By Fred Duckworth
The
Complete
Beginning
GRAMMAR Language Arts Program
bat in a cap
For the first time in his life Little Duck began to understand why it was that no one in the flock could ever be found swimming in the One or two fish, red and pond on those days when Catfish and Coyote
See the van. blue fish.
Copyright Š 2012 by Fred Duckworth. All rights reserved. This publication is copyrighted and may only be copied, distributed or displayed for personal use on an individual, one-time basis. Transmitting this work in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher is expressly prohibited. All copyright notifications must be included and you may not alter them in any way. Moreover, you may not modify, transform, or build upon this work, nor use this work for commercial purposes.
Why study grammar? rammar? A KEY TO UNDERSTANDING NG The ability to communicate—to to both give and receive information—is is extremely important, with good communication helping to maximize your understanding of the world in which you live. This involves being able to recognize the main ideas expressed in what you read and hear. However, to determine the main idea ideas in written and oral presentations, presentations you have to be able to identify the main idea ideas in individual paragraphs. And to do that, you need to be able to pinpoint the subject and predicate within each sentence, a skill that requires you to have a thorough understanding of nouns and verbs—which verbs brings us right back to grammar.
What is grammar? ENGLISH LANGUAGE CON CONVENTIONS Grammar has to do with how the parts of our language fit together to form sentences. It’s the process of combining words and punctuation correctly to communicate effectively. To communicate in a professional manner (for example, in a business setting), you need be able to use “conventional” English English.. The term conventional refers to the fact that this form on English is the established dialect to which most people have agreed. Keep in mind however that grammar is not the same as vocabulary. While vocabulary v has to do with whether a word is used correctly in terms of its definition, grammar concerns itself with whether a word is placed correctly within a given sentence. Accordingly, using long, important sounding words is not the same as using good grammar.
What is a sentence? ENGLISH LANGUAGE CON CONVENTIONS Since grammar is all about forming sentences correctly, we had better start by clarifying exactly what a sentence is.
A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought.
But, in order express a complete thought, a sentence has to be about something. In other words, it has to have a subject. The subject of a sentence is the person person, animal or the thing that is either doing something, having something, or being something in the sentence. We can therefore say that the subject of a sentence is the main thing that the sentence is about. Also, it is usually a noun or a pronoun. This meanss if we want to find the subject of a sentence (a very important ability to have if you wish to understand what you read) we must first be able to identify nouns.
Identifying nouns ENGLISH LANGUAGE CON CONVENTIONS Of course, to identify a noun, you must first know what a noun is. The following definition is the one that is probably used most often:
A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing or idea. idea
Nouns are basically divided into two major groups: abstract and concrete. concrete However, for right now we will only focus on concrete nouns.
Name: _____________________________________________________
Date: ______/______/______
Score: _______
ENGLISH LANGUAGE CONVENTIONS GRAMMAR Sentence Structure Lesson 1
Identifying Concrete Nouns Background Information: A concrete noun is a word that is used to name a person, place or thing. Nouns are the first of eight basic parts of speech.
EXAMPLES: Mr. Mahmoud and girl are concrete nouns because both name people. Al Ain and room are concrete nouns because both name places. Car and rock are concrete nouns because both name nonliving things. Camel and tree are concrete nouns because both name living things.
Directions: In each of the following sentences the noun has been identified by placing the numeral 1 above it. Decide if the noun is used to name a person, a place or a thing. Then write your answer on the corresponding line. The first one has been done for you.
person
1
1. The baby is funny.
____________________
1
2. Some apples are green.
____________________
1
3. That pencil is dull.
____________________
1
4. Our family is coming here.
____________________
1
5. My table is clean.
____________________
1
6. The mall is air conditioned. 1
7. This country is 41 years old.
____________________ ____________________
1
8. His new bike is painted blue. 1
9. My favorite game was lost.
____________________ ____________________
1
10. Every child gets a prize.
____________________
Copyright Š 2012 by Jewels Educational Services
Name: _____________________________________________________
Date: ______/______/______
Score: _______
ENGLISH LANGUAGE CONVENTIONS GRAMMAR Sentence Structure Lesson 2
Identifying Concrete Nouns Background Information: A noun is a word that is used to name a person, place, thing or idea. It is the first of eight basic parts of speech. A concrete noun is a word that is used to name a person, place or thing. Concrete nouns usually name something you can see or touch. For example, look at the sentence below:
My grandmother is here. You cannot see a “my” or an “is” or a “here,” but you can see a “grandmother.” Unless it is representing an idea, you can usually draw a picture of a noun. Therefore, to find the noun in a sentence, try to find a word this is something you can draw a picture of. Directions: Carefully read the sentences below. Identify the noun in each sentence by printing the numeral “1” above it. Then draw a picture of the noun in the box.
1. The baby is funny.
4. The television is broken.
2. Go to school right now!
5. Wash the dog.
3. The doctor is nice.
6. My mother said do not go.
Name: _____________________________________________________
Date: ______/______/______
Score: _______
ENGLISH LANGUAGE CONVENTIONS GRAMMAR Sentence Structure Lesson 3
Identifying Concrete Nouns Background Information: A noun is a word that is used to name a person, place, thing or idea. It is the first of eight basic parts of speech. A concrete noun is a word that is used to name a person, place or thing.
To find a noun, it helps to look for a word that is something you can draw a picture of.
Directions: Carefully read each sentence below. Print the numeral “1� above each noun. (The first one has been done for you.) 1. The dog is standing still. 2. The crab is red. 3. That animal stood on its hind legs. 4. A blue jay sat on the tree. 5. The mother bear lifted her right paw.
Hence, the subject is the person or the thing the sentence is about. Before going any further, make sure you have committed this piece of information to memory and that you will be able to verbalize this fact at any time, should you be asked to do so.
Note however that even if a sentence has a subject, it still needs something else to express a complete thought. That's because the subject in the sentence cannot do anything, have anything, or be anything without something called a predicate. The predicate tells what the subject of a sentence is, does, or has.
And of course, sentences always begin with a capital letter and end with some type of punctuation mark—either either a period, question mark or exclamation point. One of the first skills any student must develop is the ability to recognize and use complete, coherent sentences sentences. This sort of task is usually aided by being able to verbalize any important related skill or concept on your own. So, though we defined the term sentence on this page, let’s pause ause a moment to verify that you have logged this information in your long-term long memory. Let’s take it step-by-step: A sentence is a group of words. Oh, but we can’t stop there! You see, not every group of words is a sentence. No, a sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought thought. But, what is meant by complete? It simply means that the sentence has to be coherent, which is just a fancy word that means understandable. In other words, a sentence has to be a group of words that makes sense. And to o better understand what goes into forming understandable sentences, we study grammar, which if you will recall, is simply the study of how sentences are put together.
How are sentences put together? SENTENCE STRUCTURE As you probably already know, one of the first things everyone learns about sentences is that they have to begin with a capital letter. Secondly, sentences are required to end with a punctuation mark mark—either either a period, a question mark, for an exclamation point. Combining this knowledge with the fact that a sentence has to make sense will help you to unscramble the mixed up sentences on the next page. Even if you were unable to read you should be able to successfully essfully complete the activity, provided you can distinguish between uppercase and lowercase letters. The activity is meant to reinforce the fact that all sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a punctuation mark. Non-readers can look for the word or word group beginning with a capital letter to determine which of the cards comes first. Of course, a card ending with a punctuation mark is the one that comes last. And obviously, the only remaining card should be placed in the middle. The same activity can be carried out in a much more interesting and fun fashion by going to the following webpage: http://www.earobics.com/gamegoo/games/monkey/monkey.html
Name: _____________________________________________________
Date: ______/______/______
Score: _______
ENGLISH LANGUAGE CONVENTIONS GRAMMAR Sentence Structure Lesson 1
SENTENCE ORDER Directions: Below is a series of mixed up sentences. Use your knowledge about capital letters and punctuation marks to rewrite each sentence, putting the words in the correct order. (The first one has been done for you.) a blue car.
1.
I saw a blue car.
is
warm
The cookies.
He
very fast.
__________________________________________________________________________ are
6.
Here
__________________________________________________________________________ runs
5.
I
__________________________________________________________________________ are
4.
love
__________________________________________________________________________ a red pencil.
3.
I
__________________________________________________________________________ to sing.
2.
saw
funny
Frogs
__________________________________________________________________________