English Grammar Basics

Parts of Speech

• Nouns:
  • Proper nouns: names of specific people, places, or things (e.g., John, London, Amazon)
  • Common nouns: general categories of things (e.g., dog, city, company)
  • Collective nouns: groups of people, animals, or things (e.g., family, herd, team)
  • Abstract nouns: ideas or concepts (e.g., happiness, freedom, love)
• Verbs:
  • Action verbs: express action or activity (e.g., run, jump, read)
  • Linking verbs: connect the subject to additional information (e.g., be, seem, appear)
  • Helping verbs: used to help form the tense, mood, or voice of another verb (e.g., will, would, shall)
• Adjectives:
  • Modify nouns or pronouns (e.g., happy, big, blue)
  • Quantitative adjectives: express quantity (e.g., five, ten, many)
  • Qualitative adjectives: express quality (e.g., good, nice, beautiful)
• Adverbs:
  • Modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs (e.g., quickly, very, well)
  • Express manner, time, place, frequency, or degree
• Pronouns:
  • Replace nouns in a sentence (e.g., he, she, it, they)
  • Personal pronouns: replace nouns referring to people or animals (e.g., I, you, he)
  • Possessive pronouns: show ownership or possession (e.g., my, your, his)
• Prepositions:
  • Show relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence (e.g., in, on, at, with)
• Conjunctions:
  • Connect words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence (e.g., and, but, or, so)
• Interjections:
  • Express emotion or feeling (e.g., oh, wow, ouch, ah)

Sentence Structure

• Simple sentences:
  • One independent clause (e.g., I like coffee.)
• Compound sentences:
  • Two or more independent clauses joined by a conjunction (e.g., I like coffee, and I drink it every morning.)
• Complex sentences:
  • One independent clause and one or more dependent clauses (e.g., When I wake up, I drink coffee.)
• Compound-complex sentences:
  • Two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses (e.g., When I wake up, I drink coffee, and then I start my day.)

Verb Tenses

• Present tense:
  • Expresses an action that is happening now (e.g., I am writing, she is reading)
• Past tense:
  • Expresses an action that happened in the past (e.g., I wrote, she read)
• Future tense:
  • Expresses an action that will happen in the future (e.g., I will write, she will read)
• Present perfect tense:
  • Expresses an action that started in the past and continues up to the present (e.g., I have written, she has read)
• Past perfect tense:
  • Expresses an action that happened before another action in the past (e.g., I had written, she had read)
• Future perfect tense:
  • Expresses an action that will be completed at a specific point in the future (e.g., I will have written, she will have read)

Clauses

• Independent clause:
  • A complete sentence with a subject and a predicate (e.g., I like coffee.)
• Dependent clause:
  • A clause that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence (e.g., because I need caffeine)
• Relative clause:
  • A dependent clause that begins with a relative pronoun (e.g., who, which, that) and provides additional information about a noun (e.g., The book, which is on the table, is mine.)
• Subordinate clause:
  • A dependent clause that begins with a subordinating conjunction (e.g., because, although, if) and provides additional information about an independent clause (e.g., I went to the store because I needed milk.)