Grammar 📒

Grammar is the way we arrange words to make proper sentences. Word level

grammar covers verbs and tenses, nouns, adverbs etc. Sentence level
grammar covers phrases, clauses, reported speech etc.

 What is Grammar?
 Ask Questions about Grammar
 20 Grammar Rules
 Grammar Vocabulary
 Grammar Quizzes
 Grammar Games

Word-level Grammar
9 Parts of Speech
These are the words that you use to make a sentence.
Verbs and Verb Tenses
Action verbs, express what is happening (do, work). State verbs express a
situation (be, have).

Nouns
Nouns represent people (teacher, Mary), places (town, Asia) and
things (table, music).

Adjectives
An adjective is a word that tells us more about a noun (big, red, expensive).

Adverbs
Adverbs tell us more about verbs, adjectives or adverbs (loudly, really,
extremely).

Determiners
Determiners are words like the, an, this that start a noun phrase.
Prepositions
A preposition expresses the relationship of a noun or pronoun to another
word (at, in, from).

Pronouns
Pronouns are small words like you, ours, some that can take the place of a
noun.

Conjunctions
Conjunctions join two parts of a sentence (and, but, though).

Interjections
Short exclamations with no real grammatical value (ah, dear, er)

Sentence-level Grammar
Phrases
The five main types of phrase in English. With quiz

What is a Sentence?
When is a sentence not a sentence? With quiz

The 4 Types of Sentence

Declarative, Interrogative, Imperative, Exclamative. With quiz

The 4 Types of Sentence Structure

Simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences. With quiz

Linking, Intransitive and Transitive Verbs

To understand sentence construction, it helps to know about these verbs.
With quiz

Direct Object
The direct object receives the action of the verb directly. With quiz

Indirect Object
The indirect object receives the direct object. With quiz

Reported Speech
Here is the structure that we use to "report" what another person has said.
With quiz
Parenthetical Expression
Words added to a sentence without changing its meaning or grammar.
With quiz

Grammatical Category
Including number, case, gender, tense, aspect etc. With quiz

Grammar Theory
Universal Grammar 
The idea that the ability to learn a language is built into the human brain

More Grammar Articles

5 Common Subject-Verb Agreement Mistakes of ESL Students
It’s not always easy to get the verb and the subject to agree in terms of
number. Even native speakers sometimes get that wrong.

8 Ways to Use the Preposition “by”

Andrew Forrester looks at different uses of “by” as a preposition, and gives
you practical examples.

What's IN a Preposition?
When is a preposition not a preposition?

Grammar is your Friend

How grammar can help you to learn a language more easily

Grammar Games and Quizzes Online

Test your knowledge of English grammar with these fun online activities:

 Adjective Games
 Verb Games
  Adverb Games
 Noun Games
 Grammar Spelling Quiz

Recommended Grammar Links

 English grammar section on Cambridge Dictionary (British English)
 Grammar pages at Purdue Online Writing Lab (American English)
 Grammar page at Wikipedia
What is Grammar?
Grammar

And why grammar is your friend...

grammar (noun): the structure and system of a language, or of languages in

general, usually considered to consist of syntax and morphology

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.

20 Grammar Rules

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

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

 The fat cat sat on the mat.

 Where do you live?
 My dog is very clever!
2. The order of a basic positive sentence is Subject-Verb-Object.
(Negative and question sentences may have a different order.)
  John loves Mary.
 They were driving their car to Bangkok.

3. Every sentence must have a subject and a verb. An object is optional.

Note that an imperative sentence may have a verb only, but the subject
is understood.

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

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

needs a singular verb and a plural subject needs a plural verb.

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

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

 John or Mary is coming tonight.

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

6. Adjectives usually come before a noun (except when a verb separates

the adjective from the noun).

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

7. When using two or more adjectives together, the usual order

is opinion-adjective + fact-adjective + noun. (There are some additional
rules for the order of fact adjectives.)

 I saw a nice French table.

  That was an interesting Shakespearian play.

8. Treat collective nouns (e.g. committee, company, board of directors)

as singular OR plural. In BrE a collective noun is usually treated as
plural, needing a plural verb and pronoun. In AmE a collective noun is
often treated as singular, needing a singular verb and pronoun.

 The committee are having sandwiches for lunch. Then they will go to

London. (typically BrE)
 The BBC have changed their logo. (typically BrE)
 My family likes going to the zoo. (typically AmE)
 CNN has changed its logo. (typically AmE)

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

 The dog has hurt its leg.

 He says it's two o'clock.

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

meanings.

 Here is your coffee.
 You're looking good.

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

 There was nobody at the party.

 I saw their new car.
 Do you think they're happy?

12. The contraction he's can mean he is OR he has. Similarly, she's can

mean she is OR she has, and it's can mean it is OR it has,
and John's can mean John is OR John has.

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

13. The contraction he'd can mean he had OR he would.

Similarly, they'd can mean they had OR they would.

 He had eaten when I arrived.

 He would eat more if possible.
 They had already finished.
 They would come if they could.

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

 We have written to Mary.

 Is China in Asia?
 Do you speak English?

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

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

16. Use the indefinite article  a/an for countable nouns in general. Use

the definite article  the for specific countable nouns and all uncountable
nouns.

 I saw a bird and a balloon in the sky. The bird was blue and the

balloon was yellow.
 He always saves some of the money that he earns.
17. Use the indefinite article a with words beginning with a consonant
sound. Use the indefinite article an with words beginning with a vowel
sound. see When to Say  a  or  an

 a cat, a game of golf, a human endeavour, a Frenchman, a university

(you-ni-ver-si-ty)
 an apple, an easy job, an interesting story, an old man, an
umbrella, an honorable man (on-o-ra-ble)

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

uncountable nouns. see Quantifiers

 How many dollars do you have?

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

19. To show possession (who is the owner of something) use

an apostrophe + s for singular owners, and s + apostrophe for plural
owners.

 The boy's dog. (one boy)

 The boys' dog. (two or more boys)

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

 We use active in preference to passive.

 Active is used in preference to passive.
Grammar Vocabulary
This is a short list of grammar terms and definitions. We have a longer list of
grammar terms here.

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

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

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

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

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

clause
A group of words containing a subject and its verb (for example: It was
late when he arrived).
conjunction
A word used to connect words, phrases and clauses (for
example: and, but, if).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

passive voice
In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb (e.g. The
President was killed). See also Active Voice.
phrase
A group of words not containing a subject and its verb (e.g. on the table, the
girl in a red dress).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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