English Grammar

Quick review of the English grammar.

Verbs

There are four verb categories:

Action

Typical verbs when something is done.

walk
study
laugh

Linking

Link or connect subject to an adjective.

Mood

There are a few moods:

indicative (fact of reality)
imperative (command)
interrogative (question)
conditional (causes something to happen)
subjunctive (statement contrary to reality)

Tense

A verb tense shows time and there are six possible times:

Tense	Definition	Example
Simple present		he talks
Simple past	past action that has completed	he talked He worked for this company for 30 years.
Present perfect	past action that extends to the present, or result is ongoing. Present perfect uses a past participle, a helper 'have' or 'has' with the main verb.	he have talked He has worked for this company for 30 years.
Past perfect	past action completed before another action. Make it clear that one event happened before another in the past. Formed with verb have (had) + the past participle of the main verb.	they had talked He gave blankets he had made to charity.
Future -		they will talk
Future perfect	action that will have been completed in the future by some future time.	they will have talked By the end of next week, I will have completed the report.

There are also progressive and continuous tenses. English does not distinguish the two and is generally used interchangeably but there can be a slight shade of difference in meaning which can be hinted at. In general, progressive implies the action is in progress at the moment whereas continuous is the action that has started previously and is currently ongoing.

Tense	Definition	Example
Present progressive	often implies a process, or something in progress at a particular time	She is driving too fast around that corner.
past progressive	action from a specific time in the past that is continuing, or that something took place while something else was happening, or something did not complete, or criticize something that happens periodically.	she was rewriting the report all day yesterday while I was reading a book, the cat was scratching the sofa. I was painting the fence when I had to go He was always arriving late to work on Mondays.
future progressive	shows action will be in progress at some time in the future	at 9AM tomorrow, I will be attending a meeting
present continuous	something that his happening at this precise moment, or something that has already been planned	you are reading this sentence. you are going to dinner this evening.
past continuous	something that happened in the past and is still happening, action is not completed	I was going to complete the report but i decided to leave
future continuous	continued or an ongoing future in the future. Eg. project our self in the future	this time tomorrow, I will be working.

In general, most grammar books will not distinguish progressive and continuous tenses.

Irregular

Irregular verbs are those that do not conjugate normally. Examples are ring/rang, think/thought.

Conjunctions

coordinating

Coordinating conjunctions connect words, phrases, dependent clauses, or independent clauses as equals

The FANBOYS acronym.

For - a reason (because)
And - sequence, cause & effect (but), contrast, unexpected result (yet)
Nor - negative connection, part of correlative neither...nor...
But - contrast, except
Or - link, stress, counter previous statement
Yet - addition, stronger form of but, combined with and
So - connect independent clauses, cause & effect (therefore), as well / in addition

subordinating

a white bus

after
when
how
if
though
even
before
until
since

offer a transition and show relationships. time , place, cause effect

Eg:

as if - how something is done
even though
even if
whereas
whenever
because

Creates a dependent clause

correlative

Correlative deals with pairs. Unlike coordinating, correlative is used to emphasize something.

both ... and not only ... but also not ... but either ... or neither ... nor

Keep in mind plurality on the verb. The word closest to the verb determines singular or plural. neither the dog nor the cats were in the yard. neither the cats nor the dog was in the yard.

When using correlative conjunctions, the two items should be parallel. Eg. Either wait or call: 'We can either wait for Jon to arrive or call a cab.' Not 'Either wait or call: We can either wait for Jon to arrive or we can call a cab.'

conjunctive adverb (adverbial conjunction)

use as a transition and shows relationships between clauses.

ice cars

illustrate - example
cause & effect - therefore
emphasize - certainly
contrast - however
add to - furthermore
result - accordingly
sequence - finally

Pronouns

demonstrative: those, these, this, that. Used as pronouns or as adjectives interrogative: which one indefinite: some, somebody, each reciprocal: each other relative: who, which that reflexive and intensive: myself

Common issues are with agreement of number. Both the pronoun and its antecedent must be either singular or plural. Indefinite pronouns are singular: somebody, everybody, anybody. Sentences like "Everyone should sign their name on the list" is incorrect since everyone is singular and their is plural. To fix, either:

remove the pronoun: Everyone should sign the list
Replace 'everyone' with a plural pronoun: All attendees should sign the list
Or cumbersome: Everyone should sign his/her name on the list

Subjective/Objective case.

Subjective	Objective
I	Me
He	Him
She	Her
They	Them

Use the subjective case when the pronoun is used as a subject. Use the objective case when the pronoun is the object of a preposition.

Subjective	Objective
Josh and he are on the committee	Josh said she would send an email to Alice and him

Pronouns must be specific.

"It has been found that..." in most cases can be removed completely since 'it' refers to nothing.
"whether ..., it ..." the 'it' also refers to nothing and can be removed.

Anticipatory reference refers to pronouns that occur before the subject, and should be avoided whenever possible.

"If they arrive today, please tell me when I can open the supplies". (Dubious sentence since 'they' might not necessarily refer to supplies)

Who/Whom/That That refers to things and never people. Only Who/Whom can refer to people.

"Employees that are late will be terminated" should be "Employees who are late will be terminated"

Who is used as the subject; Whom refers to the person as the object.

To is a preposition and prepositions take objects. Always say "To whom" and not "to who".

Adjectives and Adverbs

An adjective describes a noun. An adverb modifies and adjective. You can have adverbs modify other adverbs. Eg: He ran really fast. (ran = verb, really = adverb modifying fast, fast = adjective on run)

Adverbs typically end with -ly. Some adjectives end with ly but are not adverbs. (Eg. lovely). Other adverbs don't end with -ly (soon, fast, now, not).

Do not confuse adjectives with adverbs. Eg:

Bad vs. badly. Bad is an adjective, badly is the adverb.
Good vs. Well. Good is an adjective, well is an adverb.

Some adjectives have different meanings depending on usage too. Eg.

Little vs. a little. Little refers to size. A little refers to something positive

Much vs. Many: Much is used for singular or collective nouns. Many is used with plural nouns.

Flat adverbs may be an adjective or adverb. Identifying them depends on context. Examples of some are:

Early
Hard
Fast
Deep
Short
Right

Adverb clause always happens after a subordinating conjunction.

Prepositions

A preposition indicates location (in, near, beside, on top of) or some other relationship between a noun or pronoun and other parts of the sentence (about, after, besides, instead of, in accordance with).

Common misuses:

Do you want me to wait (on/for) you?
- for = you are waiting for me to arrive
- on = you are waiting on me to bring something for you
on/onto depends on whether the object is already in place.
- Should the picture frame be placed onto the table? Something is placed onto something else.
- Is the picture frame on the table?
differ (with/from) me
- differ with me = disagree on something
- differ from me = appearance is different
different from, and not different than. British may say different to.
divided (among/between)
- between = between two
- among = more than two
into/in depends on movement or location.
- unloaded into the water
- boat is in the water
like/as
- like = similarities between two items
- as = describes how something functions
about/on
- about = routine, ordinary. Eg: discussion about ...
- on = serious, academic. Eg: lecture on ...

Avoid:

Idioms or 'slangy' language when writing. (Eg. Miss out on ...)
Hanging prepositions such as:
- Where are you going to? What did you do that for? Where are we eating at?

Misused Words

Irony: The result of something that you did or some situation which was the opposite result of what was intended.

Punctuation

Semicolons provides a break in a sentence stronger than a comma but weaker than a period. It connects ideas that are closely related but a pause is required. It can be used when there are too many commas in a sentence and a super comma is required. Eg:

This is her first job, but she seems to have strong communication skills, to be self-motivated, and to like her co-workers.

The list is separated by commas. The first comma can be replaced with a semicolon to avoid confusion.

Colon provides a pause before introducing related information. Common uses are:

Introduce a list. Do not use a colon after a verb or preposition.
It can be used to show the previous idea will be further explained, clarified, or restated.

Misfit Grammar

Split infinitive. Don't split a verb with an adverb (to walk quickly is fine, not to quickly walk).
"Try and" is wrong, use "Try to"
Repetitive subjects "The engineers, they submitted the plan"
"Hopefully, ... " is [controversial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disjunct_%28linguistics%29]. This is technically a disjunct (where an adverb starts a sentence). This usage has been accepted by oxford, but the proper use should be "I am hopeful..." or "I hope..."