Ogden’s rules of grammar for Basic English extend the 850 word vocabulary to the breadth needed to describe objects and events in the environment and more smoothly communicate with people.
- Plurals are formed with a trailing “S”. The normal exceptions of standard English also apply, notably “ES” and “IES”.
- There are four derivatives for the 300 nouns: -“ER” and -“ING”, and two adjectives, -“ING” and -“ED”.
- Adverbs use -“LY” from qualifiers.
- Degree is expressed with “MORE” and “MOST”. Be prepared to find -“ER” and -“EST” in common usage.
- Negative adjectives are formed with “UN”-
- Questions are formed by inversion and by “DO”.
- Operators and pronouns conjugate in full.
- Compound words may be combined from two nouns (milkman) or a noun and a directive (sundown).
- Measurement, numerals, currency, calendar, and international terms are in English form.
- Technical expressions required and customary for the immediate task are included in the locally used form.