Word categories

the

a, an

something which can be seen (house, animal, etc.)

something which can’t be seen (ideas, feelings. etc.)

can be whether abstract or concrete

• specific nouns such as the United Nations

• names

I, you, he, she, it, we you, they

me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them

mine, yours, his, hers, ours, yours, theirs

this, these, that, those

who, which, that, where, etc.

myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves

who, which, where, why

modify nouns such as many, some, any, little,etc

in general one word such as at, on, under, against

in general more than two words such as by the sea

in general more than one word such as along with, due to, etc.

link adjectives nouns, etc. such as and, or, but

FANBOYS

• for

• and

• nor

• but

• or

• yet

• so

can only link clauses such as because, since, etc.

• present perfect (has/have + 3rd d form)

• present progressive (is/are + infinitive + ing)

• past perfect (had + 3rd d form)

• past progressive (was/were + infinitve + ing)

will, do, have

can, could,, should, shall, etc.

takes a direct object

doesn’t take a direct object or a passive tense

takes two objects (direct and indirect)

normal adjective such as poor

first increase such as poorer

second increase such as the poorest

behavior such as slowly, carefully and awfully

such as here, there, etc.

such as recently, now, etc.

such as always, never, usually

such as perhaps, certainly, most likely, etc.

such as under, below, away, etc.

multi-word expression that acts like an adverb such as [in two days], [ in Heidelberg], etc.

necessary for meaning (without commas)

—> The woman who worked hard…

offers additional information (with commas)

—> The woman, who worked hard, …

only possible with defining relative clauses (only if the subject is different from the main sentence)

—> The woman I hired to look after my mother is wonderful

XY said “…”

XY said …

XY …, isn’t he/she

XY, …, …

my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their,