module 1

Importance of Grammar Skills

• Grammar skills are fundamental for any career path.

• A survey by the University of Kansas and the University of Nebraska identified grammar skills as the most desired skill by employers.

• This class aims to prepare students for career readiness.

Parts of Speech Overview

• Nouns: Words that denote a person, place, or thing. They answer the questions "who" and "what".

  • Example: "The dog ran after the ball." (Nouns: dog, ball)

• Pronouns: Words that stand in for nouns.

  • Example: "She decided to go to a movie." ("She" stands for a specific girl or woman)

• Verbs: Words that denote an action or state of being.

  • Example: "Beth rides the bus every day." (Verb: rides)

  • Example: "Paul was an avid reader." (Verb: was)

• Adjectives: Words that modify or describe nouns or pronouns.

  • Example: "We live in the red brick house." (Adjectives: red, brick)

  • Example: "She is tall for her age." (Adjective: tall)

• Adverbs: Words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.

  • Many adverbs end in -ly.

  • Example: "He waved wildly to get her attention." (Adverb: wildly)

  • Example: "The shirt he wore to the party was extremely bright." (Adverb: extremely)

• Conjunctions: Words that join two independent clauses or sentences.

  • Example: "Ellen wanted to take a drive into the city, but the cost of gasoline was too high." (Conjunction: but)

  • Other examples: and, but, for, or, no, so, yet.

• Prepositions: Words that combine with nouns or pronouns to create phrases that convey a spatial, temporal, or directional meaning.

  • Example: "Ivy climbed up the brick wall of the house." (Prepositions: up, of)

• Interjections: Words that express emotions or sudden feelings.

  • Examples: oh, wow, yay.

  • Example: "Ouch! That hurt."

• Articles: Words that precede a noun or noun phrase in a sentence.

  • Definite article: the (specific).

  • Indefinite articles: a, an (non-specific).

  • Example: "They wanted a house with a big porch."

Components of a Sentence

• Complete Sentences: Require a subject, a verb, and a complete idea.

  • Independent Clauses: Groups of words that can stand alone as complete grammatical thoughts.

  • Identifying independent clauses involves finding a subject and a verb.

• Subjects: Usually a noun or pronoun that drives the action in a sentence.

  • Example: In "Moloch is the subject," Moloch is the noun.

  • Common pronouns: I, he, she, it, you, they, we.

• Collective Nouns: Identify a group and are considered singular (e.g., team, group, family).

• Compound Subjects: Two or more nouns or pronouns as subjects.

Verbs in Sentences

• Action Verbs: Show what the subject is doing.

  • Example: Underlined twice are action verbs.

• Linking Verbs: Connect the subject to descriptive words.

  • Example: "He seems happy." (Linking verb: seems)

• Helping Verbs: Assist the main verb to describe mood or tense.

  • Examples: forms of be, do, have, can.

Sentence Structure and Fragments

• Sentence Structure: The basic building blocks enhance writing.

  • Key components of sentences include verbs and subjects.

• Sentence Patterns: Various structures can be created using subjects and verbs.

  • Example structures: subject + verb; subject + linking verb + noun; subject + direct object + verb;

• Fragments: Incomplete clauses that lack a subject or verb.

  • Example: "Children helping in the kitchen." (Fragment - missing verb).

  • To correct_fragments_, add a subject/verb or combine them with complete sentences.

Adjectives and Adverbs

• Adjectives: Modify nouns/pronouns and answer: which one, what kind, how many.

  • Example: "The green sweater belongs to Iris." (Adjective: green)

• Adverbs: Modify verbs/adjectives and answer how, when, where, to what extent.

  • Example: "Bertrand sings horribly." (Adverb: horribly)

Conjunctions and Sentence Clarity

• Coordinating Conjunctions: Link two independent clauses.

  • Example conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so (FANBOYS).

  • Example: "The new printer was installed, but no one knew how to use it."

Articles in Detail

• Definite Article: "the" refers to specific entities.

• Indefinite Articles: "a, an" refer to non-specific entities.

  • Examples:

    • Definite: "The woman."

    • Indefinite: "A woman."

Interjections and Expressions

• Interjections: Express emotions, punctuated with commas or exclamation marks based on intensity.

  • Example: "Oh, I didn't know he had died!"

Contractions vs. Pronouns

• Contractions: Formed by combining two words, indicated by an apostrophe.

  • Example: "I do not" becomes "I don't."

• Common Confusions:

  • "It's" (it is) vs. "its" (possessive).

  • "Their" (possessive) vs. "they're" (they are) vs. "there" (location).

Relative Pronouns

• Relative Pronouns: Connect details to subjects in sentences.

  • Examples: who, whom, whose (referring to people); which, that (referring to things).

  • Combine sentences for clarity.

Common Usage Confusions

• Affect vs. Effect: Affect is usually a verb, while effect is a noun.

  • Example: "How does it affect me?" vs. "What effect does it have?"

• Accept vs. Except: Accept is to receive, except is used to exclude.

  • Example: "She accepted the job." (verb) vs. "Everyone is here except John." (preposition)

Conclusion

• Unit 1 covers essential elements of grammar, preparing students for the next units.