ACT English 2: Grammar and Usage

English grammar

The system of structural rules governing English words, phrases, clauses, sentences, and larger texts. Standard English conventions are widely shared, though regional, historical, and cultural varieties may differ.

How is grammatical function usually shown in modern English?

For most nouns, adjectives, articles, and many pronouns, grammatical function is shown mainly by word order and prepositions. The possessive ending $-'s$ is an important exception, and personal pronouns retain several case distinctions.

Traditional eight parts of speech in English

The traditional classes are nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.

Noun

A word class that typically names a person, place, thing, or idea, such as mountain, city, or prejudice.

Pronoun

A relatively small, closed-class word that can function in place of a noun or noun phrase, such as they, this, or who.

Adjective

A word that typically modifies or describes a noun, such as sleepy in sleepy student.

Adverb

A word that modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb, such as politely in spoke politely.

Verb

A word class that expresses an action, event, or state, such as adjourn, run, or be.

Preposition

A word that expresses a relationship such as location, time, direction, or association, generally taking a complement; examples include onto and of.

Conjunction

A word that connects words, phrases, or clauses, such as and, or, but, and whereas.

Interjection

A word or expression that conveys emotion or reaction, such as oops.

Determiner

A word or phrase that helps specify a noun phrase, including articles, demonstratives, possessives, quantifiers, and numerals. Examples include the, this, my, many, and two.

Particle in English grammar

A small grammatical word sometimes treated as its own word class, such as to in the infinitive construction to write.

Why can the same English word belong to more than one word class?

English words are not generally marked by their form for word class, and many words can function differently in different contexts. For example, run can be either a noun or a verb.

Lexeme and inflected forms

A lexeme is an abstract vocabulary unit that can have multiple grammatical or derived forms. The lexeme run, for example, is related to runs, ran, running, and runner, although some of these are derivations rather than simple inflections.

Phrase

A group of words that functions grammatically as a unit, often performing the role associated with a particular word class. For example, my very good friend can function as a noun phrase.

Noun phrase

A phrase that functions grammatically like a noun, often as the subject or object of a verb. It usually has a noun or pronoun as its head, but some clauses and nonfinite phrases can also occupy noun-phrase positions.

Typical structural order of an English noun phrase

A common pattern is: predeterminer + determiner + pre-modifiers + head noun + postmodifiers or complement. Not every position must be filled.

Predeterminer

An element that can occur at the beginning of a noun phrase before a determiner, such as all in all this time or half in half the size.

What can serve as a premodifier in an English noun phrase?

Adjectives or adjective phrases usually occur before noun adjuncts. For example, attractive and young precede college in that attractive young college student.

What can serve as a postmodifier or complement in an English noun phrase?

Common possibilities include prepositional phrases, relative clauses, participial or adjective phrases, dependent clauses, and infinitive phrases. Examples include of London, which we saw yesterday, and to travel widely.

Apposition

A construction in which two consecutive phrases refer to the same entity. In the president, Abraham Lincoln, the phrases the president and Abraham Lincoln are appositive.

Count noun versus non-count noun

Count nouns refer to separately countable entities and generally have singular and plural forms, such as city/cities. Non-count nouns refer to substances, concepts, or masses that are not ordinarily counted individually, such as milk or decor.

Can a noun be both countable and uncountable?

Yes. A noun such as wine can be uncountable when referring to the substance and countable when referring to a variety or serving, as in This is a good wine.

How are most English noun plurals formed?

Most plurals are formed by adding $-s$ or $-es$, as in dogs and bushes. English also has irregular plurals such as woman/women and foot/feet, as well as unchanged forms such as sheep and series.

English possessive construction

Possession is commonly expressed with $-'s$, as in John's or children's, or with an apostrophe alone after a plural ending in $-s$, as in the dogs' owners. The possessive can function as a determiner or as a noun phrase.

What is distinctive about the English possessive in a phrase?

The possessive marker can attach to the final word of an entire noun phrase, as in the man you saw yesterday's sister. This is often analyzed as a clitic or as an inflection at the edge of the phrase.

Grammatical gender in modern English

Modern English does not assign masculine, feminine, or neuter grammatical gender to most nouns. Gender is expressed primarily through natural-gender pronouns and through a limited number of gender-specific nouns or suffixes.

How can English express gender for nouns referring to roles or occupations?

Many role nouns, such as teacher, doctor, and friend, are gender-neutral. If needed, gender can be specified with male or female, as in male nurse or female cousin.

Article and zero article

The articles are the and a/an. A noun phrase may omit a determiner when referring generally to a class or concept, as in dogs are dangerous or beauty is subjective, or when using a proper name such as Jane or Spain.

Why is a determiner often required in an English noun phrase?

In many contexts, a singular common noun phrase needs an article, possessive, demonstrative, or another determiner. For example, standard English normally requires My cat sat on the table rather than Cat sat on table.

Predeterminers and determiners

In analyses that distinguish them, words such as all and half can precede a determiner, as in all the students. Ordinary determiners generally cannot be placed directly beside one another, so the my students is not standard.

Personal pronouns in modern standard English

The main personal pronouns are I, you, he, she, it, we, and they, with object forms such as me, him, her, us, and them. They are called personal pronouns because they participate in grammatical person, not because they refer only to people.

English pronoun cases

English personal pronouns distinguish subject or nominative forms, object or accusative forms, reflexive forms, and possessive forms. For example: I/me/myself/my/mine and they/them/themselves/their/theirs.

How does English use you for number and formality?

Standard you can refer to one person or several people, so number is often determined from context. Regional forms such as y'all may explicitly mark plural reference, while thou and thee are archaic singular forms still encountered in older or religious language.

Singular they

They and its related forms can refer to one person when gender is unknown, irrelevant, or nonbinary, as in Each employee should clean their desk. It also retains its traditional plural use.

Possessive determiners versus possessive pronouns

Forms such as my, your, and their occur before a noun, as in my book. Forms such as mine, yours, and theirs stand independently or function as predicates, as in Mine is larger and This book is mine.

Demonstrative pronouns and their number forms

The demonstratives are this and that in the singular and these and those in the plural. They can stand alone as pronouns or modify nouns as determiners, as in these are good and these books.

Interrogative pronouns in English

The main interrogative pronouns are who, what, and which. Who normally refers to people, what to things or abstractions, and which typically selects among a limited or known set of alternatives.

Who, whom, and whose

Who is the subject form associated with people, whom is its formal object form, and whose is the possessive form. In informal English, who commonly replaces whom in object position.

Relative pronouns in English

The principal relative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which, and that. Who generally refers to people, which to things, and that can refer to either people or things in many restrictive relative clauses.

Restrictive versus nonrestrictive relative clauses

That is normally limited to restrictive relative clauses, which identify the noun being discussed. Who and which can occur in both restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses, and that cannot normally follow a preposition.

When can a relative pronoun be omitted in English?

A relative pronoun can usually be omitted when it is not the subject of its relative clause, as in the song I listened to yesterday. It cannot be omitted when it serves as the clause's subject.

Free relative clause

A free relative clause has no separate antecedent and functions as a complete noun phrase, as in I like what he likes. Forms such as whatever and whichever can function similarly as pronouns or determiners.

Dummy or existential there

In sentences such as There are two cups on the table, there acts as a dummy subject while the logical subject follows the verb. The verb normally agrees with that following noun phrase, although informal there's is often used for both singular and plural.

How can existential there be distinguished from locative there?

Existential there introduces the existence of something and is usually unstressed, as in There is a river. Locative there means at that place and is typically stressed, as in A river is there.

Reciprocal pronouns

The reciprocal pronouns are each other and one another. They refer to mutually related participants and normally require an antecedent in the same clause.

Indefinite pronouns

Indefinite pronouns refer to people, things, or amounts without identifying a specific referent. Examples include none, nothing, everyone, somebody, many, and a little.

How are many English verbs formed from other words?

Verbs may be derived with suffixes such as $-ate$, $-fy$, or $-ize/-ise$, with prefixes such as un-, over-, or under-, or through zero derivation from nouns and adjectives, as in nose, dry, or calm.

Main inflected forms of a regular English verb

A regular verb commonly has a base form, a third-person singular present form in $-(e)s$, an $-ing$ present participle or gerund, and an $-ed$ form used for both past tense and past participle. Irregular verbs may have distinct forms, as in write/wrote/written.

How does English form continuous, perfect, and perfect-continuous constructions?

Continuous forms use be plus an $-ing$ form, as in is writing. Perfect forms use have plus a past participle, as in has written, and perfect continuous forms combine have, been, and the $-ing$ form, as in has been writing.

How are future and conditional forms commonly expressed in English?

Future constructions generally use will plus the base verb, such as will write, with related forms will be writing and will have written. Conditional or “future-in-the-past” forms commonly replace will with would, as in would write.

Infinitive forms in English

The base verb can function as an infinitive, as in write, while many constructions use the to-infinitive, as in to write. English also forms perfect and progressive infinitives, such as to have written and to be writing.

English imperative

The ordinary second-person imperative uses the base verb, which is identical in form to the infinitive: Write! Other commands can be formed with let, as in Let us go or Let them eat.

Present subjunctive in English

The present subjunctive uses the base form even with a third-person singular subject, as in It is important that he follow them or that he be committed. It commonly appears in formal recommendations, demands, and requirements.

Past subjunctive in English

The past subjunctive is most clearly distinguished by were in contexts such as If I were rich or I wish she were here. In less formal usage, was may occur instead.

How is the English passive voice formed?

The passive uses an appropriate form of be followed by the past participle: was killed, are driven, or am being tickled. The performer can be added in a by-phrase, as in They were killed by the invaders.

English modal verbs

Core modals include can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, and would; ought and some uses of dare and need are also modal-like. Modals do not inflect for person or number, generally require another verb, and lack ordinary infinitive and participle forms.