ENGLISH GRAMMAR IN A NUTSHELL

Jerry Folland, 11/11/03

folland@math.washington.edu

Warning: This is a brief summary of a subject about which big books have been written.


I. THE PARTS OF SPEECH

Nouns. These are words that name people, places, things, concepts, etc. More aout them in parts !! and !!!.

Pronouns. These are asically placeholders for nouns in sentences. They function grammatically "ust li#e
nouns, ut the things to which they refer are conte$t%dependent. They come in se&eral fla&ors'
(ersonal (ronouns' I, we )1st person*, you )+
nd
person*, he, she, it, they )3
rd
person*.
,emonstrati&e (ronouns' this, that, these, those. )These words can also e used as ad"ecti&es.*
-elati&e (ronouns' who, which, that, in phrases such as .the man who won/ and .the oo# that ! read./
!nterrogati&e (ronouns' who, which, what used as 0uestion words, as in .1ho is she2/ and .1hat do
you want2/
There3s also the impersonal pronoun one, as in .4ne should get lots of sleep./

Adjectives. These are words that modify nouns, such as small, red, and important. The artices a, an, and the
are a particular type of ad"ecti&e5 they3re essential in 6nglish, ut some languages )e.g., 7indi, -ussian* get
along without them.

!er"s. These are words that descrie actions, states of eing, etc. )The action can e astract as well as
physical, as in the word .descrie/ in the pre&ious sentence.* More aout them in parts !! and !!!.

Adver"s. These are words that modify words other than nouns. 8sually they modify &ers, ad"ecti&es, or
other ad&ers, as the word .completely/ does in these sentences'
I agree completely. )modifies the &er .agree/*
Completely happy people are rare. )modifies the ad"ecti&e .happy/*
It was completely badly done. )modifies the ad&er .adly/*
4ccasionally they can modify other parts of speech'
e is really into Indian music. ).really/ modifies the preposition .into/*
Many ad"ecti&es can e made into ad&ers y adding 9ly' complete, completely.

Pre#ositions. These are words such as in, on, for, by, with, from, to, about, etc. : preposition is followed y a
noun or pronoun )perhaps with modifiers* called its o"ject. The unit formed y a preposition and its o"ect
)with modifiers* is called a #re#ositiona #$rase. (repositional phrases modify other words in the sentence,
that is, they function as ad"ecti&es and ad&ers. For e$ample, .in the ig room/ is a prepositional phrase that
can e used as follows'
The table in the big room is round. )modifies the noun .tale/*
e stood in the big room. )modifies the &er .stood/*

Conjunctions. These are words such as and, but, or, because, although, etc., that "oin words or parts of
sentences. ;ome words can e used as either prepositions or con"unctions, such as after'
I went home after lunch. )preposition*
I went home after I ate lunch. )con"unction "oining two clauses*

Interjections. These are words such as oh, well, alas, etc., that can e stuc# into a sentence ut are structurally
separate from the rest of the sentence.


II. SENTENCE STRUCTURE

6&ery complete sentence has a su"ject and a #redicate. The su"ject is a noun or pronoun, perhaps
with modifiers5 roughly spea#ing, it is what the rest of the sentence is aout. The rest of the sentence is the
#redicate. !n the following sentences, the su"ect is in italics and the predicate is in ordinary type'
!ew lions sur&i&e in !ndia today.
The big man from Issa"uah played the guitar eautifully.
Cedar trees are common in western 1ashington.
The predicate always contains a &er )perhaps with modifiers*, and it may contain other things depending on
what #ind of &er is there. 7ere are the possiilities'
Intransitive ver"s re0uire no further sentence material e$cept perhaps for ad&ers and prepositional
phrases that modify them'
#ohn slept.
The boy stayed in the house.
Transitive ver"s re0uire a direct o"ject'
#ohn loves $ary. ).Mary/ is the direct o"ect.*
I will read the book tomorrow. ).oo#/ is the direct o"ect.*
Transiti&e &ers may also ta#e an indirect o"ject. !n the following sentence, .oo#/ is the direct o"ect and
.me/ is the indirect o"ect.
e gave me the book.
!ndirect o"ects can almost always e replaced y prepositional phrases with .to/'
e gave the book to me.
Co#uative ver"s ).copulati&e/ means .lin#ing/* are followed y ad"ecti&es or nouns that refer ac# to
the su"ect, called #redicate adjectives and #redicate no%inatives. The main copulati&e &er is be, ut
become, seem, look, and other &ers can also function this way'
#ohn is very young.
$ary is a dancer.
The road became steep.
Irene looks happy.
!n these sentences, .young,/ .steep,/ and .happy/ are predicate ad"ecti&es that modify the su"ects .John,/
.road,/ and .!rene,/ while .dancer/ is a predicate nominati&e that descries the su"ect .Mary./

Co%#ound su"jects& #redicates& and sentences' The sentences discussed ao&e are all 0uite simple.
More complicated sentences can e made y using con"unctions. <ou can ha&e a sentence with two or more
su"ects )a compound su"ect* and one predicate'
%ob or Carol or Ted or &lice can help you.
<ou can also ha&e a sentence with one su"ect and two or more predicates )a compound predicate*'
I ate dinner, felt tired, and went to bed.
)=ote that this sentence has one transiti&e &er, one copulati&e &er, and one intransiti&e &er.* >ompound
sentences are made up of two or more parts, each of which has its own su"ect and predicate. The parts are
called causes. ;ometimes there are two or more clauses on a more or less e0ual footing'
The book is good, but it is e'pensive.
7ere .the oo# is good/ and .it is e$pensi&e/ are complete sentences y themsel&es, glued together with the
con"unction .ut./ ;ometimes the sentence has a main clause and one or more su"ordinate causes that
modify parts of the main clause'
I read the book that you gave me.
The rain came before I could get home.
7ere the clause .that you ga&e me/ modifies .oo#,/ and .efore ! could get home/ modifies .came./
)!ncidentally, in the clause .that you ga&e me,/ the relati&e pronoun .that/ is the direct o"ect of .ga&e,/ and
.me/ is the indirect o"ect.*


III. INFLECTION& TENSES& ETC.

In(ection is the general term for changing the form of a word depending on how it functions in the
sentence %%% for e$ample, adding 9s to a noun to ma#e it plural, or adding 9ed to a &er to ma#e the past tense.
!nflection in 6nglish is a relati&ely simple matter5 many languages employ much more elaorate inflections
than 6nglish does.

!nflection of nouns, pronouns, and )in some languages, ut not 6nglish* ad"ecti&es is called decension.
)The &er corresponding to .declension/ is decine.* ,eclension is a matter of numer, gender, and case.
=umer' ;ingular and plural. Most nouns form the plural y adding 9s, ut there are e$ceptions )e.g.,
mouse, mice*.
?ender' The only place where gender rears its ugly head in 6nglish grammar is in the third person
singular pronouns' he )masculine*, she )feminine*, and it )neuter*.
>ase' 6nglish has three cases' nominati&e, o"ecti&e, and possessi&e. The nominati&e is used for the
su"ect of a sentence5 the o"ecti&e is used for o"ects of &ers and prepositions5 the possessi&e is used to
indicate possession. 6nglish ma#es no distinction etween nominati&e and o"ecti&e for nouns, only for some
of the personal pronouns and the relati&e or interrogati&e pronoun who'
=ominati&e' I, we, you, he, she, it, they, who
4"ecti&e' me, us, you, him, her, it, them, whom
The possessi&e case for nouns is formed y adding an apostrophe%s )or "ust an apostrophe for plurals that
already end in 9s*' #oan(s, students(. (ronouns ha&e distinct possessi&e forms'
(ossessi&e' my, our, your, his, her, its, their, whose
)!ootnote: The pronoun you is grammatically plural, although it can refer to "ust one person. 6nglish
also has a second person singular pronoun, ut it dropped out of common usage aout 300 years ago' thou
)nominati&e*, thee )o"ecti&e*, and thy )possessi&e*.*

!nflection of &ers )for tense, mood, person, numer, gender, etc.* is called conju)ation. Most 6nglish
&ers ha&e at most four distinct inflected forms esides the root form )the form you loo# up in a dictionary*.
For the &er speak they are'
speak )root form and present tense, e$cept 3
rd
person singular*
speaks )present tense, 3
rd
person singular*
spoke )past tense*
spoken )past participle*
speaking )present participle*
The ig e$ception is the &er to be, which has three forms in the present tense )am, is, are* and two in the past
tense )was, were* as well as the participles been and being and the root form be. The ma"ority of 6nglish &ers
form oth the past tense and the past participle y adding 9d or 9ed. )! delierately chose an e$ample where
these forms are different.* :ll 6nglish &ers form the present participle y adding 9ing to the root form.
The #ast #artici#e ser&es two functions' !t is used in forming the perfect tenses )see elow*, and it can
e used as an ad"ecti&e )e.g., the spoken word*. The #resent #artici#e also has two functions' !t is used in
forming the progressi&e tenses )see elow*, and it can e used as an ad"ecti&e )e.g., a growing oy, the shining
light*. The form of the present participle can also e used as a noun )e.g., .)eading is fun/*, ut when so used,
it is properly called the )erund.
1hile we3re at it, let3s mention the in(initive, which is formed y prefi$ing the word .to/ to the root
form' to speak. The infiniti&e functions as a noun in sentences5 for e$ample, in .! li#e to swim,/ .to swim/ is
the direct o"ect of .li#e./

@ut inflection is only the eginning of the story of &er forms in 6nglish, which has a comple$ and
sutle system of &er tenses. This is a complicated su"ect, and !3m "ust going to tal# aout the asics here.
Most of the wor# is done y au*iiar+ ver"s such as be, have, and will.
There are three simple tenses'
(resent' I speak
(ast' I spoke
Future' I will speak )or shall speak*
There are also three #er(ect tenses, formed y the past participle with the au$iliary have'
(resent perfect' I have spoken
(ast perfect or pluperfect' I had spoken
Future perfect' I will have spoken
6ach of these si$ tenses also has a #ro)ressive form, formed y the present participle with the au$iliary be'
(resent progressi&e' I am speaking
(ast progressi&e' I was speaking
Future progressi&e' I will be speaking
(resent perfect progressi&e' I have been speaking
(ast perfect progressi&e' I had been speaking
Future perfect progressi&e' I will have been speaking
There are at least three other forms that function as distinct tenses, although they don3t ha&e standard names'
I am going to speak
I am about to speak
I used to speak
Then there are the conditional and 0uasi%su"uncti&e tenses formed with the au$iliary &ers may, might, would.
@ut now we3re getting into 0uestions of mood rather than tense %%% ! don3t want to go there right now.
: couple of other things to end this discussion efore it gets too in&ol&ed. The present and past tenses
ha&e e%#$atic forms, formed with the au$iliary do:
I do speak, I did speak.
:nd transiti&e &ers can also e used in either the active or #assive voice'
=ewton disco&ered the formula. )acti&e construction*
The formula was disco&ered y =ewton. )passi&e construction*