WR90Fall 2008Lecture Guide 21

______

  1. SUBJECTS
  1. Tells who or whatis doing the action OR being something
  2. Carolyn speaks Spanish.
  3. Carolyn is Mexican.
  4. To find the simple subject, ask who or what is doing or being something. Find the subject:
  5. Mike’s expertise at the Halo videogame series was something all of his friends admired.
  6. Common Nouns as Subject
  7. General nouns: animals, plants, things, qualities, ideas
  8. The dog barks too much.
  9. ProperNouns as Subjects
  10. Specific nouns: specific people, places, things, concepts
  11. Little Sparky barks too much.
  12. Personal Pronouns as Subjects
  13. Personal pronouns stand for specific persons or things:
  14. The dog barks too much.It barks too much.
  15. Indefinite Pronouns stand for general persons or things
  16. Examples: each, everybody, nobody, somebody
  17. Each of them contributed some money.
  18. Relative Pronouns as Subjects
  19. Examples: this, that, these, those
  20. Relative pronoun as subject versus adjective.
  21. This is my friend.
  22. This friend is mine.
  23. Question Pronouns as Subjects
  24. AKA “interrogative pronouns”
  25. Pay attention to where they are in the sentence; they are not always the subject!
  26. Examples:who, which, what, whose
  27. Who is my friend?
  28. A singlesubjecthas just one subject.
  29. My friend brought a present.
  30. A compound subject has two or more subjects, separated by a connector word like and or or.
  31. My friend and I have much in common.
  32. In a command(aka imperative), the subject “you” is implied.
  33. Words SeparatingSubject and Verb
  34. PrepositionalPhrases
  35. Object of preposition can’t be subject
  36. The student in the back raised her hand.
  37. Filler words “Here” and “There” are not subjects!
  38. There were birds in the tree.
  39. Exercises 1 & 2, p. 44

II.VERBS

  1. Single verb:
  2. He led the charge.
  3. Verb phrases usehelping verbs: is • can • has • did • may • should (etc.)
  4. She isleading the charge.
  5. Compound verbs are joined byconnector words like and or or
  6. He studied or worked all his adult life.
  7. Don’t confuse verbs with verbals!
  8. Verbals look like verbs – but aren’t!
  9. Gerund = verb + ing: singing, laughing
  10. Singing is fun. Singing = noun
  11. Infinitive = to + verb: to be, to sing
  12. I want to sing. To sing = noun
  13. Present participle = verb + ing: breaking
  14. We listened for breaking glass. Breaking = adjective
  15. Past participle = verb + ed, en, etc.: broken
  16. We cleaned up the broken glass. Broken = adjective
  17. Words like never, not, and hardly are adverbs, not verbs...
  18. We never eat dessert before dinner.
  19. I do not like lima beans.
  20. Exercises 3 & 4, p. 47
  21. Subjects may follow verbs
  22. There were birds in the tree.
  23. In questions, the subject often comes between parts of verb phrase
  24. Where had the defendant gone on that fateful night?
  25. For sentence variety and writing style, subjects may come after verbs
  26. “I am innocent!” cried the defendant.
  27. Exercises 5 & 6, p. 48-49 and Review 1 & 2, p. 51-53

III.SENTENCE TYPES

  1. A sentence is:
  2. a group of words that has a subject + verb,
  3. starts with a capital letter
  4. ends with a period (.), question mark (?), or exclamation mark (!)
  5. makes sense on its own (with no added words)
  6. Are these correct sentences or not? Why?
  7. A Starbucks just opened in our neighborhood.
  8. did it just open.
  9. The manager who asked about parking.
  10. A brand-new Starbucks!
  11. It did?
  12. A phrase is a group of words either
  13. without a subject and verb or
  14. with a subject and verb but makes no sense
  15. Examples:
  16. The dog in the back yard.
  17. The dog, who is in the back yard.
  18. John, running down the street.
  19. A clause is agroup of words that has a subject and a verb
  20. Two types:
  21. Independent clause
  22. has a subject and verb
  23. stands on its own / makes sense by itself
  24. Examples:
  25. John is a man.
  26. We dialed 911.
  27. Dependentclause:
  28. has a subject and verb (or verbal), but
  29. cannot stand on its own / doesn’t makes sense by itself
  30. depends on another group of words to make sense
  31. Examples:
  32. Who can be depended on.
  33. To respond to the emergency.
  34. Simplesentences
  35. Consist of one independent clause:
  36. Susan was havingtrouble with her spelling.
  37. Compoundsentences
  38. Consist of two or more independent clauses:
  39. Susan was having trouble with her spelling, so she began to use a spell checker.
  40. Punctuating a CompoundSentence
  41. Use a comma+ coordinating conjunctionbetween the two independent clauses
  42. Coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS)
  43. For
  44. And
  45. Nor
  46. But
  47. Or
  48. Yet
  49. So
  50. If no coordinating conjunction , use a semicolon to connect parts of a compound sentence
  51. ComplexSentences
  52. One or more dependent clauses + one independent clause
  53. Because she was having trouble with her spelling, Susan began using a spell checker.
  54. A conjunctive adverb introduces each dependent clause.
  55. The dependent clause can come before or after the independent clause.
  56. When the dependent clause comes first, follow it with a comma:
  57. Because she was having trouble with her spelling, Susan began using a spell checker.
  58. Usually don’t insert a comma before the dependent clause when it comes second:
  59. The dependent clause can even come in between parts of the independent clause.
  60. The cookies that I made last night are better than the ones I made this morning.
  61. Exercises 6 - 9, p. 62-63 and Review 1, 2 & 3 p. 67-69

IV.WHAT IS A PARAGRAPH?

  1. A group of sentences, each with a function:
  2. Topic sentence contains
  3. Subject (topic)
  4. Treatment (what you will do with the topic)
  5. Supporting sentence(s) contain
  6. Evidence or reasoning
  7. Details
  8. Examples
  9. Explanations
  10. Common college paragraph patterns:
  11. PatternA
  12. Topic sentence
  13. Supporting sentences
  14. PatternB
  15. Topic sentence
  16. Supporting sentences
  17. Concluding sentence

V.THE WRITING PROCESS: STAGE ONE

  1. ExplorationInformation Gathering
  2. PCC Research Library:
  3. Databases by Subject
  4. Google:
  5. Book Search
  6. Earth
  7. Images
  8. News
  9. Scholar
  10. Web Search
  11. Wikipedia:
  12. Languages
  13. Citations
  14. Tertiary vs. primary and secondary sources
  15. The PrewritingProcess
  16. Freewriting
  17. Brainstorming: The Big Six
  18. Who?
  19. What?
  20. Where?
  21. When?
  22. Why?
  23. How?
  24. Brainstorming:Listing
  25. Words
  26. Phrases
  27. Clustering