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Words, ClausesSentences
Grammar
The Basics Subject, Verb, Object Modifiers, Prepositions,
Articles Modifiers: Adjectives, A
dverbs Prepositions
The Preposition Cube Articles
Recap
Sentences & Clauses Independent & Depende
nt
The Basics:Subject, Verb, Object
In English, we almost invariably structure our sentences in what is called the “SVO” format:
S V OSubject – Verb – Object
The Basics:Subject, Verb, Object
The dog ran home
Subject VerbObject
In English, we almost invariably structure our sentences in what is called the “SVO” format:
S V OSubject – Verb – Object
“From the ceiling hung the chandelier”
The Basics:Subject, Verb, Object
When a sentence is in the “passive voice,” however, the order is generally reversed.
Here the chandelier is the subject, even though it follows the verb, and the ceiling is the object even though it precedes the verb.
The Basics:Subject, Verb, Object
A simple sentence may, or may not, also have an object. This is a noun, or noun phrase, which tells to whom or what the action is being done.
This cup
Some people
My family
Jed and Jethro
is
go
runs
drank
A simple sentence always has a subject. This is a noun, or noun phrase, which is “doing” something.
A simple sentence always has a verb. This is a verb, or verb phrase, which tells what the subject is doing.
on the table.
on rollercoasters.
a restaurant
the moonshine
The Basics:Subject, Verb, Object
The dog ran home First, identify the verb.
Next, identify the subject-noun (or noun phrase).
If there is another noun or noun phrase which follows the verb and completes the action in some way – that is the object
The Basics:Subject, Verb, Object
Sometimes a simple sentence doesn’t have an “object” – just a subject and verb.
• The dog barked.
• The car crashed.
• The sky is falling.
• My back is aching.
• Your computer has crashed
The Basics:Subject, Verb, Object
But subjects and verbs do not necessarily make a complete simple sentence.
• John put…
• Ralph laid…
• I gave…
• The dog is…
• I will get…
The simple sentence must form a complete thought.
The Basics:Subject, Verb, Object
But just because it’s simple, doesn’t mean a simple sentence is necessarily short.
The happy, yet strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
The Basics: Subject, Verb, Object
The happy, yet strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
ran
verb
chimneysweep
Noun (subject)
streets
Noun (object)
Here we have a single subject, a single verb, and a single object.
The Basics: Modifiers, Prepositions, Articles
The happy, yet strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
The rest of the words are: modifiers, prepositions, articles, and conjunctions.
happy cleangrimy
The Basics: Modifiers – Adjectives & Adverbs
The happy, yet strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
happy cleangrimy
There are two kinds of modifiers.
Words which modify nouns are called “adjectives.”
Adjectives modifying “chimneysweep.” Adjective modifying “streets.”
The Basics: Modifiers – Adjectives & Adverbs
The happy, yet strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
quickly cheerfully
Words which modify verbs are called “adverbs.”
strangely
Adverbs modifying the verb “ran”
The Basics: Modifiers – Adjectives & Adverbs
The happy, yet strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
quickly cheerfully
But adverbs also modify adjectives and other adverbs.
strangely
Adverb modifying adjective “clean.”
The Basics: Prepositions
The happy, yet strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
up
Prepositions are words which tell about the position of something and come before a noun. (“Pre” = before. Therefore, prepositions indicate position and come before.)
Prepositions revealing direction and position
down in
The Basics: Prepositions
So what are the rest of the words here?
Some are modifiers. There are two types of modifiers.
Most of what you need to know about prepositions can be learned with a cube and a ball.
The Basics: The Preposition Cube
In
On
Beside
The Basics: The Preposition Cube
Through
The Basics: The Preposition Cube
Under
The Basics: The Preposition Cube
Behind
The Basics: The Preposition Cube
Across
The Basics: The Preposition Cube
Around
The Basics: The Preposition Cube
Near
The Basics: The Preposition Cube
With
The Basics: “Of” – The Special Preposition
As noted, prepositions come before a noun and form the beginning of a prepositional phrases. “Of,” however, is slightly different.
It acts very much like a conjunction in that it combines a noun with something else: another noun, an adverb or adjective, or a verb.
•The streets of San Francisco
•Hair of the dog
•Bay of Pigs
Joining two nouns:
Joining a noun to a verb
• Singing of freedom and joy
• Speaking of penguins
• Thinking of radiators
The Basics: “Of” – The Special Preposition
As noted, prepositions come before a noun and form the beginning of a prepositional phrases. “Of,” however, is slightly different.
It acts very much like a conjunction in that it combines a noun with something else: another noun, an adverb or adjective, or a verb.
• Swift of foot
• Lean of limb
• Warm of heart
Joining a noun and adjective
Joining a noun to an adverb
• Sprightly of gait
• Fleetingly of importance
• Hardly of interest
The Basics: Articles
The happy, yet strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
So what are the rest of the words here?
Some are modifiers. There are two types of modifiers.
Articles are those little words that sort of point to a noun. The most common is “the.”
Thethe the
But “the” isn’t the only article.
The Basics: Articles
There are two major types of articles: “definite” and “indefinite.” Both types are similar in that they point to a noun.
The hats those people wore to this rodeo had an effect on our mayor.
The thosethis
an the
The Basics: Articles
A “definite” article points to one or more specific nouns.
• The book
• This book
• That book
• Those books
• These books
The Basics: Articles
An “indefinite” article points to an unspecified instance of a noun.
• A book
• An apple
The Basics: Putting It All Together
Now let’s go back to our long simple sentence and examine the types of words it contains.
The happy, yet strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
verb
Subject-noun
Object-noun
Modifier: Adverbs
Modifier: Adjectives
Prepositions
Articles
The Basics: Putting It All Together
Now let’s go back to our long simple sentence and examine the types of words it contains.
The happy, yet strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
verb
Subject-noun
Object-noun (note the joining “of”)
Modifier: Adverbs
Modifier: Adjectives
Prepositions
Articles
ran
chimneysweep
streets of London
strangely, quickly, cheerfully
happy, clean, grimy
up, down, in
The (three times)
The Basics: Putting It All Together
So what are these remaining words?
The happy, yet strangely clean chimneysweep, ran quickly and cheerfully up and down the grimy streets of London in the fog.
Conjunction (in this case)
Another object, this time as a prepositional phrase.
yet
in the fog
The Basics:A Recap
There are several types of words: Verbs Nouns Modifiers: Adjectives and Adverbs Articles: Definite and Indefinite. Prepositions – with “of” being a special
instance
Sentences & Clauses:Analyzing Clauses
• To understand sentences, you must understand clauses.
• Every clause has a verb. Or to put it another way, every verb has a clause.
• There are two types of clauses:
•Independent
•Dependent.
• An independent clause can stand on its own as a sentence.
• In other words – an independent clause is a simple sentence. A dependent clause is a partial simple sentence.
• At the most, there are three sections to a clause:
• the predicate (the verb and its modifiers)
• the subject (the subject-noun and its modifiers)
• the object (the object-noun and its modifiers)
Sentences & Clauses:Analyzing Clauses
Sentences & Clauses:Analyzing Clauses
Here is a sentence composed of an independent and a dependent clause.
The car narrowly missed the tree which had fallen across the road.
Sentences & Clauses:Analyzing Clauses
• Since the verb is the backbone of every clause, we begin by locating the verbs.
The car narrowly missed the tree which had fallen across the road.
• There are two verbs in this sentence:
• missed
• had fallen
The car narrowly missed the tree which had fallen across the road.
Sentences & Clauses:Analyzing Clauses
• Next we find the words modifying the verb
The car narrowly missed the tree which had fallen across the road.
• “missed” is modified by “narrowly.”
• “had fallen” is not modified by anything
Sentences & Clauses:Analyzing Clauses
The combination of the verb and its associated modifiers gives us our predicate – shown in brackets.
The car (narrowly missed) the tree which (had fallen) across the road.
Sentences & Clauses:Analyzing Clauses
Next we locate the subject-nouns.
The car (narrowly missed) the tree which (had fallen) across the road.
The subject-noun is the noun doing the action. Therefore, “car” is the subject noun of “missed,” and “which” is the subject-noun (pronoun) of “had fallen.”
Sentences & Clauses:Analyzing Clauses
Then we find the modifiers and auxillary words associated with each subject-noun.
The car (narrowly missed) the tree which (had fallen) across the road.
• For “car” the only word associated with it is the definite article, “the.”
• For “which” there are no associated words.
Sentences & Clauses:Analyzing Clauses
The subject-noun and its associated words form the “subject” of the clause – shown in square brackets.
[The car] (narrowly missed) the tree [which] (had fallen) across the road.
Sentences & Clauses:Analyzing Clauses
Now we look to see if there are any object-nouns. These are the nouns to which the action is being done.
[The car] (narrowly missed) the tree [which](had fallen) across the road.
The thing the car “missed” is the “tree.”
The thing the “which” had fallen across was the “road.”
Sentences & Clauses:Analyzing Clauses
And as before, we find what words are associated with the object-nouns.
[The car] (narrowly missed) the tree [which](had fallen) across the road.
For “tree,” the only word associated with it is the definite article, “the.”
For “which,” there is a definite article associated with it, but following it is a preposition, “across.” Since prepositions always start phrases (with the exception of “of”), then “across” is also associated with “road.”
Sentences & Clauses:Analyzing Clauses
The object-nouns and their associated words form the “object” of each clause – shown in curly brackets.
[The car] (narrowly missed){the tree} [which](had fallen) {across the road.}
Sentences & Clauses:Independent & Dependent
This leaves us with two clauses:
This clause can stand on its own as a complete simple sentence and is therefore an “independent clause.”
"The car narrowly missed the tree”
“which had fallen across the road”
This clause can’t stand on its own as a complete simple sentence and is therefore a “dependent clause.”
The car narrowly missed the tree which had fallen across the road.
Sentences & Clauses:A Recap All sentences are either complete simple sentences,
or combinations of complete and incomplete simple sentences.
A complete simple sentence is composed of a subject, a verb, and sometimes an object – always in the SVO order.
A complete simple sentence can also be called an “independent clause.” It forms a complete thought
A partial simple sentence can also be called a “dependent clause.” It has a subject and verb (no object) but cannot stand on its own as a full sentence. It doesn’t form a complete thought.
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