Collins Primary Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling - Collins Dictionaries 2 стр.

dull + est = dullest

green + est = greenest

clever + est = cleverest

If the adjective is quite a long word, you use most to make the superlative.

beautiful most beautiful

eccentric most eccentric

interesting most interesting

Good and bad

The adjectives good and bad dont follow the normal rules for comparative and superlative forms.

There are spelling rules about adding suffixes, and you can see these on pages 8185.

Adverbs

An adverb is a word that tells you something about a verb. They describe the way in which something is done. Many adverbs end with the letters ly.

Some adverbs tell you how:

Ella runs quickly.

The children sing loudly.

Some adverbs tell you where:

We live here.

The plane flew south.

Some adverbs tell you when:

She is going on holiday tomorrow.

Phone the police immediately.

Some adverbs tell you how much:

I really want to see that film.

He was completely exhausted.

Some adverbs tell you how often:

You never come out to play football.

My sister and I always argue about who sits in the front seat of the car.

Some adverbs go at the beginning of a sentence. These give a comment on the whole sentence:

Fortunately, it didnt rain.

Sadly, Jackie cant come on Friday.

Prepositions

A preposition is a word that is used before a noun or a pronoun to describe how things are related or connected to each other. For example, prepositions can tell you:

where a person or thing is:

a cat in the garden

a book on the table

a sock under the bed

Other prepositions like this include:

the movement of something or someone:

The train came into the station.

We pushed through the crowd.

Other prepositions like this include:

they also show how things are related in time:

I havent seen my auntie since last week.

Conjunctions

A conjunction is a word that is used to join two words or two parts of a sentence together. There are two main types of conjunction.

Co-ordinating conjunctions

A co-ordinating conjunction joins two things that are as important as each other:

I love fish and chips.

It was dry so I walked home.

You can have a biscuit or a cake.

She has neither mother nor father.

It can also show a contrast between two things:

Joe is having a birthday party but he hasnt invited me.

Subordinating conjunctions

A subordinating conjunction introduces a clause which is less important than the main part of the sentence:

The teacher was angry because the pupils would not pay attention.

Mark read his book while he waited for his mum to arrive.

I must tell you some exciting news before we get started.

Some dogs go a bit crazy when its windy.

Pronouns

A pronoun is a word that is used in place of a noun. You use a pronoun instead of repeating the name of a person, place or thing:

Rachel lives next door to me. Rachel is in my class.

> Rachel lives next door to me. She is in my class.

That is the book I am reading just now. The book is very funny.

> That is the book I am reading just now. It is very funny.

I like to sit in the garden. The garden is very sunny.

> I like to sit in the garden. It is very sunny.

Personal pronouns

You use a personal pronoun instead of the subject or object of a sentence:

She is good at maths.

Nobody likes him.

Possessive pronouns

You use a possessive pronoun to show that something belongs to a person or thing:

We had to move out when our house was flooded.

I think the blue jacket is mine.

The dog buried its bone in the garden.

Relative pronouns

You use a relative pronoun instead of a noun to join two different parts of a sentence. The relative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which and that. They introduce information about a noun in an earlier part of the sentence. This noun is known as the antecedent. You use who, whom and whose when the antecedent is a person, and which and that when it is not a person.

who: You use who when the antecedent is the subject of the second clause.

I have an aunt who lives in Australia.

whom: You use whom when the antecedent is the object of the second clause.

It was the same man whom we had seen earlier.

whose: You use whose to show that something belongs to the antecedent.

Scott has a brother whose name is Jamie.

which: You use which when the antecedent is not a person.

We took the road which leads to the sea.

that: You use that when the antecedent is not a person.

George brought the sandwiches that he had made the night before.

Determiners

A determiner is a word that you put in front of a noun to show more clearly what you are talking about. There are different kinds of determiners:

Articles

The word the is called the definite article.

the robot

the traffic

the footballers

The word a is called the indefinite article.

a caravan

a giraffe

a scooter

If the word after a begins with a vowel, you use an instead:

an animal

an umbrella

an orange pencil

Other determiners

Other types of determiners give different information about the noun:

the distance between the speaker and the thing they are talking about:

who owns the thing:

the distance between the speaker and the thing they are talking about:

who owns the thing:

how much or how many:

the exact number:

one melon

the two brothers

fifty roses

ten thousand years

how something is shared out:

Every child got a prize.

Each runner is given a number.

Either team could win on the day.

Neither side is playing well at the moment.

Verbs

A verb is a word that tells you about an action.

Emily plays the guitar.

The children ran across the field.

We always listen to the radio in the car.

Andrew is a Scout.

Tense

The tense of a verb tells us when the action takes place.

Present tense

If the action is happening now, you use the present tense. There are two types of present tense you can use:

Simple present tense: For this you use the verb as it is, or add an s at the end:

I like broccoli.

You love peas.

Max hates carrots.

We enjoy swimming.

Martin and Kate play the piano.

Progressive present tense: This is also known as the continuous present tense. For this you add the ending ing to the verb and put a form of the verb be in front of it:

I am doing my homework.

You are annoying me.

Lara is painting a picture.

Past tense

If the action has already happened, you use the past tense. There are four types of past tense you can use:

Simple past tense: For most verbs, you add ed to the end to make the simple past tense. You add d if the verb already ends in e:

The children screamed when the lights went out.

The dog barked at the postman.

I scrambled over the wall.

Progressive past tense: This is also known as the continuous past tense. You add ing to the verb and put it after was or were. You use this to talk about something that was still happening at a certain point in the past or when something else happened:

That was the summer when Jack and I were learning to ride.

Richard was cooking dinner when the fire alarm went off.

Present perfect tense: For this you use has or have with the simple past tense of the verb. You use the present perfect tense to show that an action has been completed:

Abby has finished her project on Japan.

I have baked a cake for the birthday party.

Past perfect tense: For this you use had with the simple past tense of the verb. You use this to show that something had been completed when something else happened:

Matthew had finished his lunch before the others had even started.

I had packed my suitcase when the taxi arrived.

Future tense

If the action has still to happen, you use the future tense. You do this by using will or shall and then the verb:

I will be there on time.

He says he will phone later today.

We shall see if thats true.

Auxiliary verbs

There are three auxiliary verbs: be, have and do. These are used with other verbs to make different tenses.

I was washing my hair.

The chicken had crossed the road.

I did tidy my room eventually.

Be, have and do are irregular verbs, which means that they do not follow the usual rules for making verb forms.

Be

I am happy.

You are sad.

She is tired.

We are excited.

They are late.

I was worried.

You were angry.

He was scared.

We were jealous.

They were sleepy.

He is being silly.

We have been ready for an hour.

Have

I have a cat.

You have a dog.

She has a rabbit.

We have a parrot.

They have no pets.

I had an apple.

You had an orange.

He had a pear.

We had some grapes.

They had strawberries.

Mary is having a baby.

We have had no sleep for two days.

Do

I do not like her.

You do not like him.

She does not like me.

We do not like them.

They do not like us.

I did like him.

You did like her.

She did like you.

We did like them.

They did like him.

The boys are doing their homework in their rooms.

I have done what you told me.

Modal verbs

The modal verbs are can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would and ought. They are used with other verbs to add certain meanings like possibility, doubt or having to do something. Unlike all other verbs, they do not change their spellings:

I can ride a bike.

Olivia can speak Italian.

My friends can all come to my party.

I could be late so dont wait for me.

You may be right.

I might go to the library after school.

You must listen to the teacher.

Shall we take the dog for a walk?

You should clean your teeth at least twice a day.

Will you hang your jacket up?

I would love a cup of tea.

We ought to leave now.

Phrases

A phrase is a group of words which go together.

a busy street

the family pet

very good at tennis

Although a phrase makes sense, it is not a full sentence and needs more words to make it complete.

We live on a busy street.

The family pet is a tortoise called Bob.

My sister is very good at tennis.

Noun phrases

A noun phrase contains at least one noun.