A Whistle stop tour – Grammar!
Word Types
nouns
adjectives
verbs
adverbs
pronouns
determiners
conjunctions
Types of noun
Concrete nouns (ones you can see, touch,
smell, hear)
Abstract nouns ( eg happiness, power,
success)
Collective nouns ( a pack of wolves)
Noun phrases: group of words doing the
job of a noun
The old yak walked slowly to the field.
Pronouns
Pronouns stand in place of nouns to avoid
repetition.
Jane went to school.  She went to school.
Pronouns such as mine and yours are known as
possessive pronouns.
Determiners
 Determiners give important information about noun
 introduces a noun phrase
 Examples:
 the, a, an (also called articles)  the picture was
amazing
 this, your  that book is fantastic
 some, every  some noisy people arrived
 my, your  my name is Sam
Adjectives
Adjectives describe nouns/pronouns
Adjectival phrases are a group of words that
describe nouns/pronouns
This pie is very delicious and extremely
expensive.
Everyone was really delighted when the winner
was announced.
The new outfit was very pricey but incredibly
smart. beautiful.
Verbs
 Verbs are doing words. A verb can express a
physical action, a mental action, or a state of being.
 Verbs have different tenses  different genres of
writing often require a specific verb tense.
 Regular and irregular tenses.
 Modal verbs  verbs of possibility
 Modal verbs are words like will would can could
should might must
 We must follow directions.
Verbs
Subject verb agreement
The children wasn’t very happy.
The children weren’t very happy.
Prepositions
A word that shows position and how things
relate in time and space.
 Position
 The cat sat by the window.
 Time
 The match is on Friday.
 How
 We had to go without them
Conjunctions
Conjunctions usually connect words or ideas together
inside a sentence. (Have been referred to as
connectives)
Co-ordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS) for, and,
nor, but, or, yet, so,
Subordinating conjunctions:
if, because, although, that, while, even though,
unless, since, when, whenever, before, after
Many subordinating conjunctions can be
other parts of speech
Adverb:
Jill came tumbling after.
Preposition:
Jill came tumbling after Jack.
Subordinating Conjunction:
after Jack had fallen.
Jill came tumbling
Adverbs
Usually tell us information about ‘how’
‘when’ ‘where’.
They can be used with verbs, adjectives or
other adverbs.
He shouted loudly.
The game was really exciting.
She ran very quickly.
The film will start soon.
We can sit over there.
Connecting adverbs
Can be used to link ideas in one sentence to
ideas in another.
Addition: furthermore, moreover
Opposition: however, nevertheless
Reinforcing: besides, after all
Explaining: for example, in other words
Listing: first of all, finally
 Indicating result: consequently, therefore,
Indicating time: meanwhile, just then




 These words create cohesion within their
writing.
Sentence Parts
Phrase: a small group of words that do not make sense on
their own.
Clause: a group of words that includes a verb and can stand
on its own.
Simple sentence: A simple sentence has one subject and one
verb.
Compound sentence: Two or main clauses that are joined by a
conjunction.
Complex sentence: A main clause joined to
one or more subordinate clauses.