Category: Grammar

Types of Conjunctions Let’s be honest. Conjunctions aren’t very exciting. They’re not as descriptive as nouns, as colorful as adjectives or as dynamic as verbs. However, these small but mighty parts of speech are a critical part of your writer’s tool kit. Different types of conjunctions help you to smooth out choppy writing, bring together ideas,…

Who, Which, and That Which and Who: Non-Restrictive Clauses Non-restrictive clauses provide information that does not change the meaning of the sentence if it is removed. These clauses are introduced by who (for humans) and which (for animals and things). Example: The desk, which is made of faux-wood, is heavier than I expected. (You could…

Comparative and Superlative Adjectives Have you ever been told, “It’s more fun, not funner”, and wondered, “How am I supposed to know that”? If so, this lesson is for you. Definitions As the name implies, a comparative adjective compares two things. It’s formed by using “more” or “-er”. This lesson is more interesting than that…

Dangling Modifiers: Where’s the Subject? Dangling modifiers occur when a phrase doesn’t have the subject that it’s supposed to modify. Sentences with dangling modifiers are often funny because they have unintended meanings. Wrong: Having eaten a small lunch, dinner tasted especially good. Right: Having eaten a small lunch, Elaine thought that dinner tasted especially good.…

Noun-Pronoun Agreement Part 2 In part one of Noun-Pronoun Agreement we covered singular and plural pronouns. Now let’s look at agreeing in person and making sure that the antecedent is obvious. Agreeing in Person In grammar, there are first-, second-, and third-person pronouns. First-Person: I, me, my, mine, we, us, our, ours Second-Person: You, your…

Noun-Pronoun Agreement Singular and Plural In the parts of speech lesson, you learned that a pronoun replaces a noun. Sometimes a pronoun won’t have a noun that it refers to, like the “you” in the previous sentence. More often, though, a pronoun will have an antecedent: a noun that it’s replacing. In the following examples,…

Parts of Speech In English, there are nine types of words, or parts of speech. Knowing the parts of speech will make it easy to understand other Stellar University lessons. 1. Verbs Verbs are key because you can’t have a sentence without them. They’re the action words that vivify your writing. Some verbs, like wrestle,…

Sentences A sentence is made of a subject and a predicate. Those terms aren’t on our parts of speech list, so let’s find out what they mean. Subjects and Predicates The subject is the thing or person that is doing the action in the sentence. Since nouns refer to things and people, the subject is…

Subject-Verb Agreement Just like nouns and pronouns, subjects and verbs need to agree. Once, again, the basic rule is that singular subjects take singular verbs. Wrong: The room are cold today. Right: The room is cold today. Wrong: Scientists makes new discoveries every day. Right: Scientists make new discoveries every day. Now, let’s try some…

Tense Agreement As a writer, you want your reader’s experience to be as smooth as possible. That ease is why you don’t want sentences like this one: I am eating lunch when you called me. If you feel confused by that sentence, you’re right. The first verb is in the present tense, and the second…