English BASIS 8 : Pronouns & Clauses/Phrases

Phrases & Clauses

Dependent Clauses

Begin with “Signal Words” (subordinating conjunctions)

• which, while, if, when, whenever, until, who, whom, although, that, because, before, what, whatever, whichever, whose

  • Adjective Clauses

    • “Emily, whose name is on the board, talks too much during class.”

  • Adverb Clauses

    • “The judge listen when the defendent pleaded his case.”

  • Noun Clauses

    • “Whatever you want is fine with me.”

      • Noun clauses can be:

        • Subjects

        • Direct & Indirect Objects

        • Predicate Nominatives

        • Objects of Prepositions

Clauses & Modifiers

An essential clause/phrase is used to modify a noun. It adds information that is critical to the meaning of the sentence. (ie. the sentence meaning will change if its removed)

• Essential clauses are not set off by commas.

• The word “that” is almost always an indicator of an essential phrase/clause

A non-essential clause/phrase adds extra information to a sentence. (ie. the sentence meaning is not affected by it)

• This info can be removed from the sentence without influencing the meaning.

• Non-essential clauses are set off by commas.

Pronouns

Types of Pronouns

• Personal, possessive, interrogative, demonstrative, reflexive, indefinite

Possessive Pronouns

• shows ownership/relationship

• no apostrophes (only contractions have apostrophes)

Interrogative Pronouns

• introduces a question

• who, whom, what, which, whose

• Who vs Whom

  • who = subject/predicate pronoun

    • “who called the power company”

    • “the electrician is who”

      • who is a stand-in for “he/she”

  • whom = object (any type of object)

    • Direct: “whom did you call”

    • Indirect: “you gave whom my number”

    • Obj. Prep: “to whom did you speak”

      • whom is a stand-in for “him/her”

Demonstrative Pronouns

• points out a person, place, thing, or idea

  • this, that, these, those

    • never use here/there with a demonstrative pronoun

Reflexive Pronouns

• refers to subject & directions action of verb back to subject

  • ends in self/selves (himself, themselves, … etc)

  • always an object

  • necessary to meaning of sentence

Indefinite Pronouns

• doesn’t refer to a noun (no antecedent)

  • nothing, anyone, … etc

Note About Possessive Case

• use possessive case pronouns before a gerund

  • “i appreciate your letting me know”