English Grammar
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English grammar is the set of structural rules of the
English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
. This includes the structure of
word A word is a basic element of language that carries an semantics, objective or pragmatics, practical semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of w ...
s,
phrase In syntax and grammar, a phrase is a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy". Phrases can consi ...
s,
clause In language, a clause is a constituent that comprises a semantic predicand (expressed or not) and a semantic predicate. A typical clause consists of a subject and a syntactic predicate, the latter typically a verb phrase composed of a verb with ...
s,
sentences ''The Four Books of Sentences'' (''Libri Quattuor Sententiarum'') is a book of theology written by Peter Lombard in the 12th century. It is a systematic compilation of theology, written around 1150; it derives its name from the ''sententiae'' o ...
, and whole texts. This article describes a generalized, present-day
Standard English In an English-speaking country, Standard English (SE) is the variety of English that has undergone substantial regularisation and is associated with formal schooling, language assessment, and official print publications, such as public service a ...
– a form of speech and writing used in public discourse, including broadcasting, education, entertainment, government, and news, over a range of registers, from formal to informal. Divergences from the
grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
described here occur in some historical, social, cultural, and regional
varieties Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
of English, although these are more minor than differences in
pronunciation Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or language in a specific dialect ("correct pronunciation") or simply the way a particular ...
and
vocabulary A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the la ...
. Modern English has largely abandoned the
inflectional In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and defin ...
case system A grammatical case is a category of nouns and noun modifiers ( determiners, adjectives, participles, and numerals), which corresponds to one or more potential grammatical functions for a nominal group in a wording. In various languages, nomina ...
of
Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...
in favor of analytic constructions. The
personal pronoun Personal pronouns are pronouns that are associated primarily with a particular grammatical person – first person (as ''I''), second person (as ''you''), or third person (as ''he'', ''she'', ''it'', ''they''). Personal pronouns may also take dif ...
s retain morphological case more strongly than any other word class (a remnant of the more extensive Germanic case system of Old English). For other pronouns, and all nouns, adjectives, and articles, grammatical function is indicated only by
word order In linguistics, word order (also known as linear order) is the order of the syntactic constituents of a language. Word order typology studies it from a cross-linguistic perspective, and examines how different languages employ different orders. C ...
, by
prepositions Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...
, and by the "
Saxon genitive In English, possessive words or phrases exist for nouns and most pronouns, as well as some noun phrases. These can play the roles of determiners (also called possessive adjectives when corresponding to a pronoun) or of nouns. For nouns, noun ph ...
or English possessive" (''-'s''). Eight "word classes" or "parts of speech" are commonly distinguished in English:
noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...
s,
determiner A determiner, also called determinative (abbreviated ), is a word, phrase, or affix that occurs together with a noun or noun phrase and generally serves to express the reference of that noun or noun phrase in the context. That is, a determiner m ...
s,
pronoun In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not co ...
s,
verb A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...
s,
adjective In linguistics, an adjective (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that generally grammatical modifier, modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Tra ...
s,
adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering ...
s,
prepositions Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...
, and
conjunction Conjunction may refer to: * Conjunction (grammar), a part of speech * Logical conjunction, a mathematical operator ** Conjunction introduction, a rule of inference of propositional logic * Conjunction (astronomy), in which two astronomical bodies ...
s. Nouns form the largest word class, and verbs the second-largest. Unlike nouns in almost all other
Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
, English nouns (with a few uncommon, non-mandatory exceptions) do not have
grammatical gender In linguistics, grammatical gender system is a specific form of noun class system, where nouns are assigned with gender categories that are often not related to their real-world qualities. In languages with grammatical gender, most or all nouns ...
.


Word classes and phrases

Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs form open classes – word classes that readily accept new members, such as the noun ''
celebutante ''Famous for being famous'' is a term for someone who attains celebrity status for no clearly identifiable reason (as opposed to fame based on achievement, skill, or talent) and appears to generate their own fame, or someone who achieves fame thr ...
'' (a celebrity who frequents the fashion circles), and other similar relatively new words. The others are considered to be
closed class In grammar, a part of speech or part-of-speech (abbreviated as POS or PoS, also known as word class or grammatical category) is a category of words (or, more generally, of lexical items) that have similar grammatical properties. Words that are assi ...
es. For example, it is rare for a new pronoun to enter the language. Determiners, traditionally classified along with adjectives, have not always been regarded as a separate part of speech.
Interjections An interjection is a word or expression that occurs as an utterance on its own and expresses a spontaneous feeling or reaction. It is a diverse category, encompassing many different parts of speech, such as exclamations ''(ouch!'', ''wow!''), curse ...
are another word class, but these are not described here as they do not form part of the
clause In language, a clause is a constituent that comprises a semantic predicand (expressed or not) and a semantic predicate. A typical clause consists of a subject and a syntactic predicate, the latter typically a verb phrase composed of a verb with ...
and sentence structure of the language. Linguists generally accept nine English word classes: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, determiners, and exclamations. English words are not generally marked for word class. It is not usually possible to tell from the form of a word which class it belongs to except, to some extent, in the case of words with inflectional endings or derivational suffixes. On the other hand, most words belong to more than one-word class. For example, ''run'' can serve as either a verb or a noun (these are regarded as two different
lexeme A lexeme () is a unit of lexical meaning that underlies a set of words that are related through inflection. It is a basic abstract unit of meaning, a unit of morphological analysis in linguistics that roughly corresponds to a set of forms taken ...
s). Lexemes may be
inflected In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and defini ...
to express different grammatical categories. The lexeme ''run'' has the forms ''runs'', ''ran'', ''runny'', ''runner'', and ''running''. Words in one class can sometimes be
derived Derive may refer to: * Derive (computer algebra system), a commercial system made by Texas Instruments * ''Dérive'' (magazine), an Austrian science magazine on urbanism *Dérive, a psychogeographical concept See also * *Derivation (disambiguatio ...
from those in another. This has the potential to give rise to new words. The noun ''aerobics'' has recently given rise to the adjective ''aerobicized''. Words combine to form
phrase In syntax and grammar, a phrase is a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy". Phrases can consi ...
s. A phrase typically serves the same function as a word from some particular word class. For example, ''my very good friend Peter'' is a phrase that can be used in a sentence as if it were a noun, and is therefore called a
noun phrase In linguistics, a noun phrase, or nominal (phrase), is a phrase that has a noun or pronoun as its head or performs the same grammatical function as a noun. Noun phrases are very common cross-linguistically, and they may be the most frequently oc ...
. Similarly, adjectival phrases and
adverbial phrase In linguistics, an ''adverbial phrase'' ("AdvP") is a multi-word expression operating adverbially: its syntactic function is to modify other expressions, including verbs, adjectives, adverbs, adverbials, and sentences. Adverbial phrases can be divi ...
s function as if they were adjectives or adverbs, but with other types of phrases, the terminology has different implications. For example, a
verb phrase In linguistics, a verb phrase (VP) is a syntactic unit composed of a verb and its arguments except the subject of an independent clause or coordinate clause. Thus, in the sentence ''A fat man quickly put the money into the box'', the words ''quic ...
consists of a verb together with any objects and other dependents; a
prepositional phrase An adpositional phrase, in linguistics, is a syntactic category that includes ''prepositional phrases'', ''postpositional phrases'', and ''circumpositional phrases''. Adpositional phrases contain an adposition (preposition, postposition, or circ ...
consists of a preposition and its
complement A complement is something that completes something else. Complement may refer specifically to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-class ...
(and is therefore usually a type of adverbial phrase); and a
determiner phrase In linguistics, a determiner phrase (DP) is a type of phrase headed by a determiner such as ''many''. Controversially, many approaches, take a phrase like ''not very many apples'' to be a DP, headed, in this case, by the determiner ''many''. This is ...
is a type of noun phrase containing a determiner.


Nouns

Many common
suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...
es form nouns from other nouns or from other types of words, such as ''-age'' (as in ''shrinkage''), ''-hood'' (as in ''sisterhood''), and so on, although many nouns are base forms not containing any such suffix (such as ''cat'', ''grass'', ''France''). Nouns are also often created by
conversion Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series * "The Conversion" ...
of verbs or adjectives, as with the words ''talk'' and ''reading'' (''a boring talk'', ''the assigned reading''). Nouns are sometimes classified semantically (by their meanings) as proper nouns and common nouns (''Cyrus'', ''China'' vs. ''frog'', ''milk'') or as concrete nouns and abstract nouns (''book'', ''laptop'' vs. ''embarrassment'', ''prejudice''). A grammatical distinction is often made between count (countable) nouns such as ''clock'' and ''city'', and non-count (uncountable) nouns such as ''milk'' and ''decor''. Some nouns can function both as countable and as uncountable such as the word "wine" (''This is a good wine'', ''I prefer red wine''). Countable nouns generally have
singular Singular may refer to: * Singular, the grammatical number that denotes a unit quantity, as opposed to the plural and other forms * Singular homology * SINGULAR, an open source Computer Algebra System (CAS) * Singular or sounder, a group of boar, ...
and
plural The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...
forms. In most cases the plural is formed from the singular by adding ''- '' (as in ''dogs'', ''bushes''), although there are also irregular forms (''woman/women'', ''foot/feet'', etc.), including cases where the two forms are identical (''sheep'', ''series''). For more details, see
English plural English nouns are inflected for grammatical number, meaning that, if they are of the countable type, they generally have different forms for singular and plural. This article discusses the variety of ways in which English plural nouns are formed ...
. Certain nouns can be used with plural verbs even though they are singular in form, as in ''The government were ...'' (where ''the government'' is considered to refer to the people constituting the government). This is a form of synesis; it is more common in British than American English. See . English nouns are not marked for case as they are in some languages, but they have
possessive A possessive or ktetic form (abbreviated or ; from la, possessivus; grc, κτητικός, translit=ktētikós) is a word or grammatical construction used to indicate a relationship of possession in a broad sense. This can include strict owne ...
forms, through the addition of ''-'s'' (as in ''John's'', ''children's'') or just an
apostrophe The apostrophe ( or ) is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritical mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet and some other alphabets. In English, the apostrophe is used for two basic purposes: * The marking of the omission of one o ...
(with no change in pronunciation) in the case of ''- '' plurals and sometimes other words ending with ''-s'' (''the dogs' owners'', ''Jesus' love''). More generally, the ending can be applied to noun phrases (as in ''the man you saw yesterday's sister''); see below. The possessive form can be used either as a determiner (''John's cat'') or as a noun phrase (''John's is the one next to Jane's''). The status of the possessive as an affix or a clitic is the subject of debate. It differs from the noun inflection of languages such as German, in that the
genitive In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...
ending may attach to the last word of the phrase. To account for this, the possessive can be analysed, for instance as a clitic construction (an "
enclitic In morphology and syntax, a clitic (, backformed from Greek "leaning" or "enclitic"Crystal, David. ''A First Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics''. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1980. Print.) is a morpheme that has syntactic characteristics of a wo ...
postposition Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...
") or as an inflection of the last word of a phrase ("edge inflection").


Phrases

Noun phrase In linguistics, a noun phrase, or nominal (phrase), is a phrase that has a noun or pronoun as its head or performs the same grammatical function as a noun. Noun phrases are very common cross-linguistically, and they may be the most frequently oc ...
s are phrases that function grammatically as nouns within sentences, for example as the subject or
object Object may refer to: General meanings * Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept ** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place ** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter * Goal, an ...
of a verb. Most noun phrases have a noun as their
head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...
. An English noun phrase typically takes the following form (not all elements need be present): : In this structure: *the ''determiner'' may be an article (''the'', ''a ') or other equivalent word, as described in the following section. In many contexts, it is required for a noun phrase to include some determiner. *'' pre-modifiers'' include adjectives and some adjective phrases (such as ''red'', ''really lovely''), and
noun adjunct In grammar, a noun adjunct, attributive noun, qualifying noun, noun (pre)modifier, or apposite noun is an optional noun that grammatical modifier, modifies another noun; functioning similarly to an adjective, it is, more specifically, a noun funct ...
s (such as ''college'' in the phrase ''the college student''). Adjectival modifiers usually come before noun adjuncts. *a ''
complement A complement is something that completes something else. Complement may refer specifically to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-class ...
'' or ''
postmodifier In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...
'' may be a prepositional phrase (''... of London''), a
relative clause A relative clause is a clause that modifies a noun or noun phraseRodney D. Huddleston, Geoffrey K. Pullum, ''A Student's Introduction to English Grammar'', CUP 2005, p. 183ff. and uses some grammatical device to indicate that one of the arguments ...
(like ''...which we saw yesterday''), certain adjective or
participial In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
phrases (''... sitting on the beach''), or a
dependent clause A subordinate clause, dependent clause, subclause, or embedded clause is a clause that is embedded within a complex sentence. For instance, in the English sentence "I know that Bette is a dolphin", the clause "that Bette is a dolphin" occurs as t ...
or
infinitive phrase Infinitive (abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is deri ...
appropriate to the noun (like ''... that the world is round'' after a noun such as ''fact'' or ''statement'', or ''... to travel widely'' after a noun such as ''desire''). An example of a noun phrase that includes all of the above-mentioned elements is ''that rather attractive young college student to whom you were talking''. Here ''that'' is the determiner, ''rather attractive'' and ''young'' are adjectival pre-modifiers, ''college'' is a noun adjunct, ''student'' is the noun serving as the head of the phrase, and ''to whom you were talking'' is a post-modifier (a relative clause in this case). Notice the order of the pre-modifiers; the determiner ''that'' must come first and the noun adjunct ''college'' must come after the adjectival modifiers. Coordinating conjunctions such as ''and'', ''or'', and ''but'' can be used at various levels in noun phrases, as in ''John, Paul, and Mary''; ''the matching green coat and hat''; ''a dangerous but exciting ride''; ''a person sitting down or standing up''. See below for more explanation. Noun phrases can also be placed in ''
apposition Apposition is a grammatical construction in which two elements, normally noun phrases, are placed side by side so one element identifies the other in a different way. The two elements are said to be ''in apposition'', and one of the elements is c ...
'' (where two consecutive phrases refer to the same thing), as in ''that president, Abraham Lincoln, ...'' (where ''that president'' and ''Abraham Lincoln'' are in apposition). In some contexts, the same can be expressed by a prepositional phrase, as in ''the twin curses of famine and pestilence'' (meaning "the twin curses" that are "famine and pestilence"). Particular forms of noun phrases include: * phrases formed by the determiner ''the'' with an adjective, as in ''the homeless'', ''the English'' (these are
plural The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...
phrases referring to homeless people or English people in general); * phrases with a pronoun rather than a noun as the head (see below); * phrases consisting just of a
possessive A possessive or ktetic form (abbreviated or ; from la, possessivus; grc, κτητικός, translit=ktētikós) is a word or grammatical construction used to indicate a relationship of possession in a broad sense. This can include strict owne ...
; *
infinitive Infinitive (abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is deri ...
and
gerund In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiable ...
phrases, in certain positions; * certain clauses, such as ''that'' clauses and
relative clause A relative clause is a clause that modifies a noun or noun phraseRodney D. Huddleston, Geoffrey K. Pullum, ''A Student's Introduction to English Grammar'', CUP 2005, p. 183ff. and uses some grammatical device to indicate that one of the arguments ...
s like ''what he said'', in certain positions.


Gender

A system of grammatical gender, whereby every
noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...
was treated as either masculine, feminine or neuter, existed in
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
, but fell out of use during the
Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
period. Modern English retains features relating to
natural gender In linguistics, grammatical gender system is a specific form of noun class system, where nouns are assigned with gender categories that are often not related to their real-world qualities. In languages with grammatical gender, most or all nouns ...
, namely the use of certain nouns and
pronoun In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not co ...
s (such as ''he'' and ''she'') to refer specifically to persons or animals of one or other genders and certain others (such as ''it'') for sexless objects – although feminine pronouns are sometimes used when referring to ships (and more uncommonly some airplanes and analogous machinery) and nation-states. Some aspects of gender usage in English have been influenced by the movement towards a preference for
gender-neutral language Gender-neutral language or gender-inclusive language is language that avoids bias towards a particular sex or gender. In English, this includes use of nouns that are not gender-specific to refer to roles or professions, formation of phrases in a c ...
. Animals are triple-gender nouns, being able to take masculine, feminine and neuter pronouns. Generally there is no difference between male and female in English nouns. However, gender is occasionally exposed by different shapes or dissimilar words when referring to people or animals. ''EF Education First'' Many nouns that mention people's roles and jobs can refer to either a masculine or a feminine subject, for instance "cousin", "teenager", "teacher", "doctor", "student", "friend", and "colleague". *Jane is my friend. She is a dentist. *Paul is my cousin. He is a dentist. Often the gender distinction for these neutral nouns is established by inserting the words "male" or "female". *Sam is a female doctor. *No, he is not my boyfriend; he is just a male friend. *I have three female cousins and two male cousins. Rarely, nouns illustrating things with no gender are referred to with a gendered pronoun to convey familiarity. It is also standard to use the gender-neutral pronoun (it). *I love my car. She (the car) is my greatest passion. *France is popular with her (France's) neighbors at the moment. *I traveled from England to New York on the ''Queen Elizabeth''; she (Queen Elizabeth) is a great ship.


Determiners

English
determiner A determiner, also called determinative (abbreviated ), is a word, phrase, or affix that occurs together with a noun or noun phrase and generally serves to express the reference of that noun or noun phrase in the context. That is, a determiner m ...
s constitute a relatively small class of words. They include the
articles Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article may also refer to: G ...
''the'' and ''a '; certain
demonstrative Demonstratives (abbreviated ) are words, such as ''this'' and ''that'', used to indicate which entities are being referred to and to distinguish those entities from others. They are typically deictic; their meaning depending on a particular frame ...
and
interrogative An interrogative clause is a clause whose form is typically associated with question-like meanings. For instance, the English sentence "Is Hannah sick?" has interrogative syntax which distinguishes it from its declarative counterpart "Hannah is ...
words such as ''this'', ''that'', and ''which''; possessives such as ''my'' and ''whose'' (the role of determiner can also be played by noun possessive forms such as ''John's'' and ''the girl's''); various quantifying words like ''all'', ''some'', ''many'', ''various''; and numerals (''one'', ''two'', etc.). There are also many phrases (such as ''a couple of'') that can play the role of determiners. Determiners are used in the formation of noun phrases (see above). Many words that serve as determiners can also be used as pronouns (''this'', ''that'', ''many'', etc.). Determiners can be used in certain combinations, such as ''all the water'' and ''the many problems''. In many contexts, it is required for a noun phrase to be completed with an article or some other determiner. It is not grammatical to say just ''cat sat on table''; one must say ''my cat sat on the table''. The most common situations in which a complete noun phrase can be formed without a determiner are when it refers generally to a whole class or concept (as in ''dogs are dangerous'' and ''beauty is subjective'') and when it is a name (''Jane'', ''Spain'', etc.). This is discussed in more detail at
English articles The articles in English are the definite article ''the'' and the indefinite articles '' a'' and ''an''. The definite article is used when the speaker believes that the listener knows the identity of the noun's referent (because it is obvious, b ...
and
Zero article in English Zero-marking in English is the indication of a particular grammatical function by the absence of any morpheme (word, prefix, or suffix). The most common types of zero-marking in English involve zero articles, zero relative pronouns, and zero subor ...
.


Pronouns

Pronoun In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not co ...
s are a relatively small, closed class of words that function in the place of nouns or noun phrases. They include
personal pronoun Personal pronouns are pronouns that are associated primarily with a particular grammatical person – first person (as ''I''), second person (as ''you''), or third person (as ''he'', ''she'', ''it'', ''they''). Personal pronouns may also take dif ...
s,
demonstrative pronoun Demonstratives (abbreviated ) are words, such as ''this'' and ''that'', used to indicate which entities are being referred to and to distinguish those entities from others. They are typically deictic; their meaning depending on a particular frame ...
s,
relative pronoun A relative pronoun is a pronoun that marks a relative clause. It serves the purpose of conjoining modifying information about an antecedent referent. An example is the word ''which'' in the sentence "This is the house which Jack built." Here the ...
s, interrogative pronouns, and some others, mainly
indefinite pronoun An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun which does not have a specific familiar referent. Indefinite pronouns are in contrast to definite pronouns. Indefinite pronouns can represent either count nouns or noncount nouns. They often have related for ...
s. The full set of English pronouns is presented in the following table. Nonstandard, informal and archaic forms are in ''italics''. Interrogative only.


Personal

The personal pronouns of modern standard English are presented in the table above. They are ''I, you, she, he, it, we'', and ''they''. The personal pronouns are so-called not because they apply to persons (which other pronouns also do), but because they participate in the system of grammatical person (1st, 2nd, 3rd). The second-person forms such as ''you'' are used with both singular and plural reference. In the Southern United States,
y'all ''Y'all'' (pronounced ) is a contraction of ''you'' and ''all'', sometimes combined as ''you-all''. ''Y'all'' is the main second-person plural pronoun in Southern American English, with which it is most frequently associated, though it also ap ...
(you all) is used as a plural form, and various other phrases such as ''you guys'' are used in other places. An archaic set of second-person pronouns used for singular reference is ''
thou The word ''thou'' is a second-person singular pronoun in English. It is now largely archaic, having been replaced in most contexts by the word ''you'', although it remains in use in parts of Northern England and in Scots (). ''Thou'' is the ...
, thee, thyself, thy, thine, ''which are still used in religious services and can be seen in older works, such as Shakespeare's—in such texts, the ''you'' set of pronouns are used for plural reference, or with singular reference as a formal V-form. ''You'' can also be used as an
indefinite pronoun An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun which does not have a specific familiar referent. Indefinite pronouns are in contrast to definite pronouns. Indefinite pronouns can represent either count nouns or noncount nouns. They often have related for ...
, referring to a person in general (see generic ''you''), compared to the more formal alternative, '' one'' (reflexive ''oneself'', possessive ''one's''). The third-person singular forms are differentiated according to the gender of the referent. For example, ''she'' is used to refer to a woman, sometimes a female animal, and sometimes an object to which feminine characteristics are attributed, such as a ship or a country. A man, and sometimes a male animal, is referred to using ''he''. In other cases, ''it'' can be used. (See
Gender in English A system of grammatical gender, whereby every noun was treated as either masculine, feminine, or neuter, existed in Old English, but fell out of use during the Middle English period; therefore, Modern English largely does not have grammatical gen ...
.) The word ''it'' can also be used as a
dummy subject A dummy pronoun is a deictic pronoun that fulfills a syntactical requirement without providing a contextually explicit meaning of its referent. As such, it is an example of exophora. Dummy pronouns are used in many Germanic languages, includi ...
, concerning abstract ideas like time, weather, etc. The third-person form ''they'' is used with both plural and singular
referent A referent () is a person or thing to which a name – a linguistic expression or other symbol – refers. For example, in the sentence ''Mary saw me'', the referent of the word ''Mary'' is the particular person called Mary who is being spoken of, ...
s. Historically, singular ''they'' was restricted to quantificational constructions such as ''Each employee should clean their desk'' and referential cases where the referent's gender was unknown. However, it is increasingly used when the referent's gender is irrelevant or when the referent is neither male nor female. The possessive determiners such as ''my'' are used as determiners together with nouns, as in ''my old man'', ''some of his friends''. The second possessive forms like ''mine'' are used when they do not qualify a noun: as pronouns, as in ''mine is bigger than yours'', and as predicates, as in ''this one is mine''. Note also the construction ''a friend of mine'' (meaning "someone who is my friend"). See English possessive for more details.


Demonstrative

The
demonstrative pronoun Demonstratives (abbreviated ) are words, such as ''this'' and ''that'', used to indicate which entities are being referred to and to distinguish those entities from others. They are typically deictic; their meaning depending on a particular frame ...
s of English are ''this'' (plural ''these''), and ''that'' (plural ''those''), as in ''these are good, I like that''. Note that all four words can also be used as determiners (followed by a noun), as in ''those cars''. They can also form the alternative pronominal expressions ''this/that one'', ''these/those ones''.


Interrogative

The
interrogative pronoun An interrogative word or question word is a function word used to ask a question, such as ''what, which'', ''when'', ''where'', ''who, whom, whose'', ''why'', ''whether'' and ''how''. They are sometimes called wh-words, because in English most o ...
s are ''who'', ''what'', and ''which'' (all of them can take the suffix ''
-ever An interrogative word or question word is a function word used to ask a question, such as ''what, which'', ''when'', ''where'', ''who, whom, whose'', ''why'', ''whether'' and ''how''. They are sometimes called wh-words, because in English most o ...
'' for emphasis). The pronoun ''who'' refers to a person or people; it has an oblique form ''
whom WHOM (94.9 FM, "94.9 HOM") is an American radio station which airs an adult contemporary radio format. WHOM is owned by Townsquare Media and transmits from atop Mount Washington in New Hampshire, its community of license. Mount Washington ...
'' (though in informal contexts this is usually replaced by ''who''), and a possessive form (pronoun or determiner) ''whose''. The pronoun ''what'' refers to things or abstracts. The word ''which'' is used to ask about alternatives from what is seen as a closed set: ''which (of the books) do you like best?'' (It can also be an interrogative determiner: ''which book?''; this can form the alternative pronominal expressions ''which one'' and ''which ones''.) ''Which'', ''who'', and ''what'' can be either singular or plural, although ''who'' and ''what'' often take a singular verb regardless of any supposed number. For more information see ''who''. In Old and Middle English, the roles of the three words were different from their roles today. "The interrogative pronoun ''hwā'' 'who, what' had only singular forms and also only distinguished between non-neuter and neuter, the neuter nominative form being ''hwæt.''" Note that neuter and non-neuter refers to the grammatical gender system of the time, rather than the so-called natural gender system of today. A small holdover of this is the ability of relative (but not interrogative) ''whose'' to refer to non-persons (e.g., ''the car whose door won't open''). All the interrogative pronouns can also be used as relative pronouns, though ''what'' is quite limited in its use; see below for more details.


Relative

The main
relative pronoun A relative pronoun is a pronoun that marks a relative clause. It serves the purpose of conjoining modifying information about an antecedent referent. An example is the word ''which'' in the sentence "This is the house which Jack built." Here the ...
s in English are ''
who Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...
'' (with its derived forms ''whom'' and ''whose''), ''which'', and ''that''. The relative pronoun ''which'' refers to things rather than persons, as in ''the shirt, which used to be red, is faded''. For persons, ''who'' is used (''the man who saw me was tall''). The
oblique case In grammar, an oblique (abbreviated ; from la, casus obliquus) or objective case (abbr. ) is a nominal case other than the nominative case, and sometimes, the vocative. A noun or pronoun in the oblique case can generally appear in any role exc ...
form of ''who'' is ''whom'', as in ''the man whom I saw was tall'', although in informal registers ''who'' is commonly used in place of ''whom''. The possessive form of ''who'' is ''whose'' (for example, ''the man whose car is missing''); however the use of ''whose'' is not restricted to persons (one can say ''an idea whose time has come''). The word ''that'' as a relative pronoun is normally found only in
restrictive relative clause A relative clause is a clause that modifies a noun or noun phraseRodney D. Huddleston, Geoffrey K. Pullum, ''A Student's Introduction to English Grammar'', CUP 2005, p. 183ff. and uses some grammatical device to indicate that one of the arguments ...
s (unlike ''which'' and ''who'', which can be used in both restrictive and unrestrictive clauses). It can refer to either persons or things, and cannot follow a preposition. For example, one can say ''the song that'' r ''which''''I listened to yesterday'', but ''the song to which'' ot ''to that''''I listened yesterday''. The relative pronoun ''that'' is usually pronounced with a reduced vowel (
schwa In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa (, rarely or ; sometimes spelled shwa) is a vowel sound denoted by the IPA symbol , placed in the central position of the vowel chart. In English and some other languages, it rep ...
), and hence differently from the demonstrative ''that'' (see
Weak and strong forms in English Stress is a prominent feature of the English language, both at the level of the word ''(lexical stress)'' and at the level of the phrase or sentence ''(prosodic stress)''. Absence of stress on a syllable, or on a word in some cases, is frequently ...
). If ''that'' is not the subject of the relative clause, it can be omitted (''the song I listened to yesterday''). The word ''what'' can be used to form a
free relative clause A relative clause is a clause that modifies a noun or noun phraseRodney D. Huddleston, Geoffrey K. Pullum, ''A Student's Introduction to English Grammar'', CUP 2005, p. 183ff. and uses some grammatical device to indicate that one of the arguments ...
– one that has no antecedent and that serves as a complete noun phrase in itself, as in ''I like what he likes''. The words ''whatever'' and ''whichever'' can be used similarly, in the role of either pronouns (''whatever he likes'') or determiners (''whatever book he likes''). When referring to persons, ''who(ever)'' (and ''whom(ever)'') can be used in a similar way.


"There"

The word ''there'' is used as a pronoun in some sentences, playing the role of a
dummy subject A dummy pronoun is a deictic pronoun that fulfills a syntactical requirement without providing a contextually explicit meaning of its referent. As such, it is an example of exophora. Dummy pronouns are used in many Germanic languages, includi ...
, normally of an
intransitive verb In grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb whose context does not entail a direct object. That lack of transitivity distinguishes intransitive verbs from transitive verbs, which entail one or more objects. Additionally, intransitive verbs are ...
. The "logical subject" of the verb then appears as a
complement A complement is something that completes something else. Complement may refer specifically to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-class ...
after the verb. This use of ''there'' occurs most commonly with forms of the verb ''be'' in
existential clause An existential clause is a clause that refers to the existence or presence of something, such as "There is a God" and "There are boys in the yard". The use of such clauses can be considered analogous to existential quantification in predicate lo ...
s, to refer to the presence or existence of something. For example: ''There is a heaven''; ''There are two cups on the table''; ''There have been a lot of problems lately''. It can also be used with other verbs: ''There exist two major variants''; ''There occurred a very strange incident''. The dummy subject takes the
number A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers c ...
(singular or plural) of the logical subject (complement), hence it takes a plural verb if the complement is plural. In informal English, however, the
contraction Contraction may refer to: Linguistics * Contraction (grammar), a shortened word * Poetic contraction, omission of letters for poetic reasons * Elision, omission of sounds ** Syncope (phonology), omission of sounds in a word * Synalepha, merged ...
''there's'' is often used for both singular and plural. The dummy subject can undergo
inversion Inversion or inversions may refer to: Arts * , a French gay magazine (1924/1925) * ''Inversion'' (artwork), a 2005 temporary sculpture in Houston, Texas * Inversion (music), a term with various meanings in music theory and musical set theory * ...
, ''Is there a test today?'' and ''Never has there been a man such as this.'' It can also appear without a corresponding logical subject, in short sentences and
question tag A question is an utterance which serves as a request for information. Questions are sometimes distinguished from interrogatives, which are the grammatical forms typically used to express them. Rhetorical questions, for instance, are interrogat ...
s: ''There wasn't a discussion, was there? There was.'' The word ''there'' in such sentences has sometimes been analyzed as an
adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering ...
, or as a dummy
predicate Predicate or predication may refer to: * Predicate (grammar), in linguistics * Predication (philosophy) * several closely related uses in mathematics and formal logic: **Predicate (mathematical logic) **Propositional function **Finitary relation, o ...
, rather than as a pronoun. However, its identification as a pronoun is most consistent with its behavior in inverted sentences and question tags as described above. Because the word ''there'' can also be a
deictic In linguistics, deixis (, ) is the use of general words and phrases to refer to a specific time, place, or person in context, e.g., the words ''tomorrow'', ''there'', and ''they''. Words are deictic if their semantic meaning is fixed but their de ...
adverb (meaning "at/to that place"), a sentence like ''There is a river'' could have either of two meanings: "a river exists" (with ''there'' as a pronoun), and "a river is in that place" (with ''there'' as an adverb). In speech, the adverbial ''there'' would be given
stress Stress may refer to: Science and medicine * Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition * Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...
, while the pronoun would not – in fact, the pronoun is often pronounced as a weak form, .


Reciprocal

The English
reciprocal pronoun A reciprocal pronoun is a pronoun that indicates a reciprocal relationship. A reciprocal pronoun can be used for one of the participants of a reciprocal construction, i.e. a clause in which two participants are in a mutual relationship. The recipr ...
s are ''each other'' and ''one another''. Although they are written with a space, they're best thought of as single words. No consistent distinction in meaning or use can be found between them. Like the reflexive pronouns, their use is limited to contexts where an antecedent precedes it. In the case of the reciprocals, they need to appear in the same clause as the antecedent.


Other

Other pronouns in English are often identical in form to
determiners A determiner, also called determinative (abbreviated ), is a word, phrase, or affix that occurs together with a noun or noun phrase and generally serves to express the reference of that noun or noun phrase in the context. That is, a determiner m ...
(especially quantifiers), such as ''many'', ''a little'', etc. Sometimes, the pronoun form is different, as with ''none'' (corresponding to the determiner ''no''), ''nothing'', ''everyone'', ''somebody'', etc. Many examples are listed as
indefinite pronoun An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun which does not have a specific familiar referent. Indefinite pronouns are in contrast to definite pronouns. Indefinite pronouns can represent either count nouns or noncount nouns. They often have related for ...
s. Another indefinite (or impersonal) pronoun is '' one'' (with its reflexive form ''oneself'' and possessive ''one's''), which is a more formal alternative to generic ''you''.


Verbs

The basic form of an English verb is not generally marked by any ending, although there are certain suffixes that are frequently used to form verbs, such as ''-ate'' (''formulate''), ''-fy'' (''electrify''), and ''-ise/ize'' (''realise/realize''). Many verbs also contain
prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...
es, such as ''un-'' (''unmask''), ''out-'' (''outlast''), ''over-'' (''overtake''), and ''under-'' (''undervalue''). Verbs can also be formed from nouns and adjectives by zero derivation, as with the verbs ''snare'', ''nose'', ''dry'', and ''calm''. Most verbs have three or four inflected forms in addition to the base form: a third-person singular present tense form in ''-(e)s'' (''writes'', ''botches''), a
present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
and
gerund In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiable ...
form in ''-ing'' (''writing''), a past tense (''wrote''), and – though often identical to the past tense form – a
past participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
(''written''). Regular verbs have identical past tense and past participle forms in ''-ed'', but there are 100 or so irregular English verbs with different forms (see
list A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
). The verbs ''have'', ''do'' and ''say'' also have irregular third-person present tense forms (''has'', ''does'' , ''says'' ). The verb ''be'' has the largest number of irregular forms (''am, is, are'' in the present tense, ''was, were'' in the past tense, ''been'' for the past participle). Most of what are often referred to as verb
tenses In grammar, tense is a category that expresses time reference. Tenses are usually manifested by the use of specific forms of verbs, particularly in their conjugation patterns. The main tenses found in many languages include the past, present, ...
(or sometimes
aspect Aspect or Aspects may refer to: Entertainment * ''Aspect magazine'', a biannual DVD magazine showcasing new media art * Aspect Co., a Japanese video game company * Aspects (band), a hip hop group from Bristol, England * ''Aspects'' (Benny Carter ...
s) in English are formed using
auxiliary verb An auxiliary verb (abbreviated ) is a verb that adds functional or grammatical meaning to the clause in which it occurs, so as to express tense, aspect, modality, voice, emphasis, etc. Auxiliary verbs usually accompany an infinitive verb or a p ...
s. Apart from what are called the
simple present The simple present, present simple or present indefinite is one of the verb forms associated with the present tense in modern English. It is commonly referred to as a tense, although it also encodes certain information about aspect in addition ...
(''write'', ''writes'') and
simple past The simple past, past simple or past indefinite, sometimes called the preterite, is the basic form of the past tense in Modern English. It is used principally to describe events in the past, although it also has some other uses. Regular English v ...
(''wrote''), there are also
continuous Continuity or continuous may refer to: Mathematics * Continuity (mathematics), the opposing concept to discreteness; common examples include ** Continuous probability distribution or random variable in probability and statistics ** Continuous ...
(progressive) forms (''am/is/are/was/were writing''), perfect forms (''have/has/had written'', and the perfect continuous ''have/has/had been writing''),
future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...
forms (''will write'', ''will be writing'', ''will have written'', ''will have been writing''), and
conditionals Conditional (if then) may refer to: *Causal conditional, if X then Y, where X is a cause of Y *Conditional probability, the probability of an event A given that another event B has occurred *Conditional proof, in logic: a proof that asserts a co ...
(also called "
future in the past The future in the past is a grammatical tense where the time reference is in the future with respect to a vantage point that is itself in the past. In English, future in the past is not always considered separate tense, but rather as either a subc ...
"), so forms equivalent to future ones but with ''would'' instead of ''will''. The auxiliaries ''shall'' and ''should'' sometimes replace ''will'' and ''would'' in the first person. For the uses of these various verb forms, see
English verbs Verbs constitute one of the main parts of speech (word classes) in the English language. Like other types of words in the language, English verbs are not heavily inflected. Most combinations of tense, aspect, mood and voice are expressed perip ...
and
English clause syntax This article describes the syntax of clauses in the English language, chiefly in Modern English. A clause is often said to be the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete proposition. But this semantic idea of a clause leaves out ...
. The basic form of the verb (''be, write, play'') is used as the
infinitive Infinitive (abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is deri ...
, although there is also a "to-infinitive" (''to be'', ''to write'', ''to play'') used in many syntactical constructions. There are also infinitives corresponding to other aspects: ''(to) have written'', ''(to) be writing'', ''(to) have been writing''. The second-person imperative is identical to the (basic) infinitive; other imperative forms may be made with ''let'' (''let us go'', or ''let's go''; ''let them eat cake''). A form identical to the infinitive can be used as a present
subjunctive The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality ...
in certain contexts: ''It is important that he follow them'' or ''... that he be committed to the cause''. There is also a past subjunctive (distinct from the simple past only in the possible use of ''were'' instead of ''was''), used in some conditional sentences and similar: ''if I were'' (or ''was'') ''rich ...''; ''were he to arrive now ...''; ''I wish she were'' (or ''was'') ''here''. For details see
English subjunctive While the English language lacks distinct inflections for Grammatical mood, mood, an English subjunctive is recognized in most History of English grammars, grammars. Definition and scope of the concept vary widely across the literature, but it is ...
. The
passive voice A passive voice construction is a grammatical voice construction that is found in many languages. In a clause with passive voice, the grammatical subject expresses the ''theme'' or ''patient'' of the main verb – that is, the person or thing t ...
is formed using the verb ''be'' (in the appropriate tense or form) with the past participle of the verb in question: ''cars are driven, he was killed, I am being tickled, it is nice to be pampered'', etc. The performer of the action may be introduced in a prepositional phrase with ''by'' (as in ''they were killed by the invaders''). The
English modal verbs The English modal verbs are a subset of the English auxiliary verbs used mostly to express modality (properties such as possibility, obligation, etc.). They can be distinguished from other verbs by their defectiveness (they do not have participle ...
consist of the core modals ''can'', ''could'', ''may'', ''might'', ''must'', ''shall'', ''should'', ''will'', ''would'', as well as ''ought (to''), ''had better'', and in some uses ''dare'' and ''need''. These do not inflect for person or number, do not occur alone, and do not have infinitive or participle forms (except synonyms, as with ''be/being/been able (to'') for the modals ''can/could''). The modals are used with the basic infinitive form of a verb (''I can swim, he may be killed'', ''we dare not move'', ''need they go?''), except for ''ought'', which takes ''to'' (''you ought to go''). Modals can indicate the condition, probability, possibility, necessity, obligation and ability exposed by the speaker's or writer's attitude or expression. The copula ''be'', along with the modal verbs and the other
auxiliaries Auxiliaries are support personnel that assist the military or police but are organised differently from regular forces. Auxiliary may be military volunteers undertaking support functions or performing certain duties such as garrison troops, u ...
, form a distinct class, sometimes called "
special verbs English auxiliary verbs are a small set of English verbs, which include the English modal verbs and a few others. Although definitions vary, as generally conceived an auxiliary lacks inherent semantic meaning but instead modifies the meaning of an ...
" or simply "auxiliaries". These have different syntax from ordinary
lexical verb In linguistics a lexical verb or main verb is a member of an open class of verbs that includes all verbs except auxiliary verbs. Lexical verbs typically express action, state, or other predicate meaning. In contrast, auxiliary verbs express gramm ...
s, especially in that they make their
interrogative An interrogative clause is a clause whose form is typically associated with question-like meanings. For instance, the English sentence "Is Hannah sick?" has interrogative syntax which distinguishes it from its declarative counterpart "Hannah is ...
forms by plain
inversion Inversion or inversions may refer to: Arts * , a French gay magazine (1924/1925) * ''Inversion'' (artwork), a 2005 temporary sculpture in Houston, Texas * Inversion (music), a term with various meanings in music theory and musical set theory * ...
with the subject, and their negative forms by adding ''not'' after the verb (''could I ...? I could not ...''). Apart from those already mentioned, this class may also include ''used to'' (although the forms ''did he use to?'' and ''he didn't use to'' are also found), and sometimes ''have'' even when not an auxiliary (forms like ''have you a sister?'' and ''he hadn't a clue'' are possible, though becoming less common). It also includes the auxiliary ''do'' (''does'', ''did''); this is used with the basic infinitive of other verbs (those not belonging to the "special verbs" class) to make their question and negation forms, as well as emphatic forms (''do I like you?''; ''he doesn't speak English''; ''we did close the fridge''). For more details of this, see ''do''-support. Some forms of the copula and auxiliaries often appear as
contraction Contraction may refer to: Linguistics * Contraction (grammar), a shortened word * Poetic contraction, omission of letters for poetic reasons * Elision, omission of sounds ** Syncope (phonology), omission of sounds in a word * Synalepha, merged ...
s, as in ''I'm'' for ''I am'', ''you'd'' for ''you would'' or ''you had'', and ''John's'' for ''John is''. Their negated forms with following ''not'' are also often contracted (see below). For detail see
English auxiliaries and contractions English auxiliary verbs are a small set of English verbs, which include the English modal verbs and a few others. Although definitions vary, as generally conceived an auxiliary lacks inherent semantic meaning but instead modifies the meaning of an ...
.


Phrases

A verb together with its dependents, excluding its subject, may be identified as a
verb phrase In linguistics, a verb phrase (VP) is a syntactic unit composed of a verb and its arguments except the subject of an independent clause or coordinate clause. Thus, in the sentence ''A fat man quickly put the money into the box'', the words ''quic ...
(although this concept is not acknowledged in all theories of grammar). A verb phrase headed by a
finite verb Traditionally, a finite verb (from la, fīnītus, past participle of to put an end to, bound, limit) is the form "to which number and person appertain", in other words, those inflected for number and person. Verbs were originally said to be ''fin ...
may also be called a
predicate Predicate or predication may refer to: * Predicate (grammar), in linguistics * Predication (philosophy) * several closely related uses in mathematics and formal logic: **Predicate (mathematical logic) **Propositional function **Finitary relation, o ...
. The dependents may be
object Object may refer to: General meanings * Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept ** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place ** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter * Goal, an ...
s,complements, and modifiers (adverbs or
adverbial phrase In linguistics, an ''adverbial phrase'' ("AdvP") is a multi-word expression operating adverbially: its syntactic function is to modify other expressions, including verbs, adjectives, adverbs, adverbials, and sentences. Adverbial phrases can be divi ...
s). In English, objects and complements nearly always come after the verb; a
direct object In linguistics, an object is any of several types of arguments. In subject-prominent, nominative-accusative languages such as English, a transitive verb typically distinguishes between its subject and any of its objects, which can include but ...
precedes other complements such as prepositional phrases, but if there is an
indirect object In linguistics, an object is any of several types of arguments. In subject-prominent, nominative-accusative languages such as English, a transitive verb typically distinguishes between its subject and any of its objects, which can include but ...
as well, expressed without a preposition, then that precedes the direct object: ''give me the book'', but ''give the book to me''. Adverbial modifiers generally follow objects, although other positions are possible (see under below). Certain verb–modifier combinations, particularly when they have independent meaning (such as ''take on'' and ''get up''), are known as "
phrasal verb In the traditional grammar of Modern English, a phrasal verb typically constitutes a single semantic unit composed of a verb followed by a particle (examples: ''turn down'', ''run into'' or ''sit up''), sometimes combined with a preposition (ex ...
s". For details of possible patterns, see
English clause syntax This article describes the syntax of clauses in the English language, chiefly in Modern English. A clause is often said to be the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete proposition. But this semantic idea of a clause leaves out ...
. See the Non-finite clauses section of that article for verb phrases headed by non-finite verb forms, such as infinitives and participles.


Adjectives

English
adjective In linguistics, an adjective (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that generally grammatical modifier, modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Tra ...
s, as with other word classes, cannot in general be identified as such by their form, although many of them are formed from nouns or other words by the addition of a suffix, such as ''-al'' (''habitual''), ''-ful'' (''blissful''), ''-ic'' (''atomic''), ''-ish'' (''impish'', ''youngish''), ''-ous'' (''hazardous''), etc.; or from other adjectives using a prefix: ''disloyal'', ''irredeemable'', ''unforeseen'', ''overtired''. Adjectives may be used attributively, as part of a noun phrase (nearly always preceding the noun they modify; for exceptions see
postpositive adjective A postpositive adjective or postnominal adjective is an adjective that is placed after the noun or pronoun that it modifies, as in noun phrases such as ''attorney general'', ''queen regnant'', or ''all matters financial''. This contrasts with prepo ...
), as in ''the big house'', or predicatively, as in ''the house is big''. Certain adjectives are restricted to one or other use; for example, ''drunken'' is attributive (''a drunken sailor''), while ''drunk'' is usually predicative (''the sailor was drunk'').


Comparison

Many adjectives have
comparative In general linguistics, the comparative is a syntactic construction that serves to express a comparison between two (or more) entities or groups of entities in quality or degree - see also comparison (grammar) for an overview of comparison, as wel ...
and superlative forms in ''-er'' and ''-est'', such as ''faster'' and ''fastest'' (from the positive form ''fast''). Spelling rules which maintain pronunciation apply to suffixing adjectives just as they do for similar treatment of regular past tense formation; these cover consonant doubling (as in ''bigger'' and ''biggest'', from ''big'') and the change of ''y'' to ''i'' after consonants (as in ''happier'' and ''happiest'', from ''happy''). The adjectives ''good'' and ''bad'' have the irregular forms ''better, best'' and ''worse, worst''; also ''far'' becomes ''farther, farthest'' or ''further, furthest''. The adjective ''old'' (for which the regular ''older'' and ''oldest'' are usual) also has the irregular forms ''elder'' and ''eldest'', these generally being restricted to use in comparing
sibling A sibling is a relative that shares at least one parent with the subject. A male sibling is a brother and a female sibling is a sister. A person with no siblings is an only child. While some circumstances can cause siblings to be raised separat ...
s and in certain independent uses. For the comparison of adverbs, see
Adverbs An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering que ...
below. Many adjectives, however, particularly those that are longer and less common, do not have inflected comparative and superlative forms. Instead, they can be qualified with ''more'' and ''most'', as in ''beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful'' (this construction is also sometimes used even for adjectives for which inflected forms do exist). Certain adjectives are classed as ungradable. These represent properties that cannot be compared on a scale; they simply apply or do not, as with ''pregnant'', ''dead'', ''unique''. Consequently, comparative and superlative forms of such adjectives are not normally used, except in a figurative, humorous or imprecise context. Similarly, such adjectives are not normally qualified with modifiers of degree such as ''very'' and ''fairly'', although with some of them it is idiomatic to use adverbs such as ''completely''. Another type of adjective sometimes considered ungradable is those that represent an extreme degree of some property, such as ''delicious'' and ''terrified''.


Phrases

An
adjective phrase An adjective phrase (or adjectival phrase) is a phrase whose head is an adjective. Almost any grammar or syntax textbook or dictionary of linguistics terminology defines the adjective phrase in a similar way, e.g. Kesner Bland (1996:499), Crystal (1 ...
is a group of words that plays the role of an adjective in a sentence. It usually has a single adjective as its
head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...
, to which
modifier Modifier may refer to: * Grammatical modifier, a word that modifies the meaning of another word or limits its meaning ** Compound modifier, two or more words that modify a noun ** Dangling modifier, a word or phrase that modifies a clause in an am ...
s and
complement A complement is something that completes something else. Complement may refer specifically to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-class ...
s may be added. Adjectives can be modified by a preceding adverb or adverb phrase, as in ''very warm'', ''truly imposing'', ''more than a little excited''. Some can also be preceded by a noun or quantitative phrase, as in ''fat-free'', ''two-meter-long''. Complements following the adjective may include: *
prepositional phrase An adpositional phrase, in linguistics, is a syntactic category that includes ''prepositional phrases'', ''postpositional phrases'', and ''circumpositional phrases''. Adpositional phrases contain an adposition (preposition, postposition, or circ ...
s: ''proud of him'', ''angry at the screen'', ''keen on breeding toads''; *
infinitive Infinitive (abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is deri ...
phrases: ''anxious to solve the problem'', ''easy to pick up''; *
content clause In grammar, a content clause is a dependent clause that provides content implied or commented upon by an independent clause. The term was coined by Danish linguist Otto Jespersen. They are also known as noun clauses. English In English, there ar ...
s, i.e. ''that'' clauses and certain others: ''certain that he was right'', ''unsure where they are''; * after comparatives, phrases or clauses with ''than'': ''better than you'', ''smaller than I had imagined''. An adjective phrase may include both modifiers before the adjective and a complement after it, as in ''very difficult to put away''. Adjective phrases containing complements after the adjective cannot normally be used as attributive adjectives ''before'' a noun. Sometimes they are used attributively after the noun, as in ''a woman proud of being a midwife'' (where they may be converted into relative clauses: ''a woman who is proud of being a midwife''), but it is wrong to say *''a proud of being a midwife woman''. Exceptions include very brief and often established phrases such as ''easy-to-use''. (Certain complements can be moved to after the noun, leaving the adjective before the noun, as in ''a better man than you'', ''a hard nut to crack''.) Certain attributive adjective phrases are formed from other parts of speech, without any adjective as their head, as in ''a two-bedroom house'', ''a no-jeans policy''.


Adverbs

Adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering ...
s perform a wide range of functions. They typically modify verbs (or verb phrases), adjectives (or adjectival phrases), or other adverbs (or adverbial phrases). However, adverbs also sometimes qualify noun phrases (''only the boss''; ''quite a lovely place''), pronouns and determiners (''almost all''), prepositional phrases (''halfway through the movie''), or whole sentences, to provide contextual comment or indicate an attitude (''Frankly, I don't believe you''). They can also indicate a relationship between clauses or sentences (''He died, and consequently I inherited the estate''). Many English adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding the ending ''-ly'', as in ''hopefully'', ''widely'', ''theoretically'' (for details of spelling and etymology, see '' -ly''). Certain words can be used as both adjectives and adverbs, such as ''fast'', ''straight'', and ''hard''; these are
flat adverb In English grammar, a flat adverb, bare adverb, or simple adverb is an adverb that has the same form as the corresponding adjective,' (as in ''homeward ') and ''-wise'' (as in ''lengthwise''). Most adverbs form comparatives and superlatives by modification with ''more'' and ''most'': ''often'', ''more often'', ''most often''; ''smoothly'', ''more smoothly'', ''most smoothly'' (see also comparison of adjectives, above). However, a few adverbs retain irregular inflection for
comparative In general linguistics, the comparative is a syntactic construction that serves to express a comparison between two (or more) entities or groups of entities in quality or degree - see also comparison (grammar) for an overview of comparison, as wel ...
and superlative forms: ''much'', ''more'', ''most''; ''a little'', ''less'', ''least''; ''well'', ''better'', ''best''; ''badly'', ''worse'', ''worst''; ''far'', ''further'' (''farther''), ''furthest'' (''farthest''); or follow the regular adjectival inflection: ''fast'', ''faster'', ''fastest''; ''soon'', ''sooner'', ''soonest''; etc. Adverbs indicating the manner of an action are generally placed after the verb and its objects (''We considered the proposal carefully''), although other positions are often possible (''We carefully considered the proposal''). Many adverbs of frequency, degree, certainty, etc. (such as ''often'', ''always'', ''almost'', ''probably'', and various others such as ''just'') tend to be placed before the verb (''they usually have chips''), although if there is an auxiliary or other "special verb" (see above), then the normal position for such adverbs is after that special verb (or after the first of them, if there is more than one): ''I have just finished the crossword''; ''She can usually manage a pint''; ''We are never late''; ''You might possibly have been unconscious''. Adverbs that provide a connection with previous information (such as ''next'', ''then'', ''however''), and those that provide the context (such as time or place) for a sentence, are typically placed at the start of the sentence: ''Yesterday we went on a shopping expedition.'' If the verb has an object, the adverb comes after the object (''He finished the test quickly''). When there is more than one types of adverb, they usually appear in the order: manner, place, time (''His arm was hurt severely at home yesterday''). A special type of adverb is the adverbial particle used to form
phrasal verb In the traditional grammar of Modern English, a phrasal verb typically constitutes a single semantic unit composed of a verb followed by a particle (examples: ''turn down'', ''run into'' or ''sit up''), sometimes combined with a preposition (ex ...
s (such as ''up'' in ''pick up'', ''on'' in ''get on'', etc.) If such a verb also has an object, then the particle may precede or follow the object, although it will normally follow the object if the object is a pronoun (''pick the pen up'' or ''pick up the pen'', but ''pick it up'').


Phrases

An
adverb phrase In linguistics, an ''adverbial phrase'' ("AdvP") is a multi-word expression operating adverbially: its syntactic function is to modify other expressions, including verbs, adjectives, adverbs, adverbials, and sentences. Adverbial phrases can be divi ...
is a phrase that acts as an adverb within a sentence. An adverb phrase may have an adverb as its
head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...
, together with any modifiers (other adverbs or adverb phrases) and complements, analogously to the adjective phrases described above. For example: ''very sleepily''; ''all too suddenly''; ''oddly enough''; ''perhaps shockingly for us''. Another very common type of adverb phrase is the
prepositional phrase An adpositional phrase, in linguistics, is a syntactic category that includes ''prepositional phrases'', ''postpositional phrases'', and ''circumpositional phrases''. Adpositional phrases contain an adposition (preposition, postposition, or circ ...
, which consists of a preposition and its object: ''in the pool''; ''after two years''; ''for the sake of harmony''.


Prepositions

Preposition Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...
s form a closed word class, although there are also certain phrases that serve as prepositions, such as ''in front of''. A single preposition may have a variety of meanings, often including temporal, spatial and abstract. Many words that are prepositions can also serve as adverbs. Examples of common English prepositions (including phrasal instances) are ''of'', ''in'', ''on'', ''over'', ''under'', ''to'', ''from'', ''with'', ''in front of'', ''behind'', ''opposite'', ''by'', ''before'', ''after'', ''during'', ''through'', ''in spite of'' or ''despite'', ''between'', ''among'', etc. A preposition is usually used with a noun phrase as its
complement A complement is something that completes something else. Complement may refer specifically to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-class ...
. A preposition together with its complement is called a
prepositional phrase An adpositional phrase, in linguistics, is a syntactic category that includes ''prepositional phrases'', ''postpositional phrases'', and ''circumpositional phrases''. Adpositional phrases contain an adposition (preposition, postposition, or circ ...
. Examples are ''in England'', ''under the table'', ''after six pleasant weeks'', ''between the land and the sea''. A prepositional phrase can be used as a complement or post-modifier of a noun in a noun phrase, as in ''the man in the car'', ''the start of the fight''; as a complement of a verb or adjective, as in ''deal with the problem'', ''proud of oneself''; or generally as an adverb phrase (see above). English allows the use of "stranded" prepositions. This can occur in interrogative and
relative clauses A relative clause is a clause that modifies a noun or noun phraseRodney D. Huddleston, Geoffrey K. Pullum, ''A Student's Introduction to English Grammar'', CUP 2005, p. 183ff. and uses some grammatical device to indicate that one of the arguments ...
, where the interrogative or relative pronoun that is the preposition's complement is moved to the start ( fronted), leaving the preposition in place. This kind of structure is avoided in some kinds of formal English. For example: *''What are you talking about?'' (Possible alternative version: ''About what are you talking?'') *''The song that you were listening to ...'' (more formal: ''The song to which you were listening ...'') Notice that in the second example the relative pronoun ''that'' could be omitted. Stranded prepositions can also arise in
passive voice A passive voice construction is a grammatical voice construction that is found in many languages. In a clause with passive voice, the grammatical subject expresses the ''theme'' or ''patient'' of the main verb – that is, the person or thing t ...
constructions and other uses of passive past participial phrases, where the complement in a prepositional phrase can become
zero 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. In place-value notation Positional notation (or place-value notation, or positional numeral system) usually denotes the extension to any base of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system (or ...
in the same way that a verb's direct object would: ''it was looked at''; ''I will be operated on''; ''get your teeth seen to''. The same can happen in certain uses of
infinitive Infinitive (abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is deri ...
phrases: ''he is nice to talk to''; ''this is the page to make copies of''.


Conjunctions

Conjunction Conjunction may refer to: * Conjunction (grammar), a part of speech * Logical conjunction, a mathematical operator ** Conjunction introduction, a rule of inference of propositional logic * Conjunction (astronomy), in which two astronomical bodies ...
s express a variety of logical relations between items, phrases, clauses and sentences. The principal
coordinating conjunction In grammar, a conjunction (abbreviated or ) is a part of speech that connects words, phrases, or clauses that are called the conjuncts of the conjunctions. That definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech and so what constitutes a ...
s in English are: ''and'', ''or'', ''but'', ''nor'', ''so'', ''yet'', and ''for''. These can be used in many grammatical contexts to link two or more items of equal grammatical status, for example: *Noun phrases combined into a longer noun phrase, such as ''John, Eric, and Jill'', ''the red coat or the blue one''. When ''and'' is used, the resulting noun phrase is plural. A determiner does not need to be repeated with the individual elements: ''the cat, the dog, and the mouse'' and ''the cat, dog, and mouse'' are both correct. The same applies to other modifiers. (The word ''but'' can be used here in the sense of "except": ''nobody but you''.) *Adjective or adverb phrases combined into a longer adjective or adverb phrase: ''tired but happy'', ''over the fields and far away''. *Verbs or verb phrases combined as in ''he washed, peeled, and diced the turnips'' (verbs conjoined, object shared); ''he washed the turnips, peeled them, and diced them'' (full verb phrases, including objects, conjoined). *Other equivalent items linked, such as prefixes linked in ''pre- and post-test counselling'', numerals as in ''two or three buildings'', etc. *Clauses or sentences linked, as in ''We came, but they wouldn't let us in. They wouldn't let us in, nor would they explain what we had done wrong.'' There are also
correlative conjunction In grammar, a conjunction (abbreviated or ) is a part of speech that connects words, phrases, or clauses that are called the conjuncts of the conjunctions. That definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech and so what constitutes a ...
s, where as well as the basic conjunction, an additional element appears before the first of the items being linked. The common correlatives in English are: * ''either ... or'' (''either a man or a woman''); * ''neither ... nor'' (''neither clever nor funny''); * ''both ... and'' (''they both punished and rewarded them''); * ''not ... but'', particularly in ''not only ... but also'' (''not exhausted but exhilarated'', ''not only football but also many other sports'').
Subordinating conjunction In grammar, a conjunction (abbreviated or ) is a part of speech that connects words, phrases, or clauses that are called the conjuncts of the conjunctions. That definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech and so what constitutes a ...
s make relations between clauses, making the clause in which they appear into a
subordinate clause A subordinate clause, dependent clause, subclause, or embedded clause is a clause that is embedded within a complex sentence. For instance, in the English sentence "I know that Bette is a dolphin", the clause "that Bette is a dolphin" occurs as t ...
. Some common subordinating conjunctions in English are: *conjunctions of time, including ''after'', ''before'', ''since'', ''until'', ''when'', ''while''; *conjunctions of cause and effect, including ''because'', ''since'', ''now that'', ''as'', ''in order that'', ''so''; *conjunctions of opposition or concession, such as ''although'', ''though'', ''even though'', ''whereas'', ''while''; *conjunctions of condition: such as ''if'', ''unless'', ''only if'', ''whether or not'', ''even if'', ''in case (that)''; *the conjunction ''that'', which produces
content clause In grammar, a content clause is a dependent clause that provides content implied or commented upon by an independent clause. The term was coined by Danish linguist Otto Jespersen. They are also known as noun clauses. English In English, there ar ...
s, as well as words that produce interrogative content clauses: ''whether'', ''where'', ''when'', ''how'', etc. Subordinating conjunction generally comes at the very start of its clause, although many of them can be preceded by qualifying adverbs, as in ''probably because ...'', ''especially if ...''. The conjunction ''that'' can be omitted after certain verbs, as in ''she told us (that) she was ready''. (For the use of ''that'' in relative clauses, see above.)


Case

Although English has largely lost its case system,
personal pronouns Personal pronouns are pronouns that are associated primarily with a particular grammatical person – first person (as ''I''), second person (as ''you''), or third person (as ''he'', ''she'', ''it'', ''they''). Personal pronouns may also take dif ...
still have three morphological cases that are simplified forms of the
nominative In grammar, the nominative case (abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Engl ...
,
objective Objective may refer to: * Objective (optics), an element in a camera or microscope * ''The Objective'', a 2008 science fiction horror film * Objective pronoun, a personal pronoun that is used as a grammatical object * Objective Productions, a Brit ...
and
genitive case In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...
s: * The ''
nominative case In grammar, the nominative case (abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Engl ...
'' (''
subjective pronouns In linguistics, a subject pronoun is a personal pronoun that is used as the subject of a verb. Subject pronouns are usually in the nominative case for languages with a nominative–accusative alignment pattern. On the other hand, a language with ...
'' such as ''I'', ''he'', ''she'', ''we'', ''they'', ''who'', ''whoever''), used for the subject of a
finite verb Traditionally, a finite verb (from la, fīnītus, past participle of to put an end to, bound, limit) is the form "to which number and person appertain", in other words, those inflected for number and person. Verbs were originally said to be ''fin ...
and sometimes for the
complement A complement is something that completes something else. Complement may refer specifically to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-class ...
of a copula. * The ''
oblique case In grammar, an oblique (abbreviated ; from la, casus obliquus) or objective case (abbr. ) is a nominal case other than the nominative case, and sometimes, the vocative. A noun or pronoun in the oblique case can generally appear in any role exc ...
'' (''
object pronoun In linguistics, an object pronoun is a personal pronoun that is used typically as a grammatical object: the direct or indirect object of a verb, or the object of a preposition. Object pronouns contrast with subject pronouns. Object pronouns in En ...
s'' such as ''me'', ''him'', ''her'', ''us'', ''it'', ''us'', ''them'', ''whom'', ''whomever''), used for the direct or indirect
object Object may refer to: General meanings * Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept ** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place ** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter * Goal, an ...
of a verb, for the object of a preposition, for an absolute disjunct, and sometimes for the complement of a copula. * The ''
genitive case In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...
'' (''
possessive pronouns A possessive or ktetic form (abbreviated or ; from la, possessivus; grc, κτητικός, translit=ktētikós) is a word or grammatical construction used to indicate a relationship of possession in a broad sense. This can include strict own ...
'' such as ''my/mine'', ''his'', ''her(s)'', ''our(s)'', ''its'', ''our(s)'', ''their'', ''theirs'', ''whose''), used for a grammatical possessor. This is not always considered to be a case; see . Most English personal pronouns have five forms: the nominative and oblique case forms, the
possessive case A possessive or ktetic form (abbreviated or ; from la, possessivus; grc, κτητικός, translit=ktētikós) is a word or grammatical construction used to indicate a relationship of possession in a broad sense. This can include strict owne ...
, which has both a ''
determiner A determiner, also called determinative (abbreviated ), is a word, phrase, or affix that occurs together with a noun or noun phrase and generally serves to express the reference of that noun or noun phrase in the context. That is, a determiner m ...
'' form (such as ''my'', ''our'') and a distinct ''independent'' form (such as ''mine'', ''ours'') (with two exceptions: the
third person Third person, or third-person, may refer to: * Third person (grammar), a point of view (in English, ''he'', ''she'', ''it'', and ''they'') ** Illeism, the act of referring to oneself in the third person * Third-person narrative, a perspective in p ...
singular masculine and the third person singular neuter ''it'', which use the same form for both determiner and independent 'his car'', ''it is his'', and a distinct '' reflexive'' or ''intensive'' form (such as ''myself'', ''ourselves''). The
interrogative An interrogative clause is a clause whose form is typically associated with question-like meanings. For instance, the English sentence "Is Hannah sick?" has interrogative syntax which distinguishes it from its declarative counterpart "Hannah is ...
personal pronoun ''who'' exhibits the greatest diversity of forms within the modern English pronoun system, having definite nominative, oblique, and genitive forms (''who'', ''whom'', ''whose'') and equivalently coordinating indefinite forms (''whoever'', ''whomever'', and ''whosever''). Forms such as ''I'', ''he'', and ''we'' are used for the subject ("I kicked the ball"), whereas forms such as ''me'', ''him'' and ''us'' are used for the
object Object may refer to: General meanings * Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept ** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place ** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter * Goal, an ...
("John kicked me").


Declension

Nouns have distinct singular and plural forms; that is, they ''decline'' to reflect their
grammatical number In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, adjectives and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one", "two" or "three or more"). English and other languages present number categories of ...
; consider the difference between ''book'' and ''books''. In addition, a few English pronouns have distinct
nominative In grammar, the nominative case (abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Engl ...
(also called subjective) and
oblique Oblique may refer to: * an alternative name for the character usually called a slash (punctuation) ( / ) * Oblique angle, in geometry *Oblique triangle, in geometry *Oblique lattice, in geometry * Oblique leaf base, a characteristic shape of the b ...
(or objective) forms; that is, they decline to reflect their relationship to a
verb A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...
or
preposition Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...
, or case. Consider the difference between ''he'' (subjective) and ''him'' (objective), as in "He saw it" and "It saw him"; similarly, consider ''
who Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...
'', which is subjective, and the objective ''whom''. Further, these pronouns and a few others have distinct
possessive A possessive or ktetic form (abbreviated or ; from la, possessivus; grc, κτητικός, translit=ktētikós) is a word or grammatical construction used to indicate a relationship of possession in a broad sense. This can include strict owne ...
forms, such as ''his'' and ''whose''. By contrast, nouns have no distinct nominative and objective forms, the two being merged into a single ''plain case''. For example, ''chair'' does not change form between "the chair is here" (subject) and "I saw the chair" (direct object). Possession is shown by the
clitic In morphology and syntax, a clitic (, backformed from Greek "leaning" or "enclitic"Crystal, David. ''A First Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics''. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1980. Print.) is a morpheme that has syntactic characteristics of a w ...
''-'s'' attached to a possessive
noun phrase In linguistics, a noun phrase, or nominal (phrase), is a phrase that has a noun or pronoun as its head or performs the same grammatical function as a noun. Noun phrases are very common cross-linguistically, and they may be the most frequently oc ...
, rather than by declension of the noun itself.


Negation

As noted above under , a finite indicative verb (or its clause) is negated by placing the word ''not'' after an auxiliary, modal or other "
special Special or specials may refer to: Policing * Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force * Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer Literature * ''Specia ...
" verb such as ''do'', ''can'' or ''be''. For example, the clause ''I go'' is negated with the appearance of the auxiliary ''do'', as ''I do not go'' (see ''do''-support). When the affirmative already uses auxiliary verbs (''I am going''), no other auxiliary ''verbs'' are added to negate the clause (''I am not going''). (Until the period of early Modern English, negation was effected without additional auxiliary verbs: ''I go not.'') Most combinations of auxiliary verbs etc. with ''not'' have contracted forms: ''don't'', ''can't'', ''isn't'', etc. (Also the uncontracted negated form of ''can'' is written as a single word ''cannot''.) On the inversion of subject and verb (such as in questions; see below), the subject may be placed after a contracted negated form: ''Should he not pay?'' or ''Shouldn't he pay?'' Other elements, such as noun phrases, adjectives, adverbs, infinitive and participial phrases, etc., can be negated by placing the word ''not'' before them: ''not the right answer'', ''not interesting'', ''not to enter'', ''not noticing the train'', etc. When other negating words such as ''never'', ''nobody'', etc. appear in a sentence, the negating ''not'' is omitted (unlike its equivalents in many languages): ''I saw nothing'' or ''I didn't see anything'', but not (except in non-standard speech) *''I didn't see nothing'' (see
Double negative A double negative is a construction occurring when two forms of grammatical negation are used in the same sentence. Multiple negation is the more general term referring to the occurrence of more than one negative in a clause. In some languages, ...
). Such negating words generally have corresponding
negative polarity item In linguistics, a polarity item is a lexical item that is associated with affirmation and negation, affirmation or negation. An affirmation is a positive polarity item, abbreviated PPI or AFF. A negation is a negative polarity item, abbreviated NPI ...
s (''ever'' for ''never'', ''anybody'' for ''nobody'', etc.) which can appear in a negative context but are not negative themselves (and can thus be used after a negation without giving rise to double negatives).


Clause and sentence structure

A typical sentence contains one
independent clause An independent clause (or main clause) is a clause that can stand by itself as a ''simple sentence''. An independent clause contains a subject and a predicate and makes sense by itself. Independent clauses can be joined by using a semicolon or ...
and possibly one or more
dependent clause A subordinate clause, dependent clause, subclause, or embedded clause is a clause that is embedded within a complex sentence. For instance, in the English sentence "I know that Bette is a dolphin", the clause "that Bette is a dolphin" occurs as t ...
s, although it is also possible to link together sentences of this form into longer sentences, using coordinating conjunctions (see above). A clause typically contains a subject (a noun phrase) and a
predicate Predicate or predication may refer to: * Predicate (grammar), in linguistics * Predication (philosophy) * several closely related uses in mathematics and formal logic: **Predicate (mathematical logic) **Propositional function **Finitary relation, o ...
(a verb phrase in the terminology used above; that is, a verb together with its objects and complements). A dependent clause also normally contains a subordinating conjunction (or in the case of relative clauses, a relative pronoun, or phrase containing one).


Word order

English word order has moved from the Germanic verb-second (V2) word order to being almost exclusively subject–verb–object (SVO). The combination of SVO order and use of
auxiliary verbs An auxiliary verb (abbreviated ) is a verb that adds functional or grammatical meaning to the clause in which it occurs, so as to express tense, aspect, modality, voice, emphasis, etc. Auxiliary verbs usually accompany an infinitive verb or a p ...
often creates clusters of two or more verbs at the center of the sentence, such as ''he had hoped to try to open it''. In most sentences, English marks grammatical relations only through word order. The subject constituent precedes the verb and the object constituent follows it. The Object–subject–verb (OSV) may on occasion be seen in English, usually in the
future tense In grammar, a future tense (abbreviated ) is a verb form that generally marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future. An example of a future tense form is the French ''aimera'', meaning ...
or used as a contrast with the conjunction "but", such as in the following examples: "Rome I shall see!", "I hate oranges, but apples I'll eat!".


Questions

Like many other Western European languages, English historically allowed
question A question is an utterance which serves as a request for information. Questions are sometimes distinguished from interrogatives, which are the grammar, grammatical forms typically used to express them. Rhetorical questions, for instance, are inte ...
s to be formed by inverting the positions of the verb and subject. Modern English permits this only in the case of a small class of verbs ("
special verb English auxiliary verbs are a small set of English verbs, which include the English modal verbs and a few others. Although definitions vary, as generally conceived an auxiliary lacks inherent semantic meaning but instead modifies the meaning of an ...
s"), consisting of auxiliaries as well as forms of the copula ''be'' (see
subject–auxiliary inversion Subject–auxiliary inversion (SAI; also called subject–operator inversion) is a frequently occurring type of inversion in English, whereby a finite auxiliary verb – taken here to include finite forms of the copula ''be'' – appears to "inve ...
). To form a question from a sentence which does not have such an auxiliary or copula present, the auxiliary verb ''do'' (''does'', ''did'') needs to be inserted, along with inversion of the word order, to form a question (see ''do''-support). For example: * She can dance. → Can she dance? (inversion of subject ''she'' and auxiliary ''can'') * I am sitting here. → Am I sitting here? (inversion of subject ''I'' and copula ''am'') * The milk goes in the fridge. → Does the milk go in the fridge? (no special verb present; ''do''-support required) The above concerns yes-no questions, but inversion also takes place in the same way after other questions, formed with
interrogative word An interrogative word or question word is a function word used to ask a question, such as ''what, which'', ''when'', ''where'', ''who, whom, whose'', ''why'', ''whether'' and ''how''. They are sometimes called wh-words, because in English most o ...
s such as ''where'', ''what'', ''how'', etc. An exception applies when the interrogative word is the subject or part of the subject, in which case there is no inversion. For example: * I go. → Where do I go? (''wh''-question formed using inversion, with ''do''-support required in this case) * He goes. → Who goes? (no inversion, because the question word ''who'' is the subject) Note that inversion does not apply in
indirect question In grammar, a content clause is a dependent clause that provides content implied or commented upon by an independent clause. The term was coined by Danish linguist Otto Jespersen. They are also known as noun clauses. English In English, there are ...
s: ''I wonder where he is'' (not *''... where is he''). Indirect yes-no questions can be expressed using ''if'' or ''whether'' as the interrogative word: ''Ask them whether/if they saw him.'' Negative questions are formed similarly; however, if the verb undergoing inversion has a
contraction Contraction may refer to: Linguistics * Contraction (grammar), a shortened word * Poetic contraction, omission of letters for poetic reasons * Elision, omission of sounds ** Syncope (phonology), omission of sounds in a word * Synalepha, merged ...
with ''not'', then it is possible to invert the subject with this contraction as a whole. For example: * John is going. (affirmative) * John is not going. / John isn't going. (negative, with and without contraction) * Isn't John going? / Is John not going? (negative question, with and without contraction respectively) See also .


Dependent clauses

The syntax of a dependent clause is generally the same as that of an independent clause, except that the dependent clause usually begins with a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun (or phrase containing such). In some situations (as already described) the conjunction or relative pronoun ''that'' can be omitted. Another type of dependent clause with no subordinating conjunction is the conditional clause formed by inversion (see below).


Other uses of inversion

The clause structure with an inverted subject and verb, used to form questions as described above, is also used in certain types of declarative sentences. This occurs mainly when the sentence begins with adverbial or other phrases that are essentially negative or contain words such as ''only'', ''hardly'', etc.: ''Never have I known someone so stupid; Only in France can such food be tasted''. In elliptical sentences (see below), inversion takes place after ''so'' (meaning "also") as well as after the negative ''neither'': ''so do I, neither does she''. Inversion can also be used to form conditional clauses, beginning with ''should'', ''were'' (subjunctive), or ''had'', in the following ways: *''should I win the race'' (equivalent to ''if I win the race''); *''were he a soldier'' (equivalent to ''if he were a soldier''); *''were he to win the race'' (equivalent to ''if he were to win the race'', i.e. ''if he won the race''); *''had he won the race'' (equivalent to ''if he had won the race''). Other similar forms sometimes appear but are less common. There is also a construction with subjunctive ''be'', as in ''be he alive or dead'' (meaning "no matter whether he is alive or dead"). Use of inversion to express a third-person imperative is now mostly confined to the expression ''long live X'', meaning "let X live long".


Imperatives

In an imperative sentence (one giving an order), there is usually no subject in the independent clause: ''Go away until I call you.'' It is possible, however, to include ''you'' as the subject for emphasis: ''You stay away from me.''


Elliptical constructions

Many types of elliptical construction are possible in English, resulting in sentences that omit certain redundant elements. Various examples are given in the article on
Ellipsis The ellipsis (, also known informally as dot dot dot) is a series of dots that indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning. The plural is ellipses. The term origin ...
. Some notable elliptical forms found in English include: *Short statements of the form ''I can'', ''he isn't'', ''we mustn't''. Here the verb phrase (understood from the context) is reduced to a single auxiliary or other "special" verb, negated if appropriate. If there is no special verb in the original verb phrase, it is replaced by ''do/does/did'': ''he does'', ''they didn't''. *Clauses that omit the verb, in particular those like ''me too'', ''nor me'', ''me neither''. The latter forms are used after negative statements. (Equivalents including the verb: ''I do too'' or ''so do I''; ''I don't either'' or ''neither do I''.) * Tag questions, formed with a special verb and pronoun subject: ''isn't it?''; ''were there?''; ''am I not?''


History of English grammars

The first published English grammar was a ''Pamphlet for Grammar'' of 1586, written by
William Bullokar William Bullokar was a 16th-century printer who devised a 40-letter phonetic alphabet for the English language. Its characters were in the black-letter or "gothic" writing style commonly used at the time. Taking as his model a Latin grammar by ...
with the stated goal of demonstrating that English was just as rule-based as Latin. Bullokar's grammar was faithfully modeled on William Lily's Latin grammar, ''Rudimenta Grammatices'' (1534), used in English schools at that time, having been "prescribed" for them in 1542 by
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
. Bullokar wrote his grammar in English and used a "reformed spelling system" of his own invention; but much English grammar, for much of the century after Bullokar's effort, was written in Latin, especially by authors who were aiming to be scholarly.
John Wallis John Wallis (; la, Wallisius; ) was an English clergyman and mathematician who is given partial credit for the development of infinitesimal calculus. Between 1643 and 1689 he served as chief cryptographer for Parliament and, later, the royal ...
's ''Grammatica Linguae Anglicanae'' (1685) was the last English grammar written in Latin. Even as late as the early 19th century,
Lindley Murray Lindley Murray (7 June 1745 – 16 February 1826) was an American Quaker lawyer, writer and grammarian, best known for his English-language grammar books used in schools in England and the United States. Early life Lindley Murray was born ...
, the author of one of the most widely used grammars of the day, was having to cite "grammatical authorities" to bolster the claim that grammatical cases in English are different from those in Ancient Greek or Latin. English
parts of speech In grammar, a part of speech or part-of-speech (abbreviated as POS or PoS, also known as word class or grammatical category) is a category of words (or, more generally, of lexical items) that have similar grammatical properties. Words that are ass ...
are based on Latin and Greek parts of speech. Some English grammar rules were adopted from
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, for example
John Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...
is thought to have created the rule no sentences can end in a preposition because Latin cannot end sentences in prepositions. The rule of no
split infinitive A split infinitive is a grammatical construction in which an adverb or adverbial phrase separates the "to" and "infinitive" constituents of what was traditionally called the full infinitive, but is more commonly known in modern linguistics as the ...
s was adopted from Latin because Latin has no split infinitives.


See also

*
English usage controversies In the English language, there are grammatical constructions that many native speakers use unquestioningly yet certain writers call incorrect. Differences of usage or opinion may stem from differences between formal and informal speech and other m ...
*
English prefixes English prefixes are affixes (i.e., bound morphemes that provide lexical meaning) that are added before either simple roots or complex ''bases'' (or ''operands'') consisting of (a) a root and other affixes, (b) multiple roots, or (c) multiple ro ...
*
Subject–object–verb Subject ( la, subiectus "lying beneath") may refer to: Philosophy *'' Hypokeimenon'', or ''subiectum'', in metaphysics, the "internal", non-objective being of a thing **Subject (philosophy), a being that has subjective experiences, subjective con ...


Notes and references


Further reading


Grammar books

* * * * * * A CD-Rom version is included. * * * * * Curme, George O., College English Grammar, Richmond, VA, 1925, Johnson Publishing company, 414 pages . A revised edition ''Principles and Practice of English Grammar'' was published by Barnes & Noble, in 1947. * * Declerck in his introduction (p.vi) states that almost half his grammar is taken up by the topics of tense, aspect and modality. This he contrasts with the 71 pages devoted to these subjects in ''The Comprehensive Grammar of English''. Huddleston and Pullman say they profited from consulting this grammar in their ''Cambridge Grammar of the English Language.'' (p. 1765) * * * * * * Huddleston, Rodney D. (1984) ''Introduction to the Grammar of English''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * Huddleston, Rodney D. (1988) ''English Grammar: An outline''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * * * Jespersen, Otto. (1937). ''Analytic Syntax''. Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard, 1937. 170 p. * Jespersen, Otto. (1909–1949). ''
A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles ''A modern English grammar on historical principles'' is a seven-volume grammar of English written by Otto Jespersen Jens Otto Harry Jespersen (; 16 July 1860 – 30 April 1943) was a Danish linguist who specialized in the grammar of the E ...
'' (Vols. 1–7). Heidelberg: C. Winter. * * * * * Korsakov, A. K. (Andreĭ Konstantinovich). 1969. The use of tenses in English. Korsakov, A. K. Structure of Modern English pt. 1. oai:gial.edu:26766 at http://www.language-archives.org/item/oai:gial.edu:26766 * Three Volumes, translated by Clair James Grece from the German edition ''Englische Grammatik: Die Lehre von der Wort- und Satzfügung.'' Professor Whitney in his ''Essentials of English Grammar'' recommends the German original stating "there is an English version, but it is hardly to be used." (p. vi) * * * Poutsma, Hendrik. A grammar of late modern English, Groningen, P. Noordhoff, 1914–29, 2 pt. in 5 v. Contents: pt. I. The sentence: 1st half. The elements of the sentence, 1928. 2d half. The composite sentence, 1929.--pt. II. The parts of speech: section I, A. Nouns, adjectives and articles, 1914. section I, B. Pronouns and numerals, 1916. section II. The verb and the particles, 1926. * Quirk, Randolph; Greenbaum, Sidney; Leech, Geoffrey; & Svartvik, Jan. (1972). ''A Grammar of Contemporary English''. Harlow: Longman. * * * This book is a translation of Schibsbye's three volume ''Engelsk Grammatik'' published between 1957 and 1961. Schibsbye was a student of Jespersen's and co-author of the sixth volume –Morphology –of Jespersen's seven volume ''Modern English Grammar''. * Sinclair, John, ed. (1991) ''Collins COBUILD – English Grammar'' London: Collins second edition, 2005 . Huddleston and Pullman say they found this grammar 'useful' in their ''Cambridge Grammar of the English Language.'' (p. 1765) A CD-Rom version of the 1st edition is available on the Collins COBUILD Resource Pack * Sledd, James. (1959) ''A short introduction to English grammar'' Chicago: Scott, Foresman. * Strang, Barbara M. H. (1968) ''Modern English structure'' (2nd ed.) London: Arnold. * * 4th impression. pts. 1–2. Syntactical units with one verb.--pt.3. 1st half. Syntactical units with two verbs.--pt.3. 2d half. Syntactical units with two and more verbs. * Whitney, William Dwight, (1877) ''Essentials of English Grammar'', Boston: Ginn & Heath. * Zandvoort, R. W. (1972) ''A Handbook of English Grammar'' (2nd ed.) London: Longmans. * Peter Herring (2016), ''The Farlex Grammar Book'' http://www.thefreedictionary.com/The-Farlex-Grammar-Book.htm


Monographs

* Adams, Valerie. (1973). ''An introduction to modern English word-formation''. London: Longman. * Bauer, Laurie. (1983). ''English word-formation''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * Fries, Charles Carpenter. (1952). ''The structure of English; an introduction to the construction of English sentences''. New York: Harcourt, Brace. * Halliday, M. A. K. (1985/94). ''Spoken and written language''.
Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia. Its main campuses are in Melbourne's Burwood suburb, Geelong Waurn Ponds, ...
Press. * Huddleston, Rodney D. (1976). ''An introduction to English transformational syntax''. Longman. * * * * —includes Jespersen's monographs ''Negation in English and Other Languages'', and ''A System of Grammar''. * Kruisinga, E. (1925). ''A handbook of present-day English''. Utrecht: Kemink en Zoon. * Leech, Geoffrey N. (1971). ''Meaning and the English verb''. London: Longman. * Marchand, Hans. (1969). ''The categories and types of present-day English word-formation'' (2nd ed.). München: C. H. Beck. * McCawley, James D. (1998). ''The syntactic phenomena of English'' (2nd ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. * Onions, C. T. (Charles Talbut), (1904, 1st edition) ''An advanced English syntax based on the principles and requirements of the Grammatical society''. London: Keegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & co. A new edition of ''An advanced English syntax'', prepared from the author's materials by B. D. H. Miller, was published as ''Modern English syntax'' in 1971. * Palmer, F. R. (1974). ''The English verb''. London: Longman. * Palmer, F. R. (1979). ''Modality and the English modals''. London: Longman. * Plag, Ingo. (2003). ''Word-formation in English''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * Scheurweghs, Gustave. (1959). ''Present-day English syntax: A survey of sentence patterns''. London: Longmans.


External links


The Internet Grammar of English
at UCL * Th
Englicious
website for school teachers developed by UCL
English Grammar
at the
British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:English Grammar