English grammar

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English grammar is the study of rules governing the use of the English language. Grammars of English can be either prescriptive or descriptive. Prescription sets rules for language, while description simply describes the way a language is spoken; this article attempts to be primarily descriptive. It is important to understand that experts disagree about many parts of English grammar: what follows is just one analysis among many.

The grammar of English is in some ways relatively simple, and in others quite complex. For example, word order is relatively fixed because English is an analytic language and this aspect of grammar is therefore relatively simple. The verbal system, on the other hand, is quite large and complex, like those of many other Indo-European languages.

This article is organized in sections, addressing word order, nouns, verbs, and other areas as they become relevant in the course of discussion.

Contents 1 Word Order 2 Nouns 2.1 Gender 2.2 Number and Definiteness 2.3 Case 2.3.1 Notes 3 Verbs 3.1 Person 3.2 Voice 3.3 Mood 3.4 Tense 3.4.1 Usage and Auxiliaries 3.4.2 Irregular verbs 3.4.3 Notes 4 Adjectives and adverbs 5 Other topics 5.1 Paradoxes 5.2 Slang 6 External links 7 See also

Word Order

English is a subject verb object (SVO) language: it prefers a sequence of subject–verb–object in its simplest, unmarked declarative statements. Thus "Tom [subject] eats [verb] cheese [object]" and "Mary sees the cat".

However, beyond these simple examples, word order is a complicated matter in English. In particular, the speaker's or writer's point of departure in each clause is a key factor in the organisation of the message. Thus, the elements in a message can be ordered in a way that signals to the reader or listener what the message concerns.

1. The duke has given my aunt that teapot. (i.e., I'm going to tell you about the duke)
2. My aunt has been given that teapot by the duke. (i.e., I'm going to tell you about my aunt)
3. "That teapot the duke has given to my aunt. (i.e., I'm going to tell you about that teapot)

The point of departure can also be set up as an equation, known as a thematic equative. In this way, virtually any element in a clause can be put first.

1. "What the duke gave my aunt was a teapot" (i.e., I'm going to tell you what the duke gave my aunt)
2. "What happened was that the duke gave my aunt a teapot" (i.e., I'm going to tell you what happened)

Usually, the point of departure is the subject of a declarative clause; this is the unmarked form. A point of departure is marked when it is not the subject—thus, occasionally it is the object ("You I blame for this dilemma") and more often an adverbial phrase ("This morning I got up late").

In questions, point of departure is treated slightly differently. Unmarked questions start with the word that indicates what the speaker wants to know.

1. "Where is my little dog?" (I want you to tell me where)
2. "Is John Smith inside?" (I want you to tell me whether he is or isn't)

Marked questions displace this key "what I want to know" word with some other element.

1. "After tea, will you tell me story?" (still "will you or won't you"?)
2. "In your house, who does the cooking?" (still "who"?)

Imperative clauses are either of the type "I want you to do something" or "I want you and me to do something". The second type usually starts with let's; in the unmarked form of the first type, you is implied and not made explicit ("Improve your grammar!"), and included in the marked form ("You improve your grammar!"); another marked form is "Do improve your grammar". In the negative, "Don't argue with me" is unmarked, and "Don't you argue with me" is marked.

In English, the point of departure is frequently marked off in speech by intonation.

In general, English is a head-initial language, meaning that the "anchor" of a phrase (segment of a sentence) occurs at the beginning of the phrase.

1. ran quickly (verb phrase)
2. to the store (prepositional phrase)

The main exception is in noun phrases, which are head-final.

1. blue house (adjective + noun)
2. Fred's cat (possessive + noun)

This leads to a sentence like: "Fred's sister ran quickly to the store". As can be inferred from this example, the sequence of a basic sentence (ignoring articles and other determiners) is: Adjective1 - Subject - Verb - Adverb - Adjective2 - Direct Object - Adjective3 - Indirect Object.

Changes in word order are used in interrogative sentences ("Did you go to the store?"), changes from active to passive voice ("The car was bought by John"), and lexical or grammatical emphasis (topicalization).

Nouns

In English, nouns generally describe persons, places, things, and abstract ideas, and are treated as grammatically distinct from verbs. English nouns, in general, are not marked for case, nor for gender. Nouns are, however, marked for number and definiteness. English does not have dual or trial numbers for nouns.

Gender

A remnant of grammatical gender is also preserved in the third person pronouns. Gender is assigned to animate objects based on biological gender (where known), and to personified objects based on social conventions (ships, for example, are often regarded as feminine in English). He is used for masculine nouns; she is used for feminine nouns; and it is used for nouns of indeterminate gender and inanimate objects. It is generally considered both ungrammatical and/or impolite to refer to humans (other than babies) as it.

Traditionally, the masculine he was used to refer to a person in the 3rd person when their gender was unknown or irrelevant to the context; recently, this usage has come under criticism for supporting gender-based stereotypes and is increasingly considered inappropriate (see Gender-neutral language). There is no consensus on a replacement. Some English speakers prefer to use the slightly cumbersome "he or she" or "s/he", others prefer the use of they (3rd plural) (see singular they). This situation rarely leads to confusion, since the intended meaning can be inferred from context, though it still is considered by most to be incorrect grammar. Spivak pronouns have also been proposed which are essentially formed by dropping the leading <th> from the plural counterpart, but their use is relatively rare compared to other solutions. For comparison, speakers of German distinguish between the homophonous sie ("she"), sie ("they"), and Sie ("you", polite) with little difficulty.

Number and Definiteness

• Nouns are described as being either singular or plural, the latter referring to two or more of the same type of thing. Plurals are often formed by adding an -s to the singular form, though there are plenty of irregular cases.
  1. He is talking to the girl.
  2. She is talking to the girls.

• A definite article such as "the" is used to refer to a specific noun. Definite articles should not be confused with demonstratives, which indicate the location of nouns with respect to the speaker and audience.
  1. We were looking for the dog.
  2. I am walking to the store.

• An indefinite article such as "a" or "an" is used to refer to a generic noun. Note that "a" is used when preceding a noun beginning with a consonant sound, whereas "an" is used when preceding a noun beginning with a vowel sound.
  1. You should have a drink. That building is a university.
  2. They are being an annoyance. He is an heir to the throne.

Case

Older versions of English did mark nouns for case, and the two remaining case markings are the pronominal system and the possessive clitic (which used to be called the saxon genitive). The possessive is marked by a clitic at the end of the possessing noun phrase. This can be illustrated in the following manner:

The king's daughter's house fell.

The first <'s> clitic on king indicates that the daughter in question is the king's. The second <'s> clitic does not attach to "daughter", as many people mistakenly believe, but in fact to the entire noun phrase The king's daughter.

English preserves the old Germanic noun case system in its pronouns. The full set of cases are listed below; note that modern use of the second person singular thou is rare, and is confined to dialects and religious and poetic functions. In everyday speech, the second person plural you is almost always used instead.

Case	1st sg.	2nd sg.	3rd sg.	1st pl.	2nd pl.	3rd pl.	interrogative
Nominative	I	you (thou)	he, she, it	we	you	they	who
Genitive	mine	yours (thine)	his, hers, its	ours	yours	theirs	whose
Accusative	me	you (thee)	him, her, it	us	you	them	whom

Notes

1. Some North American dialects use "y'all" and related forms for the second person plural pronoun: other forms include "you guys", "yu'uns", and "youse". These forms are generally regarded as colloquial and non-standard.
2. The pronoun thou was the former second person singular pronoun; it is considered an archaism in most contexts, although it is still used in some dialects in the north of England.
3. Mine (and thine) were also previously used before vowel sounds to avoid a glottal stop. e.g., Do mine eyes deceive me? Know thine enemy. This usage is now archaic.

Verbs

In English, verbs generally describe actions, and can also be used to describe certain states of being. In contrast to the relative simplicity of English nouns, verbs come in a large array of tenses, some moods, two voices, and are marked for person.

Person

Verbs in English are marked in limited fashion for person. Unlike some other European languages, person cannot generally be inferred from the conjugation attached to the verb. As a result, subject nouns and pronouns are generally required elements in English sentences for clarity's sake. Most regular verbs in English follow the paradigm exemplified below for the simple present of the verb "to listen":

1st sg.	I listen	1st pl.	We listen
2nd sg.	You listen	2nd pl.	You listen
3rd sg.	He/she/it listens	3rd pl.	They listen

Note: an archaic version of the second person singular is "thou listenest".

Voice

English has two voices for verbs: the active and the passive. The basic form is the active verb, and follows the SVO pattern discussed above. The passive voice is derived from the active by changing the verb to its passive form, exchanging the subject and direct object, and marking the former subject with by. The former subject changes to objective case and becomes optional, e.g.

1. active: I heard the music.
2. passive: The music was heard (by me). (Note: me, not I)

The passive form of the verb is formed by replacing the verb with to be in the same tense, and appending the past participle of the original verb. Thus:

Tense	Active voice	Passive voice
Simple present	I hear the music.	The music is heard by me.
Present progressive	I am hearing the music.	The music is being heard by me.
Past imperfect	I was hearing the music	The music was being heard by me.
Past perfect	I heard the music.	The music was heard by me.
Simple Future	I will hear the music.	The music will be heard by me.

This pattern continues through all the composite tenses as well.

The semantic effect of the change from active to passive is the depersonalization of an action. It is also occasionally used to topicalize the direct object of a sentence. Many writing style guides including Strunk and White recommend minimizing use of the passive voice in English.

Mood

English has four primary moods of verb. These are the declarative, the imperative, the conditional and subjunctive, and the interrogative.

• The declarative mood or [indicative mood] is the simplest and most basic mood. Simply put, it's a statement in the active voice of a verb presented as though it were factual. This mood, along with most cases of other moods (unless otherwise stated), is concluded with a period <.>.
  1. I am walking home.
  2. They are singing.
  3. He isn't a dancer.
  4. We are very happy.

• The imperative mood is used in issuing commands. It is formed by using the verb in its simplest, unconjugated form: "Listen!", "Sit!", "Eat!". The imperative mood in English occurs only in the second person, and the subject ("you") is generally not expressly stated, because it is implied. When the speaker gives a command regarding anyone else, it is still directed at the second person as though it were a request for permission, although it may be a rhetorical statement.
  1. Let me do the talking.
  2. Let us build a bridge.
  3. Give him an allowance.
  4. Let sleeping dogs lie.

Sometimes a vocative is used for clarification, e.g. "Sit, John."

• The conditional mood is used to express if-then statements, or in response to counterfactual propositions (see subjunctive mood, below), denoting or implying an indeterminate future action. It is expressed through the use of the verbal auxiliaries could, would, should, may and might in combination with the stem form of the verb.
  1. He could go to the store.
  2. You should be more careful.
  3. I may try something else.
  4. He might be heading north.

Note that for many speakers, "may" and "might" have merged into a single meaning (that of "might") that implies the outcome of the statement is contingent. The implication of permission in "may" seems to remain only in certain uses with the second person, e.g. "You may leave the dinner table."

• The subjunctive mood is used to express counterfactual (or conditional) statements, and is often found in if-then statements, and certain formulaic expressions. It is typically marked in the present tense by the auxiliary "were" plus the present participle (<-ing>) of the verb.
  1. Were I eating, I should sit.
  2. If they were eating, they would sit.
  3. Truth be told...
  4. If I were you...

The conjugation of these moods becomes a significantly more complex matter when they are used with different tenses. However, casual spoken English rarely uses the subjunctive, and generally restricts the conditional mood to the simple present and simple past.

• The interrogative mood is used to pose questions, with or without an expected answer. It is formed by switching the order of the subject and helping verb in a declarative sentence. When spoken, an inflection is often placed so as to emphasize this switch. The interrogative mood can further be formed in this manner by moving the predicate of a declarative sentence in front of the helping verb and changing it to a demonstrative, relative pronoun, quantifier, etc. This mood is denoted by ending the sentence with a question mark <?>.
  1. Are you going to the party?
  2. Is he supposed to do that?
  3. How much do I owe you?
  4. Where is the parking lot?

Rhetorical questions can be formed by moving the helping verb-subject pair to the end of the question, e.g. "You wouldn't really do that, would you?"

Tense

English has a wide variety of verb tenses, all of which convey only the time of an action; however, as in most Germanic languages, they can be whittled down to four: present and past indicative and subjunctive. Using the verbs "to be" and "to have", and the modals "will/would", "shall/should", and "to go", plus the present and past participles, it is possible to create the various compound tenses. The twelve major tenses in English result from combining each of three times (past, present, future) with each of four aspects (simple, continuous (also known as "progressive or "imperfect"), perfect, and continuous perfect). (Certain combinations are very rare in the passive voice, however, most notably the future continuous perfect.) The following are illustrative examples of the primary verb tenses encountered in English.

Tenses in which the main verb is marked for person:

• Simple present: "I listen." For many verbs, this is used to express habit or ability ("I play the guitar").
  

Tenses in which the auxiliary is marked for person:

• Present progressive:

"I am listening." This is used to express what most other languages use the simple present tense for. Note that this form in English can also be used to express future actions, such as in the phrase "We're going to the movies tonight".

• Past progressive:

"I was listening." Used to express an ongoing action completed in the past.

• Present perfect:

"I have listened." This is usually used to express that an event happened at an unspecified or unknown time on the past. It often has the sense of a past action with an ongoing present effect, as in sentences like I have finished the job; he has not arrived yet.

• Present perfect continuous: "I have been listening." This is used to express that an event started at some time in the past and continues to the present.
• Simple future: "I shall/will listen." This expresses that an event will occur in the future, or that the speaker intends to perform some action.
• Future progressive: "I shall/will be listening." Expresses an ongoing event that has not yet been initiated.

Tenses in which neither the main verb nor the auxiliary is marked for person:

• Infinitive: "to listen" Used in combination with other verbs: "I was to listen to the story."
• Simple past: "I listened." In English (unlike some other languages with aorist tenses), this implies that the action took place in the past and that it is not taking place now.
• Past perfect (pluperfect): "I had listened." Expresses that an action was completed prior to some other event.
• Past perfect continuous: "I had been listening." Usually expressed with a duration, this indicates that an event was ongoing for a specific time, then completed before a specific event.
• Future perfect: "I shall/will have listened." Indicates that an action will occur after some other event.
• Future perfect continuous: "I shall/will have been listening." Expresses an ongoing action that occurs in the future, after some other event.

Usage and Auxiliaries

In addition, forms of "do" are used for some negatives, questions and emphasis of the simple present and simple past:

1. "Do I go?" "I do not go." "I do go!"
2. "Did I go?" "I did not go." "I did go!"

The continuous form "going to" is used for some future based tenses:

1. "I am going to go."
2. "I was going to go."

See Auxiliary verb for more examples and details.

Irregular verbs

While many verbs in English follow the relatively simple paradigm illustrated at the beginning of this section, there are many verbs that do not. There are two categories of such verbs:

1. strong verbs (the "transparently irregular")
2. true irregular verbs.

The term "transparently irregular" is sometimes used to describe Jakob Grimm's "strong" verbs that appear irregular at first, but actually follow a common paradigm. This group of verbs are relics of the older Germanic ablaut system for conjugation. This is generally confined to atypical simple past verb forms, e.g.

I meet ~ I met ~ I have met

I read ~ I read ~ I have read

I lead ~ I led ~ I have led

I swim ~ I swam ~ I have swum

I sing ~ I sang ~ I have sung

I steal ~ I stole ~ I have stolen

True irregular verbs have forms that are not predictable from ablaut rules. The most common of these in English is the verb "to be". A sampling of its verbal paradigm is listed below; the majority of other forms are predictable from the knowledge of these four.

Tense	1st sg.	2nd sg.	3rd sg.	1st pl.	2nd pl.	3rd pl.
Simple present	I am	You are	He/she/it is	We are	You are	They are
Simple past	I was	You were	He/she/it was	We were	You were	They were
Present progressive	I am being	You are being	He/she/it is being	We are being	You are being	They are being

Irregular verbs include "eat", "sit", "loan", "keep", among many others. Some paradigms are based on obsolete root words, or roots that have changed meaning. Others are derived from old umlaut patterns that changes in phonemic structure and grammar have distorted (keep ~ kept is one such example). Some are unclear in origin, and may date back to Proto Indo-European times.

Notes

1. In English, a long-standing prescriptive rule holds that shall denotes simple futurity in the first person, and will denotes simple futurity in the second and third persons. In American English, this distinction has largely vanished; will is normally used for both cases, and shall is rare. In British English, adherence to the rule has declined during the 20th century (see Shall and will for a more detailed discussion), although use of shall remains for expressing the simple future in the first person.
2. The distinction between tense, aspect, and mood is not clear-cut or universally agreed-upon. For example, many analysts would not accept that English has twelve tenses. The six "continuous" (also called "progressive") forms in the list above are often treated under the heading of "aspect" rather than tense: the simple past and the past continuous are examples of the same tense, under this view. In addition, many modern grammars of English agree that English does not have a future tense (or a future perfect). These include the two largest and most sophisticated recent grammars:

1. Biber, D., S. Johansson, G. Leech, S. Conrad & E. Finegan. 1999. Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Harlow, Longman.
2. Huddleston, R. & G. Pullum. 2002. The Cambridge grammar of the English language. Cambridge, CUP.

The main argument given by Huddleston and Pullum (pp 209-10) that English does not have a future tense is that "will" is a modal verb, both in its grammar and in its meaning. Biber et al. go further and say that English has only two tenses, past and present: they treat the perfect forms with "have" under "aspect". Huddleston & Pullum, on the other hand, regard the forms with "have" as "secondary tenses".

Adjectives and adverbs

Adjectives are modifiers for nouns and adverbs are modifiers for verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Not all languages distinguish them, but English does in both grammar and word formation. Grammatically, adjectives precede the noun they modify, whereas adverbs might precede or follow the verb they modify, depending upon the specific adverb. English also has a means of converting adjectives into adverbs: the addition of the suffix <-ly> changes an adjective to an adverb (in addition to moving it to the appropriate place in a sentence).

Occasionally, people use adverbs with verbs that require an adjective.

1. "I feel badly" - the speaker has an impaired sense of touch (likewise: "I hear badly")
2. "I feel bad" - the speaker is ill or upset (likewise: "I feel happy")

The latter is, of course, the meaning most people try to convey.

As well, confusion often occurs between good, well (adj.), and well (adv.).

1. "I feel good" - a good mood
2. "I feel well (adj.)" - good health
3. "I did well (adv.)" - success

There are other ways of changing words from one lexical class to another. Nouns are easily transformed into verbs by moving them to the appropriate position in a sentence, and then conjugating them according to the default paradigm. Nouns can also be changed to other kinds of nouns (<-er>, <-ist>), into adverbs of state/condition (<-ness>), and into adjectives (<-ish>, as in "bullish"). Verbs can be turned into adjectives with <-ing> ("dancing school"), into adverbs with <-ly>, and sometimes even into nouns with <-er> ("dancer", "listener").

These processes provide the English language with greater flexibility in choosing words, expanding vocabulary, and re-shuffling words to add subtlety of meaning that might otherwise not be available in an analytic language.

Other topics

Paradoxes

Paradoxes such as "I am asleep" or "No one wrote this" are not considered grammatically incorrect, necessarily.

Slang

The phrase "It ain't grammar" is incorrect; ain't is a dialect word meaning "am not", "is not", "are not", or even "have not". Grammar has to do with which words go where and how they are separated (e.g. by commas) rather than the actual words being used. Whether ain't is appropriate for use in a given context (or at all) is a matter of diction.

External links

1. English Grammar Online - exercises, explanations and teaching materials on English as a foreign language
2. Common Errors in English - alphabetically indexed list of common errors with explanations
3. Short descriptions of the English Tenses
4. Sentence Sense - an online textbook in basic writing
5. Learning English Online - information for learners of English as a foreign language
6. Language Debates - a list of controversial topics in English grammar
7. Free Grammar Tutorials - a column overview of the English tenses
8. Gramster - Free English grammar
9. Free-ESL Grammar - Basic comprehensive grammar of English with discussioncs:Anglická gramatika

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See also

Disputed English grammar