Basic English - Rules

Rules

Also see Basic English ordered wordlist from Simple English Wikipedia.

The word use of Basic English is similar to full English, but the rules are much simpler, and there are fewer exceptions. Not all meanings of each word are allowed.

Ogden's rules of grammar for Basic English help people use the 850 words to talk about things and events in a normal way.

1. Make plurals with an "S" on the end of the word. If there are special ways to make a plural word, such as "ES" and "IES", use them.
2. There are two word endings to change each of the 150 adjectives: "-ER" and "-EST".
3. There are two word endings to change the verb word endings, "-ING" and "-ED".
4. Make adverbs from qualifiers by adding "-LY".
5. Talk about amounts with "MORE" and "MOST." Use and know "-ER" and "-EST."
6. Make opposite adjectives with "UN-"
7. Make questions with the opposite word order, and with "DO".
8. Operators and pronouns conjugate as in normal English.
9. Make combined words (compounds) from two nouns (for example "milkman") or a noun and a directive (sundown).
10. Measures, numbers, money, days, months, years, clock time, and international words are in English forms, e.g. Date/Time: 20 May 1972 at 21:00
11. Use the words of an industry or science. For example, in this grammar, some special words are for teaching languages, and not part of Basic English: plural, conjugate, noun, adjective, adverb, qualifier, operator, pronoun, and directive.