The Rule of the Thumb

Are there any rules in grammar?

Rules! Not exactly... But there are guidelines that help us understand the
language better.
Let us give these guidelines or thumb rules, as I like to call them, a glance:

Parts of Speech
o There are eight parts of speech. Dont get scared! They are
nothing but simple words that when put together form meaningful
sentences. Same words can be used as different parts of speech,
depending on how they are used. These parts of speech are:
Nouns- Naming words like George, city, chair, happiness
Pronouns- Words used in place of nouns like he, she, I, they
Adjectives- Words that describe or tell the quality of nouns or
pronouns
Verbs- doing words in action or in different states like sit,
stand, like, want
Adverbs- words that describe adjectives, verbs and adverbs
like quickly, very
Prepositions- words that tell the relationship of the main noun
or the subject with the rest of the sentence like on, at, into,
from
Conjunctions- words that join words, clauses, sentences like
and, but, or
Interjections- words used to express emotions like oh, wow
Phrases, Clauses and Sentences
o A phrase is a simple group of words that may or may not express
any meaning
o A clause is an incomplete sentence. It conveys a certain meaning
but theres always something more to be added.
o A sentence is a group of words strung together to convey a
meaning. It is the most basic component of any language and if
spoken or written incorrectly, may or may not convey the meaning
that it is intended to. It has two parts

Subject: a noun or a pronoun, along with its description, is

the subject of the sentence
Predicate: the rest of the sentence that tells about the
subjects action or state and other such details is the
predicate

Tenses
o Tenses refer to the time being referred to in a sentence
o As we all know (HOPEFULLY!) that there are three basic categories
to tenses:
Past
Present
Future
o Each of these categories is further divided into sub-categories
based on the status of the action that is being talked about
Simple- the normal status of the action in past, present or
future
Continuous- the progression of action in the three tenses
Perfect- a completed action in the three tenses
Perfect Continuous- a completed action in past, present and
future which is in progression even after achieving the state
of perfection.
Subject Verb Agreement
o Well! What does the name suggest? Yes, it is what it suggests...
Subject and the verb that talks about it must agree in number.
Confused? Dont be! Youll understand it better when we get there...
Active and Passive Voice
o Ever voiced your opinions directly, openly, robustly? That was your
ACTIVE VOICE.
o Remember the time when you had to state something indirectly in
order to subdue the situation or calm someone down... HUSH!
HUSH! HUSH!! You had used PASSIVE VOICE there, and yes, there
are a few guidelines that can help you speak passively
Conditionals
o Oh! The ifs and whens! Conditionals are the types of conditions that
are expressed in the English language and the consequences that
follow.
o There are four conditionals
Zero- surety
First- actual likelihood of the result happening in future
Second- make-believe present or improbable future
Third- unreal past

And so we cover our major points... dont let these guidelines overwhelm you; for
there are hundreds of guidelines and structures that can be explored... but
thankfully, we shall only stick to the basics!