English Grammar Cheat Sheet
The core ideas of English Grammar distilled into a single, scannable reference — perfect for review or quick lookup.
Quick Reference
Parts of Speech
The eight traditional categories into which words are classified based on their function in a sentence: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. Each part of speech plays a distinct grammatical role.
Subject-Verb Agreement
The grammatical rule requiring that the verb in a sentence must agree in number (singular or plural) with its subject. Errors in agreement are among the most common grammatical mistakes in both writing and speech.
Verb Tenses
The system of verb forms that indicate the time (past, present, future) and aspect (simple, progressive, perfect, perfect progressive) of an action or state. English has twelve main tense-aspect combinations that allow speakers to express nuanced temporal relationships.
Active and Passive Voice
Voice describes whether the subject of a sentence performs the action (active voice) or receives the action (passive voice). Active voice generally produces clearer, more direct sentences, while passive voice is useful when the actor is unknown or less important than the action.
Independent and Dependent Clauses
An independent clause contains a subject and verb and expresses a complete thought, capable of standing alone as a sentence. A dependent (subordinate) clause also has a subject and verb but cannot stand alone because it begins with a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun.
Comma Splices and Run-on Sentences
A comma splice occurs when two independent clauses are joined only by a comma, without a coordinating conjunction. A run-on (fused) sentence joins two independent clauses with no punctuation at all. Both are considered errors in standard written English.
Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
The rule that a pronoun must agree in number, gender, and person with the noun it replaces (its antecedent). Ambiguous or incorrect pronoun reference can cause confusion about who or what is being discussed.
Parallel Structure
The principle that items in a series, list, or comparison should share the same grammatical form. Parallelism improves readability, rhythm, and clarity, and is frequently tested on standardized exams.
Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers
A dangling modifier is a phrase that does not logically modify any word in the sentence, often because the intended subject is missing. A misplaced modifier is positioned so that it appears to modify the wrong word, creating ambiguity or unintended humor.
Subjunctive Mood
A verb mood used to express wishes, hypothetical situations, demands, or suggestions. In English, the subjunctive often appears in 'that' clauses after verbs like recommend, suggest, and insist, and in contrary-to-fact 'if' clauses.
Key Terms at a Glance
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