English grammar explains how words, phrases, clauses, and sentences work together to express clear meaning. It includes parts of speech, verb forms, sentence structure, punctuation, and the rules that shape accurate communication.
Explore lessons on nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, phrases, clauses, sentences, verb tenses, and other essential grammar topics. Each section provides clear explanations, practical rules, and examples.
An appositive phrase is a noun phrase placed beside another noun or noun phrase to identify, rename, or explain it. For example: My neighbor, a retired architect, designed the garden. A retired architect refers to the same person as my…
A squinting modifier is a word or phrase placed between two parts of a sentence so that it could reasonably modify either one. This leaves the intended meaning unclear. Consider: Employees who answer customer messages promptly receive praise. Does promptly…
A colon (:) is used to introduce, explain, or expand on an idea that appears earlier in a sentence. It tells the reader, “What follows will clarify or illustrate what I just said.” We often use a colon to present…
Short sentences can make your writing sound flat and disconnected. Sentence combining helps you turn those short ideas into smoother, more natural sentences. It’s a simple grammar skill that improves flow, clarity, and sentence variety. By learning how to combine…
Choosing between will and going to becomes difficult when both forms seem possible. I’ll speak to the director and I’m going to speak to the director both refer to the future, but they do not present that future in quite…
A hyphen can make the relationship between words clearer. Consider a small-business adviser. The hyphen shows that the adviser works with small businesses. Without it, a small business adviser would usually be understood the same way, but the wording could…
A participial phrase is a group of words built around a participle, such as carrying, broken, or written. It can describe a person or thing or provide information about an action. For example: Holding a folded map, Daniel searched for…
A dangling modifier is a word or phrase that is meant to describe someone or something but has no clear, suitable grammatical connection to that person or thing in the sentence. Consider: After examining the cracked window, the repair estimate…
A verb does not have to describe running, lifting, or another visible action to be dynamic. The temperature is rising, Nora is thinking about the offer, and The glass cracked all present something happening, developing, or changing. That is the…
A predicate nominative is a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase that follows a linking verb and identifies or classifies the subject. It is also called a predicate noun. Consider: The new manager is Olivia. Olivia is the predicate nominative because…
A simple predicate is the main verb of a clause, together with any helping verbs that belong to it. It expresses an action, event, or state without including objects, complements, or ordinary modifiers. Consider: The bakery has reopened after several…
A complete predicate is the part of a clause that contains the verb or verb phrase and the other words that tell us what the subject does, what happens to it, or what it is like. Consider: The neighbourhood bakery…