Complete Thought

Do you understand this sentence???The flink glopped.

If you do, it is because you understand that sentences need an action and a performer, no matter if the words make sense or not.

Complete Thought - Performer

Let’s take a look at this sentence again: The flink glopped

In this sentence, “flink” is the performer and “glopped” is the action. Any correct, complete sentence will have a performer followed by an action.

Keep in mind, the “performer” doesn’t have to be a person or animal, it can be an object. The ball bounced

The performer can also be non-specific He swam

Complete Thought - Action

Another clue in the sentence, “The flink glopped”, is a clue to time. The action is past tense because there is the –ed at the end of it.

Tip for present tense: When the performer is singular, you add an s to the end of the action. When the performer is plural, you do NOT add an s. The flink glops – correct! The boy jumps – correct! The girls swim – correct! The tigers play – correct! The flink glop – incorrect The boy jump – incorrect The girls swims – incorrect The tigers plays – incorrect

Complete Thought - Multiples In some patterns you may have more

than one performer.The tiger and lion roar

There may be one performer and more than one action.The child runs and jumps

There may also be more than one performer and more than one action.The student and teacher talk and laugh

Practice Write each of the following sentences in your notebook.

For each sentence, underline the performer(s), circle the action(s) and above the action put a P1 for present tense, P2 for past tense and an F for future tense. Mrs. Smith sings in the church choir each Sunday. The plane raced across the sky. They will speak at the November meeting. The interviewer listened attentively. A cashier always counts the change. Star Cleaners picks up and delivers your dry cleaning. The woman and her children crossed the street. The gardener rakes the leaves and cuts the grass. Diane and Joe dined at the tavern and went to the

theater.

More Thoughts What is wrong with this sentence?:

When you arrive. You should have noticed that the

sentence is incomplete. Even though the sentence has a performer (you) and an action (arrive) the word “when” prevents the sentence from being complete as it stands.

Any sentence that begins with words such as when, after, because, as soon as, before, or since needs to have a complete thought.

Incomplete Thoughts Possible thought completions for

When you arrive are: When you arrive, relax. When you arrive, call me. When you arrive, I will leave.

Let’s try another example: The tall figure walking hurriedly through

the park. The above sentence has a performer

(figure), but the action (walking) is incomplete. It would be correct to say the figure is walking or the figure was walking.

Practice #2 For each of the following sentences,

figure out how the sentence is incomplete, and write it correctly in your notebook. When Richard called his office. The man in the blue shirt and the lady in

the tan coat walking. The fumbling, bumbling clown dancing. Flour, sugar, and three eggs blending. Leona working harder than any other

lawyer in the firm.

Parts of Speech - Nouns Did you know there are different types of

nouns?? Common nouns (which has its own categories) Proper nouns Pronouns

Types of common nouns: Concrete nouns – Things you can see/touch (tree,

chair) Collective nouns – words to describe groups

(team, choir) Compound nouns – nouns made up of more than

one word ( water bottle, note book, pickpocket) Mass nouns – things you cannot count (water, air) Gender specific nouns – words which are

definitely male or female (actress, actor)

More Nouns Abstract nouns – things you cannot see or touch

(joy, fear, bravery) Verbal nouns (gerunds) – nouns that represent

actions (running, painting, knitting) Cool “Impress Yo’ Teacher” (IYT) Fact: Gerunds are

forms of words that come from a verb but function as a noun in certain sentences.

Proper nouns – formal names for things (Boston Celtics, Wilson High School) Each part of a proper noun is capitalized when writing

it in a sentence. I go to Wilson High School.

You only lowercase it when making a general statement. I go to Wilson. It is a pretty good high school.

Last bit of nouns Pronouns – they replace nouns and help us from

making sentences repetitive. Some of the more commonly used pronouns are:

He, she, they, it, him, her, I, me IYT (Impress Yo’ Teacher) Fact: There are actually 9

different types of pronouns in the English language. Personal pronouns - (he, they) Demonstrative pronouns – (this, these) Interrogative pronouns – (which, who) Indefinite pronouns – (none, several) Possessive pronouns – (his, your) Reciprocal pronouns – (each other, one another) Relative pronouns – (which, where) Reflexive pronouns – (itself, himself) Intensive pronouns – (myself, yourself)

We’re talking about Verbs Verbs are doing words. A verb can express a

physical action, a mental action, or a state of being. A physical action (e.g., to swim, to write, to climb). A mental action (e.g., to think, to guess, to consider). A state of being (e.g., to be, to exist, to appear).

Verb Terminology When a verb is preceded by the word “to”, it is said to

be in its infinitive form . . . a.k.a. it’s most basic form. I am going to buy that!

The person or thing performing the action of the verb is said to be the subject of the verb or the subject of the sentence. Tony stole the boat – Tony is the subject of to steal

More Verb TermsMany verbs perform an action on

something. This is called the direct object of the verb. Tony kissed her hand – her hand is the

direct object of the verb to kissSome verbs have two objects, a direct

object and an indirect object. The indirect object is the person or thing for whom the action was performed. John read the children a story – “a story”

direct object and “children” indirect object

Last Part of Verbs Some verbs cannot have a direct object.

These verbs are said to be intransitive verbs. (IYT Fact!!) The rain fell heavily. (The rain fell, but it did not

perform an action on anything. In this example, the verb “to fall” is an intransitive verb.)

Verbs that can have a direct object (most of them) are called transitive verbs. (IYT Fact!!) Blake copied the answer. (the answer - direct

object of the transitive verb to copy)

Practice - Verbs Write each of the following sentences down

in your notebook and underline the verb. After you underline it, identify if the verb is transitive or intransitive. I laughed. I rode the bicycle. I baked some cookies. I cried all day. I walked to the park today. Cars honked and trees rustled as I drove down the

street. The lion sleeps. The town elected George mayor. He shouted with

joy when he won.

Those amazing adjectives Adjectives are describing words. “large”,

“heavy” and “friendly” are all examples of adjectives.

Adjectives modify nouns. Adjectives are added to nouns to state what kind, what color, which or how many.

Adjectives modify nouns and help make the meaning of sentences clearer and more exact.

Although not completely common, adjectives can also modify pronouns. It’s a blue one

The adjective “blue” is modifying the pronoun “one”

More amazing adjectives IYT Fact: Did you know . . . . Aside from all the

generic describing words that we know of, there are 6 other types of adjectives that exist!!! Personal titles – titles that go in front of a name

I need to go see Dr. Andrews I am excited to see Uncle Joe today.

Possessive adjectives – these are all the personal pronouns My, your, his, her, its, our and their

That is my book Articles – words like “a”, “an” and “the” are called

articles but they can also help modify a noun. I need a cup Can you bring me the cup on the table?

3 down, 3 to go . . . Demonstrative adjectives – Used to

demonstrate or indicate specific things This, that, these and those are all demonstrative

adjectives. If that parrot makes noise again, I am going to scream.

Indefinite adjectives – Unlike demonstrative adjectives, indefinite adjectives do not point out specific things. They are formed from indefinite pronouns such as: many, any, few and several The teacher has heard many students make the

same promise Numbers – they help identify how many

I have four pairs of shoes I just got two tickets to tomorrow’s game

Adjective Practice Write each sentence in your notebook and underline

the adjectives you see in each sentence. Then, identify if it is a common adjective or one of the other 6 we just went over. Craig caught two large bass. When I slipped on that patch of ice my body froze. Please put the old documents in this shredder. I need to talk to Mr. Chantler about the project he

assigned in class today. Many people audition for the show but only four

contestants are chosen. Peter guessed the right number. My Aunt Stacy said she brought me back a gift from

her vacation. If it is one of those stupid snow globes again I am going to be mad!