EASY ENGLISH

GRAMMAR GUIDE
PROFESOR: ADILENE MENDEZ RODRIGUEZ

Letter
0

syllable
1

word
2

phrases
3

clause
4

sentenc
e
5

paragra
ph
6

piece
7

Letters
Vowels: a, e, i, o, u
Consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t,
v, w, x, y, z.

Syllables
The smallest part of language with one articulation movement.
Composed of 2 or more letters. Some syllables have specific meaning.

Ma, bring, then, pea, nab, etc.

Root: many of the words we use come from
a root word. When you take of
the prefixes or suffixes, the root is usually
what remains.
Unexpected, unbelievable
Affix: It is a syllable or morpheme added
to the root word.
Unexpected, unbelievable

Prefix: It is a syllable or morpheme added

at the beginning of a word. It has its
meaning.
Unexpected, unbelievable
Suffix: It is a syllable or morpheme added
at the end of a word. It has its own
meaning.
Unexpected, unbelievable

If you have difficulties figuring out the amount of syllables in a word

you can go online to
http://www.howmanysyllables.com

Words
Parts of speech: The function of a Word within
context.
Subject: Is the noun or
pronoun that does the
action
He, Juan

She is pretty.
Adjective: It is word
that describes the
subject.
Pink, pretty, wonderful

Noun: A person place,

animal, idea, or thing.

Verb: It is an action.

Maria, school, cat, love,

table

Run, play, study,

believe

Pronoun: It is word that

replaces the noun.
Maria is pretty.

Adverb: Describes the

action.

Quickly,
enthusiastically,
extravagantly
Article: Defines the
noun.
A, an, the
Preposition: Determines
the relation of the
subject with the other
words.
In, under, to,
Conjunction: Connect
words, phrases or
ideas.

With, and, but, or

Nouns

Interjection: Words that

usually express
emotion. Wow, Hey,
Hello, Bye, ouch

Pronoun

POSITIVE ADJECTIVES

POSSESIVE ADJECTIVES

Pronouns

Are words that replace nouns or subjects

Personal or
subject
SINGULAR

I
YOU
HE
SHE
IT
YOU
THEY
WE

PLURAL

Singular

Demonstrati
ve
This
That

Plural

Singular/ plural
Personal subject

These
Those

Object
ME
YOU
HIM
HER
IT
YOU
THEM
US

Possessive
MINE
YOURS
HIS
HERS
ITS
YOURS
THEIRS
OURS

Reflexive
MYSELF
YOURSELF
HIMSELF
HERSELF
ITSELF
YOURSELVES
THEMSELVES
OURSELVES

Interrogativ Indefinite
Reciprocal
e
Who
Somebody,
One another
Someone,
any, nobody,
each, one,
none,
Which
None,
Each other
several, all,
some, both,
either,
neither, few,
many
What, where,

Relative

Who, which,
whom,
whose, that
Pedro broke the window = He broke the window.

Object

Pedro broke the window= Pedro broke it.

Possessive

Pedro broke his leg= Pedro broke his.

Reflexive

Pedro broke his own leg= Pedro broke it himself.

Demonstrative

Pedro broke the window= Pedro broke this.

Interrogative

Pedro broke the window and must pay for it= Who broke the
window must pay for it.
Pedro broke the window. Someone broke the window.

Indefinite
Reciprocal
Relative

Pedro dont hit Juan and Juan dont hit Pedro!= Dont hit
eachother.
Pedro is the boy who hit the window.

Pronouns and their function

Adverb

Anadverbcanbeaddedtoaverbtomodifyitsmeaning.Usually,anadverbtellsyouwhen,where,how,in
whatmanner,ortowhatextentanactionisperformed.Itcanalsomodifyanadjective.

Manyadverbsendinlybut not all.Fast,never,well,very,most,least,more,less,now,far,andthere

Anitaplacedthevasecarefullyontheshelf.
Time
Already, lately,
still, tomorrow,
early, now,
soon,
yesterday,
finally,
recently,
today, yet

Place
Abroad, anywhere,
downstairs, here,
home, in, nowhere,
out, outside,
somewhere, there,
underground,
upstairs.

Manner
Accurately,
beautifully,
expertly,
professionally
Anxiously, carefully,
greedily
Quickly, badly,
cautiously, loudly,
quietly

Degree
Absolutely,
enough, Perfectly,
somewhat
a (little) bit,
entirely
pretty, terribly, a
lot
extremely, quite,
too, almost, fairly,
rather, totally,
awfully, highly,
remarkably,
utterly, completely,
lots, slightly, very

Purpose
so
so that
to
in order to
because
since
accidentally
intentionally
purposely.

(Thewordcarefullyisanadverb.Itshowshowthevasewasplaced.)
Karenisanextremelyintelligentwoman.
(Extrememodifiesintelligent,notKaren)

Frequency
Always
everynever
often
rarely
seldom
sometimes
usually

Verbs:
It is a word that connects the subject to the
predicate

Main verbs/
State/ action

Linking
verbs:

Modals

Auxiliary
verbs:

A verb refers to an
action, state, or
permanent fact.
Action
Its raining again.
State
I dont know the name
of the street.
Permanent quality or
state
She is very friendly.

Some main
verbs are called
linking verbs
(or copular
verbs). They
give extra
information
about the
subject

Have meanings
connected with
degrees of
certainty and
necessity:
Can, may, must
should, would,
Could, might
,shall, will

The use will

depend on the
time and tense.

Appear, feel,
look, seem,
sound, be, get,
remain, smell,
taste, become.

The semi-modal
verbs are:
dare, need,
ought to, used
to,
Have to

Do
Did
Do
Done

Be
Was/were
Is, am, are
Will be

Have
Had
Has/Have
Will have

Prepositions
Preposition is a word that is used to place before noun or pronoun to show the
relationship between them.

Time

Place
- I like swimming in
the sea.
- She meets me at the
station.
- He puts the picture
on the wall.

They are At, In and On.

At ( Clock, Meal, Religious,

Festival)

Movement
-

I fall into the river.

He comes out of the room.
A cat jumps onto the table.
A woman jumps of the bridge.

- We have breakfast at 6
oclock.
- At breakfast they talk a lot.
- All my friends come to meet
each other at my birthday.

In

(Season, Month, Year,

Century, Part of the day...)
- It rains a lot in rainy season.
- They will come back in June.
- Bopha gets married in 2007.

On

(Day, Date)

- I fly to the USA on Saturday.

- She makes an appointment
with me on the 2nd of May.

Conjunction:

Help connect words, phrases, or ideas.

Coordinating Conjunctions

Coordinating Conjunctions:

FANBOYS

and

but

or

yet

for

nor

so

FOR:Because
NOR:Usedto
He is neither sane nor brilliant.
That is neither what I
said nor what I meant.
SO:Inadditiontoortherefore,summarizing
Sotohasalwaysbeennervousinlarge
gatherings,soitisnosurprisethatheavoidscrowds
ofhisadoringfans.
SotoisnottheonlyOlympicathleteinhis
family,soarehisbrother,sister,andhisUncleChet.
So, the sherif peremptorily
removed the child from the
custody of his parents.

John thought he had a good

chance to get the job, for his
father was on the company's
board of trustees.
Most of the visitors were happy
just sitting around in the
shade, for it had been a long,
dusty journey on the train.

YET:tointroduceacontradictingidea.
John plays basketball well, yet his
favorite sport is badminton.
The visitors complained loudly
about the heat, yet they
continued to play golf every day.

Subordinating Conjunctions:

establishes the relationship between the

dependent clause and the rest of the sentence. It also turns the clause into something
that depends on the rest of the sentence for its meaning.
Because he loved acting, he refused to give up his dream of being in the movies.

Unless we act now, all is lost.

Common Subordinating
Conjunctions
After
although
as
as if
as long as
as though
because
before
even if
even though

if
if only
in order that
now that
once
rather than
since
so that
than
that

though
till
unless
until
when
whenever
where
whereas
wherever
while

Correlative Conjunctions (2)

They always travel in pairs, joining various sentence elements that should
be treated as grammatically equal.
She led the team not only in statistics but also by virtue of her enthusiasm.
Polonius said, "Neither a borrower nor a lender be."
Whether you win this race or lose it doesn't matter as long as you do your best.

both . . . and
not only . . . but
also
not . . . but
either . . . or

neither . . . nor
whether . . . or
as . . . as

Conjunctive Adverbs

The conjunctive adverbs such as however, moreover, nevertheless, consequently,

as a result are used to create complex relationships between ideas.

Article

Indefinite
(any cat, any apple)

(specific cat)

The

Definite
house.

cat in my

THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE

Phrases
A phrase is a group of words without both a subject and predicate.

Noun Phrase : A noun

phrase consists of a noun and all
of its modifiers.

The crazy old lady in

the park feeds the pigeons every
day.

Appositive Phrase
renames another noun, not
technically modifying it.

Bob, my best friend,

works here

Gerund Phrase A
gerund phrase is just a noun
phrase with a gerund as
its head.

I love baking cakes.

Infinitive Phrase An
infinitive phrase is a noun phrase
with an infinitive as its head.

I love to bake cakes.

Verb Phrase The verb

phrase can refer to the
whole predicate (was watching).

Adverbial Phrase- its a

group of adverbs (very quickly)
or any phrase that acts as
an adverb

Adjectival Phrase Refers to a group of

adjectives (full of toys) or any
phrase that acts as an adjective

Participial Phrase
Crushed to pieces by a
sledgehammer, the computer no
longer worked or I think the
guy sitting over there likes
you. A participial phrase has a
past or present participle as its
head. Participial phrases
always function as adjectives.
The diference between gerund
phrases is that this one functions
as an adjective.

Prepositional Phrase A
prepositional phrase, which has
a preposition as its head, can
function as an adjective, adverb,
or even as a noun. The
food on the table looked
delicious.

Absolute Phrase My
cake finally baking in the
oven, I was free to rest
for thirty minutes.
modify the entire
sentence, not one noun.
Almost a clause, the
absolute phrase can
include every sentence
element except
a finite verb. My cake
finally baking in the
oven would be its own
sentence if you just
added one finite verb:
My cake was finally
baking in the oven.

https://learningnerd.wordpress.com/2006/08/29/english-parts-of-speech-nouns-andpronouns/#other

Clauses

A clause has the elements needed to be a sentence, but it is

missing the punctuation.

Independentclause(ormainclause)isaclausethat
canstandbyitselfasasimplesentence.An
independentclausecontainsasubjectandapredicate;
itmakessensebyitselfandthereforeexpressesa
completethought.Independentclausescanbejoined
byusingasemicolonorbyusingacommafollowed
byacoordinatingconjunction(for,and,nor,but,or,
yet,so).

Dependent or Subordinate Clauses

AdjectiveClause(orrelativeclause)Ilistenedto
thesongthatyoutoldmeabout.Anadjectiveclause
describesanounjustlikeanadjective.Whichsong?
Thenewsong,

Adependentorsubordinateclausedependsonan
independentclausetoexpressitsfullmeaningThese
clausesbeginwithadependentword,
likeasubordinatingconjunctionorarelativepronoun.

BecauseIlovegrammar.

NounClauseAnounclausecanreplace
anynouninasentence,functioningasasubject,
object,orcomplementTheboywonderedifhis
parentsboughthimwhathewantedforChristmas.

RestrictiveClauseThebuildingthattheybuiltin
SanFranciscosoldforalotofmoney.Arestrictive
clausebeginswitharelativepronoun
likethatorwho(orsometimeswhich

 NonrestrictiveClauseThebuilding,whichthey
builtinSanFrancisco,soldforalotofmoney.A
nonrestrictiveclausebeginswitharelativepronoun
likewhichorwho.Itaddsextrainformationaboutan
alreadyspecificnoun;inthiscase,theresonlyone
buildingtotalkabout,whereastheexampleforthe
restrictiveclauseimpliesthattherecouldbeseveral
buildings.

AdverbClauseIlldothelaundrywhenImoutof
clothes.Areclausesthatexpresswhen,where,why,
andhowsomethingoccurs.Adependentclauseisan
adverbclauseifyoucanreplaceitwithanadverb,as
inIlldothelaundrylater.

Subject

Predicate

Object

The beautiful sweet baby threw up really quickly her baby food

Is the person
responsible for the
action.

The action that

takes place.

Somehow
receives the
action.

Sentences

A sentence contains a subject and predicate, capital letter and

period.

The boy threw his English book out the window.

Subject: The noun or

pronoun that does the
action.

Predicate: The action

done.

 Object: The noun or

pronoun that receives
the action.
Structure
SimpleSentenceIlovechocolate.Oneindependent

CompoundSentenceIlovechocolate,andIloveeating
chocolate.Twoormoreindependentclauses.

ExclamatorySentenceIneedchocolate!Usedfor
emphasisandemotion.

ImperativeSentenceGivemesomechocolate.Usedfor
commands,withthepronounyoualwaysimplied.

InterrogativeSentenceDoyoulovechocolate?Usedto
askaquestion.Thereareopenandclosedinterrogativesentences.

clause.

DeclarativeSentenceIlovechocolate.Usedtomakea
simplestatement.Mostsentencesaredeclarative.

ComplexSentenceIlovechocolatebecauseitsdelicious.
Oneindependentclauseandoneormoredependentclauses.
ComplexCompoundSentenceIlovechocolatebecause
itsfragrant,andIloveeatingchocolatebecauseitsdelicious.Two
ormoreindependentclausesandoneormoredependentclauses.

Purpose

ConditionalSentenceIfIhadabilliondollars,Iwouldbuy
acastlemadeofchocolate.

0Generallytrue:Ifyoudoyourhomeworkyouwillnotgeta
report.
1stStillpossible:IfIstudytodayIwillpassthequiztomorrow.
2ndNotlikely,hypothetical:IfIwonthelotteryIwouldnever
work.
3rdDidnthappen:IfIhadstudiedIwouldthavereceiveda5.

Sentences
Open interrogative
?

Declarati
ve
positive
.

Declarati
ve
negative
.

Closed interrogative
(?)

yes,

no,

Types of sentences in
general.
Open interrogative?
Wh+aux+sub+verb+e
xtras?

Declarative
positive
sub+aux/ve
rb+extras.

Declarative
negative
sub+negati
ve
aux/verb+e
xtras

Closed interrogative(?)
Aux+sub+verb+extras
?

yes,
pron+
aux.

no,
pron+neg
ative aux.

Continuous

PAST

TENSES

Perfect
simple

PAST

Perfect
continuous

PRESENT

PAST

Simple

PAST

PRESENT

PRESENT

Simple

Continuou
s

Perfect
continuou
s

Simple
FUTURE

Continuou
s

FUTURE

Perfect
simple

PRESENT

FUTURE

Perfect
simple
FUTURE

Perfect
continuous

GRAMMAR

CHARACT
ERISTICS
(BE)

SI
MP
LE

PAST

PRESENT

Was/were

Is, am,
are

FUTURE

Will be/
going to
be

Did

Do/does

Will +
verb in
base form

Was/ were
+v.ing

Is/Are/Am

+v.ing

SIMPLE

Had+
v.past
particle.

PE
RF
EC
T

CONTINO
US

Have/
Has + v.
past
participle
.

ACTION
(DO)

CONTINUOUS
(ING)
-endo , -ando

Had+been
+v.ing

Have/has
+been
+v.ing

Will be/
Going to
be
+v.ing

Will have
+v.past
participle

Will+have
+been+
v.ing

Active and Passive voice

Whentheobjectisplacedbeforethepredicateandtheobjectafterthepredicate.

ActiveVoice:Theboyhittheball.

Theballhitthewindow.

PassiveVoice:Theballwashitbytheboy.

Thewindowwashitbytheball.

ActiveVoice:Subject+verb+object.

PassiveVoice:Object+Auxofbe+verbinpastparticiple+subject.

M
O
D
A
L
S

SOURCES
1. Crystal, David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, (Reference) P 29 .C64 1987

2. Curme, George. A Grammar of the English Language, Vols. 1 (Parts of Speech) and 2 (Syntax), PE 1105 .G7 1977 vols. 1-2

3. Jo-Ann Peters, Jean-Michel Ravier, Let's learn English, Metoda pentru ncepatori de nvatare a limbii engleze,
traducere de Anca Perl, Editura Teora, ucuresti, 2009;

4. Manuela Florentina Staicut, Ozana Alexandra Straut, Limba engleza pentru afaceri, Ed. Augusta, Artpress,
Timisoara, 2006;

5. T. J. Fitikides, Common Mistakes in English with Exercises, New Edition, Longman, 2002.
6. Fowler, H. W. A Dictionary of Modern English Usage. 2d ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1965.

www.englishgrammar.org/
http://www.english-4u.de/grammar1.htm
https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/
http://www.edufind.com/english-grammar/english-grammar-guide

http://www.grammarbook.com/english_rules.asp
http://www.talkenglish.com/Grammar/Grammar.aspx
http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/glossary/
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/5/