English B50 Grammar Review #1

Nouns Nouns are words that can be made plural or possessive. Have you seen my keys? Here, “keys” is both plural and possessive

Verbs Words that change tense Last night, he asked me about the homework assignment. (past tense) I’m betting he will ask me again tomorrow. (future tense)

Pronouns Words that substitute in for nouns and their modifiers, if they have any. Andrea is my best friend = She is my best friend. The shoes with the silver buckles are my favorite = They are my favorite. Note: the nouns that pronouns take the place of are called antecedents.

Adjectives Words that modify or describe nouns or pronouns. The green, leafy tree provides shade in the summer. What word is “green” and “leafy” modifying?

Adverbs Words that modify or describe verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Yesterday, we went to the movies. I burned myself on the piping hot pan. He ate that pie very quickly!

Prepositions Words that show relationships between parts of sentences. The cat sat on the windowsill. Get in the car! We live near the park. Note: Prepositions are often followed by nouns to create prepositional phrases.

Conjunctions Words that combine parts of sentences. Coordinating Conjunctions (fanboys) = for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so They connect parts of equal weight. Sam and Dean are brothers. Isabella scored a goal in the soccer game, so we went out to lunch to celebrate. Subordinating Conjunctions (words like “After,” “Before,” and “Because,”) They connect parts by making them unequal. Before you leave, say goodbye to Shelley. Because she is my friend, I will let her borrow some money.

Interjections Words that convey strong emotions—often followed by exclamation marks. Ouch! That hurt. Hey! Come back with my wallet!

Subjects and Verbs Complete sentences must contain subjects, verbs, and complete thoughts. A subject of a sentence is almost always a noun or a pronoun. It is who or what the sentence is about, or who is doing the verb. The verb shows the action of the sentence, or tells what is happening.

Subjects and Verbs cont’d Underline the subject once and the verb twice in the following sentences. The grey and yellow bird whistled loudly. The vase on the table is full of wilted flowers. My rabbit has floppy ears.

Phrases and Clauses A phrase is a group of words that functions together that is missing either a subject, a verb, or both. A phrase can never stand alone as a complete sentence. “to the movies” and “on the beach” are two examples of prepositional phrases. A Clause is a group of words that has both a subject and a verb. There are two different types of clauses.

Independent Clauses Independent clauses contain a subject, a verb, and a complete thought. They are also known as complete sentences. “We love grammar!” is an independent clause.

Dependent Clauses Dependent clauses contain subjects and verbs but are not complete thoughts and therefore cannot stand alone as sentences. They are usually introduced by a subordinating conjunction, which makes the clause dependent upon an independent clause to complete the thought. Identify the subjects and verbs in the following dependent clauses. Then, complete the thoughts by adding and independent clause to either the front or the end. Because we came home late last night After we wash the dishes While you are at the store

Fragments Fragments are incomplete sentences. There are basically three types of fragments. Missing subject Missing verb Dependent clause To fix a fragment that is missing a subject or a verb, add in that missing information. The cat with the long tail. Swam for hours.

Fragments cont’d To correct a dependent clause fragment, you can either take of the subordinating conjunction that makes the clause dependent or add an independent clause to the dependent clause (either at the start or the end). When we watch TV Because he gave me a ride home.

Run ons and Comma Splices Run ons are two ICs that are jammed together without any punctuation. Comma splices are two ICs that are joined only with a comma. The dog was very friendly we brought him home. (run-on) The dog was very friendly, we brought him home. (comma splice) There are four ways to correct these types of errors

Corrections Use a period to separate the two sentences. The dog was very friendly. We brought him home. Use a semicolon to separate two halves of a sentence. The dog was very friendly; we brought him home. Use a comma and a coordinating conjunction to combine the two sentences. The dog was very friendly, so we brought him home. Make one of the clauses dependent. Since the dog was very friendly, we brought him home.