Grammar

This branch covers grammatical choices within English sentences, divided by the form or relationship being used: agreement, pronoun case, relative clauses, articles, adjective order, mood and conditionals. It leaves punctuation, sentence construction and ambiguous attachment to their own branches, and choosing references or resolving usage disputes to style manuals.

• Singular or plural: agreeing the verb with its subject — grammatical number, collective nouns, quantities, pronouns and coordination
• Pronoun case: I or me, who or whom — subjects and objects, coordinated forms, case within clauses and comparisons
• Relative clauses: that, which, who and whose — form, pronoun choice, referents, position and defining or commenting clauses
• The indefinite article and its omission — singular count nouns, repairs in context and choosing a or an by sound
• The order of adjectives before a noun — the usual sequence, determiners, descriptive modifiers, qualifiers and exceptions
• Modal verbs and grammatical mood — communicative purpose, auxiliary meanings and uses of do
• Conditional statements: grammar, meaning and logic — clause patterns, types, necessary and sufficient conditions, truth values and arguments