BASIC GRAMMAR RULES



BASIC GRAMMAR RULES8 Parts of Speech-SubjectsNounPronounVerbAdjectiveAdverbPrepositionConjunctionInterjectionVerbs – a word(s) used to express action, a condition, or state of beingAction Verbs – show the subject doing something. This also includes mental action, such as thought, plan, and knew.Transitive Verb – appears with a direct object (a person or thing that receives the action of the verb).Direct Objects – To identify a direct object, ask what or whom receives the action of the verb.Indirect Objects – comes between the verb and the direct object (there CANNOT be an indirect object if there is no direct object), and answers the questions to whom or what or for whom or what.Intransitive Verb – does not have a direct objectLinking Verbs – connects the subject to a word in the predicate. Some of the most common linking verbs are:isamarewas were bewill bewould beare beinghave beencould have beenLinking Verbs Contraction Forms – Have = ‘ve; has = ‘s; had = ‘d; am = ‘m; is = ‘s; are = ‘re; will = ‘llAction and Linking Verbs – some words can be either an action verb or a linking verb depending on its use in the sentence. Some of these dual verbs are:appearsbecamefeltgrowslookedsmellsoundedtasted turnedAuxiliary (Helping) Verbs – combined with verbs to form verb phrases. Common forms of these type of these verb forms are:behaddomightwouldwillmustcould Pronouns and Antecedents-should agree in gender (male, female, or neuter) and in number (singular, plural).Personal Pronouns as Subjects – consists of I, you, he, she, it, we, they. Personal Pronouns as Direct Objects and Indirect Objects – me, us, you, him, her, it, them.Personal Pronouns as Possessives – my, mine, our, ours, your, yours, his, her, its, their theirs. Personal Pronouns:First person: I, me (singular); we, us, our (plural)Second person: youThird person: he, him she, her, it (sing.); they, them (plural)Adjectives – modifies a noun or a pronoun; a, an, the are adjectives, but are called articles because of their common usage and are not counted among adjectives. Adjectives modify nouns, pronouns, and other adjectives.Proper Adjective Suffixes –an, -ean, -ian = one who, one that–ese = relating to, originating in–ern = make adjectives out of the directions north, south, east westPredicate Adjectives-modifies the subject of a clause and follows a linking verb; predicate nouns (or nominatives) completes a linking verb and identifies or explains the subject of that linking verb.Adverbs – words that tell how, when, where, and to what extent. Most verbs end in ly; some like today, fast, and behind do not. The word not is an adverb and tells how.Prepositions-relates a noun or pronoun to some other part of the sentence. The noun or pronoun that follows the preposition is the object of the preposition. Some common prepositions are: aboard, about, above, across, after, against, along, among, around, as, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, between, beyond, but (when it means except), by, concerning, down, during except, for, from, in, inside, into, like, near, of, off, on, onto, opposite, out, outside, over, past, since through, throughout, till to, toward, under, underneath, until, up, upon, with, within, and without.Conjunctions - connects nouns, adjectives, verbs, pronouns, adverbs, and prepositional phrases.Coordinating Conjunctions – single connecting words; common ones are: and, but, or, nor, for, yetCorrelative Conjunctions – pairs of connecting words; common ones are: both/and; either/or; neither/not; not only/but also; and whether/or.Subordinating Conjunctions – are used to introduce adverb clauses; common ones are: after, although, as, as far as, as if, as long as, as soon as, as though, because, before, even though, if, in order that, since, so that, than, though, unless, until, when, whenever, where, wherever, and while.Interjections-a word or short expression that shows sudden strong emotion or feeling. A strong interjection is followed by an exclamation point. A mild interjection is set off with commas.SentencesSimple – consists of one independent clauseCompound – consists of two or more independent clausesComplex – consists of one independent clause and one ore more subordinate clausesCompound-Complex – consists of two or more independent clauses and one or more subordinate clausesPhrase- a group of related words that does not have a subject or a predicate; it functions as a single part of speech.Prepositional Phrase – used to modify, or describe, a noun or a pronoun.Adjective Prepositional Phrase – a prepositional phrase that modifies a noun or a pronoun and usually tells which one or what kind about the word it modifies. While adjectives usually come just before the word it modifies, adjective phrases usually come just after.Adverb Prepositional Phrase – a prepositional phrase that modifies a verb, an adjective, or an adverb; this will also tell how, when, where, or to what extent.Appositives and Appositive Phrases – a noun or pronoun that identifies or renames another noun or pronoun; an appositive phrase consists of an appositive and its modifiers.Essential (Restrictive) Appositives – provides information that is needed to identify the preceding noun or pronoun. It is not set off by commas.Nonessential (Nonrestrictive) Appositives – adds extra information about a noun or pronoun whose meaning is already clear. A nonessential appositive will be set off by commas.Participles/Participle Phrases – a verb form that functions as an adjective; it modifies nouns and pronouns. A participial phrase consists of a participle plus its modifiers and complements.Present Participles – adds ing to the base verb. It expresses continuing action in the present or the past. When used as the main verb of a sentence, it must be used with a form of to be.Past Participles – adds ed or d to the base verb form.Absolutes – functions as its own participial case, in that it modifies everything that an adverb can modify. Example: They had a pleasant trip, all things considered.Gerunds/Gerund Phrases – a verb form that ends in ing and functions as a noun; a gerund phrase consists of a gerund, its modifiers, and complements. Gerunds, like nouns, can function as subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, predicate nominatives, and objects of the preposition. Tip: To not confuse a gerund with a present participle, replace the gerund or gerund phrase with the word something.Infinitive/Infinitive Phrase – a verb form, usually beginning with the word to, that can act as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. An infinitive phrase consists of an infinitive, its modifiers, and complements. Like nouns, infinitives can be used as a subject, direct object, or predicate nominative.Absolute Phrase - an absolute phrase is a modifier (quite often a participle), or a modifier and a few other words, that attaches to a sentence or a noun, with no conjunction. an absolute phrase cannot contain a finite verb. Absolute phrases usually consist of a noun and a modifier that modifies this noun, NOT another noun in the sentence. Absolute phrases are optional in sentences, i.e., they can be removed without damaging the grammatical integrity of the sentence. Since absolute phrases are optional in the sentence, they are often set off from the sentence with commas or, less often, with dashes. In explaining absolute phrases, it might be easier to say that they modify entire sentences, rather than one word. This is an important concept, since many similar phrases in English grammar modify other words. For example, adjectives modify nouns, and adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. That said, however, in some cases, it seems to make more sense to say that absolute phrases modify nouns. An example of an absolute phrase is: All things being equal, the active voice tends to be correct more often than the passive on standardized tests.Clauses – a group of words that contains a subject and a verb.Independent ( or Main) Clauses – expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence.Subordinate (or Dependent) Clauses – contains a subject and a verb but does not express a complete thought and cannot stand alone. There are numerous types of subordinate clauses.Adjective Clauses – used as an adjective to modify a noun or a pronoun; it is introduced by a relative pronoun (that, who, whom, whose, which) or by a relative adverb (where, when, why).Essential (or Restrictive) Adjective Clauses – provides information that is necessary to identify the preceding noun or pronoun. Essential adjective clauses are not set off by commas. Tip: Use that to introduce essential clauses.Nonessential (or Nonrestrictive) Adjective Clauses – adds additional information about a noun or pronoun whose meaning is already clear. Nonessential adjective clauses ARE SET OFF by commas. Use which to introduce nonessential clauses.Adverb Clauses – modifies a verb, and adjective, or an adverb. Words used to introduce adverb clauses are when, because, than, where, after, before, although. These do not require a comma before the subordinating conjunction.Noun Clauses – used as a noun which means it can function as a subject, a complement (direct object, indirect object, or predicate nominative), or and object of the preposition. Tip: If you can substitute the word someone or something for a clause in a sentence, the clause is a noun clause. A noun clause may be introduced by a subordinating conjunction (that, how, when, where, whether, why) or by a pronoun (what, whatever, who, whom, whoever, whomever, which, whichever). WATCH OUT: The introductory word in a noun clause is sometimes omitted.Punctuation – a complete sentence ends in a period (used w/statements, polite requests, and commands), a question mark (used w/inquiries), or an exclamation point (used to show strong feeling and urgent commands).CommaUse before a coordinating conjunction that joins sentences.Use to separate items in a series.Use after certain introductory word and word groups.Use to set off most interrupting words and expressions.SemicolonUse to join sentences that are not connected by a coordinating conjunction.Use to join sentences connected by a conjunctive adverb or transitional phrase.Use to join items in a series when one or more items have a comma.ColonUse to call attention to what follows.Use after the salutation in a formal or business letter.ApostropheAdd an s to form the possessive of singular words and plurals that do not end in s.To form the possessive of plural words ending in s.To form the possessive of indefinite pronouns but not personal pronouns.Use in a contraction in place of the missing letter or letters.Quotation MarksUse to enclose a speaker’s exact words.Punctuating a TitleUse to enclose the titles of short works: short stories, poems, songs, articles, chaptersUse italics or underlining with the titles of longer works: books, plays, films, magazines, newspapers, music cds.CapitalizationCapitalize the first word of a sentence.Capitalize the first word in a quotation.Capitalize the pronoun I.Capitalize proper nouns, their abbreviations, and proper adjectives.Capitalize the first, last, and main words of a title.In business and personal letters, capitalize the first word and all nouns in the salutation. Capitalize only the first word in the closing.Spelling Rulesie and ei – i before e except after c, or when sounded like a as in neighbor and weigh.Prefixes – when adding a prefix, do not change the spelling of the original word.Silent e – drop the e to add a suffix with a vowel; keep the e to add a suffix beginning with a consonant.Ending in y – when the word ends in a vowel and y, keep the y when adding a suffix; when words end in a consonant and a y, change the y to i.Adding ly or ness – do not change the spelling of the original word; when adding ly or ness to a word ending in y, follow the rule for words ending in y.Double a final consonant before a suffix beginning with a vowel.Plural Nouns – the singular is the form that means only one; the plural is the form that means more than one.Add s to the singular to form a plural.For nouns ending in s, sh, ch, or x: add es to form the plural.For most nouns ending in f: change f to v and add es to form the plural.For 3 nouns ending in fe (knife, life, wife): change f to v and add s to form the plural.For nouns ending in y: if the letter before y is a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) add s to form the plural; if the letter before y is a consonant, change y to i and add es.For nouns ending in o: add s in most cases; add es to the following nouns: echo, hero, potato, tomato, veto.Some nouns form their plurals irregularly:child = children; crisis = crisesdatum = data; deer = deerfoot = feet;goose = geeselouse = lice;man = menmedium = media; moose = moosemouse = mice;ox = oxenparenthesis = parentheses;series = series;shrimp = shrimpsyllabus = syllabi;thesis = thesestooth = teeth;woman = women ................
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