English grammar

Introduction

English grammar is a set of rules that explains how you use the English language. It is a set of instructions that explains how to form sentences, questions, express events that occurred in the past, present, and future, and provides the expressions for other forms of communication.

English grammar also defines parts of speech. Parts of speech define words. They tell us whether a word is a verb, noun, adjective, adverb, and so on.

There are different types of grammar. The two common ones are prescriptive grammar and descriptive grammar.

Prescriptive grammar explains the rules of a language. It is like a prescription, it tells you how to use the language.

"In linguistics, prescription is the laying down or prescribing of normative rules of the language. This is in contrast to description of language, which has no normative component. For example, a descriptive linguist working in English will try to describe the usage, distribution, and history of "ain't" and "h-dropping" neutrally, without judging them as good or bad, superior or inferior. A prescriptivist (one who is prescriptive), on the other hand, will judge whether or not these forms meet some criterion of intelligence, rationality, aesthetics, or conformity to a standard dialect, and, if not, will condemn them, prescribing that they not be used." prescriptive grammar

Descriptive grammar describes how people use the language. This type of grammar documents how people use the language in daily life.

"A descriptive grammar looks at the way a language is actually used by its speakers and then attempts to analyse it and formulate rules about the structure. Descriptive grammar does not deal with what is good or bad language use; forms and structures that might not be used by speakers of Standard English would be regarded as valid and included. It is a grammar based on the way a language actually is and not how some think it should be."descriptive grammar

Parts of Speech Overview

This section provides definitions for the different parts of speech. Each part is explained in detail in a later section.

• Verbs
• Nouns
• Pronouns
• Adverbs
• Adjectives
• Prepositions
• Conjunctions

Simple Tenses

Simple Present Tense The simple present tense describes actions that happen daily or on a regular basis. Here are some examples.

1. I drink coffee every morning.
2. She exercises once a week.
3. They meet for coffee every Friday morning.

Note: In the second sentence, the verb ends in "s". Verbs in the simple present tense, in the third person singular, end with "s". For example,

1. He drinks coffee.
2. She plays soccer.
3. It crawls slowly in the night.

In the third person singular, If the verb ends in "y" and a vowel precedes the "y", add "s". For example,

1. She plays guitar.
2. He stays in the country on weekends.

If the verb ends in "y" and a consonant precedes the "y", change the "y" to "i" and add "es". For example,

1. She studies all night.
2. He flies from Washington D.C. to Atlanta every weekend.

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Simple Past Tense The simple past tense describes an action that happened in the past. You may or may not know specifically when the action occurred in the past. You form the past tense by adding ed to the end of the verb. Here are some examples.

1. It crawled slowly in the night.
2. I worked last Saturday.
3. She explained the Algebra homework to me.

If the verb ends with an "e" just add "d".

1. I exercised last night.
2. He practiced piano until 2am.

If the verb ends with a consonant and a vowel precedes the consonant, for example the verb permit (the verb ends with "t" (consonant) and an "i" (vowel) precedes the "t") double the final consonant and add "ed". Here are some examples:

1. I permitted her to go to the concert.
2. She committed her campaign to environment issues.

If the verb ends in "y" and a vowel precedes the "y", add "ed". For example,

1. I played guitar at the party.
2. They stayed overnight.

If the verb ends in "y" and a consonant precedes the "y", change the "y" to "i" and add "ed". For example,

1. We studied all night.
2. They flied from Washington D.C. to Atlanta.

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Simple Future Tense

Continuous/Progressive Tenses

• Present Continuous/Progressive Tense
• Past Continuous/Progressive Tense
• Future Continuous/Progressive Tense

Perfect Tenses

• Present Perfect
• Past Perfect
• Future Perfect