Grammar is great!

1. Grammar is great! Yeah, yeah. Let’s just get through it.

2. Some thoughts on Grammar • Grammar = the rules of language • It explains how words function in sentences. • Function= the relationship of a word to other words • A word might function as a noun in one sentence, and an adjective in another. The green dress is my favorite. (adj) Green is my favorite color. (noun)

3. Or a word could be preposition in one sentence, and an adverb in another. We drove around the parking lot. (preposition) We drove around for a while. (adverb) • A noun, or an adverb. They returned to their home. (noun) They returned home before noon. (adverb)

4. The #1 rule Each word is attached to another word, so you must look at what words are doing in sentences to determine their function, or part of speech.

5. Parts of Speech These are the easy ones, how many do you remember?

6. Noun “In the spring, there are vampires in the wind. People see them scuffling along by the side of country roads. At night, they move through the empty forests. They do not wear black, of course, but things they have taken off bodies or bought on sale. The news says that they are mostly in the western part of the state, where it is lonely and rural. My father claims we have them this year because it was a mild winter, but he may be thinking of tent caterpillars.” Thirsty by M.T. Anderson

7. Noun “In the spring, there are vampires in the wind. People see them scuffling along by the side of country roads. At night, they move through the empty forests. They do not wear black, of course, but things they have taken off bodies or bought on sale. The news says that they are mostly in the western part of the state, where it is lonely and rural. My father claims we have them this year because it was a mild winter, but he may be thinking of tent caterpillars.”

8. Pronoun “I hand over the extra dollar, then rub the sleep from my eyes. The coffee’s lukewarm when I take a sip, making it harder to gulp down. But I need to wake up somehow. Or maybe not. Maybe it’s best to get through the day half-asleep. Maybe that’s the only way to get through today. ‘It should arrive at this address tomorrow,’ she says. ‘Maybe the day after tomorrow.’ Then she drops the box into a cart behind her. I should have waited till after school. I should have given Jenny one final day of peace. Though she doesn’t deserve it.” Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher

9. Pronoun “I hand over the extra dollar, then rub the sleep from my eyes. The coffee’s lukewarm when I take a sip, making it harder to gulp down. But I need to wake up somehow. Or maybe not. Maybe it’s best to get through the day half-asleep. Maybe that’s the only way to get through today. ‘It should arrive at this address tomorrow,’ she says. ‘Maybe the day after tomorrow.’ Then she drops the box into a cart behind her. I should have waited till after school. I should have given Jenny one final day of peace. Though she doesn’t deserve it.”

10. Adjective “Denis could imagine any number of scenarios under which his conquest of Beth Cooper would be successful: If Beth went to an all-girls school in the Swiss Alps, surrounded by mountains, hundreds of miles from any other guys except Denis, son of the maths teacher, and Beth was failing algebra, for example; If Denis was a celebrity; If Denis had a billion dollars; If Denis was six inches taller, and had muscles; Any one of those scenarios.” I Love You, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle

11. Adjective “Denis could imagine any number of scenarios under which his conquest of Beth Cooper would be successful: If Beth went to an all-girls school in the Swiss Alps, surrounded by mountains, hundredsof miles from any other guys except Denis, son of the maths teacher, and Beth was failing algebra, for example; If Denis was a celebrity; If Denis had a billion dollars; If Denis was six inches taller, and had muscles; Any one of those scenarios.” I Love You, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle

12. Verb “My grandpa was a weird and scary dude; he hardly ever said a word, just spat and grunted. He looked like a tiny Viking-barely five feet tall, with beady eyes and an enormous, ragged silver beard with yellow stains. Three or four days a week he worked at the McDonald’s at Central and Coal and I went to school; all the other days we went to the airport and returned carts. These carts, the way it worked was folks would put a buck in the machine and unhitch one to push their luggage around in. When you returned them, you got twenty-five cents back, but most people just left them in the parking lot and drove away, so me and my grandpa would spend all day collecting them and pushing them back to the terminal, filling our pockets with the quarters that the cart machine spit out.” “Maggie Fever” by Davy Rothbart

13. Verb “My grandpa was a weird and scary dude; he hardly ever said a word, just spat and grunted. He looked like a tiny Viking-barely five feet tall, with beady eyes and an enormous, ragged silver beard with yellow stains. Three or four days a week he worked at the McDonald’s at Central and Coal and I went to school; all the other days we went to the airport and returned carts. These carts, the way it worked was folks would put a buck in the machine and unhitch one to push their luggage around in. When you returned them, you got twenty-five cents back, but most people just left them in the parking lot and drove away, so me and my grandpa would spend all day collecting them and pushing them back to the terminal, filling our pockets with the quarters that the cart machine spit out.” “Maggie Fever” by Davy Rothbart

14. Adverb “As soon as I’m in the trees, I retrieve a bow and sheath of arrows from a hollow log. Electrified or not, the fence has been successful at keeping the flesh-eaters out of District 12. Inside the woods they roam freely, and there are added concerns like venomous snakes, rabid animals, and no real paths to follow. But there’s also food if you know how to find it. My father knew and he taught me some before he was blown to bits in a mine explosion. There was nothing even to bury. I was eleven then. Five years later, I still wake up screaming for him to run.” The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

15. Adverb “As soon as I’m in the trees, I retrieve a bow and sheath of arrows from a hollow log. Electrified or not, the fence has been successful at keeping the flesh-eaters out of District 12. Inside the woods they roam freely, and there are added concerns like venomous snakes, rabid animals, and no real paths to follow. But there’s also food if you know how to find it. My father knew and he taught me some before he was blown to bits in a mine explosion. There was nothing even to bury. I was eleven then. Five years later, I still wake up screaming for him to run.”

16. Conjunction “Last week, my best friend Oscar got really sick.At first, I thought he just had heat exhaustion or something. I mean, it was a crazy-hot July day, and plenty of people were falling over from heat exhaustion, so why not a little dog wearing a fur coat? I tried to give him some water, but he didn’t want any of that. I figured he’d be okay with some rest, but then he started vomiting, and diarrhea blasted out of him, and he had these seizures where his little legs just kicked and kicked and kicked.” The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

17. Conjunction “Last week, my best friend Oscar got really sick.At first, I thought he just had heat exhaustion or something. I mean, it was a crazy-hot July day, and plenty of people were falling over from heat exhaustion, so why not a little dog wearing a fur coat? I tried to give him some water, but he didn’t want any of that. I figured he’d be okay with some rest, but then he started vomiting, and diarrhea blasted out of him, and he had these seizures where his little legs just kicked and kicked and kicked.”

18. Preposition “The match snapped, then sizzled, and I woke up fast. I heard my mother inhale as she took a long pull on a cigarette. Her lips stuck on the filter, so I knew she was still wearing lipstick. She’d been up all night. She lay on the bed next to me. I felt her fingers on my hair and I kept sleep-breathing. I risked a look under my eyelashes. She was in her pink nightgown, ankles crossed, head flung back against the pillows. Arm in the air, elbow bent, cigarette glowing in her fingers. Tanned legs glistening in the darkness. Blond hair tumbling past her shoulders.” What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell

19. Preposition “The match snapped, then sizzled, and I woke up fast. I heard my mother inhale as she took a long pull on a cigarette. Her lips stuck on the filter, so I knew she was still wearing lipstick. She’d been up all night. She lay on the bed next to me. I felt her fingers on my hair and I kept sleep-breathing. I risked a look under my eyelashes. She was in her pink nightgown, ankles crossed, head flung back against the pillows. Arm in the air, elbow bent, cigarette glowing in her fingers. Tanned legs glistening in the darkness. Blond hair tumbling past her shoulders.”

20. Interjection “ ‘ We’ve decided that you’ve been through a lot,’ said my father. ‘You’ve been very brave,’ my mother repeated. ‘Yeah…?’ I said. ‘We’ve decided to get you your own upcar,’ said my mother. ‘Oh, god!’ I said. ‘Oh, god! Oh, Mom- Dad- this is-oh, $#!+! Holy $#!+! Are you kidding! You are like the best mom and dad ever!’” Feed by M.T. Anderson

21. Interjection “ ‘ We’ve decided that you’ve been through a lot,’ said my father. ‘You’ve been very brave,’ my mother repeated. ‘Yeah…?’ I said. ‘We’ve decided to get you your own upcar,’ said my mother. ‘Oh, god!’ I said. ‘Oh, god! Oh, Mom- Dad- this is-oh, $#!+! Holy $#!+! Are you kidding! You are like the best mom and dad ever!’”

22. Now let’s get a little more in depth… • Nouns can be classified in a few different ways. • Common nouns- name any one of a group of persons, places, things, or ideas. • Proper nouns- name a specific person place thing, or idea.

23. Common vs. Proper

24. Nouns cont’d • They can also be… • Concrete- a noun that can be perceived by the senses. • Abstract- nouns that are ideas, feelings, qualities, or characteristics.

25. Concrete vs. Abstract

26. Nouns Cont’d • Lastly they could be… • Collective- a singular form that names a group. • Compound- two or more words that combine to form a single noun.

27. Collective and Compound

28. Collective nouns… • Are the most fun by far because they are very useful for animal group trivia. • Can you name a group of… • Rhinos? • Crows? • Ants? • Bloodhounds? • Cats? • Cobras? • Dolphins? • Giraffes? • Hippos?

29. Crash of rhinos • Murder of crows • Colony or swarm of ants • Sute of bloodhounds • Pounce or nuisance of cats • Quiver of cobras • Pod of dolphins • Tower of giraffes • Bloat of hippopotamuses

30. Practice • Open your grammar book to page 487 and look at Review A Classifying Nouns at the top of the page. • Take a few minutes to look over the questions and we’ll go over them as a class.

31. Now let’s look at Pronouns • Pronouns do what? • The word the pronoun stands for is called the Antecedent. • For example: Angelo borrowed a hammer and some nails. He will return them tomorrow. • Angelo is the antecedent of he. • Hammer and nails are the antecedents them.

32. Personal Pronouns These refer to the one speaking (1stperson), the one spoken to (2nd person), or the one spoken about (3rd person). Think about when you write; your last English teacher probably talked about 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person point of view.

33. Personal Pronouns • For example: • I hope that you can help me with my homework. • He said that they would meet us at The Replay.

34. A few more classifications • Pronouns can be… • Demonstrative- think demonstrate, they point out a specific person, place, thing, or idea. For example: • This is our favorite song by Slayer. • The apples I picked today taste better than these.

35. Pronouns can be… • Interrogative- think interrogate (question), they introduce questions. For example: • What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything? • Who did this?! • Which students are still listening?

36. Pronouns can be… • Relative- think relate, these introduce subordinate (dependent) clauses (they relate to independent clauses) For example: • That house that William Burroughs lived in is a historical landmark thanks to his outrageous parties. • She is the woman who is running for mayor.

37. Sort of lastly… • Indefinite- think undefined, these refer to nonspecific or unnamed nouns. For example: • I have packed everything we’ll need for the trip. • Has anyone seen my cat?

38. Practice You should know I didn’t go over reflexive and intensive pronouns. Anyway, turn to page 490-91 and look at Review B Identifying Nouns and Pronouns. Read the directions and look over the paragraph. We’ll go over this as a class shortly.

39. More on Adjectives • Adjectives …? • They do this by telling more about what kind, which one, how many, or how much. For example: • The cheesy pizza smelled delicious. • We wanted new clothes for the first day.

40. Proper Adjectives • These are formed from proper nouns and are also capitalized. For example: • The gingerbread village was quite Lilliputian. • Our Christmas tree was beautiful.

41. Lastly… • Articles- the most frequently used adjectives. • Indefinite articles- refer to any general member of any general group. • Definite article- refers to someone/something in particular.

42. Practice Turn to page 494 and look at Exercise 3 Identifying Adjectives and the words they modify. Look the sentences over and we’ll go over them as a class.

43. Wonderful Verbs • Verbs? Predicate? • Action verbs express physical or mental activity. For example: • I love grammar! • Throw your grammar textbook on the ground.

44. Vibrant Verbs • Linking verbs • Connect the subject to a word or word group in the predicate that describes the subject. • The most common linking verb is some form of the verb “be”.

45. Linking Verbs Cont’d • Other common linking verbs include: For example: • Patience is the best remedy. • He became a highly respected clown. • The dessert looksdelicous.

46. Linking/Action Verbs Tip: If you’re confused about whether a verb is linking or action, try substituting a form of “be” for the verb. If it makes sense, it’s probably linking. The milk smelled sour  The milk was sour. Makes sense= Linking verb. I smelled the milk to see if it was fresh  I was the milk to see if it was fresh. It doesn’t make sense= Action verb.

47. Main and Helping Verbs • Usually verb phrases have one main verb and one or more helping (auxiliary) verbs. For example: • John will be arriving at 3:00 p.m. • will and be are the helping verbs; arriving is the main verb. • She should not have been told about her party. • should, have, and been help; told is the main.

48. Common Helpers These are the common helping verbs: These are helping verbs that join with main verbs to express an attitude, such as necessity or possibility.

49. Practice Begin working on the attached work sheet, Main Verbs and Helping Verbs. After you are done we will review the answers as a class.

50. Adverbs What do they do? They do this by answering how, when, where, or to what extent (how long/much).