There's no doubt about it. Grammar sucks. It sucks big time. Sure, some people enjoy piercings, but some people like to have them pierced. These people don't count because, well, because they scare me. But if you're like me, you hate grammar too. The only reason you bought this blog in the first place is because you're a college student, or you need to write a resume, or you need to speak in front of someone you care about, or you're school-age. think. You have no idea what irregular verbs are. Some of the topics in this first section are pretty basic and no doubt things you learned back when you thought the "s" word meant "stupid." But, although essential, all of these concepts must be grasped to go any further. So let's get down and dirty and get that brain in gear.

Let's start with the basics. It is true that sentences are the building blocks of oral and written communication, just as codes are the building blocks of songs or lies are the building blocks of election speeches. The penalty consists of eight types of words called parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. Since sentences are made up of these words in a specific pattern, understanding the parts of speech and their uses will help you improve your speaking and writing. 

You think you can skip over this basic stuff but can't do things without knowing the basics first. You can't drive a car if you don't know how to use the accelerator, brakes and steering wheel. You can't even make can't without learning the basic anatomy of the opposite sex (although men have been trying to go around this one for years). To understand anything, you need to know the basics; grammar is no exception. So let's delve into these eight different parts of speech.

Nasty Nouns

Nouns are essential. If English had no nouns, none of us would have names. The only usage of nouns is to name things, especially people, places, things, ideas, or qualities. But there are some other categories of nouns that you should know about. First, common nouns refer to people, places, things, thoughts, or qualities in general. But since I'm calling this topic "nasty nouns," I'll use nasty words in my examples. Some examples of a common nouns: 

man 

woman 

hooker 

bedroom 

 

Next come proper nouns that refer to specific people, places, things, ideas, organizations, institutions, months and days. As complicated as this may seem, they're a breeze to recognize since proper nouns are always capitalized. Examples include: 

Hugh Hefner 

Playboy Mansion 

January 

Friday

Abstract nouns name a quality, an emotion, a characteristic, or an idea. Examples: 

truth 

goodness 

beauty 

 

Then concrete nouns comprise things you can build with concrete (naw, just seeing if you're still with me). A concrete noun is an object that can be perceived by the senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell). Examples: 

feather 

leather 

chocolate syrup 

 

Countable nouns that can be counted. This means there may be more than one of them. When a count noun is singular and indefinite, "a" or "an" is often used with it. Examples: 

Tassels, a tassel 

videos, a video 

g-strings, a g-string 

blindfolds, a blindfold 

 

Mass or non-countable nouns name things that cannot be counted. Mass nouns are not used as plurals in regular English. Example: 

arousal 

luggage 

envy 

 

And finally, there are collective nouns, which name a collective group. Examples: 

audience

team 

class 

 

Since sentences are about people, places, things, ideas, or qualities, nouns are the prime building blocks of all sentences. To put all this in perspective, here's an example sentence with nouns in italics.

Paris Hilton drove to Wal-Mart to do some shopping.

Here's the same sentence without the nouns. 

______drove to_____ to do some_____ 

As you can see, this sentence doesn't make any sense…but neither does the part about Paris Hilton shopping at a discount chain store. Although you probably don't need to know all these abstract nouns, Tiger Woods's handicap or every episode of The Three Stooges, you should know what common and proper nouns are. Finally, if you want to think you know what you're talking about, you need to understand nouns. But if you want people to think you're a couch potato, you need to know something else about Tiger and his three minions.

Pain in the A** Pronouns

Now that you've got the noun thing down pat let's move on to pronouns. The essential aspect of a pronoun is quite simple. Pronouns are words that can replace nouns, whether the noun is a person, place, thing, or idea. For example, He can replace Tom; it can replace the toaster. Are you with me so far? Good. The next thing to know is that the noun the pronoun replaces is called its antecedent. Example: 

Ms Lopez explained why she was late to the set again. 

In this sentence, the pronoun she refers to Ms Lopez. Therefore, Ms Lopez is the antecedent. (She also appears to be quite the diva, but that's beside the point.)Un- fortunately, that's not where the lesson ends (which should come as no surprise to you since you've probably noticed more words on this page). Just as there are different kinds of nouns, there are other kinds of pronouns. Personal pronouns, indefinite pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, relative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, and reflexive pronouns. Add to these categories the fact that pronouns may be singular, Plural, or possessive and may vary depending on how they are used in a sentence, and you can now fully understand why pronouns are indeed a pain in the ass! 

But my job simplifies this mumbo jumbo for you, so let's see what I can do. I will state each of the various types of pronouns and then attempt to explain them to you. Here's the lowdown on pronouns: 

Personal Pronouns 

First, there are personal pronouns that refer to specific people, places, things, and ideas. It can either be singular, Plural, or possessive. Unique means that the pronoun refers to only one person, place, or thing; Plural means the pronoun replaces more than one, and possessive pronouns show ownership and would no doubt be the jealous type if you decided to date one. Here are some examples of personal pronouns. 

Singular: I, you, he, she, it, me, him, her 

Plural: we, you (as in "all of you"), they, us, them 

Possessive: my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, they're, theirs. 

 

Indefinite Pronouns

Then there are indefinite pronouns, which refer to nonspecific persons, places, or things. These types of pronouns don't require an antecedent. They can be singular or Plural and sometimes swing both ways. Just think of indefinite pronouns as the bisexuals of the English language. 

Singular: another, anybody, each, either, everyone, everything, much, neither, no one, nothing, one, other, somebody, someone, something 

Plural: both, few, many, others, several 

Singular or Plural: all, any, more, most, none, some 

 

Demonstrative Pronouns 

Next up, demonstrative pronouns, which are very expressive and point directly to their antecedents. 

Singular: this that 

Plural: these, those 

 

Relative Pronouns 

Then come relative pronouns, which are used to introduce dependent clauses, including: 

Who, whom, which, what, that, whose, whoever, whichever, whatever 

Interrogative Pronouns 

Interrogative pronouns are used in questions. Notice that interrogative pronouns are pretty similar to relative pronouns: 

Who, whom, which, what, whose 

Example: Whose cell phone is this? 

 

Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns 

And finally, there are reflexive and intensive pronouns, which are personal pronouns combined with the term self or selves. 

Singular: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself 

Plural: ourselves, yourselves, themselves 

Example (reflexive): George reminded 

 

Himself to go to the grocery store on his way home from work, or else he'd get no lovin' tonight. 

Example (intensive): Susan herself is always grateful to George when he does what he's been told. 

 

There! We're done! Get up and stretch and take a relaxing cleansing breath. We've reviewed everything you've always wanted to know about pronouns but were afraid to ask! You are officially qualified to tell someone you went to the mall: I went there. Congratulations! 

But, like all frustrating aspects of grammar, things tend to get confusing. Many pronouns, like her and who and whom (the duo responsible for more confusion than the what nearsighted and farsighted mean), are in more than one category. Then comes another infuriating aspect: when pronouns are referred to according to the case — subjective, objective, or possessive — which depends on how they're used in a sentence. As I warned you, pronouns can be a pain in the ass, and we'll discuss more things in detail, like possessives, in part 2 of this book. That is if you can hang in there that long. I realize this stuff may be confusing and that you may want to lie down, forget about grammar and speak badly forever. However, if you think there's nothing wrong with the last sentence, it's better to leave it a little longer.

Very Vexing Verbs

Now that you've learned a thing or two about nouns and pronouns, let's move on to the part of the sentence where all the action takes place: the verb. Unlike nouns, verbs aren't as clear-cut to understand as a simple "person, place, or thing." There are more verb variations than ways to spend money on eBay. Just as hunger pangs make dieting hard, the many forms of verbs make grammar hard. In my opinion, grammar is much easier to understand without verbs. So please take off your coat and stay awhile because it's time for me to give you the lowdown on verbs. 

Strictly speaking, verbs are words that describe actions or states of being. Action verbs show something happening, while a state-of-being verb (commonly called a linking verb) describes the condition or state of some person or thing. Here are a couple of examples of action verbs so that you can better understand just what the heck I'm talking about: 

Dustin walked to Pinks for a hot dog. 

Angelina waved and smiled at Cher at The Ivy. 

Here are examples of linking, or state-of-being, verbs: 

Liam is taller in person. 

Meryl seemed uneasy at the Oscars. 

 

You've learned the difference between action and linking verbs with the examples above. You've also known that I'm pretty obsessed with Hollywood gossip. As you can imagine, most verbs are action verbs. But interestingly enough, the typical linking verb is used far more often than the specific action verb. The most common linking verbs are appear, be, become, feel, grow, look, remain, seem, smell, sound, stay, and taste.

To complicate matters further, each of these verbs has various parts. For instance, the verb forms include: am, are, is, was, were, be, and is, as well as all verb phrases ending in either been or be, like have been, could have been and should be. I can already see your eyebrows furrowing together, and I'm just starting! As you are probably realizing, verbs can most definitely suck! 

In most cases it is fairly clear whether a verb is an action or a conjunction. But of course, there are some cases where this is not the case. Don't you hate this part about grammar? We spend all this time learning about a specific rule, and then we find out that often, the government is no longer valid. If only traffic rules were as forgiving as grammar rules, I wouldn't get a thank-you card from the police department for all the income I generate! 

Regarding verbs, some can express action or be linking verbs, depending on their use in a sentence. Check this out to get a better idea of what I mean: 

The flower smelled sweet. (linking) 

Jan smelled the flower. (action) 

The cake tasted awful. (linking) 

Peter tasted the cake. (action) 

 

Unlike the other hellish grammar rules you must memorize, I will show you an easy trick to grasp this one. A simple test to determine whether a verb is a linking verb is to substitute is or was for it. Consider the first example. The flower smelled sweet. The flower was lovely. Since was can replace smelled, smelled is a linking verb in this sentence. But consider the second example. Jan smelled the flower. The substitute was for smell, and you get Jan as the flower. Unless Jan was ten and in some school play about photosynthesis, smelled would be an action verb. 

When attempting to understand verbs, simply knowing whether they express action or link a sentence's subject with the word following the verb isn't enough. There are several other things to know, like the names of the various verbs (yes, it keeps getting worse now, doesn't it?). 

 

Verb Phrases 

Let's start with the verb phrase. A verb phrase functions as a verb in a sentence and comprises a main verb and at least one helping verb. In a verb phrase, the helping verb does precisely what its name implies — it helps the main verb. Now, don't start to tremble. I will give you an example to clarify all this stuff. An excellent example of a verb phrase is has called. Called is the main verb because it expresses the action, and has is the helping verb. Common auxiliary verbs include the forms of the verbs be, have, do and the verbs can, could, could, want, would, should, should, and must.

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs 

Another important thing to know is that verbs can be transitive or intransitive. It may seem minor, but the prefix in makes all the difference. A transitive verb requires an object to complete its meaning. For example, Lindsay Lohan caught the movie (sorry, I can't just stop my obsession like that). The movie concludes with the purpose of the verb captured. C caught doesn't have much sense without a film to complete the sentence. What did Lindsay see? A cold?

A fish? Disease from the toilet seat in one of those sleazy nightclubs that she hangs out at until too late? 

"I always thought that a transitive verb was called a 'transient' verb and that it was a group of verbs about homeless people. Then again, I always thought that Def Leppard was a singer who was deaf!" 

— Jennifer 

Unlike a transitive verb, an intransitive verb expresses complete action without an object. 

Example: Each morning, Goldie jogs. 

In this sentence, jogs express the complete action without needing other words. Goldie jogs. Okay, you get a clear mental picture of a perky woman jogging along a road with a team of paparazzi trailing behind her, hoping she'll fall flat on her ass so they can sell the photo for people like me to gawk at. 

Depending on their use in a sentence, many verbs can function transitively or intransitively. In the following sentences, try to identify which are examples of transitive verbs and which are intransitive (I bet you didn't think there was a pop quiz right now? Don't worry, though; it won't go on your permanent record). 

Seeing the microphone, he ran. 

He ran the show. 

You'd be right if you guessed the first one is the intransitive verb. The second example is the transitive verb. If you missed that one, you must stay after school and clean all the erasers. 

If you need help remembering the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs, remember that just as a transitive verb requires an object to define its meaning, a transsexual needs a specific genital-like thing to determine their meaning. 

You must also know that verbs can be regular or irregular. Regular verbs form their past tense and past participle (see below) by adding d or ed to the present form. Irregular verbs don't. They start their past and past participles irregularly — no particular rule exists. Examples: 

Catch, caught (irregular) 

Talk, talked (regular) 

Four different principal parts are associated with verbs. These parts are the present tense, the past tense, the past participle, and the present participle. The main components of verbs are designed to tell the time of an action or state of being. In the example below, notice how the participle forms require helping verbs. The past participle requires the helping verbs have, has, or had; the present participle involves a state of the verb to be (am, is, was, were, were, and phrases ending in been or be). 

 

Present	Past	Past Participle	Present Participle
call	called	(have) called	(am) calling
walk	walked	(have) walked	(am) walking
cry	cried	(have) cried	(am) crying
begin	began	(have) begun	(am) beginning
do	did	(have) done	(am) doing
catch	caught	(have) caught	(am) catching

As you can see, there isn't any pattern for forming the past participles in irregular verbs like begin and do. And, as you can also see, the example words are pretty dull. I tried to make them funny, but you try packing a lot of humour into only one word! 

It may sound like a lot of information to swallow, but at least the basics have been covered. You know that verbs show action or a state of being. You know that they're essential to a sentence. And you know that I get a lot of use out of my subscription to Star magazine.

Annoying Adjectives

Adjectives are descriptive words used to modify nouns or pronouns. If they're used sparingly and specifically, they can make the meaning of a noun or pronoun more definite and precise. But if they're used to extreme and vitality — as too many people do — they are annoying. And since so many other things in life are annoying, the least you can do is limit the number of bothersome adjectives. 

Adjectives may modify nouns or pronouns in any of three ways: 

The adjective tells what kind: staticky reception, frozen computer, stuck zipper.  

The adjective tells which one: this busy signal, those traffic jams. 

The adjective tells how many: four mosquito bites, several grey hairs, and many problems. 

In most instances, adjectives come before the noun or pronoun they modify. It isn't unusual for an adjective to follow the word it modifies. Here's an example: The painful and impacted molars must be extracted immediately. 

Predicate Adjectives 

A special kind of adjective is known as the predicate adjective. This adjective is separated from the noun or pronoun. It modifies by a verb. Predicate adjectives follow linking verbs. Example: My date is boring. Tedious changed my date. 

 

Determiners 

We also have adjectives called determiners that serve a particular function in a sentence. Their big job is to introduce nouns and noun phrases. Following are examples of determiners: 

The articles: the, a, an (example: the sky) 

Possessive adjectives: his, her, its, your, our, they're (example: her gloves) 

Interrogative adjectives: whose, which, what (model: Whose keys?) 

Demonstrative adjectives: this, that, these, those (example: those books) 

Indefinite adjectives: all, any, both, each, every, few, many, several, some (measure: several books) 

Along with lacking comparative or superlative forms, determiners don't serve as predicate adjectives and aren't combined with other adjectives. Many of these words can also function as pronouns depending on how they are used in a sentence. Check these examples: 

Teresa always misplaces her car keys. (possessive adjective) 

The tax audit letter was addressed to her. (objective pronoun) 

These examples show one of the most confusing aspects of the Spoken English language and grammar and are the ones most likely to bang your head against the wall in frustration. Many words have different meanings based on their use in a sentence. 

However, understanding that adjectives are descriptive words that modify nouns and pronouns is just the beginning. There are even more annoying yet essential things to learn about them in part 2. Are they any less annoying, you may ask? Now, when you think about the title of this book, you can answer that question yourself. Until then, let's focus on the adverbs.

The Trouble with Adverbs

Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs, clauses, and sentences. They're different from adjectives in that adjectives only modify nouns and pronouns. Adverbs can heighten or sharpen the meaning of words they change. But, like adjectives, overusing them in speaking or writing can make you sound like a totally, completely, and hopelessly inept communicator of our wonderfully, richly, and marvellously expressive English language today, tomorrow, and beyond (you guessed it, the adverbs are in italics). 

The key to using adverbs effectively is to use them sparingly, just like visiting your in-laws. Adverbs are used when necessary to answer one of the following questions in a sentence: 

How? Cory works hard. Hard tells how he works, which explains why he needs time off. 

When? Cory and his wife, Jen, are planning their vacation now. Now tells them when they plan their vacation. 

Where? Jen wants to go there. Tell them where Jen wants to go and where her parents live there. 

How often? A plane departs hourly. Hourly tells how usually a plane leaves for Cory's in-laws. 

To what extent? The last time they went there, their marriage nearly ended. It essentially tells how close Cory and Jen came to divorcing. 

Along with answering the above questions, adverbs are often used to start an inquiry. Four common adverbs used this way are how, when, where, and why. 

How did Jen convince Cory to go? 

Where did Cory want to go? 

When will Cory finally be able to take his dream vacation to the annual bacon festival? 

Why is it that Cory just bought a new pair of earplugs? 

Many adverbs can be recognized by their ending in -ly. 

Most adverbs are formed by adding-ly to an adjective. Note the following: 

 

brightly	freshly	softly
broadly	gracefully	strongly

calmly	hopefully	successfully
clearly	narrowly	sweetly
completely	quickly	tenderly
deeply	richly	tightly
dryly	roughly	warmly
eagerly	sternly	widely

 

There are many more. Some adverbs, however, don't end in-ly, as shown in the following list: 

 

almost	just	still
already	maybe	then
also	never	therefore
always	often	today
ever	seldom	tomorrow
forever	so	very
here	soon	yet

 

Note that some adverbs, like many words in English, can function as different parts of speech depending on how they are used in a sentence. Today and tomorrow, which often serve as nouns, are good examples. 

Cory and Jen leave today. 

This sentence today tells when Cory and Jen are leaving and is an adverb. Unlike adjectives, which generally precede the nouns and pronouns they modify, adverbs occupy different positions in a sentence depending on the type of adverb and the structure of the sentence. When changing a verb, they may come before the verb, after the verb, or even separate the parts of a verb phrase. The position often results from a person's individual speaking or writing style. Note the examples: 

Soon Cory will want to punch out his mother-in-law. 

Cory will want to punch out his mother-in-law soon. 

Cory will soon want to punch out his mother-in-law. 

 

When modifying an adjective or another adverb, an adverb usually comes directly before the word it modifies. Here is an example of an adverb modifying an adjective. 

His mother-in-law considers herself a sincere woman and doesn't hesitate to call Cory a loser. 

It modifies the adjective honest. If you were to place it anywhere else, the sentence would lose clarity, and you, too, would be called a loser by Jen's mom. This also holds for an adverb that modifies another adverb. 

Cory works exceptionally careful to avoid her. 

The example above is evident in its meaning. These are not: 

Exceptionally, Cory works carefully to avoid her. 

Cory exceptionally works carefully to avoid her. 

Cory works carefully exceptionally to avoid her. 

When used effectively, adverbs can help you communicate ideas. But an important lesson to learn is that when not used effectively, they make communication cumbersome. Cory also learns an important lesson: his next wife must be an orphan if he and Jen ever divorce. 

Now you know the basics about adverbs. Note that I said the "basics." When we get into the trickier stuff, there's much more about adverbs and their proper use in part 2.

Puzzling Prepositions

There are many rules in life. Don't covet thy neighbor's wife. Don't run with scissors. And of course, don't end the sentence with a preposition. But unless you know what a preposition is, you may have committed this last sin hundreds of times and didn't even know it. I always remembered it from school — a preposition describes how a pen can be near a table. It can be in it, on it, under it, beyond it, etc. But as it turns out, there's much more to the story. 

Technically, a preposition is a word that shows the relationship of a noun or a pronoun to some other word in a sentence. Prepositions come before nouns, pronouns, and their modifiers (page 41) to form prepositional phrases. The noun or pronoun in a prepositional phrase is called the object of the preposition. After reading this paragraph, you understand why I only remembered the pen explanation. ItIt'such easier to follow. 

When speaking or writing, most people don't think much about prepositions. Instead, they focus on nouns and verbs, critical players of sentences. Yet, prepositions are also very important. Okay, maybe not as important as backing up your computer or having a decent anti-frizz hair product, but prepositions carry their weight in grammar. Prepositions and their resulting phrases allow speakers and writers to embellish their sentences with information. Here's an example here's I mean: 

Jimmy watched football on a big-screen TV. 

On a big screen TV is a prepositional phrase. On is the preposition, and TV, which is a noun, is the object of the preposition. (The words a, significant, and screen modify the noun TV.) 

Notice that although Jimmy watched, football is a complete sentence, the prepositional phrase adds a lot of information. Jimmy doesn't merely watch football on the old black and white set that he keeps in the spare bedroom because he doesn't like house guests. Instead, he watches on a big screen TV, which is why he is the envy of all his friends (and maybe the reason why people like to stay over at his house in the first place). 

The following are some common prepositions so that you can better recognize them and therefore know not to end a sentence with them: 

aboard	beside	into	to
about	between	near	toward
above	beyond	of	under
across	by	off	underneath
after	despite	on	until
against	down	onto	unto
along	during	out	up
around	except	outside	upon
at	for	over	with
before	from	past	within
below	in	through	without

 

Sometimes prepositions appear in combinations, for example: along with, in front of, despite, on account of, or together with.  

Prepositions can also be combined with some verbs to form phrasal verbs (now, why couldn't they have just called them prepositional verbs? I'm convinced our ancestors of grammar had a wicked sense of humour). Some examples of phrasal verbs include: do without, put up with, look past, and look over. In a phrasal verb, the preposition is called a particle. Note the following example: 

Serena looked past her earlier defeat and rallied to win the championship. “Looked past” is a phrasal verb with “past” as the particle. The phrase means that Serena was able to ignore her earlier defeat. Notice that the following sentence doesn't contain a phrasal verb: 

Serena looked past the net at her opponent. 

Past the net is a prepositional phrase. Past is the preposition, and the net is the object. 

Prepositions are suitable for enhancing simple sentences and relating words to each other. Understanding prepositions and prepositional phrases are puzzling, but it's also necessary if you're going to be a stickler for grammar and never end a sentence with one. Also essential is always keeping that anti-frizz hair product with you on humid days. 

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Catchy Conjunctions

Conjunctions have always been a breeze for me to understand since I was lucky enough to grow up when Schoolhouse Rock played on TV. If you were, you're familiar with the famous question, "Conjunction Junction, what's your function?" You can see those little trains hookin' up words in boxcars and hear that catchy theme song that lingers in your head like a stubborn sinus headache. But if you're too young or, heaven forbid, have parents who didn't let you watch TV because they thought the rays were terrible for your eyes (as they did in those earlier years), then let me explain. 

Conjunctions connect words that combine clauses, phrases, or comments in two sentences. Whether you realize it or not, you use the three types of meetings daily: coordinating conjunctions, correlative conjunctions, and subordinating conjunctions. 

Coordinating conjunctions connect sentences, clauses, phrases, and words that are similar in some way and have the same grammatical form. Examples of coordinating conjunctions include: and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet. Note the following criteria: 

Connecting two sentences: My parents wouldn't let me watch TV as a kid but would let me eat chemical-ridden bologna sandwiches for lunch every day. 

Connecting two clauses: If I were to put my Hot Wheels away and if I were to clean my room, I'd be able to have Jello 1-2-3 for dessert. 

Connecting two phrases: I played with my Clackers and my Atari game. 

Connecting two words: Billy and Stevie had the same Weebles characters as I did. 

 

When a coordinating conjunction connects two sentences, as in the first example, a comma generally follows the first sentence and precedes the meeting, the comma shows that the penalties are equal in importance and can stand alone. 

Continuing down memory lane with conjunctions, we come to correlative conjunctions, which are pairs of words that serve as connectors. There are several pairs: either … or, neither … nor, both … and, whether … or, not only … but also. Cor- relative conjunctions join words or groups of words and emphasize the parts of a sentence they enter. Here are some examples: 

Connecting words: When I rode with my parents as a kid, I used neither seatbelts nor booster seats. 

Connecting groups of words: When I used Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific shampoo, it not only washed my hair but also made it smell terrific. 

Finally, there are subordinating conjunctions, which introduce dependent clauses and connect them to main clauses. A main clause expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence. Although a dependent clause has a subject and verb, it does not represent a full review and can't stand alone. It is "dependent" on being attached to a main clause. 

Several words and some phrases are used as subordinating conjunctions. The most common appear below: 

after	how	unless
although	if	until
as	since	when
as if	since	whenever
as long as	so that	where
because	than	wherever
before	till	while

Here are a few subordinating conjunctions in action: 

You could buy a candy bar if you were willing to spend a whole dime. Although we had no remote controls, we could change the channel by getting off our butts and walking to the set to turn the knob. 

Yes, without the convenience of conjunctions, we would all speak and write in much simpler sentences. And although when I was a kid, it was a much simpler time, it still had its share of problems. Like when those glass Clackers broke right in front of my face and nearly blinded me, and when my mom stopped fast, I was almost thrown out of the car. I guess that now the world may not be as simple, but it is a lot safer! At least some of the time.

Not-So-Interesting Interjections

I find nothing in grammar exciting, and interjections are no exception to this rule. But at least they're a concept that's relatively easy to grasp. In sum, interjections are words or sounds that express emotion. They don't have any grammatical relation to other terms in a sentence; they're just used to add a little flavour and spice. 

The list of interjections sounds more like words from a porn movie script than words from English, for just about any phrase or utterance can be interjected. Here's a list of some of the most common interjections, which, coincidently, is the same dialogue from the classic film, Debbie Does Dallas: 

ah	oh	ugh
aha	oh no	well
help	ooh	wow

hey

ouch

yeah

Depending on the emotion's degree, an interjection is followed by an exclamation point or a comma. Great feeling, of course, requires the exclamation; lesser feeling requires a comma. Here are some examples: 

Ah, here comes the pizza delivery boy. 

Ugh, his muscles are so big. 

Ouch! Watch where you put that melted cheese, Buddy! 

Interjections have their uses, but you need to exert caution. Peppering your conversation or writing with interjections will make you seem at the least hyperactive or, at worst, an overly bubbly teenager. Because of this, utterances should be used only when necessary (unless you're writing for the sequel: Debbie Does Dallas Again). 

There, we did it! We're done talking about the Boring Blocks of a Sentence!

In conclusion, while grammar may not be the most exciting part of writing, it's an essential element that can make all the difference in communicating your message effectively. These tips and tricks can improve your grammar skills and take your writing to the next level. From mastering the basics to developing your unique style, writing is always room for improvement. And remember, writing is a process, so don't be too hard on yourself if you make mistakes. The more you practice, the better you'll get and the more confident you'll feel in expressing yourself through writing. So, keep at it, and happy writing!

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