Guide To Improving Your Grammar

Robert Fry

Description

This excellent little book is designed for all those who are troubled by English Grammar. Many people forget the rules of grammar as they get older and need to revisit this area to gain confidence. it could be that they have started a college course and are rusty, or are just interested in grammar and want to learn more. Alternatively, the book is suitable for a younger audience who may have left school with a poor knowledge of grammar and want to learn more. Whatever, this book is ideal for all types of people.

Sujets

• Lettres et linguistique

Informations

• Publié par: Straightforward Publishing
• Date de parution: 29 septembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781802361834
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

A GUIDE TO IMPROVING YOUR GRAMMAR
THE EASYWAY
Robert Fry
Easyway Guides
Easyway Guides
Straightforward Company Limited 2022
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electronic or mechanical, photocopying or other wise, without the prior permission of the copyright holder.
British Cataloguing in Publication data. A catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-80236-099-8 ePUB ISBN: 978-1-80236-183-4 Kindle ISBN: 978-1-80236-176-6
Printed in the United Kingdom by 4edge www.4edge.co.uk Cover design by Straightforward Graphics
Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this book is accurate at the time of going to print, the author and publisher recognise that the information can become out of date. The book is therefore sold on the understanding that no responsibility for errors and omissions is assumed and no responsibility is held for the information held within.
Contents
Introduction
Section one-English Language and Grammar
Chapter 1 Sentences and Parts of Sentences
Sentences
Parts of the sentence
Chapter 2. More About Grammar-Verbs
Action verbs
Auxiliary (helping) verbs
Irregular verbs
The main verb
Mood
Phrasal verbs
Literal usage
Regular verbs
Chapter. 3 Nouns
The meaning of noun
What is a collective noun?
Plural or singular?
Chapter 4. The Use of Adjectives
Adjectives
Opinion
Size
Age
Shape
Colour
Origin
Material
Distance
Temperature
Time
Purpose
Possessive adjectives
Chapter 5. Adverbials
Adverbials
Adverbs
Articles
Indefinite articles
Definite articles
Chapter 6. Clauses
Independent clauses
Dependant clauses
Relative clauses
Human or non-human?
Restrictive or non-restrictive?
Chapter 7. Prepositions
Prepositions
Simple prepositions
Compound prepositions
Chapter 8. Punctuation-Punctuation Marks
Punctuation marks
Symbols of punctuation
Full stop
Question mark
Comma
Exclamation mark
Colon and semi-colon
Apostrophe
Hyphens
Dash
Slash
Quotation marks
Double or single quotation marks?
Square brackets or brackets
Ellipsis mark
Chapter 9. Checking your spelling
Forming your words
Forming plurals
Changing the form of a verb
Using long and short vowels
Adding ly to adjectives
Using a dictionary
Looking at words
Making use of a thesaurus
Section 2-Practical English usage
Chapter 10. Writing An Essay
Start at the beginning-research your essay
Planning research
Keeping records and making notes
Bibliography
Planning your essay
Structuring your essay
Checking your essay
Chapter 11. Writing a story
Plotting a short story-planning the work
Writing dialogue
Creating believable characters
Creating the plot
The first sentence
Proof reading and editing a story
Chapter 12. Writing letters-business and personal letters
Business letters
Aiming your letter
Personal letters
Chapter 13. Writing a CV and Application form
Fundamental requirements of a CV
Glossary of terms
Index
Introduction
Many people struggle with the basic rules of English Grammar, indeed many people prefer not to know the rules of grammar, as the subject is complicated and doesn t seem to make a lot of sense most of the time. Why bother with grammar when you can just carry on regardless and get by with what you know?
The answer is that you will need to bother with grammar in the world of work, depending on your job. You will need to know how to write reports and letters and also to fill in forms. On a fundamental level, you will need to know how to express yourself correctly in order to further yourself. Essentially, knowledge of the rules of grammar and how to apply them will greatly empower you and will improve your self-confidence.
It is true to say that many people miss out altogether on English Grammar at school and, in later life wished that they hadn t. The main point of this book is to introduce the person who is interested to the basic rules of grammar and to develop this into practical everyday use. In the book, we start with sentence construction and then develop the main rules of grammar, Verbs, Nouns, Adjectives, Adverbials, Clauses and Prepositions.
In chapter 8 we will explore the effective use of punctuation, in chapter 9 we look at spelling and in the second section we look at applying the lessons learnt in the first section to practical everyday use, such as writing an essay or short story, writing a business or personal letter and finally writing a CV or application form.
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Ch. 1
Sentences and Parts of Sentences

In this chapter we will look at sentences and parts of sentences, before leading onto the main elements of English Grammar.
Sentences
Although it might seem obvious, sentences are made up of words. Sentences can consist of any number of words that can be configured in a number of ways.
They went out
The woman on the railway station had a cup of coffee Whatever I do, I am very self-conscious
Well, see you then.
There are many ways to put words together to construct sentences:
We can do this
Can we do this?
Grammar describes the way we put words together. Each word in a particular sentence belongs to a particular set or class , depending on how they are used. These particular classes are known as parts of speech.
All sentences, irrespective, will begin with a capital letter and end in either a full stop or a question mark or exclamation mark. These particular marks are known as punctuation, which we will elaborate on further in this book.
The term clause describes a group of words that contains a verb (see next chapter), the subject of that verb and also, some other words such as an object.
A sentence can contain one or more Clauses .
They will assist you if you will allow them
If you need to see something ,, just drop in and see if I am here
Many sentences are made up of a single clause, which are called simple sentences.
They arrived last Sunday
Peter adores his cat.
A clause will always contain a verb, which can be known as a doing word so called because verbs describe actions (see next chapter).
Run
Think
Walk
Skip
A sentence does not always have to be a clause (see further on for more about clauses)
Certainly not
Yes
Why?
A phrase is just a group of words. The term phrase is usually kept for words that naturally go together.
My friend Susan
Should have been running
Over there
Many words can refer to either one thing only or to more than one thing. The terms singular and plural are used for this. A more general term is number. When we wish to identify the speaker or the person referred to in grammar, we use what is known as the first person , to mean the speaker, the second person to mean the person who is being spoken to, and the third person to mean the person who is being spoken about.
For example, we talk about the first person plural or the third person singular .
A verb tells about an action or state of being. Ordinary verbs are called main verbs - Come go want believe
As stated above, a main verb is more commonly known as a doing word . This is the simplest way to remember the meaning of a verb. A special group of verbs are known as auxiliary verbs. These can be put together with main verbs to form different tenses.
I am walking
I can assist you
We might have to
A noun (see Chapter 3 ) is a word that labels a thing or an idea. Nouns are sometimes known as naming words.
Fence
Table
Time
Animal
If we do not want to repeat the same noun in a sentence or a paragraph we can replace it with a pronoun . A pronoun is a word that is used instead of a noun phrase or a noun.
David saw Peter so he asked him to assist him
An adjective gives more information about a noun. Adjectives help us describe or pick out which particular thing among many is being referred to. Adjectives are sometimes called describing words .
A woman The big man Their new radio The dog The cat
A determiner is used to point more precisely to the person, thing or idea that is being talked about. Examples of determiners are definite and indefinite articles and possessives .
The dog My uncle Their radio
An adverb (see Chapter 4 ) gives information about the way that an action is carried out or when and where it takes place.
He fled quickly down the riverbank
She raised the case slowly
A preposition (see Chapter 7 )
This is one of a small group of words that can be used with nouns and verbs. Prepositions give information about position or movement.
On the bank Over the path In the evening
When a preposition is used in front of a noun, the two together do the work of an adverb.
He is coming now
he is coming in the morning
I found him there
A c onjunction , as its name suggests, joins two or more nouns or clauses to each other. Conjunctions are sometimes known as joining words .
He went to the library and took out a book
I took out a book but forgot to take one back
Parts of the sentence
A sentence consists of a number of parts, using different parts of speech. the most important parts of speech are:
The subject , which is either a noun phrase or a pronoun (see further on). Normally the subject comes before the verb phrase in a sentence.
The boys had been climbing
The new tutor arrived
They had finished
The verb phrase , which includes the main verb and which may have auxiliary verbs to go with it (see further on)
The boys had been climbing
The new tutor arrived
They had finished
The object, which is a noun phrase or a pronoun
He used his bike
Dave was reading a new book
Raymond discovered it
An adverbial or adjunct
This may be:
- a single word, an adverb.
Suddenly , it started to snow heavily
- an adverbial phrase, a group of words that functions as an adverb
In the evening , the moon was clear