Grammar Crash Course

1. Grammar Crash Course!!
Buckle Up!

2. Focus of Today’s Grammar
Crash Course:
• What is Grammar?
• The 8 Parts of Speech, focusing on
• Nouns and Pronouns
• Verbs and Adverbs
• person, number, tense, and voice of verbs
• Adjectives
• Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases
• Basic Sentence Structures
• Dependent vs. Independent Clauses
• Grammar Based Composition for Practice

3. What is Grammar?
• The system and
structure of a language
OR
• Both the framework of
a language and the
process through which
a language conveys
meaning

4. Why Bother Learning
Grammar?
• Understanding grammar
means understanding the
mechanics of your own
language, making you
better at:
 reading
 writing
 communicating
 understanding the world
around you
 learning Latin!

5. Where Did Grammar Come From?
• Waaaay back in ancient Greece, the philosophers Aristotle and Plato
began describing the grammar of their native language, classical
Greek.
 They did this as part of their philosophical investigation into the true
meaning of words, ideas, and concepts; what words in language actually
represent; and how people communicate using words.
• Grammar became a formal study that looks a lot like modern grammar
under the Romans.
 The Romans needed all these fancy grammar words because they wanted
to quickly learn a foreign language: Greek.
 “Grammar” makes this a lot easier because it allows a clear comparison
between the structures and patterns of your native language with the
foreign language you are trying to learn.

6. The Real Question is . . .
Who has the better beard, Plato or Aristotle?
Plato, Long and Curly Aristotle, Full but Trim

7. The 8 Parts of Speech
• Noun
• Pronoun
• Adjective
• Conjunction
• Verb
• Adverb
• Preposition
• Interjection
Every word you have spoken,
speak, or will speak
falls into one of these
categories!

8. Nouns
• A noun is a person,
place, thing, or idea
• Examples:
– Billy, Portland, table,
freedom
• Proper Nouns are
nouns that require
capitalization
– Generally names of
people and places

9. Pronouns
• What is a Pronoun?
– It’s a word that takes the place of a noun (PPTI). The
teacher gives the presentation that he wrote. Rather
than repeat “the teacher,” we use “he.”
• Common Pronouns:
– I we
– you
– he/she/it they
• Common Pronouns that show Possession
– my/mine our/ours
– your/yours
– his/her/its their

10. Pronouns II
• The pronoun “who/which/that” refers back to a noun
already mentioned and governs its own clause
– The boy who cried wolf was sorry in the end.
• Who can only refer back to people.
• Use “whom” when the person referred to is an object in
the clause
– The boy whom the wolf ate was definitely sorry in the
end.
– I gave the prize to the winner for whom it was intended.
• Use “which” or “that” when referring back to to things.
– The books that are on the shelf should be required
reading.

11. Pronoun Errors
• On the SAT/ACT Multiple Choice Writing Questions, you will
often be asked to identify a place where a noun or nouns do not
agree with a pronoun.
• Example: A smart tennis player such as Roger is someone
A
who knows how to move around the court, can hit winners at
B C
the net, and controls their emotions. No error.
D E
– The mistake is in choice D. Their is a plural pronoun. The subject
in the sentence, player, is singular. Instead of using their, the
sentence should have used his as the pronoun.

12. Adjectives
• Adjectives are descriptive words that “modify”
(describe) nouns
– The bad man robbed the bank.
– The book was very long and difficult.
• Adjectives are qualities and quantities. Find
them below:
– Twenty happy women filled the spacious square
on a sunny afternoon.

13. Conjunctions
• Conjunctions are the little words that join other parts of speech
together.
– You and I are studying grammar but not zoology.
– She filled up when she arrived at the gas station.
• Conjunctions can join parts of sentences, nouns, adjectives,
adverbs, verbs . . . almost anything!
• Conjunction = conjoin => think: conjoined twins to help you
remember
• We’ll get more on conjunctions in a bit when we talk about
sentence structures

14. Verbs = Action!
 Verbs are ACTION words - EXPLODE, do,
make, run, eat, sleep, spin, draw, feel, sprint,
play, study, pass, fail, grow . . .
 Also “to be” is a verb in all its forms - be, am,
are, is, was, has been, etc.
 Verbs have 5 attributes, or aspects, to the
action they express:

Person

Number

Tense

Mood

Voice

15. Person
 “Person” refers to the noun’s point of
view as he/she/it performs the action of
the sentence.
 There are 3 possible points of view:
 1st person = I or we
 2nd person = you
 3rd person = he/she/it or they

16. Number
 This is easy:
 Singular = one
 Plural = more than one
 Let’s look at the verb “love” in all possible persons
and numbers:
“love” Singular Plural
1st Person I love we love
2nd Person you love you love
3rd Person he/she/it loves they love

17. Tense = Time
 When did the action of the verb
happen? The answer is the verb’s
tense.
 Six main tenses:
1. Present = right now = he eats
2. Past = before now = he ate
3. Future = after now = he will eat
4. Present Perfect = before now,
with an effect now = he has
eaten (and is now therefore full)
5. Past Perfect = before a time in
the past = he had eaten already
when he arrived
6. Future Perfect = after a time in
the future = he will have eaten
when he arrives tomorrow

18. Hey! You Payin’ Attention?!
 Put the verb “love” into
all six tenses in the 1st
person plural
 Present =
 Past =
 Future =
 Present Perfect =
 Past Perfect =
 Future Perfect =

19. Hey! You Payin’ Attention?!
 Put the verb “love” into all six
tenses in the 1st person
plural
 Present = we love
 Past = we loved
 Future = we shall love
 Present Perfect = we have
loved
 Past Perfect = we had loved
 Future Perfect = we shall
have loved

20. Back to Verbs: Mood
 Mood refers to the “tone” of the
verb or the attitude of the speaker.
 Three moods:
 Indicative - think “indicate.” This
mood just points things out and
makes statements. Example: I
am studying for my exam.
 Imperative - expresses
commands. Example: “Finish
your homework, Bobby.” “Enjoy
Coke.”
 Subjunctive - expresses unreal
or hypothetical situations.
Example: I would go to class if I
ever learned anything.

21. Voice
 Two Voices:
 Active: the subject
performs the action
of the verb.
Example: Jim hits
the ball.
 Passive: the subject
does NOT perform
the action. Example:
The ball is hit (by
Jim).

22. Voice Practice
Let’s change these verbs
from active to passive
or vice versa.
 We drive.
 He was denied.
 You will eat.
 They had been helped.
 Stephen was covering.

23. Verb Practice
 Can you identify the five attributes
of these verbs?
 We held
 Person
 Number
 Tense
 Mood
 Voice
 She will have read
 Person
 Number
 Tense
 Mood
 Voice
You had been aided
Person
Number
Tense
Mood
Voice
Just do it!
Person
Number
Tense
Mood
Voice

24. Adverbs
• Adverbs modify verbs and
sometime adjectives
• Usually end in -ly
• Examples: “We barely escaped.”
“The students submitted an
extremely excellent performance.”

25. Prepositions and
Prepositional Phrases
• Prepositions are little words that most
often, but not always, express place.
– Examples: under, through, around, with,
without, into, in, on, about
• A prepositional phrase is simple the
preposition itself and the words it
governs.
– Example: “He ran into the cave.” “I came
with him.”

26. Interjections
• Hey, these are obvious and easy!
• Holy cow!
• Wow!
• Whoa, did you see that?
• Hi, how are you?

27. Basic Sentence Structures
Subject = the noun that performs the
action of the verb
Direct object = the noun that receives
the action of the verb
 Billy hits Timmy.
 Billy is the subject => he hits
 Timmy is the direct object => he is hit

28. Basic Sentence Structures
 Indirect Object = a noun that is affected by the action
of the verb in a secondary way.
 The noun answers the question “To whom?” or
“For whom?
 Indirect Objects are found with verbs of giving,
showing, and saying.
 Examples: “I said to Billy, ‘Do not hit Timmy.” “She
showed her stamp collection to the class. It was
really boring.” “Santa gives gifts to children at
Christmas time.”
 Sometimes the to/for gets left out, depending on the
wording. “Santa gives children gifts at Christmas
time.”

29. What is a Sentence?
 A complete sentence needs to have at just two
words: a subject and a verb that go together.
 We sleep.
 Anything else is considered a phrase or a dependent
clause.
 A phrase consists of two or more words expressing a
thought but without a subject-verb combo
 Example: Sleeping at night . . .
 To investigate the crime . . .
 And remember prepositional phrases? We ran
around the house.
 A dependent clause uses a subordinating conjunction
and may have a subject-verb combo
 => more on this . . .

30. Independent vs. Dependent
Clauses
A dependent clause requires a subordinating
conjunction. Let’s look at some examples:
 While I was at work, I missed the game.
 You eat breakfast because it’s healthy.
“While I was at work.” is not a complete
sentence. It is dependent on the complete
idea of “I missed the game.”
While is the word that makes it
dependent/subordinate to the main idea of “I
missed the game.”

31. Bringing It All Together
 Grammar based composition: I will give you a list
of grammatical items that must appear in a
sentence that you will write.
 Example: write a sentence that contains the
following: a verb in third person singular and past
tense, a prepositional phrase, and an indirect
object.
– One possible answer: She gave him a gift on his
birthday.
• “She gave” is 3rd person singular, past tense.
• “him” is an indirect object of “give”
• “on his birthday” is a prepositional phrase.

32. Your Turn
1. Write a sentence that contains the
following:
– a verb in the 2nd person, future tense
– two adjectives
– one adverb
– a prepositional phrase

33. Your Turn
 Write a sentence that contains the
following:
– a dependent clause
– a verb in the 1st person, past perfect tense
– a direct object of “the pancake people”
– a verb in the passive voice

34. Review of Today’s
Presentation:
• What is Grammar?
• The 8 Parts of Speech, focusing on
– Nouns and Pronouns
– Verbs and Adverbs
• person, number, tense, and voice of verbs
– Adjectives
– Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases
• Basic Sentence Structures
• Dependent vs. Independent Clauses
• Grammar Based Composition for Practice