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English Grammar Fundamentals for
Non-Native English Speakers
A Companion Booklet to Grammar for Creators
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Understand English Grammar
Richard Of Stanley
Copyright © Richard Of Stanley, 2014 All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, without written permission from the author of this
book.
Introduction .......................................................................................4
Acknowledgements ...........................................................................5
Chapter 1: Some Fundamental Rules of English Grammar That You
Must Understand Well .......................................................................6
1. The Noun: Know Its Functions and Subtleties!.....................................7
2. Pronoun: Use It in Place of a Noun!....................................................11
3. The Verb: You Can’t Write Without It!..................................................14
4. Adverb: It Modifies More Than Just Verbs!..........................................27
5. Adjective: It Describes, And It Helps You to Express Yourself with
Precision!................................................................................................28
6. Conjunction: You Need It to Join Parts of Sentences!.........................29
7. Preposition: It Allows You to Add Nouns to Sentences!......................30
4. Interjection: Not Much to Know about It!.............................................32
Chapter Afterthought!..............................................................................34
Introduction
This book teaches you the important fundamental rules of English grammar. It is especially
for anyone not fluent in English or anyone who needs a refresher on the fundamental rules
that are necessary for writing well.
No matter your native language, no matter your profession, you no doubt have a bevy of
things to write about, from your technical expertise, to your creative thoughts, to your
professional emails and reports. That means you can’t escape writing. And since much of the
web is written in English, learning to write well in English will be a boon for your career, as
Sacha Grief, in his review of Grammar and Writing for Creators, affirms:
If I had to single out the thing that has most contributed to my success,
it would probably be my writing skills.1
When you are done reading this book, do read Grammar for Creators and Write Better than You
Ever Have, the two books that accompany this booklet.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the editors Jane Decker, Laurie Bogath, and Robin Coffman for their punctilious
work on the book. Without their help, this book would lack refinement. I have also learned a
few valuable tips from them, especially from Robin, whose editing experience and knowledge
helped to brush off miscues, whose attentiveness helped to dust away ambiguities, and
whose opinion helped to add polish. I must also single out Jane for her keen and astute
grammatical awareness. On the few occasions I missed the mark and stumbled, her
deliberateness and precision saved me from falling.
Chapter 1: Some Fundamental Rules of
English Grammar That You Must Understand
Well
In this chapter—a quick refresher for those familiar with the language and an introduction to
the fundaments of English grammar for those not fluent in English—we will learn the
functions, subtleties, and crucial concepts of the main parts of English grammar.
In English, every word or group of words is categorized into a part of speech, and we have
eight of these parts of speech: noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, conjunction,
preposition, and interjection. These parts of speech compose (or make up) the entire
language of English grammar, and we use at least one part of speech, often a combination of
them, in every sentence we write.
Because this chapter has many technical words and concepts and because each part of
speech is significant in scope (books have been written on nearly all), we will study and
memorize only the important rules and subtleties governing each part of speech.
Let’s get to work.
1. The Noun: Know Its Functions and
Subtleties
First up, nouns.
A noun is typically the name of a thing (rock, gold, pencil, etc.), a person (Tony, sister-in-law,
cousin, etc.), an abstraction (knowledge, idea, etc.), an event (conference, party, etc.), or a
place (New York, Paris, theater, etc.). Nouns serve the following functions in a sentence:
(a) Subject of the Sentence: Every sentence has a subject (also known as the
grammatical subject); that is, the main thing, idea, or person on which the sentence
focuses. For example, Tony has a cat. In that sentence, Tony, the noun, is the subject of
the sentence because the sentence is about Tony.
Moreover, a noun also functions as the subject of a clause, not just the subject of a
sentence. A clause can be a sentence or a part of a sentence. (See Chapter 1, Section
1 of Grammar for Creators to learn about the different forms of a subject and for more
on clauses.)
(b) Object of a Verb: A noun also functions as the object of a transitive verb. We will
study the transitive verb in depth in the next section. For now, know that a transitive
verb has a direct object; that is, the transitive verb acts directly on an object, and that
object is typically a noun (sometimes a pronoun). We refer to the noun—the object—
as the object of the verb. Consider this example (object of the verb in underlined type;
verb in italicized type):
‣ Tony hugs his cat.
The transitive verb is hugs because it acts (performs the action) directly on a noun. In
this case, it acts directly on the noun cat. Therefore, the object of the transitive verb
hug is the noun cat. So we say cat (a noun) is the object of the verb hugs. Only a noun
or a pronoun can appear as an object of a verb. Do remember this second function of
a noun: a noun serves as the object of a transitive verb.
(c) Object of a Preposition: We will learn more about prepositions, another part of
speech, shortly. Essentially, a preposition links a noun (or pronoun) to a sentence,
and we refer to the linked noun or pronoun as the object of the preposition. Thus, a
noun also serves as an object of a preposition, not just as an object of a transitive
verb. Take this example (object of the preposition in underlined type; preposition in
italicized type):
‣ Tony gave his gift to a classmate.
The preposition to links the noun classmate to the sentence. Therefore, the noun
classmate is the object of the preposition to. The a in front of classmate is called an
article. Let’s divert and learn about articles for a brief moment.
Articles
A quick note about articles in English grammar. We refer to the
words the, a, and an as articles.
The, the most frequently used word in English, is a definite article.
It shows that something or someone is the only one, or that you,
the reader, know which specific thing or person is being referred to.
E.g.: John is the leader of our group. In that example the article the
suggests that John is the only leader of our group; our group
doesn’t have another leader. Read the blog post at the link below
for more on the, the definite article.
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/
determiners-and-quantifiers/definite-article
On the other hand, a and an are indefinite articles; they show a
nonspecific thing or person. We use them in front of a singular noun
to specify one item or person from a group of the noun. For
example: Give me a pen; She needs a friend; We will hire an NBA
player. (Read Chapter 4, Section 6 in Grammar for Creators for more
on when to use a or an.). In each preceding example, a and an refer
to only one of the nouns (a friend, a pen, an NBA player). Read the
blog post at the link below for more on a and an, the indefinite
articles.
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/
determiners-and-quantifiers/indefinite-article-and
I will reiterate the main point: when a preposition links a noun to a sentence, we call
that noun the object of the preposition. Thus, a noun also functions as an object of a
preposition.
(d) Subject Complement: A noun that appears just after a linking verb (such as is, am
are, etc.) is said to be a subject complement. For example, in the sentence, “She is an
athlete,” the linking verb is is, and because the noun athlete appears after the linking
verb is, we say the noun athlete is a subject complement. To make this easy to
understand, use this little tip: any time a noun appears just after any form of the verb
to be, that noun is the subject complement. Look at the following examples and note
that because the main verb in each example is a linking verb (in italicized type), the
noun after the verb is called the subject compliment or predicate noun (in underlined
type).
‣ Tomorrow is Thursday. (Thursday is the subject compliment)
‣ She became a supermodel. (Became is a linking verb, just like am, is, was,
etc., so supermodel is the subject compliment)
‣ Tommy Lee was an actor. (Same as above)
The position after the verb to be or after any linking verbs (more on linking verbs
shortly) is called the predicative position, hence the reason we call the noun in that
position the predicate noun.
(e) Indirect Object: We learned moments ago that a noun functions as the object of a
transitive verb. When we have an object of a transitive verb and a noun appears
between the transitive verb and its object (the object of the verb), this in-between
noun is called the indirect object because it is not the direct object of the verb. It is
indirectly affected by the verb. Take this example and notice the indirect object in
underlined type and the transitive verb in italics:
‣ Tony lent Jackie his laptop.
In that example, the transitive verb is lent and the direct object (the noun directly
receiving the action from the transitive verb) is laptop (Tony lent…his laptop). And
since a noun appears between the verb lent and its object laptop, we call that it an
indirect object. The indirect object is Jackie, proof that nouns function as not just
objects of transitive verbs, but also indirect objects of transitive verbs. Generally, the
indirect object allows us to identify to whom or for what the main activity is done. In
the example above, the noun Jackie identifies to whom Tony lent his laptop.
(f)
Noun Appositive (aka Appositive): In addition to the above five functions, a noun
also functions as an appositive, which we discuss in detail in Chapter 1 of Grammar
for Creators. Basically, an appositive renames or identifies another noun. This
example illustrates (appositive in underlined type):
‣ Jeremy, a boxer, broke his wrist in a street fight.
‣ Rory McIlroy, the number one golfer in the world, won the PGA
Championship over the weekend.
In the former example, the noun a boxer identifies the noun Jeremy; therefore, a boxer
is an appositive. And in the latter example, the noun appositive (the number one
golfer in the world) is actually a noun phrase; that is, it is a group of words acting as a
noun. Yes, a noun can be just one word or a group of words. We learn more about
noun phrases and noun appositives in Grammar for Creators.
(g) Noun Absolute: Similar to a noun appositive is a noun absolute, which is a noun that
refers to another noun in the sentence. The noun absolute does not necessarily
identify or rename a noun; instead, it stands on its own and simply refers to a noun.
This example illustrates (the noun absolute in underlined type):
‣ A man without destiny, Jeremiah decides to pursue a new career in
nursing.
In that example, the noun absolute (in underlined type) stands on its own at the
beginning of the sentence and refers to the noun Jeremiah, or we could say it
introduces the subject Jeremiah. Note that the noun absolute does not rename or
identify Jeremiah, as the noun appositive did in the previous example.
A noun serves those seven functions in English grammar. I recommend you read this
entire first section again, after you read Section 2, the next section.
2. Pronoun: Use It in Place of a Noun
We use a pronoun in place of a noun so we don’t have to repeat that noun throughout the
sentence. We use pronouns so that we don’t have to write sentences like this one (Notice each
noun that can be replaced with a pronoun is underlined):
‣ Joan will wash Joan’s hair and drive Joan’s car to Joan’s brother Michael.
Michael is expecting Joan soon.
With the use of pronouns, the sentence looks more refined. Thus:
‣ Joan will wash her hair and drive her car to her brother Michael. He is
expecting her soon.
We have seven types of pronouns in English grammar. Below, I give an overview of these
pronouns.
1. Personal pronouns. We use these pronouns in place of the names of people, animals,
and things. The personal pronouns include he, she, you, it, they, etc. And when we use one
of these personal pronouns, we use it in different forms:
(a) Person. The person refers to whom the subject is about. We have three different
persons, and each has a singular form and a plural form. First person refers to a
subject that is I, me, my/mine for singular, and we, our, us, for plural. Second person
refers to you, your/yours for both singular and plural. And third person refers to he,
she, it, him, her, his, hers for singular, and they, them, their/theirs, for plural.
(b) Number. The number refers to whether the pronoun is in the singular form (I, he, she,
etc.) or in the plural form (you, they, them, etc.).
(c) Gender. The gender refers to whether the pronoun is masculine, feminine, or neuter
(no gender). The only time we have to think about gender in English grammar is when
we are using a verb with a third person singular pronoun (e.g., The student washed her
hands). In that example sentence, the subject student is neither male nor female, but
the pronoun her is female. We do have to know which gender to use in a case like that.
Read more about this in Chapter 2, Sections 1 and 2 of Grammar for Creators.
(d) Case. Case refers to whether the pronoun should be in the subjective or objective
case. The rules for pronoun cases are among the most complicated rules in all English
grammar. I discuss all the pronoun case rules in Chapter 1, Section 3 in Grammar for
Creators.
2. Indefinite Pronouns. We use these pronouns to refer to a generic or unspecified person.
They include pronouns that end with -one or -body, such as anyone, anybody, someone,
none, everyone, etc. I discuss the rules governing these pronouns in Grammar for Creators
since the rules are beyond the scope of this booklet. E.g.: Everyone should leave early
today. Give it anyone one wants it. Anybody who wants a free book can get it.
3. Relative Pronouns. We use these pronouns to refer back to a subject (either the subject
of the sentence or the subject of a clause). The relative pronouns include that, which,
whom, who, and whose. Ruminate on these example sentences with relative pronouns:
Teddy prefers a teacher who has been teaching for more than ten years. Give me the racket
that just broke.
Read Chapter 2, Section 10 of Grammar for Creators for more on when to use who and
whom.
4. Demonstrative Pronouns. We use these pronouns as subjects of sentences and clauses
and as adjectives. The demonstrative pronouns include this, that, these, and those.
Ruminate on these example sentences with demonstrative pronouns: This is the time to
buy an iPhone. These are the days to own an Android. Those are my tennis balls. That match
between Real and Barcelona was outstanding.
5. Reflexive Pronouns (and Intensive Pronouns). We use reflexive pronouns to refer back
to the subject, and we use intensive pronouns to intensify the subject. They include the self pronouns: myself, herself, himself, yourself, itself, yourselves, ourselves, and themselves.
Note that the last three are plural, hence the -s ending. Look at these example sentences
with -self pronouns being used reflexively, to refer back to the subject: I bought a
birthday gift for myself. Tony, don’t do the work by yourself; get some help. We should win the
game for ourselves, not just for the fans. In each example, the -self pronoun refers back to
the subject earlier in the sentence. In the first example, myself refers to the subject I. In the
second, yourself refers back to the subject Tony. And in the third, ourselves refer back to
the we.
We also use these same -self pronouns intensively, that is, to add emphasis to the
subject. For example, I myself will avoid close contact with people, to avoid getting the flu;
Tony himself admitted to his mistakes . In each of those two examples, the -self pronoun
adds emphasis to the subject. The meaning can be interpreted like this: I myself will avoid
… (Even I will avoid …); Tony himself admitted … (Even Tony admitted …).
I discuss the reflexive pronouns rules in Grammar for Creators.
6. Interrogative Pronouns. We use these pronouns to ask questions. They include who,
where, why, whom, which, will, and when. As you may have noticed, a few pronouns are
included in different categories. The way we use these few pronouns determines which
category they fall under. Ruminate on these example sentences with showing how to use
the interrogative pronoun, and notice we use a question mark (?) at the end of each
sentence: Who is at the door? Where are we going for lunch today? Why should I play for that
losing team?
7. Reciprocal Pronouns. We use these pronouns to show a connection or relation with two
subjects. We have only two reciprocal pronouns: each other and one another. Study these
example sentences with reciprocal pronouns: Paul and Ariel decided to help each another.
By this time tomorrow, the students will be greeting one another.
3. The Verb: You Can’t Write Without It
Many believe that the verb is the part of speech writers should favor over every other part of
speech, particularly because we cannot write a grammatical sentence without a verb and
because verbs allow us to write expressive, lively, even impressive prose, more so than any
other part of speech.
Verbs typically show action (Jill runs; Paulina speaks, etc.), or no action (He became a student;
She loves her grandmother), or existence (I am here). We broadly divide verbs into action verbs
and non-action verbs. And we divide each further, thus:
Action Verbs: transitive verbs and intransitive verbs.
No-Action Verbs: linking verbs, the verb to be (a type of linking verb), and
helping verbs.
Let’s dig deeper into each type of verb:
(a) Action Verbs: Action verbs, as the name suggests, refer to verbs that show some sort
of action, such as walk, read, kiss, and type. Notice that all those verbs show some
kind of activity. As discussed above, we divide action verbs into two main categories:
transitive verbs and intransitive verbs.
Transitive Verbs
A transitive verb acts directly on an object. Consider this example: Katie pushed Ariel.
The transitive verb is pushed and the direct object is Ariel. The object receives the
direct action from the transitive verb. A transitive verb acts directly on a noun or
pronoun, and we say the noun (or pronoun) that the transitive verb acts directly on is
the object of the verb. I exhort you to know and remember what an object is, for we
will use the word object often in this book.
In the sentence “The dog will bite you,” the verb bite is the transitive verb, and the
pronoun you is the direct object. Why is bite a transitive verb? Look at the word
immediately after bite; it is a pronoun, you, the object of the verb bite. As you see, the
verb bite has a direct object. Therefore, bite is a transitive verb. Likewise, in the
sentence “Chelsea plays the piano,” piano is the direct object of the verb plays;
therefore, plays is a transitive verb.
If you are an engineer or a scientist, you might appreciate this explanation of a
transitive verb: We can think of a transitive verb as possessing energy, and a body (the
subject) can transfer that energy to another body (the object). Consider this example:
Katie kicked Ariel. The subject Katie transferred the energy kicked to the object Ariel. If
a verb possesses that energy (let’s say potential energy), then you know it is a
transitive verb. Check this out: Katie sits on Ariel. In this example, the verb sits was not
transferred directly to Ariel (the sentence didn’t say Katie sits Ariel). Because we had to
use the preposition on between the verb and the noun, we immediately know the verb
is not a transitive verb. A transitive verb does not need a preposition (such as on, in,
for, to, between, etc.) to link a noun to a sentence. Indeed, often we use an article (a,
an, or the) in front of a noun, but that article is merely pointing out which noun; it
doesn’t interfere with the transitive verb and its direct object. E.g., Ariel kicked a ball.
Notice the article a simply points out that Ariel kicks a ball; we don’t know which ball,
hence the use of a.
All transitive verbs can add a noun (the object) directly to the sentence. Sometimes
we will use the article a or the between the verb and its object, as in the previous
example (Chelsea plays the piano), but the verb is still acting directly on the object.
Notice we don’t need a preposition to add the noun to the sentence, when using a
transitive verb. Usually, we add a noun or a noun phrase to a sentence by using either
a transitive verb (Tony catches the ball) or a preposition (Tony steps on the ball). In the
former example, the transitive verb, catches, links the noun, ball, directly to the
sentence. In the latter example, however, since the verb steps is not a transitive verb,
we had to use the preposition, on, to link ball to the sentence.
Intransitive Verb
In contrast to a transitive verb, an intransitive verb does not have a direct object. For
instance, in the sentence “Andy sits on the field,” sits is the intransitive verb. Notice we
use the preposition on to link the noun field to the sentence. Andy sits on the field. We
need a preposition like on to link the verb sits to the noun field because an intransitive
verb does not act directly on an object. For example, we could not write Andy sits the
field. Only the transitive verb can take a direct object in that manner.
If we use a transitive verb with the subject Andy, then Andy can act directly on the
field, and we can add the noun field to the sentence without the need for a
preposition: Andy kissed the field. Kiss is the transitive verb. This is the main difference
between a transitive verb and an intransitive verb: A transitive verb has a direct
object and an intransitive verb does not. A transitive verb can link a noun directly
to a sentence and an intransitive verb needs a preposition to link a noun to a
sentence.
Some verbs can function as either transitive or intransitive. You can quickly determine
whether a verb functions as a transitive or intransitive verb in any given sentence.
Consider this example: Andy and Pam kissed in the field. Here kissed is an intransitive
verb. It has no direct object. But if we write, Andy kissed Pam, then kissed is of course
transitive, since Pam is the direct object of the verb kissed.
Intransitive verbs usually show some kind of physical activity or movement (run, walk,
skip, jump, travel, etc.). Both transitive verbs and intransitive verbs are action verbs.
(b) No-Action Verbs:
As noted above, we divide the no-action verbs into the following two types of verbs:
(a) Linking Verbs
A linking verb (in underlined type in the examples) links a noun to an adjective: The
car looks new. The noun is car and the adjective is new. The linking verb looks links
the noun to the adjective. Or it links a noun to a noun: Tom became a student. The
noun after the linking verb is called the predicate noun: Tony became a student.
Student is the predicate noun. And the adjective after the linking verb is called the
predicate adjective: The car seems new. New is the predicate adjective.
These are the main linking verbs: The verb to be and all its forms (including am,
is, are, was, were, be, being, and been), become, seem, appear, remain, and the
verbs that relate to our senses: feel, look, taste, smell, and sound.
The Verb To Be: The verb to be exists in these main forms: am, is, are, was, were,
be, being, and been. Just like other linking verbs, the verb to be links a noun to an
adjective (The car was fast), or it links a noun to a noun (Tom is her nephew). We will
discuss how to form the tenses (present, past, future, etc.) of the verb to be and
other verbs, shortly. Some to be verbs also function as helping verbs, as we will see
below.
(b) Helping Verbs (aka Auxiliary verb): The other types of non-action verbs are
helping verbs; these verbs “join the main verbs (becoming the helper of the main
verbs) to express the tense, mood, and voice of the verb,”2 as described by
grammarian Susan Thurman. We have fewer than twenty auxiliaries in English.
Some of the frequently used auxiliaries are be, do, have, might, may, can, need, will,
shall, should, would, could, and dare.
We use helping verbs (in underlined type) like this: The bride has left the ceremony.
The main verb is left, and the helping (auxiliary) is has. The auxiliary in that
example helps to express the tense, that is, when the activity (the bride leaving)
took place. The main helping verbs include the verb to be (am, is, are, etc.), do,
have, can, could, dare, may, might, must, ought to, and need.
Forming Verb Tenses and Conjugating Verbs (The Most Important Lesson; A Must Read)
When I say “forming verb tenses,” I mean changing the form of a verb to show its tense, that
is, to show when the verb activity took place—whether it is present, past, or future tense, or
one of three perfect tenses. We discuss the main tenses in depth shortly.
And when I say “conjugating verbs,” I mean changing the form of a verb to show its tense (the
same as noted above), to show its number (whether it is singular or plural), and to show its
person (whether it is first person—I, me, mine/my; second person—you, your/yours; or third
person—he, she, it, him/his her/hers, its). Let’s expound on this discussion to better
understand conjugated verbs. This topic is essential to understanding and using English
grammar well.
Understand the Conjugated Verb
When we use a verb in a sentence, which is almost always, we have to use a conjugated verb.
A conjugated verb has a subject, and the verb shows three things: (1) person—who did it; (2)
tense—when it happened, and (3) number—whether the subject is singular or plural.
In the sentence “I ran yesterday,” the verb ran is a conjugated verb because it shows person
(first person: I), tense (past tense: yesterday), and number (singular: I).
In the sentence “While running around the park, Tony saw Jill,” the conjugated verb is saw; it
shows person, tense, and number: Tony is third person; saw is past tense; and Tony is singular.
Notice that the sentence also has the verb running, which does not have a subject (while
running). The word while is a conjunction, not a noun or pronoun, so while cannot serve as
the subject of the verb running. Since running does not have a subject, it cannot show person
and number because we don’t know who and how many people are running. Therefore, the
verb running in that sentence is not a conjugated verb.
Do you see that the conjugated verb shows person, tense, and number while the nonconjugated verb does not show all three of those things? We will continue to better
understand conjugated verbs, so don’t despair if you don’t understand them well at this
point.
Let’s dig deeper to understand conjugated verbs well. As just discussed, a conjugated verb
shows three main things (a subject [or person], tense, and number):
(a) The subject refers to the person or thing doing the verbal activity, that is, the subject of
the verb. We call the subject the person. We have three types of persons in grammar. If I
am the subject (e.g., I am writing), we say the subject is in the first person (I, me, mine/
my). If you are the subject (e.g., You will write better soon), we say the subject is in the
second person (you, your/yours). If someone else besides you or me is the subject
(e.g., He climbed the wall; Patricia has arrived), we say the subject is in the third person
(he, she, it, him/his her/hers, its). And of course the subject—the person—can be plural:
first person (we, us, ours); second person (you, your/yours), and third person (they,
them, their/theirs).
(b) The other main thing that a conjugated verb shows is tense. Tense refers to when the
activity took place: present tense, past tense, future tense, present perfect tense,
future perfect tense, and so on. We study all the tenses shortly.
(c) And the third thing a conjugated verb shows is the number, which refers to whether
the subject is singular or plural. If I, he, she, Tony, the student, the child, an apple, etc. is
the subject, the subject is singular, just one person or thing. If we, you, they, our,
students, children, apples, etc. is the subject, the subject is plural, more than one
person or thing.
Those three things (person, tense, and number) distinguish a conjugated verb from a nonconjugated verb. We use conjugated verbs often, in nearly every sentence we write, so
remember what a conjugated verb is. A conjugated verb is also known as a finite verb, but we
will use the term conjugated verb throughout this book.
Now that we understand the conjugated verb well, we can learn how to form verb tenses, a
topic closely related to conjugating verbs. But before we do that, let’s learn about singular
and plural verbs.
Singular and Plural Verbs (also known as Subject-Verb Agreement)
The most important fundamental rule for constructing grammatical (correct) sentences
remains subject and verb agreement. The rule for subject-verb agreement states:
A singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a
plural verb.
We use a singular verb when the subject of the verb is one person or thing, and we use a
plural verb when the subject is more than one. Writers, including native English speakers,
have more trouble with that perceptibly simple rule than they do with any other rule in all
English grammar.
Some verbs have a plural form that looks different from its singular form. For example, these
are the singular forms of the verb to be: is, am, was. We must use a singular subject with those
singular to be verbs. E.g.: He is tall; Tony was sleeping; I am tired; etc. In each of those
examples, the subject is singular, and so is the verb. So we say the subject and verb agree.
Read Chapter 1, Section 2 in Grammar for Creators for more on subject-verb agreement rules.
These are the plural forms of the verb to be: are, were. We must use a plural subject with these
plural to be verbs. E.g: Basketball players are tall; Tony and Alice were sleeping; etc. Notice that
the singular forms of to be (is, am, was) look different from the plural forms (are, were).
Similarly, the singular verb has looks different from its plural form have. All those verbs
require memorizing since there is no particular pattern or rule for forming the singular and
plural forms. But some singular verbs look quite similar to their plural forms. Study these
examples of some singular verbs and their plural form:
Singular and Plural Verbs
Singular
Plural
runs (he runs)
run (they run)
writes (she writes)
write (we write)
sits (the rat sits)
sit (some rats sit)
has (a singer has)
have (singers have)
am (I am)
are (they are)
is (a car is)
are (cars are)
We look at some more singular verbs and plural verbs when we look at examples of
conjugated verbs and tenses below.
Participles
Before we continue learning the verb tenses, let’s pause for a moment to study the participle.
The participle is a type of verb modification (we modify the verb ending) that allows us to
express the state of a subject (person, thing, people, etc.). A participle by itself is not a type of
verb tense. We have two types of participles: present participle and past participle.
Present Participle: We form the present participle by adding -ing at the end of a verb, for
most verbs. These examples illustrate: bark, barking; eat, eating; park, parking. For some
verbs, however, we modify the ending just a bit—by either repeating the last letter or by
removing one letter—before we add the -ing. These examples illustrate: program,
programming (we repeat the m); bite, biting (we remove the silent e); love, loving (we remove
the silent e). When you read English texts and use the language, you will quickly become
familiar with how to form the participle for various verbs.
We use the present participle for the following:
(a) To make adjectives (even though our language already has many adjectives): Let’s make
some adjectives with the present participle: running man, programming language, crying
baby. Each participle, the -ing verb in front of each noun, modifies the noun and, therefore,
functions as an adjective.
(b) To form the progressive tenses: We combine a participle (an -ing verb) and the verb to be
to form the progressive tenses. Thus: He is running; We are coming; They will be going; Mike
had been drinking; etc.
(c) To make nouns: We can make nouns with a present participle (an -ing verb); we call these
nouns gerunds. Notice the -ing verb in each of these examples is used as a noun in the
sentence: Programming is his profession; Singing relaxes people; She likes eating; etc.
Past Participle: We form the past participle by combining a form of the verb have (have/has/
had) and the past participle of a verb. Indeed, every verb has a past participle. See the table
below for the past participle of commonly used verbs in English. Some verbs have the same
past tense and past participle, such as pay (paid, paid), run (ran, ran), and play (played,
played). I should note here that the past tense is a verb tense that shows an activity has been
completed, that is, happened in the past. On the other hand, the past participle is not a verb
tense by itself, though we use it to form the perfect tense, as you will see below. We discuss
the past tense in depth shortly.
We form the past participle and past tense of most verbs by adding -ed or -d. However, the
past participle and past tense of some verbs don’t follow that simple rule, and we must
memorize them since there is no particular rule to forming the past tense and past participle
of irregular verbs—verbs that don’t follow the -ed or -d ending rule. Memorize the past tense
and past participle of each verb in the table below:
Past Participle of Common Verbs
Main Verb
Past Tense
Past Participle
ask
asked
asked
become
became
become
break
broke
broken
build
built
built
dance
danced
danced
dive
dove/dived
dived
drink
drank
drunk
eat
ate
eaten
finish
finished
finished
laugh
laughed
laughed
learn
learned
learned
look
looked
looked
meet
met
met
pay
paid
paid
perform
perform
perform
remember
rememberd
remembered
run
ran
run
send
sent
sent
sleep
slept
slept
study
studied
studied
Main Verb
Past Tense
Past Participle
swim
swam
swum
take
took
taken
use
used
used
walk
walked
walked
If you are not sure about what the past participle of a verb is, you should look it up in the
dictionary. Most dictionaries give the past participle for each verb. Moreover, you can find the
past participle of any verb by using this trick noted by Ed Good: “I have [verb].”3 Place any
verb after “I have” and you will find the past participle. For instance, I have completed the job
(completed is the past participle); I have run the marathon (run is the past participle); I have
witnessed the event (witnessed is the past participle); I have not smoked a joint (smoked); I
have swum a mile many times (swum); I have told lies (told). But of course you may not know
how to form the verb after have, so always check the dictionary to be sure.
We use the past participle for the following:
(a) To form the perfect tenses: We discuss this in detail below, but for now, let’s make a few
perfect tenses: She will have kissed him; Joan has done it; We have made it.
(b) To form the passive voice: The passive voice is beyond the scope of this booklet, but you
can read about it in Chapter 1, Section 4 of Grammar for Creators, the book accompanying
this booklet.
Verb Tenses
As we learned above, when we conjugate a verb, we also change the tense of the verb. In
English Grammar, we have six main tenses:
(1) Present tense: This tense allows us to show an activity that occurs now, in the present.
E.g.: He sings well. As you will see in the verb conjugation tables below, we usually add an
-s or -es to the end of a singular verb for third person. E.g.: Margarita plays the violin. And
we don’t add anything on a plural verb. E.g.: The students play the violin. But the verb to
be and many other verbs don’t follow this rule. E.g.: Jasmine is a dancer. Many
programmers are smart. For those learning English as a second language, this is one of
the most frustrating parts of English grammar. In fact, there are exceptions to nearly
every rule in English grammar, but as I noted earlier, you will quickly become familiar
with the exceptions to the rules as you read English books and articles and listen to
native English speakers.
(2) Past tense: This tense allows us to show an activity that occurred in the past and has
been completed. E.g.: He played well yesterday. We form the past tense by adding -ed
(play, played) or -d (graduate, graduated) at the end of most verbs. We call these verbs
regular verbs. But some verbs don’t follow this rule, so we call them irregular verbs. We
form the past tense for irregular verbs by adding various endings, sometimes changing
the entire verb, not just the ending. You have to memorize the past tense of most
irregular verbs. Learn these past tense examples of irregular verbs:
Present Tense and Past Tense of Some Irregular Verbs
Present Tense
(3)
Past Tense
Present Tense
Past Tense
beat
beat
cost
cost
begin
began
catch
caught
bend
bent
arise
arose
bring
brought
bear
bore
creep
crept
bite
bit
do
did
eat
ate
drink
drank
burst
burst
fit
fit
prove
proved
put
put
ring
rang
say
said
go
went
swim
swam
tear
tore
Future tense: This tense allows us to show an activity that will occur some time after
now (in the future), including just seconds or minutes or years or many millennia from
now. In American English (AmE), we typically use will in front of a verb to form the future
tense. E.g.: He will sing in ten minutes; Abhijit will graduate next year; Our universe will
disappear in a few million years. In British English (BrE), we typically use shall instead of
will to form the future tense: He shall sing in ten minutes.
Perfect Tenses
In addition to the three tenses above, we have three perfect tenses; these tenses allow us to
show an activity that has been completed at some particular time (present, past, or future).
We use forms of the verb have and will (or shall—typically in BrE) to form the perfect tenses.
Thus:
(4) Present perfect tense. We form the present perfect tense with has or have (for singular
or plural) and the past participle of the verb. We use this tense to show an action that has
been completed as of the present time. E.g.: Jeremy has designed the user interface;
Americans have voted for a new president; I have swum already.
(5) Past perfect tense. We form the past perfect tense with had (the past tense of have) and
the past participle of a verb. Use this tense to show an activity that has been completed
at some time in the past, before some other activity. E.g.: She had left the room before I
entered it; Americans had loved President Nixon before he committed an impeachable
crime.
(6) Future perfect tense. We form the future perfect tense with will (or shall) and have and
the past participle of the verb. Use this tense to show an activity that will be completed
at some time in the future, before some other date or activity. E.g.: She will have left the
room by the time you arrive; We will have graduated from college by 2016.
Conjugating Verbs
Now that we know the six major tenses in English, let’s resume our discussion of conjugating
verbs. We will conjugate some common regular and irregular verbs. Some verbs are easy to
conjugate while some others require memorization. Let’s conjugate a few verbs, including the
verb to be, in the six major tenses. Notice we show each verb not only in the six major tenses,
but also in singular and plural, and also in first person, second person, and third person:
Verb conjugation for the verb to be:
Present
Past
Present
Perfect
Future
Past Perfect
Future
Perfect
Verb: To be
I am here
I was here
He is here
He was here
We are here
We were here
You are here
You were here
They are here
They were here
I will be here
I have been here
I had been here
I will have been
here
He will be here
He has been here He had been here He will have been
here
We will be here
We have been here We had been here We will have been
here
You will be here You have been
You had been here You will have been
here
here
They will be here They have been They had been
They will have
here
here
been here
Verb conjugation for the verb talk (a regular verb):
Present
Past
Present
Perfect
Future
Past Perfect
Future
Perfect
Verb: Talk
I am talking
I was talking
He is talking
He was talking
We are talking
We were talking
I will be talking
I have been talking I had been talking I will have been
talking
He will be talking He has been
He had been
He will have been
talking
talking
talking
We will be talking We have been
We had been
We will have been
talking
talking
talking
Present
You are talking
They are talking
Past
Present
Perfect
Future
You were talking
You will be talking You have been
talking
They were talking They will be
They have been
talking
talking
Past Perfect
You had been
talking
They had been
talking
Future
Perfect
You will have been
talking
They will have
been talking
Verb conjugation for the verb ask (a regular verb):
Present
Past
Present
Perfect
Future
Past Perfect
Future
Perfect
Verb: Ask
I am asking
He is asking
We are asking
You are asking
They are asking
I was asking
I will be asking
I have been asking I had been asking I will have been
asking
He was asking
He will be asking He has been
He had been
He will have been
asking
asking
asking
We were asking
We will be asking We have been
We had been
We will have been
asking
asking
asking
You were asking You will be asking You have been
You had been
You will have been
asking
asking
asking
They were asking They will be asking They have been They had been
They will have
asking
asking
been asking
Verb conjugation for the verb beg (a regular verb):
Present
Past
Present
Perfect
Future
Past Perfect
Future
Perfect
Verb: Beg
I am begging
I was begging
I will be begging
I have been
begging
He is begging
He was begging He will be begging He has been
begging
We are begging
We were begging We will be begging We have been
begging
You are begging You were begging You will be
You have been
begging
begging
They are begging They were begging They will be
They have been
begging
begging
I had been
begging
He had been
begging
We had been
begging
You had been
begging
They had been
begging
Verb conjugation for the verb run (an irregular verb):
I will have been
begging
He will have been
begging
We will have been
begging
You will have been
begging
They will have
been begging
Present
Past
Present
Perfect
Future
Past Perfect
Future
Perfect
Verb: Run
I am running
I was running
I will be running
I have been
running
He is running
He was running
He will be running He has been
running
We are running
We were running We will be running We have been
running
You are running You were running You will be
You have been
running
running
They are running They were running They will be
They have been
running
running
I had been running I will have been
running
He had been
He will have been
running
running
We had been
We will have been
running
running
You had been
You will have been
running
running
They had been
They will have
running
been running
Verb conjugation for the verb swim (an irregular verb):
Present
Past
Present
Perfect
Future
Past Perfect
Future
Perfect
Verb: Swim
I am swimming
I was swimming
I will be swimming I have been
swimming
He is swimming He was swimming He will be
He has been
swimming
swimming
We are swimming We were
We will be
We have been
swimming
swimming
swimming
You are swimming You were
You will be
You have been
swimming
swimming
swimming
They are
They were
They will be
They have been
swimming
swimming
swimming
swimming
I had been
swimming
He had been
swimming
We had been
swimming
You had been
swimming
They had been
swimming
I will have been
swimming
He will have been
swimming
We will have been
swimming
You will have been
swimming
They will have
been swimming
Verb conjugation for the verb teach (another irregular verb):
Present
Past
Present
Perfect
Future
Past Perfect
Future
Perfect
Verb: Teach
I am teaching
He is teaching
We are teaching
I was teaching
I will be teaching
I have been
teaching
He was teaching He will be teaching He has been
teaching
We were teaching We will be
We have been
teaching
teaching
I had been
teaching
He had been
teaching
We had been
teaching
I will have been
teaching
He will have been
teaching
We will have been
teaching
Present
You are teaching
Past
Future
You were teaching You will be
teaching
They are teaching They were
They will be
teaching
teaching
Present
Perfect
You have been
teaching
They have been
teaching
Past Perfect
You had been
teaching
They had been
teaching
Future
Perfect
You will have been
teaching
The will have been
teaching
That’s it for verbs. You have learned quite a bit there, but we have more to learn. Let’s carry
on.
4. Adverb: It Modifies More Than Just
Verbs
We use adverbs most often to describe or modify verbs. So if we use a verb in a sentence and
we want to describe that verb, we usually use an adverb. For example, Quincy quickly ate his
lunch. In that sentence, we use the adverb quickly to describe how Quincy ate his lunch. Most
adverbs in English end with -ly (hurriedly, accurately, incredibly, beautifully, etc.). In fact, we
usually take adjectives and turn them into adverbs by adding -ly (nice, nicely; beautiful,
beautifully; strange, strangely; intense, intensely; delicious, deliciously; bitter, bitterly; etc.). But
we also have some adverbs that do not end with -ly, such as ever, now, backwards, often,
always, etc.). You should also know that not all words that in -ly are adverbs.
Adverbs don’t only describe verbs, however. They can also describe adjectives. Look at this:
She has on an undeniably beautiful dress. In that example, the adverb undeniably modifies the
adjective beautiful. Adverbs can also describe or modify an entire sentence or clause.
Consider this example: Truthfully, I don’t think I can attend Jim’s party again. The adverb
truthfully modifies the entire sentence.
Read Chapter 2, Section 4 of Grammar for Creators for the important rules governing adverb
placement in a sentence.
5. Adjective: It Describes, And It Helps
You to Express Yourself with Precision
When we write, often we want to express precisely what we are thinking. Sometimes, we want
to use words to hide or intensify our emotions. Sometimes, we want to evoke a particular
emotion or reaction from our readers. And sometimes, we want to enhance, clarify, or
downplay some quality we are describing. The adjective allows us to do all these things
because we use it to modify nouns and pronouns. Adjectives come in all shapes and colors
and intensities. We can describe something as quite, as calming, as hot, as hotter, as hottest,
as intense, as cold, as scary, as pleasurable, as sexy, as irresistible, and more. Look how
expressive those adjectives are.
English has many adjectives: beautiful, sweet, tasty, sexy, orange, blue, black, tall, scary, etc.
But we can also create adjectives by adding -ing to the end of a verb. For example: speed,
speeding (the speeding car); frighten, frightening (a frightening mask); program,
programming (some programming lessons). Moreover, we can create our own adjectives by
combining nouns or nouns and other words: hotdog sandwich, fast-typing programmer, curlyhaired lad, from-the-north-bicycle-riding bloke, narrow-hips-leggy teenager, etc. Yes, you can
take two or more words and join them with a hyphen (-) and make adjectives. Read Chapter 2,
Section 3 in Grammar for Creators for all the important adjective rules.
6. Conjunction: You Need It to Join Parts
of Sentences
So far, we have studied nouns—the names of things, people, places, etc. We have studied
pronouns—the words we use in place of nouns. We have studied verbs—the action and nonaction words that show activity, existence, state, etc. We have studied adverbs—the words
that modify verb, adjectives, and even full clauses and sentences. And we have just studied
adjectives—the words that modify nouns and pronouns.
The noun is typically the subject (the main person or thing or concept) of the sentence, and
the verb is typically the activity or the state of the subject. Conjunctions, the focus of this
section, are words that merely help to join parts of sentences. We have three types of
conjunctions:
(a) Coordinating Conjunctions: This category of conjunctions includes six little words that
help to join parts of sentences and list items in a series. These are the six coordinating
conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. (You can remember them by the acronym
FANBOYS). And you can use them with or without a comma, as illustrated below:
‣ Sally cleaned the room, for that was her assigned task. (For, as a
conjunction, means the same as because.)
‣ Joseph bought a car and decided to drive it to New York city.
‣ Joseph has two cars, and he plans to buy two more.
‣ When on vacation, you shouldn’t avoid the locals, nor should you avoid
the local food.
‣ No one arrived on time this morning, so the manager canceled the
morning meeting.
‣ Our attorney will arrive soon, or we might have to cancel the meeting.
‣ Marcelo scored two spectacular goals, but his team lost the match.
For more on when to use a comma and when not to, read Chapter 3, Section 1 in
Grammar for Creators.
(b) Subordinate Conjunctions: These conjunctions join dependent clauses (Read Grammar
for Creators Chapter 1, Section 1 for more on clauses). Remember these common
subordinating conjunctions:
after, although, as if, as though, because, before, even if, even though, lest,
since, though, till, until, unless, whatever, when, whenever, where, wherever,
while
Essentially, a dependent clause is a group of words—with a subject and a verb (a conjugated
verb)—that cannot stand on its own, hence the term dependent clause. The subordinate
conjunctions join the dependent clause with the other part of the sentence. Ruminate on the
example sentences below. Notice the subordinate conjunction in italicized type and the
dependent clause in underlined type, and pay attention to how the subordinate conjunction
joins the dependent clause with the rest of the sentence:
‣ The weather will be great for a picnic this afternoon, after the rain stops.
‣ Thanks for the gift, even though I don’t deserve it.
‣ He will practice relentlessly, until he wins the British Open.
(c) Correlative Conjunctions: I discuss correlative conjunctions at length in Chapter 2,
Section 9 of Write Better Than You Ever Have. Refer to that section of the book for more.
7. Preposition: It Allows You to Add Nouns
to Sentences
A preposition’s primary function is to attach a noun (or noun phrase) to a sentence. We
learned earlier that transitive verbs attach nouns to sentences. The other main way to attach
a noun to a sentence is to use a preposition. We have simple prepositions and compound
prepositions. Since skilled and informed writers avoid compound prepositions, which are
unnecessary and typically used as filler text, we will skip them and focus on only simple
prepositions.
Simple Prepositions. These prepositions help to show movement (I am going to Paris),
location (The ball is in the hole), time (They arrived at 2 p.m.), and other relationships of a
noun. Learn these simple prepositions:
at, in, on, off, above, with, into, to, up, for, etc.
Study the use of the preposition (in italicized type) in each example sentence below, and
notice the preposition attaches a noun or noun phrase (in underlined type) to the sentence:
‣ Don’t go in the river.
‣ They are preparing for a marathon. (For is both a preposition and a
conjunction; we saw it in the conjunction section earlier.)
‣ He will come to the game with his girlfriend.
The use of some prepositions doesn’t always follow logic in English grammar, so you
will have to listen for the idiomatic usage (common everyday usage by native
speakers) to become familiar with the specific uses of some prepositions. In the
examples that follow, you will notice that sometimes we use to, in, on, and at in ways
not conforming to any specific, standardized rule:
He will go to London.
He will go to the bank.
Let’s meet on Tuesday.
We can meet Tuesday. (This example doesn’t have a preposition, but the
sentence means the same as the previous sentence.)
‣ Let’s meet in one week. (Here we use in, not on, yet it is correct.)
‣ She sits on a bench. She sits in the chair. (Both are correct.)
‣ She eats at McDonald’s She eats in the restaurant. (Both are correct.)
‣
‣
‣
‣
As I noted, you have to listen out for how native speakers use these simple
prepositions because logic doesn’t usually help you to determine the proper usage.
For a detailed discussion on prepositional phrases, see Chapter 1, Section 1 in Grammar for
Creators.
4. Interjection: Not Much to Know about
It
We have only one interjection in English grammar. It is the exclamation mark: !.
We use it to show an exclamation, as in a shout, a sudden remark, a yell, etc. We can also use
it to show a surprise remark. Use the exclamation sparingly, for it is synonymous to using all
caps (that is, capital letters), which, annoys readers when used too often or used
unnecessarily. Some examples with the exclamation follow: Arrggg! Wow! I am tired of your
nonsense. Stop! Stop it, please! Great!
Notes
1. Sacha Grief, a review of Grammar and Writing for Creators, by Richard of Stanley.
2. Susan Thurman, and Larry Shea, The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need : A One-Stop
Source for Every Writing Assignment (2003) p. 26.
3. C. Edward Good, A Grammar Book for You and I-- Oops, Me! : All the Grammar You Need to
Succeed in Life. 1st edn (2002) p.228.
Chapter Afterthought
Now that you are familiar with the important fundamental concepts in English grammar, you
can now go read Grammar for Creators. It will help you write clear, comprehensible, and
refined prose. You will write better than you ever have, even in your native language, and
even better than most native English speakers. But you have to commit to improving and
read most of the book.
I wish you all the best in your studies.