Basis Grammar 101

What are subjective case pronouns?

They act as subjects of sentences

Verbs may be _____ or a state of being.

actions

What is a split infinitive?

A writing error that occurs when the two parts of the infinitive are separated by another word so like the word to is separated from the verb by another word in the middle to (random word) be

What type of verb is looked in the following sentence? The kitten looked at its toy. -Helping verb -Linking verb -Action verb -Not a verb

Action verb

Examples of common linking verbs?

Appear be (am, is, are, was, were) become feel get look seem smell sound taste

Which of the following nouns is a proper noun? -fireman -cat -mountain -Central Park

Central Park

Which of the following words is a common noun identifying a person? -Dr. Jones -doctor -Mr. Taylor -Ms. Randall

Doctor

What is a linking verb?

Doesn't actually express action. Instead, it CONNECTS a subject to the other words in a sentence that describe it or that provide additional information.

There are _____ parts of speech in the English language.

Eight -noun -pronoun -verb -adjective -adverb -preposition -conjunction -interjection

What is an action verb?

Expresses an action that the subject of a sentence does, did in the past, or will do in the future.

Which of the following is a subjective case pronoun? -I -her -him -them

I

Which pronoun could correctly fill in the blank in the following sentence? Jim and _____ went to school. -them -us -I -me

I

What are infinitive?

Infinitives are constructed by joining the word "to" to a verb.

What is a proper noun?

Is a SPECIFIC person, place or thing and is Capitalized. Ex. Washington, Bible, Paul, etc.

Which of the following lines from Tennyson's poem 'Ulysses' contains infinitives? 1. '. . . we are; 2. One equal temper of heroic hearts, 3. Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will 4. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.'

Line 4

What is Subject-Verb agreement?

Means that your subjects and verbs must agree with each other. So the plural subjects + plural verbs = good And singular subjects + singular verbs = good

Which of the following words is a noun? -scared -pizza -early -before

Pizza because it is a real thing you can eat

What is indefinite pronouns?

Pronouns that do not refer to a specific person or thing. they can be singular or plural or both depending on the context

What is auxiliary verb?

Referred to as a HELPING verb, is one that is the part of a verb phrase that HELPS the main verb.

Which of the following nouns is a common noun? -Manhattan -region -Aunt Tasha -Texas

Region because is general, and not specific

Which of the following sentences has an INCORRECT subject-verb agreement? -Subject-verb agreement usually gets trickier as sentences expand into more complex structures. -It's amazing that there are never any leftovers in my house after the Super Bowl game. -The thought of all the home repairs we need after the bathrooms flooded are daunting. -Any book about space visits from vampire Martian aliens is my idea of a good weekend read.

The thought of all the home repairs we need after the bathrooms flooded are daunting. subject is thought (singular) so verb should be is

What are objective case pronouns?

They act as objects of sentences objects receives the action of the verb, so they receive the action

Which of the following phrases is an example of an infinitive? -To my dismay -To the moon -To slip -Racing to the store

To slip

When writing a sentence using either/or or neither/nor, how do you decide whether the verb should be singular or plural?

Use the subject noun closest to the verb to decide.

Which of the following is NOT a function of an infinitive?

Verb

What is plural indefinite pronoun? examples:

When used in a sentence, these words typically take a plural verb examples: both, few, fewer, many

Does the following sentence contain the correct verb? The reason for my decisions is complicated.

Yes. Because the word 'reason' is a singular subject, it calls for a singular verb.

What are some examples of Auxiliary or Helping verbs?

be do have can may must should will

Adjectives _____ nouns.

describe

Interjections express _____ and stand alone as a part of speech.

emotion

In the following sentence, _____ is the subject noun and _____ is the verb. 'The two girls, as they stroll past the park, hear the faint sound of church bells chiming the hour.'

girls; hear

Which verb would correctly fill in the blank in the following sentence? Everyone _____ at the carnival. -is -are going to be -were -are

is

What are the plural objective case pronouns?

us you them

Identify the auxiliary/helping verb(s) in the following sentence. After my trip, I will have been to five different countries. -will -been -will have been -will have -have

will have

What type of verb is looked in the following sentence? The new bride looked very happy. -Linking verb -Action verb -Helping verb -Not a verb

Linking verb

A _____ is a person, place, thing, or idea.

noun

What are the singular subjective case pronouns?

I you he she it

What are the plural subjective case pronouns?

we you they

Identify the auxiliary/helping verb(s) in the following sentence. I would have gone to class, but I was sick. have -would -would have gone -gone -would have

would have

Which of the following are the functions of an infinitive?

Infinitives can serve as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.

Which of the following indicates that a verb should be singular? -There is a direct object in the sentence. -The subject is plural. -The subject is singular. -There is an indirect object in the sentence.

The subject is singular.

Which of the following pronouns is an objective case pronoun? -they -we -I -me

me

What are the singular objective case pronouns?

me you him her it

What is a common noun?

names a GENERAL person, place, thing, or idea

Which of the following phrases is an example of a split infinitive? -quickly answer -to answer quickly -to quickly answer -answer quickly

to quickly answer because the word answer is the main verb so the infinitive is 'to answer'; the word quickly is an adverb

Which of the following sentences has an INCORRECT subject-verb agreement? -Whenever you have time, the architect and his assistant would like to talk to you about the remodel. -Across the bay, fleets of old fishing boats was seen on the horizon. -Despite all the fuss about formal wedding dinners, I'm serving barbecue at mine. -Psychologists who came up with the idea of multitasking have lately been saying they were wrong.

-Across the bay, fleets of old fishing boats was seen on the horizon. because "was seen" is past tense, but the subject "boats" is plural. It should be "were"

Consider this sentence: Alvin studied for his test after going swimming. Which of the following words from this sentence is a noun?

Alvin because is the name of a person

In the following sentence, how would you determine whether to use a singular or plural verb to complete the sentence? Either my mother or my sisters _____ at the mall. -By determining how many people are in the subject of the sentence. -By the use of the word 'either'. -By looking at the noun that is closest to the verb. -By determining if the sentence contains a compound subject.

By looking at the noun that is closest to the verb.

Which pronoun would correctly fill in the comparison blank in the following sentence? Jorge has been working here longer than _____. -her -me -I -us

I TO FIGURE OUT: Jorge has been working here longer than I (have). or Jorge has been working here longer than me (have). Clearly 'I' is the best option.

What type of verb is was in the following sentence? The valedictorian's mother was very proud of her son. -Action verb -Not a verb -Linking verb -Helping verb

Linking verb

What needs to be done to remove a split infinitive from a sentence?

Move the word that separates the word 'to' from the verb in the infinitive.

What is singular indefinite pronoun? examples:

When used in a sentence, these words typically take a singular verb examples: another, anybody, everybody, less, little, much, neither, nobody, no one, nothing, one, other, somebody, someone, something.

Which verb would correctly fill in the blank in the following sentence? Either my sister or my brother _____ my math textbook. -having -has -have -have got

has

Which verb would correctly fill in the blank in the following sentence? There _____ a few problems with the new computer system. -have been -was -is -has been

have been

Which pronoun could correctly fill in the blank in the following sentence? After class, the principal talked to _____ and me. -they -her -she -he

her