What is Grammar? Grammar makes up all the words and structures in a sentence.

En glish grammar is the science which treats of the nature of words, their forms, a nd their uses and relations in the sentence. What are the parts of speech? The parts of speech are nouns, pronouns, verbs, a djectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. What is a noun? A noun is used to name a person, place, thing, quality or idea. A few examples of each are Bill, Detroit, car, beauty and justice. What are the two types of nouns? The two types of nouns are proper nouns and com mon nouns. What is a proper noun? A proper noun is used to name a specific person, place or thing. Such as Bill Gates, New York and the Hudson River. A proper noun is alwa ys capitalized. What is a common noun? A common noun is used to name one or all members of a cla ss or group. Such as a boat, woman, light and minutes. A common noun does not ha ve to be capitalized. Common nouns can be concrete or abstract. Concrete nouns a re used to name things people can use their senses to see. Abstract nouns are used to name intangible things such as qualities (sweetness) and ideas (freedom). What is a pronoun? A pronoun is used in the place of a noun or phrase. There are many types of pronouns: personal, relative, interrogative, reflexive, intensive , demonstrative and indefinite. Personal pronouns are used to refer to specific nouns. Such as: I, me, you, yours, they, he, it, and us. Relative pronouns intro duce dependent clauses. Such as: who, whom, that, which, what and whose. Interro gative pronouns introduce a question. Such as: who, whose, whom, what and which. Reflexive and intensive pronouns deal with the self. Such as: myself, herself, yourselves and themselves. The difference between them is that reflexive nouns n ame the receiver of an action and intensive pronouns emphasize a noun. Demonstra tive pronouns show which nouns perform or receive the action. Such as: this, the se, that and those. Indefinite pronouns are used to show an unspecific number of nouns. Such as: all, few, many, none, other, something, anyone and neither. What is a verb? A verb is used to show an action or a state of being. Such as: j ump, run, cook and drive. There are three types of verbs. What are the three types of verbs? The three types of verbs are regular, irregul ar and linking. Regular verbs end in ed or d. Irregular verbs change forms, such a s write changes to wrote. Linking verbs express a state of being, such as shows or appears. What is an adjective? An adjective is used to describe or specify a noun or pron oun. Such as: green, big, that, this and her only. What is an adverb? An adverb is used to modify a verb, adjective and other adver bs. They show when, where, why and how. Such as: never, often, above, there, the n, not, almost and perhaps. What is a preposition? A preposition is a word that is used with a noun or prono un to form a phrase that shows where, when, how and why. They are commonly used to elaborate on the subject of a sentence. Such as: about, above, because, but, by, except, in, into, on, off, to, with, without and up. What is a conjunction? A conjunction is used to connect words and phrases to sho w order and ideas. Such as: and, but, or, nor, for, so and yet. What is an interjection? An interjection is used to show surprise or emotion. Th ey are usually short phrases such as oh no! or Good Lord! The Structure of a Sentence Remember that every clause is, in a sense, a miniat ure sentence. A simple sentences contains only a single clause, while a compound sentence, a complex sentence, or a compound-complex sentence contains at least two clauses. The Simple Sentence The most basic type of sentence is the simple sentence, whic h contains only one clause. A simple sentence can be as short as one word: Run! Usually, however, the sentence has a subject as well as a predicate and both the subject and the predicate may have modifiers. All of the following are simple s

entences, because each contains only one clause: Melt! Ice melts. The ice melts quickly. The ice on the river melts quickly under the warm March sun. Lying exposed without its blanket of snow, the ice on the river melts quickly un der the warm March sun. As you can see, a simple sentence can be quite long -- it is a mistake to think that you can tell a simple sentence from a compound sentence or a complex senten ce simply by its length. The most natural sentence structure is the simple sentence: it is the first kind which children learn to speak, and it remains by far the most common sentence i n the spoken language of people of all ages. In written work, simple sentences c an be very effective for grabbing a reader's attention or for summing up an argu ment, but you have to use them with care: too many simple sentences can make you r writing seem childish. When you do use simple sentences, you should add transitional phrases to connect them to the surrounding sentences. The Compound Sentence: A compound sentence consists of two or more independent c lauses (or simple sentences) joined by co-ordinating conjunctions like "and," "b ut," and "or": Simple Canada is a rich country. Simple Still, it has many poor people. Compound Canada is a rich country, but still it has many poor people. Compound sentences are very natural for English speakers -- small children learn to use them early on to connect their ideas and to avoid pausing (and allowing an adult to interrupt): Today at school Mr. Moore brought in his pet rabbit, and he showed it to the cla ss, and I got to pet it, and Kate held it, and we coloured pictures of it, and i t ate part of my carrot at lunch, and ... Of course, this is an extreme example, but if you over-use compound sentences in written work, your writing might seem immature. A compound sentence is most effective when you use it to create a sense of balan ce or contrast between two (or more) equally-important pieces of information: Montal has better clubs, but Toronto has better cinemas. Special Cases of Compound Sentences: There are two special types of compound sen tences which you might want to note. First, rather than joining two simple sente nces together, a co-ordinating conjunction sometimes joins two complex sentences , or one simple sentence and one complex sentence. In this case, the sentence is called a compound-complex sentence: compound-complex The package arrived in the morning, but the courier left before I could check th e contents. The second special case involves punctuation. It is possible to join two origina lly separate sentences into a compound sentence using a semicolon instead of a c o-ordinating conjunction: Sir John A. Macdonald had a serious drinking problem; when sober, however, he co uld be a formidable foe in the House of Commons. Usually, a conjunctive adverb like "however" or "consequently" will appear near the beginning of the second part, but it is not required: The sun rises in the east; it sets in the west. The Complex Sentence: A complex sentence contains one independent clause and at least one dependent clause. Unlike a compound sentence, however, a complex sente nce contains clauses which are not equal. Consider the following examples: Simple My friend invited me to a party. I do not want to go. Compound

My friend invited me to a party, but I do not want to go. Complex Although my friend invited me to a party, I do not want to go. In the first example, there are two separate simple sentences: "My friend invite d me to a party" and "I do not want to go." The second example joins them togeth er into a single sentence with the co-ordinating conjunction "but," but both par ts could still stand as independent sentences -- they are entirely equal, and th e reader cannot tell which is most important. In the third example, however, the sentence has changed quite a bit: the first clause, "Although my friend invited me to a party," has become incomplete, or a dependent clause. A complex sentence is very different from a simple sentence or a compound senten ce because it makes clear which ideas are most important. When you write My friend invited me to a party. I do not want to go. or even My friend invited me to a party, but I do not want to go. The reader will have trouble knowing which piece of information is most importan t to you. When you write the subordinating conjunction "although" at the beginni ng of the first clause, however, you make it clear that the fact that your frien d invited you is less important than, or subordinate, to the fact that you do no t want to go. in grammar, a clause is a pair or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate, although in some languages and some types of clauses the subject ma y not appear explicitly as a noun phrase. It may instead be marked on the verb ( this is especially common in null subject languages). The most basic kind of sen tence consists of a single clause. More complicated sentences may contain multip le clauses, including clauses contained within clauses. Clauses are often contrasted with phrases. Traditionally, a clause was said to h ave both a finite verb and its subject, whereas a phrase either contained a fini te verb but not its subject (in which case it is a verb phrase) or did not conta in a finite verb. Hence, in the sentence "I didn't know that the dog ran through the yard," "that the dog ran through the yard" is a clause, as is the sentence as a whole, while "the yard," "through the yard," "ran through the yard," and "t he dog" are all phrases. However, modern linguists do not draw the same distinct ion, as they accept the idea of a non-finite clause, a clause that is organized around a non-finite verb. Functions of dependent clauses Under this classification scheme, there are three main types of dependent clause s: noun clauses, adjective clauses, and adverb clauses, so-called for their synt actic and semantic resemblance to nouns, adjectives, and adverbs, respectively. In the following English examples, dependent noun clauses are shown in bold: "What you say to me is not as important as how you say it." "I imagine that they're having a good time." "I keep thinking about what happened yesterday." (The word that is optional in the second sentence, highlighting a complication i n the entire dependent/independent contrast: "They're having a good time" is a c omplete sentence, and therefore an independent clause, but "that they're having a good time" is a dependent clause.) An adjective clause modifies a noun phrase. In English, adjective clauses typica lly come at the end of their phrase and usually have a relative pronoun forming a relative clause. The pronoun can sometimes be omitted to produce a reduced rel ative clause: "The woman I saw said otherwise." "I found the book that she suggested to me." An adverb clause typically modifies its entire main clause. In English, it usual ly precedes (in a periodic sentence) or follows (in a loose sentence) its main c lause. The following adverb clauses show when (with the subordinating conjunctio n "when") and why (with the subordinating conjunction "because"): "When she gets here, all will be explained." "She's worried because they were already an hour late." The line between categories may be indistinct, and, in some languages, it may be

difficult to apply these classifications at all. At times more than one interpr etation is possible, as in the English sentence "We saw a movie, after which we went dancing," where "after which we went dancing" can be seen either as an adje ctive clause ("We saw a movie. After the movie, we went dancing.") or as an adve rb clause ("We saw a movie. After we saw the movie, we went dancing."). Sometime s the two interpretations are not synonymous, but are both intended, as in "Let me know when you're ready," where "when you're ready" functions both as a noun c lause (the object of know, identifying what knowledge is to be conveyed) and as an adverb clause (specifying when the knowledge is to be conveyed). Structures of dependent clauses The other major way to classify dependent clauses is by their structure, althoug h even this classification scheme does make some reference to the clause's funct ion in a sentence. This scheme is more complex, as there are many different ways that a dependent clause can be structured. In English, common structures includ e the following: Many dependent clauses, such as "before he comes" or "because they agreed," cons ist of a preposition-like subordinating conjunction, plus what would otherwise b e an independent clause. These clauses act much like prepositional phrases, and are either adjective clauses or adverb clauses, with many being able to function in either capacity. Relative clauses, such as "which I couldn't see," generally consist of a relativ e pronoun, plus a clause in which the relative pronoun plays a part. Relative cl auses usually function as adjective clauses, but occasionally they function as a dverb clauses; in either case, they modify their relative pronoun's antecedent a nd follow the phrase or clause that they modify. Fused relative clauses, such as "what she did" (in the sense of "the thing she d id"), are like ordinary relative clauses except that they act as noun clauses; t hey incorporate their subjects into their relative pronouns. Declarative content clauses, such as "that they came," usually consist of the co njunction that plus what would otherwise be an independent clause, or of an inde pendent clause alone (with an implicit preceding that). For this reason, they ar e often called that-clauses. Declarative content clauses refer to states of affa irs; it is often implied that the state of affairs is the case, as in "It is for tunate that they came," but this implication is easily removed by the context, a s in "It is doubtful that they came." Interrogative content clauses, such as "whether they came" and "where he went" ( as in "I don't know where he went"), are much like declarative ones, except that they are introduced by interrogative words. Rather than referring to a state of affairs, they refer to an unknown element of a state of affairs, such as one of the participants (as in "I wonder who came") or even the truth of the state (as in "I wonder whether he came"). Small clauses, such as "him leave" (as in "I saw him leave") and "him to leave" (as in "I wanted him to leave"), are minimal predicate structures, consisting on ly of an object and an additional structure (usually an infinitive), with the la tter being predicated to the former by a controlling verb or preposition.