They typically modify verbs , adjectives , or other adverbs . They can also indicate a relationship between clauses or sentences . A phrase typically serves the same function as a word from some particular word class.
For example, my very good friend Peter is a phrase that can be used in a sentence as if it were a noun, and is therefore called a noun phrase. Similarly, adjectival phrases and adverbial phrases function as if they were adjectives or adverbs, but with other types of phrases, the terminology has different implications. A clause typically contains a subject and a predicate (a verb phrase in the terminology used above; that is, a verb together with its objects and complements). A dependent clause also normally contains a subordinating conjunction .
About 'ain't', if lexicographers find it in use in the varieties of English they aim to represent, they give it a dictionary entry and describe its use. Prescriptivists who judge 'ain't' wrong or inelegant might exclude it altogether or give it an entry with a prohibition. Likewise, 'y'all' is frequently heard in the American South and 'yous' among working-class northeastern urban residents of the United States, as well as elsewhere in the English-speaking world. In those communities, a distinct word for plural you has proven useful. Prescriptivists would argue that, despite educated usage, pronouns should have objective forms after prepositions ("Give it to me/us/them"); thus, only 'between you and me' is correct. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs form open classes – word classes that readily accept new members, such as the noun celebutante , and other similar relatively new words.
The others are considered to be closed classes. For example, it is rare for a new pronoun to enter the language. Determiners, traditionally classified along with adjectives, have not always been regarded as a separate part of speech. Interjections are another word class, but these are not described here as they do not form part of the clause and sentence structure of the language. In order to write accurate descriptions, grammarians must identify which expressions are actually in use. Investigating 'slow' and 'slowly', they would find that both forms function as adverbs, and they might uncover situational or social-group correlates for them.
Descriptivists would point out that English has made no distinction between the adjective and adverb forms of 'fast' for over five hundred years, but prescriptivists are not concerned about that. Most of what are often referred to as verb tenses in English are formed using auxiliary verbs. The auxiliaries shall and should sometimes replace will and would in the first person.
For the uses of these various verb forms, see English verbs and English clause syntax. Pronouns are a relatively small, closed class of words that function in the place of nouns or noun phrases. They include personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, relative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, and some others, mainly indefinite pronouns.
How To Use Also Correctly The full set of English pronouns is presented in the following table. Nonstandard, informal and archaic forms are in italics. Modern English has largely abandoned the inflectional case system of Indo-European in favor of analytic constructions. The personal pronouns retain morphological case more strongly than any other word class . For other pronouns, and all nouns, adjectives, and articles, grammatical function is indicated only by word order, by prepositions, and by the "Saxon genitive or English possessive" (-'s). A conjunction is a word such as and, because, but, for, if, or, and when.
Conjunctions are used to connect phrases, clauses, and sentences.The two main kinds are known as coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions. More generally, the ending can be applied to noun phrases (as in the man you saw yesterday's sister); see below. The possessive form can be used either as a determiner (John's cat) or as a noun phrase (John's is the one next to Jane's). Part of speechfunction or "job"example wordsexample sentencesVerbaction or state be, have, do, like, work, sing, can, mustEnglishClub is a web site.
I like EnglishClub.Nounthing or personpen, dog, work, music, town, London, teacher, JohnThis is my dog. We live in London.Adjectivedescribes a noungood, big, red, well, interestingMy dogs are big. When he is very hungry, he eats really quickly.Pronounreplaces a nounI, you, he, she, someTara is Indian. She is beautiful.Prepositionlinks a noun to another wordto, at, after, on, butWe went to school on Monday.Conjunctionjoins clauses or sentences or wordsand, but, whenI like dogs and I like cats. I like dogs but I don't like cats.Interjectionshort exclamation, sometimes inserted into a sentenceoh!
Prepositions form a closed word class, although there are also certain phrases that serve as prepositions, such as in front of. A single preposition may have a variety of meanings, often including temporal, spatial and abstract. Many words that are prepositions can also serve as adverbs. Examples of common English prepositions are of, in, on, over, under, to, from, with, in front of, behind, opposite, by, before, after, during, through, in spite of or despite, between, among, etc.
The copula be, along with the modal verbs and the other auxiliaries, form a distinct class, sometimes called "special verbs" or simply "auxiliaries". The word that as a relative pronoun is normally found only in restrictive relative clauses . It can refer to either persons or things, and cannot follow a preposition. For example, one can say the song that I listened to yesterday, but the song to which I listened yesterday. The relative pronoun that is usually pronounced with a reduced vowel , and hence differently from the demonstrative that .
If that is not the subject of the relative clause, it can be omitted . Because languages naturally adapt to their situations of use and also reflect the social identities of their speakers, linguistic variation is inevitable and natural. But given diverse forms, meanings, and uses, dictionary makers and grammarians must choose what to include in their works—whose language to represent and for use in which kinds of situations? Instead, entrepreneurs like Noah Webster have earned their living by writing dictionaries and grammars, usually with a mix of description and prescription.
Increasingly, though, scholarly grammars and dictionaries are exclusively descriptive. The conjunctive adverb however signals a connection between two independent clauses, and commas should not be used to connect independent clauses if there is no coordinating conjunction. Use a semicolon between two independent clauses that are connected by conjunctive adverbs or transitional phrases. A preposition is usually used with a noun phrase as its complement. A preposition together with its complement is called a prepositional phrase. Examples are in England, under the table, after six pleasant weeks, between the land and the sea.
The second-person forms such as you are used with both singular and plural reference. In the Southern United States, y'all is used as a plural form, and various other phrases such as you guys are used in other places. You can also be used as an indefinite pronoun, referring to a person in general , compared to the more formal alternative, one (reflexive oneself, possessive one's). Noun phrases are phrases that function grammatically as nouns within sentences, for example as the subject or object of a verb.
If you're confused about how to use "nor," remember that "nor" often pairs up with "neither," but not always. When it comes to other negative words, use "or" if the second part of the negative is a noun, adjective, or adverb phrase. If it's a verb phrase, choose either "nor" or "or." If you're unsure which one to use, consider saying, "and no" or "and not" for the second part. The parts of the sentence are a set of terms for describing how people construct sentences from smaller pieces. There is not a direct correspondence between the parts of the sentence and the parts of speech -- the subject of a sentence, for example, could be a noun, a pronoun, or even an entire phrase or clause. Like the parts of speech, however, the parts of the sentence form part of the basic vocabulary of grammar, and it is important that you take some time to learn and understand them.
It is not considered proper English to begin a sentence with a clause. While often used in informal conversations or writing, this is not necessarily grammatically correct. Not only is "and also" redundant in meaning, but it will not come across as proper to an academic or professional audience.
To be forthright, no, it is generally not considered grammatically correct to use "and also" in writing or verbal communication. Although some folks still choose to utilize this phrase, this is not proper nor perfect English and is considered redundant in meaning. The comma is always correct when used to separate two independent clauses connected by a coordinating conjunction. See Punctuation Between Two Independent Clauses for further help. Both parts of the sentence are independent clauses, and commas should not be used to connect independent clauses if there is no coordinating conjunction. Use a semicolon between independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction if the clauses are already punctuated with commas or if the clauses are lengthy.
The syntax of a dependent clause is generally the same as that of an independent clause, except that the dependent clause usually begins with a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun . In some situations the conjunction or relative pronoun that can be omitted. Another type of dependent clause with no subordinating conjunction is the conditional clause formed by inversion . There are also many adverbs that are not derived from adjectives, including adverbs of time, of frequency, of place, of degree and with other meanings.
Some suffixes that are commonly used to form adverbs from nouns are -ward (as in homeward) and -wise . The word what can be used to form a free relative clause – one that has no antecedent and that serves as a complete noun phrase in itself, as in I like what he likes. The words whatever and whichever can be used similarly, in the role of either pronouns or determiners . When referring to persons, who (and whom) can be used in a similar way . Many common suffixes form nouns from other nouns or from other types of words, such as -age , -hood , and so on, although many nouns are base forms not containing any such suffix . Nouns are also often created by conversion of verbs or adjectives, as with the words talk and reading .
English grammar is the way in which meanings are encoded into wordings in the English language. This includes the structure of words, phrases, clauses, sentences, and whole texts. Essentially "and" adds nothing to the beginning of a sentence, as "also" already means in addition. If "and also" is used, its purpose is generally to mark nouns at the end of a list, rather than clauses at the beginning of a sentence.
However, we are able to use these terms to begin a sentence colloquially or informally, although, this would more often be done using one term or the other. There are some words in the English vocabulary which sound the same as another word but have a drastically different meaning. These words are called homophones and are very common in everyday English.
Homophones are pairs, and occasionally trios, of words that sound the same but have different spellings and different means. They often cause native English speakers problems and are a frequent source of questions for those who learn English online, especially those who learn English online. Incorrect word selection is often not found when spell-checking documents since many do not check for correct grammar. This adds another level of difficulty for those just learning English as the incorrect usage is not discovered until too late. It is not incorrect to use "and also" together.
Although we can say that it is not perfect English yet we sometimes use it just because we are not particular about grammar being correct and also because it is easy on the lips. "And" is used to join two clauses in a sentence . Although the addition of "also" after "and" is often verbose, the two words do not mean quite the same thing. Also is an adverb meaning "in the same manner, in addition, as well." It's useful when some sort of contrast is wanted. The trick to remember the difference betweenthereandtheiris the last four letters of each word.Theirindicates ownership and has the wordheirin its last four letters.
Further, these pronouns and a few others have distinct possessive forms, such as his and whose. By contrast, nouns have no distinct nominative and objective forms, the two being merged into a single plain case. For example, chair does not change form between "the chair is here" and "I saw the chair" .
Possession is shown by the clitic -'s attached to a possessive noun phrase, rather than by declension of the noun itself. In Old and Middle English, the roles of the three words were different from their roles today. A small holdover of this is the ability of relative whose to refer to non-persons (e.g., the car whose door won't open). Determiners are used in the formation of noun phrases .
Many words that serve as determiners can also be used as pronouns (this, that, many, etc.). English determiners constitute a relatively small class of words. There are also many phrases that can play the role of determiners. Countable nouns generally have singular and plural forms. In most cases the plural is formed from the singular by adding -s , although there are also irregular forms (woman/women, foot/feet, etc.), including cases where the two forms are identical . Certain nouns can be used with plural verbs even though they are singular in form, as in The government were ...
This is a form of synesis; it is more common in British than American English. See English plural § Singulars with collective meaning treated as plural. However, this is based on a misunderstanding and modern grammarians claim that it is perfectly acceptable to place prepositions at the end of a sentence, and always has been.
Many words in English can have more than one job, or be more than one part of speech. For example, "work" can be a verb and a noun; "but" can be a conjunction and a preposition; "well" can be an adjective, an adverb and an interjection. In addition, many nouns can act as adjectives. Note that this question could be much improved if you explained why you think you may have used a word or phrase incorrectly. Do you think it might be wrong to use it at the start of a sentence?
The more you make us speculate, the less likely it is that you'll get answers that meet your need. However, it can be a little bit more difficult to explain as a pronoun, where it is used to introduce a sentence or clause. In a way, it can be viewed as a place-holder, a word that doesn't have any synonyms or an easy translation, yet almost acts like an engine to get the sentence or clause started.
The best way to think ofthereis as a way of introducing that something exists or happens. A preposition is a word such as after, in, to, on, and with. Prepositions are usually used in front of nouns or pronouns and they show the relationship between the noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence. They describe, for example, the position of something, the time when something happens, or the way in which something is done. Somehow, the notion that one should not begin a sentence with the subordinating conjunction because retains a mysterious grip on people's sense of writing proprieties. This might come about because a sentence that begins with because could well end up a fragment if one is not careful to follow up the "because clause" with an independent clause.
