Grammar Notes

Phoneme: The smallest utterance that distinguishes one syllable or word from another Ex. cat, bat

Word: A unit of speech that serves as a carrier of meaning

The Predicate of a sentence… Tells us about the subject. (It’s the VERB!) It can be an action. Ex. “Jimmy ran.” It can be a state of being. Ex. “Jimmy is tired.”

The Subject of a sentence. Who or what the sentence is about. To determine the subject, find the predicate (verb, or action) and ask “who” or “what” before it. Ex. The car bumped my aunt’s flower pot. Ex. Jimmy ate the whole pie.

Groups of Words: Phrase= a group of grammatically related words WITHOUT both a subject and a predicate. Ex. flew to the moon. (this has a predicate, but no subject)

Groups of words continued… Clause=a group of grammatically related words WITH both a subject and a predicate. Not this one!

There are 2 types of Clauses: 1. Dependent clause= a group of grammatically related words with both a subject and a predicate that CANNOT stand alone as a complete thought. NOT A SENTENCE! Ex. Because John was hungry. sub pred

Ex. He ate the whole pizza. 2. Independent clause= a group of grammatically related words with both a subject and a predicate that CAN stand alone as a complete thought. A SENTENCE! Ex. He ate the whole pizza. Sub Pred

NOUNS A NOUN= The Parts of Speech a person (Harry, worker) A place (Victoria, classroom) Object (flower, wall) Idea (peace, justice)

There are 2 types of nouns: PROPER NOUNS= a name of a specific person (Kate) Place (Victoria) Thing (Easter, Mayfair Mall)

COMMON NOUNS= All nouns that are not proper nouns! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfnXUWJz0sE

PRONOUNS PRONOUN= A word that can stand for, or take the place of, a noun. Ex. I, you, he, she, it, they, we, us, you, them, this, that, everyone, anybody, some, who, their, your, myself… Jim went to Jim’s car to get Jim’s coat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koZFca8AkT0

La Fin (for now).