English 9

Grammar

Introduction

The basic unit of communication is the sentence. We will spend a great deal of time working on how to recognize sentences, how to makes sentences, how to break down sentences into their parts, and finally, how to improve our sentences.

In order for a group of words to be a sentence, it must:

  1. Have a subject
  2. Have a verb (predicate)
  3. Express a complete thought

For example:

The furry black dog squeezed under the couch. / A sentence / Has a subject (dog)
Has a verb (squeezed)
Expresses a complete thought
A yard full of weeds. / Not a sentence / A subject (yard), but no verb and doesn’t express a complete thought
Returned to his vehicle. / Not a sentence / A verb (returned), but no subject and not a complete thought
After we saw the play. / Not a sentence / Has a subject and a verb, but doesn’t express and complete thought

THE PARTS OF SPEECH

In order to make sentences, we use words; the words we use to make sentences have many different functions. We call these functions the parts of speech. We will learn all eight of the parts of speech, one at a time.

LESSON ONE: THE NOUN

A noun is a naming word- it names someone or something. The following is a chart of the various kinds of nouns:

Person
Actor
Fred
American
band
mechanic
mother
Place
town
Singapore
Lake Michigan
classroom
America
hotel
Thing
Tulip
stadium
motorcycle
spring
snake
book
Idea
romance
goodness
patience
strength
democracy
honesty

COMMON AND PROPER NOUNS

COMMON / PROPER
A common noun names a class of persons, places, things, or ideas; it is not capitalized. / A proper noun names a specific person, place, thing or idea; it is always capitalized.
writer
state
document
river / Mark Twain
New York
Declaration of Independence
Mississippi River

A noun can be made up of two or more words.

MORE NOUNS

COMPOUND NOUNS

Separate Words / Hyphenated Words / Combined Words
post office (common)
middle school
Golden GateBridge (Proper) / bull’s-eye
daughter-in-law
left-hander / flagship
railroad
doorknob

Sometimes a noun names a group of individual people or things.

MORE NOUNS: COLLECTIVE

club
troop
class / herd
orchestra
team / army
committee
group

EXERCISE ONE: Circle the 11 nouns in the following sentences.

  1. The plane headed for the highway. (2)
  2. Lake Michigan has a sandy shoreline. (2)
  3. Mr. Boelkins talked to his class about musical instruments. (3)
  4. The red pen was used to grade the papers. (2)
  5. Sympathy is an important emotion. (2)

EXERCISE TWO: Circle all of the nouns in the following passage. Bold-faced words are pronouns and should not be used as nouns in this exercise. (15)

The day my bicycle was lost, my mom was riding with me along a street in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Since I was having a hard time keeping up, we stopped for lunch and left the bikes outside. When we returned, the bikes were gone from the rusty rack outside. Mom suggested that we contact the police to file a report. Unfortunately, we have never found our bikes.

EXERCISE THREE: Circle all of the nouns in the following passage. Use the same directions as above. (16)

The first day of our trip to Floridawe visited Disney World. There were many interesting activities throughout the park. Our family rode on many rides and bought lots of souvenirs. Luckily, the weather cooperated and we were able to stay in the park all day. Characters took our family picture in front of the castle. It was a memory I’ll never forget!

LESSON TWO: THE PRONOUN

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. We use pronouns to refer to persons, places, things, or ideas without having to rename them. Without pronouns our speech would sound like this:

Joe Schmoe is a student at GrammarCityHigh School. GrammarCityHigh School is located in Iowa. Joe Schmoe has two friends, Bill and Bob. Joe Schmoe enjoys playing basketball with Bill and Bob. Bill and Bob live in Joe Schmoe’s neighborhood.

How can we fix this?

Look below for how pronouns can be used as substitutes for the word “Joe Schmoe” so that is it not repeated again and again.

Joe Schmoe is a student at GrammarCityHigh School. It is located in Iowa. He has two friends, Bill and Bob. He enjoys playing basketball with them. They live in his neighborhood.

The noun that a pronoun replaces is called the antecedent. In the above sentence, the noun “GrammarCityHigh School” is the antecedent to the pronoun “it,” and the nouns “Bill and Bob” is the antecedent to “them.”

Sometimes the antecedent is not stated in the sentence. For example:

They followed her home.

She enjoyed the play.

We went to the mall.

EXERCISE ONE: Identify the antecedent of the pronouns in BOLD.

  1. Maya gave her pen to Nick.
  2. Mexico is popular because it has a warm climate.
  3. Alex decided that she would take computer class.
  4. Mr. Stevens wanted to replace his broken TV.
  5. Elizabeth enjoyed shopping for her new shoes.
  6. Mr. Christians likes to bike with his friends.
  7. Mrs. Dent doesn’t like to get her shoes wet.
  8. The flower lost its petal.

Like nouns, pronouns fall into several categories. They refer to (1) the person speaking, (2) the person spoken to, and (3) the person, place, or thing spoken about.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS

First person
(person speaking) / I, me, my, mine / We, us, our, ours
Second Person
(person spoken to) / You, your, yours / You, your, yours
Third person
(person, place, etc spoken about) / He, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its / They, them, their, theirs

EXERCISE TWO: Underline the personal pronouns in the following sentences; then, circle the antecedents.

  1. Lexi just finished her homework.
  2. Where are you going, Alex?
  3. Ms. Kruse gave her study skills speech.
  4. Haley brought her lunch to school.
  5. “I went to Twisted Rooster for dinner,” said Mikayla.
  6. The teacher gave us homework everyday, and he made our lives miserable.
  7. Kyle and Casey went to their practice
  8. Andrew and Jacob went to the play. They rode on the same bus.
  9. Liz replied, “The dog drooled on my homework.”
  10. Paige and Jayce said, “We left the movie after the first hour.”

LESSON THREE: THE ADJECTIVE

An adjective is a word that describes or “modifies” a noun or pronoun. The modify means to make it more specific or change it slightly. Adjectives answer the following questions:

WHAT KIND?
New car striped tie
Red skirt warm pie
WHICH ONE?
Most butterflies first time any piece Every page
HOW MANY?
One hamburger six flowers
Many cucumbers few people
HOW MUCH?
Enough space more time
Little rain no food

Adjectives can appear before or after the nouns they modify.

She saw a smiling face. They are happy and talkative.

The room, narrow and dark, frightened me.

EXERCISE ONE: Circle the adjectives and draw an arrow from the adjective to the noun or pronoun modified.

  1. The carpet is blue, gray, and purple.
  2. Two stray dogs were walking down the tree-lined street.
  3. The cute twins had their senior pictures taken.
  4. The angry customer yelled at the terrible employee.
  5. Frito Lay makes a salty corn chip.
  6. The big, fat, juicy apple grew on the tall, thriving apple tree.
  7. The chubby raccoon ate three bags of dirty, grimy, garbage.
  8. the muddy footprints of the thief were all over the new white carpet.
  9. The delicious aroma of the warm homemade muffins made out mouths water.
  10. The crisp, red tomato was perched on the burnt grilled hamburger.

NOUNS AS ADJECTIVES

When a noun is used to modify another noun or pronoun, it then becomes an adjective. For instance:

I enjoy summer. (noun)

BUT

I enjoy summer vacation. (adjective)

He lives in Asia. (noun)

BUT

He is an Asian citizen. (adjective.)

KINDS OF NOUN ADJECTIVES

Common noun adjectives / Formed from a common noun / The morning meal
a shoe salesman
the wedding cake
Proper Noun Adjectives / Formed from a proper noun / The Truman library December weather Floridawetlands American history* Roman Statue *Sometimes the proper noun changes form to become an adjective.
Other adjectives / Some nouns are used as adjectives- they answer the questions Whose? Or Which? / Alice’s grades
John’s Coat
The farmers’ group

EXERCISE TWO: Circle the nouns used as adjectives.

  1. The Miami mayor was in the office.
  2. We made Japanese meals in class.
  3. Spicy Mexican food is served at Taco Bell.
  4. The man’s shirts were left at the dry cleaners.
  5. Michigan’s lakes are beautiful in the summer.
  6. The city subway transports passengers all over town.
  7. Our neighbor’s mom purchased four new motorcycles.
  8. The meat salesman toted 100 pounds of hamburger through the neighborhood.
  9. The Aquafina water bottle was half full.
  10. Do you send Valentine’s cards every year?
  11. I rode Ian’s bike to the pool.
  12. They planted a flower in Mr. Fred’s greenhouse.
  13. Mrs. Harrison’s soda fell to the floor.
  14. We have several French friends now.
  15. We stained the kitchen cabinet last Sunday night.

PRONOUNS USED AS ADJECTIVES

When a pronoun is used to modify a noun or another pronoun, it then becomes an adjective. For example:

Examples:

Our dog laid in front of the stove.

His alarm clock was set for 6:00 A.M.

All students in the class passed the test.

KINDS OF PRONOUN ADJECTIVES

Pronouns used as adjectives / Personal pronouns that answer “which one”- like possessive nouns, they are always adjectives / Our dog
My book
His watch
Their money
Other pronouns used as adjectives / Some, many, several, few, another, both, etc. / Each cookie
Most players
All jackets
Another baby.

EXERCISE THREE: Circle the pronouns used as adjectives.

  1. On Monday I am starting my diet.
  2. His shoes were in the hall.
  3. His coat is smelly.
  4. The rescuers set their dogs on the trail.
  5. My dad bought me skates for hockey.
  6. Mr. Gibson lost his clipboard.
  7. I bought several kinds of pizza for the slumber party.
  8. You should give your suggestion to the principal.
  9. His windshield was chipped.
  10. Heavy metal music doesn’t appeal to all teens.
  11. Every kindergartener needed shouts.
  12. Mrs. Schmoe, the tyrant, grounded her son.
  13. Most people would not like ketchup with eggs.
  14. Grandpa’s cane is in his closet.
  15. Many people like to travel.

OTHER KINDS OF ADJECTIVES

Articles*
*although articles are adjectives, most teachers will ask you to ignore them in exercises and test / A, an, the / A person
An orange*
The boat
*use “a” with consonant sounds; use “an” with vowel sounds
Hyphenated & Separate word adjectives / Made up of more than one word / Full-time job
Well-known actor
Fiberglass wall
Action words (verbs) used as adjectives / Verbs with –ing or past tense endings / Running water
The expected winner
A broken bone
Predicate adjectives / The adjective and the noun or pronoun it modifies are separated by the verb / Katy is tired.
The boy seemed lost.

EXERCISE FOUR: Circle ALL the adjectives including the types listed on the pervious page.

  1. My aunt was a professional wrestler in the ‘90s.
  2. The little girl seemed thrilled and excited.
  3. The frozen dough wouldn’t thaw.
  4. It was difficult to pick the most well qualified candidate for the job.
  5. When she got home from school, Jada looked exhausted.
  6. A swim lesson as scheduled for all students.
  7. My friend bought a new Halloween costume.
  8. Mrs. Jones is big and tall.