Grammar Guide

Contents
1. Words
  Nouns
 Pronouns
 Determiners
 Adjectives
 Verbs
 Adverbs
 Phrases

2. Sentences
 Sentence types
 Sentence structures

3. Punctuation
 Full stop
 Question mark
 Exclamation mark
 Commas
 Colon
 Semi-colon
 Inverted commas
 Hyphens
 Dashes
 Brackets
 Ellipsis

Nouns
1. Nouns – nouns are usually known as naming words, and they name people, places
and things. A simple way to test if a word is a noun is to try putting ‘the’ in front of
it. Not all nouns will fit this structure but it can be a useful place to begin.

a. Common nouns – used to classify things or to name general items rather than
specific ones.
For example: lorry, cat, lamp, grass and table.

b. Proper nouns – used to refer to something or someone specific, unlike the general
referral in a common noun. They would usually have a capital letter at the start of
the word and do not often use a determiner like ‘a’, ‘an’ or ‘the’.
For example: London, Henry, Rolls-Royce, India

c. Concrete nouns – used to refer to something physical and tangible that can be
held, touched, seen or in some way felt through the five senses.
For example: violin, cup, smoke, country and curtain

d. Abstract nouns – used to refer to things that cannot be experienced through the
five physical senses and refer to ideas, thoughts, time, emotions and qualities.
For example: democracy, fear, month, joy and courage

e. Countable nouns/ Count nouns – a count noun can have a plural form and
therefore can be counted. To check if a noun is a count noun, see if it can be used
after the determiner ‘much.’ If it can, it is not a count noun.
For example: one dog, two dogs

f. Uncountable nouns / Non-count nouns – non-count nouns are qualities or

attributes that cannot be counted and generally do not have a plural form. The
determiner ‘much’ can be used with them while the determination ‘a’ makes no
sense.
For example: much wealthier.

What types of uncountable nouns are there?

 liquids (milk, water)
 abstract ideas (advice, chaos, motivation)
  powder and grain (rice, wheat, sand)
 mass nouns (furniture, hair, transportation)
 natural phenomena (sunshine, snow, rain, weather)
 states of being (sleep, stress, childhood)
 feelings (happiness, courage, enthusiasm, anger)
 gas (oxygen, nitrogen, air)

Uncountable nouns and Grammar

 How much....? = uncountable nouns 
 How many....? = countable nouns
 This or These = countable
 A lot of = uncountable (and countable)

To express an amount of an uncountable noun, you need to use

other words:

 Some water = a glass of water / two glasses of water

 Some clothing = one item of clothing /two items of clothing
 Some information = a piece of information
 Some equipment = a piece of equipment / two pieces of equipment

HOMEWORK and COURSEWORK are uncountable nouns!

I have loads of homework to do
He gave us six pieces of homework
In English, there are 3 pieces of coursework.

Pronouns
1. Pronoun – a pronoun is used in the place of a noun, noun phrase or noun clause. It is
used when the noun has already been mentioned or is already known and if often
employed to avoid repeating the noun.
For example: Jane was hungry so she ate some toast.

a. Personal pronouns – Personal pronouns are used in place of nouns and refer to
specific things or people.

First person I, me (singular)

 We, us (plural)
Second person You (singular and plural)
Third person She, he, her, him, it (singular)
They, them (plural)

b. Subject pronouns – used when the person or object being referred to is the subject of
the verb.
For example: She kissed Sam. / We walked to Robin’s house. / I waved at Roshana.

c. Object pronouns – used for the noun that is being affected by the action of the verb.
For example: Can you help me? / I can smell you. / She doesn’t like him. / I saw her in
school today.

d. Reflexive pronouns – used when the subject and the object in the sentence are the
same person and will end in self or selves.
For example: I saw myself as a complete failure. / She was worrying herself
unnecessarily. / You should treat yourselves to an ice-cream.

e. Possessive pronouns – used to show ownership or possession.

For example: The horse is mine. / I believe that is ours. / The last table is theirs.

f. Demonstrative pronouns – used to show the relationship between the person

speaking or writing and a person or a thing. The four demonstrative pronouns are
this, these, that and those. The first two would indicate objects that are near to the
speaker or the writer, while the latter two refer to something or someone that is
distant.
For example: I like these, suggests something close by. I like those, suggests something
far away.

g. Interrogative pronouns – occasionally known as question pronouns, used for

questioning. Those are who, what, which, whom, and whose.
For example: Who left the cup there? / To whom did you speak? / Which belongs to
you?
h. Relative pronouns – a relative pronoun always directly follows the noun that it
describes and often introduces a relative clause in the sentence. There are only five
relative pronouns – that, which, who, whom and whose.
For example: The dog who is barking lives next door. / I saw a horse which was
escaping from a field.

i. Indefinite pronouns – an indefinite pronoun doesn’t refer to any specific person,

thing or amount and is always vague.
For example: all, another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, each, everybody, everyone,
everything, few, many, nobody, none, one, several, some, somebody and someone

Determiners
1. Referral determiners

a. Articles – articles are a/an and the. ‘A/an’ is known as the indefinite article
because it is not referring to anything specific. ‘The’ is known as the definite
article because it is referring to something specific.
For example: ‘I bought an ice cream.’ There is no specification of which type of
ice-cream so this is an indefinite article. ‘I bought the ice cream with sprinkles.’
This time a specific type of ice-cream is being referred to so the definite article is
used.

b. Possessives – possessive determiners are my, your/s, her/s, his, its, our/s and
their. Possessive determiners come before the noun to tell us to whom it
belongs.
For example: Don’t touch that coat! It’s ours! / She bought her coat.

c. Demonstratives – demonstrative determiners are this, that, these and those.

They allow us to explain which specific noun we are referring to and whether it
is close to us (this, these) or further away (that, those). If the demonstrative is
modifying the noun it is a determiner; if it is the subject of the sentence then it
is a pronoun.
 For example: This coat is mine.

d. Quantifying determiners – quantifiers tell us how much / many of something

there is. Examples of quantifiers are some, many, few, little, several, much,
less, all, any.

Adjectives
1. Adjectives – used to modify nouns.

a. Descriptive / opinion adjectives. For example: unusual, lovely, beautiful

b. Size. For example: big, small, tall.
c. Physical quality. For example: thin, rough, untidy.
d. Shape. For example: round, square, rectangular.
e. Age. For example: young, old, youthful.
f. Colour. For example: blue, red, pink.
g. Origin. For example: Dutch, Japanese, Turkish.
h. Material. For example: metal, wood, plastic.
i. Type. For example: general-purpose, four-sided, U-shaped.
j. Purpose. For example: cleaning, hammering, cooking.

k. Comparative adjectives – used to compare differences between the two objects

they modify). They are used in sentences where two nouns are compared.
For example: larger. Smaller, faster, higher.

l. Superlative adjectives – used to describe an object which is at the upper or lower

limit of a quality. They are used in sentences where a subject is compared to a
group of objects.
For example: tallest, smallest, fastest, highest.
 Verbs
1. Verbs – words that tell us what someone or something is doing or what is happening.

a. The infinitive – the verb in its purest form and is usually preceded by ‘to’.
For example: Amir decided to eat all of his sister’s chocolates as well as his own.

b. The main verb – many sentences contain more than one verb, and in order to
differentiate between them a verb can be described as a ‘main’ or an ‘auxiliary’ verb.
A main verb is the most important verb in the sentence, telling us the action or state
or being of a subject.
For example: Amir decided to eat all of his sister’s chocolates as well as his own. / My
mother is a lawyer / There are some grapes in the fridge.

c. Auxiliary verbs – ‘helping verbs’. They help form different tenses, moods and
voices. The main auxiliary verbs are to be, to do and to have.
To be is used to form continuous Present continuous tense: I was running late
tenses and the passive voice Passive voice: The piano was played by Tom.
To have is used to form perfect Past perfect tense: She had been told not to come.
tenses Future perfect tense: We will have more of those in
stock on Tuesday.
To do is used in several different First, for emphasis: I did do my homework, I
ways promise!
Second to form questions: Do you have a minute to
talk?
Third, to form negative phrases or questions: Don’t
speak to me like that! / Don’t you think you should
have thought about that earlier?

d. Modal verbs – these are forms of auxiliary verbs and they express necessity,
possibility, intention or ability.
For example: must, shall, will, should, would, ought (to), can, could, may and might.
e. Transitive verbs – a transitive verb is one that is used with an object. An object can
be a noun, phrase or pronoun, but no matter what form it takes, the object will always
be directly affected by the action the verb is describing.
For example: She wrote a story. Here, wrote is the transitive verb and the story is the
direct object.

f. Intransitive verbs – an intransitive verb does not have an object.

For example: They ran in the park. Ran is intransitive because no one is affected by the
action of running.

g. Active – in an active sentence, the subject is performing the action.

For example: I went shopping.

h. Passive – in a passive sentence, the action is being done to the subject or the subject
receives the action.
For example: My shopping was bought for me by my mother.

i. Reflexive verbs – a reflexive verb is a verb whose direct object is the same as the
subject. The person or object performing the action is performing it on or against or
to themselves.
For example: She washed herself. / The party was so good that they all enjoyed
themselves.

j. Phrasal verbs – a phrasal verb is a verb coupled with an adverb, preposition or both
together to form a phrase.
For example: I’ll see to it that she doesn’t come to my party. / If you can, put him off
until Tuesday. / He broke up with me.

k. Verb tenses – tenses tell us when someone or something performed an action, or

when something existed or happened. There are three main tenses:
Present tense – to describe what is currently happening or what always happens. For
example: It is raining. / I am shopping.
Past tense – to describe things that happened before the present time of speaking. This
can be a one-off event or something that happened repeatedly. For example: I ate
dinner. / She looked sad.
Future tense – to describe things that haven’t happened yet but which are expected or
likely to take place in the future. The future tense is always formed with will or shall.
For example: I will see her tomorrow. / They will arrive at seven.
The continuous aspect – to express an action that is on-going using the suffix –ing. It is
used to show an action that will be continuing for a long time or something new,
temporary or changing, and can be in the past, present or future tense. For example: I
am writing (present) / I was writing (past) / I will be writing (future).
Perfect tense – to express actions that are either completed at the time of talking or were
or will be finished by a particular point in the past or future. They are formed by the
relevant tense of the auxiliary verb ‘to have’ and the past participle of the main verb.
For example: I have written (present perfect). / I had written (past perfect). / I will have
written (future perfect). The perfect continuous is a combination of perfect and
continuous tenses. For example: I have been writing (present perfect continuous). / I
had been writing (past perfect continuous). / I will have been writing (future perfect
continuous).

Adverbs
1. Adverbs – used to modify the verb

a. Adverbs of frequency. For example: always, sometimes, often / frequently,

normally, generally, usually, occasionally, seldom, rarely / hardly ever, never

b. Adverbs of manner. For example: cheerfully, efficiently, painfully, secretly, quietly,

peacefully, carefully, slowly, badly, closely.

c. Adverbs of time. For example: now, yesterday, soon, later, tomorrow, yet, already,
tonight, today, then, last month / year.

d. Adverbs of place. For example: off, above, abroad, far on, away, back, here, out,
outside, backwards, behind.

e. Adverbs of degree. For example: quite, fairly, too, enormously, entirely, very,
extremely, rather, almost, absolutely, just, barely, completely.
f. Adverbs of evaluation. For example: successfully, happily, excitedly, succinctly

g. Adverbs of certainty. For example: apparently, clearly, definitely, doubtfully,

doubtlessly, obviously, presumably

h. Adverbs of attitude. For example: astonishingly, frankly, honestly, hopefully,

interestingly, luckily, sadly.

i. Adverbs of judgement. For example: bravely, carelessly, fairly, foolishly,

generously.

Phrases
1. Phrase – a group of two or more words functioning as a meaningful unit within a
sentence or a clause. A phrase is made up of a head, which determines the
grammatical nature of the unit.

a. Noun phrases – with the noun as the head. For example: good friend, blue ball, the
cat.
b. Verb phrases – with the verb as the head. For example: drives carefully, smiles
slowly, reads quietly
c. Adjective phrases – with an adjective as the head. For example: very cold and dark
d. Adverb phrases – with an adverb as the head. For example: quite slowly
e. Prepositional phrases – with a preposition as the head. However, although a
preposition can be a head, it has to be accompanied by another element in order to be
complete, usually a noun phrase. For example: in first place
 Sentence types
1. Declarative – a declarative sentence is one that makes a statement.
For example:
There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.

2. Imperative – an imperative sentence is one that gives a command or a request.

For example:
Stop! / Pick up that pen.

3. Exclamatory – an exclamatory sentence expresses strong emotion and always uses

exclamation marks.
For example:
I can’t believe I’ve just won a million pounds!

4. Interrogative – interrogative sentences always ask a direct question and always end
in a question mark.
For example:
Did she wear the red dress?
 Sentence structures
1. Main clause – a main clause consists of a subject and a predicate and stands alone as
a complete sentence. The subject will typically be a noun, noun phrase or pronoun,
and the predicate will be a verb or verb phrase.

2. Subordinate clause – a subordinate clause does not stand alone, and should, in a
grammatically correct sentence, be joined to a main clause either through the use of
punctuation or a conjunction. Subordinate clauses begin with either a relative
pronoun or a subordinate conjunction.
a. Conditional subordinate clauses – describes something that is possible or
probable
b. Relative subordinate clauses – gives more information on a topic and begins
with a relative pronoun.
i. Restrictive relative clauses – gives necessary information about the
noun that comes before it
ii. Non-restrictive relative clauses – gives non-necessary information
about a noun that comes before it

3. Simple sentence – a simple sentence is simply a main clause: a sentence with a single
subject and a single verb.
For example:
I ate dinner. – ‘I’ = subject / ‘ate dinner’ is predicate with ‘ate’ being the verb.

4. Compound sentence – a compound sentence is made up of two main clauses, or

simple sentences, joined by a conjunction.
For example:
I ate dinner and it was delicious. – ‘I ate dinner’ is one simple sentence (main clause).
‘It was delicious’ is one simple sentence (main clause). ‘And’ is the conjunction that
glues the two simple sentences (main clauses) together.

5. Complex sentence - a complex sentence contains a main and a subordinate clause

joined by a subordinating conjunction or punctuation.
For example:
She turned up, late as usual, to the lesson. – ‘She turned up to the lesson’ is the main
clause whilst ‘late as usual’ is the subordinate clause. The subordinate clause is
indicated through the use of commas.

Punctuation
1. Full stops - used at the end of a complete sentence.
2. Question marks – indicate when a direct or rhetorical question is being asked. A
question mark has the same function as a full stop in this it ends a sentence, and any
word coming afterwards should begin with a capital letter.

3. Exclamation marks – used to express shock, surprise, amusement or the loudness of

someone’s voice and should certainly not be used at the end of every sentence.

4. Commas

a. Separating items in a list – commas should be used to separate more than two
items in a list.
For example: I bought apples, eggs, some bread and a pint of milk.

b. Separating main and subordinate clauses

For example: As she was running late, she didn’t eat breakfast. / Sarah, who was
running late, didn’t eat breakfast.

c. With however
For example: However, several people will need to arrive early in order to ensure
things run smoothly on the day.

5. Colons – used before a list of two or more items, a quotation and an explanation.
For example: Priya knew whom she should have asked for help instead: Max. / The
classrooms had been painted over the summer: white for English and pale blue for
Maths.

6. Semi colons – used to separate two main clauses that are connected by subject matter.
Semi-colons can be replaced by full stops or conjunctions.
For example: I told her not to go out in the rain; she didn’t listen.

7. Inverted commas – used to punctuate direct or reported speech, or to quote from

texts.

8. Hyphens – used to join two words or parts of words together to make a compound
word or phrase.
For example: The rust-coloured wall.
9. Dashes – used to indicate a pause in the sentence and can replace brackets, commas
and even semi-colons in informal writing.

10.Brackets – used to mark asides or give additional information that isn’t necessary to
a sentence. Punctuation marks should be within the brackets unless the brackets end
the sentence, in which case the final punctuation mark should go outside the brackets.
For example: Sarah (who I hated so much!) was the last person to get on the coach,
and the seat next to mine was the only one left (just my luck).

11.Ellipsis – used to omit some parts of a sentence to give the reader a chance to fill in
the gaps indicated by three dots.
For example: ‘And people with hooves instead of feet. And…’