lesson 1

Question 1

communication

Answer 1

the exchange of thoughts, opinions, or information through speech or writing

Question 2

unclear pronoun reference

Answer 2

a pronoun that does not have a clear antecedent

Question 3

noun

Answer 3

A noun is a word we use to identify people, places, things, and ideas. Nouns are essential to building sentences and perform many functions within sentences. For example, a noun can be the subject of a sentence, an object of a prepositional phrase, or an object of the verb in the sentence. A noun can be common (a general name for a person, place, thing, or idea) or proper (a specific person, place, thing, or idea). Notice the following examples of common and proper nouns:

Question 4

collective noun

Answer 4

A collective noun names a group of people or things. Examples of collective nouns include flock, family, team, congregation, and class.

Question 5

Pronoun

Answer 5

A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun in a sentence. Pronouns perform the same basic roles as nouns; they can be subjects or objects in sentences. Personal pronouns are ones that refer to people or things – I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it, we, us, they, and them.

Question 6

antecedent

Answer 6

An antecedent is the word to which a pronoun refers. It is important to make sure that each pronoun has a clear antecedent.

Question 7

indefinite

Answer 7

An indefinite pronoun is one that does not refer to a specific person, place, or thing. Some indefinite pronouns (such as anything, everyone, nobody, someone, something, and each) are always singular, as in the sentence,

Question 8

Verb

Answer 8

A verb is a word that shows action or state of being.

Question 9

Action verbs

Answer 9

Action verbs, words that show mental or physical action, are fairly simple to identify.

Question 10

helping verb

Answer 10

Often, an action verb is accompanied by a helping verb, such as did, must, was, will, and could. Together, an action verb plus a helping verb forms a verb phrase.

Question 11

Linking verbs

Answer 11

Linking verbs (or state-of-being verbs) connect the subject to a noun or adjective in the predicate.

Question 12

Adverb

Answer 12

An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

Question 13

Preposition

Answer 13

A preposition is a word that shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun to another word in a sentence. In the sentence, “The box under the bed contains old photographs,” the word under is a preposition showing the relationship between the noun bed and the word box.

Question 14

prepositional phrase

Answer 14

A prepositional phrase consists of a group of words beginning with a preposition and ending with a noun or a pronoun, called the object of the preposition. In the sentence, “You will find the lemons in the refrigerator,” in is a preposition, and refrigerator is the object of the preposition. The entire prepositional phrase is in the refrigerator.

Question 15

Conjunction

Answer 15

A conjunction connects words and phrases in a sentence. There are three types of conjunctions: coordinating, correlative, and subordinating.

Question 16

Coordinating conjunctions

Answer 16

Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, and so) are words that connect two or more parts of a sentence together. These conjunctions can connect subjects, objects, verbs, or entire sentences.

Question 17

Correlative conjunctions

Answer 17

Correlative conjunctions are pairs of words that connect words and phrases in a sentence. Correlative conjunctions include both . . . and, either . . . or, neither . . . nor, and not only . . . but also.

Question 18

Interjection

Answer 18

An interjection is a word or phrase that expresses emotion in a sentence but does not have any grammatical connection to the rest of the sentence.