Student Grammar Notes
for Mrs. Miller’s English Class
(Revised 9/09)
(Keep these notes in your binder under Grammar Notes)
Parts of a Complete Sentence:
In order for a sentence to be COMPLETE, it must have the following:
I.
Subject of a sentence:
A) The subject of a sentence tells whom or what the sentence is about.
B) The subject must have a noun in it.
Example: The dark and enchanted forest grew over the years.
simple subject
II.
Predicate:
A) The predicate tells what the subject is, does, has, or feels.
B) Predicate must have a verb in it.
III.
A Complete Thought: A sentence is complete only if a complete thought is expressed.
Examples of complete sentences:
Subject(s)
1. Jane
2. Most people
3. One of the students
4. The dog and cat
Predicate
eats all day.
plan for their future too late in their lives.
was late.
jumped.
Parts of Speech:
I. NOUNS (N): a word that names a person, place or thing
A) common nouns name general categories of persons, places, and things Examples: juice, car, boy
freeway
B) proper nouns name specific persons, places, and things. (Proper nouns are capitalized.)
Examples: Canada, President Lincoln, Nordstrom
C) concrete nouns refer to things that can be touched Examples: bird, table, tree
D) abstract nouns refer to ideas, feelings, and qualities. Examples: love, individuality, selfishness
E) Pronouns are words that take the place of a noun. Examples: I, me, you, she, her, he, him, we,
us, they, them (More information is given later in the grammar notes.)
A)
NOUN SUFFIXES: The following is a list of common suffixes used to show
that a word is a noun.
-ar, -er,-or (painter, liar,
contractor)
-ette (diskette)
-ment (argument)
-ness (kindess)
-ship (citizenship)
-age (marriage)
-ance, -ence (annoyance)
-ancy, -ency (truancy)
-ant, -ent (immigrant)
-arian (librarian)
-arium, -orium (planetarium)
-ary, -ory (laboratory, sanctuary)
-ation, -tion, -sion, -ion
(desperation, suspicion)
-dom (freedom)
-ery (bravery)
-hood (childhood)
-ics (physics)
--ina, -ine (ballerina, heroine)
-ism (communism)
-ist (capitalist)
-ity, -ty (loyalty, necessity)
-ization (civilization)
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II. VERBS (V): Verbs are words that show an action or state of being.
Types of Verbs:
A)
B)
ACTION VERBS: a word that expresses a physical or mental action or a state of
being. It tells what the subject has or does.
1) transitive verb: an action verb that has a receiver of the action, which is called
the object.
Example: Jack threw the ball.
trans. verb
object
2) intransitive verb: an action verb that does NOT have an object.
Example: The war ended.
intrans. verb
LINKING VERBS (LV): words that link a subject to a word in the predicate that
renames the subject or identifies it (called a subjective complement, predicate
adjective, predicate nom. Linking verbs do not show an action.
Examples of Linking Verbs in Sentences:
1) The classroom smells weird. (Classroom is linked to weird with “smells.”)
2) Mrs. Miller is the English teacher. (Mrs. Miller is linked to teacher with “is.”)
Common Linking Verbs:
am
are
is

was
were

been
being
looks
feels
appear
grow
smell
remain
become
sound
taste
seem
Helpful Hint


These verbs can be helping verbs AND linking verbs:
Susan is tall.  linking verb
Susan is walking with friends.  helping verb
These verbs can be linking verbs AND action verbs:
Linking verb
1. Frank looks sick.
2. The dog grew angry.
3. Jim sounds weird.
Action Verb
1. Frank looked at Mary.
2. Mary grew strawberries.
3. The bell sounded at the end of
the day.
: If you can replace the linking verb with a form of the verb be (am, are,
is, was, were, be, being, been) then the verb is probably a linking verb.
Examples:
A) She looked at the snake. = looked is an action verb. (She is at the snake doesn’t make sense.)
B) She looks tired.
= looks is a linking verb. (She is tired makes sense.)
You can replace looks with is and the sentence still makes sense.
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C.
HELPING VERBS (HV): verbs that help complete the meaning of the main verb. A
helping verb plus a main verb makes a verb phrase. Helping verbs also help to form
various tenses of a verb.
Examples:
Subject
Helping Verb
Main Verb
Jill
can
run.
Mary
is
running.
She
will be
running in the big race.
Common Helping Verbs:
am are, is,
was, were,
be, being, been
can, could,
do, does, did,
have, has, had
will, would,
shall should
must, may, might
III. ADJECTIVES (Adj): Adjectives modify nouns. “Modify” means “to
change slightly.” Adjectives change the meaning of nouns and pronouns by adding
meaning or description.
A) Adjectives answer the following kinds of questions:
What kind?
young, deserted, famous
Which one?
Gerry’s, Mexican, next, that
How many?
ten, many, numerous,
How much?
enormous, few, most
B) Articles are a special kind of adjective.
1) definite article: the
2) indefinite article: a, an
Helpful hint
When stringing together two adjectives, separate them with commas if the
comma could be replaces by and. Example: The big, fat pig was entered in the county fair.
IV. ADVERBS (Adv): Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.
Modify” means “to change slightly” by adding meaning and description.
A) Adverbs answer the following questions:
How?
When?
Where?
To what extent?
Helpful hint
carefully, dutifully, sloppily
today, yesterday, afterwards, now
everywhere, indoors,
very, slightly, too, quite, most, extremely, more, so
Many adverbs end with “ly.”
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V. DIRECT OBJECTS (D.O.): Direct objects refer to a word in a sentence that receives the
action from the verb. Transitive verbs take a direct object because these verbs “transfer”
the action to someone or something else. Intransitive verbs do not have a direct object.
(e.g. He trembles. The cat pounced. My heart aches.)
A) A direct object is always a noun or pronoun.
B) A direct object appears after the verb but not always immediately after the verb.
C) A direct object answers the question whom? or what? about the action verb.
Examples of direct objects:
Frank threw the ball. (Frank threw what? Answer: the ball)
Jill hit Lucy. (Jill hit whom? Answer: Lucy)
Jim fed the dog. (Jim fed what? Answer: the dog)
VI.
INDIRECT OBJECTS (I.O): A indirect object tells to or for whom or what the action
was done.
A) An indirect object is always a noun or pronoun.
B) The indirect object comes between the verb and the direct object.
C) The indirect object tells to or for whom or what the action of the verb is done; however,
those words are not actually used.
Examples of indirect objects:
He told Sam and Mike a funny joke.
indirect obj
indirect obj
direct obj
The company sent him a letter.
indirect obj
direct obj
Helpful hint
: When to or for appears before a noun or a pronoun, the noun or pronoun is
not an indirect object. It is then a prepositional phrase.
VII. PREPOSITIONS (prep): a word that shows the relationship between a noun and a pronoun
and another word in the sentence. Different prepositions convey different meanings.
Common Prepositions
about
above
according to
across
after
against
along
among
around
aside from
at
because of
before
behind
below
beneath
beside
besides
between
beyond
but (when it means except)
by
despite
down
during
except
for
from
in
in back of
in front of
in place of
in spite of
inside
instead of
into
like
near to
of
off
on
on account of
onto
opposite
out
out of
outside
over
past
since
through
throughout
to
toward
under
underneath
until
up
upon
with
within
without
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A) Prepositional phrase: a preposition + any modifiers + the object(s) of the
preposition = a prepositional phrase.
Prepositional phrases will function in a sentences as an adjective or
adverb.
Prepositional phrase as an ADJECTIVE: The dog in the yard wanted to greet us.
Prepositional phrase as an ADVERB: The dog sat in the yard.
Examples of Prepositional Phrases:
under the tree
between the lines
without any regard
within the rules
B) Object of the Preposition:
1) always a noun or pronoun
2) the noun or object pronoun following the preposition
3) the last word in the prepositional phrase
Example: He works with many students.
prep. modifier obj. of prep.
Helpful hint
PREPOSITIONS and ADVERBS are similar. How can you tell the difference?
A Preposition is always followed by a noun (though not always immediately), whereas
an ADVERB can stand alone.
Examples:
1. The cat is in the hat. in = preposition
2. At 11:00 I will turn in. in = adverb
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VIII. PRONOUNS (pron):
Pronouns are words that replace a noun.
A)
Subject Pronouns: These pronouns are used as subjects in a sentence or
clause.
Example:
can dance all night.
(Fill with any subject pronoun.)
SINGULAR
I
you
he, she, it
1ST PERSON
2ND PERSON
3RD PERSON
B)
1ST PERSON
2ND PERSON
3RD PERSON
PLURAL
we
you
they
Object Pronouns: These pronouns are used as objects in a sentence or as an
object of a preposition
Examples:
You can come with
.
The angry man hit
.
(Fill with any object pronoun.)
SINGULAR
me
you
him, her, it
PLURAL
us
you
them
C) Indefinite Pronouns: These pronouns refer to someone or
something that is not identified.
Examples: Someone is arriving.
Many of us will follow you.
All of the book was boring.
All of the books were interesting.
SINGULAR Indefinite Pronouns
another
anybody
anyone
anything
each
either
everybody
everyone
everything
little
much
neither
nobody
no one
nothing
one
somebody
someone
something
PLURAL Indefinite Pronouns
both
few
many
others
several
CAN BE EITHER SINGULAR OR PLURAL Indefinite pronoun
all
any
none **
more
most
some
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