Grammar Review

Because grammar is fun

Clauses: a group of words with a subject and a verb

• What is a sentence?• Two types of clauses:

– Independent: forms a complete thought and can stand on its own.

– Dependent: cannot stand on its own

Although Fido was usually frisky, he was unusually quiet and pensive during the photo shoot.

Linking Clauses and Sentences

• Commas• FANBOYS!• AAAWWUBBIS

– Subordinating Conjunction– What does subordinating mean?

Interrupter = any sentence part that could be inserted into a sentence and which must be set off with commas.

Sent , interrupter, ence .

Use two commas to set off an interrupter.

For

And

Nor

But

Or

Yet

So

Tucker was a trucker.

He was stuck in the muck.

He was out of luck.

He was in Winnemucka.

Subordinating conjunctionsAAAWWUBBIS

lthoughsfterhilehenntil/Unlessecauseeforefince

Knowing when to use commas

• “Openers”• Interrupters• Adding clauses/phrases to the end of a

sentence

Participles = an ing verb (or a series of ing verbs) tagged on to the beginning or end of a sentence.

A participial phrase is the ing verb plus its modifiers and complements.

Traveling might be something you enjoy.

1. Why isn’t this a participle?

Gerund = a verbal that ends in –ing and functions as a noun.

Participles Gerunds

•Used as a noun

•Virtually never requires punctuation

•Functions as an adjective

•Set off by commas by:

•Coming at the beginning of a sentence

•Interrupting a sentence as a nonessential element

•Coming at the end of a sentence (but it is separated from the word it modifies).

Appositive

• noun or pronoun -- often with modifiers -- set beside another noun or pronoun to explain or identify it

Keith, the boy in rumpled shorts and shirt, did not know he was being watched as he entered room 215 of the Mountain View Inn.

Opener, sentence .

Use a comma to set off an opener.

Sentence Structures A. Simple Sentences:

1. Has one independent clause and no subordinate clause

Tucker was a trucker.

Compound sentences: 2 or more independent clauses but NO subordinate

clauses.

I was next in line for lunch.

Joseph cut in front of me.

Sentence , FANBOYS sentence .

When summer comes to the North Woods, time slows down.

Complex sentences: one independent clause + one subordinate clause.

Opener, sentence .

AAAWWUBBIS

Compound-complex sentence: two or more independent clauses + one

subordinate clause

While my son was playing video games, I ate his last piece of pizza, and it was delicious.