Collins Dictionaries - Easy Learning Grammar and Punctuation

HarperCollins Publishers
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G64 2QT First edition 2009 Reprint 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 HarperCollins Publishers 2009 EPUB Edition August 2011 ISBN 978-0-00-744461-8 Collins is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Publishers Limited www.collinslanguage.com A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Printed and bound in Italy by Rotolito Lombarda S.p.A All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Entered words that we have reason to believe constitute trademarks have been designated as such. However, neither the presence nor absence of such designation should be regarded as affecting the legal status of any trademark. EDITOR
Penny Hands FOR THE PUBLISHER
Duncan Black
Lucy Cooper
Elaine Higgleton IntroductionCollins Easy Learning Grammar and Punctuation is suitable for everyone who wants to improve their English.

Whether you are preparing for exams, need a quick look-up guide to English grammar and punctuation, or you simply want to browse and find out more about the English language and how it works, this book offers you the information you require in a clear and accessible format. The book begins with a clear outline of the different parts of speech, and goes on to describe their different forms and uses. All the main tenses of English are explained and exemplified, with emphasis on their function in everyday English. Next, you will find a description of different types of statement and clause, with attention given to structures such as question forms, conditionals, and reported speech. A guide to punctuation gives you clear and up-to-date information on important topics such as the use of the apostrophe, capital letters, and full stops. Collins belief in the importance of representing real English remains at the heart of all our descriptions of the language.

The Collins corpus is a 2.5 billion-word database containing up-to-date English language from thousands of different spoken and written sources. These include everyday conversations, formal spoken English, newspapers, fiction, and blogs. This corpus forms the basis of each grammar item, helping us to make confident and accurate decisions about how English grammar works in todays world. Explanations are fully illustrated with examples which remain close to the corpus, occasionally with small changes made so that they can be as clear and helpful as possible. Finally, we have used our extensive experience in language teaching and learning to identify typical problems that people experience with English grammar. We draw attention to some of the commonest errors, and give tips to help you avoid them.

These include such issues as misuse of the apostrophe, over-use of exclamation marks, and incorrect use of important words. We hope you enjoy finding out more about this important area of the English language. For more information about Collins language reference books, visit us as www.collinslanguage.com.

Each word in a sentence belongs to a particular set or class , depending on how it is used. These classes are called parts of speech . All sentences begin with a capital letter and end in either a full stop, a question mark, or an exclamation mark. When we talk about these marks, e.g. commas, semicolons, full stops, brackets, and so on, we are talking about punctuation . I live in Sussex.where I live.Jessica lived in Manchester at first.He was living in Rome that year.when he had eaten breakfast. A sentence can contain one or more clauses . I can help you if you will let me .Whenever you need to talk to someone , just pop in and see if Im here . Many sentences are made up of a single clause. I can help you if you will let me .Whenever you need to talk to someone , just pop in and see if Im here . Many sentences are made up of a single clause.

Single clause sentences are called simple sentences. He arrived on Friday.My brother loves his skateboard. A clause always contains a verb .

The term is usually kept for words which go together naturally. the other daymy friend Henryin spite ofover the hillwould have been walking Many words can refer to one thing only or to more than one. We use the terms singular and plural for this. A more general term is number . Pronouns and nouns can be singular or plural in grammatical number. See p..

When we want to identify the speaker or the person spoken about in grammar, we use first person to mean the speaker, second person to mean the person who is spoken to, and third person to mean the person who is spoken about. For example, we talk about first person plural or third person singular.

These can be put together with main verbs to form different tenses.