What is Grammar?

Grammar is the system of a language. People sometimes describe grammar as the "rules" of a language; but in fact no language has rules. If we use the
word "rules", we suggest that somebody created the rules first and then spoke the language, like a new game. But languages did not start like that.
Languages started by people making sounds which evolved into words, phrases and sentences. No commonly-spoken language is fixed. All languages
change over time. What we call "grammar" is simply a reflection of a language at a particular time.

Do we need to study grammar to learn a language? The short answer is "no". Very many people in the world speak their own, native language without
having studied its grammar. Children start to speak before they even know the word "grammar". But if you are serious about learning a foreign
language, the long answer is "yes, grammar can help you to learn a language more quickly and more efficiently." It's important to think of grammar as
something that can help you, like a friend. When you understand the grammar (or system) of a language, you can understand many things yourself,
without having to ask a teacher or look in a book.

So think of grammar as something good, something positive, something that you can use to find your way - like a
signpost or a map.

Glossary of English Grammar Terms

Participle
Active Voice The -ing and -ed forms of verbs. The -ing form is called the
In the active voice, the subject of the verb does the action (eg They "present participle". The -ed form is called the "past participle" (for
killed the President). See also Passive Voice. irregular verbs, this is column 3).

Adjective Part Of Speech

A word like big, red, easy, French etc. An adjective describes a One of the eight classes of word in English - noun, verb, adjective,
noun or pronoun. adverb, pronoun, preposition, conjunction and interjection.

Adverb Passive Voice

A word like slowly, quietly, well, often etc. An adverb modifies a In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb (eg
verb. The President was killed). See also Active Voice.

Article Phrase
The "indefinite" articles are a and an. The "definite article" is the. A group of words not containing a subject and its verb (eg on the
table, the girl in a red dress).
Auxiliary Verb
A verb that is used with a main verb. Be, do and have are auxiliary Predicate
verbs. Can, may, must etc are modal auxiliary verbs. Each sentence contains (or implies) two parts: a subject and a
predicate. The predicate is what is said about the subject.
Clause
A group of words containing a subject and its verb (for example: It Preposition
was late when he arrived). A word like at, to, in, over etc. Prepositions usually come before a
noun and give information about things like time, place and
direction.
Conjunction
A word used to connect words, phrases and clauses (for example:
and, but, if). Pronoun
A word like I, me, you, he, him, it etc. A pronoun replaces a noun.
Infinitive
The basic form of a verb as in to work or work. Sentence
A group of words that express a thought. A sentence conveys a
statement, question, exclamation or command. A sentence contains
Interjection or implies a subject and a predicate. In simple terms, a sentence
An exclamation inserted into an utterance without grammatical must contain a verb and (usually) a subject. A sentence starts with
connection (for example: oh!, ah!, ouch!, well!). a capital letter and ends with a full stop (.), question mark (?) or
exclamation mark (!).
Modal Verb
An auxiliary verb like can, may, must etc that modifies the main Subject
verb and expresses possibility, probability etc. It is also called Every sentence contains (or implies) two parts: a subject and a
"modal auxiliary verb". predicate. The subject is the main noun (or equivalent) in a
sentence about which something is said.
Noun
A word like table, dog, teacher, America etc. A noun is the name Tense
of an object, concept, person or place. A "concrete noun" is The form of a verb that shows us when the action or state happens
something you can see or touch like a person or car. An "abstract (past, present or future). Note that the name of a tense is not always
noun" is something that you cannot see or touch like a decision or a guide to when the action happens. The "present continuous
happiness. A "countable noun" is something that you can count tense", for example, can be used to talk about the present or the
(for example: bottle, song, dollar). An "uncountable noun" is future.
something that you cannot count (for example: water, music,
money).
Verb
A word like (to) work, (to) love, (to) begin. A verb describes an
Object action or state.
In the active voice, a noun or its equivalent that receives the action
of the verb. In the passive voice, a noun or its equivalent that does
the action of the verb.

English Parts of Speech

There are thousands of words in any language. But not all words have the same job. For example, some words express "action". Other words express a
"thing". Other words "join" one word to another word. These are the "building blocks" of the language. Think of them like the parts of a house. When
we want to build a house, we use concrete to make the foundations or base. We use bricks to make the walls. We use window frames to make the
windows, and door frames to make the doorways. And we use cement to join them all together. Each part of the house has its own job. And when we
want to build a sentence, we use the different types of word. Each type of word has its own job.

We can categorize English words into 8 basic types or classes. These classes are called "parts of speech".
It's quite important to recognize parts of speech. This helps you to analyze sentences and understand them. It also helps you to construct good sentences.

Parts of Speech Table

This is a summary of the 8 parts of speech. You can find more detail if you click on each part of speech.

part of speech function or "job" example words example sentences

Verb action or state (to) be, have, do, like, work, sing, Use of English is subject. I like Use of English.
can, must

Noun thing or person pen, dog, work, music, town, This is my dog. He lives in my house. We live in
London, teacher, John London.

Adjective describes a noun a/an, the, 69, some, good, big, red, My dog is big. I like big dogs.
well, interesting

Adverb describes a verb, adjective or adverb quickly, silently, well, badly, very, My dog eats quickly. When he is very hungry, he
really eats really quickly.

Pronoun replaces a noun I, you, he, she, some Tara is Indian. She is beautiful.

Preposition links a noun to another word to, at, after, on, but We went to school on Monday.

Conjunction joins clauses or sentences or words and, but, when I like dogs and I like cats. I like cats and dogs. I
like dogs but I don't like cats.

Interjection short exclamation, sometimes oh!, ouch!, hi!, well Ouch! That hurts! Hi! How are you? Well, I don't
inserted into a sentence know.