Download Grammar Blog 2 More Basics. The last blog said that a verb and its

Grammar Blog 2
More Basics.
The last blog said that a verb and its subject are the essentials for a sentence, and that everything
else must be linked to them.
The subject of a sentence is a noun (naming a person, place, thing, or idea. e.g. John,
country, table, beauty) or a pronoun (replacing a noun already introduced, e.g. he, she, it,
that, which, who).
A verb can have a direct object or an indirect object. These will also be nouns or pronouns.
Further links.
1. Nouns can be described by one or more adjectives: e.g. a clever boy, a small red book,
outstanding beauty.
2. Verbs can be described by one or more adverbs (usually ending in Cly). e.g. The door
slammed loudly. He answered clearly and precisely. He runs fast.)
3. Adverbs can also describe adjectives or other adverbs: e.g. She is extremely beautiful; he
writes very well.
4. So far we have looked at single words, but frequently words are grouped together in
phrases.
Many of these phrases include a preposition ( a small common word indicating how the noun
following it (its object) is linked to either the subject or the verb in its sentence. e.g. at home,
to you, in the market, of interest, by mail, from the student, over the limit, under the bed,
above the earth, below average, behind the wall.) The noun objects may be described by
adjectives. (e.g. in the open market, from the young student, under the large double bed).
5. These prepositional phrases can act as adjectives or adverbs, depending on whether they are
describing the verb or the noun.
The man in the green coat is my professor. (The phrase describes Aman,@ a noun, and is
therefore an adjective phrase (a prepositional phrase acting as an adjective).
The train arrived at the station on time. (There are 2 prepositional phrases here, both describing
Aarrived,@ a verb, and both therefore both adverb phrases.)
AThe man in the green coat@ is also a phrase, a noun phrase, because the whole group of words
is acting as if it were one noun. (It is not the man who is my professor, but the-man-in-thegreen- coat.@ Likewise Aarrived at the station on time@ is a verb phrase. The train did not just
arrive, it arrived-at-the-station-on-time.
The key point to grasp here is that a group of words, a phrase, can take the place of a noun, a
verb, an adjective, or an adverb.
Enough for now. If you have any questions email me.