Verbs
Verbs express actions or states of being. They are often described as ‘doing words’, but they are more than this.
Graham's Grammar Posts
Noun phrases
A noun phrase consists of a noun joined with one or more other word. Together they can act as the subject, object or complement of a sentence. Examples (with the noun phrases underlined): The...
Compound nouns
A compound noun is formed by joining together two words. Sometimes these words remain separate. Examples: washing machine coffee cup fairy tale Sometimes they are hyphenated (joined together by a hyphen). Examples: holiday-maker hold-up...
Noun gender
Gender has very little place in English language, and no place at all in classifying nouns. There are some nouns that specifically relate to male people or creatures and some that relate specifically to...
Singular nouns and plural nouns
Most nouns in English can be said to be either singular or plural. The most usual way of forming a plural noun from a singular is to add –s. Examples: dog/dogs boy/boys desk/desks Most...
Concrete and abstract nouns
Nouns can be classified as concrete nouns or abstract nouns. Concrete nouns are used to refer to things that can be touched. Examples: car magazine computer David Beckham Abstract nouns are used to refer...
Proper nouns and common nouns
One way of classifying nouns is to identify them as proper nouns or common nouns. Proper nouns name specific people, places, organisations or objects. They start with a capital letter. Examples: Ivan Anna Harry...
Nouns
Nouns are words that name things, places, people, animals, ideas and qualities.
“Excellent in” or “excellent at”?
‘Excellent at’ is probably more common than ‘excellent in’: ‘She is excellent at English’. But ‘excellent in’ can often be used instead: ‘She is excellent in English’ is acceptable but doesn’t sound as good....
The difference between “lodger” and “tenant”
A lodger is someone who pays rent to live in a room or rooms of a property in which the owner (or ‘landlord’) also lives. The lodger usually shares other space – such as...