Words,
Clauses
Sentences
Grammar

The Basics


Subject, Verb, Object
Modifiers, Prepositions,
Articles
 Modifiers: Adjectives,
Adverbs
 Prepositions

Articles
Recap


The Preposition Cube

Sentences & Clauses

Independent &
Dependent
The Basics:
Subject, Verb, Object
In English, we almost invariably
structure our sentences in what is
called the “SVO” format:
SVO
Subject – Verb – Object
The Basics:
Subject, Verb, Object
The dog ran home
In English, we almost invariably
structure our sentences in what is
called the “SVO” format:
Subject VerbObject
SVO
Subject – Verb – Object
The Basics:
Subject, Verb, Object
When a sentence is in the “passive
voice,” however, the order is
generally reversed.
“From the ceiling hung the
chandelier”
Here the chandelier is the
subject, even though it follows
the verb, and the ceiling is the
object even though it precedes
the verb.
The Basics:
Subject, Verb, Object
This cup is on the table.
Some people go on
rollercoasters.
My family runs a
restaurant
Jed and Jethro drank
the moonshine
A simple sentence always has a
subject. This is a noun, or noun
phrase, which is “doing” something.
A simple sentence always has a
verb. This is a verb, or verb phrase,
which tells what the subject is doing.
A simple sentence may, or may not,
also have an object. This is a noun, or
noun phrase, which tells to whom or
what the action is being done.
The Basics:
Subject, Verb, Object
The dog ran home
First, identify the verb.
Next, identify the
subject-noun (or noun
phrase).
If there is another noun or
noun phrase which follows the
verb and completes the action
in some way – that is the
object
The Basics:
Subject, Verb, Object
• The dog barked.
• The car crashed.
• The sky is falling.
• My back is aching.
• Your computer has
crashed
Sometimes a simple sentence doesn’t
have an “object” – just a subject and
verb.
The Basics:
Subject, Verb, Object
• John put…
• Ralph laid…
But subjects and verbs do not
necessarily make a complete simple
sentence.
• I gave…
• The dog is…
• I will get…
The simple sentence must form a
complete thought.
The Basics:
Subject, Verb, Object
But just because it’s simple, doesn’t mean a simple sentence is
necessarily short.
The happy, yet strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up
and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
The Basics:
Subject, Verb, Object
Here we have a single subject, a single verb, and a single object.
The happy, yet strangely clean chimneysweep,
chimneysweep ran quickly and cheerfully up
and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
Noun (object)
Noun (subject) verb
The Basics:
Modifiers, Prepositions, Articles
The rest of the words are: modifiers, prepositions, articles, and
conjunctions.
The happy,
happy yet strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up
and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
The Basics:
Modifiers – Adjectives & Adverbs
There are two kinds of modifiers.
Words which modify nouns are called “adjectives.”
The happy
happy, yet strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up
and down the grimy
grimy streets of London in the fog.
Adjectives modifying “chimneysweep.”
Adjective modifying “streets.”
The Basics:
Modifiers – Adjectives & Adverbs
Words which modify verbs are called “adverbs.”
The happy, yet strangely
strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up
and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
Adverbs modifying the verb “ran”
The Basics:
Modifiers – Adjectives & Adverbs
But adverbs also modify adjectives and other adverbs.
The happy, yet strangely
strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up
and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
Adverb modifying adjective “clean.”
The Basics:
Prepositions
Prepositions are words which tell about the position of something and
come before a noun. (“Pre” = before. Therefore, prepositions indicate
position and come before.)
The happy, yet strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up
up
and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
Prepositions revealing direction and position
The Basics:
Prepositions
So
what
are the
of the
wordsabout
here?
Most
of what
yourest
need
to know
prepositions can be learned with a
cube and
ball.
Some
are amodifiers.
There are two types of modifiers.
The Basics:
The Preposition Cube
On
In
Beside
The Basics:
The Preposition Cube
Through
The Basics:
The Preposition Cube
Under
The Basics:
The Preposition Cube
Behind
The Basics:
The Preposition Cube
Across
The Basics:
The Preposition Cube
Around
The Basics:
The Preposition Cube
Near
The Basics:
The Preposition Cube
With
The Basics:
“Of” – The Special Preposition
Joining two nouns:
•The streets of San
Francisco
•Hair of the dog
•Bay of Pigs
Joining a noun to a verb
• Singing of freedom
and joy
• Speaking of penguins
• Thinking of radiators
As noted, prepositions come before
a noun and form the beginning of a
prepositional phrases. “Of,”
however, is slightly different.
It acts very much like a conjunction
in that it combines a noun with
something else: another noun, an
adverb or adjective, or a verb.
The Basics:
“Of” – The Special Preposition
Joining a noun and adjective
• Swift of foot
• Lean of limb
• Warm of heart
Joining a noun to an adverb
• Sprightly of gait
• Fleetingly of
importance
• Hardly of interest
As noted, prepositions come before
a noun and form the beginning of a
prepositional phrases. “Of,”
however, is slightly different.
It acts very much like a conjunction
in that it combines a noun with
something else: another noun, an
adverb or adjective, or a verb.
The Basics:
Articles
Articles
So whatare
arethose
the rest
littleofwords
the words
that sort
here?
of point to a noun. The most
common is “the.”
Some are modifiers. There are two types of modifiers.
The happy, yet strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up
and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
But “the” isn’t the only article.
The Basics:
Articles
The hats those people
wore to this rodeo had
the mayor.
an effect on our
There are two major types of articles:
“definite” and “indefinite.” Both types
are similar in that they point to a
noun.
The Basics:
Articles
• The book
• This book
• That book
• Those books
• These books
A “definite” article points to one or
more specific nouns.
The Basics:
Articles
• A book
• An apple
An “indefinite” article points to an
unspecified instance of a noun.
The Basics:
Putting It All Together
Now let’s go back to our long simple sentence and examine the
types of words it contains.
The happy, yet strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up
and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
verb
Subject-noun
Object-noun
Modifier: Adverbs
Modifier: Adjectives
Prepositions
Articles
The Basics:
Putting It All Together
Now let’s go back to our long simple sentence and examine the
types of words it contains.
The happy, yet strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up
and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
ran
chimneysweep
streets of London
strangely, quickly, cheerfully
happy, clean, grimy
up, down, in
The (three times)
verb
Subject-noun
Object-noun (note the joining “of”)
Modifier: Adverbs
Modifier: Adjectives
Prepositions
Articles
The Basics:
Putting It All Together
So what are these remaining words?
The happy, yet strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up
and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
yet
Conjunction (in this case)
in the fog
Another object, this time
as a prepositional phrase.
The Basics:
A Recap

There are several types of words:





Verbs
Nouns
Modifiers: Adjectives and Adverbs
Articles: Definite and Indefinite.
Prepositions – with “of” being a special
instance
Sentences & Clauses:
Analyzing Clauses
• To understand sentences, you must understand clauses.
• Every clause has a verb. Or to put it another way, every verb has a
clause.
• There are two types of clauses:
•Independent
•Dependent.
• An independent clause can stand on its own as a sentence.
• In other words – an independent clause is a simple sentence. A
dependent clause is a partial simple sentence.
Sentences & Clauses:
Analyzing Clauses
• At the most, there are three sections to a clause:
• the predicate (the verb and its modifiers)
• the subject (the subject-noun and its modifiers)
• the object (the object-noun and its modifiers)
Sentences & Clauses:
Analyzing Clauses
Here is a sentence composed of an independent and a dependent
clause.
The car narrowly missed the tree which had fallen across the road.
Sentences & Clauses:
Analyzing Clauses
• Since the verb is the backbone of every clause, we begin by locating
the verbs.
The car narrowly missed the tree which had fallen across the road.
• There are two verbs in this sentence:
• missed
• had fallen
Sentences & Clauses:
Analyzing Clauses
• Next we find the words modifying the verb
The car narrowly missed the tree which had fallen across the road.
• “missed” is modified by “narrowly.”
• “had fallen” is not modified by anything
Sentences & Clauses:
Analyzing Clauses
The combination of the verb and its associated modifiers gives us our
predicate – shown in brackets.
The car (narrowly missed) the tree which (had fallen) across the road.
Sentences & Clauses:
Analyzing Clauses
Next we locate the subject-nouns.
The car (narrowly missed) the tree which (had fallen) across the road.
The subject-noun is the noun doing the action. Therefore, “car” is the
subject noun of “missed,” and “which” is the subject-noun (pronoun) of
“had fallen.”
Sentences & Clauses:
Analyzing Clauses
Then we find the modifiers and auxillary words associated with each
subject-noun.
The car (narrowly missed) the tree which (had fallen) across the road.
• For “car” the only word associated with it is the definite article, “the.”
• For “which” there are no associated words.
Sentences & Clauses:
Analyzing Clauses
The subject-noun and its associated words form the “subject” of the
clause – shown in square brackets.
[The car] (narrowly missed) the tree [which] (had fallen) across the road.
Sentences & Clauses:
Analyzing Clauses
Now we look to see if there are any object-nouns. These are the nouns
to which the action is being done.
[The car] (narrowly missed) the tree [which](had fallen) across the road.
The thing the car “missed” is the “tree.”
The thing the “which” had fallen across was the “road.”
Sentences & Clauses:
Analyzing Clauses
And as before, we find what words are associated with the object-nouns.
[The car] (narrowly missed) the tree [which](had fallen) across the road.
For “tree,” the only word associated with it is the definite article, “the.”
For “which,” there is a definite article associated with it, but following it is
a preposition, “across.” Since prepositions always start phrases (with
the exception of “of”), then “across” is also associated with “road.”
Sentences & Clauses:
Analyzing Clauses
The object-nouns and their associated words form the “object” of each
clause – shown in curly brackets.
[The car] (narrowly missed){the tree} [which](had fallen) {across the road.}
Sentences & Clauses:
Independent & Dependent
This leaves us with two clauses:
"The car narrowly missed the tree”
The car narrowly missed
the tree which had fallen
across the road.
This clause can stand on its own as a
complete simple sentence and is
therefore an “independent clause.”
“which had fallen across the road”
This clause can’t stand on its own
as a complete simple sentence
and is therefore a “dependent
clause.”
Sentences & Clauses:
A Recap




All sentences are either complete simple sentences,
or combinations of complete and incomplete simple
sentences.
A complete simple sentence is composed of a
subject, a verb, and sometimes an object – always
in the SVO order.
A complete simple sentence can also be called an
“independent clause.” It forms a complete thought
A partial simple sentence can also be called a
“dependent clause.” It has a subject and verb (no
object) but cannot stand on its own as a full
sentence. It doesn’t form a complete thought.