12 Basic Grammar Rules

The 12 Rules of

Grammar

Rule 11

Use apostrophe to show possessions.

• That is the boy's car.
• The girl's friends came to her birthday party.
• That is my coworkers' jobs.

Rule 12

Active voice is more preferred than passive voice in the English language.

• Passive: Football was played by Mark.
• Active: Mark plays football

Rule 3

Every sentence should have a SVO (Subject-Verb-Object

• Mary loves to play with cats.
• Michael teaches French.
• I am happy.

The subject and verb form are related in the sentence.

Rule 4

• They are watching a football game on TV.
• She is watching the football game on TV.
• I am watching the football game on TV.

Rule 5

Use EITHER-OR or NEITHER-NOR depending on the sentence while using singular nouns.

• I want either tea or coffee.
• I think either the Chiefs or the Ravens will win the Super Bowl this year.
• Neither Emma nor Isabel were late today.

Proper nouns should always be capitalized wherever they appear in the sentence.

Rule 6

• I love to drink coffee at Dutch Bros.
• Mount Everest is the highest mountain located in Nepal.

Rule 7

Common nouns should be capitalized only at the beginning of sentences.

• Dogs are inherently sweet creatures.
• Communication is the key to a good relationship.
• Supermarkets are out of stock on avocados across the country.

The words "its" and "it's", and "your" and "you're" are NOT the same.

Rule 8

• I picked up your hat after the party.
• The fish is too big for its aquarium.
• It's always sunny in Philedelphia.
• You're the happiest person I have ever met.

Use indefinite articles for countable nouns and definite with specific countable and ALL uncountable nouns. .

Rule 9

• I saw an eagle flying high in the sky.
• An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
• I want to buy an iPhone this month.

Use the article "a" for consonant sounds and "an" for vowel sounds.

Rule 10

• A bat flew through the night.
• An elephant walked across the field.
• My mom threw an apron over her head.

EVERY SENTENCE SHOULD START WITH A CAPITAL LETTER IN THE FIRST WORD.

Rule 1

CORRECT

INCORRECT

• My best friend's name is Robin.
• That man just stole my wallet.
• The father dropped the baby off at day care.

• the boy bought a fish.
• students turned in their assignments to the teacher.

Rule 2

Every sentence should either end with a full stop (or) a question mark (or) an exclamation mark.

• John loves playing football. He hopes to go to the NFL.
• What do you do for work?
• You did a great job!