English Flashcards
Simple sentence is made of
a subject and a verb
Compound sentence
Made of two independent clauses (complete sentences) connected by a coordinating conjunction
Coordinating conjunction
Connecting word such as “and”, “but”, “or”.
Comma is used _________ the conjunction
Before
When do you use a semicolon?
To connect two independent clauses without a connecting word
Conjunctive adverb
connects two independent clauses in a compound sentence.
Examples of conjunctive adverbs
However, therefore, otherwise,
Nevertheless.
Rules for semicolon and conjunctive adverbs
Semicolon will separate the two independent clauses, but a comma follows the conjunctive adverb.
The train arrived at six o’clock; however, Joe was five minutes late.
Complex sentence parts
independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.
Dependent clause parts and function
Has subject and a verb, but it doesn’t express a complete thought. Depends on the independent clause for meaning
The trains have been taking a lot longer to arrive
“…..since they added that new station.” Cannot stand alone as a sentence
When a dependent clause follows an independent clause it does not need any
Punctuation
When does a comma separate a dependent and independent clause?
When the dependent clause is at the beginning of the sentence
Since they added that new station, the trains have been taking a lot longer to arrive.
Usage of commas for introductory words phrases or clauses
After the introductory portion
Well, that was an interesting discussion!
If we want to arrive on time, we need to leave now.
Commas are used to separate non-essential elements such as a word, phrase, or clause that is not needed to understand the meaning of a sentence.
Go on either side. The “in my opinion “ is unnecessary
Laney is, in my opinion, the best doctor in this practice.
Comma usage for non-essential elements in the middle of a sentence
Commas are used on either side of the word, phrase, or clause.
Laney is, in my opinion, the best doctor in this practice
Comma usage for non-essential elements that may fall at the end of the sentence.
Before the non-essential portion.
Dr. Johnson is leaving at the end of the month, as you probably already know.
Serial comma aka Oxford Comma goes where?
Comma before the “and” in a series of items.
I need to pick up grapes, apples, and bananas at the grocery store
Many editors and publishers prefer to use the serial comma before the conjunction in a series, but
It is not necessary
Some have done away with this rule
Why is the lack of a serial comma before “and” in a list not an error?
Some have done away with the Oxford comma rule
Coordinate adjectives
Equal adjectives. They describe the same noun and are equally important. Make sense even if you use them in a different order when they have “and” between them
“Beautiful and sunny”
“gentle and patient”
Usage of commas for coordinate adjectives
comma goes between them
Cherries are healthy, delicious fruit with a lot of vitamins.
A comma is not used after a non-coordinate adjective, such as those showing quantity (e.g., two, many, most).
We had two beautiful, sunny days at the beach.
Usage of commas to separate cities and states, and cities and countries.
A comma is placed before and after the state or country.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, is known for its nightlife.
Usage of commas for dating.
Use after day number in full date, but not used between month and year.
Separates day from year in a date. When only a month is included, a comma is not needed.
My son was born on February 7, 2020.
My daughter was born in January 2021.
Quotation marks are used when
Used for direct quotations when the writer is quoting what someone else has said.
End marks when quoting
End marks are placed inside the closing quotation mark.
If the person who is being quoted is identified before the quotation, use a comma after the introductory clause and before the opening quotation mark. The spoken sentence will begin with a capital letter.
Anjali exclaimed, “It’s only 10 degrees outside! No wonder I’m freezing.”
If the quote comes before the phrase identifying the speaker, place a comma after the quote but before the closing quotation mark. Note that the comma takes the place of a period.
“I’ve always wanted to go to Greece,” Jana said.
If a quote ends in a question mark or exclamation mark, do not add a comma as well.
“How much money do you think this lamp costs?” Josie asked.
“I think it might be as much as $200!” Frank exclaimed.
Explain how to carry out split quotation correctly.
Split quotation is when the writer identifies the speaker between two parts of a quotation. The first part of the quote begins with a capital letter and ends with a comma before the closing quotation mark. The second part of the quote begins with a lowercase letter and ends with an end mark. Each part of the quote is enclosed with quotation marks, but the speaker identification is not.
Examples of split quotation
“You know,” said Harry, “this is probably the fifth time I’ve seen this episode.”
Indirect quotations
Reference to something someone said that does not repeat their exact words. Indirect quotations do not require quotation marks.
My best friend told me that this was his favorite movie.
How to correctly quote only part of what a person said.
Opening and closing quotation marks are used to identify the exact words the person said. When the words are part of a sentence and do not have an introductory phrase, there is no need to include a comma.
The movie critic said that the movie was “the best movie of the year.”
Simple sentence
Made of an independent clause
Parts of an independent clause
Subject, predicate (includes verb) and modifiers
Can stand on their own and are complete without adding any more words to them.
“The tiny kitten curled into a ball”
Subject
Main noun of a sentence that is doing or being
Predicate
Part of a sentence that explains what the subject does or is like.
Modifiers
Words that give information about other words in the sentence
Explain the parts in the following simple sentence:
The tiny kitten curled into a ball.
Modifiers: The tiny
Simple subject: kitten
Simple predicate: curled
Modifiers: into a ball.
Dependent clause starts with
Subordinating word and can’t stand alone as a sentence.
Ex:
Dependent clause: Although the tiny kitten slept the entire day,
Independent clause: at night she was ready for food.
Compound-complex sentences
Combination of a compound and a complex sentence.
Complex sentence
Sentence that contains an independent clause and a dependent clause.
Compound complex sentences have at least
Two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause
Example of a compound complex sentence
Dependent clause:Although the tiny kitten slept the entire day,
Independent clause: at night she was ready for food
Coordinating conjunction: and
Independent clause: she wandered into the kitchen to find some.
Pronouns definition
Take the place of nouns:she, he, they, we.
Verbs
Are action words: run, clutches, gasped
Adjectives
Describe or modify nouns: broken, ridiculous, devastating.
Adverbs
Describe or modify adjectives, verbs or other adverbs:easily, quickly, proudly
Prepositions
Describe the relationships between other words: before, into, onto, according to, since.
Conjunctions
Connecting words: and, so, but, not, for, yet.
Interjections
Represent short bursts of emotion: Hey! Aw! Hooray!
Simple subject
Noun in the sentence
Complete subject
The noun and all its complements and modifiers
Identify the simple subject and the complete subject in the following sentence
: The gracious host gave the guests gifts of appreciation at the end of the party.
Simple subject: host
Complete subject: the gracious host.
Article:the
Modifier: gracious
Article
Words (“a,” “an,” or “the”) that refer to a noun.
Simple predicate
Verb in a sentence
Complete predicate
Includes the verb and all its complements and modifiers
Identify the simple and complete predicates in the following sentence:
The gracious host gave the guests gifts of appreciation at the end of the party.
Simple predicate: gave
Complete predicate: “gave the guests gifts of appreciation at the end of the party.”
A predicate will often include
One or more objects or words that receive the action of the verb.
Direct object
Receives the action.
Find the direct and indirect objects in the following sentence:
The gracious host gave the guests gifts of appreciation at the end of the party.
Direct object: gifts.
Indirect object: the guests.
Indirect objects
People or things to whom or which something is done. The gifts of appreciation were given to the guests.
Complement
Completes the predicate in a sentence.
Object
Words that receive the action of the verb.
Give an example of a sentence that contains complements instead of objects
The candidates seemed disappointed with the outcome.
Subject: “the candidates,”
Complete predicate: “seemed disappointed with the outcome”
Verb: “seemed”
Complement: “disappointed,”
prepositional phrase “with the outcome.”
Prepositional phrase
Phrase that begins with a preposition and ends with an object
Gerund
Derived from a verb but functions as a noun. Ends in ing. Walking, traveling, voting, seeing.
Parts that a complete sentence must have
Subject
Predicate
Tells what the subject is like or is doing
Predicate
A predicate must contain a
Verb
A complete sentence also expresses a
Complete thought
Complete or incomplete:
Get lost!
Complete: subject is you verb is get
Complete or incomplete:
The house stood abandoned for many years.
Complete.
Subject is the house and the predicate is what the subject does. The house “stood abandoned for many years.”
Sentence fragment
Does not express a complete thought. A fragment is missing either subject or the verb.
Example:
Abandoned for many years.
This fragment is missing the subject
Run on sentence
Has extra partsnot joined correctly. Missing conjunction or punctuation.
Ex:
The house stood abandoned for many years no one lived in it.
How to fix a run-on sentence
1.Add the conjunction “and”
2. Place a semicolon in between the two independent clauses.
3. Break the run-on sentence into two complete sentences.
- Transition words
Transition words
Essential in connecting ideas and clarifying the relationship between those ideas. Bridges between ideas
Transition words are often found at
The beginning of sentences but they can occur within the sentence itself.
“Suddenly”
“Immediately”
“Although”
“Then again”
Tense demonstrated by
Demonstrated by forms of verbs in sentences.
Another way to indicate time.
Progressive tense
Is used when the events are incomplete or currently happening “is running”
Perfect tense
Used to indicate that an action is complete or has already happened “has written”
Subject-verb agreement
Subject and verb must agree. Both need to be singular or both need to be plural.
Singular indefinite pronouns must take what kind of verbs?
Must take singular verbs
“Each,” “anybody,”
“everybody,”
“nothing”.
Everybody loves this movie.
Plural indefinite pronouns
“Both,”
“few,”
“several.”
Must have plural verbs
Pronoun antecedent agreement
Singular pronouns replace singular nouns
Plural pronouns replace plural nouns
a-
Not
Anti-
Against
Dys-
Ill; bad; abnormal
Hyper-
A lot; too much
Hypo-
A little; not enough
Inter-
Between; among
Intra
Within
Mid-
Middle
Pre-
Before
Non-
Not
Sub-
Under;below
Super
Above; beyond
Supra
Above
Un-
Not
Hyphenation: prefixes before proper nouns or proper adjectives
Trans-Siberian Mid-American non-english
prefixes before proper nouns or proper adjectives
Hyphenate all words beginning with
Self-
Ex-
All-
Example of hyphenating when it adds clarity
Re-cover (cover again) vs. Recover (recuperate)
-s,-es, -ies
Plural
-ed
Past tense
-ing
Progressive continuous
-er
Comparative
-est
Superlative
Derivational suffixes
Suffixes that form new words when added to the stem.
-tion
-ation
Indicating an action, state, or condition
-ful
Full of
-ic
Having the characteristics of
-less
Without
-ness
Indicating a state condition or quality
Happiness
-logy
-ology
Branch of knowledge or science
-ous
Full of
Class-changing derivational suffixes
Derivational suffixes that change the part of speech
Class-maintaining derivational suffixes
Derivational suffixes that do not change the part of speech
Example of class-changing derivational suffix
-ize
-ly
Apology (noun)
Apologize(verb)
Easy(adjective)
Easily(adverb)
Example of class-maintaining derivational suffix
-ist, -logy
Violin (noun)
Violinist (noun)
Cosmos (noun)
Cosmology (noun)
-ise, -ize
Usually changes a noun into a verb
Real+ize= Realize
-ly
Usually changes an adjective into an adverb
Happy
Happily
-able, -ible
Usually changes a verb into an adjective
Love+able= loveable
-like suffix action
Usually changes a noun into an adjective
-ist
Class-maintaining retained in a noun.
Botany+ist= botanist
-ology, -logy
Class-maintaining retained in a noun.
Mineral+ logy=mineralogy
Inflectional suffix
Suffix added to indicate number, gender, or tense
Inflectional suffix that changes a noun from singular to plural
-s
-ed
Changes a verb to past tense
Inflectional suffix that changes tense
Inflectional suffix that changes a verb to present tense
-ing
-en
Inflectional suffix that changes a verb to past participle
Compares two things such as tall and taller. Inflectional suffix
-er
-est
Inflectional suffix that compares three or more things
Nice, nicer, nicest
Derivational suffixes
Changes the meaning of a word and often changes it’s part of speech.
Homograph
Two or more words that are spelled the same but don’t necessarily have the same meaning or pronunciation
“Let’s go through the main entrance.”
“The beautiful flowers were meant to entrance the guests.”
T/f: a semicolon should not be used before a dependent clause
True
Drop the final “_”
e
“i” goes before “_”
e
Change the final “y” to “_” doubling a final consonant
i
identify common words that are exceptions to common rules for English spelling
Receive
Vein
Height
Protein
Neither
Exceptions for I before e
“I” before “e” except after “c” or when sounding like “a” as in “neighbor” and “weigh”
When adding a suffix to a word ending in “e”, you need to drop the e if the suffix begins with
A vowel
Ex: ride+ing= riding
Exceptions to dropping the e rule
words ending in -ce or -ge
Duly
Peaceable
Truly
What to do if Suffix beginning with a consonant
Like+ly=likely
Don’t drop final e
In this case you don’t drop the final e because the suffix begins with a consonant.
Suffix beginning with a vowel
Hide+ing=hiding
Suffix starts with a vowel, therefore the final e is dropped
When do you double the consonant?
root that that ends in a single consonant & if a single vowel comes before the final consonant and the consonant ends on an accented syllable or is a one syllable rule
When do you double the final consonant?
When root ends in (vowel)+single consonant, double the consonant if a single vowel comes before the final consonant and the consonant ends on an accented syllable or is a one-syllable word.
Exceptions to doubling the final consonant
Traveling, canceled, travelling, cancelled
Both correct
When in doubt follow the rule
When do you change the final y to I?
When the word ends in (consonant)Y , unless the suffix starts with i
and you add a suffix to a word ending in “y” preceded by a consonant, you change the “y” to “I” unless the suffix begins with “i”
Homographs
Words that are spelled the same such as “bass” and “bass,” but have different meanings and may be pronounced differently.
Words that sound the same such as “knew” and “new,” but have different meanings.
Homophones
Beauty+ful=beautiful
Change final y to I because
There is a consonant before y
Annoy+ance= annoyance
do not change the y to I because
There is a vowel before y.
Why is allowed a homophone?
Because it sounds like aloud.
Homophone
Same pronunciation, different meanings
Traceable is an exception to which spelling rule?
Exception to dropping final e rule. Usually, final e is dropped when you add a suffix that starts with a vowel
Homograph
Spelled the same but can have different pronunciations and meanings
Proper nouns
noun that names a specific person, place, or thing, and is always capitalized in English
Colloquialism
Word or phrase that is not formal or literary typically used in ordinary or familiar conversation.
