Basic English Grammar

An understanding of basic English grammar can greatly assist in the writing of suitable attribute text for use in Policy Modeling rules.

Parts of speech

The parts of speech that are relevant to attribute text in Policy Modeling are listed below.

  • A noun is a naming word. It names a person, place, animal, thing or abstract idea. Examples are: doctor, Sydney, cat, ticket, accident
  • A verb is a word which expresses an action (doing something) or a state (being something). Examples are: run, sit, tell, decide, be
  • An adverb is a word that describes the verb. It can indicate the manner, time or place of the action or state. Examples are: quickly, softly, previously, yesterday, often
  • A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. It is usually used to avoid repetition of the noun. Examples are: it, I, he, she, you, my, him, us, theirs
  • A conjunction is a word that links words or phrases together. Examples are: and, or, but, so, because
  • An article is a word that introduces a noun. Examples are: the, a, an

In the example sentence He ate the cheese and biscuits slowly, the parts of speech are:

  • He is a pronoun
  • ate is a verb
  • the is an article
  • cheese is a noun
  • and is a conjunction
  • biscuits is a noun
  • slowly is an adverb

Apostrophes

Many people are confused about when to use the apostrophe. It is important that you understand how to use apostrophes correctly when writing Policy Modeling attribute text.

There are two main uses of the apostrophe:

  1. to form the possessives of nouns
  2. to show omission of letters

Apostrophes are not used:

  • for possessive pronouns
  • for noun plurals

Forming the possessives of nouns

Apostrophes are used when indicating the possession or ownership of nouns. Follow the rules below when making the possessive of a noun.

  • add 's to singular forms of the noun, for example:

    the girl's coat

    James's house

  • add 's to plural forms of the noun that do not end in -s, for example:

    the children's toys

    the geese's feathers

  • add ' to plural forms of the noun that end in -s, for example:

    five days' work

    houses' fences

  • add 's to the last noun to show joint possession of an object, for example:

    Sally and John's dog

    the individual and the company's agreement

Showing omission of letters

Contractions are formed by combining one or more words into a new word, usually by omitting one or more letters. The apostrophe is used to indicate this omission.

Examples of contractions are:

  • it's = it is
  • you'll = you will
  • who's = who is
  • shouldn't = should not
  • let's = let us

Note that contractions are used in more informal styles of writing and speech and should not be used in Policy Modeling attributes.