Grammar: The Basics

Fundamentals, Rules and Its Implementation

Sentence Structure

Subject +Verb+Object I + eat + food

Subject +Object +Verb I + food + eat

Building Blocks

Parts Of Speech

Noun

Noun: is a word used as the name, animal, place, or thing.

Person: man, woman, teacher, John, Mary Place: home, office, town, countryside Animal: dog, cat, horse, monkey Thing: book, pen, room, tree

Parts Of Speech

Noun
Types Of Nouns

Common Noun Proper Noun Collective Noun Abstract Noun Countable / Uncountable Nouns

Parts Of Speech

Noun

Common Noun
Is a name given in common to every person or thing of the same class or kind. E.g.
City,

man, boat, and radio

Parts Of Speech

Noun

Proper Noun
Name of a specific person, place

or thing.
E.g.

Eiffel Tower, India, Mr. Will Smith, Nokia

Parts Of Speech

Noun

Collective Noun
Name of a number ( or collection) of persons or things taken together and spoken of as a whole.

E.g.

A Crowd -a collection of people

An Army - collection of soldiers

Parts Of Speech

Noun

Abstract Noun
Is usually the name of a quality, action, or state.

E.g.

Quality - kindness, darkness, honesty

Action - laughter, theft

State - sleep, sickness

Parts Of Speech

Noun

Countable Noun
(or countables) are the names of objects, people, etc. that we can count. E.g. book, pen, apple, boy

Uncountable noun
(or uncountables) are the names of things which cannot count.
E.g. milk, sugar, gold, oil

Parts Of Speech

Noun

Lisa works as a programmer at Microsoft.

Let's have lunch at McDonalds.

Mc Donalds

Mc Donalds

Parts Of Speech

Noun

The sun sheds its beams on rich and poor alike.

Edward was a great king.

The rose smells sweet. A flock of sheep is passing by.

George was a brave soldier.

Parts Of Speech

Pronoun

Pronoun: is a word used instead of a noun.

E.g.

Tim is absent, because he is ill. This book is mine.

It is doubtful whether he will come for the party.

Bob is a kind boy. He has lent his bicycle to Alice.

Parts Of Speech

Pronoun
E.g.

Do you think Mary is pretty? I think Mary is beautiful. With pronouns, we can say:

Do you think Mary is pretty? I think she is beautiful.

Parts Of Speech

Pronoun

Personal Pronoun:
I, we, you, he, (she, it), are called Personal Pronouns because they stand for three persons.

E.g.

The person speaking This is my book The person spoken to Those are your books The person spoken of- That is her book

Parts Of Speech

Pronoun

Anybody

Each

Indefinite Pronoun
Refers to noun that are indefinite. Either

E.g.

None
Someone

One evening a beggar came to my door. Somebody stole the mangoes.

One
Few

Parts Of Speech

Pronoun

Relative Pronoun- such as that, who,

This, That

which, whose and whom which give extra These, Those information about the subject. E.g.

Who, Whom

The woman who interviewed me was very Whose, Which friendly. I can't stand dogs that bark loudly. What

Parts Of Speech

Pronoun
Myself

Reflexive Pronoun
Pronouns combined with self or selves to emphasize the subject of the verb.

Yourself

Himself
Ourselves

E.g.

I hurt myself.

Themselves

Parts Of Speech

Pronoun
Person and Number First Person Singular Subjective I Possessive My Subjective Me

First Person Plural

Second Person Singular Second Person Plural Third Person Singular Third Person Plural

We
You You

Ours
Yours Yours

Us
You You

He / she / it His / hers / its Him / her / it They Theirs Them

Parts Of Speech

Adjectives

An adjective is a word that tells us more about a noun, pronoun or another adjective. An adjective "qualifies" or "modifies" a noun. Adjectives can be used before a noun or after certain verbs. We can often use two or more adjectives together.

E.g.

A big car
I like Chinese food It is a tough decision

A beautiful young French lady

Parts Of Speech

Adjectives
Adjective Patterns:

Adjectives can come before noun: a new car

Adjectives can come after verbs: such as be, become, seem, look, etc.: that car looks fast
They can be modified by adverbs: a very expensive car

Parts Of Speech

Verb
Verb: is a word that tells something about a person or thing.
E.g.

The sun shines brightly.

Harry laughs.

Parts Of Speech

Verb
Types of Verbs

Auxiliary Verbs

Regular Verbs
Irregular Verbs Modal Verbs

Parts Of Speech

Verb

Auxiliary Verb: To Do, Be and Have are the English auxiliary verbs / helping verbs used in a negative structure, a question or to show tenses. Modal Verb: Modal verbs are used to express ideas such as possibility, intention, obligation and necessity.
E.g.
Can, Could, May, Might, Will, Would, Shall, Should

Parts Of Speech

Verb

Regular Verb: A regular verb is one that follows the pattern of taking -ed for the past simple and past participles. E.g. walk / walked / walked

Irregular Verb: An irregular verb is one that does not take the -ed ending for the Past Simple and Past Simple forms. Some verbs do not change.

Parts Of Speech

Verb
Types of Verbs

Irregular Verbs
Base Form
Shut Read Sit Build Know See

Past Tense
Shut Read Sat Built Knew Saw

Past Participle
Shut Read Sat Built Known Seen

Parts Of Speech

Verb
Characteristics of Verbs

Verbs usually come after the subject of the sentence. Chris paints well.

E.g.

Verbs must agree in person (first, second, etc.) and number (singular and plural) with the subject of the sentence. She sings sweetly. They sing sweetly.

E.g.

Parts Of Speech

Adverb

Adverb - An adverb is a word that tells us

more about a verb. An adverb "qualifies" or "modifies" a verb. But adverbs can also modify adjectives, or even other adverbs.

E.g.

The man ran quickly. Tara is really beautiful. The Cell phone works very well.

Parts Of Speech

Adverb
Characteristics of Adverb
1.

Function The main job of an adverb is to modify (give more information about) verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. Modify a verb: - John speaks loudly. (How does John speak?) - Mary lives locally. (Where does Mary live?) - She never smokes. (When does she smoke?)
(In the following examples, the adverb is in red and the word that it modifies is in purple.)

Parts Of Speech

Adverb
2.

Form
Many adverbs end in -ly.

E.g. quickly, softly, strongly, honestly, interestingly.

But not all words that end in -ly are adverbs. E.g. "Friendly", is an adjective.

Some adverbs have no particular form.

E.g. well, fast, very, never, always, often, still

Parts Of Speech

Adverb
3. Position Adverbs have three main positions in the sentence:

Front (before the subject): - Now we will study adverbs. Middle (between the subject and the main verb): - We often study adverbs. End (after the verb or object): - We study adverbs carefully.

Parts Of Speech

Prepositions

Prepositions: are words that we can use to indicate time, place and space.
PREPOSITIONS Period/Point of Time During Throughout At Position In, Under, Over, Beside, Between, Opposite, Among, Between Direction Towards Past Around

Parts Of Speech

Prepositions
Commonly used Prepositions
Aboard Against Before Between Except Of About Along Behind Beyond For On Above Among Below By From Over Across Around Beneath Down Into Since After At Beside During Like To

Within
Towards

In
Under

Up
Until

Over
Upon

Off
With

Parts Of Speech

Prepositions

We went to school on Monday.

My plane stopped at Washington and New Jersey and arrived in New York two hours late.

Parts Of Speech

Conjunctions

F For A And N Nor B But O Or Y Yet S - So

Coordinating Conjunctions are used to join two parts of a sentence that are grammatically equal. The two parts may be single words or clauses.

E.g.

Jack and Jill went up the hill.

The water was warm but I didn't go swimming.

Parts Of Speech

Conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions A word or words used to

Since, Because, If, After, Until, Although, Before,

connect unequal parts of a sentence.

E.g.

As Though, Though, When, Unless As

I went swimming, although it was cold.

Parts Of Speech

Conjunctions
Both-and

Correlative Conjunctions
A pair of conjunctions used to show a comparison. (They are also known as paired conjunctions) E.g.

Either-or Neither-nor Since-therefore If-then Not only-but also

Not only is she rich, but also intelligent.

Parts Of Speech

Interjection

Interjection: is a big name for a little word. Interjections are short exclamations like Hello!, Bravo!, Alas! or Ah! They have no real grammatical value but we use them quite often, usually more in speaking than in writing. When interjections are inserted into a sentence, they have no grammatical connection to the sentence. An interjection is followed by an exclamation mark (!) when written.

Hi !
Parts Of Speech

What's new?

Interjection
E.g.

"Hey ! look at that!" (calling attention ) "Hi ! What's new?" (expressing greeting ) "Well ! what did he say?" (introducing a remark )
Well ! what did he say?

Articles

Articles: are Determiners.

Types Of Articles

Indefinite A / AN

Definite THE

Articles

Indefinite Article (A)

A dog is a faithful animal.

A man is known by the company he keeps

Articles

Indefinite Article (AN)

An Apple

An Honest Man

Articles

Definite Article ( THE)

Lets go to the Golf Club.

The Solar System.

Tenses

The Tense of a verb shows the time of action or event.

Verb tenses are tools that English speakers use to express time in language.

Tenses

There are three main Tenses: Present Tense: a verb that refers to the present time. E.g. I write a letter. Past Tense: a verb that refers to the past time. E.g. I wrote a letter.

Future Tense: a verb that refers to the future time. E.g. I will write a letter.

Use of Tenses

Simple

actions occurring at regular intervals. situation existing for a period of time. Non continuous actions.

Continuous

Ongoing actions

Perfect

non continuous actions completed before a certain time

Perfect Continuous

Ongoing actions completed before a certain time

Tenses
Simple Present
I study English everyday.

Simple Past
Two years ago, I studied English in England.

Simple Future
I will be studying English next year.

Present Continuous
IS / AM / ARE + verb in ING I am studying English now.

Past Continuous WAS / WERE + verb in ING

I was studying English when you called yesterday.

Future Continuous SHALL / WILL + BE + verb in ING

I will be studying English when you arrive tonight.

Present Perfect HAS / HAVE + P.P

I have studied English in several different countries.

Past Perfect HAD + P.P.

I had studied a little English before I moved to the U.S.

Future Perfect SHALL / WILL + BE + verb in ING

I will be studying English when you arrive tonight.

Present Perfect Continuous HAS / HAVE + BEEN + verb in ING

I have been studying English for five years.

Past Perfect Continuous HAD + BEEN + verb in ING

I had been studying English for five years before I moved to the U.S.

Future Perfect Continuous

SHALL / WILL + HAS / HAVE + BEEN + verb in ING I will have been studying English for over two hours by the time you arrive.

Exercise for Practice

Simple Present

Simple Past I walked You walked He walked She walked It walked We walked They walked

Simple Future I will (shall) walk You will walk He will walk She will walk It will walk We will walk They will walk

I walk You walk He walks She walks It walks We walk They walk

Exercise for Practice

Present Continuous

Past Continuous I was walking You were walking He was walking She was walking It was walking We were walking They were walking

Future Continuous I will (shall) be walking You will be walking He will be walking She will be walking It will be walking We will be walking They will be walking

I am walking You are walking He is walking She is walking It is walking We are walking They are walking

Exercise for Practice

Present Perfect

Past Perfect I had walked You had walked He had walked She had walked It had walked We had walked They had walked

Future Perfect I will have(shall) walked You will have walked He will have walked She will have walked It will have walked We will have walked They will have walked

I have walked You have walked He has walked She has walked It has walked We have walked They have walked

Exercise for Practice

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been walking You have been walking He has been walking She has been walking It has been walking We have been walking They have been walking

Past Perfect Continuous

I had been walking You had been walking He had been walking She had been walking It had been walking We had been walking They had been walking

Future Perfect Continuous

I will (shall) have been walking You will have been walking He will have been walking She will have been walking It will have been walking We will have been walking They will have been walking.

Tense Tenses

Fun Time
Group A write a story in the Present

Group B write a story in the Past

Group C write a story in the Future

Direct And Indirect Speech

In Direct Speech the original speakers exact words are given and indicated by quotation marks ( ) E.g. I dont know what to do, said Dean. In Indirect Speech the exact meaning of the speakers words are given, but the exact words are not directly quoted. E.g. Dean said that he didnt know what to do.

Direct And Indirect Speech

Some pointers to convert Direct Speech into Indirect Speech and vice versa.

If the main verb is in the past tense, the present tense verbs in that sentence must be changed to past tense.
First and second person pronouns must be changed to third person pronouns.

Direct And Indirect Speech

Voice
Active Voice: The verb is active, when the subject
(agent) does the action (verb) to something (object).

E.g. The doctor wrote a prescription.

Passive Voice: The verb is passive,

when the subject takes the action upon itself.

E.g. The prescription was written by the doctor.

Voice
Active Voice
Fred helps Jane. Who did this? Ratna teaches us grammar. They built that skyscraper in 1934. Karen is going to prepare the refreshments.

Passive Voice
Jane is helped by Fred. By whom was this done? Grammar is taught to us by Ratna. That skyscraper was built in 1934. The refreshments are going to be prepared by Karen.

Creativity Unlimited

Sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo

Thank You