English Final Grammar Review

Grammar Terms/Things to remember

Coordinating Conjunctions

“Fanboys” (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So)

Prepositional Phrases

Anything following a preposition - can be used as nouns, adverbs or adjectives

Transitive

Direct Object

Intransitive

Indirect Object

Participle

a verb that functions as an adjective - always ends in -ing or -ed

Gerunds

form of a verb that functions as a noun - phrase is a gerund and all the words modify or complement it

Infinitive

a verb in it’s base form (begins with “to”) - can be used as nouns adjectives or adverbs

Phrases

A group of words that acts like a part of speech

Clauses

may be a sentence, has a subject or a verb

Dependent Clause

Can’t be a sentence, begins with a subordinating conjunction (ie. “while” or “unless”)

Independent Clause 

A sentence

Concrete nouns

physical (ex. a ball)

Abstract nouns

not physical (ex. you can have sadness, but not hold it in your hand)

possessive pronouns

possession - having stuff

Ex. that is MY book

Reflexive pronouns

myself, herself, themselves

Linking verbs

state of being verbs (to be)

Action verbs

describes an action

Auxiliary verbs

“to have” + “to be” - establish facts about sentence

That vs. Which

That doesn’t work with commas - can refer to anything 

Which doesn’t work with people - doesn’t refer to people

Relative Pronouns

• link independent and dependent clauses together 

• whom, who, whose, that, which

Adverbs

modify everything that isn’t a noun, usually have -ly at the end, usually take an adjective and add -ly

Relative Clause

a dependent clause that starts with a relative pronoun

Prepositions

establish relationships between stuff

when, where, how

Sentence Fragments

a piece of a sentence that cannot stand on it’s own

Conjunctions

unite words, phrases and clauses

Run ons

2 independent clauses joined inappropriately by a comma

Perfect progressive

a verb tense that combines aspects of both perfect and progressive tenses to describe an action (past, present, future)

Subordinating conjunctions

unite independent and dependent clauses

subject

noun or pronoun that performs a verb in a sentence

predicate

the verb and things similar to it

Direct object

main thing in sentence that is being acted upon

indirect object

recipient of something

object complements

word or phrase that follows a direct object to rename or describe it

Indefinite pronouns

can be used as subject or objects

(both, neither and either retain the dual)

usually treated as singular

subject pronouns

does a thing

object pronouns

has stuff done to it

Who/whom trick

If you can replace the word with he or she, use who. If you can replace it with him or her, use whom.

Participle/gerund trick

if its acts as a noun, gerund

if it acts as a adjective or verb, participle