The Elements of English Grammar

Many of these definitions and examples are extracted from The Allyn & Bacon Handbook, 4th edition (Rosen, L ! , and Behrens, L , Boston" Allyn & Bacon, #$$$% and The &'eryday (riter, #nd edition (L)nsford, A A , Boston" Bedford*+t Martin,s, #$$-% This pa.e is meant for ed)cational )ses only, and is intended primarily for st)dents at /llinois (esleyan 0ni'ersity in Bloomin.ton, /llinois

This page identifies many of the grammatical elements which comprise English. It does not present grammatical rules, but simply defines the most important pieces that go into the construction of English sentences. Click on the word or phrase highlighted in the section below to display a pop-up definition. +)b1ects and predicates Large doses of alcohol act as a depressant. Types of no)ns [proper nouns !udge Thompson ruled against "an. [common nouns The #udge ruled against "an. [count nouns Lois brought eighteen cups to the party. [mass nouns The air was fragrant with the smell of lilacs. [concrete nouns $lease place the clock on the mantle. [abstract nouns %mbition is a two-edged sword. [collecti&e nouns The family went on &acation together. Types of 'erbs [transiti&e &erbs 'eorge built a treehouse for his son.

[intransiti&e &erbs (ona smiled slyly. [linking &erbs !oan seems content in her new position. [au)iliary &erbs I ha&e gone to see the doctor. [modal au)iliary &erbs I might go to *rance this summer. 2erbals ['erund [$articiple [Infiniti&es $arenting is a science and an art. +oberto was weary of acting a false role. The edited manuscript was ,-- pages. The employee processing your re.uest is named /heila. To parent well re.uires endless patience. The employee to process your re.uest is /heila. /he wanted to process your re.uest as soon as possible.

Ad1ecti'es 0ur fa&orite people and our fa&orite stories become so not by any inherent &alue, but because they illustrate something deep in the grain. 1!oan "idion2 Ad'erbs ["escripti&e The poor unwittingly subsidi3e the rich. $o&erty almost always can be eliminated. [Con#uncti&e In early school grades, simple processes like addition are taught. 4y late fourth grade, howe&er, students are introduced to the basics of algebra. 3rono)ns [$ersonal 5hen sugar dissol&es in water, the sugar molecules break their close connection with the sugar crystal. [+elati&e The committee members, who belonged to the candidate6s party, &oted for censure. The pollution, which began in 789:, has now reached dangerous le&els.

["emonstrati&e These officials o&ercame partisan loyalties. This e&ent shows the &itality of our political system. [Interrogati&e 5ho is in charge of the polling procedure; 5hat is the correlation between profit and stock price; [Intensi&e The president himself cannot control economic forces. The chemical itself can be e)tracted through heating.

[+efle)i&e The workers did not ha&e the skills to help themsel&es through the transition period. [Indefinite [+eciprocal 3repositions [single-word prepositions 5e did not want to lea&e during the performance. The students waited an)iously for their test grades. *old the eggs into the batter, and add three teaspoons of &anilla while stirring. [compound prepositions E)cept for 4randon, all the students went on the field trip. 4ecause of the lack of non-&erbal cues, miscommunication often occurs during online communication. %ccording to $rof. %ndrea Lunsford, collaboration is an essential element in any piece of communication. Con#unctions [coordinating con#unctions Infants only cry at birth, but within a few years they speak in complete sentences. [con#uncti&e ad&erbs Emotions are communicated online with emoticons. Conse.uently, the range of emotional e)pression in Instant (essenger is limited compared to real-life communication. [correlati&e con#unctions <sers not only distort facts about themsel&es in chatrooms, but also use online profiles as masks behind which they can hide while abusing others. E&erybody who sees the mo&ie will ra&e about it. /omebody embe33led the funds. The #ustices implicated each other in the bribery scandal. The products complement one another

[subordinating con#unctions If Loren scores high enough on her /%T test, she will ha&e a better chance of getting admitted to 0berlin. /nter1ections =-> This was the response to neighborhood re.uests for diminished police teams. &xpleti'es It is a truth uni&ersally acknowledged that #obs for academicians are scarce. There are no good reasons for opposing this legislation. 4ommon sin.le56ord prepositions
about along before between e)cept into on regarding until abo&e among behind beyond for like onto since up across around below by from near out through upon after as beneath down in of o&er toward with against at beside during inside off past under without

4ommon compo)nd prepositions

according to as well as by means of due to in back of in place of ne)t to out of with regard to along with as for by way of e)cept for in case of in spite of on account of outside of with respect to apart from because of contrary to in addition to in front of instead of on top of owing to

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