Recently Added Articles Page #56

participle

Every main verb has two kinds of participles: a past participle and a present participle.The past participle shows up in verb conjugation in two ways: (1) to form the perfect tenses with the auxiliary verb have (I have decided to retire) and (2) to...

parts of speech

We have eight parts of speech in the English language: (1) nouns, (2) verbs, (3) adjectives, (4) adverbs, (5) pronouns, (6) conjunctions, (7) prepositions, and (8) interjections. Every word you use in speech or writing falls into just one of ...

passive voice

An action verb is either transitive or intransitive. A transitive verb can hook directly to a noun or pronoun (the direct object). An intransitive verb cannot hook directly to a noun or pronoun.Every transitive verb can appear either in the active vo...

past-participial phrase

Regular verbs typically form their past participles by adding ‑ed. Irregular verbs, however, form their past participles in some other way. For example, they change an internal vowel (I drink, I drank, I have drunk), or they add “-en” to form t...

past participle

The past participle shows up in verb conjugation in two ways: (1) to form the perfect tenses with the auxiliary verb have (I have decided to retire) and (2) to form the passive voice with the auxiliary verb to be (The case was decided by the court)...

past-perfect progressive tense

There are six progressive tenses. Some grammarians refer to the progressive tense as the progressive aspect of a verb. The progressive tense shows an “ongoingness” of the action denoted by the verb.The progressive tense is formed by using the ver...

past-perfect tense

The perfect tenses are formed by using the auxiliary verb to have and adding the past participle of the main verb. Thus, the past perfect is formed by taking the past tense of to have (had) and adding the past participle of the main verb. Thus: When ...

past-progressive tense

There are six progressive tenses. Some grammarians refer to the progressive tense as the progressive aspect of a verb. The progressive tense shows an “ongoingness” of the action denoted by the verb.The progressive tense is formed by using the ver...

past tense

The past tense of a main verb shows what happened or what state of being existed earlier at a definite time. When you use the past tense, the activity or state of being is over, finished, done (I drank the water, He was happy).A regular verb usually ...

perfect tenses

The perfect tenses are under attack by many misinformed, but otherwise well-educated, writers and speakers. The tense does express qualities of verbs that are otherwise incapable of expression and is therefore worth retaining.We have three perfect te...

person

The concept of person applies to pronouns and reflects a universal truth: There are only three types of people on earth. We have the speaker (first person), the listener (second person), and the person being gossiped about (third person).As pronouns ...

personal pronoun

We have seven kinds of pronouns in the English language (personal pronouns, reflexive and intensive pronouns, relative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, indefinite pronouns, and reciprocal pronouns).The personal pronouns refer...

phrase

A phrase is a multiword group having no conjugated verb in it. We have various kinds of phrases, which perform all sorts of functions in the language. Basically, the phrases can serve as nouns, adjectives, and adverbs. Three very important phrases ar...

plural

Nouns and pronouns are either singular or plural. Nouns typically form their plurals by adding ‑s, (boys), ‑es (torches), or ‑ies (cities). Some plural words, like children and fish, do not use -s. Pronouns have special forms to show plurality ...

positive state

Adjectives and adverbs exhibit a positive state, which simply shows the attribute expressed by the adjective (hot) or adverb (quickly). If the adjective or adverb seeks to show that something has more of the attribute expressed, we use the comparativ...

possessive case

The personal pronouns (and the relative or interrogative pronoun who) exhibit case. The case of a pronoun reveals how the noun it replaces would act in the sentence. We have three cases: (1) subjective or nominative case, (2) objective case, and (3...

possessives

One of the distinctive features of the noun is its ability to own something, to possess something. We show this act of possession by adding a possessive ending, typically an “apostrophe ‑s” (Fred's report) to a singular noun and “just an apos...

predicate

Every sentence or clause has a subject and a predicate. The subject is a noun, pronoun, or group of words acting as a noun, and the words associated with, or modifying, that noun form. The predicate contains the verb and all words associated with, or...

predicate adjective

A predicate adjective is an adjective appearing in the predicate of a sentence or clause and modifying the grammatical subject of the sentence or clause. Typically, a predicate adjective follows the verb to be, but it could also follow a linking verb...

predicate nominative

A predicate nominative is also called a subject complement or a predicate noun. The predicate nominative typically follows the verb to be. Sometimes a predicate nominative can follow a linking verb. It restates or defines the grammatical subject of t...

predicate noun

 See predicate nominative....

preposition

A preposition is one of the eight parts of speech. The preposition serves as a dab of glue, sticking a noun, a group of words acting as a noun, or a pronoun onto the sentence. The noun or pronoun stuck to the sentence is called the object of a prepos...

noun clause

 See nominal clause....

prepositional phrase

When a noun or pronoun combines with a preposition, it forms a prepositional phrase, which primarily acts as either an adjective (the book on the table) or an adverb (he drove to my house). The noun or pronoun hooked to the sentence by the prepositio...

present-participial phrase

All main verbs have a present-participial form. Just add ‑ing and you've got a present participle. Sometimes you have to drop a silent ‑e as in writing. And sometimes you double an ending consonant, as in occurring.The present participle can for...