Writing skills - Grammar Basics
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This document discusses grammar basics including parts of speech like nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. It also covers sentence patterns, phrases and clauses, subject-verb agreement, and punctuation rules for periods, commas, colons, semicolons, apostrophes, and quotations. The key aspects of grammar, syntax, and punctuation are defined and examples are provided.
Writing skills - Grammar Basics
- 2. Sentence Parts and Patterns • Parts of speech • Nouns: name a person, a thing, a quality, a place or an idea • Common nouns name a general class of things and do not befin in a capital letter • Proper nouns name a specific person, place or thing and are capitalized • Collective nouns are singular in form but name a group • Possessive nouns show ownership or source by adding ‘s
- 3. Sentence Parts and Patterns • Parts of speech • Pronouns: substitute for nouns and function in sentences as nouns • Personal pronouns refer to a specific individual or individual (I, you, he, she, it, we, they) • Indefinite pronouns do not substitute for any specific noun (everybody, some) • Relative pronouns relates a group of words to a noun or another pronoun (who, whoever, which, that) • Demonstrative pronouns point to a noun (this, that, such)
- 4. Sentence Parts and Patterns • Parts of speech • Verbs: express an action, an occurrence, or a state of being • Plain form: indicates action that occurs in the present, habitually or is generally true • Past-tense form: indicates action that occurred in the past • Past participle form: uses forms of have or be to express action that occurred in the past, or modifies nouns and pronouns • Present participle form: adds –ing to plain form and modifies nouns and pronouns, or functions as a noun
- 5. Sentence Parts and Patterns • Parts of speech • Adjectives: describe or modify nouns and pronouns, specifying which one, what quality or how many • Adverbs: describe or modify verbs, adjectives other adverbs and groups of words, specifying when, where, how and to what extent • Adjectives and Adverbs appear in three forms: • Positive (i.e., a pretty girl, shout angrily) • Comparative (i.e., a prettier girl’ shouted more angrily) • Superlative (i.e., the prettiest girl, shouted the most angrily)
- 6. Sentence Parts and Patterns • Parts of speech • Prepositions: form nouns or pronouns into phrases which serve as modifiers in sentences (about, as, at, by, for, in, from, into, like…) • Subordinating conjunctions: form sentence into phrases that serve as parts of compound sentences (as, if, once, that, while, when…) • Coordinating conjunctions: connect words or word groups of the same kind (and, nor, or, but, for so, yet) • Interjections: express feeling or command attention
- 7. Sentence Parts and Patterns • Subjects and predicates • Subject: names something. • Simple subject: one or more nouns or pronouns • Complete subject: includes modifiers • Compound subject: subject is made up of two or more nouns or pronouns joined by a coordinating conjunction • Predicate: makes an assertion about the subject or describes the action by the subject • Simple predicate: one or more verbs • Complete predicate: includes modifiers • Compound predicate: predicate is made up of two or more actions joined by a coordinating conjunction
- 8. Sentence Parts and Patterns • All English sentences are based on five patterns • Intransitive verb: the simplest pattern, consisting of a verb that does not require a following word to complete its meaning. • The dog barked. • Transitive verb: the verb is followed by a direct object (a noun or pronoun that identifies who or what receives the action of the verb). • The earthquake destroyed the city. • Linking verb: the verb is followed by a subject complement (a word that renames or describes the subject). • The woman appeared calm. • Indirect object: the verb is followed by a direct object and an indirect object (a word identifying to or for whom action is performed). • The company paid employees bonuses. • Object complement: the verb is followed by a direct object and an object complement (a word that describes the direct object). • Success makes some people nervous.
- 9. Sentence Parts and Patterns • Phrases and clauses • Phrases are word groups that serve as adjectives, adverbs, or nouns and can not stand alone as a sentence • A phrase lacks either a subject or a predicate or both • A clause is any group of words that contains both a subject and a predicate • A main clause makes a complete statement and can stand alone as a sentence • A subordinate clause contains a subject and a predicate but begins with a subordinating word
- 10. Sentence Parts and Patterns • Subject and verb agreement • A subject and its verb should agree in number and person • Most problems arise when singular and plural endings are used within the same sentence The boy plays. vs. The boys play. • Subject and verb should agree even when other words come between them • Subjects joined by and usually take plural verbs • When parts of a subject are joined by or or nor, the verb agrees with the nearer part • The verb and subject agree even in inverted order, such as in questions • Use singular verbs with titles and with words being defined
- 11. Punctuation • End punctuation • A sentence ends with a period (.), a question mark (?) or an exclamation point (!) • Use periods with abbreviations that consist of or end in small letters • Use a question mark after a direct question and sometimes to indicate doubt • Use an exclamation point after an emphatic statement, interjection, or command • Comma • Use a comma before and, but or another coordinating conjunction linking main clauses • Use a comma to set off introductory elements • Use a comma or commas to set off nonessential elements • Use commas between items in a series • Use commas between two or more adjectives that equally modify the same word • Use commas in dates, addresses, place names and long numbers • Use commas with quotations according to standard practice
- 12. Punctuation • Colon • Use a colon to introduce a concluding explanation, series, or long or formal quotation • Use a colon between a title and subtitle, and between divisions of time • Semicolon • Use a semicolon between main clauses not joined by and, but or another coordinating conjunction • Use a semicolon between main clauses related by however, for example, and so on. • Use semicolons between main clauses or series items containing commas • Apostrophe • Use the apostrophe and sometimes –s to form possessive nouns and indefinite pronouns • Use an apostrophe to form contractions
- 13. Punctuation • Quotations • Use double quotation marks to enclose direct quotations • Use single quotation marks to enclose a quotation within a quotation • Quotation marks may enclose words being used in a special sense • Place commas and periods within quotation marks • Place colons and semicolons outside quotation marks • Place dashes, question marks and exclamation points inside quotation marks only if part of the quotation