GRAMMAR

For writing tasks

PARTS OF SPEECH
In the English language, all words can be broken down into eight categories.
They are:
1. nouns
2. verbs
3. adjectives
4. adverbs
5. prepositions
6. conjunctions
7. pronouns
8. interjections

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 Noun

• A person, place, idea, or thing

• Example: France, a mountain, Steven, sheep, socialism

• Sentences: The moon is bright.

• John is reading that book.

Pronoun

A pronoun replaces a noun. Sometimes this is done to avoid repetition.

• Example: he, his, her, I, we

• Sentences: They wanted us to go with them.

• He asked her to the dance, but she said no.

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 Adjective

• An adjective describes, changes, or gives extra information about a

noun or pronoun.

• Example: long, high, red, fast, British, angry

• Sentences: The tall man looked at the beautiful woman.

• The slow car stopped by the big supermarket.

Adverb

• An adverb describes a verb, adjective, or even another adverb.

• They often end in “-ly”.

• Example: quickly, silently, cunningly, amusingly, frankly, eventfully,

coyly

• Sentences: She quickly ran out to get help.

• He drove carefully to the village.

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 Verb

A verb is usually an action but may also indicate a state of being.

• Examples: think, run, dance, sing, believe

• Sentences: He studies English so he can go to America.

• They think they can beat their rivals.

Conjunction

• A conjunction joins two words or groups of words and can connect

clauses.

• Examples: and, but, or, yet

• Sentences: They want to go skiing, but it’s too expensive.

• She ate ice cream and cake for dessert.

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 Preposition

• Shows the relationship between a noun (or pronoun) and another

word.

• Examples: on, at, in, from, about

• Sentences: The keys are on the table.

• She sat near the door.

Interjection

• A word or phrase that expresses emotion.

• Examples: wow, ah, watch out, ouch

• Sentences: Ouch! That hurt!

• Wow! That was amazing!

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 Subject – verb agreement

• The subject of a sentence must agree with the verb in person and
number.

• e.g., Susie is working.

• Susie, Bill, and Albert are working.

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Subject – verb agreement

• A prepositional phrase does not effect the verb:

• e.g., The houses on that street are for sale.

• The house with broken steps is for sale.

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 Subject – verb agreement

• The following expressions do not effect the verb: accompanied by,

along with, among, as well as, in addition to, together with.

• e.g., Jim, along with his family, is going camping.

• Jim and his family, as well as the dog, are going camping.

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Subject – verb agreement

• Subjects joined by and or both… and ….. take a plural verb:

• e.g., Both Jill and Lydia are leaving town.

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 Subject – verb agreement

• When several, many, both, and few are used as pronouns, they take a
plural verb:

• e.g., Several have already left the party.

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Subject – verb agreement

• When the following phrases are used, the verb agrees with the
subject that is closer to the verb in the sentence: either… or, neither…
nor, not only… but also

• e.g., Neither my sister nor my brothers want to work in an office.

• Neither my brothers nor my sister wants to work in an office.

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 Subject – verb agreement

• The expression a number of (meaning several) is plural. The

expression the number of is singular.

• e.g., A number of items have been deleted.

• The number of items deleted is small.

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Subject – verb agreement

• When a word indicating nationality refers to a language, it is singular.

When it refers to the people, it is plural:

• e.g., Japanese was a difficult language for me to learn.

• The Japanese are investing heavily in Southeast Asia.

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 TENSES

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SIMPLE PRESENT

A present state of affairs:

e.g., My sister lives in the UK.

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 SIMPLE PRESENT

A general fact

e.g., The sun rises in the east

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SIMPLE PRESENT

Habitual actions:

He drinks orange juice for breakfast.

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 SIMPLE PRESENT

Future timetables:

My flight leaves at 10:00

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PRESENT CONTINUOUS

A specific action that is occurring (right now)

e.g., Joseph is watching TV.

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 PRESENT CONTINUOUS

A general activity that takes place over a period of time.

e.g., My sister is living in Washington.

Sue’s condition is improving.

These days, I’m taking it easy.

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PRESENT CONTINUOUS

Future arrangements

e.g., I’m inviting Emma to the party on Friday.

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 SIMPLE PAST

An action or a state that began and ended at a particular time in the

past.

e.g., The bus arrived early this morning.

I was shy in high school

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SIMPLE PAST

An action that occurred over a period of time but was completed in the
past.

e.g., My dad worked in advertising for ten years.

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 SIMPLE PAST

An activity that took place regularly in the past.

e.g., We jogged every morning before class.

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PAST CONTINUOUS

Ongoing actions that were interrupted

e.g., I was watching a movie when the mobile rang.

While I was sleeping, someone knocked on the door.

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 PAST CONTINUOUS

A continuous state or repeated action in the past.

e.g., She was looking very ill.

I was meeting lots of people at that time.

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PAST CONTINUOUS

Events planned in the past

e.g., Mark was leaving for the UK but had to make a last-minute
cancellation.

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 SIMPLE FUTURE

Making a decision at the time of speaking.

e.g., I’ll call you after lunch.

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SIMPLE FUTURE

Predicting an event that is likely to happen in the future.

e.g., You will pass the test. Don’t worry.

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 SIMPLE FUTURE

Indicating willingness to do something.

e.g., If I don’t feel better soon, I will go to the doctor.

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FUTURE CONTINUOUS

An action that will be ongoing at a particular time in the future.

e.g., At noon tomorrow, I will be taking the children to their piano

lessons.

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 FUTURE CONTINUOUS

Future actions that have already been decided.

e.g., I will be attending law school for the next three years.

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PRESENT PERFECT

An action or a state that happened at an unspecified time.

e.g., He has been ill.

I am sorry. I have forgotten your name.

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 PRESENT PERFECT

An action that has occurred recently.

e.g., He has just gone to sleep.

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PRESENT PERFECT

An action that began in the past and continues up to the present (often
used with for or since)

e.g., James has lived in New York all his life.

I have been here since Monday.

He has known her for two years.

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 PRESENT PERFECT

An action that happened repeatedly before now.

e.g, We have flown across the Pacific four times.

I have failed my driver’s test twice.

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PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

An action that began in the past and has just recently ended.

e.g., I have been raking the lawn. There are leaves all over my shoes.

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 PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

An action that began in the past and continues in the present.

e.g., Laura has been studying for two hours.

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PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

An action repeated over a period of time in the past and continuing in

the present.

e.g., Simon has been playing the guitar since he was thirteen.

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 PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

A general action recently in progress (no particular time is mentioned)

e.g., I have been thinking about going to the US next year.

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PAST PERFECT

A past action that occurred before another past action.

e.g., Tom had left hours before we got there.

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 PAST PERFECT

An action that was expected to occur in the past.

e.g., I had hoped to know about the job before now.

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PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

A continuous action that occurred before another past action.

e.g., They had been playing tennis before the storm broke.

His eyes hurt because he had been reading for eight hours.

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 PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

A continuous action that was expected to occur in the past.

e.g., I had been expecting his change in travel dates.

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FUTURE PERFECT

An action that will be completed before a particular time in the future.

e.g., By next July, my parents will have been married for 30 years.

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 FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS

An action emphasizing the length of time that has occurred before a

specific time in the future.

e.g., By May, my father will have been working in the same job for 30
years.

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