English Grammar

• independent clause


  Has a subject and verb. Can stand alone.

  
  

  → The cow eats hay.
• dependent clause


  Has a subject and verb. Cannot stand alone.

  
  

  → If the cow eats hay
• subject


  The person or thing that does the action.

  
  

  → John has become sickly thin.

  (The subject is "John")

  
  

  → The doctor is looking at him strangely.

  (The subject is "The doctor")

  
  

  → John and Mary put marbles up their noses.

  (The subject is "John and Mary")
• simple subject


  A subject made up of only one person, place, thing or idea. It is usually only one word.

  
  

  → Timothy lost a tooth!

  (The simple subject is "Timothy")

  
  

  → The boy lost a tooth!

  (The simple subject is "boy")

  
  

  → President Obama lost a tooth!

  (The simple subject is "President Obama")
• complete subject


  A subject made up of the simple subject and any modifiers.

  
  

  → Timothy lost a tooth!

  (The complete subject is "Timothy")

  
  

  → The boy lost a tooth!

  (The complete subject is "The boy")

  
  

  → The boy with the missing tooth is grinning.

  (The complete subject is "The boy with the missing tooth")
• compound subject

  A subject made up of two or more people, places, things or ideas.

  
  

  → Either Jeff or that funny-looking girl is going to win the race.

  (The compound subject is "Either Jeff or that funny-looking girl")

  
  

  → The boy with the missing tooth and the girl with the long hair are running away.

  (The compound subject is "The boy with the missing tooth and the girl with the long hair")
• predicate

  The part of the clause or sentence that is not the subject. A predicate must have a verb. It may also have other modifiers.

  
  

  → He is a total marshmallow.

  (The predicate is "is a total marshmallow")

  
  

  → The letter contained devastating news.

  (The predicate is "contained devastating news")
• verb


  A word for an action or a state of being.

  
  

  → She considers herself lucky.

  (The verb is "considers")

  
  

  → Stop skipping so quickly!

  (The verb is "skipping")

  
  

  → I am happy.

  (The verb is "am")
• action verb


  A verb for an activity.

  
  

  → jumps

  → runs

  → sleeps

  → avoids

  → listens

  → stops
• stative verb

  A verb for a state of being, a thought, or an emotion.

  
  

  → is / was / will be

  → thinks

  → feels

  → believes

  → likes
• transitive verb

  A verb that acts on something. It has a direct object (the person or thing that is being acted on).

  
  

  → I gave Sherlock the letter.

  (The verb "gave" is transitive and the direct object is "the letter". Also, "Sherlock" is the indirect object.)

  
  

  → I ate all of the blueberry pie.

  (The verb "ate" is transitive and the direct object is "all of the blueberry pie")
• intransitive verb


  A verb that does not act on something. It does not have an object.

  
  

  → The rain fell.

  (The verb "fell" is intransitive)

  
  

  → Her little brother sneezed.

  (The verb "sneezed" is intransitive)
• auxiliary verb

  A word added to the main verb to show tense, voice, or mood. It is also known as a "helping verb".

  
  

  → She has brought lunch.

  (The auxiliary verb "has" helps to show tense. "Has brought" is a present perfect verb.)

  
  

  → The table has been set.

  (The auxiliary verbs "has been" help to show passive voice.

  
  

  → If he were to arrive in ten minutes, then we would be on schedule.

  (The auxiliary verbs "were" and "would" help to show the subjunctive mood)
• modal verb


  A type of auxiliary verb that shows ability, possibility, permission, and obligation.

  
  

  You can memorize them: can, could, may, might, must, ought to, shall, should, will, would.

  
  

  → He can play tennis well.

  (The modal verb "can" shows ability)

  
  

  → We might meet tomorrow.

  (The modal verb "might" shows possibility)

  
  

  → You may leave now.

  (The modal verb "may" shows permission)

  
  

  → You must not lie to us.

  (The modal verb "must" shows obligation)
• phrasal verb


  A verb made up of a main verb and a preposition, adverb, or both. The phrasal verb usually has a meaning completely different to its main verb, which can confuse beginners.

  
  

  → I asked you to drop by after seven.

  (The phrasal verb "drop by" means "visit")

  
  

  → She broke in to his apartment.

  (The phrasal verb "broke in" means "entered illegally")
• regular verb


  A verb that adds -ed or -d to its base form to make A) simple past tense and B) its past participle.

  
  

  → talk - talked

  → recognize - recognized

  → look - looked
• irregular verb


  A verb that does not make A) simple past tense and B) its past participle by adding -ed or -d to its base form.

  
  

  → think - thought

  → steal - stole

  → is - was
• infinitive verb


  A verb in its basic form. It usually has the word "to" before it, but not always.

  
  

  → I want to run.

  (The infinitive verb "to run" is not the main verb. "Want" is. The infinitive verb is being used as a noun.)

  
  

  → I need someone to take notes.

  (The infinitive verb "to take" is not the main verb. "Need" is. The infinitive verb is being used as an adjective. It describes "someone". You could re-write the sentence as "I need someone that is prepared to take notes.")

  
  

  → The officer returned to offer assistance.

  (The infinitive verb "to offer" is not the main verb. "Returned" is. The infinitive verb is being used as an adverb. It describes "returned". You could re-write the sentence as "The officer returned so he could help." In that sentence, "so he could offer assistance" is an adverbial clause. In our original sentence, "to offer assistance" does the same thing.

  
  

  → I must tell the truth.

  (The infinitive verb "tell" is not the main verb. The "to" has been dropped because a modal verb comes before it. The modal verb "must" is the main verb.)
• bare infinitive verb


  An infinitive verb without the word "to" before it.

  
  

  → I must tell the truth.

  (The bare infinitive verb "tell" is not the main verb. The "to" has been dropped because a modal verb comes before it. The modal verb "must" is the main verb.)

  
  

  → I watched them bake bread.

  (The bare infinitive verb "bake" is not the main verb. The "to" has been dropped because it follows the main verb ("watched") and there is a direct object of the main verb ("them").
• past tense verb


  A verb that happened before now.

  
  

  Regular form: V + -ed or -d

  
  

  → He ran behind the shed.

  (The past tense verb is "ran")

  
  

  → They were all present.

  (The past tense verb is "were")
• present tense verb


  A verb that shows a state of being or a habit.

  
  

  → She plays tennis.

  (The present tense verb "plays" shows that tennis is something she does often. It is a habit.)

  
  

  → He is unhappy.

  (The present tense verb "is" shows that his state of being is currently unhappiness.)
• future tense verb


  A verb that shows something that may happen in the future.

  
  

  Form: will + V

  
  

  → She will play tennis.

  (The future tense verb "will play" shows that tennis is something she will be doing sometime after now.)
• direct object

  The person or thing that verb acts on.

  
  

  → I sent the postcard to Dad.

  (What did I send? The postcard. Therefore, "the postcard" is the direct object.)

  
  

  → She sang a song.

  (What did she sing? A song. Therefore, "a song" is the direct object.)
• indirect object


  The person or thing for whom the action was done.

  
  

  → I sent the postcard to Dad.

  (The indirect object is "Dad". He is the person I was sending the postcard to.)

  
  

  → I will bake him a cake.

  (The indirect object is "him". He is the person I will bake a cake for.)
• passive voice


  A sentence has a passive voice when the action is done to the subject, not done by the subject.

  
  

  → The table was set.

  (This sentence is passive because the table didn't do the setting. The act of setting was done to the table.)

  
  

  → Carl was arrested by Officer Williams.

  (This sentence is passive because Carl didn't do the arresting. Officer Williams did. Carl is the subject of the verb "was".)
• active voice


  A sentence has an active voice when the subject does the action.

  
  

  → Carl arrested Officer Williams.

  → The table grew legs and started walking.
• conjugation

  Changing the verb so that it matches the subject. This must be memorized.

  
  

  → I - am

  → You - are

  → He - is

  → She - is

  → It - is

  → We - are

  → They - are
• non-finite verb


  A verb that is not showing tense. This category is made up of gerunds, infinitives, and participles.

  
  

  → Debating is an art form.

  (The non-finite verb "debating" is a gerund.)

  
  

  → She needs to go home.

  (The non-finite verb "to go" is an infinitive.)

  
  

  → We ate the toasted marshmallows.

  (The non-finite verb "toasted" is a participle.)
• participle


  A verb that is used as an adjective. There are two types: present participle and past participle.

  
  

  → This is the house of the rising sun.

  (The present participle "rising" is used to describe the noun "sun".)

  
  

  → That cooked ham looks dry.

  (The past participle "cooked" is used to describe the noun "ham".)
• adjective phrase


  A group of words that describes a noun. There must be an adjective in an adjective phrase.

  
  

  → Sarah was fairly bored with the lesson.

  (The adjective phrase "fairly bored with the lesson" describes Sarah. It uses the linking verb "is" to connect the subject to the predicate.)

  
  

  → The dog covered in mud looked pleased with himself.

  (The adjective phrase "covered in mud" describes the dog. The adjective phrase "pleased with himself" also describes the dog, but it uses the linking verb "looked" to connect to the subject.)
• attributive


  When the phrase is inside the noun phrase of the noun it modifies.

  
  

  → The beautifully carved frames are worth more than the paintings.

  (The adjective phrase "The beautifully carved" is attributive because it is inside the noun phrase "The beautifully carved frames".)
• predicative

  When the phrase is outside the noun phrase of the noun it modifies. A predicative phrase is usually linked to the noun by a linking verb.

  
  

  → The frames were beautifully carved by monks.

  (The adjective phrase "beautifully carved" is predicative because it is outside the noun phrase "The frames".)
• participle phrase


  An adjective phrase that starts with a participle.

  
  

  → You could see the wild thing gnashing its teeth.

  (The participle phrase "gnashing its teeth" describes the wild thing. The word "gnashing" is a participle.)

  
  

  → Rising out of the see, the dragon's scales glimmered in the sunlight.

  (The participle phrase "rising out of the sea" describes the dragon's scales. The word "rising" is a participle.)
• misplaced modifier


  A word, phrase, or clause that does not relate to what it was supposed to modify.

  
  

  These types of errors can be fixed by moving the position of the modifier or rewording the sentence.

  
  

  → He only eats ice cream.

  (He doesn't throw it? He doesn't roll in it? This is a common mistake. The correct sentence would be "He eats only ice cream." That way, "only" modifies the word "ice cream", not "eats".)

  
  

  → Yoona told us after the holiday that she wants to stop smoking.

  (Did Yoona tell us this after the holiday? Or does she want to stop smoking after the holiday? It would be better to say "After the holiday, Yoona told us that she wants to stop smoking" or "Yoona told us that she wants to stop smoking after the holiday.")

  
  

  → Running quickly improves your health.

  (Does running at a face pace improve health? Or does running improve your health quickly? This is a squinting modifier.)

  
  

  → Having read your letter, my dog will be taken to the vet.

  (The dog didn't read the letter. Therefore, the correct sentence would read: "Having read your letter, I will take my dog to the vet." This is an example of a dangling modifier.)
• dangling modifier


  A type of misplaced modifier where there is nothing to modify.

  
  

  → Having read your letter, my dog will be taken to the vet.

  (The dog didn't read the letter. Therefore, the correct sentence would read: "Having read your letter, I will take my dog to the vet.")

  
  

  → Meticulous and punctual, David's work ethic is admirable.

  (David's work ethic is neither meticulous nor punctual; David is.)
• squinting modifier


  A type of misplaced modifier that could modify either the words before or the words after it. It can "look" left or right. If there is nothing to one of those sides, then it is a misplaced modifier.

  
  

  → Taking a moment to think clearly improves your chances.

  (Are we "thinking clearly" or are we "clearly improving"?)
• limiting modifier


  A word that restricts the words it modifies.

  A limiting modifier usually modifies the word immediately to its right. The most common limiting modifiers are: almost, hardly, nearly, just, only, merely.

  
  

  → Martin eats only pears.

  → Almost everyone is asleep.

  → Nearly four score and seven years ago, the constitution was ratified.
• gerund


  A verb that acts like a noun. Gerunds always end in -ing.

  
  

  → Swimming is my favorite past-time.

  → She doesn't like cooking.

  → You can tell much about one's character by one's way of eating jellybeans.

  
• complement


  The word or words needed to complete the meaning of an expression. Complements cannot be removed from a sentence without changing the meaning.

  
  

  → Martha is strong.

  (Strong tells us something about Martha, a noun. So "strong" is a subject complement.)

  
  

  → The resolution made Jeff's position irrelevant.

  (Irrelevant tells us something about Jeff's position, an object. So "irrelevant" is an object complement.)

  
  

  → The board cut Jeff's salary.

  (Jeff's salary tells us something about the verb "cut". This makes "Jeff's salary" an object... and an object complement. Why it is not called a "verb complement", we'll never know.)

  
  

  → The board cut Jeff's salary.

  (The board tells us something about the verb "cut". This makes "The board" a subject... and a subject complement. Why it is not called a "verb complement", we'll never know.)
• linking verb


  A verb that connects the subject to the predicate and does not show an action.

  
  

  Linking verbs are usually one of the five senses or the verb "to be". Remember that they cannot have a direct object.

  
  

  → She smells like a gym class in July.

  (The linking verb "smells" connects the subject pronoun "she" to the predicate "like a gym class in July".)

  
  

  → Siva's grandmother is a bartender.

  (The linking verb "is" connects the subject "Siva's grandmother" to the predicate "a bartender".)