1.

First check grammatical rule Then the intended meaning

2. Always put the final answer back into the original question

Nouns: Name of person, place or thing

1. Common Noun: refers to a general group

2. Proper Noun: refers to a particular item in a group
3. Countable Noun: can be counted
4. Uncountable Noun: cant be counted
5. Collective Noun: group of items which are referred to in a singular
6. Possessive Noun: use apostrophe to show possession
7. Nouns as Adjectives: race horse, cricket ball etc.
8. Markers: a, an, the, my are usually right infront of the Noun
9. Most nouns made from Adjectives are Qualities. Like: cleanliness, fluidity
10. EXCEPTION: example: diamond mine can be considered as an compound noun or an
compound adjective. This is unimportant. What is important is that mine is the noun. If any
pronoun refers to it, then the antecedent would be mine
11. Gerunds: verb + ing -> used as a noun.
a. To test between Gerund and Compound verb, substitute the gerund with a noun. If it
makes sense then its a noun.
12.

Pronoun: replaces a noun or another pronoun

1. Relative pronouns: used to relate part of a sentence to one another. who, whom, whose, that
& which
2. Personal pronouns: used as subjects in sentences/clause, i.e subject pronouns perform verbs.
I, you, he, she, it, we, they
3. Object pronouns: serve as object of a verb, i.e verbs get done to them. They can also be the
objects of preposition. Me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them.
4. Possessive pronouns: indicate ownership. Mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs
5. Reflexive pronoun: myself, ourselves, itself
6. Interrogative pronoun: ask questions. Who, whom, whose, which
7. Demonstrative pronoun: point a specific thing. Can also be used as adjective. This, that, these,
those
8. Indefinite pronouns: replace nouns but dont refer to specific places, people or things.
a. Everyone, someone, no one, anyone
b. Everybody, somebody, nobody, anybody
c. Everything, something, nothing, anything
d. All, many, more, most, much, several, some, few, both, one, none, each, either,
neither, another, any, other
e. All indefinite pronouns are singular
9. Antecedent: is the word or group of words that a pronoun refers to.
10. Pronoun one doesnt mix with any other pronoun.

Adjective: tells us something about the noun. Describe or modify Nouns or Pronouns. They answer
questions such as What kind is it? Which one? How many are there?
 1. They can be modified by adverbs
2. A, an, the: are articles which is a category of adjectives
3. Comparative: bigger
4. Superlative: biggest
5. Possessive adjective: my, your, her, our, their
6. EXCEPTION: example: diamond mine can be considered as an compound noun or an
compound adjective. This is unimportant. What is important is that mine is the noun. If any
pronoun refers to it, then the antecedent would be mine not diamond.

Verbs: action or state of being. They can be modified by adverbs.

1. Helping Verbs: not enough on their own. Need the support of Main Verbs, eg: must, will, can,
is, was, has, does, should etc.
2. Main Verbs: have meaning on their own.
3. Transitive Verbs: require an object.
4. Intransitive Verbs: do not require an object.
5. Voice:
a. Active Voice: who does what
b. Passive Voice: what was done by whom
6. Mood: intention of whats being said
a. Imperative mood: is for giving command
b. Subjunctive mood: expresses a wish, an emotion, a possibility or an action that has
not yet occurred.
7. Linking Verb: show relationship between Subject of the sentence and a Noun or Adjective.
a. Forms of the verb to be: am, is, are, was, were, being, been
b. Appear, become, grow, look, remain, seem, smell, sound, stay, taste and turn
c. To check is the verb used is linking verb, try replacing them with the correct form of to
be. They should make sense and have close meaning.
8. Compound verb: verbs in combination with one another to express more information.
a. Will go, has been eating, is writing, had swollen
9. Gerunds: verb + ing -> used as a noun.
a. To test between Gerund and Compound verb, substitute the gerund with a noun. If it
makes sense then its a noun.
10. Infinitive: to + verb
a. An infinitive cant be the Main Verb of a sentence.
b. Can be used as nouns
i. To love is diving
ii. I hate to pay taxes
c. Can be used as adjectives or adverbs
i. I went outside to sing: to sing modifies the verb went
ii. A friend to call would be nice: to call modifies the noun friend

Adverbs: primarily modify verbs.

1. Can also modify adjectives, other adverbs, phrases and clauses.

2. Usually ends with -ly. Eg. Slowly, quickly etc.

Preposition: links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other parts of the sentence.
 1. Indicates spatial, temporal or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence.
2. Must always be followed by a noun.

3.

Conjunction: connect different parts of a sentence.

1. Co-ordinating Conjunction: connect parts that are grammatically equal. Eg.: FANBOYS: for,
and, nor, but, or, yet, so
2. Subordinating Conjunction: connect a dependent clause to a main clause. Eg: Although,
Because, Since etc.

Interjections: they are short exclamations.

1. Oh! , ah! , Hmmm!, Oh No! etc.

Phrases and Clauses

1. Phrases are groups of words that do not contain a Subject or a Verb or both.
2. Clauses are groups of words that contain both Subject as well as a Verb
3. Independent clauses are complete sentences and can make sense on their own
4. Dependent clauses are not complete sentences and need to be connected to other clauses to
make sense.
5. Phrases make up a clause and clauses make up a sentence.
Verbals: words based on verbs but not used as one.

1. Gerunds: end with -ing and used as nouns.

2. Participles: act as Adjectives.
3. Present Participle: ends with -ing
4. Past Participle: ends with -ed, -en, -d etc.
5. Infinitives: to + Verb. Can function as noun, adjective or adverb

Punctuation:

1. Colon:
a. Introduce a list or
b. An explanation
2. Semi-Colon: to introduce to independent clauses
3. Never use semi colon and conjunction together.

Error Types:

1. Subject-Verb agreement
2. Tense
3. Pronoun
4. Modification
5. Comparison
6. Parallel construction
7. Idioms

Subject-Verb Agreement
Aristotle

1. Singular verb must take a singular subject and a Plural verb must take a plural subject.
2. Subject and Verb may be separated by Prepositional Phrase
3. Additives: only and can make a subject plural. Rest all only add extra information about the
subject. Like:
a. In addition to
b. Along with
c. As well as
d. Together with
e. Including
f. Along with
4. Either or / Neither nor: make the verb agree to the subject closest to it.
5. Singular subjects:
a. Collective Nouns
b. Each/Every
c. Anyone/Everyone/Someone
d. Anybody/Everybody/Somebody
e. Anything/Everything/Something
f. Whoever/Whatever
 g. Either/Neither
h. Nobody/Nothing/No one
i. The Number
6. A Number: plural
7. One of the X who/that Y..
a. One of the Noun (will always be plural) + that/who + Plural Verb
b. One of the Noun (will always be plural) + Singular Verb(usually is)
8.

Manhattan

1. Generally Singular verbs end with -s while plural verbs do not end with -s
2. Singular verbs for (he, she, it): runs, differs, goes, has, is
3. Plural verbs for (we, they): run, differ, go, have, are
4. Fragment: an incomplete sentence, i.e a sentence missing a Subject or the Verb
a. Usually starts with a Connecting word: WHICH will be approved tomorrow.
5. Working Verb: a verb that can run a sentence by itself.
a. A sentence must have a working verb.
6. Must agree in Numbers

Tense

Aristotle

Pronoun

Aristotle

1. Pronoun must refer back to a specific noun

a. WRONG: John and Jack went jogging and he fell down.
i. Who fell down? John or Jack?
b. RIGHT: John and Jack went jogging and Jack fell down.
2. Pronoun must agree in number with the noun it replaces
a. WRONG: The players say that he cant come for practise
b. RIGHT: The players say that they cant come for practise
3. THAT / WHICH:
a. Which must always come after a comma
b. Which must always refer to the noun that comes immediately before the comma
i. EXCEPT: if Which is preceded by a preposition. Eg: in which, of which etc..
c. If the phrase starting with Which is removed, the meaning remains the same. i.e.
Which is used to explain the noun.
d. That is necessary to identify the subject. If removed the sentence wont make sense.
4. WHO / WHOM:
a. Who: person performing the action. If the answer to Who/Whom is I, he, she, etc..
then the correct answer is Who.
b. Whom: is an object. It is the person to/for/about whom the action is being done. If
the answer to the Who/Whom is me, him, her etc then the correct answer is Whom.
Whom is also the correct choice after a preposition.
5. Do it / Do so: when stuck between these 2, always choose Do so
6. One / You: One and You dont mix. They should never be in the same sentence. Or sentence
the same meaning.