* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download Relative Pronouns - SD43 Teacher Sites
Modern Greek grammar wikipedia , lookup
Ukrainian grammar wikipedia , lookup
Preposition and postposition wikipedia , lookup
Ojibwe grammar wikipedia , lookup
Old Irish grammar wikipedia , lookup
Udmurt grammar wikipedia , lookup
Lithuanian grammar wikipedia , lookup
French grammar wikipedia , lookup
Japanese grammar wikipedia , lookup
Navajo grammar wikipedia , lookup
Swedish grammar wikipedia , lookup
Macedonian grammar wikipedia , lookup
Kannada grammar wikipedia , lookup
English clause syntax wikipedia , lookup
Old English grammar wikipedia , lookup
Esperanto grammar wikipedia , lookup
Modern Hebrew grammar wikipedia , lookup
Scottish Gaelic grammar wikipedia , lookup
Kagoshima verb conjugations wikipedia , lookup
Portuguese grammar wikipedia , lookup
Hungarian verbs wikipedia , lookup
Ancient Greek grammar wikipedia , lookup
Lexical semantics wikipedia , lookup
Chinese grammar wikipedia , lookup
Russian grammar wikipedia , lookup
Georgian grammar wikipedia , lookup
Malay grammar wikipedia , lookup
Italian grammar wikipedia , lookup
Turkish grammar wikipedia , lookup
Yiddish grammar wikipedia , lookup
Icelandic grammar wikipedia , lookup
Polish grammar wikipedia , lookup
Latin syntax wikipedia , lookup
Serbo-Croatian grammar wikipedia , lookup
Spanish grammar wikipedia , lookup
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.”