Knowing how sentences are formed and what a sentence requires will help your writing.
Subjects
Every sentence has a subject. The subject is the who or what that the sentence is about. The subject of the sentence is always a noun or a pronoun (or a group of words that functions as a noun, but don’t worry about that right now.) The subject is usually whatever or who- ever is doing the action of the verb. The subject is often the first word in a sentence, but not always. There are sometimes introductory words, phrases, or clauses . However, the subject usually does come before the verb it belongs to, wherever that might be in the sentence. Every sentence needs a subject.
To find the subject, first find the verb and ask who is doing the action. If there are two subjects, generally joined with a conjunction (for example, Jack and Jill), we call that a compound subject.
The man tied his shoes. (The subject is man.)
Everyone is going to the movies. (The subject is everyone, a pronoun.)
Who is knocking at the door? (The subject is who.)
After school, she and I always do our homework. (The subjects are she and I; remember that more than one subject is called a compound subject.)
Do you know who is at the door? (The subject is you.)
In a question, it is often easier to find the subject and the verb if you make the question a statement: You do know who is at the door.
Practice for homework— Identifying Subjects
Identify the subject or subjects in the following sentences:
1. I play tennis with my friends every Wednesday.
2. You and Jane should visit me this weekend.
3. My boss gave me instructions to do this report.
4. Next summer we are going to Disneyland.
5. Although it is hot out, I still need to mow the lawn.
6. Jack, Joan, and Fred are still not home.
7. What are you doing today?
8. Clean your room before dinner.
Prepositions
Prepositions are usually little words, and they are always part of a phrase. A prepositional phrase generally consists of a preposition, sometimes an article (a, an, or the), and a noun or pronoun (which is called the object of the preposition). Prepositional phrases usually answer the questions where? or when?
Here are some examples of prepositions phrases from the book:
in the yard
beside the bay
under the hill
through the air
between the table and the counter
into the house
above the hill
over the hill
next to the train tracks
inside the house
under the tractor tire
over the mountain
through the tunnel
beside the dog
by the classic truck
There are many other prepositions, but you get the idea!
If a preposition does not have a noun or pronoun after it, it is generally not a preposition; it is being used as an adverb.
I am going inside the house (prepositional phrase; inside is a preposition).
I am going inside. (There is no prepositional phrase; inside is an adverb here.)
It is very important to be able to recognize prepositional phrases. Often, recognizing a prepositional phrase will help you decide whether to use who or whom, I or me, him or he, etc. It is also important to put your prepositional phrases in the correct place in the sentence.
Practice Homework
Identifying Prepositional Phrases
Each sentence below contains one prepositional phrase. Can you find it?
1. The cat is under the table.
2. We camp at the lake every summer.
3. Come into the house before you freeze! 4. We ran around the track twenty times! 5. I went to the museum.
Put each prepositional phrase below in a complete sentence
in the box
with my friends
at school
around the room of ours
between the chairs
Parts of Speech 2/3/2021
Transitive Intransitive
One more thing about verbs (yes, they are rather complicated). Verbs are also classified as either transitive or intransitive. The dictionary refers to verbs as either vi(verb intransitive) or vt (verb transitive) where it tells you the part of speech.
Transitive verbs have direct objects; intransitive verbs don’t.
Direct objects Basically, if you ask what or who about the verb, the answer is the direct object.
Direct objects are always nouns or pronouns. Here are some examples. They played baseball. (Played what? Base-ball.
Baseball is the direct object, so played is transitive.)
They played in the yard. (Played what or who? The sentence does not tell you. There is no direct object, and played is intransitive.)
Practice --Transitive and Intransitive Verbs In each of the following sentences, identify the italicized verb as either transitive or intransitive. If it is transitive, identify its direct object.
1. I played chess with George.
2. She walked to school.
3. Jess bought a new suit.
4. Did you see the cat jump over the fence?
5. I wrote the monthly report for my company
Transitive Intransitive
One more thing about verbs (yes, they are rather complicated). Verbs are also classified as either transitive or intransitive. The dictionary refers to verbs as either vi(verb intransitive) or vt (verb transitive) where it tells you the part of speech.
Transitive verbs have direct objects; intransitive verbs don’t.
Direct objects Basically, if you ask what or who about the verb, the answer is the direct object.
Direct objects are always nouns or pronouns. Here are some examples. They played baseball. (Played what? Base-ball.
Baseball is the direct object, so played is transitive.)
They played in the yard. (Played what or who? The sentence does not tell you. There is no direct object, and played is intransitive.)
Practice --Transitive and Intransitive Verbs In each of the following sentences, identify the italicized verb as either transitive or intransitive. If it is transitive, identify its direct object.
1. I played chess with George.
2. She walked to school.
3. Jess bought a new suit.
4. Did you see the cat jump over the fence?
5. I wrote the monthly report for my company
12/9/2020.
Conjunctions
Conjunctions are joining words.
They join words, phrases (a short group of related words), or even sentences together. The most common conjunction is and.
Jack and Jill (joins two words together).
I went to school and to the movies (joins two phrases together)
I am a student, and my brother is a dentist (joins two sentences).
And is called a coordinating conjunction.
There are seven coordinating conjunctions.
They are for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. The first letters of these words spell out FANBOYS.
Remember the “word” FANBOYS, and you will remem-ber these conjunctions!
Fill in the blank in each sentence with one of the seven FANBOYS conjunctions.
Use a different conjunction for each sentence.
Use the conjunction that makes the most sense in that sentence.
1. I would buy that toy for you, _______ I don’t have any money.
2. She is small, ______ very strong.
3. Do you want the chicken _____ the steak?
4. Bobbie _____ Jim are getting married.
5. I like neither liver ________ brussels sprouts.
6. I have other plans, ____ I won’t be going with you.
7. You will need to study more, ______ you got a bad grade.
Prepositions are usually little words, and they are always part of a phrase (a group of a few related words) known, not surprisingly, as a prepositional phrase. A prepositional phrase generally consists of a preposition, sometimes an article (a, an, or the), and a noun or pronoun (which is called the object of the preposition). Prepositional phrases usually answer the questions where? or when?
Here are some examples of prepositions in a phrase (the preposition is in bold):
to the movies before dinner
up the tree
along the riverbank
There are many other prepositions, but you get the idea!
If a preposition does not have a noun or pronoun after it, it is generally not a preposition; it is being used as an adverb.
I am going inside the house (prepositional phrase; inside is a preposition).
I am going inside. (There is no prepositional phrase; inside is an adverb here.)
.
Identifying Prepositional Phrases
Each sentence below contains one prepositional phrase. Can you find it?
1. The cat is under the table.
2. We camp at the lake every summer.
3. Come into the house before you freeze!
4. We ran around the track twenty times!
5. I went to the museum.
under the table2. at the lake3. into the house4. around the track5. to the museum
in the box
with my friends
at school
around the room of ours
between the chairs by the author
down the stairs
beside the desk
within the city
for the committee
among the students
beneath the table
after the storm
Lesson: 11/11/2020
In some of the following sentences, the adverb is not in the best place. Find a better place to put the adverb. Other sentences are correct. Identify which sentences are written well. Remember that many times there is more than one correct place to put the adverb.
In some of the following sentences, the adverb is not in the best place. Find a better place to put the adverb. Other sentences are correct. Identify which sentences are written well. Remember that many times there is more than one correct place to put the adverb.
- We walked down carefully the stairs.
- He will be soon coming home.
- Put the toys away quietly.
- The cat purred and ran up the stairs contentedly.
- Gladly I gave him the old baby clothes I had collected.
Homework for 11/4/2020- Write one sentence for each of the different adverbs. A total of 8 sentences:) One for each type of adverb!
WHAT IS AN ADJECTIVE?
They are used to describe nouns (people, places, things, ideas) and sometimes pronouns.
Adjectives can also describe other adjectives.
They tell how many, what kind, or which ones. Here are some examples of adjectives describing (or modifying) nouns:pretty bird six trees blue dress handsome guy good idea
Here is an example of an adjective that describes a pronoun: He is handsome.
1. Demonstrative Adjectives: They are this, that, these, and those. These same four words, when placed right before a noun, are demonstrative adjectives. Notice the difference:This is my book. (demonstrative pronoun)This book is mine. (demonstrative adjective describing book)
2. Proper Adjectives: Proper adjectives, like proper nouns, begin with a capital letter. Here are a few examples:Thanksgiving dinner, Italian food, Irish jig
3. Articles: The words a, an, and the are called articles. Sometimes they are thought of as a separate part of speech, but they are really adjectives.
Some words can be used as more than one part of speech, depending on how they are used in a particular sentence. Nouns can often be used as adjectives. Here are some examples: beef stew, bread pudding, prom dress, Christmas vacation
Homework for 10/28/2020
Each of the following sentences contains three adjectives.
See if you can identify them by circling each adjective.
These adjectives may include articles, proper adjectives, and demonstrative adjectives.
1. I had three books, but I gave one book to my younger brother.
2. The tall tree in the yard has fallen.
3. This cat is mine, but that cat is from the shelter.
4. Which of these two cookies looks good to you?
5. We had a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner!
Linking Verb
Another important type of verb called a linking verb.
*A linking verb ties together the word or words before the verb and the word or words after the verb.
* The most common linking verb is the verb to be. That verb has many different forms: is, am, are, will be, was, has been, have been, etc.
LV
Here are some sentences with forms of the to be linking verb:
I am hungry. (Hungry describes I; they are linked by the verb am.)
lv
She was a dancer. (Dancer describes she; they are linked by the verb was.
There are linking verbs other than the forms of the verb to be.
*Taste, appear, look, sound, seem, and feel are also examples of linking verbs. She felt tired today. (Tired describes she; they are linked by the verb felt. She is tired today also makes sense.) He seemed angry at me. (Angry describes he; they are linked by the verb seemed. He was angry at me makes sense.) Mary threw the ball. (Ball does not describe Mary; threw is not a linking verb! Mary is the ball makes no sense.
Identify the linking verbs in each sentence. There may be more than one in a sentence. Some sentences may have an action verb and NO linking verb. Other sentences may have both action and linking verbs.
Identify only linking verbs.
1. I am tired, so I will go to bed.
2. This cake tastes burned.
3. She seems fine, but she says she is sick.
4. I study until my eyes hurt.
5. That cake is too pretty to eat!
Verb: It’s what you do! Grammar for 10/14/2020
Action Verbs
Most verbs are action words. Jump, run, bake, read, swim, give, and walk are examples of verbs.
Verbs can also indicate mental action, not just physical action: think, wonder, plan, and consider are also verbs.
The boys hid in the forest. (Hid is a verb.)
I took the math test yesterday. (Took is a verb.)
The hotel provided us with rooms after the game. (Provided is a verb.)
Every sentence needs a verb.
Without a verb, there is no sentence!
Find the verbs in the following sentences.
There may be more than one verb in a sentence. Remember that most verbs are action words, but they don’t necessarily involve movement.
1. Jack threw the ball to Sam, who caught it.
2. Do you know anything about European history?
3. My cat jumped up on the table and ate the cookies.
4. I wonder if she likes me.
5. Tell me the truth.
Pronouns HW for 9/30/2020 Write a sentence for each of the pronouns listed below that we talked about in class today. (Do not go ahead to next weeks lesson on antecedents:)
Pronouns take the place of nouns. For example, compare these two sentences:
Mary baked Mary’s famous lasagna for dinner.
Mary baked her famous lasagna for dinner.
Her is a pronoun. It is used in the second sentence to take the place of Mary, so we don’t have to repeat Mary.
Doesn’t the second sentence sound better?
Some common pronouns are I, you, he, she, them, they, we, us, him, her, and it. (This weeks homework pronouns)_
Grammar for 10/7/2020
Antecedents
An antecedent is the word the pronoun is standing in for. In the sentence above, Mary is the antecedent of her. An antecedent can also be a pronoun. Pronouns can stand in for other pronouns, as in the following sentence:
He showed the manager his report. (His and he are the same person. He is the antecedent.)
In the following sentence, there are no antecedents:
He showed the manager her report.
Obviously he is showing the manager the report of a female (her), not his own. We would probably find the antecedents in previous sentences of the text if we had them. However, we can tell that he is not the antecedent for her because they don’t agree in gender. Pronouns must agree in gender and number (singular or plural) with their antecedents.
Make sure that when you write, your antecedents are clear, so that you don’t confuse the reader. They should be able to tell who is who. (See? In the previous sentence they is unclear. Does they refer to the word antecedents or the word reader?)Unclear antecedent: Mary and Jenny went to visit her mother. (Whose mother?)
Practice --Pronouns and Antecedent HW- copy each sentence, underline the word in italic, and indentify
Identify the antecedent for the italicized pronoun.
1. June brought her books back to the library.
2. I baked you a cake, but I burned it.
3. They came to the party and brought their costumes.
4. I want to take singing lessons, but my mother can-not afford to pay for them.
5. Bob loves his younger brother, who worships him.
The Five Types of Nouns
There are five categories of nouns:
1. Common nouns are regular nouns that do not start with capital letters, such as happiness, boy, desk, and city
.2. Proper nouns are the nouns that start with capital letters. They are specific people, places, things, or ideas such as Florida, Buddhism, Joe, and Thanksgiving.
3. Concrete nouns are nouns that represent things you can see, hear, smell, taste, or feel. Most nouns are con-crete. Concrete nouns are either common or proper too. Concrete nouns include grass, paper, perfume (you can smell it), air (you can feel it), Susie, and Golden Gate Bridge.
4. Abstract nouns are the nouns that represent ideas or emotions; you cannot perceive them with your senses. Religion, happiness, anger, into this category.
5. Collective nouns are nouns that represent a group of things or people without being plural (although they can also be made plural). Family, group, orchestra, audi-ence, flock, bunch, and herd fall into this category.
These nouns become important when we discuss noun and verb agreement in Section 11.3.✎Most nouns can be counted (girls, pencils, stars), but some cannot be (salt, wisdom, sand, beauty)
Practice 2--Recognizing Types of Nouns
Find the type of noun asked for in the following sen-tences.
There is only one noun of the type asked for.
1. Find the proper noun: We went to New York City on our vacation last summer.
2. Find the concrete noun: You need to add more soil before you finish.
3. Find the abstract noun: You seem to know all the rules of this game!
4. Find the collective noun: The band played all day in the gymnasium.
Find all the nouns of the type requested in each series: HOMEWORK for 9/23
5. Find all the proper nouns: Bob, brother, summer, Ireland, decision
6. Find all the abstract nouns: idea, book, school, dog, sadness, shirt, Christianity, Empire State Building, hunger
7. Find all the collective nouns: group, committee, boys, tribe, happiness, bunch, clocks, collection
Write
Grammar practice for 9/16/2020
Here are the eight parts of speech: A Quick Look and Review- What do we know?
1. Noun
2. Pronoun
3. Verb
4. Adjective (and Articles)
5. Adverb
6. Preposition
7. Conjunction
8. Interjection
A noun is a person, place, thing, idea, or emotion.
People: Susie, girl, doctor, family
Places: California, seashore
Things: dog, book, sun, rain
Ideas or emotions: happiness, religion
You can check to see if something is a noun: Usually, you can put the words a, an, the, or my before nouns. Examples:the sun, a girl, a dog, a religion, my happiness. This doesn’t work as well with words that start with cap-ital letters, such as California or Suzie. However, most words that start with capital letters are nouns anyway.Remember that you don’t have to be able to see it for it to be a noun. You can’t see ideas or emotions, but they are still things.
HW for 9/16/2020
First, write the following sentences down in your homework section of your folder.
pn cn cn
1. Peter gave his cake to his younger brother.
2. Do you know where this idea came from in the first place?
3. I still collect stamps, but I have new hobby: making scrapbooks of photos I have taken.
4. The department has had five meetings in the past month.
5. He was sad until he learned he had won the award; then he was filled with happiness
Now identify all the nouns using the method we discussed in class:)