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.
In this sentence 'the monkey' is the subject and 'banana' is the object.
 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.
Examples of nouns: 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.

There are different types of nouns:

- Common nouns: (common nouns are written in lower case letters)
people (boy, mother, cousin...)
place: (shop, street, park,...)
things: (hat, shoe, pen...)
- Proper nouns: (for proper nouns, the first letter is a capital letter)
people (John Brown, Dr Armstrong ...)
place (The Thames, The Alps, The Royal Hospital...)
things (Monday, August, Christmas Day...)
- Abstract nouns:
hope
kindness
courage
- Collective nouns:
audience
crowd
flock

 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.

Adjectives

 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.

Adverbs

 Articles and Determiners

Articles and determiners are words placed in front of a noun to specify quantity or
to indicate what the noun refers to:
'a', 'an', 'this', 'that', 'one', 'two', 'my', 'your', 'some', 'many' etc.
 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', 'on',
'under', 'across' ...).
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! Ah! Hey! Ouch! Watch out! Hurrah / Hurray! Alas! Gosh! Wow!
Phew!
 Punctuation Marks in English

We can break down the punctuation marks into five categories, as

follows:

 Sentence endings: period, question mark, exclamation point

 Comma, colon, and semicolon
 Dash and hyphen
 Brackets, braces, and parentheses
 Apostrophe, quotation marks, and ellipsis

Period (.)

This one is probably the most straightforward. Also referred to as a full stop, the period denotes the end
of a sentence. A full sentence is considered as one that is complete and declarative.

Here’s an example of a period at the end of a sentence:

 The dog ran under the fence.

Periods are also used in abbreviations, such as in names or titles.

Here are examples of how to use a period in abbreviations:

 Dr. Smith read his patient’s chart.

 Mr. H. Potter opened his front door.

Question Mark (?)

A question mark also ends a sentence, however it ends a sentence that is a direct question. Typically,
sentences that are questions begin with what, how, when, where, why, or who.

Here’s how to use a question mark in a sentence:

 How do you like your eggs?

 Why didn’t you like the movie last night?

Generally, a question mark also denotes a shift in tone in a sentence if it’s being read out loud, so this is
something to take note of.

Exclamation Point (!)

An exclamation point or exclamation mark is also used at the end of a sentence when that sentence
expresses an intense emotion. The expression can be a variety of things, from excitement, disgust,
anger, joy, or anything else. Exclamation points are meant to add emphasis to a sentence.

Here’s how to use one in a sentence:

 “Look out behind you!” she yelled.

 I’m so excited to go to the park tomorrow!

Comma (,)

Commas are used to insert a pause into a sentence. The purpose of the pause can be for different
reasons, such as to separate ideas, phrases, or even alter the structure of a sentence.

Commas have a few different uses. Commas are used for a direct address, such as:

 Joe, it was nice to see you again.

They’re also used to separate two complete sentences:

 He went to the library, and then he went out for lunch.

Commas can also be used to list items in a sentence:

 She went shopping and bought shoes, a dress, two shirts, and a pair of pants.

Commas are one of the most misused punctuation points, and its misuse often results in a comma
splice. A comma splice is when you join two independent clauses with a comma instead of a
conjunction. For example:

 It’s almost time for dinner, I’m not hungry.

 Instead of using a comma, the sentence should read:

 It’s almost time for dinner and I’m not hungry.

Oxford commas are often debated within academics and the English language, and using one often
comes down to preference. An Oxford comma is when a final comma is placed on the last item of a list.
For example:

 He likes to eat fruits, cake, vegetables, and pasta.

Colon (:)

A colon has three primary uses. One way to use it is when introducing something, such as a quote, an
example, a series, or an explanation.

She took four classes last semester: history, biology, arts, and economics.
A colon can also be used to link two independent clauses if the second clause clarifies or completes the
first one. For example:

 They didn’t have time to waste: it was already late.

 Finally, a colon can also emphasize a subject in a sentence:

 I only hate one vegetable: brussel sprouts.

Semicolon (;)

Similar to a colon, a semicolon links two independent clauses. However, in this case, the clauses are
more closely related than when you would use a colon. For example:

I have a meeting tomorrow morning; I can’t go out tonight.

Both clauses are independent enough to be their own sentences, but instead of using a period, it’s
possible to use a semicolon to show both clauses are connected.

Another less common use for semicolons is within a list that uses commas. Have a look:

 Last summer we traveled to London, England; Paris, France; Rome, Italy; and Athens, Greece.

Dash (-)

There are two types of dashes that vary in size and use.

En dash: Typically shorter in length, the en dash is used to denote a range, such as between numbers or
dates. For example:

 The company was operational from 1990-2000.

  He took the Chicago-New York train last night.

 Em dash: this dash is longer, and is sometimes used instead of other punctuation marks, like
commas, colons, or parentheses. Here’s an example:

 Her answer was clear — Yes!

Hyphen (-)

Not to be confused with a dash, a hyphen is used in compound words when two or more words are
connected. Here are some examples of hyphenated words:

 Step-by-step

 Mother-in-law

 Ex-boyfriend

Brackets ([ ])

Brackets are used to clarify something or for technical terms or explanations. It can also be used to
clarify a subject when quoting another person or text. For example:

 She [Mrs. Smith] agrees that cats are better than dogs.

 Adam said that “[summer] is my favorite time of year.”

Apostrophe (‘)
Apostrophes are meant to show that a letter or letters have been omitted and also to indicate the
possessive or contractions. It can also be used to pluralize lowercase letters. Here are some examples:

 I’ve been working from home for 6 months and it’s great.

 Rebecca’s dog had surgery yesterday.

 All that’s left to do is dot the i’s and cross the t’s.

Quotation Marks (“)

Quotation marks are used to denote text, speech, or words spoken by someone else. It is also used to
indicate dialogue.

 “I don’t like this,” said Mark.

 She told him that she “prefers not to think about that.”

 Single quotation marks (‘ ’), not to be confused with apostrophes, are often used for a quote
within a quote.

 Jill told her mother “Jack ran up the hill and he said he was going to ‘fetch a pail of water’ before
he fell.”

Ellipsis (…)

An ellipsis is three periods used together to represent an omission of words or letters. They are often
used to jump from one sentence or phrase to another while omitting unnecessary or obvious words. It’s
also used when quoting someone and unnecessary words are left out.

Here are some examples:

 At midnight, she began to count down: “ten, nine, eight…” and then the ball dropped.

 When Martin Luther King said “I have a dream…” he was talking about civil rights and an end to
racism.