www.watchtvsitcoms.com www.watchtvsitcoms.com www.watchtvsitcoms.com www.watchtvsitcoms.com English Grammar A O* www.watchtvsitcoms.com & Far dummies® ^ Parts of Speech i^ Noun: names a person, place, thing, idea (Lulu, jail, cantaloupe, loyalty, and so on) W Pronoun: takes the place of a noun (he, who, I, what, and so on) u* Verb: expresses action or being (scrambled, was, should win, and so on) v* Adjective: describes a noun or pronoun (messy, strange, alien, and so on) A> Adverb: describes a verb, adjective, or other adverb (willingly, woefully, very, and so on) u* Preposition: relates a noun or a pronoun to another word in the sentence (by, for, from, and so on) i^ Conjunction: ties two words or groups of words together (and, after, although, and so on) i> Interjection: expresses strong emotion (yikesi wow! ouch! and so on) Parts of a Sentence f Verb (also called the predicate): expresses the action or state of being t> Subject: the person or thing being talked about u* Complement: a word or group of words that completes the meaning of the subject-verb pair i> Types of complements: direct and indirect objects, subject complement, objective complement Pronouns Tips Pronouns that may be used only as subjects or subject complements: I, he, she, we, they, who, whoever. Pronouns that may be used only as objects or objective complements: me, him, her ,us, them, whom, whomever. Common pronouns that may be used as either subjects or objects: you, it, everyone, anyone, no one, someone, mine, ours, yours, theirs, either, neither, each, everybody, anybody, nobody, somebody, everything, anything, nothing, something, any, none, some, which, what, that. Pronouns that show possession: my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, their, theirs, whose. www.watchtvsitcoms.com For Dummies: Bestsellinq Book Series for Beginners English Grammar www.watchtvsitcoms.com Far ùummtes® Subject-Verb Agreement Tips W Match singular subjects with singular verbs, plural subjects with plural verbs. i* Amounts of time and money are usually singular (ten dollars is). v* Either/or and neither/nor: Match the verb to the closest subject (neither the boys nor the girl is). v0 Either and neither, without their partners orand nor, always take a singular verb (either of the apples is). v* All subjects preceded by each and everytake a singular verb. k* Both, few, several, many are always plural. Punctuation Tips u* Endmarks: All sentences need an endmark: a period, question mark, exclamation point, or -!£ ellipsis. Never put two endmarks at the end of the same sentence. V Apostrophes: For singular ownership generally add s;for plural ownership generally add s'. J> Commas: In direct address use commas to separate the name from the rest of the sentence. In lists place commas between items in a list, but not before the first item. Before conjunctions, when combining two complete sentences with a conjunction, place a comma before the con junction. If you have one subject and two verbs, don't put a comma before the conjunction. Verb Tense Tips u* Simple present tense: tells what is happening now ^ Simple past tense: tells what happened before now i* Simple future: talks about what has not happened yet J> Present perfect tense: expresses an action or state of being in the presen tthat has some connection with the past % E v* Past perfect tense: places an event before another event in the past -a 2 W Future perfect tense: talks about something that has not happened yet in relation to another event in the future ^2 Copyright ©2001 Hungry Minds, Inc. All rights reserved. Cheat Sheet $2.95 value. Item 5322-4. Hungry Minds'" por more information about Hungry Minds, www.watchtvsitcoms.comcall 1-800-762-2974. For Dummies: Bestsetting Book Series for Beginners TM www.watchtvsitcoms.com References fat the Rest of Ust Do you find that traditional reference books are overloaded with BESTSELLING technical details and advice you'll never use? Do you postpone important life decisions because you just don't want to deal with BOOK SERIES them? Then our For Dummies® business and general reference book series is for you. For Dummies business and general reference books are written for those frustrated and hard working souls who know they aren't dumb, but find that the myriad of personal and business issues and the accompanying horror stories make them feel helpless. For Dummies books use a lighthearted approach, a down-to-earth style, and even cartoons and humorous icons to dispel fears and build confidence. Lighthearted but not lightweight these books are perfect survival guides to solve your everyday personal and business problems. "More than a publishing phenomenon, 'Dummies'is a sign of the times. " — The New York Times ".. .you won't go wrong buying them. " — Walter Mossberg, Wall Street Journal, on For Dummies books "A world of detailed and authoritative information is packed into them... " — U.S. News and World Report Already, millions of satisfied readers agree. They have made For Dummies the #1 introductory level computer book series and a best-selling business book series. They have written asking for more. Wiley Publishing, Inc. So, if you're looking for the best and easiest way to learn about business and other general reference topics, look to For Dummies to give you a helping hand. www.watchtvsitcoms.com 5/09 www.watchtvsitcoms.com www.watchtvsitcoms.com www.watchtvsitcoms.com English Grammar FOR by Géraldine Woods Wiley Publishing, Inc. www.watchtvsitcoms.com www.watchtvsitcoms.com English Grammar For Dummies® Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 909 Third Avenue New York, NY 10022 www.wi1ey.com Copyright © 2001 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8700. 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For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Library of Congress Control Number: 2001089309 ISBN: 0-7645-5322-4 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 1B/RT/QT/QT/IN www.watchtvsitcoms.com www.watchtvsitcoms.com About the Author Géraldine Woods' career as a grammarian began in her elementary school, which in those days was called "grammar school" for very good reason. With the guidance of a series of nuns carrying long rulers (good for pointing at the board and slapping unruly students), she learned how to diagram every conceivable type of sentence. She has been an English teacher for 25 years and has written 40 books, give or take a few. She loves minor-league baseball, Chinese food, and the novels of Jane Austen. The mother of a grown son (Tom, a lawyer), she lives in New York City with Harry (her husband of 30 years) and parakeets Alice and Archie. www.watchtvsitcoms.com www.watchtvsitcoms.com www.watchtvsitcoms.com