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Who or what a clause, phrase, or sentence is
about.
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What a subject is doing; what is being done to
it; state of being
 Verbs and subjects must agree in number
▪ 2 singular subjects joined by and: verb is plural
▪ 2 singular subjects connected by either… or, or neither…
nor, the verb is singular
▪ 2 plural subjects connected by either… or, or neither…
nor, the verb is plural
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Adjectives
 Modify nouns and pronouns
 Answer questions which one, what kind, how
many, how much
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Adverbs
 Modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs
 Answer questions how, when, where, to what
extent
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Direct object – noun or pronoun that receives
the action of the verb. I have read the book.
Indirect object – noun or pronoun for whom
or to whom something was done. I read the
class the entire book.
Object of a preposition – answers the
question whom or what after the
preposition.
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Prepositional phrases – made up of preposition plus
object. Generally show location.
 Common prepositions: about, above, according to, along,
at, by, down, except, for, in, into, inside, outside, since,
within, without.
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Participial Phrases – always function as adjectives,
adding description to the sentence. The water
drained slowly in the pipe clogged with dog hair.
Infinitive phrase – the word “to” plus root verb
Gerund phrase – Verb adds –ing and is used as noun.
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Group of related words which contain a
subject and verb.
 Independent clause: contains subject, verb, makes
sense by itself.
 Dependent clause: may contain subject and verb,
but does not make sense by itself - fragment
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Conjunctions join words that link parts of
sentences
FANBOYS
 For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So
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Kinds:
 Declarative (statement), Imperative (command),
Interrogative (question), Exclamatory (strong
feeling)
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Patterns:
 S+V, S+V+O, S+V+IO+O
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Forms
 Simple, compound, complex, compound-complex
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Use to separate main clauses
Use to separate items items in a series
Use with introductory elements
Use with dates (December 7, 1941)
Use with addresses (3301 Shoals School Rd,
Douglasville, GA)
Use with numbers (1,345,000)
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Use with parenthetical expressions (John’s
car, in my opinion, is a clunker.)
With adjectives (We felt the salty, humid air
near the beach.)
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Join related main clauses when a
coordinating conjunction is not used (Sally
built a tree house; she painted it blue.).
Work with conjunctive adverbs to join main
clauses (I would like to go with you; however, I
must visit my grandmother.)
Separate clauses when joined by words such
as accordingly, besides, however, afterwards,
consequently, furthermore, therefore.
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End main clauses and introduce modifications
 Frank introduced four kinds of fish into his new
aquarium: three angels, six tetras, a pair of Bala
sharks, and a spotted catfish.
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Other uses
 Business letter salutation – Dear Mr. Brown:
 Title with subtitle – Dudes, My Story
 Biblical citation – Genesis 1:1
 Bibliographic entries – Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
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Possession
 Add ‘s to form the possessive of singular and
plural nouns
 Add ‘s to form the possessive of singular nouns
ending in s
 Add only an apostrophe to form the possessive of
plural nouns ending in s
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Omission
 Cannot (can’t), should not (shouldn’t)
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Examples of direct quotations
 Martha whispered, “I’m scared of the dark.”
 “When,” she breathed, “do we get out of here?”
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Use quotation marks around article titles,
essay titles, short stories, chapter titles, song
titles, poems
Underline or use italics on TV programs,
movie titles, book titles, CD titles.
Put periods and commas inside quotation
marks.
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Personal pronoun refers to the one speaking
(first person – I, we, us), to one spoken to (
second person- you, your) the one spoken
about( third person- he, she, they, him)
Reflexive – refers to the subject and functions
as a compliment ( yourself, myself, herself)
Intensive – emphasizes a noun or another
person( themselves, itself, myself).
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Demonstrative –points out the person, place
thing or idea- ( that, this)
Relative – introduces a subordinate clause(that,
Indefinite – refers to a person or thing that
may not be specifically named (everyone,
each, anybody, all)
Interrogative – introduces a question –( who,
what )
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A verb in the active voice expresses the action
done by the subject. ( Johnny made a kite.) {
subject performs the action}
A verb in the passive voice expresses the
action done to the subject. ( The kite was
made by Johnny.) { subject receives the
action}.
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An appositive is a noun or pronoun placed
beside another noun or pronoun to identify or
rename it.
 The only two eighth-graders, Saul and I,
auditioned for the lead role.
▪ The noun is eight-graders, and the compound appositive
is Saul and I, renames or identifies the eight-graders.
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Nominative Case- the subject of the verb
should be the nominative case ( Did he and
she design the website?) He and she are the
subjects of “Did design”- so they are in the
nominative case). ( Ex. I, we, you, he, she, it).
A direct object/ indirect should be in the
objective case ( The teacher gave us a test.)
us – indirect object , test –direct both in the
objective case. (Ex. me, her, you, them, our).
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The three degrees of comparison are: positive,
comparative & superlative
sharp
sharper
sharpest (1 syllable words)
delicate more delicate most delicate (2 or more
syllables )
Irregular comparison
good
bad
many
little
better
worse
more
less
best
worst
most
least
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Glittering Generalities – use of virtue words
(abstract nouns), such as patriotism,
Christian, family values
Name Calling – negative words used to create
bias in listener’s mind.
Testimonial – celebrity endorsement
Bandwagon – everyone else is doing it, too
Fear-based – disaster will result if you don’t
follow a certain course of action