Chapter 2a Flashcards
What are the three fundamental building blocks of a sentence?
Subject
Verb
Complements
What does a sentence need in order to not be considered a fragment?
Both a subject and a verb (It needs to be more than a phrase)
What is the difference between a clause and a phrase?
Clauses contain subjects and verbs. Phrases are lacking subjects-verb combinations
What is the difference between a dependent and independent clause?
Dependent clauses require extra information to complete the idea of the sentence. Independent clauses can stand alone.
How do dependent (Subordinate) clauses often start?
When, if, because, since (These are subordinating conjunctions)
What are some examples of weak subjects?
It, there
What is nominalization?
Turning a verb into a noun by adding ‘-tion’ to it
What is a misplaced modifier?
A phrase involving an adjective or adverb that is not directly followed by the subject being described.
Where should adverbs be placed?
Next to the verb they are describing
What can be used instead of adverbs?
A stronger verb
Who does the action in a sentence?
Subjects
Who receives the action in a sentence?
Objects
What are the three main types of pronouns?
Subjective (e.g. I, you, she, we, they)
Objective (e.g. me, you, her, us, them)
Possessive (e.g. mine, yours, hers, ours, theirs)
When are reflexive pronouns used (3 situations)?
- When the subject and object are the same (e.g., The president’s advisor humiliated herself in front of the national media.)
- When the object of a preposition refers to the subject (e.g., The interns went out to dinner by themselves.)
- For emphasis or intensification (e.g., If marketing won’t conduct the end-user study, we’ll do it ourselves. OR I gave the report to Robert himself.)
‘Who’ and ‘whoever’ are what form of the word who?
Subjective
‘Whom’ and ‘whomever’ are what form of the word who?
Objective
Give your most charming sales pitch to _________ (whoever or whomever) answers the phone.
Use whoever If who(m)ever ever arises as both the subject and object, use the subjective whoever.
If gender is unspecified, which pronoun should be used?
Make the subject plural so that a gender-neutral pronoun can be used.
Which one?
The bonus went to the team whoachieved its target.
The bonus went to the team that achieved its target.
The bonus went to the team that achieved its target.
Which one?
Travelers that want reimbursement should submit their receipts.
Travelers who want reimbursement should submit their receipts.
Travelers who want reimbursement should submit their receipts.
When using pronouns, what must always be remembered?
They must clearly and unambiguously refer to only one antecedent.
What is the difference between adverse and averse?
Adverse is something harmful (e.g. adverse consequences). Averse is a feeling of dislike (e.g. some are averse to change).
What is the difference between fewer and less?
Fewer is only to be used when discussing countable things, while less is used for singular mass nouns. For example, you can have fewer ingredients, dollars, people, or puppies, but less salt, money, honesty, or love. If you can count it, go for fewer.
What is the difference between number and amount?
Amount should be used with nouns that cannot be counted individually.
Number is the opposite
What is the difference between counselor and councilor?
Counselors give advice.
Councilors sit on a council.
What separates independent and dependent clauses?
Commas
How do we nominalize verbs?
Typically by adding ‘-ation’ or ‘ion’ to the end (e.g. evaluate becomes evaluation).
How do we avoid dangling modifiers?
Keep modifying phrases, adjectives, or adverbs close to the words they describe