GRAMMAR
Words & Sentences
Practice different strategies for building forceful sentences while using words correctly, effectively, and imaginatively.
- All About Words
- Parts of Speech and Word Classes
- Building Sentences
- Sentence Combining Exercises
- Punctuating Words & Sentences
- What Is Language?
- Commonly Confused Words
- Six Common Myths About Language
- Etymology: Word Stories
- Key Dates in the History of English
- Neil Postman's Exercise in Etymology
- Words That May Not Mean What You Think They Mean
- Tips to Cut the Clutter
- Ten Good Small Words
- Common Redundancies
- Commonly Misspelled Words
- Denotations and Connotations
- Copyediting Terms
- Spelling Rules
- 200 Homonyms, Homophones, and Homographs
- Grammar & Rhetoric Glossary
- 200 Expressions That Tick You Off
- Weird, Witty, and Wonderful Language-Related Terms
- Top 20 Figures of Speech
- What Are Clichés and Why Are We Supposed to Avoid Them?
Parts of Speech and Word ClassesLearning the names and functions of the traditional parts of speech probably won't make you a better writer. But you will gain a basic understanding of the English language, which will help you follow the other lessons here at About.com Grammar and Composition. And those lessons will help you to improve your writing.
- The Basic Parts of Speech
- Word Classes
- Ten Types of Verbs
- Notes on Verbs
- What Is the Difference Between a "Weak Verb" and a "Strong Verb"?
- What Is Verbing?
- Notes on Nouns
- Pronouns
- What Is an Appositive?
- Notes on Prepositions
- Is It Wrong to End a Sentence With a Preposition?
- Notes on THE Definite Article
- Determiners
- Adverbs
- What Is a Sentence Adverb?
- Conjunctions
- Particles
- What Is a Double Genitive?
- What Is a Present Participle?
- What Is the Difference Between the Present Progressive and Present Participle?
- What Is Grammar?
- Why Does Grammar Matter?
- Basic Sentence Structures
- The Basic Parts of Speech
- 24 Grammatical Terms That We Should Have Learned in School
- 100 Key Grammatical Terms
- Ten Types of Grammar
- Exercise in Using Specific Descriptive Details in Sentences
- Sentence Building With Adjectives and Adverbs
- Sentence Building with Prepositional Phrases
- Sentence Building With Coordinators
- Sentence Building with Adjective Clauses
- Sentence Building with Appositives
- Sentence Building with Adverb Clauses
- Sentence Building with Participial Phrases
- Sentence Building with Absolutes
- Sentence Building with Noun Phrases and Noun Clauses
- What Is Sentence Combining and How Does It Work?
- Introduction to Sentence Combining
- Exercise #2: "New York Is a City of Things Unnoticed"
- Exercise #3: Martha's Departure (Adjectives & Adverbs)
- Exercise #4: Nervous Norman (Basic Modifiers)
- Exercise #5: The San Francisco Earthquake (Coordination)
- Exercise #6: Rolling Along With Mr. Bill (Adjective Clauses)
- Exercise #7: Out of the Ice Age (Adjective Clauses)
- Exercise #8: How Teachers Make Children Hate Reading (Cause & Effect)
- Exercise #9: The Kitchen (Description)
- Exercise #10: Mrs. Bridge (Narration)
- Exercise #11: My Home of Yesteryear (Participial Phrases)
- Exercise #12: Orwell's "A Hanging" (Various Structures)
- Sentence Recombining: The Flood, by John Steinbeck
- Basic Rules of Punctuation
- A Brief History of Punctuation
- Punctuation Matters: A "Dear John" Letter and a Two Million Dollar Comma
- End Punctuation: Periods, Question Marks, and Exclamation Points
- Punctuation Practice: Using End Marks of Punctuation
- Guidelines for Using Commas Effectively
- Creating Sentences With Commas: A Sentence Imitation Exercise
- Review Exercise: Adding Commas to a Paragraph
- What Is the Oxford (or Serial) Comma?
- How to Use the Semicolon
- Semicolons, Colons, and Dashes
- Creating Sentences With Semicolons, Colons, and Dashes
- Review Exercise: Using Commas and Semicolons Correctly
- Guidelines for Using Apostrophes Correctly
- Guidelines for Using Quotation Marks Effectively
- Review Exercise: Punctuating Sentences Correctly
ALL ABOUT PHRASES
Paragraphs & Essays
Practice various strategies for developing well-organized paragraphs and essays that keep readers interested and informed.Develop Effective ParagraphsHow to find a topic, discover supporting details, and arrange sentences clearly and logically.
- Composing a Descriptive Paragraph
- Model Place Descriptions
- Revising a Place Description
- Making Paragraphs Coherent
- Composing Topic Sentences
- Paragraph Unity
- Coherence With Transitional Expressions
- Coherence With Repetition
- Coherence Exercise: Building and Connecting Sentences
- Composing a Character Sketch
- Writing a Narrative Paragraph
- Making the Grade: Evaluating a Narrative Paragraph
- Revision Checklist
Develop Effective Essays
How to organize paragraphs into various kinds of essays: those that explain, compare, analyze, classify, and argue. Our goal is to create informative and persuasive compositions that keep our readers interested.
- Composing a Personal Essay
- Composing a Profile
- Composing a Letter of Complaint
- Tips for Composing Exam Essays
- Ten Tips for Composing a Successful Essay for the SAT or ACT
- How to Write a Passing Essay for a Standardized Test
- How to Catch River Crabs: A Process Analysis Essay
- How to Make a Sand Castle: Evaluating a Process Analysis Essay
- Watching Baseball, Playing Softball: A Comparison and Contrast Essay
- Developing and Organizing a Classification Essay
- Shopping at the Pig: A Classification Essay
- Learning to Hate Mathematics: A Cause and Effect Essay
- Preparing an Argument
- Time for an Anthem the Country Can Sing: An Argumentative Essay
- Rhetorical Analysis of E B. White's "The Ring of Time"
- Rhetorical Analysis of U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
- A Critical Essay on Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises"
- 400 Writing Topics
- Classic Essays and Speeches
- Self-Evaluation of Essays
Readings & Resources for WritersOne of the most effective ways to improve our own writing is to spend time reading the best writing of others. Also, learn more about grammar and composition from the best reference works, online writing labs, ESL sites, editors' blogs, Q&A pages, and much more.
- Classic British and American Essays and Speeches
- Reading Quizzes
- 60 Essays
- A Scrapbook of Styles
- Readings on the English Language
- Archive of Grammar & Composition Blogs
- Choosing a Style Manual and Documentation Guide
- 100 Major Works of Creative Nonfiction
- E.B. White's Drafts of "Once More to the Lake"
- The Lighter Side of Language
- Top 10 Reference Works for Writers
- Top Five ESL Sites
- Writers on Writing: Advice From the Pros
- The Characteristics of Good Writing
- Ten Principles of Effective Writing
- Top Five Phony Rules of Writing
- What Is Writing?
- The Best Advice on Writing
- Advice From One Writer to Another
- What Is the Secret of Good Writing?
- Overcoming Writer's Block
- The Myth of Inspiration
- Writers on Rewriting
- How to Avoid Writing, by Robert Benchley
Grammar & Composition Ads
Style & Figures of Speech
Style and rhetoric are ancient arts--of persuasion, expression, and effective communication--that are just as valuable to writers today as they were to students in ancient Greece and Rome.Figures of Speech : Aristotle may be 2,500 years old--but his writings on rhetoric are still relevant today.
- Top 20 Figures of Speech
- Figures of Speech in Advertising Slogans
- Definitions of Rhetoric
- Tool Kit for Rhetorical Analysis
- Sample Rhetorical Analysis
- What Is a Metaphor?
- 13 Ways of Looking at a Metaphor
- Humaphors: The Top 10 Metaphors of Stephen Colbert
- The Metaphors of Dr. Gregory House
- Metaphors Be With You
- Who or What Is Personification?
- What Is Irony?
- What Is an Analogy?
- Homer Simpson's Figures of Speech
- Discussion Questions for Rhetorical Analysis
- 100 Sweet Similes
Writing With Style Learn how to become a more versatile and imaginative writer.
- What Is Style?
- Figures & Tropes
- Using Similes and Metaphors
- A Scrapbook of Styles
- Kurt Vonnegut on Writing with Style
- Writing with Lists
- Using Sentence Fragments Effectively
- Effective Strategies of Repetition
- Ten Principles of Effective Writing
- Tricolons: Writing With the Magic Number Three
- Bdelygmia: The Perfect Rant
- How to Write Good, by William Safire
- Essays on English Prose Style
- William F. Buckley on Words
- Anthony Burgess on the English Language
- Samuel Butler on Words and Writing
- Natalia Ginzburg on Being a Great Small Writer
- Doris Lessing on the Compulsion to Write
- Bernard Levin on Writers and Writing
- Norman Mailer on Writers and Writing
- Maugham on Writing Without Frills
- H.L. Mencken on the Writing Life
- Toni Morrison on Writing
- Joyce Carol Oates on Writing: "Don't Give Up"
- George Orwell's Rules for Writers
- Grace Paley on Writing
- Poe on Punctuation
- "Murder Your Darlings": Quiller-Couch on Style
- Pirsig on Overcoming Writer's Block
- Dr. Seuss on Writing
- Swift on Style: Keep It Simple
- Mark Twain's Top 10 Writing Tips
- James Thurber on Writing and Editing
Parts of Speech TableThis is a summary of the 8 parts of speech*. You can find more detail if you click on each part of speech.
part of speechfunction or "job"example wordsexample sentences
Verb action or state be, have, do, like, work, sing, can, must EnglishClub.com is a web site. Ilike EnglishClub.com.
Noun thing or person pen, dog, work, music, town, London, teacher, John This is my dog. He lives in myhouse. We live in London
.Adjective describes a noun a/an, the, 69, some, good, big, red, interesting My dog is big. I like big dogs
.Adverb describes a verb, adjective or adverb quickly, silently, well, badly, very, really My dog eats quickly. When he isvery hungry, he eats really quickly
.Pronoun replaces a noun I, you, he, she, some Tara is Indian. She is beautiful
.Preposition links a noun to another word to, at, after, on, but We went to school on Monday
.Conjunction joins clauses or sentences or words and, but, when I like dogs and I like cats. I like cats and dogs. I like dogs but I don't like cats.
Interjection short exclamation,sometimes inserted into a sentence oh!, ouch!, hi!, well Ouch! That hurts! Hi! How are you? :
- Verbs may be treated as two different parts of speech:
- Lexical Verbs (work, like, run)
- Auxiliary Verbs (be, have, must)
- Determiners may be treated as a separate part of speech, instead of being categorized under Adjectives
VIDEOS
What is a c