This page is about the English class.

Basic English

Basic English the study of the English language. It describes the construction of sentences and what constitutes a complete sentence in English language. It also describes the parts of a sentence.

Subject and Predicate

The subject is what the sentence is about. The predicate is what the subject is doing. The subject could include a noun and adjective, but it would at least have a noun. The predicate could have a verb and an adverb but at least it would have a verb.

The following sentence has a subject and a predicate. Example: The boy is running. The subject is boy. The predicate is running. The subject in this case has a noun but no adjective. The predicate in this case has a verb but no adverb.

Do not write incomplete sentences. The sentence must have a subject (noun) and predicate. (verb)

Examples

The examples of incomplete sentence:

• The boy
• The girl
• is tall
• is short

The examples of complete sentences:

• The boy is tall.
• The girl is short.
• The boy and the girl go to school.
• The school is five miles away.
• The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Nouns

Noun is name of something or someone.

• Table is a noun.
• Drink is a noun.
• Food is a noun.
• Mom and dad are nouns.

Possessive nouns

Possessive noun describe nouns that involve ownership of something. Example:

• Sally's watch
• Tom's Bicycle
• Randy's Motorcycle
• Todd's Tools

Proper nouns

A proper noun is a name of somebody. Examples:

• Tom
• Sally
• John
• Ted

Pronouns

A pronoun is a part of speech that replaces a noun. Example:

• "Sally" is a noun, "she" is a pronoun
• "Table" is a noun, "it" is a pronoun

Adjective

Adjectives describe nouns.

• Tall is an adjective
• Short is an adjective
• Hard is an adjective
• Soft is an adjective

Example:

• Sally is short. Short is an adjective.
• Sally's skin is soft. Soft is an adjective.
• The table is hard. Hard is an adjective.
• The table is short.

Verbs

Verbs are action words. They describe what the subject is doing. Examples:

• Running
• Walking
• Jumping
• Rolling
• Driving
•  

Adverbs

Adverbs describe verbs. Example:

• Sally runs fast. Fast is an adverb.
• Tom walks slowly. Slowly is an adverb.
• Sally cooks well. Well is an adverb.
• Stool is short. Short is an adverb.

More about verbs

Regular verbs

Regular verbs are verbs that form the simple past tense and the past participle.

If base the verbs ends in "y" preceded by a consonant change to "y" to an "i" when adding "ed" but keep the "y" when adding "ing". Examples:

• apply -> applied, applying
• try -> tried, trying

What does the sentence contain?

• A toolbox rolls easily.
• The table slides easily.
• The car runs well.
• The car runs badly.
• The truck rolls quickly
• A man is running faster
• A man and a woman kiss softly

Action words

The action words are called verbs. They tell what the subject of the sentence is doing.

• Throwing is an action word.
• Sitting is an action word.
• Jumping is an action word.
• Writing is an action word.
• Pulling is an action word.
• Watering is an action word.
• Running is an action word.
• Reading is an action word.

Examples:

• A boy is reading a book.
• Sally is walking.
• The boy throws the ball.
• The boy catches the ball.
• Daddy is driving the truck.
• Mom is cooking.
• Tom is watering a flower.
• Tom is riding a bike.

Subjects and predicates

The subject of the sentence is the portion of the sentence that includes the nouns.

The predicate of the sentence is the portion of the sentence that includes the verbs.

Examples:

• The boy walked quickly. The Subject is The boy which includes the noun boy. The predicate of the sentence is walked quickly which includes the verb walked.
• The woman was very pretty. The subject is The  woman which includes the noun woman. The predicate of the sentence is was very pretty which includes was.
• The table was extremely tall. The subject is the table which includes noun table. The predicate was extremely tall includes the verb was.

References

• McGraw-Hill's GED. Publisher: McGraw Hill. 2005. ISBN 978-0-07-145200-7,
• The Eight Parts of Speech. Nordquist, Richard. About.com