The Basics of Grammar

Copyright © 2013 Tata Consultancy Services Limited August 7, 2021

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 Introduction to the Basics of Grammar

Grammar involves the rules about how words change their form and
combine with other words to make sentences.

In this course, we will discuss:

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Basic Sentence Patterns
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Subject-Verb Agreement
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Types of Sentences:
Affirmative, Negative, Interrogative
Simple, complex, Compound
Active and Passive voice
Question Tags
The Three Persons
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Parts of Speech

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 Basic Sentences

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John went to school.
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Where will you be going this summer?
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The plane took off.
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The book is expensive.
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The lady is an Indian.

Your sentence must always have

A Subject and a Verb.

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 Basic Sentence Patterns

Formula Sentence Pattern Example

1 S+V Subject + Verb •The plane took off

•Jim came
2 S+V+O Subject + Verb + Object •Peter ate an apple.
•I love my job.

3 S+V+Adv Subject + Verb + Adverb •Jessica is sitting on a chair.

•I am here.
4 S+V+Adj Subject + Verb + Adjective •The book is expensive.
•Rita is funny.
5 S+V+N Subject + Verb + Noun •The lady is an Indian
•Mr Patel is an engineer.

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 Subject- Verb agreement

In any sentence the subject has to agree with the verb.

A singular subject takes a singular verb.

A plural subject takes a plural verb.

Examples:
A dog is a faithful animal. Dogs are faithful animals.
She sings very well. The birds make a lot of noise
Jack speaks very fast. They are going to a party.

The verb takes ‘s’ in the third person singular.

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 Examples of Subject- Verb agreement

• Everyone associated with the project is proud to be part of the effort.

• One of the boxes is open.

• Two-fifths of the grain is ruined.

• One-half of the students were convinced that there would be no final exams

this year.
• Of all the returns we have counted so far, fifty percent are in favor of the
referendum.
• Paul, as well as his friends, was called to the Principal’s office.

• A wholesome diet, along with regular exercise, is good for health.

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Contd..

• A majority of the student body is in favor of asking the Dean to stay

another year.

• Neither of these choices appears to be satisfactory.

• My friend asked me if I would like a book or a paint set for my birthday.

Either is fine with me.

• Neither the principal nor the teachers are at fault.

• Either the teachers or the principal has to be responsible for the year-

end festival.
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 Subject Verb Agreement- Contd..

-When an expletive construction (there is, there are, here is, etc.) begins a
sentence, the subject (which determines the number of the verb) comes after
the verb.

Examples:

There are several explanations for the Civil War.

There is a good book on photography.

Here is the bus.

 

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 Subject Verb Agreement- Contd..

-Certain words like trousers, stairs, premises , police, staff, etc. are always
considered plural and take a plural verb.

The police have issued a warrant for Chopra’s arrest.

The premises are located away from the city.

-Certain words like bread and butter, research and development are considered
singular as they have a close association.

Research and development is an integral part of this organization.

However, when the words are preceded by “a pair of ”, they take

a singular verb….

A pair of jeans is quite costly in that shop.

The pair of scissors is on the table.
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 Types of Sentences

Affirmative ( Sub + Verb +….)

I like cake.
Nina is intelligent.
He dances well.
Mary can sing.
Negative ( Sub + aux verb + not +verb +….)
I don’t like cake
Nina isn’t intelligent
He doesn’t dance well
Mary can’t sing.
Interrogative ( Aux verb + Sub + main verb +….)
Do you like cake?
Is Nina intelligent?
Does he dance well?
Can Mary sing? 10
 Types of Sentences- Contd..

Sentences may be simple, compound or complex.

For example:

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I like to walk. (Simple)

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I get up at 7 a.m. and go for a walk. (Compound)

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As soon as I get up, I go for a walk. (Complex)

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 Active Voice

The boy kicked the ball.

ball

Subject Object

Subject + Verb + Object

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 Passive Voice

The ball was kicked by the boy.

boy

Object Subject

Object + be+ past participle of verb + by + subject

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 Question Tags

Question tags are short additions to sentences, asking for agreement or

confirmation.

For example:

It’s Suzie’s birthday, isn’t it?

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 Question Tags

Question tags are short additions to sentences, asking for agreement or

confirmation.

For example:

It’s Suzie’s birthday, isn’t it?

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 Question Tags- Contd..

A Positive statement takes a Negative tag: + -

A negative tag = aux verb + n’t + pronoun of subject

Mary can swim, can’t she?

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 Question Tags- Contd...

A Negative statement takes a Positive tag:

- +
A positive tag = aux verb + pronoun of subject

The book is not interesting, is it?

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 Question Tags- Contd...

If the sentence does not have an auxiliary verb in it, then add “Do” to
form the question tag.

The school bus comes on time, doesn’t it?

The boys like playing football, don’t they?

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 The Three Persons in English

Person Pronouns - Subject Pronouns - object

Singular Plural Singular Plural

First I We Me Us

Second You You You You

Third He/She/It They Him/Her/It Them

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 The Three Persons- Possessive

Person Pronouns – Pronouns –

possessive possessive (Object)
(Subject)
Singular Plural Singular Plural
First My Our Mine Ours

Second Your Your Yours Yours

Third His/Her/Its Their His/Hers/Its Theirs

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 Parts of Speech

It refers to the classification of words according to their function in a context.

Open Class: Gives meaning to the Closed Class: Serves a grammatical
sentence function
Noun Peter, Kerala, Articles (3) A, an, the
batch,

Verb Be, have, learn, Demonstratives This, that, these,

work, eat (4) those

Adjective Beautiful, cold, Pronouns I, we, you, he,

large, happy she, they, it,
anybody, one,

Adverb Now, very, happily, Preposition In, to, of, about, on

quickly account of,

Conjunctions And, that,

although, because
Interjections Oh, ah 21
 Let's Recall-

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Ensure SV agreement.
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Frame sentences carefully – there are different types!
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Question tags are not questions.
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Don’t mix up the three persons!

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Thank you