BASIC ENGLISH GRAMMAR
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Howard Sargeant Book
Copyright ©2007 by Saddleback Educational Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this book
may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the
publisher.
ISBN 1-59905-203-2
Printed in the United States of America
13 12 11 10 09 08 07
Three Watson
Irvine, CA 92618-2767
Web site: www.sdlback.com
First published in the United States by Saddleback Educational Publishing, 3 Watson, Irvine, CA 92618 by arrangement with Learners Publishing Pte Ltd, Singapore Grammar is a very old field of study. Did you know that the sentence was first divided into subject and verb by Plato, the famed philosopher from ancient Greece? That was about 2,400 years ago! Ever since then, students all over the world have found it worthwhile to study the structure of words and sentences. Why? Because skill in speaking and writing is the hallmark of all educated people.
Lesson by lesson, this book provides basic instruction in the eight parts of speech—nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections—as well as the standard patterns of English sentences.
All students of English, be they native speakers or those who are studying English as a second language, will profit from the fundamental introduction and review of grammar provided by SADDLEBACK'S BASIC ENGLISH GRAMMAR 1 and 2. Helpful marginal notes throughout the books have been provided to reinforce existing skills and call attention to common problem areas.
We wish you every success in your pursuit of English proficiency.
Note to the Student from the Publisher
What you’ll find in this book
Common Nouns 7
Proper Nouns 8
Singular Nouns 11
Plural Nouns 11
Collective Nouns 17
Masculine and Feminine Nouns 20
The Possessive Form of Nouns 22
2 Pronouns 24–31
Personal Pronouns 24
Reflexive Pronouns 26
Possessive Pronouns 27
Demonstrative Pronouns 27
Interrogative Pronouns 28
Indefinite Pronouns 28
3 Adjectives 32–43
Kinds of Adjectives 32
The Order of Adjectives 33
Adjective Endings 35
Describing What Something Is Made of 37
The Comparison of Adjectives 39
Adjective Phrases 42
4 Determiners 44–51
The Articles 44
Using Nouns without Articles 45
Demonstrative Determiners 46
Quantifying Determiners 47
Interrogative Determiners 49
Possessive Determiners 49
Numbers 50
Using Determiners Together 50
5 Verbs and Tenses 52–87
Subject and Verb Agreement 52
Transitive and Intransitive Verbs 55
The Simple Present Tense 58
am, is and are 59
there is and there are 60
The Present Progressive Tense 63
The Simple Past Tense 65
was and were 66
Irregular Verbs 67
The Past Progressive Tense 70
have, has and had 71
The Present Perfect Tense 73
Irregular Past Participles 73
The Future Tense 77
do, does and did 80
The Infinitive 83
The Imperative Form of Verbs 84
Gerunds 85
6 Auxiliary Verbs 88–94
can and could 88
will and would 89
shall and should 89
ought to 90
must 90
may and might 90
Verb Phrases 91
7 Adverbs and Adverb Phrases 95–100
Adverbs of Manner 95
Adverbs of Time 96
Adverbs of Place 96
Adverbs of Frequency 97
Adverbs of Duration 97
Adverbs of Emphasis 98
8 Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases 101–108
Preposition or Adverb? 101
Prepositions of Place 102
Prepositions of Time 102
Prepositions of Direction 103
Prepositions with Special Uses 103
Prepositions with Adjectives, Verbs or Nouns 105
9 Conjunctions 109–117
and, but and or 109
Conjunctions Linking Phrases 110
Conjunctions with Lists 110
Conjunctions That Join Sentences 111
Other Words for and 111
Other Words for but 112
Other Words for or 112
Conjunctions of Time 113
Conjunctions of Place 113
Conjunctions of Reason 114
Conjunctions of Purpose 114
10 Sentences 118–133
Four Kinds of Sentence 118
Sentences with Objects 119
Verbs with Two Objects 120
Verbs with No Object 120
Simple Sentences 123
Compound Sentences 123
Conditional Sentences 124
Positive and Negative Sentences 124
Questions 128
Question Tags 130
11 Direct and Indirect Speech 134–139
Direct Speech 134
Indirect Speech 134
Indirect Commands 135
Indirect Questions 136
12 Punctuation 140–148
Punctuation Marks: period, comma, question mark, exclamation point, apostrophe, quotation marks, colon 140
Capital Letter 144
A List of Irregular Verbs 149–152
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There are two main types of nouns: common nouns and proper nouns.
1. Common Nouns
Words for people, places and things are called common nouns.
These common nouns are words for things. ruler chair hammer bicycle truth pen table saw ship calculator crayons sofa axe truck television pencil loyalty drill ferry fridge book lamp ladder train cooker dictionary carpet lawnmower bus computer courage telephone spade laziness printer
These common nouns are words for animals. Notice that special names for young animals are included.
- animal its young
- dog puppy
- cat kitten
- cow calf
- horse foal
- sheep lamb
- goat kid
- frog tadpole
- bank airport
- hotel gas station
- library park
- museum farm
- mall zoo
- theater factory
- hospital nursery
- animal its young
- fox cub
- elephant calf
- kangaroo joey
- bear cub
- lion cub
- tiger cub
- whale calf
- school post office
- university police station
- office restaurant
- mosque supermarket
- temple stadium
- shop synagogue
- gym church
- singer manager sailor gardener dancer secretary pilot police officer artist teacher driver plumber photographer doctor writer farmer magician dentist friend clerk athlete lawyer brother technician
2. Proper Nouns
The names of particular people, places and things are proper nouns. They always begin with a capital letter.
These people’s names are proper nouns.
Robin Hood Florence Nightingale Mom Miss Park Aladdin Muhammad Ali Dad Mrs. Taylor Frankenstein George Washington Granny Mr. Young Harry Potter David Beckham Grandad Dr. Lee Santa Claus Julia Roberts Uncle David Professor Raj Mahatma Gandhi Nelson Mandela Aunt Diana Jose Confucius Alex Rodriguez Ms. Hall Yang Ming
The names of the days of the week and the months of the year are proper nouns.
- days of the week months
- Monday January July
- Tuesday February August
- Wednesday March September
- Thursday April October
- Friday May November
- Saturday June December
- Sunday
- AUGUST
- Sunday 4 11 18 25
- Monday 5 12 19 26
- Tuesday 6 13 20 27
- Wednesday 7 14 21 28
- Thursday 1 8 15 22 29
- Friday 2 9 16 23 30
- Saturday 3 10 17 24 31
- The names of special days and celebrations are also proper nouns.
- New Year’s Day Veterans' Day
- Mother’s Day Thanksgiving
- Independence Day Memorial Day
- Valentine’s Day Halloween
- Labor Day Christmas
- Ramadan Yom Kippur
- Big Ben the Empire State Building
- the Sphinx the Taj Mahal
- Graceland the Eiffel Tower
- the Grand Canyon the Golden Gate Bridge
- the Sydney Opera House the Great Wall of China
- Buckingham Palace Chaco Canyon Pueblo
- the Leaning Tower of Pisa the Statue of Liberty
- country people
- Afghanistan Afghans
- Australia Australians
- Britain the British
- China the Chinese
- France the French
- Germany Germans
- India Indians
- Indonesia Indonesians
- Italy Italians
- Japan the Japanese
- Korea Koreans
- Malaysia Malaysians
- Samoa Samoans
- New Zealand New Zealanders
- Pakistan Pakistanis
- the Philippines Filipinos
- Russia Russians
- Nicaragua Nicaraguans
- South Africa South Africans
- Spain Spaniards
- Switzerland the Swiss
- Thailand Thais
- USA Americans
- Vietnam the Vietnamese
Nouns: Singular Nouns; Plural Nouns
A. Singular Nouns
Nouns can be singular or plural.
When you are talking about just one thing or person, use a singular noun.
For example:
- a tent a park an idea
- a taxi a doctor an oven
- a house a lady an exercise
B. Plural Nouns
Use a plural noun when you are talking about two or more people, places or things.
Just add s to make most nouns plural.
singular plural
- a computer computers
- a chair chairs
- a train trains
- a player players
- a teacher teachers
- a taxi taxis
Words called articles or determiners are used to signal nouns.
- a river an armchair three biscuits
- a castle an idea five eggs
- an artist an eye an insect
- an oven an umbrella
But some words don’t follow these rules.
- a uniform, a unit, a user: a, not an, is used because the vowel u in these words is pronounced like the word you;
- an hour, an heir, an honor: an, not a, is used because the consonant h in these words is not pronounced.
- a mountain mountains
- a river rivers
- an envelope envelopes
- an insect insects
- an oven ovens
- an uncle uncles
- sandwich sandwiches
- witch witches
- brush brushes
- flash flashes
- box boxes
- fox foxes
- day days
- tray trays
- runway runways
- chimney chimneys
- trolley trolleys
- valley valleys
singular- plural
- bus buses
- glass glasses
- dress dresses
- branch branches
- church churches
- beach beaches
singular - plural
- baby babies
- family families
- story stories
- teddy teddies
- fairy fairies
- puppy puppies
- housefly houseflies
- library libraries
- city cities
- lily lilies
- party parties
- dictionary dictionaries
singular - plural
- key keys
- monkey monkeys
- donkey donkeys
- toy toys
- boy boys
- cowboy cowboys
singular - plural
- half halves
- leaf leaves
- shelf shelves
- wolf wolves
- thief thieves
singular - plural
- chief chiefs
- roof roofs
- handkerchief handkerchiefs
- cliff cliffs
- puff puffs
singular plural
- scarf scarfs or scarves
- hoof hoofs or hooves
- dwarf dwarfs or dwarves
- wharf wharfs or wharves
singular plural
- knife knives
- wife wives
- life lives
- midwife midwives
singular plural
- video videos
- hippo hippos
- zoo zoos
- kangaroo kangaroos
- But other nouns that end in o are
- made plural by adding es.
- singular plural
- tomato tomatoes
- potato potatoes
- hero heroes
Some nouns change spelling from the singular form to the plural.
singular plural
The plural form of some nouns is the same as the singular form.
singular plural
N o t e s
When you are talking about different kinds of fish, the plural can be fishes,
for example:
Collective Nouns
Words for groups of people, animals or things are called collective nouns.
Here are some collective nouns for groups of people.
The crowd was orderly.
or
The crowd were clapping, yelling and cheering.
Here are more collective nouns you can use for groups of people.
Some groups of things also have their own special collective nouns.
Some nouns name the amount or form of something.
singular plural
- man men
- woman women
- child children
- person people
- mouse mice
- tooth teeth
- foot feet
- goose geese
The plural form of some nouns is the same as the singular form.
singular plural
- sheep sheep (not sheeps)
- deer deer (not deers)
- fish fish (not fishes)
- aircraft aircraft (not aircrafts)
- salmon salmon (not salmons)
N o t e s
When you are talking about different kinds of fish, the plural can be fishes,
for example:
- the various fishes of the Indian Ocean
- of mouse that you use with a
- computer? The plural is either
- mice or mouses.
- trousers glasses
- shorts spectacles
- jeans goggles
- pants scissors
- tights binoculars
- pajamas pliers
- shoes chopsticks
- sandals gloves
- slippers clogs
- boots socks
Collective Nouns
Words for groups of people, animals or things are called collective nouns.
Here are some collective nouns for groups of people.
- a family a crew
- a team a club
- a community a committee
- a choir a company
- a band a gang
- an orchestra the government
- an audience the army
The crowd was orderly.
or
The crowd were clapping, yelling and cheering.
Here are more collective nouns you can use for groups of people.
- a crowd of shoppers a gang of thieves
- a company of actors a panel of judges
- a class of schoolchildren a platoon of soldiers
- a herd of cattle a pack of wolves a litter of puppies
- a flock of birds a pride of lions a troop of monkeys
- a drove of sheep a pod of dolphins a brood of chickens
- a gaggle of geese a school of fish a swarm of bees
- Those people live (not lives) in Asia.
- The police have caught (not has caught) the thief.
- a bunch of bananas a deck of cards
- a cluster of grapes a flight of steps
- a bunch of flowers a suite of rooms
- a bouquet of flowers a suite of furniture
- a range of mountains a set of tools
- a fleet of ships a string of beads
- a fleet of vehicles a grove of trees
Some nouns name the amount or form of something.
- a loaf of bread a bar of soap
- a ball of string a bar of chocolate
The words a piece of mean a single serving or part of something.
For everybody who read this article, i would like to say:
" I'm so sorry... :( , I can not put all content to this page. I will write with my own style"
Ok gang, thank you so much for visiting our blog,
- a slice/piece of bread a slice/piece of cheese
- a piece/square of chocolate a slice/piece of cake
- a sheet/piece of paper a piece of chalk
- a piece of information a piece of advice
For everybody who read this article, i would like to say:
" I'm so sorry... :( , I can not put all content to this page. I will write with my own style"
Ok gang, thank you so much for visiting our blog,
