Coordination, Subordination and Complex Sentences English combines clauses primarily through coordination and subordination. These relationships allow writers to connect ideas and express logical relationships between them. Coordination Coordination joins elements of equal grammatical status. The most common coordinating conjunctions are: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so They are traditionally remembered through the acronym FANBOYS….

Clauses and Their Functions A clause is a grammatical unit containing a subject and a predicate, although the subject may sometimes be understood rather than explicitly expressed. Clauses are fundamental to sentence construction. Independent Clauses An independent clause can normally stand alone as a complete sentence: She finished the work. It contains a complete thought…

Phrases and Their Functions A phrase is a group of words that functions as a unit but does not normally contain a complete subject–finite-verb relationship. Phrases can perform many grammatical functions within sentences. Noun Phrases A noun phrase is centered on a noun or pronoun: the book a very intelligent student my new English teacher…

Sentence Types and Patterns English sentences can be classified according to both their structure and their communicative purpose. Four Traditional Functional Types A declarative sentence makes a statement: She lives in Peshawar. An interrogative sentence asks a question: Does she live in Peshawar? An imperative sentence gives a command, instruction, request, or advice: Open the…

Elements and Building Blocks of Sentences A sentence is a grammatical unit that expresses a complete proposition, question, command, exclamation, or other communicative function. Understanding sentence structure requires identifying the roles played by its different elements. The two most fundamental elements are the subject and the predicate. The students completed the assignment. Here, the students…

Tense and Time Time refers to when an event happens: past, present, or future. Tense, however, is a grammatical system used to express time and related meanings. English traditionally identifies two grammatical tenses in terms of verb form: present and past. Future time is usually expressed through constructions involving auxiliaries and other forms. Present Forms…

Non-Finite Verbs: Infinitives, Gerunds and Participles A finite verb is marked for tense and can normally function as the main verb of a clause: She works here. They worked yesterday. A non-finite verb does not itself carry the normal tense and agreement marking of a finite verb. The major non-finite forms are infinitives, gerunds, and…

Articles: A, An and The English has three articles: a an the There is also the zero article, meaning that no article is used. Articles help express whether a noun is being presented as general, specific, known, or identifiable. A and An A and an are indefinite articles. They normally occur with singular countable nouns…

Aspect and Mood Aspect describes how an action or situation is viewed in relation to its duration, completion, repetition, or progression. Mood expresses the speaker’s attitude toward the proposition, such as certainty, possibility, necessity, or hypotheticality. Aspect English commonly expresses four aspectual patterns. Simple aspect presents an event or state without emphasizing its internal progression:…