Grammar

Synonyms

Can you imagine how language would be if we always used the same words when speaking, reading and writing? If everything (person, place, object…) in the world had only one word to refer to it, the world would be a very boring place. Well, in order to make language a lot more expressive and interesting we should try to vary the words we use as often as we can (but not too often). That’s where synonyms come into the picture!

10 Tips on How to Approach Grammar Exercises

This article will provide you with 10 tips on how to approach grammar exercises in English.

Tag Questions

A tag question consists of two parts: a statement and a shortened yes/no question that refers to it and asks if the first statement is true. The two parts are separated by a comma.

Verbs Grammatical Categories

As there are relatively many English verb tenses, verbs in English come in many forms that provide different shades of meaning. However, English verbs comprise a much easier verb system than that of other languages that have distinct inflectional verb endings for different persons and number, or even change the verb stem with various tenses and aspects. In English only one verb ending remained, for verbs in the third person singular in the Present Simple tense.

The 4 Sentence Types in English Writing

Clauses of different types can combine to form the four types of sentences in English writing. Good writers use a variety of sentence types at varying lengths to make their writing more interesting and dynamic. Remember to use proper punctuation and a variety of connectors to make logical connections both within and between sentences.

Negative Sentences

A negative sentence (or statement) states that something is not true or incorrect. A negative adverb has to be added in order to negate or “cancel” the validity of the sentence. This “negation” element is created according to the following general rule.

5 Parts of English Verbs

English verbs have 5 principal parts with which other forms are derived using verb auxiliaries: base/stem, simple past/preterit, past participle, present participle and the infinitive (the “name” of the verb). Some also include the third person singular in the present tense as a principle part, as it is the only verb form that kept its inflectional ending in Modern English.

Irregular Noun Plurals

While we usually add the suffix s/es/ies to turn nouns into plural, there are some exceptions to these rules. In this article, we will give examples of the rules for the irregular plural nouns.

Special Singular-Plural Cases

Turning a singular noun to plural in English has very specific rules and many exceptions to these rules. This article will present you with the singular-plural rules in English.

Tense, Aspect and Mood

Tenses interact with the grammatical concept of aspect. Aspect defines how the flow of time is viewed in the sentence. Sounds too abstract? Be patient! The following will make this much clearer. In English there are four aspects according to which the tenses can be conveniently sorted.

Transitive vs. Intransitive Verbs

Transitive verbs require at least a direct object to complete their meaning, while intransitive verbs do not require any objects. Some verbs are bi-transitive, meaning that they are followed by both a direct and indirect object. Transitive verbs followed by an indirect object usually require a preposition.

Stative Verbs

Stative verbs are verbs that describe a state or situation, not an action. They are used in the Present Simple even if they describe a situation that is true at the moment of speaking or writing.

The Grammar Rules for Clauses in English

A clause is a group of words that contains both a subject and a predicate but cannot always be considered as a full grammatical sentence. Clauses can be either independent clauses (also called main clauses) or dependent clauses (also called subordinate clauses).

The Grammar Rules for Phrases in English

A phrase is a group of words that does not contain both a subject and a predicate and therefore cannot stand alone as a clause or sentence. There are a few kinds of phrases.

Dynamic Verbs

Dynamic verbs convey a sense of active change. They are usually used in progressive verb tenses, which denote an on-going activity. The categories in the following tables will give you a good idea of these concepts.

Finite Verbs vs. Non-Finite Verbs

Finite verb forms are namely, conjugated verbs that show person, number, tense, aspect, and voice. Finite verbs, as opposed to non-finite verbs, can function as the main verb of an independent clause. Non-finite verb forms, or verbals (infinitive, past participle, present participle, and gerunds by themselves) are not limited by the subject and serve as other parts of speech in the sentence (nouns, adjectives).

Auxiliary Verbs

Most verbs are main verbs, i.e. content words that contribute meaning to the sentence they are in (go, run, eat, prefer, ascertain). In addition, there is a closed class sub-group of auxiliary verbs that merely assist in the technical construction of other verb forms. The auxiliary verbs in English are: to be, to do, and to have. The modal verbs (can, could, shall, should, may. might, must, will, and would) can also be considered auxiliaries as they modify the meaning of the main verb they accompany.

How to Study Irregular Verbs

Most verbs in English are regular verbs, meaning that they add the ed ending to form both the simple past and the past participle forms, which are identical, such as play-played-played. However, there is a considerable number of irregular verbs (about 450, but only about 200 in common use) that form their simple past and past participle forms with a vowel change, such as in see-saw-seen (see table below). Some irregular verbs do not change form at all (let-let-let). Irregular verbs originate mostly from Old English, while any new verb coined in later periods tends to be regular. Still, the ten most used verbs in English are irregular.

Yes/No Questions

A Yes/No question is a closed question, meaning that it has one of two answers, yes or no. It asks whether something is true or not, i.e., whether the original positive sentence is valid. A question element needs to precede the subject in order to form this question.

Wh Questions

A Wh question is an open question, meaning that it can have any number of answers. It asks about some missing information the speaker needs. This corresponds to the different sentence elements, such as the verb, objects, manner, place, time, purpose, etc. Questions about the subject have a special form (see the next section). A question element needs to precede the subject in order to form this question.

Write a comment

Required fields are marked with *.

Md.Abdullah Al Azad,Bangladesh
Posts: 1

Broad minded approach.
Reply #1 on : Fri November 06, 2009, 15:03:59

I am so inspired to see that Whitesmoke has a very broad mind to teach people with real knowledge. No tricky way.Thanks.