[Grammar]

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Grammar.md

Quick Grammar Summary/Example

Paragraph: A paragraph is a distinct section of writing covering one topic. A paragraph will usually contain more than one sentence.
Sentence: A sentence is a group of words giving a complete thought. A sentence must contain a subject and a verb (although one may be implied).

Consider the following sentence:

They were driving a red car down the road before noon, but very slowly.

They: pronoun (subject)
were: verb (linking)
driving: verb (action)
a: determiner
red: adjective
car: noun
down: preposition
the: determiner
road: noun
before: preposition
noon: noun
but: conjunction
very: adverb
slowly: adverb

Noun: identifying a thing (i.e. “car”, “road”, “noon”)
Pronoun: refers to participants (i.e. “They”, “it”, “me”)
Adjective: naming an attribute of a noun (i.e. “red”)
Verb: describing an action (i.e. “were”, “driving”) †
Adverb: modifies the meaning of an adjective or verb (i.e. “very”, “slowly”)
Preposition: placed in front of nouns or pronouns to show the relationship (i.e. “down”, “before”)
Conjuctions: used to connect phrases, clauses, and sentences (i.e. “but”)
Determiner: introduces a noun (i.e. “a”, “the”)
- Article (Definite): refers to a particular thing already mentioned, or uniquely specified (e.g. “the”)
  - “The children know the fastest way home.”
  - “Children know the fastest ways home.”
  - “Give me the book.”
- Article (Indefinite): refers to something not explicitly specified (e.g. “a”, “an”, “some”)
  - “Give me a book.”
  - “Give some books.”

† there are actually many types of ‘verbs’. The most well known are ‘action’ verbs, but there’s also ‘modal’, ‘auxiliary’ and ‘linking’ verbs.

Tools

https://parts-of-speech.info/

Adverbs

An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, noun phrase, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering questions such as how?, in what way?, when?, where?, and to what extent?.

Verb Types

Main Verbs

Main verbs have meanings related to actions, events and states. Most verbs in English are main verbs:

We went home straight after the show.
It snowed a lot that winter.
Several different types of volcano exist.

Linking Verbs

Some main verbs are called linking verbs (or copular verbs). These verbs are not followed by objects. Instead, they are followed by phrases which give extra information about the subject. These include: appear, feel, look, seem, sound, be, get, remain, smell, taste, become.

A face appeared at the window. It was Pauline. (prepositional phrase)
He ’s a cousin of mine. (noun phrase)
This coat feels good. (adjective phrase)
She remained outside while her sister went into the hospital. (adverb phrase)

Also: I am a teacher. I turned green.

In the original sentence:

They are driving a red car down the road but very slowly.

The word “are” is a state/linking verb, and “driving” is an action verb.

Read more about ‘linking’ verbs here.

Auxiliary Verbs

There are three auxiliary verbs in English: be, do and have. Auxiliary verbs come before main verbs.

Auxiliary Be

Auxiliary be is used to indicate the continuous and the passive voice:

I ’m waiting for Sally to come home. (continuous)
Her car was stolen from outside her house. (passive)

Auxiliary Do

Auxiliary do is used in interrogative, negative and emphatic structures:

Does she live locally? (interrogative)
They didn’t know which house it was. (negative)
I do like your new laptop! (emphatic, with spoken stress on do)

Auxiliary Have

Auxiliary have is used to indicate the perfect:

I ’ve lost my memory stick. Have you seen it anywhere? (present perfect)
She had seen my car outside the shop. (past perfect)

Modal verbs have meanings connected with degrees of certainty and necessity, such as: can, may, must, should, would, could, might, shall, will.

We ’ll be there around 7.30. (speaker is quite certain)
A new window could cost around £500. (speaker is less certain)
I must ring the tax office. (speaker considers this very necessary)

Present Tense

Continous

There are some similarities between state/linking verbs and what is known as ‘Present Continous Tense’, which is a means of describing a subject along with a present tense for the verb to be. For example, “I am swimming” (“I” is the subject, “am” is the present tense for the verb to be, and “swimming” is the present verb).

There are other forms of present continuous tense (verb tense is italicized):

She is crying.
We are visiting the museum in the afternoon.
You are not watching the movie.

It can also indicate if something will or will not happen in the near future:

She is not going to the game tonight.
Are you visiting your cousin this weekend?
I am not going to the meeting after work.
Is John playing football today?

Reference

Perfect

The present tense (i.e. not continuous) is a means of describing an event that happened in the past that has present consequences.

She has lived here all her life.
He has finished his homework (has done).
I have worked here since I graduated school.

Present perfect tense can be used with expressions that are unspecific in time:

I have lost my purse.
We have seen this movie already.
He has broken his leg.
There has been an accident.