Sentences &
Verbs
English 101
Sentences
Elements of a Sen
tence
● Subject (noun
or pronoun)
● Predicate (alw
ays includes a verb
; what the subject
● Clauses
is / does)
○ Group of word
s containing subje
ct & predicate
○ Independent
○ Subordinate
Elements of a Sen
tence
● Phrases
○ Group of word
s that make sense
yet lacks proper s
both
ubject, verb, or
○ 5 types
■ Prepositional
■ Appositive
■ Participial
■ Gerund
■ Infinitive
Sentence Fragme
nts
● Avoid in acade
mic writing
● Identifying fra
gments
○ Must have ind
ependent clause
● Editing fragme
nts
○ Add subject
○ Add verb
○ Remove subord
inating word
○ Add fragment
to nearby
sentence if it mak
es sense
to do so
Comma Splices
● Two or more in
dependent clause
s with only a comm
● Fused sentenc
a in between them
es
● Editing Comm
a Splices
○ Make 2 senten
ces
○ Use a comma
and subordinating
conjunction
○ Use semicolon
(;)
● Intentional co
mma splices
○ Proverbs
○ Avoid in acade
mic writing
Modifiers
● Restricts or a
dds to the sense o
f a head noun
● Describes ano
ther word or phra
se
● Dangling mod
ifiers
○ Editing
● Misplaced mo
difiers
○ editing
VERBS
Tenses
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Past
Present
Future
Present Perfect
Past Perfect
Future Perfect
“Progressive”
Forms
●
●
●
●
●
Base
Past
Past Participle
Gerund
Infinitive
Helping Verbs
●
●
●
●
Do
Have
Be
Modals
○ Likelihood
○ Assumption
○ Expectation
○ Ability
○ Necessity / ob
ligation
○ Permission / re
quest
○ Advice
○ Intention
Voice
● ACTIVE
○ Subject perform
s action
○ More direct, e
asy to understand
● PASSIVE
○ Subject receiv
es action
○ Emphasizes re
cipient of action
■ Use in scientifi
c writing
when emphasizing
research
itself
Mood
●
●
●
●
Indicative
Imperative
Subjunctive
Conditional sente
nces
Phrasal Verbs
● Composed of m
ore than one word
● Separable
● Inseparable
b
r
e
V
t
c
e
j
Sub
t
n
e
m
e
e
r
g
A
Agree in # & pers
on
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Singular, plural
First, second, thir
d
Verb agrees with s
ubject
Compound subjec
ts
Subjects follow ve
rbs must agree
Collective nouns
“Everyone” & inde
finite verbs
“Who,” “That,” “W
hich”
Pronouns
Pronouns
●
●
●
●
Pronoun - Anteced
ent Agreement
Indefinite Pronoun
s
Collective Nouns
Pronoun Referenc
e
○ Ambiguous re
ference?
○ Implied refere
nce
Pronoun Case
● Case can chan
ge based on functi
on
○ Subject / subje
ct complements
○ Object
○ Possessives
● Subject Comp
lements
○ Follow linking
verbs
● Compound str
uctures
○ Compound sub
ject
○ Compound obje
ct
Pronoun Case
●
●
●
●
After “than” or “a
s”
Before or after infi
nitives
Before gerunds
“Who” or “Whom”
Parallelism
Parallelism
● Emphasizes co
nnection between
elements
○ Series or list
○ Paired ideas
n
o
i
t
a
n
i
d
r
o
Co
n
o
i
t
a
n
i
d
r
Subo
Coordination
● Give equal weig
ht to each idea
○ Coordinating c
onjunction
○ Pair of correla
tive conjunctions
○ Semicolon
Subordination
● Give more em
phasis to one of th
e ideas
○ Most importan
t in independent c
lause
○ Less importan
t in subordinate c
lause
Shifts
Shift
● Tense
● Point of View
● Number