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English 10
Grammar Review
Sept. 2013
There are a few key words you need to know so that when we discuss your writing, you can understand
how to improve your sentences and grammar.
PARTS OF SPEECH
I.
NOUNS: A noun is a word that names one (or more) person, place, thing or idea.
II.
PRONOUNS: A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun and refers back to an antecedent
which is named or implied.
Personal Pronouns
I, me, you, she, her, he, him, it, we, us, they, them
Possessive Personal Pronouns
my, mine, your, yours, his, hers, its, their, our, ours, their, theirs
Relative Pronouns: The relative pronoun is used to introduce subordinate clauses -who, whom, which, what, that
Interrogative Pronoun: The interrogative pronoun is used in questions. Who...?
Whom...? Which...? What...? Whose...?
III.
ADJECTIVES: An adjective is a word used to modify a noun or pronoun. To modify -means to describe, or to make more definite the meaning of the word.
Adjectives may modify nouns or pronouns in any one of four ways:
1.
by telling what kind (blue eyes, strong wind)
2.
by pointing out which one (that tall man, this suggestion)
3.
by telling how many (several reasons, 10 players)
4.
by telling whose (Geoff's watch, their papers)
Articles: The, a, an, are modifiers or determiners.
"the" =
"a, an" =
definite article
indefinite article
IV.
VERBS: The verb is the heart of the sentence -- without a verb, any words is only a fragment.
A verb is a word, or group of words, that expresses action or allows you to describe something.
Action Verb: An action verb may express either physical or mental action.
hit, blow, run (physical)
think, know (mental)
Linking Verbs: Linking verbs do not express action. They help to make a statement by
linking the subject to a word or description. Eg. He is tall. She is a doctor.
e.g.
appear, feel, sound, become, smell, taste, seem
The most common linking verb is the verb to be and its many forms.
SINGULAR
PLURAL
SINGULAR
PLURAL
I am
we are
I was
we were
you are
you are
you were
you were
he, she, it is
the are
he, she, it was
they were
I have been
we have been
I can be
we, you can be
you have been
you have been
you can be
you can be
he, it has been
they have
been
he, she, it can
be
they can be
Verb Phrase: A verb phrase is made up of a main verb and one or more helping
verbs. Helping verbs (auxiliary verbs) are so called because they help
the main verb to express action or make a statement.
e.g.
has played
will be coming
must have been hurt
Common Helping Verbs
e.g.
do, did, am, are, was, were, have, has, had, can, may, will (shall) be, has
(had), been, could, would, should, must, must have been, might have seen
Most verbs follow the subject.
The tired old man jumped over the fence.
One of my men will take you to the station.
V.
ADVERBS: An adverb is a word used to modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. An
adverb may tell when, where, how, why, to what extent, or how much.
e.g.
The band played stirringly. (how it played)
The band played immediately.
(when it played)
Often adding "ly" to an adjective changes it into an adverb.
VI.
PREPOSTIONS: A preposition is a small word that shows position or direction. It always
introduces a prepositional phrase, which ends with a noun or pronoun. Most
prepositions can fit into the following phrase:
“The cat jumped _______ the box.”
“during”
The two exceptions are “of” and
Common Prepositions: at, by, for, from, in, of, to, with
others: about, above, across, after, against, along, among, around, before, past
behind, below, beside, between, beyond, during, into, like, near , over,
throughout, toward, under, underneath, through, up, upon, within, without
Example: The boy (with a dog) lives (on a farm).
VII.
CONJUNCTIONS
Conjunctions join words, phrases, and clauses. There are four types of conjunctions.
The two main types are
Coordinate Conjunctions: Coordinating conjunctions join words, phrases, and
sentences of equal value. The Coordinating Conjunctions are: and, but, or, nor,
for, yet, so. “FANBOYS”
Subordinate Conjunctions: Subordinating conjunctions join less important clauses to
the main ideas of the sentence. Therefore, the clauses are not of equal value.
The Subordinating Conjunctions are: after, although, as, because, before,
if, since, so that, that, unless, until, when, where, while, unless, even though.
PARTS OF THE SENTENCE
THE SENTENCE
A sentence is a group of words containing a subject and a verb.
A simple sentence consists of a single independent clause.
e.g.
The whole class sang songs. (simple subject and simple verb)
Dawn and Sue were studying together. (compound subject)
Roberta finished her letter and mailed it. (compound verb)
SUBJECT: The subject is the doer of the action, or the word or group of words spoken
about in sentence. VERB: The heart of every sentence is the verb. Every sentence
MUST have a verb.
PREPOSTIONS:
A preposition is a small word that shows position or direction. It always introduces a prepositional
phrase, which ends with a noun or pronoun. Most prepositions can fit into the following
phrase:
“The cat jumped _______ the box.”
The two exceptions are “of” and “during”
Common Prepositions: at, by, for, from, in, of, to, with
others: about, above, across, after, against, along, among, around, before, behind, below, beside,
between, beyond, during, into, like, near , over, past, throughout, toward, under,
underneath, through, up, upon, without
e.g.
The boy (with a dog) lives (on a farm).
A FEW BASIC RULES TO HELP YOU FIND THE SUBJECT
1. Normally, the subject precedes the verb and can be found by asking,
“Who or what is doing the action?”
“Who or what is being described?”
Most sentences are structured using the following pattern. Subject + Verb.
Eg.
Henry brings his wife flowers every day.
Juliette sprinted down the street.
Yesterday, I ate twenty seven hot dogs at the fair.
Note: Not all sentences are as simple as these. Not all sentences begin with the subject, so do not
assume that the first noun in the sentence has to be the subject.
2. The word THERE is NEVER the subject of a sentence.
Eg.
There are fourteen students in the class.
The subject is fourteen students
The verb is are.
The standard position of subject and verb is reversed: V + S
3. Subjects and Verbs are NEVER found in a ( prepositional phrase.)
A] The subject precedes the verb:
( At the top of the hill ) , a small cabin stood.
Note the comma after the introductory prepositional phrase when it is followed by the subject.
B] The subject follows the verb:
( At the top of the hill ) stood a small cabin.
In both sentences, the subject is the small cabin and the verb is stood.
The most common verbs to follow a prepositional phrase are is, was, were and are.
4. Sometimes there will be more than one subject in a sentence.
COMPOUND SUBJECTS:
Bill and Shirley attended the symphony last night.
COMPOUND SENTENCES:
Bill attended the symphony, but Shirley stayed home.
5. The subject of a command is implied. The subject is “YOU” the unnamed person who is
commanded.
Eg. Close the door! = YOU close the door!
“You” is the subject of the first sentence.
6. The subject of many questions is found between the two verbs in a verb phrase.
Eg. Should we attend the festival?
WE is the subject. Should attend is a verb phrase.
BEWARE: Some words that look like verbs are NOT verbs. Pay particular attention to word that end
in “ING” and words that follow the preposition “TO.” Words ending in “ING” that look like verbs are
only verbs if they are preceded by a helping verb. The verbs have been bolded in the sentences below.
Running down the street, the man tripped.
He was running down the street.
The man tripped running down the street.
I want to run.
When it comes to identifying verbs, students typically seem to have the most trouble with verb
phrases and mistaking participles or infinitives for verbs.
Participles look like verbs (and usually end in “ing”), but they are adjectives; they usually describe a
person or thing in the sentence.
The man ran down the street.
“ran” is the verb.
Running down the street, the man fell.
“Running is a participle; it describes the man.
The man fell running down the street.
“fell” is the verb.
The man is running down the street.
“is running” is a verb phrase.
In other words, a word that ends in “ing” and looks like a verb is ONLY a verb if it is preceded by a
helping verb.
Infinitives are verbs that follow the preposition TO ( to ski to laugh to run ). These words are usually
nouns. To keep it simple – just find your prepositions and remember no subjects or verbs in prep
phrases.
I want (to ski.)
The subject is “I” The verb is “want” and to ski is the thing desired
Modifiers
A modifier is a word or group of words that adds information to other words in a sentence by
describing, explaining or limiting those words. The placement of modifiers is extremely important.
Used properly, modifiers make writing more precise; used incorrectly, they make writing confusing.
MODIFIERS SHOULD BE PLACED AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE TO THE WORD BEING
DESCRIBED.
There are two types of modifier problems: misplaced modifiers (mm) and dangling modifiers.
Misplaced Modifiers:
1. Modifiers must be placed as closely as possible to the words they describe or modify.
Be particularly careful with the words: almost, nearly, just, only, hardly, merely.
We could not even budge the fallen limb.
Even we could not budge the fallen limb.
2. Modifiers beginning with “who, which, or that” (adj. clauses) should immediately follow the word
they describe.
She wrapped the scarf which she had purchased at the garage sale around her neck.
NOT
She wrapped the scarf around her neck which she had purchased at the garage sale.
3. Avoid separating coordinate modifiers.
With good luck and fair weather, the ship should soon reach the port.
NOT
With good luck, the ship should soon reach the port and with fair weather.
4. PARTICIPLES are often misplaced. Be particularly careful with these structures.
Stepping off the curb, the man was hit by a car.
NOT
The man was hit by a car stepping off the curb.
5. You can, however, put phrases and clauses that explain when, where or how at the beginning of
sentences even though this may separate them from the words they modify.
When the referee’s whistle sounded, the match ended.
Dangling Modifiers:
A modifying phrase or clause is said to dangle when it has no stated word to describe. A dangling
modifier is sometimes difficult to identify because our brains supply the missing word. The missing
subject is often in the previous sentence. To correct a dangling modifier, you must rewrite the sentence
and supply the word that is to be modified.
Example #1: While smoking a pipe, my cat curled up next to me.
Did the cat smoke the pipe? Obviously not, but the sentence does not identify who smoked the pipe.
You must supply a subject and, sometimes, supply additional words to create verbs, clauses or phrases.
In the following sentences the new subject and additional words are in bold letters.
Corrected Form:
While I was smoking a pipe, my cat curled up next to me.
While smoking a pipe, I allowed my cat to curl up next to me.
Smoking my pipe, I reclined and allowed my cat to curl up next to me.
Example #2: Climbing the mountain, a rock hit John's head.
Who was climbing the mountain? The rock? Jim? We must rewrite the sentence for clarity.
Corrected Form:
When John was climbing the mountain, a rock hit his head.
Climbing the mountain, John was hit on the head by a rock.
Most dangling modifiers are found at the beginning of a sentence. Many of them are participle
phrases which when used correctly are a terrific means of adding style to your writing.
Eg.
Unscrewing the radiator cap, a blast of steam shot up.
It is clear that the blast of steam is not unscrewing the radiator cap, yet that is what the sentence
implies. Unscrewing the radiator cap refers to the actions of a person, yet there is no mention of a
person in this sentence. Thus, the phrase is left “dangling” - a modifier with nothing to modify.
This problem can be corrected in a number of ways. The two most common include;
a. Rewriting the main clause so it includes the subject referred to in the modifier.
Unscrewing the radiator cap, I released a blast of steam.
b. Rewriting the dangling modifier as a complete subordinate clause.
As I unscrewed the radiator cap, a blast of steam shot up.
Relative Pronouns (who, whom)
“WHO” is for subjects: It precedes a verb.
E.g: Who is that?
He is the one who fell into the swamp.
“WHOM” is for objects. It follows a preposition. It is not followed by a verb, but rather a noun or a
pronoun. E.g. That book belongs to whom.
He is the one whom she likes
Wrong Word Usage
accept
except
- a verb meaning to take
- excluding
advice
advise
- a noun - helpful information
- a verb meaning to give information or advice
affect
effect
- a verb meaning influence
- is a noun meaning result
good
well
- is an adjective
- is an adverb unless it refers to good health
its
it’s
- possessive; belonging to it
- a contraction for “it is”
lie
lay
- to rest in a flat position {It does not take an object} tenses: lie / lying / lay / have lain
- to put or place something {It usually takes an object} tenses:lay / laying / laid / have laid
lose
loose
- to misplace or be defeated
- not tight
personal
personnel
- means private
- a group of people working for an employer
principal
principle
- means main or refers to money; the main administrator of a school for example
- means is a rule
quite
quiet
- an adverb intensifier that limits a description
- to be silent
sit
sat
- to take a seating position or to be in place
- to put something down
your
you’re
- possessive; belonging to you
- contraction for you are
than
then
- is used in comparisons
- refers to time and rhymes with when
there
their
they’re
- indicates place
- possessive; belonging to them
- contraction for they are
to
two
too
- a preposition indicating direction.
- a number
- an adverb intensifier meaning also or very
who’s
whose
- a contraction for “who is” or “who has”
- usually
“Mother is well.”