Nouns and Pronouns
A noun is…
a person, place, thing, or idea
o person: Andrew Jackson
o place: Waukee Middle School
o thing: pencil, class, phone
o idea: freedom, love, liberty
A noun can be…
common - a generic term for something specific
● cat, dog, school
or…
proper - a specific term or name for something
● Snuggles, Bently, Waukee Middle School
•
Nouns and Pronouns
A pronoun is…
• A word that takes the place of a name (proper
noun) or common noun
o Andrew Jackson = he or him
o pencil = it
o Sally = she or her
o the basketball team = they or them
Verbs and Verb Phrases
A verb...
tells what the subject does
It can be mental (prefer) or physical
(rides)
A verb phrase…
• 2+ words that explain what the subject is
doing or the state of being
- She is running across the street.
•
•
• is
• am
• are
• was
• were
• be
• being
• been
• has
• have
• had
List of linking verbs
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
do
does
did
shall
should
will
would
may
might
must
can
could
Subject and Predicates
The complete subject is…
all the words that tell whom or what the
sentence is about
The simple subject is…
• the main word in the complete subject
The complete predicate is…
• the verb and all the words that tell what the
subject is or does
• The simple predicate is…
• the main verb in the predicate
•
Adjectives and Adverbs
An adjective is…
a word that describes a noun or a
pronoun.
An adverb is…
• a word that describes a verb, adjective,
or another adverb
•
Capitalization
¨Capitalize
any noun that is proper
- Names of people, places, or things.
¨DO NOT capitalize common nouns
- Name a general item or person
When giving directions you WILL NOT capitalize the
direction
-
Drive west to get to my childhood house.
When saying a location you WILL capitalize the direction
- My parents live out West.
Capitalization
¨When there is a title in front of a name, like Uncle Tom or
President Obama, you will capitalize the title and the name.
- I went to my Uncle Tom’s cabin this summer.
¨However, if there is not a specific name attached to the title it
will not be capitalized.
-I went and visited the president.
¨When you have the title of a piece of writing, capitalize the first
word of the title and then any principal word – nouns, verbs,
adjectives, adverbs, and so on
¨You WILL NOT capitalize articles in titles.
-
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Capitalization
¨Capitalize
the name of school subjects only when
you are referring to a specific course
-I
look forward to history class.
-I
am taking History II at the community college.
¨At
the same time, you will ALWAYS capitalize a
language whether it is a specific class or not.
-I
am going to Spanish class.
-I love
going to English.
Commas in a series
In a list
● Use a comma with 3 or more items (series) joined
with “and” or “or”
Double adjectives/adverbs
● Use a comma to separate two or more
adjectives/adverbs next to each other
Dates
● Put a comma between the day and the year
City/State
● Put a comma between the city and the state
Dialogue Punctuation
Dialogue punctuation:
-Use quotation marks around the actual words
someone is saying
- Capitalize the first word of the dialogue
sentences.
- Quotes are separated from dialogue tags with
punctuation
-Note: Periods and commas go INSIDE quotations marks unless
the tag is before the dialogue then the comma is outside of the
quotation mark.
-Indent:
Start a new paragraph every time you
change speakers.
Verb Tense: What’s what?
Past: Tells action that happened in the past
—
◦I gave, I ran, I jumped
Present: Tells action that is happening right now
—
◦I give, I run, I jum
Future: Tells action that will be happening
—
◦I will give, I will run, I will jump
Within the same paragraph the verbs
need to be in the same tense
Clauses (Independent and
Dependent)
•
Dependent clause – incomplete thought
• After the game
•Independent clause – complete thought
(subject, predicate, doesn’t need more info)
* After the game, we went to get pizza.
Subordinating Conjunctions
Subordinating conjunctions help to create complex
sentences. They help to answer the question “Then
what?”
Some Subordinating conjunctions:
A - as
U - unless
A - although B - because
A - after
B - before
W - while
I - if
W - when
S - since
Subordinating Conjunctions
- If a sentence begins with an
AAAWWUBBIS word, it signals a comma
will be needed.
Example: After we left the park, the wind
storm knocked over some of the trees.
- If the AAAWWUBBIS word/phrase is not at
the beginning of the sentence, you will not
need a comma.
Example: The wind storm knocked over
some trees after we left the park.
FANBOYS, Coordinating Conjunctions
FOR
AND NOR BUT
OR YET SO
- FANBOYS are conjunctions used to join
words or groups of words.
- Can be used to create a compound subject
or predicate
- If you have two complete thoughts
(independent clauses), they can be joined
with a comma and a FANBOYS conjunction.
FANBOYS conjunctions and Semi Colons
Watch out! Both sides must be an independent clause
(complete thought- subject and predicate).
* Use a comma ONLY if:
* The sentence has a FANBOYS
* Each side has a subject & a predicate
* Each side is a complete idea
• Using a comma WITHOUT a FANBOYS results in a
comma splice.
• SEMI COLON: If you have two complete thoughts
(independent clauses), they can be joined together
with a semi-colon.
Active and Passive Voice
What is “voice”?
* Describes the relationship between the action of
the verb and the subject or object of the
sentence
* It says WHO does WHAT in the sentence
Voice can be either passive or active
Active and Passive Voice
• Active voice verbs are used when the subject is
acting in a sentence.
• Example: Cindy steered the boat.
•“Passive voice” verbs are used when the subject is
being acted upon in a sentence.
B is done [by A].
•Example: The mountain’s peak was reached by Ed Danvers.
Types of Sentences
A simple sentence is one independent clause
-
Some students like to study in the mornings.
A compound sentence is two independent
clauses put together
-
I tried to speak Spanish, and my friend tried to speak English.
A complex sentence is one independent clause +
a dependent clause OR a dependent clause +
one independent clause.
- Because Juan and Arturio play football every afternoon, they are quite tired
when then get home.
Appositives and Middle-Branch Clauses
- An appositive is a noun or pronoun — often
with descriptive words — set beside another
noun or pronoun to explain or identify it.
- if it’s non-essential information then the
appositive phrase needs to be surrounded
by commas.
- When there is an essential information
contained in the appositive, then you don’t
need commas.
Apostrophe to Show Possession
Always put an ’s after any singular noun that
shows possession.
⬜ It doesn’t matter if there is an s at the end of
the word or not.
• If you have two nouns that own the same thing,
you can just put an ’s after the last name.
• But if the two nouns own separate things, you
must put an ’s after each noun.
• If you have a noun that is plural, you will add s’
⬜
Direct and Indirect quotations
Direct quotes are the exact words that were
used
- He said, “Don’t do that!” He said that
“everyone should stay inside.”
Indirect quotations are the paraphrased version
of the quote being used
- He said that he didn’t want you to come
along.
Subjective Case
Subjective case is when the pronoun is used as
the subject in the sentence. The subjective
form is I when referring to I or me.
Objective case is when the pronoun is used as
the object of something that is happening to.
The objective case of I and me is me.
Tips to help figure it out:
*Always put the other person first if there are two
subjects or objects – that’s just common courtesy!
*To figure out if you are in subjective or objective take the
other person out
Who vs. Which vs. That
Who = people(Tierney is the only one who got the
right answer.)
Which = things(My bike, which has 10 speeds, is for
sale.)
That = people or things (He is the one person that
can help you.)
A vs. An and Then vs. Than
A = before words beginning with a consonant sound
(Market Avenue is a one-way street.)
An = before a word beginning with a vowel sound
(An oryx is a large antelope.)
Then = at that time (If the baby is awake by four
o’clock, then we will leave)
Than = amount/comparison(Great Danes are
larger than Dobermans.)
When to Spell Out Numbers
- Spell out numbers that can be written in one
or two words
- Use numerals for numbers that would be
written in three or more words
- Never start a sentence with a numeral
- Spell out numbers used to indicate order
- If you have multiple numbers in a sentence,
write them all as whatever the first one is.
Hyphen Rules
- Rule #1: Hyphenate numbers from twenty-one
to ninety-nine, Hyphenate fractions
- Rule #2: Hyphenate two or more words when
they are used as one word
- Rule #3: Hyphenate words that would be
mispronounced easily because of prefixes
Rule #4: Use a hyphen when a word is omitted.
These omitted words would be words like
through, to, or and.