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Parts of Speech Notes      posted 09-13-2016
Phrase: A group of words that make sense together.

TRANSITIVE verbs have a Direct Object. "DOT": Direct Object = Transitive
"Transitive" means "to go across" meaning the action "transfers from the subject through the verb to be received by the direct object."j
(Ex. I grow flowers. The boy throws the ball.)

INTRANSITIVE means "not transitive" or that there is NO direct object receiving the action. (Ex. The boy jumps.)

The indirect object is always before the D.O. The I.O. receives from the D.O. mentally answering "to" or "for."

A direct object receives the action from the verb. A D.O. is the receiver. A D.O. always comes after an ACTION VERB - not a linking verb.

"Add 's to singular nouns to make them possessive."
"Add s' to most plural nouns to make them possessive."
To make a plural noun possessive - FIRST make it PLURAL; THEN make it POSSESSIVE."

8 L.V. verb family: is, am, are, was, were, be, been, being

"A linking verb builds a BRIDGE between an adjective or noun in the complete PREDICATE and the SUBJECT of the sentence.


TO KNOW:
Can you list the five linking verb "children" of "to be"?
Can you list at least six "sneaky" linking verbs?
Do you know the 23 helping verbs?
Do you know what an infinitive is?
Do you know what a preposition may take?
Do you know the "recipe" of a past participle verb? A form of to ____ + ___, ___, or ___.
Do you know: The direct object is the ___ of the action.

Linking verbs build BRIDGES...between a predicate adjective or predicate noun in the complete PREDICATE and the SUBJECT in the complete SUBJECT.

A PREDICATE ADJECTIVE is the complete predicate part of the sentence. It describes the SUBJECT only.

An ADJECTIVE describes a NOUN. An adjective answers "What kind of?" and "Which one?" or "How many?"

Memorize: "Singular subjects add "s" to their verbs; plural subjects don't."

Tense means "time" - the "time" of the action (in the present, past, or future).

A VERB PHRASE is a group of 2 to 4 verbs working together in a sentence.

The DIRECT OBJECT is the RECEIVER of the action from the subject. The D.O. will ALWAYS follow an ACTION VERB.

(You) Understood: The subject of a command (IMPERATIVE) sentence.

INFINITIVE: An infinitive is a verbal formed with "to" + a verb. Put parenthesis around an infinitive in a sentence. "to + a verb" is NOT a prepositional phrase.

PREPOSITIONS
A PREPOSITION is a word that shows how a noun or pronoun relates to another part of the sentence. These "thief words" take nouns and pronouns and the words connected to them in the phrase. Prepositions always begin a prepositional phrase. Crossing out this "good clutter" helps you find the main parts of a sentence (subject, verb, ...).

Many prepositions begin with the letters in “ABOUT," are little words of 2-7 letters, they are NOT people or things, they often tell "Where oh where?", are not color or number words, and you can't draw the actual word.

*Some words that CAN be prepositions CAN ALSO be adverbs or conjunctions. A word that CAN be a preposition is NOT a preposition until it actually "takes" a noun or pronoun (the loot). In "Mike went in.", "in" is an ADVERB because it says "where" he went, and it isn't taking a noun or pronoun.)

The OBJECT OF THE PREPOSITION is a noun or pronoun that comes after the preposition. The preposition "takes" all of the modifiers (adjectives and articles "attached" to the O.P. noun.

PRONOUNS
Personal pronouns may take the place of nouns and do the same jobs as nouns (be the subject, the O.P., etc.) These include: I, you, he, she, it, we, they.

VERB/VERB PHRASE
A VERB is a word used to describe an action or state of being in the predicate part of the sentence. It is what the subject is doing or being.
VERB PHRASES are a group of verbs working together as a unit. The MAIN VERB is always the LAST verb in the VERB PHRASE (train).

The word "not" is NEVER a verb ( it is an adverb of negation). Do not underline "not" as part of the verb. BOX "not" so you remember not to underline it as part of the verb phrase.

HELPING VERBS
It really helps to learn the 23 helping verbs by "categories." (See WSKHT sent home.)



The Complete Subject & Predicate      posted 09-13-2016
The COMPLETE SUBJECT usually begins with the beginning of the sentence and ENDS at (before) the very first verb (or helping verb). It is is ALL of the word up to the first verb word. The simple subject is IN the complete subject (usually one word or a compound subject) thus is is the "HOME OF THE SUBJECT."

The COMPLETE PREDICATE usually BEGINS with the very first verb (or helping verb) and goes all the way to the end punctuation mark (including everything in between). The verb or verb phrase is in the complete predicate. The complete predicate is the "HOME OF THE PREDICATE (or verb/verb phrase) AND all of the complements (direct object, "predicate nominative," "predicate adjective") - which explains WHY they will be called "predicate…" Knowing these helps us better identify what is what in the sentence.

Example:
COMPLETE SUBJECT................COMPLETE PREDICATE
"Home of the Subject"..........."Home of the Verb/Verb Phrase"
The little white RABBIT...........DID HOP into the bushes in the backyard.

SIMPLE SUBJECT.....................SIMPLE PREDICATE (VERB/VERB PHRASE)
RABBIT..................................DID HOP

TRAIN ANALOGY
Using the TRAIN analogy that we've been using for the verb phrase "train"… The COMPLETE SUBJECT is the beginning of the train with the engineer or "driver" (who the sentence is about…he "drives" the sentence meaning) while the COMPLETE PREDICATE begins with the (very first train car of the) VERB PHRASE TRAIN CARS and includes all the rest of the cars to the caboose.

The SIMPLE "SUBJECT" is one (or could be a compound subject) of the train cars in the complete subject and the SIMPLE PREDICATE is the train cars that are the helping verbs and main verb in the verb phrase of a statement.



REVISING PASSIVE LINKING VERBS INTO ACTIVE SENTENCES      posted 03-11-2016
LINKING VERBS reside in PASSIVE sentences.
Our typical goal is to write ACTIVE sentences with informative words and details that are: descriptive, vivid, interesting, precise, concise, accurate, illustrative

To revise a PASSIVE sentence with linking verbs into an ACTIVE sentence without them, you could:

• SUBSTITUTE a precise, accurate, descriptive word choice. Consider: WAT [works, acts, takes… (+as)]

• SWITCH a predicate adjective to BEFORE the subject as an adjective modifier and choose an interesting, accurate verb to tell what the person was doing.

• VERBAL: Change the passive linking verb into a verbal participial describing the subject. (Ex. Being cold, Jack…)

• ACTIVATE: Change the LV into a HV and add the intended action. (It was rainy. Revised: The rain was falling heavily.)

• REVISE: Completely revise the sentence with a new active verb. (It was rainy. Revised: The rain fell in torrents.)




Grammar-Writing Connection      posted 02-03-2016
Use punctuation and grammar correctly. You could save a life!
One little comma can make a huge difference to grandpa below!

Let's eat grandpa. (Grandpa as the direct object)
Let's eat, grandpa. (Grandpa as direct address)




Grammar Fun      posted 02-03-2016
Use punctuation and grammar correctly. You could save a life!
One little comma can make a huge difference to grandpa below!

Let's eat grandpa. (Grandpa as the direct object)
Let's eat, grandpa. (Grandpa as direct address)



Grammar Online Fun Quiz (optional)      posted 09-25-2015
Grammar Online Fun Quizzes
Here are some fun, helpful links to softschools free online quizzes. Great practice and fun, too!

PREPOSITIONS:
http://www.softschools.com/quizzes/grammar/prepositions_of_place/quiz409.html

HELPING VERBS:
http://www.softschools.com/quizzes/grammar/helping_verbs/quiz520.html