english grammar cheat sheet, Cheat Sheet of Grammar and Composition

Download english grammar cheat sheet and more Cheat Sheet Grammar and Composition in PDF only on Docsity! english grammar cheat sheet  Rule 1 - Subject-Verb Agreement  Rule 2 - Noun-Pronoun Agreement  Rule 3 - Pronoun Subjects & Objects  Rule 4 - Pronoun Consistency  Rule 5 - Correct Tense  Rule 6 - Adjectives & adverbs  Rule 7 - Parallel Construction  Rule 8 - Run-on Sentences & Sentence Fragments  Rule 9 - Dangling Modifiers (Participles/participial phrases)  Rule 10 - Sentence logic  Rule 11 - Fixing commonly messed up expressions  Rule 12 - Logical comparison  Rule 13 - Comparative/superlative forms of words  Rule 14 - Spelling But before we begin…  Noun—person, place, thing, idea (joy), quality (stickiness), or act (drooling)  Pronoun—word that takes the place of another noun (The Serpent is evil. He is cruel. He is a pronoun because it takes the place of Serpent.  Verb—word that expresses action (jump) or a state of being (be). Tells what’s happening in a sentence.  Subject—noun or pronoun that “does” the action of the verb in the sentence (He drooled. He is the subject because he is the thing that drooled.)  Object—noun or pronoun that the verb acts on. (He tickled me. Me is the object because me is the thing that got tickled.)  Preposition—Words like to at, in, up, over, under, after, of. They go with objects. (in the house…in is the preposition & house is the object.)  Singular—single thing or unit (noodle)  Plural—more than one thing (noodles) Rule 1: Subject-Verb Agreement  Subject & verb must agree in number, so isolate the subject & the verb & make sure they match.  Incorrect: The proctor, as well as the students, were overcome by the tedious ticking of the timer and fell asleep. o Isolate subject: proctor (singular) verb: were (plural) combine: the proctor were overcome  Correct: The proctor, as well as the students, was overcome by the tedious ticking of the timer and fell asleep. o Problem: the plural students; it is set off by commas, so it’s not part of the subject. Three expressions similar to as well are: in addition to, along with, and together with englisch-hilfen.de – LEARNING ENGLISH ONLINE englisch-hilfen.de – LEARNING ENGLISH ONLINE Tense Signal words Use Form Examples affirmative Examples negative Examples interrogative Simple Present every day sometimes always often usually seldom never first ... then • something happens repeatedly • how often something happens • one action follows another • things in general • with verbs like (to love, to hate, to think, etc.) • future meaning: timetables, programmes infinitive he/she/it: infinitive + s I work. He works. I go. He goes. I don't work. He doesn't work. I don't go. He doesn't go. Do I work? Does he work? Do I go? Does he go? Present Progressive now at the moment Look! Listen! • something is happening at the same time of speaking or around it • future meaning: when you have already decided and arranged to do it (a fixed plan, date) be (am/are/is) + infinitive + ing I'm working. He's working. I'm going. He's going. I'm not working. He isn't working. I'm not going. He isn't going. Am I working? Is he working? Am I going? Is he going? Simple Past last ... ... ago in 1990 yesterday action took place in the past, mostly connected with an expression of time (no connection to the present) regular: infinitive + ed irregular: (2nd column of table of irregular verbs) I worked. He worked. I went. He went. I didn't work. He didn't work. I didn't go. He didn't go. Did I work? Did he work? Did I go? Did he go? englisch-hilfen.de – LEARNING ENGLISH ONLINE englisch-hilfen.de – LEARNING ENGLISH ONLINE Future Progressive • An action will be in progress at a certain time in the future. This action has begun before the certain time. • Something happens because it normally happens. will + be + infinitive + ing I'll be working. He'll be working. I'll be going. He'll be going. I won't be working. He won't be working. I won't be going. He won't be going. Will I be working? Will he be working? Will I be going? Will he be going? Future Perfect Simple sth. will already have happened before a certain time in the future will + have + past participle* *(infinitive + ed) or (3rd column of table of irregular verbs) I'll have worked. He'll have worked. I'll have gone. He'll have gone. I won't have worked. He won't have worked. I won't have gone. He won't have gone. Will I have worked? Will he have worked? Will I have gone? Will he have gone? Future Perfect Progressive sth. will already have happened before a certain time in the future emphasis: length of time of an action will + have + been + infinitive + ing I'll have been working. He'll have been working. I'll have been going. He'll have been going. I won't have been working. He won't have been working. I won't have been going. He won't have been going. Will I have been working? Will he have been working? Will I have been going? Will he have been going? Conditional Simple • sth. that might happen • main clause in type II of the Conditional sentences would + infinitive I would work. He would work. I would go. He would go. I wouldn't work. He wouldn't work. I wouldn't go. He wouldn't go. Would I work? Would he work? Would I work? Would he work? englisch-hilfen.de – LEARNING ENGLISH ONLINE englisch-hilfen.de – LEARNING ENGLISH ONLINE Conditional Progressive sth. that might happen emphasis: length of time of an action would + be + infinitive + ing I would be working. He would be working. I would be going. He would be going. I wouldn't be working. He wouldn't be working. I wouldn't be going. He wouldn't be going. Would I be working? Would he be working? Would I be going? Would he be going? Conditional Perfect • sth. that might have happened in the past • main clause in type III of the Conditional sentences would + have + past participle* *(infinitive + ed) or (3rd column of table of irregular verbs) I would have worked. He would have worked. I would have gone. He would have gone. I wouldn't have worked. He wouldn't have worked. I wouldn't have gone. He wouldn't have gone. Would I have worked? Would he have worked? Would I have gone? Would he have gone? Conditional Perfect Progressive sth. that might have happened in the past emphasis: length of time of an action would + have + been + infinitive + ing I would have been working. He would have been working. I would have been going. He would have been going. I wouldn't have been working. He wouldn't have been working. I wouldn't have been going. He wouldn't have been going. Would I have been working? Would he have been working? Would I have been going? Would he have been going? We sometimes use Continuous instead of Progressive. Some signal words can be found in more tenses. We did not list signal words in the future. Always remember what action is described. Used colours: blue → infinitive grey → irregular verbs in the Simple Past red → negation dark green → auxiliary purple → past participle orange → ending light green → signal word Rule 2: Noun-Pronoun Agreement  Singular subjects take singular nouns; plural subjects take plural nouns. The 13 singular subjects above each take a singular pronoun.  Incorrect: Not one of the boys read their SAT book.  Correct: Not one of the boys read his SAT book. Rule 3: Pronoun Subjects & Objects  You must know when to use the words in the column on the left & when to use those on the right: Subjects Objects I Me He Him She Her They Them We Us Who Whom o Examples o I like hotdogs, but hotdogs don’t like me. o She is good enough for Grape-Nuts, but are Grape-Nuts good enough for her? Rule 4: Pronoun consistency  Pronouns should be consistent throughout a sentence. o Incorrect: The more you study for the SAT, the more one thinks about moving to Mongolia. o Correct: The more you study for the SAT, the more you think about moving to Mongolia. Rule 5: Correct Tense  Make sure the action is consistent. Look for key “time words” such as when, as, after, and so forth. o Incorrect: After he ate the newt and brushed his teeth, I will kiss him. o Correct: After he eats the newt and brushes his teeth, I will kiss him.