English Grammar
for ESL Learners
Nouns
Nouns can be either proper or common. Proper
nouns are those that
refer
to a particular person, place, thing, or idea. Such nouns are
capitalized:
America, George Washington, Mr. Neruda, October.
Nouns
that do not refer to a particular person, place, thing, or idea
are
common nouns. They are not capitalized: land, girls, money,
test.
Compare
the following list of proper and common nouns:
Proper Nouns
Common Nouns
Mexico
country
Ms.
Finch
woman
English
language
McGraw-Hill publisher
American
Airlines company
December month
Next to each noun write the word proper or common.
1....................
France
2....................
rope
3. ..................United
States
4. ..................Professor
Hall
5..................
.professor
6...................
the stadium
7...................
the Olympics
8...................
horses
exercise
Nouns can be
used as the subject of a sentence. The subject is the word that is performing
the
action in the
sentence. The subject can be a proper noun or a common noun, and it can be
singular
or plural:
Juanita
is a friend of mine.
The
boys like to play soccer.
Where is the school?
Nouns can also
be used as direct objects. The direct object in a sentence is the noun
that receives
the action of
the verb. To find the direct object in a sentence do three things:
1. Find the
subject of the sentence.
2. Find the
verb in the sentence.
3. Ask whom or
what with the subject and the verb.
Look at these
sample sentences:
“Sara likes my
brother.” “The girls
find a book.”
1. subject _ Sara
1.
subject _ girls
2. verb _ likes 2. verb
_ find
3. ask whom _
Whom does 3. ask what _
What do the
Sara like?
girls find?
The direct
object is my brother The direct object is book.
Nouns are
sometimes indirect objects. They stand before the direct object in the
sentence. It is the
person to whom
or for whom something is provided. To find the indirect object in a sentence
do three
things:
1. Find the subject
of the sentence.
2. Find the
verb in the sentence.
3. Ask to whom
or for whom with the subject and the verb.
Look at these
sample sentences:
“Justin buys
the girl a magazine.”
“Mother gives Nate five dollars.”
1. subject _ Justin 1.
subject _ Mother
2. verb _ buys
2. verb _ gives
3. ask to whom
or for whom _ Fo 3. ask
to whom or for whom _ To whom
whom does
Justin buy a magazine? does Mother give five dollars?
The indirect
object is girl. The indirect object is Nate.
Note:
It is rare that something inanimate is used as an indirect object.
When a noun is
used as a predicate noun, it follows the predicate in the sentence. The
predicate
can be a single
verb or a verb phrase:
Verb
as the predicate: Maria helps us.
Verb
phrase as the predicate: Maria usually helps with the
gardening.
Predicate nouns
most often follow the verbs to be and to become:
v My mother wants to be a doctor.
v Celine became an actress.
v Are you the manager of this building?
Definite and Indefinite
Articles
The English definite
article is the. It is used to identify a particular
person or
thing. If you are speaking about someone or something
you are already
familiar with, you use the with the noun. Look at
these examples:
Ø I already know the man.
Ø She met the women who won the lottery.
Ø This is the book that I told you about.
The indefinite
article is used to describe someone or something
that is
unfamiliar to you or about which you are speaking in
general.
There are two forms: a and an. Use a before a word
beginning with
a consonant. Use an before a word beginning with
a vowel. Look
at these examples:
v He sees a stranger on the corner.
v Did you buy an apple or an orange?
v Is the woman a good lawyer?
v
She has an
idea.
Compare the
difference between the definite and indefinite article
by using these
sentences:
Ø I want an apple. (I do not see an apple. But I feel hungry
for
one.)
Ø I want the apple. (I am choosing between the apple and the
orange
that I see before me.)
The definite
article for plural nouns is also the. But there is no
indefinite
article for plural nouns. The plural articles are used in
the same way as the singular
articles.
Singular
Definite Singular Indefinite Plural Definite Plural Indefinite
the boy a boy the boys boys
the house a house the houses houses
the idea an idea the ideas ideas
Adjectives
Adjectives
are words that describe nouns. They tell the size, color,
or quality of
something: a big room, the red car, four interesting
books. Here are
some commonly used adjectives:
beautiful fast loud tall
big funny old terrible
black handsome quiet thirsty
boring interesting right
ugly
careful late sad
young
careless little short white
early long
slow wrong
Personal Pronouns
Pronouns are
words that take the place of nouns. The English personal
pronouns are:
Singular
Plural
First
Person I we
Second
Person you you
Third
Person he, she, it they
Notice that you
is both singular and plural. When speaking to one
person, say you.
When speaking to two or more persons, say you:
Tim, you are
a very good student.
Bruno and Rene,
you have to study more.
Just as nouns
have gender, pronouns also do. I, we, and you can be
used by males
or females. He is always masculine, she is always feminine,
and it is
always neuter. The plural of the third-person pronouns
is always they,
whether masculine, feminine, or neuter. And
just like
nouns, pronouns can be used as:
1. the subject
of a sentence
2. a direct
object
3. an indirect
object
But when used
as a direct object or indirect object, some of the
pronouns change:
Subject
Direct Object Indirect
Object
I me me
You you
you
he him him
she
her her
it it
it
we us us
you (plural) you you
they
them them
If a pronoun
replaces a noun in the sentence, it must have the same characteristics as the
noun:
the same number
(singular or plural), the same gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter), and
the same use in
the sentence (subject, direct object, or indirect object).
preposition and a noun or a pronoun. Here are some of the most
commonly used prepositions
after, behind,
between, for, from, in, near, on, of, through, to, with, without
Look at these
sample prepositional phrases:
v after the concert
behind me
v between the girls for
you
v from a friend
in him
v near the city
on it
v of a book
through her
v to a student with us
v without the money without
them
In a
prepositional phrase, use the same form of the pronoun that is used as a direct
or indirect
object:
Subject
Pronoun Direct or
Indirect Object
Prepositional Phrase
I
me
after me
You you
behind you
He him
for him
she her
from her
it it in it
we us
between us
they
them near
them
Verbs
Verbs
are the words in a sentence that describe the action of a sentence
or that
introduce the condition or state of someone or something
in the sentence.
Action:
Anna throws the ball.
Introduction
of a condition: Trent is very sick.
There are many action
verbs. Those that can have a direct object are
often called transitive
verbs. Here is a list of some commonly used
transitive verbs. Note that they can
be used with a direct object.
Transitive
Verbs
Used in a Sentence
buy He
buys a newspaper.
Carry
I am carrying the child.
find Can
you find the book?
help She
helps us.
like I
don’t like cabbage.
lose Don’t
lose your money.
read She
is reading a book.
pull The
dentist pulled the tooth.
Push The
boy pushes the cart.
sell I
am selling my car.
Speak
Father speaks Spanish.
write We
are writing some postcards.
Understand Do you
understand me?
Intransitive
verbs are not followed by a direct object. They often
show a movement
to a place and are sometimes followed by a
prepositional
phrase. Following is a list of some commonly used
intransitive verbs:
Intransitive Verbs
Used in a Sentence
Come
Can you come to the party?
Crawl
The baby crawls on the floor.
Drive
We are driving fast.
fly I flew here from Paris.
Go
Are you going home?
hurry We
hurry to the window.
jump Peter
jumps from the roof.
Ride
I am riding in his car.
run The
girls run past the school.
sail We
are sailing to Europe.
travel Do
you want to travel with us?
walk I walk out of the
theater
Still other
verbs introduce the condition or state of someone or something. They do not
take a
direct object
and are most often followed by an adjective. These verbs are usually called linking
verbs.
Here are some commonly used linking verbs:
Linking
Verbs
Used in a Sentence
appear The boy appears quite well.
be I am hungry.
Become
The weather becomes bad.
Feel
It feels hot.
grow The
dog is growing weak.
look She
looks unhappy.
Seem
The coat seems too small for you.
Smell
The pizza smells good.
Sound
The music sounds awful.
taste The
popcorn tastes salty.
Careful! Some
of the linking verbs have a second usage. They can be used as transitive verbs.
Look at these
examples:
Ø Linking Verb: His skin feels hot. (hot _
adjective)
Ø Transitive Verb: He feels a
sharp pain. (a sharp pain _ direct object)
Ø Linking Verb: The sky grows cloudy.
(adjective)
Ø Transitive Verb: We grow vegetables.
(direct object)
Ø Linking Verb: That smells beautiful.
(adjective)
Ø Transitive Verb: She smells the
flowers. (direct object)
Ø Linking Verb: My coffee tastes bitter.
(adjective)
Ø Transitive Verb: Risa tasted the
ice cream. (direct object)
You can
identify linking verbs by substituting am, is, or are for
the verb. If the sentence makes
sense with the
substitution, it is a linking verb. If it does not make sense, it is a
transitive verb.
Some examples:
It feels cold.
(It is cold.) This makes sense. _ Linking Verb
He feels her pulse. (He is her
pulse.) This makes no sense. _ Transitive Verb
They smell
nice. (They are nice.) This makes sense. _ Linking Verb
We smell coffee. (We are coffee.)
This makes no sense. _ Transitive Verb
The
Present Tense
In some
languages, present tense conjugations are very complicated. Each pronoun
requires a
different ending
on the verb. English is much simpler. Only the third-person singular (he, she,
it) requires an
ending. That ending is an -s (or -es). And with some verbs there
is no ending
change at all. Look at these
examples of the present tense:
to go to see to want
can must
I go see want
can must
you go see want
can must
he,
she, it goes
sees wants can must
we go see want
can must
they go see want can must
When
the verb ends in the vowel -o, add -es for the third-person
singular pronouns:
Can and must are special auxiliary verbs. They never
have an ending change in the present tense.
There are other
auxiliaries that do the same thing. They will be taken up later.
Asking Questions
A
sentence that has the verb to be in it is easily formed as a question.
Just invert the position of the
verb
and the subject. Look at these examples:
Statement Question
I
am late.
Am I late?
She
is his sister. Is
she his sister?
They
are from Puerto Rico. Are they from
Puerto Rico?
All
other verbs, including to have, form a question by using the verb to
do (do, does). The verb to
do is conjugated for the subject of the sentence. The
original verb in the sentence becomes an
infinitive.
English infinitives begin with the word to: to run, to jump,
to sing, and so on. Sometimes
the
word to is omitted: run, jump, sing, and so on. The word to is
omitted in questions.
Statement Question
Jacques
has a new job.
Does Jacques have a new job?
You
see the ocean. Do you see the ocean?
She
likes my brother. Does she like my brother?
Tanya
usually finds the books. Does
Tanya usually find the books?
