Part 1: Parts of Speech. Conjunction Preposition Pronoun Interjection

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1 Part 1: Parts of Speech 8 Parts of Speech Noun Verb Adjective Adverb Conjunction Preposition Pronoun Interjection Nouns The name of a person, place, thing, or quality Answers the questions who? or what? Types: Common nouns- any person, place, or thing Proper nouns- a specific person, place, or thing Concrete nouns can be perceived with the 5 senses Abstract nouns cannot be perceived with the 5 senses (emotions, ideas, qualities) Verbs Pronouns Show action or state of being Answers the question what is the subject doing? Subject pronoun- can be used as the subject of a sentence Object pronoun- can only be used as the object of a sentence or the object of a preposition (me, him, What is an object?? Well, if a subject is the noun that is doing the verb in a sentence, an object is the noun that is NOT doing the verb! There are 2 kinds of objects: Adjectives Direct object is the receiver of an action Indirect object is the person or thing to whom or for whom the action was done Describes a noun or pronoun Answers which, how many, how much, or what kind 5 types of adjectives: Articles- a, an (indefinite); the (definite); or zero article (no article) Possessive adjectives- my, your, his, her, its, our, their

2 Demonstrative adjectives- this, that, these, those Quantity adjectives- many, much, a few, a little Descriptive adjectives- beautiful, stormy, green, etc. Adverbs Modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb Answers the questions how, when, where, how often, and how much 3 types of adverbs: Adverbs of manner, which tell HOW something happens: quickly, skillfully, rudely Adverbs of frequency: always, never, usually, often, sometimes, seldom, rarely Adverbs of degree: almost, hardly, extremely, very Conjunctions Words that connect parts of a sentence (words, phrases, and clauses) together 4 types: Coordinating conjunctions join words, phrases, or independent clauses For, but, and, nor, so, yet, or Subordinating conjunctions introduce a dependent clause and explain its relationship to the main part of the sentence Although, as, because, before, how, if, once, since, than, though, until, unless, when, where, whether, while Conjunctive adverbs are transitional devices that connect two main ideas Consequently, however, likewise, moreover, nevertheless, nonetheless, otherwise, similarly, therefore Correlative conjunctions occur in pairs and connect equivalent sentence parts Both and, either or, neither not, not only but also, so as, whether or Prepositions A word that shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and the rest of the sentence The combination of a preposition and its object is a prepositional phrase Prepositions have many purposes but they often give information about place, time, or direction Interjections Words that express strong feelings or emotions; More common in spoken than written language

3 Part 2: Sentence Structure What is a sentence? Every sentence MUST have at least a subject and a verb (in the correct form, of course!) Otherwise, it is a FRAGMENT. I ran. This is a full sentence because it contains a subject (I), a verb (ran), and a complete meaning. You may not know where I ran or what I was running from because this sentence is not part of a paragraph that would provide such context, but grammatically, you can still understand simply that I ran (somewhere, anywhere, it doesn t matter!) without any additional explanation. Ran down to the store for some milk. This is a FRAGMENT because we are missing a subject! To fix it, we might write Jerome ran down to the store for some milk. Jenny, standing in the rain and wishing she were home. This is a FRAGMENT. While we do have a subject ( Jenny ) and verbs ( standing and wishing ) the verbs are not in the right form. To fix it, we might write Jenny was standing in the rain and wishing she were home. The little cabin by the lake where I grew up. This is a FRAGMENT because there is no verb! To fix it, we might write The little cabin by the lake is where I grew up. Each one of these sentences is an example of the SIMPLE SENTENCE, which is made up of a single INDEPENDENT clause. There are two types of clauses we need to know about in order to form correct sentences: INDEPENDENT and DEPENDENT clauses. Every sentence contains at least one independent clause, which can be combined with other independent and dependent clauses to form more complex sentences.

4 So what are independent and dependent clauses? Independent clause All independent clauses have a subject and a verb and a complete meaning. This is why they can stand alone independently as individual sentences! Dependent clause Some dependent clauses DO have a subject and verb, but a subordinating conjunction prevents them from having a complete meaning; other dependent clauses are missing a subject or verb. Dependent clauses can never stand alone they always DEPEND on another clause to complete their meaning. Types of sentences: Simple sentences 1 independent clause I want a pizza. The Lion King makes me cry. Compound sentences 2 independent clauses I want a pizza, but I should probably have a salad instead. The Lion King makes me cry; it makes my dog cry, too. Complex sentences 1 independent clause and at least 1 dependent clause I want a pizza because I am hungry. The Lion King makes me cry whenever I watch it. Compound-complex sentences 2 independent clauses and at least 1 dependent clause I want a pizza, but I should probably have a salad because I know it s better for my health. The Lion King makes me cry whenever I watch it; it makes my dog cry, too. Now that we know about independent and dependent clauses and the different type of sentences we can create with them, let s take a look at HOW we can combine them correctly:

5 Simple sentence: IC. Compound sentence: CC =Coordinating Conjunction: FOR BUT AND NOR SO YET IC, cc IC. IC ; IC. IC. IC. Complex sentence: IC DC. DC, IC. Note: Dependent clauses often begin with a SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTION such as: Before, after, because, since, when, while, although, as, if, whenever, in case, though, even if, wherever, whether, unless, until, so that Think for a second about what these words do and why they might be called subordinating conjunctions. They make the clause they re a part of SUBORDINATE to (that is, secondary to) some other part of the sentence. Just like a private in the military is subordinate to his captain and can t act without the captain s orders, a subordinate clause also can t function without an independent clause to give it meaning. A subordinate clause is another name for a DEPENDENT clause; it DEPENDS on some other part of the sentence for its meaning. When you start a sentence with Before I go to bed tonight or While I was at the mall yesterday it s clear you need to add something (an independent clause!) in order for your statement to make sense.