Grammar Notes
By: Da Boss Amanda
A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea.
-Proper noun: A specific person, place, or thing that needs to be capitalized.
-Common noun: A general noun that doesn’t need to be capitalized.
-Possessive noun: A noun that shows ownership (always must have an apostrophe).
-Plural noun: A noun that’s more than one.
-Concrete noun: Perceive through your five senses. (touch,taste,smell,see, hear)
-Abstract noun: A noun you can not perceive through your five senses (friendship, love)
Hints for finding nouns:
-Words that end with “ment”, “tion”, “ness”, “ship” are nouns
-Plural words are always nouns
-Words that are indicated by articles (the, a, an)
Verbs
The love I feel is strong. -Noun
I love you. -Verb
There are two kinds of verbs: action and being verbs.
The most common being verbs: am, is, are, was, were
These verbs can be either action or being verbs. Which are they?
The soup smells delicious.
Jack smelled the stinky giant approaching from behind.
What do each of these sentences mean?
-They will go.
-They are going.
-They went.
-They had been going.
-They had gone.
-They could have gone.
Helping verbs add additional information to the meaning of the verb.
Twenty-three helping verbs:
am is are was were
has have had
do does did
can could
shall should
will would
might must may
be being been
Verbs and helping verbs together are called the “verb phrase”
We should have gone to the store, but we did not go.
Conjunctions:
Used the join word: Tom and Jerry,__________________
Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns.
Instead of saying tom you can say “he”.
Here are some common pronouns:
I me he she him her us we they them it to whom
Here are some unusual pronouns that may not be pronouns:
These those one this that some many
Pronouns can also be possessive just like nouns--but they don’t need an apostrophe!
My your her his our their its whose
the same words can change their part of speech demanding how they
Used to join phrases: across the river and through the woods.
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Used to join clauses: We went to the store and bought some milk.
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Used to join sentences: We all wanted to get some ice-cream, but Baskin-Robbins was closed.
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Fat and Happy (conjunction)
A man and his dog (conjunction phrase)
I volunteer as tribute, but I’m scared (conjunction sentence)
FANBOYS-- for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so
--REASON
Fans love to watch Anna.
She dances beautifully.
Fans love to watch Anna, for she dances beautifully.
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--Addition/Conjunction
She is a graceful dancer.
People enjoy watching her.
She is a grateful dancer, so people enjoy watching her.
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--Not or
She hasn’t taken dance lessons.
She doesn’t need to.
She hasn’t taken dance lessons, nor she doesn’t need to.
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--Contrast
Her technique is unconventional.
The effect is striking.
Her technique is unconventional, yet the effect is striking.
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--Option/ Alternative
She can fill an audience with joy.
She can bring them to tears.
She can fill an audience with joy, or she can bring them to tears.
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--Concession
Other dancers try to intimidate her style.
They have not succeeded.
Other dancers try to intimidate her style, but they have not succeeded.
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--Result
She is talented.
She will attract fans for many years to come.
She is very talented, so she will attract fans for many years to come.
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Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns.
Adjectives tell us which one, kind of, or how many.
Articles (art) = a, and, the
She is pretty.
PN V Adj.
Adverbs usually describe verbs, sometimes describe adjectives, rarely describe other adverbs.
They tell us how, where, when, and to what extent.
Here is an adjective describing a verb:
I ran quickly.
PN V Adj.
Here is an adjective describing an adjective:
She is very pretty.
PN V Adj. Adv.
Here is an adjective describing adverb:
I ran very quickly.
PR V Adj. Adv.
Most common adverbs = not, very, too
Adverbs usually end in “ly”
I did not kill my little sister.
PN V Adv. V Adj. Adj. N
The angry teacher had been sleeping yesterday.
Art. Adj. N HV HV V Adv.
The dark brown dog ran lazily by.
Art. Adj. Adj. N V Adv. Adv.
The somewhat tired student fell down.
Art. Adv. Adj. N V. Adv.
Prepositions and prepositional phrases
They show relationships of position, time, order, etc...
In English you use prepositions to connect nouns or between nouns and pronouns. Imagine that you encounter two nouns: elephant and book. You can use prepositions in many ways to connect the two nouns to express different ideas:
the book about the elephant
the book by the elephant
the book behind the elephant
the book in front of the elephant
the book near the elephant
the book under the elephant
Anything an airplane can do to a cloud. (mostly)
Take a look at the following table for a list of some common prepositions:
Common Prepositions
about above according to across
after against along amid
among around at before
behind below beside besides
between beyond by concerning
down during except for
from in into like
of off on over
past since through toward
underneath until up upon
with within without
Prepositions are often used in titles:
-Through the Looking Glass
-By the Waters of Babylon
-Of Human Bondage
The first word of the prepositional phrase is always a preposition.
The end of the preposition is a noun or a pronoun, called the Object of a Preposition or OP.