A clause

Clauses

Overview | Independent Clauses | Dependent Clauses |Relative Clauses

What is a clause?

A clause is a part of a sentence. There are two main types: independent (main clauses), dependent (subordinate clauses).

Independent Clauses

An independent clause is a complete sentence; it contains a subject and verb and expresses a complete thought in both context and meaning.

For example: The door opened.

Independent clauses can be joined by a coordinating conjunction to form complex or compound sentences.

Co-ordinating Conjunctions
and	but	for
or	nor	so
yet

For example: Take two independent clauses and join them together with the conjunction and: " The door opened." "The man walked in." = The door opened and the man walked in.

Dependent Clauses

A dependent (subordinate) clause is part of a sentence; it contains a subject and verb but does not express a complete thought. They can make sense on their own, but, they are dependent on the rest of the sentence for context and meaning. They are usually joined to an independent clause to form a complex sentence.

Dependent clauses often begin with a a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun (see below) that makes the clause unable to stand alone.

Subordinating Conjunctions
after	although	as	because
before	even if	even though	if
in order that	once	provided that	rather than
since	so that	than	that
though	unless	until	when
whenever	where	whereas	wherever
whether	while	why

Relative Pronouns
that	which	whichever
who	whoever	whom
whose	whosever	whomever

For example:

The door opened because the man pushed it.

Dependent clauses can be nominal, adverbial or adjectival.

A nominal clause (noun clause) functions like a noun or noun phrase. It is a group of words containing a subject and a finite verb of its own and contains one of the following: that| if | whether

For example:

• I wondered whether the homework was necessary.

Noun clauses answer questions like "who(m)?" or "what?"

An adverbial clause (adverb clause) is a word or expression in the sentence that functions as an adverb; that is, it tells you something about how the action in the verb was done. An adverbial clause is separated from the other clauses by any of the following subordinating conjunctions: after |although | as | because | before | if | since | that | though| till | unless | until | when | where | while

For example:

• They will visit you before they go to the airport.

Adverbial clauses can also be placed before the main clause without changing the meaning.

For example:

• Before they go to the airport, they will visit you.

!Note - When an adverb clause introduces the sentence (as this one does), it is set off with a comma.

Adverb clauses answer questions like "when?", "where?", "why?"

An adjectival clause (adjective clause or relative clause) does the work of an adjective and describes a noun, it's usually introduced by a relative pronoun: who | whom | whose |that | which

For example:

• I went to the show that was very popular.

This kind of clause is used to provide extra information about the noun it follows. This can be to define something (a defining clause), or provide unnecessary, but interesting, added information (a non-defining clause).

For example:

• The car that is parked in front of the gates will be towed away. (Defining relative clause.)

Information contained in the defining relative clause is absolutely essential in order for us to be able to identify the car in question.

• My dog, who is grey and white, chased the postman. ( Non-defining relative clause)

A non-defining relative clause is separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. If you take away the non-defining clause the basic meaning of the sentence remains intact.

For example:

• My dog chased the postman.

Adjective clauses answer questions like "which?" or "what kind of?"

Summary

An adjective clause functions as an adjective (modifies a noun or pronoun); an adverb clause functions as an adverb (describes a verb, adjective or other adverb); a noun clause is used as a noun (subject of a verb, direct object, indirect object, predicate nominative or object of the preposition).

!Note - The difference between a clause and a phrase is that a phrase does not contain a finite verb.

Relative Clauses

A relative clause follows the noun it modifies. It is generally indicated by a relative pronoun at the start of the clause, although sometimes you can tell simply by word order. The choice of relative pronoun, or choice to omit one, can be affected by the following:-

Human or Non-human?

We make a distinction between an antecedent that is a human — who(m) — and an antecedent which is a non-human — which.

Who(m) is used when the antecedent is a person.
That is used to refer to either a person or thing.
Which is used to refer to anything exept a person.

• I met a man and a woman yesterday. The woman, who had long blonde hair, was very pretty.
• The man she was with, was the man that / who won the race.
• The race was the one that I lost.
• The man, to whom the winnings were given, was with the woman who was very pretty. 

!Note - Whom is not used much in spoken English.

Restrictive or Non-restrictive?

Restrictive relative clauses are sometimes called defining relative clauses, or identifying relative clauses. Similarly, non-restrictive relative clauses are called non-defining or non-identifying relative clauses.

In English a non-restrictive relative clause is preceded by a pause in speech or a comma in writing, unlike a restrictive clause.

For example:-

The builder, who erects very fine houses, will make a large profit.
This example, with commas, contains a non-restrictive relative clause. It refers to a specific builder, and assumes we know which builder is intended. It tells us firstly about his houses, then about his profits.

The builder who erects very fine houses will make a large profit.
This second example uses a restrictive relative clause. Without the commas, the sentence states that any builder who builds such houses will make a profit.

Restrictive		Non-restrictive
Human	Nonhuman	Human	Nonhuman
Subject	who, that	which,that	who	which
Object	who, whom,that, Ø	which,that, Ø	who, whom	which
After preposition	whom	which	whom	which
Possessive	whose, of whom	whose, of which	whose, of whom	whose,of which

Case

Case

Overview | Personal Pronouns | Subjective/Nominative
Objective/Accusative | Possessive/Genitive

Case is the grammatical function of a noun or pronoun. There are only three cases in modern English, they aresubjective (he), objective (him) and possessive (his). They may seem more familiar in their old English form - nominative, accusative and genitive. There is no dative case in modern English. Yippee!

First more good news. You cannot really go wrong here, we got rid of most of our cases and as a result English is easier than many other languages because nouns and some indefinite pronouns (anyone, someone, everyone, and so on) only have a distinctive case form for the possessive. There are a few remnants of old English though, and pronouns have distinctive forms in all three cases and should be used with a bit more care.

The pronoun cases are simple though. There are only three:-

1. Subjective case: pronouns used as subject.
2. Objective case: pronouns used as objects of verbs or prepositions.
3. Possessive case: pronouns which express ownership.

Personal Pronoun
Subjective/Nominative	Objective/Accusative	Possessive/Genitive
Referring to the subject in a sentence	Referring to the object in a sentence	The apostrophe form of the word ("Lynne's).
I	Me	Mine
You	You	Yours
He	Him	His
She	Her	Hers
It	It	Its
We	Us	Ours
They	Them	Theirs
Who	Whom	Whose

These pronouns, and who and its compounds, are the only words that are inflected in all three cases (subjective, objective, possessive). In nouns the first two cases (subjective and objective) are indistinguishable, and are called the common case. One result of this simplicity is that, the sense of case being almost lost, the few mistakes that can be made are made often, even by native speakers, some of them so often that they are now almost right by prescription.

Articles

Articles

General | A/an | The | No article

Articles

First the good news:There are only three articles in English:a, an and the.

There are two types of articles indefinite 'a' and 'an' ordefinite 'the'. You also need to know when not to use an article.

The bad news is that their proper use is complex, especially when you get into the advanced use of English. Quite often you have to work it out by what sounds right, which can be frustrating for a learner.

Indefinite articles - a and an(determiners)

A and an are the indefinite articles. They refer to something not specifically known to the person you are communicating with.

A and an are used before nouns that introduce something or someone you have not mentioned before:-

For example

"I saw an elephant this morning."
"I ate a banana for lunch."

A and an are also used when talking about your profession:-

For example

"I am an English teacher."
"I am a builder."

You use a when the noun you are referring to begins with a consonant (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y or z), for example, "a city", "a factory", and "a hotel".

You use an when the noun you are referring to begins with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u)

Pronunciation changes this rule. It's the sound that matters, not the spelling.

Note! If the next word begins with a consonant sound when we say it, for example, "university" then we use a. If the next word begins with a vowel sound when we say it, for example "hour" then we use an.

We say "university" with a "y" sound at the beginning as though it were spelt "youniversity".
So, "a university" IS correct.

We say "hour" with a silent h as though it were spelt "our".
So, "an hour" IS correct.

(Lots of people get this wrong - including native speakers.)

Definite Article - the (determiners)

There are two ways to pronounce "the".

One "thuh" and the other "thee". To learn how to pronounce them see the pronunciation files: How to pronounce "the".

We use the when you have already mentioned the thing you are talking about.

For example:

"She's got two children; a girl and a boy. The girl's eight and the boy's fourteen."

We use the to talk about geographical points on the globe.

For example:

the North Pole, the equator

We use the to talk about rivers, oceans and seas

For example:

the Nile, the Pacific, the English channel

We also use the before certain nouns when we know there is only one of a particular thing.

For example:

the rain, the sun, the wind, the world, the earth,the White House etc..

However if you want to describe a particular instance of these you should use a/an.

For example:

"I could hear the wind." / "There's a cold wind blowing." "What are your plans for the future?" / "She has apromising future ahead of her."

The is also used to say that a particular person or thing being mentioned is the best, most famous, etc. In this use, 'the' is usually given strong pronunciation whether or not it preceeds a vowel:

For example:

"Harry's Bar is the place to go." "You don't mean you met the Tony Blair, do you?"

!Note - The doesn't mean all:-

For example:

"The books are expensive." = (Not all books are expensive, just the ones I'm talking about.) "Books are expensive." = (All books are expensive.)

No article

We usually use no article to talk about things in general:-

Inflation is rising. People are worried about rising crime. (Note! People generally, so no article)

You do not use an article when talking about sports.

For example:

My son plays football. Tennis is expensive.

You do not use an article before uncountable nouns when talking about them generally.

For example:

Information is important to any organisation. Coffee is bad for you.

You do not use an article before the names of countriesexcept where they indicate multiple areas or contain the words (state(s), kindom, republic, union). Kingdom, state, republic and union are nouns, so they need an article.

For example:

No article - Italy, Mexico, Bolivia, England Use the - the UK (United Kingdom), the USA (United States of America), the Irish Republic Multiple areas! the Netherlands, the Philippines,the British Isles

Adverbs

Adverbs

Overview | Degree | Duration | Frequency | Manner | Place| Probability | Time | Adverbial
Comparative | Superlative

Adverbs can tell you where, when, how, why and to what extent something happens.

There are several different classes of adverb (see above).

They are often formed from adjectives or nouns be adding the suffix -ly.

For example: Quick becomes quickly, sudden becomes suddenly, intelligent becomes intelligently.

To form an adverb from adjectives ending in -y change the yto i before adding the -ly.

For example: angry becomes angrily, busy becomes busily.

To form an adverb from adjectives ending in -e drop the -ebefore adding the -ly.

For example: feeble becomes feebly, true becomes truly.

Some adjectives ending in -ly need no changes.

For example: heavenly.

However there are exceptions.

For example: sly becomes slyly, shy becomes shyly.

Some adverbs do not end in -ly.

For example: fast, hard, straight.

Adjective	Pretty	Serious	Fast	Quiet
Example	She was a pretty girl.	He was a serious boy.	It was a fast car.	They were quiet children.
Adverb	Prettily	Seriously	Fast	Quietly
Example	The bird sang prettily.	The policeman spoke seriously.	Schumacher drives fast.	The woman spoke quietly.

Adverbs can modify adjectives

An adjective can be modified by an adverb, which precedes the adjective.

For example:-

That's really nice.

Adverbs can modify adverbs

Some adverbs can modify others. As with adjectives, the adverb precedes the one it is modifying.

For example:-

She did it really well.

Adverbs can modify nouns

Adverbs can modify nouns to indicate time or place.

For example:-

The concert tomorrow.

The room upstairs.

Adverbs can modify noun phrases

Some adverbs of degree such as quite, rather, so, such ... can modify noun phrases.

For example:-

We had quite a good time.

They're such good friends.

Adverbs can modify determiners, numerals and pronouns

Adverbs such as almost, nearly, hardly, about, etc., can be used:

For example:-

Nearly everyone, who was invited, came to the party.

Adverbs can modify sentences

Some adverbs modify a whole sentence, not just a part of one.

For example:-

Luckily the car stopped in time. In this sentence luckilymodifies the whole sentence, it shows that it was good luck that the car stopped in time.

What is an adjective?

What is an adjective?"

Simply put adjectives are descriptive words. Adjectives are used to describe or give information about things, ideas and people: nouns or pronouns.

For example:-

The grey dog barked. (The adjective grey describes the noun "dog".)

The most common question an adjective might answer is "What kind of ...?"

The good news is that in English the form of an adjective does not change, once you have learnt it that's it and it does not matter if the noun being described is male or female, singular or plural, subject or object. Yay!

Some adjectives give us factual information about the noun - age, size colour etc (fact adjectives - can't be argued with).

Some adjectives show what somebody thinks about something or somebody - nice, horrid, beautiful etc (opinion adjectives - not everyone may agree).

If you are asked questions with which, whose, what kind, or how many, you need an adjective to be able to answer.

There are different types of adjectives in the English language:

• Numeric: six, one hundred and one etc.
• Quantitative: more, all, some, half, more than enough etc.
• Qualitative: colour, size, smell etc.
• Possessive: my, his, their, your etc.
• Interrogative: which, whose, what etc.
• Demonstrative: this, that, those, these etc.

!Note - The articles a, an, and the are a special kind of adjective called articles, and the possessives my, our, your,and their are sometimes known as possessive adjectives.

Colour

Adjectives can be used to describe colour.

blue, red, green, brown, yellow, black, white, etc.

For example:

• "The blue bag." or "The blue bags".

Opinion

Adjectives can be used to give your opinion about something.

good, pretty, right, wrong, funny, light, happy, sad, full, soft, hard etc.

For example:

• He was a silly boy. / She was a silly girl.

Size

Adjectives can be used to describe size.

big, small, little, long, tall, short, same as, etc.

For example:

• "The big man." or "The big woman".

Age

Adjectives can be used to describe age.

For example:

• "He was an old man." or "She was an old woman."

Shape

Adjectives can be used to describe shape.

round, circular, triangular, rectangular, square, oval, etc.

For example:

• "It was a square box." or "They were square boxes."

Origin

Adjectives can be used to describe origin.

 

For example:-

• "It was a German flag." or "They were German flags."

Material

Adjectives can be used to identify the material something is made of.

• "A wooden cupboard." or "Wooden cupboards."

!Note - In English we often change nouns into adjectives.

For example: glass - a glass vase / metal - a metal tray etc.

Distance

Adjectives can be used to describe distance.

  l -- o -- n -- g  / short

long, short, far, around, start, high, low, etc.

For example:

• "She went for a long walk." or "They went for lots of longwalks."

 

Temperature

Adjectives can be used to describe temperature.

cold, warm, hot, cool, etc.

For example:

• "It was a hot day" or "We eat ice cream on hot days."

Time

Adjectives can be used to describe time.

 

late, early, bed, nap, dinner, lunch, day, morning, night, etc.

For example:

• "She had an early start."

 

Purpose

Adjectives can be used to describe purpose. (These adjectives often end with "-ing".)

For example:

• "She gave them a sleeping bag." or "She gave themsleeping bags."

!Note - Have you noticed how the adjective stays the same, whether it is describing a masculine, feminine, singular or plural noun? Nice huh?

When using more than one adjective to modify a noun, the adjectives may be separated by a conjunction (and) or by commas (,).

For example:

• "Her hair was long and blonde." or "She had long, blonde hair."

More examples:

Adjective	Pretty	Serious	Fast	Quiet
Example	She is a pretty girl.	He was a serious boy.	It could be a fast car.	They were quiet children.

!Note - Adjectives that go immediately before the noun are called attributive adjectives.

Adjectives can also be used after some verbs. They do not describe the verb, adverbs do that.

Adjectives after a verb describe the subject of the verb (usually a noun or pronoun).

For example:

• "Lynne looks tired." The subject (in this case Lynne) is being described as tired not the verb to look.

There is also the adjective used to, which is such a beast that it gets its own section - Used To.