Noun

Noun is words that are used as the name of things, persons and places. There are two kinds of Noun in English language:

1. Common noun

2. Proper noun

Common Noun

Common noun refers to something general according to mostly people, e.g. king, country, girl, world, states, education, etc.

For example:

Napolion Bonaparte was a king at that time.

The girl is dancing with Mr.Tom in the hall.

Proper Noun

Proper noun refers to a particular thing, e.g. Linda, Indonesia, America, Jakarta, Bali, etc.

For example:

Indonesia is a modern country.

He went to Bali yesterday.

Linda has finished doing her homework.

Based on its appearance, Common noun has two types:

1. Collective Noun

2. Abstract Noun

Collective Noun

Collective Noun is the name of the number (or a collection) of person or things taken together and spoken of as one whole. It becomes singular noun when it uses article /a/ or /one/. Words, which is commonly used to indicate the collective noun, are: crowd, mob, team, flock, arm, fleet, jury, family, nation, parliament, committee.

For example:

A crowd of passengers gathers in the hall.

Abstract Noun

Abstract Noun is usually the name of a quality, degree, action or state which is considered apart from the object to which it belongs, as;

Quality> goodness, darkness, honesty, etc.

Action> laughter, movement, judgement, etc.

State> Childhood, youth, sleep, death, etc.

For example:

I hate the darkness.

Death is something which we can not escape from it.

Complement

A complement is one of the parts of a sentence. It gives us more information about the subject or the object.

For example:

He goes with me.

I am happy.

To understand what the complement is that we have to know what transitive and intransitive verbs as well as what structural and lexical meaning word is. I, as an author, do not mean to make this lesson difficult or to complicate it. But understanding the stuff will bring you to the details and the complete discussion.

You can click on the links to go to relevant discussions about what transitive or intransitive is and what structural of lexical meaning word is.

Because this is a basic lesson to understand first before others, I will try to explain it by giving you a series of examples and explanation and I hope you can understand this lesson better than I worry about.

Study this following examples:

He goes with me.

/with me/ is not an object. It is a complement. Now let's answer this following question!

If /with me/ is omitted, what will happen?

There will be only /He goes/, right?. /He goes/ is a full sentence where there is one subject /He/ and one predicate /goes/. However, we do not know where he goes and when. Besides, we also want to know with whom he goes. When the complement /with me/ is added after /he goes/, we, at least, understand and get more information about the subject (with whom he goes). On the other hand, /with me/ creates a complete sense of with whom he (the subject) goes.

He helps me lift the table.

Clause

Introduction

There are many ways to explain what the clause is. It depends on the point of view and, sometimes, depends on the students' questions. To explain, actually, needs strong energy even in this blog. Here, let me please explain what the clause is to you the best I can. And, if you find something difficult to understand, please let me know by leaving your comments below this page.

What is the Clause?

To understand the clause, you have to understand first what sentence is. Remember that we do not talk about the phrase. It is because the phrase is not a sentence even a clause. A clause has the same main elements as a sentence; at least, one subject and one predicate.

For example:

Sentence:
Linda called me last night.
(Linda=subject, called=predicate)

Clause:

The women who called me last night was Linda.
(The women who called me last night=subject, Linda=predicate)

So, what's the different? 
A sentence is built from one subject and one predicate as its main elements (e1). A clause is built from two sentences which one of them becomes main clause and other becomes sub clause.

• Main clause

• Sub clause

Main Clause

Main clause is the real sentence which has the same function as a sentence (e1). It has one subject and one predicate to build it.

For example:
The woman is Linda.
(The woman=subject, Linda=predicate)

As a real sentence, it has full meaning and can be understood the whole words which are combined. Therefore, main clause is also called

Independent clause

Sub Clause

Sub clause is like a phrase, but not a phrase.

For example:
who called me last night.

There, we do not find which the subject or the predicate is. Therefore, the sub clause can not stand alone like the main clause above. Because of the characteristic of the sub clause, we call it

Dependent clause

Why? because it can not stand alone and needs main clause to stand. On the other hand, sub clause needs main clause to survive.

Main clause: The woman is Linda.
Sub clause: who called me last night.

when the two is combined, that will be one full sentence which we call as a clause.

The woman who called me last night is Linda.

Adverb

is /ad/ and /verb/. /ad/ means /addition/ or something to modify. Adverb then is to modify a verb.

For example:

The word /fast/ is the adverb (of manner). /fast/ modifies how he drives. Here, /fast/ refers to the verb /drives/. There are many kinds of adverbs in English. In this opportunity, we just classify the adverbs and discuss what the adverb is.

Types Of Adverbs

Adverb of Place

An adverb which shows where, e.g. here, there, to school, in the hospital, near the river, etc
For example:
Ann is in the hospital.

Adverb of Time

An adverb which shows when, e.g. now, yesterday, today, tomorrow, next month, before, since, etc
For example:
Tom is studying in the University of Leeds now.

Adverb of Quality

An adverb which shows quality, e.g. very. so, too, etc
For example:
I am very happy.

Adverb of Quantity

An adverb which shows how much or how many, e.g. any, much, some, several, etc.
For example:
I have some money in my pocket.

Adverb of Manner

An adverb which shows how or in what manner, e.g. fast, quickly, slowly, bravely, hard, soundly etc.

For example:
The children sings beautifully.

Adverb of Frequency

An adverb which shows how often e.g. always, often, seldom, sometimes, usually, etc.

For example:
My father always come in time.

Adverb of Affirmation and Negation

An adverb which shows stress and or negation, e.g. not, surely, certainly etc.

For example:
He certainly left.

Adverb of Reason

An adverb which shows Why, e.g. hence, therefore etc.

For example:
Today's raining. Therefore he stays at home.

Note: We'll discuss them in detailed later.

Irregular Adverbs

When there is Irregular adverb, there will be regular adverb. Irregular adverbs are adverbs which are derived from irregular adjectives, e.g. good, well, far, hard, fast, etc.

For example:

He speaks English well.

The word /well/ is in irregular adverb. It is derived from the adjective /well/. It is an adverb of manner. /well/  means /in a good manner/. So, when we would like to change the adjective /well/ into adverb of manner, we do not have to add the suffix /-ly/. On the other hand, /well/ is an adjective as well as an adverb of time.

Compare these following sentences:

I am well. (/well/=adjective)
He speaks English well. (/well/=adverb of manner).

Positions Of The Adverb

In sentences or in its usage, adverbs are usually positioned:
a. after Intransitive verbs,
e.g. He goes on time. (/on time/= adverb of time).

b. after Intransitive verbs, 
e.g. He goes there alone. (/there/= adverb of place).

c. after adverb of manner, 
e.g. He sings beautifully in the hall.

d. before verb, 
e.g. He usually goes home on time.

e. before an adjective or after the verb "be",
e.g. I'm never late to go to school.

f. before an auxiliary, 
e.g. I always have to go by bus.

How To Understand 16 Tenses

Mostly English learners, especially for non native speakers, understanding tenses is very difficult.   find assumption that English learners see that tenses is a formula and can not escape from it. Basically, formula is one of the ways or methods for teachers or writers to explain the details of tenses. Besides, others describes it in a picture or an illustration. How difficult the tenses is the purpose I write here to contribute how to understand tenses.

Time and Tenses

Talking about tenses can not leave what the time is. Tenses is a kind of final research of experts in English language. Now, let's think that tenses is nothing, I mean you should think first that tenses is not ever in the earth. Just think about "Time". 

Let's continue~!

Our planet has 3 dimensions of time; past, present/now and future. Whatever we say in our own language must include one of the 3 dimensions of time.

For example:

I met her yesterday.
She wants me to call him now.
I will leave this city in five minutes.

From the examples above we see that time is described by saying a sign of time, e.g. yesterday, now and the word /will/. Sometimes we do not use them to indicate at when something occurs in our daily life.

For example:

I am working in the company.
She talks to me too much.

From the two sentences above, we see that time is indicated by using a certain verbs; /am working/ and /talks/.
In learning tenses, we will see that /talk/ is different of /talks/ as well as /talk/ is different of /talked/.

Study this follow!

(a) She talked to me yesterday.
(b) She talks to me every morning.

In (a), we use the sentence when we would like to express something happen in the past time. We then call it

Simple Past Tense

In (b), we use it in our daily activity. We then call it "

Simple Present Tense

So, what is the tenses actually?

Tenses

Tenses is a collection of time which has been formed into 16 forms of time. Experts, long time ago, learned how and at what time speakers (native speakers) say something in related to 3 dimensions of time. From the examples illustrated above, we can see that there are sixteen (16) forms of time found by the experts and they then named it "16 Tenses". In other words, tenses is an extract of 3 dimensions of time in this earth which has tight relation to the way or the structure native speakers speak their language (English).

Let's pick one of the tenses to discuss!

Simple Present Tense.

Simple present tense is used to express something that indicates our daily acitvities, routinity, habitual action and general truth. When we say something that has relation to the (italic) expressions above, we have to use simple present tense structure or patterns. How is the structure?

First, Use the first verb or present verb, e.g. speak, talk, sing, wake, get, sit, etc.
Second, use /do not/-/don't/ or /does not/-/doesn't/ to express negation or negative statement.
Third, use /do/ or /does/ to express interrogative sentence.
Forth, remember when you use /do/ or /does/ because it depends on the subject.

Now, let's see that the illustration above is one of the rules in simple present tense. When we would like to say (in English) something happen or related to the habitual action, etc, we have to use the rules in our sentences or expressions.

Please feel free to leave your comments to make me know whether you understand the explanation above or not. Thanks for your subscription if you take time to.

ESL, EFL And ESOL

Perhaps, this article below will make you bored or think that there is no relevancy of the title or the topic discussed in this simple blog but I guess that I have to. It is because there are so many English learners in my country does not know yet what the

ESL, EFL or ESOL

is. That's why I try to find the best resources and, at last, I found it from wikipedia.org. Here's what ESL, EFL or ESOL is about!

ESL (English as a second language), ESOL (English for speakers of other languages), andEFL (English as a foreign language) all refer to the use or study of English by speakers with a different native language. The precise usage, including the different use of the terms ESL and ESOL in different countries, is described below. These terms are most commonly used in relation to teaching and learning English, but they may also be used in relation todemographic information.

ELT (English language teaching) is a widely-used teacher-centred term, as in the English language teaching divisions of large publishing houses, ELT training, etc. The abbreviationsTESL (teaching English as a second language), TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages) and TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) are also used.

Other terms used in this field include EAL (English as an additional language), EIL (English as an international language), ELF (English as a lingua franca), ESP (English for special purposes, or English for specific purposes), EAP (English for academic purposes). Some terms that refer to those who are learning English are ELL (English language learner), LEP(limited English proficiency) and CLD (culturally and linguistically diverse).

English outside English-speaking countries

EFL, English as a foreign language, indicates the use of English in a non–English-speaking region. Study can occur either in the student's home country, as part of the normal school curriculum or otherwise, or, for the more privileged minority, in an anglophone country that they visit as a sort of educational tourist, particularly immediately before or after graduating from university. TEFL is the teaching of English as a foreign language; note that this sort of instruction can take place in any country, English-speaking or not. Typically, EFL is learned either to pass exams as a necessary part of one's education, or for career progression while working for an organisation or business with an international focus. EFL may be part of the state school curriculum in countries where English has no special status (what linguist Braj Kachru calls the "expanding circle countries"); it may also be supplemented by lessons paid for privately. Teachers of EFL generally assume that students are literate in their mother tongue. The Chinese EFL Journal^[1] and Iranian EFL Journal^[2] are examples of international journals dedicated to specifics of English language learning within countries where English is used as a foreign language.

[edit]English within English-speaking countries

The other broad grouping is the use of English within the Anglosphere. In what theorist Braj Kachru calls "the inner circle", i.e. countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, this use of English is generally by refugees, immigrants and their children. It also includes the use of English in "outer circle" countries, often former British colonies, where English is an official language even if it is not spoken as amother tongue by the majority of the population.

In the US, Canada and Australia, this use of English is called ESL (English as a second language). This term has been criticized on the grounds that many learners already speak more than one language. A counter-argument says that the word "a" in the phrase "a second language" means there is no presumption that English is the second acquired language (see also Second language). TESL is the teaching of English as a second language.

In the UK, Ireland and New Zealand, the term ESL has been replaced by ESOL (English for speakers of other languages). In these countriesTESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages) is normally used to refer to teaching English only to this group. In the UK, the termEAL (English as an additional language), rather than ESOL, is usually used when talking about primary and secondary schools, in order to clarify English is not the students' first language, but their second or third.^[3]

Other acronyms were created to describe the person rather than the language to be learned. The term LEP (Limited English proficiency) was created in 1975 by the Lau Remedies following a decision of the US Supreme Court. ELL (English Language Learner), used by United States governments and school systems, was created by Charlene Rivera of the Center for Equity and Excellence in Education in an effort to label learners positively, rather than ascribing a deficiency to them. LOTE (Languages other than English) is a parallel term used in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Typically, this sort of English (called ESL in the United States, Canada, and Australia, ESOL in the United Kingdom, Ireland and New Zealand) is learned to function in the new host country, e.g. within the school system (if a child), to find and hold down a job (if an adult), to perform the necessities of daily life. The teaching of it does not presuppose literacy in the mother tongue. It is usually paid for by the host government to help newcomers settle into their adopted country, sometimes as part of an explicit citizenship program. It is technically possible for ESL to be taught not in the host country, but in, for example, a refugee camp, as part of a pre-departure program sponsored by the government soon to receive new potential citizens. In practice, however, this is extremely rare.

Particularly in Canada and Australia, the term ESD (English as a second dialect) is used alongside ESL, usually in reference to programs for Canadian First Nations people or indigenous Australians, respectively.^[4] It refers to the use of standard English, which may need to be explicitly taught, by speakers of a creole or non-standard variety. It is often grouped with ESL as ESL/ESD.

[edit]Umbrella terms

All these ways of denoting the teaching of English can be bundled together into an umbrella term. Unfortunately, all the English teachers in the world cannot agree on just one. The term TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages) is used in American English to include both TEFL and TESL. This is also the case in Canada. British English uses ELT (English language teaching), because TESOL has a different, more specific meaning; see above.

Taken from wikipedia.org

Object As A Part Of A Sentence Building

Study this following example:

The boy drinks an orange juice.

subject   verb    object

/an orange juice/ is an object. Object refers to what verb does. It is usually positioned after:

transitive verbs

Examples:

1. I meet him.
2. They call me, Joe.
3. We learn English language.
4. David called him last night.
5. He can speak French well.

Note: Italic words are the object. 

It can be an objective pronoun, a noun or a noun phrase.

Kinds of Object

There are two kinds of object in English language;

Direct Object

Indirect Object

Direct Object is an object which is directly appointed by the verb. Indirect object is an object which is indirectly appointed by the verb.

Example:

• She gives me a gift.

The verb /gives/ has two objects; /me/ and /a gift/. Here, /me/, is an indirect object and /a gift/ is direct object. We know /a gift/ as a direct object because the verb /gives/ basically refers to a noun /a gift/, not /me/.

How do we know that this one is Direct and other is Indirect Object
Direct object is always in noun or noun phrase. And, Indirect object is always in pronoun.

Learn carefully!

• She gives me an apple.

me: pronoun or objective pronoun.
an apple: a noun.

Predicate

Definition

Predicate is a part of which expresses something about the subject in a sentence. As the doer of a predicate, a subject produces or creates a predicate.

For example:

She calls me every night.

Maria is a nurse.

Both /calls/ and /a nurse/ are the predicate. Both of them are supplied by subject /She/ and /Maria/.

There are 6 kinds of predicate based on its usages in common sentences:

1. Noun
2. Adjective
3. Adverb
4. Verb
5. Pronoun
6. Phrase

Noun
e.g. I am a student.

Adjective
e.g. She is sad.

Adverb
e.g. The book is on the table.

Verb
e.g. I learn English language.

Pronoun
e.g. It is I ......................... (Note: It is me, is commonly used in informal context.)

Phrase
e.g. She is an expert and professional engineer.

Subject As A Part Of A Sentence

Definition

Subject is the doer. Subject produces a predicate. Subject creates a predicate. It is usually positioned in the beginning of a sentence. 

Subject can be a pronoun, noun or noun phrase.

Study this following examples:

• Noun, e.g. Linda is a good at drawing a picture. /Linda/ is a noun which is positioned as a subject.
• Pronoun, e.g. They drives a car fast. /They/ is a pronoun which is positioned as a subject. The pronoun /They/ is also called /subjective pronoun/. It is because it is placed as a subject.
• Noun phrase, e.g. A smart student got a prize. /A smart student/ is a noun phrase and it is positioned as a subject.

Sentence

Definition

Sentence is a group of words which contains, at least, one subject and one predicate and has a certain meaning. A sentence is different of a phrase like we discussed in the previous lessons. Phrase does not have subject or predicate. Even a phrase positions itself as a part of a sentence.

Compare this following:

(a) A smart student (a phrase).

(b) He is a smart student. (a sentence).

in (a), article /a/, adjective /smart/ or noun /student/ is not a subject or a predicate. When we say that /a student/ or /a smart student/ as a subject, which is the predicate? when we say that /a smart student/ is a predicate then which is the subject?

in (b), we see that /He is a smart student./ is a sentence because it contains one subject /he/ and one predicate /a smart student/.

Sentence = one subject + one predicate

Phrase

In the previous lesson we discussed what a word is. In this opportunity we will discuss what phrase is. Phrase, basically, is made of words. There are, at least, two words combined. So what is the phrase?

Definition.

Phrase is a group of words which, at least, contains two words and create a certain meaning and makes its own function in a sentence.

Here, let me say that a phrase is not a sentence. A group of words will be defined as a sentence when it contains, at least, two words which each of them has its own function; as a subject and a verb. However, a phrase is a part of a sentence. In other words, A sentence will stand without a phrase.

For example:

Phrase:

A book, my father, English letter, some apples, etc. From the example, we will find the construction: A + book, my + father, English + letter, some + apple, etc.

Sentence:

(1) My father is a farmer.

(2) She works in the garden.

(3) She needs me.

In (1), my father is the phrase and place itself in the subject. Therefore, my father /a phrase/ has a function as a subject. A farmer  is also a phrase which is placed as a complement. A farmer then has a function as a complement.

In (2), in the garden is a phrase. It is positioned after intransitive verb /work/ and has a function as an adverb of place.

In (3), we do not find the phrase. /she/ or /me/ is a subjective pronoun. In other words, we can build a sentence without a phrase or more in it. We will discuss the sentence in detailed next time.

There are many kinds of phrases in English, e.g. noun phrase, adjectival phrase, verbal phrase, infinitive phrase, gerund phrase, participial phrase, etc. that we will discuss in the future.

Word

Understanding a word is very important. It is because we speak or write by using words. Word can be defined as a group of letters, either vowels or consonants, which creates a certain meaning and functions. By grouping some words, we can make or build a sentence or a phrase or a clause. However, we can not group it all at the same time without knowing how to build it into a full sentence. A full sentence, here, is a sentence which contains the minimum requirements of a sentence. In other words, to build a sentence, there are some rules to be obeyed. This is called sentence structure or sentence building.

For example:

book, man, table, folk, assignment, job, diligent, work, write, say, learn, pen, etc.

All above are words. When we look up our dictionary, those words will be found both the meaning and the functions (some dictionaries do not include the functions, e.g. book/n. He bought a ~.)

There are many kinds of words in English that we, of course, can not memorize all of them. To understand the words, the uncountable words are then classified into many ways. One of them is that words are categorized in parts of speech. By learning each elements in the parts of speech, we finally understand in what pattern and when they will be used.

Here's the parts of speech according to leGrammar.blogpsot.com:


1. Noun
2. Adjective
3. Verb
4. Adverb
5. Pronoun
6. Conjunction
7. Preposition
8. Article
9. Interjection

Each elements wil be discussed in the future. You can go to each parts in leGrammar's sidebar.

There are two types of words in English:

1. Lexical meaning word
2. Structural meaning word

Definiton.
Lexical meaning word is a word which has a certain meaning and function. This can be found when we look up in our dictionary. Structural meaning word is a word which does not have a certain meaning but a function. Structural meaning word can not stand alone to make a full meaning. Therefore, it must be combined with other words to make a phrase or a sentence.

Lexical meaning word: e.g. book, want, tell, inform, see, make, buy etc.
For example:

I want to buy a book.
Take notice that there are two structural meaning word in the sentence above, they are; /to/ and /a/.

Structural meaning word: e.g. on, off, is, a, an, the, etc.
For example:

She is a nurse.
In the sentence above we find the verb "be" /is/ and the article /a/ as structural meaning words.
We will discuss all of them in the future.

leGrammar

Welcome to leGrammar! 

A blog which is dedicated to discuss about English written and spoken for free, online, step by step, as a second language. 

English is an international language which is spoken by mostly people around the world to communicate, to transfer science and experience even to run businesses. Nowadays, learning English both spoken and written is urgent. Every nations has national curriculum which includes English subject as a primary subject to learn. Therefore, Learning English spoken and written is very important. It is impossible for you to get a lot of insights, knowledges or science from other countries without knowing what that means.

Speaking like a native is preferably needed. Speaking in American or British accent becomes a sweet dream for mostly non native English speakers. Besides, writing a passage or a letter in a good manner will take you to be a professional and successful person.

Through leGrammar, you will learn how to build a full sentence, a clause and to understand what tenses is, why the tenses is used as well as to learn how to speak English based on context. We also will find that speaking English grammatically is different of speaking English contextually.

Do you know what lexical and structural meaning verbs?. Actually both of them are the keys to master English grammar. In this blog, all the things which are related to sentence structure and building will be discussed comprehensively and step by step.

Here is a guide for you to explore leGrammar in the future!

• English Written will be in focus to discuss in leGrammar to help non native speakers to build good sentences based on contextually English written.
• English Spoken will be in focus to discuss how to express something contextually.
• Reading Comprehension will be in focus in a test or an exercises that will be posted in the future.
• Listening comprehension will be in focus through youtube.com series

Besides, you, as non native speakers, can interact with the author by sending your email to leGrammar author.   Questions and requests for some lessons or discussions will be permitted for free.

At last, I would like to say: Welcome to leGrammar and let's learn English spoken and written actively only in legrammar.blogspot.com! All are dedicated to non native speakers around the world or all learners which makes English into favorite language to learn.

My best regards,

Author. Herman Nazarudin.