English Grammar Basics

How is grammatical function indicated for nouns, adjectives, and articles in Modern English?

What are the two largest word classes in English?

What has Modern English largely abandoned from Indo-European?

Which form of speech and writing is used in public discourse, including broadcasting, education, entertainment, government, and news?

What retains morphological case more strongly than any other word class in Modern English?

Grammatical Function in Modern English

Grammatical function is indicated through word order, prepositions, and auxiliary verbs for nouns, adjectives, and articles.
Word order is crucial in determining grammatical function, as it can change the meaning of a sentence.

Largest Word Classes in English

The two largest word classes in English are nouns and verbs.
Nouns make up about 40% of English words, while verbs make up around 30%.

Abandonment of Indo-European Features

Modern English has largely abandoned inflectional suffixes from Indo-European.
This loss of inflectional suffixes has led to a simpler grammatical system.

Public Discourse in Modern English

Standard English is used in public discourse, including broadcasting, education, entertainment, government, and news.
Standard English is considered the most formal and prestigious form of English.

Morphological Case in Modern English

Pronouns retain morphological case more strongly than any other word class in Modern English.
Pronouns have distinct forms for different cases, such as nominative, accusative, and genitive.

Test your knowledge of the structural rules of the English language, including words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. This quiz covers the present-day Standard English used in public discourse, education, entertainment, government, and news.