22/05/2023, 13:28 English Grammar

English Grammar
Grammar is the language system that allows words to change their form, their order in a sentence, and
combine with other words in novel ways. This applies to both written and spoken language. In this article, we
will look at the main principles of English grammar.

Who makes the rules of English grammar?

If we think for a moment about the origins of the English language (don't worry, this won't take long!), we can see
that it has been influenced by many other languages, including French, Latin and Greek. However, English is
classed as a Germanic language, as it was heavily influenced by Anglo-Saxon settlers in Britain around the 5th
century. This is why the syntax and grammar of English are similar to German.

English grammar was originally influenced by its Germanic ancestry, but who makes the rules now? Well -
nobody, and everybody! There is no official regulating body that decides on the rules of English grammar, and
like most languages, the rules rely on a general consensus.

In this article, we will look at the principles of English grammar; knowing these will help improve your
communication skills and give you an advantage in your English language studies.

Elements of English grammar

Below we have covered some of the most essential elements of English grammar. Keep in mind that we also
have individual articles for each of these elements, which cover the topics in more detail.

The main elements of English grammar we'll be looking at today are: morphemes, clauses, conjunctions,
types of phrase, grammatical voice, tenses, aspects, types of sentence, sentence functions, and word
classes.

Morphemes

A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in a language; this means it cannot be reduced without losing its
meaning.

Example

The word luck is a morpheme as it cannot be made any smaller.

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Morphemes are different from syllables, which are units of pronunciation.

There are two types of morphemes: free morphemes and bound morphemes.

Free morphemes

Free morphemes can stand alone. Most words fall into this category, regardless of how long they are. Take the
word 'tall' for example - it has a meaning on its own, you can't break it down into smaller parts (such as t-all, ta-ll,
or tal-l). 'Ostrich' is also a free morpheme; despite having more than one syllable, it cannot be broken down
into smaller parts.

Note that the word 'tall' contains the word 'all', but this has a completely different, unrelated meaning, so 'tall' is still a
morpheme. The same principle applies to 'ostrich' - it may have the word 'rich' in it, but this is completely unrelated to the
original word, and so 'ostrich' is still a morpheme in its own right.

Free morphemes can be either lexical or functional.

Lexical morphemes give us the main meaning of a sentence or text; they include nouns (e.g. boy, watermelon),
adjectives (e.g. tiny, grey), and verbs (e.g. run, parachute).

Functional morphemes help to hold the structure of a sentence together; they include prepositions (e.g. with,
by, for), conjunctions (e.g. and, but), articles (e.g. the, a, an) and auxiliary verbs (e.g. am, is, are).

Example

In the phrase, 'The tiny boy is running.'

The lexical morphemes are 'tiny', 'boy', and running', and the functional morphemes are 'the', and 'is'.

Bound morphemes

Bound morphemes cannot stand alone and have to be bound to another morpheme.

Bound morphemes include prefixes, like pre-, un-, dis- (e.g. prerecorded, undivided), and suffixes, like -er, -
ing, -est (e.g. smaller, smiling, widest).

Prefixes and suffixes both come under the category of 'affixes'.

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Two major clause types

Clauses are the building blocks of sentences. Clauses contain a subject (a person, place, or thing) and
a predicate (the part of the sentence that contains a verb or information about the subject).

In English, there are two major clause types; independent clauses and dependent clauses.

Independent clauses

An independent clause (also called the main clause) is part of a sentence that works on its own - it can be a
complete sentence without any additions.

Example

Examples of independent clauses:

Simon started crying.

We will have some dessert.
Merle lives in a small town.

Dependent clauses

Dependent clauses (also known as subordinate clauses) do not form a complete sentence on their own -they
have to be added to independent clauses to make grammatical sense.

Example

Examples of dependent clauses:

When he broke his leg.

After the main course.
Where it's always sunny.

Now let's put the independent clauses and the dependent clauses together:

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Independent clause Dependent clause

Simon started crying when he broke his leg.

We will have some dessert after the main course.

Merle lives in a small town where it's always sunny.

As you can see, the independent clauses make sense on their own and with the dependent clauses added. The
dependent clauses do not make sense unless they are attached to an independent clause.

Conjunctions
Conjunctions are words that “conjoin” or “connect” words, clauses, or phrases. They are an important
grammatical tool as they help to form longer, more complex sentences, with simple sentences.

Thanks to conjunctions, the short, simple sentences 'I sing', 'I play the piano', and 'I don't play the guitar' can
become one longer, more complex sentence: 'I sing and I play the piano but I don't play the guitar'. The
conjunctions 'and' and 'but' connect the shorter sentences.

There are three types of conjunction, each used for different purposes: coordinating conjunctions,
subordinating conjunctions, and correlating conjunctions.

Coordinating conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions join two parts of a sentence that have equal meaning or are equal in
importance. This could be two words or two clauses (see the previous section for more on clauses).

There are seven coordinating conjunctions in English. An easy way to remember them is with the acronym
'FANBOYS':

For
And
Nor
But
Or
Yet
So

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Example

Olivia has three rabbits and ten fish.

Ben didn't want to speak to his parents or his grandparents.
I love roast dinners but I can't stand sprouts.

Subordinating conjunctions
Subordinating conjunctions join two parts of a sentence that have unequal meanings. In other words, they
join an independent clause to a dependent clause (again, see the section above on clauses if you're not sure
what this means).

Subordinating conjunctions are used to show cause and effect, a contrast, or a relationship of time/place
between clauses.

Example

Examples of subordinating conjunctions:

Peter didn't leave the house due to the tiger in his front garden.
Peter is going to the bakery if the tiger leaves his garden.
The tiger has been there since midday.

Correlating conjunctions

Correlating conjunctions are two conjunctions that work together in a sentence; they are also known
as paired conjunctions.

Example

Examples of correlating conjunctions:

I'm going to eat either soup or casserole for dinner.

Mia was not only rude but also quite mean.
My mum is taking both my sister and me to the beach.

Types of phrase

A phrase is a group of interrelated words that can function on its own, or as part of a sentence or
clause. A phrase is different from a clause because it does not require a subject and a predicate (see our
section on clauses for more information on this).

There are five different types of phrase: noun phrase, adjective phrase, verb phrase, prepositional
phrase and adverb phrase.

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Let's take a look at them now.

Noun phrase

A noun phrase functions as a noun; it consists of the noun and its modifiers and/or determiners.

Definition

Modifiers - An optional word which gives more meaning to a noun, pronoun, or verb.

Determiners - Words used in front of nouns to show when you are referring to something specific. They add
information regarding quantity, ownership, and specificity.

Example

The small brown dog was yapping.

I work in the city centre library.
Look at that massive fish!

Adjective phrase

An adjective phrase functions as an adjective, meaning that it modifies (i.e. gives more information about) a
noun or pronoun. An adjective phrase consists of the adjective and its modifiers and/or determiners.

Example

The film was very short.

This section contains some absolutely fascinating books.
Bill is even stronger than all of the boys in his class

Verb phrase

A verb phrase functions as a verb; it contains a verb and any auxiliary verbs (e.g. be, have, do), plus any
modifiers and/or determiners.

Example

I am waiting for my big day to come.

She has written a lot of books.
The show will be starting soon.

Prepositional phrase

A prepositional phrase contains a preposition and its object, along with any modifiers and/or determiners.

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Example

The cow jumped over the moon.

Her shoes were inside the wardrobe.
We ventured into the briny deep.

Adverb phrase

An adverb phrase (sometimes known as an adverbial phrase) functions as (you guessed it) an adverb. An
adverb phrase explains how, why, where, or when a verb is done.

Example

They stirred the stew with a wooden spoon.

He finished the exam at record speed.
Every day I feed the ducks.

Adverb phrases can show how often an event occurs.

- pixabay

Grammatical Voice

In English, there are two types of grammatical voice: the active voice and the passive voice.

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The active voice is much more common - in the active voice, the subject does the action. In the passive
voice, the subject is acted upon.

Compare the sentences below and note how the active voice draws attention to the doer of an action,
whereas the passive voice draws attention to the thing being acted upon. The thing being acted upon is
known as the object.

Active voice Passive voice

Jenny ate a pizza. The pizza was eaten by Jenny.

Everybody loves the sunshine. The sunshine is loved by everybody.

The snail left a trail. A trail was left by the snail.

The subject is the focus of a sentence - it is what (or who) the sentence is about. In the sentence 'Jenny ate a
pizza', Jenny is the subject, and the pizza is the object. In the sentence 'The pizza was eaten by Jenny', the pizza is
the subject.

Tenses

Tenses tell us whether something is in the past, present or future. See the table below for a comparison of
the three main tenses.

Some linguists argue that the future isn't technically a 'tense' in English; however, it is now commonly taught as tense and
it's helpful to put it here so you can see how the verb moves from past to future.

Past tense Present tense Future tense

We walked. We walk. We will walk.

I went to work. I go to work. I want to go to work.

He baked a cake. He bakes a cake. He will bake a cake.

All of the examples above are the "simple" versions of each tense. There are a total of four versions of each
tense, creating twelve different tenses - to find out more, read the following section on aspects.

Aspects

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Aspects give us additional information about a verb by telling us whether an action has been completed, is
continuous, is both, or is neither. Aspects work together with tenses to add precision.

The two main aspects are progressive and perfective. We will look at examples of each one, and see what
happens when we pair them with different tenses.

Progressive

The progressive aspect (also called the continuous aspect) tells us that the verb or action is, was, or will be,
continuous.

Examples of the progressive aspect:

Present progressive
Past progressive tense Future progressive tense
tense

The girl was The girl is The girl will be

eating chocolate. eating chocolate. eating chocolate.

We were We are We will be

playing together. playing together. playing together.

I was cooking pasta. I am cooking pasta. I will be cooking pasta.

You can describe verbs or actions as continuous regardless of whether they are in the past, present or future. For
example, compare the simple past tense of 'The girl ate chocolate' to the past progressive tense of 'The girl was eating
chocolate'. To say the girl 'was eating' suggests that the action occurred over a period of time, and so it was continuous.

Perfective

The perfective aspect tells us that the verb or action is either complete, will be complete, or will have been
continuous up to a certain point.

Examples of the perfect aspect:

Past perfect tense Present perfect tense Future perfect tense

The girl had The girl The girl will have

eaten chocolate. has eaten chocolate. eaten chocolate.

We were We have We will have

playing together. played together. played together.

I will have
I had cooked pasta. I have cooked pasta.
cooked pasta.

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As you can see, the perfective aspect can tell us that an action is complete, e.g. the present perfect
tense 'I have cooked pasta', or it can tell us that it will be complete, such as the future perfect tense of 'I will
have cooked pasta'.

The perfective aspect can also tell us that an action has been continuous up to a certain point e.g. 'I have
lived in Tokyo for ten years' (an example of the present perfect tense) tells you how long I have lived in
Tokyo, up to the present moment. Similarly, the phrase 'Next week, I will have lived in Tokyo for eleven years'
(an example of the future perfect tense) tells you how long I will have lived in Tokyo at a point in the future (in
this case, next week).

The twelve tenses

When we pair up aspects with tenses, we get a total of twelve tenses; these tell us whether an action is in the
past, present or future, along with its “status” (whether it is continuing or completed). Below is a list of all twelve
tenses with examples:

Tense Example

Simple past I saw a ship on the horizon.

Past perfect She had written her essay.

Past progressive They were climbing the steep hill.

Past perfect progressive I had been thinking about it all night.

Simple present Mary sings a melody.

Present perfect I have witnessed a disaster.

Present progressive He is eating his dinner.

Present perfect progressive Sajid has been painting all afternoon.

Simple future Our team will win the tournament.

Future perfect I will have completed every level on this game once I beat the final boss.

Future progressive I will be straightening my hair tonight.

At the end of the term, Judy will have been teaching at this school for a
Future perfect progressive
decade.

Types of Sentence

There are four main types of sentences.

Simple sentences
Compound sentences

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Complex sentences
Compound-complex sentences

You can spot the sentence type by looking at the clauses.

Simple sentences

Simple sentences usually communicate things clearly. The sentences do not need added information as they
work well on their own, and they consist of a single independent clause.

Example

James waited for the bus.

I looked for Mary at the park.
We all walked to the shop.

Simple sentences usually communicate things clearly. The sentences do not need added information as they
work well on their own; they consist of a single independent clause.

Compound sentences

Compound sentences combine two or more independent clauses, joining them with a comma, semicolon, or
coordinating conjunction (see our section on conjunctions for more information on what these are).

Like simple sentences, compound sentences do not include dependent clauses (clauses that rely on the rest
of the sentence). If the link (e.g. a comma or conjunction) between the two (or more) independent clauses
weren't there, they could both work independently as simple sentences.

Example

I need to go to work but I am too sick to drive.

He ran out of money so he couldn't buy lunch.
The sun is shining and the air is fresh.

Complex sentences

Complex sentences are slightly different from the other two types of sentences as they include a dependent
clause (also known as a subordinate clause).

They are formed by adding dependent clauses to an independent clause. The dependent clauses are
either joined to the main (independent) clause through subordinating conjunctions or relative pronouns.

The relative pronouns are that, which, who, whose, whom, and whomever.

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Example

I heated my food in the microwave because it had gone cold.

Amy sent back her item after she realized it was damaged.
I tried to get the attention of the cashier whose wig had fallen off.

Compound-complex sentences

This type of sentence combines a compound sentence with a complex sentence.

Compound-complex sentences contain two (or more) independent clauses as well as at least one
dependent clause. Because of this, they are usually the longest sentence type, as they include a lot of
clauses.

Example

Since leaving school, I have been working in an office and I am saving up to buy a car.
I was thirsty so I went to the fridge to grab a can of soda.
Peter waited patiently until after midnight, but the tiger refused to budge.

Different sentence types help us express complex situations, such as having a tiger in your garden
- Unsplash

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Sentence Functions

Sentence functions describe the purpose of a sentence. There are four main sentence functions in the English
language: declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamative.

Declarative

Declarative sentences are the most common. We use declarative sentences to:

Make a statement.
Give an opinion.
Provide an explanation.
State facts.

Example

I love hiking.
It's cold because he left the windows open.
The capital of Kenya is Nairobi.

Interrogatives

Interrogative sentences are used to ask questions and typically require an answer. Here are the different types of
interrogative sentences along with examples:

Yes / No interrogatives e.g. 'Have you ever been to India?'

Alternative interrogatives (questions that offer two or more alternative answers) e.g. 'Would you like tea
or coffee?'

WH-interrogative (who / what / where / why / how) e.g. 'Where is the post office?'

Negative interrogatives (a question that has been made negative by adding a word such as not, don't
aren't and isn't) e.g. 'Why aren't you in bed?'

Tag questions (short questions tagged onto the end of a declarative sentence) e.g. 'We forgot the milk,
didn't we?'

Imperatives

Imperative sentences are predominantly used to give a command or a make a demand. They can be
presented in several ways, such as:

Giving instructions.

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Offering advice.
Making a wish on behalf of someone else.
Extending an invitation.
Giving a command.

There is often no subject present when forming imperative sentences because the subject is assumed to be you
- the reader or the listener.

Example

Sit down!
Set the oven to 180 degrees.
Please, take a seat.

Exclamative

Exclamative sentences are used to express strong feelings and opinions, such as surprise, excitement, and
anger. A true exclamative sentence should contain the words what or how and usually end with an exclamation
mark (!).

Example

What a nice surprise!

Oh, how lovely!
What's that?!

Exclamative sentences help us to express strong feelings

- Pixabay

Word Classes

Word classes help us to better understand the elements that form phrases and sentences.

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There are four main word classes: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. These are considered lexical word
classes and they provide the most meaning in a sentence.

The other five word classes are prepositions, pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, and interjections.
These are functional word classes; they give structure to sentences by "glueing" them together, and they also
show the relationships between lexical items.

See below for a summary of each word class, along with examples.

Lexical word classes

Here is a table containing the lexical word classes.

Word class Function Examples Examples in sentence

Naming people,
places, objects, Maria, holiday, Maria had
Nouns
feelings, Paris. a holiday in Paris.
concepts, etc.

An action, event,
I ran home to bake you a
Verb feeling, or state of Run, bake, laugh.
cake.
being.

Describing an
attribute, quality, It was a rainy day so
or state of Rainy, tiny, I stayed inside
Adjectives
being; modifying a ridiculous. my tiny house and
noun to add this wrote ridiculous poems.
description.

Describing how,
where, when, or Yesterday (when), Yesterday, I saw the fox
Adverbs how often quickly (how), jump quickly over the
something is over (where). dog.
done.

Functional word classes

Here is a table containing the functional word classes.

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Examples in
Word Class Function Examples
sentence

Before (time), Before dinner, she

Showing direction,
Prepositions into (direction), went into the
location or time.
on (location). café on the hill.

She took Rover for

She, her, he, a walk and then
Pronouns Replacing a noun.
him, they, them. gave him some
treats.

Clarifying
information about His car broke down
the quantity, so he
Determiners His, the, some.
location, or opened the trunk to
ownership of a grab some tools.
noun.

Sammy and Jim

played
snooker but couldn't
Connecting words And, but,
Conjunctions finish the
in a sentence. because.
game because the
venue closed
early.

Wow, a crocodile
Expressing an Wow, uh oh,
Interjections - uh oh, it's heading
emotion or reaction. Yippee, Yikes.
right for us!

English Grammar - Key takeaways

A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in a language. It cannot be reduced beyond its current
state without losing its meaning.
Clauses contain a subject and a predicate. In English, there are two major clause types: independent
clauses and dependent clauses.
Conjunctions are words that connect two words, clauses, or phrases. They help to form longer, more
complex sentences from simple sentences.
A phrase is a group of interrelated words that can function alone, or as part of a sentence or clause.
Phrases differ from clauses because they don't require a subject and predicate.
There are two types of grammatical voice: the active voice and the passive voice.
Tenses give us a sense of time by telling us whether something is in the past, present or future.
Aspects give us additional information about a verb by telling us whether an action has been
completed, is continuous, is both, or is neither. Aspects work together with tenses.
There are four different types of sentences: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex.
There are four main sentence functions: declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamative.

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The four main word classes are nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. These are lexical classes that
give meaning to a sentence. The other five word classes are prepositions, pronouns, determiners,
conjunctions, and interjections. These are function classes that are used for grammatical or structural
reasons.

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