English grammar

Adjectives
Examples:
quick, happy, fast, timely, funny, friendly, pretty, red, blue, white, yellow, big, little
Rule an adjective is:
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a word that modifies (or describes) a noun

adjectives are OPTIONAL in a sentence--in other words, they are not necessary in the sentence, so we can use none in our sentence, or we can use a million ofthem!!

Be careful!!
Many adjectives look like adverbs because they end in -ly. For example, if we look at this sentence:
The friendly teacher helped me a lot.
and we try to figure out what part of speech friendly is, we might say that it is anadverb, because it ends in -ly. However, friendly is in fact an adjective.
-ly Adjectives
Here are some -ly adjectives that you might see on the TOEFL orother tests:
costly, neighborly, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly
Adverbs
Examples of adverbs:
quickly, happily, fast, ago, home, downtown, nearby, always, sometimes, never
Adverb rules
What you need to know about adverbs:
* An adverb is a word that modifies (or describes) a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or even a sentence.
* Adverbs are OPTIONAL in a sentence--in otherwords, they are not necessary in the sentence, so we can use none in our sentence, or we can use several adverbs.
* Many adverbs end in -ly, but many do not (e.g., tomorrow, together, today).
Adverb exceptions
Many nouns can actually functions as adverbs in certain situations. For example, if we look at this sentence:
I went downtown yesterday.
and we try to figure out what part ofspeech downtown is, we might say that it is a noun, but it is in fact an adverb.
More examples of adverbs functioning as nouns
Here are many nouns that can function as adverbs, depending on the sentence:
today, tomorrow, yesterday, Saturday, Friday, last year, next month, home, downtown
For example:
* See you tomorrow!
* See you Friday!
* I studied hard last year.
* I'm going home.* I live downtown.
In these examples, all the highlighted words are adverbs.
Complements
Complements are words that come after linking verbs and modify nouns. The most common noun complements are adjectives and nouns, but can be many other parts of speech as well.
TestMagic uses the term noun complement more liberally than do some other grammar resources; doing so will make grammarexplanations for tests much, much easier and faster.
 
Examples of complements
All the highlighted words or phrases below are complements.
My sister is a doctor.
Tomomi is happy.
The book is on the table.
Carl is here.
We should try to remain calm.
The test proved to be more difficult than we had imagined.
I consider you a friend.
Megumi called her ex-boyfriend a philistine.

 
ConjunctionsAny questions? Ask TestMagic!
A conjunction is a word that we use between other things that are the same in terms of grammar.Let's look at some examples:Gary and Susan study together.In this sentence, and is a conjunction; we are using it to join two nouns,Gary and Susan.Gary and Susan study and work together.In this sentence, we are using and to join to verbs, study and work.TrickThis trick willhelp you to remember the most common conjunctions:F-A-N-B-O-Y-SF: for
A: and
N: nor
B: but
O: or
Y: yet
S: soMany teachers and schools teach you the FANBOYS trick (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) but TestMagic students know that for is a subordinating conjunction, not a coordinating conjuction.The most common conjunctions are:These are the most common conjunctions in the order of howcommon they are: 1. and 2. or 3. but 4. so 5. yet 6. norHere are some other conjunctions you need to know:The conjunctions are special in that they are two or more words together that function as conjunctions. These are the ones that will appear on ETS and other tests a lot: * not only... but also... * not... but... * either... or... * neither... nor... * as well as * more......