English Grammar for ESL learners
BASIC GRAMMAR RULES
Sentence structure and parts of speech
It is important for learners of English to fully understand the basic grammar rules that govern the language in order to express themselves clearly. Without rules we cannot communicate correctly with other people
There are many grammar rules in English, but the basic rules refer to sentence structure and parts of speech
SENTENCE STRUCTURE
Sentence
A sentence is a group of words which expresses a complete thought and consists of a subject and a predicate
A sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a punctuation mark
Subject: 'The salesman'
Predicate: 'sold 100 ties'
Sentence:The salesman sold 100 ties
Subject
The person, animal or thing in a sentence performs an action or has an action done to it
John takes the bus every day
Food is eaten every day
Predicate
The predicate is a word or a group of words that complete a sentence. The predicate contains a verb and gives information about the subject
Example: Jack walks to work
In this sentence ‘Jack’ is the subject and ‘walks to work’ is the predicate
A simple predicate consists of just one word: a verb
Example: Jack spoke
In this sentence the predicate 'spoke' consists of just one word
Object
The person or thing affected by the action of the subject
Example: The monkey ate a banana
Clause
Sentences can be broken down into clauses. Clauses, like any sentence, have a subject and predicate too
Example: My parents are going to a restaurant and they will be home late
This is a complete sentence composed of two clauses
Phrase
A group of words that does not have a subject and predicate is called a phrase
Phrases act like parts of speech inside clauses. They can act as nouns, adjectives, adverbs and so on
See the examples of phrases underlined below
The bewildered old man couldn’t find the exit. (noun phrase)
Around the corner came the postman. (adverbial phrase)
The newspaper is on the table. (prepositional phrase)
PARTS OF SPEECH
As well as the basic rules for sentence structure, it is also helpful for learners to learn about the parts of speech
Noun
A noun names a person, animal, place, thing, quality, idea, activity, or feeling
A noun can be singular or plural
For example: Tom, people, Madrid, books, generosity …
Tom usually reads a book or works on his computer during the flight to Madrid
Alex works as an analyst in an office in a big city
Pronoun
A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun, such as “I”, “you”, 'him', 'us', 'they' etc.”
The passengers reacted well. They all stayed calm
Alex needs exercise so he either walks to the office or takes his bicycle
Verb
A verb is a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence such as 'walk', 'happen', 'like'
A verb can be dynamic or stative
Dynamic verbs (actions): walk, eat, drink, play, write, etc
Stative verbs (thoughts, emotions, states of being): be, feel, think, see, hear, like, hate, etc
A verb can be a main verb or an auxiliary or helping verb such as “have” or “will.”
Verbs can also change their form to show past, present, or future tense
Today I am revising my English. Yesterday I wrote an essay. Our teacher will be absent tomorrow
Alex lives in an area where he can walk or cycle to the office
Adjective
An adjective describes, identifies, qualifies or gives more information about a noun or a pronoun
The young man drove his new car down the busy road
It’s a short distance through a beautiful park in a quiet district
Adverb
An adverb will modify a verb and tell us how, how often, where or in what manner we do something
Examples: quickly, carefully, well, often, usually, easily, energetically …
She usually walks quickly to get to work on time
The old man walked slowly and carefully down the icy street
Preposition
A preposition is a word that links a noun, pronoun or noun phrase to some other part of a sentence
Prepositions are often used with a noun to show location (for example “in,” or “on”)
They can also show time, direction, motion, manner, reason, or possession
The boy walked across the road, past the church and up the hill to get to his school
Sam goes through the park and up the hill towards the city centre
Conjunction
Conjunctions are words used to connect other words, phrases, or clauses
Using conjunctions helps us to avoid making multiple short sentences
Common conjunctions are “and”, “but”, and “or”
The children like sailing and swimming, but they don’t like tidying their rooms or going to bed
Alex and his colleagues like the company but not the new boss
Interjection
An exclamation used to express an emotional reaction
!For example: Oh! Hey! Ouch! Watch out! Hurray! Alas! Wow
رد مع اقتباس
