Grammer Section

effect vs. affect

Effect = Noun; Affect = Verb

What (effect/affect) will this weather have?

Effect

We cannot allow the budget cuts to (effect/affect) the plans to improve education.

Affect

The sunshine (effects/affects) the plant's growth.

Affect

Who vs. Whom

Who = subject that is performing the action; Whom = object that is being acted upon

Krista was not sure (who/whom) was responsible for the broken window.

Who

Krista was not sure (who/whom) to hold responsible for the broken window.

Whom

Transitional Verb

verb whose action indicates a receiver; ex: drive, run, jump, play

Intransitive verb

No receiver of the action. The action does not point to a subject; ex: He slept, Sharon collapsed

Action Verbs

Shows what the subject is doing; ex: I talk with him everyday

Linking verbs

links the subject to a noun or adjective; ex: I am John, That soup smells good, She felt tired

Verb in the Active Voice

Verb in the Passive Voice

Subject is receiving the action (instead of doing it); ex: The picture is drawn by John

Verb tense - Present Perfect

action started in the past and continued into the future; ex: I have walked to the store three times today.

Verb tense - Past Perfect

The second action in the sentence happened first; ex: Before I walked to the store, I had walked to the library

Verb tense - Future Perfect

action is complete before a future moment; ex: When she comes for supplies, I will have walked to the store.

What verb tense: I talk

Present

What verb tense: I talked

Past

What verb tense: I will talk

Future

What verb tense: I have talked

Present perfect

What verb tense: I had talked

Past perfect

What verb tense: I will have talked

Future Perfect

Definite Nouns

Indicate a specific noun; indicated by “the” in front of the noun; ex: I lost the bottle

Indefinite Noun

Do not indicate a specific noun; indicated by “a” or “an” in front of the noun; ex: Does anyone have a bottle?

Positive Degree of relative adjectives and adverbs

Normal form/Standard form of an adjective/adverb; ex: She is smart; He arrives soon

Comparative Degree of relative adjectives and adverbs

Compares two things; ex: She is smarter than me; He arrives sooner than Sarah.

Superlative Degree of relative adjectives and adverbs

Compare one thing to more than two things; ex: She is the smartest person in the school; He arrives the soonest of the group.

Preposition

Placed before a noun or pronoun to show the relationship between two things; ex: The napkin is in the draw; The earth rotates around the sun.

Coordinating Conjunctions

Connect equal parts of sentences (FANBOYS) ex: the rock was small, but heavy

Correlative Conjunctions

connects pairs; either…or; neither…nor; not only…but also; ex: She not only ran three miles, but also swam 200 yards.

Subordinating Conjunctions

joins dependent and independent clauses; although, after, because; ex: I am hungry because I didn’t eat lunch; He went home when everyone else left.

Complete Subject

Subject and all of its modifiers

Simple Subject

Only the subject and no modifiers

Imperative sentence

subject is understood, but not directly stated; ex: go to the post office for me.

Direct Sentence

Subject is stated; ex: John knows the way to the park.

Direct objects

noun that receives the action; * to find the direct object, ask “who or what” ex: I took the blanket

Indirect object

words that show how an action had an influence on something; always paired with a direct object; *to find an indirect object, ask “to whom” or “for what” ex: I gave them a math lesson.

Adjective Clause

Dependent clause that modifies and defines a noun; begins with a relative noun or relative adverb; ex: I learned the reason why I won the award.

Essential Clause

explain/define something; ex: A person who works hard at first can often rest later in life

Nonessential clause

gives information about something but is not necessary in defining them; always separated by commas ex: Neil Armstrong, who walked on the moon, is my hero.

Adverb Clause

dependent clause that modifies a verb, adjective, or adverb; ex: When you walked outside, I called the manager.

Noun Clause

dependent clause that can be used as a subject, object, or complement; ex: The real mystery is how you avoided serious injury.

Prepositional Phrase

Functions as an adjective or an adverb. Begins with a preposition and ends with the object of the preposition; ex: The picnic is on the blanket. I am sick with a fever today.

Verb Phrases

phrases formed from a verb, but does not function like a verb; ex: To walk a mile.

Participles

Verbal phrase that functions as an adjective and always ends in “-ing” ex: dancing

Gerunds

Verbal phrase that functions as a noun and acts as the subject or object; always ends in “-ing”; ex: We want to be known for teaching the poor.

Infinitives

Verbal phrase that can function as a noun, adjective, or adverb; contains the word “to” before the verb; ex: People lift weights to exercise their muscles.

Appositive Phrases

Words or phrases that are used to explain or rename nouns or pronouns; ex: His plan, to save and invest money, was proven a safe approach.

Absolute Phrases

Phrases that consist of a noun followed by a participle, to provide context to what is being described, but does not modify or explain; ex: The music paused, she continued to dance.

Declarative sentence

states a fact; ex: The football game starts at seven.

Imperative sentence

tells someone to do something; ex: Don’t forget to buy your ticket.

Interrogative sentence

Ask a question; ex: Are you going to the game on Friday?

Exclamatory sentence

Shows emotion; ex: I can’t believe we won the game!

Simple sentence structure

Contains only one independent clause; ex: Judy and Allen watered the lawn.

Compound Sentence Structure

Contains two or more independent clauses, but no dependent clauses; ex: The time has come, and we are ready

Complex Sentence Structure

One independent and one dependent clause; ex: Although he had the flu, Harry went to work

Compound-Complex Sentence Structure

At least two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause; ex: John is my friend who went to India, and he bought back souvenirs.

Derivational Affixes

Add affixes to the word, to make it a new word, based on the original word; ex: Happy + ness = Happiness

Inflectional affixes

Affixes added to make different grammatical versions of verbs; ex: Book + s = Books

Circumfixes

Affixes added before and after the word; ex: Enlighten

Interfixes

Affixes added between compound words; ex: Speedometer