Grammar Review

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Grammar Review

• I will not go down to posterity talking bad
  grammar.
• - Benjamin Disraeli

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Words Groups

• Three types of word groups
• Clauses
• Sentences
• Phrases

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Clauses

• A clause is a group of words that contains a
  subject a do-er or be-er of something (this
  word will usually be a noun or a noun substitute)
  and a verb what the subject does or is.
• Bob laughs. (subject Bob verb laughs)

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• If these are the only elements contained in the
  word group, it is considered to be an INDEPENDENT
  CLAUSE
• This means that it is able to stand by itself,
  and its meaning is complete

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• Clauses may also be made DEPENDENT by the
  addition of a joining word called a subordinate
  conjunction
• This word reduces the clause to a lesser (or
  subordinate) role in a sentence it is no longer
  the fundamental unit within the sentence

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• Some subordinate conjunctions are
• Although
• If
• Whenever
• Because
• Before
• Which
• Since
• After

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• Some DEPENDENT clauses are
• When Bob laughs
• If we try
• Because dogs bark
• After the student learns
• These clauses must be joined to another
  INDEPENDENT clause, to make a complete thought
• When Bob laughs, the walls shake.

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The Sentence

• When you join clauses in this way, you are really
  building sentences
• Each sentence must contain at least one
  independent clause though it may contain other
  things, the independent clause is absolutely
  necessary
• If there is no independent clause, you do not
  have a sentence

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Simple Sentences

• A simple sentence contains only an independent
  clause
• Sarah swims at the pool.
• I bought a new sweater.

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Compound Sentences

• Compound sentences contain two or more
  independent clauses joined by coordinate
  conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, yet, and so)

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Complex Sentences

• Complex sentences contain a combination of at
  least one independent clause with one or more
  dependent clauses
• While I was waiting in the library, Billy made a
  phone call.
• After we ate dinner, we watched a movie.

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Phrases

• Anything that is not a clause or a sentence is a
  PHRASE
• Any group of words that does not contain a
  subject or a verb is a phrase

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• Some PHRASES are
• walking down the street
• across the river
• beside the school with the flagpole
• over between the car and the house
• with my friend Paul

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Common Sentence Errors

• Incorrect subject-verb agreement
• Sentence fragments
• Run-on sentences
• Incorrect pronoun, tense, and person agreement
• Modifier errors
• Lack of parallelism

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Subject-Verb Agreement

• Subjects (do-ers of an action or be-ers of a
  state) agree with their verbs in person and
  number
• Singular subjects always take singular verbs, and
  plural subjects take plural verbs
• He walks They walk
• He sings They sing
• He is They are

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Sentence Fragments

• A fragment is a piece of a sentence that is
  mistaken for a complete sentence
• A fragment is missing either a subject or a verb
• Running down the street and around the corner.
• For example, adding, subtracting, and
  multiplying.
• After I had finished my homework and chores.

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Run-On Sentences

• Run-on sentences are created by trying to cram
  too much information into a single sentence
  without correctly joining the elements that make
  up the structure of the sentence
• The most common run-on sentences are created by
  putting two independent clauses together with
  only a comma this is called a comma splice

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• Comma Splice
• ?I slept in, I missed the bus.
• ?I slept in, so I missed the bus.
• ?Because I slept in, I missed the bus.
• ?I slept in I missed the bus.

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Pronoun, Tense, and Person Agreement

• Always strive for consistency in pronouns, tense,
  and person
• Jumping from one to another person or tense is
  confusing using ambiguous or inaccurate pronouns
  is also confusing

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• Pronoun Agreement
• Fred asked the neighbour to walk his dog. (Whose
  dog? Teds or the neighbours?)
• A person should mind their own business. (A
  person is only one their is plural)

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• Tense Agreement
• Generally, there are three kinds of time you may
  refer to in writing past, present, and future
• If youre writing in the past tense, stay with
  the past tense unless the time references change
  (the same holds true for present and future)

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• ? So she came up to me and asks, Where is the
  train station? (This is incorrect due to the
  switch from past came to present asks when
  the time referred to has not changed).

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• Person Agreement
• Keep person (I, you, he or she, we, you, they)
  consistent
• I live near to the airport, so when Im trying to
  sleep in, the noise of the airplanes taking off
  and landing keeps you awake. (Why would the noise
  of the airplanes keep you awake if Im the one
  sleeping?)
• One should always keep your eyes open. (In a
  sentence such as this one, you may use you or
  one, but dont mix them in the same sentence

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Modifier Problems

• Modifiers are words or groups of words that
  describe, explain, or intensify other words or
  groups of words
• Two kinds of modifiers
• Adjectives
• Adverbs

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• Misplaced Modifiers
• The modifier is in the wrong position in the
  sentence. Put the modifier as close as possible
  to the thing modified
• ?I only bought one ice cream cone. (Probably I
  intend the only to modify the one.)
• ?I bought only one ice cream cone.

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• Dangling Modifiers
• The modified element, though implied, is not
  actually given in the sentence
• Driving the tractor in the field, a new-born calf
  lay in the grass. (Since the calf cant drive a
  tractor, this sentence doesnt make sense. Who
  saw the calf? Who was driving?)
• ?Driving the tractor in the field, Mary found a
  new-born calf lying in the grass.

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Lack of Parallelism

• Lack of parallelism can occur when youre using
  lists or series of items
• Whenever you are speaking of more than one item,
  place them all in the same grammatical form
  (nouns with nouns, adjectives with adjectives,
  ing words with ing words, etc.)

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• Professionals include teachers and people who fix
  teeth.
• ?Professionals include teachers and dentists.
• I like swimming, skiing, and to paint.
• ?I like swimming, skiing, and painting.
• Hes handsome, and has intelligence too.
• ?Hes handsome, and intelligent too.