(FTU) Lesson Topic 1: Rave Grammar Review

Lesson Topic 1: Rave Grammar Review

Sentences Galore!
Every time you speak, read, or write, you are encountering conventions of the English language. Conventions in the English language include spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and paragraphing.

Throughout a regular day, you will come across clauses or sentences whether you are listening, speaking, reading, or writing. Now, you will have the ability to understand the differences among the clauses and sentences you use and hear. However, a difference appears between a sentence and a clause. A complete sentence begins with a capital letter, includes an end mark (period, question mark, or exclamation point), and contains a subject and verb that expresses a complete thought. On the other hand, a clause is a sentence part that contains a subject and a verb. A clause can be dependent (containing a subject and verb but not expressing a complete thought) or independent (containing a subject and verb and expressing a complete thought).

Sentences Types Review

Sentence Type	Description	Examples
Compound Sentence	Compound sentences become a bit more difficult because they contain two independent clauses and are joined by a coordinating word such as for, and, nor, but, or, yet, or so.	Example: The dog sits, and his owner gives him a treat. Both parts of this sentence can stand alone: The dog sits (independent clause) His owner gives him a treat (independent clause) Because they can both stand alone, they are both independent clauses. Notice that they must have a connector of some type so they do not form a run-on sentence.
Complex Sentence	A complex sentence contains an independent clause joined by one or more independent clauses.	Example: After the dog sits, his owner gives him a treat. After the dog sits (dependent) His owner gives him a treat (independent) The first part of the sentence now includes the word "after" and now creates a dependent clause. The sentence depends on the rest of the sentence for completion. Therefore, the independent clause hops onto the end of this sentence. So, complex sentences have a part that can stand alone and make a complete sentence and parts that do not have the ability to stand alone as a complete thought.
Compound-Complex Sentence	A compound-complex sentence contains two independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses.	Example: After the dog sits, he wags his tail, and his owner gives him a treat. After the dog sits (dependent clause) He wags his tail (independent clause) His owner gives him a treat (independent clause)

Practice identifying the sentence types with the assessment below.

 

Parts of Speech

The Noun

It's a bird...It's a plane...It's SUPERMAN! What do birds, planes, and Superman all have in common? They are all nouns (and they all fly). But we are going to focus on the noun aspect of the situation. Nouns are the parts of speech that name people, places, and things. In order to locate a noun within a sentence, ask yourself if the word is a person, place, or thing.

Pronoun Prototypes

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun such as he, she, it, they, someone, who, etc. There are many different categories of pronouns.

Types of Pronouns	Description	Examples
Personal Pronouns	Personal pronouns refer to a particular person, group, or thing.	I, me, my, mine we, us, our, ours you, your, yours he, she, it, him, her, his, hers, its they, them, their, theirs
Relative Pronouns	Relative pronouns relate to another noun that comes before it in the sentence.	Which, that, who, whom, and whose Example: The woman who won the lottery gave the money to charity. The relative pronoun "who" relates to the woman. Example: The bike that was blue cost more than the bike that was red. The relative pronoun "that" refers to the specific bike it follows. "Who" and "whom" refer only to people. "Which" refers to things or ideas—never people. "That" and "whose" can refer to either.
Demonstrative Pronouns	Demonstrative pronouns demonstrate, or identify, and point to a thing or things, and occasionally persons.	This, these, that, those Example: Will you hand me those shoes? "Those" refer to a specific pair of shoes that are not near the speaker. Example: I want to use this pen. "This" refers to a pen that is close in proximity. "This" and "these" refer to things or people that are close in proximity. "That" and "those" refer to people or objects that are further away.
Indefinite Pronouns	Indefinite pronouns are not definite in meaning. In other words, they are not specific in which noun they replace.	Anybody, anyone, anything, everybody, everyone, everything, nobody, none, no one, nothing, somebody, someone, something Example: Can anyone help me tie my shoe? "Anyone" does not provide a definite person to help tie the shoe. Example: Everything seems to be going so well today! "Everything" does not refer to a specific thing happening during the day.
Reflexive Pronouns	Reflexive pronouns refer back to the subject of the sentence or clause. They either end in -self, as in the singular form, or -selves as in the plural form.	Myself, yourself, himself, herself, and itself Ourselves, yourselves, themselves Example: She sent herself a copy of the letter. "Herself" refers back to "she." Example: Let us get ourselves a gift for Christmas. "Ourselves" refers back to "us."
Interrogative Pronouns	Interrogative pronouns are pronouns used in order to ask a question.	What, which, who, whom, and whose Example: What is going on today? "What" is the pronoun that helps ask this question. Example: Who is going to the store to buy the groceries? "Who" is the pronoun that helps ask this question.
Possessive Pronouns	Possessive pronouns are pronouns that show ownership.	My, your, his, her, its, our, their, whose Mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs, whose Example: Will you hand me my purse? "My" reveals the ownership of the purse. Example: Those shoes are his. "His" reveals the ownership of the shoes.

Don't be overwhelmed! There are many types of pronouns, but the names of the pronouns already tell you their purpose. All you need to do is practice understanding the purpose of each individual pronoun.

Now, practice determining pronoun types with the following activity.

What is a Verb?

Remember that we talked about verbs when learning about subjects and predicates. A verb says something about the subject of the sentence and expresses actions, events, or states of being. Verbs are commonly known as any word that shows action. There are different categories of verbs.

Action verbs are verbs that show action.

Linking verbs are verbs that do not show action; instead, the linking verb renames or describes the subject. The following verbs are often considered linking verbs.

• Is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been
• Feel, taste, look, remain, sound

The list above does not include all linking verbs. A trick that you can use to test if a word is a linking verb: Replace the word you think is a linking verb with "is" and see if it connects the subject and predicate. If there is a connection, then there's a good possibility the word you see is a linking verb. Try this trick with the second example below.

Helping verbs appear in front of the main verb and make the meaning of the verb even more clear. Instead of saying, "She runs to the store," you can use a helping verb to make the meaning more specific and say, "She will run to the store." Using "will" as a helping verb, the words now reveal that the action happens in the future. Some helping verbs are:

• is, am, are, was, were
• be, being, been
• has, have, had
• do, does, did
• will, shall, should, would
• can, could
• may, might, must

Remember that helping verbs must accompany a main verb whereas linking verbs can stand alone.

Getting Descriptive with Nouns

In order to add specific information to a sentence, adjectives might be included. Adjectives describe nouns by answering one of these three questions: What kind is it? How many are there? Which one is it?

Getting Descriptive with Verbs

Whereas adjectives describe nouns, adverbs describe verbs. Try to remember the definition of an adverb by realizing that adverbs add to the verb. Adverbs slightly change the meanings of verbs and answer one of these four questions: How? When? Where? and Why?

Oftentimes, adverbs end in -ly. However, as you see in the second example, adverbs do not have to end in -ly; they just need to describe the verb.

 

Take some time to practice your understanding of adverbs and adjectives using the assessment below.