The most important rules of the English language. English Grammar: Basic Concepts

Any discipline studied, simple or complex, cannot do without a basic structure, without a core. In a language, this is grammar, and in grammar, the rules are the core. In this article I will try to talk at least a little about such a vast and complex issue as grammar rules in English, of which there are a lot, as well as exceptions. We will focus on the most important ones.

Basic rules in English

There is no need to blindly cram the rules, and it is useless, you just need to understand the grammar. Having an idea of the system and structure of the language, understanding its means and mechanisms, the basic rules with which it operates, you will be able to hone your practical skills, and sometimes consult reference books to clarify some points, or when your intuition does not tell you the correct answer.

If you periodically have doubts about the correct use of numbers, choice of words, their order, then take a look at the code of laws of English grammar. This article will help you resolve doubts about mastering difficult or problematic aspects of the English language. I have chosen the most common grammatical problems faced by people who decide to learn a foreign language.

Articles - three special words in English

In English, special words are used - articles. There are only two of them - definite article the and the indefinite a (an is placed before nouns beginning with a vowel). In most cases, this function word is placed only before nouns. The indefinite article is applied exclusively to singular countable nouns, while the definite article is used when using nouns, both singular and plural, regardless of whether they are countable or not.

There are cases when the article is not used at all. They need to be remembered.

So, the article is not used at all if the noun is preceded by:

cardinal number (one, two, three);

There are ten boys in the team - there are ten boys in the team.

possessive or demonstrative pronoun (this, our, that, my, etc.);

My flat is not big, but modern - My apartment is small, but modern.

another noun in the possessive case (my sister’s, Sam’s etc.);

negation of “no” (not “not”!).

I have no book - I don’t have a book.

Note: if a noun in the possessive case serves as an adjective in a sentence, the use of an article in this case is possible.

It’s a children’s room (children’s room).

The article is not placed before uncountable nouns, which denote an abstract concept or an indefinite amount of substance.

I don’t like milk, I prefer juice. — I don’t like milk, I prefer juice (juice, milk - in general)

Kindness is one of the most important things in the world. — Kindness is one of the most important things in the world (kindness is an abstract concept).

The article is not used with the names of sports:

I am fond of box, and my sister prefers sport dancing. — I love boxing, and my sister prefers sports dancing.

The article is not placed before proper names (exceptions include some geographical names).

The order of sentence construction

In Russian, the meaning of what is said does not depend on the sequence of words. The meaning of a phrase or proposition is not affected in any way by the order in which the words are placed. In English there is own order construction of phrases and sentences, compliance with which is mandatory, otherwise the meaning of what was said will be different or the sentence will simply lose its meaning and form.

So, the correct sequence of words is:

The Subject always comes first, followed by the Predicate, then the Object - What? Circumstances - Where and When, and Definition - Which? is placed between the article and the word that it defines: The green room...

The possessive case of the word (Whose?) determines the following noun and is always placed in preposition (in front of) the defined noun. The analogue in Russian is a possessive adjective or Genitive: children’s room - children’s room or children’s room.

But definitions in English are also arranged in a certain order. To remember their sequence, you need to learn the word “OPSHACOM”, which is consonant with the Russian “OBSHCHAK”. The basis of this word is made up of the first letters of the definitions in the required sequence:

Opinion - opinion
Shape - form
Age - age
COlour - color
Material - material

Indefinite adverbs and adverbs of frequency are set in preposition with respect to the main verb, but in postposition with respect to “to be”, as well as in postposition of the first auxiliary verbs and the second “have”. Unclear? That's it for now. As soon as you come across such adverbs, remember this rule.

It is worth remembering the “one time rule”: simple sentence any grammatical unit can be used once, and the closer to the beginning of the proposition, the more correct and better. Also, negation is used only once. And in complex polyfunctional units after the past tense, only the past and no other is used.

Indefinite present tense

This tense is used to show an action that is constantly being performed in the present or to express generally accepted truths. For example: In the morning I wash my face/Every morning I wash up or The moon shines at night.

The infinitive form agrees with the Present Indefinite, eliminating "to" in all persons except the third person singular, which takes the ending "-s (-es)". IN in this case this ending is pronounced differently:

After vowels and voiced consonants - [z] - writes
After voiceless consonants - [s] - tells
After whistling and hissing sounds, as well as letter combinations ss, sh, ch, x - [iz] - washes

I write

I tell

I wash

The same rule applies for plural in nouns.

By the way, about nouns. The word “FAMILY” is a collective concept that can be combined with the plural if it means “all family members”, as well as with the third person form of the verb singular, if denoting "Family" as a single entity. All combinations of similar verb forms: team, group, etc.

Don't forget that the word "POLICE" is constantly used together with plural verbs. And the words “Advice”, “Information” and “News” are uncountable nouns that are combined exclusively with verbs of 3 l. units

Questions

There are two types of unusual questions in English. So we'll talk about them.

The first type is choice or alternative questions (either/or, or/or). In this case, the word order corresponds to the basic rules: Do you like cold tea or hot? But as an alternative, there are some features:

In infinitive structures, "to" is placed only before the first initial form

The article is retained in definitions for one noun, which is in the singular.

When using the noun that came first, the other one is replaced by “ONE”: Do you like a big apple or little one? Instead of the second word “apple” we use “ONE”

When selecting the entire sentence, “NOT” is applied: Do you want the toy or NOT?/Do you want the toy or not?

The second type is Connection (division) questions. The table shows its structure:

Accent

Well, with monosyllabic words everything is clear. Now let's look at the grammar of disyllabic and complex lexical units. In two-syllable and three-syllable words, the stress is on the first syllable, in most cases. But in difficult words, where there are two or more stems, the first word acquires greater intonation, that is, emphasis.

We present to you the first article in the “English Grammar for Beginners” series. In this series of materials, we decided to present all the rules briefly and in simple words so that beginners “from scratch” or those who do not remember the basics of English well can independently figure out the grammar, understand it and apply it in practice.

Plural in English

In English, as in Russian, all words are divided into countable and uncountable. This is important to understand when forming the plural of a word. Countable nouns denote those objects that can be counted, for example: table (table), book (book), apple (apple). Uncountable nouns are abstract concepts, liquids, products, etc., that is, things that cannot be counted. For example: knowledge, water, meat, flour. These words have no plural or singular.

Countable nouns can be used in singular or plural. A singular noun denotes one thing; this is the form of the word that is indicated in the dictionary: apple - apple. A plural noun denotes several objects: apples - apples.

How to form the plural of nouns:

Usually the plural of nouns is formed by adding the ending -s to the word: book – books (book – books). However, there are several spelling features:

If the word ends in -o, -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, then add the ending -es: hero – heroes (hero – heroes), bus – buses (bus – buses).
Exceptions: photo - photos (photo - photographs), video - videos (video recording - video recordings), radio - radios (radio - several radios), rhino - rhinos (rhino - rhinoceroses), piano - pianos (piano - several pianos), hippo - hippos (hippopotamus - hippopotamuses).
If the word ends in -f, -fe, then change the ending to -ves: knife – knives, leaf – leaves, wife – wives.
Exceptions: roof - roofs (roof - roofs), giraffe - giraffes (giraffe - giraffes), cliff - cliffs (cliff - cliffs).
If a word ends in -y, preceded by a consonant, then we change -y to -ies: body – bodies (body – bodies).
If the word ends in -y, preceded by a vowel, then add the ending -s: boy – boys (boy – boys).

In English there is also exception words, which form the plural irregularly. You just need to learn such words by heart; fortunately, there are not very many of them.

Singular	Plural
man - man	men - men
woman - woman	women - women
child - child	children - children
person - person	people - people
foot - foot	feet - feet
mouse - mouse	mice - mice
tooth - tooth	teeth - teeth
sheep - sheep	sheep - sheep

Try our test to see how well you have understood the material.

English Plural Noun Test

Articles in English

There are two types of articles in English: definite and indefinite. They are not translated into Russian. In the vast majority of cases, one of these articles must be placed before a singular noun.

The indefinite article a/an is used only with countable nouns in the singular: a girl (girl), a pen (handle). If a word begins with a consonant sound, we write the article a (a girl), and if the word begins with a vowel sound, we write the article an (an apple).

The indefinite article a/an is used in the following cases:

We name any indefinite object, and we have only one, which is why we use the article a, which comes from the word one (one):
It is a book. - This is a book.
We mention the subject for the first time in speech:
I see a shop. - I see (some, one of many) store.
We talk about a person’s profession or indicate his belonging to a certain group:
He is a teacher. - He is a teacher.
She is a student. - She is a student.

We use the definite article the when we are talking about a specific object that is familiar to us. This article can appear before a singular or plural noun.

The definite article the is used in the following cases:

We have already mentioned the subject earlier in our speech:
I see a shop. The shop is big. - I see a store. (This) The store is big.
It is believed that the definite article comes from the word that (that), therefore it is intended to indicate some specific object familiar to the interlocutors.
We are talking about an object that in this context is one of a kind and cannot be confused with something else:
Honey, I'm washing the car. - Honey, I'm washing the car. (the family has one car, so we are talking about a specific item)
Look at the girl in the red dress - Look at the girl in the red dress. (we point to a specific girl in a specific dress)
We are talking about a one-of-a-kind object, there is no other like it: the sun, the moon, the world, the President of France, etc.:
The earth is our home. - Earth is our home.

Verb to be

IN English sentence there is always a verb. And if in Russian we can say “I am a doctor”, “Mary is beautiful”, “We are in the hospital”, then in English this is unacceptable: in all these cases, the verb to be must appear after the subject. Therefore, you can remember a simple rule: if there are no ordinary verbs in a sentence, then the verb to be is needed.

The verb to be has three forms:

Am is added to the pronoun I when we talk about ourselves:
I am beautiful. - I am beautiful.
Is is placed after the pronouns he, she, it:
She is beautiful. - She's beautiful.
Are is used after you, we, they:
You are beautiful. - You are handsome.

The verb to be in English is most often used in the following cases:

We inform you that by whom is a person (name, profession, etc.):
I am a doctor. - I am doctor.
We inform you that what a person or thing has a quality:
Mary is beautiful. - Mary is beautiful.
We inform you that Where there is a person or object:
We are at the hospital. - We're in the hospital.

Sentences with the verb to be in the present tense are constructed as follows:

Affirmative sentences	Negative sentences	Interrogative sentences
Principle of Education
I + am	I + am not ('m not)	Am+I
He/She/It + is	He/She/It + is not (isn’t)	Is + he/she/it
We/You/They + are	We/You/They + are not (aren’t)	Are + we/you/they
Examples
I am a manager. - I am a manager.	I am not a manager. - I'm not a manager.	Am I a manager? - I am a manager?
It's awesome. - He's great.	It's not awesome. - He's not great.	Is he awesome? - He's great?
She is a doctor. - She is a doctor.	She isn't a doctor. - She's not a doctor.	Is she a doctor? - She is a doctor?
It (ball) is red. - It (the ball) is red.	It (ball) isn't red. - It (the ball) is not red.	Is it (ball) red? - Is it (the ball) red?
We are the champions. - We are champions.	We aren't the champions. - We are not champions.	Are we the champions? - We are champions?
You are ill. - You are sick.	You are not ill. - You are not sick.	Are you ill? - You are sick?
They are at home. - They are at home.	They aren't at home. - They are not at home.	Are they at home? - They are at home?

We think you are now ready to take the test and test your knowledge.

Test for the use of the verb to be

Present Continuous Tense - present continuous tense

Present Continuous Tense most often shows that the action takes place in this moment.

Every English sentence has a subject and a predicate. In the Present Continuous, the predicate consists of the auxiliary verb to be in the required form (am, is, are) and the main verb without the particle to, to which we add the ending -ing (playing, reading).

She is playing tennis now. - She is now plays to tennis.
I am reading a novel at the moment. - I'm currently I'm reading novel.

The verb to be in this tense is an auxiliary verb, that is, it is a word that comes before the main verb (playing, reading) and helps to form tense. You will find auxiliary verbs in other tenses; these types of verbs include to be (am, is, are), do/does, have/has, will.

Please note the following tense words Present Continuous: now (now), at the moment (at the moment), today (today), tonight (tonight), these days (these days), currently (these days), at present (currently), still (still).

Affirmative sentences in the Present Continuous are formed as follows:

Usually in this tense you just need to add the ending -ing to the main verb: walk – walking (walk), look – looking (look). But some verbs change like this:

If the verb ends in -e, we remove the -e and add -ing: write – writing, dance – dancing.
Exception: see – seeing (to see).
If the verb ends in -ie, we change -ie to -y and add -ing: lie – lying (lie), die – dying (die).
If the verb ends with a stressed syllable with a short vowel that occurs between two consonants, the final consonant is doubled by adding -ing: begin – beginning (begin), swim – swimming (swim).

In negative sentences in the Present Continuous, you just need to insert the particle not between to be and the main verb.

She isn't cooking at the moment. - At the moment she doesn't cook.
You are not listening to me now. - You don't listen me now.

In interrogative sentences in the Present Continuous, you need to put the verb to be in the first place, and after it put the subject and the main verb.

Is she cooking at the moment? - She trains At the moment?
Are you listening to me now? - You me now are you listening?

Now we suggest you take a test on the use of Present Continuous tense.

Test for use of Present Continuous

We have presented you with the first 5 basic topics of the English language. Now your task is to thoroughly understand them and work through them as productively as possible with the help of exercises. In order not to burden you with a large amount of grammar at once, we will release the next article in this series in a few weeks. Subscribe to our newsletter, then you definitely won't miss out important information. We wish you success in learning English!

Hello friends. English grammar, supplied with numerous examples to help you master it better. All grammatical rules are presented in very clear language. Both beginners and intermediate learners of English will find a lot for themselves here. useful information. English grammar it will become much easier for you.

English grammar. Grammar reference

Verbs and tenses

And:

You need to know these rules!

So, dear readers, now you will get acquainted with the basic rules of English from different sections of the language. They concern grammar, speech, syntax and much more.

Rule #1

After modal verbs particle to not used. We are speaking:

Imust learn Englishmodalverbs. - I have to learn English modal verbs.
You should listen to your parents. -You should listen to your parents.
May I take yournotebooktillSunday? - Can I borrow your laptop until Sunday?

Rule No. 2

You cannot use certain/ indefinite article with pronoun:

I love my mother. - II loveminemom.
Where is your friend now? - WhereNowis yoursFriend?
Yesterday I met Tom and his wife. - Yesterday I met Tom and his wife

Rule No. 3

Adverbs of the English language (for the question “how?”) are formed according to the scheme: adjective + ending ly:

Perfect - perfect ly- excellent, wonderful, wonderful
Quick-quick ly- quickly, nimbly
Rapid - rapid ly- fast
Quiet - quiet ly- quiet
Nice - nice ly- cute
Easy - easy ly- easily
Beautiful - beautiful ly- Beautiful

Rule No. 4

Use PresentSimple, after unions if,assoonasbefore,when,till,until,after,incase in sentences of time and conditions relating to the future:

When I finish school, I will go to my grandparents in the countryside. - WhenII'll finishschool, II'll goTominegrandfatherAndgrandmaVvillage.
After you study your family tree, you will find out where you descend from. - AfterTogo, HowYouyou will studygenealogicaltreeyoursfamilies, Youyou will find, fromwhomYouhappening.
Your elder brother will certainly help you if you ask- Is yoursseniorBrotherNecessarilywill helpyou, IfYouhisask.

Rule No. 5

The word order in an English sentence is:

Subject + predicate + direct object+ indirect object + adverbial

Subject + predicate + direct object + indirect object + adverbal modifier

Isentyoualetterlastweek. - I sent you a letter last week.
I saw Mike in the club. - IsawMikeVclub.
It was sunny yesterday. - Yesterdaywassunny.

In a Russian sentence, liberties are allowed, and there is no specific word order in it, everything depends on the emotion embedded in it. In an English sentence, everything is clear and strict.

Rule No. 6

Phrasal verbs (verb + preposition) of the English language have their own separate meaning and their own translation. For example:

To look- look; to look for- search

To put- put, put; to put on- put on

Rule No. 7

The most general rule for the definite and indefinite articles in the English language: the indefinite article is placed where nothing is known about the subject; The definite article is used where something is known about the subject.

I see a The girl walking down the street is very beautiful. - II seegirl. The girl walking down the street is very beautiful.

Rule No. 8

Ending — ed characteristic of past times only regular verbs. U irregular verbs its own form for each past tense. For example:

Look-looked BUT! Bring-brought -brought

Rule No. 9

There are 4 types of questions in English:

We go to the theater every Saturday. - Welet's goVtheatereverySaturday.

General(general): Do we go to the theater every Saturday? -Welet's goVtheatereverySaturday?
Special(special): Where do we go every Saturday? -WhereWelet's goeverySaturday?
Alternative(alternative): Do we go to the theater every Saturday or every Sunday? -Welet's goVtheatereverySaturdayoreachSunday?
Disjunctive(separating): We go to the theater every Saturday, don’t we? -Welet's goVtheatereverySaturday, NotSowhether?

Rule No. 10

To make an impersonal sentence, you need a pronoun It:

It is cold today. - TodayCold.
It is morning. - Morning.
It is difficult to translate this text. - Thistextdifficulttranslate.

Rule № 11

After alliances asif,asthough(as if, as if, as if, as if) in the conditional mood, verb tobe in the 3rd person singular takes the form were:

She speaks so proudlyas if she wasn't guilty. “She speaks so proudly, as if she’s not guilty.”
Tom looks as though he were rich. - VolumelooksSoas ifHerich.

Rule No. 12

Conditional incentive sentences in the 1st and 3rd person are formed using the word Let's:

Let's I have a look at these pictures. - Let me look at these photographs.
Let's him sleep, he is tired. - Giveto himsleep, Hetired.

Rule No. 13

Everyone knows what the word is many is used with countable nouns, and the word much- with uncountables. But, if suddenly you find it difficult, doubt, forgot the rule or don’t understand what noun is in front of you, feel free to use a combination of words alotof. It applies to both types of nouns.

Many birds - a lot of birds
Much sugar - a lot of sugar

Rule no.14

A bunch of English words- polysemic, that is, they can have several meanings. It depends on the context and meaning of the sentence. To more accurately understand the translation, you should consult a dictionary and clarify in what context the word is used.

Toshoot- shoot on video; toshoot- fire
Country- a country; country- village, village

Rule No. 15

Verb do can replace the main verb in a sentence. For example:

Kate doesn't like to clean her room, but I do. -KateNotlovestake awaymyroom, AII love.
Amanda likes to get presents, but I don't. - Amanda likes to receive gifts, but I don’t.
Steve often ignores his duties, but his sister doesn't. - Steveoftenneglectstheirresponsibilities, AhissisterNo.

So we got to the fifteenth rule. Of course, this is not all. Each section of the English language has its own characteristics, and, therefore, its own laws. We told you only about the most basic ones. We hope you find them useful in learning the language.

Basics of English in 20 minutes

Language was created so that people can communicate and understand each other. In order for interaction to be most effective, the first native speakers had to agree on the rules of English, otherwise everyone would speak their own. Over time, the set of these rules grew larger, acquired additional nuances and exceptions, and then turned into thick English textbooks that today flood the shelves of bookstores and libraries. We will not delve into the jungle of studying British speech, so as not to list all the rules in the English language, but will focus on the 10 basic rules of the English language. Check it!

Order of words in a sentence

Russian speech allows us to compose phrases in any order we like. The sentences “He bought a car”, “He bought a car”, “He bought a car” and other variations will sound equally organic and correct from a grammatical point of view. But the English are a pedantic people, so in their sentences, as in life, there is a strictly observed order:

Subject(who?) + predicate(what does it do?) + addition(with whom? over whom? etc.) + circumstance(when? where? how? etc.).

He bought a car. - He bought a car.

Minor members may be absent, but the presence of a subject and predicate is mandatory, therefore the existence impersonal offers impossible in English. If in the Russian analogue the subject performing the action is absent, then in English it is replaced by the pronoun “ it».

It's cold outside. - It's cold outside.

Auxiliary verbs

It is very important to remember to use auxiliary verbs in negative and interrogative sentences. In Russian, we do not need any helpers other than the main predicate verb. But in classical English, the construction of questions and negations requires the indispensable presence of an helping verb.

Do you like music? - Do you like music?
I won't go to this party. - I won't (will not) go to the party.

Which auxiliary verb you should use depends on the tense, but that's another story with 16 separate chapters.

Basic forms of English verbs be, have, do

There is a “holy trinity” of verbs in the English language - words that can express most actions. These are the verbs: " be"(to be, to appear, to be), " have"(to have) and " do" (do). In view of this frequent use, in the present tense they have their own special forms:

« Be" divided by am (for I), " is" (for he, she, it) and " are"(for we, you, they).
"Have" has a special form only for the third person singular (he, she, it) - “ has».
A " do", using general rule for "he", "she", "it" in the present tense, uses the ending " es» — « does».

Having remembered these basic rules about verbs and their forms, you can already express your thoughts and explain to a foreigner what you need from him.

Prohibition of double negatives

Famous game " I never..." in English is called " I've never(done)...” As you can see, in the Russian language there is a double negative - the pronoun “ never" and negative particle " Not" In English we only see the negative pronoun " never”, and before the verb “done” there is not and cannot be the usual negative particle “not”. Why this happened and who is to blame for this is unknown to history, but we like the version that business residents of Foggy Albion simply do not like to repeat themselves. And we should remember that in English you cannot use double negatives.

Articles

We can talk about these mysterious guys for hours. What makes this conversation especially long is the fact that there are no articles in the Russian language. But we will not repeat the multi-volume material of textbooks, but will concentrate only on when articles are not needed:

When a noun is preceded by a possessive pronoun or a noun in the possessive case:

This is a dog. This is my dog. It isn't my sister's dog.- This is a dog. This is my dog. This is not my sister's dog.

When a cardinal number precedes a noun (answers the question “how much?”):

I have two sisters and one brother.- I have two sisters and one brother.

When a noun is preceded by the negation “no”:

I have no idea what to do.- I have no idea what to do.

When a noun is preceded by a demonstrative pronoun (this, these, that, those):

Give me that pencil, please.- Give me that pencil, please.

Plural

The basic rule for forming plurals is to add the ending " s» to the singular form:

a dog - dog s, a cat - cat s, an insect - insect s

If a noun ends in hissing sound or letter " O", then you should add the ending " es»:

bus - bus es, glass - glass es, bush - bush es, box-box es, branch - branch es potato-potato es

When the word ends with " y", and in front of her stands consonant, « y" in the plural changes to " ies»:

ba by-bab ies, ci ty- cit ies, la dy- lad ies
But: b oh- boy s,t oh- toy s, pl ay- play s.

When the end of a word is " f" or " fe", when adding the ending " s"letter" f" changes to " v»:

lea f-lea v es, wi f e-wi v es

These are the main ones English rules formation of the plural form, but we should not forget about exceptions that go against the rules, for example:

child - children, man - men, mouse - mice etc.

Degrees of comparison

There are two ways to form degrees of comparison: using suffixes and using additional words. The choice of method is influenced by the number of syllables and the last letter in the word:

If the word has 1 syllable, then you should add a suffix:

cold - colder - the coldest, cool - cooler -the coolest, big- bigger -the biggest

If the word consists of two or more syllables, then we use an additional word:

beautiful - more beautiful - the most beautiful

When a word ends with " y", we again use the first method with endings, but in this case "y" changes to " ie».

funny - fun ier- the fun iest, sunny - sun ier- the sun iest

Don't forget the article " the" before superlative comparisons, as well doubling the last consonant letters in monosyllabic words with consonant/vowel/consonant alternation.

Gerund after the verb "like"

A gerund is a verb ending in " ing" If you need to express your preferences using the verb “like,” then it is preferable to use a gerund after it:

I like watch ing films.
Do you like jogg ing?
You don't like play ing chess, do you?

Past tense forms of verbs

The basic rule is that to express the past tense you should use second verb form. This is where the nuances begin, because the main verbs of the English language are divided into regular and irregular, and their methods of forming the second form differ. For correct verbs use the ending " ed", but everyone wrong the verb has its own three shapes that need to be remembered - there is no separate rule for irregular verbs. Fortunately, many of them are formed according to similar word-formation models, and modern technique training has funny rhymes aimed at quick memorization forms of irregular verbs. Our online tutor will be happy to introduce you to them.

Many, much, a lot

English nouns, like Russian ones, are divided into two classes: countable and uncountable. Class influences the use of quantitative pronouns:

WITH countable should use " many».

I have many dresses.- I have a lot of dresses.

WITH uncountable, which are liquids, substances and substances that cannot be counted, we use “ much».

I don't drink much water.- I don't drink a lot of water.

If define classdifficult, then you can use “ a lot (of)", which goes equally well with both uncountable nouns and those that can be counted

He doesn't watch a lot of TV, but he reads a lot of books.- He doesn't watch TV a lot, but he reads a lot of books.

Small hint the ending " s» for countable nouns in the plural.

Conclusion

When learning English, you should remember that rules are meant to be broken. All the rules above are just the “skeleton” of British literary speech. Alive colloquial has a lot of nuances and exceptions, which can only be known by immersing yourself in the atmosphere of an English-speaking society. English songs and films, as well as live interlocutors, will help you do this!

Embark on an exciting journey through the sections of our website, and in just a few days the 10 most important rules of the English language will become as natural as breathing. Breathe in English!

Big and friendly EnglishDom family

“I don’t want to speak intelligently. I want to speak like a lady,” these words belong to Eliza Doolittle, the heroine of Bernard Shaw’s famous play “Pygmalion.”

Eliza may not have wanted to learn to speak correctly, but without grammar she would not have been able to speak at all. We are now talking about grammar as a system of words and syntactic structures inherent in a particular language. Grammar in this sense is “our main asset,” emphasized Eliza’s mentor, Professor Henry Higgins.

But this is not the only definition of grammar. The systematic study and description of a language or group of languages is also grammar, descriptive grammar. Professor Higgins was mainly concerned with just one aspect of it - phonetics, or the study of speech sounds. Henry Higgins recorded the conversation of ordinary people in his notebook - this is a very accurate image of what descriptive grammar is.

And yet, for most, “speaking like a lady” means speaking correctly, as prescribed, speaking in accordance with the linguistic norm. Bernard Shaw spoke about the importance of prescriptive grammar when he wrote in the preface to Pygmalion: “The English do not respect their native language and stubbornly refuse to teach their children to speak it.” It is about the need for a prescriptive approach that Rex Harrison, who played the role of Professor Higgins in the musical “My Fair Lady,” said: “And there are places where our language has already been reduced to nothing. It hasn’t been in use in America for God knows how long!”

Why do we need to learn English grammar?

Grammar is a tool that can be used to describe any language. Grammar gives names to the words and word groups that make up sentences. Already in early childhood we learn to compose sentences - the grammar of our native language is subject to everyone. Studying English at school, university, with a tutor or at a university, we are faced with the need to once again independently and consciously go through this path. And here we need to have an idea of the types of words and phrases and how they form sentences.

Literate people are more likely to succeed in relationships with the opposite sex
According to an online survey of 1,700 people, 43% of users on dating sites believe low level literacy is a big minus to attractiveness.
More than a third (35%) say literacy is sexy. The survey also showed that women are more demanding of their partner’s literacy than men (Michael Sebastian, “43 Percent of Singles Say Bad Grammar Is a Turnoff”).

Parts of speech in English grammar

Depending on their function in a sentence, words are assigned to one or another part of speech. There are 8 parts of speech in English. Just by learning their names, you certainly will not become an English grammar professor. But you will have a basic understanding of the English language and will be ready to start reading other articles on our site - and these articles will help you make significant progress in learning English grammar.

Remember: if a sentence consists of one word, only an interjection can act as this word.

Other parts of speech - nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions - appear in combinations. To understand which part of speech a word belongs to, we must look not only at the word itself, but also at its meaning, place and role in the sentence.

Let's consider three proposals:

Jim showed up for work two hours late. (Jim showed up at work two hours late).
Here work is what Jim came to work for.
He will not have to work overtime. (He will have to work overtime).
And here work is the action that Jim will carry out.
His work permit expires in March. (His work permit expires in March.)
Finally, here work denotes the attribute of the noun permit.

In the first sentence the word work acts as a noun, in the second as a verb, and in the third as an adjective.

We hope you are not confused yet? Let's see what functions the 8 parts of speech perform in English.

Part of speech	Main function
noun	names an animate object, place, or thing	pirate, Caribbean, ship (pirate, Caribbean, ship)
pronoun	replaces a noun	I, you, he, she, it, ours, them, who (I, you, he, she, it, our, their, who)
	expresses an action or state	sing, dance, believe, be (sing, dance, believe, be)
adjective	denotes a noun attribute	hot, lazy, funny (hot, lazy, funny)
	denotes the attribute of a verb, adjective or other adverb	softly, lazily, often (gently, lazily, often)
	shows the relationship between a noun (pronoun) and other words in a sentence	up, over, against, for (up, through, against, for)
	connects words, parts complex sentence And	and, but, or, yet (and, but, or, yet)
interjection	expresses emotions	ah, whoops, ouch (ah! oh!)

NB! Articles (the, a/an) were once considered separate part speech. Nowadays they are more often classified as defining words or determinants.

What do we use to build proposals?

TOP 18 grammatical terms with film examples

Brush up on your English grammar with memorable quotes from your favorite movies and show off your knowledge in an interview or exam! We have compiled a “dossier” on 18 of the most common grammatical terms with rather unusual examples:

1. Active voice - Active Voice

A form of a verb that denotes an action performed by the subject (that is, the main character of the sentence, expressed by the subject). In other words, we are talking about how someone does something, produces, accomplishes something, that is, acts actively.

This construction is the opposite of the passive (passive) voice (see below).

“We buy things we don"t need, with money we don"t have, to impress people we don"t like.”

We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like.

It is important to learn how to build big from small: putting words in the correct form and combining them into phrases, arranging parts of a sentence so as to get a meaningful statement.

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