English grammar

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{{Template: English Grammar}}
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'''English grammar''' is the structure of [[Utterance|expressions]] in the [[English language]]. This includes the structure of [[words]], [[phrases]], [[clauses]] and [[Sentence (linguistics)|sentences]].
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'''English grammar''' is the body of rules describing the properties of the [[English language]]. A language is such that its elements must be combined according to certain patterns. This article is concerned with (and restricted to) [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]], the building blocks of language; and [[syntax]], the construction of meaningful [[phrases]], [[clauses]] and [[Sentence (linguistics)|sentences]] with the use of [[morphemes]] and [[word]]s.
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The [[grammar]] of any language is commonly approached in two different ways: ''descriptive'', usually based on a systematic analysis of a large [[text corpus]] and describing grammatical structures thereupon; and ''prescriptive'', which attempts to use the identified rules of a given language as a tool to govern the linguistic behaviour of speakers (see [[Descriptive linguistics]] and [[Linguistic prescription]]). Prescriptive grammar further concerns itself with several open [[disputes in English grammar]], often representing changes in usage over time. This article predominantly concerns itself with descriptive grammar.
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There are historical, social, cultural and regional variations of English. Divergences from the [[grammar]] described here occur in some [[List of dialects of the English language|dialects of English]]. This article describes a generalized present-day [[Standard English]], the form of speech found in types of public discourse including [[broadcasting]], [[education]], [[entertainment]], [[government]], and [[news|news reporting]], including both formal and informal speech. There are certain differences in grammar between the standard forms of [[British English]], [[American English]] and [[Australian English]], although these are inconspicuous compared with the [[lexicon|lexical]] and [[English phonology|pronunciation]] differences.
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There are historical, social and regional variations of English. For example, [[British English]] and [[American English]] have several [[lexical]] differences; however, the grammatical differences are not equally conspicuous, and will be mentioned only when appropriate. Further, the many [[List of dialects of the English language|dialects of English]] have divergences from the grammar described here; they are only cursorily mentioned. This article describes a generalized present-day [[Standard English]], the form of speech found in types of public discourse including broadcasting, education, entertainment, government, and news reporting. Standard English includes both formal and informal speech.
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==Word classes and phrases==
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==Word classes and phrase classes==
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Eight types of word ([[Part of speech|"word classes" or "parts of speech"]]) are distinguished in English: [[noun]]s, [[Determiner (linguistics)|determiner]]s, [[pronoun]]s, [[verb]]s, [[adjective]]s, [[adverb]]s, [[preposition]]s, and [[Grammatical conjunction|conjunction]]s. (Determiners, traditionally classified along with adjectives, have not always been regarded as a separate part of speech.) [[Interjections]] are another word class, but these are not described here as they do not form part of the [[clause]] and [[Sentence (linguistics)|sentence]] structure of the language.
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Seven major word classes are described here.  These are: [[noun]], [[verb]], [[adjective]], [[adverb]], [[preposition]], [[Grammatical conjunction|conjunction]], and [[Determiner (linguistics)|determiner]]. The first six are traditionally referred to as "parts of speech."  There are minor word classes, such as [[interjection]]s, but these do not fit into the [[clause]] and [[Sentence (linguistics)|sentence]] structure of English.<sup>[]</sup>
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;Open and closed classes
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Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs form [[Open class (linguistics)|open class]]es&nbsp;– word classes that readily accept new members, such as the noun ''[[celebutante]]'' (a celebrity who frequents the fashion circles), similar relatively new words. The others are regarded as [[closed class]]es. For example, it is rare for a new pronoun to be admitted to the language.
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[[Open class (linguistics)|Open word class]]es allow new members; [[closed class|closed word class]]es seldom do.<sup>[]</sup>  Nouns such as "[[celebutante]]", (a celebrity who frequents the fashion circles)" and "mentee," (a person advised by a mentor) and adverbs such as "[[24/7]]" ("I am working on it 24/7") are relatively new words; nouns and adverbs are therefore open classes.<sup>[]</sup>  However, invented pronouns, such as the "[[Spivak pronouns]]", as a [[Gender-neutral pronoun|gender-neutral singular]] replacement for the "his or her" (as in: "The student should bring eir books.") have gained only niche acceptance during their existence; pronouns, in consequence, form a closed class.<sup>[]</sup>
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;Word classes and grammatical forms
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English words are not generally marked for word class. It is not usually possible to tell from the form of a word which class it belongs to except, to some extent, in the case of words with inflectional endings or derivational suffixes. On the other hand, some words belong to more than one word class. For example, ''run'' can serve as either a verb or a noun (these are regarded as two different [[lexeme]]s). Lexemes may be [[inflected]] to express different grammatical categories. The lexeme ''run'' has the forms ''runs'', ''ran'', ''runny'', ''runner'', and ''running''. Words in one class can sometimes be [[Morphological derivation|derived]] from those in another. This has the potential to give rise to new words. The noun ''aerobics'' has recently given rise to the adjective ''aerobicized''.
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A word can sometimes belong to several word classes.  The class version of a word is called a "[[lexeme]]".<sup>[]</sup>  For example, the word "run" is usually a verb, but it can also be a noun ("It is a ten mile run to [[Tipperary]]."); these are two different lexemes.<v>  Further, the same lexeme may be [[inflected]] to express different grammatical categories: for example, as a verb lexeme, "run" has several forms such as "runs," "ran," and "running."<sup>[]</sup>  Words in one class can sometimes be [[Derivation (linguistics)|derived]] from those in another and new words be created.   The noun "aerobics," for example, has recently given rise to the adjective "aerobicized" ("the aerobicized bodies of Beverly Hills celebutantes."<sup>[]</sup>)
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;Phrase classes
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Words combine to form [[phrase]]s. A phrase typically serves the same function as a word from some particular word class. For example, ''my very good friend Peter'' is a phrase that can be used in a sentence as if it were a noun, and is therefore called a [[noun phrase]]. Similarly, [[adjectival phrase|adjective phrase]]s and [[adverbial phrase|adverb phrase]]s function as if they were adjectives or adverbs, but with other types of phrases the terminology has different implications. For example, a [[verb phrase]] consists of a verb together with any objects and other dependents; a [[adpositional phrase|prepositional phrase]] consists of a preposition together with its complement (and is therefore usually a type of adverb phrase); and a [[determiner phrase]] is a type of noun phrase containing a determiner.
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Words combine to form [[phrase]]s which themselves can take on the attributes of a word class. These classes are called
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phrase classes.<sup>[]</sup> The phrase: "The ancient pulse of germ and birth" functions as a noun in the sentence: "The ancient pulse of germ and birth was shrunken hard and dry." ([[Thomas Hardy]], ''[[The Darkling Thrush]]'')  It is therefore a ''noun phrase''.  Other phrase classes are: [[verb phrase]]s, [[adjectival phrase|adjective phrase]]s, [[adverbial phrase|adverb phrase]]s, [[adpositional phrase|prepositional phrase]]s, and [[determiner phrase]]s.<sup>[]</sup>
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===Nouns and determiners===
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===Nouns===
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Nouns form the largest word class. According to Carter and McCarthy, they denote "classes and categories of things in the world, including people, animals, inanimate things, places, events, qualities and states."<sup>[]</sup>  Consequently, the words "Mandela," "jaguar," "mansion," "volcano," "Timbuktoo," "blockade," "mercy," and "liquid" are all nouns.  Nouns are not commonly identified by their form; however, some common [[suffix]]es such as "-age" ("shrinkage"), "-hood" ("sisterhood"), "-ism" ("journalism"), "-ist" ("lyricist"),  "-ment" ("adornment"),  "-ship" ("companionship"),  "-tude" ("latitude"), and so forth, are usually identifiers of nouns.<sup>[]</sup>  There are exceptions, of course: "assuage" and "disparage" are verbs; "augment" is a verb, "lament" and "worship" can be verbs.  Nouns can also be created by [[Conversion (linguistics)|conversion]] of verbs or adjectives.  Examples include the nouns in: "a boring talk," "a five-week run," "the long caress," "the utter disdain," and so forth.
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[[Noun]]s form the largest English word class. There are many common [[suffix]]es used to form nouns from other nouns or from other types of words, such as ''-age'' (as in ''shrinkage''), ''-hood'' (as in ''sisterhood''), and so on, although many nouns are base forms not containing any such suffix (such as ''cat'', ''grass'', ''France'').  Nouns are also often created by [[Conversion (word formation)|conversion]] of verbs or adjectives, as with the words ''talk'' and ''reading'' (''a boring talk'', ''the assigned reading'').
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;Number, gender, type, and syntactic features.
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Unlike in many related languages, English nouns do not have [[grammatical gender]] (although many nouns refer specifically to male or female persons or animals, like ''mother'', ''father'', ''bull'', ''tigress''; see [[Gender in English]]). Nouns are sometimes classified semantically (by their meanings) as [[Noun#Proper nouns and common nouns|proper nouns and common nouns]] (''Cyrus'', ''China'' vs. ''frog'', ''milk'') or as [[Noun#Concrete nouns and abstract nouns|concrete nouns and abstract nouns]] (''book'', ''laptop'' vs. ''heat'', ''prejudice''). A grammatical distinction is often made between [[count noun|count (countable) nouns]] such as ''clock'' and ''city'', and [[mass noun|non-count (uncountable) nouns]] such as ''milk'' and ''decor''. Some nouns can function both as countable and as uncountable such as the word "wine" (''This is a good wine'', ''I prefer red wine'').
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Nouns have [[Grammatical number|singular]] and [[plural]] forms.<sup>[]</sup>  Many plural forms have -s or -es endings (dog/dogs, referee/referees, bush/bushes), but by no means all (woman/women, axis/axes, medium/media).  Unlike some other languages, in English, nouns do not have [[grammatical gender]].<sup>[]</sup>  However, many nouns can refer to masculine or feminine animate objects (mother/father, tiger/tigress, alumnus/alumna, male/female).<sup>[]</sup>  Nouns can be classified semantically, i.e. by their meanings: [[Noun#Proper_nouns_and_common_nouns|common noun]]s ("sugar," "maple," "syrup," "wood"), [[Noun#Proper_nouns_and_common_nouns|proper noun]]s ("Cyrus," "China"), [[Noun#Concrete_nouns_and_abstract_nouns|concrete noun]]s ("book," "laptop"), and [[Noun#Concrete_nouns_and_abstract_nouns|abstract noun]]s ("heat," "prejudice").<sup>[]</sup>
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Alternatively, they can be distinguished grammatically: [[count noun]]s ("clock," "city," "colour") and [[mass noun|non-count noun]]s ("milk," "decor," "foliage").<sup>[]</sup>  Nouns have several [[syntax|syntactic]] features that can aid in their identification.<sup>[]</sup>  Nouns  (example: common noun "cat") may be
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#[[Grammatical modifier|modified]] by adjectives ("the ''beautiful'' [[Turkish Angora|Angora cat]]"),
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#preceded by determiners ("''the'' beautiful Angora cat"), or
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#pre-modified by other nouns  ("the beautiful ''[[Ankara|Angora]]'' cat").<sup>[]</sup>
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===Noun phrases===
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Countable nouns generally have [[Grammatical number|singular]] and [[plural]] forms. In most cases the plural is formed from the singular by adding ''-[e]s'' (as in ''dogs'', ''bushes''), although there are also [[irregular plural|irregular]] forms (''woman/women'', ''foot/feet'', etc.), including cases where the two forms are identical (''sheep'', ''series''). For more details, see [[English plural]].
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Noun phrases are phrases that function grammatically as nouns within sentences. In addition, nouns serve as "heads," or main words of noun phrases.<sup>[]</sup>
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Examples (the heads are in boldface):
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#"The burnt-out '''ends''' of smoky days."<sup>[]</sup>
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#"The real raw-knuckle '''boys''' who know what fighting means, ..."<sup>[]</sup>
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#"The idle '''spear and shield''' ..."<sup>[]</sup>
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The head can have ''modifiers'', a ''complement'', or both.  Modifiers can occur before the head ("The real raw-knuckle boys ...," or "The burnt-out ends ..." and they are then called ''pre-modifiers''; or, they can occur after the head ("who know what fighting means ...") and are called ''post-modifiers''.<sup>[]</sup>  Example: "The rough, seamy-faced, raw-boned College '''Servitor''' ..."<sup>[]</sup> The pre-modifying phrase, for example, is composed of determiners ("The"), adjectives ("rough," "seamy-faced," ...) and other nouns ("College").
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Certain nouns can take plural verbs even though they are singular in form, as in ''The government were&nbsp;...'' (where ''the government'' is considered to refer to the people constituting the government). This, a form of [[synesis]], is more common in British than American English.
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''Complements'' occur after the head as well; however, they are essential for completing the meaning of the noun phrase in a way that post-modifiers are not.<sup>[]</sup>  Examples (complements are italicized; heads are in boldface):
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English nouns are not marked for [[case (grammar)|case]] as they are in some languages, but they have [[possessive (linguistics)|possessive]] forms, formed by the addition of ''-'s'' (as in ''John's'', ''children's''), or just an [[apostrophe]] (with no change in pronunciation) in the case of ''-[e]s'' plurals and sometimes other words ending with ''-s'' (''the dogs' owners'', ''Jesus' love''). More generally, the ending can be applied to noun phrases (as in ''the man you saw yesterday's sister''); see below. The possessive form can be used either as a determiner (''John's cat'') or as a noun phrase (''John's is the one next to Jane's''). For details, see [[English possessive]].
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#"The burnt-out '''ends''' ''of smoky days''."<sup>[]</sup>
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#"The '''suggestion''' ''that Mr. Touchett should invite me'' appeared to have come from Miss Stackpole."<sup>[]</sup>
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#"The ancient '''pulse''' ''of germ and birth'' was shrunken hard and dry."<sup>[]</sup>
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Within a sentence, a noun phrase can be a part of the grammatical subject, the object, or the complement.  Examples (the noun phrase is italicized, and the head boldfaced):<sup>[]</sup>
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====Noun phrases====
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#grammatical subject: "''Some mute inglorious '''Milton''''' here may rest."<sup>[]</sup>
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[[Noun phrase]]s are phrases that function grammatically as nouns within sentences, for example as the [[subject (grammar)|subject]] or [[object (grammar)|object]] of a verb. Most noun phrases have a noun as their [[head (linguistics)|head]].
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#object: "Dr. Pavlov ... delivered ''many long propaganda '''harangues''''' ..."<sup>[]</sup>)
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#complement: "'All they see is ''some frumpy, wrinkled-up '''person''' passing by in a carriage waving at a crowd''."<sup>[]</sup>
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===Verbs===
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An English noun phrase typically takes the following form (not all elements need be present):
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Verbs form the second largest word class after nouns.  According to Carter and McCarthy, verbs denote "actions, events, processes, and states."<sup>[]</sup>  Consequently, "smile," "stab," "climb," "confront," "liquefy," "wake," "reflect" are all verbs.  Some examples of verb endings, which while not dead giveaways, are often associated, include: "-ate" ("formulate"), "-iate" ("inebriate"),  "-ify" ("electrify"), and "-ise" ("realise").<sup>[]</sup>  There are exceptions, of course: "chocolate" is a noun, "immediate" is an adjective, "prize" can be a noun, and "maize" is a noun.  Prefixes can also be used to create new verbs.  Examples are: "un-" ("unmask"),  "out-" ("outlast"), "over-" ("overtake"), and "under-" ("undervalue").<sup>[]</sup>  Just as nouns can be formed from verbs by conversion, the reverse is also possible:<sup>[]</sup>
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:{| cellspacing="5"
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*"so are the sons of men '''snared''' in an evil time"<sup>[]</sup>
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|- style="font-variant: small-caps; font-size: larger;"
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*"[a national convention] '''nosed''' parliament in the very seat of its authority"<sup>[]</sup>
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! Determiner || + || Pre-modifiers || + || NOUN || + || Postmodifiers/Complement
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|}
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Verbs can also be formed from adjectives:<sup>[]</sup>
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In this structure:
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*the ''determiner'' may be an article (''the'', ''a[n]'') or other equivalent word, as described in the following section. In many contexts it is required for a noun phrase to include some determiner.
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*''[[pre-modifier]]s'' include adjectives and some adjective phrases (such as ''red'', ''really lovely''), and [[noun adjunct]]s (such as ''college'' in the phrase ''the college student''). Adjectival modifiers usually come before noun adjuncts.
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*a ''[[complement (linguistics)|complement]]'' or ''[[postmodifier]]'' may be a prepositional phrase (''...&nbsp;of London''), a [[relative clause]] (like ''&nbsp;...which we saw yesterday''), certain adjective or [[participial]] phrases (''...&nbsp;sitting on the beach''), or a [[dependent clause]] or [[infinitive phrase]] appropriate to the noun (like ''...&nbsp;that the world is round'' after a noun such as ''fact'' or ''statement'', or ''...&nbsp;to travel widely'' after a noun such as ''desire'').
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*"To '''dry''' the old oak's sap, and cherish springs."<sup>[]</sup>
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An example of a noun phrase that includes all of the above-mentioned elements is ''that rather attractive young college student to whom you were talking''. Here ''that'' is the determiner, ''rather attractive'' and ''young'' are adjectival pre-modifiers, ''college'' is a noun adjunct, ''student'' is the noun serving as the head of the phrase, and ''to whom you were talking'' is a post-modifier (a relative clause in this case). Notice the order of the pre-modifiers; the determiner ''that'' must come first and the noun adjunct ''college'' must come after the adjectival modifiers.
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*"Time's glory is to '''calm''' contending kings"<sup>[]</sup>
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;Regular and irregular verbs
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Coordinating conjunctions such as ''and'', ''or'', and ''but'' can be used at various levels in noun phrases, as in ''John, Paul, and Mary''; ''the matching green coat and hat''; ''a dangerous but exciting ride''; ''a person sitting down or standing up''.
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A verb is said to be ''regular'' if its base form does not change when inflections are added to create new
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Noun phrases can also be placed in ''[[apposition]]'' (where two consecutive phrases refer to the same thing), as in ''that president, Abraham Lincoln,&nbsp;...'' (where ''that president'' and ''Abraham Lincoln'' are in apposition). In some contexts the same can be expressed by a prepositional phrase, as in ''the twin curses of famine and pestilence'' (meaning "the twin curses" that are "famine and pestilence").
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forms.<sup>[]</sup>  An example is: base form: climb; present form: climb; -s form: climb'''s'''; -ing form: climb'''ing'''; past form: climb'''ed'''; -ed participle: climb'''ed'''.<sup>[]</sup>
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Irregular verbs are ones in which the base form changes; the endings corresponding to each form are not always unique.<sup>[]</sup>  Examples:
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*base form: catch; present form: catch; -s form: catches; -ing form: catching; past form: caught; -ed participle: caught.
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Particular forms of noun phrases include:
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*base form: choose; present form: choose; -s form: chooses; -ing form: choosing; past form: chose; -ed participle: chosen.
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* phrases formed by the determiner ''the'' with an adjective, as in ''the homeless'', ''the English'' (these are [[plural]] phrases referring to homeless people or English people in general);
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* phrases with a pronoun rather than a noun as the head (see below);
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* phrases consisting just of a [[English possessive|possessive]];
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* [[infinitive]] and [[gerund]] phrases, in certain positions;
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* certain clauses, such as ''that'' clauses and [[relative clause]]s like ''what he said'', in certain positions.
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The verb "be" is the only verb in English which has distinct inflectional forms for each of the categories of grammatical forms: base form: be; present form: am, are; -s form: is; -ing form: being; past form: was, were; -ed participle: been.<sup>[]</sup>
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===Noun gender===
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''See Also [[Gender in English]]''
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;Type and characteristics
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Generally there is no difference between male and female in English nouns. However, gender is occasionally exposed by different shapes or dissimilar words when referring to people or animals.
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Verbs come in three grammatical types: lexical, auxiliary, and modal.<sup>[]</sup>  Lexical verbs form an open class which includes most verbs (state, action, processes, and events).  For example, "dive," "soar," "swoon," "revive," "breathe," "choke," "lament," "celebrate," "consider," "ignore" are all lexical verbs.<sup>[]</sup>
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{| class="wikitable"
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Auxiliary verbs form a closed class consisting of only three members: be, do, and have.<sup>[]</sup> Although auxiliary verbs are lexical verbs as well, their main function is to add information to other lexical verbs. This information indicates (a) aspect (progressive, perfect), (b) passive voice, and (c) clause type (interrogative, negative).<sup>[]</sup>  In the following examples, the auxiliary is in boldface and the lexical verb is italicized.
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|-
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#aspect (progressive): "'She '''is''' ''breathing'' Granny; we've got to make her keep it up, that's all&mdash;just keep her breathing."<sup>[]</sup>
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! Masculine !! Feminine !! Gender neutral
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#aspect (perfect): "'Yes, I want a coach,' said Maurice, and bade the coachman draw up to the stone where the poor man who '''had''' ''swooned'' was sitting."<sup>[]</sup>
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|-
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# passive voice: "When she was admitted into the house Beautiful, care '''was''' ''taken'' to inquire into the religious knowledge of her children."<sup>[]</sup>
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| ''man'' || ''woman'' || ''person''  
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#clause type (interrogative): (Old joke) Boy: "Excuse me sir, How '''do''' I ''get'' to [[Carnegie Hall]]?" Man on street: "Practice, Practice, Practice."
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|-
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#clause type (negative): '''Wasn't''' she monstrously ''surprised''?"<sup>[]</sup>
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''boy'' || ''girl'' || ''child''  
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|-
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''husband'' || ''wife'' || ''spouse''
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|-
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''prince'' || ''princess'' || -
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|-
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''rooster'' || ''hen'' || ''chicken''
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|}
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[[English modal verb|Modal verbs]] also form a closed class which consists of the core modals ("can," "could," "shall," "should," "will," "would," "may," "might," "must"), semi-modals ("dare," "need," "ought to," "used to"), and modal expressions ("be able to," "have to").<sup>[]</sup>  Modals add information to lexical verbs about degrees of certainty and necessity.<sup>[]</sup>  Examples:
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Many nouns that mention to people's roles and jobs can refer to either a masculine or a feminine subject, for instance "cousin", "teenager", "teacher", "doctor", "student", "friend", and "colleague".
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* less certain: "Before the snow '''could''' ''melt'' for good, an ice storm covered the lowcountry and we learned the deeper treachery of ice."<sup>[]</sup>
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*more certain: "Eat your eggs in Lent and the snow '''will''' ''melt''.  That's what I say to our people when they get noisy over their cups at San Gallo ..."<sup>[]</sup>
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*expressing necessity: "But I should think there must be some stream somewhere about.  The snow '''must''' ''melt''; besides, these great herds of deer must drink somewhere."<sup>[]</sup>
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Modal verbs do not inflect for person, number or tense.<sup>[]</sup>  Examples:
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*Jane is my friend. She is a dentist.
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* person: "I/you/she '''might''' consider it."
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*Paul is my cousin. He is a dentist.
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* number: "I/We/She/They '''might''' consider it"
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*Ed is my friend. He is a journalist.
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* tense: "They '''might''' have considered/be considering/have been considering it."
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*Barbara is my cousin. She is a journalist.
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Verbs too have features that aid in their recognition:
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Often the gender distinction for these neutral nouns is established by inserting the words "male" or "female".
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# they follow the (grammatical) subject noun phrase (in italics): "''The real raw-knuckle boys who know what fighting means'' '''enter''' the arena without fanfare."
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#they agree with the subject noun phrase in number: "The real raw-knuckle ''boy/boys'' who knows/know what fighting means '''enters/enter''' the arena without fanfare."
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#they agree with the subject noun phrase in person: "I/He, the real raw-knuckle boy who knows what fighting means, enter/enters the arena without fanfare", and
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#with the exception of modal verbs, they can express tense:"The boys ... '''had been entering''' the arena without fanfare."
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===Verb phrases===
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*Sam is a female doctor.
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====Forms====
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*No, he is not my boyfriend, he is just a male friend.
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*I have three female cousins and two male cousins.
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Verb phrases are formed entirely of verbs. The verbs can be lexical, auxiliary, and modal.  The head is the first verb in the verb phrase.<sup>[]</sup>  Example:
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Rarely, nouns illustrating things with no gender are referred to with a gendered pronoun to convey familiarity. It is also standard to make use of the gender-neutral pronoun (it).
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* "I didn't notice Rowen around tonight," remarked Don, as they began to prepare for bed. "'''Might have been sulking''' in his tent," grinned Terry."<sup>[]</sup>  Here, the verb phrase "might have been sulking" has the form "modal-auxiliary-auxiliary-lexical."
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In a verb phrase, the modal comes first, then the auxiliary or several auxiliaries, and finally the lexical (main) verb.<sup>[]</sup>  When a verb phrase has a combination of modal and auxiliaries, it is constituted usually in the following order: modal verb  >> perfect ''have'' >> progressive ''be'' >> passive ''be'' >> Lexical verb.<sup>[]</sup>  Examples:
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*I love my car. She (the car) is my greatest passion.
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*"He '''might have been being used''' by the CIA as part of their debriefing procedure, but he might just as easily have been part of the Russians' plans to use Oswald in America."<sup>[]</sup>  Here, the verb phrase is: might (modal) have (perfect) been (progressive) being (passive) used (lexical).
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*France is popular with her (France's) neighbors at the moment.
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* The modal expression "be able to" is an exception: "It is best to know that she '''has''' (perfect) '''been''' (progressive) '''able to''' (modal expression) '''balance''' (lexical verb) these qualities and quantities with a grace which has not fallen short of greatness ...."<sup>[]</sup>
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*I travelled from England to New York on the Queen Elizabeth; she (the Queen Elizabeth) is a great ship.
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====Tense====
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===Determiners===
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''See Also [[English determiners]] and [[English articles]]''
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Verb phrases can vary with tense, in which case they are called "tensed verb phrases."<sup>[]</sup>  Example:
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English [[determiner (grammar)|determiner]]s constitute a relatively small class of words. They include the [[English articles|articles]] ''the'', ''a[n]'' (and in some contexts ''some''), certain [[demonstrative adjective|demonstrative]] and [[interrogative]] words such as ''this'', ''that'', and ''which'', [[possessive adjective|possessives]] such as ''my'' and ''whose'' (the role of determiner can also be played by [[English possessive|noun possessive]] forms such as ''John's'' and ''the girl's''), various [[Quantifier (linguistics)|quantifying words]] like ''all'', ''many'', ''various'', and [[numeral (linguistics)|numeral]]s (''one'', ''two'', etc.). There are also many phrases (such as ''a couple of'') that can play the role of determiners.
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* "They '''have accomplished''' a lot this year, but they '''had accomplished''' even more last year."
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There are many [[Non-finite verb|non-tensed forms]] as well:
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#base form of a lexical verb used as an [[Imperative mood|imperative]].<sup>[]</sup> Example: "'''Halt'''!"
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#base form of the lexical verb occurring as a [[Subjunctive mood|subjunctive]].<v>  Example: "'If he is a spy,' said Gorgik, 'I would rather he not '''know''' who I am."<sup>[]</sup>
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#the  [[infinitive]] with "to."<sup>[]</sup>  Examples:
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##"Did you see her, chief&mdash;did you get a glimpse of her pleasant countenance, or come close enough to her ear, to sing in it the song she ''loves'' '''to hear'''?'"<sup>[]</sup>
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##"She got so she could tell big stories herself from listening to the rest.  Because she loved to hear it, and the men ''loved'' '''to hear''' themselves, they would 'woof' and 'boogerboo' around the games to the limit."<sup>[]</sup>
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#the "-ing" form, shared between the [[gerund]] and [[Participle|present participle]].<sup>[]</sup> Examples:
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##"Biological diversity ''is'' '''plummeting''', mainly due to habitat degradation and loss, pollution, overexploitation, competition from alien species, disease, and changing climates."<sup>[]</sup>
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##"Then it was swooping downward, and in the next second, a huge metal magpie, with wings outstretched in full flight, ''was'' '''plummeting''' toward them."<sup>[]</sup>
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# the "-ed" [[participle]].<sup>[]</sup> Examples:
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##"I also know that the painter ''has'' '''dined''' twice with the Prince Regent."<v>
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##"Which in all probability means that you ''had'' '''dined''' together," replied Monte Cristo, laughing, "I am glad to see you are more sober than he was."<sup>[]</sup>
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The time frame of a non-tensed verb phrase is determined by examining that of the main clause verb.<sup>[]</sup>  Examples:
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Determiners are used in the formation of noun phrases (see above). Many words that serve as determiners can also be used as pronouns (''this'', ''that'', ''many'', etc.)
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*"From the very beginning, Coltrane was an indefatigable worker at his saxophone spending hours upon hours '''practicing''' every day."<sup>[]</sup>
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* "By assuming a good position and by '''practicing''' every day he will in time acquire a feeling and an appearance of ease before people."<sup>[]</sup>
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In the first case, the time frame (past) of "practicing" is determined by "was" in the main clause;  in the second, the time frame (present and future) of "practicing" is determined by "will in time," also in the main clause.
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Determiners can be used in certain combinations, such as '''''all the''' water'' and '''''the many''' problems''.
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====Aspect====
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In many contexts, it is required for a noun phrase to be completed with an article or some other determiner. It is not grammatical to say just ''cat sat on table''; one must say ''my cat sat on the table''. The most common situations in which a complete noun phrase can be formed without a determiner are when it refers generally to a whole class or concept (as in ''dogs are dangerous'' and ''beauty is subjective'') and when it is a name (''Jane'', ''Spain'', etc.) This is discussed in more detail at [[English articles]] and [[Zero article in English]].
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Verb phrases can also express two [[Grammatical aspect|aspects]]: ''[[Progressive aspect|progressive]]'' and ''[[perfect (grammar)|perfect]]''.  Aspect provides additional information on
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the speaker's perception of time.
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;[[Progressive aspect]]
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===Pronouns===
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[[Pronoun]]s are a relatively small, closed class of words that function in the place of nouns or noun phrases. They include [[personal pronoun]]s, [[demonstrative pronoun]]s, [[relative pronoun]]s, [[interrogative pronouns]], and some others, mainly [[indefinite pronoun]]s.
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The progressive aspect consists of the [[Auxiliary verb|auxiliary]] ''be'' form and the ''-ing'' form of the lexical verb.<sup>[]</sup>  Examples:
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====Personal pronouns====
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* "Landlord, chambermaid, waiter rush to the door; but just as some distinguished guests '''are arriving''', the curtains close, and the invisible theatrical manager cries out, 'Second syllable!' "<sup>[]</sup>
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''See Also [[English personal pronouns]]
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*"She made her curtsy, and '''was departing''' when the wretched young captain sprang up, looked at her, and sank back on the sofa with another wild laugh."<sup>[]</sup>
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Properties:
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*Progressive aspect may be found in verb phrases containing [[Modal verb|modals]].<sup>[]</sup>
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**"Restless, exciting and witty, he cannot resist a fantastic theory ..., so that one '''might be meeting''' Synge, Fielding, and Aldous Huxley, and on the same page."<sup>[]</sup>
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*[[Non-finite verb|Non-tensed]] ''-ing'' forms, however, do not have the progressive aspect.<v>
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**"By '''working''' every day, he had learned the peculiarities, the weaknesses and strengths, of opposing batters ..."<sup>[]</sup>  It cannot be changed to "By ''being'' working every day, ...."
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*Progressive aspect can be combined with "to"-[[infinitive]] forms in a verb phrase.<sup>[]</sup>
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**"He loved to sit by the open window when the wind was east, and seemed '''to be dreaming''' of faraway scenes."<sup>[]</sup>
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;[[Perfect (grammar)|Perfect]]
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The personal pronouns of modern standard English, and the corresponding [[possessive]] forms, are as follows:
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The ''perfect'' aspect is created by the auxiliary "have" and the "-ed" participle form of the lexical verb.<sup>[]</sup>  It refers to a time period that includes the present moment.<sup>[]</sup> Contrast "The flowers didn't bloom this summer" with "The flowers haven't bloomed this summer."  The latter sentence suggests that the summer is not over yet.
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{| class="wikitable"
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|-
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! &nbsp; !! [[Nominative case|Nominative]] !! [[Oblique case|Oblique]] !! [[Reflexive pronoun|Reflexive]] !! [[Possessive determiner]] !! [[Possessive pronoun]]
 +
|-
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| 1st pers. sing. || ''I'' || ''me'' || ''myself'' || ''my'' || ''mine''
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|-
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| 2nd pers. sing./pl. || ''you'' || ''you'' || ''yourself/yourselves'' || ''your'' || ''yours''
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|-
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| 3rd pers. sing.|| ''she'', ''he'', ''they'', ''it'' || ''her'', ''him'', ''they'', ''it''&nbsp; || ''herself'', ''himself'', ''themself'', ''itself''&nbsp; || ''her'', ''his'', ''their'', ''its'' || ''hers'', ''his'', ''theirs'', ''its''
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|-
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| 1st pers. pl. || ''we'' || ''us'' || ''ourselves'' || ''our'' || ''ours''
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|-
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| 3rd pers. pl. || ''they'' || ''them'' || ''themselves'' || ''their'' || ''theirs''
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|}
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Properties:
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The second-person forms such as ''you'' are used with both singular and plural reference. In the Southern United States, [[y'all]] (you all) is used as a plural form, and various other phrases such as ''you guys'' are used in other places. An archaic set of pronouns used for singular reference is ''thou, thee, thyself, thy, thine, ''which are still used in religious services and can be seen in older works, such as Shakespeare's - in such texts, the word ''you'' is used as a plural form. ''You'' can also be used as an [[indefinite pronoun]], referring to a person in general (see [[generic you|generic ''you'']]) compared to the more formal alternative, ''[[one (pronoun)|one]]'' (reflexive ''oneself'', possessive ''one's'').
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*The perfect can pair with [[modal verbs]].<sup>[]</sup>
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The third-person singular forms are differentiated according to the sex of the referent. For example, ''she'' can be used to refer to a female person, sometimes a female animal, and sometimes an object to which female characteristics are attributed, such as a ship or a country. A male person, and sometimes a male animal, is referred to using ''he''. In other cases ''it'' can be used. (See [[Gender in English]].) The word ''it'' can also be used as a [[dummy subject]], in sentences like ''It is going to be sunny this afternoon''.
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**"You '''might''' (modal) '''have invited''' (perfect) the [[The Hatter|Hatter]] to the tea-party."
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*The perfect can be combined with the -ing and the to-infinitive forms.<sup>[]</sup>
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**"'''Having turned''' the TV '''on''', he now mindlessly flicked through the channels."
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**"'''To have run''' the marathon, she would have needed to be in good shape."
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Finally, the two aspects, progressive and perfect, can be combined in a verb phrase: "They''''ve been laughing''' so hard that their sides hurt."
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The third-person plural forms such as ''they'' are sometimes used with singular reference, as a [[gender-neutral pronoun]], as in ''each employee should ensure they tidy their desk''. Despite its long history, this usage is sometimes considered ungrammatical. (See [[Singular they|singular ''they'']].)
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====Voice====
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The possessive determiners such as ''my'' are used as determiners together with nouns, as in ''my old man'', ''some of his friends''. The second possessive forms like ''mine'' are used when they do not qualify a noun: as pronouns, as in ''mine is bigger than yours'', and as predicates, as in ''this one is mine''. Note also the construction ''a friend of mine'' (meaning "someone who is my friend"). See [[English possessive]] for more details.
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The ''[[passive voice]]'', which provides information about the roles of different participants in an event, is formed with the auxiliary "be" and the "-ed" [[participle]] form of the lexical verb.<sup>[]</sup>    Examples:
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* (Sentence) "The older critics '''slammed''' the play with vituperation inexplicable unless one attributes it to homophobia."<v>
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*(passive voice) "Ever notice how she '''was''' (past of "be") '''slammed''' (-ed participle) by the critics until the actors started doing it themselves?"<sup>[]</sup>
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Properties:
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====Demonstrative and interrogative pronouns====
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*[[Modal verbs]] can occur in passive voice.<sup>[]</sup>
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**"And if they couldn't get a handle on it soon, cities and towns all up and down the Eastern Seaboard '''could''' (modal) '''be slammed''' (passive) by the biggest storm of the year ...."<sup>[]</sup>
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*Passive voice can be combined with [[Non-finite verb|non-tensed verbs]] such as "-ing" form and the "to-" [[infinitive]].<sup>[]</sup>
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**"There he was&mdash;'''getting slammed''' by the critics&mdash;and still taking the high road."<sup>[]</sup>
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**"We were about '''to be slammed''' by an 80-foot breaking wave."<sup>[]</sup>
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*Passive voice can combine with both the progressive and the perfect [[Grammatical aspect|aspects]].<sup>[]</sup>
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**(passive, progressive): "The wind had picked up.  The boat '''was being slammed''' by the swells, and floundering."<sup>[]</sup>
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**(passive, perfect): "Although, alas, it's not such an exclusive club.  I've sent them to everyone who '''has been slammed''' by that dreadful woman."<sup>[]</sup>
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====Mood====
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The [[demonstrative pronoun]]s of English are ''this'' (plural ''these''), and ''that'' (plural ''those''), as in ''these are good, I like that''. Note that all four words can also be used as determiners (followed by a noun), as in ''those cars''. They can also form the alternative pronominal expressions ''this/that one'', ''these/those ones''.
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A verb phrase can also express mood, which refers to the "factual or non-factual status of events."<sup>[]</sup>  There are three moods in English: indicative, imperative, and subjunctive.<sup>[]</sup>
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;Indicative mood
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The indicative is the most common mood in English.<sup>[]</sup>  It is a factual mood, and most constructions involving the various choices of person, tense, number, aspect, modality are in the indicative mood.<sup>[]</sup>  Examples:
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*"She will have a hangover tomorrow morning."
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*"The Prime Minister and his cabinet were discussing the matter on that fateful day in 1939."
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;Imperative mood
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The [[interrogative pronoun]]s are ''who'', ''what'', and ''which'' (all of them can take the suffix ''[[-ever]]'' for emphasis). The pronoun ''who'' refers to a person or people; it has an oblique form ''[[whom]]'' (though in informal contexts this is usually replaced by ''who''), and a possessive form (pronoun or determiner) ''whose''. The pronoun ''what'' refers to things or abstracts. The word ''which'' is used to ask about alternatives from what is seen as a closed set: ''which (of the books) do you like best?'' (It can also be an interrogative determiner: ''which book?''; this can form the alternative pronominal expressions ''which one'' and ''which ones''.) ''Which'', ''who'', and ''what'' can be either singular or plural, although ''who'' and ''what'' often take a singular verb regardless of any supposed number. For more information see [[Who (pronoun)|''who'']].
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The imperative mood is a non-factual mood and is employed for issuing directives:<sup>[]</sup>
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*"'''[[Keep Your Eyes on the Prize|Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on]]'''"<sup>[]</sup>
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* "'Your father's urn is on the backseat. '''Just leave the keys in the cup holder'''."<sup>[]</sup>
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;Subjunctive mood
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All the interrogative pronouns can also be used as relative pronouns; see below for more details.
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The subjunctive mood is also a non-factual mood which refers to demands, desires, etc.<sup>[]</sup>  It uses the base form of the verb ''without inflections''.<ref name=carter-mccarthy-p307/>  It is rare in English and is used after only a handful of words such as "demand," "request," "suggest," "ask," "plead," "pray," "insist," and so forth.<sup>[]</sup>  Examples:
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*"I demanded that Sheriff Jeanfreau '''stay'''.  I even wanted worthless and annoying Ugly Henderson to stay."<sup>[]</sup>
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*"'I suggest that you '''not exercise''' your temper overmuch,' Mayne said, and the French tinge in his voice sounded truly dangerous now." <sup>[]</sup>
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Properties:
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====Relative pronouns====
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*Subjunctives can be used after conditional subordinators.<sup>[]</sup>
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''See Also [[English relative clauses]]. For "who/whom" and related forms, see also [[Who (pronoun)]].''
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**"I accepted on the condition that I '''not be given''' a starring role."<sup>[]</sup>
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*Subjunctives can also be used after expressions of necessity.<sup>[]</sup>
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**"Two nuns are asked to paint a room in the convent, and the last instruction of Mother Superior is that they '''not get''' even a drop of paint on their habits."<sup>[]</sup>
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*The subjunctive form of the verb "be" can occur as the base form "be".<sup>[]</sup>
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**"Whenever a prisoner alleges physical abuse, it is imperative that the prisoner '''be seen''' by an officer at the earliest possible opportunity."<sup>[]</sup>
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*In its "were" form the subjunctive is used to express a hypothetical situation.<sup>[]</sup>
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**"'Lin said, turning toward Pei, "I'm afraid she's excited at seeing me home again."  Pei smiled.  "I would be too, if I '''were''' she."<sup>[]</sup>
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===Adjectives===
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The main [[relative pronoun]]s in English are ''[[who (pronoun)|who]]'' (with its derived forms ''whom'' and ''whose''), ''which'', and ''that''.
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According to Carter and McCarthy, "Adjectives describe properties, qualities, and states attributed to a noun or a pronoun."<rsup>[]</sup>  As was the case with nouns and verbs, the class of adjectives cannot be identified by the forms of its constituents.<sup>[]</sup>  However, adjectives are commonly formed by adding the some suffixes to nouns.<sup>[]</sup>  Examples: "-al" ("habitual," "multidimensional," "visceral"), "-ful" ("blissful," "pitiful," "woeful"), "-ic" ("atomic," "gigantic," "pedantic"), "-ish" ("impish," "peckish," "youngish"), "-ous" ("fabulous," "hazardous").  As with nouns and verbs, there are exceptions:  "homosexual" can be a noun, "earful" is a noun,  "anesthetic" can be a noun, "brandish" is a verb.  Adjectives can also be formed from other adjectives through the addition of a suffix or more commonly a prefix:<sup>[]</sup>  weakish, implacable, disloyal, irredeemable, unforeseen.  A number of adjectives are formed by adding "a" as a prefix to a verb:  "adrift," "astride," "awry."
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;Gradability
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The relative pronoun ''which'' refers to things rather than persons, as in ''the shirt, which used to be red, is faded''. For persons, ''who'' is used (''the man who saw me was tall''). The [[oblique case]] form of ''who'' is ''whom'', as in ''the man whom I saw was tall'', although in informal [[Register (sociolinguistics)|registers]] ''who'' is commonly used in place of ''whom''.
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Adjectives come in two varieties: gradable and non-gradable.<sup>[]</sup>  In a gradable adjective, the properties or qualities associated with it, exist along a scale.<sup>[]</sup>  In the case of the adjective "hot," for example, we can speak of: not at all hot, ever so slightly hot, only just hot, quite hot, very hot, extremely hot, dangerously hot, and so forth.  Consequently, "hot" is a gradable adjective. Gradable adjectives usually have antonyms:  hot/cold, hard/soft, smart/dumb, light/heavy.<sup>[]</sup>
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The possessive form of ''who'' is ''whose'' (''the man whose car is missing&nbsp;...''); however the use of ''whose'' is not restricted to persons (one can say ''an idea whose time has come'').
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Some adjectives do not have room for qualification or modification. These are the non-gradable adjectives, such as: pregnant, married, incarcerated, condemned, adolescent (as adjective), dead, and so forth.
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In figurative or literary language, a non-gradable adjective can sometimes be treated as gradable, especially in order to emphasize some aspect:
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The word ''that'' as a relative pronoun is normally found only in [[restrictive relative clause]]s (unlike ''which'' and ''who'', which can be used in both restrictive and unrestrictive clauses). It can refer to either persons or things, and cannot follow a preposition. For example, one can say ''the song that'' [or ''which''] ''I listened to yesterday'', but ''the song to which'' [not ''to that''] ''I listened yesterday''. The relative pronoun ''that'' is usually pronounced with a reduced vowel ([[schwa]]), and hence differently from the demonstrative ''that'' (see [[Weak and strong forms in English]]). If ''that'' is not the subject of the relative clause, it can be omitted (''the song I listened to yesterday'').
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* "When a man's verses cannot be understood, nor a man's good wit seconded with a forward child, understanding, it strikes a man '''more dead''' than a great reckoning in a little room."<sup>[]</sup>
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A non-gradable adjective might have another connotation in which it is gradable.  For example, "dead" when applied to sounds can mean dull, or not vibrant.  In this meaning, it has been used as a gradable adjective:
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The word ''what'' can be used to form a [[free relative clause]] – one that has no antecedent and that serves as a complete noun phrase in itself, as in ''I like what he likes''. The words ''whatever'' and ''whichever'' can be used similarly, in the role of either pronouns (''whatever he likes'') or determiners (''whatever book he likes''). When referring to persons, ''who(ever)'' (and ''whom(ever)'') can be used in a similar way (but not as determiners).
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* "... the bell seemed to sound '''more dead''' than it did when just before it sounded in open air."<sup>[]</sup>
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Gradable adjectives can occur in comparative and superlative forms.<sup>[]</sup>  For many common adjectives, these are formed by adding "-er" and "-est" to the base form:<v> cold, colder, coldest; hot, hotter, hottest; dry, drier, driest, and so forth; however, for other adjectives, "more" and "most" are needed to provide the necessary qualification: more apparent, most apparent; more iconic, most iconic; more hazardous, most hazardous.    Some gradable adjectives change forms atypically:<sup>[]</sup> good, better, best;  bad, worse, worst; little, less, least; some/many, more, most.
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====''There'' as pronoun====
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The word ''there'' is used as a pronoun in some sentences, playing the role of a [[dummy subject]], normally of an [[intransitive verb]]. The "logical subject" of the verb then appears as a [[complement (linguistics)|complement]] after the verb.
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===Adjective phrases===
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This use of ''there'' occurs most commonly with forms of the verb ''be'' in [[existential clause]]s, to refer to the presence or existence of something. For example: ''There is a heaven''; ''There are two cups on the table''; ''There have been a lot of problems lately''. It can also be used with other verbs: ''There exist two major variants''; ''There occurred a very strange incident''.
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;Forms
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An ''adjective phrase'' may consist of just one adjective, or a single adjective which has been modified or complemented.<sup>[]</sup>
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The dummy subject takes the [[grammatical number|number]] (singular or plural) of the logical subject (complement), hence it takes a plural verb if the complement is plural. In colloquial English, however, the [[contraction (grammar)|contraction]] ''there's'' is often used where ''there are'' would be expected.
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Adjectives are usually modified by adverb phrases (adverb in boldface; adjective in italics):<sup>[]</sup>
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The dummy subject can undergo [[inversion (linguistics)|inversion]], ''Is there a test today?'' and ''Never has there been a man such as this.'' It can also appear without a corresponding logical subject, in short sentences and [[question tag]]s: ''There wasn't a discussion, was there? There was.''
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* "... placing himself in a dignified and '''truly''' ''imposing'' attitude,  began to draw from his mouth yard after yard of red tape ..."<sup>[]</sup>
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*"Families did certainly come, beguiled by representations of '''impossibly''' ''cheap'' provisions, though the place was '''in reality very''' ''expensive'', for every tradesman was a monopolist at heart."<sup>[]</sup>
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*"... of anger frequent but '''generally''' ''silent'', ..."<sup>[]</sup>
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An adjective phrase can also consist of an adjective followed by a complement, usually a prepositional phrase, or by a "that" clause.<sup>[]</sup>  Different adjectives require different patterns of complementation (adjective in italics; complement in bold facesup>[]</sup>
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The word ''there'' in such sentences has sometimes been analyzed as an [[adverb]], or as a dummy [[Predicate (grammar)|predicate]], rather than as a pronoun. However, its identification as a pronoun is most consistent with its behavior in inverted sentences and question tags as described above.
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*"... during that brief time I was ''proud'' '''of myself''', and I grew to love the heave and roll of the Ghost ..."<sup>[]</sup>
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*"... her bosom ''angry'' '''at his intrusion''', ..."<sup>[]</sup>
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*"Dr. Drew is especially ''keen'' '''on good congregational singing'''."<sup>[]</sup>
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Examples of "that" clause in the adjective phrase (adjective in italics; clause in boldface):
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Because the word ''there'' can also be a [[Deixis|deictic]] adverb (meaning "at/to that place"), a sentence like ''There is a river'' could have either of two meanings: "a river exists" (with ''there'' as a pronoun), and "a river is in that place" (with ''there'' as an adverb). In speech, the adverbial ''there'' would be given [[stress (linguistics)|stress]], while the pronoun would not&nbsp;– in fact the pronoun is often pronounced as a [[weak and strong forms in English|weak form]], /ðə(r)/.
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*"Was ''sure'' '''that the shrill voice was that of a man'''&mdash;a Frenchman."<sup>[]</sup>
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*"The ''longest'' day '''that ever was'''; so she raves, restless and impatient."<sup>[]</sup>
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An adjective phrase can combine pre-modification by an adverb phrase and post-modification by a complement,<sup>[]</sup> as in (adjective in italics; adverb phrase and complement in boldface):
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====Other pronouns====
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*"Few people were '''ever more''' ''proud'' '''of civic honours than the Thane of Fife'''."<sup>[]</sup>
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Other pronouns in English are often identical in form to [[English determiners|determiners]] (especially [[quantifier (linguistics)|quantifiers]]), such as ''many'', ''a little'', etc. Sometimes, the pronoun form is different, as with ''none'' (corresponding to the determiner ''no''), ''nothing'', ''everyone'', ''somebody'', etc. Many examples are listed as [[indefinite pronoun]]s. Another indefinite (or impersonal) pronoun is ''[[one (pronoun)|one]]'' (with its reflexive form ''oneself'' and possessive ''one's''), which is a more formal alternative to [[generic you|generic ''you'']].
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;Attributive and predicative
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===Verbs===
 +
''See Also [[English verbs]]''
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An adjective phrase is attributive when it modifies a noun or a pronoun (adjective phrase in boldface; noun in italics):<sup>[]</sup>
+
[[Verbs]] form the second largest word class after nouns. The basic form of an English verb is not generally marked by any ending, although there are certain suffixes that are frequently used to form verbs, such as ''-ate'' (''formulate''), ''-fy'' (''electrify''), and ''-ise/ize'' (''realise/realize''). Many verbs also contain [[prefix]]es, such ''un-'' (''unmask''), ''out-'' (''outlast''), ''over-'' (''overtake''), and ''under-'' (''undervalue''). Verbs can also be formed from nouns and adjectives by conversion, as with the verbs ''snare'', ''nose'', ''dry'', and ''calm''.
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*"'''Truly selfish''' ''genes'' do arise, in the sense that they reproduce themselves at a cost to the other genes in the genome."<sup>[]</sup>
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*"Luisa Rosado: a ''woman'' '''proud of being a midwife'''"<sup>[]</sup>
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An adjective phrase is predicative when it occurs in the predicate of a sentence (adjective phrase in boldface):<sup>[]</sup>
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Most verbs have three or four inflected forms: a third-person singular present tense form in ''-(e)s'' (''writes'', ''botches''), a [[present participle]] and [[gerund]] form in ''-ing'' (''writing''), a past tense (''wrote''), and&nbsp;– though often identical to the past tense form&nbsp;– a [[past participle]] (''written''). Regular verbs have identical past tense and past participle forms in ''-ed'', but there are 100 or so [[English irregular verbs|irregular English verbs]] with different forms (see [[List of English irregular verbs|list]]). The verbs ''have'', ''do'' and ''say'' also have irregular third-person present tense forms (''has'', ''does'' /dʌz/, ''says'' /sɛz/). The verb ''be'' has the largest number of irregular forms (''am, is, are'' in the present tense, ''was, were'' in the past tense, ''been'' for the past participle).
-
*"No, no, I didn't really think so," returned Dora; "but I am '''a little tired''', and it made me '''silly for a moment''' ..."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
*"She was ill at ease, and looked '''more than usually stern and forbidding''' as she entered the Hales' little drawing room."<sup>[]</sup>
+
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===Adverbs===
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Most of what are often referred to as verb [[grammatical tense|tenses]] (or sometimes [[Grammatical aspect|aspect]]s) in English are formed using [[auxiliary verb]]s. Apart from what are called the [[simple present (English)|simple present]] (''write'', ''writes'') and [[simple past (English)|simple past]] (''wrote''), there are also [[continuous aspect|continuous]] (progressive) forms (''am/is/are/was/were writing''), [[perfect aspect|perfect]] forms (''have/has/had written'', and the perfect continuous ''have/has/had been writing''), [[future tense|future]] forms (''will write'', ''will be writing'', ''will have written'', ''will have been writing''), and [[conditional tense|conditionals]] (also called "future in the past") with ''would'' in place of ''will''. The auxiliaries [[shall and will|''shall'' and ''should'']] sometimes replace ''will'' and ''would'' in the first person. For the uses of these various verb forms, see [[English verbs]] and [[English clause syntax]].
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Adverbs typically modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They perform a wide range of functions and are especially important for indicating "time, manner, place, degree, and frequency of an event, action, or process."<sup>[]</sup>  Adjectives and adverbs are often derived from the same word, the majority being formed by adding the "-ly" ending to the corresponding adjective form.<sup>[]</sup>  Recall the adjectives, "habitual", "pitiful", "impish", We can use them to form the adverbs:
+
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*"habitually": "... shining out of the New England reserve with which Holgrave '''habitually''' masked whatever lay near his heart."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
*"pitifully": "The lamb tottered along far behind, near exhaustion, bleating '''pitifully'''."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
*"impishly": "Well," and he grinned '''impishly''', "it was one doggone good party while it lasted!"<sup>[]</sup>
+
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Some suffixes that are commonly found in adverbs are "-ward(s)" and "-wise":<sup>[]</sup>
+
The [[infinitive]] is the basic form of the verb (''be, write, play''), although there is also a "to-infinitive" (''to be'', ''to write'', ''to play'') used in many syntactical constructions. There are also infinitives corresponding to other aspects: ''(to) have written'', ''(to) be writing'', ''(to) have been writing''. The second-person [[imperative mood|imperative]] is identical to the (basic) infinitive; other imperative forms may be made with ''let'' (''let us go'', or ''let's go''; ''let them eat cake'').
-
*"homeward":  "The plougman '''homeward''' plods his weary way."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
* "downward": "In tumbling turning, clustering loops, straight '''downward''' falling, ..."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
* "lengthwise": "2 to 3 medium carrots, peeled, halved '''lengthwise''', and cut into 1-inch pieces."<sup>[]</sup>
+
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Some adverbs have the same form as the adjectives:<sup>[]</sup>
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A form identical to the infinitive can be used as a present [[subjunctive]] in certain contexts: ''It is important that he '''follow''' them'' or ''...&nbsp;that he '''be''' committed to the cause''. There is also a past subjunctive (distinct from the simple past only in the possible use of ''were'' instead of ''was''), used in some conditional sentences and similar: ''if I were'' (or ''was'') ''rich&nbsp;...''; ''were he to arrive now&nbsp;...''; ''I wish she were'' (or ''was'') ''here''. For details see [[English subjunctive]].
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*"outside":
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**Adverb: "'You'd best begin, or you'll be sorry&mdash;it's raining '''outside'''."<sup>[]</sup>
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**Adjective: "It would be possible to winter the colonies in the barn if each colony is provided with a separate '''outside''' entrance; ..."<sup>[]</sup>
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*"straight"
+
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**Adverb: "Five cigars, very dry, smoked '''straight''' except where wrapper loosened, as it did in two cases."<sup>[]</sup>
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**Adjective: "Numbering among the ranks of the "young and evil" in this text are ... '''straight''' women who fall in love with gay men, ..."<sup>[]</sup>
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Some adverbs are not related to adjectives:<sup>[]</sup/>
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The [[passive voice]] is formed using the verb ''be'' (in the appropriate tense or form) with the past participle of the verb in question: ''cars are driven, he was killed, I am being tickled, it is nice to be pampered'', etc. The performer of the action may be introduced in a prepositional phrase with ''by'' (as in ''they were killed by the invaders'').
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*"quite": "Mr. Bingley was obliged to be in town the following day, and ... Mrs. Bennet was '''quite''' disconcerted."<sup>[]</sup>
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*"too": "... like a child that, having devoured its plumcake '''too''' hastily, sits sucking its fingers, ...."<sup>[]</sup>
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* "so": "... oh! ... would she heave one little sigh to see a bright young life '''so''' rudely blighted, ...?"<sup>[]</sup>
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Some adverbs inflect for comparative and superlative forms:<sup>[]</sup>
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The [[English modal verbs]] consist of the core modals ''can'', ''could'', ''may'', ''might'', ''must'', ''shall'', ''should'', ''will'', ''would'', as well as ''ought (to''), ''had better'', and in some uses ''dare'' and ''need''. These do not inflect for person or number, and do not have infinitive or participle forms (except synonyms, as with ''be/being/been able (to'') for the modals ''can/could''). The modals are used with the basic infinitive form of a verb (''I can swim, he may be killed'', ''we dare not move'', ''need they go?''), except for ''ought'', which takes ''to'' (''you ought to go'').
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* "soon"
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**"O error, '''soon''' conceived, Thou never comest unto a happy birth, ..."<sup>[]</sup>
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**"Nerissa: 'superfluity comes '''sooner''' by white hairs, but competency lives longer."<sup>[]</sup>
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**"'Least said, '''soonest''' mended!' "<sup>[]</sup>
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-
* "well"
+
-
**"Valrosa '''well''' deserved its name, for in that climate of perpetual summer roses blossomed everywhere."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
**"'I'm afraid your appearance in the Phycological Quarterly was '''better''' deserved,' said Mrs. Arkwright, without removing her eyes from the microscope ..."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
**"Who among the typical Victorians '''best''' deserved his hate?"<sup>[]</sup>
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====Adverb placement====
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The [[copula (linguistics)|copula]] ''be'', along with the modal verbs and the other [[English auxiliary verbs|auxiliaries]], form a distinct class, sometimes called "[[special verbs]]" or simply "auxiliaries". These have different syntax from ordinary [[lexical verb]]s, especially in that they make their [[interrogative]] forms by plain [[subject–auxiliary inversion|inversion]] with the subject, and their [[negation|negative]] forms by adding ''not'' after the verb (''could I&nbsp;...? I could not&nbsp;...''). Apart from those already mentioned, this class may also include ''used to'' (although the forms ''did he use to?'' and ''he didn't use to'' are also found), and sometimes ''have'' even when not an auxiliary (forms like ''have you a sister?'' and ''he hadn't a clue'' are possible, though becoming less common). It also includes the auxiliary ''do'' (''does'', ''did''); this is used with the basic infinitive of other verbs (those not belonging to the "special verbs" class) to make their question and negation forms, as well as emphatic forms (''do I like you?''; ''he doesn't speak English''; ''we did close the fridge''). For more details of this, see [[do-support|''do''-support]].
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Adverbs are most usually placed at the end of a phrase. Time adverbs (''yesterday, soon, habitually'') are the most flexible exception. "Connecting Adverbs", such as ''next, then, however'', may also be placed at the beginning of a clause. Other exceptions include "focusing adverbs", which can occupy a middle position for emphasis. "<sup>[]</sup>
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===Adverb phrases===
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Some forms of the copula and auxiliaries often appear as [[contraction (grammar)|contraction]]s, as in ''I'm'' for ''I am'', ''you'd'' for ''you would'' or ''you had'', and ''John's'' for ''John is''. Their negated forms with following ''not'' are also often contracted). For detail see [[English auxiliaries and contractions]].
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;Forms
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An adverb phrase is a phrase that collectively acts as an adverb within a sentence; in other words, it modifies a verb (or verb phrase), an adjective (or adjective phrase), or another adverb.<sup>[]</sup>  The head of an adverb phrase (roman boldface), which is an adverb, may be modified by another adverb (italics boldface) or followed by a complement (italics boldface):<sup>[]</sup>
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*"Yet '''''all too'' suddenly''' Rosy popped back into the conversation, ...."<sup>[]</sup>
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*"'''Oddly ''enough''''', that very shudder did the business."<sup>[]</sup>
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* "The Stoics said, '''''perhaps'' shockingly ''for us''''', that a father ceases to be a father when his child dies."<sup>[]</sup>
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An adverb phrase can be part of the complement of the verb "be."  It then usually indicates location (adverbe phrase in boldface; form of "be" in italics):<sup>[]</sup>
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====Verb phrases====
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* "'... it ''is'' '''underneath''' the pink slip that I wore on Wednesday with my Mechlin.'"<sup>[]</sup>
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A verb together with its dependents, excluding its [[subject (grammar)|subject]], may be identified as a [[verb phrase]] (although this concept is not acknowledged in all theories of grammar). A verb phrase headed by a [[finite verb]] may also be called a [[predicate (grammar)|predicate]]. The dependents may be [[object (grammar)|object]]s, complements, and modifiers (adverbs or adverbial phrases). In English, objects and complements nearly always come after the verb; a [[direct object]] precedes other complements such as prepositional phrases, but if there is an [[indirect object]] as well, expressed without a preposition, then that precedes the direct object: ''give me the book'', but ''give the book to me''. Adverbial modifiers generally follow objects, although other positions are possible. Certain verb–modifier combinations, particularly when they have independent meaning (such as ''take on'' and ''get up''), are known as "[[phrasal verb]]s".
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* "... '''north-by-northeast''' ''was'' Rich Mountain, ..."<sup>[]</sup>
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Adverb phrases are frequently modifiers of verbs:<sup>[]</sup>
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For details of possible patterns, see [[English clause syntax]]. See the [[English clause syntax#Non-finite clauses|Non-finite clauses]] section of that article for verb phrases headed by non-finite verb forms, such as infinitives and participles.
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* "They plow through a heavy fog, and Enrique ''sleeps'' '''soundly'''&mdash;'''too soundly'''."<sup>[]</sup>
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* "'''Sleepily, very sleepily''', you ''stagger'' to your feet and collapse into the nearest chair."<sup>[]</sup>
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Adverb phrases are also frequently modifiers of adjectives and other adverbs (modifier in boldface; modified in italics):<sup>[]</sup>
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===Adjectives===
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* (adjectives) "Then to the swish of waters as the sailors sluice the decks all around and under you, you fall into a '''really''' ''deep'' sleep."<sup>[]</sup>
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English [[adjective]]s, as with other word classes, cannot in general be identified as such by their form, although many of them are formed from nouns or other words by the addition of a suffix, such as ''-al'' (''habitual''), ''-ful'' (''blissful''), ''-ic'' (''atomic''), ''-ish'' (''impish'', ''youngish''), ''-ous'' (''hazardous''), etc.; or from other adjectives using a prefix: ''disloyal'', ''irredeemable'', ''unforeseen'', ''overtired''.
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* (adverbs) "'My grandma's kinda deaf and she sleeps like '''really''' ''heavily''."<sup>[]</sup>
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 +
Adjectives may be used [[attributive adjective|attributively]], as part of a noun phrase (nearly always preceding the noun they modify; for exceptions see [[postpositive adjective]]), as in ''the big house'', or [[predicate adjective|predicatively]], as in ''the house is big''. Certain adjectives are restricted to one or other use; for example, ''drunken'' is attributive (''a drunken sailor''), while ''drunk'' is usually predicative (''the sailor was drunk'').
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====Comparison====
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Many adjectives have [[comparative]] and [[superlative]] forms in ''-er'' and ''-est'', such as ''faster'' and ''fastest'' (from the positive form ''fast''). Spelling rules which maintain pronunciation apply to suffixing adjectives just as they do for similar treatment of [[English verbs#Past tense|regular past tense formation]]; these cover consonant doubling (as in ''bigger'' and ''biggest'', from ''big'') and the change of ''y'' to ''i'' after consonants (as in ''happier'' and ''happiest'', from ''happy'').
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The adjectives ''good'' and ''bad'' have the irregular forms ''better, best'' and ''worse, worst''; also ''far'' becomes ''farther, farthest'' or ''further, furthest''. The adjective ''old'' (for which the regular ''older'' and ''oldest'' are usual) also has the irregular forms ''elder'' and ''eldest'', these generally being restricted to use in comparing [[sibling]]s and in certain independent uses. For the comparison of adverbs, see [[#Adverbs|Adverbs]] below.
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Many adjectives, however, particularly those that are longer and less common, do not have inflected comparative and superlative forms. Instead, they can be qualified with ''more'' and ''most'', as in ''beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful'' (this construction is also sometimes used even for adjectives for which inflected forms do exist).
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Certain adjectives are classed as [[ungradable adjective|ungradable]]. These represent properties that cannot be compared on a scale; they simply apply or do not, as with ''pregnant'', ''dead'', ''unique''. Consequently, comparative and superlative forms of such adjectives are not normally used, except in a figurative, humorous or imprecise context. Similarly, such adjectives are not normally qualified with modifiers of degree such as ''very'' and ''fairly'', although with some of them it is idiomatic to use adverbs such as ''completely''. Another type of adjectives sometimes considered ungradable is those that represent an extreme degree of some property, such as ''delicious'' and ''terrified''.
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====Adjective phrases====
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An [[adjective phrase]] is a group of words that plays the role of an adjective in a sentence. It usually has a single adjective as its [[head (linguistics)|head]], to which [[modifier (linguistics)|modifier]]s and [[complement (linguistics)|complement]]s may be added.
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Adjectives can be modified by a preceding adverb or adverb phrase, as in ''very warm'', ''truly imposing'', ''more than a little excited''. Some can also be preceded by a noun or quantitative phrase, as in ''fat-free'', ''two-metre-long''.
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Complements following the adjective may include:
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* [[prepositional phrase]]s: ''proud of him'', ''angry at the screen'', ''keen on breeding toads'';
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* [[infinitive]] phrases: ''anxious to solve the problem'', ''easy to pick up'';
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* [[content clause]]s, i.e. ''that'' clauses and certain others: ''certain that he was right'', ''unsure where they are'';
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* after comparatives, phrases or clauses with ''than'': ''better than you'', ''smaller than I had imagined''.
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An adjective phrase may include both modifiers before the adjective and a complement after it, as in ''very difficult to put away''.
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Adjective phrases containing complements after the adjective cannot normally be used as attributive adjectives ''before'' a noun. Sometimes they are used [[postpositive adjective|attributively after the noun]], as in ''a woman proud of being a midwife'' (where they may be converted into relative clauses: ''a woman who is proud of being a midwife''), but it is wrong to say *''a proud of being a midwife woman''. Exceptions include very brief and often established phrases such as ''easy-to-use''. (Certain complements can be moved to after the noun, leaving the adjective before the noun, as in ''a better man than you'', ''a hard nut to crack''.)
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Certain attributive adjective phrases are formed from other parts of speech, without any adjective as their head, as in ''a two-bedroom house'', ''a no-jeans policy''.
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===Adverbs===
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[[Adverb]]s perform a wide range of functions. They typically modify verbs (or verb phrases), adjectives (or adjectival phrases), or other adverbs (or adverbial phrases). However, adverbs also sometimes qualify noun phrases ('''''only''' the boss''; '''''quite''' a lovely place''), pronouns and determiners ('''''almost''' all''), prepositional phrases ('''''halfway''' through the movie''), or whole sentences, to provide contextual comment or indicate an attitude ('''''Frankly''', I don't believe you''). They can also indicate a relationship between clauses or sentences (''He died, and '''consequently''' I inherited the estate'').
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Many English adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding the ending ''-ly'', as in ''hopefully'', ''widely'', ''theoretically'' (for details of spelling and etymology, see ''[[-ly]]''). Certain words can be used as both adjectives and adverbs, such as ''fast'', ''straight'', and ''hard''. The adverb corresponding to the adjective ''good'' is ''well'' (note that ''bad'' forms the regular ''badly'', although ''ill'' is occasionally used in some phrases).
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There are also many adverbs that are not derived from adjectives, including adverbs of time, of frequency, of place,  of degree and with other meanings. Some suffixes that are commonly used to form adverbs from nouns are ''-ward[s]'' (as in ''homeward[s]'') and ''-wise'' (as in ''lengthwise'').
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Most adverbs form comparatives and superlatives by modification with ''more'' and ''most'': ''often'', ''more often'', ''most often''; ''smoothly'', ''more smoothly'', ''most smoothly'' (see also [[#Comparison|comparison of adjectives]], above). However, a few adverbs retain irregular inflection for [[comparative]] and [[superlative]] forms: ''much'', ''more'', ''most''; ''a little'', ''less'', ''least''; ''well'', ''better'', ''best''; ''badly'', ''worse'', ''worst''; ''far'', ''further'' (''farther''), ''furthest'' (''farthest''); or follow the regular adjectival inflection: ''fast'', ''faster'', ''fastest''; ''soon'', ''sooner'', ''soonest''; etc.
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Adverbs indicating the manner of an action are generally placed after the verb and its objects (''We considered the proposal '''carefully'''''), although other positions are often possible (''We '''carefully''' considered the proposal''). Many adverbs of frequency, degree, certainty, etc. (such as ''often'', ''always'', ''almost'', ''probably'', and various others such as ''just'') tend to be placed before the verb (''they '''usually''' have chips''), although if there is an auxiliary or other "special verb", then the normal position for such adverbs is after that special verb (or after the first of them, if there is more than one): ''I have '''just''' finished the crossword''; ''She can '''usually''' manage a pint''; ''We are '''never''' late''; ''You might '''possibly''' have been unconscious''. Adverbs that provide a connection with previous information (such as ''next'', ''then'', ''however''), and those that provide the context (such as time or place) for a sentence, are typically placed at the start of the sentence: '''''Yesterday''' we went on a shopping expedition.''
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Adverb phrases can also be modifiers of noun phrases (or pronoun phrases) and prepositional phrases (adverb phrases in boldface; modified phrases in italics):<sup>[]</sup>
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A special type of adverb is the adverbial particle used to form [[phrasal verb]]s (such as ''up'' in ''pick up'', ''on'' in ''get on'', etc.) If such a verb also has an object, then the particle may precede or follow the object, although it will normally follow the object if the object is a pronoun (''pick the pen up'' or ''pick up the pen'', but ''pick it up'').
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* (noun phrase): "She stayed out in the middle of the wild sea, and told them that was '''quite''' ''the loveliest place'', you could see for many miles all round you, ...."<sup>[]</sup>
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* (pronoun phrase): "... the typical structure of glioma is that of spherical and cylindrical lobules, '''almost''' ''each and everyone of which'' has a centrally located blood vessel."<sup>[]</sup>
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*(prepositional phrase): "'''About halfway''' ''through the movie'', I decided to ..."<sup>[]</sup>
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Adverb phrases also modify determiners (modifier in boldface; modified in italics):<sup>[]</sup>
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====Adverb phrases====
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* "The devil knows best what he said, but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing him '''nearly''' ''every'' evening."<sup>[]</sup>
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An [[adverb phrase]] is a phrase that acts as an adverb within a sentence. An adverb phrase may have an adverb as its [[head (linguistics)|head]], together with any modifiers (other adverbs or adverb phrases) and complements, analogously to the [[#Adjective phrases|adjective phrases]] described above. For example: ''very sleepily''; ''all too suddenly''; ''oddly enough''; ''perhaps shockingly for us''.
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* "'''Nearly if not quite''' ''all'' civilized peoples and ourselves '''above almost''' ''all'' others, are heavily burdened with the interest upon their public debt."<sup>[]</sup>
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;Functions
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According to Carter and McCarthy, "As well as giving information on the time, place, manner and degree of an action, event, or process, adverb phrases can also have a commenting function, indicating the attitude and point of view of the speaker or writer towards a whole sentence or utterance."<sup>[]</sup>  Examples:
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* "'''Frankly''', my dear, I don't give a damn."<sup>[]</sup>
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* "'''Astonishingly''', she'd shelled every nut, leaving me only the inner skin to remove."<sup>[]</sup>
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Adverb phrases also indicate the relation between two clauses in a sentence.<sup>[]</sup>  Such adverbs are usually called "linking adverbs."  Example:
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Another very common type of adverb phrase is the [[prepositional phrase]], which consists of a preposition and its object: ''in the pool''; ''after two years''; ''for the sake of harmony''.
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* "... they concluded from the similarities of their bodies, that mine must contain at least 1724 of theirs, and '''consequently''' would require as much food as was necessary to support that number of Lilliputians."<sup>[]</sup>
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===Prepositions===
===Prepositions===
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Prepositions relate two events in time or two people or things in space.<sup>[]</sup>  They also represent abstract relations between two entities:<sup>[]</sup>  Examples:
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[[Preposition]]s form a closed word class, although there are also certain phrases that serve as prepositions, such as ''in front of''. A single preposition may have a variety of meanings, often including temporal, spatial and abstract. Many words that are prepositions can also serve as adverbs. Examples of common English prepositions (including phrasal instances) are ''of'', ''in'', ''on'', ''over'', ''under'', ''to'', ''from'', ''with'', ''in front of'', ''behind'', ''opposite'', ''by'', ''before'', ''after'', ''during'', ''through'', ''in spite of'' or ''despite'', ''between'', ''among'', etc.
-
# ("after":) "We came home from Mr. Boythorn's '''after''' six pleasant weeks."<sup>[]</sup>
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#("after":) "The body of a little wizened Gond lay with its feet in the ashes, and Bagheera looked inquiringly at Mowgli.  "That was done with a bamboo,"  said the boy, '''after''' one glance.<sup>[]</sup>
+
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#("to":) "I must go down '''to''' the seas again, '''to''' the vagrant gypsy life, ..."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
#("between" and "through":) "'''Between''' two golden tufts of summer grass, I see the world '''through''' hot air '''as through''' glass, ..."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
#("during":) "'''During''' these years at Florence, Leonardo's history is the history of his art; he himself is lost in the bright cloud of it."<sup>[]</sup>
+
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#("of":) "When to the sessions '''of''' sweet silent thought I summon up remembrances of things past."<sup>[]</sup>
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Prepositions are accompanied by prepositional complements;<sup>[]</sup> these are usually noun phrases.<sup>[]</sup>  In the above examples, the prepositional
+
A preposition is usually used with a noun phrase as its [[complement (grammar)|complement]]. A preposition together with its complement is called a [[prepositional phrase]]. Examples are ''in England'', ''under the table'', ''after six pleasant weeks'', ''between the land and the sea''. A prepositional phrase can be used as a complement or post-modifier of a noun in a noun phrase, as in ''the man in the car'', ''the start of the fight''; as a complement of a verb or adjective, as in ''deal with the problem'', ''proud of oneself''; or generally as an adverb phrase (see above).
-
complements are:
+
-
#preposition: "after"; prepositional complement: "six pleasant weeks"
+
-
#preposition:  "after"; prepositional complement: "one glance"
+
-
#preposition:  "to"; prepositional complement: "the seas"; preposition:  "to"; prepositional complement: "the vagrant gypsy life";
+
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#preposition:  "Between"; prepositional complement: "two golden tufts  of summer grass,"; preposition:  "through"; prepositional complement: "hot air";  preposition:  "as through"; prepositional complement: "glass."
+
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#preposition:  "during"; prepositional complement: "these years at Florence."
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#preposition:  "of"; prepositional complement: "sweet silent thought"; preposition: "of"; prepositional complement: "things past."
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===Prepositional phrases===
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English allows the use of [[Preposition stranding|"stranded" prepositions]]. This can occur in interrogative and [[English relative clauses|relative clauses]], where the interrogative or relative pronoun that is the preposition's complement is moved to the start ([[wh-fronting|fronted]]), leaving the preposition in place. This kind of structure is avoided in some kinds of formal English. For example:
-
A prepositional phrase is formed when a preposition combines with its complement.<sup>[]</sup>  In the above examples, the prepositional phrases are:
+
*''What are you talking about?'' (Possible alternative version: ''About what are you talking?'')
 +
*''The song that you were listening to&nbsp;...'' (more formal: ''The song to which you were listening&nbsp;...'')
 +
Notice that in the second example the relative pronoun ''that'' could be omitted.
-
#prepositional phrase: "after six pleasant weeks"
+
Stranded prepositions can also arise in [[English passive voice|passive voice]] constructions and other uses of passive [[past participle|past participial phrases]], where the complement in a prepositional phrase can become [[zero (linguistics)|zero]] in the same way that a verb's direct object would: ''it was looked at''; ''I will be operated on''; ''get your teeth seen to''. The same can happen in certain uses of [[infinitive]] phrases: ''he is nice to talk to''; ''this is the page to make copies of''.
-
#prepositional phrase:  "after one glance"
+
-
#prepositional phrases:  "to the seas" and "to the vagrant gypsy life"
+
-
#prepositional phrases:  "Between two golden tufts of summer grass,"  "through hot air" and "as through glass."
+
-
#prepositional phrase: "During these years at Florence."
+
-
#prepositional phrases "of sweet silent thought" and "of things past."
+
-
#prepositional phrases:The one Tani Love Vikey and daniel love marryjane"
+
===Conjunctions===
===Conjunctions===
-
According to Carter and McCarthy, "Conjunctions express a variety of logical relations between phrases, clauses and sentences."<sup>[]</sup>  There are two kinds of conjunctions: coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions.<sup>[]</sup>
+
[[Conjunction (grammar)|Conjunction]]s express a variety of logical relations between items, phrases, clauses and sentences. The principal [[coordinating conjunction]]s in English are ''and'', ''or'', and ''but'', as well as ''nor'', ''so'', ''yet'' and ''for''. These can be used in many grammatical contexts to link two or more items of equal grammatical status, for example:
 +
*Noun phrases combined into a longer noun phrase, such as ''John, Eric, and Jill'', ''the red coat or the blue one''. When ''and'' is used, the resulting noun phrase is plural. A determiner does not need to be repeated with the individual elements: ''the cat, the dog, and the mouse'' and ''the cat, dog, and mouse'' are both correct. The same applies to other modifiers. (The word ''but'' can be used here in the sense of "except": ''nobody but you''.)
 +
*Adjective or adverb phrases combined into a longer adjective or adverb phrase: ''tired but happy'', ''over the fields and far away''.
 +
*Verbs or verb phrases combined as in ''he washed, peeled, and diced the turnips'' (verbs conjoined, object shared); ''he washed the turnips, peeled them, and diced them'' (full verb phrases, including objects, conjoined).
 +
*Other equivalent items linked, such as prefixes linked in ''pre- and post-test counselling'', numerals as in ''two or three buildings'', etc.
 +
*Clauses or sentences linked, as in ''We came, '''but''' they wouldn't let us in. They wouldn't let us in, '''nor''' would they explain what we had done wrong.''
-
;Coordinating
+
There are also [[correlative conjunction]]s, where as well as the basic conjunction, an additional element appears before the first of the items being linked.<ref name=carter-mccarthy-p315/> The common correlatives in English are:
 +
* ''either&nbsp;...&nbsp;or'' (''either a man or a woman'');
 +
* ''neither&nbsp;...&nbsp;nor'' (''neither clever nor funny'');
 +
* ''both&nbsp;...&nbsp;and'' (''they both punished and rewarded them'');
 +
* ''not&nbsp;...&nbsp;but'', particularly in ''not only&nbsp;...&nbsp;but also'' (''not exhausted but exhilarated'', ''not only football but also many other sports'').
-
Coordinating conjunctions link "elements of equal grammatical status."<sup>[]</sup>  The elements in questions may vary from a prefix to an entire sentence.<sup>[]</sup>  Examples:
+
[[Subordinating conjunction]]s make relations between clauses, making the clause in which they appear into a [[subordinate clause]]. Some common subordinating conjunctions in English are:
-
*(prefixes): "The doctor must provide facilities for ''pre-'' '''and''' ''post'' test counselling and have his own strict procedures for the storing of that confidential information."<sup>[]</sup>
+
*conjunctions of time, including ''after'', ''before'', ''since'', ''until'', ''when'', ''while'';
-
* (words): "'No, I'll never love ''anybody'' '''but''' ''you'', Tom, and I'll never marry anybody but you--and you ain't to ever marry ''anybody'' '''but''' ''me'', either."<sup>[]</sup>
+
*conjunctions of cause and effect, including ''because'', ''since'', ''now that'', ''as'', ''in order that'', ''so'';
-
* (phrases):  "Can ''storied urn'' '''or''' ''animated'' bust back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?"<sup>[]</sup>
+
*conjunctions of opposition or concession, such as ''although'', ''though'', ''even though'', ''whereas'', ''while'';
-
* (subordinate clauses): "''Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life'', '''or''' ''whether that station will be held by anybody else'', these pages must show.<sup>[]</sup>
+
*conjunctions of condition: such as ''if'', ''unless'', ''only if'', ''whether or not'', ''even if'', ''in case (that)'';
-
*(independent clauses): "Well, ''I think you're here, plain enough'', '''but''' ''I think you're a tangle-headed old fool'', Jim."<sup>[]</sup>
+
*the conjunction ''that'', which produces [[content clause]]s, as well as words that produce interrogative content clauses: ''whether'', ''where'', ''when'', ''how'', etc.
-
*(sentences): "He said we were neither of us much to look at and we were as sour as we looked.  '''But''' I don't feel as sour as I used to before I knew robin and Dickon."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
A ''correlative conjunction'' is a pair of constituent elements, each of which is  associated with the grammatical unit to be coordinated.<sup>[]</sup>  The common correlatives in English are:
+
A subordinating conjunction generally comes at the very start of its clause, although many of them can be preceded by qualifying adverbs, as in ''probably because&nbsp;...'', ''especially if&nbsp;...''. The conjunction ''that'' can be omitted after certain verbs, as in ''she told us (that) she was ready''.  
-
* "either ... or":
+
-
**"The clergyman stayed to exchange a few sentences, '''either''' ''of admonition'' '''or''' ''reproof'', with his haughty parishioner ...."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
**"...; for I could not divest myself of a misgiving that something might happen to London in the meanwhile, and that, when I got there, it would be '''either''' ''greatly deteriorated'' '''or''' ''clean gone''."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
* "neither ... nor":
+
-
**"Buck made no effort.  He lay quietly where he had fallen.  The lash bit into him again and again, but he '''neither''' ''whined'' '''nor''' ''struggled''."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
** "For I have '''neither''' ''wit'', '''nor''' ''words'', '''nor''' ''worth, action'', '''nor''' ''utterance'', '''nor''' ''the power of speech, to stir men's blood'': I only speak right on; ..."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
* "both ... and"
+
-
**"There was no mistaking her sincerity&mdash;it breathed in every tone of her voice. '''Both''' ''Marilla'' '''and''' ''Mrs. Lynde'' recognized its unmistakable ring."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
**"There messages have '''both''' ''ethical'' '''and''' ''pragmatic'' overtones, urging women to recognize that even if they do suffer from physical and social disadvantages, their lives are far from being determined by their biology."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
* "Not only ... but also"
+
-
**"The director of ''A Doll's House'', the brilliant Zhang Min, ..., was impressed with Lin '''not only''' ''professionally'' '''but also''' ''personally''."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
**"... she attempted to persuade her husband to give up his affair.  '''Not only''' ''did he refuse'', '''but''' ''he'' '''also''' ''told her he loved them both'' ...."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
;Subordinating conjunctions
+
==Negation==
 +
As noted above under Verbs, a finite indicative verb (or its clause) is [[negation (linguistics)|negated]] by placing the word ''not'' after an auxiliary, modal or other "[[special verb|special]]" verb such as ''do'', ''can'' or ''be''. For example, the clause ''I go'' is negated with the appearance of the auxiliary ''do'', as ''I do not go'' (see [[do-support|''do''-support]]). When the '''affirmative''' already uses auxiliary verbs (''I am going''), no other auxiliary ''verbs'' are added to negate the clause (''I am not going''). (Until the period of early Modern English, negation was effected without additional auxiliary verbs: ''I go not.'')
-
Subordinating conjunction relate only clauses to one another. They make the clause associated with them into a subordinate clause.<sup>[]</sup>  Some common subordinating conjunctions in English are: (of time) after, before, since, until, when, while; (cause and effect): because, since, now that, as, in order that, so; (opposition): although, though, even though, whereas, while; (condition): if, unless, only if, whether or not, whether or no, even if, in case (that), and so forth.<sup>[]</sup> Examples:
+
Most combinations of auxiliary verbs etc. with ''not'' have [[contraction (grammar)|contracted forms]]: ''don't'', ''can't'', ''isn't'', etc. (Also the uncontracted negated form of ''can'' is written as a single word ''cannot''.) On inversion of subject and verb (such as in questions; see below), the subject may be placed after a contracted negated form: ''Should he not pay?'' or ''Shouldn't he pay?''
-
* (time: "before"):  "Perhaps Homo erectus had already died out '''before''' ''Homo sapiens arrived''.<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
*(cause and effect: "in order that"): "'''In order that''' ''feelings, representations, ideas and the like should attain a certain degree of memorability'', it is important that they should not remain isolated ..."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
* (opposition: "although"): "Ultimately there were seven more sessions, in which, '''although''' ''she remained talkative'', she increasingly clearly conveyed a sense that she did not wish to come any more."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
*(condition: "even if"): "'''Even if''' ''Sethe could deal with the return of the spirit'', Stamp didn't believe her daughter could."<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
==Sentence and clause patterns==
+
Other elements, such as noun phrases, adjectives, adverbs, infinitive and participial phrases, etc., can be negated by placing the word ''not'' before them: ''not the right answer'', ''not interesting'', ''not to enter'', ''not noticing the train'', etc.
-
Identified in English by a capitalized initial letter in its first word and by a period (or full stop) at the end of its last word, the sentence is the largest constituent of grammar.<sup>[]</sup>  A text that contains more than one sentence is no longer in the realm of grammar, but rather of discourse, as are all conversations, howsoever brief.<sup>[]</sup>  Sentences themselves consist of clauses which are the principal constituents of grammar.  A clause consists of a subject, which is usually a noun phrase, and a predicate which is usually a verb phrase with an accompanying grammatical unit in the form of an object or complement.<sup>[]</sup>
+
-
===Verb complementation===
+
When other negating words such as ''never'', ''nobody'', etc. appear in a sentence, the negating ''not'' is omitted (unlike its equivalents in many languages): ''I saw nothing'' or ''I didn't see anything'', but not (except in non-standard speech) *''I didn't see nothing'' (see [[Double negative]]). Such negating words generally have corresponding [[negative polarity item]]s (''ever'' for ''never'', ''anybody'' for ''nobody'', etc.) which can appear in a negative context, but are not negative themselves (and can thus be used after a negation without giving rise to double negatives).
-
===Clause types===
+
==Clause and sentence structure==
 +
''See Also [[English clause syntax]]''
-
===Clause combination===
+
A typical [[sentence (linguistics)|sentence]] contains one [[independent clause]] and possibly one or more [[dependent clauses]], although it is also possible to link together sentences of this form into longer sentences, using coordinating conjunctions (see above).
-
===Adjuncts===
+
A clause typically contains a [[subject (grammar)|subject]] (a noun phrase) and a [[predicate (grammar)|predicate]] (a verb phrase in the terminology used above; that is, a verb together with its objects and complements). A dependent clause also normally contains a subordinating conjunction (or in the case of relative clauses, a relative pronoun or phrase containing one). English syntax is essentially of SVO ([[subject–verb–object]]) type; the verb precedes its object in the verb phrase, and the subject of the clause precedes the verb.
-
==History of English grammar writing==
+
===Questions===
 +
Like many other Western European languages, English historically allowed [[question]]s to be formed by [[inversion (grammar)|inverting]] the positions of verb and [[subject (grammar)|subject]]. Modern English permits this only in the case of a small class of verbs ("[[special verb]]s"), consisting of auxiliaries as well as forms of the [[copula (linguistics)|copula]] ''be'' (see [[subject–auxiliary inversion]]). To form a question from a sentence which does not have such an auxiliary or copula present, the auxiliary verb ''do'' (''does'', ''did'') needs to be inserted, along with inversion of the word order, to form a question (see [[do-support|''do''-support]]). For example:
 +
* She can dance. → Can she dance? (inversion of subject ''she'' and auxiliary ''can'')
 +
* I am sitting here. → Am I sitting here? (inversion of subject ''I'' and copula ''am'')
 +
* The milk goes in the fridge. → Does the milk go in the fridge? (no special verb present; ''do''-support required)
 +
The above concerns [[yes-no question]]s, but inversion also takes place in the same way after other questions, formed with [[interrogative word]]s such as ''where'', ''what'', ''how'', etc. An exception applies when the interrogative word is the subject or part of the subject, in which case there is no inversion. For example:
 +
* I go. → Where do I go? (''wh''-question formed using inversion, with ''do''-support required in this case)
 +
* He goes. → Who goes? (no inversion, because the question word ''who'' is the subject)
 +
 +
Note that inversion does not apply in [[indirect question]]s: ''I wonder where he is'' (not *''... where is he''). Indirect yes-no questions can be expressed using ''if'' or ''whether'' as the interrogative word: ''Ask them whether/if they saw him.''
 +
 +
[[Negative (grammar)|Negative]] questions are formed similarly; however if the verb undergoing inversion has a [[English contractions|contraction]] with ''not'', then it is possible to invert the subject with this contraction as a whole. For example:
 +
* John is going. (affirmative)
 +
* John is not going. / John isn't going. (negative, with and without contraction)
 +
* Isn't John going? / Is John not going? (negative question, with and without contraction respectively)
 +
 +
===Dependent clauses===
 +
The syntax of a dependent clause is generally the same as that of an independent clause, except that the dependent clause usually begins with a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun (or phrase containing such). In some situations (as already described) the conjunction or relative pronoun ''that'' can be omitted. Another type of dependent clause with no subordinating conjunction is the conditional clause formed by inversion (see below).
 +
 +
===Other uses of inversion===
 +
The clause structure with inverted subject and verb, used to form questions as described above, is also used in certain types of declarative sentence. This occurs mainly when the sentence begins with an adverbial or other phrase that is essentially negative or contains words such as ''only'', ''hardly'', etc.: ''Never have I known someone so stupid; Only in France can such food be tasted''.
 +
 +
In elliptical sentences (see below), inversion takes place after ''so'' (meaning "also") as well as after the negative ''neither'': ''so do I, neither does she''.
 +
 +
Inversion can also be used to form conditional clauses, beginning with ''should'', ''were'' (subjunctive), or ''had'', in the following ways:
 +
*''should I win the race'' (equivalent to ''if I win the race'');
 +
*''were he a soldier'' (equivalent to ''if he were a soldier'');
 +
*''were he to win the race'' (equivalent to ''if he were to win the race'', i.e. ''if he won the race'');
 +
*''had he won the race'' (equivalent to ''if he had won the race'').
 +
Other similar forms sometimes appear, but are less common. There is also a construction with subjunctive ''be'', as in ''be he alive or dead'' (meaning "no matter whether he is alive or dead").
 +
 +
Use of inversion to express a third-person imperative is now mostly confined to the expression ''long live X'', meaning "let X live long".
 +
 +
===Imperatives===
 +
In an [[imperative mood|imperative]] sentence (one giving an order), there is usually no subject in the independent clause: ''Go away until I call you.'' It is possible, however, to include ''you'' as the subject for emphasis: ''You stay away from me.''
 +
 +
===Elliptical constructions===
 +
Many types of elliptical construction are possible in English, resulting in sentences that omit certain redundant elements. Various examples are given in the article on [[Ellipsis (linguistics)|Ellipsis]].
 +
 +
Some notable elliptical forms found in English include:
 +
*Short statements of the form ''I can'', ''he isn't'', ''we mustn't''. Here the verb phrase (understood from the context) is reduced to a single auxiliary or other "special" verb, negated if appropriate. If there is no special verb in the original verb phrase, it is replaced by ''do/does/did'': ''he does'', ''they didn't''.
 +
*Clauses that omit the verb, in particular those like ''me too'', ''nor me'', ''me neither''. The latter forms are used after negative statements. (Equivalents including the verb: ''I do too'' or ''so do I''; ''I don't either'' or ''neither do I''.)
 +
*[[Tag question]]s, formed with a special verb and pronoun subject: ''isn't it?''; ''were there?''; ''am I not?''
 +
 +
==History of English grammars==
''See Also [[History of English grammars]]''
''See Also [[History of English grammars]]''
-
The first '''English grammar''', Pamphlet for Grammar by William Bullokar, written with the ostensible goal of demonstrating that English was just as rule-bound as Latin, was published in 1586. Bullokar’s grammar was faithfully modeled on William Lily’s Latin grammar, Rudimenta Grammatices (1534), which was being used in schools in England at that time, having been “prescribed” for them in 1542 by Henry VIII. Although Bullokar wrote his grammar in English and used a “reformed spelling system” of his own invention, many English grammars, for much of the century after Bullokar’s effort, were written in Latin, especially by authors who were aiming to be scholarly. John Wallis’s Grammatica Linguæ Anglicanæ (1685) was the last English grammar written in Latin.
+
The first published English grammar was a ''Pamphlet for Grammar'' of 1586, written by [[William Bullokar]] with the stated goal of demonstrating that English was just as rule-based as Latin. Bullokar's grammar was faithfully modeled on [[William Lily (grammarian)|William Lily's]] Latin grammar, ''Rudimenta Grammatices'' (1534), used in English schools at that time, having been "prescribed" for them in 1542 by [[Henry VIII of England|Henry&nbsp;VIII]]. Bullokar wrote his grammar in English and used a "reformed spelling system" of his own invention; but many English grammars, for much of the century after Bullokar's effort, were written in Latin, especially by authors who were aiming to be scholarly. [[John Wallis]]'s ''Grammatica Linguae Anglicanae'' (1685) was the last English grammar written in Latin.
-
Even as late as the early 19th century, Lindley Murray, the author of one of the most widely used grammars of the day, was having to cite “grammatical authorities” to bolster the claim that grammatical cases in English are different from those in Ancient Greek or Latin.
+
Even as late as the early 19th century, [[Lindley Murray]], the author of one of the most widely used grammars of the day, was having to cite "grammatical authorities" to bolster the claim that grammatical cases in English are different from those in Ancient Greek or Latin.
-
== See also ==
+
==See also==
-
* [[Apokoinu construction]]
+
* [[English Portal]]
-
* [[Capitalization]]
+
-
* [[Conditional sentence]]
+
* [[Disputes in English grammar]]
* [[Disputes in English grammar]]
-
* [[Do-support|''Do''-support]]
 
-
* [[English noun phrase]]
 
* [[English prefixes]]
* [[English prefixes]]
-
* [[English verbs]]
 
* [[Grammar checker]]
* [[Grammar checker]]
-
* ''[[Grammar Ray: A Graphic Guide to Grammar]]'' (series of six books)
+
* [[Split infinitive]]
-
* [[nominal group (language)|Nominal group]]
+
-
* [[Thematic equative]]
+
-
* [[French grammar]]
+
-
* [[Spanish grammar]]
+
-
* [[German grammar]]
+
-
== Notes and references ==
+
==Notes and references==
-
== Bibliography ==
+
==Bibliography==
-
=== Grammar books ===
+
-
* Curme, George O., College English Grammar, Richmond, VA, 1925, Johnson Publishing company, 414 pages . A revised edition ''Principles and Practice of English Grammar'' was published by Barnes & Noble, in 1947.
+
-
* Huddleston, Rodney D. (1984) ''Introduction to the grammar of English''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
+
-
* Huddleston, Rodney D. (1988) ''English grammar: An outline''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
+
-
grammar|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=320|isbn=0521612888}}
+
-
* Jespersen, Otto. (1937). ''Analytic Syntax''. Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard, 1937. 170 p.
+
-
* Jespersen, Otto. (1909–1949). ''A modern English grammar on historical principles'' (Vols. 1-7). Heidelberg: C. Winter.
+
-
* [[Korsakov Andrey|Korsakov]], A. K. (Andreĭ Konstantinovich). 1969. The use of tenses in English.  Korsakov, A. K. Structure of Modern English pt. 1. oai:gial.edu:26766 at http://www.language-archives.org/item/oai:gial.edu:26766
+
-
* Poutsma, Hendrik. A grammar of late modern English, Groningen, P. Noordhoff, 1914–29, 2 pt. in 5 v. Contents: pt. I. The sentence: 1st half. The elements of the sentence, 1928. 2d half. The composite sentence, 1929.--pt. II. The parts of speech: section I, A. Nouns, adjectives and articles, 1914. section I, B. Pronouns and numerals, 1916. section II. The verb and the particles, 1926.
+
-
* Quirk, Randolph; Greenbaum, Sidney; Leech, Geoffrey; & Svartvik, Jan. (1972). ''A grammar of contemporary English''. Harlow: Longman.
+
-
* Sinclair, John, ed. (1991) ''Collins COBUILD - English Grammar'' London: Collins ISBN 000370257X second edition, 2005 ISBN 0007183879.  Huddleston and Pullman say they found this grammar 'useful' in their ''Cambridge Grammar of the English Language.'' (p.&nbsp;1765) A CD-Rom version of the 1st edition is available on the Collins COBUILD Resource Pack ISBN 0007169213
+
-
* Sledd, James. (1959) ''A short introduction to English grammar'' Chicago: Scott, Foresman.
+
-
* Strang, Barbara M. H. (1968) ''Modern English structure'' (2nd ed.) London: Arnold.
+
-
* Whitney, William Dwight, (1877) ''Essentials of English Grammar'', Boston: Ginn & Heath.
+
-
* Zandvoort, R. W. (1972) ''A handbook of English grammar'' (2nd ed.) London: Longmans.
+
-
=== Monographs ===
+
===Monographs===
* Adams, Valerie. (1973). ''An introduction to modern English word-formation''. London: Longman.
* Adams, Valerie. (1973). ''An introduction to modern English word-formation''. London: Longman.
* Bauer, Laurie. (1983). ''English word-formation''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Bauer, Laurie. (1983). ''English word-formation''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Line 450: Line 368:
* Marchand, Hans. (1969). ''The categories and types of present-day English word-formation'' (2nd ed.). München: C. H. Beck.
* Marchand, Hans. (1969). ''The categories and types of present-day English word-formation'' (2nd ed.). München: C. H. Beck.
* McCawley, James D. (1998). ''The syntactic phenomena of English'' (2nd ed.). ''Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
* McCawley, James D. (1998). ''The syntactic phenomena of English'' (2nd ed.). ''Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
-
* Onions, C. T. (Charles Talbut), (1904—1st edition) ''An advanced English syntax based on the principles and requirements of the Grammatical society''.  London: Keegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & co. A new edition of ''An advanced English syntax'', prepared from the author’s materials by B. D. H. Miller, was published as ''Modern English syntax'' in 1971.
+
* Onions, C. T. (Charles Talbut), (1904, 1st edition) ''An advanced English syntax based on the principles and requirements of the Grammatical society''.  London: Keegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & co. A new edition of ''An advanced English syntax'', prepared from the author's materials by B. D. H. Miller, was published as ''Modern English syntax'' in 1971.
* Palmer, F. R. (1974). ''The English verb''. London: Longman.
* Palmer, F. R. (1974). ''The English verb''. London: Longman.
* Palmer, F. R. (1979). ''Modality and the English modals''. London: Longman.
* Palmer, F. R. (1979). ''Modality and the English modals''. London: Longman.
Line 456: Line 374:
* Scheurweghs, Gustave. (1959). ''Present-day English syntax: A survey of sentence patterns''. London: Longmans.
* Scheurweghs, Gustave. (1959). ''Present-day English syntax: A survey of sentence patterns''. London: Longmans.
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== External links ==
+
==External links==
-
* [[b:English|English Grammar]], [[wikibooks|wikibook]] in [[English (language)|English]]
+
-
* [http://www.beaugrande.com/UPLOADGRAMMARHEADER.htm A Friendly Grammar of English] by Robert de Beaugrande
+
* [http://papyr.com/hypertextbooks/grammar/ Modern English Grammar] by Daniel Kies
* [http://papyr.com/hypertextbooks/grammar/ Modern English Grammar] by Daniel Kies
-
* [http://www.englishgrammar.org/ Grammar lessons, rules, and news for everyday use] by Jennifer Frost
+
* [http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/ Basic Grammar Rules]
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* [http://www.bartleby.com/64/ The American Heritage Book of English Usage.] Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996. [Date of Printout].
+
* [http://linguapress.com/grammar/ Linguapress online English grammar]
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* [http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/home.htm The Internet Grammar of English].
+
* [http://english.lingolia.com/en/grammar Lingolía English Grammar]
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* [http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/staff/laurie-bauer/Bauer-adj-compound.pdf Adjectives, Compounds and Words] (Laurie Bauer)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:English Grammar}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:English Grammar}}
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[[Category:English grammar|*]]
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[[Category:English grammar| ]]
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[[Category:Grammars of specific languages]]
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Current revision

English grammar is the structure of expressions in the English language. This includes the structure of words, phrases, clauses and sentences.

There are historical, social, cultural and regional variations of English. Divergences from the grammar described here occur in some dialects of English. This article describes a generalized present-day Standard English, the form of speech found in types of public discourse including broadcasting, education, entertainment, government, and news reporting, including both formal and informal speech. There are certain differences in grammar between the standard forms of British English, American English and Australian English, although these are inconspicuous compared with the lexical and pronunciation differences.

Contents

Word classes and phrases

Eight types of word ("word classes" or "parts of speech") are distinguished in English: nouns, determiners, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions. (Determiners, traditionally classified along with adjectives, have not always been regarded as a separate part of speech.) Interjections are another word class, but these are not described here as they do not form part of the clause and sentence structure of the language.

Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs form open classes – word classes that readily accept new members, such as the noun celebutante (a celebrity who frequents the fashion circles), similar relatively new words. The others are regarded as closed classes. For example, it is rare for a new pronoun to be admitted to the language.

English words are not generally marked for word class. It is not usually possible to tell from the form of a word which class it belongs to except, to some extent, in the case of words with inflectional endings or derivational suffixes. On the other hand, some words belong to more than one word class. For example, run can serve as either a verb or a noun (these are regarded as two different lexemes). Lexemes may be inflected to express different grammatical categories. The lexeme run has the forms runs, ran, runny, runner, and running. Words in one class can sometimes be derived from those in another. This has the potential to give rise to new words. The noun aerobics has recently given rise to the adjective aerobicized.

Words combine to form phrases. A phrase typically serves the same function as a word from some particular word class. For example, my very good friend Peter is a phrase that can be used in a sentence as if it were a noun, and is therefore called a noun phrase. Similarly, adjective phrases and adverb phrases function as if they were adjectives or adverbs, but with other types of phrases the terminology has different implications. For example, a verb phrase consists of a verb together with any objects and other dependents; a prepositional phrase consists of a preposition together with its complement (and is therefore usually a type of adverb phrase); and a determiner phrase is a type of noun phrase containing a determiner.

Nouns

Nouns form the largest English word class. There are many common suffixes used to form nouns from other nouns or from other types of words, such as -age (as in shrinkage), -hood (as in sisterhood), and so on, although many nouns are base forms not containing any such suffix (such as cat, grass, France). Nouns are also often created by conversion of verbs or adjectives, as with the words talk and reading (a boring talk, the assigned reading).

Unlike in many related languages, English nouns do not have grammatical gender (although many nouns refer specifically to male or female persons or animals, like mother, father, bull, tigress; see Gender in English). Nouns are sometimes classified semantically (by their meanings) as proper nouns and common nouns (Cyrus, China vs. frog, milk) or as concrete nouns and abstract nouns (book, laptop vs. heat, prejudice). A grammatical distinction is often made between count (countable) nouns such as clock and city, and non-count (uncountable) nouns such as milk and decor. Some nouns can function both as countable and as uncountable such as the word "wine" (This is a good wine, I prefer red wine).

Countable nouns generally have singular and plural forms. In most cases the plural is formed from the singular by adding -[e]s (as in dogs, bushes), although there are also irregular forms (woman/women, foot/feet, etc.), including cases where the two forms are identical (sheep, series). For more details, see English plural.

Certain nouns can take plural verbs even though they are singular in form, as in The government were ... (where the government is considered to refer to the people constituting the government). This, a form of synesis, is more common in British than American English.

English nouns are not marked for case as they are in some languages, but they have possessive forms, formed by the addition of -'s (as in John's, children's), or just an apostrophe (with no change in pronunciation) in the case of -[e]s plurals and sometimes other words ending with -s (the dogs' owners, Jesus' love). More generally, the ending can be applied to noun phrases (as in the man you saw yesterday's sister); see below. The possessive form can be used either as a determiner (John's cat) or as a noun phrase (John's is the one next to Jane's). For details, see English possessive.

Noun phrases

Noun phrases are phrases that function grammatically as nouns within sentences, for example as the subject or object of a verb. Most noun phrases have a noun as their head.

An English noun phrase typically takes the following form (not all elements need be present):

Determiner + Pre-modifiers + NOUN + Postmodifiers/Complement

In this structure:

  • the determiner may be an article (the, a[n]) or other equivalent word, as described in the following section. In many contexts it is required for a noun phrase to include some determiner.
  • pre-modifiers include adjectives and some adjective phrases (such as red, really lovely), and noun adjuncts (such as college in the phrase the college student). Adjectival modifiers usually come before noun adjuncts.
  • a complement or postmodifier may be a prepositional phrase (... of London), a relative clause (like  ...which we saw yesterday), certain adjective or participial phrases (... sitting on the beach), or a dependent clause or infinitive phrase appropriate to the noun (like ... that the world is round after a noun such as fact or statement, or ... to travel widely after a noun such as desire).

An example of a noun phrase that includes all of the above-mentioned elements is that rather attractive young college student to whom you were talking. Here that is the determiner, rather attractive and young are adjectival pre-modifiers, college is a noun adjunct, student is the noun serving as the head of the phrase, and to whom you were talking is a post-modifier (a relative clause in this case). Notice the order of the pre-modifiers; the determiner that must come first and the noun adjunct college must come after the adjectival modifiers.

Coordinating conjunctions such as and, or, and but can be used at various levels in noun phrases, as in John, Paul, and Mary; the matching green coat and hat; a dangerous but exciting ride; a person sitting down or standing up.

Noun phrases can also be placed in apposition (where two consecutive phrases refer to the same thing), as in that president, Abraham Lincoln, ... (where that president and Abraham Lincoln are in apposition). In some contexts the same can be expressed by a prepositional phrase, as in the twin curses of famine and pestilence (meaning "the twin curses" that are "famine and pestilence").

Particular forms of noun phrases include:

  • phrases formed by the determiner the with an adjective, as in the homeless, the English (these are plural phrases referring to homeless people or English people in general);
  • phrases with a pronoun rather than a noun as the head (see below);
  • phrases consisting just of a possessive;
  • infinitive and gerund phrases, in certain positions;
  • certain clauses, such as that clauses and relative clauses like what he said, in certain positions.

Noun gender

See Also Gender in English

Generally there is no difference between male and female in English nouns. However, gender is occasionally exposed by different shapes or dissimilar words when referring to people or animals.

Masculine Feminine Gender neutral
man woman person
boy girl child
husband wife spouse
prince princess -
rooster hen chicken

Many nouns that mention to people's roles and jobs can refer to either a masculine or a feminine subject, for instance "cousin", "teenager", "teacher", "doctor", "student", "friend", and "colleague".

  • Jane is my friend. She is a dentist.
  • Paul is my cousin. He is a dentist.
  • Ed is my friend. He is a journalist.
  • Barbara is my cousin. She is a journalist.

Often the gender distinction for these neutral nouns is established by inserting the words "male" or "female".

  • Sam is a female doctor.
  • No, he is not my boyfriend, he is just a male friend.
  • I have three female cousins and two male cousins.

Rarely, nouns illustrating things with no gender are referred to with a gendered pronoun to convey familiarity. It is also standard to make use of the gender-neutral pronoun (it).

  • I love my car. She (the car) is my greatest passion.
  • France is popular with her (France's) neighbors at the moment.
  • I travelled from England to New York on the Queen Elizabeth; she (the Queen Elizabeth) is a great ship.

Determiners

See Also English determiners and English articles

English determiners constitute a relatively small class of words. They include the articles the, a[n] (and in some contexts some), certain demonstrative and interrogative words such as this, that, and which, possessives such as my and whose (the role of determiner can also be played by noun possessive forms such as John's and the girl's), various quantifying words like all, many, various, and numerals (one, two, etc.). There are also many phrases (such as a couple of) that can play the role of determiners.

Determiners are used in the formation of noun phrases (see above). Many words that serve as determiners can also be used as pronouns (this, that, many, etc.)

Determiners can be used in certain combinations, such as all the water and the many problems.

In many contexts, it is required for a noun phrase to be completed with an article or some other determiner. It is not grammatical to say just cat sat on table; one must say my cat sat on the table. The most common situations in which a complete noun phrase can be formed without a determiner are when it refers generally to a whole class or concept (as in dogs are dangerous and beauty is subjective) and when it is a name (Jane, Spain, etc.) This is discussed in more detail at English articles and Zero article in English.

Pronouns

Pronouns are a relatively small, closed class of words that function in the place of nouns or noun phrases. They include personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, relative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, and some others, mainly indefinite pronouns.

Personal pronouns

See Also English personal pronouns

The personal pronouns of modern standard English, and the corresponding possessive forms, are as follows:

  Nominative Oblique Reflexive Possessive determiner Possessive pronoun
1st pers. sing. I me myself my mine
2nd pers. sing./pl. you you yourself/yourselves your yours
3rd pers. sing. she, he, they, it her, him, they, it  herself, himself, themself, itself  her, his, their, its hers, his, theirs, its
1st pers. pl. we us ourselves our ours
3rd pers. pl. they them themselves their theirs

The second-person forms such as you are used with both singular and plural reference. In the Southern United States, y'all (you all) is used as a plural form, and various other phrases such as you guys are used in other places. An archaic set of pronouns used for singular reference is thou, thee, thyself, thy, thine, which are still used in religious services and can be seen in older works, such as Shakespeare's - in such texts, the word you is used as a plural form. You can also be used as an indefinite pronoun, referring to a person in general (see generic you) compared to the more formal alternative, one (reflexive oneself, possessive one's).

The third-person singular forms are differentiated according to the sex of the referent. For example, she can be used to refer to a female person, sometimes a female animal, and sometimes an object to which female characteristics are attributed, such as a ship or a country. A male person, and sometimes a male animal, is referred to using he. In other cases it can be used. (See Gender in English.) The word it can also be used as a dummy subject, in sentences like It is going to be sunny this afternoon.

The third-person plural forms such as they are sometimes used with singular reference, as a gender-neutral pronoun, as in each employee should ensure they tidy their desk. Despite its long history, this usage is sometimes considered ungrammatical. (See singular they.)

The possessive determiners such as my are used as determiners together with nouns, as in my old man, some of his friends. The second possessive forms like mine are used when they do not qualify a noun: as pronouns, as in mine is bigger than yours, and as predicates, as in this one is mine. Note also the construction a friend of mine (meaning "someone who is my friend"). See English possessive for more details.

Demonstrative and interrogative pronouns

The demonstrative pronouns of English are this (plural these), and that (plural those), as in these are good, I like that. Note that all four words can also be used as determiners (followed by a noun), as in those cars. They can also form the alternative pronominal expressions this/that one, these/those ones.

The interrogative pronouns are who, what, and which (all of them can take the suffix -ever for emphasis). The pronoun who refers to a person or people; it has an oblique form whom (though in informal contexts this is usually replaced by who), and a possessive form (pronoun or determiner) whose. The pronoun what refers to things or abstracts. The word which is used to ask about alternatives from what is seen as a closed set: which (of the books) do you like best? (It can also be an interrogative determiner: which book?; this can form the alternative pronominal expressions which one and which ones.) Which, who, and what can be either singular or plural, although who and what often take a singular verb regardless of any supposed number. For more information see who.

All the interrogative pronouns can also be used as relative pronouns; see below for more details.

Relative pronouns

See Also English relative clauses. For "who/whom" and related forms, see also Who (pronoun).

The main relative pronouns in English are who (with its derived forms whom and whose), which, and that.

The relative pronoun which refers to things rather than persons, as in the shirt, which used to be red, is faded. For persons, who is used (the man who saw me was tall). The oblique case form of who is whom, as in the man whom I saw was tall, although in informal registers who is commonly used in place of whom.

The possessive form of who is whose (the man whose car is missing ...); however the use of whose is not restricted to persons (one can say an idea whose time has come).

The word that as a relative pronoun is normally found only in restrictive relative clauses (unlike which and who, which can be used in both restrictive and unrestrictive clauses). It can refer to either persons or things, and cannot follow a preposition. For example, one can say the song that [or which] I listened to yesterday, but the song to which [not to that] I listened yesterday. The relative pronoun that is usually pronounced with a reduced vowel (schwa), and hence differently from the demonstrative that (see Weak and strong forms in English). If that is not the subject of the relative clause, it can be omitted (the song I listened to yesterday).

The word what can be used to form a free relative clause – one that has no antecedent and that serves as a complete noun phrase in itself, as in I like what he likes. The words whatever and whichever can be used similarly, in the role of either pronouns (whatever he likes) or determiners (whatever book he likes). When referring to persons, who(ever) (and whom(ever)) can be used in a similar way (but not as determiners).

There as pronoun

The word there is used as a pronoun in some sentences, playing the role of a dummy subject, normally of an intransitive verb. The "logical subject" of the verb then appears as a complement after the verb.

This use of there occurs most commonly with forms of the verb be in existential clauses, to refer to the presence or existence of something. For example: There is a heaven; There are two cups on the table; There have been a lot of problems lately. It can also be used with other verbs: There exist two major variants; There occurred a very strange incident.

The dummy subject takes the number (singular or plural) of the logical subject (complement), hence it takes a plural verb if the complement is plural. In colloquial English, however, the contraction there's is often used where there are would be expected.

The dummy subject can undergo inversion, Is there a test today? and Never has there been a man such as this. It can also appear without a corresponding logical subject, in short sentences and question tags: There wasn't a discussion, was there? There was.

The word there in such sentences has sometimes been analyzed as an adverb, or as a dummy predicate, rather than as a pronoun. However, its identification as a pronoun is most consistent with its behavior in inverted sentences and question tags as described above.

Because the word there can also be a deictic adverb (meaning "at/to that place"), a sentence like There is a river could have either of two meanings: "a river exists" (with there as a pronoun), and "a river is in that place" (with there as an adverb). In speech, the adverbial there would be given stress, while the pronoun would not – in fact the pronoun is often pronounced as a weak form, /ðə(r)/.

Other pronouns

Other pronouns in English are often identical in form to determiners (especially quantifiers), such as many, a little, etc. Sometimes, the pronoun form is different, as with none (corresponding to the determiner no), nothing, everyone, somebody, etc. Many examples are listed as indefinite pronouns. Another indefinite (or impersonal) pronoun is one (with its reflexive form oneself and possessive one's), which is a more formal alternative to generic you.

Verbs

See Also English verbs

Verbs form the second largest word class after nouns. The basic form of an English verb is not generally marked by any ending, although there are certain suffixes that are frequently used to form verbs, such as -ate (formulate), -fy (electrify), and -ise/ize (realise/realize). Many verbs also contain prefixes, such un- (unmask), out- (outlast), over- (overtake), and under- (undervalue). Verbs can also be formed from nouns and adjectives by conversion, as with the verbs snare, nose, dry, and calm.

Most verbs have three or four inflected forms: a third-person singular present tense form in -(e)s (writes, botches), a present participle and gerund form in -ing (writing), a past tense (wrote), and – though often identical to the past tense form – a past participle (written). Regular verbs have identical past tense and past participle forms in -ed, but there are 100 or so irregular English verbs with different forms (see list). The verbs have, do and say also have irregular third-person present tense forms (has, does /dʌz/, says /sɛz/). The verb be has the largest number of irregular forms (am, is, are in the present tense, was, were in the past tense, been for the past participle).

Most of what are often referred to as verb tenses (or sometimes aspects) in English are formed using auxiliary verbs. Apart from what are called the simple present (write, writes) and simple past (wrote), there are also continuous (progressive) forms (am/is/are/was/were writing), perfect forms (have/has/had written, and the perfect continuous have/has/had been writing), future forms (will write, will be writing, will have written, will have been writing), and conditionals (also called "future in the past") with would in place of will. The auxiliaries shall and should sometimes replace will and would in the first person. For the uses of these various verb forms, see English verbs and English clause syntax.

The infinitive is the basic form of the verb (be, write, play), although there is also a "to-infinitive" (to be, to write, to play) used in many syntactical constructions. There are also infinitives corresponding to other aspects: (to) have written, (to) be writing, (to) have been writing. The second-person imperative is identical to the (basic) infinitive; other imperative forms may be made with let (let us go, or let's go; let them eat cake).

A form identical to the infinitive can be used as a present subjunctive in certain contexts: It is important that he follow them or ... that he be committed to the cause. There is also a past subjunctive (distinct from the simple past only in the possible use of were instead of was), used in some conditional sentences and similar: if I were (or was) rich ...; were he to arrive now ...; I wish she were (or was) here. For details see English subjunctive.

The passive voice is formed using the verb be (in the appropriate tense or form) with the past participle of the verb in question: cars are driven, he was killed, I am being tickled, it is nice to be pampered, etc. The performer of the action may be introduced in a prepositional phrase with by (as in they were killed by the invaders).

The English modal verbs consist of the core modals can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would, as well as ought (to), had better, and in some uses dare and need. These do not inflect for person or number, and do not have infinitive or participle forms (except synonyms, as with be/being/been able (to) for the modals can/could). The modals are used with the basic infinitive form of a verb (I can swim, he may be killed, we dare not move, need they go?), except for ought, which takes to (you ought to go).

The copula be, along with the modal verbs and the other auxiliaries, form a distinct class, sometimes called "special verbs" or simply "auxiliaries". These have different syntax from ordinary lexical verbs, especially in that they make their interrogative forms by plain inversion with the subject, and their negative forms by adding not after the verb (could I ...? I could not ...). Apart from those already mentioned, this class may also include used to (although the forms did he use to? and he didn't use to are also found), and sometimes have even when not an auxiliary (forms like have you a sister? and he hadn't a clue are possible, though becoming less common). It also includes the auxiliary do (does, did); this is used with the basic infinitive of other verbs (those not belonging to the "special verbs" class) to make their question and negation forms, as well as emphatic forms (do I like you?; he doesn't speak English; we did close the fridge). For more details of this, see do-support.

Some forms of the copula and auxiliaries often appear as contractions, as in I'm for I am, you'd for you would or you had, and John's for John is. Their negated forms with following not are also often contracted). For detail see English auxiliaries and contractions.

Verb phrases

A verb together with its dependents, excluding its subject, may be identified as a verb phrase (although this concept is not acknowledged in all theories of grammar). A verb phrase headed by a finite verb may also be called a predicate. The dependents may be objects, complements, and modifiers (adverbs or adverbial phrases). In English, objects and complements nearly always come after the verb; a direct object precedes other complements such as prepositional phrases, but if there is an indirect object as well, expressed without a preposition, then that precedes the direct object: give me the book, but give the book to me. Adverbial modifiers generally follow objects, although other positions are possible. Certain verb–modifier combinations, particularly when they have independent meaning (such as take on and get up), are known as "phrasal verbs".

For details of possible patterns, see English clause syntax. See the Non-finite clauses section of that article for verb phrases headed by non-finite verb forms, such as infinitives and participles.

Adjectives

English adjectives, as with other word classes, cannot in general be identified as such by their form, although many of them are formed from nouns or other words by the addition of a suffix, such as -al (habitual), -ful (blissful), -ic (atomic), -ish (impish, youngish), -ous (hazardous), etc.; or from other adjectives using a prefix: disloyal, irredeemable, unforeseen, overtired.

Adjectives may be used attributively, as part of a noun phrase (nearly always preceding the noun they modify; for exceptions see postpositive adjective), as in the big house, or predicatively, as in the house is big. Certain adjectives are restricted to one or other use; for example, drunken is attributive (a drunken sailor), while drunk is usually predicative (the sailor was drunk).

Comparison

Many adjectives have comparative and superlative forms in -er and -est, such as faster and fastest (from the positive form fast). Spelling rules which maintain pronunciation apply to suffixing adjectives just as they do for similar treatment of regular past tense formation; these cover consonant doubling (as in bigger and biggest, from big) and the change of y to i after consonants (as in happier and happiest, from happy).

The adjectives good and bad have the irregular forms better, best and worse, worst; also far becomes farther, farthest or further, furthest. The adjective old (for which the regular older and oldest are usual) also has the irregular forms elder and eldest, these generally being restricted to use in comparing siblings and in certain independent uses. For the comparison of adverbs, see Adverbs below.

Many adjectives, however, particularly those that are longer and less common, do not have inflected comparative and superlative forms. Instead, they can be qualified with more and most, as in beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful (this construction is also sometimes used even for adjectives for which inflected forms do exist).

Certain adjectives are classed as ungradable. These represent properties that cannot be compared on a scale; they simply apply or do not, as with pregnant, dead, unique. Consequently, comparative and superlative forms of such adjectives are not normally used, except in a figurative, humorous or imprecise context. Similarly, such adjectives are not normally qualified with modifiers of degree such as very and fairly, although with some of them it is idiomatic to use adverbs such as completely. Another type of adjectives sometimes considered ungradable is those that represent an extreme degree of some property, such as delicious and terrified.

Adjective phrases

An adjective phrase is a group of words that plays the role of an adjective in a sentence. It usually has a single adjective as its head, to which modifiers and complements may be added.

Adjectives can be modified by a preceding adverb or adverb phrase, as in very warm, truly imposing, more than a little excited. Some can also be preceded by a noun or quantitative phrase, as in fat-free, two-metre-long.

Complements following the adjective may include:

  • prepositional phrases: proud of him, angry at the screen, keen on breeding toads;
  • infinitive phrases: anxious to solve the problem, easy to pick up;
  • content clauses, i.e. that clauses and certain others: certain that he was right, unsure where they are;
  • after comparatives, phrases or clauses with than: better than you, smaller than I had imagined.

An adjective phrase may include both modifiers before the adjective and a complement after it, as in very difficult to put away.

Adjective phrases containing complements after the adjective cannot normally be used as attributive adjectives before a noun. Sometimes they are used attributively after the noun, as in a woman proud of being a midwife (where they may be converted into relative clauses: a woman who is proud of being a midwife), but it is wrong to say *a proud of being a midwife woman. Exceptions include very brief and often established phrases such as easy-to-use. (Certain complements can be moved to after the noun, leaving the adjective before the noun, as in a better man than you, a hard nut to crack.)

Certain attributive adjective phrases are formed from other parts of speech, without any adjective as their head, as in a two-bedroom house, a no-jeans policy.

Adverbs

Adverbs perform a wide range of functions. They typically modify verbs (or verb phrases), adjectives (or adjectival phrases), or other adverbs (or adverbial phrases). However, adverbs also sometimes qualify noun phrases (only the boss; quite a lovely place), pronouns and determiners (almost all), prepositional phrases (halfway through the movie), or whole sentences, to provide contextual comment or indicate an attitude (Frankly, I don't believe you). They can also indicate a relationship between clauses or sentences (He died, and consequently I inherited the estate).

Many English adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding the ending -ly, as in hopefully, widely, theoretically (for details of spelling and etymology, see -ly). Certain words can be used as both adjectives and adverbs, such as fast, straight, and hard. The adverb corresponding to the adjective good is well (note that bad forms the regular badly, although ill is occasionally used in some phrases).

There are also many adverbs that are not derived from adjectives, including adverbs of time, of frequency, of place, of degree and with other meanings. Some suffixes that are commonly used to form adverbs from nouns are -ward[s] (as in homeward[s]) and -wise (as in lengthwise).

Most adverbs form comparatives and superlatives by modification with more and most: often, more often, most often; smoothly, more smoothly, most smoothly (see also comparison of adjectives, above). However, a few adverbs retain irregular inflection for comparative and superlative forms: much, more, most; a little, less, least; well, better, best; badly, worse, worst; far, further (farther), furthest (farthest); or follow the regular adjectival inflection: fast, faster, fastest; soon, sooner, soonest; etc.

Adverbs indicating the manner of an action are generally placed after the verb and its objects (We considered the proposal carefully), although other positions are often possible (We carefully considered the proposal). Many adverbs of frequency, degree, certainty, etc. (such as often, always, almost, probably, and various others such as just) tend to be placed before the verb (they usually have chips), although if there is an auxiliary or other "special verb", then the normal position for such adverbs is after that special verb (or after the first of them, if there is more than one): I have just finished the crossword; She can usually manage a pint; We are never late; You might possibly have been unconscious. Adverbs that provide a connection with previous information (such as next, then, however), and those that provide the context (such as time or place) for a sentence, are typically placed at the start of the sentence: Yesterday we went on a shopping expedition.

A special type of adverb is the adverbial particle used to form phrasal verbs (such as up in pick up, on in get on, etc.) If such a verb also has an object, then the particle may precede or follow the object, although it will normally follow the object if the object is a pronoun (pick the pen up or pick up the pen, but pick it up).

Adverb phrases

An adverb phrase is a phrase that acts as an adverb within a sentence. An adverb phrase may have an adverb as its head, together with any modifiers (other adverbs or adverb phrases) and complements, analogously to the adjective phrases described above. For example: very sleepily; all too suddenly; oddly enough; perhaps shockingly for us.

Another very common type of adverb phrase is the prepositional phrase, which consists of a preposition and its object: in the pool; after two years; for the sake of harmony.

Prepositions

Prepositions form a closed word class, although there are also certain phrases that serve as prepositions, such as in front of. A single preposition may have a variety of meanings, often including temporal, spatial and abstract. Many words that are prepositions can also serve as adverbs. Examples of common English prepositions (including phrasal instances) are of, in, on, over, under, to, from, with, in front of, behind, opposite, by, before, after, during, through, in spite of or despite, between, among, etc.

A preposition is usually used with a noun phrase as its complement. A preposition together with its complement is called a prepositional phrase. Examples are in England, under the table, after six pleasant weeks, between the land and the sea. A prepositional phrase can be used as a complement or post-modifier of a noun in a noun phrase, as in the man in the car, the start of the fight; as a complement of a verb or adjective, as in deal with the problem, proud of oneself; or generally as an adverb phrase (see above).

English allows the use of "stranded" prepositions. This can occur in interrogative and relative clauses, where the interrogative or relative pronoun that is the preposition's complement is moved to the start (fronted), leaving the preposition in place. This kind of structure is avoided in some kinds of formal English. For example:

  • What are you talking about? (Possible alternative version: About what are you talking?)
  • The song that you were listening to ... (more formal: The song to which you were listening ...)

Notice that in the second example the relative pronoun that could be omitted.

Stranded prepositions can also arise in passive voice constructions and other uses of passive past participial phrases, where the complement in a prepositional phrase can become zero in the same way that a verb's direct object would: it was looked at; I will be operated on; get your teeth seen to. The same can happen in certain uses of infinitive phrases: he is nice to talk to; this is the page to make copies of.

Conjunctions

Conjunctions express a variety of logical relations between items, phrases, clauses and sentences. The principal coordinating conjunctions in English are and, or, and but, as well as nor, so, yet and for. These can be used in many grammatical contexts to link two or more items of equal grammatical status, for example:

  • Noun phrases combined into a longer noun phrase, such as John, Eric, and Jill, the red coat or the blue one. When and is used, the resulting noun phrase is plural. A determiner does not need to be repeated with the individual elements: the cat, the dog, and the mouse and the cat, dog, and mouse are both correct. The same applies to other modifiers. (The word but can be used here in the sense of "except": nobody but you.)
  • Adjective or adverb phrases combined into a longer adjective or adverb phrase: tired but happy, over the fields and far away.
  • Verbs or verb phrases combined as in he washed, peeled, and diced the turnips (verbs conjoined, object shared); he washed the turnips, peeled them, and diced them (full verb phrases, including objects, conjoined).
  • Other equivalent items linked, such as prefixes linked in pre- and post-test counselling, numerals as in two or three buildings, etc.
  • Clauses or sentences linked, as in We came, but they wouldn't let us in. They wouldn't let us in, nor would they explain what we had done wrong.

There are also correlative conjunctions, where as well as the basic conjunction, an additional element appears before the first of the items being linked.<ref name=carter-mccarthy-p315/> The common correlatives in English are:

  • either ... or (either a man or a woman);
  • neither ... nor (neither clever nor funny);
  • both ... and (they both punished and rewarded them);
  • not ... but, particularly in not only ... but also (not exhausted but exhilarated, not only football but also many other sports).

Subordinating conjunctions make relations between clauses, making the clause in which they appear into a subordinate clause. Some common subordinating conjunctions in English are:

  • conjunctions of time, including after, before, since, until, when, while;
  • conjunctions of cause and effect, including because, since, now that, as, in order that, so;
  • conjunctions of opposition or concession, such as although, though, even though, whereas, while;
  • conjunctions of condition: such as if, unless, only if, whether or not, even if, in case (that);
  • the conjunction that, which produces content clauses, as well as words that produce interrogative content clauses: whether, where, when, how, etc.

A subordinating conjunction generally comes at the very start of its clause, although many of them can be preceded by qualifying adverbs, as in probably because ..., especially if .... The conjunction that can be omitted after certain verbs, as in she told us (that) she was ready.

Negation

As noted above under Verbs, a finite indicative verb (or its clause) is negated by placing the word not after an auxiliary, modal or other "special" verb such as do, can or be. For example, the clause I go is negated with the appearance of the auxiliary do, as I do not go (see do-support). When the affirmative already uses auxiliary verbs (I am going), no other auxiliary verbs are added to negate the clause (I am not going). (Until the period of early Modern English, negation was effected without additional auxiliary verbs: I go not.)

Most combinations of auxiliary verbs etc. with not have contracted forms: don't, can't, isn't, etc. (Also the uncontracted negated form of can is written as a single word cannot.) On inversion of subject and verb (such as in questions; see below), the subject may be placed after a contracted negated form: Should he not pay? or Shouldn't he pay?

Other elements, such as noun phrases, adjectives, adverbs, infinitive and participial phrases, etc., can be negated by placing the word not before them: not the right answer, not interesting, not to enter, not noticing the train, etc.

When other negating words such as never, nobody, etc. appear in a sentence, the negating not is omitted (unlike its equivalents in many languages): I saw nothing or I didn't see anything, but not (except in non-standard speech) *I didn't see nothing (see Double negative). Such negating words generally have corresponding negative polarity items (ever for never, anybody for nobody, etc.) which can appear in a negative context, but are not negative themselves (and can thus be used after a negation without giving rise to double negatives).

Clause and sentence structure

See Also English clause syntax

A typical sentence contains one independent clause and possibly one or more dependent clauses, although it is also possible to link together sentences of this form into longer sentences, using coordinating conjunctions (see above).

A clause typically contains a subject (a noun phrase) and a predicate (a verb phrase in the terminology used above; that is, a verb together with its objects and complements). A dependent clause also normally contains a subordinating conjunction (or in the case of relative clauses, a relative pronoun or phrase containing one). English syntax is essentially of SVO (subject–verb–object) type; the verb precedes its object in the verb phrase, and the subject of the clause precedes the verb.

Questions

Like many other Western European languages, English historically allowed questions to be formed by inverting the positions of verb and subject. Modern English permits this only in the case of a small class of verbs ("special verbs"), consisting of auxiliaries as well as forms of the copula be (see subject–auxiliary inversion). To form a question from a sentence which does not have such an auxiliary or copula present, the auxiliary verb do (does, did) needs to be inserted, along with inversion of the word order, to form a question (see do-support). For example:

  • She can dance. → Can she dance? (inversion of subject she and auxiliary can)
  • I am sitting here. → Am I sitting here? (inversion of subject I and copula am)
  • The milk goes in the fridge. → Does the milk go in the fridge? (no special verb present; do-support required)

The above concerns yes-no questions, but inversion also takes place in the same way after other questions, formed with interrogative words such as where, what, how, etc. An exception applies when the interrogative word is the subject or part of the subject, in which case there is no inversion. For example:

  • I go. → Where do I go? (wh-question formed using inversion, with do-support required in this case)
  • He goes. → Who goes? (no inversion, because the question word who is the subject)

Note that inversion does not apply in indirect questions: I wonder where he is (not *... where is he). Indirect yes-no questions can be expressed using if or whether as the interrogative word: Ask them whether/if they saw him.

Negative questions are formed similarly; however if the verb undergoing inversion has a contraction with not, then it is possible to invert the subject with this contraction as a whole. For example:

  • John is going. (affirmative)
  • John is not going. / John isn't going. (negative, with and without contraction)
  • Isn't John going? / Is John not going? (negative question, with and without contraction respectively)

Dependent clauses

The syntax of a dependent clause is generally the same as that of an independent clause, except that the dependent clause usually begins with a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun (or phrase containing such). In some situations (as already described) the conjunction or relative pronoun that can be omitted. Another type of dependent clause with no subordinating conjunction is the conditional clause formed by inversion (see below).

Other uses of inversion

The clause structure with inverted subject and verb, used to form questions as described above, is also used in certain types of declarative sentence. This occurs mainly when the sentence begins with an adverbial or other phrase that is essentially negative or contains words such as only, hardly, etc.: Never have I known someone so stupid; Only in France can such food be tasted.

In elliptical sentences (see below), inversion takes place after so (meaning "also") as well as after the negative neither: so do I, neither does she.

Inversion can also be used to form conditional clauses, beginning with should, were (subjunctive), or had, in the following ways:

  • should I win the race (equivalent to if I win the race);
  • were he a soldier (equivalent to if he were a soldier);
  • were he to win the race (equivalent to if he were to win the race, i.e. if he won the race);
  • had he won the race (equivalent to if he had won the race).

Other similar forms sometimes appear, but are less common. There is also a construction with subjunctive be, as in be he alive or dead (meaning "no matter whether he is alive or dead").

Use of inversion to express a third-person imperative is now mostly confined to the expression long live X, meaning "let X live long".

Imperatives

In an imperative sentence (one giving an order), there is usually no subject in the independent clause: Go away until I call you. It is possible, however, to include you as the subject for emphasis: You stay away from me.

Elliptical constructions

Many types of elliptical construction are possible in English, resulting in sentences that omit certain redundant elements. Various examples are given in the article on Ellipsis.

Some notable elliptical forms found in English include:

  • Short statements of the form I can, he isn't, we mustn't. Here the verb phrase (understood from the context) is reduced to a single auxiliary or other "special" verb, negated if appropriate. If there is no special verb in the original verb phrase, it is replaced by do/does/did: he does, they didn't.
  • Clauses that omit the verb, in particular those like me too, nor me, me neither. The latter forms are used after negative statements. (Equivalents including the verb: I do too or so do I; I don't either or neither do I.)
  • Tag questions, formed with a special verb and pronoun subject: isn't it?; were there?; am I not?

History of English grammars

See Also History of English grammars

The first published English grammar was a Pamphlet for Grammar of 1586, written by William Bullokar with the stated goal of demonstrating that English was just as rule-based as Latin. Bullokar's grammar was faithfully modeled on William Lily's Latin grammar, Rudimenta Grammatices (1534), used in English schools at that time, having been "prescribed" for them in 1542 by Henry VIII. Bullokar wrote his grammar in English and used a "reformed spelling system" of his own invention; but many English grammars, for much of the century after Bullokar's effort, were written in Latin, especially by authors who were aiming to be scholarly. John Wallis's Grammatica Linguae Anglicanae (1685) was the last English grammar written in Latin.

Even as late as the early 19th century, Lindley Murray, the author of one of the most widely used grammars of the day, was having to cite "grammatical authorities" to bolster the claim that grammatical cases in English are different from those in Ancient Greek or Latin.

See also

Notes and references

Bibliography

Monographs

  • Adams, Valerie. (1973). An introduction to modern English word-formation. London: Longman.
  • Bauer, Laurie. (1983). English word-formation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Fries, Charles Carpenter. (1952). The structure of English; an introduction to the construction of English sentences. New York: Harcourt, Brace.
  • Halliday, M. A. K. (1985/94). Spoken and written language. Deakin University Press.
  • Huddleston, Rodney D. (1976). An introduction to English transformational syntax. Longman.
  • Kruisinga, E. (1925). A handbook of present-day English. Utrecht: Kemink en Zoon.
  • Leech, Geoffrey N. (1971). Meaning and the English verb. London: Longman.
  • Marchand, Hans. (1969). The categories and types of present-day English word-formation (2nd ed.). München: C. H. Beck.
  • McCawley, James D. (1998). The syntactic phenomena of English (2nd ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
  • Onions, C. T. (Charles Talbut), (1904, 1st edition) An advanced English syntax based on the principles and requirements of the Grammatical society. London: Keegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & co. A new edition of An advanced English syntax, prepared from the author's materials by B. D. H. Miller, was published as Modern English syntax in 1971.
  • Palmer, F. R. (1974). The English verb. London: Longman.
  • Palmer, F. R. (1979). Modality and the English modals. London: Longman.
  • Plag, Ingo. (2003). Word-formation in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Scheurweghs, Gustave. (1959). Present-day English syntax: A survey of sentence patterns. London: Longmans.

External links

List of New Testament Papyri

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List of New Testament minuscules

1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21 · 22 · 23 · 24 · 25 · 26 · 27 · 28 · 29 · 30 · 31 · 32 · 33 · 34 · 35 · 36 · 37 · 38 · 39 · 40 · 41 · 42 · 43 · 44 · 45 · 46 · 47 · 48 · 49 · 50 · 51 · 52 · 53 · 54 · 55 · 56 · 57 · 58 · 59 · 60 · 61 · 62 · 63 · 64 · 65 · 66 · 67 · 68 · 69 · 70 · 71 · 72 · 73 · 74 · 75 · 76 · 77 · 78 · 79 · 80 · 81 · 82 · 83 · 84 · 85 · 86 · 87 · 88 · 89 · 90 · 91 · 92 · 93 · 94 · 95 · 96 · 97 · 98 · 99 · 100 · 101 · 102 · 103 · 104 · 105 · 106 · 107 · 108 · 109 · 110 · 111 · 112 · 113 · 114 · 115 · 116 · 117 · 118 · 119 · 120 · 121 · 122 · 123 · 124 · 125 · 126 · 127 · 128 · 129 · 130 · 131 · 132 · 133 · 134 · 135 · 136 · 137 · 138 · 139 · 140 · 141 · 142 · 143 · 144 · 145 · 146 · 147 · 148 · 149 · 150 · 151 · 152 · 153 · 154 · 155 · 156 · 157 · 158 · 159 · 160 · 161 · 162 · 163 · 164 · 165 · 166 · 167 · 168 · 169 · 170 · 171 · 172 · 173 · 174 · 175 · 176 · 177 · 178 · 179 · 180 · 181 · 182 · 183 · 184 · 185 · 186 · 187 · 188 · 189 · 190 · 191 · 192 · 193 · 194 · 195 · 196 · 197 · 198 · 199 · 200 · 201 · 202 · 203 · 204 · 205 · 206 · 207 · 208 · 209 · 210 · 211 · 212 · 213 · 214 · 215 · 216 · 217 · 218 · 219 · 220 · 221 · 222 · 223 · 224 · 225 · 226 · 227 · 228 · 229 · 230 · 231 · 232 · 233 · 234 · 235 · 236 · 237 · 238 · 239 · 240 · 241 · 242 · 243 · 244 · 245 · 246 · 247 · 248 · 249 · 250 · 251 · 252 · 253 · 254 · 255 · 256 · 257 · 258 · 259 · 260 · 261 · 262 · 263 · 264 · 265 · 266 · 267 · 268 · 269 · 270 · 271 · 272 · 273 · 274 · 275 · 276 · 277 · 278 · 279 · 280 · 281 · 282 · 283 · 284 · 285 · 286 · 287 · 288 · 289 · 290 · 291 · 292 · 293 · 294 · 295 · 296 · 297 · 298 · 299 · 300 · 301 · 302 · 303 · 304 · 305 · 306 · 307 · 308 · 309 · 310 · 311 · 312 · 313 · 314 · 315 · 316 · 317 · 318 · 319 · 320 · 321 · 322 · 323 · 324 · 325 · 326 · 327 · 328 · 329 · 330 · 331 · 332 · 333 · 334 · 335 · 336 · 337 · 338 · 339 · 340 · 341 · 342 · 343 · 344 · 345 · 346 · 347 · 348 · 349 · 350 · 351 · 352 · 353 · 354 · 355 · 356 · 357 · 358 · 359 · 360 · 361 · 362 · 363 · 364 · 365 · 366 · 367 · 368 · 369 · 370 · 371 · 372 · 373 · 374 · 375 · 376 · 377 · 378 · 379 · 380 · 381 · 382 · 383 · 384 · 385 · 386 · 387 · 388 · 389 · 390 · 391 · 392 · 393 · 394 · 395 · 396 · 397 · 398 · 399 · 400 · 401 · 402 · 403 · 404 · 405 · 406 · 407 · 408 · 409 · 410 · 411 · 412 · 413 · 414 · 415 · 416 · 417 · 418 · 419 · 420 · 421 · 422 · 423 · 424 · 425 · 426 · 427 · 428 · 429 · 430 · 431 · 432 · 433 · 434 · 435 · 436 · 437 · 438 · 439 · 440 · 441 · 442 · 443 · 444 · 445 · 446 · 447 · 448 · 449 · 450 · 451 · 452 · 453 · 454 · 455 · 456 · 457 · 458 · 459 · 460 · 461 · 462 · 463 · 464 · 465 · 466 · 467 · 468 · 469 · 470 · 471 · 472 · 473 · 474 · 475 · 476 · 477 · 478 · 479 · 480 · 481 · 482 · 483 · 484 · 485 · 486 · 487 · 488 · 489 · 490 · 491 · 492 · 493 · 494 · 495 · 496 · 497 · 498 · 499 · 500 · 501 · 502 · 503 · 504 · 505 · 506 · 507 · 543 · 544 · 565 · 566 · 579 · 585 · 614 · 639 · 653 · 654 · 655 · 656 · 657 · 658 · 659 · 660 · 661 · 669 · 676 · 685 · 700 · 798 · 823 · 824 · 825 · 826 · 827 · 828 · 829 · 830 · 831 · 876 · 891 · 892 · 893 · 1071 · 1143 · 1152 · 1241 · 1253 · 1423 · 1424 · 1432 · 1582 · 1739 · 1780 · 1813 · 1834 · 2050 · 2053 · 2059 · 2060 · 2061 · 2062 · 2174 · 2268 · 2344 · 2423 · 2427 · 2437 · 2444 · 2445 · 2446 · 2460 · 2464 · 2491 · 2495 · 2612 · 2613 · 2614 · 2615 · 2616 · 2641 · 2754 · 2755 · 2756 · 2757 · 2766 · 2767 · 2768 · 2793 · 2802 · 2803 · 2804 · 2805 · 2806 · 2807 · 2808 · 2809 · 2810 · 2811 · 2812 · 2813 · 2814 · 2815 · 2816 · 2817 · 2818 · 2819 · 2820 · 2821 · 2855 · 2856 · 2857 · 2858 · 2859 · 2860 · 2861 · 2862 · 2863 · 2881 · 2882 · 2907 · 2965 ·


List of New Testament uncials

01 · 02 · 03 · 04 · 05 · 06 · 07 · 08 · 09 · 010 · 011 · 012 · 013 · 014 · 015 · 016 · 017 · 018 · 019 · 020 · 021 · 022 · 023 · 024 · 025 · 026 · 027 · 028 · 029 · 030 · 031 · 032 · 033 · 034 · 035 · 036 · 037 · 038 · 039 · 040 · 041 · 042 · 043 · 044 · 045 · 046 · 047 · 048 · 049 · 050 · 051 · 052 · 053 · 054 · 055 · 056 · 057 · 058 · 059 · 060 · 061 · 062 · 063 · 064 · 065 · 066 · 067 · 068 · 069 · 070 · 071 · 072 · 073 · 074 · 075 · 076 · 077 · 078 · 079 · 080 · 081 · 082 · 083 · 084 · 085 · 086 · 087 · 088 · 089 · 090 · 091 · 092 · 093 · 094 · 095 · 096 · 097 · 098 · 099 · 0100 · 0101 · 0102 · 0103 · 0104 · 0105 · 0106 · 0107 · 0108 · 0109 · 0110 · 0111 · 0112 · 0113 · 0114 · 0115 · 0116 · 0117 · 0118 · 0119 · 0120 · 0121 · 0122 · 0123 · 0124 · 0125 · 0126 · 0127 · 0128 · 0129 · 0130 · 0131 · 0132 · 0134 · 0135 · 0136 · 0137 · 0138 · 0139 · 0140 · 0141 · 0142 · 0143 · 0144 · 0145 · 0146 · 0147 · 0148 · 0149 · 0150 · 0151 · 0152 · 0153 · 0154 · 0155 · 0156 · 0157 · 0158 · 0159 · 0160 · 0161 · 0162 · 0163 · 0164 · 0165 · 0166 · 0167 · 0168 · 0169 · 0170 · 0171 · 0172 · 0173 · 0174 · 0175 · 0176 · 0177 · 0178 · 0179 · 0180 · 0181 · 0182 · 0183 · 0184 · 0185 · 0186 · 0187 · 0188 · 0189 · 0190 · 0191 · 0192 · 0193 · 0194 · 0195 · 0196 · 0197 · 0198 · 0199 · 0200 · 0201 · 0202 · 0203 · 0204 · 0205 · 0206 · 0207 · 0208 · 0209 · 0210 · 0211 · 0212 · 0213 · 0214 · 0215 · 0216 · 0217 · 0218 · 0219 · 0220 · 0221 · 0222 · 0223 · 0224 · 0225 · 0226 · 0227 · 0228 · 0229 · 0230 · 0231 · 0232 · 0234 · 0235 · 0236 · 0237 · 0238 · 0239 · 0240 · 0241 · 0242 · 0243 · 0244 · 0245 · 0246 · 0247 · 0248 · 0249 · 0250 · 0251 · 0252 · 0253 · 0254 · 0255 · 0256 · 0257 · 0258 · 0259 · 0260 · 0261 · 0262 · 0263 · 0264 · 0265 · 0266 · 0267 · 0268 · 0269 · 0270 · 0271 · 0272 · 0273 · 0274 · 0275 · 0276 · 0277 · 0278 · 0279 · 0280 · 0281 · 0282 · 0283 · 0284 · 0285 · 0286 · 0287 · 0288 · 0289 · 0290 · 0291 · 0292 · 0293 · 0294 · 0295 · 0296 · 0297 · 0298 · 0299 · 0300 · 0301 · 0302 · 0303 · 0304 · 0305 · 0306 · 0307 · 0308 · 0309 · 0310 · 0311 · 0312 · 0313 · 0314 · 0315 · 0316 · 0317 · 0318 · 0319 · 0320 · 0321 · 0322 · 0323 ·


List of New Testament lectionaries

1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21 · 22 · 23 · 24 · 25 · 25b · 26 · 27 · 28 · 29 · 30 · 31 · 32 · 33 · 34 · 35 · 36 · 37 · 38 · 39 · 40 · 41 · 42 · 43 · 44 · 45 · 46 · 47 · 48 · 49 · 50 · 51 · 52 · 53 · 54 · 55 · 56 · 57 · 58 · 59 · 60 · 61 · 62 · 63 · 64 · 65 · 66 · 67 · 68 · 69 · 70 · 71 · 72 · 73 · 74 · 75 · 76 · 77 · 78 · 79 · 80 · 81 · 82 · 83 · 84 · 85 · 86 · 87 · 88 · 89 · 90 · 91 · 92 · 93 · 94 · 95 · 96 · 97 · 98 · 99 · 100 · 101 · 102 · 103 · 104 · 105 · 106 · 107 · 108 · 109 · 110 · 111 · 112 · 113 · 114 · 115 · 116 · 117 · 118 · 119 · 120 · 121 · 122 · 123 · 124 · 125 · 126 · 127 · 128 · 129 · 130 · 131 · 132 · 133 · 134 · 135 · 136 · 137 · 138 · 139 · 140 · 141 · 142 · 143 · 144 · 145 · 146 · 147 · 148 · 149 · 150 · 151 · 152 · 153 · 154 · 155 · 156 · 157 · 158 · 159 · 160 · 161 · 162 · 163 · 164 · 165 · 166 · 167 · 168 · 169 · 170 · 171 · 172 · 173 · 174 · 175 · 176 · 177 · 178 · 179 · 180 · 181 · 182 · 183 · 184 · 185 · 186 · 187 · 188 · 189 · 190 · 191 · 192 · 193 · 194 · 195 · 196 · 197 · 198 · 199 · 200 · 201 · 202 · 203 · 204 · 205 · 206a · 206b · 207 · 208 · 209 · 210 · 211 · 212 · 213 · 214 · 215 · 216 · 217 · 218 · 219 · 220 · 221 · 222 · 223 · 224 · 225 · 226 · 227 · 228 · 229 · 230 · 231 · 232 · 233 · 234 · 235 · 236 · 237 · 238 · 239 · 240 · 241 · 242 · 243 · 244 · 245 · 246 · 247 · 248 · 249 · 250 · 251 · 252 · 253 · 254 · 255 · 256 · 257 · 258 · 259 · 260 · 261 · 262 · 263 · 264 · 265 · 266 · 267 · 268 · 269 · 270 · 271 · 272 · 273 · 274 · 275 · 276 · 277 · 278 · 279 · 280 · 281 · 282 · 283 · 284 · 285 · 286 · 287 · 288 · 289 · 290 · 291 · 292 · 293 · 294 · 295 · 296 · 297 · 298 · 299 · 300 · 301 · 302 · 303 · 304 · 305 · 306 · 307 · 308 · 309 · 310 · 311 · 312 · 313 · 314 · 315 · 316 · 317 · 318 · 319 · 320 · 321 · 322 · 323 · 324 · 325 · 326 · 327 · 328 · 329 · 330 · 331 · 332 · 368 · 449 · 451 · 501 · 502 · 542 · 560 · 561 · 562 · 563 · 564 · 648 · 649 · 809 · 965 · 1033 · 1358 · 1386 · 1491 · 1423 · 1561 · 1575 · 1598 · 1599 · 1602 · 1604 · 1614 · 1619 · 1623 · 1637 · 1681 · 1682 · 1683 · 1684 · 1685 · 1686 · 1691 · 1813 · 1839 · 1965 · 1966 · 1967 · 2005 · 2137 · 2138 · 2139 · 2140 · 2141 · 2142 · 2143 · 2144 · 2145 · 2164 · 2208 · 2210 · 2211 · 2260 · 2261 · 2263 · 2264 · 2265 · 2266 · 2267 · 2276 · 2307 · 2321 · 2352 · 2404 · 2405 · 2406 · 2411 · 2412 ·



New book available with irrefutable evidence for the reading in the TR and KJV.
Revelation 16:5 book
Revelation 16:5 and the Triadic Declaration - A defense of the reading of “shalt be” in the Authorized Version

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