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 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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