The Little Rules You NTK

What’s in a Name?—The NounProper CommonFebruary ?Egypt ?Mrs. Duffy ?

Concrete AbstractStar, water, album freedom, warmth,

capitalism

Compound CollectiveJohn William Pearson III Army, herd, familyFranklin County CommunityAnd Technical College

Pithy Pronouns

When Mrs. Anne Marie Shreiner came into the room, Mrs. Anne Marie Shreiner thought to Mrs. Anne Marie Shreiner’s self. “Is the situation just Mrs. Anne Marie Shreiner, or is the temperature really hot in here?” Mrs. Anne Marie Shreiner went to the window and opened the lower part of the window, only to have a number of mosquitoes quickly fly right at Mrs. Anne Marie Shreiner. Mrs. Anne Marie Shreiner said a few choice words, and then hit a few of the mosquitoes when the mosquitoes came to rest on Mrs. Anne Marie Shreiner’s arm.

Pronoun ClassificationsPersonal—people or things: I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it, we, us, they,

themPossessive—show ownership: mine, yours, hers, his, theirs, oursDemonstrative—point out: this, that, these, thoseRelative—relate one part of the sentence to another: who, whom, which, that,

whose (One country that I’d like to visit someday is France.)Reflexive (intensive)—reflect back to someone/something in the sentence:

myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves (You must ask yourself that question.)

**a pretentious mistake—using the reflexive pronoun when a personal pronoun will do: (Please call Allan and myself at your earliest convenience. Here, “myself” isn’t necessary because you haven’t said who “myself” is. It should be replaced with “me.”)

Interrogative—ask questions: who, whom, which, whose, whatIndefinite—contrary to their name—sometimes refer to a definite noun that has

already been mentioned in the sentence: all, another, any, both, either, few most, no one, nothing, others, several, something)

Adjectives—3 Little Questions

• Which one?

• What kind of?

• How many?

Articles—a, an, the

Indefinite—a, an

Definite—the

Da, Da, Daahh: Adverbs!

• How?—She strolled happily.• When?—We left yesterday.• Where?—They ran backwards.• Why?--• Under what circumstances?• How much?• How often?—I raised my hand twice.• To what extent?—He answered quickly.

Try Some Tom Swifties!“Punny” ways (adverbs) Tom is quoted as saying something specific:Ex. “Which way is the cemetery?” Tom said gravely.”1. “Would you turn out that light?” Tom asked________.2. “That’s nothing; I’ve had a transplant,” Tom’s father countered

_________.3. “I can’t tell if that is sleet or hail,” Tom said ________.4. “You’re driving too fast!” Tom cried _______.5. “The florist has run out of flowers,” Tom lamented _________.6. “This is the end of our relationship,” Tom declared __________.7. “Let’s go see a baseball game in Atlanta,” Tom suggested

__________.8. “Don’t stick your finger out at me,” Tom roared _______.9. “Oh-oh. We need a spare tire,” Tom proclaimed _________.10. “May I have some splenda?” Tom requested ___________.

Show Me the Action and the BeingAction Verbs—Transitive and Intransitive

Lie/laySit/set

State of Being verbs—am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been, has been, should have been, may be, and might be

*We’ll deal with verb tense a little later.

The Junction in Conjunction

• “Joining words”• Coordinating: and, but, or, nor, for, so,

yet (BOYSFAN)• Correlative: (PAIRS—MUST HAVE A

“relative”) both/and, neither/nor, not only/also, not only/but also

• Subordinating: too many to name—although, before, once, since, so long as, unless, whenever, while

What’s Your Position on Prepositions?

• A word that links a noun or pronoun to some other word in the sentence– Jack and Jill went up the hill.

• (Up is the prep. connecting went and hill.)

• Some preps are compound:– In spite of– Next to– On top of– Together with

Try This

• If the word in question will fill this sentence and make sense, it is most likely a preposition:

• It went__________the thing(s).– “of” is the most notable exception

*Never end a sentence with a preposition?

Heavens to Betsy!

• Use far more often in dialogue than formal writing, these little expressions indicate surprise or emotion. They do not change the meaning of the sentence and can be taken out freely.

• Like, totally.