Lesson MMS-4

Basic grammar overview

A subject  is what a sentence is about. 

Examples of subjects:

• Pronouns: I walked to the convenience store. He spoke.

• Nouns: The store was, in fact, a convenience store.

• -ing form: When I was on my way to the store, my walking speed was fast.

A verb shows action and auxiliary (helping) verbs expresses time, emphasis, and more.

Examples of verbs and auxiliary verbs are:

• Emphasis: Do you want some water from the convenience store?

• Time: Have you had your walk yet?

Other helping verbs are: Be (am, are, is, was, were), can, could, do (did, does), have (had, has), may, might, shall, should, will would

Use adverbs to add details to a verb and explain when, where or how the action occurs.

Many adverbs are made by adding -ly to an adjective. 

• He was careful (adjective) when speaking. ➜ He spoke carefully (adverb).

Spelling rules when an adjective ends in:

• -able or -ible. Change -e to -y: regrettable ➜ regrettably; horrible ➜ horribly

• -y. Change -y to -ily: easy ➜ easily

• -ic. Change -ic to -ically: frantic ➜ frantically.

Adverbs are categorised into how they describe the verb:

• When: since, yet, never, lately, often, always, usually, recently, early, occasionally

• Where: nearby, above, here, there, near, locally, everywhere, far

• How: well, badly, normally, rarely, seldom, slowly, quickly, suddenly, fully, extremely