Resources for Teachers

Choosing strong, active, evocative verbs is the simplest way to improve both your writing and your readers’ interest. Note the word “active.” This means you want as many action verbs as possible. Remember action verbs show something happening, for example, hop, skip, or eat. In the effort to use active verbs, you must replace the linking verbs, especially to be verbs (am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been), where possible. Replacing to be verbs isn’t always possible, and that’s okay. A few to be verbs will not doom your writing or bore your readers. Remember, English has other linking verbs like seem, appear, become, grow, remain, stay, prove, feel, look, smell, sound, and taste, so watch out for them as well.

Let’s look at some examples where we can change the linking verb to an active verb.

A huge, glowing spaceship was over the large cornfield. (to be linking verb)

A huge, glowing spaceship hovered over the large cornfield. (active verb)

What was inside that spaceship? (to be linking verb)

What lurked inside that spaceship? (active verb)

The farmer reached the spaceship just as it was about to touch down. (to be linking verb)

The farmer reached the spaceship just before it touched down. (active verb)

See how easily we can switch was for an active, engaging verb? In each case, the replacement verbs, hovered, lurked, and touched not only show greater action, but they also create a more specific image in a reader’s head, and in the second example, add nuance. Nuance means we hint at a feeling or opinion. The definition of lurked says, “to lie in wait in a place of concealment especially for an evil purpose” and sways the reader to think that something bad is inside the spaceship.

In the first two examples, I simply replaced was with an active verb. In the last example, I had to change a few of the words surrounding my new active verb touched for the sentence to make sense. If I hadn’t, the sentence would look like this:

The farmer reached the spaceship just as it touched about to touch down. (oops!)

REMEMBER, reread your sentence after changing the verb to make sure it makes sense.

A few nonfiction examples from student essays or research papers.

This idea of silence in the face of oppressors is in Twain’s Huck Finn as well.

This idea of silence in the face of oppressors shows up in Twain’s Huck Finn as well.

As black women, both Hurston and Janie were at the bottom of the ladder in the social hierarchy and held the least amount of power and control over their own lives.

As black women, both Hurston and Janie lived/dwelt at the bottom of the ladder in the social hierarchy and held the least amount of power and control over their own lives.

Tea Cake was not perfect and like her other husbands, was quite flawed in his own way, but he at least treated her like a human being, rather than the mule Jody and Logan treated her as.

Though imperfect, Tea Cake, like her other husbands, displayed his own flaws, but he at least treated her like a human being, rather than the mule Jody and Logan treated her as.

See how much more interesting the sentences are using verbs like shows, lived, and displayed? Note in the third example that we couldn’t just replace the verb. We had to change some of the words around it to make sense. Don’t be afraid to completely rewrite the sentence in order to remove boring to be verbs.

Here are a few more examples:

I wasn’t going back to that store ever again.
The barns were in need of repair.
The city was full of interesting sites.
The other boats are bigger than this one.

Try to rewrite the sentences using an active verb.

Active verbs will make your paper stand out from the others. Remember, teachers don’t want to read one more boring paper! When you write a resumé, active verbs will make your resumé more energetic than the others, giving the impression that you are an active person who accomplishes a lot. If you use active verbs instead of static (linking) verbs in applications for jobs or colleges or visas, yours will be more interesting and rise above the rest of the boring applications.

Below is an example taken from a student essay. The static linking verbs are underlined as are the to be helping verbs. Any time we use helping verbs, we dilute our writing. Here, the overuse of to be verbs and helping verbs weakens the writing and makes it blasé. Take a moment to try to rewrite the paragraph. Remove as many of the underlined linking and helping verbs as possible.

In fact, it seems that they (Robert Frost’s poems) were parts of a larger whole, patterns in a wider tapestry Frost was weaving throughout 1915, the year both of these poems were published. Perhaps there was some desire to rest from the world, given that at the time World War I was in full swing and the Armenian Genocide was underway. It was surely a dark year, one perhaps that many believed might have been a winter for the world and the life found therein.

Teacher Answer Key

These are possible answers but certainly not the only ones a student could write. Accept other answers as long as the verbs reflect action and keep the meaning of the original sentences.

1. I refused to ever go back to that store again. Or, I will never go back to that store again.

2. The barns needed/required repair.

3. The city provided/offered many interesting sites. Or, Many interesting sites graced/filled the city.

4. The other boats dwarf/overshadow this one. (Remember looked can sometimes work as a linking verb, so you don’t want to write, The other boats looked bigger than this one, because then it’s still a linking verb, even if not to be.)

Possible paragraph rewrite. Accept other answers that remove “was” effectively.

In fact, they reflected a larger whole, patterns in a wider tapestry Frost wove throughout 1915, the year he published both of these poems. Perhaps Frost himself desired to rest from the world given that at the time World War I marched across continents and the Ottomans exterminated Armenians with genocidal fanaticism. 1915 was surely a dark year, one perhaps many believed a winter for the world and the life found therein.

Explanation for students:

Remove seems because it’s a linking verb/static verb (shows no action) and rewrite using a strong verb.

Reflected is a strong, active verb.

Wove replaces was weaving since we want to remove helping verbs that weaken the writing. In this case, was weaving isn’t needed to show the passage of time since we have throughout 1915 to show the passage of time.

Replace were published with published by reversing the sentence from passive to active voice. (See the article on “Passive Voice” if needed.)

Desired might be linking (I don’t know), but it’s at least more interesting than was.

Marched serves as a more engaging, active, powerful verb than was.

Exterminated (or students could use killed/murdered/hunted) more powerfully reflects the reality of the war and makes the aggressors responsible for what they’ve done instead of “cleaning it up” with the very passive was.

The was in 1915 was is okay since we’ve removed 7 to be verbs already (some of those were helping verbs or passive voice).

We can remove “might have been” with no loss of understanding. Simple removal of WAS often works. Remind students: Make sure to reread the sentence after changes to ensure it makes sense.

Adjectives

PART A-interrogative adjectives

Remember how we have interrogative pronouns? Yep, we can use interrogatives as adjectives, too. A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun, and an adjective is a word that describes a noun. An interrogative adjective is a type of adjective that modifies a noun or pronoun, often to form a question. For example, “Which movie will you watch?” uses the interrogative adjective which to modify the noun movie and forms a question. Hint: A NOUN follows an interrogative adjective and a VERB follows an interrogative pronoun.

Interrogative pronoun Notice that which stands alone as a pronoun and that

Which do you want? a verb follows which.

Interrogative adjective Notice which describes cookie, meaning a noun

Which cookie do you want? follows which.

Interrogative adjectives are often the first word in a sentence, but they can also appear in the middle of a sentence when used in indirect questions. For example, “I forgot to ask her which dress I was supposed to buy.”

The three interrogative adjectives in English:

Which-Used when there are a limited number of options or choices.

Which book belongs to Luis?

I don’t know which desk is yours.

What-Used when there is a general inquiry or open-ended question.

What topic are you writing about?

Do you know what subject he teaches?

Whose-Used for ownership or association.

Whose phone is ringing?

I don’t care whose shoes those are.

Write 5 sentences using interrogative adjectives. Draw an arrow from the adjective to its noun.

PART B-demonstrative adjectives

Demonstrative adjectives indicate the relative position of a noun in space or time and point out or emphasize a specific person or thing. Demonstrative adjectives always come before other adjectives in a noun phrase, for example, note in the noun phrase those dirty clothes that those comes before the adjective dirty.

The four demonstrative adjectives in English:

This-Used for singular nouns that are close in space or time to the speaker.

I ran out of gas this morning. (time that is close)

Please sit at this desk. (a desk near the speaker)

That-Used for singular nouns that are distant in space or time from the speaker.

My wedding was 35 years ago, but I will never forget that day. (time that is far away)

I threw that broken desk in the dumpster last week. (desk is far away both in distance and

time)

These-Used for plural nouns that are close in space or time to the speaker.

These sharpened pencils are available for anyone to use. (pencils nearby the speaker)

Food is so expensive these days. (time is close or recent)

Those-Used for plural nouns that are distant in space or time from the speaker or for emphasis.

Don’t use those pencils. (can be emphasis to point out which ones, or to show distance

from the speaker)

Growing up in the 1990s, I had many good times with my friends; those memories are

very special to me. (memories are from a distant time)

Write 5 sentences using demonstrative adjectives. Draw an arrow from the adjective to its noun.

PART C-articles

An article is a type of adjective, so it modifies nouns. Articles always go first, before any other adjectives, for example a pretty girl or the biggest, reddest, shiniest apple.

The two articles in English:

The-called a definite article; used to refer to specific or particular nouns and to refer to plural nouns.

The president called a meeting. (a specific person)

The neighbor’s cat is in my yard. (a specific cat)

The roads are slippery. (roads is a plural noun)

A/an-called an indefinite article; used to modify non-specific or non-particular nouns; in other words, any member of a group. Generally, A is used for any singular word starting with a consonant, and AN is used for any singular word starting with a vowel (A, E, I, O, U). BUT, using a or an depends on the sound that begins the next word. So...

A for singular nouns beginning with a consonant: a bus; a car; a lake; a zoo; a horse

OR for singular noun beginning with a consonant sound: a user (Sounds like “yoo-zer.” It begins with a consonant Y sound, so A is used); a university

An for singular nouns beginning with a vowel: an owl; an egg; an apricot; an idiot; an orange

OR for nouns starting with silent “h” in other words, starting with a vowel sound: an hour, an honor

The A/AN rules apply to any adjectives that go next in the sentence instead of a noun. Remember, we can have other adjectives before the noun. If I had written A cat sat on the mat, and I wanted to describe the cat as ugly, I would have to turn A into An, since the next word starts with a vowel: An ugly cat sat on the mat.

Will you adopt a cat or a dog? (A-because both cat and dog begin with consonants)

I’ll adopt a fat cat, but not an ugly dog. (A turns to AN since I inserted the word ugly)

An owl flew by my window last night. (I need AN since owl is next)

A lovely owl is sitting in the tree. (I have to use A since lovely is next)

We also use indefinite articles (a/an) to indicate membership in a group:

I am a teacher. (I am a member of a large group known as teachers.)

Sean is an Irishman. (Sean is a member of the people known as Irish.)

Choose the, a, or an. Write the word in the blank.

I rode ______ elephant at ______ circus last month.
I rode ______ biggest elephant.
Would you like to watch ______ movie tonight?
Is she ______ student?
I watched _____ swimming events at the Olympics.

PART D-predicate adjectives

In English, adjectives usually come before their noun. However, we have a special sentence pattern that breaks this rule. This is the SUBJECT + LINKING VERB + PREDICATE ADJECTIVE sentence pattern. Remember that the predicate is anything not part of the subject. So basically, a predicate adjective is an adjective at the end of the clause (whether a full sentence or part of sentence) instead of next to the noun/subject.

I have a crazy cat. (normal adjective placement in front of the noun)

My crazy cat “catches” socks and brings them to us like mice. (normal adjective placement in front of the noun)

My cat is crazy. (The adjective to describe cat is at the end of the sentence, in the

predicate instead of immediately in front of the noun/subject. Notice, too, that I used the linking verb IS to make this sentence pattern work. If I try to use the other verbs like catches or have, the meaning is lost. WRONG: My cat catches crazy/My cat have crazy.)

A few more examples, each following the pattern SUBJECT + LINKING VERB + PREDICATE ADJECTIVE

My granddaughter is smart.

Those cookies smell delicious.

The horse is beautiful, but we cannot ride it. (the first clause follows the pattern)

That music sounds awful.

Now write 5 sentences using the SUBJECT + LINKING VERB + PREDICATE ADJECTIVE pattern.

Teacher answer key

PART A

Answers will vary. Just ensure that each sentence contains one of the words WHICH, WHAT, or WHOSE used in front of a noun!

PART B

Answers will vary. Just ensure that the sentences contain one of the words THIS, THAT, THESE, or THOSE used in front of a noun!

PART C

AN (Any old elephant, we don’t know which one. AN because elephant starts with the vowel E) . . . THE (Since the circus was last week, it’s a specific one)
THE (Which elephant? The biggest, a specific one)
A (No specific movie named. Since movie begins with a consonant, we need A)
A (We use A/AN to show membership in a group. Here she is part of a large group known as students, and since student begins with a consonant, we need A)
THE (plural noun events—we use “the” for plural nouns)

PART D

Write 5 sentences using the SUBJECT + LINKING VERB + PREDICATE ADJECTIVE pattern.

Answers will vary. If students struggle, let them use the sample sentences, just replacing the words. For example, replace awful in That music sounds awful with a different adjective like nice.

The biggest points to note in these answers are

Use a predicate adjective, not a predicate nominative (noun)
Use a linking verb (basically one that doesn’t show action, like LOOKS in She looks tired). It’s fine if they use all “to be” verbs, the most popular linking verb.

Adverbs

Adverbs are the part of speech used to describe more about verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, much like adjectives describe more about nouns or pronouns.

Adverbs never describe nouns!

Adverbs tell “when, where, how, or to what extent” about verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.

Examples of adverbs telling when

Tomorrow I will study tomorrow. (When will I study? Tomorrow)

Afterward Afterward, I will call my mother. (When will I call? Afterward)

Now She is eating cake now. (When is she eating? Now)

Soon We’ll leave soon. (When will we leave? Soon)

Never I never thought of that. (When did I think of that? Never)

Examples of adverbs telling where

Here I always study here. (Where do I study? Here)

Abroad She will study abroad. (Where will she study? Abroad)

Far Don’t go far. (Where to go? Far—negated by another adverb, not)

Downstairs The boys play downstairs. (Where do the boys play? Downstairs)

Nearby The dog stays nearby. (Where does the dog stay? Nearby)

Examples of adverbs telling how

Quickly The dog eats quickly. (How does the dog eat? Quickly)

Quietly Luis talks quietly. (How does Luis talk? Quietly)

Slowly The couple dances slowly. (How does the couple dance? Slowly)

Carefully Sean carefully helps the child. (How does Sean help? Carefully)

Peacefully Mother speaks peacefully to the baby. (How does she speak? Peacefully)

Example of adverbs telling to what extent

Very He is very tall. (To what extent is he tall? Very)

Almost We are almost there. (To what extent are we there? Almost)

Too Luis talks too loudly. (To what extent is he loud? Too loud)

Extremely Luis talks extremely softly. (To what extent does he talk softly? Extremely)

Quite I am quite happy. (To what extent am I happy? Quite)

Adjective placement:

Adjectives usually come in front of the noun they describe, but adverbs can sometimes be moved around:

Maria played outside yesterday.

Yesterday, Maria played outside.

The front position: before the subject of the sentence. It gives information in advance, to set the scene for the action that follows.

Slowly, she played the piano.

The mid position: the adverb in this position is intimately connected with the verb, and is generally placed immediately before it.

She slowly played the piano. (But NOT She played slowly the piano.)

If there is an auxiliary (helping) verb, the adverb is placed between the helping and main verb.

She will slowly play the piano.

She may slowly play the piano.

She may never play the piano.

If there is a negation like not (which is an adverb) and another adverb, the negative element generally comes first.

She does not usually play the piano.

The end position: at the end of the sentence.

She played the piano slowly.

It is important to consider the word only, which serves as both an adjective and an adverb, because it can often be misplaced and has the ability to change the meaning of the sentence. Look at the following examples:

I only fed my bird. (I fed my bird but did nothing else with it.) Only is an adverb describing the

verb fed.

I fed only my bird. (I fed my bird and not any other birds.) Now only becomes an adjective for

the noun bird.

Only I fed my bird. (No one else fed my bird but me.) Now only becomes an adjective for the

pronoun I.

Capitalization Rules

1. Always capitalize the word I.

Correct: When I went to the beach, I saw some dolphins swimming in the ocean.

Incorrect: When i went to the beach, i saw some dolphins swimming in the ocean.

2. Always capitalize the first word of a sentence. This helps readers know that a new sentence or thought is beginning.

Correct: When I went to the beach, I saw some dolphins swimming in the ocean.

Incorrect: when I went to the beach, I saw some dolphins swimming in the ocean.

3. Capitalize all proper nouns and any acronyms made of proper nouns (like CBS for Columbia Broadcasting System).

Correct: James and Manuel are best friends with Alex.

He got a job at Wendy’s, even though he wanted to work at Best Buy.

Mussa got a job at NASA.

Incorrect: james and manuel are best friends with alex.

He got a job at wendy’s, even though he wanted to work at best buy.

mussa got a job at nasa.

4. Capitalize titles when they are used as part of a name. Note that when a title like president is by itself, it’s not capitalized. Usually when the title is part of the name, it comes before the name like here:

Correct: President Biden suggested that Vice President Harris run for president.

Incorrect: president Biden suggested that vice president Harris run for President.

5. Always capitalize the openings (dear) and closing (sincerely) in letters and emails.

Correct: Greetings Jane, Best regards, Ute

Incorrect: dear Jane, sincerely, Ute

6. Capitalize the first word and all other important words in titles of works—generally, prepositions and articles (a, an, the—except when it’s the first word) are lowercased. Titles of longer works like books, movies, operas, symphonies, or TV series should be italicized, but if handwritten, underline it. Smaller works like songs, poems, and short stories go in quote marks, but are still capitalized by the same rules.

Correct: Langston Hughes’s most famous poem is “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” but my

favorite is “Mother to Son.”

On Sunday, I watched the new show Tracker on CBS.

My favorite books are Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice.

Incorrect: Langston Hughes’s most famous poem is “the negro speaks of rivers,” but my

favorite is “mother to son.”

On Sunday, I watched the new show tracker on CBS.

My favorite books are jane eyre and pride and prejudice.

7. Capitalize months, days of the week, and holidays.

Correct: On Sunday, I watched Tracker on CBS.

Even though December is a busy month, I love all the festivities of Christmas.

Incorrect: On sunday, I watched Tracker on CBS.

Even though december is a busy month, I love all the festivities of christmas.

If you type on a computer program like Word or Google Docs, it will find many of the capitalization errors for you. Just click on the word with the red or blue underline to see the AI-suggested correction. Be aware that not every suggestion is correct, but generally they are.

Common and Proper Adjectives

Nouns can be common (general), like park or street, or proper (a specific noun with a name), such as Fredericksburg Park or Main Street.

Adjectives are words that describe nouns. Like nouns, adjectives can be common or proper. Like proper nouns, proper adjectives begin with a capital letter. That’s because they are derived from proper nouns. Proper adjectives include words for nationalities, languages, and ethnicities (Chinese, French) and words derived from people’s names (Orwellian).

Common adjectives Proper adjectives

small Persian

interesting Russian

difficult English

Abdul has a small cat. Abdul has a Persian cat.

She collects interesting dolls. She collects Russian nesting dolls.

We are learning a difficult language. We are learning the English language.

Notice in the examples that the adjectives, whether common or proper, come in front of a noun like cat, doll, or language, which is the normal placement of an adjective. Sometimes we can place it elsewhere, usually in the form of a predicate adjective but occasionally directly after the noun when we want to emphasize a trait or add variety to writing.

Normal adjective placement: We are learning a difficult but beautiful language—English.

Predicate adjective: English is difficult but beautiful.

For emphasis/variety: English, difficult but beautiful, is my native language.

YOUR TURN:

Write 5 sentences using common adjectives. Draw an arrow from the adjective to the noun it modifies.

Write 5 sentences using proper adjectives. Draw an arrow from the adjective to the noun it modifies.

Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

In English we can use an adjective like tall to compare one thing to another (taller), which we call a comparative adjective. We can also designate one thing as the best or the most (tallest), which we call a superlative adjective. Usually, for simple adjectives we add the suffix (word ending) -er to the end of the adjective to make the comparative and the suffix -est to the end of the adjective to make the superlative.

Regular form

Adjective Comparative adjective adds -er Superlative adjective adds -est

tall taller tallest

round rounder roundest

Double consonant form

Sometimes (which makes English hard) we must double the ending. The rule for that is if the adjective ends in a consonant, a single vowel, and then another consonant, like “red”, double the final consonant before adding the suffix.

Adjective Comparative adjective Superlative adjective

red redder reddest

big bigger biggest

Change the y to i form

Another time that the adjective changes form is if it ends in “y.” Then, like verbs that end in “y” that change form, we have to remove the “y” and insert an “i” instead.

Adjective Comparative adjective Superlative adjective

pretty prettier prettiest

lovely lovelier l oveliest

WRONG: prettyer/prettyest

lovelyer/lovelyest

Already ends in “e” form

Some adjectives already end in “e.” In this case, we do not add another “e”! We just add an -r for the comparative form or -st for the superlative form.

Adjective Comparative adjective Superlative adjective

wide wider widest

safe safer safest

WRONG: wideer/wideest

safeer/safeest

Long adjective form

When we have long adjectives like interesting or helpful, we do not add -er or -est because that would just make the word longer and more difficult to say. Instead, we add the word “more” (comparative) or “most” (superlative) in front of the adjective. Many two-syllable words use this form and ALL adjectives of three or more syllables use this form. You have to memorize which two-syllable adjectives take this form. Or, look the adjective up in the dictionary. For example, if you want to know the comparative or superlative of “careful” Google it. If I Google “carefulest” on Dictionary.com, I get “No results found,” so I know I cannot use “carefulest.” I would use “most careful.” Some two-syllable adjectives, like “able” can be used either as “abler/ablest” or “more able/most able.” Again, check the dictionary!

Adjective Comparative adjective Superlative adjective

playful more playful most playful

terrified more terrified most terrified

WRONG: playfuler/playfulest (hard to say)

terrifieder/terrifiedest (hard to say)

Some adjectives are irregular and do not follow any of the rules above, and you will have to memorize them. Fortunately, we only have a few of those in English.

Adjective

Comparative

Superlative

good

better

best

bad

worse

worst

little

less

least

much

most

far

farther/further

farthest/furthest

Cristano’s English is good. (Using an adjective as a predicate adjective.)

Cristano’s English is better than mine.

Cristano’s English is best of all the students.

I have bad handwriting. (Normal adjective placement—in front of the noun.)

She has worse handwriting than mine.

He has the worst handwriting.

Note: When we use the word little to mean “small,” we say “littler” and “littlest.”

That is a little (small) kitten.

Have you ever seen a littler kitten?

The calico is the littlest kitten in the litter.

When we use the word little to mean “not much” we say “less” and “least.”

I have little (not much) flour to work with.

He has less flour than I do to work with.

She has the least flour to work with.

I didn’t have much fun at the party.

Alejandro had more fun than I did at the party.

Lucas had the most fun of everyone at the party.

I must travel far.

She must travel farther than I did.

They must travel the farthest of anyone.

Conjunctions in Series

Coordinating conjunctions can connect two verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, phrases, or clauses to make them compound. English has only 7 coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. They are easy to remember when we take the first letter of each conjunction to make FANBOYS.

These conjunctions can also join three or more verbs, nouns, adjectives, phrases, or clauses together in a series, which just means a bunch of items coming one after another. When we join words in a series, we separate each unit with a comma and link them with the conjunction right before the last word in the series.

For example, if I wanted to create a flyer to put on people’s doors to earn money, I might want to offer mowing, weeding, and sweeping. Notice how commas (,) separate the items. Notice also that and (the conjunction) goes right before the last item in the series.

Just like we can make many types of compound elements, such as compound subjects, verbs, direct objects, prepositional phrases, and clauses, we can put all these elements in a series as well.

Series Part of speech being joined

mowing, weeding, and sweeping (gerunds, a type of noun)

run, swim, and bike (verbs)

men, women, or children (nouns)

quickly, quietly, and carefully (adverbs)

tall, dark, and handsome (adjectives)

to read, to speak, and to write (infinitive verb phrases)

“by the people, for the people, and of the people” (prepositional phrases)

the red roses, pink tulips, and purple irises (noun phrases)

“I came, I saw, and I conquered.” (clauses)

Just like compound nouns can be used as subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, or objects of the preposition, a series can be used in all the same ways.

Series of subjects

Jamila, Noor, and Maryam take English class together.

Cats, dogs, bunnies, or hamsters make good pets.

Write 2 sentences with a series as the subject.

Series of direct objects

I will buy a cat, dog, bunny, or hamster at the pet store.

She drives Jamila, Noor, and Maryam to English class.

Write 2 sentences with a series as the direct object. Hint: you can Google “list of verbs using direct objects” to help you get started with verbs to use here.

Series of indirect objects

I will teach Jamila, Noor, and Maryam English.

I will feed cats, dogs, bunnies, or hamsters their dinner at the shelter.

Write 2 sentences with a series as the indirect object. Hint: you can Google “list of verbs using indirect objects” to help you get started with verbs to use here.

Series of objects of the preposition

The tax break is for married couples, college students, and disabled veterans.

I like to hike in forests, meadows, or mountains.

Write 2 sentences with a series of objects of the preposition. Hint: not 3 or more prepositional phrases! One prepositional phrase with 3 or more objects.

Just like compound phrases, we can have a series of phrases.

Series of prepositional phrases

Contestants must swim across the lake, around the markers, and along the shoreline.

We traveled over the Mississippi, across the prairies, through the Rockies, and into the desert to get to Arches National Park.

Write 2 sentences with a series of prepositional phrases. Hint: 3 or more separate and complete prepositional phrases joined by one of the FANBOYS.

Series of infinitive phrases

I like to read, to write, and to sew. (This can also be written I like to read, write, and sew.)

He wants to study at college, to graduate with honors, and to obtain a good job.

Write 2 sentences with a series of infinitive phrases. Hint: start with to and add verbs!

Conjunctions

Conjunctions are the part of speech in English that connects words, phrases, or clauses together.

Conjunctions work to:

• link more than one verb (action), noun (person, place, or thing), adjective, or adverb,

and even to link phrases and whole clauses together

• economize and vary sentence structures

• connect ideas

The simplest, most basic conjunctions are coordinating conjunctions. (We’ll talk about subordinating conjunctions separately.) Coordinating conjunctions show that the actions, descriptions, nouns, phrases, or clauses on both sides of the conjunction are equal. English has 7 coordinating conjunctions:

For

And

Nor

But

Yet

You can easily remember these 7 conjunctions using the first letter of each word to make FANBOYS

Conjunctions Connecting Words Conjunctions Connecting Phrases

apples or oranges (nouns) the red apples or the juicy oranges (noun phrases)

she and I (pronouns) to speak and to write (infinitive verb phrases)

run and jump (verbs) can run and can jump (verb phrases with modals)

red and ripe (adjectives)

quickly but carefully (adverbs)

Conjunctions Connecting Clauses

The boy went to the store, and the girl mowed the grass.

Marcy likes pupusas, yet Manuel does not.

Aisha saved money, so she could purchase a car.

We can join nouns together to make compound subjects, but we can also join nouns, noun phrases, or pronouns together in other places in the sentence to make compound direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of the preposition.

Compound Subjects

Fatima and Sarah are best friends.

My cat and my dog do not fight.

Compound Direct Objects

We’ll drive our car or our truck.

The boys ate the cookies and the brownies.

Write 3 sentences using a compound direct object. Hint: you can Google “list of verbs using direct objects” to help you get started.

Compound Indirect Object

My mother gave me and my sister a big smile.

She brought Lars and Helga a vase of flowers.

Write 3 sentences using a compound indirect object. Hint: you can Google “list of verbs using indirect objects” to help you get started.

Compound Object of the Preposition

Should I give this to you or him?

The present is for Paige and Ladd.

Write 3 sentences using a compound object of the preposition. Hint: not two prepositional phrases! One prepositional phrase with 2 objects.

We can also connect phrases together.

Compound Prepositional Phrases

We drove over the river and through the woods.

Take this down the hall and into the kitchen.

Write 3 sentences using compound prepositional phrases. Hint: 2 separate and complete prepositional phrases joined by one of the FANBOYS.

We can use FANBOYS to join any verb phrases of any tense, even those with modal or other helping verbs. Usually, we drop the second modal/helping verb for ease of speaking or writing.

Compound Predicates (the verbs and everything else)

With the money, you may buy this toy or get ice cream.

He will hike up the trail and stop at the top of the mountain.

Compound Verbs

Babies eat and sleep.

The children dance and play.

Compound Helping Verb Phrases How We Usually Write It. (drop the second helping verb)

He will try but will fail. He will try but fail.

The child is swimming and is splashing. The child is swimming and splashing.

You may stay or may go. You may stay or go. (OR we make it 2 clauses joined with

a conjunction like this: You may stay, or you may go.)

Write 3 sentences using compound verb phrases (include either helping verbs or modal verbs). These sentences can include simple verb phrases or entire predicates.

Gerunds

Words in English can change parts of speech, depending on how they function in a sentence. Gerunds are a good example of that. A gerund is a word formed from a verb that works as a noun and ends in -ing, such as running, jumping, or swimming. To run, to jump, and to swim are all verbs:

The boys are running the race. (What’s the action? What are the boys doing? Running.)

The girls are jumping rope. (What’s the action in the sentence? Jumping.)

Parents are swimming in the pool. (The parents are doing what? Swimming. That’s the action.)

When we take an -ing verb, like running, and turn it into a noun, we call it a gerund.

Running is good exercise. (Here running is not the action, in other words, not the verb. No one is

actually running.)

Swimming requires great stamina. (No one is actually swimming, so that’s not the action.

Swimming is the subject doing the action of requires.)

Millie is tired of the puppy’s jumping. (Millie is the subject doing the action. What is she doing?

Is she jumping? No, so jumping is not the action of the

sentence, or in other words, jumping is not a verb here.

Notice that jumping has the in front of it. That means a

noun—in this case a gerund—follows. Notice it also has

the word puppy’s, which is a possessive noun working as

an adjective, in front of it too. Nouns follow adjectives.)

Here are a few more examples. The verbs are underlined to help you see that the gerund does not function as a verb in these sentences:

Playing is important for children.

The Olympic sport of ice skating draws many fans and even more viewers.

Do you mind my asking a favor?

I have always enjoyed reading.

My favorite hobby is sewing.

Do you like dancing, too?
Complaining never helps.

They bonded over their shared love of hiking.

Miguel turned off his phone and shut the door, so he could focus on studying.

My brother enjoys exploring with his friends.

I don’t understand how programming works.

As you can see, English regularly uses gerunds because they perform many roles. The following five sentences illustrate some of the most common functions:

As a subject: Biking is my newest hobby.

As a predicate nominative: My preferred commuting method is biking.

(A predicate nominative follows to be verbs like is and restates the subject. Here preferred commuting method = biking.)

As a direct object: I love biking.

As an indirect object: To please me, my mother gave biking a try.

As an object of a preposition: I reserved a few hours this Saturday for biking.

Wow! Gerunds are as useful as “real” nouns, and just like nouns, gerunds can be replaced by pronouns:

Biking is my newest hobby, so I reserved a few hours on Saturday for it.

Form 5 of your own gerunds. Take a verb, and add -ing to the end, for example chase becomes chasing.

Now use the 5 gerunds you formed in a sentence. Remember, they cannot function as a verb. They must work as a noun. Feel free to model your sentences after some of the ones used in the examples above.

How to Form a Possessive Noun

When we turn a noun into a possessive, it functions like an adjective because it describes another noun. Remember, words in English can work as many different parts of speech, depending on how we use them.

Take the word house as an example. House is a noun. But when I make house possessive, it describes something else. In other words, the possessive now describes a different or new noun. Words that modify nouns are adjectives.

I like the house. (noun)

I like the house’s exterior, but I don’t like the house’s interior. (Now house describes exterior and interior.)

The paint is a beautiful color on that house.

The house’s paint is a beautiful color.

Making a possessive adjective (a description showing ownership) has a few easy steps. These are the general rules.

Write the word you want to use whether it’s singular, like cat, or plural, like cats.
Add an apostrophe.
If it doesn’t have an S at the end of the word, add one.
Check for the exception of singular words ending in S. You must still add an S for those.

cat 1. cats (write the word, singular or plural)
cat’ 2. cats’ (add the apostrophe)
cat’s (no S; add one) 3. cats’ (Cats’ already has an S at the end, so don’t add another)
no exception 4. no exception

church 1. churches (write the word, singular or plural)
church’ 2. churches’ (add the apostrophe)
church’s (no S, add one) 3. churches’ (already has an S, so we don’t need to add one)
no exception 4. no exception

boss (write the word, singular or plural) 1. bosses
boss’ (add an apostrophe) 2. bosses’
boss’ 3. bosses’ (already has an S)
boss’s (The singular word ends in S and is an exception, so add an S) 4. No exception (plural word)

For the last example above, the one with the exception, think about how we pronounce the word boss’s (BOSS-ES). Adding the S to the end of Boss’ reflects how it’s pronounced: Boss’s.

Here are a few more examples of nouns becoming a possessive adjective:

Noun Possessive Noun (adjective)

box box’s

boxes boxes’

light light’s

lights lights’

car car’s

cars cars’

Proper nouns as possessives

Proper nouns can become possessive nouns (adjectives) too. The process is the same. We just have to remember to capitalize the possessive noun (adjective) just like we do a proper noun.

Proper Noun Possessive Noun

America America’s (add the apostrophe and the S)

Afghanistan Afghanistan’s

David David’s

Mrs. White Mrs. White’s

Governor Brown Governor Brown’s

Here are some example sentences of proper possessive nouns working as adjectives to describe another noun.

Some of America’s people work hard to help newcomers.

Afghanistan’s war with Russia took a great toll on the people.

Unfortunately, David’s house was struck by lightning.

I don’t like Mrs. White’s new dog.

Governor Brown’s statement made some people angry.

Imperative Verb Structure

Imperative means “having power to control or direct.” So imperative verb structure means we have formed a sentence that commands a person to do something, like a parent telling a child, Go to bed!

The way we do this in English is to drop the subject, because when a person gives a command, it’s usually to another person who is present. What good does it do a parent to say, Go to bed! if the child isn’t there to hear the command?

The subject of the imperative structure is always an understood you, even though we don’t say, “You go to bed!”

Imperative verb structure examples Understood subject

Put your shoes on. (You) put your shoes on.

Watch out! (You) watch out!

Pass the salt, please. (You) pass the salt, please.

Sit down. (You) sit down.

Because the person you is always the understood subject, we conjugate the verb for second person (singular or plural—they’re the same) present tense. Even if we say the person’s name, like John, we still use second person present tense.

John, put your shoes on.

Polina, pass the salt, please.

Elena, sit down.

WRONG: Elena, sits down! (“sits” is third person singular)

John, puts your shoes on! (“puts” is third person singular)

Write 5 of your own imperative sentences. Pretend you are speaking directly to another person, giving them an order. Whether you include the person’s name to whom you are speaking or not, use second person conjugation of the verb!

Independent and Dependent Clauses

Recall that clauses contain both a subject and a verb—not just a noun, but a subject that is performing the action of that verb. English has 2 kinds of clauses.

Independent Clause- Example

Has a subject
Has a verb I go to writing class on Wednesdays.
Makes sense by itself.

Dependent Clause-

Has a subject
Has a verb If I go to writing class on Wednesdays
Does NOT make sense by itself.

Can you see how the dependent clause doesn’t make complete sense? When we say, If I go to writing class on Wednesdays, those listening will wait for us to complete the sentence. They’ll think to themselves, If I go to writing class on Wednesdays, then what?

Even though the dependent clause has both a subject and a verb, it cannot stand alone. It is dependent on an independent clause (one that can stand alone) to make sense. Look at the examples below. The dependent clause makes sense only when we add an independent clause to it—the “then what” part.

Dependent Clause Independent Clause

If I go to writing class on Wednesdays, I will have to get off work early.

If I go to writing class on Wednesdays, I will have to find a ride.

If I go to writing class on Wednesdays, I must rearrange my work schedule.

See how the independent clause helps the dependent clause make sense? Another term for an independent clause is a sentence. Each of the examples under “Independent Clause” above can stand alone as a sentence (a group of words containing at least one independent clause). However, the dependent clauses cannot stand alone because they do not form a complete thought. They must have help to make sense. We have 2 types of dependent clauses in English: subordinate clauses and relative clauses.

1. Subordinate Clauses

Coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS) link together equal parts, such as two nouns or two direct objects or even two clauses. Subordinating conjunctions also link words together, but they link unequal parts. Subordinating conjunctions join dependent clauses to independent clauses. The subordinating conjunctions show that this clause is less important to understanding the complete sentence.

Common Subordinating Conjunctions

After If Whether

Although In case Where

As In order that Wherever

As far as Now that While

As if Once

As soon as Since

As though Though

Before Unless

Because Until

Even if When

Even though Whenever

Examples of subordinate clauses Why the clause is unfinished, or dependent

before you eat dinner (what happens before you eat dinner?)

if I go to the beach (then what happens?)

whenever I go to the gym (what happens whenever I go to the gym?)

once I finish English class (what happens after English class is finished?)

2. Relative Clauses

These clauses are also dependent because they cannot stand alone. The must have an independent clause to help them make sense. When studying pronouns, you learned about a category dubbed relative pronouns. English has only 5 relative pronouns: that, who, whom, whose and which. These certain pronouns always begin a relative clause. For example, who came to class late is a relative clause.

The student who came to class late forgot to sign in. (relative clause)

Who came to class late? (Interrogative pronoun, not a relative clause)

Notice that when who came to class late comes after a noun, like the student, and is positioned in the middle of the sentence, it’s a relative clause. If it stands alone with a capital letter for Who and a question mark (?) at the end, it’s NOT a relative clause, it’s an independent clause.

Examples of relative clauses Example in a sentence

that my sister wrote The book that my sister wrote was published yesterday.

who got to class first The student who got to class first forgot to sign in.

whose car is out front The person whose car is out front needs to move it.

Remember, subordinating conjunctions show that a subordinating clause is less important to understanding. The same is true for relative clauses. That relative pronoun indicates the clause is dependent, or less important. Here’s why. We can remove the relative clause and the rest of the sentence generally makes sense: The student forgot to sign in. The book was published yesterday.

Subordinating and relative clauses seem like a lot of work! Why would I ever want to take the time to write them? Well, subordinating clauses and relative clauses help smooth out our writing. Read the following paragraph aloud.

Esperanza was eating her cookie. She stepped into the road. A car blared its horn. She jumped back. She had been distracted by the cookie. She had not noticed the car coming. It almost hit her.

Ugh! It’s so boring and choppy that readers will fall asleep. If we use dependent clauses, they can help smooth out the writing by changing up the sentence lengths and structures. Subordinating clauses are also very good at transitioning between sentences, that is, they show connection and relationship between ideas or elements of the sentence to help the reader better understand. Now read this paragraph aloud.

Esperanza stepped into the road while she was eating her cookie. A car blared its horn. She jumped back. Because she had been distracted by the cookie, she had not noticed the car coming. It almost hit her.

This paragraph flows better because the subordinating clauses lengthen out some of the sentences to give the paragraph variety. Also, they show relationships between the elements of the story to help the reader understand better.

Turn a couple of the sentences in the following paragraph into dependent clauses to make the writing more interesting.

The phone rang. It woke up Jorge. He turned over in bed. He reached for his cellphone. The phone quit ringing. Jorge rolled back over. He went to sleep.

__________________________________________________________________________

Teacher Answer Key

Turn a couple of the sentences in the following paragraph into dependent clauses to make the writing more interesting.

The phone rang. It woke up Jorge. He turned over in bed. He reached for his cellphone. The phone quit ringing. Jorge rolled back over. He went to sleep again.

Answers will vary, but here are some suggested ways that the student could incorporate dependent clauses.

The phone rang. It woke up Jorge. After he turned over in bed, he reached for his cellphone. When the phone quit ringing, Jorge rolled back over. He went to sleep again.

When the phone rang, it woke up Jorge. He turned over in bed. As he reached for his cellphone, it quit ringing. After Jorge rolled back over, he went to sleep again.

Irregular Verbs Chart

Irregular verbs:

Simple Present Tense Simple Past Tense Past Participle

arise arose arisen

awake awoke awoken

am/is/are was/were been

bear bore borne

beat beat beaten

become became become

begin began begun

bend bent bent

bet bet bet

bind bound bound

bite bit bitten

bleed bled bled

blow blew blown

break broke broken

breed bred bred

bring brought brought

build built built

burn burned, burnt burned, burnt

buy bought bought

cast cast cast

catch caught caught

choose chose chosen

cling clung clung

come came come

cost cost cost

creep crept crept

cut cut cut

deal dealt dealt

dig dug dug

dive dove dived

do did done

draw drew drawn

drink drank drunk

drive drove driven

eat ate eaten

fall fell fallen

feed fed fed

feel felt felt

fight fought fought

find found found

Simple Present Tense Simple Past Tense Past Participle

fit fit fit

flee fled fled

fling flung flung

fly flew flown

forbid forbade forbidden

forget forgot forgotten

forgive forgave forgiven

forsake forsook forsaken

freeze froze frozen

get got gotten

give gave given

go went gone

grind ground ground

grow grew grown

hang (execute) hanged hanged

hang (suspend) hung hung

have had had

hear heard heard

hide hid hidden

hold held held

hurt hurt hurt

keep kept kept

kneel knelt, kneeled knelt, kneeled

knit knit, knitted knit, knitted

know knew known

lay (put) laid laid

lead led led

leave left left

lend lent lent

let let let

lie (recline) lay lain

light lit lit

lose lost lost

make made made

mean meant meant

meet met met

mislay mislaid mislaid

mislead misled misled

pay paid paid

prove proved proven

put put put

quit quit quit

Simple Present Tense Simple Past Tense Past Participle

read read read

ride rode ridden

ring rang rung

rise rose risen

run ran run

saw sawed sawn

say said said

see saw seen

seek sought sought

sell sold sold

send sent sent

set set set

shake shook shaken

shed shed shed

shine (to radiate) shone shone

shine (to polish) shined shined

shoe shod shod

shoot shot shot

show showed shown

shrink shrank shrunk, shrunken

shut shut shut

sing sang sung

sink sank sunk

sit sat sat

slay slew slain

sleep slept slept

slide slid slid

sling slung slung

speak spoke spoken

spend spent spent

spin spun spun

spread spread spread

spring sprang sprung

stand stood stood

steal stole stolen

stick stuck stuck

sting stung stung

stink stank stunk

strike struck struck, stricken

string strung strung

strive strove striven

Simple Present Tense Simple Past Tense Past Participle

swear swore sworn

sweep swept swept

swim swam swum

swing swung swung

take took taken

teach taught taught

tear tore torn

tell told told

think thought thought

throw threw thrown

tread trod trodden

wake woke woken

wear wore worn

understand understood understood

win won won

wind wound wound

wring wrung wrung

write wrote written

Linking Verbs

Linking verbs show a state of being or connection. Linking verbs DO NOT show action like verbs such as jump, trot, or scan. To be is the most common linking verb but certainly not the only one.

Examples of linking verbs:

to be to appear

to seem to look (depending on use)

to feel (depending on use) to remain

to become to find (depending on use)

Remember, to be verbs include their conjugated forms am, are, is, was, were, which can also work as helping verbs. Helping verbs help the main verb like this: She was sweeping the floor. Sweeping is the main verb and was helps the main verb.

When to be is used as a linking verb

it will stand alone, like this: She was tired.
OR to be will be the MAIN VERB, like this: She has been angry for a long time (has is the helping verb for the main verb been).
OR sometimes, to be will serve as both the helping verb and the main verb like this: The cats are being silly.

When used as a linking verb, to be links the subject to either a predicate nominative or a predicate adjective. Don’t worry about remembering the grammatical term. Just remember that a linking verb connects the subject of the sentence to either a noun or an adjective.

In both cases, the adjective or noun tells more about the subject of the sentence.

Linking verb connecting subject to an adjective

Penelope was afraid of dogs.

Lilly appeared sad.

Lucas is mad at his younger brother.

The cats are being silly.

She has been angry for a long time.

In each case, the underlined adjective describes the subject of the sentence. Usually, we put the adjective in front of the subject (noun) like this: silly cats or sad Lilly, but in this case, we use a linking verb to connect that adjective to the subject (noun).

Subject Linking verb Predicate adjective

Penelope was afraid

Lilly appeared sad

Lucas is mad

The cats are being silly

She has been angry

Linking verb connecting the subject to a noun

His speech felt a disaster.

Her room is a mess.

Russ is a good president of the club.

Parker became the chef of a renowned restaurant.

Even though she turned thirty last week, she remains a child inside.

Subject Linking verb Predicate nominative

speech felt a disaster

room is a mess

Russ is a president

Parker became the chef

she remains a child

Some verbs can work as an action verb or as a linking verb, depending on how we use it.

Action verb Linking verb

She looks for her missing dog. She looks tired.

He felt on the floor for his missing contacts. He felt sad.

Emma finally finds the dog. Emma finds dogs amazing.

In the example sentences under “action verb,” the subject is actually performing an action, but in the “linking verb” example, the subject is not doing anything at all.

WRITE 5 OF YOUR OWN SENTENCES USING LINKING VERBS:

Remember, linking verbs show no action. They simply say more about the subject in the form of another noun or as an adjective. If you need to, use the examples above as patterns for your own sentences.

Modal Verbs Chart

Can ability; request; (also commonly, but incorrectly used as permission)

Could past ability; suggestion

May permission; future possibilities

Might formal permission; present or future possibilities

Must necessity; obligation

Ought to suggest what’s right or correct; expectation

Shall offer; suggest; future action

Should advice; prediction/expectation

Will willingness; prediction; promise

Would request or invitation; condition

Modal verbs work as helping verbs, which help the reader to understand more about what’s happening with the main verb. The main verb shows the actual action of the sentence. You will always find helping verbs, in this case modal verbs, in front of the main verb.

She will likely eat chocolate for dessert.

main verb (the real action is EAT, not WILL); modal verb (helping verb) that gives a prediction about EAT

Examples

Can-ability

He can write English really well.

She can play the piano.

Can-request

Can you please put your coat away?

Can I have a cookie, please? (Informal. Formal use would say, May I have a cookie?)

Can-permission (This is actually incorrect, but you’ll see it all the time like this, so I’m showing it to you.)

Can I leave early? (Should be “May I leave early?”)

Could-past ability

A few years ago, she could have done that, but not now.

Before his accident, he could run circles around the best soccer players.

Could-suggestion

Since it’s raining, we could go to the movies instead of the park.

Could you hand me the bowl, please?

May-permission

You may have a cookie after you finish your homework.

May I go to the movies with Joshua?

May-future possibilities

It may rain tomorrow.

The doctor may have an opening tomorrow.

Might- formal permission

Might I have a word with you?

The waiter said, “Might I suggest the freshly grilled pineapple?”

Might- present or future possibilities

It might rain tomorrow.

I might take Spanish next semester.

Must-necessity

“You must finish your homework, or you’re grounded.”

Students must take German 101 before they can take German Conversation at college.

Must-obligation (It often, but not always, shows us that the obligation comes from the speaker, or the authority that wrote the sentence.)

Seat belts must be worn when the “fasten seatbelt sign” is lit. (the authority is the airlines)

You must hand in your homework on time, or I will deduct 10% off the grade (the authority speaking is a teacher)

Ought to- suggest what’s right or correct (advice/obligation)

We ought to treat other people kindly.

She ought to apologize for her outburst.

Ought to-expectation (Formal-This is generally should in informal English)

She ought to receive her package tomorrow. (She should receive her package tomorrow)

With so many star players, our team ought to win the champion ship this year.

Shall-offer (formal; in informal we use should)

Shall I help you with that? (“Informal-Should I help you with that?”)

Shall-suggestion or proposal

Shall we begin the meeting now?

Shall-future actions (old-fashioned or formal; informal, modern English uses will)

We shall visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa on our vacation this summer. (We will visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa on our vacation.)

Should-advice

You should probably tie your shoelaces before you trip on them.

People should drink eight glasses of water a day.

Should-obligation (similar to advice—kind of like advice, but with a sense of duty behind it)

I should visit my grandmother in the nursing home more often.

I should quit playing video games and do my homework.

Should-prediction/expectation

The snow should stop in a few hours.

Dad should receive my letter tomorrow.

Will-willingness (We can use will to say that someone is willing to do something.)

Mohammed is a really kind person; he will always help you if you need something.

Will-promise

I will call you tomorrow.

Anna said she will mow the lawn for me.

Will-prediction

The weather will improve tomorrow.

The Tigers will win the championship game.

Would-request or invitation

Would you wash the dishes, please? (request)

Would you like to go camping with me this summer? (invitation)

Would-condition (It is possible that the action will take place, but another condition has to be met. The clause including the modal verb will precede or be followed by a subordinating conjunction such as if.)

If I had the money, I would buy that book.

He would do better in the class if he studied harder.

Nouns

Nouns serve many functions in English grammar. They work as

Subjects

Direct objects

Indirect objects

Objects of the preposition

Predicate nominatives

Appositives

Subjects—The subject is the person or thing that performs the action of the verb. For example, in the sentence Fatima walked to the store, the subject is Fatima and the verb (action) is walked. Fatima is the person performing the action.

More examples—The subject is in italics.

Does Francisco like chocolate? Cats make excellent pets.

My sister is my best friend. The two little boys jumped into the pool.

Direct objects—The direct object is the person or thing that receives the action (verb) of the sentence. For example, in Mohammed kicked the ball, the direct object is the ball because it receives the action of being kicked (and Mohammed is the subject).

More examples—the direct object is in italics.

Does Francisco like chocolate? She pets her cat.

He rode his bike on the sidewalk. When will they clean their pool?

Indirect objects—An indirect object is the person or thing that indirectly receives the action of the verb. For example, in the sentence Gabriel gave Sophie a present for her birthday, the indirect object is Sophie because she indirectly receives the action of Gabriel (the subject) giving the present (present is the direct object that actually receives the action of giving).

More examples—The indirect object is in italics.

Lucas passed his mother the salt. Sam will bring the teacher his homework.

The professor teaches students Chinese. Don’t tell Sam the secret.

Objects of the preposition—The object of the preposition is a noun, pronoun, noun phrase, or gerund that comes after a preposition in a sentence. For example, in the sentence Gabriel gave Sophie a present for her birthday, birthday is the object of the preposition for. For her birthday is a prepositional phrase.

More examples—The object of the preposition is in italics. The whole prepositional phrase is underlined.

The two little boys jumped into the pool. He rode his bike on the sidewalk.

The deer walked down the path in the woods. I studied for my test.

Predicate nominatives—A predicate nominative is simply a noun that restates the subject of the sentence by using a linking verb. The most common linking verb is to be (am, are, is, was, were). For example, in the sentence Gabriel is my grandson, the word grandson restates or renames the subject, Gabriel. In other words, Gabriel = grandson. Note the linking verb is. You won’t have a predicate nominative without a linking verb.

More examples—The predicate nominative is in italics.

My sister is my best friend. She is the president of the club.

Cats are excellent pets. I am a teacher.

Appositives—An appositive is similar to a predicate nominative, but instead of renaming the subject at the end after a linking verb, the appositive immediately renames the noun using commas to show the function of renaming. For example, is the sentence Gabriel, my grandson, gave Sophie a present for her birthday, grandson is the appositive. Notice how it renames Gabriel immediately and has commas around it to show this grammatical function. If the appositive comes last in the sentence, then of course, the last comma is replaced by a period. See the last example below.

More examples—The predicate nominative is in italics.

My sisters, Libby and Jessica, live in Utah.

My cat, Toto, is a Japanese bobtail.

George Washington, the first president of the United States, lived in Virginia.

London, my favorite place to visit, has many historic sites.

We visited Istanbul, a beautiful and historic city.

Participial Phrases

In English we can change verbs into nouns or adjectives.

He is running around the track. verb

Running is good exercise. noun (gerund)

Do you see the running boy on the track? adjective

She burned the toast. verb

She eats the burned toast. adjective

When we change the verb form from its base form, we call it a participle. We use participles like going or eating or burned or cooked to make compound verbs (meaning a helping verb + a main verb, also called a verb phrase) such as is going or have burned. Don’t forget the past participles of irregular verbs can look very different from regular verbs, which all have an –ed ending. See the Irregular Verbs Chart for a list of irregular verbs with different past participle endings like –t (spent) or –en (written)

We also call the adjective forms of verbs a participle.

In She eats the burned toast, the single word burned is a participial that describes the toast.

Almost any verb can become a present participle (happening now) to describe another word. Pick a verb. Add –ing and use it as an adjective.

Verb participle adjective

cry crying I hear a lot of crying babies in the nursery.

clean cleaning You can find cleaning rags in the closet.

open opening Next, the speaker will give opening remarks.

Almost any verb can become a past participle (happened already). Pick a verb. Add –ed (or an irregular ending for irregular verbs) and use it as an adjective.

Verb participle adjective

close closed (regular) What’s behind the closed door?

carpet carpeted (regular) I love walking on carpeted floors.

write written (irregular) He has published many written works.

We can also use these participles to make what we call in English a participial phrase. A participial phrase is a group of words that includes a participle (the present participial –ing OR past participial –ed verb). These phrases can take different forms such as

1. a participle, a modifier, and a pronoun or noun phrase. When this happens, the noun or noun phrase works like a direct object receiving the action of the participial.

participial modifier noun or noun phrase acting like a direct object

eating her toast (toast receives action of eating)

pounding the keyboard (keyboard receives action of pounding)

Eating her toast, Louisa raced out of the house.

Marcus, pounding the keyboard, yelled in frustration.

2. a participial and an adverb or two

participial adverb(s)

stepping carefully

eating too quickly

Stepping carefully, Julia made her way across the muddy street.

Eating too quickly, Louisa choked on her food.

3. a participial and a prepositional phrase

participial prepositional phrase

destroyed (past participial) by a tornado

walking (present participial) on the beach

alarmed (past participial) by her silence

The church, destroyed by a tornado, will be rebuilt in the spring.

Walking on the beach, the child collected shells.

José nervously watched the woman, alarmed by her silence.

4. a participial plus any combination of the elements above

participial adverb prepositional phrase

destroyed suddenly by a tornado

The church, destroyed suddenly by a tornado, will be rebuilt in the spring.

participial adverb prepositional phrase adverb

destroyed suddenly by a tornado yesterday

The church, destroyed suddenly by a tornado yesterday, will be rebuilt in the spring.

participial modifier noun or noun phrase adverb

eating her toast outside

“I didn’t want to get crumbs everywhere,” Louisa said, eating her toast outside.

Remember that a phrase is a group of words that does not have both a subject and its verb. So participial phrases are never a clause! They have verbs, but the person doing the action of that verb IS NOT PART OF THE PHRASE. In eating her toast, we don’t know who is eating the toast; we don’t know who is performing the action of eating, so we don’t have a subject, so we don’t have a clause. We have a phrase.

How do participle phrases function in English? Why do we use them? Well, they act as an adjective to modify a noun or pronoun. For example, in the sentence Removing his coat, Jack rushed to the river, the participial phrase removing his coat tells us more about Jack.

Here are some tips for using participial phrases:

Place the participial phrase as close to the noun or pronoun it modifies as possible.

In Removing his coat, Jack rushed to the river, the description removing his coat comes right next to Jack, the word the participial phrase is describing. If we place the participial phrase too far from its noun or forget to include the noun, we could make a funny error. For example, in the sentence Carrying a tall pile of books, Jack’s foot caught on the curb, we envision his foot carrying a tall pile of books! The writer accidentally put the phrase next to Jack’s foot instead of next to Jack. We should rewrite that sentence as Carrying a tall pile of books, Jack caught his foot on the curb.

If the participial phrase comes at the beginning of a sentence, use a comma at the end of the phrase. In Removing his coat, Jack rushed to the river, notice how we insert a comma (,) right after the participial phrase that comes at the beginning of a sentence.
Use a comma on both sides of the participial phrase if it interrupts the sentence.

Jack, removing his coat, rushed to the river.

No commas are needed for essential information, that is, information that cannot be understood without the participial phrase. The students taking ESL classes were invited to a special banquet, the participial phrase taking ESL classes is essential because it communicates that only those students were invited to the banquet. No one else was invited.
Use a comma in front of the participial phrase at the end of a sentence if it is separated from the noun it modifies. In José nervously watched the woman, alarmed by her silence, the participial phrase alarmed by her silence tells us about José. Since the phrase is at the end of the sentence and tells us about José at the beginning, we must have a comma to indicate that the phrase doesn’t describe something closer, like the woman.

Use the following phrases in a sentence.

struck by lightning (past participial phrase) ________________________________________________________________________
leaving the house (present participial phrase) ________________________________________________________________________

Now write 3 sentences including your own participial phrases. Hint: Think of a verb (like eat). Now add –ing to make a participle (eating). Next ask yourself eating what? a cookie. Add that. (eating a cookie). Next, decide who is eating the cookie (John) and add that (Eating a cookie, John). Last, add the rest of the sentence. What is John doing while he eats that cookie? (Eating a cookie, John stirred the soup.)

Or you can simply use the participial plus an adverb. Think of a verb (like walk). Add –ing to the verb (walking). Ask yourself, how are they walking? (slowly? quickly?) Add that. (Walking slowly.) Who is walking slowly? (Jessica.) Add that (Walking slowly, Jessica). What does Jessica do while she walks slowly? (reads her book) Add that (Walking slowly, Jessica reads her book.)

Wow, participial phrases seem like a lot of work to describe a noun. Why would I ever want to use them? Well, we use them to give variation to our speaking and writing. Let’s read the following paragraph aloud.

Esperanza was eating her cookie. She stepped into the road. A car blared its horn. She jumped back. She had been distracted by the cookie. She had not noticed the car coming. It almost hit her.

When we read that aloud, it sounds awful—choppy and boring. But if we turn a few sentences into participial phrases, the paragraph sounds more interesting because it flows better. We don’t have sentences all the same length and shape.

Eating her cookie, Esperanza stepped into the road. A car blared its horn. She jumped back. Distracted by the cookie, she had not noticed the car coming. It almost hit her.

Turn a couple of the sentences in the following paragraph into a participle (adjective) or into participial phrases (adjective phrases) to make the writing more interesting.

The phone rang. It woke up Jorge. He turned over in bed. He reached for his cell phone. The phone quit ringing. Jorge rolled back over. He went to sleep.

__________________________________________________________________________

A final reminder:

A participle is a verbal ending in -ing (present) or -ed (regular past), -en, -d, -t, -n, or -ne (irregular past) that functions as an adjective that modifies a noun or pronoun.

A participial phrase consists of a participle plus modifier(s), object(s), and/or adverb(s) or prepositional phrase(s).

Participles and participial phrases must be placed as close to the nouns or pronouns they modify as possible, and those nouns or pronouns must be clearly stated.

A participial phrase is set off with commas when it:

a) comes at the beginning of a sentence

b) interrupts a sentence as a nonessential element

c) comes at the end of a sentence and is separated from the word it modifies.

Teacher Answer Key

From page 4:

Turn a couple of the sentences in the following paragraph into a participle (adjective) or into participial phrases (adjective phrases) to make the writing more interesting.

The phone rang. It woke up Jorge. He turned over in bed. He reached for his cellphone. The phone quit ringing. Jorge rolled back over. He went to sleep.

Answers will vary, but here are some ways students my rewrite the paragraph.

The ringing phone woke up Jorge. Turning over in bed, he reached for his cellphone. The phone quit ringing. Jorge rolled back over, going to sleep.

or Jorge rolled over, going back to sleep.

The phone rang, waking up Jorge. He turned over in bed, reaching for his cellphone. The phone quit ringing. Rolling over, Jorge went back to sleep.

or Rolling back over, Jorge went to sleep.

Students may use the above elements in different combinations than suggested here, and that works too. Just ensure correctness of the participles and phrases.

Passive Voice

Generally, we write using active voice (like this sentence) where the subject performs an action (we write). Writers have another alternative when penning sentences: passive voice. In this case, the “subject” of the sentence does not perform the action. For example, I could have constructed the opening sentence of this explanation in passive voice, like this:

Most sentences are written in active voice.

In this example, the noun sentences works as the subject, but the sentences don’t actually do anything. Here, the real performer of the action is not named (we don’t know who actually wrote the sentences). Often, to keep the passive voice sentence clear, writers insert the word by to indicate who actually performed the action (see examples below).

When writing, we engage readers better by using active voice. Generally, we should avoid passive construction, so that means removing those that slip into our writing. How do we find passive voice to remove it?

To find passive voice, locate the verb. If no named subject completes the action OR the named subject comes after the action in the form of by + subject, the sentence is passive.

Active: Judy conducted the meeting.

Passive: The meeting was conducted by Judy.

Passive voice generally looks like this pattern:

Recipient of action + to be verb + past participle + preposition by and the performer of the action (sometimes)

Passive: The missing wallet was found by my neighbor.

The cookies were eaten by Mom.

The party was thrown for the movie star.

The steak is being eaten by the dog.

Recipient of the action to be verb past participle by + the performer of action

The missing wallet was found by my neighbor

The cookies were eaten by Mom

The party was thrown (we don’t know who threw the party)

The steak is being eaten by the dog

Most sentences are written (we don’t know who wrote)

The meeting was conducted by Judy

Active: My neighbor found the missing wallet. (The performer of the action is the subject)

Mom ate the cookies.

(Someone) threw a party for the movie star.

The dog is eating the steak.

Use passive voice ONLY when you don’t know who performed the action or if you’d rather not say who performed the action (evade the truth) or if you want to tone down an accusation.

When the writer doesn’t know who performed the action, they will usually leave off the by + subject (performer) as in this example from a newspaper article:

A large stage has been constructed at the Shakespeare Festival.

Recipient of the action to be verb past participle by + the performer of action

A large stage has been constructed (Who constructed the stage? We don’t know.)

Note that in the example Most sentences are written in active voice, I left of the by + subject as I didn’t know who the writer was.

Here’s an example from a bank who wants to evade the truth. They obviously don’t want to take responsibility for the error.

An error has occurred with your account, but every attempt was made to remedy it.

Recipient of the action to be verb past participle by and the performer of action

Every attempt was made (not admitted who did it)

Honest and responsible businesses will write in active voice:

We made an error with your account, but we’ve made every attempt to remedy it.

Phrases and Clauses

Words are the smallest unit of a language. We can put words together to make phrases and clauses, which are larger units of language.

A phrase is a group of words that does NOT contain both a subject and a verb, and can, in fact, contain neither a subject nor a verb. Remember, subjects are made from nouns, but not all nouns are subjects. A noun becomes a subject when it performs an action. We have nouns and verbs, but we don’t have a clause until we put the two together.

Word/phrase Type of word or phrase

yellow adjective

flower noun

the pretty yellow adjective phrase

the pretty yellow flower noun phrase (noun phrases include all their adjectives)

grow verb

is growing verb phrase

in the yard prepositional phrase (yard is a noun, but not a subject)

We put the phrases together to get a clause: The pretty yellow flower is growing in the yard.

In this example the noun phrase, the pretty yellow flower became the subject, and the verb phrase, is growing, became the verb of the clause. Separately, they are phrases; together they become a clause.

A clause is a unit of words that contains both a subject and a verb. Notice we need a subject, not just a noun. Some phrases have verbs and nouns like, going to the park (called a participial phrase), but to be a clause, the noun has to serve as the subject of the verb. The subject has to be doing the action of the verb to be a clause, such as The children are going to the park. Children = subject and are going = verb.

Word/phrase Type

Lucas noun

Lucas and Owen noun phrase (includes the conjunction joining the nouns)

will want verb phrase

to go infinitive phrase

to the park prepositional phrase (park IS a noun, but NOT a subject)

We put the phrases together to get a clause: Lucas and Owen will want to go to the park.

Word/phrase Type

on Saturdays prepositional phrase

my neighbors noun phrase

Lucan and Owen noun phrase (an appositive, which restates the noun)

always adverb

go verb

to the park prepositional phrase

When we put all the phrases (and words) together, we get a clause:

On Saturdays, my neighbors, Lucas and Owen, always go to the park.

REMEMBER: Clauses include SUBJECTS (noun, pronouns, or noun phrases) and VERBS.

Prepositions

Prepositions make up one of the eight parts of speech. A preposition is a word used before a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to show direction, time, place, location, spatial relationships, or to introduce an object, for example for, around, below, or of. Simply put, prepositions serve as connector words which usually tie a word to an idea. An example of this is I went to English class. To connects the location of English class to where the person went.

Learning prepositions is important because

we use individual prepositions more frequently than other individual words. In fact, the prepositions of, to and in are among the ten most frequently-used words in English.
using the correct preposition in English is key to describing relationships accurately.

Remember, we can have descriptors (adjectives) that modify or describe more about nouns, and these adjectives are included as part of the noun phrase, for example the dirty clothes. The descriptors the and dirty belong with clothes, and all are part of the noun phrase. So, a prepositional phrase is that whole group of words: the preposition and its noun, pronoun, or noun phrase together.

Here are examples of prepositional phrases using all three—a noun, a pronoun, and a noun phrase. Notice that we can use either common or proper nouns in prepositional phrases.

Preposition Noun Example Sentence

of justice The courts are an extension of justice.

by Ford The law was enacted by Ford.

Preposition Pronoun Example Sentence

on myself I brought that problem on myself.

by her The cat sits by her.

Preposition Noun Phrase (adjectives + noun)

on the grass

on the beautiful, green grass

Example Sentence

She walked on the grass.

She walked on the beautiful, green grass.

English only has about 150 prepositions. But how do we know which words are prepositions? Try this hint, which will help you discover prepositions about 70% of the time: A preposition is anywhere a mouse can run.

The mouse ran under the desk. The mouse ran across the desk.

The mouse ran around the desk. The mouse ran along the desk.

The mouse ran between the desks. The mouse ran beyond the desk.

The mouse ran over the desk. The mouse ran up the desk.

The mouse ran behind the desk. The mouse ran toward the desk.

The mouse ran through the desk. The mouse ran within the desk.

The mouse ran by the desk. The mouse ran past the desk.

The mouse ran into the desk. The mouse ran among the desks.

The mouse ran above the desk. The mouse ran for the desk.

The mouse ran below the desk. The mouse ran down the desk.

Partial list of prepositions

aboard by onto upon

about concerning opposite versus

above considering outside via

across despite over with

after down past within

against during per without

along except plus

amid excluding regarding

among following round

around for save

as from since

at in than

before inside through

behind into to

below like toward

beneath minus under

beside near underneath

besides of unlike

between off until

beyond on up

Let’s insert some of these prepositions in the “anywhere a mouse can run” hint to see if they work.

The mouse ran via the desk. (Yep, that works.)

The mouse ran against the desk. (Yep, that works.)

The mouse ran of the desk. (Nope. That doesn’t work in English.)

The mouse ran off the desk. (Yep, that works.)

The mouse ran minus the desk. (Yep, it technically works even if nonsensical.)

The mouse ran regarding the desk. (Nope. That doesn’t work in English.)

The mouse ran despite the desk. (Yep, it technically works even if nonsensical.)

This method worked for 5 of the 7 tested prepositions in the sentences above. So, as you can see, you can often find a preposition by using this method.

How to make a prepositional phrase.

1. Start with preposition.

2. Add an object of the preposition, which is a noun or pronoun. (Usually, the noun requires the

in front of it.

3. Add any adjectives (descriptors) in front of the noun or pronoun to make a noun phrase. This

step is optional.

Example

1. following (Start with a proposition.)

2. following the exam (Add a noun or pronoun.)

3. following the difficult exam (Add any descriptions of the noun or pronoun.)

Now add it to a sentence.

Following the difficult exam, the students celebrated.

Following the difficult exam, Alicia took a nap.

The introduction at the top of this handout said that prepositional phrases show direction, time, place, location, spatial relationships, or introduce an object. Following the difficult exam tells us about time; something happened after the exam. Hint: the word following does not always work as preposition. Frequently following functions as a verb, for example, He is following the dog. Remember, function is key as most English words can serve as a different part of speech.

In essence, prepositions provide extra details. Let’s look at some examples:

Moses walked away from Egypt. (shows direction)

The Dalai Lama lives in India. (shows place)

Muhammad was born in 570 AD. (shows time)

Leave your shoes outside the mosque. (shows location)

I go to church in the morning. (shows time)

Islam and Buddhism do not approve of alcohol. (introduce object of the verb approve)

I dream of a world filled with peace. (introduce an object of the verb dream)

The Catholic priest lives near me. (spatial relationship)

Prepositions that introduce the object of a verb

An object of a verb adds specific details to the verb. This object is introduced by a preposition. (But it’s different than a direct object.) For example, in the sentence, They fought about the huge inheritance, which object did they fight about? The inheritance. When introducing objects of verbs, there are some prepositions that directly follow specific verbs. Sometimes these are called phrasal verbs because it takes two words to make the verb, a verb + a preposition. Below are some examples:

At is used with the following verbs: glance, laugh, look, rejoice, smile, stare

Fozia glanced at the speeding car.

We shouldn’t laugh at other people.

Class, look at the example on the whiteboard.

The soldiers rejoiced at his safe return.

Did that handsome man just smile at me?

Lois yelled, “Stop staring at me!”

We use of with the following verbs: approve, consist, smell

I don't approve of his speech.

Your effort in this class consists of time, effort, and desire.

The house smells of baking bread.

We can use of or about with the following verbs: dream, think

I dream about a better future for everyone.

I dream of finishing college in four years.

Can you think of a famous Baptist college?

I am thinking about English class.

We use for with the following verbs: call, hope, look, wait, watch, wish

Did someone call for an Uber?

He hopes for a raise.

I’m looking for my keys. (Note: Looking at something is different than looking for

something.)

Can we wait for Jorge here?

If you’ll buy the tickets, I’ll watch for the train.

If you wish for success in this class, you must work hard.

DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN DIRECT OBJECTS, ADVERBS, AND OBJECTS OF PREPOSITIONS

A direct object is never an adverb or the noun or pronoun at the end of a prepositional phrase. Sometimes verbs are followed by direct objects, sometimes by adverbs, or sometimes by prepositional phrases. Some sentence might contain more than one of these!

Sentence Pattern Example

subject/verb/direct object Martina grilled the fish.

subject/verb/adverb Martina grilled quickly.

subject/verb/prepositional phrase Martina grilled on the patio.

subject/verb/direct object/prepositional phrase Martina grilled the fish on the patio.

Spatial Prepositions

Some spatial prepositions include at, in, and on; these prepositions relate directly to the point that is being described. At can be used to describe a vicinity (a larger area), on describes a surface, and in describes an area that is restricted by boundaries.

We study English at the library. (the library in general, not a specific spot in the library)

We study English on the couch. (literally on the surface of the couch)

We study English in the classroom. (the area restricted by the boundary of the classroom)

We study at the park/at the store/at the train station. (All are large areas, not specific.)

We study on the deck/on the floor/on the carpet. (All are surface areas.)

We study in the house/in kitchen/in the hallway. (All places with boundaries)

Prepositions of time

There are three prepositions in English that are used with time: in, at, and on. Generally, in shows “larger” times, on shows dates and time, and at usually shows “smaller” times.

Larger times (in) smaller time (at) dates and time (on)

in December at night on Friday

in 1999 at noon on Christmas Eve

in the 20th Century at the age of 2 on Monday evenings

Pronoun Chart

Pronouns 2.0

English has many more pronouns than the ones listed in the pronoun chart. In fact, ones in the previous sentence is a pronoun, too! Ones replaces pronouns, so I didn’t have to repeat the word like this: English has many more pronouns than the pronouns listed in the pronoun chart. Gah!

Interrogative pronouns

We use interrogative pronouns to ask questions. For example, the word who is an interrogative pronoun in the sentence Who are you? Like most pronouns, interrogative pronouns replace nouns in sentences. Interrogative pronouns typically replace whatever or whoever the answer to the question is. For example:

What is an apple? An apple is a fruit.

Who built that house? Jason built that house.

Usually, but not always, an interrogative pronoun is the first word in an interrogative sentence, which always ends in a question mark. (If you don’t know what an interrogative sentence is, it’s just a fancy term for a question.) A sentence that uses an interrogative pronoun to ask an indirect question may not end in a question mark:

I wonder who will attend English class tonight. (The sentence indirectly asks Who will attend English class tonight?)

She asked us what we wanted for dinner. (The sentence indirectly asks What do you want for dinner?)

We can also use these pronouns in statements/answers like Whoever leaves last, please shut the door.

The five most commonly used interrogative pronouns:

WHO

WHOM

WHOSE
WHAT

WHICH

Less common interrogative pronouns that are often used to express emotions like emphasis, boredom, or surprise, aren’t always used to ask questions (basically the same 5 words ending in -ever):

WHOEVER

WHOMEVER

WHOSEVER

WHATEVER

WHICHEVER

All of these pronouns work as singular or plural.

WHO and WHOM

Who and whom are used to ask questions where the answer is expected to be a person. Who is used as a subject, and whom is used as an object. An easy way to remember which is which: if you can use him in the sentence, use whom. Both him and whom end in an M, so that will help you remember.

Who will play basketball with Abdul?

To whom does this pencil belong? (Think “this pencil belongs to him,” so use whom.)

Whoever left shoes in the foyer, could you please remove them? (expressing emphasis)

WHOSE

We use whose to ask questions about possessions, ownership, and relationships.

Whose is this?

WHAT

We use what to ask a question where the answer is expected to be an object or abstract concept.

What are you doing tomorrow? (abstract concept of performing some sort of action)

What are you cooking for dinner tonight? (an object, such as pizza, burgers, or soup)

Whatever are you doing here tonight? (expressing surprise)

WHICH

We use which to ask questions with multiple possibilities as an answer.

We can go to the movies or the museum. Which sounds more interesting?

Which is yours? (for example, if someone held up two notebooks)

“Which do you prefer?” Musa asked.

Abu yawned. “Whichever.” (expressing boredom or disinterest)

Reciprocal pronouns

A reciprocal pronoun is a pronoun that expresses a mutual relationship. Putting it another way, reciprocal pronouns refer to a situation where someone or something performs an action on others and receives the same action in return.

English only has 2 reciprocal pronouns.

EACH OTHER (for two subjects)

For example, in the sentence Andrew and Bill helped each other, the pronouns each other mean that Andrew helped Bill and Bill helped Andrew. (only two subjects: Bill, Andrew)

ONE ANOTHER (for more than two subjects)

In the sentence The members of the football team supported one another, the pronouns one another show that every member of the team supported every other member of the team. The people who performed the actions also received them in return. (Many people are on a football team, which infers more than two subjects.)

Intensive pronouns

Intensive pronouns use the same form as the reflexive pronouns myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves. However, intensive pronouns function differently. We use intensive pronouns to “intensify” or add emphasis to the subject or antecedent of the sentence. An intensive pronoun often comes right after the noun or pronoun it’s referring to, but not always.

You can easily tell the difference between a reflexive pronoun and an intensive pronoun because an intensive pronoun isn’t needed to understand the sentence’s meaning, while reflexive pronouns are needed for understanding. To check if the pronoun is reflexive or intensive, simply remove it from the sentence. If the sentence still makes sense without the pronoun, it’s intensive (just adding emphasis). If the sentence no longer makes sense when the pronoun is removed, it’s a reflexive pronoun. For example:

Did you yourself arrange that bouquet of flowers?

(or) Did you arrange that bouquet of flowers yourself?

If we removed yourself, the sentence reads Did you arrange that bouquet of flowers? which makes sense. Therefore, yourself is an intensive pronoun, simply used to add flavor to the sentence. A few more examples:

The author approved the book cover herself. (If we remove herself, it still makes sense.)

The king himself cut the blue ribbon. (We can remove himself, and the sentence makes sense.)

She gave herself a pat on the back. (If we remove herself, the sentence now says She gave a pat on the back and it loses meaning, so this one is NOT intensive. It’s reflexive.)

Indefinite pronouns

Indefinite pronouns are words that do not refer to any particular or specific person, amount, or thing. Fortunately, these do not change whether used as subjects or objects. However, watch out for subject-verb agreement. Some indefinite pronouns are singular, some are plural, and just to make things fun, some work either as singular or plural, depending on use.

Singular indefinite pronouns Plural indefinite pronouns Singular or plural indefinite pronouns (depends on use)

Another Both All

Anybody Few Any

Anyone Fewer More

Anything Many Most

Each Others None

Either Several Some

Enough

Everybody

Everyone

Everything

Less Little

Much

Neither

Nobody

No one

Nothing

One

Other

Somebody

Someone

Something

Examples of singular indefinite pronouns:

When the rain starts, everyone goes inside. (no specific person)

WRONG: When the rain starts, everyone go inside. (This will feel like an order, telling someone what to do. If you want to give everyone an order to go inside because of rain, this works, but it doesn’t work as a regular, declarative sentence; it’s now an imperative sentence.)

Can someone please help me? (no specific person asked)

Nothing is impossible. (no specific thing is mentioned)

Neither of us is happy about it. (Use the singular verb is for the singular subject neither. Of us is a prepositional phrase and DOES NOT count as the subject in this case. It’s considered more like an adjective phrase describing more about the subject neither.)

Examples of plural indefinite pronouns:

Many are called, but few are chosen. (no specific persons named, but there are lots of them)

Both are viable options. (Both means two, so it’s always plural.)

Others study English here, too. (Others always indicates two or more, so it’s plural.)

Example of indefinite pronouns that can be singular or plural:

All of the trash is gone. (Trash is singular, so all is singular.)

All of my sisters are blond. (Sisters is plural, so all is now plural.)

Most of the players are already gone.

Most of the town is covered in snow.

Some of the pie is still here, but all of the cookies are eaten.

Because the word none usually means “not one” or “not any,” it often uses a singular verb:

None of us knows the answer. (Not one of us knows the answer.)

None of the spaghetti is left. (Not any of the spaghetti is left.)

However, it is perfectly acceptable to use none with a plural verb if it is used to mean “no persons” or “no things.” For example,

The wicked king made many promises, but none were kept. (No promises were kept.)

There were six clowns at the circus when I went this morning. None were there when I went in the afternoon. (No clowns were there…)

Relative pronouns

Below is a chart of relative pronouns and how they are used. Note that some of these words can also work as interrogative pronouns. The difference is HOW they’re used. Interrogative generally ask direct questions or ask inferred questions or answer questions. Relative pronouns, however, generally (but not always) introduce relative clauses, a type of dependent clause.

Relative pronoun Use

who used for people; replaces subject pronouns such as I, she, he, we, and they

whom replaces object pronouns such as me, her, and him

whose shows possession

which used for objects and animals

that used for objects and animals

Some relative pronouns are able to stand alone as either the subject or object of a sentence.

I want that for myself. (that=object of sentence and stands alone)

The relative pronoun can introduce a relative clause in a sentence, for example,

I want the book that is on the top shelf, please. (that connects the description on the top

shelf to the noun book. Book works as the direct object of the sentence.)

Here is a diagram showing how the relative pronoun is used to connect a noun with an adjective clause. All relative clauses are considered adjective clauses because a clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb, and since relative clauses are used to describe a noun, they work as adjectives.

noun adjective clause (also known as a relative clause or a dependent clause)

The grass that is greener than the rest is in the shade of a large tree.

relative pronoun-this word connects the adjective clause to the noun grass;

that also serves as the noun of the clause that is greener than the rest.

Relative pronouns immediately follow a noun or pronoun in a sentence and will act as the subject of the relative clause. A relative clause is created when a relative pronoun is placed in front of an adjective clause. They provide additional information about nouns in sentences.

Examples of relative pronoun sentences include:

The man who went to the store drives a pickup truck.

The house was built by a woman, whom many consider to be a great architect.

The car that was stolen last month was found in a river.

In these sentences, the relative pronoun is bolded, the adjective clause is italicized, and the noun the clause refers to is underlined. Together, they form a relative clause. Notice how each relative clause provides more information about the noun if follows, in other words, describes the noun. This is why relative clauses are considered adjective clauses.

Pronouns

Pronouns replace nouns, so speakers or writers do not have to constantly repeat a word. Such repetition would drive people crazy! For example, imagine no pronoun it:

The wolf frightened the raccoon, and the raccoon ran to the raccoon’s den as fast as the raccoon could. The raccoon dove into the raccoon’s burrow and ran into the raccoon’s mate. The raccoon’s mate snarled at the racoon before the raccoon’s mate realized who the raccoon was.

That’s horrible! No one would ever read or write ever again. We need pronouns.

We need pronouns so much that English has a specific grammar rule called pronoun-antecedent agreement to help us always understand what the pronoun refers to. An antecedent is simply the word that the pronoun replaces. For example, if I have the sentence Nelson not only plays on the school soccer team, but he also plays on the rec league team, he refers back to Nelson.

(antecedent) (pronoun)

Nelson not only plays on the school soccer team, but he also plays on the rec league team.

(antecedent) (pronoun) (pronoun)

The raccoon dove into its burrow and ran into its mate.

For the pronoun to agree with its antecedent, it must match in number (singular or plural) and gender (male, female, or neuter).

Correct: Maria likes her job. (Maria=feminine singular, and her is a feminine singular pronoun)

The students did well on their test. (students=plural, and their is a plural pronoun)

Incorrect: Maria likes his job. (Maria=feminine, but his is masculine)

Note: Do not insist on assigning a gender-specific pronoun to those who request to be called he/she/they. Respecting a person is more important than “correct” grammar.

Subjective case

The subjective case means that the pronoun works as a subject. A subject is the noun or pronoun doing the action of the sentence.

Singular subjective case examples:

I traveled to Georgia to visit my parents. (I is the subject that performs the action of traveling.)

Have you traveled to Utah before? (You is the subject that performs the action of traveling.)

He loved the sites in Utah, like Zion National Park and Arches National Park.

She loved skiing in Colorado.

It snowed while they were in Colorado.

Plural subjective case examples:

We traveled to London last year.

You should visit New Zealand some time.

Did they visit Paris or Rome?

Objective case

The objective case simply means that the pronoun or noun is receiving the action of the verb (not doing the action like in the subjective case), whether receiving the action directly or indirectly. Though prepositional phrases do not necessarily receive action, we use this objective case here anyway. If you can remember the phrase “object of the preposition,” then the word “object” should help you remember to use the objective case.

Singular objective case examples (direct object, indirect objects, and objects of the preposition):

He gave me a trip to Mexico for Christmas. (indirect object, trip is actually given, but me still receives the trip, too.)

Sam’s parents gave it back. (direct object, the noun it receives the action of giving.)

The trip around the world bankrupted him. (direct object)

For her, seeing Mt. Fuji was the best part of her trip to Japan. (object of the preposition)

I can’t believe we saw you in Taiwan! (direct object)

Plural objective case examples (direct object, indirect objects, and objects of the preposition):

She accidentally kicked them while walking by on the plane. (direct object)

Millie gave us a ride home. (indirect object)

Unfortunately, the hotel staff was terrible. We expected better service from them. (object of preposition)

Possessive adjectives

This category is difficult to define. The words my, your, his, her, its, our, your, and their look like pronouns, but they aren’t replacing nouns. They work as adjectives, meaning they describe nouns. I’m including them here because they feel like pronouns.

Singular possessive adjectives case examples:

My sister worked in Switzerland as a nanny. (Sister is a noun; my describes sister, so my is an adjective, but certainly looks like a pronoun. No one ever accused English of being easy!)

Your friends would love Australia! (Friends is the subject, and your describes friends.)

What was his favorite country to visit in Africa?

New York is one of her top picks to visit.

Oh, no, the plane lost its tail wing!

Plural possessive adjective case examples:

Our plans include a stay in Iceland.

What do your children want to do on vacation?

Mr. and Mrs. Lozano are leaving on their trip to the Bahamas tomorrow.

Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns are used in place of nouns to show ownership without needing to repeat the nouns representing the owner and the possession.

For example, Randall says that the pencil case is Randall’s pencil case. (Too much repetition.)

Instead, we write, Randall says that the pencil case is his.

“Possession” in the context of possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives can mean literal ownership of something (like a book, That is my book), but it can also indicate more figurative kinds of possession, such as the possession of a relationship with someone or some place, like Yours is the kind of relationship I’d like to have Or She is my sister.

Singular possessive pronoun case examples:

Those are his bags, and these are mine.

The airlines cancelled my flight. I hope they don’t cancel yours.

These are my bags, and those are his.

It wasn’t my fault that we missed the flight; it was hers.

Its-Grammatically we could say something like “The toys are its” but we don’t really use that.

Such construction will sound awkward, so don’t use it if you want your writing to flow

smoothly.

Plural possessive pronoun case examples:

You can change your own plans, but don’t mess with ours.

Yours is the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in.

The hotel mix-up problem is theirs to deal with.

Reflexive pronouns

We use reflexive pronouns when a later objective pronoun refers back to the subject of the same sentence.

For example:

(Subject) (indirect object)

I gave myself a raise. (The indirect object is the same person as the subject.)

(Subject) (indirect object)

You taught yourself English. (The indirect object is the same person as the subject.)

Incorrect: I gave me a raise. (When both the subject and the object are the same person, we must

use the reflexive pronoun.)

Incorrect: You taught you English.

Incorrect: José and myself went to the store. (Reflexive pronouns are used in the objective case,

not as subjects. This sentence should be written as: José and I went to the store. See

the exception below.)

Singular reflexive pronoun case examples:

I helped myself to another cookie.

You bought yourself another pair of shoes?

He accidentally cut himself shaving.

She’s not herself today.

The problem will work itself out.

Plural reflexive pronoun case examples:

We were happy that we had the house all to ourselves.

Treat yourselves to dessert. (Remember, imperative sentences always have you as the subject.)

They enjoyed working for themselves.

Exception: Sometimes reflexive pronouns may be used as “intensive” pronouns, meaning they emphasize a noun, for example, in a sentence like, The waiter served the king himself. When used as intensive, the pronoun can be placed next to the subject, for instance, The king himself waited on the queen. Note in the examples below that the intensive pronoun can be removed with no loss of meaning. That’s how you can tell the difference between reflexive and intensive. A writer includes the intensive pronoun for flavor, not grammatical necessity.

Intensive case examples:

Of course, it’s correct. The boss herself checked it.

Of course, it’s correct. The boss checked it herself.

The owners themselves rescued the cat from the tree, not the firefighters.

I picked it up myself.

Run-on Sentences and Comma Splices

Sometimes writers of English forget punctuation or don’t realize they didn’t end a sentence before starting a new one. When this happens, we get run-on sentences. Here is an example:

The plane arrived late at my gate, so we couldn’t board on time that made us late to our next connection, and we missed it.

In the sentence above, we should have a period after time, indicating the end of the sentence. Since the writer did not end the sentence and begin the new one as they should have, we get a run-on sentence. The sentences should have been punctuated like this:

The plane arrived late at my gate, so we couldn’t board on time. That made us late to our next connection, and we missed it.

Here’s another example:

I love to read I could read a new book every day.

Again, we have two complete sentences not separated by punctuation, in other words, a run-on sentence. English can fix this error many different ways:

I love to read. I could read a new book every day. (period)

I love to read; I could read a new book every day. (semicolon)

I love to read—I could read a new book every day. (em dash)

I love to read: I could read a new book every day. (colon)

I love to read, so I could read a new book every day. (comma and coordinating conjunction)

The only way we can’t connect those sentences is with a comma. When we do, we create the incorrect comma splice, another type of run-on sentence, which looks like this:

I love to read, I could read a new book every day. (no coordinating conjunction)

The plane arrived late at my gate, so we couldn’t board on time, that made us late to our next connection, and we missed it. (no coordinating conjunction next to the underlined comma makes it a comma splice)

Again, either use a period, semicolon, em dash, colon, or coordinating conjunction with that comma to separate or connect complete sentences. NEVER CONNECT TWO COMPLETE SENTENCES WITH ONLY A COMMA.

Sentence Structure, Getting to the Bones

To write well in English, we should incorporate all four sentence types (declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory) AND all four sentence structures (simple, compound, complex, and compound complex).

We should check our writing occasionally to ensure inclusion of all 4 sentence structures. To do that, we need to determine what kind of sentences we have. That means getting to the bones of our sentences. First, we start by removing the phrases to locate the subjects and verbs. Why? Because sentence structure depends entirely on clauses, which are made of subjects and verbs. Phrases do not change sentence structure.

Here are some common phrases we find in English sentences:

Infinitive phrases—these phrases always start with “to” and have a verb. The most basic infinitive phrases include only those two words, such as to eat, to go, or to write. More complicated infinitive phrases can add objects (to write a book) and adverbs (to quickly write a book) and adjectives (to quickly write a successful book). We can attach prepositional phrases to our infinitive phrases (to quickly write a successful book about penguins). No matter how long we make that infinitive phrase, it’s still a phrase and not a clause. It will never change the sentence structure.

Prepositional phrases—these phrases always start with a preposition such as in, around, near, before, or at and always end with a noun or pronoun. The most basic prepositional phrases have only 2 words, the preposition and the ending noun/pronoun, such as in bed, around Louis, near me, or before dinner. Just like with infinitive phrases, we can add other elements to the basic prepositional phrase, such as adjectives (before my delicious dinner) and adverbs (before my amazingly delicious dinner). We can even attach a prepositional phrase to a prepositional phrase (before my amazingly delicious dinner in the park). No matter how many descriptions we add to the prepositional phrase, it’s still a phrase and not a clause. It will never change the sentence structure.

Participial phrases—these phrases always contain either an –ing verb (present participle), such as writing, or an –ed verb (past participle), for example, distracted (regular verb) or written (irregular verb). The simplest participial phrases include only the –ing or the –ed verb, such as writing. We can describe a noun with this single participle: Writing, Jessica ignored the doorbell. We can also create longer participial phrases by adding adverbs (quickly writing) or objects (quickly writing a book) or adjectives (quickly writing a good book) or prepositional phrases (quickly writing a good book on the weekends). When these participial phrases describe a noun like Jessica, they work as a kind of adjective phrase and do not change sentence structure: Quickly writing a good book on the weekends, Jessica was still able to keep her Monday to Friday job. Here, Jessica is the noun and was is the verb. Quickly writing a good book on the weekends serves as frosting on top of the cake (the independent clause) to add flavor and appeal.

When looking for sentence structure, remove all the phrases because they don’t count! We can also remove all adjectives and adverbs to help us discover what the sentence structure is.

Let’s remove the phrases, adjectives, and adverbs from the sample sentence:

Quickly writing a good book on the weekends, Jessica was still able to keep her Monday to Friday job.

Here, we remove the participial phrase, quickly writing a good book on the weekends, and an infinitive phrase to keep her Monday to Friday job. Then we take out the adverb still and the adjective able. What do we have left? Jessica was. Now we know that we actually have a simple sentence. Why? Because we have one independent clause remaining (one subject and its verb).

Let’s check another sentence to see if it’s simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex.

The fluffy, gray squirrel hid his food in the really tall oak tree.

Let’s remove all the phrases:

The fluffy, gray squirrel hid his food in the really tall oak tree. (1 prepositional phrase)

Now let’s remove any adjectives or adverbs.

The fluffy, gray squirrel hid his food in the really tall oak tree. (2 adjectives)

What do we have left? The squirrel hid his food.

Feel free to remove the adjectives called articles (the, a, an), or leave them in as an integral part of the noun. Leaving articles in shouldn’t trip us up. The sentence has one subject (his food is also a noun phrase, but it’s working as the direct object) and one verb, so it’s a simple sentence.

Let’s try another.

That huge, fluffy tomcat walks around the soccer field like he owns it, but everybody just laughs, and no one chases it away.

First, remove all the phrases.

That huge, fluffy tomcat walks around the soccer field like he owns it, but everybody just laughs, and no one chases it away. (1 prepositional phrase)

Now remove any adjectives or adverbs. Remember, articles or demonstratives (this, that, these, those) can be left in as an integral part of the noun, or they can be removed like other adjectives.

That huge, fluffy tomcat walks around the soccer field like he owns it, but everybody just laughs, and no one chases it away. (2 adjectives and 2 adverbs)

What do we have left?

That tomcat walks like he owns it, but everybody laughs, and no one chases it.

Now look for any coordinating or subordinating conjunctions and count how many subjects and verbs we have.

That tomcat walks like he owns it, but everybody laughs, and no one chases it.

(The sentence contains 4 subjects/verbs for 4 clauses, 1 of which is a subordinating clause; the others are independent.)

What type of sentence structure consists of at least 1dependent clause and at least 2 independent clauses? A compound-complex sentence.

Remove all the phrases, adjectives, and adverbs from the following sentence to see what its structure is.

The cat tries to catch squirrels if his owners don’t give him the food that he likes.

Start with phrases, then work down to smaller additions like adjectives and adverbs:

The cat tries to catch squirrels if his owners don’t give him the food that he likes.

(one infinitive phrase, one adjective)

The cat tries if owners don’t give him the food that he likes.

Now look for subordinating and coordinating conjunctions:

The cat tries if his owners don’t give him the food that he likes.

We have 3 clauses (the cat tries; owners don’t give him food; he likes). One is independent and 2 are dependent. What sentence structure has only 1 independent clause plus at least 1 (but it can have more) dependent clause? Complex.

Last one!

A snake slithered into my garage on Saturday night, but my awesome cat caught and killed it.

First remove any phrases.

A snake slithered into my garage on Saturday night, but my awesome cat caught and killed it.

After removing the 2 prepositional phrases, remove any adjectives or adverbs.

A snake slithered into my garage on Saturday night, but my awesome cat caught and killed it.

What do we have left?

A snake slithered, but my cat caught and killed it.

Now look for any subordinating or coordinating conjunctions.

No subordinating and 2 coordinating:

A snake slithered, but my cat caught and killed it.

Now decide if the coordinating conjunctions work to join 2 complete sentences or two other elements like 2 verbs, 2 direct objects, or 2 adjectives.

One of the conjunctions connects 2 sentences: but (notice it joins A snake slithered, a full sentence, and my cat caught and killed it, also a full sentence). The word and only joins 2 verbs, so it can be removed from the sentence if that helps you know not to count it joining 2 sentences.

A snake slithered, but my cat caught and killed it.

What type of sentence has two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction? Compound.

YOUR TURN: Cross of the phrases, adjectives, and adverbs in the following sentences. You can also remove any coordinating conjunctions that join only verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc. Find the coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS) and subordinating conjunctions. Then label each sentence as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex.

During the week, my neighbor leaves his garage door cracked, so his dog can go in and out while he is at work.

After animal control drove down the street, Mr. Jones shut his dog in the garage.

Even if a very large dog comes into my yard, my cat will attack it.

Since he did his homework on time, he had the weekend free, and he got to go to the soccer game.

Sometimes on lovely spring days, birds divebomb the neighbor’s cat sitting outside.

Teacher Answer Key:

YOUR TURN: Cross of the phrases, adjectives, and adverbs in the following sentences. You can also remove any coordinating conjunctions that join only verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc. Find the coordinating conjunctions (FAN BOYS) and subordinating conjunctions. Then label each sentence as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex.

During the week, my neighbor leaves his garage door cracked, so his dog can go in and out while he is at work.

COMPOUND-COMPLEX (2 independent clauses joined by the coordinating conjunction so, plus 1 dependent clause beginning with the subordinating conjunction while.) Explanation: During the week; at work= prepositional phrases. In and out = prepositions. Cracked=participial (though at its simplest, cracked is a past participial, which works as an adjective).

After animal control drove down the street, Mr. Jones shut his dog in the garage.

COMPLEX (1 dependent clause starting with the subordinating conjunction after; 1 independent clause) Explanation: down the street; in the garage=prepositional phrases

Even if a very large dog comes into my yard, my cat will attack it.

COMPLEX (1 dependent clause starting with the subordinating conjunction even if, plus 1 independent clause.) Explanation: very=adverb large=adjective; into my yard=prepositional phrase

Since he did his homework on time, he had the weekend free, and he got to go to the soccer

game.

COMPOUND-COMPLEX (1 dependent clause beginning with the subordinating clause since; 2 independent clauses joined by the coordinating conjunction and) Explanation: on time; to the soccer game=prepositional phrases. To go=infinitive phrase. Free=adverb

Sometimes on lovely spring days, birds divebomb the neighbor’s cat sitting outside.

SIMPLE (1 independent clause) Explanation: Sometimes=adverb. On lovely spring days=prepositional phrase. Sitting outside=participial Phrase. Neighbor’s=adjective)

Signal Words and Phrases

Signal words or phrases give readers an idea about what comes next. Think of it like turning on a blinker when driving a car. The blinker shows other drivers which way a person intends to turn. Likewise, signal words and phrases, sometime called transition words, indicate which direction the writing will go next. Like blinkers keep traffic flowing smoothly, signal words keep our words flowing clearly.

Writers often do not take into account that they owe readers clear writing. One way to write clearly is to establish plain and meaningful relationships among the ideas being presented. This helps readers grasp what the writer is saying. Transitional words and phrases (signal words and phrases) show the reader that the writing shifts—sometimes to set up an idea (words like first, or phrases like first of all), to develop an idea (words like similarly and phrases like such as or for example), to challenge an idea (words like nevertheless or phrases like despite that), or to summarize an idea (phrases like in summary).

We can categorize signal/transition words by function:

1. Time meanwhile, at the same time, afterward, later, earlier, formerly

2. Place elsewhere, here, above, below, farther on

3. Example for instance, for example, such as, like, to illustrate

4. Contrast alternately, but, however, on the other hand

5. Sequence first, second, then, next, finally

6. Amplification (addition) again, in addition, furthermore, moreover

7. Emphasis in fact, yes, no, indeed, above all, most noteworthy

8. Restatement in other words, that is, by way of explanation

9. Concession granted, of course, to be sure

10. Comparison equally good, similarly, such as, like

11. Consequence thus, therefore, consequently, as a result,

12. Summary finally, in conclusion, all in all, in summary

13. Challenge nevertheless, however, still, yet, despite that

The following discussion illustrates how these words could function, but it does not cover every category on the list above.

Cause and Effect

Cause-and-effect words signal that the author is going to describe causes or results. The following words show cause or effect:

as a result, because, cause, consequently, effect, if . . . then, reason, result in, since, so that, therefore, thus

Compare or Contrast

Comparison words show that the author is pointing out a similarity between two subjects. These signals indicate that the second idea is like the first one in some way. The following are words or phrases of comparison.

alike, as, equally, in a similar fashion, in like manner, in the same way, just, just as, like, likewise, similarity, similarly,

Contrast words signal that the author is pointing out a difference between two subjects or statements. The following words or phrases show contrast.

but, conversely, differ, difference, however, in contrast, on the contrary, on the other hand, otherwise, still, variation, yet

Example

Readers benefit greatly from transition words of example, such as

as an example, for example, for instance, like, such as, to illustrate

These example words let readers know that the writer will illustrate their point to help the audience better grasp the information that has been presented.

Sequence

Sequencing proves an excellent way to help readers keep track of a writer’s points or ideas by clearly indicating a change in discussion from one to the next. Sequence words or phrases give writing a coherent, organized flow. Some examples of sequencing words include

first . . . second . . . third etc., finally, followed by, following, next, subsequently, then, to

begin, to end, to start with

A writer could sequence in practically limitless ways—from largest to smallest, or vice versa; from fastest to slowest, or vice versa; etc., or by age, by date, by color, or alphabetically.

Summary

When writers conclude their writing, wrapping it all up for the reader helps them retain what they’ve read. Before finishing, introducing the idea of the conclusion with summary words signals to readers that they are coming to a close and reminds them of all they’ve learned in the writing. Writers could also use summary words at the conclusion of an idea before beginning the next idea. Summary transitions include

all in all, finally, in conclusion, in short, in summary, therefore, to summarize

In summary, use signal or transition words and phrases to clearly connect and show the relationships of the ideas you are presenting. Without smoothly joining ideas with signal words, readers must slog through the sentences to figure out what a writer is trying to communicate. This slows down the process and muddles the writing, which frustrates readers.

The 4 Sentence Structures and Complex Sentences

Remember, there are 4 different sentence structures:

Simple

Compound

Complex

Compound-complex

This handout will talk about complex sentences.

A complex sentence is constructed of only 1 independent clause and at least 1 dependent clause. Remember, an independent clause has a subject, a verb, and makes sense by itself. Independent clauses are also known as sentences. A dependent clause also has a subject and a verb; however, it DOES NOT make sense own its own. Dependent clauses must be attached to an independent clause to complete its understanding, and we join them with subordinating conjunctions, for example, after, since, when, because, while, unless, as, or before. We can also connect them with a relative pronoun like which, that, or who.

Examples of complex sentences:

The cat runs into the bushes which confuses the dog. (First, an independent clause,

second a dependent clause starting with the relative pronoun which. Which also serves as the subject of the dependent clause.)

If it rains any harder, I will let the cat inside. (First, a dependent clause starting with the

subordinating conjunction if, then an independent clause)

After the cat hid its food, the dog ran around in circles looking for it but couldn’t find it.

(First a dependent clause starting with the subordinating conjunction after, then an independent clause with a compound verb)

The dog knew that it had been outsmarted. (First an independent clause, then a dependent

clause starting with the relative pronoun that)

To be complex, a sentence must have ONLY ONE INDEPENDENT CLAUSE, but it can have as many dependent clauses as you want. It is still a complex sentence.

When the cat leapt into the tree, the dog knew that it had been outsmarted. (2 dependent clauses

and ONE independent clause)

Write three of your own complex sentences. Remember that these have to have ONLY ONE independent clause and at least one dependent clause.

The 4 Sentence Structures and Compound Sentences

A compound sentence is basically 2 simple sentences joined by a coordinating conjunction knows as the FANBOYS (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So). Remember to join the 2 sentences with a comma (,) in front of the conjunction.

Basic requirements:

2 complete sentences (each with a subject and a verb that make sense on their own)

1 of the FANBOYS
a comma in front of the coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS)

Examples of compound sentences:

1.The dog ran into the garage, but the cat ran into the bushes.

2.In the Spring, the dog likes to hang out in the garage, yet the squirrels do not.

3.The dog likes to eat his own food, and he likes to eat the cat’s food, too.

Notice that a complete sentence (has a subject, a verb, and makes sense by itself) sits on each side of the coordinating conjunction.

Sometimes we can have simple subjects and simple verbs on both sides of our compound sentences:

Maria always leaves the house at 7 a.m., so she can get to work on time.

Coordinating conjunction can also join words and phrases as well as two complete sentences. Joining two subjects with one of the FANBOYS makes a compound subject. Joining two verbs can make a compound predicate. Having compound subjects and/or compound predicates doesn’t mean we have a compound sentence. We only get a compound sentence when we connect two complete, independent sentences together with a coordinating conjunction.

We can have compound subjects and compound verbs on both sides of our compound sentences:

Maria and Esperanza went to the post office and obtained a passport, so they and their friends can visit Australia and see the Sydney Opera House.

Sometimes we can have simple subjects with compound verbs.

The cat doesn’t like for the dog to eat his food and gobbles it down quickly, or the cat carries it away and hides it.

Sometimes we can have compound subjects with simple verbs:

Maria and Esperanza obtained a passport, so they and their friend can visit Australia.

Write three of your own compound sentences. Remember to use one of the FANBOYS and a comma!

The 4 Sentence Structures and Flow

By nature, most of our writing will be comprised of declarative sentences. All of the following sentences in the example below are declarative. Notice how the flow (how easily the reader can read it) gets a bit choppy in sections.

“I want you to arrest him,” the prince said to the queen. After a pause, he added, “Now.”

Charles wondered what would happen if the prince destroyed Robert. Charles wondered who would replace him. Charles hardly breathed. The prince hadn’t ordered the arrest himself, though he could have, but he had directed the queen to do so, in public. The prince sure had a lot of disrespect, daring to tell the queen what to do. Now they would see if the queen could protect her own or not.

Writing that uses only declarative sentences is like a song with only one note. Boring! Please throw in the occasional imperative, interrogative, or exclamatory sentence for reader enjoyment. I can completely change the flow (readability) of the exact same paragraph:

“Arrest him,” the prince said to the queen. After a pause, he added, “Now.”

What would happen if the prince destroyed Robert? Who would replace him? Charles hardly breathed. The prince hadn’t ordered the arrest himself, though he could have, but he had directed the queen to do so, in public. How disrespectful, daring to tell the queen what to do! Now they would see if the queen could protect her own or not.

By adding an imperative sentence (“Arrest him.”), two interrogative sentences (What would happen if the king destroyed Robert? and Who would replace him?) and one exclamatory (How disrespectful, daring to tell the queen what to do!) the rhythm of the sentences completely changes to one with more interest. The song has 4 notes now instead of one, so it’s definitely more interesting.

Here’s an example similar to the one we used before. Notice all the sentences are declarative.

Sample A

(1) The phone rang. (2) The noise woke up Jorge. (3) He wondered why someone was calling at two o’clock in the morning. (4) He turned over in bed. (5) He reached for his cellphone. (6) The phone quit ringing. (7) Jorge rolled back over. (8) He was so tired. (9) He went to sleep instantly.

In other lessons, we changed some of the writing to help Sample A flow better by adding participial phrases (-ing verbs used as adjective phrases such as stepping through the door) and by adding dependent clauses (starting with subordinating conjunctions like as, after, although, before, or when). When we did that, we got a paragraph with better flow:

Sample B

(1) The phone rang, the noise waking up Jorge. (2) He wondered why someone was calling at 2 o’clock in the morning. (3) He turned over in bed, reaching for his cellphone. (4) After the phone quit ringing, Jorge rolled back over. (5) He was so tired. (6) He went to sleep instantly.

What I did: To make the writing flow better, I combined sentences 1 and 2 in Sample A by using a participial phrase. I also combined sentences 4 and 5 of Sample A the same way. Then I combined 6 and 7 of Sample A by turning sentence 6 into a dependent clause and attaching it to number 7.

The flow is a lot better. Next, let’s change some of the sentence types in Sample B (our better version) and include at least one question and one exclamatory sentence.

Sample C

(1) The phone rang, the noise waking up Jorge. (2) Why in the world was someone calling at two o’clock in the morning? (3) He turned over in bed, reaching for his cellphone. (4) After the phone quit ringing, Jorge rolled back over. (5) How tired he was! (6) He went to sleep instantly.

I changed sentence 2 in Sample B into an interrogative (question). Then I changed sentence 5 of Sample B into an exclamatory sentence.

Your turn:

Improve the following paragraph by

combining sentences using participial phrases (-ing verbs used as adjective phrases like stepping through the door). Do this at least one time.
combining sentences using dependent clauses (starting with subordinating conjunctions like as, after, although, before, while, or when). Do this at least one time.
including at least one exclamatory and one interrogative (question) sentence.

Esperanza was eating her cookie. She stepped into the road. She wondered why a car blared its horn. A car rushed by. She jumped back. She had been distracted by the cookie. She had not noticed the car coming. It almost hit her.

Teacher Answer Key

Improve the following paragraph by

combining sentences using participial phrases (--ing verbs used as adjective phrases like stepping through the door). Do this at least one time.
combining sentences using dependent clauses (starting with subordinating conjunctions like as, after, although, before, while, or when). Do this at least one time.
including at least one exclamatory and one interrogative (question) sentence.

Possible answers vary greatly but something like:

As Esperanza was eating her cookie, she stepped into the road. Why did a car blare its horn? A car rushed by. She jumped back. Distracted by the cookie, she had noticed the car coming. Good heavens, it almost hit her!

Past participial phrase “distracted by the cookie” combines 2 sentences into one.
Subordinating clause “as Esperanza was eating her cookie” joins 2 sentences into one.
Why did a car blare it’s horn? = interrogative sentence and “Good heavens, it almost hit her! = exclamatory.

The 4 Sentence Structures (not types) and Simple Sentences

There are 4 types of sentence structures in English.

Simple

Compound

Complex

Compound-complex

This handout will talk about simple sentences. A simple sentence is also known as an independent clause which means it has a subject and a verb and make sense on its own.

Examples of simple sentences:

The dog dashed into the garage.

The dog and the cat ran into the garage. (compound or double subject but only 1 verb)

The dog ran into the garage and ate all the food. (double verb but only 1 subject)

The dog and the cat like to stay outside.

Participial phrases like running around the corner do not change a sentence’s structure. Clauses determine structure, not phrases. Let’s repeat that: clauses determine structure, not phrases. Clauses are the cake, and phrases are frosting on top, simply extra stuff to make the cake tastier or more appealing.

Running around the corner, the dog dashed into the garage. (still a simple sentence)

The participial phrase did not change the structure of the sentence above. Another type of phrase (which still doesn’t change the structure of a sentence) is the prepositional phrase. These phrases show time, location, or add extra information but, again, do not change a sentence’s structure.

In the spring, the dog and the cat like to stay outside in the yard. (still a simple sentence)

Note: the participial phrase running around the corner contains the prepositional phrase around the corner, but it’s considered part of the larger unit, just like adjectives describing a noun are included in the larger noun phrase.

Write three of your own simple sentences (1 independent clause).

The 4 Sentences Structures and Compound-Complex Sentences

The 4 sentence structures include

simple

compound

complex

compound-complex

This handout focuses on the last structure. A compound-complex sentence is what it says, a combination of compound (2 sentences or more joined by a coordinating conjunction) and complex (having at least 1 dependent clause).

To be compound-complex, a sentence must have AT LEAST 2 INDEPENDENT CLAUSES (but it can have more) and AT LEAST 1 DEPENDENT CLAUSE (but it can have more). Just like compound sentences, these sentences must have a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS) with a comma (,). Remember, all clauses have both a subject and a verb, but dependent clauses cannot stand alone; they must attach to an independent clause to complete understanding. Compound-complex sentences, then, must have 3 subjects and 3 verbs at a minimum.

Examples of compound-complex sentences:

If it rains any harder, I will let the cat inside the garage, but I will not let it inside the house.

(1 dependent clause starting with the subordinating conjunction if followed by 2 complete sentences joined with a coordinating conjunction)

After the cat hid its food, the dog ran around in circles looking for it, but he couldn’t find it.

(1 dependent clause beginning with the subordinating conjunction after, followed by 2 complete sentences joined with a coordinating conjunction)

The girl bought a present for her little brother’s birthday, but because her two-year-old sister wouldn’t understand why she didn’t get a present too, she also bought a present for her.

(Complete sentence, aka, an independent clause, followed by 2 dependent clauses—one beginning with the subordinating conjunction because and the other with the relative pronoun why. The second independent clause begins after both dependent clauses have ended.)

The girl bought a present for her little brother’s birthday, but she also bought a present for her two-year-old sister because she wouldn’t understand why she didn’t get a present too.

(the 2 independent clauses followed by the 2 dependent clauses)

Write three of your own compound-complex sentences. Remember that these have to have one of the FANBOYS and a comma between the 2 independent clauses, PLUS at least one dependent clause.

The 4 Types of Sentences

English has 4 types of sentences.

Type What it does Example End punctuation

Declarative Statement The children roamed the streets. .

Interrogative Question Why do children roam the streets? ?

Imperative Give an order Roam the streets. . or !

Exclamatory Passionate How they roam the streets! !

statement

The most common sentence in English is the declarative sentence. When we read a story, letter, report, newspaper, or an article, the sentences usually impart information in the form of a statement. Notice that these sentences generally follow a subject + verb pattern and always end with a period.

Fiction examples Nonfiction examples

The frog put on his hat. Frogs have excellent night vision.

The frog and the toad are friends. A common toad can live 10 to 12 years.

It was a dark and stormy night. A crash occurred on Highway 17 at 3 pm yesterday.

Questions are called interrogative sentences. In these sentences the structure and punctuation change from declarative sentences. Interrogative sentences often begin with a verb instead of a subject (like the first 2 sentences under the fiction examples below begin with the modal verb “would”). Interrogative sentences can also begin with a W-word (who, what, where, when, why, how). These sentences end with a question mark instead of a period. Even the way we say the sentence changes too. Notice how the voice rises on the last word when read aloud.

Fiction examples Nonfiction examples

Would the dragon wake up? What is a good habitat for a frog?

Would frog and toad’s friendship survive? What is the lifespan of a common toad?

Why would the mermaid come to the shore? Why should we keep chlorine and ammonia separate?

Imperative sentences change form yet again. These sentences, which give orders or commands, don’t include a subject because the subject is always you. So, we drop the subject and generally begin with the verb, and that verb is always in the second person form of conjugation. If we’re being polite with our commands, we can start with something like “please” or if we’re being personal, we can begin with a person’s name, but even then, the understood subject is always you. These sentences usually end with a period, but if an order is passionate, it could have an exclamation point.

Fiction examples Nonfiction examples

Wake the dragons. Stow your carry-on items under the seat.

Kill the monster! Call the police if you have information on the robbery at 110 West Elm on Friday night.

Yuki, help the mermaids. Please upload your entrance essays here.

Exclamatory sentences, like declarative sentences, make a statement, but they do so with great feeling. They can look just like a declarative sentence, but they end with an exclamation point to show that feeling. Sometimes these sentences begin with an interjection or a word that looks like a question such as what or how, but they do not ask a question. Instead, they make a passionate statement. There’s a bit of crossover between the end punctuation of imperative and exclamatory sentences, so it can sometimes be difficult to decide which category a sentence belongs in. For example, if a mother screamed, “Stop!” to her child as it runs toward a busy road, is that exclamatory or imperative? It’s imperative, but with passion.

Fiction examples Nonfiction examples

I love water dragons! He made the goal!

Wow, that sphynx scared the life out of me! Our resort offers the most majestic views!

What huge dragons! How grateful the victims were for help!

Write 2 declarative sentences.

Write 2 interrogative sentences. Don’t forget the question mark at the end.

Write 2 imperative sentences. Don’t forget to use verbs conjugated to 2nd person!

Write 2 exclamatory sentences. Don’t forget to use an exclamation mark at the end.

The 8 Parts of Speech

Noun- words that typically can be combined with determiners (a, the) to serve as the subject of a verb, can generally be singular or plural, replaced with a pronoun, and refer to a person, place, animal, plant, object, entity, quality, state, action, or idea.

Person examples: (a) girl/(the) girls; Nelson Mandela; captain; teacher; president

Place examples: (the) park/parks; Paris; town; countryside; city

Animal examples: (a) giraffe/(the) giraffes; Mickey Mouse; panda; camel; ant

Plant examples: (a) bush/(the) bushes; oak; Rosa rubiginosa; jasmine

Object examples: (a) pencil/(the) pencils; computer; Internet; curtain; drain; cement

Entity examples: (a) ghost/(the) ghosts; Amazon; World Health Organization

Quality examples: (his) honesty; (her) generosity; (its) beauty

State of being examples: (their) readiness; (our) delight; (my) happiness

Action examples: running, swimming—such as, Running is good exercise.

Idea examples: justice, mercy, compassion, love, success

Pronoun-words that are used as substitutes for nouns or noun phrases

Examples: he, she, they, its, we, yourself, mine, him, his, anybody, who, that

Verb-a word that expresses an action or state of being

Examples: to run; to jump; to be; to silence; to help; to listen; to know

Adjective- words that modify (describe) nouns

Examples: red, broken, helpful, energetic, short—such as, red car or broken pencil

Adverb- words that modify (describe) verbs, other adverbs, or adjectives

Examples with verbs: hardly danced; sweetly said; well done

Examples with other adverbs: He very quickly shut the door. He almost never leaves.

Examples with adjectives: extremely pretty; totally honest; partially broken

Preposition- a word or group of words used before a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to show direction, time, place, location, spatial relationships, or to introduce an object.

Examples: at, in, below, near, before—such as, before the concert or in the closet

Conjunction: a word that joins together words, sentences, clauses, or phrases.

Examples: and, or, but, yet, for, so—such as, the boy and the girl; sit or stand

Interjection: a word or phrase often expressive of emotion but not grammatically needed or connected to the sentence

Examples: wow, heavens, well, hmm—such as, Wow, that was a great movie.

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

In English, we categorize verbs by function, such as action verbs or linking verbs. Two other classifications include the transitive verb and the intransitive verb.

Simply put, a transitive verb acts on another entity, for example, another person, an animal, an object, or a plant; therefore, it must take a direct object. An intransitive verb works in an opposite manner; it does not act on anything else and therefore, does not take a direct object.

Transitive verbs Intransitive verbs

kick wait

read arrive

buy trend

ask fluctuate

If you think about the verbs in the transitive column above, each one acts on an object. If I say, “Julia kicked,” the sentence is unfinished because transitive verbs take a direct object. I have to include the direct object and share what Julia kicks or in other words, what receives the action of kicking. I can choose any number of objects to give the sentence meaning. Julia kicked the ball. Julia accidentally kicked the sofa. Julia kicked herself for missing the goal.

If I say, “Randy reads,” you would wait for me to say what he reads. Randy reads the newspaper. Randy reads blog posts. Randy reads his son a story. On rare occasions, we could say, “Randy reads” and have it make sense. If a kindergarten teacher asks the parents at open house, “Does Randy read yet?” reads is used intransitively, but with an understood, “Does Randy read (words/books)?” The parent could answer intransitively as well with “Yes, Randy reads,” but again, with an understood direct object, so it’s still working transitively, that is, with a direct object: “Yes, Randy reads (words/books).”

On the other hand, the words in the righthand column above, do not need a direct object to make sense. Let’s take the sentence, I wait for hours. For hours, serves as an adverbial phrase (description) telling when I wait and not as a direct object receiving the action. Let’s try again. I wait outside in the rain. Hmm. Neither rain nor outside actually receive any action of waiting. In the rain and outside act as adverbials (descriptions), telling where I wait.

In fact, If I added a direct object to wait, it would turn the sentence nonsensical: I wait the cow. I wait the umbrella. I wait the bookshelf. Occasionally, we can turn wait into a transitive verb, but not often and this usually happens under very specific conditions like I wait tables at Tito’s Diner. I can say wait tables, but not wait bookshelves.

Pick one of the other intransitive verbs. Try to give it a direct object. Gas prices fluctuated the people. Nope. Her temper fluctuated his patience. Nope. The train arrives the station. Nope. Fashion trends hats this year. Nope.

Most verbs can work both transitively and intransitively, depending on context.

Transitive Intransitive

I play the piano. I play after school.

Aimee sings a folk song. Aimee sings beautifully.

When I use play as a transitive verb, something receives the action—the piano—but when I use the same verb intransitively, nothing receives the action of playing. After school tells when I play and serves as an adverbial phrase (description), not as a direct object.

The same holds true for sing. When Aimee sings a song, something receives the action of singing—the song—but when Aimee sings beautifully, no particular object receives that action, so sing now acts as an intransitive verb.

LOOK UP THE FOLLOWING VERBS TO FIND IF THEY’RE TRANSITIVE OR INTRANSITIVE. Next to the verb write if it’s transitive (needs a direct object) or intransitive (doesn’t use a direct object). If the dictionary lists a bunch of intransitive uses first, then a few transitive, go with the largest list as to whether the verb is usually transitive or intransitive.

1. sneeze

2. rage

3. go

4. take

5. set

6. bring

7. carry

8. lie

9. catch

10. die

NOW USE THE VERBS IN A SENTENCE. Remember transitive verbs must have a direct object (a noun being acted upon), and intransitive verbs do not have a direct object. Some verbs can work either transitively or intransitively.

10.

Verbs

A sentence has two parts, the subject and the predicate. The subject (a noun or pronoun) is the person/thing that performs the action of the sentence. Everything else is the predicate of the sentence. Notice that all the descriptions of the subject are considered part of the subject, too.

Subject Predicate

Jacob and Joseph are going to the movies tonight.

The fluffy, black cat owned by my friend prowls the neighborhood.

(You) Go to bed!

I always cook falafels for Easter.

Many of the students in the class study hard.

Verbs are the part of speech that show action, for example dig, read, or play. We find verbs in the predicate part of the sentence.

English has many labels for verbs, depending on what kind of action they perform or how they are formed.

The most basic form of a verb in English is the infinitive form, meaning, it has not changed tense or person in any way.

The infinitive form always has “to” in front of it:

to play

to jump

to write

to eat

Regular verbs are those whose simple past and past participle are formed by adding the suffix “-ed” (for example, “walk” becomes “walked”).

infinitive simple past

to play played (regular verbs always add “ed” to the simple past tense)

to jump jumped

Some verbs mostly follow the regular form. They add “ed” but also have a slight change. These are verbs that have two or more syllables and end in “y” like “to study.”

infinitive simple past

to study studied

ally (to join with) allied

Irregular verbs are those that do not follow the normal pattern of adding an “ed” at the end for the simple past and past participle. (for example, “go” becomes “went”). These verbs can change many different ways and must be memorized. See the list of irregular verbs.

infinitive simple past

to write wrote (see how the verb changed form instead of adding “ed”?)

to eat ate

In English we conjugate verbs. That means we change the verb depending on the subject and tense. For example, the verb “play” (I/you/they play) adds an S in the third person singular subject to become “plays” (she/he/it plays) This is called subject-verb agreement.

First person singular (I) play write eat

Second person singular (you) play write eat

Third person singular (he/she/it) plays writes eats

First person plural (we) play write eat

Second person plural (you/you all/y’all) play write eat

Third person plural (they) play write eat

Conjugation of the regular verb to live (based on tense):

Simple Present Simple Past Simple Future

live/lives lived will live

Present Continuous Past Continuous Future Continuous

am/are/is living was/were living will be living

Present Perfect Past Perfect Future Perfect

have/has lived had lived will have lived

Present Perfect Continuous Past Perfect Continuous Future Perfect Continuous

have/has been living had been living will have been living

Conjugation of the “mostly” regular verb to study (based on tense):

Simple Present Simple Past Simple Future

study/studies studied will study

Present Continuous Past Continuous Future Continuous

am/are/is studying was/were studying will be studying

Present Perfect Past Perfect Future Perfect

have/has studied had studied will have lived

Present Perfect Continuous Past Perfect Continuous Future Perfect Continuous

have/has been studying had been studying will have been studying

Conjugation of the irregular verb to eat (based on tense):

Simple Present Simple Past Simple Future

eat/eats ate will eat

Present Continuous Past Continuous Future Continuous

am/are/is eating was eating will be eating

Present Perfect Past Perfect Future Perfect

have/has eaten had eaten will have eaten

Present Perfect Continuous Past Perfect Continuous Future Perfect Continuous

have/has been eating had been eating will have been eating

Words Wear Many Hats (Parts of Speech)

Words in English can work as more than one part of speech, such as nouns serving as adjectives or verbs. You have to determine how it’s working in the sentence in order to know if it is an adjective, noun, verb, adverb, preposition, etc. The ways to swap words around the different parts of speech are quite varied, so these are just a few examples to help you get the idea.

We are running late. Running works out more than just leg muscles.

(verb) (noun)

I exercise every day. The gym offers many types of exercise.

(verb) (noun)

Get that dog off the table! He called off the picnic because of the rain.

(preposition) (verb-considered a phrasal verb because it works

with “called” to make “called off,” which is a

whole different verb. Often dubbed a prepositional

verb)

He stomped up the stairs. She broke up with her boyfriend.

(preposition) (verb-like the example above, also part of a phrasal

verb; “break” has a different meaning than “break up”)

English is a difficult language. We like drinking English tea.

(noun) (adjective)

Well, we have to wait and see. He likes his meat cooked well done.

(interjection) (adverb)

I am well, thank you. Must they drill the well now?

(adjective) (noun)

The present is for the new mother. No one escapes taxes, for we must all pay.

(preposition) (conjunction)

He has a lot of bounce in his step. Can you bounce me that ball?

(noun) (verb)

Did you collect rocks on your trip? She rocks the baby to sleep.

(noun) (verb)

I’ll down that drink in 2 seconds! He slipped down the slide.

(verb) (preposition)

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