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Grammar English 9B

Grammar English 9B. Updated 2010. Questions on the English portion of the ACT test fall into two categories:. Usage/Mechanics (punctuation, grammar and usage, sentence structure) Rhetorical Skills (writing strategy, organization, style).

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Grammar English 9B

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  1. GrammarEnglish 9B Updated 2010

  2. Questions on the English portion of the ACT test fall into two categories: • Usage/Mechanics (punctuation, grammar and usage, sentence structure) • Rhetorical Skills (writing strategy, organization, style)

  3. Rhetorical skills questions focus on writing strategy, organization, and style: • In the early day the O’odham became acquainted with marching bands and woodwind instruments (which explains the presence of saxophones in waila). • Given that all of the choices are true, which one is most relevant to the focus of this paragraph: A. NO CHANGE B. (although fiddles were once widely used in waila bands) C. (even though they’re now often constructed of metal). D. (which are frequently found in jazz bands also).

  4. Usage/Mechanics questions focus on punctuation, grammar and usage, and sentence structure. • Punctuation questions involve identifying and correcting the following misplaced, missing, or unnecessary punctuation marks: -commas -apostrophes -colons, semi-colons, and dashes -periods, question marks, and exclamation points

  5. Grammar and usage questions involve choosing the best word or words in a sentence: • Subject/verb agreement • Pronoun and antecedent • Proper use of adverbs and adjectives • Verb forms • Pronoun forms and cases • Comparative and superlative modifiers • Idiomatic English

  6. Sentence structure questions involve the effective formation of sentences: • Subordinate or dependent clauses • Run-on sentences • Comma splices • Sentence fragments • Misplaced modifiers • Shifts in verb tense or voice • Shifts in pronoun person or number

  7. The First Step The first step in any understanding of grammar and usage, punctuation, etc. (basically anything in the English section) is being able to figure out the main subject of the sentence and the main verb. From this, all else will follow.

  8. Subject The subject is a noun. It is the main “actor” in the sentence. To find the subject Ask yourself: “Who or what is doing something in the sentence?”

  9. Main Verb The main verb is the action being performed (or a “state of being”/linking verb). Note: It’s easy when a sentence follows the normal pattern: “Sally ran around the track.”

  10. Main Verb (cont.) It gets more complicated when sentences become more complex: Example Indeed, the thought that the drastic public-spending cuts a Tory government might make were motivated by doctrinaire conviction, rather than necessity, would diminish the party’s appeal rather than enhance it.

  11. Remember… The subject and verb occur in the main clause of the sentence. They will also occur in a dependent (subordinate clause).

  12. Dependent Clauses A dependent clause is dependent—it cannot stand alone as its own sentence even though it has a subject and a verb: Example: “Even though my mom didn’t want me to go.” What’s the subject? What’s the verb? But is it a sentence? What do we call this type of mistake? (see next slide)

  13. Sentence Fragments Answer to previous slide: sentence fragment Even though it has a subject and a verb, a dependent clause is not a sentence—it’s a sentence fragment when used alone. Note: The subject and the verb are not the main subject and verb of the sentence because they are not the subject and verb of the main clause. Speaking of main clauses, what is the main clause of the sentence at the top of this page.

  14. Subject/Verb Separation It also gets tricky when the subject and verb are separated (in this case by a parenthetical element). Example: “My dad and mom, feeling hungry, stopped for supper on the way home.”

  15. Grammar and Usage Rules

  16. Subject/Verb Agreement #1 Rule: Subjects must agree in number with the verb.

  17. Subject/Verb Agreement #1 (cont.) It’s straightforward when the subject precedes the verb: Example: Samuel sleep/sleeps too much on weekends.

  18. Subject/Verb Agreement #1 (cont.) But it can be confusing if the subject comes after the verb: Example: Despite the nice weather outside, there is/are many children who choose to exercise outside for recess.

  19. Subject/Verb Agreement #1 (cont.) Correct this sentence: Inside the fire pit burns the many marshmallows on sticks.

  20. Subject/Verb Agreement #2 Rule: Make the verb agree with its subject without being confused by words that come between.

  21. Subject/Verb Agreement #2 (cont.) Note: Intervening phrases, like the prepositional phrase below, sometimes fool writers. Example: The cars on the street next to the house need/needs to be moved.

  22. Subject/Verb Agreement #2 (cont.) Correct these sentences: • The housing agreement, a document derived of both buyer demands and seller requests, are among the most important documents signed at the closing of a sale. • The temperature used to cook the vegetables and the sides is/are not as important as the temperature used to cook many types of meat.

  23. Subject/Verb Agreement #3 Rule: Treat most compound subjects connected by “and” as plural. Example: Remember that your lunch and notebook is/are in your own hands. Note: “your lunch and notebook” is a compound subject and therefore requires the verb “are”

  24. Subject/Verb Agreement #3 (cont.) Write these sentences correctly: • Dan and Susie often read/reads together. • Both the words “racecar” and “pop” is a palindrome.

  25. Subject/Verb Agreement #3 (cont.) Exception: When the parts of the subject form a single unit, treat the subject as singular. Example: Strawberries and cream is my new favorite flavor of oatmeal.

  26. Subject/Verb Agreement #3 (cont.) Note: With the compound subjects connected by “or” or “nor,” make the verb agree with the part of the subject nearer to the verb. Examples: • Neither the instructor nor the skiers was/were able to see the top of the run. • Neither the skiers nor the instructor was/were able to see the top of the run

  27. Subject/Verb Agreement #4 Rule: Treat collective nouns as singular unless the meaning is clearly plural. Note: Collective nouns include words like jury, committee, audience, crowd, class. In American English, we usually treat these words as singular. (see next slide for examples)

  28. Subject/Verb Agreement #4 (cont.) Examples with explanations: 1. The audience appreciate/appreciates the pleasant music. (In this example, the audience, as a unit, collectively appreciates the music.) 2. The audience is/are listening among themselves. (In this example, however, the audience, as a whole, cannot listen among themselves – it doesn’t make sense; the meaning is plural.) Note: Adding a word like ”members” after audience, will help to clear up confusion.

  29. Subject/Verb Agreement #4 (cont.) Write these sentences correctly: • The social committee meet in the small office on Mondays. • The group are a very well educated bunch of students.

  30. Subject/Verb Agreement #5 Rule: Keep verb tense consistent. Note: When writing about literature, always keep events in the present tense.

  31. Subject/Verb Agreement #5 (cont.) Rewrite the following sentences correctly in your notebook. Make sure to choose the correct tense of the underlined word: • Over the last year, the use of computers has/had grown more than any other year. • The story Night by Elie Wiesel is/was a book about a Holocaust survivor, and it is/was read by English 9 students.

  32. Subject/Verb Agreement #6 Rule: Nouns in a sentence must have a logical number relation.

  33. Subject/Verb Agreement #6 (cont.) Rewrite the following sentences correctly: • The paper on the floor and the writing on the desks are a reminder of how disrespectful the students are toward the janitors. • The rules state that only children wearing a shirt can play in the play area.

  34. Subject/Verb Agreement #7 Rule: Make pronouns and antecedents agree in number.

  35. Subject/Verb Agreement #7 (cont.) Rewrite the following sentences correctly: • Every student must study if they want to do well on the upcoming test. • The amount of money a student can earn during a summer depends on their job.

  36. Subject/Verb Agreement #8 Rule: Use personal pronouns and nouns in the proper case. (see chart on next slide)

  37. Subject/Verb Agreement #8 (cont.) See chart: subject object possessive Singular1st person I me my 2nd person you you your 3rd person he/she/it him/her/it his/hers/its Plural1st person we us our 2nd person you you your 3rd person they them their

  38. Subject/Verb Agreement #8 (cont.) Rewrite the following sentences correctly: • Him and Margo will enter the health and science fair. • Astronomy interests him and I. • Jackie and me plan to chart the constellations.

  39. Subject/Verb Agreement #9 Rule: Do not shift pronouns in number or person.

  40. Subject/Verb Agreement #9 (cont.) Rewrite the following sentences correctly: • If anybody wants to succeed in playing football, they have to know the rules of the game. • One cannot understand the complexity of the math problem until you try to solve it.

  41. Subject/Verb Agreement #10 Rule: Pronoun references must be clear (rather than ambiguous).

  42. Subject/Verb Agreement #10 (cont.) Rewrite the following sentences correctly: • After putting the disk in the cabinet, Clarence sold it. • Take the radio out of the car and fix it.

  43. Subject/Verb Agreement #11 Rule: Avoid faulty comparisons.

  44. Subject/Verb Agreement #11 (cont.) Rewrite the following sentences correctly: • I like Michael Jackson's songs more than Madonna. • The weather in Canada is colder than Mexico.

  45. Subject/Verb Agreement #12 Rule: • Adjectives only modify nouns (or pronouns). • Adverbs may modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.

  46. Subject/Verb Agreement #12 (cont.) Rewrite the following sentences correctly: • When she gave her speech, Grace spoke quicker than Sam did. • The train is slowly. • The cake tastes well.

  47. Grammar and Usage Extra Rules

  48. Affect/Effect Affect/Effect- you use affect in cases of influence and usually as a verb; you use effect usually as a noun.

  49. Affect/Effect Sentences Rewrite and complete these sentences correctly by inserting affect or effect where appropriate: • "Environmentalists are investigating the ways in which the oceans ____ the environment. • They discussed the _____ of the law on children. 

  50. Accept/Except Accept/except—Accept is used in verb tense “To Take in” and except is used as a preposition “other than”

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