Grammar Basics

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Grammar Basics!

• Ms. Waibel
• Spring 2009

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Basic Parts of Speech
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• Verb a word that shows action (sit, walk, run,
  speak, etc.) OR a state of being (am, is, are,
  were, was, etc.)
• What action is taking place? What happened?
• She is smart.
• I went to the store
• and saw her.
• They fight often.

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• Auxiliary Verbs Verbs that cannot stand alone
  but modify other verbs.
• You should clean your room.
• I have seen her before.
• Modal - would, should, can, shall, ought, will,
  could, may, might
• Non-modal - is, have, be

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• Noun A person, place or thing
• Jon walked to the store.
• Paris is a beautiful city.
• The ball is rolling down the mountain.

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• Pronoun - Words that replace nouns
• He, she, it, him, her, they, we, etc.
• Jon walked to the store. He bought an apple.

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• Adjectives words that describe or limit a noun
  or pronoun
• Which one? How many? What kind? What size?
  What color?
• Jon bought a round, green apple.
• He is smart.

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• Adverbs words that modify verbs, adjectives, or
  other adverbs
• How? When? Where? How much? Why?
• Jon walked slowly to the store.
• Julia sang beautifully last night.

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• Subject the person or thing that performs the
  action.
• Who or What _________?
• verb
• Sally collects seashells by the seashore.

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• Direct Object - a noun or pronoun that receives
  the action of a verb or shows the result of the
  action. It answers the question "What?" or
  "Whom?" after an action verb.
• He ate the apple.
• He saw Sally.

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• Indirect Object - An indirect object tends to
  precede the direct object and tells to whom or
  for whom the action of the verb is done and who
  is receiving the direct object. There must be a
  direct object to have an indirect object.
• David poured Sally some juice.
• He gave the notebook to Jenny.

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• Articles an, a, the
• I have a crazy family.
• The ship is set to sail.

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Possessives

• Adjectives that modify nouns, show possession.
• my, your, his, hers, its, their, Joes, Janes,
  etc.
• Whose?
• That is my notebook youre reading.
• The dog is scratching its ear.

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Determiners (det.)

• Possessives
• Articles
• This, that, these, those (demonstrative)
• Many, few, half, s (quantifiers)

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• Preposition links nouns, pronouns or other
  phrases in a sentence
• below, among, beside, on, under, in
• A test The mouse ran __________ the cheese

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• Prepositional Phrases - groups of words that
  begin with a preposition and end with a noun or
  pronoun, which is the object of the preposition.
  Together, they form the same function as an
  adjective or an adverb.
• between two men
• prep. noun
• through the tunnel
• prep. noun
• on the table
• prep. noun

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Types of Sentences

• DECLARATIVE - The majority of sentences are
  declarative. A declarative sentence makes a
  statement.
• I am a freshman at FALA.
• She likes green tea ice cream.

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Types of Sentences

• INTERROGATORY - An interrogatory sentence asks a
  question.
• Do you understand that?
• Which of these sentences is an example?

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Types of Sentences

• IMPERATIVE - An imperative sentence gives a
  command.
• Shut up.
• Go get me that apple.
• Note that an imperative sentence does not
  require a subject the pronoun "you" is implied.

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Transitive vs. Intransitive Verbs

• Intransitive needs no object.
• The sun shines.
• My watch has disappeared.
• He sings.

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Transitive vs. Intransitive Verbs

• Transitive verbs which need objects
• Someone took my watch.
• He has the pencil.
• A policeman saw the accident.

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Copular Verbs

• Followed by a subject compliment or an adverbial.
• Taco is a really smart dog. (sub. comp.)
• She seems tired. (adverbial)

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• A copular verb is a verb that connects the
  subject to the complement.
• They are sometimes called linking verbs.
• EG That food smells nice.
• ('Smells' connects the subject to the adjective
  that describes it.)
• The following are the principal Copula Verbs in
  English that can be used to connect the subject
  to an adjectiveBe Look Feel Taste Smell
  Sound Seem Appear Get Become Grow Stay
  Keep Turn Prove Go Remain Resemble Run Lie

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Copular Verbs, cont.

• How to tell the difference between an action verb
  and a copular verb
• Replace the verb with is or seem.
• Sam looks at Sally.
• Sam is at Sally? No!
• Sam seems at Sally? No!

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Copular Verbs, cont.

• How to tell the difference between an action verb
  and a copular verb
• Replace the verb with is or seem.
• Sam looks happy.
• Sam is happy? Yes, copular!
• Sam seems happy? Yes, copular!

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Transitive vs. Intransative

• Transitive verbs have direct objects.
• Intransitive verbs do not have direct objects.

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Transitive vs. Intransitive

• The clown laughed loudly.
• The tree fell.
• My money was lost.
• Smith gave Granny the apple.
• She showed me the Grand Canyon.

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Copular vs. Action Verbs

• Action verbs go, sit, run, laugh, jump, give,
  save, have, put, apologize
• Action verbs sometimes take direct objects.
• Copular verbs is, seem, become, feel, grow, get
• Copular verbs take subject predicatives.

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• I gave him the apple.
• action D.O.
• verb
• He seems tired.
• cop. verb. Adj.S.P.

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Sentence Diagramming

• A sentence (to be a sentence) at the very least
  must have a Subject (noun or pronoun) and a
  Predicate (verb). The remaining words in a
  sentence serve to describe, clarify or give us
  more information about the subject or the verb. A
  diagram arranges the parts of a sentence like a
  picture in order to show the relationship of
  words and groups of words within the sentence.
  Let us take a look at how this is done. We will
  begin learning how to diagram sentences and use
  this tool to become better writers.
• Sourcehttp//www.lifestreamcenter.net/DrB/Lessons
  /TS/diagram.htm

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Step One

• Find the subject
• Who or what is doing the action?
• Henry spoke to the goblin.
• Henry subject

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Step Two

• Find the Verb Phrase/Predicate
• the part of the sentence that contains the verb
• Henry wondered where he was.
• where he was Verb Phrase (VP)
• wondered verb (V)

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Step Three Label the Subject

• Label the parts in the subject
• The subject consists of a Noun Phrase (NP)
• The strange creature leapt off the cliff.
• The strange creature NPSubj.
• The det. (determiner)
• strange Adj. (adjectives)
• creature N (noun)

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Step FourLabel the Predicate

• Label the parts of the predicate
• VP (Verb Phrase)
• There is always a verb (or an auxiliary verb,
  Aux., and a main verb, MV)

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Step FiveLabel the Parts of the Predicate

• Prepositional Phrases
• These always consist of a preposition (on, in,
  to, above) and a noun phrase (the table.
  thedet., tablenoun)
• PP
• Prep/P
• NP
• N

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Prepositional Phrases, cont.

• The book is on the table.
• on the table prepositional phrase (PP)
• on preposition (P)
• the table noun phrase (NP)
• the determiner (det.)
• table noun (N)

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Adjectives, Adverbs, Determiners

• Adj.
• The expensive watch is beautiful.
• Adv.
• They danced crazily.
• He kicked the ball hard.
• Det.
• His folder is the blue one with six papers

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Noun Phrases

• NP
• Can include determiners and nouns
• He has two bikes and a scooter.
• The rich woman bought seven swans.

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Infinitive vs. Prepositional To

• Infinitive to form of the verb
• Example I like to play soccer.
• I have to go to the store.

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Coordinating Conjunction

• Links words in the same category
• and
• or
• but
• I like chocolate and ice cream.
• He is funny but not smart.
• Do you want to walk quickly or slowly?

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• The following examples use intransitive verbs.
• - dont have direct objects

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• I walked to the store.

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• Henry walked to the store quickly.

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• The beautiful man walked to the store.

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• The following examples use transitive verbs.
• - these verbs have objects.

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• Sally saw the movie.

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• Rich took the money.

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• Lu-Lu traded her horse.

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• I bought the elf a gift.

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• The following examples use copular verbs.
• - followed by a subject compliment or an adverbial

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• Diamond seemed sad.

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• Kelly is always late.

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• Taco is a really smart dog.

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• The following example is an imperative.

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• Get me that potion.

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• The following example includes a coordinating
  conjunction.

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• Sammy took the book and the candy.

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• The following examples include modals.
• - can, should, shall, will, may, might, is, have,
  be, maybe

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• I might go to the store.

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• That would have been really rude.

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Infinitive to vs. PP to

• Uncle Sam told me to go to the mall.
• I have to read about the war.

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• I took the video from her.
• She seemed sad.

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• I have a big front tooth.
• My tooth became rotten.

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Sentence Fragments

• A phrase that is acting like a sentence but is
  incomplete.

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Sentence Fragments

• Sentence fragments are acceptable as answers to
  direct questions
• "Where is my sword?"
• "In the tree."

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Simple Tenses

• Present Tense I feel tired. Subject
  simple verb
• Past Tense I felt tired. Subject past
  tense verb

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Aspect

• Future
• I will feel tired.
• Subject will simple verb
• Progressive (present)
• I am feeling tired.
• Subject be verb -ing

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Aspect, cont.

• Perfect
• I had felt tired. (past)
• I have seen her before. (present)
• Subejct have verb -ed/en

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Aspect, cont.

• Perfect
• I had felt tired. (past)
• I have seen her before. (present)
• Subejct have verb -ed/en

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