Purposive Communication ; Mid-terms
Friday, 2PM-5PM ; PCM 101 ; Prof. Crisanta De Leon
REVIEW ON GRAMMAR
A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. As with
nouns, pronouns perform a variety of jobs in the English
language, and just as you did with nouns, you can group
pronouns based on those jobs they perform.
Pronoun cases. To speak and write English correctly, you
select different pronouns depending on their case, that is, how
they are to be used as a phrase. In the English language, there
are three main cases:
The subjective case
The objective case
The possessive case
When pronouns are acting as subjects of sentences,
you must use subjective case pronouns.
When pronouns are acting as direct objects, indirect
objects, or objects of prepositions, use pronouns in the
objective case.
Whenever you want to show ownership of something,
you must use pronouns in the possessive case.
Incorrect:
Me went to the store with my mother.
Correct:
I went to the store with my mother.
Linking verbs link or connect the subject of the sentence to
the predicate of the sentence. Rather than describing action, a
linking verb helps the words following it to refer to the subject.
Linking verbs describe no action- they merely state an existing
condition or relationship. The most common linking verbs are
some from the verb “to be” such as;
Am
is
be being
can
Have
are
will be
were/was
You have learned that a verb expresses an action or state of
being. The tense of a verb tells whether that action or the state
of being is occurring in the present, occurred in the past, or will
occur in the future. The English language uses several tenses,
but for now, let’s just talk about the three main ones: present,
past and future.
The present tense describes something that exists or is
happening now. To form the present tense, you usually add an
-s to the verb when the subject is singular.
Anne helps her mother prepare the dinner.
The past tense describes something that has assisted or has
already happened. For most verbs, you can write their past
tense form by adding -d or -ed.
Anne helped her mother prepare for the dinner.
The future tense describes something that will exist or
something that will happen. You usually add the helping verbs
will or shall to the main verb to show the future tense.
Anne will help her mother prepare the dinner.
A preposition is a word that shows the relationship between a
noun or pronoun and another noun or pronoun.
Joe’s dog is under the table.
My math class is after my social studies class.
A conjunction is a word that joins words or groups of words in
a sentence. The most common conjunctions are and, or and
but and they are also the most commonly used words in the
English language. Consequently, it’s not too difficult to write a
few sentences using these familiar words.
My friends and I are going to the mall.
We are going today or tomorrow.
I want to go to the mall today, but my friends want to
go to the mall tomorrow.
CORRECT USAGE OF WORDS
Brake, Break
Brake- a device for slowing or stopping motion.
Break- to separate into pieces suddenly or violently
Fare, Fair
Fare- a transportation charge
Fair- light in color
Hear, Here
Hear- to perceive sound by the ear
Here- at or in this place
Its, It’s
Its- the possessive form of it
It’s- the contraction of it is
To, Too
To- in a direction
Too- in addition
There, Their, They’re
There- at or in that place
Their- the possessive form of they
They’re- the contraction of they are
SUBJECT-PREDICATE AGREEMENT
One important way to write clear sentences is to
make sure that the predicate agrees in number with its
subject. Agreement means that a singular subject (noun or
pronoun) requires a singular predicate (verb) . As you would
guess , a plural subject (noun) requires a plural predicate
(verb). Let’s see how to make subjects and predicates agree.
Singular Subject/Singular Predicate
The dog jumps up and down.
The man runs across the street.
Plural Subject/Plural Predicate
The dogs jump up and down.
The men run across the street.