Learn English Grammar

Learn English Grammar: Grammar is the set of rules that govern the usage of English language. A strong grasp of English grammar is therefore of the greatest importance. Most non-native English speakers make grammatical mistakes while speaking in English. Improving grammar takes time and effort but it is well worth it. Here are some tips which will help you improve English grammar Understand the building blocks of grammar As a first step, it is important to know the different building blocks of grammar like nouns, pronouns, articles, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. Pay attention to sentence structures When you read an article or watch a movie, it is important to pay attention to how sentences are constructed. This practice helps ingrain different sentence structures and will help your spoken and written English. Grammar Lessons IMPORTANTBUILDING BLOCKS OF GRAMMAR NOUNS A noun is a word used as the name of a person, place or thing. Examples: King...

Adjectives: Adjectives are words that are used to describe (what kind of?) nouns and pronouns and to quantify (how much of?) and identify (which one?) them. In a nutshell, Adjectives are what define nouns and give them characteristics to differentiate them from other nouns. For example: He was wearing a whiite shirt. Here 'whiite' is an adjective as it is describing the noun 'shirt' by answering the question 'what kind of shirt?' There are seven rooms in the house. Here ‘Seven’ is also an adjective as it’s telling the quantity/the number of the noun ‘rooms’, answering the question ‘how many rooms?’. There are different types of adjectives based upon their effect on a noun and what do they tell about the noun. There are five categories of adjectives 1. Adjectives of Quality: These adjectives are used to describe the nature of a noun. They give an idea about the characteristics of the noun by answering the question ‘what kind’. Honest, Kind, Large, Bulky, Beautifu...

Comparison of Adjectives: When we want to compare two or more nouns using adjectives, we use the comparative and superlative forms of the adjective to show the comparison between the nouns. Example: Honey is sweet, sugar is sweeter but victory is the sweetest. In this sentence, we are comparing the three nouns using the positive, comparative and superlative forms of the word ‘sweet’. Positive Form - These are the simple adjectives that simply describe the noun without comparing it to another - big, sweet, clean, etc. She has a big black dog. He is a sweet boy. The cupboard is clean. Comparative Form - These are used when we are comparing two nouns and need to show which noun possesses the adjective or character in a greater or lesser amount, when compared with the other. - bigger, sweeter, cleaner, etc. I have a big dog but hers is bigger. He is sweeter than the other boys. The cupboard is cleaner than before. Superlative Form - This form is used when three or more nouns are being comp...

Prepositions after Adjectives: Specific prepositions are used after certain adjectives. There is no definite rule to ascertain which preposition should be used with which adjective. We simply need to learn them. But there’s no need to fret on the thought of learning without knowing the rule as people do manage to memorise them through constant usage and with a little time. Here is a list of some commonly used adjectives and the prepositions that are normally used with them to help you get started: ADJECTIVE - PREPOSITION accustomed - to afraid - of accused - of acquainted - with addicted - to annoyed - about/with/at allergic - to amazed - at/by anxious - about appreciated - for ashamed - of associated - with astonished - at/by aware - of angry - with afraid - of attached - to bad - at based - on beneficial - to boastful - for bored - with brilliant - at busy - with capable - of careful - with/about/of certain - about characteristic - of clever - at connected - with conscious - of conte...

Adverbs: Adverbs are words that are used in sentences to describe or change the meaning of a Verb or Adjective or even another Adverb. They add description to the sentence to make it more detailed and interesting. For example: He walked slowly across the square. Here, one can see that the Adverb ‘slowly’ is describing the Verb ‘walk’ by telling that the person was walking slowly. Types of Adverbs: Adverbs are used in sentences to answer many questions about the Verbs/Adjectives/Adverbs themselves. The different types of Adverbs are as following: Adverb of Time E.g.: The results were announced yesterday. Here the Adverb is yesterday which is answering the question: When were the results announced? ‘Announced’ is the verb in this sentence. She will visit the hospital tomorrow. Here the Verb is ‘visit’ and the Adverb is tomorrow as the question being asked is: Whenwill she visit the hospital? Other examples of Adverbs of Time are – Once, Never, Tomorrow, Daily etc. Adverb of Place E.g.: T...

Placement of Adverbs: Adverbs can be used in diverse ways, which means that they are very flexible in sentences; they can be moved around quite a bit without causing any grammatical irregularities. Take a look at the following sentence: The speaker grimly faced the audience. The adverb in this sentence is ‘grimly’; moving it around a little, we get The speaker faced the audience grimly. There is nothing wrong with either of the two sentences. What this goes to show is that an adverb can be positioned at multiple points in a sentence, and the guide below will help you decide where your chosen adverb should go: Adverbs used to begin sentences/clauses Connecting adverbs To place an adverb at the beginning of a sentence or clause is also known as ‘initial position adverb placement’, and the adverbs that are commonly used in these positions are known as ‘connecting adverbs’, such as: Consequently However Next Still Then These adverbs are known as connecting adverbs, quite simply, because th...

Here are some guidelines on forming adverbs from adjectives: In a large number of the cases, the adverb can be formed by simply adding ‘-ly’ to the adjective. ADJECTIVE - ADVERB Cheap - Cheaply Quick - Quickly Strong - Strong If the adjective ends in with ‘y’, replace the ‘y’ with an ‘i’ and add ‘-ly’. ADJECTIVE - ADVERB Ready - Readily Merry - Merrily Easy - Easily If the adjective ends with ‘-le’, replace the ‘e’ at the end with ‘y’. ADJECTIVE - ADVERB Understandable - Understandably Forcible - Forcibly Possible - Possibly If the adjective ends with ‘-ic’, add ‘-ally’. ADJECTIVE - ADVERB Idiotic - Idiotically Tragic - Tragically Basic - Basically An exception to this rule is ‘public’, whose adverbial form is ‘publicly’. ADJECTIVE - ADVERB Fast - Fast Straight - Straight Hard - Hard In the case of the adjective ‘good’, the corresponding adverb is ‘well’.

Articles: What is an article? An article is a word that modifies or describes the Noun. It is used before the noun to show whether it refers to something specific or not. So, in a way, articles can also be described as a type of adjectives as they also tell us something about the nouns, like adjectives. Types of Articles There are two types of Articles in the English language. They are as follows: Definite article: Definite means to be clear, exact or obvious about something. It is called definite because it is used in relation to a particular thing or person. “The” is the definite article in English, which is used to refer to particular nouns, the identities of which are known. The definite article indicates that the noun is specific. The speaker talks about a particular thing. For example: The cat sat on the couch. The dog attacked me and ran away. Notice how the reference is not left indefinite in both the sentences. It is clear that a particular cat sat on the couch in the first se...

Nouns: Nouns are simply the names we give to everything around us, whether it be a person, an event, a place or an object, etc. Every particular name used to define something is a noun. E.g. : Amsterdam, Anita, Blackberry, Honesty, Waiter, etc. The names given to a group of noun to identify them as a whole are called Collective Nouns. E.g.: pride of lions, gaggle of geese etc. Nouns or pronouns can also modify themselves to show possession of another noun, usually by attaching 's' to the end of the noun. These nouns that show possession are called Possessive Nouns. Sometimes nouns have different forms for different genders, although this practice has been largely abandoned by the people who prefer to use the same noun for both genders. For example - Actor (male) - Actress (female), but people nowadays refer to women who act as female actors rather than actresses. Most nouns can be converted into plural forms by adding ‘-s’ or ‘-es’ at the end of the word. E.g.: box-boxes, cat-c...

Collective Nouns: Collective noun is the name we give to a group of nouns to refer to them as one entity. The most common method of doing this is by using words like group or bunch that can be applicable to most of the nouns in the language today. But there are some specific names given for certain groups of nouns to make things more interesting and funny. Now, these collective nouns are not based in scientific thought or fact. Most of them come from the poetry and imagination of early to late Medieval English times e.g. - an eloquence of lawyers – Eloquence itself is defined as fine persuasion in speaking or writing, so this particular collective noun is a comment on the profession of lawyers while being their collective noun as well. The same goes for the collective nouns we find for animals; the names arose from 15th century French and English hunting traditions, where hunting was common and names and terms were given to all aspects of the sport. These names were called Terms of Ven...

Possessive Nouns: Possessive nouns are those nouns that show possession. Possessive Nouns are used to show ownership. A noun is possessive only when a phrase can be modified to say that an idea or commodity belongs to something or someone. Possessive nouns are an integral part of learning English, use them as often as you can to gain confidence. Here are some rules to help you use possessive nouns Rule 1: In singular nouns (person, place, thing or idea), we add apostrophe and ‘s’ after the noun. For example: Ron’s car is in the garage. (Car belonging to Ron is in the garage) Note that the possessive noun always comes before what the person or a thing owns or has. In this case, the car belongs to Ron and hence the singular noun ‘Ron’ is placed before ‘car’ that he owns. Rule 2: In singular nouns ending with ‘s’, we add an apostrophe and ‘s’ to the noun. For example: Tejas’s notebook is lying on the table. (Notebook of Tejas is lying on the table) Suhas’s wife is a doctor. (Wife of Suhas...

Noun as Adjective: Sometimes in the English language, a noun is used to describe another noun; in other words, the first noun performs the function of an adjective. Look at the following examples: Basketball coach– here the noun basketball is being used to describe the noun coach Garment shop– here the noun garment is being used to describe the noun shop Painting exhibition– here the noun painting is being used to describe the noun exhibition In all the above examples, the first noun acts as an adjective. Rules related to Nouns as Adjective 1. The ‘nouns as adjective’ always come first or before the second or main noun. Let’s see a few more examples: A cricket bat A soccer ball A car race A love story 2. In general, like adjectives, nouns being used as adjectives are used in the singular form, although in the case of certain words, like clothes, customs, sports, etc, an exception is made. For example: Bathroom or bathrooms, and not bathsroom or bathsrooms Badminton racket or badminton ...

Verbs: Verbs are the most important component of any sentence. These words talk about the action or the state of any noun or subject. This means that verbs show what the subject is doing or what is the state or situation of the subject. For example: He ran to the store. - Here the verb ran describes the action of the subject ‘he’ She is a creative person. - Here there is no action being done. Instead the auxiliary verb ‘is’ shows the state of the subject ‘she’ as being ‘creative’. There are different types and classifications of Verbs; some of the most important ones are listed below: Action Verbs These verbs talk about what the subject is doing in the sentence. Action Verbs are one of the most easily identifiable types of verbs. To recognize them, you simply have to look for the word in the sentence that answers the question ‘What is the subject doing?’ e.g. - Rose is painting the kitchen walls. The subject here is Rose, and what is Rose doing? Rose is painting. Hence painting is our ...

Regular and Irregular Verbs: The distinction between regular verbs and irregular verbs is a very simple one: Regular Verbs Those verbs that form their past participle with ‘d’ or ‘ed’ are regular verbs. These verbs do not undergo substantial changes while changing forms between tenses. If the verb ends with a vowel, only ‘d’ is added. For example: PRESENT TENSE - PAST TENSE Share - Shared Scare - Scared Dare - Dared If the verb ends with a consonant, ‘ed’ is added. For example: PRESENT TENSE - PAST TENSE Want - Wanted Shout - Shouted Kill - Killed Irregular Verbs Those verbs that undergo substantial changes when changing forms between tenses are irregular verbs. The changed forms of these verbs are often unrecognisably different from the originals. For example: PRESENT TENSE - PAST TENSE Go - Went Run - Ran Think - Thought There is no way to tell what form an irregular verb is going to take in a changed tense; the only option for an English speaker is to commit the changes to memory. W...

Finite and Non-Finite Verbs: Finite Verbs Finite Verbs are those verbs that have a definite relation with the subject or noun. These verbs are usually the main verb of a clause or sentence and can be changed according to the noun. They are used only in present and past tense. They can be indicative of passive or active voice and also of number (singular or plural). She walks home. - Here we see that the finite verb is walks and the pronoun is 'she'. She walked home. - Here we can see how the verb changed/modified to change the tense of the sentence. Non-Finite Verbs These verbs cannot be the main verb of a clause or sentence as they do not talk about the action that is being performed by the subject or noun. They do not indicate any tense, mood or gender. They are used as nouns, adverbs and adjectives. They are also used to form non-finite clauses which are simply dependent clauses that use non-finite verbs. He loves camping in the woods. - Here the non-finite verb is camping a...

Participles, Gerunds & Infinitives: Participles, Gerunds and Infinitives are called verbals. Verbals are words which are formed from a verb but which function as a different part of speech. PARTICIPLE A participle is usually formed by adding –ing or –ed to a verb.It functions as an adjective. Examples: The singing bird was the main attraction at the event. The injured man was waiting for the doctor. GERUND A gerund is formed by adding –ing to a verb.It functions as a noun. Examples: Swimming is very good for the body. Smoking is prohibited in the hospital. INFINITIVE An infinitive is formed by using the word ‘to’ before the verb in its stem word.It functions as a noun, adjective or adverb. Examples: He was made to clean his room. Shalini loves to talk.

Auxiliary Verbs: These verbs are also called Helping Verbs, as they ‘help’ the main verb to denote the actions of the subject. They help in making compound tenses of the main verb and also help in making negative statements, questions and passive voice statements. There are only four auxiliary verbs - Be, Have, Will and Do. BE The verb ‘be’ can be used as an auxiliary and a full verb, we can distinguish between the two uses as the auxiliary ‘be’ will always have another main verb coming after it in a sentence. ‘Be’ is an irregular verb with many different forms according to the different tenses. Please refer to the Irregular Verbs list to avoid confusion. Progressive Tense Use of Be: In progressive tense sentences made with ‘be’, we always use the ‘-ing’ suffixed version of the main verb. Tense-Meaning-Use of ‘Be’ Present Progressive The action which is ongoing She is baking a cake today. Past Progressive An action that was ongoing in the past. She was baking a cake yesterday. Present ...

Stative Verbs: Stative verbs are verbs that describe a state rather than an action. When describing states, they never take the continuous (‘-ing’) form. Here are some examples of stative verbs and instances of their correct and incorrect usage. STATIVE VERB - CORRECT USAGE - INCORRECT USAGE Like I like you. I am liking you. Love I love you. I am loving you. Hate I hate you. I am hating you Appear It appears to be cloudy. It is appearing to be cloudy. Believe I believe in God. I am believing in God. Fit This shoe fits me. This shoe is fitting me. Sound This song sounds good. This song is sounding good. Remember I remember everything. I am remembering everything.

Modal Verbs: There are 10 modal verbs in the English language: Can Could May Might Will Would Must Shall Should Ought to Uses of Modal Verbs: 1.To indicate that something is probable or possible, or not so. For example: It is sunny today; it must be warm outside. = It is sunny today; it is probably warm outside. His mobile is not reachable; he may/might/could be travelling by metro. = His mobile is not reachable; it is possible that he is travelling by metro. This can’t be our bill. = It is not possible that this is our bill. 2.‘Can’ and ‘could’ are used to refer to skills and abilities. For example: He can cover a hundred metres in under ten seconds. My father could see perfectly before the age of fifty. I can’t ride a horse. 3.‘Must’ is used to indicate that something is necessary or of extreme importance, and ‘should’ is used to suggest that something is advisable. For example: You must do your homework. You mustn’t skip school. You should say sorry. You shouldn’t smoke. 4.‘Can’, ‘c...

Prepositions: Prepositions are the words which are used to connect the different nouns, pronouns and phrases in a sentence. It functions to introduce or precede the word or phrase to be connected, called the object of the preposition. The preposition usually indicates the relation between the words it is connecting. It tells whether the words are connected in actual space or a place, or related through time or are they part of a thought or process. Prepositional phrases are the preposition and its object and any adjectives or adverbs that were applied to the object. The prepositional phrase as a whole can also be used as a noun, adverb or adjective. He found the book on the table. Here the preposition is ‘on’ as it shows the relation in place between the book and the table. The prepositional phrase is ‘on the table’ which is acting as an Adverb telling where the book was found. She went to sleep early. In this sentence the preposition is ‘to’ which is introducing where or in what state...

Prepositions of Place: Prepositions of place refer to those prepositions that can be used to show where something is located. There are three prepositions of place: At ‘At’ is used for a point: At the end of the lane. At the door/entrance/exit. At the corner. At the desk. Note: There are many standard expressions that are exceptions to this rule: At home. At work. At school/college/university. At the side. In ‘In’ is used for enclosed spaces: In Mumbai/India. In the room. In the store. In my pocket/bag. In the building/tower. Note: There are some standard expressions that are an exception to this rule: In the book/magazine/newspaper. In the sky. On ‘On’ is used for surfaces: On the table. On the rug. On the floor. On the cover. On the page. Note: There are many standard expressions that are exceptions to this rule: On the bus/train/plane/ship. On the radio/television. On the left/right. On the way.

Prepositions of Time: There are three prepositions of time: At ‘At’ is used for precise times: At ten o’clock. At 10.30am. At the moment/present/same time. At sunrise/sunset/noon/dinnertime/bedtime/dusk/dawn. Note: At night is a standard expression that is an exception in this case. In ‘In’ is used for months, years, decades, centuries, and long periods of time: In January. In 1991. In the 70s. In this century. In the Dark Ages. Note: In the morning(s)/afternoon(s)/evening(s) are standard expressions that are exceptions in this case. On ‘On’ is used for days and dates: On Wednesday. On Friday. On the 10th of January On Christmas. Note: ‘on’ is also used when you specify the day followed by the part of the day. For example on Wednesday mornings.

Prepositions of Movement: There are 9 prepositions that pertain to movement: To ‘To’ is used when there is a specific destination in mind. The destination can be a number of things: A place: I’m going to the doctor’s. Can you direct me to the nearest post office? An event: Are you going to the party? I have never been to a concert. A person: She came up to me. I go to my father for advice. A position: The bathroom is to your left. Keep to the left. Towards ‘Towards’ is used in the following instances: When one has movement in a particular direction in mind, rather than simply a destination: He was walking menacingly towards me. Or to refer to a position, in relation to a direction from the point of view of the speaker: He was sitting with his back towards me. Through ‘Through’ refers to the following types of movement: Within a space, which can be thought of as surrounding, enclosing or around the object: The train went through the tunnel. Movement across something, i.e. from one side ...

Pronouns: Pronouns are words that we use in place of Nouns (or other Pronouns) in a sentence to make it less repetitive and less awkward. Some of the most common Pronouns are - he, she, you, they, it, etc. These Pronouns are divided into different categories based on their use - Personal Pronouns These pronouns are used for a specific object or person and they change their forms to indicate the different genders, numbers, case and persons speaking - Tanya told him to take the food to them as soon as possible as it was urgently needed. ‘Him’ is a Pronoun of gender. ‘Them’ is a Pronoun of number showing that there is more than one person, and it is also a Pronoun of case as it is referring to a specific group in an objective manner. ‘It’ is also a Pronoun of gender showing the object (food). So we can see that the Personal Pronouns can be based on - Gender – He went to the market. - He is used for the male gender. Other examples are - His, Him, He, etc. She is doing the laundry. - She is...

Conjunctions: A conjunction is a word which connects two words or clauses or sentences and shows the relation between them. They are used to avoid making the text seem like bullet points and to make the text flow. E.g. - Jai saw a dog on the road. He decided to adopt the dog. Jai brought the dog home. Jai saw a dog on the road and decided to adopt the dog, so he brought the dog home. Here ‘and’ and ‘so’ are conjunctions which are used to join the sentences and show the relation between them. There are three main categories of conjunctions that are explained below. Apart from these, there are also Adverbs of Conjunctions,. To learn more about the Adverbs of Conjunctions visit the Adverbs page. Coordinating Conjunctions These conjunctions are used to link or join two words or phrases that are equally important and complete in terms of grammar when compared with each other. That is to say, the sentences or words do not depend on anything to give themselves meaning. There are seven main co...

Interjections: Interjections are small words that bear no grammatical connection with the sentences in which they are used. They express the emotions or sentiments of the speaker or convey hesitation or protest. They are usually followed by an exclamation mark. Since many interjections are mainly written forms of actual sounds that were produced by humans, they are hardly used in academic or scholarly writing, unless they are a part of a direct quote or otherwise. Ah! Now that’s what I call a good shot! Bravo! Both Ah and Bravo are interjections used to show the speaker’s admiration in the sentence. There are many different uses for various interjections; the following is a list of the common interjections you may hear around you in daily life - Interjection - Meaning - Use Aah Exclamation of fear Aah! The monster’s got me! Ahh Realization or acceptance Ahh, now I see what you mean. Aww Something sweet or cute Aww! Just look at that kitten. Bingo Acknowledge something as right Bingo! T...