Download Grammar Workshop PPT

9th Grade English
GRAMMAR WORKSHOP
Why is Grammar Important?

Look at the following sentences and choose the
correct version.




Woman, without her man, is nothing.
Woman, without her, man is nothing.
Let’s eat, Tweety!
Let’s eat Tweety!
Celebration Pavilion, Queen Elizabeth Park
Celebration Pavilion Queen Elizabeth Park
Jim needs a camera, battery and case.
Jim needs a camera battery and case.
Why is Grammar Important?

A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich,
eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the
air. “Why?” asks the confused waiter, as the panda
makes towards the exit. The panda produces a
badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over
his shoulder. “I’m a panda,” he says at the door.
“Look it up.” The waiter turns to the relevant entry,
and sure enough, finds an explanation. “Panda.
Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to
China. Eats, shoots and leaves.”
What is a Noun?

Nouns name:
 Persons (Ms. Douglas, Brittany Spears, Pres. Obama)
 Places (Japan, Houston, Red Sea)
 Things (chair, book, mountain)
 Ideas (reality, peace, success)
 Qualities (pain, mystery, simplicity)
Forms of Nouns

Singular nouns (one)


City, earthquake, town
Plural nouns (more than one)
Add –s , or –es
 Ex. Cities, earthquakes, towns
 Irregular plurals: woman/women, child/children, etc.


Possessive Nouns
Indicate Ownership or source.
 Singular Nouns add an apostrophe plus –s (ex. Jane’s pen)
 Plural Nouns add an apostrophe (ex. Students’ rights)

What is a Verb?

Verbs express:
An action (Ex. bring, change, grow)
 An occurrence ( Ex. become, happen)
 A state of being (Ex. be, seem)

Forms of Verbs

Two changes in form:

From Present to Past

Add –d or –ed

Ex. The boys play today/ The boys played yesterday.
Irregular past tense : eat/ate, begin/began, etc.


Adding Present tense verbs to singular nouns/pronouns


Add –s or –es. (ex. The bear escapes; it runs; the woman sings).
Exception: be and have.
Helping Verbs

A.k.a. Auxilliary Verbs

Do, does, did, can, could, may, will, would, shall, should, and
must


Ex. Could run; may escape; must help.
Combine with special forms of verbs to make verb phrases

Ex. Will be running, might have escaped, could have been helped.
Pronouns

Most pronouns substitute for nouns.
 Personal
 Ex.
I, you, he, she, it, we, they…
 Relative
 Ex.
pronouns
pronouns
Who, whoever, which, that…
 Possessive
 Ex.

Pronouns
Its, their, ours, mine, yours…
Most change form to indicate their function in a
sentence.
 Ex.
He called me. I called him back.
Possessive Pronouns


Pronouns that show possession of something.
Used to refer to the following:
 Number—Singular
(ex. Mine) or Plural (ex. Ours)
 Person– Ist person (Mine), 2nd Person (yours) or 3rd
Person (his, hers)
 Gender– Male (his) or Female (hers)
number
singular
person
gender (of
"owner")
possessive
pronouns
1st
male/female
mine
2nd
male/female
yours
male
his
female
hers
1st
male/female
ours
2nd
male/female
yours
3rd
male/female/neute
r
theirs
3rd
plural
Adjectives


Describe or modify nouns or pronouns
A.k.a. modifiers
Ex. gentle, small, pretty, smart, kind, etc.
 Ex. The small, obedient child followed her mother home.

Adverbs


Describe or modify verbs, adjectives or other
adverbs, or whole groups of words
Ex. Gently, helpfully, almost, kindly.


Recently, the earth trembled
The earthquake nearly destroyed the city.
Prepositions


Relate nouns, or pronouns to other words in a
sentence.
Ex. About, at, down, for, of, with, because.


The boy went down the street to get his ball.
I had to get a pass to class because I was late.
What is a Sentence?

Most sentences make statements:
 First,
they name something.
 Then, they make a statement about/ or describe an
action involving that something.

Needs to be a complete thought.
Sentences have Two Parts

Subject
 Answers

the question: who or what does the action
Predicate
 Everything
from the verb onward.
 Includes a verb and completes the thought.

Ex. The bees are swarming.
Examples of Sentences

Subject
The bees

Predicate
are swarming
The earth
trembled
The earthquake
destroyed the city
Identifying Subjects and Predicates


Identify the subject and predicate of each sentence
below.
Then use each sentence as a model to create a
sentence of your own.
Example: An important scientist spoke at a conference.
 The hungry family ate at the dinner.

In Class Practice: Identify Subject and the Predicate.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The leaves fell.
October ends soon.
The orchard owners made apple cider.
They examined each apple carefully before using
it.
Over a hundred people will buy cider at the
roadside stand.
Direct and Indirect Objects

Direct Object: identifies who or what receives the action of the
verb.


Ex. The earthquake destroyed the city.
Indirect Object: identifies to or for whom the action of the verb
is performed.

Ex. The government sent the city aid.
Intransitive and Transitive Verbs

Intransitive Verbs are verbs that do not need following words
to complete their meaning.



Ex. The earthquake trembled.
Transitive verbs are verbs that require direct objects to
complete their meaning.
The verb transfers the action from subject to object.

Ex. The earthquake destroyed the city.
Subject/Object Complements

The word that describes the subject is the subject complement.




Ex. The result was chaotic.
The verb that link the subject and its description is called a
linking verb.
Ex. The result was chaos.
The word or noun that complements or completes the object is
the object complement. The O.C. must describe or rename the
direct object.

Ex. The citizens considered the earthquake a disaster.
Identifying Sentence Patterns


In the following sentences, identify each verb as intransitive, transitive, or linking.
Then identify each direct object (DO), indirect object (IO), subject complement
(SC), and object complement (OC).
Example: Children give their parents both headaches and pleasures.

Give is a transitive verb.

Many people find New Orleans exciting.

Tourists flock there each year.

Usually they visit the French Quarter first.

The Quarter’s old buildings are magnificent.

In the Quarter, artists sell tourists their paintings.
Clauses—Independent/ Dependent


A Clause: A group of words that includes a subject
and a verb.
Independent Clause: Can express a complete
thought and can stand alone.
 Ex:

Tara ate a cheese roll after she watched the news.
Dependent Clause: a clause that does not express
a complete thought. It is usually the supporting part
of a sentence that cannot stand alone.
 Tara
ate a cheese roll after she watched the news.
Using Commas with Clauses
Rule #1

Use commas to separate independent clauses when they are
joined by any of these seven coordinating conjunctions
(a.k.a. FANBOYS): and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet.



The game was over, but the crowd refused to leave.
The student explained her question, yet the instructor still didn't seem
to understand.
Yesterday was Maria’s anniversary, so her husband took
her out to dinner.
Using Commas with Clauses
Rule #2a

Use commas after:
introductory a) clauses, b) phrases, or c) words that come before the
main clause.

a. Common starter words for introductory clauses that
should be followed by a comma include: after, although, as,
because, if, since, when, while.



While I was eating, the cat scratched at the door.
Because her alarm clock was broken, she was late for class.
When the snow stops falling, we'll shovel the driveway.
Using Commas with Clauses
Rule #2a Continued…
 *Do not put a comma after the main clause
when a dependent clause follows it (except for
cases of extreme contrast).


INCORRECT: The cat scratched at the door, while I was eating.
CORRECT: She was still quite upset, although she had won the
Oscar. (This comma use is correct because it is an example of
extreme contrast.)
Subject-Verb Agreement


For every sentence, the subject and verb of the subject must be
in agreement.
If the subject is singular, the verb must be singular.


The cat is on the mat.
If the subject is plural, the verb must be plural.

Ex. The dogs are howling.
Subject Verb Agreement Rules

1. When the subject of a sentence is composed of two or
more nouns or pronouns connected by and, use a plural verb.


She and her friends are at the fair.
2. When two or more singular nouns or pronouns are
connected by or or nor, use a singular verb.

The book or the pen is in the drawer.
Subject Verb Agreement Rules

3. When a compound subject contains both a singular and a
plural noun or pronoun joined by or or nor, the verb should
agree with the part of the subject that is nearer the verb.


The boy or his friends run every day.
His friends or the boy runs every day.
Subject Verb Agreement Rules



4. Doesn't is a contraction of does not and should be used
only with a singular subject.
Don't is a contraction of do not and should be used only with
a plural subject.
The exception to this rule appears in the case of the first
person and second person pronouns I and you. With these
pronouns, the contraction don't should be used.
 He doesn't like it.
 They don't like it.
Subject Verb Agreement Rules

5. Do not be misled by a phrase that comes between the
subject and the verb. The verb agrees with the subject, not
with a noun or pronoun in the phrase.





One of the boxes is open
The people who listen to that music are few.
The team captain, as well as his players, is anxious.
The book, including all the chapters in the first section, is boring.
The woman with all the dogs walks down my street.
Subject Verb Agreement Rules

6. The words each, each one, either, neither, everyone,
everybody, anybody, anyone, nobody, somebody, someone, and
no one are singular and require a singular verb.

Each of these hot dogs is juicy.
Everybody knows Mr. Jones.

Either is correct.

Subject Verb Agreement Rules

7. Nouns such as civics, mathematics, dollars, measles, and news
require singular verbs.




The news is on at six.
Note: the word dollars is a special case.
When talking about an amount of money, it requires a singular
verb.
When referring to the dollars themselves, a plural verb is
required.


Five dollars is a lot of money.
Dollars are often used instead of rubles in Russia.
Subject Verb Agreement Rules

8. Nouns such as scissors, tweezers, trousers, and shears require
plural verbs. (There are two parts to these things.)



These scissors are dull.
Those trousers are made of wool.
9. In sentences beginning with there is or there are, the subject
follows the verb. Since there is not the subject, the verb agrees
with what follows.


There are many questions.
There is a question.
Subject Verb Agreement Rules

10. Collective nouns are words that imply more than one person but that
are considered singular and take a singular verb, such as: group, team,
committee, class, and family.





In some cases in American English, a sentence may call for the use of a plural verb
when using a collective noun.


The team runs during practice.
The committee decides how to proceed.
The family has a long history.
My family has never been able to agree.
The crew are preparing to dock the ship.
This sentence is referring to the individual efforts of each crew member
Subject Verb Agreement Rules

11. Expressions such as with, together with, including,
accompanied by, in addition to, or as well do not change the
number of the subject. If the subject is singular, the verb is too.


The President, accompanied by his wife, is traveling to India.
All of the books, including yours, are in that box.