October 16, 2016
Subject: Who or what a setence is about. (Biologists often study animals.)
Verb: The part of a setence that asserts something about a subject.(Biologists often study animals.)
Noun: A word that names a person, thing, quality, place, or idea.
Helping Verb: A verb used with another verb to convey time, obligation, or other meaning. (was drilling, would have been drilling)
Passive Voice: The verb form used when the subject names the receiver of the verb’s action. (The house was destroyed by the tornado.)
Active Voice: The verb form used when the subject names the performer of the verb’s action. (The tornado destroyed the house.)
Main Clause: A word group that can stand alone as a sentence, containing a subject, and a verb not beginning with a subordinating word. (The books were expensive)
Modifier: A word or word group that describes another word or word group (sweet candy, running in the park)
Coordinating Conjunctions: And, but, or, nor, and sometimes for, so , yet.
Conjunctive Adverbs: Modifiers that describe the relation of the ideas in two cleauses such as hence, however, indeed, and thus.
Subordinate Clause: A word group that contains a subject and a verb beginning with a subordinating word such as because or who and is not a question. (Words can do damage when they hurt feelings.)
Phrase: A word group that lacks a subject or verb or both. (Words can do damage by hurting feelings.)
Correlative Conjunctions: Pairs of words that connect elements of the same kind and importance, such as both… and, either… or, neither… nor, not…but, not only… but also.
Adverb: A word or word group that describes a verb or an adjective, another adverb, or a whole sentence. (dressed sharply, clearly unhappy, soaring from the mountain)
Adjective: A word or word group that describes a noun or pronoun. (sweet smile, certain someone)
Subjects and verbs are underlined.
Unemphatic:
The intention of the company was to expand its workforce. A proposal was also made to diversify the backgrounds and abilities of employees.
Revised:
The company intended to expand its workforce. It also proposed to diversify the backgrounds and abilities of employees.
| Unemphatic | Emphatic |
| was influential | influenced |
| is a glorification | glorifies |
| have a preference | prefer |
| had the appearance | appeared, seemed |
| made a claim | claimed |
Cumulative: Sentence begins with a main clause and adds modifiers.
ex. Education has no equal in opening minds, instilling values, and creating opportunities
Periodic: Saves the main clause until just before the end of the sentence.
ex. In opening minds, instilling values, and creating opportunities, education has no equal.
Subordination: Indicate that some elements in a sentence are less important others for your meaning.
Similarity of grammatical form elements of meaning with a sentence or among sentences.
Adverb modifiers: (ex. For a week, he relentlessly cross-examined the witness, modifies cross-examined)
Adjective modifiers: (ex. The witness had been expecting to be dismissed within an hour, modifies witness)
Transitional expressions: (such as indeed)
Abstract words: name, qualities, and ideas
Concrete words: name things we can know by our five senses
General words: name classes or group of things
Specific words: limit a general class
Idioms: expressions in language
Nouns
Common nouns: name general classes of things that do no begin with capital letters.
Proper nouns: name specific people.
Count nouns: name things considered countable in English. Most add -s or -es.
Noncount nouns: name things that aren’t considered countable.
Collective nouns: are singular in form but name groups.
Pronouns
Personal pronouns: refer to a specific individual or to individuals (I, you, he she, we)
Indefinite pronouns: everybody or some, function as nouns.
Relative Pronouns: who, whoever, which, that, relate groups of words to nouns
Interrogative pronouns: who, which, and what (introduce questions)
Demonstrative pronouns: this, that, and such (identify or point to nouns)
Intensive pronouns: a persona pronoun plus -self or -selves (himself, ourselves)
Reflexive pronouns: have the same form as intensive pronouns but indicate that the sentence subject also receives the action of the verb (They injured themselves)
pg. 154
plain form: dictionary form of the verb.
-s form: ends in -s or -es.
past-tense: action occured before. (usually has -d or -ed)
past participle: past tense for irregular verbs (combines have or be to has climbed, was created)
present participle: adds -ing to plain form (is buying), modifies nouns and pronouns (boiling water) or functions as a noun (running exhausts me)
Helping verbs:
Prepositions:
Subordinating Conjunctions:
Intransitive verb: does not require a following word to complete meaning. (The earth trembled)
Transitive verb: requires a direct object to complete the meaning. (The city was destroyed)
Subject complement: renames or describes subject (The result was chaos) Linking verb: links subject to description (The result was chaos)
indirect object: word identifying action of the verb (The government sent the city aid)
object complement: verb followed by direct object and an object complement The citizens considered the earthquake a disaster
prepositional phrase: consists of a preposition plus a noun (of, on, with, upon, from)
verbal phrase: modifiers or nouns (the sun rising over the dump)
participle phrases: present participles (ending in -ing) or past participles (usually ending in -d or -ed)
gerund: -ing fomr of a verb that acts as a noun.
infinitive: verb plus to
absolute phrases: noun or pronoun and a participle plus modifiers (their own place established many ethnic groups are making way for new arrivals) appositive phrases: noun that renames another noun. (Bizen ware, a dark stoneware, is produced in Japan.)
adjective clause: modifies a noun or pronoun (parents who are illiterate may have bad memories of school)
adverb clause: modifies a verb, an adjective, another adverb, word group (The school began teaching parents)
simple: single main clause no subordinate clause. (last summer was unsuaully hot)
compound: two or more clauses and no subordinate clause. (Last July was hot, but August was even hotter)
complex: one main clause and one or more subordinate clause. (Rain finally came, although many had left the area by then)
compound-complex: two or more clauses and at least one subordinate clause
regular: if the past and present is -d or -ed to the plain form irregular: not regular
tense: shows the time of a verb’s action
Mood:
October 31, 2016
Indirect question: someone asked but not in the exact form of the original question. (ex. “The judge asked why I had been driving with my lights off.”)