Improving Sentences

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Subject & Predicate

Subject

a noun or pronoun that tells us what the sentence is about.

usually found at the beginning of the sentence before the predicate/verb.

Ex: He ran a 5-minute mile.

Ex: The clumsy girl fell down the stairs.

Ex: Volcanoes and earthquakes cause great destruction

Predicate

tells something about the subject

usually found after the subject

It's the verb of the subject

Ask: What is the subject doing? What is happening to the subject?

Action verb- tells what the subject is doing.

Helping verb - shows the state of being & helps the main verb

Helping verb song *click*

Ex: The tree was shaking violently with the wind

Review

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Clauses & 4 sentence types (simple, compound, cx, c-cx)

Clauses

group of words that has a subject and a verb

2 types: Independent & dependent clause

Independent Clause: contains a subject and a verb, expresses a complete thought, & can stand alone

(Ex: Mark delivered the mail to my house)

Dependent Clause: contains a subject and a verb, but does NOT express a complete thought,

& can NOT stand alone

(Ex: Because Mark delivered the mail to my house

4 Types of Sentences

Simple Sentence: contains one independent clause. It has one subject-verb relationship.

The boy ran to the store

The boys went to the lake, played on the beach, and ate lunch.

Sitting by the lake, the boys and girls ate lunch.

Jane, Sally, Bob, and John swam, played, and ate at the lake

Compound Sentence: contains 2 or more independent clauses connected by a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS).

It has 2 or more subject-verb relationships. A semi-colon (;) maybe be used to connect 2 sentences.

The boy ran to the store, but the store was closed

The boys ran along the beach, but the girls sat in the sun

Bob found various shells; Sally found someone’s garbage.

Complex Sentence: contains one independent clause and at least one dependent clause. Usually, the dependent clause starts with a subordinator.

Since it was raining, I wore my raincoat

Although the boys swim faster, the girls like to race them after they eat lunch.

Sally went to the lake because all her friends decided to go

The sunbather who had on the pink bikini was covered in sunscreen.

Compound-Complex Sentence: contains two or more independent clauses, and at least one dependent clause.

A compound-complex sentence contains one coordinating conjunction and one or more complex connectors.

While I was sleeping, my wife made my dinner, and my daughters washed my car.

John ate lunch, but Bob swam in the lake until the girls got back from snorkeling.

The girl who found a shark’s tooth walked two miles up and down the beach; therefore, she missed lunch with her friends.

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Run-On Sentences

How to fix Run-On Sentences?

Fragments

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Articles

2 types:

Indefinite (a, an)

Definite (the)

Indefinite Articles

"A" is used before any SINGULAR word beginning with a consonant or a consonant sound

a cat

a cucumber

a crucial opportunity

a possibility

a mango

"An" is used before any SINGULAR word beginning with a vowel or vowel sound

an old goat

an enemy

an honorable retreat

an honest student

an apple

Definite Article

Only one form - "the"

Unique objects

Second reference

Modifier

Context

Superlatives, Ordinal numbers, & Limiters

****SMART STUDENTS ONLY***...........CLICK HERE for full notes!

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Tense

Read section 18e on GUM workbook first.

Then, watch this short introduction video: CLICK

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Subject-Verb Agreement

***SMART STUDENTS ONLY*** .........for further learning, click here