Learn English Grammar Online with Free Grammar videos

The fundamental building block of every language is the word and words are classified into parts of speech, depending how they have been used in a sentence and what's their function.

There are eight parts of speech:

1. Noun
2. Pronoun
3. Adjective
4. Verb
5. Adverb
6. Preposition
7. Conjunction
8. Interjection

Understanding parts of speech is essential if you wish to construct good and meaningful sentences. Watch our English grammar videos to learn more about parts of speech.

A Noun is a word used to represent a person, a place, an animal, a thing, or an idea. Nouns are simply naming words.

Person: man, woman, Rita

Place: garden, home, India, Disneyland

Animal: dog, cat

Thing: shoe, ring, soap, ball

Idea: happiness, anger, information

Types of Nouns

Proper Nouns

A proper noun is a specific name of a person, place, or thing, and is always capitalized.

• I would like to visit Paris someday with Mark.

Paris is the name of a specific place and Mark is the name of a specific person. So, they are proper nouns which is why they are capitalized as well

Common Nouns

A common noun is the generic name of an item in a group. It is not capitalized unless it appears at the beginning of a sentence.

• My favorite movie (common noun) is Inception (proper noun).
• There are many teachers (common noun) in our school (common noun) but I adore Ms. Ruth (proper noun) the most.

Collective Nouns

A collective noun refers to the collection of the same type.

Example: army, police, group, team, audience, cattle, herd etc.

Material Nouns

A material noun is the name of a thing that is used to make something. 

Example:

• This jewelry is made of gold.

Abstract Nouns

Abstract nouns refer to ideas and concepts such as victory or failure. We cannot perceive them using one of our five senses. They cannot be seen, heard, tasted, touched, or smelled.

Example: kindness, honesty, idea, hockey etc.

Different types of nouns can be countable or uncountable.

Countable nouns vs. uncountable nouns

Countable nouns are the things we can count. For example: apple, chair, kid, cup. We can count all these items easily.

In contrast, uncountable nouns are substances which cannot be counted. We cannot count them. For example, we cannot count "sugar" or “milk”. We can count “cups of sugar” or "bottles of milk"/"liters of milk". 

Example: knowledge, information, water, sugar etc.

Download our free English grammar pdf to practice Nouns now!

A Pronoun is a word used in place of a noun.

• Indians are intelligent. They are the best.
• Rahul is sick; he will not come for the party.
• Ria loves to study. She is good at skating.
• Would anyone here like a coffee?
• Something tells me this won't end well.
• Everything was lost.

Various kinds of Pronouns:

Personal pronouns: These are words which are used as a simple substitute for the proper name of a person or thing such as: I, me, you, him, her, they etc.

• I would like you to come to the party. (I, you are personal pronouns)

Reflexive & Emphasizing pronouns: These pronouns refer back to a person or thing. These are words like myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves and themselves. Notice they end in “-self” or “-selves”.

• She tripped over and hurt herself. (Reflexive)
• The decision itself was wrong. (Emphasizing)

Indefinite pronouns: These pronouns do not refer to a specific person, place, or thing. We use them to refer to people or things without saying exactly who or what they are. The most common ones are: all, any, anyone, anybody, somebody, everything, few, some, several etc. 

• Everybody enjoyed the party.
• Someone is in the courtyard.

Demonstrative pronouns: These words are used to point to specific people or things. They indicate which entities are being referred to. Such as “this chair” or “that man”. 

• This is my pen.
• That is Ria’s house.
• These are broken.
• Those are working fine.

Interrogative pronouns: These pronouns are used to ask questions. There are five interrogative pronouns: what, which, who, whom, and whose.

• What is your name?
• Which color do you prefer?

Relative pronouns: These pronouns are used to connect a clause or phrase to a noun or pronoun. The most common are who, whom, whose, which, that.

• That’s the dog who bit me yesterday.
• It was only her with whom I shared a bond.
• I am not sure whom this bag belongs to.
• I finally bought the book that had won many awards.

Want to know more about Pronouns? Attempt our English grammar exercises online.

A verb is a word that is used to express an action or a state. 

There are two different kinds of verbs: Action verbs and Linking verbs.

An action verb is a verb that describes an action, like run, jump, eat, cry, smile, or think. Look at the following examples:

• I made some soup.
• Rick wrote a novel.

Here, “made” and “wrote” are action verbs, they denote some sort of activity.

Now besides expressing an action, a verb can also express what somebody or something is. Such verbs are called Linking verbs. They act as a connection between a subject and further information about that subject. Examples of linking verbs include: to be, to become, and to seem.

• Rick is a hardworking man.

Here, “is” a linking verb, it connects the subject, Rick, with rest of the information about him. It expresses “a state of being”. 

• The soup smelled wonderful.

Here, “smelled” is the linking verb.

An Adjective is a word that describes a noun or pronoun.

For instance, 

• He is a strong boy.
• Ria wore a beautiful dress to the contest.
• My cake should have twenty candles.
• Furry dogs most enjoy the wintertime.

Adjectives play two distinct roles - noun modifiers and predicate adjectives.

In simple words, as noun modifiers, adjectives always precede the nouns they modify, and as predicate adjectives, adjectives follow linking (descriptive) verbs and describe the subject.

Adjectives as noun modifiers

• A soothing voice
• Five golden strings

Adjectives as predicate modifiers

• The movie was amazing.
• Please remain calm.

An Adverb is a word used to add detail to the meaning of a verb, an adjective or other adverbs.

• He is reading clearly.
• Jack is very tall.
• My dog waits patiently for his food.
• The girl is quite pretty.

By far, the most common use of adverbs is to modify verbs.

Here are some examples:

• They parked the car yesterday.
• They drove the car carefully.

In these examples, yesterday and carefully are adverbs that are modifying the verbs.

Adverbs can also modify adjectives. 

• A completely false statement.
• A terribly cold day.

In these examples, the underlined adverbs completely and terribly are modifying adjectives false and cold.

Adverbs can also modify other adverbs.

• I answer my phone calls very promptly.
• He fought rather fiercely.

Here, the underlined adverbs “very” and “rather” are modifying other adverbs promptly and fiercely.

A Preposition is a word used with a noun or pronoun to show how the person or thing denoted by the noun or pronoun stands in relation to something else.

For instance, 

• We've been writing reports since this morning.
• We saw a play at the theatre. 
• The cat hid under the table.

Prepositions are always bound together with their objects and can never be used in isolation, as a single word.

There are mainly three types of Prepositions:

Prepositions of Place: These prepositions are used to refer to a place where something or someone is located. 

• They will meet in the lunchroom.
• She was waiting at the corner.

Prepositions of Time: These prepositions allow you to discuss a specific time period such as a date, one of the days of the week, or the actual time something takes place. They are the same words as prepositions of place, however they are used in a different way.

• She was born in 1996.
• I go to work at 9:00.

Prepositions of Direction: These prepositions tell us about the way a person or thing moves or is directed, in relation to other people and things.

• The cat came into the room.

She drove right past the store.

A Conjunction is a part of speech that links words, phrases or clauses together. Some examples of conjunction are words such as “and”, “but”, “although”, and “because”. Conjunctions allow you to form complex and elegant sentences. Without them you’d have to express every idea in a series of simple sentences. 

There are three kinds of conjunctions: Coordinating, Subordinating and Correlative.

Coordinating conjunctions help you to connect words, phrases and clauses that are grammatically equal or similar. There are seven main coordinating conjunctions in English, which form the acronym FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so.

• My sister and I like pizza.
• My sister likes pizza but I like ice-cream.

Subordinating conjunctions are used to join independent and dependent clauses. Common subordinating conjunctions are because, since, as, although, though, while, and whereas. 

• I went to play football although it was cold.
• I ate your chocolate because I was hungry.

Correlative conjunctions are pairs of conjunctions that work together. Some examples are either/or, neither/nor, and not only/but also. These pairs of conjunctions require equal (parallel) structures after each one.

• You can either come with me or go with her.
• Neither she likes to dance nor she likes to sing.
• Seema desires not only money but also fame.

Interjections are one of the 9 parts of speech. An interjection is a word or phrase which is used to express emotion. It has no grammatical connection to the sentence. An interjection is sometimes followed by an exclamation mark (!) when written. Look at the following examples:

• Wow! That ended well.
• Hey! Don't be so lazy!
• Ouch! It hurts!
• Well, let's think about it.

In these sentences: Wow, Hey, Ouch, Well are interjections. There’s no strict rule about where an interjection must go in relation to other sentences. You can use an interjection before or after a sentence that explains what’s going on.

A sentence is a group of words that makes complete sense. The subject in a sentence is the person, place, or thing and represents what or who the sentence is about. 

There are six types of Basic Sentence structures in English.

1. Subject + Verb : The Titanic sank.
2. Subject + Verb + Subject Complement: She is a teacher.
3. Subject + Verb + Adjective: The sky is blue.
4. Subject + Verb + Adverb: Rani dances gracefully.
5. Subject + Verb + Object: Pawan writes poems.
6. Subject + Verb + Preposition + Object: He writes about poverty.

An affirmative sentence is one that simply states a fact or situation. These types of sentences affirm the information they state.

For example:

• Bangalore is in India.
• I work at a bank.
• He likes to eat pizza.

Negative sentences, on the other hand, negate the information they state. 

For example:

• Bangalore is not a country.
• I don’t work at a bank. 
• He doesn't like to eat pizza. 

How to make sentences negative?

An affirmative sentence can be made negative by adding the word “not” after the finite verbs such as : be(is, am, are, was, were), have, can, shall, will, may, must, ought.

For example:

Affirmative: She is eating.

Negative: She is not eating. 

Affirmative: I have a laptop.

Negative: I don’t have a laptop.

Affirmative: I walk daily.

Negative: I do not walk daily. 

Affirmative: Close the window.

Negative: Do not close the window. 

The subject and verb in a sentence must agree to make sense. In the present tenses the subject can take the verb with or without ‘s’ ending. The base form is used with ‘s’ ending for third person singular subjects.

For example:

• The dog barks. 
• The dogs bark. 

However, it’s not that simple. It can get tricky depending on the complexity of the sentence.

For example, Sometimes there are two subjects joined by words such as along with, as well as, besides, etc. In such cases the verb agrees with the first subject.

For example: 

The chief guest, along with the bodyguards, is expected to arrive at 9:00 pm. 

The students, along with the teacher, are here.

Conditionals, also known as if clauses, are used to speculate what could or might have happened and what we wish would happen. They  describe the result of a certain condition. 

For example: If you work hard, you will succeed.

The if clause (if you work hard) tells us the condition and the main clause (you will succeed) tells the result. 

Conditional sentences are divided into different types:

First conditional: We use the first conditional when we talk about present or future situations where the situation is real.

For example: If he comes tomorrow, we’ll go out.

Structure: If + Present simple >> will + infinitive

Second conditional: The second conditional is used to talk about a hypothetical situation and its probable result. These sentences are not based on fact. 

Structure: If + Past Simple >> would + infinitive

For example: If I won the jackpot, I would buy a house.

Third conditional: The third conditional refers to an unreal condition in the past and its probable result.

Structure: If + Past Perfect >> would have + past participle

For example: If I had bought a house with a garden, I would have planted lots of flowers.

A sentence can be mainly of three types depending on the number and type of clauses it contains: Simple, Compound and Complex. 

What is a clause?

A clause is a group of words that includes a subject and a predicate.

For example: He was eating a pizza. (This is a clause which makes a complete sentence in itself).

An independent clause contains a subject,  a verb and expresses a complete thought.

For example: He was sleeping. 

A dependent clause, on the other hand, contains a subject, a verb and doesn’t express a complete thought.

For example: when his mother called (This clause doesn’t express a complete thought)

Simple Sentences: A simple sentence consists of only one clause, more specifically, an independent clause.

For example: 

• Ria reads newspapers.
• Ria is a hard-working girl.
• Ria is having her dinner.
• Ria and I are playing in the garden.

Compound Sentences: A compound sentence consists of two or more independent clauses joined by a

• coordinating conjunction, also known as the FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).
• a conjunctive adverb (however, therefore), or
• a semicolon alone

For example: 

• Ria loves to dance, but I love to sing.
• Ria loves to dance; I love to sing
• She closed the window and went into her room.
• She didn’t study well; however, she cleared the exam with good marks.

Complex Sentences: A complex sentence is formed by adding one or more subordinate (dependent) clauses to the main (independent) clause using conjunctions and/or relative pronouns.

For example: 

• The old lady, who came to my office last week, died in an accident.
• Although I don’t like her very much, I will stay with her till you come back.
• She went to the place where they had met for the very first time.

Present Tenses

Present Simple: This tense is used to talk about present habits, daily routine, general facts and scheduled things. It is also used in if clauses while talking about future events.

• I exercise daily.
• Chennai is the capital of Tamil Nadu.
• Monday comes after Sunday.

Present continuous: This tense is used to talk about an action momentarily in progress, temporary habit or routine. It is also used to refer to future time if it is based on present planning or situation.

• We are discussing the tenses now.
• These days, I'm working on a new project.
• I'm leaving for Delhi tomorrow.

Present perfect: This tense is used to talk about a state or happening which was in the past and is present even now or about indefinite or recent past.

• I have been in India since my birth.
• He has sung in this manner since the launch of his first album.
• I have seen the Taj Mahal.

Present perfect continuous: This tense is used to talk about an activity or state that has continued from the past till present or to suggest that the results of an activity started in the past remain in the present.

• He has been working for GASCO since May 2012.
• I have been teaching since 1990.
• What have you been doing throughout this month?

Past Tenses

Past Simple: This tense is used to talk about past fact/ habit/ one time or a series of completed actions in the past. It is also used in if clauses while talking about hypothetical future events.

• He was always late for the classes in his college.
• He was very naughty in his childhood.
• India got independence on 15th Aug 1947.

Past Continuous: This tense is used to talk about activities in progress at a particular time in the past. 

• Yesterday, at this time, I was exercising at the gym.
• I got hurt when I was trying to replace the bulb.

Past Perfect: This tense is used to talk about an activity or state that got over by a certain time in the past or one event following another in the past. It is also used in if clauses while talking about hypothetical past events.

• By the time I reached the office, the meeting had started.
• I had finished my work by 5:00 PM.
• I would have finished my work by 5:00 PM if they had helped me.

Past Perfect Continuous: This tense is used for an activity or state which continued for some time till something else happened.

• The loud music woke up the child who had been sleeping peacefully till then.

Future Tenses

Future Simple: This tense is used to talk about future predictions or events which are seen as absolutely certain or things that we think or suppose or things we decide at the time of speaking.

• This year, Diwali will be in November.
• Mahesh will be 25 next year.
• I think India will win this match.

Future Continuous: This tense is used to talk about a future event which will take place as a matter of fact in the near future or an activity in the near future based on present planning.

• I will be leaving for Delhi next week.

Future Perfect: This tense is used to talk about an event or state that will be over by a particular time in the future. 

• I will have finished this work by tomorrow.
• Drive fast otherwise by the time we reach the station; the train will have left.

Future Perfect Continuous: This tense is used to talk about an event that started in the past - is in progress now - and will continue even at a certain time in the future:

• If he continues to work here, he will have been working here for ten years next year.

Check out our tenses exercises online to practice them and improve your English.

A non-finite verb is a form of the verb that does not show the tense. Therefore, it can never stand alone as the main verb in a sentence.  

There are three types of non-finite verbs: gerunds, participles, and infinitives.

Gerund: When the …ing form of the verb is used as a noun, it is called a Gerund. Like a noun, it can be used as the subject, subject complement, object of the verb and object of the preposition in a sentence.

 For example: 

• I love dancing.
• Swimming is a good exercise.
• I would like to tell you about driving on highways. 

The words in bold - dancing, swimming and driving are gerunds.

Participle: When the present and past participle form of the verb is used as an adjective, it is called a Participle. 

For example: 

• She is reading an interesting novel.
• This is an amazing place.
• That’s a broken cup.
• I need a written apology.

Infinitive: The infinitive is the base form of a verb, usually preceded by to. For example: “to go” is an infinitive. It can be used as a noun, adjective and adverb.

For example:

• I love to cook.
• She used her glasses to see.
• I have a book to read.
• She is going there to work.

Articles are words that modify nouns and show whether that noun is specific or unspecific. 

In the English language, there are two types of articles: Definite & Indefinite.

Indefinite Article:

There are two indefinite articles - ‘a’ and ‘an’.  They are used to modify non-specific or non-particular nouns. They refer to any member of a group. ‘A’ is used before the words starting with a consonant sound, and ‘An’ is used before the words starting with a vowel sound.

For example:

• Ria is wearing a dress. 
• My son wants a dog as his birthday present.
• Jay wants an orange.

Definite Article:

The is used to refer to specific or particular nouns.

For example:

• Ria is wearing the dress that her mother got her. 
• My son wants the dog we saw in the street yesterday. 

Comparative adjectives are used to make or show comparisons between two objects. They help us to describe the differences.

For example:

• Our car is bigger than their car. (bigger is the comparative form of big)
• Sam is taller than her sister. (taller is the comparative form of tall)

There are two ways to form a comparative adjective. 

• Short adjectives: add “-er” 
• Long adjectives: use “more”

For example:

• My cat runs faster than your dog. (here, we have added “er” to the adjective “fast”)
• She is more popular than he is in the school.  (here, we have used “more” along with the adjective to make comparison)
• This dress is prettier than that one. (here, we have added “er” to the adjective “pretty”)

A clause is a group of words including both a subject and a predicate.

Example:

• It is raining heavily.

Subject - It

Predicate - is raining heavily.

• I look forward to hearing from you.

Subject - I

Predicate - look forward to hearing from you

There are two types of clauses: Independent and Dependent clauses.

Independent clause: An Independent clause contains a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought. It can stand alone as a simple sentence.

For example:

• I bought a red car.
• I like to dance in the rain.

Dependent clause: In contrast, a dependent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and verb but does not express a complete thought. A dependent clause cannot be a sentence. They are also called subordinate clauses.

• because I like the color red
• Although I hate getting wet

To turn a dependent clause into a full sentence, it needs to be combined with an independent clause.

• Because I like the color red, I bought a red car.
• Although I hate getting wet, I like to dance in the rain. 

Dependent Clauses can perform three main functions: They can function as adverbs, adjectives, or nouns.

Noun Clauses

Noun clauses are dependent clauses that can function as nouns in sentences. So, a noun clause allows an entire phrase to be considered as subject or object in a sentence.

• That criminals roam around freely is a painful truth of our society.
• Nobody knows where he is.

Adjective clauses

Adjective clauses are dependent clauses that modify or describe nouns or pronouns. Adjective clauses almost always come right after the nouns they modify.

• Coronavirus , which could have been controlled in its incipient stage, has now become a pandemic.

Adverb clauses

Adverb clauses are dependent clauses which function as an adverb, which means the entire clause modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb. 

• If we engage in more skill- based training programmes, we can reduce unemployment.
• Unemployment would not have become such a big problem if it had been handled at its nascent stage.

Active Voice

A sentence is in active voice when its subject performs the action. The active voice emphasizes the performer of the action which makes the sentences in active voice clear, direct and concise. 

Active voice follows a clear structure: Subject + Verb + Object 

For example: 

• Ria broke the glass. (Subject - Ria, Verb - broke, Object - glass)
• The cat chased the  mouse. (Subject - Cat, Verb - chased, Object - mouse)

Passive voice

A sentence is in passive voice when the subject receives the action. The passive voice emphasizes the receiver of the action which makes the sentences impersonal, indirect and wordy.

In passive voice, the object of active voice becomes the subject. Only those sentences, which have an object, can be changed into passive voice. 

For example:

Active: Ria broke the glass.

Passive: The glass was broken by Ria. 

Active: The cat chased the mouse.

Passive: The mouse was chased by the cat.

Therefore, transforming from active to passive flips the sentence structure and also necessitates the usage of preposition “by” in some cases.

At times we need to tell someone what another person said or what we thought. In order to describe what somebody else said or what we thought, we can use two different types of reported speech: Direct speech and Indirect speech. 

Direct speech: We use direct speech when we simply repeat the exact words the person used. For example:

• Sam entered the room and said, “I’m really hungry.”
• Kim said, ”I didn’t realize it was Monday.”

Indirect speech: When we want to report what someone said without necessarily using exactly the same words, we can use indirect speech. In indirect speech, the original speaker’s words are changed. For example:

• Direct speech: “I work in a school,” said Ria.
• Indirect speech: Ria said that she worked in a school.

Hence, while reporting indirectly, use a tense which is 'further back' in the past as done in the example - work changed to worked. Also, make necessary changes with the pronouns. In the example, the pronoun “I” has been changed to “she”.

In indirect speech, present simple changes to past simple, present continuous changes to past continuous, present perfect changes to past perfect and present continuous changes to past perfect continuous. Also, there are changes with words such as can, will, may etc. as will changes to would, “can” changes to “could”, “may” changes to “might”. For example:

• Direct speech: I have hurt myself.
• Indirect speech: She said that she had hurt herself. (present continuous to past continuous)

A modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that modifies—that is, gives explanation or information about—another word in the same sentence.

•  She is wearing a beautiful dress.

Here, the word beautiful modifies or adds detail to the word “dress”. The modifier “beautiful” gives extra information about what kind of dress it is.

There are two types of modifiers: Pre-modifiers and Post-modifiers.

Pre-modifiers modify the words that follow them in the sentence. Conventionally the adjectives are usually placed before the nouns. So, most of the adjectives are pre-modifiers.

• She is an energetic person.

Here, the adjective “energetic” is the pre-modifier. It modifies the noun "person," giving details about what kind of person she is.

Post-modifiers come after the words they modify. 

• She is a person of a different nature.

 The phrase “of a different nature” modifies the word “person”.

Parallelism refers to the repetition of the same grammatical form in two or more similar words, phrases or clauses of a sentence. It is also known as parallel structure or parallel construction. Sentences with parallel structure are easier to read and add a sense of balance to writing.

For instance: 

• I like to sing and dancing. (the sentence is incorrect, since it lacks a parallel structure.)

To avoid faulty parallelism, the above sentence can be corrected as:

• I like to sing and dance.
• I like singing and dancing. 

Some common rules of parallelism

Words, phrases, and clauses in a series should be parallel in grammatical construction.

• Mike is intelligent, hard working, and has a great sense of humor. (Incorrect)
• Mike is intelligent, hard working, and funny. (correct)

Words, phrases, and clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet) need to have parallel grammatical construction.

• We all need healthy food and to exercise regularly. (Incorrect)
• We all need healthy food and regular exercise. (correct)

Words, phrases, and clauses joined by a correlative conjunction (not only... but also, both... and, either... or, neither... nor) need to have parallel grammatical construction.

• She not only dances but also loves to sing. (Incorrect)
• She not only dances but also sings. (correct)

Words, phrases, and clauses joined by a comparative expression (as much as, more than, less than) need to have parallel grammatical construction.

• I love to watch movies more than reading books. (Incorrect)
• I love watching movies more than reading books. (correct)

The English language is full of words that sound alike or nearly alike but have different spelling and meanings. At times we get confused and are not certain which one is right, hence, we end up using the wrong word.  

For instance - Advice vs Advise

Advice is a noun, but Advise is a verb.

• My mother always gives me good advice.
• My mother advised me  not to go out so late.

Some other commonly misused words

Accept vs. Except 

Accept means to agree or to receive. Except means to leave, take out or not include. 

• She accepted the proposal immediately.
• Everyone is going except her.

Your vs. You’re

Your is a possessive determiner, while you’re is the contracted form of “You are”.

• I have your notebooks.
• You’re looking beautiful.

Complement vs. Compliment

Complement - If something complements another, it means it fulfills the other thing and makes it even better. 

• The black handbag is a perfect complement to  your dress. 

Compliment - A compliment is a polite action or remark to express praise or admiration for someone or something.

• The teacher complimented me on my being punctual to the school.

Conscience vs. Conscious

Conscience - is the moral sense of right and wrong.

• My conscience kept me from stealing the money.

Conscious - means to be awake or aware of things happening around you.

• I was conscious when they were taking me to the hospital.

Punctuation refers to the system of symbols that we use to separate sentences and parts of sentences while writing. Each symbol is called a "punctuation mark".

While speaking, we make use of pauses and the tone of the voice to express the intended meaning. Punctuation plays the same role in writing. It helps us to make our writing coherent which makes it easier to read and understand. Without punctuation one’s writing wouldn’t make any sense.  

The most common punctuation marks in English are: capital letters and full stops, question marks, commas, colons and semicolons, exclamation marks and quotation marks.

Usage of some punctuation marks

Full stops, Question marks, and Exclamation points are used to end  sentences.

• Ria is a beautiful girl.
• Is Ria beautiful?
• You are beautiful!

Comma

Commas are one of the most common punctuation marks. A comma indicates a pause in a sentence, either between phrases, clauses, or items in a list.

• Tom, Jim and Harry are best friends.
• The woman, who was badly injured, was taken to the hospital.
• We were out of sugar, so I went to the market. 

Colons and semicolon

A colon helps us to introduce information and give it context in a sentence. A colon can also separate a sentence into two independent clauses. 

• I am fond of three things: dance, music, and art.
• It’s raining cats and dogs: it’s not safe to drive.

A semicolon is also an appropriate choice if you want to separate a sentence into two independent clauses.

• It’s raining cats and dogs; it’s not safe to drive.