English Pre-Comp Study Guide



Parts of SpeechAdjectives: Modify or describe nouns or pronouns.What kind? How many? Which one?“a”, “an”, and “the” are adjectives called articles.“a” is used before a word that begins with a consonant.“an” is used before a word that begins with a vowel.Proper Adjective: A word that is formed from a proper noun. ALWAYS begin with a capital letter.Skilled writers use adjectives to make sentences more vividAdverbs: modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb.How, when, where, how often, to what extent.End in –lyNegatives are words that mean “no” including not, never, nowhere, hardly, neither, barely.ConjunctionA word use to join words or groups of words Coordinating conjunctions join words or groups of words that are used in the same way.For And But Or Yet So (FANBOYS)Correlative conjunctions are pair of conjunctions that join words or groups of words that are used in the same way.Both…And; Either…Or; Neither…Nor; Whether…Or; Not Only…But AlsoNounAppositives: A noun placed beside another noun or pronoun to identify or describe it.Appositive Phrase: Consists of an appositive and its modifiers.Note: Appositives and appositive phrases that aren’t essential to the meaning of the sentence are set off by commas. If the appositive is essential to the meaning, it is generally NOT set off by commas. PrepositionA preposition is a word that shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun, called the object of the preposition, to another word.The plane through _______ the cloud.Reference Commonly use prepositions sheet.Pronoun: Word that takes the place of a noun(s).Helps writers avoid using the same noun over and over again.Pronouns show number and genderNumber: Whether the pronoun is singular or pluralGender: Tells whether the pronoun is masculine, feminine, or neuter.Subject Pronouns: Takes the place of the subject.Object Pronouns: Takes the place of the Direct or Indirect object.Possessive Pronouns: Shows ownership, takes the place of a possessive noun.My, mine, your, yours, his, hers, its, ours, our, their, theirs.Demonstrative Pronoun: Point out particular persons, places, or things. This, that, these, thoseIndefinite pronouns: Refer to unknown or undetermined persons, places, or things.Some, anything, no one, all, some, severalAn indefinite pronoun that refers to only 1 person, place, or thing is singularAn indefinite pronoun that refers to more than 1 person, place, or thing is plural.Some indefinite pronouns can be either singular or plural depending on what they refer to in a sentence.Interrogative Pronouns: Ask QuestionsWho, which, what, whom, whoseReflexive pronouns: End in –self or –selves. The antecedent of a reflexive pronoun is the subject of a sentence.WARNING: some people use reflexive pronouns incorrectly. They CANNOT take the place of personal pronouns.VerbEvery sentence has a verb.Verbs express action or being.The verb tells what the subject has, is, does, or feels.Action: tells what a subject has/ does. Can express physical or mental action.Being: Doesn’t refer to action but describes a state of being. Tells what the subject is or feels.Linking: Express being; links the subject with words that either describe or identify the subject; linking verbs are like equal signs.Forms of be:Am/areBe/beenBeing/isWas/wereOther linkingAppearGrowSeemstayverbsBecomeLookSmellTastefeelRemainSoundTurnA helping/ auxiliary verb helps the main verb express action or a state of being.Together, a main verb and at least 1 auxiliary verb make up a verb phrase.Transitive verb: a verb the expresses an action direct toward a person, place, thing, or idea.With transitive verbs, the action passes from the doer (subject) to the receiver.Words that receive the action of the verb are called objects.An intransitive verb expresses action or tells something about the subject without the action passing to a receiver or object.Because linking verbs don’t have objects, they are also classified as intransitive verbs.Verb Tense: shows time. Verb tenses change to indicate events that happen at different times.Present: an action that happens now, or over and over again.Past: An action that took place in the past, the action is now over.Future: an action will happen, in the future.Present Perfect: expresses an action that took place at an indefinite time in the past. The action may still be going on.Past Perfect: an action in the past that was completed before another action took place.Future Perfect: an action that will be completed before another action in the future.Verb Phrases that express action in progress are called progressive forms.Progressive Forms:We form the progressive by combining the verb “be” with the present participle. ( the present participle is the “ing’ form of a verb.)PresentWe are studying plants in school now.PastWe were studying plants when the bell rang.FutureWe will be studying plants again tomorrow.Present PerfectWe have been studying plants for several daysFuture PerfectWe had been studying plants for only 1 day before our field trip.Past PerfectWe will have been studying plants for weeks by the time our project is due.Parts of the SentenceSentence Fragments: a group of words that look like a sentence but doesn’t contain both a subject and a verb or doesn’t express a complete thought.Direct Object: a noun or pronoun that follows an action verb. Tells who or what receives the action.TIP: to find the direct object in a sentence, say the verb and ask “whom” or “what”.Indirect Object: a noun or pronoun that follows and action verb. Tells “to whom/what” or “for whom/what”.TIP: A sentence with an indirect object will always have a direct object.PredicateComplete: all the words that tell what the subject does or is.Simple: the main verb in a complete pound: two or more predicates with the same subject.Run-on Sentence: if you run together two complete sentences as if they were one, you create a run-on sentence. Run-ons are often confusing because the reader can’t tell where one idea ends and another begins.Sentence TypesDeclarative: Statement; ends with a period.Interrogative: Question; ends with a question mark.Imperative: Command or request; ends with a period.Exclamatory: Strong feeling; ends with an exclamation mark.SubjectComplete: a sentence that includes all the words that tells who or what the sentence is about.Simple: the main word in the complete pound: contains two or more subjects that have the same predicate.Subject Complement: a word or word group that completes the meaning of a linking verb and that identifies or describes the subject.Predicate Nominative: a word or group of words that is in the predicate and that identifies the subject it refers to.Predicate Adjective: an adjective that is in the predicate and the describes the subject. Both can be compoundsSubject-verb AgreementNoun or subject plural, verb singularNoun or subject singular, verb pluralCompound subject joined by “and”Two or more subjects joined by “and” the subject is plural, so the verb is pound subject joined by “or”Two or more subjects joined by “or” the part of the subject closest to the verb agrees with the verb.Relative pronoun (who/which/that) can be either singular or plural, depending on the word they refer to.MechanicsEnd PunctuationCapitalizationVocabularySynonyms: another word that means the same thing.Antonyms: a word that means the opposite of the word.SPELLING!!!READ OVER WITNESS!!! ................
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