English Grammar and Syntax: Topics

Welcome to the English course.  This course is foundational to all the other courses you will take.  Once you get a good grasp of English, you will be in a much better position to master the original languages

1. find nouns in a sentence;
   
2. identify a noun's case;
   
3. identify a noun's function;
   
4. identify a noun's gender and number.

1. identify adjectives by asking the adjectival questions;
   
2. identify an adjective's position;
   
3. identify an adjective's degree.

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. Note this sentence: "Sarah asked William to lend Sarah William's book." This is awkward. To avoid this kind of repetition, we use pronouns. "Sarah asked William to lend her his book." 

In this lesson, you will learn how to:

1. distinguish between the seven different kinds of pronouns;
   
2. find a pronoun's antecedent;
   
3. find the person, gender, and number of a personal pronoun;
   
4. know the difference between the different kinds of demonstrative pronouns.

In this lesson, you will learn how to:

1. find a verb's tense, voice, mood, person, gender, and number;
   
2. distinguish transitive verbs from intransitive;
   
3. identify a verb's agent.

In this lesson, you will learn how to:

1. find adverbs;
   
2. find the verb they are modifying;
   
3. know the adverbial questions.

In this lesson, you will learn how to:

1. distinguish between a verb and a verbal;
   
2. find participles, gerunds, and infinitives;
   
3. distinguish between gerunds and participles;
   
4. know the function of all the verbals;
   
5. find verbal phrases.

In this lesson, you will learn how to:

1. find a preposition's object;
2. find a prepositional phrase;
3. determine the function of a prepositional phrase;
4. distinguish between phrases and clauses;

Sentence diagramming is an incredible tool for Christians.  As Christians, we confess that the truth about ourselves, about our world, and about our future is laid out for us in the sentences of Scripture.  Exegesis is the process whereby we unlock that meaning and begin the process of putting it to work in our lives.  Sentence diagramming is a tool that enables us to engage in exegesis with confidence.  When you diagram a sentence, you are analyzing a sentence in terms of its syntax, and syntax is the most important part of exegesis.  Diagramming is a tool you can use to make visible a sentence's syntax.

In this lesson, you will learn how to:

• identify a conjunction;
• recognize whether a conjunction is joining a word, phrase, or clause;
• distinguish between subordinating, correlative, and coordinating conjunctions.