English grammar explained in plain language simple enough to be understood.
Quotation marks (“) are placed at the beginning and at the end of words that are spoken. We often use a speech tag to tell who spoke the words. Look at this example of a quotation:“Give me liberty, or give… Read more656. Using Quotation Marks with Speech
When a sentence ends with quoted words, the end punctuation goes inside the final quotation marks.Dad said, “I’ll be home soon.” Notice how the period ending the sentence goes inside the final quotation mark. We end the sentence with a… Read more657. End Punctuation with Quotation Marks
We put quotation marks on both sides of a poem title. “Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening”“The Road Not Taken”“O Captain! My Captain!” We also put quotation marks on both sides of a short story title:“The Tell-Tale Heart”“The Monkey’s Paw”“The… Read more658. Quotation Marks with Poems and Short Stories
We sometimes use quotation marks around a word or group of words to show emphasis. The quotation marks cause the reader to hit the word or words a little harder for emphasis. Look at this example:My mother always tells me… Read more659. Quotation Marks for Emphasis
Every propositional phrase ends with an object of the preposition. The object of the preposition is always a noun. Look at these prepositional phrases:down the stairsin the cornerover the bridgeunder the tableby the doorThe last word of each phrase is… Read more704. The Noun as Object of the Preposition
A clause is a group of words with a subject and some action. In English, we have both independent clause and dependent clause. A dependent clause is also called a subordinate clause. An independent clause is the same as a… Read more721. The Clause – Independent and Dependent
A subordinating conjunction is a word that starts a subordinate clause. Here are some of the most often-used subordinating conjunctions: if, when, while, since, before, after, because, unless, until We use a subordinating conjunction to begin a subordinate clause in… Read more722. Subordinating Conjunctions in the Complex Sentence
A complex sentence contains an independent clause and a subordinate clause. If you begin the sentence with a subordinating conjunction, then you must put a comma after the subordinate clause. Look at these examples:If it rains, we will not go… Read more723. Reverse the Clauses in a Complex Sentence
We sometimes add a group of letters to the end of a verb to form an adjective. Adding the suffix –ive turns some verbs into adjectives. Here is a partial list of verbs that become adjectives with the suffix -ive:support… Read more756. Make an Adjective by Adding -ive to a Verb
We can add the letters –able to some verbs to make adjectives.enjoy – enjoyablelaugh – laughablework – workableadapt – adaptabledrink – drinkablemanage – manageable Look at these sentence examples to see how the verb becomes an adjective.We can make this… Read more757. Add -able to a Verb to Make an Adjective