Transcript Guess What - Amy Benjamin

Grammar: Fast and Furious
Amy Benjamin
www.amybenjamin.com
Now Entering the Complete Sentence Zone:
The “Guess What!” test
How it works: Say “Guess What!” in front of
a group of words. If the group of words
tells you “guess what!” then
you have a complete sentence!
Phrase, Clause, Sentence
A phrase is two or more words that go
together (without being a sentence). There
are noun phrases and verb phrases. Once
we have both a noun and a verb, then
we have a clause.
A clause is a group of words that
may or may not be a complete
sentence. If a clause can stand alone as
a sentence, then we call it
an independent clause. (If a clause
cannot stand alone as a sentence,
then we call it a subordinate clause.
I went to bed early because <GUESS WHAT>
I don’t have my homework because <GUESS WHAT’>
Now, reverse:
Because <GUESS WHAT>, I went to bed early
Because <GUESS WHAT, >I don’t have my homework
Informal
Formal
Informal and Formal English
Set your dial to the level of
formality that is appropriate
for your audience and purpose.
Handout: Page 11
Informal and Formal
backpack
briefcase
flip-flops
dress shoes
McDonald’s
sit-down restaurant
frisbee on the
lawn
football on the team
snack
zapping/nuking
lunch
cooking, baking, roasting
Informal and Formal English
Set your dial to the level of
formality that is appropriate
for your audience and purpose.
Parts of Speech: Fast and Furious
Part of Sp.:
Examples:
Quick Definition:
Noun
monkey, river,
America. prize
Person, place,
thing
Verb
eat, wish, is,
find, cry
Adjective
dangerous, big,
green, curly
Describes a noun
usually, slowly,
clearly, eventually
sometimes, now.
Describes a verb
in, on, at, for, with
Shows position
Adverb
Preposition
Action or state
Hint:
The______
He______ or
He is______ing.
The _______truck
He joined the
team______.
Somewhere _____
the rainbow
The Language Tree
Adjective Branches:
very___________
Noun Branches:
Verb Branches:
very___________
very___________
the______________
can___________
can___________
very___________
the______________
the______________
the______________
the______________
the______________
very___________
can___________
can___________
can___________
can___________
Prepositional Phrase Branches:
in________________
on________________
at_______________
for________________
with________________
Topic: ______________________________
Common Hitching Devices
Coordinating
Conjunctiions
Subordinating
Conjunctions
And
But
So
Or/nor
As, although, after
While, when
Until
Because, before
If
Conjunctive Adverbs
However
Moreover
Therefore
Furthermore
AAAWWUBBI
Can join two
independent
clauses to make
a compound
sentence.
Warning: You
must use a comma
with these when
they join
independent clauses.
Can hitch up to an
independent clause,
creating a subordinate
(dependent) clause,
forming
complex sentence.
Can appear after
main clause (no comma)
or before main clause
(needs a comma)
Relative Pronouns
That
Which
Who, whom
What
Where
Why
How
Whichever
Whatever, etc.
Can move within
own clause;
Requires commas
on both sides
Warning: If you
wish to use these
to join clauses, you
must use a semicolon.
Can join clauses
Warning: Many
sentence fragments
begin with these
words. Usually, you
must hitch these
words and the clauses
that they introduce to
your previous sentence.
Six Reasons for Teaching
Prepositions:
1. Prepositions add time and place detail to sentences
2. Students can vary their sentence structure and set the stage for
a sentence by beginning some sentences with prepositions.
3. Students can add power to their writing by ending paragraphs with a
prepositional phrase. (Conversely: Students can avoid ending sentences
with prepositions so that their sentences are not weak or too informal.)
4. Students can avoid subject-verb agreement errors by recognizing
prepositional phrases that intervene between the subject and the verb, as in
“A box of matches (is, are) on the kitchen table.”
5. Students can create parallel structure by repeating prepositional phrases
deliberately.
6. Students can select the appropriate pronoun case as the object of
a preposition. (between you and me; for Joe and me)
Subjective Team
1st
Person:
I
2nd Person: you
he,
3rd Person:
she, it
who
Objective
Team
we
me
us
you
you
you
they
him,
her, it
them
whom
A Pronoun Poem
As Mom and I walked homewardly,
A puppy followed her and me.
Both she and I were quick to see
He had adopted Mom and me.
At home we showed him where to pee
And where the doggy bed would be.
Then Mom and I made lunch for three,
A feast for him and Mom and me.
from Woe is I Jr: The Younger Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English. by Patricia T. O’Connor and Tom Stiglich.
subject
A Pronoun Poem, Analyzed
As Mom and I walked homewardly,
A puppy followed her and me.
Both she and I were quick to see
He had adopted Mom and me.
subjects
At home we showed him where to pee
And where the doggy bed would be.
Then Mom and I made lunch for three,
A feast for him and Mom and me.
Direct Object
Object of
adopted
subject
Objects of
The preposition
for
Action verbs are modified by adverbs.
bouncy
shy
friendly
shyly
vivaciously
protectiveprotectively
Pepper is… recklessly
hungry
silly
Pepper behaves…
cautiously
jovially
Pepper looks..
Pepper seems…
Pepper became…
playfully playful
adventurously
curiously
Linking verbs are completed
by adjectives.
adventurous
curious
Linking verbs
tell the nature of
things.
Linking verbs: BE, + sense verbs: look, sound, smell, feel; seem verbs: seem appear,
become, grow
Morphology Chart
NOUNS:
VERBS:
ADJECTIVES:
ADVERBS:
They will fit into this frame:
The_____.
They will fit into this frame:
To____ or
Can____or
Is____
They will fit into this frame:
They will fit into this frame:
The ________truck
Do it ___________.
This “Morphology Kit”
is a great way to
expand vocabulary
because most
Noun-Making
of the words
created by
Suffixes
these suffixes
express abstract
ideas.
Morphology Kit
-ment
-ness
-ation, sion
-ity
-ism
-hood
-itude
-ence
-ance
-ide
Verb-Making Suffixes Adjective-making
suffixes
-ate
-ify
-ize
-acious,icious
-y
-ous, ious
-ant
-able, ible
-er; est
Adverb-making suffix:
-ly
5
GRAMMAR IN THE HEART OF THE WRITING PROCESS:
Pre-writing
experience:
(non-sentence
form)
Drafting
Sharpen your nouns
Minimize your modifiers
Replace BE verbs and weak verbs with strong
action verbs
Achieve parallel structure
Combine sentences: create complex sentences
use appositives
use absolutes
Expand and shrink noun phrases. Turn clauses
into modifying phrases. Decide where
to place modifiers for desired effect.
Revising
Publication
Editing
Point of
intervention for
substantial
language
improvement
Point of
intervention
for surface
error correction
Learning the pattern of Standard English pronoun case:
Establish the pattern of “Rusty and I went to the movies.”
“Rusty and I went shopping.”
“Rusty and I had dinner.”
etc.