Non-Written/Written Communication Flashcards
Noun/pronoun performing the actions
Subject
Action being performed
Verb
Noun/pronoun receiving the action
Object
- Passive Voice: No subject/object serving as subject (the ball was hit vs. the bat hit the ball)
- Incomplete thought: Because the ball was hit
Common problems with sentence structure include:
- contain a subject and verb
- Can be a complete sentence on its own, or be combined with other clauses to form a complete sentence
Clauses
can stand on their own
Ex: I am happy
Independent Clauses
- usually denoted by a subordinating conjunction (if, which, because, after, before, while)
Ex: Because it is my birthday - It can also be denoted by a relative pronoun (who, what, where, when, why, that, those, this) which creates a relative clause
Ex: When it is my birthday
Dependent Clause
- Groups of words functioning as a single unit in a sentence
- Does not form a sentence on its own
Phrases
begins with a noun (eat on a hot tin roof)
Noun phrase
begins with a preposition (over the river and through the woods)
Preposition phrase
begins with a verb (jump up and down)
Verb phrase
begins with a gerund (verb+ING) (going to the movies)
gerund phrase
begins with an adjective (green with envy)
adjectival phrase
begins with an adverb (truly, madly, deeply)
Adverbial phrase
- The subject and verb in a sentence must agree in form and amount
Ex: One of the boxes is open
Subject/verb agreement
replace nouns in sentence
Ex: Bill likes ice cream/ He likes ice cream
Pronoun Use
replacing the subject in the sentence
Ex: I, you, he/she, they, we, it
Subjective Pronoun
replacing the object in the sentence
Ex: me, you, him/her, them, us, it
Objective pronouns
ownership
Ex: my, your/ his/her(s)/their, our, its
Possessive pronoun
- He likes ice cream
- Ann and she went to the movies
- Bill went to the movies with her and him
- He makes more money that I (do)
- She is less qualified than he (is)
Correct Pronoun use examples
Items in a series must be in the same grammatical form (if one item is presented as a noun, all items should be presented as a noun, etc)
Ex: I like to read, paint, and exercise.
Parallelism
Modifying words must be placed nearby the phrase/clause they modify
Ex: The movie star, with a beautiful gold dress, walked the red carpet
Ex: With my new camera phone, I videotaped the lioness roaring at her cubs
Misplaced modifiers
should appear only in front of the word they modify (not, only, even, almost, nearly, just)
Ex: I like to eat pizza with only pepperoni
Limiting modifiers
consists of TO plus a VERB: to think, to breathe, to dance
Infinitives
Attempts should be made to avoid splitting up the TO and the VERB when possible
Ex: Students should try, if possible, to avoid splitting infinitives
Split infinitives
a word that describes, or modifies a noun or pronoun. It answers the questions what kind? How many: Which one?
Ex: I read FIVE practice tests; THAT linguist changed history
Adjective
a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or adverb
Answers the questions: Where? When? How? To what extent?
Ex: The bride said the conga line started HERE; The violinist played METHODICALLY
Adverb
- a subordinate clause that modifies an adjective, an adverb, or a verb
- it tells how, where, why, when, to what extent, or under what condition
Example: If it snows tonight, we will go to the snow summit tomorrow
Adverb Clause
a noun placed next to another noun to identify it or give additional information. They identify or rename nouns.
Example: George Whitney, an engineering student, designed the stage at Rockefeller Center.
Appositive