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| Grammar Rules! |
Friday August 29, 2008
Nouns & Pronouns
Noun: person, place, thing …or idea!
•Concrete: Nouns that are real or exist in material form. ex: tree, cat
•Abstract: Nouns which name things that cannot be observed by senses. ex: hope, memory, belief
•Collective: A noun that is singular in form but is the name of a collection of individuals. ex: army, crowd
•Proper: A noun that names a specific individual, place, and so on. It is not used with an article, and is normally capitalized. ex: Simon, Mississippi
Pronoun: replaces a noun in a sentence
•Relative: A pronoun used to introduce relative phrases. ex: who, whose, whom, which, and that. ex: I love the book that you bought. (that you bought is a clause that describes the book)
•Interrogative: A pronoun used to ask a question. ex: what (What did you ask me?)
•Indefinite: A pronoun that does not specify, such as any, someone, everyone, and each. ex: Each student is an amazing grammarian.
•Intensive: A pronoun ending in –self or –selves that emphasizes, or intensifies , the antecedent. ex: I can take care of myself. Billy himself could not get it.
•Reflexive: A pronoun ending in -self or –selves that refers to the andecedent. ex: I bought the book for myself. Billy purchased the candy for himself.
•Demonstrative: One of four pronouns that point: this, that, these, and those.
ex: That was the guy who wanted to ask you out!
•Personal: Any one of a group of pronouns divided into three sets: first (ex: I, my), second (ex: you, your), and third (ex: he, her, they, it ).
•Possessive: A pronoun that shows ownership ex: Mine! Mine! Mine!
Monday Sept 8, 2008
Action Verbs & Linking Verbs
Action Verb:
shows the action of the subject ex: We wrote letters.
Linking Verb:
a verb that functions chiefly as a connection between a
subject and its predicate compliment (predicate noun or adjective) ex: He seems tired.
Friday Sept 12, 2008
Adjectives and Adverbs
Adjective:
1.A word that modifies nouns or pronouns. Ex: The dress is blue. His funny pen is missing.
2.A group of words functioning as an adjective such as a prepositional, participial, or infinitive phrase, or an adjective clause. Ex: Students who work hard succeed.
HINT: Ask yourself…
Does it answer which one?
“You are my son, and the one true king.”- Mufasa
Does it answer what kind?
“This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object” –The Joker
Does it answer how many?
“Three wishes, to be exact. And ixnay on the wishing for more wishes.” -Genie
Does it answer to whose?
“I'm a maid in the Governor's household” –Elizabeth Turner
Adverb:
1.A word that modifies a verb, adjective, or adverb.. Ex: She quickly ran to him. Yesterday he went to the store.
2. A group of words functioning as an adverb such as a prepositional, participial, or infinitive phrase, or an adverb clause. Ex: After our team won, we celebrated.
HINT: Ask yourself…
Does it answer where?
“Next Saturday night, we're sending you back to the future!” –Doc Brown
Does it answer when?
“I looked everywhere for the creature Gollum, but the enemy found him first” --Gandalf
Does it answer how?
“Look, you're really cute, but I can't understand what you're saying. Say the first thing again.” -Marlin
Does it answer to what extent?
“He’s only mostly dead….he’s not all dead…”
-Miracle Max
Friday Sept 19, 2008
Prespositions
Preposition:
a relation word, such as in, by, for, with, and to, that connects a noun or pronoun, or a noun phrase, to another noun (the sound of rain), to a verb (went to the store), or to an adjective (late for the tea party).
HINT: The following characteristics indicate prepositions…
First… a preposition will always be followed by an object, which must be a noun.
Billy fears the extinction of gnomes.
Second… a preposition is “any place a rat can run,” that is, any word that describes a direction, destination, or state in which a rat runs. (The preposition of is the only exception.)
A rat can run across the hall, along the wall, or around the corner.
Friday Sept 26, 2008
Subjects and Predicates
Subject: in a sentence, a noun, noun phrase, or noun clause about which something is said. Ex: The building was vacant.
Compound subject: two or more subjects. Ex: Casting rods and spinning reels are useless in these waters.
Predicate: the verb or verb phrase that says something about the subject of a sentence or clause. A predicate may be a verb (The wind rushes.), a verb and an adverb (The wind rushes quickly.), a verb and its object (The wind knocks the squirrel down.), or a linking verb and its complement (He is the happiest man I know.).
Compound predicate: two or more predicates. Ex: The canoe rolled on its side and dumped us in the water.
Friday October 3, 2008
Direct and Indirect Objects
Direct Object: a noun that tells who or what receives the action of a transitive verb. Ex: Paul flew the plane.
HINT:
If a sentence uses an action verb, use who or what after the verb to determine if there is a direct object.
“As he was valiant, I honour him.
But as he was ambitious, I slew him.”
--Shakespeare
Indirect Object: the word or words identifying the person or thing that something (the direct object) is given to or done for. Ex: Sid passed Terry the ball.
HINT:
If a sentence has a direct object, then ask to whom or to what to determine if there is an indirect object.
“Friends, Romans, and countrymen lend me your ears!”
--Shakespeare
Friday October 10, 2008
Subject Complements
Subject Complement: either a predicate adjective or predicate noun.
Predicate Adjective: An adjective that follows a linking verb and describes the subject. Ex: He is handsome.
Predicate Noun: A noun that follows a linking verb and identifies the subject. Ex: Billy is my friend.
HINT:
If the sentence uses a linking verb, the word that answers who or what after the linking verb is the subject complement.
“I am Iron Man” – Iron Man
Friday October 24, 2008
Prepositional Phrases
*Prepositional Phrases: a word group formed by a preposition and its object and any modifiers; functions as an adjective or adverb. Ex: Miss Grone supervised the children on the playground. on the playground modifies children. It answers the question which children.
HINT:
Prepositional phrases function as a single word.
Prepositional phrase acting like an adjective:
The cat with the bushy tail chases birds.
Which cat? The one with the bushy tail.
Prepositional phrase functioning like an adverb:
The child who fell into the pond needs dry clothes.
Where did he fall? Into the pond.
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