The Grammar Slammer: (Grammar the fun, easy, visual way it should have been taught.)
"Grammar, which knows how to control even kings." -- Moliere
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Table of Contents Parts of Speech Nouns...........................................................6 Pronouns.......................................................7 Adjectives......................................................8 Appositives....................................................9 Verbs...........................................................10 Adverbs.......................................................11
Punctuation Capitalization..............................................13 Periods........................................................14 Question Marks & Exclamation Marks.......15 Commas......................................................16 Apostrophes................................................17 Ellipses........................................................18 Parentheses..................................................19 Semicolons..................................................20 Quotation Marks........................................21 3
Parts of Sentences: Subjects..............................................23 Predicates...........................................24
Types of Sentences: Simple Sentences................................26 Compound Sentences.........................27 Complex Sentences.............................28
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Parts of
Speech Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives, Appositives, Verbs, & Adverbs
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Nouns refer to a person, place or thing. There are two kinds of nouns: Proper Nouns and Common Nouns. A Common Noun refers to a general person, place or thing.
As we are referring to any old giant moth we use a common noun, "moth".
A Proper Noun refers to a specific person, place, or thing and is always capitalized.
Because we're talking about a specific giant moth, Mothra, here we use a proper noun.
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Pronouns are words that are used to take the place of a noun. Take this sentence for example:
"Dan's eyes went wide as Dan chugged the cup of coffee." Repeating the same noun twice makes this sentence really clunky, but if we use the pronoun "he" to take the place of the noun "Dan" we'll clean it right up.
Aaaaaaah, much better.
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Adjectives are words that are used to describe a noun.
In this sentence we've used the adjective, "silver", to describe the noun, "trout".
Here, we've used multiple adjectives to describe two different nouns.
Adjectives are a great way to add detail to your writing, but remember, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Load up a sentence with too many adjectives and your readers will wish the giant owl had gotten you. For example,
• "The giant creaking wooden yellow sailing ship plunged through the rising foamy white crested green waves." is obviously a bit much.
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Appositives are nouns, or noun phrases, that rename or describe the noun right beside it. For example,
Our bird of prey could simply have said, "The rodent prepared to defend itself." but instead chose to add another layer of detail to its sentence by describing the rodent as a field mouse.
Of course, we could just keep adding more details about the subject. In fact, there's lots of ways to add appositives to sentences: • Out of nowhere Dillard, who had always been scared of the ocean, was brutally attacked by a swarm of horseshoe crabs. • "A foot, which belonged to some blundering human, crashed into my head!" The horseshoe crab cried morosely.
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Verbs are words that show actions. For example, In this sentence the word that shows action is "flew". But, while entertaining, that verb isn't particularly interesting. To really make your writing pop you need to look for vivid verbs.
In this sentence we've taken out the boring verb "flew" and replaced it with a much more interesting and vivid verb, "hurtled".
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Adverbs are words or phrases that are used to describe a verb.
In this entirely plausible sentence our verb (action word) is "flew".
Here, we've added the adverb "silently" to describe how the flotilla of zeppelins is flying. 11
Punctuation
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The
3 Laws Capitalization: of
1. Always capitalize the first letter of a new sentence.
2. Always capitalize proper nouns (specific people, places, or things).
3. Always capitalize "I".
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Periods usually end a sentence.
Adding a period shows that we've finished a complete thought about the vengeful tomato. A period can also be used in abbreviations such as when the word "mister" is abbreviated (or shortened) into "Mr.".
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Question marks are used to end sentences which ask, you guessed it, questions.
?
Q: Why is there nothing on this page
Exclamation marks are used to end exclamatory sentences in which extra emphasis is needed.
A: Because everyone already knows what these
!
things do
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Commas can do lots of really cool stuff, but basically they separate things within a sentence.
1. You can use commas to separate two or more items in a series. •
2.
,
,
Gerald used his trusty banana peel tweezers and earwax to build a walkie-talkie.
To separate two independent clauses. •
, yet he did not notice the lava hurtling
Gerald noted that it was getting warmer toward him.
These commas must always be followed by a conjunction (and, but, for, nor, yet, or, so).
3.
To separate an introduction and/or transition. •
4.
,
Realizing his error he leaped into the air and deployed his parachute.
Or to separate an appositive. •
,
,
Having outwitted the volcano Gerald our story's protagonist used his walkie-talkie to call for a limo.
All of which are, of course,
AWESOME. (but not as awesome as Gerald)
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Semicolons; Semicolons are kind of like really powerful commas. Commas can be used to separate two independent clauses when used with a conjunction (and, but, for, nor, yet, or so).
A semicolon, on the other hand, can separate two independent clauses without using a conjunction.
Independent Clauses are just complete thoughts that could be their own sentences. We use semicolons to join independent clauses that are
related to each other in some way like the sentence: The squirrels practiced every day; they were determined to one day defeat the evil lord Stubs. The second part relates to the first, so we can join them with a semicolon. We do not, however, use a semicolon to join two independent clauses that aren't related to each other like this sentence:
The squirrels practiced every day; watermelons are worthless sacks of seeds.
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Apostrophes can be used either to show ownership or to show that you are forming a contraction. Apostrophes can be used to show that something belongs to someone. For example, in this sentence the exploding iPhone belongs to the stone.
Apostrophes can also be used in a contraction. A contraction is formed when two separate words are contracted together into a single word. For example, the contraction I'll is formed from the words I and will.
Common Contractions: 1st Word
2nd Word
Contraction
I
will
I'll
would
not
wouldn't
there
is
there's
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Ellipses can. . . . . .shorten a quotation by omitting stuff that doesn't change its meaning. For example, this quote
“Drag your thoughts away from your troubles; by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it. It’s the healthiest thing a body can do.” - Mark Twain
can be shortened to:
. . .It’s the
“Drag your thoughts away from your troubles healthiest thing a body can do.”
- Mark Twain
(Note that by using an ellipse to shorten this quote we have not changed its meaning)
Or, ellipses can be used to show a pause or faltering speech.
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Parentheses ( () :) :(
= = = = =
Parenthesis (singular) Parentheses (plural) Happy face Sad face My face if you use smilies in a paper
Parentheses include information in a sentence that isn't really necessary. "The Saguaro Cactus (the most sarcastic cacti in the world) can live for up to 150 years." We don't need to know that Saguaro cacti are sarcastic for this sentence to make sense (but
it is nice to know).
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Quotation Marks show the actual words that someone is saying.
"Nibble elsewhere vermin!" The noble cheese roared. (Since these are the cheese's actual words we put a quotation mark on either side of them)
When using dialogue it's important to remember to always include a said tag to show who is talking. Quote
said tag
"Nibble elsewhere vermin!"
The noble cheese roared
In addition, every time someone new talks you need to start a new paragraph. "Nibble elsewhere vermin!" The noble cheese roared. His sword held high he waited for the coming rush of teeth, ears, and whiskers "Hey now, let's not get carried away." Harold replied meekly, not wanting to provoke the enraged swiss.
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Parts of
Sentences Subjects & Predicates Sentences are more than just a jumble of words - in order to be a complete sentence they must contain a subject and a predicate. Here's how to figure out which is which.
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The
subject of a sentence is who or what the
sentence is about. An easy way to find the subject is to look for who or what is doing something in the sentence. For example, in the sentence
"The aardvark barked at the park." who or what is barking awkwardly? Hint:
The
aardvark is what the sentence is about, therefore it is the subject.
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The
predicate of a sentence refers to what the
subject is doing.
"The pizza slice fled from the crazed hooligan."
We know that the pizza slice is the subject of the sentence so all we need to do to find the predicate is look at what the pizza slice is doing.
Subject
Predicate
The pizza slice
fled from the crazed hooligan.
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Types of
Sentences Simple, Compound, & Complex As you've probably noticed, not all sentences are the same. Here's how to tell the difference.
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Simple sentences, sometimes called independent clauses, have a subject and a verb. Simple right?
Subject The bulldog
Verb sang
silly bulldog songs.
(They only sing when you're not around.)
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Compound sentences have two independent clauses joined by a comma and a coordinating conjunction. Remember conjunctions? We learned about them when we were talking about commas: Coordinating Conjunctions For, and, nor, but, or, yet, so
Here's an example:
Independent Clause
Coordinating Conjunction
Independent Clause
The footprint was tired,
but
his annoying neighbor kept him awake.
Remember, we always add a comma after the first independent clause:
• I would love to stay, however I have to get home to feed my Nile Crocodile.
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Complex sentences have an independent clause and a dependent clause. Independent clauses show a complete thought using a subject and a verb, a dependent clause is missing either the subject or a verb and starts with a subordinating conjunction. Common Subordinating Conjunctions After, although, as, because, before, even though, if, since, though , unless, until, when, whenever, whereas, wherever, while.
• . . .while waiting at the pyramid • After sailing around the world. . . Are all examples of dependent clauses. Who sailed around the world? We don't know because the clauses are incomplete, they need to be joined to an independent clause to form a complex sentence in order to make sense like this: Independent Clause
Subordinating Conjunction
Dependent Clause
Bob's cats ate baloney
while
waiting at the pyramid.
or Subordinating Conjunction
Dependant Clause
Independent Clause
After
sailing around the world,
the crew feasted on doughnuts.
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