Download Framing Your Thoughts

Framing
Your
Thoughts
Guide
Units 1-4
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Name
Framing Your Thoughts Guide
Unit 1
Every sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a stop sign.

Another name for a stop sign is a punctuation mark.
(period  question mark ? exclamation point ! )
A barebones sentence is formed using one subject and one predicate.
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Example: Dogs bark. or Cats meow.
A subject is a person, place, thing or idea. It is also called a namer.
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Another name for a subject is a noun.
There are two types of namers: a common namer and a proper namer.
A common namer (noun) is any person, place, thing or idea.

Example: teacher, school, dog
A proper namer (noun) is a specific person, place, thing or idea and it must always
be capitalized.
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Example: Mr. Margeson, Pleasant Valley, Fido
A compound subject has two namers (nouns).
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Example: Boys and girls learn.
A series subject has three or more namers (nouns). Use commas to separate the
nouns.
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Example: Cats, dogs, birds, and fish play.
Use a connector to join namers (nouns).

Another name for a connector is a conjunction. (and but or)
Substitute Namer – takes the place of a noun.
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Another name for a substitute namer is a pronoun.
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Example: he, she, it, they, me, I
The predicate is the action of the subject, what the subject is or does.
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Another name for a predicate is a verb.
A compound predicate has two action words (verbs).
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Example: Children swim and dive.
A series predicate has three or more action words (verbs). Use commas to
separate the verbs.
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Example: Children swim, dive, flip, and slide.
Use a connector to join verbs.

Another name for a connector is a conjunction. (and but or)
A subject plus a predicate equals a complete thought

Subject + Predicate = Complete Thought
Singular means only one - dog, cat, boy, girl
Plural means more than one - dogs, cats, boys, girls
Subject and predicates must agree in number.

This is called subject/verb agreement.
If the subject is plural (more than one), the action word (verb) SHOULD

NOT
have an s.
Example: Dog barks.
If the subject is singular (only one), the action word (verb) SHOULD have an s.

Example: Dogs bark.
Unit 2
A predicate expander tells more about the action of the subject. There are four
kinds of predicate expanders. A where expander, how expander, when expander
and why expander.
A where expander tells where the action is taking place.
A where expander begins with a where word and ends with a namer (noun).

Example: Dogs bark in the dark.
A preposition shows position and is always the first word in a group of words that
end with a namer or noun. The position word leads to a person, place, thing or idea.
POSITION WORDS OR PREPOSITIONS – ANYWHERE
THE CAT CAN GO
– about, above, along,
around, across, against, among, after, at, by, behind, beside, beneath, below,
beyond, before, but, between, during, down, except, for, from, in, into, inside, near,
outside, out, off, on, onto, over, past, since, through, throughout, to, toward, under,
underneath, up, upon, within, without
A how expander tells how the action is taking place.
A how expander can by an ly word – happily, sadly, quickly, slowly
A how expander can a phrase that begins with like… with… or without…

Example: Dogs bark loudly like a horn.
Ly words must be located directly next to the predicate.
How predicate expanders have mobility, they can move to the beginning of the
sentence if it makes the sentence better. If the phrase is more than four words, is
should be separated from the rest of the sentence with a comma.

Example: Like a fog horn, the dog barks loudly.
A when expander tells when the action is taking place.
When expanders are phrases that start with the following words – when, since,
before, after, as soon as, during, while
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Example: Dogs bark during thunderstorms.
When expanders also have mobility.
A why expander tells why the action is taking place.
Why expanders are phrases that begin with the following words – to, so, for,
because

Example: Dogs bark because they are frightened.
Predicate expanders are also known as adverbs. They describe more details about
the action of the sentence, or they describe the verb.
Unit 3
Subject describers describe the subject such as what it looks like and physical
characteristics, behavior, how many and who owns it.

Another name for subject describer is adjective.
There are five kinds of subject describers (adjectives).
1. Looks Like/Physical - These describe size, shape, color, texture, taste and smell.
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Example: The red, mushy, big, juicy, tart, rotten apple fell.
2. Behavior/Personality - These describe how the subject acts or behaves.
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Example: The nice boy was wrapped in a cozy quilt during the noisy storm.
3. Number - This describes how many. It can be a number or a number word, such
as several, all, every, each, many, a/an, most, some, both, either, few, neither.

Example: There were three cats on the porch and every cat was white.
4. Ownership - This describes who owns the subject of the sentence.
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These are also known as possessive nouns.
An apostrophe [ ' ] is used to show who owns the namer (noun).
If the ownership word is singular, place the apostrophe at the end of the word and
add an s. ['s]
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Example: The teacher's book fell off the shelf.
If the ownership word is plural, place the apostrophe after the final s. [s']
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Example: The teachers' hats all blew away.
If the plural word does not end in an s, place the apostrophe at the end of the
word and add an s. ['s]
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Example: The children's books were easy to read.
5. Set Apart - A set apart describe comes between the subject and the predicate.
It will set them apart in the sentence.

Example: The kittens in the basket live at my house.
Diagramming Sentences Examples
Dogs bark.
Dogs bark and run.
Cats and dogs play.
Dogs bark and run around the house.
Small cats and dogs run carelessly around the house.
Because they are frightened, little, brown, spotted dogs bark and run around the
house.
Because they are frightened, cats and dogs frantically run around the house
during a storm.