Back to English

As what you already know, adjectives are words that describe (or modify) a noun. It tells you something extra about that noun. In addition to that, more than one adjective could be used before a noun. However, the additional adjectives need to be arranged in order.

Do you know why we say:

“The clear blue sea.” (√), and not “The blue clear sea.” (X)?

That’s because when you want to use more than one adjective preceding a noun, you need to follow the Opshacom rule. Here’s what the opshacom rule means:

Opinion: clear, good, useful
Shape: big, fat, long, round
Age: old, new, young
Colour: blue, black, yellowish
Origin: Italian, ancient, western
Material: wooden, metal, paper, cotton

By looking at the opshacom rule, do you know why “The clear blue sea.” is correct?

The clear (opinion) blue (colour) sea.

In the opshacom rule, opinion comes before colour, so the order of adjectives is correct. This makes the sentence correct, too.

Articles are words used before a noun and functions as an adjective. There are two types of articles – definite and indefinite. “The” is a definite article, while “a” and “an” are indefinite articles. Look at these examples:

1. A picture is worth a thousand words.
2. The man who came just now was my uncle.
3. An unusual picture is worth a thousand dollars.

In Example #1, the article “a” is used because we refer to any picture. Thus it is indefinite which picture we are referring to. However, in Example #2, we know which man we’re referring to - my uncle (the man who came to my house). Articles are used with singular nouns only; plural nouns do not have articles.

Zero article:

What? Another one? Yes. This is what I call an invisible article. When you write or say something factual, an article is not used. Here are some examples:

1. Dogs can’t fly.
2. Schools are closed on Sundays.
3. Computers need humans to provide input.

The rules for its correct usage is indefinite. Quite often, you’ll end up using what you feel sounds right.

Interjections are words that express strong emotions. They are not grammatically connected to the rest of the sentence. Interjections that express anger, excitement, surprised or urgency is followed by an exclamation mark. Other kinds of emotions and expressions are followed by a comma.

Examples (using the exclamation mark):

Sentences below indicate anger, urgency, surprise and excitement. Take note of the exclamation mark.

1. Wait! You forgot something.
2. Help! There’s a fire next door.
3. Hey! What are you doing in my house?
4. Yes! I’ve finally won the game.
5. No! I’ve already told you that you can’t go.

As mentioned earlier, milder interjections are followed by a comma, not an exclamation mark. Look at the following sentences:

Examples (using the comma):

1. Yes, I suppose you could go with her.
2. No, I’m afraid it’s too late to do anything about it.
3. Wait, I’ll get it for you now.

Conjunctions are words that join words or groups of words. Here is a simple example that shows how three separate sentences are joined with the conjunction “and”:

• I like eating durians.
• I like eating bananas.
• I like eating all types of local fruits.

Combine them, and it becomes:

• I like eating durians, bananas and all types of local fruits.

There are 6 coordinating conjunctions:

F = for (because) – do not be confused with the preposition “for”
A = and
N = nor
B = but
O = or
Y = yet
S = so

Like prepositions, these coordinating conjunctions do not have any specific meanings on their own. They are used to show a relationship between words or to connect sentences.

Examples:

1. The players were tired, so they had a long break.
2. He was ashamed for he had lied through his teeth to get what he wanted.

In addition to the single-word conjunctions, other conjunctions come in pairs/threes.

• both… and
• neither… nor
• either… or
• not only… but… also

Examples:

1. Both Yassir and Manap are learning to cook.
2. Neither Yassir nor Manap is learning to cook. = Both are not learning to cook.
3. Either Yassir or Manap is learning to cook. = Only one of them is learning to cook.
4. Not only Yassir but Manap is also learning to cook. = Both are learning to cook.

Preposition shows the position of nouns and pronouns in relation to other words. That means, they can be used to show locations of objects. For example:

• My girlfriend was standing at the door when I came home.
• I live beside a construction worker who has a tattoo on his arm, so we’re afraid to go near him.

The words in red (prepositions) show location and position of the object (noun). Prepositions do not have any meaning on their own. They are normally followed by a noun or a pronoun. Words that come after prepositions are called “objects”. The objects together with the prepositions are called prepositional phrases. The list of commonly used prepositions is available at the bottom of this page.

Examples:

1. The ship leaves in the morning.
2. The toddler spilt some milk on the table.

However, prepositions sometimes appear at the end of a sentence. Take note that some grammarians insist that prepositions should never end a sentence Look at the following sentences:

Examples:

1. I don’t know what you’re thinking of.
2. What is he looking at?

Prepositional phrases may function as adjectives and adverbs.

Examples:

1. The pen in your pocket belongs to me.  (Which pen? The one in your pocket) – adjective
2. He lives near my house. (Where does he live? Near my house) – adverb
3. The little pup under the tree has a red ribbon around its neck. (Which pup? The one under the tree.) – adjective

List of common prepositions