Post on 19-Nov-2014
Basics:Common (not specific)- dog, cat, president, teacherProper (specific)- Charlie, Milo, President Obama, Mrs. AndersonSingular (one)- cat, moose, child, mousePlural (more than one)- cats, moose, children, mice
Getting Fancy:Compound nouns (two nouns combined)- basketball,
great-aunt, jellybean, high schoolCollective Nouns (a group= singular)- audience, crowd,
family, everyone
Nouns- person, place, thing or idea
Possessives (Mine, Mine): show ownership
Singularwithout s: Sarah’s, cat’s, girl’swith s: Jesus’, bass’Pluralwithout s: women’s, mice’swith s: cats’, girls’
Pronouns- a word used in place of a noun, don’t repeat! Example: John walked John’s dog into John’s backyard. With Pronouns: John walked his dog into his backyard. “antecedent”- word that the pronoun is replacing
1. Personal• 1st person: I, me, we, us• 2nd person: you• 3rd person: he, him, she, her, it, they, them
2. Possessive- shows ownership (no apostrophe) Yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs, whose, mine, my,
your, etc.
3. Reflexive- points back to a noun or pronoun -self, -selves John bought himself an iPod. They all enjoyed themselves at the party.
4. Intensive- adds emphasis! (Could be removed and still makes sense)
-self, -selves Herman himself ate the pie. I saw Tommie Frazier myself. I’ll do it myself.
5. Demonstrative- used to demonstrate (pointing a finger)
This, That, These, Those
6. Relative- begins a subordinate clause (fragment that attaches to a describing sentence)
Only these 5: that, which, who, whom, whose
7. Interrogative- question (interrogate) These 5: what, which, who, whom, and whose
8. Indefinite: refer to something, but no specific antecedent (not defined)
Each, one, someone, everyone, several, few, many, all, most, some, none, etc.
Adjectives- describe a noun or a pronoun
(give it flavor)
They answer these questions: What kind? red nose, gold ringHow much? more sugar, little effortWhich one? second place, purple chairHow many? several kids, six children
5 Kinds of Adjectives
1. Common adjectives- describe nouns or pronouns- strong man, green plant, pretty child
2. Proper adjectives- formed from proper nouns (using a proper noun to describe something)- California vegetables, Florida oranges, Mexican food
3. Compound adjectives- made up of more than one word- far-off country, teenage person
4. Articles- a, an, the (the is definite- it refers to something specific, a/an are indefinite- they refer to general things)- the dog vs. a dog
5. Indefinite adjectives- don’t specify the amount of something, they describe general quantities. (Check to see if there is a noun nearby). - all, either, another, few, any, many, both, more, each, most, several
Verbs- name an action or describe a state of being
Action Verbs: tell what the noun does transitive (needs a noun)- Susan dropped the ball. The boy
dribbled it. Ask who? Or what? After verb, if answered then it’s transitive
Intransitive- Who called? I screamed.
Linking Verbs: state of being (be, feel, grow, seem, smell, remain, appear, stay) You smell good. I feel happy. She looks sad.
Helping Verbs: “to be” (do, has, shall, will, can, may) You can borrow my jacket.
Infinitives:to + verbto run, to walk, to like
Verb Phrases:I will have to go. I do want a hot dog.
Tense:Past I walked I ran I hadPresent I walk I run I haveFuture I will walk I will run I will have
Adverbs- describe a verb, adjective, or other adverb
They answer these questions: When? left yesterday, begin nowWhere? fell below, move upHow? happily sang, danced badlyTo what extent? partly finished, eat completely
** most adverbs are formed by adding –ly to an adjective
Some non-“ly” adverbs
afterward already almost back evenfar fast hard herehow late long lowmore near never nextnow often quick ratherslow so soon stillthen today tomorrow too
when whereyesterday
To describe a verb: Experiments using dynamite must be done carefully.
To describe an adjective: Charles had an unbelievably huge appetite.
To describe another adverb: They sang so clearly.
Conjunctive adverbs:transition words, they link ideas
accordinglyagainfor examplefurthermore howevernext finallythen
Prepositions- link a noun or pronoun to another word in the sentence
Rules:usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical
relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence as in the following examples:
The book is on the table. The book is beside the table. She held the book over the table. She read the book during class.
a noun/pronoun always follows a preposition
Prepositional phrase= begins with a preposition, ends with a noun/pronounNoun/Pronoun called the “object of the
preposition”
Sentence with Preposition Structure:
(Art) Noun Verb Preposition (Article) (Adjective) Noun.
The dog ran through the busy park.
Charlie ran around town.
The monster ate under the large, wooden table.
A gorilla climbed into the tiny, brown car.
More examples:
You are slower than a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter. (2)
If it wasn’t for the last minute, nothing would get done. (1)
The bird was stuck on the wing of the plane. (2)She walked in the door with a bag full of
groceries for her kids. (4)Last night, Carrie left with her briefcase on her
way to the dinner date she had with some friends. (4)
Key Words:
Independent Clause: complete sentence (doesn’t rely on anything for explanation)“I went to the store.”
Dependent Clause: incomplete sentence/fragment (doesn’t make sense alone)“Out of the blue.”
Conjunctions- connect words or groups of words and show how they are related1. Coordinating- link words/groups
* ONLY: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so [FANBOYS]EX: Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art
crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
2. Correlative- link similar words and groups in pairs* ONLY: both…and, either…or, neither…nor, not only…but also, whether…orEX: He lost both his socks and his shoes.
3. Subordinate- link a complete sentence (indep. clause) to a fragment (dep. clause)
*after, although, as long as, because, even though, so, so that, whenever, until… EX: We won the game because of you.
Interjections- show strong emotion- set off with a comma or an exclamation mark
Examples:Oh! You scared me! Wow! You look great!Holy cow, that’s an old watch!
Sentence Structure
A sentence must have:1. Subject- noun or pronoun2. Predicate- verb or verb phrase3. Complete thoughtSubject PredicateYou ran home.New York City is called the big apple.The basketball player made ten baskets.
Sentence Structure Key
S= Complete Sentence
s= Incomplete Sent./ Fragment
4 Types of Sentences:
1. Simple- one subject + one predicate (either could be compound)Ex: We eat food all day.Ex: David Letterman and Jay Leno host talk shows and have expensive cars.
SS. S.
2. Compound- 2 or more complete sentences combined using a coordinating conjunction or semicolonEx: The rain was really heavy so I stayed home.
S;S.S [conj] S.
3. Complex- 1 complete sentence + 1 or more fragments using a subordinating conjunction
Ind. Conj. Dep. Ex: Parallel lines never meet until you bend one of them.
S;s.S [conj] s.
4. Compound-Complex- at least 2 complete sentences + 1 fragmentInd. Dep.
Ex: I planned to drive to work, but I couldn’t Ind.until the mechanic repaired my car.
S+S+s [conj. , ;]
Tough Grammar
Homonyms= words pronounced the same, but have a different meaning
There/ Their/ They’reThere= place Ex: I’m going there.
Their= people Ex: I’m going to their house.
They’re= they are Ex: They’re going home.
Principal/ PrinciplePrincipal= person who runs a school
The Principal is on the loud speaker.
Principle= a belief or valueIt’s the principle of the issue that concerns
me.
Two/ To/ TooTwo= number (noun)
I have to take two dogs to the park, too.
To= infinitive verb/ prepositionI have (to take) two dogs to the park, too.
Too= also (put also in its place to decide)I have to take two dogs to the park, too.
Other Tough Grammar to Use:Are/Our
Are= You are going. (verb)Our= It is our job. (Pronoun, people)
Then/ThanThen= time, sequence
Then we’ll leave.Than= comparison
It’s better than anything.
Definitely vs. DefiantlyIts vs. It’s