An introduction to grammar.

Every language has its own grammar. A grammar is defined as how words come together to form meaning. The way in which words are arranged to form meaning is called syntax. Grammars deal with tense (how inflections can change the temporal meaning of words) and different types of words.

In the English language, there are typically defined as being eight different types of words: nouns, adjectives, verbs, pronouns, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and determiners. That sounds slightly mind-bending, but there's an elegant simplicity to understanding grammar that I hope to show you.

When young people think of grammar, they think of long, tedious hours spent looking at blackboards, hearing middle-aged, balding men drone on about tense and syntax. That is an entirely false impression - not only is grammar fun to learn and rewarding to know about, but it's essential. Words are the building blocks of thoughts: knowing what words are and mean will greatly improve your ability to communicate with other people simply and effectively. An uneducated man and an educated man might both be able to read the same sentence aloud, but I'm sure the former will appreciate it only on a superficial level.

Unfortunately, grammar wasn't taught properly for around 25 years between the 70s and late 90s because yuppie, baby-boomer politicians and thinkers thought the dogmatic, purist method of teaching English restricted rather than aided communication. Rather than teaching children grammar, teachers were encouraged to let them freely converse during classes and work on acquiring knowledge of language through speaking rather than reading and writing. As a result of that, a whole generation of people have been brought up with appalling levels of literacy.

Aside from that, other crimes against the English language have been perpetrated in the intervening years from groups - such as businessmen and politicians - and movements - such as the politically correct movement (which has only recently begun to come to its knees).

Language should enable thought; not restrict it. Politically correct language makes people think in a tunnelled fashion and greatly diminishes individual thought. Whilst the genesis of the movement had its roots in moral decency, it grew to encompass something that made people frown on using perfectly good language - instead making them use euphemisms and more soft, watered-down phrases. I'll give examples of such watering down in my next article. In this article, however, I'm going to give you an introduction in the basics of grammar. I hope you enjoy it and find it useful.

Nouns.

Nouns are naming words - words we give to concrete things which can tangibly be felt. However, nouns aren't just things like cats, dogs, cars, trees and people - they can encompass ideas as well. There are four types of noun:

• Concrete: these describe concrete things which you can see and feel and hear, such as cats, dogs or, even, clouds;
• Abstract: these encompass conceptual, human things such as love, happiness and anger;
• Proper: these nouns are given to people, organisations and places and always begin with capital letters - think of Paris, Lucy or Microsoft;
• Collective nouns: these apply to groups of people, animals or things, such as flocks, teams or families. (Take the word goose for example: the singular is goose, the plural is geese, but the collective is flight of geese.)

Nouns can be either singular or plural - singular means consisting of one thing; plural means consisting of more than one thing - such as animal/animals, pint/pints, child/children, etc.. Nouns can also be possessive - this is technically known as the genitive case. That just means that sometimes nouns can possess other nouns.

For example, in the phrase John's bicycle John - the subject - has possession over the bicycle - the object. We show possession by using an apostrophe. With singular nouns, the noun should always be qualified with an apostrophe and an s ('s) - such as Sarah's hat or the cat's dinner. With plural nouns, the same rule should be applied (unless the word already ends with an s). For example:

• Children's - the word children is a plural noun and, because it ends with an n, an apostrophe and an s ('s) qualify it;
• Kids' - with the word kids', however, no s qualifies it - because to do so would make the word unpronounceable (kids's doesn't make any sense and is extremely awkward to say).

However, with certain words ending in s certain traditions are held. For example, even though the word Jesus's (such as Jesus's Sermon on the Mount) can be pronounced quite well, the tradition is to drop the final s and instead write Jesus'. This tradition applies to other biblical figures, such as Moses, as well.

Adjectives.

Adjectives are words that describe nouns. Usually, they come before the nouns which they describe, but they can come afterwards. For example:

• A beautiful day;
• A nervous feeling;
• A kind person;
• A strange disposition.

Adjectives can also be used to show comparison. These types of adjectives come in two forms: comparatives and superlatives. Comparative adjectives typically end in -er, whilst superlatives end in -est. Comparatives highlight if something has a larger degree of a certain quality when compared with something similar, whilst superlatives highlight if something has the maximum degree of a certain quality (such as height, colour or width, for example). The following examples illustrate my point:

• Bigger, whiter, smaller, taller, fatter, wider, thinner and higher are comparatives;
• Biggest, whitest, smallest, tallest, fattest, widest, thinnest and highest are superlatives.

Rather than modifying words with -er and -est inflections, one can simply use the words more and most. For example, rather than saying taller and tallest, one can say more tall and most tall. In some examples, the words more and most must be used - such as with the word intelligent; one can't say intelligenter and intelligentest (unless you're a child), but, rather, more intelligent and most intelligent. If you ever hear someone use the word intelligentest, you'll know straight away that they're not intelligent.

Factoid: in America, the word superlative is pronounced superl-ative, whereas in the UK it's pronounced super-lative.

Verbs.

Verbs are defined as doing words - because they express actions. However, they can also express physical and mental states. For example:

• The boy jumps (simple action);
• The girl eats (simple action);
• The house stands on the hill (simple state);
• I think that will be all right (simple mental state/action).

Verbs will tell you what a subject (a thing which performs an action) is doing or being. Remember: subjects perform actions; objects have actions done to them.

All verbs begin with a base (or infinitive) form from which all other forms of the verb are derived. (To be - and all its variants - is an example of the base form of a verb - think of to run, to eat or to play, for examples.)

There are two types of verb: main and auxiliary. A main verb expresses the main meaning of a sentence. Auxiliary verbs are verbs that come before main verbs and aid them. For example, in the sentence I must have been thinking, the main verb is thinking - which is aided by three auxiliary verbs: must, have and been.

Auxiliary verbs are of two types: primary and modal. There are only three types of primary verb: be, have and do - and their variants, such as:

• Be: been, being;
• Do: did, doing, done;
• Have: had, having.

Look at the following sentences for examples of primary verbs in action:

1. He/she is running.
2. Have you spent all your money? Did you go to the doctor's surgery today?
   
3. I do want to see you. I have got what you asked for.
4. I did not go to school this morning.

The first example expresses a simple statement. In (2), the examples show how primary verbs can be used to form questions. In (3), the examples show how intent and emphasis can be shown. In (4), the example shows how negative statements can be expressed.

The three examples are also the only auxiliary verbs which can also be used as main verbs. For example:

1. She is unhappy/he is tall;
2. I have a new car/they have venereal diseases;
3. He did it/I did nothing.

Modal auxiliaries are only ever used in conjunction with main verbs. There are nine in total: must, should, would, could, can, will, shall, might, and may. Modal verbs can significantly alter the tone of questions, making them sound more polite or more fiery: Must I carry this, mother? They can also show emphasis or anger in statements: I shall not go! Modal verbs can also change commands into questions: see pass the salt and would you pass the salt?

Tense (verbs continued)

Whilst there are dozens of tenses, it's most simple to think of there being only three: past, present and future. The past and present tenses can be shown by adding simple inflections; whilst the future tense is usually shown by the adding of modal auxiliary verbs such as will or shall. For example, take variants of the word do:

• I do like you;
  
• I did like you;
• I will still like you.

A simpler example is to take a single word. For the sake of example, I'll choose start:

• Present: I start/I have started;
• Past: I started/I did start;
• Future: I will start/ I will be starting/I will have started.

The inflection -ed alters the tense of most present tense verbs to the past tense.

Voice (verbs continued)

There are two voices: active and passive. In the active voice, things do things; in the passive voice, things have things done to them. For example:

• Active: John has apologised/a train has run over a young person;
• Passive: an apology has been given by John/ a young person has been killed by a train.

The active voice sounds immediate and makes things sound more exciting. The passive voice sounds tame and makes things sound dull. Where most news-writers prefer to write in the active voice, politicians prefer to speak in the passive voice: rather than saying: we will issue a policy soon, a politician is more likely to say: by that time, we will have issued a policy. By using the passive voice, a person can avoid responsibility for having done - or doing - certain things. Sometimes, news-writers play it safe by using the passive voice because, in that way, assertions are less likely to be made.

Transitive and intransitive verbs

The word transitive means to transmit an action. A transitive verb transmits an action to a object; an intransitive verb doesn't. Some verbs don't require objects; some verbs can make sense both with and without objects - it all depends if the subject is doing something to something else. For example, a man can kick a dog but can also kick out:

• The man kicked the dog (subject, verb, object);
• The man kicked (subject, verb).

Sometimes, an object isn't needed - such as with the word sleep (one goes to sleep but doesn't sleep something). One verb which is popularly abused by waiters is enjoy. They say enjoy, and I think enjoy what? Enjoy the view? Enjoy my wife's trim legs? Enjoy the pathetic level of intelligence of the waiter? The waiter should say: enjoy your meal or enjoy your drinks, because one can't enjoy nothing; one has to enjoy something.

The subjunctive (verbs continued)

By 'the subjunctive', I mean the word were. Were is used to indicate both the impossible and the possible:

Impossible: If I were you...; if I were a chicken;
Possible: If I were to take up the job; if I were to have my penis enlarged by several inches....

Never confuse the words were and was when writing unless you want to be the subject of admonition (and possible intense sneering).

Adverbs

In the same way that adjectives describe nouns, adverbs describe verbs - they state how things are done. Most adverbs end in -ly, but not always. For example:

• She ran quickly;
• He feels much better;
• They left immediately. (Alternatively, one could say: they left in a hurry.)

Before I go on to pronouns, I'd like to give a quick word on sentence construction (which I'll elaborate on in my next article). Sentences are made out of clauses, and clauses are made out of phrases. Most sentences have the following construction: subject, verb, object. For example:

The boy (subject) kicked (verb) the dog (object). Subjects do actions; objects receive them. Remember? Good. Sometimes, the object can come before the subject - as in the passive voice: the dog was kicked by the boy. However, some simple sentences have the following form: subject, verb (such as she fell).

Aside from objects, sentences can also finish with complements and adverbial phrases. A complement gives more information about the subject or the object of a sentence. An adverbial provides extra information with regard to time, place or manner. For example:

Complement: the art is great, we were hungry, they like football;
Adverbial: I spoke to him last week, she smiled broadly (adverbial phrases often end in -ly).

Pronouns

Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns. For example, in the sentence Paula gave the book to George, the words Paula, book and George could be replaced with she, it and him. There are several types of pronoun: personal, possessive, reflexive, demonstrative, indefinite, relative and interrogative.

Before I continue, I should quickly state that pronouns come in three persons: the first (I, me, my, mine, we, us, and ours), second (you, yours) and third (he, she, it, him, her, they, them, his, hers, its and theirs).

Like regular nouns, pronouns come in two forms: singular and plural. Look at the following:

1st person (singular) I, me, my, mine;
1st person (plural): we, us, our, ours;
2nd person (singular): you, yours;
2nd person (plural): you, yours;
3rd person (singular): he, she, it, him, her, his, hers, theirs, its;
3rd person (plural): they, them, theirs.

Personal pronouns replace objects and subjects (usually people's names - proper nouns) in sentences. I, you, he, she and it are examples of the subject; me, him, her and it are examples of the object. For example:

• I drove him home;
• He thanked me for the lift.

Possessive pronouns show possession and replace proper nouns. Rather than saying Sarah's bag or the children's ball, you could say: her bag (or this is hers) or their ball.

Reflexive pronouns relate to the subject of a sentence and end in -self or -selves: he cut himself; they congratulated themselves on the win.

Demonstrative pronouns point at something or someone: this, these, those, that. For example:

• Do you want these?
• Read the letter. That will tell you what you want to know.

Indefinite pronouns are pronouns which do not refer to specific people or things. Examples of these are: someone, no one, anyone, something, nothing, anything, and everything.

Relative pronouns act as linking words in a sentence. The relative pronouns are: and who, whom and whose (when referring to people) and which and that (when referring to things). They refer to nouns and are always placed immediately after the noun(s) to which they refer:

• A city that has many tourist attractions; the city that never sleeps.

Who, whom and whose can also be used in a different way in interrogative pronouns - when forming questions. The following examples illustrate my point:

• Who did that?
• To whom does this belong?
• Whose is this?

A quick note on relative pronouns:

People often confuse the relative pronouns who and that when referring to people. For example, look at the following sentence:

• Did you see the man that was in the bar?

That is ungrammatical, but you probably often hear that sort of thing coming from young, moronic males. We use who when referring to people for the same reason we don't use who when referring to animals - because they're animals! You don't hear people asking questions like: Did you see the horse who kicked Maria's head off?

Conjunctions

Conjunctions join clauses together and come in two types: co-ordinating and subordinating conjunctions. The co-ordinating conjunctions are: and, but and or. They are used when clauses are of equal value and can stand on their own as complete thoughts:

• I went out today and had an ice-cream. (I went out today and had an ice-cream are both complete thoughts and could potentially both make complete sentences.)

The subordinating conjunctions are: whilst, because, when, as, after, although, unless, until and however - to name only a few. A subordinate clause lacks a verb and so is reliant on the main verb of a sentence:

• I think that, whilst Jim is fun, I prefer Sam and David. (In this sentence, whilst Jim is fun is a subordinate clause and doesn't make sense on its own - if you remove that phrase, the sentence will read: I think that I prefer Sam and David.)

Prepositions

Prepositions show how one thing relates to another (the subject to the object). Prepositions are words such as: at, behind, up, below, inside, in, into, on, opposite, above, under, along, before, during, and after - to name but a few. For example:

• I chased the squirrel up the tree.
• I spoke to the man behind the desk.
• My sister came down the stairs.

All of the above examples take the form: subject, verb, preposition, object.

Determiners

Determiners precede nouns and usually refer to them. Common ones are the indefinite and definite articles (a/an and the), possessive determiners (my, our, your, his, her, its, their), and demonstrative determiners (this, that, these, those). Other determiners refer to quantity: one, two, three....

Note the difference between possessive determiners and possessive pronouns: whilst possessive determiners show possession (that's my pen), possessive pronouns replace nouns (that's mine).

The indefinite article refers to unspecific things:

• an apple (the word an is used if it precedes a noun begins with a vowel);
• a present (the word a is used if it precedes a noun begins with a consonant).

The definite article refers to specific things:

• The pen is on the table;
• The man gave it to me...;
  
• Do you have the time?
  

Note: Some words - such as hour - start with consonants that aren't aspirated and so start with the indefinite article (an hour), whereas other words have hard sounds and begin
with a: a history - he has a history that baffles me. A lot of people do say an history, though - it's up to you to decide which one you'd like to use.