Everything you need to know!
Sentence: expresses a complete thought. At a minimum it contains a SUBJECT and an ACTION.
Clause: part of a sentence with a MAIN VERB. Can be
main clause or a subordinate clause
Main clause: part of a sentence that can stand on its own.
Subordinate clause: refers to and explains the main clause, cannot stand on its own.
Phrase: a group of words acting as part of a sentence, so you can have an adverbial phrase, a noun phrase etc...
Word: a single unit in speech or writing.
are people, places or things. They can be subjects and objects in a sentence.
Concrete nouns are objects that exist in the real world, like chair, table, air.
Abstract nouns are things that have no physical presence, like hope, freedom, love.
Proper nouns are the names of people or places, and always start with a capital letter, like Taunton, Dave,
Shirley.
Count nouns are things that can be counted, like sheep.
When comparing smaller amounts, count nouns always take fewer. I have fewer buns than you.
Uncountable nouns are things that have no plurals because they are measured in volume. When comparing smaller amounts, uncountable nouns always take less. I
have less pop than you.
are words that stand in for nouns
Personal pronouns are the most common: I, you, he, she,
it, we, you, they.
Possessive pronouns are words that describe someone’s ownership of property: my, your, his, hers, its, our, your,
their.
Demonstrative pronouns are words that identify a noun: those dogs, these cats
As a minimum, a sentence must contain at least a
SUBJECT (a kind of noun) and an ACTION (a kind of verb).
There are three main types, and they are classified by the kind of clauses they have:
Simple sentences have one main clause, with one main action. I dropped the book.
Compound sentences have two or more main clauses, and each clause can stand on its own. They are linked by the words AND, BUT and OR. I dropped the book and I
fell over.
Complex sentences have one main clause and one or more subordinate clauses. The subordinate clause always gives more information about is happening in the main clause. I dropped the book because I fell over.
are words that show an action
Main verbs are the actions in a sentence. I run. You
laugh. Mr Wood dropped the book.
Active voice
Passive voice
The verb ‘To be’ is the most common verb, but is often misunderstood. Just being is an action in grammar! I am happy. You are here. He is charming. Notice how the verb ‘To be’ changes (it is irregular) according to the
pronoun it is linked to, as well as the tense.
Auxiliary verbs are used to help explain the main verb, and by joining they create a verb phrase. I was running.
You may laugh. Mr Wood will drop the book.
Modal verbs are auxiliary verbs that express the likelihood of something happening, such as can, may,
will, shall, must.
Tenses show when something will happen. There are three basic tenses: past (I dropped the book), present (I drop the book) and future (I will drop the book).
Continuous tenses use auxiliary verbs to show an ongoing action. I was running (past continuous). I am
running (present continuous). I will be running (future continuous).
Perfect tenses use ‘have’ and the past participle to express actions that have been completed. I have run.
Imperatives are verbs that express a command. They have no ‘person’. Run! Jump! Sit down.

are words that describe nouns. When a group of words acts as an adjective, it’s called an adjectival phrase.
Adjectives can be classified as absolute (fast car),
comparative (faster car),
superlative (fastest car). As a general rule, shorter words take the –er or –est ending, longer words have no ending but are preceded by more or most.
are words that describe verbs.
When a group of words acts as an adverb, it’s called an adverbial phrase.
Temporal (time) adverbs tell the time of an action. I taught yesterday.
Prepositional (place) adverbs tell the place or direction of an action. I taught here.
Comparative Adverbs can also be used to compare in the same way as adjectives. I ran fast. I ran faster. I ran fastest.
are words that tell you something about a position in space and time: to, from, with, from, for, without, out, in, on, under, during.
join words, phrases and clauses.
Coordinators (such as and, or, but,
however) are conjunctions that treat words, phrases and clauses as equal parts. I went to school and Dave went home. Often used in compound sentences.
Subordinators (such as because, since,
unless) introduce parts of the sentences that are dependent on another part. I went to school because I love it. Used to create complex sentences.
The Definite article is the word the. ‘The’ refers to a specific noun, rather than one of many. The dog bit me. This implies that the listener would know which dog.
The indefinite article is the word a or an. ‘A’ refers to a non-specific noun, rather than a particular one. A dog bit me.
This implies that the dog was not known.
A is used if the noun starts with a consonant. A dog, a cat, a lime, a mincer, a bottle of pop.
An is used if the noun starts with a vowel. An elephant, an egg, an oyster.
Words beginning with h do not require ‘an’ unless the’ h’ is silent, so a hotel, a helicopter, but an hour, an honour.
This is because the words are spoken with a vowel sound, not an ‘h’ sound.
Capital letters and full stops show where sentences begin and end: The cat was sick this morning. I took it to the vets.
Capital letters are also used for: the word ‘I’; initials such as BBC; names of people, places and products.
Commas (,) help us to understand the meaning within a sentence. They are used to:

Separate items in a list: You will need a pen, pencil and a rubber.

Separate additional information (embedded clauses) from the rest of the sentence: Mrs
Haviland, who was very grumpy in the morning, shouted at the class.

Separate subordinate clauses from the main clauses: When the lesson ended, the teacher rushed to get a coffee.

After the following words: however, therefore, of course, nevertheless.
Question marks (?) act as a full stop when you are asking a question. Even a rhetorical question gets a question mark.
Exclamation marks (!) act as a full stop where you want to convey a strong emotion. It usually means shouting, so use with caution.
Colons (:) are used to point ahead to something that follows such as a list or an example in an essay: For
Christmas I would like: a Furby, a scrabble set and a pair of pink pyjamas.
Semicolons (;) are used to separate items on a list when they are phrases rather than single words: Before you come to school you should: brush your teeth; wash your face; put on your uniform and check your school bag.
Dashes (-) are used to add information to either the middle of a sentence – an embedded clause or phrase – or at the end. If used in the middle – as above and here – they always come in pairs.
Parentheses ( ) are commonly called brackets. You use them to add extra information within a sentence, and dashes can be used in the same way.