Ms. B s Basic Grammar (Or Things That Her Voice in Your Head Will Haunt You About For the Rest of Your Life)

Transcription

1 Ms. B s Basic Grammar (Or Things That Her Voice in Your Head Will Haunt You About For the Rest of Your Life) The English language depends on words syntax, or order, for meaning. Everyone understands: but the same words in a different order: make no sense. The quick fox jumped over the lazy dog Dog the over fox jumped quick lazy the The job a word does in a sentence is called its part of speech. One word can be several different parts of speech depending on its position in a sentence and what it is doing. The rose bloomed yesterday. The rose curtains look nice in the room. The cat rose and stretched. Part of speech: Part of speech: Part of speech: The four kinds of sentences are declarative, imperative, interrogative, and exclamatory. A. Declarative sentences make a statement. B. Imperative sentences give a command. Remember that the understood subject is you. C. Interrogative sentences ask questions. The usual word order may be inverted. D. Exclamatory sentences (guess what?) exclaim. Do NOT overuse these in your writing. Every sentence in English MUST have a subject and a verb. The four sentence patterns you ve studied are: S-V S-V-O S-V-IO-O S-LV-C Remember, subjects and objects are ALWAYS nouns or pronouns. A phrase is a group of words working together, such as the verb and its auxiliaries, and prepositions, infinitives, and gerunds and their objects A clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb. It can be independent or dependent. An independent clause makes sense by itself; a dependent clause MUST be connected to an independent clause to make sense. Dependent clauses can function as adjectives, adverbs, or nouns. The eight parts of speech are interjections, nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions. Ms. B s Basic Grammar, 1

2 1. Interjections are just expressions of exclamation or feeling. They are not connected grammatically to the rest of the sentence. They are followed by a comma or an exclamation point. Examples: Oh, rats! Sugar! 2. Nouns are people, places, things, or ideas. They are often preceded by the word the, a, or an, which are called articles (a special kind of adjective; see below). Nouns can be concrete (something observable with the senses) or abstract (something only thought of, such as an emotion or quality). Names of specific people, places, and things are called proper nouns and are always capitalized. Examples: teachers, school, desk, learning, Ms. Bailey-Orchard, Indiana Junior High, English Nouns can function in the sentence as the subject (the thing DOING the action) or an object (something being acted on). They are called predicate nominatives when they follow a linking verb because they are in the predicate. Ask yourself, What is the action? Who or what is doing this action? Example: The dogs ran madly around the block. My mother is planting new flowers. verb subject verb subject Note: possessive nouns function as adjectives. NEVER USE AN APOSTROPHE TO MAKE A NOUN PLURAL!!! If you are referring to a letter, then AND ONLY THEN can you use an apostrophe in order to avoid confusion with a word: He had five A s on his report card. Note, though, you can simply add the s to a digit: That phone number has four 5s in it. Ms. B s Basic Grammar, 2

3 Pronouns substitute for nouns in a sentence. They are either singular or plural, and the verb has to agree with it. Pronouns refer to a noun (called the antecedent), and the pronoun has to agree with it, too. There are several different kinds. The most common are the personal pronouns. There are three basic cases, or types, of personal pronouns. a. Nominative case (these are the forms when they are the subject of the sentence or when they follow a linking verb) Singular Plural 1 st person I we 2 nd person you you 3 rd person he, she, it they b. Objective case (these are the forms when they are an object in the sentence, clause, or phrase, such as the object of a preposition). Singular Plural 1 st person me us 2 nd person you you 3 rd person him, her, it them c. Possessive case (these are the forms when they show ownership). Singular Plural 1 st person my, mine our, ours 2 nd person your, yours your, yours 3 rd person his, his, her, hers, its*, its* their*, theirs *be careful about the spelling of these! NEVER use an apostrophe! Ms. B s Basic Grammar, 3

4 d. Reflexive and intensive pronouns ATTACH self or selves. DO NOT use these in place of the objective case. Singular Plural 1 st person myself ourselves 2 nd person yourself yourselves 3 rd person himself herself itself themselves Reflexive: I did the project myself. Intensive: I myself did the project. e. There are four demonstrative pronouns/adjectives: this, that, these, those. f. There are five interrogative pronouns used to ask questions: what which who (nominative) whom (objective) whose (possessive) g. There are six relative pronouns whose job is to introduce dependent clauses (noun or adjective): that which what who whom whose NOTE: NEVER say, The reason is because ; it should be, The reason is that The verb that follows these pronouns agrees with the pronoun s antecedent: The book [that is on the table] will be for sale. Book, the antecedent of that, is singular. The books [that are on the table] will be for sale. Books is plural. It is I [who am responsible for the mistake]. NOTE: remember, if these words are modifying a noun, they are functioning as adjectives. They are only pronouns if they are fulfilling the function of a noun, such as a subject or a kind of object. Ms. B s Basic Grammar, 4

5 h. There is a group of pronouns called indefinite pronouns. The following are singular; they ALWAYS take the singular form of a verb or pronouns: another anybody anyone each either everybody everyone one neither nobody no one none* nothing somebody someone something NOTE! DO NOT USE THEY AFTER THESE!!!! WRONG: Everyone (singular) should study their (plural) notes. CORRECT: Everyone (singular) should study his (singular) notes. *some feel that his excludes females and that a person should use his or her. ALSO CORRECT: All students (plural) should study their (plural) notes. These are the plural indefinite pronouns: both few many others several Some are weird : sometimes singular, sometimes plural, depending on the noun to which they refer: all more most some All of the papers are waiting to be graded. All of the test is graded. VERY weird: whether they are singular or plural depends on the word to which they refer any none i. Reciprocal pronouns: each other (two) one another (more than two) 3. Verbs The principle parts of a verb are its present tense, past tense, and past participle. Regular verbs follow this pattern: Ex: walk walked (have) walked However, there are dozens of irregular verbs whose forms change. Ex: go went (have) gone Be sure to review any that are difficult for you. Ms. B s Basic Grammar, 5

6 Verbs are one of two kinds. The first kind is action (showing something that can be done). If it can be done, it s an action verb. Example: walk, study, throw, sing, smile The second kind of verb is linking (attaching description to the subject). The most familiar linking verbs are forms of the verb to be : am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been The verbs become and seem are existence verbs, and they are also ALWAYS linking verbs. A tricky group of verbs is called the sense verbs. They can be EITHER action OR linking depending on what they re doing: appear, feel, grow, look, prove, remain, smell, sound, taste, and turn. They are action verbs when someone or something is doing them. Examples: That rash appears when I eat strawberries. I will remain here in case he comes back. She felt the rough sandpaper. He smelled the flower. I want to be a movie star when I grow up. The officer sounded the alarm. The teacher looked at me. I tasted the frosting. Mr. McCue proved his theory. The dancer turned and leaped across the floor. They are linking verbs when they connect a description to the subject (the noun being described) HINT: if you can replace the verb with a form of to be (such as is or are), it s probably a linking verb. Examples: She appears ill [this describes how she looks; she is not materializing out of thin air.] The sandpaper felt rough. [this describes what kind of texture it has; it does not have tiny hands] Ms. B s Basic Grammar, 6

7 The hour grew late, and we had to leave [this describes how much it was late; it didn t sprout leave.] The teacher looked pleased. [this describes what kind of expression she had; she s not peering at something.] The directions proved difficult to understand. [this describes what kind they are; they re not wearing lab coats.] Those spots remained dark even after the bleach. [this described what kind they were; they weren t hanging out at the corner.] The roses smelled gorgeous. [this describes what kind of smell they have; they do not have tiny noses.] The alarm sounded shrill. [this describes what kind of sound it made; it does not have tiny ears.] The frosting tasted too sweet. [this describes what kind of flavor it has; it does not have a tongue.] The milk turned sour after a week. [this described what kind of flavor it milk had; it wasn t wearing a tutu and pointe shoes.] *HINT: if you can replace the verb with a form of to be, IT S A LINKING VERB. A verb can tell when the action takes place. This is called the verb s tense. The main verb is preceded by auxiliary, or helping, verbs. When you identify the verb of the sentence, be sure to include ALL the auxiliary verbs. The auxiliary and main verbs create the total verb phrase. Examples: I have taught here 13 years. Main verb: aux: Ms. B s Basic Grammar, 7

8 I am teaching 8 th grade now. Main verb: aux: I will be teaching for the next 30 years. Main verb: aux: I might retire when I win the lottery. Main verb: aux: Common auxiliary verbs (you may have memorized them in a song in 7 th grade): am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been, do, does, did, have, has, had, may, might, must, will,, can, could, shall, should, will, would CAREFUL!! Forms of the to be are auxiliary or helping verbs when they are followed by a main verb. Example: I am being careful to explain the rules. I was walking to school this morning. BUT they are linking verbs when they are connecting descriptive words to the subject, even if they have auxiliary verbs in front of them. Example: I am a teacher Subject: description: He will be happy you called. Subject: description: Tenses: the purpose of auxiliary verbs is to create tense. The main tenses are: PRESENT (no aux): I walk PAST (no aux): I walked FUTURE (aux: will): I will walk PROGRESSIVE (aux: to be ; main verb: present participle, ALWAYS ends in -ing): I am walking (present progressive), I was walking (past progressive) PERFECT (aux: to have ; main verb past participle, may end in -ed, -en, -t, or be irregular.): I have walked (present perfect); I had walked (past perfect) These auxiliaries can even be combined: For example: Ms. B s Basic Grammar, 8

9 At noon, I will have been walking for three hours. (future perfect progressive) The other auxiliaries create the conditional and emphatic tenses. VOICE: Verbs also have voice: active or passive Verbs in the active voice have a subject performing the action: I fed the dog. Verbs in the passive voice have something being done to the subject by someone or something else: The dog was fed by me. The passive voice is formed with a form of the auxiliary verb to be plus the past participle of the main verb. It is often (but not always) followed by a prepositional phrase beginning with by. Sometimes that phrase is simply implied; it can be a way for the speaker to avoid responsibility! In writing, the active voice is strongly preferred. The hardest verbs in the English language to keep straight : lie and lay Lie means to recline; lay, on the other hand, means to put or place something. Lay is a transitive verb, meaning that there is always an object after it. (Lay the book on the shelf. Book is the object.) The principal parts of lie and lay are listed below. lie: lie, lying, lay, (have) lain [hint: lie, long i sound, means to recline ] lay: lay, laying, laid, (have) laid [hint: lay, long a sound, means to place ] The confusion generally seems to occur with the forms of lie. The following sentences illustrate the correct and incorrect uses of lay and lie. lie/lay I lie [not lay] on the floor when I watch television. [hint: you don t lay eggs!] I lay my keys on the table when I arrive home from work. lying/laying I am lying [not laying] on the floor watching television. I am laying my briefcase on my desk to remind me that I have work to finish. lay/laid Yesterday I lay [not laid] in bed all day with a fever. Yesterday I laid my briefcase on my desk and forgot about it when I left for work. (have) lain/(have) laid I have lain [not have laid] in bed all day with a fever. [hint: lain = in bed] I have laid my briefcase on my desk to remind me that I have work to finish. [hint: laid rhymes with egg, which a chicken has laid] Ms. B s Basic Grammar, 9

10 Although these are two extremely confusing verbs, with a little practice, you should have them down pat. 4. Adjectives modify or describe nouns or pronouns ONLY. They tell what kind, which one, and how many. The way to remember the function of adjectives is to imagine that you have a rich Uncle Fester. When you turn 16, he offers to buy you a car, and you want him to ask those questions. What kind of car? Which one? How many cars? The words the, a, and an are adjectives called articles. The is the definite article; a and an are indefinite articles. This is one of the very few examples where the word used is based on euphony, or how it sounds. Use a in front of a consonant SOUND and an in front of a vowel SOUND; the word the is often pronounced thee in front of vowel sounds, too, an unidentified flying object a UFO the cat the ( thee ) earth Some things to keep in mind: Use fewer for things that can be counted, less for things that can be measured: We had fewer inches of rain last month. (you can count inches) We had less rainfall than we did last year. (you can measure rainfall) Use the comparative (adj + -er or more / less + adj) for two things, the superlative (adj + -est or most / least ) for three or more things She is smarter than her sister. She is the smartest one in her family. He is less attractive than a warthog. He is the least attractive wildebeest I ve seen. Special note: use from when using the adjective different in comparing two persons or things: My book is different from (not than) yours. Ms. B s Basic Grammar, 10

11 5. Adverbs modify or describe verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. They often end in ly (but not always; lovely is one exception). They tell where, when, how, to what extent, under what condition, and why. The way to remember the function of adverbs is to imagine you ve had a minor accident in the car Uncle Fester gave you. He s going to ask you Where did it happen? When did it happen? How did it happen? To what extent did it happen? Under what condition did it happen? Why did it happen? When adverbs tell to what extent, they are called intensifiers. They act like a volume control on a stereo to turn up or down the intensity of the word they are modifying. Intensifiers modify adjectives and adverbs. Hint: the words here and there are often adverbs. So are never and not (when it modifies an verb, adverb, or adjective). Adverbial conjunctives (BOTH IN Indiana County): adverbs or adverb phrases that form compound sentences by joining two independent clauses. ALWAYS put a semicolon in front and a comma after it. Besides Otherwise Therefore However In fact Nevertheless In addition Consequently Prepositional phrases are made up of a preposition and a noun (or pronoun) that is called the object of the preposition. The prepositional phrase ALSO contains all the modifiers of the object of the preposition. This object answers the question whom or what. They function as adjectives or adverbs, and they can come anywhere in the sentence. They do NOT contain the subject, verb, direct object or indirect object of the sentence. BEWARE: to + noun = preposition; to + verb = infinitive; for is a conjunction when it joins two sentences; it is a preposition when it answers, how. In imperative and declarative sentences, objects follow the preposition. The object answers the question, what? as in The mouse ran down the clock Down what? Down the clock. Ms. B s Basic Grammar, 11

12 In interrogative and some exclamatory sentences, the object may come before the preposition: What are you looking at? Prepositional phrases show direction or relationship, and they function as adjectives (when they tell which one, what kind, how many, or how much about a noun) or as adverbs (when they tell where, when, how, or to what extent about a verb, adjective, or adverb). The nine most commonly used (92% of the time!) prepositions are at, by, for, from, in, of, on, to, and with. This list MUST be memorized. You can do this easily by singing it to the tune Yankee Doodle. Aboard About Above Across After Against Along Amid Among Around Aside At Atop Before Behind Below Beneath Beside/besides Between Beyond But (except) By Concerning Down During Except For From In Inside Into Like Near Of Off On Onto Out Over Past [not passed] Since Through Throughout To Toward Under Underneath Until Up Upon With Within Without According to Because of In spite of Instead of On account of Out of NOTE: Some of these words may be used by themselves. If they are, they are NOT prepositions; they are adverbs. NEVER SAY, WHERE IS IT AT? The word at is a dangling preposition; it has no object. Just say, Where is it? Grammar Underground: Verbals (AKA PIGs ) Verbals are formed from (guess what?) verbs, but THEY NEVER FUNCTION AS THE VERB OF THE SENTENCE. There are three kinds: A. Gerunds: end in ing and ALWAYS function as a noun in the sentence. The six possible functions of the noun are: subject, appositive, complement, direct object, indirect objective, or object of the preposition. A hint to remember these is SACDIP. S: Walking is important exercise D: Don t delay walking to the store. A: My favorite exercise, walking, is easy to do. I: You should give walking a try. C: My favorite exercise is walking P: You can get there quicker by walking Ms. B s Basic Grammar, 12

13 NOTES: Gerunds can have objects that answer the question what? : use a possessive noun or pronoun when the gerund is the object of the sentence: She took a picture of my jumping the fence. [this emphasizes that the jumping is the point] Think carefully about the difference with this sentence: She took a picture of me jumping the fence. In this second example, me is the object of the preposition; jumping the fence is a participial phrase describing me. The emphasis here is on me, not the activity. Look at this example: I was annoyed with Sam interrupting my lecture SHOULD BE I was annoyed with Sam s interrupting my lecture. It wasn t Sam himself that was annoying; it was his interrupting. Use the possessive case. B. Participles: end in ing (present participles) or ed, -en, or become an irregular form (passive participles). They are ALWAYS adjectives. The falling water made a soothing sound. The fallen tree blocked the road. They can be an entire phrase. When they are, the next noun MUST be the word they are modifying; otherwise, you ll have a dangling participle. WRONG RIGHT: Turning the corner, the post office was on the right. (post offices can t move) Turning the corner, I saw the post office on the right. C. Infinitive: to + a verb. These are tricky because they can function nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. Note: just like prepositions, gerunds and infinitive can have objects: nouns that follow them that answer the question, what? S: To walk a 1000 miles is a lofty goal. ( miles is the object of the infinitive, to walk ) A: My goal, to walk 1000 miles, is difficult C: My goal is to walk 1000 miles. D: I want to walk 1000 miles. Adjective: The class to take is English 9. (modifies the noun, class, telling which one) Adverb: I went to visit my brother (modifies the verb went, telling where; brother is the object of the infinitive) Ms. B s Basic Grammar, 13

14 NOTE: avoid splitting infinitives. Try not to put a modifier between the to and the verb AVOID: To boldly go where no man has gone before SHOULD BE: To go boldly where no man has gone before Dependent Clauses Adverb clauses: begin with an SC and modify verbs, adjective, and adverbs Adjective clauses: begin with an RP and modify nouns or pronouns Noun clauses: begin with 1) an RP; 2) the adverbs how, when, where, whether, why; and 3) words ending in ever and function as the Subject, Appositive, Complement, Direct Object, Indirect Object, or Preposition (object of) Remember when a clause is necessary to the meaning of the sentence, it is RESTRICTED. Do NOT put commas around it. When the clause is adding additional information, it is UNRESTRICTED and set off with commas. The teacher whom I will always remember is Ms. B [RESTRICTED clause; no commas] Ms. B, who is a fanatic grammarian, will haunt me forever. [UNRESTRICTED; put commas around it] Conjunctions: Coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS): use to form compound sentences by joining two independent clauses. ALWAYS put a comma in front of the conjunction For And Nor But Or Yet So Subordinating conjunctions: use to form complex sentences by beginning an adverb clause. When a sentence begins with an SC, you MUST put a comma at the end of the clause. after although as as if as long as as soon as as though because before if since so that than* though unless until when whenever where wherever whether while why in order that *when using than, remember that the verb is sometimes implied: She is a better writer than I (am) NOT She is a better writer than me. Ms. B s Basic Grammar, 14

15 Correlative conjunctions: These four ALWAYS work in pairs and must join words that are the SAME parts of speech Both and either or neither nor not only but also If one of the words joined is singular and the other plural, the verb agrees with the word nearest it: Either the president or the officers are officiating at the ceremony. Either the officers or the president is officiating at the ceremony. PS. Y all is NOT incorrect, ungrammatical, or nonstandard. It is a contraction of you all, which emphasizes the plural. Ms. B s Basic Grammar, 15