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15 ___________ YOU MUST KNOW BEFORE YOU CAN PASS THIS CLASS [ENGLISH I]
Common Noun
Common nouns are a general person, place, thing or idea. Common nouns are not capitalized unless
they are at the beginning of a sentence or part of a title.
My Example: book
Your Example:
Proper Noun
Proper nouns are words that name a specific person, place, thing or idea. Proper nouns are
capitalized so the reader can tell them apart from common nouns.
My Example: Drake
Your Example:
Pronoun/Antecedent
A pronoun is used in place of a noun or another pronoun. The word a pronoun stands for is called the
antecedent.
My Example:
Your Example:
Types of pronouns
-Subject pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they)  do the action of a sentence.
-Object pronouns (me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them)  receive the action of a verb or a preposition.
-Possessive pronouns (my, mine, his, hers, its, your, yours, our, ours, their, theirs, your, yours)  show
possession.
-Reflexive pronouns (myself, herself, himself, ourselves, themselves)  emphasize the subject.
-Indefinite pronouns (each, either, one, both, several, etc.)  refer to unidentified person, places, or
things.
A further clarification on pronouns
-First-person pronouns (I, me, my, mine, we, us, our, ours)  should almost never be used in your
writing, unless it is a direct quotation.
-Second-person pronouns (you, your, yours)  should be treated like a disease. Pretend you have a
stockpile of cheese that's to last you from now until the end of the year, and second person pronouns
are rats. They must be exterminated at all costs.
-Third-person pronouns (he, she, it, they)  can cause problems if readers can't identify the
antecedent. Be sure the pronoun-antecedents match, or take the pronoun out altogether.
Verb
Verbs are a necessary component of all sentences. Verbs have two important functions: Some verbs
put static objects into action while other verbs help to clarify the objects in meaningful ways.
Many words in English have more than one function. Sometimes a word is a subject, sometimes a
verb, sometimes a modifier. As a result, you must often analyze the job a word is doing in the
sentence.
Look at these two examples:
-Potato chips crunch too loudly to eat during an exam.
-The crunch of the potato chips drew the angry glance of the librarian to our corner of the room.
Crunch is something that we can do. We can crunch cockroaches under our shoes. We can crunch
popcorn during a movie. We can crunch numbers for a math class. In the first sentence, then, crunch is
what the potato chips do, so we can call it a verb.
Even though crunch is often a verb, it can also be a noun. The crunch of the potato chips, for
example, is a thing, a sound that we can hear.
My Example: Clyde sneezes with the force of a tornado.
[Sneezing is something that Clyde can do.]
Your Example:
Transitive Verb: A transitive verb has two characteristics. First, it is an action verb, expressing a doable
activity like kick, want, paint, write, eat, clean, etc. Second, it must have a direct object,
something or someone who receives the action of the verb.
My example: Sylvia kicked Juan under the table.
[Kicked = transitive verb; Juan = direct object.]
Your example:
Intransitive Verb: An intransitive verb has two characteristics. First, it is an action verb, expressing a
doable activity like arrive, go, lie, sneeze, sit, die, etc. Second, unlike a transitive verb, it will not
have a direct object receiving the action.
My example: Huffing and puffing, we arrived at the classroom door with only seven seconds to spare.
[Arrived = intransitive verb.]
Your example:
Verb Phrase
A verb phrase is a group of related words that contains one or more helping verbs + a main verb.
Sometimes the helping verbs are separated by other words, and thus one has to look carefully for the
parts of the verb phrase.
My Example: Jim has been working on his science project.
[The verb phrase is has been working. Has and been are the helping verbs, and working is the
main verb.]
My Other Example: Has Joan written her report yet?
[The verb phrase is has written. The helping verb is has and the main verb is written. Note that
the verb phrase is separated by the subject, Joan. Sometimes you can find the verb phrase more easily
in a question sentence by changing it to a statement: Joan has written her report. Note that the verb
phrase is now together.]
Your Example:
Direct Object
A direct object will follow a transitive verb [a type of action verb]. Direct objects can be nouns,
pronouns, phrases, or clauses. If you can identify the subject and verb in a sentence, then finding
the direct object—if one exists—is easy. Just remember this simple formula:
SUBJECT
+ V E R B + what? or who? = D I R E C T O B J E C T
My Example: Zippy and Maurice played soccer with a grapefruit pulled from a backyard tree.
[Zippy, Maurice = subjects; played = verb. Zippy and Maurice played what? Soccer = direct object.]
Your Example:
Indirect Object
When someone [or something] gets the direct object, that word is the indirect object.
My Example: Jim built his granddaughter a sandcastle on the beach.
[Jim = subject; built = verb. Jim built what? Sandcastle = direct object. Who got the sandcastle?
Granddaughter = indirect object.]
Your Example:
Adjectives
Adjectives describe nouns by answering one of these three questions: What kind is it? How many are
there? Which one is it? An adjective can be a single word, a phrase, or a clause.
My Example: Dan decided that the fuzzy green bread would make an unappetizing sandwich.
[What kind of bread? Fuzzy green! What kind of sandwich? Unappetizing!]
Your Example:
Prepositions
Prepositions are the words that indicate location. Usually, prepositions show this location in the physical
world, but they can also show location in time. NEVER, EVER, EVER END A SENTENCE WITH ONE OF
THESE WORDS. Here is the whole list!
about
above
according to
across
after
against
along
along with
among
apart from
around
as
as for
at
because of
before
behind
below
beneath
beside
between
beyond
but*
by
by means of
concerning
despite
down
during
except
except for
excepting
for
from
in
in addition to
in back of
in case of
in front of
in place of
inside
in spite of
instead of
into
like
near
next
of
off
on
My Example: The puppy is in the trashcan.
Your Example:
onto
on top of
out
out of
outside
over
past
regarding
round
since
through
throughout
till
to
toward
under
underneath
unlike
until
up
upon
up to
with
within
without
Clause
Every clause has a subject + verb, but clauses are --
Independent: An independent clause will follow this pattern: S U B J E C T + V E R B = complete.
Subordinate (Dependent): A subordinate clause will follow this pattern:
SUBORDINATE CONJUNCTION
+ S U B J E C T + V E R B = incomplete thought.
Adjective Clause
An adjective clause will meet three requirements. First, it will contain a subject and verb. Next, it will
begin with a relative pronoun [who, whom, whose, that, or which] or a relative adverb
[when, where, or why]. Finally, it will function as an adjective, answering the questions What kind?
How many? or Which one? Remember, on its own, an adjective clause is a fragment! The adjective
clause will follow one of these two patterns:
RELATIVE PRONOUN OR ADVERB
+ SUBJECT + VERB
or
RELATIVE PRONOUN AS SUBJECT
+ VERB
My Example: Chewing with her mouth open is one reason why Fred cannot stand sitting across from
his sister Melanie.
[Why = relative adverb; Fred = subject; cannot stand = verb]
Your Example:
Adverb Clause
An adverb clause will meet three requirements. First, it will contain a subject and verb. You will also
find a subordinate conjunction that keeps the clause from expressing a complete thought. Finally, you
will notice that the clause answers one of these three adverb questions: How? When? or Why?
My Example: Tommy scrubbed the bathroom tile until his arms ached.
[How did Tommy scrub? Until his arms ached, an adverb clause.]
Your Example:
Conjunctions
 Subordinating: The subordinate conjunction has two jobs. First, it provides a necessary transition
between the two ideas in the sentence. The second job of the subordinate conjunction is to reduce the
importance of one clause so that a reader understands which of the two ideas is more important.
Examples: after, although, as, because, before, even if, even though, if, in order that once, provided
that, rather than, since, so that, than, that, though, unless until, when, whenever, where, whereas,
wherever, whether, while, why.
 Coordinating: Coordinating conjunctions connect words, phrases, and clauses.
Examples (these are the only ones): and, but, for, nor, or, so, and yet—these are the seven
coordinating conjunctions. To remember all seven, you might want to learn this acronym: FANBOYS.