Word order

English is a subject verb object (SVO) language: it prefers a sequence of subjectverb object in its simplest, unmarked declarative statements. Thus 'Tom [subject] eats [verb] cheese [object]' and 'Mary sees the cat'. However, beyond these simple examples, word order is a complicated matter in English. In particular, the speaker's or writer's point of departure in each clause is a key factor in the organisation of the message. Thus, the elements in a message can be ordered in a way that signals to the reader or listener what the message concerns. For example: 'the duke has given my aunt that teapot' (i.e., I'm going to tell you about the duke); 'my aunt has been given that teapot by the duke' (i.e., I'm going to tell you about my aunt); and 'that teapot the duke has given to my aunt' (i.e., I'm going to tell you about that teapot). The point of departure can also be set up as an equation, known as a thematic equative. In this way, virtually any element in a clause can be put first: 'What the duke gave my aunt was a teapot' (i.e., I'm going to tell you what the duke gave my aunt); or 'What happened was that the duke gave my aunt a teapot' (i.e., I'm going to tell you what happened). Usually, the point of departure is the subject of a declarative clause; this is the unmarked form. A point of departure is marked when it is not the subjectthus, occasionally it is the object ('You I blame for this dilemma') and more often an adverbial phrase ('This morning I got up late'). In questions, point of departure is treated slightly differently. Unmarked questions start with the word that indicates what the speaker wants to know: 'Where is my little dog?' (I want you to tell me where); and 'Is John Smith inside?' (I want you to tell me whether he 'is' or 'isn't'). Marked questions displace this key 'what I want to know' word with some other element: 'After tea, will you tell me story?'; (still, 'will you or won't you'?) and In your house, who does the cooking? (still 'who'?) Imperative clauses are either of the type 'I want you to do something' or 'I want you and me to do something'. The second type usually starts with 'let's'; in the unmarked form of the first type, 'you' is implied and not made explicit ('improve your grammar!'), and included in the marked form ('You improve your grammar!'); another marked form is 'Do improve your grammar'. In the negative, 'Don't argue with me' is unmarked, and 'Don't you argue with me' is marked. In English, the point of departure is frequently marked off in speech by intonation. In general, English is a head-initial language, meaning that the "anchor" of a phrase (segment of a sentence) occurs at the beginning of the phrase. For example:

ran quickly (verb phrase) to the store (prepositional phrase)

The main exception is in noun phrases, which are head-final:

blue house (adjective + noun) Fred's cat (possessive + noun)

This leads to a sentence like: "Fred's sister ran quickly to the store". As can be inferred from this example, the sequence of a basic sentence (ignoring articles and other determiners) is: Adjective1 - Subject - Verb - Adverb - Adjective2 - Direct.Object Adjective3 - Indirect.Object. Changes in word order are used in interrogative sentences ("Did you go to the store?"), changes from active to passive voice ("The car was bought by John"), and lexical or grammatical emphasis (topicalization).

Nouns
In English, nouns generally describe persons, places, things, and abstract ideas, and are treated as grammatically distinct from verbs. English nouns, in general, are not marked for case, nor for gender. Nouns are, however, marked for number and definiteness. For example:

the (definite article):the house refers to a specific house (e.g. "The house in which I was born") a/an (indefinite article): a house can refer to a generic house ("A house is a building for living in"). The indefinite article an is usually used instead of a when the noun begins with a vowel (e.g. "An American gave me directions to the house"). singular:the house refers to one house plural: the houses refers to more than one house

English does not have dual or trial numbers for nouns. Older versions of English did mark nouns for case, and the two remaining case markings are the pronominal system and the possessive clitic (which used to be called the saxon genitive). The possessive is marked by a clitic at the end of the possessing noun phrase. This can be illustrated in the following manner:

The king's daughter's house fell.

The first <'s> clitic on king indicates that the daughter in question is the king's. The second <'s> clitic does not attach to "daughter", as many people mistakenly believe, but in fact to the entire noun phrase The king's daughter. English preserves the old Germanic noun case system in its pronouns. The full set of cases are listed below; note that modern use of the second person singular thou1 is rare, and is confined to dialects and religious and poetic functions. In everyday speech, the second person plural you is almost always used instead. Person: 1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd interrogative

singular singular1 Nominative I Accusative me Genitive mine2

singular plural plural plural he, she, thou/you we you they who it him, thee/you us you them whom her, it his, thine/yours2 ours yours theirs whose hers, its

A remnant of grammatical gender is also preserved in the third person pronouns. Gender is assigned to animate objects based on biological gender (where known), and to personified objects based on social conventions (ships, for example, are often regarded as feminine in English). "He" is used for masculine nouns; "she" is used for feminine nouns; and "it" is used for nouns of indeterminate gender and inanimate objects. It is generally considered both ungrammatical and impolite to refer to humans (other than babies) as "it". Traditionally, the masculine "he" was used to refer to a person in the 3rd. person when their gender was unknown or irrelevant to the context; recently, this usage has come under criticism for supporting gender-based stereotypes and is increasingly considered inappropriate (see Gender-neutral language). There is no consensus on a replacement. Some English speakers prefer to use the slightly cumbersome "he or she" or "s/he", others prefer the use of "they" (3rd. plural) (see singular they). This situation rarely leads to confusion, since the intended meaning can be inferred from context. Spivak pronouns have also been proposed which are basically formed by dropping the leading "th" from the plural counterpart, but their use is relatively rare compared to other solutions. For comparison, speakers of German distinguish between the homophonous "sie" ("she"), "sie ("they"), and "Sie" ("you", polite) with little difficulty.

Verbs
In English, verbs generally describe actions, and can also be used to describe certain states of being. In contrast to the relative simplicity of English nouns, verbs come in a large array of tenses, some moods, two voices, and are marked for person.

Person in verbs
Verbs in English are marked in limited fashion for person. Unlike some other European languages, person cannot generally be inferred from the conjugation attached to the verb. As a result, subject nouns and pronouns are generally required elements in English sentences for clarity's sake. Most regular verbs in English follow the paradigm exemplified below for the simple present: Stem: listen 1st. sing.: I listen 2nd. sing.: You (Thou) listen (listenest) 3rd. sing.: He/She/It listens 1st. plur.: We listen 2nd. Plur.: You listen 3rd. Plur.: They listen

Voice in verbs
English has two voices for verbs: the active and the passive. The basic form is the active verb, and follows the SVO pattern discussed above. The passive voice is derived from the active by changing the verb to its passive form, exchanging the subject and direct object, and marking the former subject with "by". The former subject changes to objective case and becomes optional. For example: 1. active: I heard the music. 2. passive: The music was heard (by me). (Note: "me", not "I") The passive form of the verb is formed by replacing the verb with "to be" in the same tense, and appending the past participle of the original verb. Thus: Tense Simple present Past imperfect Past perfect Future Active voice I hear the music. Passive voice The music is heard by me.

Continuous present I am hearing the music. The music is being heard by me. I was hearing the music The music was being heard by me. I heard the music. I will hear the music. The music was heard by me. The music will be heard by me.

This pattern continues through all the composite tenses as well. The semantic effect of the change from active to passive is the depersonalization of an action. It is also occasionally used to topicalize the direct object of a sentence. Many writing style guides including Strunk and White recommend minimizing use of the passive voice in English.

Verbal moods
English has four primary moods of verb. These are the declarative, the imperative, the conditional, and the subjunctive. Again, the declarative is the simplest, and most basic form. The declarative mood is, very simply put, a statement in the active voice of a verb.

The imperative mood is used in issuing commands. It is formed by using the verb in its simplest, unconjugated form: "Listen!", "Sit!", "Eat!". The imperative mood in English occurs only in the second person, and the subject ("you") is generally not expressly stated, because it is implied. When the speaker gives a command to anyone else, it is still directed at the second person as though it were a request for permission, although it may be a rhetorical statement. 1. Let me do the talking. (First person singular) 2. Let us build a bridge. (First person plural) 3. Give him an allowance. (Third person singular) 4. Let them dance. (Third person plural)

Sometimes a vocative is used for clarification, as in "Sit, John."

The conditional mood is used to express if-then statements, or in response to counterfactual propositions (see subjunctive mood, below). It is expressed through the use of the verbal auxiliaries could, would, should, may and might in combination with the stem form of the verb. For example: 1. He goes to the store. 2. He could go to the store. (He is able to go, but hasn't necessarily committed to going.) 3. He should go to the store. (There is some necessity for him to go, but he hasn't yet.) 4. He may go to the store. (He has been given permission to go, but hasn't committed to going.) 5. He might go to the store. (Indeterminate whether he will go or not, and implies that it is subject to changing conditions.) o Note that for many speakers, "may" and "might" have merged into a single meaning - that for "might" above.

The subjunctive mood is used to express counterfactual (or conditional) statements, and is often found in if-then statements, and certain formulaic expressions. It is typically marked in the present tense by the auxiliary "were" plus the present participle (<-ing>) of the verb. 1. I am eating, so I shall sit. (Factual/declarative) 2. Were I eating, I should sit. (Counterfactual) 3. If they were eating, they would sit. (Counterfactual conditional / If-then) 4. Truth be told... (subjunctive) 5. If I were you... (subjunctive)

The conjugation of verbal moods becomes a significantly more complex matter when they are used with different tenses. However, casual spoken English rarely uses the subjunctive, and generally restricts the conditional mood to the simple present and simple past.

Verb tenses
English has a wide variety of verb tenses, all of which convey only the time of an action; however, as in most Germanic languages, they can be whittled down to four: present and past indicative and subjunctive. Using the verbs "to be" and "to have", and the modals "will/would", "shall/should", and "to go", plus the present and past participles, it is possible to create the various compound tenses. The twelve major tenses in English result from combining each of three times (past, present, future) with each of four aspects (simple, continuous (also known as "progressive or "imperfect"), perfect, and continuous perfect). (Certain combinations are very rare in the passive voice, however, most notably the future continuous perfect.) The following are illustrative examples of the primary verb tenses encountered in English. Tenses in which the main verb is marked for person:

Simple present: "I listen." For many verbs, this is used to express habit or ability ("I play the guitar").

Tenses in which the auxiliary is marked for person:

Present continuous:

"I am listening." This is used to express what most other languages use the simple present tense for. Note that this form in English can also be used to express future actions, such as in the phrase "We're going to the movies tonight".

Past continuous:

"I was listening." Used to express an ongoing action completed in the past.

Present perfect:

"I have listened." This is usually used to express that an event happened at an unspecified or unknown time on the past. It often has the sense of a past action with an ongoing present effect, as in sentences like I have finished the job; he has not arrived yet.

Present perfect continuous: "I have been listening." This is used to express that an event started at some time in the past and continues to the present. Simple future: "I shall/will listen." This expresses that an event will occur in the future, or that the speaker intends to perform some action. Future continuous: "I shall/will be listening." Expresses an ongoing event that has not yet been initiated.

Tenses in which neither the main verb nor the auxiliary is marked for person:

Infinitive: "to listen" Used in combination with other verbs: "I was to listen to the story." Simple past: "I listened." In English (unlike some other languages with aorist [?] tenses), this implies that the action took place in the past and that it is not taking place now. Past perfect (pluperfect): "I had listened." Expresses that an action was completed prior to some other event. Past perfect continuous: "I had been listening." Usually expressed with a duration, this indicates that an event was ongoing for a specific time, then completed before a specific event. Future perfect: "I shall/will have listened." Indicates that an action will occur after some other event. Future perfect continuous: "I shall/will have been listening." Expresses an ongoing action that occurs in the future, after some other event.

Dummy usage and quasi-auxiliaries In addition, forms of "do" are used for some negatives, questions and emphasis of the simple present and simple past:

"Do I go?" "I do not go." "I do go!" "Did I go?" "I did not go." "I did go!"

The continuous form "going to" is used for some future based tenses:

"I am going to go." "I was going to go."

Other classification schemes The distinction between tense, aspect, and mood is not clear-cut or universally agreedupon. For example, many analysts would not accept that English has twelve tenses. The six "continuous" (also called "progressive") forms in the list above are often treated under the heading of "aspect" rather than tense: the simple past and the past continuous are examples of the same tense, under this view. In addition, many modern grammars of English agree that English does not have a future tense (or a future perfect). These include the two largest and most sophisticated recent grammars:

Biber, D., S. Johansson, G. Leech, S. Conrad & E. Finegan. 1999. Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Harlow, Longman. Huddleston, R. & G. Pullum. 2002. The Cambridge grammar of the English language. Cambridge, CUP.

The main argument given by Huddleston and Pullum (pp 209-10) that English does not have a future tense is that "will" is a modal verb, both in its grammar and in its meaning. Biber et al. go further and say that English has only two tenses, past and present: they treat the perfect forms with "have" under "aspect". Huddleston & Pullum, on the other hand, regard the forms with "have" as "secondary tenses".

Irregular verbs While many verbs in English follow the relatively simple paradigm illustrated at the beginning of this section, there are many verbs that do not. There are two categories of such verbs:

strong verbs (the "transparently irregular") true irregular verbs.

The term "transparently irregular" is sometimes used to describe Jakob Grimm's "strong" verbs that appear irregular at first, but actually follow a common paradigm. This group of verbs are relics of the older Germanic ablaut system for conjugation. This is generally confined to atypical simple past verb forms. For example:

I meet ~ I met ~ I have met I read ~ I read ~ I have read I lead ~ I led ~ I have led I swim ~ I swam ~ I have swum I sing ~ I sang ~ I have sung I steal ~ I stole ~ I have stolen

True irregular verbs have forms that are not predictable from ablaut rules. The most common of these in English is the verb "be". A sampling of its verbal paradigm is listed below; the majority of other forms are predictable from the knowledge of these four. Person: Infinitive: 1st singular to be 3rd singular 1st plural 3rd plural 2nd

Simple present: Simple past: Present continuous:

I am

He is, she is, it is We are He was, she was, it I was We were was We are I am being He/she/it is being being

They are They were They are being

You are You were You are being

Irregular verbs include "eat", "sit", "loan", "keep", among many others. Some paradigms are based on obsolete root words, or roots that have changed meaning. Others are derived from old umlaut patterns that changes in phonemic structure and grammar have distorted (keep ~ kept is one such example). Some are unclear in origin, and may date back to Proto Indo-European times.

Adjectives and adverbs

Adjectives are modifiers for nouns and adverbs are modifiers for verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Not all languages distinguish them, but English does in both grammar and word formation. Grammatically, adjectives precede the noun they modify, whereas adverbs might precede or follow the verb they modify, depending upon the specific adverb. English also has a means of converting adjectives into adverbs: the addition of the suffix <ly> changes an adjective to an adverb (in addition to moving it to the appropriate place in a sentence). Occasionally, people use adverbs with verbs that require an adjective.

"I feel badly" - the speaker has an impaired sense of touch (likewise: "I hear badly") "I feel bad" - the speaker is ill or upset (likewise: "I feel happy")

The latter is, of course, the meaning most people try to convey. As well, confusion often occurs between good, well (adj.), and well (adv.).

"I feel good" - a good mood "I feel well (adj.)" - good health "I did well (adv.)" - success

There are other ways of changing words from one lexical class to another. Nouns are easily transformed into verbs by moving them to the appropriate position in a sentence, and then conjugating them according to the default paradigm. Nouns can also be changed to other kinds of nouns (<-er>, <-ist>), into adverbs of state/condition (<-ness>), and into adjectives (<-ish>, as in "bullish"). Verbs can be turned into adjectives with <-ing> ("dancing school"), into adverbs with <-ly>, and sometimes even into nouns with <-er> ("dancer", "listener"). These processes provide the English language with greater flexibility in choosing words, expanding vocabulary, and re-shuffling words to add subtlety of meaning that might otherwise not be available in an analytic language.

Other topics in English grammar

Paradoxes
Paradoxes such as "I am asleep" or "No one wrote this" are not considered grammatically incorrect, necessarily.

Slang
The phrase "Ain't ain't grammar" is incorrect; ain't is a dialect word meaning "am not", "is not", "are not", or even "have not". Grammar has to do with which words go where and how they are separated (e.g. by commas) rather than the actual words being used. Whether ain't is appropriate for use in a given context (or at all) is a matter of diction.