All posts tagged "subject complement"
- Lies Your Grammar Teacher Told You: Possessive Pronouns and Possessive Determiners
As I have written repeatedly, the line between grammatical forms is blurry at best, especially among lexical categories like noun, verb,...
English DeterminersHeather JohnsonNovember 27, 2019 - Not All Forms That Function as Adverbials Are Adverbs
The other day I read a tweet that made some claims about adverbs: “The -s in “unawares,” as in “they were...
English AdverbsHeather JohnsonMay 1, 2019 - Are ‘Yesterday,’ ‘Today’, and ‘Tomorrow’ Nouns or Adverbs?
Are the words yesterday, today, and tomorrow adverbs or nouns? Oxford Living Dictionaries identifies all three words as an adverb first...
English AdverbsHeather JohnsonApril 14, 2019 - Lies Your Grammar Teacher Told You: Nouns and Adjectives
Notional grammars define adjectives as “words that describe nouns.” Big, cute, green, small, and wonky are prototypical adjectives. In big bully,...
English AdjectivesHeather JohnsonMarch 31, 2019 - Determiners Are Not Adjectives
Traditional grammars categorize determiners with either adjectives or pronouns. But determiners are not adjectives. Repeat after me: Determiners are not adjectives....
English AdjectivesHeather JohnsonJanuary 12, 2019 - Copular English Verbs
Traditional grammars define verbs as “action or state of being words.” Main verbs, or principal verbs, fall into five categories in...
English VerbsHeather JohnsonFebruary 9, 2016 - Intransitive English Verbs
Notional grammars define verbs as “action or state of being words.” Main verbs, or principal verbs, fall into five categories in...
English VerbsHeather JohnsonFebruary 7, 2016 - Possessive Pronouns in English Grammar
Pronouns are small words that can take the place of other grammatical forms such as nouns and noun phrases. Possessive pronouns...
English PronounsHeather JohnsonMarch 16, 2015 - Using Prepositional Phrases as Subject Complements
Prepositions are notionally defined by traditional grammars as a word that “links to other words, phrases, and clauses” and that “expresses...
English PrepositionsHeather JohnsonDecember 16, 2013 - Using Verbs and Verb Phrases as Subject Complements
Verbs are traditionally defined as “words that denote an action or a state of being.” A verb phrase is a grammatical...
English VerbsHeather JohnsonOctober 1, 2013 - Subject Pronouns in English Grammar
Pronouns are small words that can take the place of nouns, noun phrases, and other grammatical forms. Subject pronouns are pronouns...
English PronounsHeather JohnsonSeptember 30, 2013 - English Noun Clauses
Noun clauses are independent, or subordinate, clauses that perform nominal functions. Clauses are grammatical structures that contain a subject and a...
English NounsHeather JohnsonSeptember 2, 2013 - English Pronouns
Notional grammars define pronouns as “small words that take the place of nouns and other grammatical forms.” Pronoun is a subcategory...
English PronounsHeather JohnsonAugust 29, 2013 - Nominal Functions of English Verbs and Verb Phrases
Traditional grammars define verbs as “action or state of being words.” Verb phrases are phrases that consist of a verb plus...
English VerbsHeather JohnsonAugust 22, 2013 - The Predicate Adjective in English Grammar
Predicate adjectives are defined as adjectival grammatical forms that perform the grammatical function of subject complement. Subject complements are words, phrases,...
Grammatical FunctionHeather JohnsonJuly 19, 2013