Grammar Words

Nouns name people, animals, places and concepts, etc. They can be singular or plural, such as science/ sciences or philosophy/ philosophies.

Nouns play an important part in a sentence because they tend to be the key elements.

For example: “The students handed in their essays, which were then marked by the tutor”.

You would probably agree that the nouns (in bold) carry much of the important information in the sentence.

Sometimes nouns are preceded by articles: “a/an” or “the” but this can affect the meaning of the sentence.

For example: “Students are an asset to modern society” or

“The students are an asset to modern society”.

Note the difference in meaning — the first sentence implies students in general, whilst the second implies a particular group of students, such as “The students (at this college) are...”.

Pronouns are words used to replace nouns. Common pronouns are: I, me, you, he, him, she, her, they, them, mine, yours, his, hers and theirs. One of their functions is to save us having to repeat nouns.

For example: “The student gave me his book”, not “The student gave me the student’s book” or “That pen belongs to Sara. It is hers”, not “That pen belongs to Sara. It is Sara’s”.

It is important to take care when using pronouns particularly when there are a number of nouns in the previous sentence to which the pronoun might apply — it can be difficult to identify which noun is being replaced by the pronoun.

For example: “In the past, psychology has attempted to ape the natural science subjects, such as physics. Its concerns were scientific methods, such as experimentation, and objectivity in studying its subject matter”.

In the second sentence, does the “its” refer to psychology or physics? It isn’t really clear, but we might guess it is psychology (but we might be wrong!).

Gender-neutral pronouns include they, them and theirs which may be used as both singular and plural pronouns. For example, when reference is made to an unknown individual or when referring to someone whose preferred pronouns are they/them/theirs.

It is worth noting that academic writing tends to avoid the use of personal pronouns (e.g., I, you and we) in favour of the use of the third person due to its formal, objective nature: ‘I will explore the relationship between theory and practice by. . .’ could be replaced with ‘This dissertation will explore the relationship between theory and practice by . . .’

An adjective is a describing word. It can appear on its own in the sentence or go before the noun it relates to. Some examples might be:

They have interesting jobs.

Their jobs are interesting.

Examination essays are challenging.

One way to think of adjectives is in terms of adding detail to the nouns they describe such as in the last example above.

What type of essays are they?

Challenging ones.

A verb is a word used for actions or states.

For example:

They are reading (action)

He went out (action)

I will be ready soon (action)

They are early (state)

She got wet (state)

In formal written English, a sentence needs a verb in order for it to make sense:

I (+verb) cheese can then create sentences like “I love cheese”; “I am going to buy cheese”; “I can’t stand cheese”; “I’d rather have cheese”, etc.

Verbs have different tenses for talking about the present, past and future. Also, the verb may change depending on who or what is doing the action.

For example:

He enjoys reading.

I enjoy reading.

Shelley paid the bill.

The bill was paid by Shelley.

In essay writing, make sure that your sentences contain verbs, otherwise your meaning may not be clear.

An adverb gives us more information about a verb, an adjective or another adverb. It may tell us about how or when something happened.

For example:

They strongly agreed.

He is usually late.

She works fast.

A preposition shows the relationship of one word to another. For example, it can provide information about time and place such as:

The book is on the table, not in my bag.

Please arrive before nine or after eleven.

Also, some prepositions simply go with certain words, such as:

result in, keen on, impatient with.

Common prepositions are:

in, on, at, for, under, over, from, into, with, before, around, after, to, near, opposite, past and between.

These are linking words which join groups of words and sentences. If you do not use enough of them, your sentences will seem abrupt. Here are some examples of conjunctions:

He felt motivated because his results had improved.

I was tired but I continued to work.

Due to the fact that the weather is worsening, classes will finish earlier. However, lessons will resume tomorrow.

Notice that in the first two sentences, the conjunction links two ideas in a particular relationship. In the third sentence, the same is true but the conjunction is at the beginning of the sentence. In the last sentence, ‘however’ links with the previous sentence.

Therefore conjunctions can link both within and between sentences.