Nouns
A noun is a naming word. It may be a
thing, a person or a place.
There are three types of nouns:
•Common nouns
•Proper nouns
•Collective nouns
Common nouns
These are the general names of things:
dog
woman
cat
cow
horse
table computer
boy
chair
girl
man
television
Proper nouns
These nouns are the names of particular people, places or
things. They have a Capital letter.
Bethany
Durham
Luke
Brighton
Collective nouns
These are a group of things
They have special names for different groups, but
some of the most common include:
•Army of soldiers
•Herd of cows
•Flock of seagulls
•Bunch of bananas
Pronouns
Pronouns do the same job as a noun. Words like he, she,
it, mine and yours are all pronouns. They are used in
the place of nouns. They are very useful, because they
stop you from repeating yourself. If your writing was
full of the same words being repeated, it could easily
become dull!
E.g.. Warren ate some cake, because Warren liked
chocolate cake most of all. Warren ate it every chance
that Warren got.
Adjectives
Adjectives are describing words. They describe a noun
in a sentence. E.g.
•The tabby cat
•The slippery slug
•The loud, angry man
•The glittering sea
Verbs
Verbs are words that describe actions. Every sentence
has to have a verb or it is not a sentence. Verbs tell
you what a person or thing is doing. For example, in the
sentence: The fish is swimming, the word swimming is
the verb.
e.g.
•The man shouted
the bell rang
•The girl giggled
the firework fizzed
•The shark chewed
the dog barked
Passive verbs
Passive verbs tell you about what is being done. A
sentence with a passive verb tells you about the thing
or person that the action is happening to. It does not
always say what or who is doing the action, though. For
example, in the sentence: The window was polished, we
do not know who did the polishing.
•The cat was stroked
•The girl was taken to school
•The paper was folded
•The baby was cuddled
•The dog was walked
•The dinner was cooked
Active verbs
Active verbs tell you what is being done and who is
doing it. For example, in the sentence, Maria polished
the window, we know who polished the window – Maria.
•I stroked the cat
•Beth took the girl to school
•Dad folded the paper
•Ellie cuddled the baby
•Alexander walked the
dog
•Lily cooked the dinner
Adverbs
Adverbs are words that describe verbs, for example, in
the sentence: The shark swam quickly, the word quickly
is the adverb. It describes the verb swam, telling us
how it was done. For example:
•The lion roared fiercely
•The snow fell thickly
•The sun shone brightly
•The woman smiled warmly
•The steam flowed quickly
•The storm raged angrily
Tenses
Verbs change tense to show us when things happen –
whether it is past, present for future. For example:
•I ate the pizza. Past
•I am eating the pizza. Present
•I shall eat the pizza. Future
Grammar: Get the right tense
Question: “What do you do on Saturdays, Dave?”
“I get up at about 10 o’clock and go down to the shop to
buy a paper. Then I make some tea and toast and listen
to the sport on Radio 5 live. In the afternoon I go to
the match with my mates. We meet in a pub in town at 1
o'clock. We have a pint and then walk to the ground.
Everybody is in a good mood and looking forward to the
game. After the match I go to my girlfriend’s for my
dinner. Later on we watch a video.”
Question: “What did you do last Saturday, Dave?”
Rewrite the above in answer to this question
How to put simple sentences together
Constant use of short sentences can be a bit strange to
read. To make your writing more interesting, you can
use two other sorts of longer sentences. This simplest
of these is the compound sentence.
When you have two or more short, independent, simple
sentences which are of equal weight you can join them
together using special words called conjunctions.
e.g. I hate curry is a simple sentence
I like Thai food is also a simple sentence.
You can put these together to make one, longer and
more interesting compound sentence using a
conjunction.
I hate curry but I like Thai food
Beware – the conjunction you use may change the
meaning of your sentence. Conjunctions don’t just
stick sentences together they show the relationship
between the pieces of information.
e.g.
I walked home. I was tired
I walked home and I was tired
I walked home as I was tired
I walked home but I was tired
I walked home so I was tired
I walked home or I was tired
The final
sentence,
using or
doesn’t really
make sense.
You can’t use
every
conjunction
everywhere.
Complex sentences
Complex sentences don’t just divide into neat,
complete, simple sentences if you take out the
conjunctions. In complex sentences the
conjunction is used to join together clauses.
A clause is a group of words that contain a
subject and a verb. Some of these clauses
might be complete short sentences, but in a
complex sentence at least one of them will
depend on the conjunction for its meaning. In
other words, if you take the conjunction away,
the sentence won’t divide into complete units
that make sense by themselves.
e.g.
The dinner was burned because she had forgotten it.
= The dinner was burned + because + she had forgotten it.
•The dinner was burned = complete, short sentence
•because = conjunction (joining word)
•she had forgotten it = subordinate clause.
This doesn’t make sense on its own. What had she
forgotten? This is call a ‘subordinate clause’ because
without the rest of the sentence it doesn’t really make
sense.
Although I’m not very good, I really enjoy playing football
= Although = conjunction (joining word). Yes sometimes
conjunctions can appear a the beginning of a sentence.
I’m not very good = subordinate clause. This doesn’t make
sense on its own. What are you not very good at?
I enjoy playing football = complete short sentence
BEWARE!
As for compound sentences, commas are not conjunctions
and they should never be used to join short sentences or
clauses together (commas aren’t sticky, so you can’t use
them to stick information together!).
e.g.
The dinner was burned, she had forgotten it.
= incorrect
The dinner was burned because she had forgotten it.
= correct
The important joining words
The ‘magnificent seven’ conjunctions (the most commonly
used) are:
and, although, as, because, but, if, or
There are a number of other important conjunctions
that you can use. These can be put into categories of
time, place, or agreement.
TIME = before, after, until, since, when, whenever, while
e.g.
We all went home before a fight broke out.
She went to bed after she put the cat out.
There will be no peace until somebody says that they
are sorry.
It has not been the same around here since our friends
moved away.
They put the television off when the programme had
finished.
He washes his new car whenever it gets mucky.
The children go to the crèche while Mum goes to work.
PLACE =
where
e.g.
Remember that restaurant where you ate a huge steak.
AGREEMENT =
though, although, whether
e.g.
He could play the violin though he was only five years old.
I would invite you to come in although the place is a mess.
It was a great show whether you wanted to join in or just
watch.
Try to avoid using the same conjunction over and over
again. It is much better to ‘mix and match’.
Discover writing
•Creative writing – this is where you use your imagination to
delight your reader, creating stories, poems or plays out of
your own head.
•Informative writing – here you learn to find, select and
present facts and information in a lively and interesting way
in articles, reports, leaflets etc.
•Persuasive writing – the purpose of this kind of writing is
to persuade your readers to accept a particular point of
view, putting the case for or against something. You learn
how to present a logical argument.
•Reflective or analytical writing – for this you may be
asked to reflect on your own experiences and feelings, and
write about them. Or you might think about something
someone else has said or written, and comment on it.
Rules for good writing
1. Before you start, listen. Wait for the words to come to
you. Be patient. Don’t try to force anything.
2. Find the right word. Be sure you choose exactly the
right word for the job. That means it must carry the
precise meaning you want, and it must sound right in
your sentence.
3. Simple is beautiful. Aim to write simply and clearly. On
the whole, it is better not to use a long word when a
short one will do just as well.
4. No unnecessary words. If you don’t really need a word,
cross it out.
5. Be generous. Write fully. Don’t hold back. Think
carefully whether you have covered all appropriate
aspects of what you are writing about.
6. Vary your sentence structure. If you have written
several long, involved sentences, follow them with a
short snappy one. If your writing tends to consist of
a series of short, jerky little sentences, practice
writing longer ones using subordinate clauses.
7. Be logical. Divide your material into topics, with a
separate paragraph for each one.
8. Get the flow. Link your paragraphs so that each one
follows on smoothly and logically from the last one.
That way your reader can easily follow your train of
thought.
9. Listen. Listen to every word. Only by listening can
you judge whether what you are writing is ‘just right’
or not. Listen to each sentence. Hear the whole
sentence. Listen to each paragraph – to its beginning
and ending.
Write about personal experiences
Writing about something you did. Oh dear, how boring.
But it needn’t be boring – not if you give it a little
thought. The key is to decide which were the really
interesting or unusual bits, and write about them.
Grab your readers attention. In any piece of writing, you
should always aim to get your reader hooked from the
first sentence. Try to think of a striking or unusual way
to begin
For practice
1. Challenge yourself: write a really lively account of
one of these:
a. A visit to a friend’s house
b. Going to the local park
c. A day by yourself at home.
2. Think back over your life. What occasion stands out
most vividly in your memory? Write about it.
3. What is the most exciting and memorable trip you
have ever been on? Write about it. (Remember –
leave out any dull bits.)
4. Write a piece called ‘My favourite place’. Really
bring it alive. Make your reader feel he or she is
really there, seeing it with you.