English Grammar: Parts of Speech and Nouns

• Grammar constitutes the structural rules governing the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in natural language
• Grammar includes morphology, syntax, phonetics, and semantics
• Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words
• Syntax is the study of how words combine into phrases and sentences
• Phonetics concerns the sounds of language
• Semantics concerns the meaning of words and sentences

Parts of Speech

• Nouns represent people, places, things, or ideas
• Pronouns replace nouns to avoid repetition
• Verbs describe actions or states of being
• Adjectives modify or describe nouns
• Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs
• Prepositions show the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words
• Conjunctions connect words, phrases, or clauses
• Interjections express strong emotions or sudden outbursts

Nouns

• Common nouns are general names (e.g., city, book, happiness)
• Proper nouns are specific names and are capitalized (e.g., London, Shakespeare, Bible)
• Countable nouns can be counted and have a plural form (e.g., one apple, two apples)
• Uncountable nouns cannot be counted and usually lack a plural form (e.g., water, rice, information)
• Concrete nouns can be experienced through the senses (e.g., table, flower, music)
• Abstract nouns are ideas, qualities, or states (e.g., love, freedom, justice)
• Collective nouns refer to a group (e.g., team, family, committee)

Pronouns

• Personal pronouns replace nouns referring to people or things (e.g., I, you, he, she, it, we, they)
• Possessive pronouns show ownership (e.g., mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs)
• Reflexive pronouns refer back to the subject (e.g., myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves)
• Intensive pronouns emphasize the noun or pronoun (e.g., I myself made the cake)
• Demonstrative pronouns point out specific items (e.g., this, that, these, those)
• Relative pronouns introduce relative clauses (e.g., who, whom, which, that, whose)
• Interrogative pronouns ask questions (e.g., who, whom, what, which, whose)
• Indefinite pronouns refer to nonspecific items (e.g., someone, anyone, everyone, nobody, something, anything, everything, nothing)

Verbs

• Action verbs express actions (e.g., run, think, eat)
• Linking verbs connect the subject to a description (e.g., be, seem, become)
• Auxiliary verbs help the main verb (e.g., be, have, do)
• Transitive verbs take a direct object (e.g., She kicked the ball)
• Intransitive verbs do not take a direct object (e.g., He sleeps)
• Regular verbs add -ed for past tense and past participle (e.g., walk, walked, walked)
• Irregular verbs do not follow the -ed pattern (e.g., go, went, gone)

Adjectives

• Descriptive adjectives describe qualities (e.g., beautiful, tall, intelligent)
• Limiting adjectives restrict meaning (e.g., this, that, these, those, my, your, his, her, its, our, their, one, two, few, several)
• Proper adjectives derive from proper nouns (e.g., American, Shakespearean)
• Comparative adjectives compare two items (e.g., taller, faster, better)
• Superlative adjectives compare three or more (e.g., tallest, fastest, best)

Adverbs

• Adverbs of manner describe how (e.g., quickly, slowly, carefully)
• Adverbs of time describe when (e.g., now, then, yesterday)
• Adverbs of place describe where (e.g., here, there, everywhere)
• Adverbs of degree describe intensity (e.g., very, quite, extremely)
• Adverbs of frequency describe how often (e.g., always, often, sometimes, never)

Prepositions

• Simple prepositions consist of one word (e.g., in, on, at, to, from, with, by)
• Compound prepositions consist of multiple words (e.g., according to, because of, in front of)
• Prepositions of time indicate when (e.g., at, on, in, before, after)
• Prepositions of place indicate location (e.g., at, on, in, under, over, beside)
• Prepositions of direction indicate movement (e.g., to, from, toward, through)

Conjunctions

• Coordinating conjunctions connect equal elements (e.g., and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet)
• Subordinating conjunctions connect subordinate clauses (e.g., because, although, if, when, while, since)
• Correlative conjunctions are used in pairs to connect equal elements (e.g., both...and, either...or, neither...nor, not only...but also)

Interjections

• Interjections are words expressing emotion (e.g., Wow! Ouch! Help!)

Sentence Structure

• Subject: The noun or pronoun that performs the action of the verb
• Predicate: The part of the sentence that contains the verb and tells something about the subject
• Object: The noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb (direct object) or is indirectly affected by the action (indirect object)
• Complement: A word or group of words that completes the meaning of a subject or object
• Clause: A group of words that contains a subject and a verb
• Independent clause: Expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence
• Dependent clause: Does not express a complete thought and cannot stand alone as a sentence
• Phrase: A group of words that does not contain a subject and a verb
• Simple sentence: Contains one independent clause
• Compound sentence: Contains two or more independent clauses joined by coordinating conjunctions, semicolons, or colons
• Complex sentence: Contains one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses
• Compound-complex sentence: Contains two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses

Tenses

• Present simple: Used for habitual actions, general truths, and facts
• Past simple: Used for completed actions in the past
• Future simple: Used for actions that will happen in the future
• Present continuous: Used for actions happening now or around now
• Past continuous: Used for actions in progress at a specific time in the past
• Future continuous: Used for actions that will be in progress at a specific time in the future
• Present perfect: Used for actions that started in the past and continue to the present, or actions completed at an unspecified time in the past
• Past perfect: Used for actions completed before a specific time in the past
• Future perfect: Used for actions that will be completed before a specific time in the future
• Present perfect continuous: Used for actions that started in the past and are still continuing
• Past perfect continuous: Used for actions that were in progress before a specific time in the past
• Future perfect continuous: Used for actions that will be in progress before a specific time in the future

Voice

• Active voice: The subject performs the action (e.g., The dog chased the ball)
• Passive voice: The subject receives the action (e.g., The ball was chased by the dog)

Mood

• Indicative mood: States a fact or asks a question
• Imperative mood: Gives a command or makes a request
• Subjunctive mood: Expresses a wish, a possibility, a hypothetical situation, or a command

Punctuation

• Period (.): Marks the end of a declarative sentence
• Question mark (?): Marks the end of an interrogative sentence
• Exclamation point (!): Marks the end of an exclamatory sentence
• Comma (,): Separates elements in a series, sets off introductory elements, and separates clauses
• Semicolon (;): Connects two independent clauses
• Colon (:): Introduces a list, explanation, or example
• Apostrophe ('): Indicates possession or contraction
• Quotation marks (" "): Enclose direct quotations
• Hyphen (-): Joins words or parts of words
• Dash (—): Indicates a sudden break in thought or sets off parenthetical information
• Parentheses ( ): Enclose additional information
• Brackets [ ]: Enclose editorial comments or corrections within a quotation

Agreement

• Subject-verb agreement: The verb must agree in number with its subject (singular subject takes a singular verb, plural subject takes a plural verb)
• Pronoun-antecedent agreement: A pronoun must agree in number and gender with its antecedent (the noun it refers to)