Category: 20 Grammar Rules

The words your and you’re are two different words with different meanings. Here is your coffee. You’re looking good.

 The words its and it’s are two different words with different meanings. The dog has hurt its leg. He says it’s two o’clock.

Treat collective nouns (e.g. committee, company, board of directors) as singular OR plural. In BrE a collective noun is usually treated as plural, needing a plural verb and pronoun. In AmE a collective noun is often treated as singular, needing a singular verb and pronoun. The committee are having sandwiches for lunch. Then they will go to London. (typically BrE) The…

 When using two or more adjectives together, the usual order is opinion-adjective + fact-adjective + noun. (There are some additional rules for the order of fact adjectives.) I saw a nice French table. That was an interesting Shakespearian play.

 Adjectives usually come before a noun (except when a verb separates the adjective from the noun). I have a big dog. She married a handsome Italian man. (Her husband is rich.)

When two singular subjects are connected by or, use a singular verb. The same is true for either/or and neither/nor. John or Mary is coming tonight. Either coffee or tea is fine. Neither John nor Mary was late.

The subject and verb must agree in number, that is a singular subject needs a singular verb and a plural subject needs a plural verb. John works in London. That monk eats once a day. John and Mary work in London. Most people eat three meals a day.

Every sentence must have a subject and a verb. An object is optional. Note that an imperative sentence may have a verb only, but the subject is understood. John teaches. John teaches English. Stop! (i.e. You stop!)

The order of a basic positive sentence is Subject-Verb-Object. (Negative and question sentences may have a different order.) John loves Mary. They were driving their car to Bangkok.

1. A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a period/full stop, a question mark or an exclamation mark. see Punctuation The fat cat sat on the mat. Where do you live? My dog is very clever!