Grammar Review

1. Grammar Review

2. Nouns with irregular plurals • Quail -> quail • Radius -> radii • Phenomenon -> phenomena • Medium -> media • Cactus -> cacti • Syllabus -> syllabi • Trout -> trout • Fish -> fish (or fishes when referring to species) • Deer -> deer

3. Collective Nouns • Collective nouns refer to a collection of persons, places, things, ideas or activities. They take a singular or plural verb depending on the meaning of the sentence. • Consider a collective noun singular when it refers to a group as a whole or plural when it refers to each member individually. • Words that are plural but singular in meaning take singular verbs.

4. Compound Nouns • A compound noun is made up of two or more words. Compound nouns that are not hyphenated form the plural by adding s or es to the singular form. • Examples: handful -> handfuls; bookcase -> bookcases; cupful -> cupfuls

5. Compound Nouns • If the compound noun is hyphenated, the principal part of the word should be changed to plural. • Example: father-in-law -> fathers-in-law; passer-by -> passers-by

6. Commonly Misused Words • Try and -> try to • Your’s -> yours • alot -> a lot • Centered around -> centered on • Irregardless -> regardless • Should of -> should have • Real busy -> very busy

7. Commonly Misused Words • Cupsful -> cupfuls • Different than -> different from • Most everybody -> almost everybody • Seldom ever -> seldom

8. In vs. Into • In – being inside • Into – the act of entering • When I walked into the store… • C.J. was in the shoe department.

9. Irregular Verbs • Most verbs in the English language are regular verbs, but about 150 verbs are not. • Most irregularities involve the ways in which the past and past participle are formed.

10. 4 Principal Parts of a Verb • Present: describes action happening now • Past: describes action that happened in the past • Past participle: describes action that happened in the past; uses helping verbs such as have, has, or had. • Present participle: describes action happening now; has an –ing ending and always uses helping verbs such as is, am, are.

11. Irregular Verbs • Fight • Bring • Hear • Win • Tell • Find • Begin • Drive

12. Don’t be tense about verbs • A passage that begins in the present tense should continue in the present tense • A passage that begins in the past tense should continue in the past tense. • Do not mix tenses as you write within individual sentences. • Make the tense agree with the message of your sentence.

13. Subject-Verb Agreement • Subjects connected by and are plural. (Greg and Mandie are in Dothan today.) • If a compound subject joined by and is thought of as a unit, use a singular verb. (Macaroni and cheese is a favorite for most children.) • When subjects are joined by correlative conjunctions (or, Neither…nor, Either…or), the verb agrees with the subject closer to the verb.

14. NOMINATIVE, OBJECTIVE, and POSSESSIVE CASE PRONOUNS

15. SUBJECT PRONOUNS • Sarah went to the store. -or- SHE went to the store. That is easy enough. But “subject” pronouns are also used as PREDICATE NOMINATIVES. What is a PREDICATE NOMINATIVE?

16. Predicate Nominatives • A predicate nominative is a noun or PRONOUN in the predicate that renames the subject. Some examples of pronouns being used as a predicate nominative: • It is he. • The only people in the line were they. • It is we who are responsible for the decision to downsize. • It could have been they. • It is I at the door.

17. OBJECT PRONOUNS • Object pronouns are often a little easier to identify. They must be used as OBJECTS within the sentence. They can be: • DIRECT OBJECTS • INDIRECT OBJECTS • OBJECTS OF THE PREPOSITION

18. Possessive Pronouns • Don’t forget possessive pronouns (mine, his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs) do not use apostrophes.

19. Active Voice v. Passive Voice • In the active voice, the subject performs an action. • In the passive voice, the subject receives the action. • The active voice is more direct and vigorous than the passive voice.

20. Dangling Participles • A word or phrase is called a dangling participle when there is not a word in the sentence for it to modify. • Showing an interest in computers, personnel offices are flooded with applications. (Who is showing an interest?)

21. Misplaced Participles • Misplaced participles are words or groups of words placed next to words that they are not intended to modify.

22. Words frequently confused • Complement – a helpful addition • Compliment – expression of admiration • Principle – a law, code, doctrine, or rule • Principal – sum of money or a person or thing of importance

23. Words frequently confused • Among – use to show relation of more than two persons or things • Between – use when dealing with two things • Formally – in a formal manner • Formerly – happening in the past

24. Words frequently confused • Except – to exclude or to exempt something • Accept – to receive a thing, agree to something • Affect – always a verb; means to influence or bring about change • Effect – can be a noun or verb. As a noun it means “a result or outcome” and as a verb it means “to bring about or accomplish”

25. Comma Splice • Comma splice – when two independent clauses are connected with only a comma

26. Semicolons • Use a semicolon: • To separate elements in a series in which one element is already separated by commas • In a compound sentence with no conjunction • Before a conjunctive adverb (I wanted to go to the recital; however, I was too busy.)

27. Colons • Use a colon after a complete sentence to introduce a list of items when introductory words such as namely, for example, or that is do not appear. • A colon should not precede a list unless it follows a complete sentence. • Use a colon after an introductory statement containing the words as follows or the following.

28. Capitalization • Do not capitalize seasons. • Capitalize directions only when they refer to definite sections of the U.S. or world. • Capitalize the first word in a full sentence direct quotation. Do no capitalize the second part of a broken quotation. • Always capitalize the first and last words of titles of publications. Capitalize other words within titles, including short verb forms Is, Are and Be. Do not capitalize words such as a, an, the, but, as, if, and, or, nor or prepositions.