Fundamentals of English Grammar for Writing

Explore nouns and pronouns in detail, define them, and identify their types to build a solid foundation in English grammar.

Identify nouns as words naming a person, place, thing, or idea, with Lucy and book as examples; recognize that nouns clarify meaning and involve various types with specific rules.

Explore common, proper, collective, and compound nouns, and distinguish concrete and abstract types with countable and uncountable forms and capitalization rules.

Pronouns replace a noun to avoid redundancy and improve sentence clarity, as shown by Wendy's examples where she substitutes for Wendy in subsequent sentences.

Explore categories of pronouns in English grammar, including subjective pronouns as the subject, objective pronouns as the object, possessive pronouns of ownership, and reflexive pronouns ending in self or selves.

Master pronoun rules and subject-verb agreement for who, that, and which, with examples of singular and plural verbs and the roles of each, either, neither as subjects or adjuncts.

Practice applying nouns and pronouns using the downloadable exercise document from the resources dropdown, review the passage to find errors, and learn through the provided answer key and guided changes.

Identify common errors in capitalization, noun types, and pronoun usage to reinforce standard grammar. The lesson highlights proper nouns, common nouns, compound nouns, uncountable nouns, and pronouns.

Define nouns and pronouns and identify their types, and preview verbs and subject-verb agreement in the next section.

Identify verbs as action words that express feeling or state of being, show how they complete sentences with a noun, and preview their different types through examples.

Explore verb types, including linking verbs and the to be forms, plus transitive and intransitive verbs, with examples and the role of helping verbs and passive voice.

Learn subject-verb agreement rules, including singular/plural verb matching, or and nor constructions, phrases beginning with off, units as single, and each or closest noun guidelines.

Analyze errors in a passage to explain verb forms and subject-verb agreement, illustrating singular and plural verbs with subjects like Pete, each, neither nor, and two subjects joined by and.

Define verbs and their types, identify verb types, and explain the rules for subject-verb agreement, preparing you to study adjectives and adverbs next.

Explore how adjectives and adverbs enrich sentences, defining each, their degrees, types, and the grammar rules that govern their use for clear writing.

Learn how adjectives express intensity through positive, comparative, and superlative forms. Form comparatives with -er or more and superlatives with -est or most, using examples like tall and famous.

Explore adverbs of manner, place, frequency, time, and purpose. See how these adverbs describe how, where, when, how often, and why actions occur with clear examples.

Clarify rules for adjectives and adverbs, including when this/that/these/those modify nouns or stand alone as pronouns, a health exception for well, and forming adverbs by -ly (easily, angrily).

Download the adjectives and adverbs exercise from the resources dropdown. Review the passage to find errors related to adjectives and adverbs, and study the guided corrections with the answer key.

Analyze errors in a practice passage and justify edits using adjectives and adverbs, explaining why forms like good, better, best, worst, carefully, early, monthly, and often are chosen.

Define adjectives and adverbs, list their degrees and types, and apply grammar rules for adjectives and adverbs, preparing you for prepositions and conjunctions.

Explore prepositions and conjunctions in detail; define prepositions and conjunctions, list their types and the rules governing prepositions, and examine the types of conjunctions.

Explore how prepositions show relationships between nouns and other sentence parts, including location, direction, time, and introduction, with clear examples like on the table and before noon.

Explore how English prepositions express place, direction, and time, focusing on in, at, and on, with examples of usage in enclosed areas, exact positions, surfaces, and time points.

Explore how conjunctions join words, phrases, or clauses to form sentences, and link nouns in examples like Gina and Rob are having dinner together.

Explore coordinating, subordinating, and correlative conjunctions and how they connect sentences and clauses, with examples of for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so (fanboys).

Assess errors in the passage and explain changes, focusing on prepositions and conjunctions and the use of correlative pairs like either or and not only but also.

Explore common punctuation marks and their roles, including periods, commas, semicolons, colons, question marks, exclamations, and quotation marks, and how they clarify meaning and pacing.

Learn to use the period to end statements and abbreviations, and apply the exception when the last word is an abbreviation ending with a period, for example Washington DC.

Explore the question mark punctuation as the end of a direct question, replacing a period, with examples of direct, indirect, and rhetorical questions.

Learn how to use the exclamation mark at the end of sentences to show strong emotions and emphasis, replace a period, and recognize exclamations that begin with what or how.

Explore comma usage to indicate pauses, separate items or clauses, and reduce ambiguity. Learn serial commas, joining independent clauses, introductory phrases, nonrestrictive interruptions, and quoting rules.

Explore the colon as a punctuation mark and its uses to introduce a list, connect independent clauses, and emphasize a subject, with capitalization rules after the colon.

Explore the semicolon as a pause longer than a comma and a link between closely related independent clauses, with rules for complex lists, introductory words, connectors, capitalization, and dependent clauses.

Apply the US convention of double quotation marks for direct speech and quotations, and master capitalization, comma placement, and nesting rules for quotes within quotes.

Practice punctuation by reviewing the passage, identifying errors, and comparing your edits to the provided answer key after downloading the exercise document.

Analyze punctuation choices in a passage, explaining why edits use periods, colons, and semicolons, place commas correctly, and apply the serial comma and quotes rules.

List and explain punctuation marks, including periods, commas, semicolons, colons, question marks, exclamation marks, and quotation marks, and learn to choose the correct word from similar sounding or spelling words.

Master common grammar confusions by learning when to use who, that, and which, and by choosing between who and whom and between whoever and whomever.

Master when to use who, that, and which in English by distinguishing people from things and identifying restrictive versus non-restrictive clauses through clear examples.

Determine when to use who and whom by contrasting subjective and objective pronouns, and apply the rule with examples like who wrote the note and whom did you choose.

Explain when to use whoever and whomever, using the they/them trick to identify the correct form and verb agreement in dependent clauses.

Practice selecting the right words by reviewing the passage, downloading the exercise document, and comparing your edits with the answer key as we walk through recommended changes.

Practice choosing the right words by analyzing passage errors and edits that boost clarity and brevity. Learn they/them usage, whomever, who vs whom, and when to use that, which.

Master selecting the correct relative pronouns, such as who, that, which, who vs whom, and whoever vs whomever, and prepare for editing and proofreading best practices.

Differentiate editing from proofreading and apply practical tips to strengthen sentence construction, language clarity, and tone during editing. Use a final proofreading check for spelling, punctuation, and consistency before publication.

Edit to make text clear and readable by checking structure, style, and grammar, aligning headings, and shortening paragraphs. Use active voice and concise sentences to boost audience engagement and accuracy.

Proofreading focuses on surface errors after editing, eliminating spelling, punctuation, and formatting mistakes, while ensuring headings align with content and style guides keep consistency.

Practice editing and proofreading by reviewing an exercise document, identifying errors, and following the recommended changes with an answer key walk-through.

Learn practical editing and proofreading techniques, from title case and pronouns to reducing wordiness, tightening sentences, punctuation, serial comma, hyphenation, and aligning tense for clear writing.

Describe the difference between editing and proofreading, apply practical editing and proofreading tips, and use the course summary and job aid as a reference for key grammar points.

Explore the fundamentals of English grammar—parts of speech and subject-verb agreement, punctuation, and word usage notes like who vs that vs which and who vs whom—plus editing tips.

Explore the parts of speech, including nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions, with key rules for usage and agreement.

Explore punctuation marks, including periods, question marks, exclamation marks, commas, colons, semicolons, and quotation marks, and learn rules for direct quotes, capitalization after colon, and serial comma usage.

Edit and proofread by assessing structure and aligning headings with the theme; maintain one tense, parallel construction, and active voice, trim redundancies, and use contractions.