Learn G

1.Word-level Grammar

Parts of Speech

1.Nouns

Nouns represent people (teacher, Mary), places (town, Asia) and things (table, music).

2.Pronoun

Pronouns are small words like you,he,we,they, ours, some that can take the place of a noun.

3.Adjective

An adjective is a word that tells us more about a noun (big, red, expensive).

4.Verb

Action verbs, express what is happening (do, work). State verbs express a situation (be, have).

5.Adverb

Adverbs tell us more about verbs, adjectives or adverbs (loudly, really, extremely).

6.Preposition

A preposition expresses the relationship of a noun or pronoun to another word (at, in, from).

7.Conjunction

Conjunctions join two parts of a sentence (and, but, though).

8.Interjection

Interjections are short exclamations which expresses sudden feelings it has no real grammatical value (Oh,ah, Alas).

Sentence-level Grammar

1.Phrases

A phrase is one or more words that form a meaningful grammatical unit within a clause. There are five main types of phrase in English, as below

Noun phrase

A noun phrase (NP) can be a single noun or a group of words built around a single noun, for example:

• Animals need water.
• Who ate the last sandwich?
• All passengers with tickets can board now.

Verb phrase

A verb phrase (VP, also called a "verb group") consists of a main verb and its auxiliary verbs (including modals), for example:

• We have been working since 9am.
• I will be going to France next week.
• It may have been being repaired.

  Adjective Phrase

  An adjective phrase can be a single adjective or a group of words built around a single adjective, for example:
  
  • He has clever ideas.
  • It was a very big meal.
  • The students were really bored with the film.

  Adverb Phrase

  An adverb phrase can be a single adverb or a group of words built around a single adverb, for example:
  
  • Please do it now.
  • He spoke very softly.
  • They did it as fast as possible.

  Prepositional Phrase

  A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition followed by its object (usually a noun phrase), for example:
• They were arguing about money.
• The window was behind a large brown sofa.
• They resumed after an unusually large meal.
• This table helps for better understanding

He	is jumping	over	The	Very soft		bed	As fast as possible
Noun Phrase	Verb Phrase	Prepositional Phrase					Adverb  Phrase
			Noun Phrase
					Adjective Phrase

What is a Sentence?

2.What is a Sentence?

In simple terms, a sentence is a set of words that contain:

1. a subject (what the sentence is about, the topic of the sentence)
2. a predicate (what is said about the subject)

Look at this simple example:

sentence
subject	predicate
	verb
You	speak	English.

The above example sentence is very short. Of course, a sentence can be longer and more complicated, but basically there is always a subject and a predicate. Look at this longer example:

sentence
subject	predicate
	verb
Ram and Tara	speak	English when they are working.

Note that the predicate always contains a verb. Sometimes, in fact, the predicate is only a verb:

sentence
subject	predicate
	verb
Smoke	rises.

So we can say that a sentence must contain at least a subject and verb.

There is one apparent exception to this – the imperative. When someone gives a command (the imperative), they usually do not use a subject. They don't say the subject because it is obvious - the subject is YOU! Look at these examples of the imperative, with and without a subject:

sentence
subject	predicate
	verb
	Stop!
	Wait	a minute!
You	look!
Everybody	look!

Note that a sentence expresses a complete thought. Here are some examples of complete and incomplete thoughts:

		complete thought?
sentence	He opened the door.	YES
	Come in, please.
	Do you like coffee?
not a sentence	people who work hard	NO
	a fast-moving animal with big ears

Note also that a sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop (AmEperiod) or a question mark or an exclamation mark (AmE exclamation point). Look at these examples:

• People need food.
• How are you?
• Look out!

3.The 4 English Sentence Types

(Do not confuse with the 4 types of sentence structure.)

There are four types of English sentence, classified by their purpose:

• declarative sentence (statement)
• interrogative sentence (question)
• imperative sentence (command)
• exclamative sentence (exclamation)

4.The 4 Types of Sentence Structure

In What is a Sentence? we saw the minimum requirements for the formation of a sentence. Now we can look in more detail at the four types of sentence structure.

5.Linking, Intransitive and Transitive Verbs

To understand sentence construction, it helps if you know a little about three types of verb:

• linking verbs
• intransitive verbs
• transitive verbs

All verbs have a subject (the person or thing that "does" the action). The real difference between linking, intransitive and transitive verbs is whether or not they have an object (the person or thing that "gets" the action).

S = subject
V = verb
SC = subject complement
DO = direct object
IO = indirect object

linking verbs take a subject complement	intransitive verbstake NO object	transitive verbstake an object
		mono-transitive verbs take ONE object: a direct object	di-transitive verbs take TWO objects: an indirect object + direct object
cannot be passive		can be passive
S-V-SC	S-V	S-V-DO	S-V-IO-DO
be seem become appear feel get look	arrive break down come cough go sleep	clean destroy eat like turn down want	buy give pass send show tell
	many verbs are ambitransitive—they can be intransitive OR transitive depending on context

Linking Verbs

Linking verbs have NO object.

Linking verbs link two parts of a sentence. They link the subject to a noun or adjective. In this sense, linking verbs are like a mathematical equals sign (=).

subject	verb	subject complement
Mary	is	a nurse.
Mary	=	a nurse

Linking verbs do not make sense if used alone: they need a "subject complement" to complete their meaning.

• They are (???)
  They are teachers
• I feel (???)
  I feel unwell

In the above examples, teachers and unwell are subject complements.

Linking verbs work in two different ways:

1. the two parts of the sentence are the same thing (Mary is my mother)
2. the first part has the quality described by the second part (Mary is English)

The most obvious linking verb is the verb:

• be

Other linking verbs include:

• appear, become, feel, get, grow, look, remain, seem, smell, sound, taste, turn

Linking verbs cannot be passive.

Look at these example sentences with linking verbs:

• Is that your car?
• I am feeling thirsty.
• John is my boyfriend.
• My father became an engineer.
• The milk will turn sour if you leave it.
• Her explanation did not appear plausible.
• Hillary remained under suspicion for the rest of her life.

(Note that linking verbs are sometimes called "copula verbs".)

Although we talk about "linking, intransitive and transitive verbs" (just as most grammar books and websites do), it is really more accurate to talk about "linking, intransitive and transitive usage". This is because many verbs can be linking OR transitive OR intransitive depending on the exact meaning and context.

example verb (grow)	usage
The sky grew dark.	linking
Roses grow slowly.	intransitive
I grow coconuts.	transitive

Intransitive Verbs

Intransitive verbs have NO object. Their action is not transferred from the subject to something else.

subject	verb
She	cried.

Many intransitive verbs can make sense if used alone:

• He fainted.
• She cried.
• Our car broke down.

Of course, we often do follow intransitive verbs with other words telling us how, where or when—but NEVER with an object:

• He fainted after lunch.
• She coughed bitterly.
• Our car broke down in Bangkok.

Intransitive verbs cannot be passive.

Examples of intransitive verbs are:

• bark, boast, change, cough, die, go, live, run, sit, sleep, wave

Look at these example sentences with intransitive verbs:

• They live in London.
• Tell your dog to sit now.
• Were the dogs barking?
• The news hasn't changed.
• He died after a long illness.
• When I saw him he was running.
• The president waved to the crowds.

Transitive Verbs

Transitive verbs have an object. Their action is TRANSferred from the subject to something else (the object).

Transitive verbs can be active OR passive.

Some transitive verbs have one object, some have two objects—as shown below.

Monotransitive verbs

Monotransitive verbs have ONE object: a direct object

subject	verb	direct object
He	kicked	the ball.

Examples of monotransitive verbs are:

• bomb, clean, break, destroy, eat, kill, like, put off, trigger, turn down, want

Look at these example sentences with monotransitive verbs:

• Do you love me?
• The Allies bombed Dresden.
• Pick it up and throw it away.
• Tara doesn't want a new car.
• Bond killed the snake and ate it.
• Can fracking trigger earthquakes?
• Do you think they'll turn down my offer / turn my offer down?

Ditransitive verbs

Ditransitive verbs have TWO objects: a direct object and an indirect object

subject	verb	indirect object	direct object
Sue	passed	Ann	the ball.

Examples of ditransitive verbs are:

• buy, give, grant, lend, make, pass, send, serve, show, teach, tell

Look at these example sentences with ditransitive verbs:

• Make me an offer.
• Who teaches him French?
• The bank won't lend them any money.
• They will serve the guests lunch at 12:30pm.
• Kid refused to show the teacher her homework.
• Anthony bought his new girlfriend some roses on her birthday.
• The local council have granted us permission to open a shop.

6.Direct Object

The normal order of an English sentence is subject-verb-object, like this:

subject	verb	object
He	kicked	the ball.

In the above sentence, the action or verb is "kicked". The subject (He) performed the action (kicked). And the object (the ball)received the action.

Strictly speaking, "the ball" is the direct object, and the direct object directly received the action of the verb. Let's look at some more examples:

subject	verb	direct object
The teacher	explained	the rules.
Cats	eat	fish.
John	loves	Mary.
I	like	chocolate.
They	have bought	a new car.
The company	is considering	my proposal.

Notice that in all the above cases the subject is "doing" the action, and the direct object(D.O.) is receiving or undergoing the action.

A direct object can be one word or several words. It can be:

• noun (People eat rice.)
• noun phrase (They bought a big red car.)
• pronoun (I love you.)
• phrase (Tara hates cleaning the house.)
• clause (I love when he tells jokes.)

We use Direct Object with transitive verbs only

We DO NOT use direct objects with all verbs. Only a transitive verb can have a direct object. With a transitive verb the action "transits" from the subject through the verb to the direct object (He kicked the ball). The verb kick is a transitive verb because it can have a direct object. But verbs like live, die, cough, sit do not pass any action to something else—they are intransitive and have NO object. Look at these examples—each transitive verb on the left has a direct object, and each intransitive verb on the right has no object:

transitive verb with direct object	intransitive verb with NO object
They put off the wedding.	Smoke rises.
Most people like ice cream.	John was sleeping.
He drinks wine.	I will go first.
The mechanic has fixed our car.	He died in 1989.
He likes Tara.	She lived for 100 years.

DO NOT use Direct Object with linking verbs

Verbs like be, seem, smell, taste do not express action. Instead, they are like an equals sign (=) in mathematics. They are linking verbs. Look at these examples:

• Mr Brown is my teacher. (Mr Brown = my teacher)
• It seems strange. (It = strange)
• It became cold. (It = cold)

There is no direct object in the above sentences because linking verbs do not perform any action. (In the above sentences, my teacher, strange and cold are "subject complements".)

How to find the Direct Object

To check whether a direct object (D.O.) exists in a sentence, and to identify it, ask "what?" or "whom?" about the verb.

The teacher explained the rules.
WHAT did the teacher explain? D.O. - the rules

John loves Mary.
WHOM does John love? D.O. - Mary

He died in 1989.
WHAT did he die? ???? (no D.O.)
WHOM did he die? ???? (no D.O.)

If Direct Object is a pronoun, the pronoun must be in objective case

Remember that pronouns can have subjective and objective case, like this:

personal pronouns
subjective case	objective case
I you he, she, it we they	me you him, her, it us them

When the direct object is a pronoun, the pronoun MUST be in objective case. Look at these examples:

• Fred helped me.
• Does she like him?
• I told them.

The interrogative pronoun who also has an objective case: whom.

• Whom did she tell?
• She told me.

But note that English speakers often say who, even when whom would be grammatically correct. So, for example, you will often hear sentences like "Who did she tell?" spoken by native English speakers. BUT you will never hear sentences like "She told I" or "John helped they" spoken by a native speaker. Personal pronouns used as objects MUST be in objective case.

Phrases and clauses can be Direct Objects

As indicated above, a direct object doesn't have to be a single noun or pronoun. It can also be a complete noun phrase, a phrase or a clause. Look at these examples:

• We bought a brand new BMW sports car.
• Everybody loves eating chocolate.
• Johnny wants to go and play football.
• Please describe what you saw when you arrived.
• He thought that the show had started.

More example sentences with Direct Object

The direct object can appear in positive sentences, negative sentences, question sentences and imperative sentences. Here are some examples showing the direct objectin different types of sentence:

• James Bond changed his clothes and phoned Mother.
• The gardener cut the grass and trimmed the hedge.
• Hillary wrote two emails but then she deleted them.
• Do you want tea or coffee?
• Will you meet John?
• Why did you break her favourite toy?
• Can you make some fruit cakes and bring them to the party?
• When did you discover your talent for playing music?
• Shoot him!
• Don't kill him!
• Sit down and lower your voice.
• He has not finished his homework.
• They don't normally drink beer but they love the wine you served last night.
• I hate when they play loud music.
• They don't like being told what to do.

Song titles with Direct Object

Many famous song titles include a direct object. Here are a few. Can you find more?

• I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2)
• Light My Fire (The Doors)
• I Say a Little Prayer (Dionne Warwick)
• You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ (Cilla Black)
• Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree (Tony Orlando)
• I Will Always Love You (Whitney Houston)
• You Can’t Always Get What You Want (Rolling Stones)
• Let’s Face the Music and Dance (Fred Astaire)
• The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Roberta Flack)

7.Indirect Object

The indirect object of a verb receives the direct object. In effect, the action moves fromthe subject, through the verb, to the direct object and then the indirect object.

Sue passed Ann the ball.

subject	verb	indirect object	direct object
Sue	passed	Ann	the ball.

Note that the indirect object comes between the verb and the direct object.

Look at some more example sentences:

subject	verb	indirect object	direct object
The teacher	gave	the class	some homework.
I	read	her	the letter.
John	bought	Mary	a ring.
John	brought	Mary	some flowers.

An indirect object can be one word or several words. It is usually:

• noun (They normally give refugees shelter.)
• proper noun (The dealer sold John a fake.)
• noun phrase (They bought their eldest daughter a house.)
• pronoun (Please make her a new dress.)

In general, indirect objects are often people or animals and direct objects are often things.

Indirect Object or prepositional phrase?

In general an indirect object can be rephrased and repositioned as a prepositional phrase starting with "to" or "for". The examples above would then become:

subject	verb	direct object	prepositional phrase
The teacher	gave	some homework	to the class.
I	read	the letter	to her.
John	bought	a ring	for Mary.
John	brought	some flowers	for Mary.

Note that the prepositional phrase is NOT the indirect object—it is just a prepositional phrase.

An Indirect Object needs a direct object

To have an indirect object in a sentence there must first be a direct object. That also means that only transitive verbs can have an indirect object (because only transitive verbs can have a direct object).

How to find the Indirect Object

To check whether an indirect object exists in a sentence, you first need to find the verb and direct object.

Example: Sue passed Ann the ball.

• Step 1: find the verb = pass
• Step 2: find the direct object - ask "what?" about the verb ("What/whom did Sue pass?") = the ball
• Step 3: find the indirect object - ask "what?" received the direct object ("What/who received the ball?") = Ann

Answer: The indirect object is Ann.

When Indirect Object is a pronoun, the pronoun must be in objective case

Remember that pronouns can have subjective and objective case, like this:

personal pronouns
subjective case	objective case
I you he, she, it we they	me you him, her, it us them

When the indirect object is a pronoun, the pronoun MUST be in objective case. Look at these examples:

• Sue passed her the ball.
  Sue passed she the ball.
• Did she give him the money?
  Did she give he the money?
• The businessman made them an offer.
  The businessman made they an offer.

More example sentences with Indirect Object

The indirect object can appear in positive sentences, negative sentences, question sentences and imperative sentences. Here are some examples showing the indirect object in different types of sentence:

• James Bond told Mother the news.
• Hillary never sent Bill any emails.
• Why did you give her that?
• Can you make me some fruit cakes?
• Don't give him that book!
• John threw the dog a ball and the dog brought it to me.
• Professor Parinya assigned his students three new projects.
• Do you always read your children a story at bedtime?
• Matt bought his new wife a huge box of Belgian chocolates for her birthday.
• The waiter made a bit of a mess pouring one of the guests a glass of wine.

8.Reported Speech

to report (verb): to tell somebody what you have heard or seen

If we want to say what somebody has said, we basically have two options:

1. We can use the person's exact words - in quotation marks "..." if we are writing (direct speech).
2. We can change the person's words into our own words (reported speech).

direct speech (exact words)	reported speech (my words)
He said: "I love you."	He said that he loved me.

Reported speech is not really difficult. It is more a matter of logic and common sense. You probably have the same concept in your own language, where you use your own words to say what somebody has said or written

9.Parenthetical Expression

All cats (and some dogs) like fish.

A parenthetical expression is a word or words added to a sentence without changing the meaning or grammar of the original sentence. Parenthetical expressions give extra information but are not essential. You can add and remove a parenthetical and the sentence works just the same.

Some information in a sentence is essential to its meaning, and some information may be less important or "nonessential":

Essential: The person taking money at the door asked for a form of identification.

Nonessential: The police, hoping to save time, took the expressway.

When nonessential information is added parenthetically to a sentence, it is usually separated from the main sentence by commas or other punctuation. In fact there are three types of punctuation that can separate parenthetical expressions:

• commas , .......,
• round brackets (.......)
• long dashes —.......—

Commas are the usual form of punctuation for parenthetics. Remember, if the parenthetic appears in the middle of the sentence there must be TWO commas, one before and one after.

Brackets are the next most common form of punctuation for parenthetics. Bracketed parenthetics can only appear in the middle of the sentence, and there must always be TWO brackets.

Dashes for parenthetics are much less common. If the parenthetic appears in the middle of the sentence, there must be TWO dashes, one before and one after.

Look at these examples of parenthetical expressions:

• Some foods, sugar for example, are not good for us.
• Timothy, who lives near Stonehenge, goes to church regularly.
• Tara, although she comes from a hot climate, hates hot weather.
• Anthony, however, decided not to go.
• The planet closest to the sun (ie Mercury) has the most extreme temperature variations.
• The 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings (6 June 1944) was attended by many world leaders.
• The cheetah—the world's fastest land animal—is native to Africa.
• If they didn't understand you—a qualified teacher—how will they ever understand me?

Note that in all the above cases, where the parenthetic is in the middle of the sentence, there must be a PAIR of punctuation marks—an opening mark and a closing mark. However, when a parenthetic is at the beginning or end of a sentence, we can use a single comma or a single dash. It is NOT possible to use a single bracket. Look at these examples:

• Well, how are you going to explain yourself now?
• You should never drink and drive, of course.
• John had not been drinking—or so he says.

10.Grammatical Category

The term "grammatical category" refers to specific properties of a word that can cause that word and/or a related word to change in form for grammatical reasons (ensuring agreement between words).

For example, the word "boy" is a noun. Nouns have a grammatical category called "number". The values of number are singular (one) and plural (two or more).

1. The boy is playing.
2. The boys are playing.

In sentence 1, "boy" is in its basic form, giving its "number" the value of singular. There is one boy and the related auxiliary verb "to be" is in the singular form (is).
In sentence 2, the form of "boy" has changed to "boys", giving its "number" the value of plural. There is more than one boy and the related "to be" is in the plural form (are).
In the above example, the "number" of "boy" influences the form of boy, and also influences the form of a related word (be). "Number" is a "grammatical category".

English has over twenty grammatical categories. Below we list the most common ones for English learners and summarise their main features.

Number

Number is a property of nouns and pronouns, and indicates quantity. Number has two values:

• singular: indicates one only
• plural: indicates two or more

word type	number
	singular	plural
noun	boy	boys
pronoun	I	we

Case

Case is a property of pronouns and nouns, and expresses their relationship to the rest of the sentence. Case has three values (two of which do not apply to nouns):

• subjective (pronouns only): when the word is the subject
• objective (pronouns only): when the word is the object
• possessive (pronouns and nouns): when the word indicates possession (ownership)

word type	case
	subjective	objective	possessive
pronoun	I	me	mine
noun			boy's

Gender

Natural gender is a property of pronouns, and differentiates the sexes. Natural gender has three values:

• masculine: indicates male
• feminine: indicates female
• neuter: indicates everything else

word type	gender
	masculine	feminine	neuter
pronoun	he/him/his	she/her/hers	it/its

Note that Old English had "grammatical gender" where words themselves had gender. Remnants of this are found in "natural gender", which is based on the sex of people rather than the gender of words.

Person

Person is a property of pronouns, and differentiates participants in a conversation. Person has three values:

• first person: refers to the speaker
• second person: refers to the hearer
• third person: refers to all other people or things

word type	person
	1st	2nd	3rd
pronoun	I/me we/us	you	he/him, she/her, it they

Tense

Tense is a property of verbs, and most closely corresponds with location in time. Tense has two values:

• past: indicates before now
• present: indicates now (and sometimes before and after now)

word type	tense
	past	present
verb	was did had worked ran	am do have work run

Note that "future tense" is not shown here because strictly-speaking it is not a tense but a structure to talk about the future (after now).

Aspect

Aspect is a property of verbs, and expresses our view of the time structure of an activity or state. Aspect has three values:

• simple: the time has no structure
• continuous: expresses ongoing action
• perfect: expresses completed action

word type	aspect
	simple	continuous	perfect
verb	they work	they are working	they have worked

Mood

Mood is a property of verbs, and relates to the speaker's feelings about the reality of what he is saying. Mood has three values:

• indicative: expresses simple statement of fact
• imperative: expresses command
• subjunctive: expresses something desired or imagined

word type	mood
	indicative	imperative	subjunctive
verb	James stood up.	Stand up!	We insist that he stand.
	Is it quiet enough?	Be quiet!	It is essential that you be quiet.

Voice

Voice is a property of transitive verbs*, and expresses the relationship of the subject to the action. Voice has two values:

• active: the subject does the action
• passive: the subject receives the action

word type	voice
	active	passive
transitive verb	The cat ate the mouse.	The mouse was eaten by the cat.

*A transitive verb can take a direct object. (An intransitive verb does not take a direct object.)

Degree

Degree is a property of gradable adjectives and adverbs, and indicates amount. Degree has three values:

• positive: indicates a basic quality
• comparative: indicates a greater quality
• superlative: indicates the maximum quality

word type	degree
	positive	comparative	superlative
gradable adjective	happy	happier	the happiest
gradable adverb	carefully	more carefully	the most carefully

Universal Grammar 

universal grammar (UG) (noun): a theory in linguistics usually credited to Noam Chomsky that suggests that the ability to learn grammar is built into the human brain from birth regardless of language

In the 1960s, linguists became interested in a new theory about grammar, or the laws of language. The theory was popularized by an American linguist named Noam Chomsky who often focused on the effortless language learning of young children.
Chomsky didn’t believe that exposure to a language was enough for a young child to become efficient at understanding and producing a language. He believed that humans are born with an innate ability to learn languages. According to Chomsky’s theory, the basic structures of language are already encoded in the human brain at birth.
This “universal grammar theory” suggests that every language has some of the same laws. For example, every language has a way to ask a question or make something negative. In addition, every language has a way to identify gender or show that something happened in the past or present.
If the basic grammar laws are the same for all languages, a child needs only to follow the particular set of rules that his peers follow in order to understand and produce their native language. In other words, his environment determines which language he will use, but he is born with the tools to learn any language effectively.