Know the 4 kinds of sentences.

Declarative- makes a statement. Ends with a period. “My dog’s name is Jake.”

Exclamatory- shows strong feeling. Ends with an exclamation mark. “How scary this is!”

Imperative- gives a command or makes a request.Ends with a period. “ Please make your bed.”

Interrogative- asks a question. Ends with a question mark. “Do you have a CD player?”

There are 3 kinds of subjects:

Simple- whom or what the sentence is about.

Complete- contains all of the words in the subject. Simply, the NOUN and any descriptive words that go with it.

Compound- Two or more simple subjects that share the same predicate, and are joined together by a conjunction.

 

Example- “The voters elected a new mayor.”

VOTERS is the simple subject.

THE VOTERS is the complete subject.

Compound example- “The boys and girls played ball.”

Boys and girls is the compound subject.

“BOYS, GIRLS” are the two simple subjects that share the predicate “played” and “and” is the conjunction that joins them together.

 

There are 3 kinds of predicates

Simple- the VERB that tells what the subject did, has, or is.

Complete- contains the verb and all the words in the predicate.

Compound- Two or more simple predicates that share the same subject, and are joined together by a conjunction.

Example-“The shortstop threw the ball to second base.”

THREW is the simple predicate.

THREW THE BALL TO SECOND BASE is the complete predicate.

Compound example- “The crowd laughed and talked.”

“LAUGHED, TALKED” are the simple predicates that share the subject “crowd” and “and” is the conjunction that joins them together.

YOU (UNDERSTOOD)is the subject of an IMPERATIVE sentence.

Example- “Turn on the water.”

Who or what is the sentence about?It is telling YOU (the person or thing that is being spoken to) to turn on the water.

Verbs

  1. Verbs- words that describe action or a state of being.

  2. Action verb- describes activity. (Jenny raced down the hill. Raced is the action verb.)

  3. Linking verb- connects the subject to a word or words in the predicate that tell more about the subject. It does not have an action verb with it. (We were happy. Were is the linking verb.)

  4. Helping verb- helps the main verb describe the action. It has to have a helping verb with it. (She is going to a party. Is going is the helping verb.)

  5. Click to see a list of helping and linking verbs.

  6. Main verb- the most important verb. It works with the helping verb.(They will buy them in the spring. Buy is the main verb.)

  7. Verb/subject agreement- the subject and verb in a sentence must agree in number. This means that a singular verb is used with a singular subject, and a plural verb is used with a plural subject. (The horse runs quickly.The singular verb runs agrees with the subject, because horse is singular. The horses stamp their feet. The plural verb stamp agrees with the subject, because horses is plural.)

Verb tense- tells the time the action takes place or the state of being.

  1. Present tense- means NOW. Click for rules to form present tense verbs. (The team practices in the gym. Practices is the present tense verb.)

  2. Past tense- shows action that already happened. Add -ed to these verbs. (They won a game last night. Won is the past tense verb.)

  3. Future tense- shows action that will happen. (Jennie will hang the net. Will hang is the future tense verb.)

  4. Past Participle- verb form used with the helping verbs- has, have, or had. Click to see how to form past participle.

  5. Irregular verbs- formed in unpredictable ways. They DO NOT form past and past participle by adding -ed.

  6. Click for irregular verbs

  7. Click to see troublesome verb pairs

  8. Verb phrase -is made up of a main verb and one or more helping verbs. (He was riding his bike home. Was riding is the verb phrase.

Memorize the quotation rules below:

1. to show a person’s exact words.(The teacher said, “Start writing.”)

2.   to show titles of articles in newspapers & magazines. (article: “Dow Hits 10,000” by Alan Greenspan)

3.   to show titles of chapter titles in books, short stories, & essays. (Chapter title: “Getting Started” was the first chapter in the book. Short story: “The Tortoise and the Hare”)

4. to show plays, movies, songs, & poem titles. (movie: “The Lion King” song: “Old MacDonald” poem: “Dreams”)

5. to show episodes of radio or TV shows ( “Opie’s First Bike”from The Andy Griffith Show)

6.

Memorize the end mark rules below:

  1. End declarative & imperative sentences with a period. (The dog ran.Hand me the book.)
  2. A period follows MOST abbreviations.  (Ave. St.Dec.Dr.  Mrs.)
  3. Initials are followed by a period.  (J.F. Kennedy)
  4. Use periods after numbers in a list.  1. milk  2.bread  3.  eggs)
  5. An interrogative sentence is followed by a question mark. (Can you help me?)
  6. An exclamation mark ends an exclamatory sentence. (I won! )
  7. Use exclamation marks to separate an interjection from a sentence. (Hooray!I won the game.)
  8. Use exclamation points to end strong imperative sentence. (Get away from the fire!)
  9. An exclamation mark shows strong emotion or surprise. (I refuse to pick up your mess!)
  10. Use exclamation marks to emphasize words or to give an order. ( Clean up your room!)