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Grammar Basics Just as a building is made up of concrete, lumber, steel beams, and bricks put together in a certain way, languages are made up of different parts of speech combined into sentences. To be a real expert of buildings, you should be able to produce a construction diagram. To be a real expert in composing sentences, it helps if you can produce a diagram of a sentence.
Verbs There are three kinds of verbs. Action verbs: show the action; it’s what the subject of the sentence is doing Run, dance, sing, kick, bounce, yell, eat
Verbs Being or Linking Verbs: show that something exists. They also connect the subject with a word that describes it. Am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been Beings verbs also tell how something tastes, looks & feels. That pizza looks delicious.
Verbs Helping Verbs : are used along with another verb to help it out. They are placed before other verbs to form verb phrases. have, has, had, shall, will, should, would, may, might, must, can,and couldare helping verbs. All “being” verbs can also act as helping verbs.
Park City is the home of the Miners. Park City has been in existence since 1876. Tina has been dancing since she was 4.
Verbalsare forms of verbs used as other parts of speech. Gerunds are forms of the verb that function as nouns. They always end in "ing.” Skiing is the best sport.
Participles are forms of the verb that function as adjectives. They can end in "ed,” or "ing." • The dancing bear was wearing a tutu. • I picked a wilted flower.
Infinitives are forms of the verb that may acts as adjectives, adverbs or nouns. They include "to" plus the base form of the verb, as in "to run.” • To run takes a lot of energy. • Requirements to get into college are strict.
Nouns name persons, places, things, and ideas. Nouns can be used as • subjects of sentences, • direct objects of sentences, • subjective complements of sentences, • appositives, • objects of prepositions, infinitives, participles, or gerunds.
Pronouns take the place of nouns and can be used in the same places as nouns. There are five types of pronouns: personal, relative, interrogative, indefinite,and demonstrative.
Personal pronouns A Personal pronoun is a pronoun that stands in for a person. Nominative case pronouns are used as subjects of sentences: I, you, he, she, it, we, they. Objective case pronouns are used as direct objects, objects of prepositions, participles, gerunds or infinitives: me, you, him, her, it, us, them. Possessive case pronouns show possession: my, mine, your, yours, his, hers, its, our, ours, their, theirs. Reflexive pronouns will never be subjects; they show action reflected back to the person named: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.
Relative Pronouns are used to connect dependent clauses to independent clauses: who – nominative case whom – objective case whose – possessive case which and that – any case
Interrogative Pronouns ask questions: who – nominative case whom – objective case whose – possessive case which and what – any case.
Indefinite Pronouns do not refer to any specific person, place, thing, or idea. Many times they are used to denote a quality. Singular anybody, anything, anyone, each, either, everyone, everybody, everything, neither, nobody, no one, one, someone, something Plural all, both, few, most, none, some If none means “not one,” it is singular.
Demonstrative Pronouns act as adjectives and point out: this that these those (all any case). Think dis, dat, dese, and dose—demonstrative.
Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns. They answer the questions: which one? what kind of? how many? They usually precede the noun or pronoun that they modify.
Adverbs describe verb, adjectives, and other adverbs. They answer the questions “how,” “when,” “where,” “why,” and “how much.” Some people do not fully understand Aggie traditions. Early in its history, Texas A&M University enrolled only male students.
Prepositions will be adverbs if not followed by an object in a prepositional phrase. In the sky above (adverb), we saw an Apache helicopter flown by a Texas Aggie. In the sky above the stadium (preposition “above” followed by a noun object “stadium”), we saw an Apache helicopter flown by a Texas Aggie. Prepositional phrases show relationships and can be used as adjective and adverbs.
Remember “anything an Aggie can do at Kyle Field.” The Aggie can go over, under, around, through, beside, between, above, across, against, at, among, after, before, behind, beyond, by, down, into, from, in, near, off, to, past, through, toward, on, or up Kyle Field. About, during, for, except, throughout, until are also prepositions. Early in its history, Texas A&M University was a military school for male students.
Conjunctions Hooking up words with phrases and clauses! There are two kinds of conjunctions: coordinating subordinating
Coordinating Conjunctions connect elements of equal value. Think A. B. Fonsy—and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet Jack andJill went up the hill. The PCHS Cheerleaders yell and dance at Dozier Field. Strange but true, Park City and Heber are rivals. PCHS Miners excel on the athletic field and in the classroom. To be or not to be is the question.
Correlative conjunctions also connect things of equal value. either/or, neither/nor, both/and, or not only/but also EitherDozier Field or The Eccles Center will be the place where important events happen on the PCHS campus. NeitherMr. O’Connor norMr. McIntosh miss important events on the PCHS campus. BothHomecoming and Prom are important events at PCHS. The Booster Club not onlysupports the team at the games, but alsoraises money for the team.
Subordinating Conjunctions connect dependent (adverb) clauses to independent clauses. After, although, as, as if, as _____as, because, before, if, inorder that, since, so that, than, though, unless, until, when, whenever, wherever, while are all subordinating conjunctions. When you add any of these words to an independent clause, it becomes a dependent clause. “The Miners win a football game.” (independent clause) becomes “After the Miners win a football game,” (dependent clause), so you have to attach it to an independent clause to keep it from being a fragment. After the Miners win a football game, there are fireworks at Dozier Field.
Interjections express excitement. Wow! Geez! Hurray, I’m finished!
Sentences Instead of getting married again, I am going to find a woman I don’t like and just give her a house.—Rod Stewart Sometimes I think war is God’s way of teaching us geography.—Paul Rodriguez
