English Grammar and Sentence Construction

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Subject and Predicate ~12 min
• Where a Sentence Stops ~12 min
• Sentence, Phrase, or Clause ~15 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Nouns and Pronouns ~12 min
• Verbs, Adjectives, and Adverbs ~16 min
• Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections ~16 min
• The Same Word, Different Jobs ~13 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Simple and Complete Subjects and Predicates ~13 min
• Compound Subjects and Predicates ~12 min
• Finding the Subject When It Hides ~13 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Kinds of Nouns ~13 min
• Singular, Plural, and Irregular Plurals ~13 min
• What a Noun Does in a Sentence ~13 min
• Articles and Determiners ~15 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Types of Pronouns ~13 min
• Antecedents and Clear Reference ~14 min
• The Pronoun Pairs Everyone Confuses ~16 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Action, Linking, and Helping Verbs ~14 min
• Transitive, Intransitive, and Objects ~17 min
• Regular, Irregular, and Principal Parts ~15 min
• Tenses ~16 min
• Active and Passive Voice ~14 min
• Modals and Mood ~13 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Prepositional Phrases ~22 min
• Noun Phrases, Verb Phrases, and Appositive Phrases ~15 min
• Verbals: Participial, Gerund, and Infinitive Phrases ~18 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Independent Clauses ~14 min
• Dependent Clauses and Subordinators ~15 min
• Adjective (Relative) Clauses ~15 min
• Adverb Clauses ~15 min
• Noun Clauses ~16 min
• Conditional Sentences: Matching the Verbs to the If ~10 min
• Gerund or Infinitive: Which Form Follows the Verb? ~7 min
• Phrasal Verbs ~8 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Coordinating Conjunctions (FANBOYS) ~15 min
• Subordinating Conjunctions ~15 min
• Correlative Conjunctions ~16 min
• Conjunctive Adverbs ~15 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Simple Sentences ~13 min
• Compound Sentences: Structures #1-#3 ~16 min
• Complex Sentences: Structures #4-#5 ~14 min
• Compound-Complex Sentences ~15 min
• The Five Sentence-Joining Structures, Side by Side ~16 min
• Questions, Negatives, and Reported Speech ~22 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Sentence Fragments ~15 min
• Run-Ons: First and Second Degree ~15 min
• Comma Splices ~15 min
• Fix It Three Ways ~18 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Commas That Join ~15 min
• Commas That Set Off ~20 min
• Commas in Lists, Dates, Addresses, and Quotations ~15 min
• Commas You Must Not Use ~15 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• The Semicolon Between Clauses ~16 min
• Semicolons in Complex Lists ~14 min
• What a Colon Announces ~16 min
• Semicolon, Colon, or Dash? ~14 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Possession ~16 min
• Contractions, and Its vs. It's ~17 min
• Quoting Speech and Titles ~15 min
• Punctuation Inside or Outside the Quotation Marks ~16 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• The Em Dash ~12 min
• Parentheses and Brackets ~12 min
• Hyphens ~12 min
• Capitalization Rules ~15 min
• Numbers, Abbreviations, Ellipses, and Slashes ~16 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Subject-Verb Agreement ~13 min
• Tricky Subjects ~17 min
• Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement ~22 min
• Pronoun Case and Who vs. Whom ~15 min
• Verb Tense Consistency ~14 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Adjectives vs. Adverbs ~16 min
• Misplaced Modifiers ~15 min
• Dangling Modifiers ~16 min
• Only, Almost, and Other Limiting Modifiers ~17 min
• Comparing: -er and more, -est and most, and the order of adjectives ~20 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Wordiness and Redundancy ~14 min
• Concrete Over Vague Language ~13 min
• Active or Passive as a Choice ~14 min
• Parallel Structure ~15 min
• Formal, Informal, and In Between ~16 min
• Sentences That Hold Together ~16 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Combining by Coordination ~16 min
• Combining by Subordination ~16 min
• Combining with Phrases ~17 min
• Varying Sentence Openings and Length ~16 min
• Which Version Is Clearest? ~15 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Topic Sentence and Paragraph Unity ~14 min
• Supporting Details and Their Order ~14 min
• Transitions and Coherence ~15 min
• Revising a Paragraph ~15 min
• Writing for Real: Email, Application Responses, and Instructions ~15 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• The Proofreader's Marks, in Full ~14 min
• The Six-Pass Procedure ~16 min
• Reading Like a Proofreader, Not a Reader ~13 min
• The Final Proofread ~18 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Thesis Statements ~16 min
• Introductions, Conclusions, and Outlines ~18 min
• Using Sources Honestly ~18 min
• MLA at a Glance ~15 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Sound-Alike Words ~18 min
• Meaning-Alike Words ~17 min
• Confusable Verb Pairs: Lie/Lay, Sit/Set, Rise/Raise ~20 min
• Phrases That Are Not Words ~15 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Parts of Speech and Sentence Anatomy ~10 min
• The Five Structures, FANBOYS, and Subordinators ~10 min
• Punctuation on One Page ~12 min
• Proofreader's Marks and the Checklist ~10 min

Create a free account to open this chapter.

• Myths About Sentences and Words ~14 min
• Myths About Punctuation and Style ~14 min