Conventions of Standard English

Sentence

A group of words that expresses a complete thought

Fragment

an incomplete sentence; a break in a sentence

Run-On Sentence

two or more complete sentences run together as one

Subject

who or what the sentence is about

Predicate

tells what the subject is or does

Dependent Clause

A phrase that can't stand alone as a complete sentence.

Independent Clause

Expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence; has both a subject and a verb.

Common Noun

A general name for a person, place, or thing

Proper Noun

Names a specific person, place, thing, or idea

Plural Noun

names more than one person, place, thing, or idea

Singular Nouns

names one person, place, thing, or idea

Possessive Nouns

Expresses ownership. Examples: Blake's notebook, Alan's sock, Makayla's fruit roll-up

Pronoun

A word that takes the place of a noun

Antecedent

The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.

Subject Pronoun

Used as the subject or as part of the subject of a sentence [I, you, he, she, it, we, they]

Object Pronoun

An object pronoun shows the object of a sentence Ex. me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them

Possessive Pronouns

Pronouns that shows ownership. i.e. mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs

Personal Pronoun

Refers to the one speaking, the one spoken to, or the one spoken about

Reflexive Pronouns

myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves

Main Verb

the most important verb in a phrase

Helping Verb

Helps the main verb express action or a state of being

Linking Verb

A verb that does not show action but connects the subject with a word in the predicate.

Irregular Verb

A verb in which the past tense is not formed by adding the usual -ed ending.

Simple past

They walked. Used to express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past.

Simple Present

They walk. Occasionally used to talk about scheduled events in the near future, i.e. the train leaves tonight at 6.

Simple Future

will + verb

Progressive Verb Tense

"-ing" form with helping verb; example: is practicing

Past Participle

A past participle is a VERB + -ED used as an adjective or a verb.

Perfect Verb Tenses

verb tenses that use helping verbs to show continuing action or a time relationship; examples: have studied, had studied, will have studied

Adjectives

Tells us more about a noun. Describes the noun. Examples: green slow, five, stinky, tall, round

Adverbs

Describe actions (verbs); often end in -ly

Relative Adverbs

where, when, why

Comparative Adjectives

Shows comparisons. Examples: older, safer, louder, more beautiful

Superlative Adjectives

Shows comparisons. Examples: oldest, safest, loudest, most beautiful

Comparative Adverbs

Compare two things.

(Example: "He plays the drums [more loudly] than his brother.)

Superlative Adverbs

Compare three or more things.

(Example: Blue whales are the [largest] animals in the world.)

Analogies

A strategy where a new problem is reduced to a previously known problem, and prior knowledge of how to determine the solution can be applied

Context Clues

Clues in surrounding text that help the reader determine the meaning of an unknown word

Synonyms

words that have the same meaning

Antonyms

words that have opposite meanings

Domain Specific Words

words that fall within a certain subject

Prepositions

Words we use before nouns or pronouns to show their relationship with other words in the sentence. Example: behind (the tree), across (Maple Street), down (the stairs)

Prepositional Phrases

a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun.

Direct Object

receives the action of the verb

Indirect Object

tells to whom or for whom the action of the verb is done; example: Jack showed the DOG kindness.

Coordinating Conjunctions

FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)

Subordinating Conjunctions

connects an independent clause with one or more dependent clauses; examples: since, before, unless, however

Correlative Conjunctions

pairs of conjunctions that join words or word groups that are used in the same way

Commas

a punctuation mark (,) indicating a pause between parts of a sentence. It is also used to separate items in a list and to mark the place of thousands in a large numeral.

Capitalization

writing in capital letters

Titles

the distinguishing name of a book or chapter or article, etc.

Quotations

something that is word for word of another author

Dialogue

Conversation between two or more characters