The OHS 10Th Grade World Literature

The OHS 10th Grade World Literature

Awesome Writing Handbook

Ms. Spiceland and Ms. B

This book belongs to

______,

who will be inducted into

SPOGG (Society for the Promotion Of Good Grammar)

in May of 2013.

Parts of Things

People like breaking things into parts. It makes life easier.

In order to help you write, I’m going to teach you how to categorize words and how to break sentences into parts. These categories and parts perform different “jobs,” and knowing what words perform what job will help all of your writing work together.

Parts of speech refer to what type of word you are using. There are eight types in English, and they all have a different job. Throughout this packet, I’ll refer to the parts of speech, so that’s the very first thing you should learn. Here’s a chart that explains the different categories and what they mean:

part of speech / function or "job" / example words / example sentences
Verb / action or state / (to) be, have, do, like, work, sing, can, must / I am a teacher. I love to teach.
Noun / person, place, thing, or idea / pen, dog, work, music, town, London, teacher, John / This is my dog. He lives in my house. We live in London.
Adjective / describes a noun / a/an, the, 2, some, good, big, red, well, interesting / I have two dogs. My dogs are big. I like big dogs.
Adverb / describes a verb, adjective or adverb / quickly, silently, well, badly, very, really / My dog eats quickly. When he is very hungry, he eats really quickly.
Pronoun / replaces a noun / I, you, he, she, some / Tara is smart. She is also beautiful.
Preposition / links a noun to another word / to, at, after, on, but / We went to school on Monday.
Conjunction / joins clauses or sentences or words / and, but, when / I like dogs and I like cats. I like cats and dogs. I like dogs but I don't like cats.
Interjection / short exclamation, sometimes inserted into a sentence / oh!, ouch!, hi!, well / Ouch! That hurts! Hi! How are you? Well, I don't know.

But why? I always hear you guys saying “Why do we have to know this?” Well, you need to learn parts of speech because it will help you learn everything else! For example, later on I will tell you about how a noun and a verb have to match. If you don’t know what a noun is and what a verb is, how can you make them match?

Multiple parts of speech: Sometimes, the same word can be multiple parts of speech, depending on how it is used in a sentence. For example, I can use “love” as both a noun and a verb:

I love Taco Bell.
“love” is the action word of this sentence. It is a verb.
My love for Taco Bell makes me eat there often.
“love” is an idea or concept in this sentence. It is a noun.

For another example, I can use the word “wet” as an adjective, a verb, and a noun:

The ground was wet after the rainstorm.
“wet” describes the ground. It is an adjective.
My little brother wet the bed last night.
“wet” is the action word of the sentence, telling what my brother did. It is a verb.
My mom told me to come inside out of the wet.
“wet” is the type of weather outside. It is an idea, making it a noun.

If you want to determine what part of speech a word is, look at the job it is performing in the sentence.

Parts of sentences: In addition to categorizing words into parts of speech, you can break a sentence apart. Old school English classes, like the ones your parents or grandparents took, would have taught you how to diagram sentences. That’s big and complicated and silly, so I won’t bore you with it. Instead, I’ll teach you what the basic parts of a sentence are:

The subject, which performs the action of the sentence
The predicate, which is the action of the sentence and the recipient of the action, if any
The other stuff, which is everything else.

The subject of a sentence is what performs the action. Usually it is a noun, but sometimes the subject can be very long and complicated. Sometimes a sentence will have more than one thing performing the same action. In this case, it is called a compound subject. Here are some examples of simple subjects, compound subjects, and really complicated subjects:

Alex stole the Hot Cheetos from the vending machine.
“Alex” is performing the action “stole.” “Alex” is the subject of the sentence.
Alex and Tyler shared the Cheetos for lunch.
“Alex” and “Tyler” are both performing the action “share.” They are both the subject, so this sentence has a compound subject.
The delicious but recently pilfered Cheetos left orange dust on their fingers.
“The delicious but recently pilfered Cheetos” are performing the action “left.” “Cheetos” is the subject of the sentence.

The predicate of a sentence is the action that the subject performs. The simplest form of a predicate is a single verb, but the predicate can include objects too. An object is something that receives the action of the verb. Here are some examples predicates:

I ran.
“Ran” is the action of the sentence. It is a very simple predicate.
Ms. B confiscated the phone.
“Confiscated” is the action of the sentence. It is the verb. “The phone” receives the action of the sentence. It is an object.
Ms. Spiceland gave me the book.
“Gave” is the action of the sentence. It is the verb. “Me” and “the book” both receive the action of the book – “me” receives it indirectly, and “book” receives it directly. “Me” and “the book” are both objects.

The other stuff is everything else in a sentence. Any words or phrases that are not part of the subject or the predicate are other stuff. You could cross all of this stuff out and still have a perfectly good sentence. Here is an example sentence with lots of other stuff:

The very intelligent but lazy student Carlos, who was in Ms. Spiceland’s fourth block class in Fall 2012, wrote a poem about refrigerators, which can be read on Ms. Spiceland’s blog to this day.
If you took everything out of that sentence except “Carlos wrote a poem,” you would still have a complete sentence. “Carlos” is the subject and “wrote a poem” is the predicate. “Wrote” is the action and “a poem” is an object.

***EVERY SENTENCE IN THE WHOLE WORLD HAS A SUBJECT AND A VERB AT THE BARE MINIMUM. IF A SENTENCE DOES NOT HAVE A SUBJECT AND A VERB, IT IS NOT A COMPLETE SENTENCE.***

Parts of Things Checklist!

Go through your essay carefully using a blue crayon, marker, pencil, or pen. If you find any errors, correct those in blue before turning your essay in, and you will not lose any points for them.

Circle the subject of every sentence.

Circle the verb in every sentence.

If you find a sentence without a subject or a verb, rewrite the sentence to correct it! You can do this in the margins of your paper and circle it in blue.

Draw an arrow from the verb to its subject that connects them in every sentence.

Make an underline beneath any objects that belong to your verbs.

Draw an arrow from the objects to the verbs that they go with.

Agreement

If no one agrees with anyone else on what’s correct, how will we ever get anything done?

When you are writing, it is important to make sure that all your words agree with each other. When I say “agree,” here’s what I mean:

All your verbs must match in tense.
Pronouns and antecedents must match in number, case, and gender.
You must conjugate yourverbs to match your subject.
Adjectives modify nouns;adverbs modify everythingelse.

1. Tense refers to past, present, or future. Most of the time, you will write your essay in past tense. When you are writing in past tense, all your verbs should be in past tense throughout your essay. Here are examples of the three main tenses:

Past tense: The book was wonderful, filled with beautiful metaphors and rich imagery.
This implies that it happened in the past. While you were reading the story earlier, you thought it was great.
Present tense: The story jumps off the page and into my brain.
This implies that it is happening right now. You are currently reading the story, and it is jumping into your head.
Future tense:I will recommend this book to everyone!
This implies that it is happening in the future. You have not recommended the book yet, but sometime later on, you definitely will.

The Most Common Mistake is switching from past to present tense in your essay. You might write “The book was excellent, especially the part when Jim runs from the dinosaur.” That’s BAD. Instead, you should say “The book was excellent, especially the part when Jim ran from the dinosaur.”

2. Number means that a word changes depending on how many things it refers to. Pronouns have to change for number. They will have one form for singular, when they refer to one thing, and another form for plural, when they refer to more than one.

Singular:Ms. Spiceland is an excellent teacher. She teaches at Osborne High School.
The pronoun “she” refers to one person, Ms. Spiceland. It is a singular pronoun.
Plural: Ms. B and Ms. Spiceland teach together. They are the best pair of teachers ever.
The pronoun “they” refers to more than one person, both Ms. B and Ms. Spiceland. It is a plural pronoun.

The Most Common Mistake happens when you use a plural pronoun for a singular word. This happens when you use a word that represents a whole group of things. You might write “The class is awesome. They rock!” That’s BAD. “Class” is a singular noun, even though it represents a group of things. Instead, you should say “The class is awesome. It rocks!”

Check yourself: Do you use a singular verb form? If so, your pronouns should also be singular. You wouldn’t say “The class are awesome,” would you?

Case refers to how the pronoun is being used in a sentence. Pronouns can be subjects, objects, possessives, or reflexive/intensive, depending on how they are used. Here is a chart with all of the pronouns, their cases and how they might be used:

Subject / Object / Possessive / Possessive Stand Alone / Reflexive or Intensive
_____ saw the cats. / The cats saw _____. / _____ snack was good. / The snack is ______! / (self/selves)
Singular / First person / I / Me / My / Mine / Myself
Second Person / You / You / Your / Yours / Yourself
Third Person
(masculine) / He / Him / His / His / Himself
Third Person
(feminine) / She / Her / Her / Hers / Herself
Third Person
(neutral) / It / It / Its / Its / Itself
Plural / First Person / We / Us / Our / Ours / Ourselves
Second Person / You / You all* / You / You all* / Your / Yours / Yourselves
Third Person / They / Them / Their / Theirs / Themselves

*“Y’all” is an acceptable plural form of “you,” as it is a contraction of “you all.” However, bear in mind that contractions of any kind should never be used in formal (essay) writing.

The Most Common Mistake is saying “hisself” instead of “himself” or “theyselves” and “theirselves” instead of “themselves.” Watch out for those!

Check yourself: See the bold sentences in the pronoun chart above? If you’re not sure about a pronoun, choose the sentence on the chart that’s most like the sentence in your essay, then look at the column beneath it. Is your pronoun there? Good! If not, you’re using the wrong one!

Gender refers to male, female, or neutral. The gender of a pronoun should always match the gender of the word it replaces.

Male: Mr. Brooks teaches American Lit. He may teach you next year.
Female: Ms. Gelston also teaches American Lit. You may have her class instead.
Neutral: Either way, you will take American Lit. It is a fun class!

The Most Common Mistake is using “they” when the gender of a noun is unknown or when it could be either male or female. You might write, “Every student has to pass their American Lit class to graduate.” That’s BAD. Instead, write, “Every student has to pass his or her American Lit class to graduate.”

Check yourself: Remember that “they” is a plural pronoun. Every time you use “they” in your essay, check and make sure it replaces more than one word or a plural word.

3. Conjugate your verbs to match your subjectsmeans you have to change the verb depending on who is doing the action. In English, this is pretty easy. Usually, if your subject is in third person singular, you add an “s” to the end of the verb. That’s it! Here is a chart, if you’re that kind of person:

Example: “to run” / Singular / Plural
First person / I run / We run
Second person / You run / Y’all run
Third person / He/she/it runs / They run

The Most Common Mistakeis just forgetting to do this step entirely! You might write, “He run down the street.” That’s BAD. Instead, say, “He runs down the street.”

4.Adjectives and Adverbs need to modify the correct words. An adjectivecan only modify a noun. An adverb can modify an adjective, verb, or another adverb. Here are some examples:

The big dog ran down the street.
“big” is an adjective, and it modifies the noun “dog.”
The extremely big dog ran down the street.
“extremely” is an adverb, and it modifies the adjective “big.”
The big dog quickly ran down the street.
“quickly” is an adverb, and it modifies the verb “ran.”
The dog ran most quickly down the street.
“most” is an adverb modifying the other adverb “quickly.”

The Most Common Mistakeis using an adjective to modify a verb. You might write, “He ran fast to escape that dinosaur.” That’s BAD. Instead, write, “He ran quickly to escape that dinosaur.”

Check yourself:Draw an arrow from the adjective or adverb that points to the word it describes. What part of speech is that word? If it is anything other than a noun, you must use an adverb.
Check yourself: Usually, adverbs end in “-ly.” The adjective “quick” because the adverb “quickly.”

Agreement Checklist

Carefully go through your essay using a pink or red pen, crayon, pencil, or marker. If you find any mistakes, correct them now in red, and you won’t lose points on your essay.

Your essay should be written in past tense. Go through every verb in your essay (they should be circled in blue) and label it:

Put a “P” next to all past tense verbs.
Put a “N” next to all present tense verbs.
Put a “F” next to all future tense verbs.

If you have any Ns or Fs, change those verbs to past tense.

Go through your essay and circle all the pronouns.

Draw an arrow from every pronoun to the word or words it replaces.

Make sure all the pronouns agree with the words they replace in number.

Make sure all the pronouns agree with the worse they replace in case.

Make sure all the pronouns agree with the words they replace in gender.

Make sure you do not use “they” when you should use “he or she”!

Look at all of your verbs and their subjects – they should be circled in blue and connected by arrows. Do they match?

Underline all of your adjectives.

Draw an arrow from your adjectives to the words they modify.

If you find an adjective that modifies ANYTHING other than a noun, change that adjective to an adverb!

Punctuation

Connect, cut, and clarify!

What would you do if I told you to punctuate the following words: “Woman without her man is nothing” Would you say “Woman, without her man, is nothing”? Or would you say “Woman: without her, man is nothing”? Punctuation makes a difference! Here is a chart of all the punctuation you will see in English and how it is used:

Symbol / Name / Use / Example
. / full stop or period / End a sentence. / I like English.
, / comma / Separate things: Items in a list, clauses and phrases in a sentence, and dialogue from non-dialogue. / I speak English, French and Thai.
; / semi-colon / Connect two closely related sentences, making them into one longer sentence. / I don't often go swimming; I prefer to play tennis.
: / colon / Indicate the beginning of a list / You have two choices: finish the work today or lose the contract.
- / hyphen / Connect two or more words together to use them as one word / This is a rather out-of-date book.
— / dash / Set off an appositive or extra explanatory phrase. Not used in formal writing. / In each town—London, Paris and Rome—we stayed in youth hostels.
? / question mark / Indicate a question. / Where is Shangri-La?
! / exclamation point / Show excitement. Not used in formal writing. / "Help!" she cried. "I'm drowning!"
/ / slash, forward slash or oblique / Show two names for one thing, sort of as a replacement for “or”. Not used in formal writing.
-OR-
Indicate a line break in quoted lines of poetry. Used in formal writing. / Please press your browser's Refresh/Reload button.
“Roses are red, / Violets are blue / Monkeys are smelly, / Cows are too.”
\ / backslash / Separate parts of a filename on a computer. Not used in formal writing. / C:\Users\Files\jse.doc
“ “ / double quotation marks / Enclose dialogue or quotes. / "I love you," she said.
‘ ‘ / single quotation marks / Enclose dialogue-within-dialogue or dialogue within a quote. / “I asked her what was wrong, and she said, ‘Go away!’ so I did,” he said.
‘ / apostrophe / Make a contraction of two words. Not used in formal writing
-OR-
Show possession. Used in formal writing. / I can’t do it.
This is John's car.
( ) / parentheses / Include clarifying information that is not necessary to the sentence.
-OR-
Cite a source of a quotation. / I went to Bangkok (my favorite city) and stayed there for two weeks.
“Quote” (Author 15).
[ ] / square brackets / Indicate that a quote has been changed for clarity. / “When I found out [the book] was stolen, I was angry.”
… / ellipsis mark / Indicate that part of a quote has been removed. Usually should be enclosed in square brackets. / “She leapt […] and landed in the water”

Punctuation Checklist!