Basics:Common (not specific)- dog, cat, president, teacherProper (specific)- Charlie, Milo, President Obama, Mrs. AndersonSingular (one)- cat, moose, child, mousePlural (more than one)- cats, moose, children, mice

Getting Fancy:Compound nouns (two nouns combined)- basketball,

great-aunt, jellybean, high schoolCollective Nouns (a group= singular)- audience, crowd,

family, everyone

Nouns- person, place, thing or idea

Possessives (Mine, Mine): show ownership

Singularwithout s: Sarah’s, cat’s, girl’swith s: Jesus’, bass’Pluralwithout s: women’s, mice’swith s: cats’, girls’

Pronouns- a word used in place of a noun, don’t repeat! Example: John walked John’s dog into John’s backyard. With Pronouns: John walked his dog into his backyard. “antecedent”- word that the pronoun is replacing

1. Personal• 1st person: I, me, we, us• 2nd person: you• 3rd person: he, him, she, her, it, they, them

2. Possessive- shows ownership (no apostrophe) Yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs, whose, mine, my,

your, etc.

3. Reflexive- points back to a noun or pronoun -self, -selves John bought himself an iPod. They all enjoyed themselves at the party.

4. Intensive- adds emphasis! (Could be removed and still makes sense)

-self, -selves Herman himself ate the pie. I saw Tommie Frazier myself. I’ll do it myself.

5. Demonstrative- used to demonstrate (pointing a finger)

This, That, These, Those

6. Relative- begins a subordinate clause (fragment that attaches to a describing sentence)

Only these 5: that, which, who, whom, whose

7. Interrogative- question (interrogate) These 5: what, which, who, whom, and whose

8. Indefinite: refer to something, but no specific antecedent (not defined)

Each, one, someone, everyone, several, few, many, all, most, some, none, etc.

Adjectives- describe a noun or a pronoun

(give it flavor)

They answer these questions: What kind? red nose, gold ringHow much? more sugar, little effortWhich one? second place, purple chairHow many? several kids, six children

5 Kinds of Adjectives

1. Common adjectives- describe nouns or pronouns- strong man, green plant, pretty child

2. Proper adjectives- formed from proper nouns (using a proper noun to describe something)- California vegetables, Florida oranges, Mexican food

3. Compound adjectives- made up of more than one word- far-off country, teenage person

4. Articles- a, an, the (the is definite- it refers to something specific, a/an are indefinite- they refer to general things)- the dog vs. a dog

5. Indefinite adjectives- don’t specify the amount of something, they describe general quantities. (Check to see if there is a noun nearby). - all, either, another, few, any, many, both, more, each, most, several

Verbs- name an action or describe a state of being

Action Verbs: tell what the noun does transitive (needs a noun)- Susan dropped the ball. The boy

dribbled it. Ask who? Or what? After verb, if answered then it’s transitive

Intransitive- Who called? I screamed.

Linking Verbs: state of being (be, feel, grow, seem, smell, remain, appear, stay) You smell good. I feel happy. She looks sad.

Helping Verbs: “to be” (do, has, shall, will, can, may) You can borrow my jacket.

Infinitives:to + verbto run, to walk, to like

Verb Phrases:I will have to go. I do want a hot dog.

Tense:Past I walked I ran I hadPresent I walk I run I haveFuture I will walk I will run I will have

Adverbs- describe a verb, adjective, or other adverb

They answer these questions: When? left yesterday, begin nowWhere? fell below, move upHow? happily sang, danced badlyTo what extent? partly finished, eat completely

** most adverbs are formed by adding –ly to an adjective

Some non-“ly” adverbs

afterward already almost back evenfar fast hard herehow late long lowmore near never nextnow often quick ratherslow so soon stillthen today tomorrow too

when whereyesterday

To describe a verb: Experiments using dynamite must be done carefully.

To describe an adjective: Charles had an unbelievably huge appetite.

To describe another adverb: They sang so clearly.

Conjunctive adverbs:transition words, they link ideas

accordinglyagainfor examplefurthermore howevernext finallythen

Prepositions- link a noun or pronoun to another word in the sentence

Rules:usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical

relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence as in the following examples:

The book is on the table. The book is beside the table. She held the book over the table. She read the book during class.

a noun/pronoun always follows a preposition

Prepositional phrase= begins with a preposition, ends with a noun/pronounNoun/Pronoun called the “object of the

preposition”

Sentence with Preposition Structure:

(Art) Noun Verb Preposition (Article) (Adjective) Noun.

The dog ran through the busy park.

Charlie ran around town.

The monster ate under the large, wooden table.

A gorilla climbed into the tiny, brown car.

More examples:

You are slower than a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter. (2)

If it wasn’t for the last minute, nothing would get done. (1)

The bird was stuck on the wing of the plane. (2)She walked in the door with a bag full of

groceries for her kids. (4)Last night, Carrie left with her briefcase on her

way to the dinner date she had with some friends. (4)

Key Words:

Independent Clause: complete sentence (doesn’t rely on anything for explanation)“I went to the store.”

Dependent Clause: incomplete sentence/fragment (doesn’t make sense alone)“Out of the blue.”

Conjunctions- connect words or groups of words and show how they are related1. Coordinating- link words/groups

* ONLY: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so [FANBOYS]EX: Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art

crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

2. Correlative- link similar words and groups in pairs* ONLY: both…and, either…or, neither…nor, not only…but also, whether…orEX: He lost both his socks and his shoes.

3. Subordinate- link a complete sentence (indep. clause) to a fragment (dep. clause)

*after, although, as long as, because, even though, so, so that, whenever, until… EX: We won the game because of you.

Interjections- show strong emotion- set off with a comma or an exclamation mark

Examples:Oh! You scared me! Wow! You look great!Holy cow, that’s an old watch!

Sentence Structure

A sentence must have:1. Subject- noun or pronoun2. Predicate- verb or verb phrase3. Complete thoughtSubject PredicateYou ran home.New York City is called the big apple.The basketball player made ten baskets.

Sentence Structure Key

S= Complete Sentence

s= Incomplete Sent./ Fragment

4 Types of Sentences:

1. Simple- one subject + one predicate (either could be compound)Ex: We eat food all day.Ex: David Letterman and Jay Leno host talk shows and have expensive cars.

SS. S.

2. Compound- 2 or more complete sentences combined using a coordinating conjunction or semicolonEx: The rain was really heavy so I stayed home.

S;S.S [conj] S.

3. Complex- 1 complete sentence + 1 or more fragments using a subordinating conjunction

Ind. Conj. Dep. Ex: Parallel lines never meet until you bend one of them.

S;s.S [conj] s.

4. Compound-Complex- at least 2 complete sentences + 1 fragmentInd. Dep.

Ex: I planned to drive to work, but I couldn’t Ind.until the mechanic repaired my car.

S+S+s [conj. , ;]

Tough Grammar

Homonyms= words pronounced the same, but have a different meaning

There/ Their/ They’reThere= place Ex: I’m going there.

Their= people Ex: I’m going to their house.

They’re= they are Ex: They’re going home.

Principal/ PrinciplePrincipal= person who runs a school

The Principal is on the loud speaker.

Principle= a belief or valueIt’s the principle of the issue that concerns

me.

Two/ To/ TooTwo= number (noun)

I have to take two dogs to the park, too.

To= infinitive verb/ prepositionI have (to take) two dogs to the park, too.

Too= also (put also in its place to decide)I have to take two dogs to the park, too.

Other Tough Grammar to Use:Are/Our

Are= You are going. (verb)Our= It is our job. (Pronoun, people)

Then/ThanThen= time, sequence

Then we’ll leave.Than= comparison

It’s better than anything.

Definitely vs. DefiantlyIts vs. It’s