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Grammar

The document discusses the importance of grammar as the structure of language, highlighting its role in effective communication and building trust with the audience. It explains the two main subcategories of grammar: morphology and syntax, and details the eight parts of speech essential for understanding language. Additionally, it covers verb conjugations and the grammatical person, emphasizing the significance of these concepts in writing, particularly in academic contexts.

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6 views

Grammar

The document discusses the importance of grammar as the structure of language, highlighting its role in effective communication and building trust with the audience. It explains the two main subcategories of grammar: morphology and syntax, and details the eight parts of speech essential for understanding language. Additionally, it covers verb conjugations and the grammatical person, emphasizing the significance of these concepts in writing, particularly in academic contexts.

Uploaded by

BALAYASJ
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Grammar is often defined as the system or underlying structure of a language.

It
describes the principles that underpin the language that, if these are understood, help
us to use the language effectively to communicate precise meaning to other speakers of
the language.

Grammar as a concept covers a vast terrain that can be helpfully divided into the two
subcategories of morphology, which concerns itself with the form and structure of
words, and syntax, which looks at how words are arranged into sentences.
2. Builds Trust and Authority

Poor use of grammar doesn’t exactly inspire the confidence of


the reader. Generally, when we write, we want to form a
relationship of trust with our readers. We want them to have
faith in the person behind the words. This trust helps lend
authority to the ideas expressed. Poor grammar may call the
writer’s competency into question.
3. Convey Respect to the Audience

Like manners, how stringently we apply the formal principles of


grammar can depend on our audience. For example, a postcard
to a friend will have a different language register than an
academic essay. Understanding this is particularly important for
our students as much of their writing will, by definition, be
academic in nature. Frequently, their audience will be teachers,
professors, examiners, etc.
Parts of Speech: The Building Blocks of Grammar:
Parts of speech are the fundamental building blocks of language. It is necessary that our students first understand
these before understanding how they fit together in sentences. be sure to read our complete guide to parts of
speech here.

Before beginning the complex work of verb conjugations, it is worth reviewing student’s understanding of the
parts of speech.

In English, we typically recognize eight specific parts of speech. These are:


The Noun: the naming words for people, places, and things, e.g. writer, Portugal, happiness.

The Verb: words used to describe an action, a state, or an occurrence, e.g. ran, thought, became.

The Adjective: words that name attributes or describe nouns, e.g. gentle, tasty, zealous.

The Adverb: a word that modifies or describes a verb, adjective, or another adverb e.g. frequently,
mysteriously, wisely.

The Pronoun: a word that stands in for a noun or noun phrase, e.g. she, that, anybody.

The Preposition: words that show the relationship between nouns or pronouns and other parts of a
sentence, e.g. on, for, through.

The Conjunction: a word that joins parts of a sentence, phrases, or other words together, e.g. and, or,
although.

The Interjection: an abrupt remark, aside, or interruption, e.g. ouch, ahem, phew.
Verbs

Verbs
Verbs: Conjugations
Verb tenses let us know when the action described by the verb happens.
To indicate the tense a verb is in, it must be modified or conjugated in
some way. Conjugation is when we change the verb to reflect a different
tense, person, number, or mood.

We are going to examine the different tense forms later in this article,
but, first, we’ll need to know what the base form of the verb is (visible in
the infinitive form) and look at the principal parts of the verb.
Verbs: The Infinitive
This form of the verb includes its most basic form preceded by to. This basic form of the
verb is sometimes called the base form. This is the form that we turn to when we are
looking up the verb in a dictionary.

The full infinitive form is easily recognizable as it is the base form of the verb preceded by
to. Though we are used to thinking of to as a preposition, in this context, to is not
operating as a preposition. Instead, it is serving as ‘the sign of the infinitive’.

Let’s take a look at a few examples.

I like to eat a late breakfast on my day off.

She is confused as she has so many options to choose from.

We decided to go home.
Person
In English, we conjugate verbs
depending on the grammatical person
used. Each of these ‘persons’ is
represented by a pronoun. There are six
of these ‘persons’ and they are:

Grammatical Person Pronouns


The First Person Singular I
Second Person Singular You
Third Person Singular He / She / It / One
First Person Plural We
Second Person Plural You
Third Person Plural They
The form of the verb used will depend on the grammatical person referred to (as well as its tense –
more on this later!).

While many of the verbs will follow regular conjugation patterns, some are entirely irregular. One of
the most important of these is the verb to be:

Grammatical Person Verb To Be Negative Question Form


The First Person
Singular I am I am not Am I?

Second Person Singular You are You are not Are you?
Third Person Singular He / She / It / One is He is not Is he?
First Person Plural We are We are not Are we?
Second Person Plural You are You are not Are you?
Third Person Plural They are They are not Are they?

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