Grammar Notes - English 10                                                                                                                  

A.  A quick review of the basic parts of sentences and the eight parts of speech

  1.  Phrases vs. clauses

• A phrase is

• A clause is

•  An independent clause is

• A dependent clause is

  2.  Understanding the basic grammar of sentences

• subject: 

• predicate: 

subject                                              predicate

I                                                     have a dream.

                                                      shall overcome.

California                                    

                                                      lived by the sea.

Some sentences contain only a predicate, with an implied, or “understood,” subject: 

      Stop!

      Pass the peas, please.

3.  Recognizing verbs

• Verbs

  They move the sentence along by showing _______________ (glance, jump, think),

______________________(become, happen), or _______________ (be, live).

• ___________________________ verbs combine with
• ______________ verbs to form
• verb ____________________.

Memorize the helping (auxiliary) verbs:     

• forms of be:
• two c’s:                                               two s’s:                                               two w’s:
• three h’s:
• three d’s:
• three m’s:

4.  Recognizing nouns

• Nouns name things:

• _____________________nouns name ___________________________________________
  
  ___________________________________________________________________________

• ______________________________nouns name __________________________________

            ___________________________________________________________________________

• Most nouns can be changed from _________________________to _____________________

(more than one) by adding ______ or _________: 

• Some nouns have ______________________ plural forms:

• Nouns can take _________________________ form to show ________________________. 

A writer forms the ___________________________ by adding ________________________

plus ______ to a singular noun or just ________________________ to a plural noun: 

• Nouns are often preceded by the ________________: _____, ________, and ________;

___________________are also known as noun _________________________.

5.  Recognizing pronouns

• Pronouns function as ______________ in sentences.  They often take the place of __________________________, serving as short forms so that we do not have to repeat a noun that has already been mentioned:

• The specific noun that a pronoun replaces or refers to is called the ______________________ of the pronoun:

• Pronouns fall into several categories:

____________________ pronouns refer to __________________________________  Each can take several different forms depending on how it functions in a sentence.

_____________________ pronouns refer to the _______________ of the sentence or clause in which they appear.  They end in ___________________________

_____________________ pronouns have the same form as _____________________ pronouns. 

They are use to _______________________their antecedents.

______________________pronouns do not refer to specific nouns, although they may refer to

_______________________persons or things.  They express the idea of a ___________________

or _______________________________________________.  _____________________ pronouns are one of the largest categories of pronouns; following is a partial list:

_________________________pronouns ___________________________ specific nouns.

_____________________________pronouns are used to _________________________________

_______________________pronouns introduce dependent clauses and “relate” the dependent clause to the rest of the sentence.

*The ____________________________ pronoun ________ and the _________________________

pronouns ___________ and __________change form depending on how they are used in a sentence.

_______________________pronouns refer to the _______________________ parts of a

________________antecedent.

6.  Recognizing adjectives

• Adjectives modify (_______________________________________) _______________ and

___________________________,  usually by ________________________ (what kind?),

____________________________ (which one?), or ______________________________ (how many?) those words.

• Most descriptive adjectives have other forms that are used to make _____________________:

• Many of the _____________________can function as adjectives when they are followed by a

______________.

• Other adjectives that identify or quantify are __________________ ( ________________ ) and

____________________ ( _________________________________________________ ).

____________________adjectives are adjectives formed from or related to _________________

____________.  They are always ____________________________.

7.  Recognizing adverbs

• Adverbs modify _____________________________________________________________. 

• Many adverbs have an ______ending ( _________________________), though some do not

• ( _____________________________________), and some words that end in ______are not

adverbs but ______________________ (_________________________________________).

One of the most common adverbs is _______.

• Adverbs often answer the questions _____________________________________________

Many adverbs, like adjectives, have forms that are used in making ________________________: 

• ________________________adverbs modify ___________________________and express

the connection in meaning between _________________________and the _________________

clause (or sentence).  Examples of conjunctive adverbs include

8.  Recognizing prepositions

• Prepositions are important __________________ words that express __________________

– in ___________, __________, or ______________________ – between nouns or pronouns and other words in a sentence.

• Some common prepositions

            about              at                     down               near                since

            above             before             during             of                     through

            across                        behind            except             off                    toward

            after                below              for                    on                    under

            against           beneath          from                onto                 until

            along               beside                        in                     out                   up

            among            between         inside              over                 upon

            around            beyond           into                  past                 with

            as                    by                    like                  regarding       without

• Some compound prepositions (made up of more than one word)

            according to               except for                   instead of

            as well as                   in addition to              next to

            because of                 in front of                    out of

            by way of                    in place of                  with regard to

            due to                         in spite of

• A prepositional _________________ is made up of a preposition together with the

____________________________it connects to the rest of the sentence.

9.  Recognizing conjunctions

• Conjunctions ________________ words or groups of words to each other.  There are ______ kinds of conjunctions:

• ________________________ conjunctions join _______________________structures – two or more nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, phrases, or clauses.  You can remember the seven coordinating conjunctions like this:

            f_____            a_____           n_____          b_____          o__           y_____           s__          

• ­­­­­­­­­­­­_________________________conjunctions join equal elements, and they come in _______:

• ___________________conjunctions introduce _____________clauses and signal the

relationship between the ______________clause and another clause, usually an independent clause.  For instance, in the following sentence the subordinating conjunction while signals a time relationship, letting us know that the two events in the sentence happened simultaneously:

Some common subordinating conjunctions

      after                because                     in order that                than                 when

      although          before                         once                            though where

      as                    even though               since   until                 unless             while

      as if                 if                                  so that             until

• ________________________adverbs connect independent clauses.  As their name suggests,

they can be considered both _________________and ___________________________because

they ­­­­­­­­­­­­­____________________the second clause in addition to _________________________it to the preceding clause.  Like many other adverbs yet unlike conjunctions, they can be moved to different positions in a clause.  For example:

Some common conjunctive adverbs

                  also                             indeed                        now

                  anyway                       instead                       otherwise

                  besides                      likewise                      similarly

                  certainly                      meanwhile                  still

                  finally                           moreover                    then

                  furthermore                namely                        therefore

                  however                      nevertheless              thus

                  incidentally                 next                             undoubtedly

Independent clauses connected by a conjunctive adverb must be separated by a

_________________________ or a __________________, not just a __________________.

10.  Recognizing interjections

• Interjections express _______________________________________________________

Interjections often stand alone, as ____________________.  Even when they are included in a

sentence, they are not _________________grammatically to the rest of the sentence.  In writing, they are used mostly in dialogue.

B.  Parts of a sentence

1.  Basic sentence patterns

• In order to use language correctly, we must know a word’s _______________________and its ______________________________________. 
• Sentences fall into one of five basic structural patterns:

      subject / verb (S / V)

      subject / verb / subject complement  (S/ V/ SC)

      subject / verb / direct object  (S/ V/ DO)

      subject / verb / indirect object / direct object  (S/ V/ IO /DO)

      subject / verb / direct object / object complement  (S/ V/ DO /OC)

2.  The sentence diagram

• A diagram of the parts of a sentence shows _______________________________________.
• Each sentence pattern can be represented in a simple diagram:

                  S / V   

                  S/ V/ SC        

                  S / V / DO      

                  S / V/ IO / DO

                  S / V / DO / OC         

3.  Recognizing subjects

• The _________________________ of a sentence consists of one or more nouns or pronouns.
• The _____________________________ consists of the simple subject with all of its modifiers.

·        A ____________________ subject contains two or more simple subjects joined with a coordinating conjunction or a correlative conjunction.

·        In _____________________ sentences (requests or commands), the subject ________ is usually ___________________but not __________________.

·        Sometimes the subject appears between the __________________________ and the _______________________.

·        ___________________ and ___________ are never the subjects.

4.  Recognizing predicates

·        The simple predicate of a sentence is ________________________________________.

·        The complete predicate includes ____________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________.

• A ____________________ predicate contains two or more verbs that have the same subject.

5.  Predicates with linking verbs

·        A ________________ verb links, or joins, a subject with a ___________________________,

 a word or group of words that ____________________ or _____________________ the subject.

·        If it identifies the subject, the complement is a noun or pronoun called the ________________

_______________________ or _____________________________________________.

·        If it describes the subject, the complement is an adjective called the ____________________

________________________________.

·        Linking verbs include

                  the forms of be (                                                                                                              )

                  and any verbs that can be replaced by a form of be within the context of the sentence.

6.  Predicates with direct objects

·        If a verb is not a linking verb, it is either ________________ or ________________________.

·        A __________________ verb expresses action that is directed toward a ___________ or

·        ___________________, called the ___________________________of the verb.  A direct

·        object tells what or who _____________________________________________.  It completes the thought begun by the subject and the verb.

·        A direct object may be followed by an ____________________________________, a word or

·        group of words that _______________________________________ the direct object.  Object

·        complements may be _____________________ or _______________.

7.  Predicates with indirect objects

·        A transitive verb may also be followed by an ____________________________, which tells

________________________________________________the verb’s action is done.  In a way, the indirect object is the recipient of the direct object.

·        The indirect object always comes __________________the direct object in a sentence.  It is

·        never preceded by a ________________________________.

·        To find the indirect object, check to see if the sentence contains a direct object.  Then ask who or what received the direct object.

8.  Predicates with intransitive verbs.

·        Not all action verbs direct their action toward objects.

·        A verb that expresses action that is not directed toward an object is called an _____________

____________________________________. 

·        Some action verbs can be only transitive or only intransitive, but most can be used both ways – with or without a direct object.