grammar review

parts of speech

• noun - names a person, place, or thing
• pronoun - takes the place of a noun
• adjective - modifies a noun
• verbs
  • linking - link the subject to the predicate with a form of to be (is, was, looks, sounds, feels)
  • action - express an action or state of being
• adverbs - modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs
• preposition - show the relationship between a noun and the object of the preposition
• conjunction - join single words and/or groups of words
• interjection - express emotion or exclamation

parts of the sentence

• subject - what the sentence is about, most often a noun or pronoun

• simple predicate - verb or verb phrase that tells something about the subject

• complements - complete the meaning of the verb

  • direct object - answers what? or whom? after an action verb -- receives the action of the verb ex: She kicked the ball (kicked what?)
  • indirect object - answers to whom? for whom? to what? after an action verb

  ex: She read him the book. (read the book to whom?)

• subject complements - follow linking verbs

  • predicate nominative - noun or pronoun that identifies or renames the subject
  • predicate adjective - adjective that describes the subject

• object complements - identify or describe a direct object

  • answer what? after a direct object to complete the meaning
  • ex: “The mayor appointed Ken treasurer.”

• phrases - group of words that doesn’t include a verb

  • prepositional phrases - begins with preposition and ends with noun or pronoun

  • can function as adjective: Darcy chose the room above the garage. (which room)

  • or as adverb: The poem is meaningful to me. (modifies meaningful)

  • gerunds + gerund phrases

  • gerund - a verbal ending in -ing, used as a noun

    may be a subject, object

  • ex: Jessica’s snoring keeps everyone awake.

  • gerund phrase - gerund + any complements/modifiers

  • ex: She hates waiting for trains. (hates what? +object complement)

  • infinitives + infinitive phrases

  • infinitive - verbal functioning as a noun, adjective, or verb

    formed as to + verb ex: to love, to read, to sleep

  • ex: Pedro refused to play by our rules. (direct object, refused what?)

  • participles + participial phrases

  • participles - verbal acting as an adjective ex: the smiling girl

    • present - end in -ing, walking
    • past - usually end in -ed, applauded
    • ex: Practicing constantly, Mike improved his tennis game. (modifying Mike)

• appositives - noun or pronoun further modifying/identifying another noun

  • if it necessarily specifies the noun, the appositive is not between commas

  ex: My friend Jessica is a cheerleader.

  • if it unnecessarily specifies the noun, the appositive is between commas

  ex: My doctor, Dr. Enriquez, recently moved. (modifying doctor)

• clauses - contains both a subject and a noun

  • main/independent clause - group or words containing a complete subject and a complete predicate, can stand alone as a complete sentence

  She was tired.

  • subordinate/dependent - also contains subject and verb, but cannot stand alone

  usually introduced with a subordinate conjunction

  ex: Because she was tired,

  (if the sub. clause comes before the main, there is a comma. if after, no comma)

  • noun clause - sub. clause that acts as a noun, can be used as subj, obj

    ex: The barren part of town is where the tornado hit.

  • adverb clause - sub. clause modifying a verb, adj, or adverb

    tells where, when, why

    ex: The cold breeze blows after the thunderstorm has passed. (not prep bc verb, modifies when it blows)

  • adjective clause - modifies a noun or pronoun

    often introduced by relative pronoun

    ex: The present that I bought is lost.

• sentences

  • simple sentence - contains one subject-verb pair, independent clause
  • compound sentence - contains two subject-verb pairs, as two independent clauses
  • joined by a coordinating conjunction: and, or, but, so, or by a semicolon
  • complex sentence - contains a main clause and one or more subordinate clauses

  ex: We played charades [when the electricity went out].

  or [When the electricity went out], we played charades.

  • compound-complex sentence - contains more than one main clause and one or more subordinate clauses

  ex: [When we have an ice storm], the twins go skating, and I enjoy the peace.

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