GRAMMAR

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GRAMMAR

• PARTS
• OF SPEECH

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Nouns

• These are divided into
• Proper nouns - names of people, places or
  things. (e.g. Wellington, Pink,
  Massey High School)
• Concrete nouns things which exist (e.g. car,
  school, house, shell)
• Abstract nouns things which cannot be seen or
  touched.
• Ideas, attitudes or emotions. (e.g. love
  sorrow, idealism, loyalty)
• Collective nouns used for referring to groups
  of things
• (e.g. a fleet of ships, a gaggle of geese, a
• herd of cows)

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Determiners or Articles

• There are 2 types of determiner or article
• Definite article the
• Indefinite article a, an, some
• e.g. Put the books on the desk in the room this
  refers to a definite,
• specific, certain desk.
• Put the books on a desk in the room this is
  an indefinite,
• unspecified, uncertain desk.
• You can test to see if a word is a noun by
  putting an article (or
• determiner) in front of it.
• Nouns beginning with vowels (a,e,i,o and u) must
  have an in front of
• them e.g. An apple, an ice-cream, an umbrella.
  While nouns beginning
• with consonants can have a before them e.g. A
  banana, a car, a
• student.
• If an article (the, a, an, some) can be used in
  front of the word then that word is
• probably a noun.
• e.g. the house (noun) but the under (not a
  noun)
• an apple (noun) but a smiling (not a noun)
• some anger (noun) but some violent (not a noun)

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Pronouns

• These words replace nouns.
• e.g. John bought the book for his wife and he
  gave it to her.
• What if we didnt have pronouns? Consider this
  little story.
• Davids mother reminded David to go and brush
  Davids teeth before David left for school.
  Davids mother asked David if David had packed
  Davids lunch. Then David and Davids sister
  Jenny walked to the bus stop where David and
  Jenny were joined by David and Jennys friends.
• Replace the words in bold with the correct
  pronoun. Rewrite the sentence to do this.

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Adjectives

• Adjectives describe nouns.
• They add information to nouns or modify them.
• e.g. A black cat. A tall man. A dark, threatening
  sky.
• Pre modifiers are adjectives before the noun.
  e.g. The long, dusty road
• stretched for miles.
• Post modifiers are adjectives after the noun.
  e.g. The road, long and
• dusty, stretched for miles.
• It is possible to have too many adjectives in a
  sentence.
• e.g. The great big, huge, ugly, scary monster
  chased me.
• Sometimes less is more! Choose your adjectives
  carefully!

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Types of adjectives

• Some describe green hat, brave woman, happy
  cat.
• Some tell us how much or how many little money,
  some
• sunshine, lots of bread.
• Some are numerals ten fish, the second runner,
  all men..
• Some demonstrate .this book, that car, these
  people
• Some are possessive (owned) my room, her
  motorbike,
• their uniforms.
• Some are proper (names) a French woman, my
  English
• class, the Massey way.

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Adverbs

• Adverbs describe verbs. They add to them!
• These are the HOW words we use in sentences. They
  give more information to the reader, telling us
  how the action was done.
• Many of them end in ly but NOT ALL!
• e.g. He walks quickly. Some people talk slowly.
  They played happily.
• BUT there are other HOW words too.
• e.g. They ran fast. They shop often. The girl
  fell hard.
• Adverbs can also add more meaning to adjectives
  
• e.g. A very good essay. A fairly easy job.
  Too hot.
• Or other adverbs The car moved quite slowly.

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Conjunctions

• These are joining words.
• They join words, phrases and sentences. Some
  conjunctions are
• and, because, but, if, although, whereas, until,
  when, so, for, as, or.
• e.g. John and Jim went although they didnt have
  to because they were not needed.
• We went to the shop to buy drinks but we didnt
  have enough money.
• The bus made it up the hill but broke down on
  the other side.
• Sometimes the conjunction comes at the beginning
  of the sentence!
• e.g. Although they didnt want to, Kate and Lina
  washed the dishes.
• Because they were late, Alan and Paul got a
  detention.

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Prepositions

• Tell us where things are! (POSITION)
• They connect nouns (or pronouns) and other words.
• Below the window. Beside the desk. Under the
  umbrella.
• Or where things are going. To the shops, from
  the beach
• Some examples are
• To, from, at, on, under, below, past, for,
  beside, around, with, opposite..
• e.g. She went down the road in the car with her
  brother to the shop beside the bridge.

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Verbs

• Lights.camera..ACTION!!!
• Verbs are ACTION words.
• The athlete jumped
• The bus stopped
• Horses gallop
• These are the doing word verbs with which we are
  all familiar.
• There are other verbs irregular verbs which
  are the most commonly used ones
• I am happy.
• Are you sorry?
• We were late.
• She is gorgeous.

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• Its all about timing.
• Verbs tell us WHEN things happen.
• Past We laughed We were laughing
• Present We are laughing We laugh
• Future We will laugh We will be
  laughing
• There are also verbs called auxiliaries.
  Auxiliary really means to be added toso these
  are words that add something usually tense to
  the verb
• e.g. I have seen the light!
• Can you answer the question?
• She will feel better tomorrow.
• Auxiliary verbs are may, might, shall, will,
  should, can, could, would, have, had, has

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Finite Verbs

• Verbs with the word to in front of them are
  infinite. They can be changed, e.g. to walk, to
  eat, to walk, to become etc. These can all be
  changed into an infinite number of forms when we
  give them a subject and a tense.
• For example I am walking. She is writing. He
  seems annoyed. These are finite sentences
  because they involve people and an action in time
  (subject and tense).
• Most present tense verbs end in ing e.g. walking,
  looking, running, being.
• Past tense verbs often end in ed walked, looked.
  BUT some dont, e.g. ran, been.
• Future tense usually involves an auxiliary verb.
  e.g. I will be walking tomorrow

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Finite and non finite verbs

• Every sentence has a finite verb. This is the
  verb which belongs to the subject. They can stand
  on their own and they give the tense.
• When the verb is incomplete it is nonfinite and
  needs to have other verbs (auxiliaries) to make
  sense.
• e.g. The girls staring doesnt make sense so
  staring is a nonfinite verb its not finished
  it needs more (an auxiliary like are for example.
• But The girls stared does make sense so
  stared is a finite verb it doesnt need other
  bits attached to make sense.

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Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

• A verb that takes an object is called a
  transitive verb. If there is no object the verb
  is intransitive.
• Verbs have a subject (a doer of the action).
  Sometimes the verb also has an object (something
  that has the action done to it)
• e.g. You play. Play verb, you subject or
  doer of the action.
• Play is therefore an intransitive verb (no
  object).
• You play the guitar. The guitar is the
  object that is played.
• Play is now a transitive verb because it takes
  an object.
• Find the subject and the object (if there is one)
  in the following sentences
• 1/ He sucks his thumb. 2/ The bird warbled its
  song.
• 3/ We voted for you. 4/ Jim wrote a letter to Mr
  Jones
• 5/ Mike flew the kite high in the air. 6/
  Waterfalls fall.

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• The verbs are underlined. Are they transitive or
  intransitive?
• The heron flew. transitive / intransitive
• 2 The printer spewed paper. transitive /
  intransitive
• 3 I spread the jam on my toast. transitive /
  intransitive
• Waves curl over. transitive / intransitive
• Write a sentence with a transitive verb.
• 6 Write a sentence with an intransitive verb.

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Sentences

• A complete sentence has a finite verb.
• Running down the street.
• This is NOT a complete sentence because it does
  NOT have a finite verb it has no place in time.
  Is it past, present or future?WHO or WHAT was
  running down the street? We dont know.
• Aroha was running down the street
• This IS a complete sentence because we know WHO
  is running (Aroha) and we know when because was
  (the auxiliary) gives us the tense or time
  past.
• I can see a horse running down the street.
• This is also a complete sentence because we know
  what was running and we know when right now, in
  the present!

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More on sentences.

• When we are speaking we often speak in unfinished
  sentences
• e.g. Going to Rarotonga these holidays? If a
  sentence has pieces missing but can still be
  understood, it is a minor sentence. HOWEVER we
  dont usually use these in writing more in
  speech. If you are using speech in your writing
  then it is fine to use minor sentences.
• If a sentence has parts missing and cannot be
  understood it is called INCOMPLETE. e.g Are you
  getting a.?
• In writing we need to use complete sentences
  UNLESS we are using direct speech.

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Well I declare.!

• Declarative sentences are just saying something.
  Declaring it.
• e.g. I am going to physio after school.
• I have a letter to post.
• Interrogative sentences are asking or
  interrogating
• e.g. Are you going to physio after school?
• Have you posted that letter yet?
• Imperatives give orders!
• e.g. Go to physio after school!
• Post the letter!