GRAMMAR BASIC

S

Nouns

• Defined:– Person• Mrs. Peters, boy

– Place• school, Coral Ridge Mall, Pancheros

– Thing• window, house, tree

– Idea• love, happiness, fear, peace

Find the nouns in this sentence

• When Mrs. Peters went to the store, she bought a turkey for Thanksgiving.– Mrs. Peters (person)– Store (place)– Turkey (thing)– Thanksgiving (thing)

Now your turn… find the nouns

• James was sitting at his desk, eating his lunch, when he dropped his fork on the ground.– James (person)– desk (thing)– lunch (thing)– fork (thing)– ground (place)

Identifying Subjects and Verbs

• Nouns are person, place, thing, idea• There is usually a noun (or more) of the

sentence that is/are most important. That is the subject of the sentence.

• To have a complete SENTENCE you must have:• 1) subject (the “doer” of the verb)• 2) verb (action or state of being)• 3) complete thought

Identify the subject & verb:• *Hint: 1.find the verb / 2. ask “who or

what?” before the verb.• EX: Sherlock Holmes has many dedicated

fans. • 1. Verb = has

– notice how “has” shows tense …like all verbs!• 2. Q: “Who or what has?”

– A: Sherlock Holmes has.• Thus, the subject is Sherlock Holmes. (Ta

da!)

Practice Sentences• 1. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote four novels and several short stories

about Sherlock Holmes.– verb: wrote– Who or what “wrote”?– subject: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

• 2. I just read The Hound of the Baskervilles.– Verb: read– Who or what “read”?– Subject: I

• 3. Sherlock Holmes is an exceptionally clever detective.– Verb: is– Who or what “is”?– Subject: Sherlock Holmes

Practice Sentences

• 4. Holmes thwarts the evil Professor Moriarty in many stories.– Verb: thwarts– Who or what “thwarts”?– Subject: Holmes

• 5. Have you read any Sherlock Holmes stories?– Verb: read– Who or what “read”?– Subject: You

Compound Subjects

• COMPOUND SUBJECT: two or more subjects that share the same verb

• Compound: Tony and Mae baked the bread.– Verb: baked (who or what baked?)– Subject: Tony and Mae

• Not Compound: Tony baked the bread and Mae ate it.

Compound Verbs

• COMPOUND VERB: two or more verbs that share the same subject.

• Compound: Tony baked the bread and ate it.– Verb: baked, ate– Who or what baked & ate?– Subject: Tony

• Not Compound: Tony baked the bread and he ate it.

Compound subject & verb

•FYI - A sentence can have a compound subject and a compound verb: 

•Tony and Mae baked the bread and ate it.– Verbs: baked, ate– Who or what baked and ate?– Subjects: Tony & Mae

Special Notes

• *Remember: a sentence can have more than one subject and/or more than one verb:

• Tony baked the bread and Mae ate it.

• This does NOT make said subject or verb compound.

• To be compound, the subjects must share the same verb(s), and the verbs must share the same subject(s).

Practice Sentences

• 1. George Crum invented the potato chip in 1853, while he was working as a chef in Sarasota Springs, New York.– Verb: invented, was; subject: George Crum, he

• 2. A customer in Crum’s restaurant complained about his fried potatoes and sent them back to the kitchen.– Verb: complained and sent, subject: customer

• 3. The man said his potato slices were too thick and asked for thinner slices.– Verb: said, asked; subject: man

Practice Sentences• 4. The request insulted Crum, who angrily cut

the potatoes paper-thin. – Verb: insulted, subject: request– Verb: cut, subject: Crum

• 5. To Crum’s surprise, the customer and his companions loved the crispy chips.– Verb: loved, subject: customer & companions

Pronouns & Antecedents• A PRONOUN is a word

that is used in place of one or more nouns or pronouns.

• The word that a pronoun stands for or refers to is called the ANTECEDENT of the pronoun.

• The pronoun may appear in the same sentence as its antecedent or in a nearby sentence.

Examples Together

• The children gave themselves a big hand. – The antecedent of the pronoun themselves is

children.

• Don and Carla finally solved the algebra problem. They had worked on it a long time.– The antecedents of the pronoun they are Don and

Carla; the antecedent of the pronoun it is problem.

On Your Own

• 1) Cesar invited his friends to go camping with him.• 2) Erica said she had prepared the whole meal

herself.• 3) Why are the baseball players wearing their caps

backward?• 4) Jody and Michelle gathered things for a time

capsule and buried it in their backyard.• 5) Loni wore her suede boots in the snow. Now

they are probably stained.

On Your Own

• 6) Juanita lent Dominic her calculator. He had left his in his locker.

• 7) Brian and Marla play golf whenever they can. It is their favorite sport.

• 8) Ahmal hopes to compete in the next Olympic games. Where will they be held?

• 9) Did Carolyn sprain her ankle while she was skating?

• 10) Carlos and Ann decided they could not stay indoors on such a beautiful day.

Adjectives

• An adjective is a word that is used to modify (change) a noun or a pronoun.

• An adjective tells:– What kind?– Which one?– How many?

Examples of Adjectives

• What kind: – narrow road– helpful teacher – one-act play

• Which one:– that person– Irish holiday– one hundredth

anniversary

• How many:– several chores– fewer errors– twenty-five minutes

– How would you modify:– apples– day– friendship

Identify the nouns and adjectives…

• 1) After the hot, humid summer, we welcomed the cool, crisp autumn days.

• 2) The driving test requires a thorough understanding of the various traffic signs.

• 3) The mayor surprised everyone at the winter carnival by arriving in a horse- drawn sleigh.

• 4) Completing these math projects took many hours.• 5) The most important contest in professional

football is the annual Super Bowl game.

• 6) Helena placed a bouquet of fresh flowers in a vase on the oak table.

• 7) The curious sightseers looked forward to exploring the mysterious cavern.

• 8) A young eagle soared swiftly beyond the billowy, snow-white clouds.

• 9) The new karate instructor is a skillful teacher.• 10) In the next tree were three tiny newborn

robins.

Adverbs

• An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

• An adverb tells: – where – when– how– to what extent (how long or

how much)

Examples of Adverbs• Where?

– Please set the package here.• When?

– Yesterday we went on a picnic.• How?

– The audience responded enthusiastically.• To what extent?

– Your advice was quite helpful.

Now you try…

• How would you modify these verbs?

• RUN

• EAT

• SCREAM

• SLEEP

Identify the verbs and adverbs

• 1) During summer vacations I usually go to camp.• 2) The swirling river tossed the boat wildly.• 3) We will meet you later at the library.• 4) Dangerously strong winds threatened the coastal villages.• 5) Hurry! Our bus is already here!• 6) Where do you go to school?• 7) I try to avoid horror movies, for they frighten me badly.• 8) The concert artist Yo-Yo Ma’s performance was exceedingly

polished.• 9) Although I practice daily, I am a clumsy piano player.• 10) The children held hands and crossed the street cautiously.

Commonly Misused Words

• Accept– Define: to receive, to believe– I accept this award on behalf of my team.

• Except– Define: besides, other than– Everyone is gone, except Charles.

• To: – Define: In the direction of– I went to Pancheros for lunch.

• Too:– Define: Also, additionally, excessively– I’m a soccer player too.– He loved her too much.

• Two:– Define: number– There are two cute dogs on my power point slide.

• Their:– Define: possessive, belonging to– Their dog big me on the hand.

• There:– Define: place (adverb)– The football game was over there. – (here to there- location!)

• They’re:– Define: They are– They’re weird, so I kept to myself.

Commonly Misused Words, cont…

• Which one is the correct spelling? • Answers:– all right– anyway– a lot– I’m

• its:– Define: Possessive, belongs to “it”– Its name is Howard.

• it’s:– Define: It is– It’s his parrot. It’s eating a cracker.

• knew:– Define: Knowledge– Do you know how to feed parrots?

• new:– Define: Recent, fresh, just created– Their new parrot was always repeating bad words.

• whether:– Define: Making a choice– I didn’t know whether to have pizza or spaghetti.

• weather:– Define: climate or external conditions– The weather outside is frightful

• weather(ed)– Define: Worn down, lasting – Our friendship weathered the years.

• Affect– Define: (v) influence– She was greatly affected by her bad grade.

• Effect– Define: (n) result– When I eat too much Halloween candy, the effect is nausea.