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Prepositional Phrases as Adjectives and Adverbs
A group of words that may take the place of a part of speech is called a phrase. In an earlier lesson, I explained the seven types of phrases, but in this lesson, I expand on the prepositional phrase. The prepositional phrase is a...
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Adverb Clauses: An Adverb Clause is a Part of Speech Classed as an Adverb
Adverb clauses also known as adverbial clauses function as one part of speech: the adverb. We know that an adverb answer modifies a verb, an adjective, and another adverb. It answers the question “when?”, “where?”, “how?”, “why?” “to...
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Indefinite and Definite English Articles: A, AN, & THE
An article is a word that defines a noun. Therefore, an article is technically an adjective. Without articles, we wouldn’t be able to refer to specific or particular nouns or to non-specific or non-particular nouns. This is because...
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Noun Clauses: Advanced English Grammar | A Noun Clause is a Part of Speech Classed as a Noun
A subordinate or dependent clause that acts as a noun is called a noun (or substantive) clause. When a simple noun is not enough to represent a person, place, thing, or idea, we use a noun clause.
A noun clause usually begins with...
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Subject, Object, Possessive, and Reflexive Pronouns
In this lesson, you will learn about pronoun case. There are four common pronoun cases: subject, object, possessive, and reflexive. Examples are given. My apologies for the sound. Was having trouble with the mic. :-)
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When to Use the Gerund (-ing) and Infinitive (to): Is There a Difference in Meaning?
In today’s lesson we are going to compare two verbals: the gerund and the infinitive. From previous lessons, you learned that a gerund is a verb form that acts like a noun. And an infinitive is also a verb form that can take the form of...
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Types of Phrases | 7 Types | English Grammar | Syntax
A group of words that may take the place of a part of speech is called a phrase. A phrase is a group of connected words, not containing a subject and a predicate. In other words, a phrase does not have a subject and verb. (If a group of...
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ADVANCED LESSON PART 2: How to Reduce the Adverb Clause
In today’s video we’ll continue with our lesson on Reduced Adverb or Adverbial Clauses. This is an advanced lesson so students will need to be familiar with the present and past participle as well as the perfect aspect of verbs. This...
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ADVANCED LESSON PART 1: How to Reduce the Adverb Clause
In today’s video we’ll continue with our lesson on Reduced Adverb or Adverbial Clauses. This is an advanced lesson so students will need to be familiar with the present and past participle as well as the perfect aspect of verbs. This...
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Verb Mood: Indicative, Imperative, and Subjunctive | Properties of Verbs
Mood is a property of verbs that shows the mood, or attitude, of the speaker. Mood is used to denote whether the speaker is stating or asserting a fact, asking a question, expressing a condition, or giving a command. In today's lesson,...
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What is a Subject Complement: Predicate Nominative and Predicate Adjective
A subject complement is a word or phrase that follows a linking verb (called the copula) to connect the predicate to the subject. There are two types of subject complements: the predicate nominative which renames the subject and the...
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The Participial Phrase and the Gerund Phrase: How to Tell Them Apart
In this lesson, we'll learn about the participial phrase and the gerund phrase. The participial functions as an adjective and the gerund functions as a noun. Participles and gerunds are types of verbals. A verbal is a verb form that can...
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Active and Passive Voice of Verbs | English Grammar Lesson
Voice is one of the five properties of verbs. The voice of a verb determines whether the subject performs or receives the action. In today's lesson, you will learn about the two grammatical voices: active and passive. You will learn how...
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Conjunctive Adverbs: Transition Words, Connectors, Linkers and Interrupters
You probably already know that adverbs are words that modify adjectives, verbs, other adverbs, phrases, and entire sentences. And conjunctive adverbs, also called adverbial conjunctions, connectors, connective adverbs, linkers, linking...
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INFINITIVES: Everything You Need To Know
An infinitive is a verb that is not bound by time. An infinitive is a base verb, or a verb in its basic form. This is called the bare infinitive. But when you think of the infinitive you probably think of the verb form called the full...
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How Authors Describe Characters: Direct vs Indirect Characterization
When taking a reading comprehension test, have you ever been stumped by a question asking about how the author or another character feels about a specific character? Or perhaps when reading a novel or story, you’re somewhat confused...
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Indefinite Pronoun None: None Is or None Are | Subject-Verb Agreement
In this lesson, we review the controversial pronoun NONE. Some believe that NONE is always singular and takes a singular verb, but this is not always the case. Examples are given.
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Syntactic Properties of Phrasal Verbs | Lesson 1 of 3
In today’s lesson, we’ll look at phrasal verbs from a grammatical perspective. You’ll learn about the syntactic features of phrasal verbs, particles as adverbs or prepositions, and the difference between phrasal verbs,...
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Causative Verbs ~ Advanced English Grammar Lesson
Today, you’ll learn how we define true causative verbs The causative verb structure of the sentence The Causative verb structure of the sentence. (Declarative, Interrogative, Imperative) Using modals with the causative structure The...
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Double Words: Had Had--Past Perfect Tense
Have you ever encountered the words “had had” in a sentence and thought you were seeing double? Well, rest assured that your eyesight is all right and what you were seeing was a perfectly correct grammatical construction called the past...
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ADVANCED LESSON: How to Reduce the Adjective Clause: Relative Clause Reduction
An adjective clause, also known as an adjectival, or relative clause is a dependent clause that modifies a noun or a pronoun. In effect, this clause functions as one part of speech: the adjective. Why would you want or need to reduce the...
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How to Reduce the Adjective Clause: Relative Clause Reduction
An adjective clause, also known as an adjectival, or relative clause is a dependent clause that modifies a noun or a pronoun. In effect, this clause functions as one part of speech: the adjective. Why would you want or need to reduce the...
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Double Words: That That | Conjunction, Determiner, Pronoun, or Adverb?
Today we continue our lesson on double words in a sentence. Double words in a sentence look weird at first glance and may even confuse the reader. This certainly is an awkward construction, but today we’ll tackle another pair of double...
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What are Linking Verbs? | Auxiliary Verbs
A linking verb is a type of auxiliary verb that does not show any action. It simply links, or joins, the subject of a sentence to the subject complement (a word that identifies or describes the subject). The forms of the verbs to be, to...