Basics of English Grammar

Grammar

Communication
Skills
 Parts of Speech

The part of speech indicates how the word functions in

meaning as well as grammatically within the sentence.

An individual word can function as more than one

part of speech when used in different

There are eight parts of speech in the English

language: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb,
preposition, conjunction, and interjection.
 Word
Classes
 Nouns

A noun is the name of

a person, place, thing
etc.
For example: Sociology,
Mary Wollstonecraft,
Belgium, happiness, etc.

Or it can be idea or
concept (abstract)
For example: beauty,
information,
importance, community
Identify nouns from the following sentences

1. Rakesh has a special love for Sociology.

2. Caste discrimination is one of the prevalent issues in India.

3. The Department of Sociology is the most active department in SPPU.

4. These days the academic freedom of humanities is in critical situation.

 PRONOUN

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun.

A pronoun is used instead of a noun or noun phrase in a

sentence. A pronoun may take place of the name of a
person, place or thing.

Examples: I, me, we, they, you, he, she, it, yours, himself,
ourselves, its, my, that, this, those, us, who, whom…
 Personal Pronoun Possessive Pronouns
I, you, he, she, we, it, they mine, yours, his, hers, ours,
etc yours, theirs

Reflexive Pronouns
myself, yourself, himself, Demonstrative Pronouns
herself, itself, ourselves, this, that, these, those.
yourselves, themselves etc.
 Adjectives
What is An Adjective?

In English, an adjective is a word that describes a noun or

pronoun such as person, place, thing or idea.

For Example:
This is an interesting book.
Rajesh is a friendly teacher.
Look at the lovely painting!
 VERBS
The verb in a sentence expresses action or being.

There is a main verb and sometimes one or more helping verbs.

A verb must agree with its subject in number (both are singular or
both are plural).
Verbs also take different forms to express tense.
Helping Verbs:
Main Verbs: am, is are, was were, have, has, had, do
walk, go, study, work, play, does, did
Auxiliary Verbs:
make, act will, shall, would, should, can, could,
may, might, must etc
 ADVERB

An adverb modifies or describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

It usually answers the questions of when, where, how, why, under what
conditions, or to what degree.

Adverbs often end in –ly.

For example:
1. She teaches well.
2. The place is strangely quiet.
3. He is always busy.
 Prepositions

A preposition is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to form a

phrase modifying another word in the sentence.

Therefore a preposition is always part of a prepositional phrase.

The prepositional phrase almost always functions as an adjective or as

an adverb.

in, into, on, over, above, up, down, below, between,

among, of, for, to, in front of, near, beside etc.
 CONJUNCTIONS

A conjunction joins words, phrases, or clauses, and indicates the

relationship between the elements joined.

Coordinating conjunctions connect grammatically equal elements:

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

Subordinating conjunctions connect clauses that are not equal: because,

although, while, since, etc.
 INTERJECTIONS

An interjection is a word used to express emotion. It is

often followed by an exclamation point.

Examples:
1. What a pleasant surprise!
2. Wow! Look at the scenery.
3. Alas! He has gone.