Kevin Jiempreecha's Beautiful and Ever Evolving Grammar Guide I. Types of Sentences A.

Simple sentence: Sentence that consists of one independent clause. B. Compound sentence: Sentence that consists of two independent clauses joined by a comma and a coordinating conjunction or a semicolon. C. Complex sentence: Sentence that consists of one independent and one dependent clause (can be either "dependent, independent" or "independent + dependent"). D. Compound-complex sentence: Sentence that consists of two independent clauses and one dependent clause. II. Parts of Sentence A. Clause: Group of words that contains a subject and a predicate 1. Independent clause: Clause that expresses a complete idea. 2. Dependent (subordinate) clause: Clause that does not express a complete idea. B. Phrase: Group of words that does not contain a subject or a predicate. 1. Noun phrase: Phrase that contains a noun or pronoun and its modifiers. a. Gerund phrase: Noun phrase that contains a gerund. 2. Verb phrase: Phrase that contains a main verb and its auxiliary verbs. 3. Adjective phrase: Phrase that contains an adjective and its modifiers a. Participial phrase: Adjective phrase that contains a participle. 4. Prepositional phrase: Phrase that begins with a preposition and ends with the object of the preposition. a. Adverb phrase: Prepositional phrase that acts as an adverb. C. Subject: Noun or noun phrase that identifies whom/what the sentence is about. D. Predicate: Verb or verb phrase that identifies what the subject is doing. E. Direct object: Noun or pronoun that receives the action of an action verb ("Whom?", "What?"). F. Indirect object: Noun or pronoun that receives the direct object ("To/For whom?", "To/For what?"). III. Parts of Speech A. Noun: Word that represents a person, place, thing, or idea (concrete/abstract). 1. Common noun: Noun that represents a class of entities. 2. Proper noun: Noun that represents a specific entity (capitalized). 3. Compound noun: Noun that is made up of two or more words. 4. Predicate nominative: Noun or pronoun that follows a linking verb and renames or identifies the subject. 5. Appositive: Noun or noun phrase that describes or renames a preceding noun or pronoun. B. Pronoun: Word that takes the place of a noun/pronoun. It refers to a word in the sentence or preceding sentence (antecedent). 1. Personal pronoun: Pronoun used as a substitute for a common noun or proper noun. a. Subject pronoun: Pronoun used as a subject or a predicate nominative (I, you, he, she, it, we, they, who, etc.). b. Object pronoun: Pronoun used as a direct object, indirect object, or the object of a preposition (me, you, him, her, it, us, them, whom, etc.).

2. Possessive pronoun: Pronoun that substitutes for a possessive adjective/determiner and a noun or noun phrase (mine, yours, his, hers, its*, ours, theirs, whose*, my*, your*, his*, her*, our*, their*, etc.). 3. Indefinite pronoun: Pronoun that refers to one or more unspecified beings, objects, or places. *May be classified as a possessive adjective/determiner. C. Verb: Word that conveys an action or a state of being. 1. Action verb: Verb that expresses an action (observable/non-observable). 2. Linking verb: Verb that links the subject to a word that identifies or describes it. 3. Auxiliary/Helping verb: Verb that extends the meaning of the main verb in a sentence. 4. Verb phrase: Phrase that is made up of a verb preceded by one or more helping verbs. 5. Verbal/Non-finite verb: Verb that functions as a different part of speech. a. Participle: Verbal that acts as an adjective and modifies a noun or a pronoun. (1). Present participle: Participle that ends in "-ing". (2). Past participle: Participle that usually ends in "-d" or "-ed". d. Gerund: Verbal that acts as a noun and that ends in "-ing". A gerund phrase is made up of a gerund and its object or the words modified by or related to it. g. Infinitive: Verbal that acts as a noun, adjective, or adverb and consists of a verb in its basic form, usually preceded by the particle "to". D. Adjective: Word that modifies/describes nouns and pronouns ("How many?", "What type?", "Whose?", "How much?", "Which one?", etc.). 1. Predicate adjective: Adjective that follows a linking verb and modifies or describes the subject. E. Adverb: Word that modifies/describes verbs, adjectives, and adverbs ("When?", "Where?", "How?", "How much?", etc.). 1. Conjunctive adverb: Adverb that connects two clauses (additionally, anyway, besides, conversely, hence, therefore, however, nevertheless, consequently, etc.). F. Preposition: Word that connects nouns/pronouns to another word in the sentence to show the relationship of position between the object and the word it modifies and to form a prepositional phrase. A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and ends with a noun. G. Conjunction: Word that connects two words, phrases, or clauses together. 1. Coordinating conjunction: Conjunction that joins two grammatically equal words. 2. Correlative conjunction: Pair of conjunctions that coordinates two items. 3. Subordinating conjunction: Conjunction that introduces a dependent clause. H. Interjection: Word, phrase, or sentence that expresses an isolated emotion (ex. hi, bye, oh!, wow!, excuse me, shh, etc.). IV. Onomatopoeia: Word that imitates or suggests the source of the sound it describes. V. Simile: A comparison between two things that includes the words "like", "as", or "than". VI. Metaphor: A comparison between two things that does not include the words "like", "as", or "than".

VII. Hyperbole: An exaggeration intended to create emphasis or effect. VIII. Punctuation A. Comma (" , ") 1. Used before a coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence. 2. Used to separate three or more words, phrases, or clauses in a series (three or more similar items). 3. Used to separate adjectives of equal rank (same category of description). 4. Used after each item in a geographical name made up of two or more parts. 5. Used after each item in a date made up of two or more parts, except between a month followed by a day or if the date only contains the month and the year. 6. Used after the name and each title when a name is followed by one or more titles. 7. Used after each item in an address made up of two or more parts when used in a sentence, except between street number and street name or between state and ZIP code. 8. Used after the salutation in a personal letter and closing in all letters. 9. Used to set off the explanatory words of a direct quotation from the rest of the sentence. a. Used directly after the last word of the first part of a divided quotation and directly after the last explanatory word before the second part of the quotation. b. Not used to set off indirect quotations. 10. Used to set off a noun of direct address (the name of someone directly spoken to). 11. Used to set off appositives, unless the noun in apposition is a short name. 12. Used to set off nonrestrictive (add an idea but are nonessential and do not change the meaning of the sentence) clauses. 13. Used to prevent misinterpretation of a sentence. B. Apostrophe (" ' "). 1. Used in contractions to replace one or more letters that are left out. 2. Used to show omitted letters in contractions (ex. don't, can't, doesn't, etc.). 3. Added along with "-s" to show possession of singular noun, even if the noun ends in "-s". 4. Added along with "-s" to show possession of plural noun not ending in "-s". 5. Added to show possession of plural noun ending in "-s". 6. Added along with "-s" to show possession of an indefinite pronoun. 7. Used to show the omission of numbers in a date. 8. Added along with "-s" to show plural letters, figures, and words referred to as words. C. Semicolon (" ; ") 1. Used to join the clauses of a compound sentence in place of a comma and a coordinating conjunction or when the clauses contain many commas. 2. Used before a conjunctive adverb in a compound sentence. D. Colon 1. Used after the salutation of a business letter. 2. Used between numerals indicating hours and minutes. 3. Used to introduce a list of items.

E. Dash (" ") 1. Used to set off a long explanation that interrupts a sentence. 2. Used after a series to indicate that a summary will follow. F. Hyphen (" - ") 1. Used to indicate that part of a word must be carried over from one line to the next. 2. Used in fractions and to compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine. 3. Used in certain compound nouns. 4. Used between words that make up a compound adjective used before a noun. G. Question Marks (" ? ") 1. Placed inside quotation marks if they belong to the quotation itself or outside of the quotation marks if they do not. H. Exclamation Points (" ! ") 1. Placed inside quotation marks if they belong to the quotation itself or outside of the quotation marks if they do not. I. Quotation Marks (" " ") 1. Used to set off direct quotations. 2. Used to set off all parts of a divided quotation. 2. Used to enclose the titles of articles, chapters, short plays, short stories, essays, poems, radio programs, songs, and short pieces of music. J. Italics/Underlining 1. Used to enclose the titles of newspapers, books, long plays, movies, television programs, works of art, and long musical compositions. IX. Modifier: Word, phrase, or clause that acts as an adjective or adverb to describe or clarify something. A. Should be placed close to the word that it modifies to prevent ambiguity or misinterpretation. 1. Misplaced modifier: Modifier placed too far away from the word it is modifying and seeming to modify the wrong word. 2. Dangling modifier: Modifier that is modifying something not clearly stated in the sentence. X. Degree of Comparison: Word or phrase used to compare two or more nouns. A. The three degrees of comparison, from least to greatest, are positive, comparative, and superlative. 1. The comparative form is used to compare two things. 2. The superlative form is used to compare three or more things, 3. To form the comparative or superlative degrees of most one-syllable modifiers, add "-er" or "-est", although occasionally dropping the final "-e" or doubling the final consonant is necessary. 4. To form the comparative or superlative degrees of most two-syllable modifiers, either add "-er" or "-est" or precede them with "more" or "most". a. If it is an adverb ending in "-ly", add "more" or "most". b. If it is an adjective ending in "-ly", ad "-er" or "-est". 5. To form the comparative or superlative degrees of most modifiers of three or more syllables, precede them with "more" or "most". 6. There are many modifiers that are exceptions which form their degrees of comparison irregularly. B. For all decreasing degrees of comparison, precede them with "less" or "least".

C. Double comparison: Degree of comparison incorrectly using the words "more" or "most" and the endings "-er" and "-est" together. D. Absolute adjective: Adjective that cannot take a comparative or superlative form. E. Illogical comparison: Unclear comparison between two subjects that are incomparable. F. Double negative: Incorrect use of two negative words in the same clause. XI. Subject-Verb Agreement A. Most indefinite pronouns such as "anyone", "everyone", "someone", "no one", and "nobody" are always singular and require singular verbs. 1. Some indefinite pronouns such as "all" and "some" are singular or plural depending on what they're referring to and whether or not the object is countable. 2. The indefinite pronoun "none" can usually be both singular and plural and can be paired with either a singular or a plural verb, unless the amount of the object is specified in the sentence. a. It is generally thought to mean "not any" and will be paired with a plural verb, but when it is implied to mean "not one", it is better to use a singular verb. B. The indefinite pronouns "everyone", "everybody", and "each" are always singular and require singular verbs. C. Phrases such as "together with", "as well as", and "along with" modify the subject, but it does not compound the subject, so a singular subject will still require a singular verb. D. The pronouns "neither" and "either" are both singular and require singular verbs. E. The conjunctions "or" and "nor" do not compound the subject, so when either is used, the subject closer to the verb determines whether the verb is singular or plural. 1. For phonetic reasons, it is often better to place the plural subject nearer to the verb when both a singular and a plural subject are used. F. The words "there" and "here" are never subjects, so when either starts a sentence (an expletive construction), the subject follows the verb but still determines whether the verb is singular or plural. G. Third-person, singular subjects in the present tense are paired with verbs ending in "-s". H. Some plural verbs ending in "-s" are considered singular when preceded by the phrase "pair of". I. Some nouns that end in "-s" are singular and are paired with singular verbs but other singular nouns are paired with plural verbs. J. Fractional expressions can be either singular or plural, depending on the subject. 1. The end results of mathematical processes are always singular. 2. The expression "more than one" always results in a singular verb, regardless of the subject. K. If a sentence compounds a positive and a negative subject and one is plural, the verb should agree with the positive subject.

Is Am Are Was Were

Be Being Been

Has Have Had

Auxiliary Verbs Do Does Did

Shall Will Would Should

May Might Must

Can Could

Linking Verbs Appear Become Feel Grow Look Remain Seem Smell Sound Taste Be Is Are Etc. Coordinating Conjunctions For And Nor But Or Yet So Etc. Correlative Conjunctions Either/or Neither/nor Both/and Etc. Subordinating Conjunctions A: after, although, as, as if, as long as, as though W: when, whenever, where, whereas, wherever, while H: how I: if, in order that, in order to, in order for T: than, till E: even though

B: because, before U: until, unless S: since, so that