Grammar Review

Nouns with irregular plurals Quail -> quail Radius -> radii Phenomenon -> phenomena Medium -> media Cactus -> cacti Syllabus -> syllabi Trout -> trout Fish -> fish (or fishes when referring to

species) Deer -> deer

Collective Nouns

Collective nouns refer to a collection of persons, places, things, ideas or activities. They take a singular or plural verb depending on the meaning of the sentence.

Consider a collective noun singular when it refers to a group as a whole or plural when it refers to each member individually.

Words that are plural but singular in meaning take singular verbs.

Compound Nouns

A compound noun is made up of two or more words. Compound nouns that are not hyphenated form the plural by adding s or es to the singular form.

Examples: handful -> handfuls; bookcase -> bookcases; cupful -> cupfuls

Compound Nouns

If the compound noun is hyphenated, the principal part of the word should be changed to plural.

Example: father-in-law -> fathers-in-law; passer-by -> passers-by

Commonly Misused Words Try and -> try to Your’s -> yours alot -> a lot Centered around -> centered on Irregardless -> regardless Should of -> should have Real busy -> very busy

Commonly Misused Words Cupsful -> cupfuls Different than -> different from Most everybody -> almost

everybody Seldom ever -> seldom

In vs. Into

In – being inside Into – the act of entering

When I walked into the store… C.J. was in the shoe department.

Irregular Verbs

Most verbs in the English language are regular verbs, but about 150 verbs are not.

Most irregularities involve the ways in which the past and past participle are formed.

4 Principal Parts of a Verb Present: describes action happening now Past: describes action that happened in

the past Past participle: describes action that

happened in the past; uses helping verbs such as have, has, or had.

Present participle: describes action happening now; has an –ing ending and always uses helping verbs such as is, am, are.

Irregular Verbs

Fight Bring Hear Win Tell Find Begin Drive

Don’t be tense about verbs A passage that begins in the present

tense should continue in the present tense

A passage that begins in the past tense should continue in the past tense.

Do not mix tenses as you write within individual sentences.

Make the tense agree with the message of your sentence.

Subject-Verb Agreement

Subjects connected by and are plural. (Greg and Mandie are in Dothan today.)

If a compound subject joined by and is thought of as a unit, use a singular verb. (Macaroni and cheese is a favorite for most children.)

When subjects are joined by correlative conjunctions (or, Neither…nor, Either…or), the verb agrees with the subject closer to the verb.

NOMINATIVE, OBJECTIVE, and POSSESSIVE CASE PRONOUNS

Nominative Case

Objective Case

Possessive Case

Singular: Singular: Singular:

Iyouhe, she, it

meyouhim, her, it

my, mineyour, yourshis, her, hers, its

Plural: Plural: Plural:

weyouthey

usyouthem

our, oursyour, yourstheir, theirs

SUBJECT PRONOUNS

Sarah went to the store.-or- SHE went to the store.

That is easy enough. But “subject” pronouns are also used as PREDICATE NOMINATIVES.

What is a PREDICATE NOMINATIVE?

Predicate Nominatives

A predicate nominative is a noun or PRONOUN in the predicate that renames the subject. Some examples of pronouns being used as a predicate nominative: It is he. The only people in the line were they. It is we who are responsible for the decision

to downsize. It could have been they. It is I at the door.

OBJECT PRONOUNS

Object pronouns are often a little easier to identify. They must be used as OBJECTS within the sentence. They can be:

DIRECT OBJECTS INDIRECT OBJECTSOBJECTS OF THE PREPOSITION

Possessive Pronouns

Don’t forget possessive pronouns (mine, his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs) do not use apostrophes.

Active Voice v. Passive Voice In the active voice, the subject

performs an action. In the passive voice, the subject

receives the action. The active voice is more direct and

vigorous than the passive voice.

Dangling Participles

A word or phrase is called a dangling participle when there is not a word in the sentence for it to modify.

Showing an interest in computers, personnel offices are flooded with applications. (Who is showing an interest?)

Misplaced Participles

Misplaced participles are words or groups of words placed next to words that they are not intended to modify.

Words frequently confused Complement – a helpful addition Compliment – expression of

admiration

Principle – a law, code, doctrine, or rule

Principal – sum of money or a person or thing of importance

Words frequently confused Among – use to show relation of

more than two persons or things Between – use when dealing with

two things

Formally – in a formal manner Formerly – happening in the past

Words frequently confused Except – to exclude or to exempt

something Accept – to receive a thing, agree to

something

Affect – always a verb; means to influence or bring about change

Effect – can be a noun or verb. As a noun it means “a result or outcome” and as a verb it means “to bring about or accomplish”

Comma Splice

Comma splice – when two independent clauses are connected with only a comma

Semicolons

Use a semicolon: To separate elements in a series in

which one element is already separated by commas

In a compound sentence with no conjunction

Before a conjunctive adverb (I wanted to go to the recital; however, I was too busy.)

Colons

Use a colon after a complete sentence to introduce a list of items when introductory words such as namely, for example, or that is do not appear.

A colon should not precede a list unless it follows a complete sentence.

Use a colon after an introductory statement containing the words as follows or the following.

Capitalization Do not capitalize seasons. Capitalize directions only when they refer to

definite sections of the U.S. or world. Capitalize the first word in a full sentence

direct quotation. Do no capitalize the second part of a broken quotation.

Always capitalize the first and last words of titles of publications. Capitalize other words within titles, including short verb forms Is, Are and Be. Do not capitalize words such as a, an, the, but, as, if, and, or, nor or prepositions.