There are many grammar books available if you want to learn from a text book. This should be supervised by an English language teacher/tutor so that you can pronounce the words correctly. Please refer to my posts on Spoken English and How to improve your English listening skills. If you want to learn grammar online, Italki member Cherry has recommended the following links that could help you learn English grammar:
www.learnenglish.de/grammarpage.htm
www.nonstopenglish.com/
esl.about.com/od/grammar/Beginning_Level_English_G.
www.english-at-home.com/
Some further links for grammar exercises:
englishonline.sites.uol.com.br/english/basic.htm
www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar
depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/exercises/main/gr.
www.better-english.com/grammar.htm
www.smic.be/smic5022/exercisesgrammar.htm
Maybe you would like to check out these too :
http://www.englishdaily626.com/c-mistakes.php
http://blog.chinasprout.com/2008/05/english-and-chinese-grammar.html
http://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/language/index.pl?read=1137
UNDERSTANDING SENTENCE STRUCTURE
The following are some sites explaining English sentence structure with some exercises as well:
- http://www.arts.uottawa.ca/writcent/hypergrammar/sntstrct.html
- http://www.speak-read-write.com/grammar1.html
- http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/157039/how_to_identify_the_parts_of_a_sentence.html?cat=4
- http://grammar.about.com/od/basicsentencegrammar/a/basicstructures.htm
- http://www.berghuis.co.nz/abiator/lang/lscr/lscrindex.html ( an exercise of scrambles sentences ).
WHAT IS A SIMPLE SUBJECT AND A COMPLETE SUBJECT?
from Mister Wright Example sentence #1:
"The big, gray, ugly, hungry shark ate the whale."
Who did the eating in this sentence? The shark did.
So, the "shark" is the "simple subject".
The complete subject is "the big, gray, ugly hungry shark".
So the complete subject includes the simple subject, plus all of it's modifiers or descriptive words.
Example sentence #2:
"The cold, white snow fell on the ground".
Simple Subject: "snow"
Complete Subject: "cold, white, snow".
USING PREPOSITIONS IN ESSAYS
Prepositions are words which stand in front of a noun or pronoun.Common prepositions used in essays often include: about, above, around, as, except, during, inside, through, towards, underneath, upon,without etc. For example;
Above the prisoner's head, all he could see was the ceiling. During his imprisonment he tried to peer through the narrow slit in the wall but it was only about two centimetres wide. On a warm day he could see a sliver of sunlight, as he gazed upon the graffiti left by others.
Check these sites for information about prepositions of time and place and their application:
http://esl.about.com/library/beginner/bleasypreps.htm
http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/CILL/eap/2004/u2/pg34preps.htm
TENSES
PAST TENSE
Simple past is formed for regular verbs by adding –ed to the root of a word. Example: He walked to the store. A negation is produced by adding did not and the verb in its infinitive form. Example: He did not walk to the store. Question sentences are started with did as in Did he walk to the store?
Simple past is used for describing acts that have already been concluded and whose exact time of occurrence is known. Furthermore, simple past is used for retelling successive events. That is why it is commonly used in storytelling.
Past progressive is formed by using the adequate form of to be and the verb’s present participle: He was going to church. By inserting not before the main verb a negation is achieved. Example: He was not going to church. A question is formed by prefixing the adequate form of to be as in Was he going?.
Past progressive is used for describing events that were in the process of occurring when a new event happened. The already occurring event is presented in past progressive, the new one in simple past. Example: We were sitting in the garden when the thunderstorm started. Use is similar to other languages' imperfect tense.
Present perfect simple is formed by combining have/has with the main verb’s past participle form: I have arrived. A negation is produced by inserting not after have/has: I have not arrived. Questions in present perfect are formulated by starting a sentence with have/has: Has she arrived?
Present perfect simple is used for describing a past action’s effect on the present: He has arrived. Now he is here. This holds true for events that have just been concluded as well as for events that have not yet occurred.
Present perfect progressive is formed by prefixing have/has before the grammatical participle been and the verb’s present participial form: We have been waiting. A negation is expressed by including not between have/has and been: They have not been eating. As with present perfect simple, for forming a question, have/has is put at the beginning of a sentence: Have they been eating?
Present perfect progressive is used for describing an event that has been going on until the present and may be continued in the future. It also puts emphasis on how an event has occurred. Very often since and for mark the use of present perfect progressive: I have been waiting for five hours / I have been waiting since three o’clock.
Furthermore, there is another version of past tense possible: past perfect, similar to other languages' pluperfect tense.
Past perfect simple is formed by combining the simple past form of to have with the past participle form of the main verb: We had shouted. A negation is achieved by including not after had: You had not spoken. Questions in past perfect always start with had: Had he laughed?
Past perfect simple is used for describing secluded events that have occurred before something else followed. The event that is closer to the present is given in simple past tense: After we had visited our relatives in New York, we flew back to Toronto.
Past perfect progressive is formed by had, the grammatical particle been and the present participle of the main verb: You had been waiting. For negation, not is included before been: I had not been waiting. A question sentence is formed by starting with had: Had she been waiting?
If emphasis is put on the duration of a concluded action of the past, since and for are signal words for past perfect progressive: We had been waiting at the airport since the 9 P.M. flight. / They had been waiting for three hours now.
FUTURE SIMPLE AND FUTURE PERFECT
The future simple is simply indicating that you are doing something in the FUTURE,be it the near or far future.
It is formed by will + verb in infinitive
I will call you in one minute .
I will visit her tomorrow .
He will travel to London next month.
She will graduate next year.
The Future Perfect indicates that the action or event will be completed at a time in the future.A specific time is usually stated or understood.
That is why it is often used with "by" and "until".
It is formed by will + verb in the present perfect ( verb to have + Participle)
By the time you arrive here , you will have flown 6 hours.
The students will have finished their paintings tomorrow.
He will have worked at this company for 2 years next week.
What is the causative passive voice? Watch an online teacher give an explanation on the website below.
The Causative Passive
Causative Passive. Remember:. The causative in the passive voice has two structures:. 1. For GET and HAVE: usually used with professional services. ...
international.ouc.bc.ca/chalkntalk/causativepassive/ - 2k
INDIRECT OR REPORTED SPEECH
Reported speech is telling someone what someone else said. Often if we communicate what someone said by writing, we simply quote them:
Tom said, "I want to go home."
With reported/indirect speech there are no quotes and the verb tense is one degree in the past:
Tom said he wanted to go home.
What I mean by "one degree in the past" is that the present tense becomes the past, the past tense becomes the past perfect, etc:
He said, "I want to go to the store." = He said he wanted to go to the store.
He said, "I wanted to go to the store but it was raining." = He said that he had wanted to go to the store but it was raining.
DanOIS THERE A FUTURE TENSE FOR THE WORD 'MUST'?
There is no future form of 'must' , so we use 'will have to' instead.
'ought to' is a little different, because it suggests that you would do something if you were good, but you might or might not do it.
'have to' means you are required and 'will have to' is correct for the future.
zooey
eg We must meet Alan tomorrow.
PHRASAL VERBS
http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/phrasal-verbs/
You can browse alphabetically for the verb, find a certain verb and search all the prepositions attached, or find a certain preposition and get most of the verbs they are attached to with definitions and examples in all cases.
CherryTIPS ON HOW TO MEMORIZE VOCABULARY
Here are some tips for enlarging and remembering vocabulary.
Vocabulary can’t always be understood just from a dictionary definition.
In order to really understand a new vocabulary word, you need to know how to use it in a variety of contexts.
Just knowing a vocabulary word enough to recognize it later on is not sufficient enough to memorize it. Your really need to know what the vocabulary word sounds like and how it is spelled.
You must know the vocabulary word visually and phonetically.
For the visual part of the vocabulary word look at the spelling, close your eyes and say the spelling out loud, then open your eyes and check that you spelled it correctly.
For the phonetic part of the vocabulary word, read the vocabulary word, look away from the page and say it out loud, then check that you have said the vocabulary correctly.
If you can learn the vocabulary word both visually and phonetically, you know the vocabulary word really well. This is most important.
Once you know the vocabulary word really well, you need to connect that vocabulary word to what you already know. Use 'post it' notes to stick the word onto objects in your home.
You need to turn the vocabulary word into a memorable image in your imagination.
Consider what the new vocabulary word reminds you of that can be easily visualized.
Try to pick the first thing that comes into your head because when you re-encounter the vocabulary word you’re likely to think the same way again. Try drawing a picture or symbol next to the words