AP Seminar Study Guide

Capitalization-

SPECIFIC CAPITALIZATION:

• Capitalize brand names but not the product.

• Capitalize the names of the government documents and legislative acts

• Capitalize the first letter of the first word of most lines of poetry

• Capitalize the name of geographic places

  • Capitalize directions if they are a part of a geographic place
  • Capitalize a region of a country or an area of the world

• Capitalize the names of planets and other heavenly bodies

• Capitalize religions 

  • And capitalize races, ethnic groups, and nationalities 

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NON-SPECIFIC CAPITALIZATION:

• Capitalize the first word of what has been said/written (direct quote)

  • Do not capitalize the speaker unless a proper noun is used
  • Do not capitalize the verb!!!

• Do not capitalize the word after the semi-colon

  • UNLESS it is a proper noun or adjective 

• Capitalize both parts of a hyphenated proper noun 

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Punctuation-

• Place a comma after the speaker + verb at the beginning of a sentence (ex: he said,)

• If the item quoted is placed first, and it expresses a sentence…

  • Place a comma within the last quotation marks 
  • Add speaker + verb after the quotation marks
    • (ex: “Moppy is the cutest,” said Alexis.)

• Place a colon (:) before a list

• If a word/phrase interrupts the flow of the sentence place a comma BEFORE and AFTER it

• A compound sentence consists of a complete sentence plus another complete sentence 

  • A semicolon (;) may be used to separate the sentences

• Use a hyphen to combine some prefixes with a base word

• IF A TOWN/CITY OCCURS WITHIN A SENTENCE PLACE A COMMA AFTER THE STATE, THE SAME APPLIES TO A TOWN/CITY AND COUNTRY

• PLACE A COMMA BETWEEN THE DAY AND YEAR IN A DATE. IF THE DATE OCCURS WITHIN A SENTENCE, PLACE A COMMA AFTER THE YEAR

• An appositive is a word or words that add additional info about a noun, EX: do you want to meet Jade, my friend?

  • Use a comma to set off the appositive

• If a participle phrase begins a sentence, place a comma after it

  • Place a comma before and after a phrase IF IT interrupts the flow 

• Place a comma before a title that occurs after a name

  • EX: Alli Ramps, D.O, is my friend

• Use a comma to clarify a sentence 

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Parts of Speech-

VERBS:

• The active voice indicates that someone or something is actively engaged in doing something
  • EX: Tessa made a bridal gown
• The passive voice indicates that someone or something is acted upon
  • EX: A bridal gown was made by Tessa
• Linking verbs DO NOT show action 
  • They link adjectives with nouns (or pronouns)
  • To be: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been

ADVERBS:

• Adverbs can tell how they usually end in “ly”

  • Some do not, such as “He fell hard”

• An Adverb tells how usually modifies a verb 

  • SOME adverbs tell when or where 

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NOUNS:

• A singular noun adds an apostrophe ( ‘ ) + s to show possession 
  • If the noun ends with an s, put the ( ‘ ) AFTER the s
• A direct object is a noun that receives the action of a verb: He Buys Comics
• A predicate nominative is a noun that occurs after a linking verb that means the same as the subject
  • To check if the noun is predictive switch the order of the sentence around to see if it means the same
  • EX: His sister is our swim coach; our swim coach is his sister

PHRASES:

• A phrase is 2 or more words without a subject and a verb

  • A prepositional phrase is a modifying phrase consisting of a preposition and its object.
  • EX: To school
  • A verb phrase is the part of a sentence containing the verb and any direct or indirect object, but not the subject.
  • EX: might listen
  • A participle is a phrase is a participle + other words 
  • An infinitive phrase begins with an infinitive and has a modifier 

• A Participle phrase may be placed at the beginning of the sentence

  • It often serves as an adjective that describes the subject of the sentence 
  • EX: Pounding hard against our windows, the rain prevented us from seeing the outside.

• A Participial phrase may be placed within a sentence

  • A bus driver, stopped at a traffic light, check her mirror

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CLAUSES:

• An independent clause stands alone as a complete sentence

  • EX: I am running

• A dependent clause is not a complete sentence/a complete thought

  • EX: I am about to…

• A command is still a complete thought

  • EX: Go away. (You) Go away.

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REG WORDS:

• You’re/They’re, are contraction; you are/they are

• Your/their are possessive pronouns

• There says where

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PREPOSITIONS:

• EX: about, above, along, over, past, except, inside, like, near, since, etc.

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ADJECTIVES:

• Some adjectives describes EX: action-packed movie

• Others are called limiting (or determining) adjectives  

  • Articles: a, an, the
  • Demonstrative adjectives: this, that, these, those
  • Indefinitives: some, few, several, many, any, no, etc.
  • Numbers: one, two, etc.

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PAST TENSE OF VERBS:

• To do: did; had done

• To go: went; had gone

• To eat: are; had eaten 

• To fly: flew; had flown

• To run: ran; had run

• To bring: brought; had brought

• To come: came; had come

• To say: said; had said 

• To drink: drank; had drunk

• To ride: rode; had ridden

• To rise: rose; had risen 

• To fall: fell; had fallen

• To cut: cut; had cut

• To tag: tag; had tagged

• To pull: pull; had pulled

• To swim: swam; had swum

• To burst: burst; had burst

• To close: closed; had closed

• To take: took; had taken

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