Parts of Speech are the types of words

·          Noun -- a person, place, thing, or idea

·          Verb -- an action or state of beingPronouns -- represent nouns [stand for nouns]

o         Examples

§          Ordinary -- he, she, it, they, we

§          Possessive -- his, hers, its, theirs, ours

·          Adjectives – modify or “add” to nouns

·          Adverbs – modify or “add” to verbs

·          Conjunctions -- join words or clauses

o         and

o         but

o         or

o         so

o         because  [never comes after a comma]

·          Prepositions -- create relationships

o         Memory clue -- a preposition is everything a squirrel can do with a tree

o         It can go

§          up the tree

§          over the tree

§          around the tree

§          through the tree     ETC...

·          Articles -- introduce things

o         A, an, the

Sentences

Sentences have two parts…

·          A subject

o         The subject contains the main noun and all words connected to it           

§          EX:The tall lanky boy strode down the street.

·          A predicate

o         The predicate is the main verb part of the sentence and all words connected to that main verb.

§          EX: The tall lanky boy strode down the street.

·          A main clause is the subject and verb of a sentence.  Sometimes the main clause is the whole sentence.

§          She rode home in the car. 

§          He laughed.

·          A Run-On sentence is…

§          Two sentences or more which are joined incorrectly!

·          EX: She came home and she went right to bed. 

§          The most common type of Run-On Sentence is a comma splice.  It is when two sentences are “spliced” together with a comma. 

·          EX: He was dying to go to the concert, she had no intention of going.

·          Fix Run-Ons by…

o         Using a conjunction and a comma…

§          , and

§          He was dying to go to the concert, but she had no intention of going.

§          , or

§          , so

o         Using a semi-colon…

§          He was dying to go to the concert; she had no intention of going.

o         Inserting a period! 

§          He was dying to go to the concert.  She had no intention of going.

o         Omit words or add words…

§          Both he and she were

·          Sentence fragments are…

o         Incomplete sentences.

§          In a minute.

o         Fragments are missing a verb part or a subject part.  To fix them, you must add the missing parts: the subject [noun part], the predicate [verb part], or BOTH!

§          In a minute.

·          To fix this fragment…

o         Add a subject.

o         Add a verb.

o         That’s adding a whole main clause!

§          I will finish in a minute!

Agreement

·          A subject and the verb that works with it should “agree” or work together.

o         Wrong:

§          He sit in the chair.

§          They is home at the moment.

o         Correct:

§          They are home now.

§          He sits in the chair.

·          Pronouns must agree with what is called the antecedent.

o         The antecedent is the noun that is replaced by the pronoun.

§          Hillary does her work, and she gets good grades.

§          Dagwood has long hair.  His mother says he should get a haircut.

§          The antecedent  can be thought of as “the noun that came before” [ante means before] the pronoun.

§          Incorrect:  [Anyone is singular!]: Anyone would like the novel Lord of the Flies because they would find it to be a realistic tale of survival.

·          Instead of “they,” try “he or she” [NOT HE/SHE] , “he,” “she,” “one,” or “a reader”

Mechanics: The Tools

·          Capitalization

§          Capitalize…

·          the first word in a sentence

·          the interjection O and the pronoun I

·          proper nouns and proper adjectives [adjectives made from proper nouns]

·          names of persons, places, things

·          titles that are part of peoples’ names

·          all words in the titles of books, etc., except for unimportant words

o         unimportant words are…

§          articles: a, an, the

§          short prepositions [fewer than 5 letters]: of, to, in, for, from, with

§          coordinating conjunctins: and, but, nor, or, so, yet

§          be sure to always capitalize the first and last words in a title.

·          Correct:  The Land of the Dinosaurs

·          Incorrect:  the Land of the Word from

·          Punctuation

o         Do you know that ? or ! can be used as a comma in certain situations? 

§          These are correct...

·          Hey!  Don’t do that!

·          “Down in front!” yelled the crowd.

·          Did Mr. Shields actually we will have “no homework”?

·          “Why not?” asked the boy.  “I don’t care, anyway.”

o         Use commas…

·          to separate items in dates, addresses, extra names [like Jr.]

·          after a salutation or closing in a letter

·          in between items in a list or series unless they are joined by a word like and, or, by

·          between 2 adjectives

·          after introductory words or phrases

·          to set off interrupters [instead of parentheses!] or non-essential phrases

·          to set off names in direct reference

o         A comma can cut a sentence in half and glue it back together backwards:

§          I will be done in a minute.

·          In a minute, I will be done.

o         A semi-colon is used between independent clauses [SENTENCES!]

§          When items in a series have commas within each of them

o         A colon is used...

·          To mean “note what follows.”  In other words, to INTRODUCE.

·          Before long formally introduced quotations.

·          Between two independent clauses [sentences] when the second means the same or defines the first.

o         A dash is used...

§          Before an explanation.  It means “namely” or “in other words” or “that is”…

§          To show a break in thought

o         Use parentheses...

§          To enclose information or an explanation

§          ONLY in informal writing

o         Use brackets...

§          ONLY within parentheses

§          I went home (I was very hungry [I hadn’t been home since breakfast] by then),

§          and I ate.

o         The apostrophe is used a couple of ways

§          Here are some examples:

§          Ariel's

§          Its [NO APPOSTROPHE HERE!]

§          it's - it is

§          can't

§          a's and b's

o         Quotation marks are used correctly in these examples:

§          “I’m in trouble,” said Jane, “because I didn’t finish my homework.”

§          “That’s horrid!” cried Sam.  “What were you thinking?”

§          “I was reading my favorite poem, ‘Love Sonnet,’ and fell asleep,” sighed Jane.

Grammar Notes  Start with some confusable words…

§          Lie – rest Lying, lay, have lain

§          Lay – put                Laying, laid, have laid

§          Sit – rest  Sitting, sat, have sat

§          Set – put Setting, set, have set

§          Rise -go up

·          Rise, rose, have risen

§          Raise - move something up

·          Raising, raised, have raised

o         Homonyms - are   pronounced alike but spelled differently.

·          Red, read

·          Your, you're

·          Reel, real              

·          Ill, eel

·          Will, we'll

·          Two, to, too

·          Pair, pare, pear

·          Blew, blue

·          Air, heir, ere, err

·          Their, they're, there

·          Four, for

·          Bee, be

·          Bare, bear

·          Fat, phat

·          Here, hear, hare, hair

·          Rain, reign

·          Eye, I

·          Close, clothes

·          Or, oar, ore

·          But, butt

·          Write, right

·          Affect - verb- to change

o         Violence on T.V.  affects teenagers'

·          Effect - noun - change

o         Violence has a negative effect on the young.

Spelling Rules:

·          E and I together --

o         for the sound EE:

§          I before E except after C

o         for the sound AY      or other sounds:

§          EI

·          Adding prefixes:

o         Change nothing

§          Misspell

§          Uneducated

·          Suffixes

o         LY and NESS:

§          Change nothing

§          Friendly

§          Shyness

o         Drop the silent e before a suffix beginning with a vowel

§          hoping

§          ticklish

o         Keep the silent E with a suffix that starts with a consonant.

§          Ninety

o         Change Y to I before a suffix unless it starts with I

§          friendliness

§          worried

o         When the word ends in vowel + Y, then just add the suffix.

§          Joyful

o         When a word ends in a consonant, double the final consonant before a suffix that begins with a vowel  IF

§          there is only one syllable

·          sitting

§          the accent is on the second syllable.

·          Propeller

·          Traveled

§          the word ends in vowel + consonant

·          dropping

o         To form plurals…

§          Usually just add S

·          chairs

§          If the noun ends in S, X, Z, CH, or SH, add ES

·          boxes

§          If it ends in consonant + Y, change Y to I and add ES

·          army…armies

§          Some nouns ending in F change F to V and add S or ES

·          leaf…leaves

§          If it ends in consonant + O, add ES

·          hero…heroes

·          kangaroo…kangaroo

§          Compound words take the S on the noun

·          mothers-in-law