English Grammar Basics

Nouns

• Words that refer to a person, place, thing, or idea
• Can be common (cat) or proper (John)
• Can be concrete (book) or abstract (happiness)
• Can be countable (one cat, two cats) or uncountable (water)

Verbs

• Words that express action or a state of being
• Can be action verbs (run, jump) or linking verbs (be, seem)
• Can be transitive (take something) or intransitive (laugh)
• Can be in the present, past, or future tense

Adjectives

• Words that modify or describe nouns or pronouns
• Typically answer questions like "What kind?", "How many?", or "Which one?"
• Can be used to compare things (e.g., big, bigger, biggest)

Adverbs

• Words that modify or describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs
• Typically answer questions like "How?", "When?", "Where?", or "To what extent?"
• Often end in -ly, but not always (e.g., fast, very)

Pronouns

• Words that replace nouns in a sentence
• Can be personal (I, you, he), possessive (my, your, his), or reflexive (myself, yourself, himself)
• Can be used as subjects, objects, or complements

Prepositions

• Words that show relationships between nouns or pronouns
• Examples: in, on, at, by, with, under, above
• Can be used to indicate location, direction, time, or other relationships

Conjunctions

• Words that connect words, phrases, or clauses
• Can be coordinating (and, but, or) or subordinating (because, since, if)
• Can be used to combine equal clauses or to introduce a dependent clause

Interjections

• Words that express emotion or feeling
• Often used to express strong emotions like excitement, surprise, or anger
• Typically set apart from the rest of the sentence with an exclamation mark

Articles

• Words that modify nouns and indicate whether they are specific or general
• Can be definite (the) or indefinite (a, an)
• Can be used to indicate that a noun is specific or unique (the book) or general (a book)