English
A language
- The Parts of Speech
- Traditional grammar classifies words based on eight parts of speech: the verb, the noun, the pronoun, the adjective, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction, and the interjection.
- The Parts of the Sentence
- The parts of the sentence are a set of terms for describing how people construct sentences from smaller pieces. There is not a direct correspondence between the parts of the sentence and the parts of speech -- the subject of a sentence, for example, could be a noun, a pronoun, or even an entire phrase or clause. Like the parts of speech, however, the parts of the sentence form part of the basic vocabulary of grammar, and it is important that you take some time to learn and understand them.
- Modifiers
- A modifier can be an adjective, an adverb, or a phrase or clause acting as an adjective or adverb In every case, the basic principle is the same: the modifier adds information to another element in the sentence.
- Punctuation
- The following sections will help you understand and use different types of punctuation more effectively in your writing. This chapter begins with the comma, the punctuation mark which usually causes writers the most trouble, before turning to other types of punctuation.
- Using Verbs
- The verb is perhaps the most important part of the sentence. A verb or compound verb asserts something about the subject of the sentence and expresses actions, events, or states of being.
- Using Pronouns
- Pronouns usually refer to other words, called their antecedents because they (should) come before the pronoun.
- Building Phrases
- A phrase is a group of two or more grammatically linked words without a subject and predicate -- a group of grammatically-linked words with a subject and predicate is called a clause.
- Building Clauses
- A clause is a collection of grammatically-related words including a predicate and a subject (though sometimes is the subject is implied). A collection of grammatically-related words without a subject or without a predicate is called a phrase.
- Building Sentences
- Some English sentences are very basic:
- Writing Paragraphs
- A thesis is a single, focused argument, and most paragraphs prove or demonstrate a thesis through explanations, examples and concrete details. This chapter will help you learn to write and analyse the types of paragraphs common in academic essays.
- Diction
- Your diction is simply your choice of words. There is no single, correct diction in the English language; instead, you choose different words or phrases for different contexts:
- Homophones
- Homophones are words that have the same sound but different meanings (and may or may not have different spellings).
- Spelling
- Spell checkers will catch some kinds of errors, but not all. For example, they tend to miss homonyms -- words which are pronounced the same way but spelled differently, such as site/ sight, there/ their/ they're, and its/ it's. Most spell-checkers, for example, would report no error in the following sentence, despite the fact that there are three serious spelling mistakes:
- Work Sheets
- Links
- Here are other links and points of reference, to assist you in your study.
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