Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives. Summary: This handout provides a detailed overview (including descriptions and examples) of gerunds, participles, and infinitives. Contributors:Purdue OWLLast Edited: 2011-12-09 01:47:54 A gerund is a verbal that ends in -ing and functions as a noun. The term verbal indicates that a gerund, like the other two kinds of verbals, is based on a verb and therefore expresses action or a state of being. However, since a gerund functions as a noun, it occupies some positions in a sentence that a noun ordinarily would, for example: subject, direct object, subject complement, and object of preposition. Gerund as subject: Traveling might satisfy your desire for new experiences.
Gerund as direct object: They do not appreciate my singing. Gerund as subject complement: My cat's favorite activity is sleeping. Gerund as object of preposition: The police arrested him for speeding. The gerund phrase functions as the subject of the sentence. The gerund phrase functions as the direct object of the verb appreciate. Grammar Web Guide. What I know about grammar is its infinite power. To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of the sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters the meaning of the subject photographed. Many people know camera angles now, but not so many know about sentences. -- Joan Didion The term "grammar" can be applied to the description of language behavior as well as to prescriptions for correct language use.
For the purposes of this guide, I am going to assume that the second meaning is the operative one here and that teachers seeking Internet help with grammar will sometimes want reference information and at other times will want explanations and exercises that can be given to students. As a comparison of grammar textbooks and workbooks will show, there can be some disagreement about basic terms. Writing "its" where sense requires "it's" may be treated as an error in diction, as an error in usage, or as an error in spelling. Focus On Common Errors. The Conjunctive Adverb. Verb Tenses. Summary: This handout explains and describes the sequence of verb tenses in English. Contributors:Chris Berry, Allen Brizee, Elizabeth AngeliLast Edited: 2013-09-14 09:29:01 Strictly speaking, in English, only two tenses are marked in the verb alone, present (as in "he sings") and past (as in "he sang"). Other English language tenses, as many as thirty of them, are marked by other words called auxiliaries.
Understanding the six basic tenses allows one to re-create much of the reality of time in their writing. Simple Present: They walk Present Perfect: They have walked Simple Past: They walked Past Perfect: They had walked Future: They will walk Future Perfect: They will have walked Problems in sequencing tenses usually occur with the perfect tenses, all of which are formed by adding an auxiliary or auxiliaries to the past participle, the third principal part. ring, rang, rung walk, walked, walked Present Perfect 1. 2. 1. 2. 1. 2. Past Perfect 1. 2. The vegetables were raised before they were sold. 1. Appositives. Summary: This handout defines appositives and explains how they are used.
Contributors:Chris Berry, Dana Lynn DriscollLast Edited: 2013-04-18 03:29:26 An appositive is a noun or pronoun — often with modifiers — set beside another noun or pronoun to explain or identify it. Here are some examples of appositives (the noun or pronoun will be in blue, the appositive will be in red). Your friend Bill is in trouble. My brother's car, a sporty red convertible with bucket seats, is the envy of my friends. The chief surgeon, an expert in organ-transplant procedures, took her nephew on a hospital tour. An appositive phrase usually follows the word it explains or identifies, but it may also precede it. A bold innovator, Wassily Kandinsky is known for his colorful abstract paintings.
The first state to ratify the U. A beautiful collie, Skip was my favorite dog. Punctuation of appositives Here are some examples. The popular US president John Kennedy was known for his eloquent and inspirational speeches. Verb Tenses. In English, there are three basic tenses: present, past, and future. Each has a perfect form, indicating completed action; each has a progressive form, indicating ongoing action; and each has a perfect progressive form, indicating ongoing action that will be completed at some definite time. Here is a list of examples of these tenses and their definitions: Simple Forms Present Tense Present tense expresses an unchanging, repeated, or reoccurring action or situation that exists only now. Past Tense Past tense expresses an action or situation that was started and finished in the past. Future Tense Future tense expresses an action or situation that will occur in the future.
The speaker of the House will finish her term in May of 1998. The future tense can also be expressed by using am, is, or are with going to. The surgeon is going to perform the first bypass in Minnesota. We can also use the present tense form with an adverb or adverbial phrase to show future time. The president speaks tomorrow.
SAT & ACT Writing: How to Correct Subject-Verb Agreement with Plural / Singular | Kaplan Test Prep. Participles. Avoiding Pronoun Reference Errors Ppt Presentation. Comics :: Grammar. This is a grammar comic about the proper usage of who versus whom. A look at the meaning of "flushing out an idea. " This comic will LITERALLY make butterflies explode out of your underpants. A guide explaining when to use i.e. instead of e.g. A little bit ironic, dontcha think? The most feared punctuation on earth.
The right way to use an apostrophe (in illustrated form). All artwork and content on this site is Copyright © 2016 Matthew Inman. Subject/Verb Agreement. Summary: Ever get "subject/verb agreement" as an error on a paper? This handout will help you understand this common grammar problem. Contributors:Joshua M. Paiz, Chris Berry, Allen BrizeeLast Edited: 2014-04-01 10:34:43 This handout gives you several guidelines to help your subjects and verbs agree. 1. She and her friends are at the fair. 2.
The book or the pen is in the drawer. 3. The boy or his friends run every day. His friends or the boy runs every day. 4. He doesn't like it. They don't like it. 5. One of the boxes is open The people who listen to that music are few. The team captain, as well as his players, is anxious. The book, including all the chapters in the first section, is boring. The woman with all the dogs walks down my street. 6. Each of these hot dogs is juicy. Everybody knows Mr. Either is correct. 7. The news is on at six. Note: the word dollars is a special case. Five dollars is a lot of money. Dollars are often used instead of rubles in Russia. 8.
These scissors are dull. 9. 10. 11. The Prepositional Phrase. Printer Fabulous! Recognize a prepositional phrase when you see one. At the minimum, a prepositional phrase will begin with a preposition and end with a noun, pronoun, gerund, or clause, the "object" of the preposition. The object of the preposition will often have one or more modifiers to describe it.
These are the patterns for a prepositional phrase: Preposition + Noun, Pronoun, Gerund, or Clause Preposition + Modifier(s) + Noun, Pronoun, Gerund, or Clause Here are some examples of the most basic prepositional phrase: At home At = preposition; home = noun. Most prepositional phrases are longer, like these: From my grandmother From = preposition; my = modifier; grandmother = noun. Understand what prepositional phrases do in a sentence. A prepositional phrase will function as an adjective or adverb. The book on the bathroom floor is swollen from shower steam. As an adverb, a prepositional phrase will answer questions such as How? Freddy is stiff from yesterday's long football practice. Grammar Handouts | BHS English Department. BHS English Department "A Room Without Books is Like a Body Without a Soul" – Cicero Skip to content Grammar Handouts 2013-14 sophomores: I will try to rearrange this list into something chronological, rather than alphabetical as the year goes on.
FIRST SEMESTERApostrophesSimile Metaphor Analogy ClichéStory Arc IntroVerb Basics(Participles, Tenses) Accent Marks BHS Common Errors Worksheet 5 of 8 BHS Common Errors Worksheet 6 of 8Direct & Indirect ObjectsTen French PhrasesTen Literary DevicesPronoun Crash Course Vol. 1 Pronoun Crash Course Vol. 2 SECOND SEMESTER Abbreviations BHS Common Errors Worksheet 7 of 8 BHS Common Errors Worksheet 8 of 8 Hyphens It, This, Thing Passive Voice Worksheet Plurals Psychoses SymbolismTen German Phrases Ten Latin PhrasesVerb complexities Share this: Like this: Like Loading...
Leave a Reply Devil’s AdvocateError: Twitter did not respond. Devil’s Playlist on Twitter @rtw4 Duly noted! BHS Poetry Club poetry club is cancelled today- 3/19- ms. skerry is sick! Grammar Nazis. HyperGrammar. Welcome to HyperGrammar electronic grammar course at the University of Ottawa's Writing Centre. This course covers approximately the same ground as our English department's ENG 1320 Grammar course. The content of HyperGrammar is the result of the collaborative work of the four instructors who were teaching the course in Fall 1993: Heather MacFadyen, David Megginson, Frances Peck, and Dorothy Turner. David Megginson was then responsible for editing the grammar and exercises and for converting them to SGML. This package is designed to allow users a great deal of freedom and creativity as they read about grammar. HyperGrammar allows users to create and follow their own lines of thought.
On its first appearance on any page, every grammatical term is linked to its definition. A user reading about nouns might jump to the simple subject, and from there to subordinate clauses -- users are not required or even encouraged to use this material in order. We do not offer any writing help by e-mail. The Big Quiz on Commonly Confused Words - Test on 50 Sets of Confusables - Homophones and Homonyms.