Basics of the English grammar

All you need to know about your own language before you start learn

another language

PART 1: SENTENCE STRUCTURES

What is grammar?

• The structure of a specific language• Each language has different grammatical

rules: some languages have tenses, others not. Some languages have masculine and feminine nouns, others not.

• Because differences in grammar, literal translations usually don’t work.

A language is more than a random combination of words.

Two main levels• SENTENCE ANALYSIS

Here we split the sentence up into different parts and we analyse which function each part has within a sentence.

Eg. ‘John is kind.’ ‘I give John a kiss.’

Twice the same word (John), but a different function within each sentence (subject vs indirect object)

• WORD ANALYSIS

Here we look at the name and function of each word as such. On top of the ‘lexical’ meaning of the word, there are also grammatical characteristics for each word type.

Eg: play as a verb play as a noun

1. Sentence structures

a) What is a sentence?

b) Which main parts do we have in a sentence?

c) How do we know which part is which?

a) What is a sentence?A sentence is a combination of different sentence parts. A

sentence starts with a capital letter and finishes with a full stop, question mark or explanation mark.

A the very least, a sentence will contain

a verb that goes together with a subject, or an ‘imperative’ (which has an implied subject)

a conjugated verb

Some sentences can be very simple.

Sit down!

I play.

Others can contain ‘mini sentences’ within sentences (we call these ‘clauses’) and they can become very long and complicated:

‘The man I met yesterday at the train station, which is recently renovated, is supposed to be the father of John’s second wife.

Sentences can be a combination of two clauses who are equal in weight (importance). Eg. ‘I like to play music and I enjoy swimming.’

Or they can contain a subclause in a main clause (a clause is something which contains a verb or ‘doing word’)Eg. ‘I met the man you had talked about.’

Equally important

This subclause describes ‘the man’

Unconjugated verbs, loose words etc

We must have at least one conjugated verb to have a proper

sentence.

are not sentences.

Check: Is it a proper sentence?

• YES!

I have played football.

We are happy.

He has completed his homework.

Yesterday, I watched a good film.

When I grow up, I would like to become a filmstar.

• NO!

Beautiful children.

To play tennis.

When I came home.

Played.

Watching tennis.

b) Which main parts do we have in a sentence?

SUBJECT VERB

INDIRECT OBJECT

DIRECT OBJECT

ADVERBIAL(of place, time etc)

c) How do we know which part is which?

The subject

SUBJECT Conjugated VERB

Who? What? is connected with the

main verb?

To check whether something is a

subject, change the ‘I’ to ‘he’ and see if the verb form changes

I am

He am

He is

SUBJECT

Conjugated verb

SUBJECT VERB DIRECT OBJECT

To find out which part the direct object is, ask Who/What

SUBJECT VERB?

WHO or WHAT?

The direct object

I buy flowers.

WHAT DO I BUY?

flowers

Direct object

SUBJECT VERB

DIRECT OBJECT

INDIRECT OBJECT

TO WHOM?

To find out which part the indirect object is, as TO

WHOM, SUBJECT (INDIRECT OBJECT)

VERB

The indirect object

I buy my mother flowers

To/for whom do I buy fowers?

My mother

Indirect object

ADVERBIALOf place, time etcSUBJECT VERB

DIRECT OBJECT

INDIRECT OBJECT

Where? When? How?

The adverbial gives additional information

about where, when etc the action took place. Sometimes it

can be as a mini sentence (clause) within a sentence.

The adverbial

I buy my mother flowers at the market near my house

Where do I buy the flowers?

At the market near my house

Adverbial

•I love you.

•I met him yesterday.

•We played football in the park.

•I want to buy a new jacket.

•In the future, I will become a teacher.

•They are building a new house.

•He has taught her everything she needed to know to pass her exam.

•My mother has recently been promoted at work.

I love you.

I met him yesterday.

We played football in the park.

I want to buy a new jacket.

In the future, I will become a teacher.

They are building a new house.

He has taught her everything she needed to know to pass her exam.

My mother has recently been promoted at work.

subject

I love you.

I met him yesterday.

We played football in the park.

I want to buy a new jacket.

In the future, I will become a teacher.

They are building a new house.

He has taught her everything she needed to know to pass her exam.

My mother has recently been promoted at work.

subject

direct object

I love you.

I met him yesterday.

We played football in the park.

I want to buy a new jacket.

In the future, I will become a teacher.

They are building a new house.

He has taught her everything she needed to know to pass her exam.

My mother has recently been promoted at work.

subject

direct object

adverbial

I love you.

I met him yesterday.

We played football in the park.

I want to buy a new jacket.

In the future, I will become a teacher.

They are building a new house.

He has taught her everything she needed to know to pass her exam.

My mother has recently been promoted at work.

subject

direct object

adverbial

direct object

I love you.

I met him yesterday.

We played football in the park.

I want to buy a new jacket.

In the future, I will become a teacher.

They are building a new house.

He has taught her everything she needed to know to pass her exam.

My mother has recently been promoted at work.

subject

direct object

adverbial

direct object

subject

I love you.

I met him yesterday.

We played football in the park.

I want to buy a new jacket.

In the future, I will become a teacher.

They are building a new house.

He has taught her everything she needed to know to pass her exam.

My mother has recently been promoted at work.

subject

direct object

adverbial

direct object

subject

subject

I love you.

I met him yesterday.

We played football in the park.

I want to buy a new jacket.

In the future, I will become a teacher.

They are building a new house.

He has taught her everything she needed to know to pass her exam.

My mother has recently been promoted at work.

subject

direct object

adverbial

direct object

subject

subject

direct object

I love you.

I met him yesterday.

We played football in the park.

I want to buy a new jacket.

In the future, I will become a teacher.

They are building a new house.

He has taught her everything she needed to know to pass her exam.

My mother has recently been promoted at work.

subject

direct object

adverbial

direct object

subject

subject

direct object

adverbial

RECAP • Do you know what makes up a real sentence?

• Which main parts can we find in a basic sentence?

• How do we find the subject within a sentence?

• Which question do we ask to find the direct object?

• Which question do we ask to find the indirect object?

• Which question do we ask to find the adverbial(s)?

How will your understanding of

sentence structures help

you when learning a foreign language

(tongue)?