Grammar Flashcards
Indefinite articles
A: for n. or adj. beginning with a consonant.
An: for n. or adj. beginning with a vowel.
Definite article
The
Determiners - Possessive adjectives
Tell us what belongs to or is related to something else:
my, his, her, its, our, your, their.
Determiners - Demonstratives
Things near: this/these
Things far: that/those
Determiners - Quantifiers
No, either, neither, any, every, both, few, little, half, etc.
Common noun
Used to name a person, animal, place, thing or abstract idea:
book, smell, dog, parsnip, leg, delight, boredom, success and failure.
Proper noun
Used to name a specific person, animal, place or thing:
Queen Victoria, Monday, Christmas, Rolls-Royce
Compound noun
Noun made up of more than one word:
apple tree, lion tamer, science-fiction.
Countable nouns
Name something that can be counted:
one plate, two eggs, etc.
Use fewer.
Collective nouns
Refers to a group or a number of individuals:
audience, class, family, flock, group, jury, parliament, etc.
Non-countable nouns
Names something that cannot be counted, a mass or quantity, and therefore has no plural:
air, art, milk, money, stupidity, sand and wisdom.
Use less.
Subject pronoun
Used in place of a noun:
I, you, he, she, it, we, they
Object pronoun
Used in place of a noun:
me, you, him, her, it, us, them
Relative pronoun
Introduces subordinate clauses that tell us more about noun that preceded them:
who, what, whom, that, whose and which.
Reflexive pronouns
Formed by adding self or selves to the basic pronoun:
myself, oneself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, themselves, etc.
Reciprocal pronouns
Each other: two people or things.
One another: more than two.
Possessive pronouns
My, mine, your(s), his, her(s), our(s), their(s) and its
Indefinite pronouns
Used when we don’t want to or are unable to specify exactly what we are talking about:
all, another, any, anyone, each, everything, several, someone, etc.
Demonstrative pronouns
Same as demonstrative determiners but used differently:
this, that, these and those.
“Please take this away.”
Interrogative pronouns
Take the place of the noun in a question:
who, what, which.
When to use:
who, which or that?
Who: to refer to people
Which: to refer to animals or inanimate objects
That: informal substitute for either
Infinitive verb
Made up of preposition ‘to’ and the basic form of the verb:
to be, to sleep, to dream
These verbs have meaning, but tell us nothing specific about the action that is performed.
A finite verb
Has a conjugated ending to show a change of meaning (I guffaw-ed); an auxiliary or helping verb added to specify time and number (I ‘will’ guffaw).
Auxiliary verbs
Come before verbs to denote tense, voice, mood, etc:
may, might, must, be, being, been, am, are, is, was, were, do, does, did, should, could, would, have, had, has, will, can, shall.
Modal verbs
Give information about mood of verb, expressing such things as obligation:
must and may, should and ought.
Active and passive voices
Active voice: the subject acts.
Passive voice: the subject is acted upon.
The father reprimanded the boy - The boy was reprimanded.
Present tense
Simple: I pirouette
Continuous: I am pirouetting
Perfect: I have pirouetted
Perfect continuous: I have been pirouetting
Past tense
Simple: I did pirouette Imperfect: I used to pirouette Continuous: I was pirouetting Conditional: I would pirouette Perfect: I had pirouetted Perfect continuous: I had been pirouetting
Future tense
Future: I will pirouette
Future perfect: I will have pirouetted
Future continuous: I will be pirouetting
Future perfect continuous: I will have been pirouetting
Three verb moods
Indicative: makes a statement or asks a question
‘He will come… Will he come?’
Imperative: gives a command
‘Do as I say!’
Subjunctive: when something is contrary to the fact. ‘Were’ instead of ‘was’.
‘If I were you (but I’m not).’
