Wordplay©
Grammar clinic
Common mistakes in English grammar,
and the simple rules that will keep you on track.
Common mistakes in English grammar,
and the simple rules that will keep you on track.
A noun is a naming word.
There are common nouns – table, book, person.
There are abstract nouns (something that you can’t point at and say, “There’s a ______ !”) – like beauty, joy, or absence.
There are proper nouns, which need to have a capital letter – Liz, London, Royal Bank of Scotland.
Finally, there are collective nouns – like flock, herd and congregation.
Verbs are doing words. They are the names given to actions – to go, to get, to fly, to read, to do. They follow rules to make sense of when the action is taking place and who is doing it.
Adjectives are words that describe nouns – beautiful, cosy, cold, shiny, hard, bright.
These are words that (mostly) describe verbs. They tend to consist of adjectives with the addition of the ending –ly, but that isn’t always the case.
Examples include slowly, swimmingly, especially.
Punctuation consists of all the symbols we use in writing to add in the breathing space. It is fundamental to accuracy and meaning.
