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Grammar GuideContentsWordsNounsPronounsDeterminersAdjectivesVerbsAdverbsPhrasesSentencesSentence typesSentence structuresPunctuationFull stopQuestion markExclamation markCommasColonSemi-colonInverted commasHyphensDashesBracketsEllipsisNounsNouns – nouns are usually known as naming words, and they name people, places and things. A simple way to test if a word is a noun is to try putting ‘the’ in front of it. Not all nouns will fit this structure but it can be a useful place to mon nouns – used to classify things or to name general items rather than specific ones.For example: lorry, cat, lamp, grass and table.Proper nouns – used to refer to something or someone specific, unlike the general referral in a common noun. They would usually have a capital letter at the start of the word and do not often use a determiner like ‘a’, ‘an’ or ‘the’.For example: London, Henry, Rolls-Royce, IndiaConcrete nouns – used to refer to something physical and tangible that can be held, touched, seen or in some way felt through the five senses.For example: violin, cup, smoke, country and curtainAbstract nouns – used to refer to things that cannot be experienced through the five physical senses and refer to ideas, thoughts, time, emotions and qualities. For example: democracy, fear, month, joy and courageCountable nouns/ Count nouns – a count noun can have a plural form and therefore can be counted. To check if a noun is a count noun, see if it can be used after the determiner ‘much.’ If it can, it is not a count noun.For example: one dog, two dogsUncountable nouns / Non-count nouns – non-count nouns are qualities or attributes that cannot be counted and generally do not have a plural form. The determiner ‘much’ can be used with them while the determination ‘a’ makes no sense. For example: much wealthier.What types of uncountable nouns are there?liquids?(milk,?water)abstract?ideas (advice, chaos, motivation)powder and grain (rice, wheat, sand)mass nouns?(furniture, hair, transportation)natural phenomena (sunshine, snow, rain, weather)states of being (sleep, stress, childhood)feelings (happiness, courage, enthusiasm, anger)gas (oxygen, nitrogen, air) Uncountable nouns and GrammarHow much....? = uncountable nouns?How many....? = countable nounsThis or These = countableA lot of = uncountable (and countable) To express an amount of an uncountable noun, you need to use other words:Some water = a glass of water / two glasses of waterSome clothing = one item of clothing /two items of clothingSome information = a piece of informationSome equipment = a piece of equipment?/ two pieces of equipment HOMEWORK and COURSEWORK are uncountable nouns!I have loads of homework to doHe gave us six pieces of homeworkIn English, there are 3 pieces of coursework.PronounsPronoun – a pronoun is used in the place of a noun, noun phrase or noun clause. It is used when the noun has already been mentioned or is already known and if often employed to avoid repeating the noun.For example: Jane was hungry so she ate some toast.Personal pronouns – Personal pronouns are used in place of nouns and refer to specific things or people. First personI, me (singular)We, us (plural)Second personYou (singular and plural)Third personShe, he, her, him, it (singular)They, them (plural)Subject pronouns – used when the person or object being referred to is the subject of the verb.For example: She kissed Sam. / We walked to Robin’s house. / I waved at Roshana.Object pronouns – used for the noun that is being affected by the action of the verb.For example: Can you help me? / I can smell you. / She doesn’t like him. / I saw her in school today.Reflexive pronouns – used when the subject and the object in the sentence are the same person and will end in self or selves.For example: I saw myself as a complete failure. / She was worrying herself unnecessarily. / You should treat yourselves to an ice-cream.Possessive pronouns – used to show ownership or possession.For example: The horse is mine. / I believe that is ours. / The last table is theirs.Demonstrative pronouns – used to show the relationship between the person speaking or writing and a person or a thing. The four demonstrative pronouns are this, these, that and those. The first two would indicate objects that are near to the speaker or the writer, while the latter two refer to something or someone that is distant.For example: I like these, suggests something close by. I like those, suggests something far away.Interrogative pronouns – occasionally known as question pronouns, used for questioning. Those are who, what, which, whom, and whose.For example: Who left the cup there? / To whom did you speak? / Which belongs to you?Relative pronouns – a relative pronoun always directly follows the noun that it describes and often introduces a relative clause in the sentence. There are only five relative pronouns – that, which, who, whom and whose. For example: The dog who is barking lives next door. / I saw a horse which was escaping from a field.Indefinite pronouns – an indefinite pronoun doesn’t refer to any specific person, thing or amount and is always vague. For example: all, another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, each, everybody, everyone, everything, few, many, nobody, none, one, several, some, somebody and someoneDeterminersReferral determinersArticles – articles are a/an and the. ‘A/an’ is known as the indefinite article because it is not referring to anything specific. ‘The’ is known as the definite article because it is referring to something specific.For example: ‘I bought an ice cream.’ There is no specification of which type of ice-cream so this is an indefinite article. ‘I bought the ice cream with sprinkles.’ This time a specific type of ice-cream is being referred to so the definite article is used.Possessives – possessive determiners are my, your/s, her/s, his, its, our/s and their. Possessive determiners come before the noun to tell us to whom it belongs. For example: Don’t touch that coat! It’s ours! / She bought her coat.Demonstratives – demonstrative determiners are this, that, these and those. They allow us to explain which specific noun we are referring to and whether it is close to us (this, these) or further away (that, those). If the demonstrative is modifying the noun it is a determiner; if it is the subject of the sentence then it is a pronoun.For example: This coat is mine. Quantifying determiners – quantifiers tell us how much / many of something there is. Examples of quantifiers are some, many, few, little, several, much, less, all, any.AdjectivesAdjectives – used to modify nouns.Descriptive / opinion adjectives. For example: unusual, lovely, beautifulSize. For example: big, small, tall.Physical quality. For example: thin, rough, untidy.Shape. For example: round, square, rectangular.Age. For example: young, old, youthful.Colour. For example: blue, red, pink.Origin. For example: Dutch, Japanese, Turkish.Material. For example: metal, wood, plastic.Type. For example: general-purpose, four-sided, U-shaped.Purpose. For example: cleaning, hammering, parative adjectives – used to compare differences between the two objects they modify). They are used in sentences where two nouns are compared.For example: larger. Smaller, faster, higher.Superlative adjectives – used to describe an object which is at the upper or lower limit of a quality. They are used in sentences where a subject is compared to a group of objects.For example: tallest, smallest, fastest, highest.VerbsVerbs – words that tell us what someone or something is doing or what is happening.The infinitive – the verb in its purest form and is usually preceded by ‘to’.For example: Amir decided to eat all of his sister’s chocolates as well as his own.The main verb – many sentences contain more than one verb, and in order to differentiate between them a verb can be described as a ‘main’ or an ‘auxiliary’ verb. A main verb is the most important verb in the sentence, telling us the action or state or being of a subject.For example: Amir decided to eat all of his sister’s chocolates as well as his own. / My mother is a lawyer / There are some grapes in the fridge.Auxiliary verbs – ‘helping verbs’. They help form different tenses, moods and voices. The main auxiliary verbs are to be, to do and to have.To be is used to form continuous tenses and the passive voicePresent continuous tense: I was running latePassive voice: The piano was played by Tom.To have is used to form perfect tensesPast perfect tense: She had been told not to come.Future perfect tense: We will have more of those in stock on Tuesday.To do is used in several different waysFirst, for emphasis: I did do my homework, I promise!Second to form questions: Do you have a minute to talk?Third, to form negative phrases or questions: Don’t speak to me like that! / Don’t you think you should have thought about that earlier?Modal verbs – these are forms of auxiliary verbs and they express necessity, possibility, intention or ability.For example: must, shall, will, should, would, ought (to), can, could, may and might.Transitive verbs – a transitive verb is one that is used with an object. An object can be a noun, phrase or pronoun, but no matter what form it takes, the object will always be directly affected by the action the verb is describing.For example: She wrote a story. Here, wrote is the transitive verb and the story is the direct object.Intransitive verbs – an intransitive verb does not have an object.For example: They ran in the park. Ran is intransitive because no one is affected by the action of running.Active – in an active sentence, the subject is performing the action.For example: I went shopping.Passive – in a passive sentence, the action is being done to the subject or the subject receives the action.For example: My shopping was bought for me by my mother.Reflexive verbs – a reflexive verb is a verb whose direct object is the same as the subject. The person or object performing the action is performing it on or against or to themselves.For example: She washed herself. / The party was so good that they all enjoyed themselves.Phrasal verbs – a phrasal verb is a verb coupled with an adverb, preposition or both together to form a phrase. For example: I’ll see to it that she doesn’t come to my party. / If you can, put him off until Tuesday. / He broke up with me.Verb tenses – tenses tell us when someone or something performed an action, or when something existed or happened. There are three main tenses:Present tense – to describe what is currently happening or what always happens. For example: It is raining. / I am shopping.Past tense – to describe things that happened before the present time of speaking. This can be a one-off event or something that happened repeatedly. For example: I ate dinner. / She looked sad.Future tense – to describe things that haven’t happened yet but which are expected or likely to take place in the future. The future tense is always formed with will or shall. For example: I will see her tomorrow. / They will arrive at seven.The continuous aspect – to express an action that is on-going using the suffix –ing. It is used to show an action that will be continuing for a long time or something new, temporary or changing, and can be in the past, present or future tense. For example: I am writing (present) / I was writing (past) / I will be writing (future).Perfect tense – to express actions that are either completed at the time of talking or were or will be finished by a particular point in the past or future. They are formed by the relevant tense of the auxiliary verb ‘to have’ and the past participle of the main verb. For example: I have written (present perfect). / I had written (past perfect). / I will have written (future perfect). The perfect continuous is a combination of perfect and continuous tenses. For example: I have been writing (present perfect continuous). / I had been writing (past perfect continuous). / I will have been writing (future perfect continuous). AdverbsAdverbs – used to modify the verbAdverbs of frequency. For example: always, sometimes, often / frequently, normally, generally, usually, occasionally, seldom, rarely / hardly ever, neverAdverbs of manner. For example: cheerfully, efficiently, painfully, secretly, quietly, peacefully, carefully, slowly, badly, closely.Adverbs of time. For example: now, yesterday, soon, later, tomorrow, yet, already, tonight, today, then, last month / year.Adverbs of place. For example: off, above, abroad, far on, away, back, here, out, outside, backwards, behind.Adverbs of degree. For example: quite, fairly, too, enormously, entirely, very, extremely, rather, almost, absolutely, just, barely, completely.Adverbs of evaluation. For example: successfully, happily, excitedly, succinctlyAdverbs of certainty. For example: apparently, clearly, definitely, doubtfully, doubtlessly, obviously, presumablyAdverbs of attitude. For example: astonishingly, frankly, honestly, hopefully, interestingly, luckily, sadly.Adverbs of judgement. For example: bravely, carelessly, fairly, foolishly, generously.PhrasesPhrase – a group of two or more words functioning as a meaningful unit within a sentence or a clause. A phrase is made up of a head, which determines the grammatical nature of the unit.Noun phrases – with the noun as the head. For example: good friend, blue ball, the cat.Verb phrases – with the verb as the head. For example: drives carefully, smiles slowly, reads quietlyAdjective phrases – with an adjective as the head. For example: very cold and darkAdverb phrases – with an adverb as the head. For example: quite slowlyPrepositional phrases – with a preposition as the head. However, although a preposition can be a head, it has to be accompanied by another element in order to be complete, usually a noun phrase. For example: in first placeSentence typesDeclarative – a declarative sentence is one that makes a statement.For example: There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.Imperative – an imperative sentence is one that gives a command or a request.For example: Stop! / Pick up that pen.Exclamatory – an exclamatory sentence expresses strong emotion and always uses exclamation marks.For example: I can’t believe I’ve just won a million pounds!Interrogative – interrogative sentences always ask a direct question and always end in a question mark.For example: Did she wear the red dress?Sentence structuresMain clause – a main clause consists of a subject and a predicate and stands alone as a complete sentence. The subject will typically be a noun, noun phrase or pronoun, and the predicate will be a verb or verb phrase.Subordinate clause – a subordinate clause does not stand alone, and should, in a grammatically correct sentence, be joined to a main clause either through the use of punctuation or a conjunction. Subordinate clauses begin with either a relative pronoun or a subordinate conjunction.Conditional subordinate clauses – describes something that is possible or probableRelative subordinate clauses – gives more information on a topic and begins with a relative pronoun.Restrictive relative clauses – gives necessary information about the noun that comes before itNon-restrictive relative clauses – gives non-necessary information about a noun that comes before itSimple sentence – a simple sentence is simply a main clause: a sentence with a single subject and a single verb. For example: I ate dinner. – ‘I’ = subject / ‘ate dinner’ is predicate with ‘ate’ being the pound sentence – a compound sentence is made up of two main clauses, or simple sentences, joined by a conjunction. For example:I ate dinner and it was delicious. – ‘I ate dinner’ is one simple sentence (main clause). ‘It was delicious’ is one simple sentence (main clause). ‘And’ is the conjunction that glues the two simple sentences (main clauses) plex sentence - a complex sentence contains a main and a subordinate clause joined by a subordinating conjunction or punctuation. For example:She turned up, late as usual, to the lesson. – ‘She turned up to the lesson’ is the main clause whilst ‘late as usual’ is the subordinate clause. The subordinate clause is indicated through the use of commas.PunctuationFull stops - used at the end of a complete sentence.Question marks – indicate when a direct or rhetorical question is being asked. A question mark has the same function as a full stop in this it ends a sentence, and any word coming afterwards should begin with a capital letter.Exclamation marks – used to express shock, surprise, amusement or the loudness of someone’s voice and should certainly not be used at the end of every masSeparating items in a list – commas should be used to separate more than two items in a list.For example: I bought apples, eggs, some bread and a pint of milk.Separating main and subordinate clausesFor example: As she was running late, she didn’t eat breakfast. / Sarah, who was running late, didn’t eat breakfast.With howeverFor example: However, several people will need to arrive early in order to ensure things run smoothly on the day.Colons – used before a list of two or more items, a quotation and an explanation.For example: Priya knew whom she should have asked for help instead: Max. / The classrooms had been painted over the summer: white for English and pale blue for Maths.Semi colons – used to separate two main clauses that are connected by subject matter. Semi-colons can be replaced by full stops or conjunctions.For example: I told her not to go out in the rain; she didn’t listen.Inverted commas – used to punctuate direct or reported speech, or to quote from texts.Hyphens – used to join two words or parts of words together to make a compound word or phrase.For example: The rust-coloured wall. Dashes – used to indicate a pause in the sentence and can replace brackets, commas and even semi-colons in informal writing.Brackets – used to mark asides or give additional information that isn’t necessary to a sentence. Punctuation marks should be within the brackets unless the brackets end the sentence, in which case the final punctuation mark should go outside the brackets.For example: Sarah (who I hated so much!) was the last person to get on the coach, and the seat next to mine was the only one left (just my luck).Ellipsis – used to omit some parts of a sentence to give the reader a chance to fill in the gaps indicated by three dots.For example: ‘And people with hooves instead of feet. And…’ ................
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