English Grammar

Introduction
The Orders for English in the National Curriculum reinforce the increasing
emphasis being placed on standard English and language study. Attainment Target 3:
Writing states that:

‘Pupils should be encouraged to broaden their understanding of the principles of sentence

grammar and be taught to organise whole texts effectively.’

They should also be given opportunities to learn about:

• discourse structure – including the structure of whole texts and paragraph
structure
• phrase, clause and sentence structure – including the use of main and
subordinate clauses
• words – including grammatical functions of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs,
pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions

• punctuation – including full stops, question and exclamation marks, commas,

semi-colons, colons, apostrophes, brackets and dashes.

English Grammar is designed to give Key Stage 4 students clear, straightforward and
thorough guidance on: the parts of speech and their role; sentences and their
constituent parts; and punctuation. A range of linked activities provide opportunities
for consolidation and assessment. The subject matter is set out in short, logical and
accessible units with illustrations.

English Grammar has been written so that it can be used alongside any scheme of
work and can be used equally well as:
• the basis for a whole course, providing a complete, coherent exploration
of grammar
• a set of introductory or assessment modules to be taught in conjunction with
other materials
• an invaluable resource to be dipped into to help explain or introduce
grammatical terms as and when they appear.

An introduction for students is provided on pages 2 and 3. It is intended that this be

given to each student before they start on the material to help them understand the
uses and importance of learning about English grammar.

Answers and a glossary of terms are provided at the back of the pack.

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English Grammar

Answers
Proper nouns (page 4)
Bart Simpson, Tuesday, Christine, June, Birmingham, Christmas.

Common nouns (page 5)

library, woman, computer.

Abstract nouns (page 6)

1 sadness, 2 anger, 3 sleep, 4 happiness.
experience, emergency, pain, anxiety, sympathy, remedy, gratitude, care, profession.

Collective nouns (page 7)

(There are alternatives for some of these.) 1 bunch, 2 crowd, 3 pack, 4 swarm, 5 flock, 6 herd.
lions = pride; fish = school; geese = gaggle when on the ground, skein when flying; pups = litter;
wolves = pack.

Singular and plural nouns (page 8)

1 keys, 2 jellies, 3 galleries, 4 valleys, 5 monasteries, 6 buoys.
(page 9) 1 dresses, 2 cards, 3 flies, 4 boxes, 5 churches, 6 circuses, 7 wives, 8 brushes.
(page 10) 1 men, 2 women, 3 feet, 4 teeth, 5 children, 6 mice, 7 sheep, 8 oxen.
(page 11) coaches, passengers, scarves/scarfs, choruses, crowds, tickets, seats, photos, penalties, friends, girls,
kisses, men, policemen, sandwiches, crisps, coaches, passengers, houses, journeys, pennies.

Pronouns (page 12)

They, It, He, he, It, They, it.
(page 13) I, They, me, It, He, he, he, him, I, he, They, They, I, them, them, They, we, He, him, him, me, I,
them.

Possessive pronouns (page 14)

1 their, 2 hers, 3 mine, 4 Your.

Demonstrative pronouns (page 15)

1 That, 2 these, 3 This, 4 those.

Adjectives (page 17)

great, long, steep, top, tall, tiny, empty, last, large, old, young, awful, green, frightened, dangerous.

Comparatives (page 18)

1 happier, 2 more violent, 3 more beautiful, 4 better, 5 more expensive, 6 older, 7 sleepier, 8 nicer,
9 more difficult, 10 worse.

Superlatives (page 19)

1 funniest, 2 most comfortable, 3 silliest, 4 most unexpected, 5 strictest, 6 wildest, 7 best, 8 craziest,
9 most magnificent, 10 most ridiculous.

The infinitive (page 20)

1 to run, 2 to laugh, 3 to steal, 4 to hear, 5 to eat.

The present tense (page 22)

1 walks, 2 is enjoying, 3 is sleeping, 4 cries.

The past tense (page 22)

lived, died, became, ate, were, discovered, learned.

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English Grammar

The future tense (page 23)

will develop, will need, shall discover, shall contact, will be.

Transitive and intransitive verbs (page 27)

1 = transitive, 2 = intransitive, 3 = transitive, 4 = intransitive, 5 = transitive.

Active and passive verbs (page 29)

1 The balloon was chased by the child. 2 The whistle was blown by the stationmaster. 3 The baby was carried
by the mother. 4 The programme was watched by John and Michael. 5 The solutions were mixed by the
chemist.

Adverbs (page 30)

1 rudely, 2 strongly, 3 happily, 4 incredibly, 5 grumpily, 6 quickly, 7 sensibly, 8 capably.
(page 31) 1 rather, badly, today; 2 awfully; 3 very, well; 4 incredibly; 5 too.

Prepositions (page 32)

onto, through, beside, with, of, with, on, along, between, under, at, with.

Conjunctions (page 33)

Possible answers include: 1 as, 2 but, 3 so, 4 but, 5 because.

Interjections (page 34)

Ow, Hey, Wow, Mad, Oy, Oh.

The subject (page 36)

There are a number of different answers but possible answers include: 1 Paris, 2 The horse, 3 Cats,
4 The film, 5 Happiness.

The predicate (page 37)

1 subject = She, predicate = goes to work; 2 subject = The horse, predicate = was tired; 2 subject = The sun,
predicate = is hot; 4 subject = Kevin, predicate = lost his coat; 5 subject = School, predicate = will finish
soon; 6 subject = The prime minister, predicate = will speak.

The object (page 38)

1 lunch, 2 there is no object, 3 strawberr ies, 4 a bicycle, 5 a picture, 6 the fence, 7 him, 8 it,
9 her finger, 10 there is no object.

Clauses (page 39)

1 There are two clauses, main clause = I am going home; 2 There are two clauses, main clause = the patient
grew weaker; 3 There are three clauses, main clause = I still recognised him immediately; 4 There are two
clauses, main clause = It will be a cold Christmas.

Phrases (page 40)

There are many possible sentences, including: 1 He was among the top ten swimmers in his school.
2 Newsagents sell newspapers and magazines. 3 My best friend is usually the life and soul of the party. 4 Moles
live under the ground. 5 I will be there as soon as possible.

Statements, commands, questions and exclamations (page 41)

1 statement, 2 exclamation, 3 command, 4 question, 5 question, 6 statement.

Full stops (page 42)

1 exclamation mark (!), 2 full stop (.), 3 question mark (?), 4 full stop (.), 5 question mark (?), 6 exclamation
mark (!), 7 question mark (?), 8 full stop (.).

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English Grammar

Commas (page 44)

Brian Harvey, who had just earned a million pounds from his new record, walked down the road. Although it
was raining, he felt very happy. As he was passing the railway station, he saw an old man selling balloons. After
he had gone a few metres, Brian turned round.

Harry Blake, the balloon seller, was thinking about the old days. Suddenly, he looked up. There was a young
man, handing him a hundred pounds. Harry held his hand out. The money, the whole hundred pounds, was
his.

Dashes and brackets (page 46)

Possible answers include: 1 The car (a red Porsche) went very fast. 2 She had progressed well at tennis – until
she broke her leg. 3 The prize – a trip to France – was much appreciated, 4 He bought her some roses. (Roses
were her favourite flowers.) 5 Thomas Hardy’s works include Far From the Madding Crowd (1874) and Tess of the
D’Urbervilles (1891).

Colons (page 47)

1 I enjoy a variety of sports: tennis, football, basketball, squash and badminton.
2 The whole point of education is this: to teach people to think for themselves.
3 You must have only one thought in your mind when you enter the competition: to win.
4 The following items of household rubbish can be recycled: glass, newspaper, cardboard and cloth.
5 There is one thing that is more important than money, fame or success: happiness.

Semicolons (page 48)

1 When I woke up it was pitch dark; the fire had burnt out; there was nothing to be seen.
2 He cannot understand you; he does not speak English.
3 Prizes will be awarded to: the boy who came first in the 100 metres; the girl who won the high jump; the
two children who tied for first place in the long jump; and all those who competed in the marathon.
4 There are a number of things to do before we go on holiday: make sure we have our passports; check the
time and date on the tickets; attach labels to each item of luggage; and buy some new batteries for the
Walkman.

Apostrophe of omission (page 50)

1 He is, 2 We are, 3 You are, 4 There is, 5 You have.

Apostrophe of possession (page 52)

1 The group’s drummer has been injured.
2 The car’s number plate was dented.
3 The book’s cover was made of leather.
4 The team’s/teams’ colours are blue and yellow
5 There were smiles all over the visitors’ faces.

Writing out speech (page 54)

“I’m planning to go to the cinema tonight,” John said.
“What are you going to see?” Lucy asked him.
“I haven’t got a clue!” he said.
“I haven’t heard of that,” Lucy replied.
“It isn’t the name of a film,” John told her. “I just mean I don’t know what film is showing.”
Lucy smiled and said, “I realised that. I was joking.”

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English Grammar

Contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1
Using grammar ................................................................................................ 2
Parts of speech.................................................................................................. 4
Nouns ......................................................................................................... 4
Pronouns..................................................................................................... 12
Adjectives .................................................................................................... 16
Verbs ........................................................................................................... 20
Adverbs ....................................................................................................... 30
Prepositions ................................................................................................. 32
Conjunctions............................................................................................... 33
Interjections ................................................................................................ 34

Sentences and punctuation ............................................................................. 35

The structure of a sentence.......................................................................... 35
The subject ................................................................................................. 35
The predicate .............................................................................................. 37
The object................................................................................................... 38
Clauses ........................................................................................................ 39
Phrases ........................................................................................................ 40
Statements, commands, questions and exclamations ..................................... 41
Full stops ..................................................................................................... 42
Commas...................................................................................................... 43
Dashes and brackets ..................................................................................... 45
Colons ........................................................................................................ 47
Semicolons .................................................................................................. 48
Apostrophe of omission ............................................................................... 50
Apostrophe of possession ............................................................................. 51
Whole text organisation .............................................................................. 53
Writing out speech...................................................................................... 54
Answers.............................................................................................................. 55
Glossary ............................................................................................................. 58

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