Grammar Crash Course!!

Buckle Up!

Focus of Today’s Grammar Crash Course:• What is Grammar?• The 8 Parts of Speech, focusing on

• Nouns and Pronouns• Verbs and Adverbs

• person, number, tense, and voice of verbs• Adjectives • Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases

• Basic Sentence Structures• Dependent vs. Independent Clauses• Grammar Based Composition for Practice

What is Grammar?

• The system and structure of a language

OR• Both the framework of

a language and the process through which a language conveys meaning

Why Bother Learning Grammar?

• Understanding grammar means understanding the mechanics of your own language, making you better at: reading writing communicating understanding the world

around you learning Latin!

Where Did Grammar Come From?

• Waaaay back in ancient Greece, the philosophers Aristotle and Plato began describing the grammar of their native language, classical Greek. They did this as part of their philosophical investigation into the true

meaning of words, ideas, and concepts; what words in language actually represent; and how people communicate using words.

• Grammar became a formal study that looks a lot like modern grammar under the Romans. The Romans needed all these fancy grammar words because they wanted

to quickly learn a foreign language: Greek. “Grammar” makes this a lot easier because it allows a clear comparison

between the structures and patterns of your native language with the foreign language you are trying to learn.

The Real Question is . . .

Who has the better beard, Plato or Aristotle?

Plato, Long and Curly Aristotle, Full but Trim

The 8 Parts of Speech• Noun• Pronoun• Adjective• Conjunction• Verb• Adverb• Preposition• Interjection

Every word you have spoken,speak, or will speakfalls into one of thesecategories!

Nouns• A noun is a person,

place, thing, or idea• Examples:

– Billy, Portland, table, freedom

• Proper Nouns are nouns that require capitalization– Generally names of

people and places

Pronouns• What is a Pronoun?

– It’s a word that takes the place of a noun (PPTI). The teacher gives the presentation that he wrote. Rather than repeat “the teacher,” we use “he.”

• Common Pronouns:– I we– you– he/she/it they

• Common Pronouns that show Possession– my/mine our/ours– your/yours– his/her/its their

Pronouns II• The pronoun “who/which/that” refers back to a noun already

mentioned and governs its own clause– The boy who cried wolf was sorry in the end.

• Who can only refer back to people.• Use “whom” when the person referred to is an object in the

clause– The boy whom the wolf ate was definitely sorry in the

end. – I gave the prize to the winner for whom it was intended.

• Use “which” or “that” when referring back to to things.– The books that are on the shelf should be required

reading.

Pronoun Errors• On the SAT/ACT Multiple Choice Writing Questions, you will

often be asked to identify a place where a noun or nouns do not agree with a pronoun.

• Example: A smart tennis player such as Roger is someone A

who knows how to move around the court, can hit winners at B C the net, and controls their emotions. No error.

D E– The mistake is in choice D. Their is a plural pronoun. The subject

in the sentence, player, is singular. Instead of using their, the sentence should have used his as the pronoun.

Adjectives• Adjectives are descriptive words that “modify”

(describe) nouns– The bad man robbed the bank.– The book was very long and difficult.

• Adjectives are qualities and quantities. Find them below:– Twenty happy women filled the spacious square

on a sunny afternoon.

Conjunctions• Conjunctions are the little words that join other parts of speech

together.– You and I are studying grammar but not zoology. – She filled up when she arrived at the gas station.

• Conjunctions can join parts of sentences, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs . . . almost anything!

• Conjunction = conjoin => think: conjoined twins to help you remember

• We’ll get more on conjunctions in a bit when we talk about sentence structures

Verbs = Action! Verbs are ACTION words - EXPLODE, do, make,

run, eat, sleep, spin, draw, feel, sprint, play, study, pass, fail, grow . . .

Also “to be” is a verb in all its forms - be, am, are, is, was, has been, etc.

Verbs have 5 attributes, or aspects, to the action they express:

Person Number Tense Mood Voice

Person “Person” refers to the noun’s point of

view as he/she/it performs the action of the sentence.

There are 3 possible points of view: 1st person = I or we 2nd person = you 3rd person = he/she/it or they

Number This is easy:

Singular = one Plural = more than one

Let’s look at the verb “love” in all possible persons and numbers:

“love” Singular Plural

1st Person I love we love

2nd Person you love you love

3rd Person he/she/it loves they love

Tense = Time When did the action of the verb happen?

The answer is the verb’s tense. Six main tenses:

1. Present = right now = he eats2. Past = before now = he ate3. Future = after now = he will eat4. Present Perfect = before now, with

an effect now = he has eaten (and is now therefore full)

5. Past Perfect = before a time in the past = he had eaten already when he arrived

6. Future Perfect = after a time in the future = he will have eaten when he arrives tomorrow

Hey! You Payin’ Attention?! Put the verb “love” into

all six tenses in the 1st person plural

Present = Past = Future = Present Perfect = Past Perfect = Future Perfect =

Hey! You Payin’ Attention?! Put the verb “love” into all six

tenses in the 1st person plural

Present = we love Past = we loved Future = we shall love Present Perfect = we have

loved Past Perfect = we had loved Future Perfect = we shall

have loved

Back to Verbs: Mood Mood refers to the “tone” of the verb or

the attitude of the speaker. Three moods:

Indicative - think “indicate.” This mood just points things out and makes statements. Example: I am studying for my exam.

Imperative - expresses commands. Example: “Finish your homework, Bobby.” “Enjoy Coke.”

Subjunctive - expresses unreal or hypothetical situations. Example: I would go to class if I ever learned anything.

Voice Two Voices:

Active: the subject performs the action of the verb. Example: Jim hits the ball.

Passive: the subject does NOT perform the action. Example: The ball is hit (by Jim).

Voice PracticeLet’s change these verbs

from active to passive or vice versa.

We drive. He was denied. You will eat. They had been helped. Stephen was covering.

Verb Practice Can you identify the five attributes

of these verbs? We held

Person Number Tense Mood Voice

She will have read Person Number Tense Mood Voice

You had been aidedPersonNumberTenseMoodVoice

Just do it!PersonNumberTenseMoodVoice

Adverbs• Adverbs modify verbs and

sometime adjectives• Usually end in -ly• Examples: “We barely escaped.”

“The students submitted an extremely excellent performance.”

Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases• Prepositions are little words that most

often, but not always, express place.– Examples: under, through, around, with,

without, into, in, on, about• A prepositional phrase is simple the

preposition itself and the words it governs.– Example: “He ran into the cave.” “I came

with him.”

Interjections• Hey, these are obvious and easy!• Holy cow!• Wow!• Whoa, did you see that?• Hi, how are you?

Basic Sentence StructuresSubject = the noun that performs the

action of the verbDirect object = the noun that receives

the action of the verb Billy hits Timmy. Billy is the subject => he hits Timmy is the direct object => he is hit

Basic Sentence Structures Indirect Object = a noun that is affected by the action of

the verb in a secondary way. The noun answers the question “To whom?” or “For

whom? Indirect Objects are found with verbs of giving,

showing, and saying. Examples: “I said to Billy, ‘Do not hit Timmy.” “She

showed her stamp collection to the class. It was really boring.” “Santa gives gifts to children at Christmas time.”

Sometimes the to/for gets left out, depending on the wording. “Santa gives children gifts at Christmas time.”

What is a Sentence? A complete sentence needs to have at just two words: a

subject and a verb that go together. We sleep.

Anything else is considered a phrase or a dependent clause. A phrase consists of two or more words expressing a

thought but without a subject-verb combo Example: Sleeping at night . . . To investigate the crime . . . And remember prepositional phrases? We ran around

the house. A dependent clause uses a subordinating conjunction and

may have a subject-verb combo => more on this . . .

Independent vs. Dependent Clauses

A dependent clause requires a subordinating conjunction. Let’s look at some examples: While I was at work, I missed the game. You eat breakfast because it’s healthy.

“While I was at work.” is not a complete sentence. It is dependent on the complete idea of “I missed the game.”

While is the word that makes it dependent/subordinate to the main idea of “I missed the game.”

Bringing It All Together Grammar based composition: I will give you a list of

grammatical items that must appear in a sentence that you will write.

Example: write a sentence that contains the following: a verb in third person singular and past tense, a prepositional phrase, and an indirect object.– One possible answer: She gave him a gift on his birthday.

• “She gave” is 3rd person singular, past tense.• “him” is an indirect object of “give”• “on his birthday” is a prepositional phrase.

Your Turn

1. Write a sentence that contains the following:

– a verb in the 2nd person, future tense– two adjectives– one adverb– a prepositional phrase

Your Turn

Write a sentence that contains the following:– a dependent clause– a verb in the 1st person, past perfect tense– a direct object of “the pancake people”– a verb in the passive voice

Review of Today’s Presentation:• What is Grammar?• The 8 Parts of Speech, focusing on

– Nouns and Pronouns– Verbs and Adverbs

• person, number, tense, and voice of verbs– Adjectives – Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases

• Basic Sentence Structures• Dependent vs. Independent Clauses• Grammar Based Composition for Practice