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.

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.

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).

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).

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.

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.

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

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

Yet

So

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.

Correlating conjunctions

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

Types of phrase

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

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.

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.

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.

Prepositional phrase

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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:

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:

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:

Types of Sentence

There are four main types of sentences.

• Simple sentences

• Compound sentences

• 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

• 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.

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 (!).

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.

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.

Here is a table containing the lexical word classes.

Functional word classes

Here is a table containing the functional word classes.