Adjectival clauses
An adjectival clause (sometimes called a relative clause) is a clause that modifies (or ‘qualifies’) a noun. As with all clauses it must contain a subject and a verb. Examples: The man, who was...
Graham's Grammar Posts
Adjective phrases
Adjective phrases (sometimes called adjectival phrases) are phrases that do the work of an adjective. The main word in an adjective is usually an adjective. The words of an adjective phrase join together to...
Adjectives from proper nouns
Adjectives that derive from a proper noun have an initial capital letter. Examples: The English language An African country This Russian girl A Parisian cafe The Freudian theory
What’s the difference between “barter” and “haggle”?
A surprising number of native English speakers confuse these two words. They might say, for example: “I like to go to the market and barter”, when they really mean: “I like to go to...
The position of adjectives
Adjectives usually appear immediately before a noun. Examples: A large table. Daniel’s blue book. Her new clothes. The thirsty horse. These are called attributive adjectives. They tell us about the attributes of something. Sometimes...
Adjectives
An adjective adds more information about a noun or pronoun. Adjectives are sometimes called ‘describing words’. More technically, an adjective is a word that ‘modifies’ or ‘qualifies’ a noun or pronoun. Examples: An old...
What does it mean to “shoehorn something in”?
A shoehorn is a device used to help someone put a shoe (particularly a tight shoe) on to their foot. So ‘to shoehorn something in’ is an idiom about putting something (or someone) into...
‘Recognise’ or ‘recognize’?
‘Recognise’ and ‘recognize’ are both correct spellings. ‘Recognise’ is mainly used in British English. ‘Recognize’ is used in American English. Many people say that ‘recognise’ is the correct spelling in British English, but other...
Regular and irregular verbs
Most English verbs are regular verbs. They follow a standard pattern for the infinitive, third person singular, present participle, and past participle. Examples: Infinitive Third person singular Present participle Past participle Stop Stops Stopping...
Verb tenses
A verb’s tense tells us the time of the action or the state of being. The main tenses are present, past and future. These are divided into simple (or imperfect, or indefinite), continuous, perfect...