Nouns and Pronouns

A noun is…• a person, place, thing, or idea

o person: Andrew Jacksono place: Waukee Middle Schoolo thing: pencil, class, phoneo idea: freedom, love, liberty

A noun can be…common - a generic term for something specific● cat, dog, school

or…proper - a specific term or name for something● Snuggles, Bently, Waukee Middle School

Nouns and Pronouns

A pronoun is…

• A word that takes the place of a name (proper noun) or common noun oAndrew Jackson = he or himo pencil = ito Sally = she or hero the basketball team = they or them

Verbs and Verb Phrases

A verb...• tells what the subject does• It can be mental (prefer) or physical

(rides) A verb phrase…• 2+ words that explain what the subject is

doing or the state of being- She is running across the street.

List of linking verbs

• is• am• are• was• were• be• being• been• has• have• had

• do• does• did• shall• should• will• would• may• might• must• can• could

Subject and Predicates

The complete subject is…• all the words that tell whom or what the

sentence is aboutThe simple subject is…• the main word in the complete subjectThe complete predicate is…• the verb and all the words that tell what the

subject is or does• The simple predicate is…• the main verb in the predicate

Adjectives and Adverbs

An adjective is…• a word that describes a noun or a

pronoun.An adverb is…• a word that describes a verb, adjective,

or another adverb

Capitalization

¨Capitalize any noun that is proper

- Names of people, places, or things.

¨DO NOT capitalize common nouns

- Name a general item or person

When giving directions you WILL NOT capitalize the direction- Drive west to get to my childhood house.

When saying a location you WILL capitalize the direction

- My parents live out West.

Capitalization

¨When there is a title in front of a name, like Uncle Tom or President Obama, you will capitalize the title and the name.

- I went to my Uncle Tom’s cabin this summer.

¨However, if there is not a specific name attached to the title it will not be capitalized.

-I went and visited the president.

¨When you have the title of a piece of writing, capitalize the first word of the title and then any principal word – nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and so on

¨You WILL NOT capitalize articles in titles.- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Capitalization

¨Capitalize the name of school subjects only when you are referring to a specific course

- I look forward to history class.

- I am taking History II at the community college.

¨At the same time, you will ALWAYS capitalize a language whether it is a specific class or not.

- I am going to Spanish class.

-I love going to English.

Commas in a series

In a list● Use a comma with 3 or more items (series) joined

with “and” or “or”Double adjectives/adverbs● Use a comma to separate two or more

adjectives/adverbs next to each otherDates● Put a comma between the day and the yearCity/State● Put a comma between the city and the state

Dialogue Punctuation

Dialogue punctuation:-Use quotation marks around the actual words

someone is saying- Capitalize the first word of the dialogue

sentences.- Quotes are separated from dialogue tags with

punctuation-Note: Periods and commas go INSIDE quotations marks unless the tag is before the dialogue then the comma is outside of the quotation mark.

-Indent: Start a new paragraph every time you change speakers.

Verb Tense: What’s what?

�Past: Tells action that happened in the past

◦I gave, I ran, I jumped

Present� : Tells action that is happening right now

◦I give, I run, I jum

Future� : Tells action that will be happening

◦I will give, I will run, I will jump

Within the same paragraph the verbs need to be in the same tense

Clauses (Independent and Dependent)

• Dependent clause – incomplete thought

• After the game

•Independent clause – complete thought (subject, predicate, doesn’t need more info)

* After the game, we went to get pizza.

Subordinating Conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions help to create complex sentences. They help to answer the question “Then what?”

Some Subordinating conjunctions:

A - as U - unless

A - although B - because

A - after B - before

W - while I - if

W - when S - since

Subordinating Conjunctions

- If a sentence begins with an AAAWWUBBIS word, it signals a comma will be needed.

Example: After we left the park, the wind

storm knocked over some of the trees.- If the AAAWWUBBIS word/phrase is not at

the beginning of the sentence, you will not need a comma.

Example: The wind storm knocked over some trees after we left the park.

FANBOYS, Coordinating Conjunctions

FOR AND NOR BUT

OR YET SO - FANBOYS are conjunctions used to join

words or groups of words.- Can be used to create a compound subject or predicate- If you have two complete thoughts (independent clauses), they can be joined with a comma and a FANBOYS conjunction.

FANBOYS conjunctions and Semi Colons

Watch out! Both sides must be an independent clause (complete thought- subject and predicate). * Use a comma ONLY if:

* The sentence has a FANBOYS* Each side has a subject & a predicate* Each side is a complete idea

• Using a comma WITHOUT a FANBOYS results in a comma splice.

• SEMI COLON: If you have two complete thoughts (independent clauses), they can be joined together with a semi-colon.

Active and Passive Voice

What is “voice”?

* Describes the relationship between the action of the verb and the subject or object of the sentence

* It says WHO does WHAT in the sentence

Voice can be either passive or active

• Active voice verbs are used when the subject is acting in a sentence.

• Example: Cindy steered the boat.

•“Passive voice” verbs are used when the subject is being acted upon in a sentence.

B is done [by A].

•Example: The mountain’s peak was reached by Ed Danvers.

Active and Passive Voice

Types of Sentences

A simple sentence is one independent clause

- Some students like to study in the mornings.

A compound sentence is two independent clauses put together

- I tried to speak Spanish, and my friend tried to speak English.

A complex sentence is one independent clause + a dependent clause OR a dependent clause + one independent clause.

- Because Juan and Arturio play football every afternoon, they are quite tired when then get home.

Appositives and Middle-Branch Clauses- An appositive is a noun or pronoun — often

with descriptive words — set beside another noun or pronoun to explain or identify it.

- if it’s non-essential information then the appositive phrase needs to be surrounded by commas.

- When there is an essential information contained in the appositive, then you don’t need commas.

Apostrophe to Show Possession

⬜ Always put an ’s after any singular noun that shows possession.

⬜ It doesn’t matter if there is an s at the end of the word or not.

• If you have two nouns that own the same thing, you can just put an ’s after the last name.

• But if the two nouns own separate things, you must put an ’s after each noun.

• If you have a noun that is plural, you will add s’

Direct and Indirect quotations

Direct quotes are the exact words that were used

- He said, “Don’t do that!” He said that “everyone should stay inside.”

Indirect quotations are the paraphrased version of the quote being used

- He said that he didn’t want you to come along.

Subjective Case

Subjective case is when the pronoun is used as the subject in the sentence. The subjective form is I when referring to I or me.

Objective case is when the pronoun is used as the object of something that is happening to. The objective case of I and me is me.

Tips to help figure it out:

*Always put the other person first if there are two

subjects or objects – that’s just common courtesy!

*To figure out if you are in subjective or objective take the other person out

Who vs. Which vs. That

Who = people(Tierney is the only one who got the right answer.)

Which = things(My bike, which has 10 speeds, is for sale.)

That = people or things (He is the one person that can help you.)

A vs. An and Then vs. ThanA = before words beginning with a consonant sound

(Market Avenue is a one-way street.)An = before a word beginning with a vowel sound

(An oryx is a large antelope.)

Then = at that time (If the baby is awake by four o’clock, then we will leave)

Than = amount/comparison(Great Danes are larger than Dobermans.)

When to Spell Out Numbers- Spell out numbers that can be written in one

or two words- Use numerals for numbers that would be

written in three or more words- Never start a sentence with a numeral- Spell out numbers used to indicate order- If you have multiple numbers in a sentence,

write them all as whatever the first one is.

Hyphen Rules

- Rule #1: Hyphenate numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine, Hyphenate fractions

- Rule #2: Hyphenate two or more words when they are used as one word

- Rule #3: Hyphenate words that would be mispronounced easily because of prefixes

Rule #4: Use a hyphen when a word is omitted. These omitted words would be words like through, to, or and.