My Faith Grammar
My Faith Grammar
My Faith Grammar
And priceless
Nouns refer to persons, animals, places, things, ideas, or events, etc. Nouns encompass most of the
words of a language.
Thing – a name for a thing: - bat, ball, chair, door, house, computer, etc.
Proper Noun
Common Noun
Abstract Noun
Concrete Noun
Countable Noun
Non-countable Noun
Collective Noun
Compound Noun
Proper Noun:
A proper noun is a name which refers only to a single person, place, or thing and there is no common
name for it. In written English, a proper noun always begins with capital letters.
Example: Melbourne (it refers to only one particular city), Steve (refers to a particular person),
Australia (there is no other country named Australia; this name is fixed for only one country).
Common Noun:
A common noun is a name for something which is common for many things, person, or places. It
encompasses a particular type of things, person, or places.
Example: Country (it can refer to any country, nothing in particular), city (it can refer to any city like
Melbourne, Mumbai, Toronto, etc. but nothing in particular).
So, a common noun is a word that indicates a person, place, thing, etc. In general and a proper noun is a
specific one of those.
Abstract Noun:
An abstract noun is a word for something that cannot be seen but is there. It has no physical existence.
Generally, it refers to ideas, qualities, and conditions.
Example: Truth, lies, happiness, sorrow, time, friendship, humor, patriotism, etc.
Concrete Noun:
A concrete noun is the exact opposite of abstract noun. It refers to the things we see and have physical
existence.
Countable Noun:
The nouns that can be counted are called countable nouns. Countable nouns can take an article: a, an,
the.
Example: Chair, table, bat, ball, etc. (you can say 1 chair, 2 chairs, 3 chairs – so chairs are countable)
Non-countable Noun:
The nouns that cannot be counted are called non-countable nouns.
Example: Water, sugar, oil, salt, etc. (you cannot say “1 water, 2 water, 3 water” because water is not
countable)
Abstract nouns and proper nouns are always non-countable nouns, but common nouns and concrete
nouns can be both count and non-count nouns.
Collective Noun:
Collective nouns can be both plural and singular. However, Americans prefer to use collective nouns as
singular, but both of the uses are correct in other parts of the world.
Compound Noun:
Sometimes two or three nouns appear together, or even with other parts of speech, and create
idiomatic compound nouns. Idiomatic means that those nouns behave as a unit and, to a lesser or
greater degree, amount to more than the sum of their parts.
Functions of Nouns
Nouns can be used as a subject, a direct object, and an indirect object of a verb; as an object of a
preposition; and as an adverb or adjective in sentences. Nouns can also show possession.
Subject: The company is doing great. Roses are the flowers of love.
Direct object: I finally bought a new mobile.
A pronoun is used in place of a specific noun mentioned earlier in a sentence so that you don’t have to
keep saying/writing that particular noun.
Example:
Michael is a good boy. He gets up early in the morning. (Here, you don’t have to mention ‘Michael’
again)
The coach selected several key points. He wanted the team to memorize them. (‘He’ replaces ‘the
coach’; ‘them’ replaces ‘several key points’)
The word or phrase that a pronoun replaces is called the antecedent of the pronoun. In the previous
example, original noun ‘the coach’ is the antecedent and the pronoun ‘he’ is the referent because it
refers back to the original noun. The antecedent and the pronoun/s must agree in terms of number and
gender.
Types of Pronoun:
Subject Pronouns
Object Pronouns
Possessive Pronouns
Reflexive Pronouns
Intensive Pronouns
Relative Pronouns
Demonstrative Pronouns
Interrogative Pronouns
Subject Pronouns
Subject pronouns work as the subject of the verb in a sentence. A subject pronoun normally replaces the
subject/object (a noun) of the previous sentence.
Example:
Marta is a good storyteller. She told a ghost story that scared everyone.
Julie made some cakes. They look tasty. (Here, the subject pronoun replaced the object of the previous
sentence)
Object Pronouns:
Object pronouns work as the object or indirect object in a sentence replacing the antecedent object.
This form of the pronoun is also used after prepositions.
Example:
I’ll give you a present on your birthday. I have a great idea for you (after preposition)
I have a gift for your boss. Give it to your boss. (Here, ‘it’works as an object)
Possessive Pronouns:
Possessive pronouns replace the nouns of the possessive adjectives: my, our, your, her, his, their. The
possessive pronouns are mine, ours, yours, hers, his, its, theirs. The pronoun ‘who’ also has a possessive
form, whose.
Example:
I thought my bag was lost, but the one Kesrick found was mine. (Here, ‘mine’ refers to ‘my bag’)
Their vacation will start next week. Ours is tomorrow. (Here, ‘ours’ refers to ‘our vacation’)
Is this yours?
You have to take either her car or theirs. Hers is better than theirs. (Here, ‘her’ is possessive adjective
and ‘hers’ and ‘theirs’ are possessive pronouns which replaced ‘her car’ and ‘their car’)
Reflexive Pronouns:
Reflexive pronoun redirects a sentence or a clause back to the subject, which is also the direct object of
that sentence. A reflexive pronoun comes when the subject performs its action upon itself. Here, ‘itself’
is a reflexive pronoun.
Example:
Since she is her own boss, she gave herself a raise. (Here, ‘herself’ is the direct object of the clause and
the same person is the subject)
Intensive Pronouns:
Intensive pronouns add emphasis/importance but do not act as the object in the sentence. They can
appear right after the subject.
Example:
Relative Pronouns:
Relative pronouns introduce the relative clause. They are used to make clear what is being talked about
in a sentence. They describe something more about the subject or the object.
Subject
Object
Possession
Uncertainty
Which
Which
Whose
That
That
Who
Whom
Whose
Example:
The car that was stolen was the one they loved most.
Whoever you are behind this great initiative, I want to thank you.
Demonstrative Pronouns:
Demonstrative pronouns normally indicate the closeness of or distance from the speaker, either literally
or symbolically. This, these, that, and those are the demonstrative pronouns. They also work as
demonstrative adjectives when they modify a noun. However, demonstrative pronouns do not modify
anything rather replace the nouns/noun phrases.
Sometimes neither, none and such are also used as demonstrative pronouns.
Example:
Interrogative Pronouns:
Interrogative pronouns produce questions. They are what, which, who, whom, and whose.
Who, whom, and whose refer to questions related to a person or animal; what refers to an idea, object,
or event; and which can indicate either a person/s or a thing/s.
Example:
What was the name of your dog?
An adjective describes or modifies noun/s and pronoun/s in a sentence. It normally indicates quality,
size, shape, duration, feelings, contents, and more about a noun or pronoun.
Adjectives usually provide relevant information about the nouns/pronouns they modify/describe by
answering the questions: What kind? How many? Which one? How much? Adjectives enrich your writing
by adding precision and originality to it.
Example:
However, there are also many adjectives which do not fit into these questions. Adjectives are the most
used parts of speech in sentences. There are several types of adjectives according to their uses.
Types of Adjectives
Descriptive Adjectives
Quantitative Adjectives
Proper Adjectives
Demonstrative Adjectives
Possessive Adjectives
Interrogative Adjectives
Indefinite Adjectives
Articles
Compound Adjectives
Descriptive Adjectives:
A descriptive adjective is a word which describes nouns and pronouns. Most of the adjectives belong in
this type. These adjectives provide information and attribute to the nouns/pronouns they modify or
describe. Descriptive adjectives are also called qualitative adjectives.
Participles are also included in this type of adjective when they modify a noun.
Examples:
I have a fast car. (The word ‘fast’ is describing an attribute of the car)
Quantitative Adjectives:
A quantitative adjective provides information about the quantity of the nouns/pronouns. This type
belongs to the question category of ‘how much’ and ‘how many’.
Examples:
I have 20 bucks in my wallet. (How much)
Proper Adjectives:
Proper adjectives are the adjective form of proper nouns. When proper nouns modify or describe other
nouns/pronouns, they become proper adjectives. ‘Proper’ means ‘specific’ rather than ‘formal’ or
‘polite.’
A proper adjective allows us to summarize a concept in just one word. Instead of writing/saying ‘a food
cooked in Chinese recipe’ you can write/say ‘Chinese food’.
Example:
Demonstrative Adjectives:
A demonstrative pronoun works alone and does not precede a noun, but a demonstrative adjective
always comes before the word it modifies.
Examples:
That building is so gorgeously decorated. (‘That’ refers to a singular noun far from the speaker)
This car is mine. (‘This’ refers to a singular noun close to the speaker)
These cats are cute. (‘These’ refers to a plural noun close to the speaker)
Those flowers are heavenly. (‘Those’ refers to a plural noun far from the speaker)
Possessive Adjectives:
Some of the most used possessive adjectives are my, his, her, our, their, your.
All these adjectives always come before a noun. Unlike possessive pronouns, these words demand a
noun after them.
Examples:
Interrogative Adjectives:
Indefinite Adjectives:
Examples:
Articles
Articles also modify the nouns. So, articles are also adjectives. Articles determine the specification of
nouns. ‘A’ and ‘an’ are used to refer to an unspecific noun, and ‘the’ is used to refer to a specific noun.
Examples:
A cat is always afraid of water. (Here, the noun ‘cat’ refers to any cat, not specific.)
Compound Adjectives:
When compound nouns/combined words modify other nouns, they become a compound adjective. This
type of adjective usually combines more than one word into a single lexical unit and modifies a noun.
They are often separated by a hyphen or joined together by a quotation mark.
Example:
Examples:
A verb is a word or a combination of words that indicates action or a state of being or condition. A verb
is the part of a sentence that tells us what the subject performs. Verbs are the hearts of English
sentences.
Examples:
Jacob walks in the morning. (A usual action)
Verbs are related to a lot of other factors like the subject, person, number, tense, mood, voice, etc.
There are six basic forms of verbs. These forms are as follows:
Finite Verbs
Non-finite Verbs
Action Verbs
Linking Verb
Auxiliary Verbs
Modal Verbs
Finite Verbs:
Finite verbs are the actual verbs which are called the roots of sentences. It is a form of a verb that is
performed by or refers to a subject and uses one of the twelve forms of tense and changes according to
the number/person of the subject.
Example:
Alex went to school. (Subject – Alex – performed the action in the past. This information is evident only
by the verb ‘went’.)
He is one of the best players. (Here, the verb ‘is’ directly refers to the subject itself.)
Non-finite Verbs:
Non-finite Verbs are not actual verbs. They do not work as verbs in the sentence rather they work as
nouns, adjectives, adverbs, etc. Non-finite verbs do not change according to the number/person of the
subject because these verbs, also called verbals, do not have any direct relation to the subject.
Sometimes they become the subject themselves.
The forms of non-finite verbs are – infinitive, gerund, and participle (participles become finite verbs
when they take auxiliary verbs.)
Example:
Action Verbs:
Action verbs indicate what the subject of a sentence performs. Action verbs can make the
listener/reader feel emotions, see scenes more vividly and accurately.
Transitive verbs must have a direct object. A transitive verb demands something/someone to be acted
upon.
Example:
She is reading the newspaper. (The verb ‘read’ asks the question “what is she reading?” – the answer is
the object)
Intransitive verbs do not act upon anything. They may be followed by an adjective, adverb, preposition,
or another part of speech.
Example:
She smiled. (The verb ‘smile’ cannot have any object since the action of ‘smiling’ does not fall upon
anything/anyone)
Note: {Subject + Intransitive verb} is sufficient to make a complete sentence but {Subject + Transitive
verb} is not sufficient because transitive verbs demand a direct object.
Linking Verb:
A linking verb adds details about the subject of a sentence. In its simplest form, it connects the subject
and the complement — that is, the words that follow the linking verb. It creates a link between them
instead of showing action.
Often, what is on each side of a linking verb is equivalent; the complement redefines or restates the
subject.
Generally, linking verbs are called ‘be’ verbs which are - am, is, are, was, were. However, there are some
other verbs which can work as linking verbs. Those verbs are:
Act, feel, remain, appear, become, seem, smell, sound, grow, look, prove, stay, taste, turn.
Some verbs in this list can also be action verbs. To figure out if they are linking verbs, you should try
replacing them with forms of the be verbs. If the changed sentence makes sense, that verb is a linking
verb.
Example:
She appears ready for the game. (She is ready for the game.)
Auxiliary Verbs:
Auxiliary verbs are also called helping verbs. An auxiliary verb extends the main verb by helping to show
time, tense, and possibility. The auxiliary verbs are – be verbs, have, and do.
Linking verbs work as main verbs in the sentence, but auxiliary verbs help main verbs.
Do is an auxiliary verb that is used to ask questions, to express negation, to provide emphasis, and more.
Example:
Modal Verbs:
A modal verb is a kind of an auxiliary verb. It assists the main verb to indicate possibility, potentiality,
ability, permission, expectation, and obligation.
The modal verbs are can, could, must, may, might, ought to, shall, should, will, would.
Example:
I will go there.
An adverb is a word/a set of words that modifies verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. It tells when,
where, and how an action is performed or indicates the quality or degree of the action.
Many adverbs end in -ly but some words which end in -ly (such as friendly) are not adverbs. Many words
can be both adverbs and adjectives according to their activity in the sentence.
Example:
He is running fast.
Adverb Clauses and Adverb Phrases are clauses and phrases that modify the verbs, adjectives or other
adverbs in the sentence.
Example:
Types of Adverbs:
Conjunctive Adverbs
Sentence Adverbs
Conjunctive Adverbs:
A conjunctive adverb connects phrases or independent clauses. It provides transitions between ideas
and shows relationships.
Example:
It rained last night. Nonetheless, the final match has not been canceled.
Last season there was a great drought; consequently, we could not grow crops.
Sentence Adverbs:
A sentence adverb starts the sentence and modifies the whole sentence.
Example:
Adverbs of time/frequency indicate time or frequency of the action in the sentence. They answer the
question ‘when/how frequently is the action performed?’.
Always, never, often, eventually, now, frequently, occasionally, once, forever, seldom, before, Sunday,
Monday, 10 AM, 12 PM, etc. are common adverbs of time/frequency.
Example:
I went to school a little late yesterday.
He smokes occasionally.
Adverbs of place/direction that indicate place/direction of the action in the sentence. They answer the
question ‘ where is the action performed?’.
Across, over, under, in, out, through, backward, there, around, here, sideways, upstairs, in the park, in
the field, in that place, etc. are some common adverbs of place/direction.
Example:
He is staying at my home.
Adverbs that express the importance/degree/level of the action in the sentence are called adverbs of
degree. They answer the question ‘how much is the action performed?’.
Completely, nearly, entirely, less, mildly, most, thoroughly, somewhat, excessively, much, etc. are
common adverbs of degree.
Example:
Adverbs that express the manner/approach/process of the action in the sentence are called adverbs of
manner. They answer the question ‘how is the action performed?’.
Beautifully, equally, thankfully, carefully, handily, quickly, coldly, hotly, resentfully, earnestly, nicely,
tirelessly, etc. are common adverbs of manner. These adverbs usually end in ly.
Example:
He is running fast.
A preposition is a word that indicates the relationship between a noun and the other words of a
sentence. They explain relationships of sequence, space, and logic between the object of the sentence
and the rest of the sentence. They help us understand order, time connections, and positions.
Example:
I am going to Iceland.
Alex threw a stone into the pond.
First, they are a closed class of words which means no new preposition gets added to the language. We
use a fixed set of prepositions.
Second, prepositions do not have any other form. They cannot be plural, possessive, inflection, or
anything else.
Third, most of the prepositions have many different contextual and natural uses. So, it is easy to be
confused about preposition.
Prepositions can be of one, two, three, or even more words. Prepositions with two or more words are
called phrasal prepositions.
because of, in case of, instead of, by way of, on behalf of, on account of, in care of, in spite of, on the
side of, etc.
Types of Preposition
Most of the prepositions have many uses. There are some prepositions which are common in every type
of preposition as they function in a versatile way.
Prepositions of Time
Phrasal Prepositions
Prepositions of Time:
Prepositions of time show the relationship of time between the nouns to the other parts of a sentence.
On, at, in, from, to, for, since, ago, before, till/until, by, etc. are the most common preposition of time.
Example:
Prepositions of place show the relationship of place between the nouns to the other parts of a sentence.
On, at, in, by, from, to, towards, up, down, across, between, among, through, in front of, behind, above,
over, under, below, etc. are the most common prepositions of place/direction.
Example:
He is at home.
Prepositions of agents or things indicate a casual relationship between nouns and other parts of the
sentence.
Of, for, by, with, about, etc. are the most used and common prepositions of agents or things.
Example:
Phrasal Prepositions:
A phrasal preposition is not a prepositional phrase, but they are a combination of two or more words
which functions as a preposition.
Along with, apart from, because of, by means of, according to, in front of, contrary to, in spite of, on
account of, in reference to, in addition to, in regard to, instead of, on top of, out of, with regard to, etc.
are the most common phrasal prepositions.
Example:
Conjunctions are used to join clauses, phrases, and words together for constructing sentences.
Conjunctions make a link between/among words or groups of words to other parts of the sentence and
show a relationship between/among them.
Example:
Types of Conjunctions
Coordinating Conjunctions
Correlative Conjunctions
Subordinating Conjunctions
Coordinating Conjunctions:
The job of a coordinating conjunction is to join two words, phrases, or independent clauses, which are
parallel in structure. There are seven coordinating conjunctions which are by far the most common
conjunctions: and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet.
Example:
Correlative Conjunctions:
A correlative conjunction uses a set of words in a parallel sentence structure to show a contrast or to
compare the equal parts of a sentence. The words of correlative conjunctions have a special connection
between them.
The correlative conjunctions are not only - but also, either- or, neither - nor, both - and, not - but,
whether - or.
Example:
He ate not only the ice cream but also the chocolate.
Subordinating Conjunctions:
A subordinating conjunction joins elements of an unparallel sentence structure. These elements are
usually a dependent clause and an independent clause.
After, how, than, when, although, if, that, where, as, in order that, though, which, as much as, inasmuch
as, unless, while, because, provided, until, who/whom, before, since, what, whoever/whomever.
Example:
Even though the weather was horrible, they still went outside.
An interjection is a kind of exclamation inserted into regular speech. Actually, it is a brief and abrupt
pause in speech for expressing emotions.
In spoken language, interjections are the words we instantly use to show our reaction to something
which influences our emotion. They are the initial reaction and sometimes do not even make sense.
However, for formal speech or writing, using interjections is not appropriate.
Rule 1: Interjections express sudden mood, emotions, and feeling with emphasis. There are also many
taboo words that are usually used in everyday conversation but not in formal aspects. These words fall
into the category of interjections.
Example:
Rule 2: Some interjections interrupt a conversation or a thought or hold someone’s attention for a
moment. These are just sounds, not words because these sounds do not make any sense.
Example:
Example:
Yes! I will most definitely do it.
Example:
There is no doubt that articles are adjectives since they modify the nouns after them. But articles have
some special significance as determiners. Articles determine the standard of nouns.
(Here, the speaker is telling someone to give him/her a particular ball about which the speaker and the
listener both are aware. There is no possibility of the ball to be anything else rather than the speaker
and the listener idea of that particular ball.)
Example:
Give me a ball.
(Here, the speaker is telling someone to give him/her a random ball about which the listener is not
particularly aware of, and s/he might ask ‘which/what kind of ball you want?’.)
Give me an egg. (It can be any kind of egg – the possibility is open.)