Prepositions are words that show how a something exists in relation to the rest of the sentence - usually when or where.
Some examples of common prepositions are:
about
above
across
after
against
along
among
around
at
before
behind
below
beneath
beside
between
beyond
but
by
despite
down
during
except
for
from
in
inside
into
like
near
of
off
on
onto
out
outside
over
past
since
through
throughout
till
to
toward
under
underneath
until
up
upon
with
within
without
A prepositional phrase is the preposition and the rest of the description. In the following examples, the prepositional phrase is in bold.
The books on the table are missing pages.
In this example, the prepositional phrase separates the subject of the sentence (the books) and the predicate of the sentence (are). This is why it's important to be aware of prepositional phrases: When they separate the subject and the verb, it's easy to accidentally conjugate the verb based on the last word of the prepositional phrase, as opposed to conjugating the verb based on the subject, which is correct. For example, in this sentence, the verb is conjugated incorrectly:
The beings from outer space was green.
If you remove the prepositional phrase, you'll see that the simple subject-verb-object sentence for this example is: The beings were green. Therefore, when inserting the prepositional phrase, we still need to make sure that the verb conjugation matches the subject, not the last word of the prepositional phrase (in this case, space). So, the correct version of this example is:
The beings from outer space were green.
Your assignment: Create six pairs of sentences with prepositional phrases separating the subject and the verb. The first sentence in each pair will show the incorrect verb conjugation, and the second sentence in each pair will show the correct conjugation.
Examples of the sentence pairs:
Incorrect: The students of Riverhead Middle School is funny.
Correct: The students of Riverhead Middle School are funny.
Incorrect: The house with four windows look pretty.
Correct: The house with four windows looks pretty.
Incorrect: Literature regarding teenagers tend to be about individuality issues.
Correct: Literature regarding teenagers tends to be about individuality issues.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Compound Predicates
Predicate is the fancy word for the verb or the action of a sentence. For example:
Mary walked through the park.
The predicate in this sentence is walked.
Sometimes, a sentence has two verbs, so this is a sentence with a compound predicate. For example:
Mary walked then ran through the park.
In this example, walked and ran are the predicates.
Your assignment: Create six pairs of sentences with single predicates, then combime those sentences to create a sentence with a compound predicate. Each of your responses should look like this:
SP: Jane thinks about animals.
SP: Jane writes about animals.
CP: Jane thinks and writes about animals.
SP: Billy throws well.
SP: Billy catches well.
CP: Billy throws and catches well.
SP: Rachel swept the floor.
SP: Rachel mopped the floor.
CP: Rachel swept and mopped the floor.
Mary walked through the park.
The predicate in this sentence is walked.
Sometimes, a sentence has two verbs, so this is a sentence with a compound predicate. For example:
Mary walked then ran through the park.
In this example, walked and ran are the predicates.
Your assignment: Create six pairs of sentences with single predicates, then combime those sentences to create a sentence with a compound predicate. Each of your responses should look like this:
SP: Jane thinks about animals.
SP: Jane writes about animals.
CP: Jane thinks and writes about animals.
SP: Billy throws well.
SP: Billy catches well.
CP: Billy throws and catches well.
SP: Rachel swept the floor.
SP: Rachel mopped the floor.
CP: Rachel swept and mopped the floor.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Compound Subjects
The subject of a sentence is who or what the sentence is about, or who or what is doing the action.
For example: Mary went to the store.
In this sentence, Mary is the subject.
Some sentences have more than one subject, and these are called compound subjects.
For example: Mary and Louise went to the store.
In this sentence, the compound subject is Mary and Louise.
Your assignment: You are to create six pairs of sentences. Each pair will have a sentence with a single subject and a sentence with a compound subject.
For example:
SS: Math is my favorite subject.
CS: Math and science are my favorite subjects.
SS: Nemo belongs in the ocean.
CS: Nemo and his dad belong in the ocean.
SS: I went to the beach.
CS: Tracy and I went to the beach.
For example: Mary went to the store.
In this sentence, Mary is the subject.
Some sentences have more than one subject, and these are called compound subjects.
For example: Mary and Louise went to the store.
In this sentence, the compound subject is Mary and Louise.
Your assignment: You are to create six pairs of sentences. Each pair will have a sentence with a single subject and a sentence with a compound subject.
For example:
SS: Math is my favorite subject.
CS: Math and science are my favorite subjects.
SS: Nemo belongs in the ocean.
CS: Nemo and his dad belong in the ocean.
SS: I went to the beach.
CS: Tracy and I went to the beach.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Relative Clauses
A relative clause is inserted into the middle of an independent clause and it acts as an adjective: it gives a description about the subject of the independent clause.
The three words that most often start a relative clause are that, which and who.
When starting a relative clause with "that," there is no need for commas. For example:
IC: The book is really good.
IC with RC: The book that I'm reading now is really good.
However, when starting a relative clause with who or which, you do need to separate the relative clause from the rest of the sentence with commas. For example:
IC: Johnny runs faster than anyone I've ever seen.
IC with RC: Johnny, who won the state championship last year, runs faster than anyone I've ever seen.
IC: Mom-mom is coming over for dinner.
IC with RC: Mom-mom, which is what I call my grandmother, is coming over for dinner.
Your Assignment:
Create six independent clauses and then create an independent clause with a relative clause from the independent clause, justu like I did above. So, six sets of sentences.
The three words that most often start a relative clause are that, which and who.
When starting a relative clause with "that," there is no need for commas. For example:
IC: The book is really good.
IC with RC: The book that I'm reading now is really good.
However, when starting a relative clause with who or which, you do need to separate the relative clause from the rest of the sentence with commas. For example:
IC: Johnny runs faster than anyone I've ever seen.
IC with RC: Johnny, who won the state championship last year, runs faster than anyone I've ever seen.
IC: Mom-mom is coming over for dinner.
IC with RC: Mom-mom, which is what I call my grandmother, is coming over for dinner.
Your Assignment:
Create six independent clauses and then create an independent clause with a relative clause from the independent clause, justu like I did above. So, six sets of sentences.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Independent and Dependent Clauses
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION WAS PROVIDED IN PART BY PURDUE UNIVERSITY'S WEBSITE
Identifying Independent and Dependent Clauses
Summary: This handout defines dependent and independent clauses and explores how they are treated in standard usage.
When you want to use commas and semicolons in sentences and when you are concerned about whether a sentence is or is not a fragment, a good way to start is to be able to recognize dependent and independent clauses. The definitions offered here will help you with this.
Independent Clause
An independent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and verb and expresses a complete thought. An independent clause is a sentence.
Ex: Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz.
Dependent Clause
A dependent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and verb but does not express a complete thought. A dependent clause cannot be a sentence. Often a dependent clause is marked by a dependent marker word.
Ex: When Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz . . . (What happened when he studied? The thought is incomplete.)
Dependent Marker Word
A dependent marker word is a word added to the beginning of an independent clause that makes it into a dependent clause.
Ex: When Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz, it was very noisy.
Some common dependent markers are: after, although, as, as if, because, before, even if, even though, if, in order to, since, though, unless, until, whatever, when, whenever, whether, and while.
Your assignment:
This week, you will create six independent clauses and six sentences that begin with dependent clauses created from each of the independent clauses.
For example:
IC (independent clause): I went to the beach.
DCS (dependent clause sentence): After I went to the beach, I stopped for ice cream.
IC: Mark went to the museum.
DCS: Because Mark went to the museum, he developed an interest in sculpture.
IC: I babysit to earn money.
DCS: Until I babysit to earn money, I can't afford an iPod.
Identifying Independent and Dependent Clauses
Summary: This handout defines dependent and independent clauses and explores how they are treated in standard usage.
When you want to use commas and semicolons in sentences and when you are concerned about whether a sentence is or is not a fragment, a good way to start is to be able to recognize dependent and independent clauses. The definitions offered here will help you with this.
Independent Clause
An independent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and verb and expresses a complete thought. An independent clause is a sentence.
Ex: Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz.
Dependent Clause
A dependent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and verb but does not express a complete thought. A dependent clause cannot be a sentence. Often a dependent clause is marked by a dependent marker word.
Ex: When Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz . . . (What happened when he studied? The thought is incomplete.)
Dependent Marker Word
A dependent marker word is a word added to the beginning of an independent clause that makes it into a dependent clause.
Ex: When Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz, it was very noisy.
Some common dependent markers are: after, although, as, as if, because, before, even if, even though, if, in order to, since, though, unless, until, whatever, when, whenever, whether, and while.
Your assignment:
This week, you will create six independent clauses and six sentences that begin with dependent clauses created from each of the independent clauses.
For example:
IC (independent clause): I went to the beach.
DCS (dependent clause sentence): After I went to the beach, I stopped for ice cream.
IC: Mark went to the museum.
DCS: Because Mark went to the museum, he developed an interest in sculpture.
IC: I babysit to earn money.
DCS: Until I babysit to earn money, I can't afford an iPod.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Compound Sentences, Take 2
From our first experience with compound sentences, I see that many of you still don't have it down. So we're going to try again, and I'll explain it a bit differently.
As we get more mature and adult in our lives, we also want to be more mature and adult in our writing. So something like this...
I like to ride my bike. I hate skating.
sounds babyish. So what we want to do is combine the two ideas into one compound sentence by joining the two sentences with a comma and a conjunction, like this:
I like to ride my bike, but I hate skating.
See? More sophisticated, right? You still have a complete sentence on both sides of the comma/conjunction, but the writing is more grown-up.
Now, there are situations where you want to join two thoughts, but you don't need two complete sentences in one compound sentence. This happens when your two separate sentences have the same subject (who the sentence is about) or the same verb (the action of the sentence). Let me show you.
I like baseball. I watch it on TV.
Both of these sentences have the same subject (I), so you don't need a compound sentence. You can combine them so that you have one subject and the two verbs (like and watch), like this:
I like baseball and watch it on TV.
Even though there is the conjunction joining the two ideas, it's not a compound sentence because only what's on the first side of the conjunction (and) can stand alone as its own sentence.
Here's another example with a shared verb.
Debbie rides bikes. I ride bikes.
If it were a compound sentence, it would sound a little babyish: Debbie rides bikes, and I ride bikes. So we want to combine these two ideas two have two subjects (Debbie and I) that share one verb (ride), like this:
Debbie and I ride bikes.
Starting to make more sense?
So for the homework this week, please create three sentences in which you combine two sentences into a compound sentence. Then, create three sentences in which you combine two sentences into one sentence with a shared subject or shared verb.
As we get more mature and adult in our lives, we also want to be more mature and adult in our writing. So something like this...
I like to ride my bike. I hate skating.
sounds babyish. So what we want to do is combine the two ideas into one compound sentence by joining the two sentences with a comma and a conjunction, like this:
I like to ride my bike, but I hate skating.
See? More sophisticated, right? You still have a complete sentence on both sides of the comma/conjunction, but the writing is more grown-up.
Now, there are situations where you want to join two thoughts, but you don't need two complete sentences in one compound sentence. This happens when your two separate sentences have the same subject (who the sentence is about) or the same verb (the action of the sentence). Let me show you.
I like baseball. I watch it on TV.
Both of these sentences have the same subject (I), so you don't need a compound sentence. You can combine them so that you have one subject and the two verbs (like and watch), like this:
I like baseball and watch it on TV.
Even though there is the conjunction joining the two ideas, it's not a compound sentence because only what's on the first side of the conjunction (and) can stand alone as its own sentence.
Here's another example with a shared verb.
Debbie rides bikes. I ride bikes.
If it were a compound sentence, it would sound a little babyish: Debbie rides bikes, and I ride bikes. So we want to combine these two ideas two have two subjects (Debbie and I) that share one verb (ride), like this:
Debbie and I ride bikes.
Starting to make more sense?
So for the homework this week, please create three sentences in which you combine two sentences into a compound sentence. Then, create three sentences in which you combine two sentences into one sentence with a shared subject or shared verb.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Compound Sentences
A compound sentence is a sentence that is created by joining two or more independent sentences with a conjunction and, in many cases to prevent a run-on sentence, a comma.
Examples of conjunctions:
F A N B O Y S
for and nor but or yet so
Other examples:
before
since
because
although
while
if
unless
whether
THE MAIN THING ABOUT A COMPOUND SENTENCE IS THAT WHAT'S ON EITHER SIDE OF THE CONJUNCTION COULD STAND ALONE AS A SENTENCE.
Example:
Peter went to the store, but he did not go to the post office.
Non-example:
Peter went to the store but not the post office. ("Not the post office" is not a complete sentence - there's no verb.)
Example:
I did my homework, and I also did all of my chores.
Non-example:
I did my homework and all of my chores.
Example:
I should have been allowed to go to the movies since I did all of my chores.
Non-example:
I should have since I did all of my chores.
YOUR HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT:
You are to write three examples and three non-examples of compound sentences. Unoriginal responses (copied or too close to someone else's post) will not receive credit.
Examples of conjunctions:
F A N B O Y S
for and nor but or yet so
Other examples:
before
since
because
although
while
if
unless
whether
THE MAIN THING ABOUT A COMPOUND SENTENCE IS THAT WHAT'S ON EITHER SIDE OF THE CONJUNCTION COULD STAND ALONE AS A SENTENCE.
Example:
Peter went to the store, but he did not go to the post office.
Non-example:
Peter went to the store but not the post office. ("Not the post office" is not a complete sentence - there's no verb.)
Example:
I did my homework, and I also did all of my chores.
Non-example:
I did my homework and all of my chores.
Example:
I should have been allowed to go to the movies since I did all of my chores.
Non-example:
I should have since I did all of my chores.
YOUR HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT:
You are to write three examples and three non-examples of compound sentences. Unoriginal responses (copied or too close to someone else's post) will not receive credit.
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