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Royal Fireworks
Language Arts
by Michael Clay Thompson
The Magic Lens III
Third Edition
Michael Clay Thompson
September 2014
Royal Fireworks Press
Unionville, New York
LEVEL ONE
NOUN
VERB
pron.
adj.
adv.
prep.
interj.
Parts of Speech
Parts of Sentence
Phrases
Clauses
conj.
She
decided
to roll
the
pron.
v.
n.
adj.
subj.
AVP
shadow
n.
up.
adv.
_____________________________________________________
-----------------------D.O.----------------------
_____________________________________________________
--------------- infinitive phrase---------------
_____________________________________________________
--------------------------one independent clause--------------------------a simple declarative sentence
_____________________________________________________
This sentence is from James M. Barrie’s novel Peter Pan.
4
4
The predicate is the verb and other words
that are about the subject.
Predicate: The predicate is the side of the sentence that says something about the subject.
The simple predicate is the verb: Caesar went over to the edge of the escarpment. The
complete predicate is everything that is said about the subject: Hamlet went to the crater
and gathered three bags of comet dust. When we mention the predicate, we usually will
mean the simple predicate.
Compound verb: The subject of a sentence may take a compound verb as its predicate. In
his poem about the tiger, William Blake’s famous interrogative complex sentence contains
a compound verb in the dependent clause: “When the stars threw down their spears / And
watered heaven with their tears / Did He smile His work to see?” The subject stars has threw
and watered as its compound verb.
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From Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations:
Parts of Speech
Parts of Sentence
Phrases
Clauses
He
hugged
his
shuddering
body
in
pron.
v.
adj.
adj.
n.
prep.
subj.
AVP
both his arms.
n.
adj.
n.
_______________________________________________________
D.O.
_______________________________________________________
----------prep. phrase--------
_______________________________________________________
----------------------------------one independent clause---------------------------------a simple declarative sentence
_______________________________________________________
In addition to illustrating the way a direct object receives the action
from an action verb, this sentence from Charles Dickens is notable for
two elements. The first is its use of the possessive adjective his, which
can also serve as a pronoun at times. The second is the prepositional
phrase of his arms, in which the preposition is understood. This often
happens in conversation; we do not express a word that is perfectly
obvious, and such an understood construction is called elliptical.
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How do the players play the game? In team sports there is no game until the players get in
formation and run plays. In grammar the parts of speech are the players, and they have to take
their places as parts of sentence, in formation, in order to run plays. The two main kinds of
grammar plays are action plays and equation (linking) plays. If only football were so easy.
There are eight kinds of words, but there are only five main parts of sentence. Only four
parts of speech—nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adjectives—can become parts of sentence.
Nouns can be subjects, direct or indirect objects, or subject complements. So can pronouns,
but the subjects must be subject pronouns, and the objects must be object pronouns. An
adjective can be a subject complement. The verb is the simple predicate.
Great words make great sentences. The other four kinds of words can be present in
sentences, but they cannot be a part of sentence. They only can attend the main parts as
modifiers and logical operators. If we now compare the power parts of speech—the noun,
pronoun, verb, and adjective—we see a near-perfect alignment with vocabulary. When you
study vocabulary, you mostly learn nouns, verbs, and adjectives. You learn the very kinds
of words that you need to make powerful sentences. If you want to be a writer, learn words
(vocabulary), and learn what to do with them in sentences (grammar). Grammar is a way of
thinking about language.
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GRAMMAR ERRORS
Sentence Fragment frag
Advanced academic writing is made of complete sentences. Groups of words that do not
make complete thoughts are called fragments. Many fragments are the result of punctuating
phrases incorrectly. One common sentence fragment occurs when you put a period after an
introductory participial phrase:
Wrong: Catching the full force of the gale. Robert crouched.
Right: Catching the full force of the gale, Robert crouched.
You might also see a sentence fragment caused by punctuating an infinitive or gerund phrase
as though it were a complete sentence:
Wrong: Training the team. Was a difficult challenge.
Right: Training the team was a difficult challenge.
Wrong: To train the team well. Was a difficult challenge.
Right: To train the team well was a difficult challenge.
Bad Appositive Construction
An appositive is an interrupting definition. It provides important information immediately,
so the reader does not have to read on in confusion. The danger is that appositives must be
enclosed in commas—one to start the definition, and one to return to the main idea. If we
forget the second comma, we can completely change the meaning of the sentence.
Wrong: Robert, the mailman is stealing our car.
Right: Robert, the mailman, is stealing our car.
Notice that in the first sentence there are two men, and we are speaking to Robert. In the
second sentence there is one man, and the person being spoken to is not named. The missing
appositive comma destroyed the meaning of the sentence.
Pronoun Case pron
Not only direct objects and indirect objects, but also objects of prepositions, objects of
gerunds, objects of participles, and objects of infinitives must use object pronouns. A subject
is a subject, and an object is an object.
Wrong: Meeting you and I was his purpose.
Right: Meeting you and me was his purpose.
Wrong: The check was for you and I.
Right: The check was for you and me.
Misplaced Modifier mm
An introductory participial phrase must be set off by a comma and must modify the grammatical
subject of the sentence. The modifier is misplaced if the intended target word is present in the
sentence, but the modifier modifies the wrong word because of its placement.
Wrong: Barking furiously at the mailman, Susan shushed Fido.
Right: Barking furiously at the mailman, Fido angered Susan.
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Clauses
A clause is a group of words
that contains a subject and its predicate.
Clauses have subjects and predicates. The word clause comes from the same root as the
words claustrophobia, enclosure, and close. The idea is that a clause is a closing: The subject
opens the topic, and the predicate closes it; the subject asks, and the predicate answers. A
clause is a group of words that contains a subject and its predicate, and this one-two structure
opens and closes an idea. Every clause has this subject/predicate set as its nucleus.
The clause includes not only the subject and the verb, but all of the modifiers and phrases
that stick to them. A sentence might be only one clause, or it might contain several clauses,
each with its own subject and predicate. In the sentence below, the clause is Bernini carved a
recumbent figure. The whole sentence is an independent clause.
Clauses can be independent, making sense by themselves, or they can be dependent and
need to be connected to an independent clause in order to make sense.
Independent:
Dependent:
Caesar led his legions into Gaul.
When Caesar led his legions into Gaul...
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D,I complex sentence: If the order is reversed, and the dependent clause comes before the
independent clause, we put a comma after the introductory adverbial dependent clause.
When Poseidon waved his trident, the waves began to attack the boat.
conj.
n.
v.
subj.
AVP
adj.
n.
adj.
n.
v.
subj.
AVP
n.
adj.
n.
____________________________________________________________________
D.O.
---------------D.O.---------------
____________________________________________________________________
--------infinitive phrase--------
____________________________________________________________________
----------------------dependent clause-----------------
-----------------------independent clause-----------------------
a D,I complex declarative sentence
____________________________________________________________________
This is a complex sentence because it has an independent clause and a dependent
clause. The punctuation rule is D,I, meaning that the introductory dependent clause is
followed by a comma.
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