Daily Grammar Practice (DGP) Notes

Grammar

A method of describing the way

people actually use language

in both spoken and written

forms.

Grammar “rules” depend on: O Culture—where we live and what the norm is

in our area

O Economic Status—how much money we

make

O Educational Level—how my education we

have obtained

O Social Group—who we are keeping company

with

O Informal/Formal Setting—where we are

O Dialect—language/pronunciation depending

on where we live

Language is constantly evolving (changing):

O Old terms become more modern:

privy/toilet

O Words are incorporated from other languages:

burrito

O Words are made up:

smog (smoke/fog)

O Familiar words receive new “invented” uses:

“mouse” for the computer

So if rules are dependent and language always changes . . . why do we study grammar?

Our social mobility and economic success frequently

depend upon our ability to communicate with the greatest

number of people.

In other words . . .

SO THAT WE CAN BE

SUCCESSFUL IN LIFE!

Grammar Quiz

1. Define grammar.

2. What are the six things that

affect grammar “rules”.

3. Name four ways in which

language constantly evolves

(changes).

4. Why do we study grammar?

The 8 parts of Speech

NOUN

A person, place, or thing

O Abstract—intangible; cannot touch it

love, justice, peace

O Concrete—tangible; can touch it

house, computer, cat

O Proper—names/titles that are capitalized

Mrs. Dunbar, Amy, Joey

O Common—generic; not capitalized

dog, truck, camera

O Singular—one

bus, boy, shirt

O Plural—more than one

buses, boys, shirts

O Regular—add “s” or “es” to make the noun plural

lamps, socks, bosses

O Irregular—change form (spelling) or remain unchanged

goose/geese sheep/sheep

O Countable—can be numbered

cookies, toys, pencils

O Non-countable—does not have a plural form; cannot be

numbered

sympathy, laughter, air

O Collective—group; a _______ of _______

flock, herd, class, committee OF

birds, elk, students, citizens

O Possessive Noun—shows ownership

O A singular noun can be made possessive by adding (‘s)

The blue bike is Jessica’s.

The bus’s seats are available.

O A plural noun that does not end in (s) can be made

possessive by adding (‘s)

The women’s reading club will meet at the library.

O A plural noun that ends in (s) can be made possessive

by adding an (‘)

We are studying animals’ habitats.

NOUN QUIZ

1. Make the underlined words possessive:

The glass liquid.

The man coat.

The zebra.

2. Name one collective noun.

NOUN ABSTRACT/

CONCRETE

PROPER/

COMMON

SINGULAR/

PLURAL

REGULAR/

IRREGULAR

COUNTABLE/

NONCOUNTABLE

friends

goose

air

Mr. Black

barn

PRONOUN

A word that takes the

place of a noun

1st person pronoun—having to

do with “me”

2nd person pronoun—having to

do with “you”

3rd person pronoun—having to

do with everyone

Nominative/Subjective—acts as the

subject in a sentence.

Examples:

I am here.

We were there.

Singular Plural

1st person I we

2nd person you you

3rd person he/she/it they

Objective—acts as an object of a

verb or preposition.

Examples:

Sally bought him a present.

The company will pay them.

Singular Plural

1st person me us

2nd person you you

3rd person him/her/it them

Possessive—shows possession of

the noun.

Examples:

The flowers on the mantel are mine.

The books on the shelf are ours.

Singular Plural

1st person mine ours

2nd person yours yours

3rd person his/hers/its theirs

Reflexive/Intensive—refers back to

the noun/pronoun used earlier in

the sentence.

Examples:

Perry found himself alone.

The children themselves baked cookies.

Singular Plural

1st person myself ourselves

2nd person yourself yourselves

3rd person himself/herself/itself themselves

Relative—starts dependent clause;

that, which, who/whom, whose

(modify the noun preceding it)

Examples:

. . . that has been caged

. . . which has been in storage

. . . who helped us was courteous

. . . whose shoes are red

Interrogative Pronoun—asks; who/whom,whose,which,what.

Examples:

Who will do the work?

To whom do I address the letter?

Whose is this?

Which is the dogs favorite toy?

What is the model of that vehicle?

Demonstrative—demonstrates

which one; this, that, these, those

Examples:

This is a dirty shirt.

These are dirty shirts.

That is a clean shirt.

Those are clean shirts.

Indefinite—takes the place of nouns

that cannot be named specifically.

Examples:

Anybody can learn to skate.

Few students walk to school.

Someone will visit our home.

Reciprocal—restates subject

Examples:

They love each other. (only two)

Nate and Mandy love each other.

They love one another. (more than two)

The three siblings love one another.

PRONOUN QUIZ

1. Define pronoun.

2. 1st person=___, 2nd person=___, 3rd person=___

3. Define and give an example of the following types of

pronouns:

subjective interrogative

objective demonstrative

possessive indefinite

reflexive reciprocal

relative

4. Brady and Jill walked with _____ _____.

(one another/each other)

VERB

Links two words together,

shows action, or helps another

verb

O Linking—links the subject with a noun/pronoun/adjective that comes after the verb

She is pretty.

The cake tastes bad. (5 sense verbs)

**If it sounds like an action verb, but can be replaced with a “be” verb, it is a linking verb.

Be Verbs: am, is, are, was, were, being, been

The flower smells pretty. The flower is pretty. YES!

The dog smells the flower. The dog is the flower. NO!

O Action—the subject performs the action

Jennifer threw the ball.

O Helping—helps an action or linking verb

We have been taking notes on grammar.

(taking is an action verb; all verbs before that are

helping)

She will be cold without a jacket.

(be is a linking verb)

VERB TENSE

Indication of TIME that is going

on or has gone by

O Present—happening now

Jump, talk, eat, is eating

O Past—happened previously

jumped, talked, fell, was eating

O Future—will happen in the future

will jump, shall talk, will be eating

O Present Perfect—have or has plus past participle

has jumped, have been eating

O Past Perfect—had plus past participle

had jumped, had been eating

O Future Perfect—will have or shall have plus past participle

will have jumped, shall have talked

VERBAL—verb not behaving like verb

O Gerund—verb that acts like a noun and end in –ing

Reading is fun.

I enjoy shopping.

O Infinitive—to + verb; can act like a noun

I like to eat.

I helped drill the hole. (“to” is suggested)

.

O Transitive—a verb that expresses an action

directed towards a direct object (noun)

Tell the truth (tell is directed toward truth)

O Intransitive—a verb that expresses action without

the action being passed to the receiver or object

Last Saturday we stayed inside. (inside is a

preposition)

VERB QUIZ

1. Define verb.

2. Define verbal.

3. Label the following words as action (av), helping

(hv), or linking verbs (lv):

tastes skated will help

4. Give an example of a verb in the following

tenses:

present past

future present perfect

past perfect future perfect

5. Define gerund and infinitive.

6. What is the difference between transitive and

intransitive?

ADJECTIVE Describes a noun

Tells Which one? How many? and What kind?

blue dress, ten dollars, American flag

Articles: a, an, the

ADVERB Describes an adjective, verb, or other adverb

Tells How? When? Where? And To what extent?

carefully, yesterday, amazingly

Not is always an adverb.

ADJECTIVE/ADVERB QUIZ

1. Define adjective.

2. Define adverb.

3. What questions does an adjective

answer?

4. What questions does an adverb answer?

5. What are the three articles?

6. Is not an adverb or an adjective?

7. Write a sentence with an adjective and

underline it.

8. Write a sentence with an adverb and

underline it.

PREPOSITION Shows relationship between noun/pronoun and

another word across

against

around

at

before

below

between

by

during

except

for

from

in

of

off

on

over

since

through

so

under

until

with

because

to

up

down

into

CONJUNCTION Joins words or groups of words

O Coordinating

FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so

O Subordinating

start dependent clauses

After the dance. . . .

Since your were out . . .

O Correlative

not only/but also, neither/nor, either/or, both/and

INTERJECTION!

A word that shows excitement or emotion

Oh!

Wow!

Aha!

Well!

Ouch!

Hurray!

PREPOSITION, CONJUNCTION, AND INTERJECTION QUIZ

1. Define preposition.

2. Name 6 prepositions.

3. Define conjunction.

4. Name the 7 coordinating conjunctions.

5. Name 3 correlating conjunctions.

6. Give an example of two interjections!

CLAUSES AND SENTENCE TYPES

CLAUSES

Every clause must have a subject and a verb.

Subject: part of sentence about which

something is being said; understood as “you”

TYPES OF CLAUSES

O Independent—can stand on its own; every sentence

must have at least one independent clause.

Shelly is a great dancer.

O Dependent—cannot stand on its own; it depends on

an independent clause.

who competes on a regular basis.

SENTENCE TYPES O Simple—one independent clause

Mike likes to swim.

O Compound—two or more independent clauses

Mike likes to swim, and he loves to fish.

O Complex—one independent clause + one or more

dependent clauses

Mike likes to swim and fish while he’s out on the

lake.

O Compound-complex—two or more independent

clauses + one or more dependent clauses

Mike likes to swim, and he loves to fish while he’s

out on the lake.

CLAUSES AND SENTENCE TYPES EXERCISE

PUNCTUATION

O Period—use at the end of a sentence or when abbreviating

The boy walked his dog.

Mr. Jones works at the office.

O Colon—used to list, tell time, or after salutation in a business letter

Baily collects many things: rocks, stamps, and cards.

It is 5:45 p.m.

Dear Mrs. Walsh:

O Semicolon—joins two independent clauses without

a coordinating conjunction

He likes apples; she likes oranges.

Also used in a series of words when

there are already commas in the clause

I love Boston, MA; Atlanta, GA; and Miami, FL.

O Underlining/Italicizing

Titles of newspapers, magazines, CD’s,

movies, novels, plays, musical

compositions; names of ships, planes, trains,

and artwork

O Quotation marks

Titles of short stories, poems, songs,

articles, TV shows, episodes, dialogue,

copied words

O Comma

Sets off introductory phrases

After midnight, I get scared.

Joins independent clauses

I hope we win, but we might lose.

Separates appositives

I hope Sally, my friend, can join us.

Separates items in a series

I love pizza, tacos, and ice cream.

Sets off a noun of address

Sam, may I borrow your car?

Separates dates

I was born on Sunday, May 2, 1995.

Separates cities and states

Salt Lake City, Utah

Used with interrupters

You can go, I guess, if you pay the fee.

CAPITALIZATION O Beginning of every sentence.

O Proper nouns

O Titles:

First and last words

All nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs,

and verbs

Be, Is and Not

Coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS)

Not articles, or prepositions shorter than 5

letters

PUNCTUATION AND CAPITALIZATION EXERCISES