First off, it’s grammar, not grammer. And it’s spelled, not spelt.
All words in a sentence are either: nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, pronouns, articles, prepositions, conjunctions, or interjections. Let’s look at them.
Nouns
A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea. Examples are:
- Person – Bobby, the policeman, the Oilers
- Place – Regina, the bedroom
- Thing – potato, rain, United Nations
- Idea – justice, inability, Christianity
Proper nouns are particular persons, places, things, or ideas. (e.g., Bobby, Regina, United Nations, Christianity). They are always capitalized. Common nouns refer to any person, place, thing, or idea (e.g., policeman, bedroom, potato, justice)
Plurals
The general rule of pluralization is to just add an “s” (e.g., apple, apples). General exceptions are:
- if the word ends with an “s” or an “h” add “es” (e.g., witness, witnesses; brush, brushes)
- If the word ends with “f” add “ves” (e.g., thief, thieves; half, halves; leaf, leaves)
- If the word end with “y” add “ies” (e.g., army, armies; lady, ladies)
Make sure you pluralize the right word (e.g., work of art, works of art; passer-by, passers-by).
There are many exceptions to the above rules and some are quite tricky—so they must be memorized (e.g., fish, fish; crisis, crises; key, keys; knife, knives).
Adjectives
Adjectives describe nouns (e.g., specify colour, shape, size, number).
- Five crazy bachelors live in a large house near the pristine beach
Adjectives can also be comparative or superlative.
- High, higher, highest
- Beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful
You shouldn’t use more than two adjectives to describe a noun.
Verbs
A verb shows action or a state of being. It also indicates the time of the action or state of being.
- He gave his baseball cards to his brother (past tense)
- She needs more money (present tense)
- They will travel to Egypt (future tense)
The standard dictionary form of a verb is called its infinitive (e.g., to be, to run).
Adverbs
Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Words ending in “ly” are almost always adverbs.
- Editors work incredibly hard. Editors is the noun, work is the verb, hard is an adverb (since it describes the verb), and incredibly is also an adverb (since it describes another adverb).
- This mountain is much higher than the last one. Much is an adverb since it describes the adjective higher
- Tom is slightly overweight, but he skates well. Slightly is an adverb since it describes the verb overweight (a state of being). Well is also an adverb since it describes the verb skates.
Pronouns
A pronoun can take the place of a noun. There are many different kinds of pronouns.
- Personal – I, you, he / she, they, we
- Reflexive – myself, yourself, ourselves, themselves
- Interrogative – what, where, when, how
- Relative (relates to a noun already mentioned in a sentence) – it, which, that, whose
- Demonstrative – this, that, those
When will the kids clean up the mess that they left? When is a pronoun since it replaces the noun that is the answer to the question (e.g., six o’clock). That is a pronoun since it replaces the noun mess.
Articles
Articles precede common nouns. The is a definite article since it specifies a specific noun. A and an are indefinite articles since they refer to one of many. An is only used before a vowel or silent h.
Prepositions
Prepositions show how a noun or pronoun is related to other words in a sentence. Examples are: over, under, in, from, for, by, to, into, beside, on, upon, of, with, up, down, at
For example, I come from Australia, a continent in the South Pacific. From shows how the noun I is related to Australia. In shows how continent relates to South Pacific.
Conjunctions
Conjunctions join words, clauses, and phrases. The most common are coordinating conjunctions: and, but, so, or, yet. Subordinating conjunctions are similar but serve different purposes. Examples are: although, since, despite, whether, because, after.
Examples showing how subordinating conjunctions work are as follows:
- Although we are all good runners, we finished poorly in the race
- The criminals ran for days after they escaped
Use subordinating prepositions to mix things up, rather than always saying but, and and. It’s a much more elegant way of writing.
- I don’t crave desserts but I like cheesecake ==> Though I like cheesecake, I don’t crave desserts
Interjections
Interjections interrupt the normal flow of a sentence. They usually express a feeling. You don’t have to put an exclamation mark after an interjection; you can just use a comma.
- You forgot your, ahem, clothes at my place
- Hey, the Oscars are on tonight
- Ouch! Watch where you point that thing
- Well, I’m not really sure
This article briefly explained the words in a sentence. Next time, we’ll talk about vocabulary.