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Grammar Rules

How do you know when to use the indefinite articles?

“A” goes before all words that begin with consonants.

a cat
a dog
a purple onion
a buffalo
a big apple

With one exception: Use “an” before unsounded h.

an honorable peace
an honest error

“An” goes before all words that begin with vowels:

an apricot
an egg
an Indian
an orbit
an uprising

With two exceptions: When u makes the same sound as the y in you, or o makes the same sound as w in won, then a is used.

a union
a united front
a unicorn
a used napkin
a U.S. ship
a one-legged man

The Basic Rules: Adjectives

Adjectives modify nouns. To modify means to change in some way. For example:

“I ate a meal.” Meal is a noun. We don’t know what kind of meal; all we know is that someone ate a meal.
“I ate an enormous lunch.” Lunch is a noun, and enormous is an adjective that modifies it. It tells us what kind of meal the person ate.

Adjectives usually answer one of a few different questions: “What kind?” or “Which?” or “How many?” For example:

“The tall girl is riding a new bike.” Tall tells us which girl we’re talking about. New tells us what kind of bike we’re talking about.
“The tough professor gave us the final exam.” Tough tells us what kind of professor we’re talking about. Final tells us which exam we’re talking about.
“Fifteen students passed the midterm exam; twelve students passed the final exam.” Fifteen and twelve both tell us how many students; midterm and final both tell us which exam.

So, generally speaking, adjectives answer the following questions:

Which?
What kind of?
How many?

The Basic Rules: Adverbs

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. (You can recognize adverbs easily because many of them are formed by adding -ly to an adjective, though that is not always the case.) The most common question that adverbs answer is how.

Let’s look at verbs first.

“She sang beautifully.” Beautifully is an adverb that modifies sang. It tells us how she sang.
“The cellist played carelessly.” Carelessly is an adverb that modifies played. It tells us how the cellist played.

Adverbs also modify adjectives and other adverbs.

“That woman is extremely nice.” Nice is an adjective that modifies the noun woman. Extremely is an adverb that modifies nice; it tells us how nice she is. How nice is she? She’s extremely nice.
“It was a terribly hot afternoon.” Hot is an adjective that modifies the noun afternoon. Terribly is an adverb that modifies the adjective hot. How hot is it? Terribly hot.

So, generally speaking, adverbs answer the question how. (They can also answer the questions when, where, and why.)

Some other rules:

Most of the time, adjectives come before nouns. However, they come after the nouns they modify, most often when the verb is a form of the following:

be
feel
taste
smell
sound
look
appear
seem

Some examples:

“The dog is black.” Black is an adjective that modifies the noun dog, but it comes after the verb. (Remember that “is” is a form of the verb “be.”)
“Brian seems sad.” Sad is an adjective that modifies the noun Brian.
“The milk smells rotten.” Rotten is an adjective that modifies the noun milk.
“The speaker sounds hoarse.” Hoarse is an adjective that modifies the noun speaker.

Be sure to understand the differences between the following two examples:

“The dog smells carefully.” Here, carefully describes how the dog is smelling. We imagine him sniffing very cautiously.

But:

“The dog smells clean.” Here, clean describes the dog itself. It’s not that he’s smelling clean things or something; it’s that he’s had a bath and does not stink.

Consistency

Strictly speaking, in English, only two tenses are marked in the verb alone, present (as in “he sings”) and past (as in “he sang”). Other English language tenses, as many as thirty of them, are marked by other words called auxiliaries. Understanding the six basic tenses allows one to re-create much of the reality of time in his writing. The six are

Simple Present: They walk

Present Perfect: They have walked

Simple Past: They walked

Past Perfect: They had walked

Future: They will walk

Future Perfect: They will have walked

Problems in sequencing tenses usually occur with the perfect tenses, all of which are formed by adding an auxiliary or auxiliaries to the past participle, the third principal part.

ring, rang, rung

walk, walked, walked

The most common auxiliaries are forms of “be,” “can,” “do,” “may,” “must,” “ought,” “shall,” “will,” “has,” “have,” “had,” and they are the forms we shall use in this most basic discussion.

Present Perfect

The present perfect consists of a past participle (the third principal part) with “has” or “have.” It designates action which began in the past but which continues into the present or the effect of which still continues.

Betty taught for ten years. (simple past)
Betty has taught for ten years. (present perfect)

The implication in (1) is that Betty has retired; in (2), that she is still teaching.

John did his homework. He can go to the movies.
If John has done his homework, he can go to the movies.

Infinitives, too, have perfect tense forms when combined with “have,” and sometimes problems arise when infinitives are used with verbs such as “hope,” “plan,” “expect,” and “intend,” all of which usually point to the future (I wanted to go to the movie. Janet meant to see the doctor.) The perfect tense sets up a sequence by marking the action which began and usually was completed before the action in the main verb.

I am happy to have participated in this campaign!
John had hoped to have won the trophy.

Note: Thus, the action of the main verb points back in time; the action of the perfect infinitive has been completed.

Note: The past perfect tense designates action in the past just as simple past does, but the action of the past perfect is action completed in the past before another action.

John raised vegetables and later sold them. (past)
John sold vegetables that he had raised. (past perfect)

Note: The vegetables were raised before they were sold.

Renee washed the car when George arrived (simple past)
Renee had washed the car when George arrived. (past perfect)

Note: In (1), she waited until George arrived and then washed the car. In (2), she had already finished washing the car by the time he arrived.

Note: In sentences expressing condition and result, the past perfect tense is used in the part that states the condition.

If I had done my exercises, I would have passed the test.
I think George would have been elected if he hadn’t sounded so pompous.

Future Perfect Tense

Note: The future perfect tense designates action that will have been completed at a specified time in the future.

Saturday I will finish my housework. (simple future)
By Saturday noon, I will have finished my housework. (future perfect)

Review

Judy saved thirty dollars. (past)
Judy will save thirty dollars. (future)
Judy has saved thirty dollars. (present perfect)
Judy had saved thirty dollars by the end of last month. (past perfect)
Judy will have saved thirty dollars by the end of this month. (future perfect)

Notice: There can be only one “would have” action group in a sentence.

Spelling

Many words sound alike but mean different things when put into writing. The exercises in this section should help you distinguish between some of the more common words that sound alike. Here is a short list of some of the more common spelling errors that students encounter when writing.

Its, It’s

its = possessive adjective (possesive form of the
pronoun it):

The crab had an unusual growth on its shell.

it’s = contraction for it is or it has (in a verb phrase):

It’s still raining; it’s been raining for three days. (Pronouns have apostrophes only when two words are being shortened into one.)

Their, There, They’re

Their = possessive pronoun:

They got their books.

There = that place:

My house is over there.

(This is a place word, and so it contains the word here.)

They’re = contraction for they are:

They’re making dinner.

(Pronouns have apostrophes only when two words are being shortened into one.)

To, Too, Two

To = preposition, or first part of the infinitive form of a verb:

They went to the lake to swim.

Too = very, also:

I was too tired to continue. I was hungry, too.

Two = the number 2:

Two students scored below passing on the exam.

Two, twelve, and between are all words related to the number 2, and all contain the letters tw.

Too can mean also or can be an intensifier, and you might say that it contains an extra o (“one too many”)

We’re, Where, Were

We’re = contraction for we are:

We’re glad to help. (Pronouns have apostrophes only when two words are being shortened into one.)

Where = location:

Where are you going? (This is a place word, and so it contains the word here.)

Were = a past tense form of the verb be:

They were walking side by side.

Your, You’re

Your = possessive pronoun:

Your shoes are untied.

You’re = contraction for you are:

You’re walking around with your shoes untied.

(Pronouns have apostrophes only when two words are being shortened into one.)

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Accept, Except

accept = verb meaning to receive or to agree:

He accepted their praise graciously.

except = preposition meaning all but, other than:

Everyone went to the game except Alyson.

Affect, Effect

affect = verb meaning to influence:

Will lack of sleep affect your game?

effect = noun meaning result or consequence:

Will lack of sleep have an effect on your game?

effect = verb meaning to bring about, to accomplish:

Our efforts have effected a major change in university policy.

I/E Rule

Write I before E

Except after C

Or when it sounds like an A

As in “neighbor” and “weigh”

i before e: relief, believe, niece, chief, sieve, frieze, field, yield

e before i: receive, deceive, ceiling, conceit, vein, sleigh, freight, eight