Grammar Essentials Flashcards
Introduction to basic sentence structure and vocabulary including parts of speech
1
Q
- What is your free Grammar Online Textbook?
A
- Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) -just type the words into Google
2
Q
- What is a Part of Speech?
A
- A Part of Speech is a category of talking about words based on their function in a sentence.
3
Q
- What are the two basic parts of any complete sentence?
A
- Subject and Predicate
4
Q
- What important part of speech is located in the Subject?
A
- The noun or nouns that interact with the main verb of the sentence
5
Q
- What important term is located in the Predicate?
A
- The main Verb of the sentence
6
Q
- What is a noun?
A
- A person place or thing (things include ideas)
7
Q
- What is a pronoun?
A
- A word that takes the place of another noun
8
Q
- What is a verb?
A
- A word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, AND forming the main part of the predicate of a sentence, such as hear, become, happen.
9
Q
- What are Adjectives and Adverbs?
A
- Modifiers
10
Q
- What is a Preposition?
A
- A word that orients a noun in time or space
11
Q
- What is a Conjunction
A
- A word used to connect phrases and clauses
12
Q
- What are the two kinds of Conjunctions?
A
- Coordinating and Subordinating
13
Q
- What is an article?
A
- The part of speech whose only examples are: a, an, the
14
Q
- What is an interjection?
A
- An utterance that expresses spontaneous feeling - Ouch!
15
Q
- Can a word that is a noun ever change into another part of speech
A
- Yes, depending on the form of the word and usage in a sentence.
16
Q
- Can a word that is a verb ever change into another part of speech?
A
- Yes, depending on the form of the word and usage in a sentence.
17
Q
- Can a word that is an Adjective ever change into another part of speech?
A
- Yes, depending on the form of the word and usage in a sentence.
18
Q
- Can a word that is an Adverb ever change into another part of speech?
A
- Yes, depending on the form of the word and usage in a sentence.
19
Q
- Can a word that is a Preposition ever change into another part of speech?
A
- Very Rarely! for our purposes - let’s consider it a no, but just keep in mind, this one gets tricker the more advanced your studies progress.
20
Q
- Can a word that is an Article ever change into another part of speech?
A
- No, once an article, always an article
21
Q
- The Subject of a sentence will always be a…
A
- Noun or group of nouns
22
Q
- Verbs can be divided into the following two main functional types:
A
- Action and Linking
23
Q
- What does a “linking verb” link?
A
- It links the subject to a state of being.
24
Q
- What does it mean to “conjugate” a verb?
A
- To “conjugate” means to change the base form of a verb to a specific form that agrees with the subject of a particular sentence: I jump, he jumps.
25
Q
- What is the “base form” of a verb?
A
- The form of the verb with the “To” in front of it - also called infinitive: to jump, to compete, to succeed, etc..
26
Q
- What is an irregular verb?
A
- A verb that when conjugated, varies in form from its infinitive - ie. it doesn’t follow the follow the rules: add an -s or add an -ed when using in a sentence
27
Q
- Is “Jump” a regular or irregular verb?
A
- Regular! She jumps! Yesterday we jumped!
28
Q
- Is “To Be” a regular or irregular verb?
A
- Irregular - its forms are: is, am, are, was, were, being, been
29
Q
- What is the main “Linking Verb?”
A
- to be
30
Q
- In the following sentence, is the verb an action verb or linking verb? I grew tired of the professors long-winded explanations.
A
- Linking verb. Try substituting the verb with “be” and see if it still makes some sort of sense (grammatically). The meaning may change a little bit, but it should still sound like an actual thought. If that trick works, you’ve got a linking verb.
31
Q
- In the following sentence, is the verb an action verb or linking verb? My nephew grew four inches last year!
A
- Action - Try substituting the verb with “be” and see if it still makes some sort of sense (grammatically). The meaning may change a little bit, but it should still sound like an actual thought. If that trick works, you’ve got a linking verb.
32
Q
- What kind of a verb is “is” in the following sentence: Brian is eating a pizza.
A
- Helping verb: in this case, the verb “to be” is conjugated in the sentence to help convey the information that Brian is not eating the pizza in general or on Tuesday, but right now. It is a progressive action that is currently unfolding in real time. Whenever present, consider them part of the verb.
33
Q
- What is a verb that is made of more than one word called?
A
- Verb Phrase or Verbal. “will be eating” is a verb phrase in the following sentence: Brian will be eating a pizza for lunch tomorrow.
34
Q
- Identify the verb phrase in the following sentence: By the time class ends, Brian will have been eating that pizza for forty-five minutes!
A
- Will Have Been Eating - - “eating” is the main verb - the other three are helping verbs that together make up the entire verb phrase. Notice that if you leave one of those four words out, you change the meaning of the sentence.
35
Q
- Is “have” an action, linking, or helping verb in the following sentence: I have a Ferrari.
A
- Action
36
Q
- Is “have” an action, linking, or helping verb in the following sentence: I have driven a Ferrari
A
- Helping verb.
37
Q
- Can you sing the Helping Verbs song?
A
- Try singing the following to the tune of Jingle Bells: Helping verbs, helping verbs, there are 23! Am, is, are, was and were, being, been, and be —- Have, has, had, do, does, did, will, would, shall and should —There are five more helping verbs: may, might, must, can, could!
38
Q
- What does a coordinating conjunction do in a sentence?
A
- It puts together phrases and clauses
39
Q
- What is a phrase?
A
- A group of words (bonus: containing both a noun and a verb)
40
Q
- What is a clause?
A
- A group of words (bonus: not containing both a noun and a verb)
41
Q
- List all the coordinating conjunctions:
A
- For - And - Nor - But - Or - Yet - So (FANBOYS)
42
Q
- “Either” goes with:
A
- Or
43
Q
- “Neither” goes with:
A
- Nor
44
Q
- What part of speech is “for” in the sentence: I was late to dinner, for there was much traffic.
A
- Coordinating conjunction (“for” used in the sense of “because”)
45
Q
- What part of speech is “for” in the sentence: We postponed dinner for three hours because of you!
A
- Preposition - it is orienting the a sense of time
46
Q
- Is “because” a coordinating conjunction or a subordinating conjunction?
A
- Subordinating conjunction, usually used without a comma, although exceptions are made for clarity https://www.grammarly.com/blog/comma-before-because/
47
Q
- An “independent clause” contains three things:
A
- Subject, Verb, and a complete thought - – - in other words - an independent clause is a complete sentence
48
Q
- Is “I ran” an independent clause or a dependent clause?
A
- independent
49
Q
- Is “because I ran,” an independent clause or a dependent clause?
A
- Dependent - it has a subject and a verb, but the subordinating conjunction makes the thought “depend” on some idea or information not found in this clause.
50
Q
- Where does a “Submarine” go?
A
- UNDER the water
51
Q
- What does a “subordinating conjunction” do?
A
- A subordinating conjunction puts one part of a sentence UNDER another — it takes a perfectly good independent clause and demotes it to a lower (sub) status, a dependent clause.
“I went to the store.” Independent clause.
“Although I went to the store”–Dependent clause
52
Q
- What does a “coordinating conjunction” do?
A
- Coordinating conjunctions bring things together.
These are the FANBOYS from Conjunction Junction:
- Puttin’ together words, phrase, and clauses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AyjKgz9tKg
What do you do when you “coordinate” with your friends?
You get together.
53
Q
- What part of a sentence is NEVER found in a prepositional phrase?
A
- The SUBJECT is NEVER found in a prepositional phrase.
54
Q
- What part of Speech is “on” in the sentence: I’ll see you on Tuesday.
A
- Preposition - it is orienting the sentence in a sense of time
55
Q
- What part of speech is “on” in the sentence: The pencil is on the table.
A
- Preposition - it is orienting the the sentence in a sense of space
56
Q
- What part of speech is “over” in the sentence: The cow jumped over the moon.
A
- Preposition - it is orienting the sentence in a sense of space
57
Q
- Identify the prepositional phrase in the sentence: The cow jumped over the moon.
A
- “over the moon”
