Complements, Objects and Grammatical Functions Words and phrases perform different grammatical functions within a sentence. Understanding these functions is more useful than simply labeling words according to their parts of speech. Subject The subject is generally the main participant or topic of a clause and controls agreement in many constructions: The student passed the examination….

Grammatical Number, Person and Case Number, person, and case are grammatical categories that help show relationships between words in a sentence. Number English distinguishes primarily between singular and plural. student / students book / books child / children Number affects nouns, pronouns, determiners, and some verb forms: This student is ready. These students are ready….

Pronoun Agreement and Reference Pronoun agreement means that a pronoun should correspond appropriately with its antecedent in relevant grammatical features such as number and person. The boy lost his book. The girls brought their books. The pronoun must also have a clear reference. Number Agreement A singular antecedent normally requires a singular pronoun: The student…

Subject–Verb Agreement Subject–verb agreement means that the form of a verb must correspond appropriately with its subject, particularly in number and person. In the present tense, third-person singular subjects usually take a verb ending in -s, while plural subjects normally take the base form: The student works hard. The students work hard. With the verb…

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…