Grammar Rules
S&R By: Cristine NIcole Tabique
1. A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a period/full stop, a
question mark or an exclamation mark.
Examples:
-The fat cat sat on the mat.
2. The order of a basic positive sentence is Subject-Verb-Object. (Negative and
question sentences may have a different order.)
Examples:
-John loves Mary.
3. Every sentence must have a subject and a verb. An object is optional. Note
that an imperative sentence may have a verb only, but the subject is
understood.
Examples:
-John teaches.
4. The subject and verb must agree in number, that is a singular subject needs
a singular verb and a plural subject needs a plural verb.
Examples:
-John works in London.
5. When two singular subjects are connected by or, use a singular verb. The
same is true for either/or and neither/nor.
Examples:
-John or Mary is coming tonight.
6. Adjectives usually come before a noun (except when a verb separates the
adjective from the noun).
Example:
I have a big dog.
7. When using two or more adjectives together, the usual order is opinion-
adjective + fact-adjective + noun. (There are some additional rules for the
order of fact adjectives.)
I saw a nice French table.
8. Treat collective nouns (e.g. committee, company, board of directors) as
singular OR plural. In BrE a collective noun is usually treated as plural, needing a
plural verb and pronoun. In AmE a collective noun is often treated as singular,
needing a singular verb and pronoun.
Example:
The committee are having sandwiches for lunch. Then they will go to London.
(typically BrE)
9. The words its and it's are two different words with different meanings.
Examples:
The dog has hurt its leg.
10. The words your and you're are two different words with different meanings.
Examples:
Here is your coffee.
11. The words there, their and they're are three different words with different
meanings.
Example:
There was nobody at the party.
12. The contraction he's can mean he is OR he has. Similarly, she's can mean
she is OR she has, and it's can mean it is OR it has, and John's can mean John is
OR John has.
Example:
He is working
13. The contraction he'd can mean he had OR he would. Similarly, they'd can
mean they had OR they would.
Example:
He had eaten when I arrived.
14. Spell a proper noun with an initial capital letter. A proper noun is a "name" of
something, for example Josef, Mary, Russia, China, British Broadcasting
Corporation, English.
Example:
We have written to Mary.
15.Spell proper adjectives with an initial capital letter. Proper adjectives are
made from proper nouns, for example Germany → German, Orwell → Orwellian,
Machiavelli → Machiavellian.
Example:
London is an English town.
18. Use many or few with countable nouns. Use much/a lot or little for
uncountable nouns.
Example:
How many dollars do you have?
19. To show possession (who is the owner of something) use an apostrophe + s
for singular owners, and s + apostrophe for plural owners.
Example:
The boy's dog. (one boy)
20. In general, use the active voice (Cats eat fish) in preference to the passive
voice (Fish are eaten by cats).
Example:
We use active in preference to passive.
Grammar is significant because language is what enables us to discourse
about language. Grammar identifies the categories of words and word groups
that compose sentences in all languages, not only English. Even as young
children, we can all use grammar because we are all human beings.
