Communicative Grammar

Grammar is the set of rules that governs how we use a language. Communicative grammar focuses on grammar rules that help in real communication.

A) Subject-Verb Agreement

The verb in a sentence must agree with the subject in number (singular or plural).

Rules:

• Singular subject → Singular verb
• Plural subject → Plural verb

Examples:

• She writes every day.
• She write every day.

• The students are hardworking.
• The students is hardworking.

Special Cases:

• "Everyone", "Nobody", "Each" always take singular verb.
Example: Everyone is present today.

• Two subjects joined by "and" take plural verb.
Example: Ali and Sara are friends.

B) Verb Tenses

Tenses tell us when an action takes place — in the past, present, or future.

• Simple Present: I write letters.
• Present Continuous: I am writing a letter.
• Present Perfect: I have written a letter.

• Simple Past: I wrote a letter.
• Past Continuous: I was writing a letter.
• Past Perfect: I had written the letter before he came.

• Simple Future: I will write a letter.
• Future Continuous: I will be writing a letter.
• Future Perfect: I will have written the letter by Monday.

C) Sentence Fragments

A fragment is an incomplete sentence. It is missing either a subject, a verb, or a complete thought.

• Fragment: Running in the park.
• Complete: She was running in the park.

• Fragment: Because he was tired.
• Complete: He went to sleep because he was tired.

D) Run-on Sentences

A run-on sentence happens when two or more independent clauses are joined without proper punctuation or conjunctions.

• Run-on: I was hungry I ate a sandwich.

Correct:

• I was hungry, so I ate a sandwich.
• I was hungry. I ate a sandwich.

E) Modifiers

A modifier is a word or phrase that describes or gives more information about another word. A misplaced modifier is placed in the wrong position, causing confusion.

• Misplaced: She almost drove her children to school every day.
(Did she almost drive, or drive almost every day?)

• Correct: She drove her children to school almost every day.

• Dangling modifier: Walking down the street, the trees looked beautiful.
(Trees cannot walk.)

• Correct: Walking down the street, I noticed the trees looked beautiful.

F) Articles

Articles are small words used before nouns: a, an, the.

• A — used before consonant sounds: a book, a cat, a university

• An — used before vowel sounds: an apple, an hour, an egg

• The — used for specific nouns: the sun, the President, the book you gave me

Rules:

• Use a/an when mentioning something for the first time or in general.

• Use the when the noun is already known to both speaker and listener.

Example:

• I saw a dog. The dog was very friendly.

G) Word Classes (Parts of Speech)

• Noun — Name of a person, place, or thing
book, city, Ali

• Pronoun — Replaces a noun
he, she, they, it

• Verb — Action or state
run, is, seem

• Adjective — Describes a noun
tall, beautiful, old

• Adverb — Describes a verb, adjective, or another adverb
quickly, very, well

• Preposition — Shows relationship between words
in, on, at, under

• Conjunction — Joins words or clauses
and, but, because, or

• Interjection — Expresses emotion
Oh! Wow! Alas!