Grammar
Clauses
A clause is a group of words that contain a subject. The subject is usually a noun or a pronoun. In other words, the subject is the thing that is being written about. Most verbs are words that tell the reader what action is being performed. That's why they are often called 'doing words' or 'action words.'
An example of a clause is:
The squirrel darted up a tree.
The subject in the above sentence is 'squirrel.' The verb is 'darted'. .
Main Clauses
A main clause makes sense by itself.
Subordinate Clauses
A subordinate clause contains a subject and a verb, but it needs to be attached to a main clause because it cannot make sense on its own.
Relative Clauses
A relative clause is a type of subordinate clause. It is a subordinate clause that adapts, describes or modifies a noun.
Relative clauses add information to sentences by using a relative pronoun such as who, that or which.
Types of sentence
There are three main types of sentence: simple sentences, compound sentences and complex sentences.
Simple sentences
The squirrel darted up a tree is an example of a simple sentence because it includes a noun, a subject and because it does contain either a conjunction or two or more commas.
Compound sentences
I enjoy swimming and tennis.
This is a compound sentence: it is made up of two main clauses: 'I enjoy bananas' and 'I enjoy tennis'. The two main clauses are joined by the conjunction 'and'.
Complex sentence
A complex sentence contains two or more commas or parentheses or both.
Example: James, who has several bikes, walked to school.
Nouns
There are four types of nouns: common nouns; abstract nouns; proper nouns; collective nouns
Common Nouns
A common noun is a person, place or thing. Common nouns are things that it is possible to touch. Examples include: pen; rubber; spoon; table; air; park; person; girl; man; cat; dog. They are people, places, objects and things.
Abstract Nouns
An abstract noun is not something that can be touched. It is an emotion or an idea. For example: love; grief; hate; peace; justice
Proper Nouns
A proper noun is the name of a specific person, or a specific place or a specific thing. For example: London Bridge (rather than just 'bridge', since 'bridge would be a common noun); Queen Elizabeth II; Theresa May; England; Mr. Weldon; North Field Junior School; The Bible; The Rosetta Stone. Proper nouns must begin with a capital letter.
Collective Nouns
A collective noun is the proper word for groups of various nouns. For example: 'Goose' is the noun and a 'group' of geese is properly called a flock of geese. You can have a pride of lions, a prickle of hedgehogs, a murder of crows and a school of fish.
A group of organisations can also be a collective noun. For example: the BBC or family or the Government.
Verbs
Most verbs are 'doing' or 'action' words. Examples include: run; hop; skip; jump; swim; dive; laugh; chop; simmer; boil
Modal verbs
Modal verbs include: could; should; would; must; will
Imperative Verbs
Imperative verbs are used in commands. For example: 'You must;' 'you have to;' 'It is imperative that you.' All these words are much stronger than 'You should...' They appear in sets of instructions e.g. stir the mixture; light the fire; eat your dinner.
Adjectives
Adjectives are describing words. They describe things properties such as age, colour, shape. size, quantity, texture, material and temperature.
Adverbs
Adverbs are words of phrases that change the meaning of another verb, adverb or adjective. They are used to describe the frequency of which events happened; when something happened; where something happened; how something happened and the degree to which something happened. While I have used the past tense, they can be changed to suit any tense.
Examples of adverbs of time: (to do with when something happened): lately; recently; soon; during
Examples of adverbs of manner (to do with how something happened): carefully; cautiously; slowly; quietly)
Examples of adverbs of place (where something happened) here; there; everywhere; nowhere
Examples of adverbs of degree: (partially; completely; wholly; slightly)
Examples of adverbs of frequency: seldom; rarely; frequently; infrequently; everyday; daily; weekly
Pronouns
Types of pronoun include: relative pronouns; personal pronouns and possessive pronouns
The relative pronouns are: who; whom; whose; which; that; where
'who' refers to a person
'which' refers to things which are not people
'that' can refer to anything (people and things that are not people)
'where' refers to places
Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns include: I; we; you; he; she; it
Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns include: my, mine, our, ours, its, his, her, hers, their,
Dependent Clauses
Root Words
Root words are words that have neither a prefix or a suffix.
Prefixes
A prefix is a group of letters that can be added to the beginning of a root word to change its meaning e.g. mis-fortune. The prefix is mis.
Suffixes
A suffixes is a A prefix is a group of letters that can be added to the end of a root word e.g. walked or walking.
Determiners
A determiner is a modifying word that determines the kind of reference a noun or noun group has, for example a, the, every.
Determiners include: a; an; the; my; some; this
Preposition
Key word: Position – It’s in the word. A preposition can describe the position of something compared to another thing.
Songs to help you
Alliteration
At the alliteration station,
Words, they start with the same sound.
Onomatopoeia
If words sound like the sounds that you hear,
There’s a good chance you’ve found onomatopoeia.
Pronouns
Pronouns replace a noun,
So replace a noun with a pronoun.
We, he, she, I, our, they, you
To spot a pronoun,
You know what to do.
Nouns
I never knew a noun,
Not a noun I didn’t like.
They are people, places, things,
Every thing that I like.
Verbs
A verb is a word,
It’s an action word.
If you can do it, then you do it,
If you do it, it’s a verb
Adverbs
Adverbs often end in ‘ly’;
Go and choose some;
Go and use some;
Go include some;
Go try!
Adjectives
See, smell, touch, Taste, feel, hear.
To describe you need an adjective so you better look here.
Commas
Commas often come between lists and adjectives;
If you want you work to make sense;
Or just to take a short breath.
CHECK WHICH ADVERB SECTION TO REMOVE
Adverb
An adverb adds more information to a verb, adjective or another adverb.
Arguably the key point is that it adds more information to a verb. This makes the title of adverb (add verb) particularly helpful in remembering what it means.
Recognition tip: Many adverbs have the suffix ‘ly’. The ‘ly’ makes the sound ‘lee.’
Five key categories of adverbs are time; manner; place; degree; frequency
Adverbs of time describe how often something takes place or how long something takes to do.
Adverbs of manner describes how something is done.
Adverbs of place describes where something happens.
Adverbs of degree describes the extent to which something happens. For example, in answer to the question: Have you finished your book? The answer could include; partially; nearly; completely; not at all
Adverbs of frequency describe how often an event takes place. For example: rarely; seldom; daily; annually often
Homonym
Homonymns are two or more words that are either spelled the same or pronounced the same but have different meanings. The learner will need to be able to identify when to use each word correctly.
Examples:
there; their; they're
too; to; two
see; sea
by; bye; buy
here; hear
where; wear
A or an
The learner needs to know when to use the word 'a' and when to use the word 'an'. 'a' appears before a consonant sound whereas 'an' appears before a vowel sound. For example: an apples; an elephant; an icicle; a ball; a cat; a giant
Prefixes
A prefix appears before a root word to change the meaning of the word. For example: fortune becomes misfortune. The learner will need to know a wide variety of root words and the prefix that they pair with.
Suffixes
A suffix appears before a root word to change the meaning of the word. For example: change becomes changeable. The learner will need to know a wide variety of root words and the suffix that they pair with.