----- sentence ----->

subjectpredicate

verb

You speak English.

The above example sentence is very short. Of course, a sentence can be longer and more complicated, but basically there is always a subject and a predicate. Look at this longer example:

<----- sentence ----->

subjectpredicate

verb

Ram and Tara speak English when they are working.

Note that the predicate always contains a verb. Sometimes, in fact, the predicate is only a verb:

<----- sentence ----->

subjectpredicate

verb

Smoke rises.

So we can say that a sentence must contain at least a subject and verb.

There is one apparent exception to this – the imperative. When someone gives a command (the imperative), they usually do not use a subject. They don't say the subject because it is obvious - the subject is YOU! Look at these examples of the imperative, with and without a subject:

<----- sentence ----->

subjectpredicate

verb

Stop!

Wait a minute!

You look!

Everybody look!

Note that a sentence expresses a complete thought. Here are some examples of complete and incomplete thoughts:

complete thought?

He opened the door.

YESCome in, please.

Do you like coffee?

people who work hardNO

a fast-moving animal with big ears

Note also that a sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop* or a question mark or an exclamation mark. Look at these examples:

People need food.

How are you?

Look out!

  Actually, it is not easy to define a sentence. Grammarians do not all agree on what is or is not a sentence. For the purposes of introduction, this page describes rather simple sentences. Of course, sentences can be much longer and more complex, and these will be covered on other pages.

* British English = full stop | American English = period

Words with More than One JobMany words in English can have more than one job, or be more than one part of speech. For example, "work" can be a verb and a noun; "but" can be a conjunction and a preposition; "well" can be an adjective, an adverb and an interjection. In addition, many nouns can act as adjectives.

To analyze the part of speech, ask yourself: "What job is this word doing in this sentence?"

In the table below you can see a few examples. Of course, there are more, even for some of the words in the table. In fact, if you look in a good dictionary you will see that the word "but" has six jobs to do:

verb, noun, adverb, pronoun, preposition and conjuction!

word part of speech example

worknoun My work is easy.

verb I work in London.

butconjunction John came but Mary didn't come.

preposition Everyone came but Mary.

well

adjective Are you well?

adverb She speaks well.

interjection Well! That's expensive!

afternoonnoun We ate in the afternoon.

noun acting as adjective We had afternoon tea.