ENGLISH ESSENTIALSE. Buchanan

CH. 1 SUBJECTS & VERBS

Ch. 1 Subjects and Verbs• What is the subject of a sentence?• It is the person, place, thing, or idea that the sentence is

about.• The subject is also called the “who or what” word.• To find the subject, ask yourself, “Who or what is this

sentence about?” OR “Who or what is doing something in this sentence.”

Ch. 1 Subjects and Verbs• Who is the subject in the following sentences?

• Luis is studying.• Mary is reading Double Luck

• Luis is what the first sentence is about. He is the “who” that is doing something…studying. The second sentence also answers the questions of “Who is doing something in the sentence?” The answer is Mary. Mary is the person that is reading Double Luck.

Ch. 1 Subjects and Verbs• What part of speech is a subject?

• A subject will always be a noun or a pronoun.

• What is a noun?• A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea.

• What is a pronoun?• A pronoun is a word that stands for a noun

• I, you, he, she, it, we, they

Verbs• What do verbs do?

• Verbs express action• They tell what the subject is doing• You can find an action verb by asking “What does the subject do?”

• Let’s look at the sentences from the first slide.• Luis is studying.• Mary is reading Double Luck

• What is Luis doing?• Studying (the verb)

• What is Mary doing?• Reading (the verb)

Linking Verbs• Some verbs do not show action.

• They are called linking verbs.• Linking verbs like is, are, was, and were join (or link) the subject

to something that is said about the subject.• For example, in the sentence Mrs. Buchanan is a teacher, the

linking verb is connects the subject Mrs. Buchanan with what is said about her – that she is a teacher.

Helping Verbs• Some verbs consist of more than one word—a helping

verb plus the main verb. Here are some examples of verbs containing more than one word:

1. Valeria has written the answer on the board.• The verb is has written

2. The plane was landing slowly on the tarmac.• The verb is was landing

Helping Verbs• The verb of a sentence never begins with to. For

example:

1. Julie is going to write the answer on the board.• The verb of the sentence is is going. It is not write or to write.

2. The balloons seemed to hang in the air.• The verb of the sentence is seemed. It is not hang or to hang.

Here are some helping verbs:

Forms of he Be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been

Forms of have Have has had

Forms of do do, does, did

Special verbs Can, could, may, might, just, ought (to), shall, should, will, would

Prepositional Phrases• A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins

with a preposition and ends with a noun. Common prepositions are:

• As you look for the subject of a sentence, it may help to cross out any prepositional phrases that you find.• The coffee from the leaking pot stained the carpet.• One of my classmates fell asleep during class.• The woman on that motorcycle has no helmet• The cracks and booms during the thunderstorm were scary.

About, after, as, at, before, between, by, during, for, from, in, into, like, of, on, outside, over, through, to, toward, with, and without

Let’s practice• Write out the sentence below. Then cross out the

prepositional phrases. Next underline the subject of each sentence once and the verb of each sentence twice.

• Dogs at the animal shelter wait for a good home.

• Dogs at the animal shelter wait for a good home

More Practice• Write out the sentence below. Then cross out the

prepositional phrases. Next underline the subject of each sentence once and the verb of each sentence twice.

• The frozen fish on the counter defrosted quickly.

• The frozen fish on the counter defrosted quickly

More Practice• Write out the sentence below. Then cross out the

prepositional phrases. Next underline the subject of each sentence once and the verb of each sentence twice.

• The computer’s screen went blank without warning.

• The computer’s screen went blank without warning.

CH. 2 IRREGULAR VERBS

Ch. 2 Irregular Verbs• Most English verbs are regular.• They form their past tense and past participle by adding

• -ed or –d to the basic form.

• Some English verbs are irregular. They do not form their past tense and past participle by adding –ed or –d to the basic form of the verb. Instead, their past tenses and past participles are formed in other ways.

• Please look at the table on page 9 of EE.

Basic Form Past Tense Past Participle

Ask Asked Asked

Raise Raised raised

Ch. 2 Irregular Verbs• Sometimes the verb of a sentence consists of more than

one word.• In these cases the main verb will be joined by one or more

helping verbs.• I should have gone to bed earlier last night.

• In the above, the main verb is gone. • The helping verbs are should and have. • Other common helping verbs include:

be can could do

has may must will

Ch. 2 Irregular Verbs• When you use the chart on page 9, remember the

following:• If your sentence does not have a helping verb, choose the past

tense form.• I ate a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich

• If the sentence does have a helping verb, choose the past participle.• I had eaten a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich.

• If you think a verb is irregular, and it is not on the list on page 9, look it up in your dictionary!

• If it is irregular, the principal parts will be listed.

Three Problem Verbs, P. 10• Three common irregular verbs that confuse many writers

are be, do, and have. Here the correct past tense and past tense forms of these three verbs.

• Let’s complete the practice on Page 10.

CHAPTER 3 SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT

Ch. 3 Subject-Verb Agreement• In a correctly written sentence, the subject and verb agree

(match) in number.• Singular subjects have singular verbs.• Plural subjects have plural verbs.

• Our baby sleeps more than ten hours a day. Some babies sleep even longer.

Words Between the Subject and the Verb

• Unfortunately, not all sentences are as straightforward as the “baby” examples.

• A verb often comes right after its subject. For example:• The sealed boxes belong to my brother.

• However, at times the subject and verb are separated by a prepositional phrase.

• A prepositional phrase (which we learned earlier) is a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun (remember this – it will be on a quiz!).

• Who can give me a word that is a preposition?

Prepositions• These are also listed on page 144 in EE.

About Before Down Like To

Above Behind During Of Toward

Across Below Except Off Under

After Beneath For On Up

Among Beside From Over With

Around Between In Since Without

At By Into Though

Let’s look at some examples• A small bag of potato chips contains 440 calories.• In the above sentence the subject and verb are separated

by the propositional phrase of potato chips.• The verb must agree with the singular subject bag—not

with a word in the prepositional phrase.

• The tomatoes in this salad are brown and mushy.• What is the subject? Verb? Prepositional phrase?• Because the subject, tomatoes, is plural, the verb must

also be plural. The prepositional phrase in this salad has no effect on subject and verb agreement.

Compound Subjects• A compound subject is made up of two nouns connected

by a joining word.• Subjects joined by and generally take a plural verb.

• Running and lifting weights are good ways to keep in shape.• Fear and ignorance have a lot to do with hatred.

• Let’s practice – page 16.