English Grammar: Parts of Speech

• English grammar is the way meanings are encoded into the wording of the English language.
• This includes the structure of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences, up to whole texts.

Parts of Speech

• Nouns represent people, places, things, or ideas, for example, dog, city, happiness.
• Pronouns replace nouns, for example, he, she, it, they, we, you, I.
• Verbs express actions or states of being, for example, run, is, are, were, was, has, have.
• Adjectives describe nouns, for example, big, red, happy.
• Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, for example, quickly, very.
• Prepositions show the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence, for example, on, in, at, from, to, with.
• Conjunctions connect words, phrases, or clauses, for example, and, but, or, so, because.
• Interjections express strong emotion, for example, Wow! Ouch!
• Articles specify whether a noun is definite (the) or indefinite (a, an).

Sentence Structure

• A sentence is a complete thought expressed with a group of words.
• A simple sentence contains one independent clause, for example, "The dog barked."
• A compound sentence contains two or more independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction, for example, "The dog barked, and the cat meowed."
• A complex sentence contains one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses, for example, "Because it was raining, we stayed inside."
• A compound-complex sentence contains two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses.

Phrases

• A phrase is a group of related words lacking a subject and a verb.
• Noun phrases function as a noun, for example, "the big red ball".
• Verb phrases contain the main verb and its helping verbs, for example, "has been running".
• Prepositional phrases begin with a preposition and modify a noun or verb, for example, "on the table".
• Adjectival phrases modify a noun or pronoun, for example, "covered in snow".
• Adverbial phrases modify a verb, adjective, or adverb, for example, "with great enthusiasm".

Clauses

• A clause has a subject and a verb.
• An independent clause can stand alone as a sentence, for example, "I went to the store."
• A dependent clause relies on an independent clause to complete its meaning, for example, "Because I needed milk".
• Noun clauses function as a noun, for example, "I know what you did."
• Adjective clauses modify a noun or pronoun, for example, "The book that I borrowed was interesting."
• Adverb clauses modify a verb, adjective, or adverb, for example, "I will go if you go."

Verb Tenses

• Simple Present describes habitual actions and general truths, for example, "I eat breakfast every day."
• Simple Past describes completed actions in the past, for example, "I ate breakfast yesterday."
• Simple Future describes actions that will happen in the future, for example, "I will eat breakfast tomorrow."
• Present Continuous describes actions happening now or around now, for example, "I am eating breakfast."
• Past Continuous describes actions in progress at a specific time in the past, for example, "I was eating breakfast when you called."
• Future Continuous describes actions that will be in progress at a specific time in the future, for example, "I will be eating breakfast at 8 a.m. tomorrow."
• Present Perfect describes actions that started in the past and continue to the present or have a result in the present, for example, "I have eaten breakfast."
• Past Perfect describes actions completed before a specific time in the past, for example, "I had eaten breakfast before you arrived."
• Future Perfect describes actions that will be completed before a specific time in the future, for example, "I will have eaten breakfast by the time you arrive."
• Present Perfect Continuous describes actions that started in the past and are still continuing, for example, "I have been eating breakfast for an hour."
• Past Perfect Continuous describes actions that were in progress before a specific time in the past, for example, "I had been eating breakfast for an hour when you arrived."
• Future Perfect Continuous describes actions that will have been in progress for a period of time before a specific time in the future, for example, "I will have been eating breakfast for an hour by the time you arrive."

Subject-Verb Agreement

• Singular subjects use singular verbs, for example, "He runs."
• Plural subjects use verbs, for example, "They run."
• Collective nouns (team, family) can be singular or plural, depending on whether they act as a unit or as individuals.

Pronoun Agreement

• Pronouns must match the nouns they replace in number and gender, for example, "The dog wagged its tail."

Punctuation

• Periods (.) end declarative sentences.
• Question Marks (?) end interrogative sentences.
• Exclamation Points (!) express strong emotion.
• Commas (,) separate items in a list, join independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction, and set off introductory phrases/clauses.
• Semicolons (;) join two closely related independent clauses.
• Colons (:) introduce a list, explanation, or example.
• Apostrophes (’) indicate possession or form contractions.
• Quotation Marks (" ") enclose direct quotations.

Active and Passive Voice

• Active voice means the subject performs the action, for example, "The dog chased the ball."
• Passive voice means the subject receives the action, for example, "The ball was chased by the dog."

Mood

• Indicative states a fact or asks a question, for example, "It is raining."
• Imperative gives a command, for example, "Close the door."
• Subjunctive expresses a wish, possibility, or condition contrary to fact, for example, "I wish I were taller."

Conditionals

• Zero Conditionals describe general truths, for example, "If you heat water to 100 degrees Celsius, it boils."
• First Conditionals describe possible future events, for example, "If it rains, I will stay home."
• Second Conditionals describe hypothetical or unlikely situations, for example, "If I won the lottery, I would travel the world."
• Third Conditionals describe hypothetical past events, for example, "If I had studied harder, I would have passed the test."

Common Grammatical Errors

• Subject-verb disagreement.
• Pronoun disagreement.
• Misplaced or dangling modifiers.
• Incorrect tense usage.
• Comma splices.
• Run-on sentences.
• Sentence fragments.
• Incorrect word choice (affect vs. effect, there vs. their vs. they're).

Coordination

• Coordination joins elements of equal grammatical rank.
• This is typically done using coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet.

Subordination

• Subordination makes one element dependent on another.
• This is typically done using subordinating conjunctions: although, because, since, while, if, unless, that, who, which.

Determiners

• Determiners specify nouns.
• Articles: a, an, the
• Demonstratives: this, that, these, those
• Possessives: my, your, his, her, its, our, their
• Quantifiers: some, many, few, every, each, all

Intensifiers

• Intensifiers modify adjectives or adverbs, emphasizing them.
• For example: very, really, extremely, quite, rather

Syntax

• Syntax refers to the arrangement of words/phrases to create well-formed sentences.
• Core aspects are word order, hierarchical structure, and grammatical relations.

Morphology

• Morphology is the study of word forms.
• This includes analyzing word parts (morphemes) like prefixes, suffixes, and roots.