Students born in the United States who learned English as their first language are experts in its use.  Native speakers of a language understand instantaneously what they have said, heard, read, or written.  And most of what they say, hear, read, and write is original--it has never been said or written before; yet, they understand it immediately. 

              Learning a language includes learning its grammar--how to combine words so they make sense.  While native speakers are expert users of English and know how to use it, few of them are experts in the rules of English grammar.  They don't have to be; they know the rules unconsciously.  This unconscious knowing of English means knowing how to make sentences out of words that are out of order:  and hogs the killed Grandpa ate.  Without any trial and error, expert speakers can turn the words into two sentences which make sense, one in which the hogs are the meal, and one in which Grandpa is the main course.

               Expert speakers of English can also hear variants of Standard American English grammar and interpret what is being said:  me and Dick ain't got none nowheres.  The same is true when hearing people who learned English as a second language:  turn the corner around where the farmer is throwing the cows over the fence some hay.  Expert speakers supply what is missing, correct the incorrect, and reorder the unordered to make sense of what is being said.

              A descriptive grammar describes how the language is used; a prescriptive grammar prescribes or presents rules which must be followed.  Prescriptive grammars have rules such as "two negatives make a positive."  Everyone knows that me and Dick ain't got none nowheres is a negative--they just don't have any (thing?).  The rule doesn't make any sense.  Its opposite, "two positives cannot make a negative" is just as senseless.  What about the ironic student response of  yeah, right!  The two positives are a negative.  Language is not logical, so there are many exceptions to any rule, which is why far too many students throw up their hands and despair of learning grammar.  But grammar is necessary for meaning, and it can be learned if students learn to trust their abilities to use language, and if they take the time to study a bit to find out why their writings do not sound right.

              In Through the looking Glass, Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, the author of Alice in Wonderland), wrote "Jabberwocky":

    Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
    Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
    All mimsy were the borogoves,
    And the mome raths outgrabe.

    "Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
    The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
    Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
    The frumious Bandersnatch!"

    He took his vorpal sword in hand:
    Long time the manxome foe he sought--
    So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
    And stood awhile in thought

    And, as in uffish thought he stood,
    The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
    Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
    And burbled as it came!

    One two! One two! And through and through
    The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
    He left it dead, and with its head
    He went galumphing back.

    "And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
    Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
    O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
    He chortled in his joy.

    'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
    Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
    All mimsy were the borogoves,
    And the mome raths outgrabe.

              Many of the words in "Jabberwocky" make sense; many don't; yet readers have a strong feeling they know what the poem means.  Carroll did a fine job of placing his invented words into forms and structures which conform to the structures of English.

              Heather MacFadyen at the University of Ottowa does a fine job explaining and showing how words can change their functions in different sentences to create meaning.

              Overall, the best tool students have for finding out how language is used and how it works is a good dictionary of over 50,000 words.

    ADJECTIVES/DETERMINERS

              Adjectives are traditionally defined as words which modify a noun or a pronoun.  There are some sentence patterns in which only adjectives can occur:

                        It was extremely _____.

                        A ____ woman is a woman who is _____.

    The other sentence patterns in which adjectives occur are positions also used by other parts of speech:

                        They were _____.

                        They were _____ people.                     

    Because of this, adjectives sometimes must be identified by form or function rather than by sentence position.  This is necessary because many adjectives can also function as adverbs.

             The form of adjectives includes the comparative -er and the superlative -est endings as in blue, bluer, bluest--pretty, prettier, prettiest--sad, sadder, saddest, etc.  Adjectives which do not take the -er and -est endings can be identified by good, better, best, much, more and most:  good cake, better cake, best cake and more beautiful, most beautiful.

              Adjectives take such suffixes as:

                        --al--naval
                            --ful--grateful
                        --ic--idyllic
                         --ive--positive
                        --ous--nauseous
                        -    -y--dirty

    ADVERBS

              Averbs are traditionally described as words which modify adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs .  They are also described as words which answer the questions of where? when? how? much? and how often?

              Adverbs position themselves in sentences:

                        She sang _____. (where? when? how? how much? how    often?)

                        She had _____. (what?)

              Adverbs can be placed anywhere in a sentence to make meanings of place--here, there, where; meaning of time--now, often, when; meaning of manner-- how, much, thus.

                        _____ she exercised. (here? there? where? now? often? when? thus?)

                        She exercised _____. (here? there? where? often? when? much? thus?)

                        _____ she exercised _____. (here? there? where? now? often? how? when? thus?)

                        She _____ exercised. (often? thus?)

              Almost any adjective can be made an adverb with the addition of the suffix ly-- gratefully, prettily,  positively.

              Adverb qualifiers include such words as extremely, quite, rather, somewhat, and very:

                        She was _____ cold.

              The adverb there is never the subject of a sentence.

    CONJUNCTIONS

              Conjunctions are traditionally defined as words which connect, words, phrases, and sentences together.  Conjunctions can be referred to as coordinating, connecting, and subordinating.

              There are seven coordinating conjunctions--and, or, for, nor, so, yet, and but.  Coordinating conjunctions position themselves between nouns and pronouns:

                        boys _____ girls
                        He _____ she
                        A few boys _____ a few girls

              Coordinating conjunctions position themselves between verbs :

                        stirred _____ mixed
                        always stirred when the directions called for mixing _____ and never mixed the
                                  flour thoroughly.

              Coordinating conjunctions position themselves between adjectives:

                        handsome _____ beautiful

              Coordinating conjunctions position themselves between adverbs:

                        effortlessly _____ painlessly

              Coordinating conjunctions position themselves between prepositional phrases:

                        on the snow _____ into the street

              When the coordinating conjunctions conjunctions--and, or, for, nor, so, yet, and but are used with both, either, neither, whether,  they form what is traditionally called the correlative conjunctions-- both . . . and, either . . . or, neither . . . nor, whether . . . or, and not only . . . but also:

                       _____ the boys _____ the girls worked after school.
                       _____ ______ the boys _____ ____ the girls worked after school.

              None of the above coordinating and correlative conjunctions uses a comma.  The comma is used when sentences are connected together.  

                        The boy baked pies,  _____ and the girls tuned their cars' engines.
                        Either the dog goes, or I'm out of here.

              Subordinating conjunctions include after, although, as, as if, as soon as, because, before, even though, if, provided that, since, so, so that, than, that, though, unless, until, what, when, whenever, where, whereas, while, and whose.  This is a partial list; there are dozens more subordinating conjunctions.  Subordinating conjunctions connect complete thoughts to incomplete thoughts such as: 

                        _____ he opened the car's door

    These phrases need more information to complete their thought; otherwise, they leave readers and listeners hanging, waiting for the rest of the action.  The following sentence patterns display the two sentence patterns of subordinating conjunctions:

                        _____ he opened the car's door, he saw the front seat was gone.
                         He saw the front seat was gone _____ he opened the car's door.

              When subordinate conjunctions begin a sentence, a comma is used to separate the sentence parts.

              A last form of conjunction connector  is called a conjunctive adverb.  Conjunctive adverbs are adverbs used to connect two sentences.  Common conjunctive adverbs include accordingly, also, anyway, besides, certainly, consequently, finally,  furthermore, hence, however, incidentally,. indeed, instead, likewise, meanwhile, moreover, nevertheless, next, nonetheless, otherwise, similarly, still, subsequently, then, therefore, and thus.

                      She came down with the flu; _____, she went to the theater.

    When conjunctive adverbs join two sentences together, the conjunctive adverb follows a semicolon and is followed by a comma.

              There are times, however, when conjunctive adverbs join parts of sentences together.  When this happens, as it happened in the proceeding sentence, the conjunctive adverb follows a comma and is followed by a comma.

                         She did, _____, go to the theater.

         NOUNS

              Nouns (N) are traditionally defined as persons, places, and things.

              Nouns position themselves in sentences:

                         The _____ was new..
                          I forgot my _____.
                          Where are their _____?
                          It  is on a _____.
                          She needs to take her _____.
                          To stay warm, _____ was needed.
                           _____s were needed.

              Mostly, Nouns can be made plural: with the addition of -s.  For other plural endings, such as a, en, and ves, etc. students need to consult their dictionaries:

                        boy--boys     girl--girls     child--children     deer--deer     alumnus--alumni.

              Proper nouns--Plato, Grand Canyon, Crookston, Clorox--are usually not plural because they name unique individuals, places, or things.

              Nouns can be made possessive:

                boy--boy's--boys'     girl--girl's--girls'     child's--children's
                deer--deer's--deers'     mouse--mouse's--mice's     alumnus--alumni

      Nouns follow determiners/adjectives:

                a     an     the
                her     his     its     my     our     their     whose     your
                that     these     this     those
                many     one, two, etc.     some
                by     for     from     in     of     on     with

              Nouns take such suffixes as:

                        -acy--democrary
                        -ance--performance
                        -dom--kingdom
                        -ence--reference
                         -er--worker
                        -hood--brotherhood
                        -ism--criticism
                         -ist--novelist
                         -ity--rapidity
                        -ment--government
                         -ship--companionship
                        -sion--subversion
                        -tion--celebration

    PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES

              The traditional definition of a preposition is of a word which links a noun or pronoun to another part of a sentence.  Prepositions are words which do not necessary have much meaning in themselves.  The are, however, important because they indicate direction, time, and location of nouns and pronouns.  Prepositions usually join with an determiner and a noun or pronoun to form a prepositional phrase:

                        _____ the fog
                        _____ of her                   

               Common prepositions include:  about, above, across, after, against, along, among, around, as, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, by, down, during, except, for, from, in, inside, into, like, near, of, off, on, onto, out, outside, over, past, regarding, since, to, through, throughout, toward, under, until, up, upon, with, within, without; and prepositions of more than one word include:  according to, along with, apart from, as for, as regards, as to, because of, by means of, by reason of, by way of, due to, except for, in addition to, in case of, in front of, in place of, in regard to, in spite of, instead of, near to, next to, out of, up to, with reference to, with regard to, with respect to, and with the exception of. 

              Prepositional phrases are not the subjects of sentences; they modify parts of sentences but they are not the doers of any action.  Since they modify parts of sentences, prepositional phrases can be placed throughout a sentence: 

                        ____ the correct time, he came _____ the dance _____ a dog cart _____
                                   his two daughters.

    PRONOUNS

               Pronouns (PN) are traditionally defined as taking the place of or standing in for nouns .  Pronouns make the same sentence patterns as do proper nouns:

        Kilroy was here--She was here.
        Kilroy loves adventure--She loves adventure.
        Kilroy love Sanderson--She loves Sanderson--She loves him.

              Pronouns are also referred to as having person (first, second, third), number (singular or plural), and case (subects,objects, and possessives), and as reflexive and intensive (it refers back to itself):

    Person/Number         Subject         Object         Possessive         Reflexive/Intensive

    First person singular           I                  me               my, mine                myself
    Second person singular      you              you              your, yours            yourself
    Third person singular          he                him              his                         himself
                                             she               her               hers                      herself
                                             it                  its                 its                         itself

    First person plural             we               us                 our, ours                ourselves
    Second person plural        you              you               your, yours            yourselves
    Third person plural            they             them             their, theirs             themselves

             Reflexive and Intensive pronouns always work in pairs with subject pronouns:

        She gave herself a birthday present.
        Only you yourself can prepare yourself for your featured event.

              Words such as all, another, any, anybody,anyone, anything, both, each, each other, eight, either, everybody, everyone, everything, few, five, four, many, more, most, much, neither, nine, nobody, no one, none, nothing, one, one another, seven, several, six, some, somebody, someone, something, such, ten, that, this, these, those, two, three, which. who--whoever, whom--whomever, whose, that, and what are also pronouns.  These words are pronouns when they replace nouns; they are noun determiners/adjectives when they position themselves before pronouns or nouns:

        Pronoun--Each performed well;
                         She loved him;

        Determiner/adjective--Each person performed well;
                                              She loved her dog.

    SENTENCE PATTERNS

              There are seven basic sentence patterns.  Most of the sentences said and written in English fit into these basic patterns.  Sentences which make statements usually begin with the subject followed by the verb.  When questions are asked, the order of the subject and verb is reversed.   When requests are made, the subject is omitted: traditionally, the subject has been considered the pronoun you.

              Pattern One:  Simple statement--Subject--Verb:

                        Statement:     Ears ring.  Ears are ringing.
                         Question:      Do ears ring?   
                            Request:       Ring

              Pattern Two:  Statement with an adjective following the
    verb--Subject--Verb--Adjective:

                         Statement:     The women were unhappy.  The women had been unhappy.
                         Question:       Are the women unhappy?
                             Request:        Be unhappy women.

              Pattern Three:  Statement with a noun following the verb with the noun referring to different people or things--Subject--Verb--Noun:

                         Statement:     The women love men.  The women had loved men.
                         Question:       Can women love men?
                             Request:         Love men.

              Pattern Four:   Statement with a noun following the verb with the noun referring to the same people or things--Subject--Verb--Noun:

                        Statement:      Those women are my sisters.
                        Question:         Are those women your sisters?
                        Request:         Be my sisters.

              Pattern Five:  Statement with two nouns following the verb with the nouns referring to different people or things--Subject--Verb--Noun--Noun:

                        Statement:       My mother taught my sisters manners.  She taught them
                                               manners    .
                        Question:         Did your mother teach your sisters manners?
                            Request:          Teach your sisters manners.

               Pattern Six:  Statement with two nouns following the verb with the nouns referring to the same persons or things--Subject--Verb-Noun--Noun:

                        Statement:       My sisters made my father a hero.  My sisters considered me
                                               a mischievous imp.
                            Question:         Were you a mischievous imp?
                         Request:          Call him a mischievous imp.

              Pattern Seven:  Statement beginning with the word there.  In such a sentence, there is/does not tie to the verb, so there is not the subject of the verb .  The subject follows the verb--There--Verb--Subject--Adverb

                       Statement:        There are five women here.
                       Question:          Were there some women here?
                                     

    SUBJECTS

              Subjects have traditionally been defined as a noun, pronoun, or noun group about which something has been said; or a subject is a noun or a noun group that names the does of the action of the sentence or which tells the reader about the verb.  The problem with these definitions is that students have to know what the verb is before they can identify the subject, and they must know what the subject is before they can identify the verb.

              Subjects are usually nouns and are singular or plural--girl, girls- woman, women.  Verbs also have various forms--see, sees--was, were.  When subjects affect the forms of  verbs or verbs affect the forms of the subjects, they become tied together by agreement:

                        The girl sees the boy.
                        The girls see the boy.

    The noun or pronoun  tied to the verb is the subject of the sentence.

              When a sentence has a subject, a helping verb and a verb, the subject becomes tied to the helping verb rather than the verb:

                        The girl was watching the boy.
                        The girls were watching the boys.

              The section on sentence patterns, above, provides students with more information about sentence patterns.

    VERBS

              Verbs are traditionally described as words which express a state of action or of being.  Verbs position themselves in sentences like this:

        He _____.
        He _____ it.
        He may _____ it.
        He'll ______ them tomorrow.
        He can't _____.
        He _____ this morning.
        He had _____ yesterday;
        _____ he _____?

              Like nouns, verbs take forms which identify them.  These forms include the endings s, ed, ing, en.  Verbs can also take auxiliaries or helping verbs.

              The prefixes and endings for verbs deal with tense or time--when something happens, has happened, is happening, or will be happening.  Most verbs are regular and follow the same forms.  There are about two hundred irregular verbs which change their spelling when indicating time:

              The stem of a regular verb is the word itself, walk.  I walk to work;

              The present tense adds an s to the verb stem--walk s.  She walks to work.  Notice that unlike nouns, verbs do not become plural with the addition of s because s is an indicator of time, something is happening right now;

              The past tense adds ed to the verb stem--walked.  She walked to work;

              The tense known as the present participle requires adding ing to the verb stem and the verb to be as a helping verb.  The verb to be (am are is, was, were) expresses an action currently being done.  She was walking to work;

              The tenses for an irregular verb include these forms:  write, writes, wrote, am writing, was written, will be writing, will be written.  The internal structure of an irregular verb changes to indicate time.  Perfect speakers of English do not memorize the two hundred or so irregular verbs, but they know how to use them correctly, so they seldom make mistakes with them.

                    There are a few verbs which take the following suffixes