GRAMMAR CHEAT Sheet
The following websites are especially helpful for grammar tips and tricks:
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/ http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/ http://www.chompchomp.com
There are EIGHT parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections.
A NOUN is a word used to name a person, place, thing, or idea. It names what the sentence is about. Proper Noun: Names a particular person, place, or thing Examples: Ms. D, St. Louis, or Wii Common Noun: Names a class of things Examples: teacher, city, or game Compound Nouns: Two or more words put together to form a single noun Examples: basketball, car pool, or sister-in-law
A PRONOUN is a word used in place of a noun or of more than one noun. Personal Pronouns
Stand in place of the names people, places, or things
First Second Third
Singular I, my, mine, me you, your, yours he, his him She, her, hers It, its Relative Pronouns
Plural we, ours, our, us you, your, yours they, their, theirs, them
Refer back to people or things previously mentioned
Who, whom, whose, which, that Demonstrative
distinguish the particular objects or people that are referred to from other possible candidates
This, that, these, those
Indefinite Pronouns
Refer to general categories of people or things
All Another any anybody anyone anything both
each either everybody everyone everything few many
more most much neither nobody none no one
one other several some somebody someone such
Reflexive Pronouns
When a person or thing acts on itself
myself yourself himself herself
itself ourselves yourselves themselves
A VERB is a word that expresses action or otherwise helps to make a statement. Action verbs: She flew the airplane. The train stops. Linking verbs (connect subject to information): Keila is a shopaholic. (forms of verb be) Other common linking verbs: appear become feel look remain seem sound stay taste grow smell
An ADJECTIVE is a word used to modify a noun or pronoun. An adjective may modify a noun or pronoun by telling what kind it is: Blue ink old friends An adjective may indicate which one: this park these papers
An adjective may tell how many: two men Articles are also adjectives: a, an, the
several apples
An ADVERB is a word used to modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs modify by telling how, when, where, or to what extent. Examples: The bird was chirping downstairs. The bird chirped today. The bird chirped loudly. The bird chirped constantly. The police chief was exceptionally brave. The guide spoke too slowly.
An INTERJECTION is a word that expresses emotion and has no grammatical relation to other words in the sentence. Examples: Ouch! Ugh! Wow! Well, I’m not sure. Oops! Oh!
A CONJUNCTION joins words or groups of words. Coordinating conjunctions join two independent clauses: For And Nor But Or Yet So Subordinating conjunctions come before dependent clauses:
after although as as if as long as as though because before
even if even though if only in order that now that once rather than since
so that if than that though till unless until when
whenever where whereas wherever while
A PREPOSITION is a word that shows the relationship of a noun or a pronoun to some other word in the sentence.
about above across after against around at before behind below beneath beside besides
between beyond by down during except for from in inside into like near of
off on out outside over since through throughout till to toward under until up
upon with without according to because of by way of in addition to in front of in place of in regard to in spite of instead of on account of out of
Examples:
I rode past the store. The park beside the river is quiet.
Parts of Sentences: Direct Object - A noun or pronoun that is having an action done to it. Indirect Object - A noun or pronoun that tells you for what or whom the action of the verb (predicate) is being done. Predicate - The verb that describes what the noun (subject) of the sentence is doing or being. Subject - A noun or pronoun that is performing the verb; the "do-er" of a sentence. Examples: 1. Barry flies a kite. Barry is the subject; flies is the predicate; kite is the direct object. There is no indirect object. 2. Edward gave Leah two roses. Edward is the subject; gave is the predicate; Leah is the indirect object; roses is the direct object.
Clauses, Phrases, and Fragments A clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb. A main or independent clause can stand alone as a sentence. A subordinate or dependent clause has a subject and verb, but relies on an independent clause to make the sentence whole and give the dependent clause meaning. To check what kind of clause a part of a sentence is, see if it makes sense on its own. Examples: 1. Peter shopped at the store before he had a job. Peter shopped at the store is an independent clause; before he had a job is the dependent clause. Before he had a job is a dependent clause because without more to the sentence, we don't know what happened "before." 2. Brian owned a restaurant and he loved cooking. Brian owned a restaurant and he loved cooking could stand alone as sentences; therefore they are both independent clauses. 3. Erin went to college where she took classes but she didn't like them. Erin went to college and she didn't like them are independent clauses; where she took classes is a dependent clause. A phrase is a group of words that lack a subject and/or predicate. Even if you capitalize the first letter and end with a period (or question mark/exclamation point) it will not be a sentence, but instead a sentence fragment. A fragment may contain a subject and predicate, but for one reason or another, it's not an independent clause. Examples: 1. Running fast and hard While it has a verb, the sentence has no predicate. We don't know who or what is doing the running in this phrase. 2. Maria's big red car, parked behind the house. Even though this looks like a sentence, since you can find many nouns and a verb (parked), the verb in this case isn't causing any action — it's used as an adjective, to describe where the car is. But neither Maria nor her car are doing or feeling anything. 3. Because the girl was sad. This is a sentence fragment because it is a dependent clause — without the word "because" it would be fine, but with it, this sentence isn't complete. What happened because the girl was sad? We don't know.
I versus Me To make sure you use the right pronoun, ask if "I" am doing something (subject) or is something being done to "me" (object). For example, in these two sentences: Laura and __ go to see a concert. Laura gave the concert tickets to ___. The first one is "I" while the second one is "me" because in the first case, "I" am doing something: going to see a concert. While in the second sentence, Laura is doing something to "me": giving tickets. A good way to check is to take the other person out of the sentence and see how it sounds with both pronouns. It wouldn't be "Me go," it would be "I go."