Intro to basic, practical grammar grade 9 edition
Throughout the year we will cover basic understandings of how to use proper grammar in everyday writing. We will cover these applicable concepts in three sections:
o Parts of speech
o Parts of a sentence
o Punctuation
Parts of speech:
Noun - a person, place, thing, or idea
Common = generic EX: a shoe
Proper = brand name EX: Nike shoes
Difference?! Capitalization. Yay! Let's practice :)
Abstract and Concrete Nouns:
PRACTICE J http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/abstractnoun.htm
Direct objects: (directly related to the action of the verb)
EX: Jack threw the ball.
Indirect objects: (receive the action of the verb)
EX: Jack threw the ball to Matt.
Subject Complements: follow a linking verb and rename or describe the subject
EX: Ryan is awesome. Mrs. Peyton is a teacher.
Pronouns - replace nouns in a sentence
I, you, he, she, him, her, it, we, us, they, them, ours, theirs, my, your, its
Pronoun/Antecedent agreement:
Rachel likes to eat her pizza cold. Pronoun = 'her' Antecedent = 'Rachel'
***tricky: its vs it's
its = possessive pronoun
it's = contraction it + is = it's
Who or Whom???
· Who = the subject of the sentence
· Whom = the object in a sentence
The Adjective
Recognize an adjective when you see one.
Adjectives describe nouns by answering one of these three questions: What kind is it? How many are there? Which one is it? An adjective can be a single word, a phrase, or a clause.
1. What kind is it?
Dan decided that the fuzzy green bread would make an unappetizing sandwich.
What kind of bread? Fuzzy and green! What kind of sandwich? Unappetizing!
2. How many are there?
Seven hungry space aliens slithered into the diner and ordered two dozen vanilla milkshakes.
How many hungry space aliens? Seven!
3. Which one is it?
The cockroach eyeing your cookie has started to crawl this way.
Which cockroach? Not the one crawling up your leg but the one who wants your cookie!
The Adjective Clause
Recognize an adjective clause when you see one.
An adjective clause—also called an adjectival or relative clause—will meet three requirements:
§ First, it will contain a subject and verb.
§ Next, it will begin with a relative pronoun [who, whom, whose, that, or which] or a relative adverb [when, where, or why].
§ Finally, it will function as an adjective, answering the questions What kind? How many? or Which one?
The adjective clause will follow one of these two patterns:
relative pronoun or adverb + subject + verb
relative pronoun as subject + verb
Example:
Whose big, brown eyes pleaded for another cookie
Whose = relative pronoun; eyes = subject; pleaded = verb.
Verbs - do stuff :)
Action
Ex: I ran to school. She plays volleyball. You ate the turkey.
Linking (am, is, are, was, were)
Ex: Ashley is pretty. You are tired. We were late.
Helping
Ex: I would have gone to the store. She would like to help.
***Would and have are both helping verbs. They "help" the main verb gone
***Would is helping the main verb like (to help is an infinitive...more on that later)
Adverbs
· Modify a verb, adjective or another adverb
· Adverbs answer questions: Where? When? How? To what extent?
· Often end in -ly
EX: Madison dances gracefully ADV = gracefully
Conjunctions - connect words, phrases, and clauses
This is why it is technically not proper to BEGIN a sentence with a conjunction. If a conjunction CONNECTS things then starting a sentence with a conjunction is like admitting you have an incomplete thought somewhere, or a fragment. No bueno.
I know it's tempting, but stop it.
Examples:
and, but, so, or, nor, for, yet, although, because, since, until, when, both...and, neither...nor, either...or
Prepositions - indicate the relation of a noun or pronoun to some other word in the sentence.
EX: Billy sits under the tree. Under = preposition
'Under' shows the relation of Billy to the tree. Billy sits where? UNDER the tree. (Under the tree is a prepositional phrase)
Examples: above, around, below, across, over, under, through, to, for, down,