There are historical, social, cultural and regional variations of English. Divergences from the
grammar described here occur in some
dialects. This article describes a generalized present-day
Standard English – a form of speech and writing used in public discourse, including broadcasting, education, entertainment, government, and news, over a range of registers from formal to informal. There are differences in grammar between the standard forms of
British,
American, and
Australian English, although these are more minor than differences in
vocabulary and
pronunciation.
Word classes and phrases[edit]
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), and other similar relatively new words.
[2] The others are considered to be
closed classes. For example, it is rare for a new pronoun to enter the language. 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.
[2]
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, most 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).
[3]Lexemes may be
inflected to express different grammatical categories. The lexeme
run has the forms
runs,
ran,
runny,
runner, and
running.
[3] 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.
[3]
Words combine to form
phrases. A phrase typically serves the same function as a word from some particular word class.
[3] 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 phrases and
adverbial 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 and its
complement (linguistics) (and is therefore usually a type of adverbial phrase); and a
determiner phrase is a type of noun phrase containing a determiner.
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,
[3]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).
Countable nouns generally have
singular and
plural forms.
[4] 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 be used with 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 is a form of
synesis; it is more common in British than American English. See
English plural § Singulars with collective meaning treated as plural.
English nouns are not marked for
case as they are in some languages, but they have
possessive forms, through 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).
The
status of the possessive as an affix or a clitic is the subject of debate.
[6][7] It differs from the noun inflection of languages such as German, in that the
genitive ending may attach to the last word of the phrase. To account for this, the possessive can be analysed, for instance as a clitic construction (an "
enclitic postposition"
[8]) or as an inflection
[9][10] of the last word of a phrase ("edge inflection").
Phrases[edit]
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.
[5]
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[5] 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. See
§ Conjunctions below for more explanation.
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.
A system of grammatical gender, whereby every
noun was treated as either masculine, feminine or neuter, existed in
Old English, but fell out of use during the
Middle Englishperiod.
Modern English retains features relating to
natural gender, namely the use of certain nouns and
pronouns (such as
he and
she) to refer specifically to persons or animals of one or other genders and certain others (such as
it) for sexless objects – although
feminine pronouns are sometimes used when referring to ships (and more uncommonly some airplanes and analogous machinery) and nation states.
Some aspects of gender usage in English have been influenced by the movement towards a preference for
gender-neutral language. Animals are triple-gender nouns, being able to take masculine, feminine and neuter pronouns.
[11] 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.
[12]
| Masculine | Feminine | Gender neutral |
|---|
| man | woman | adult |
| boy | girl | child |
| husband | wife | spouse |
| actor | actress | - |
| rooster | hen | chicken |
Many nouns that mention 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".
[12]
- Jane is my friend. She is a dentist.
- Paul is my cousin. He is a dentist.
Often the gender distinction for these neutral nouns is established by inserting the words "male" or "female".
[12]
- 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 use the gender-neutral pronoun (it).
[12]
- 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[edit]
English
determiners constitute a relatively small class of words. They include the
articles the,
a[n], 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,
some,
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[edit]
Personal[edit]
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, them, 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 second-person 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
you set of pronouns are used for plural reference, or with singular reference as a formal
V-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 is 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[edit]
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[edit]
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"[edit]
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 informal English, however, the
contraction there's is often used for both singular and plural.
[14]
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.
[15] 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
thereas 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 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.
[16]
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).
[17] Many verbs also contain
prefixes, such
un- (
unmask),
out- (
outlast),
over- (
overtake), and
under- (
undervalue).
[17] Verbs can also be formed from nouns and adjectives by
zero derivation, as with the verbs
snare,
nose,
dry, and
calm.
Most verbs have three or four inflected forms in addition to the base form: a third-person singular present tense form in
-(e)s (
writes,
botches), a
present participle and
gerundform 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 basic form of the verb (
be, write, play) is used as the
infinitive, 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.
[18] These do not inflect for person or number,
[18] 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".
[19] 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.
Phrases[edit]
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
[20]). 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 (see under
§ Adverbs below). 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[edit]
English
adjectives, as with other word classes, cannot in general be identified as such by their form,
[21] 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[edit]
Many adjectives have
comparative and
superlative forms in
-er and
-est,
[22] 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.
[22] 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.
Phrases[edit]
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[edit]
Adverbs perform a wide range of functions. They typically modify verbs (or verb phrases), adjectives (or adjectival phrases), or other adverbs (or adverbial phrases).
[24]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).
[25] They can also indicate a relationship between clauses or sentences (
He died, and consequently I inherited the estate).
[25]
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; these are
flat adverbs. In earlier usage more flat adverbs were accepted in formal usage; many of these survive in idioms and colloquially. (
That's just plain ugly.) Some adjectives can also be used as flat adverbs when they actually describe the subject. (
The streaker ran naked, not **
The streaker ran nakedly.) 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,
[24] 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:
[24] 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" (see
§ Verbs above), 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.[26]
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).
Phrases[edit]
An
adverb phrase is a phrase that acts as an adverb within a sentence.
[27] 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[edit]
Prepositions form a closed word class,
[25] 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.
[28] 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
infinitivephrases:
he is nice to talk to;
this is the page to make copies of.
Conjunctions[edit]
Conjunctions express a variety of logical relations between items, phrases, clauses and sentences.
[29] 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,
[29] 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,[30] 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.
[29] 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).
- 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. (For the use of
that in relative clauses, see
§ Relative pronounsabove.)
- The nominative case (subjective pronouns such as I, he, she, we, they, who, whoever), used for the subject of a finite verb and sometimes for the complement of a copula.
- The oblique case (object pronouns such as me, him, her, us, it, us, them, whom, whomever), used for the direct or indirect object of a verb, for the object of a preposition, for an absolute disjunct, and sometimes for the complement of a copula.
- The genitive case (possessive pronouns such as my/mine, his, her(s), our(s), its, our(s), their, theirs, whose), used for a grammatical possessor. This is not always considered to be a case; see English possessive § Status of the possessive as a grammatical case.
Most English personal pronouns have five forms: the nominative and oblique case forms, the
possessive case, which has both a
determiner form (such as
my,
our) and a distinct
independent form (such as
mine,
ours) (with two exceptions: the
third person singular masculine and the third person singular neuter
it, which use the same form for both determiner and independent [
his car,
it is his]), and a distinct
reflexive or
intensive form (such as
myself,
ourselves). The
interrogative personal pronoun
who exhibits the greatest diversity of forms within the modern English pronoun system, having definite nominative, oblique, and genitive forms (
who,
whom,
whose) and equivalently coordinating indefinite forms (
whoever,
whomever, and
whosever).
Forms such as
I,
he and
we are used for the
subject ("
I kicked the ball"), whereas forms such as
me,
him and
us are used for the
object ("John kicked
me").
[33]
Declension[edit]
Nouns have distinct singular and plural forms; that is, they
decline to reflect their
grammatical number; consider the difference between
book and
books. In addition, a few English pronouns have distinct
nominative (also called
subjective) and
oblique (or objective) forms; that is, they decline to reflect their relationship to a
verb or
preposition, or
case. Consider the difference between
he (subjective) and
him (objective), as in "He saw it" and "It saw him"; similarly, consider
who, which is subjective, and the objective
whom.
Further, these pronouns and a few others have distinct
possessive forms, such as
his and
whose. By contrast, nouns have no distinct nominative and objective forms, the two being merged into a single
plain case. For example,
chair does not change form between "the chair is here" (subject) and "I saw the chair" (direct object). Possession is shown by the
clitic -'s attached to a possessive
noun phrase, rather than by declension of the noun itself.
[34]
Negation[edit]
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[edit]
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).
Word order[edit]
English word order has moved from the Germanic
verb-second (V2) word order to being almost exclusively
subject–verb–object (SVO). The combination of SVO order and use of
auxiliary verbs often creates clusters of two or more verbs at the centre of the sentence, such as
he had hoped to try to open it. In most sentences English marks grammatical relations only through word order. The subject constituent precedes the verb and the object constituent follows it. The
Object–subject–verb (OSV) may on occasion be seen in English, usually in the
future tense or used as a contrast with the conjunction "but", such as in the following examples: "Rome I shall see!", "I hate oranges, but apples I'll eat!".
[35]
Questions[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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 tooor 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[edit]
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.
