The Rule of the Thumb

Are there any rules in grammar? Rules! Not exactly... But there are guidelines that help us understand the language better. Let us give these guidelines or thumb rules, as I like to call them, a glance: Parts of Speech o There are eight parts of speech. Dont get scared! They are nothing but simple words that when put together form meaningful sentences. Same words can be used as different parts of speech, depending on how they are used. These parts of speech are: Nouns- Naming words like George, city, chair, happiness Pronouns- Words used in place of nouns like he, she, I, they Adjectives- Words that describe or tell the quality of nouns or pronouns Verbs- doing words in action or in different states like sit, stand, like, want Adverbs- words that describe adjectives, verbs and adverbs like quickly, very Prepositions- words that tell the relationship of the main noun or the subject with the rest of the sentence like on, at, into, from Conjunctions- words that join words, clauses, sentences like and, but, or Interjections- words used to express emotions like oh, wow Phrases, Clauses and Sentences o A phrase is a simple group of words that may or may not express any meaning o A clause is an incomplete sentence. It conveys a certain meaning but theres always something more to be added. o A sentence is a group of words strung together to convey a meaning. It is the most basic component of any language and if spoken or written incorrectly, may or may not convey the meaning that it is intended to. It has two parts Subject: a noun or a pronoun, along with its description, is the subject of the sentence Predicate: the rest of the sentence that tells about the subjects action or state and other such details is the predicate Tenses o Tenses refer to the time being referred to in a sentence

As we all know (HOPEFULLY!) that there are three basic categories to tenses: Past Present Future o Each of these categories is further divided into sub-categories based on the status of the action that is being talked about Simple- the normal status of the action in past, present or future Continuous- the progression of action in the three tenses Perfect- a completed action in the three tenses Perfect Continuous- a completed action in past, present and future which is in progression even after achieving the state of perfection. Subject Verb Agreement o Well! What does the name suggest? Yes, it is what it suggests... Subject and the verb that talks about it must agree in number. Confused? Dont be! Youll understand it better when we get there... Active and Passive Voice o Ever voiced your opinions directly, openly, robustly? That was your ACTIVE VOICE. o Remember the time when you had to state something indirectly in order to subdue the situation or calm someone down... HUSH! HUSH! HUSH!! You had used PASSIVE VOICE there, and yes, there are a few guidelines that can help you speak passively Conditionals o Oh! The ifs and whens! Conditionals are the types of conditions that are expressed in the English language and the consequences that follow. o There are four conditionals Zero- surety First- actual likelihood of the result happening in future Second- make-believe present or improbable future Third- unreal past

And so we cover our major points... dont let these guidelines overwhelm you; for there are hundreds of guidelines and structures that can be explored... but thankfully, we shall only stick to the basics!