 What are we trying to do when we are writing descriptively?

WHAT DO WORDS DO?

Noun  A person, place, thing, or idea

 Nouns  The Theater  Mr. K  Huge  Grass

Pronoun  A pronoun takes the place of a noun or another pronoun.

Pronouns  Writing  It  She  They

Adjective  A word that Describes a noun

 Adjectives  Bright  Teacher  Soft  quick

Verb  A word used to indicate action or a state of being.  3 types of verbs:  Action Verbs  Linking Verbs  Helping Verbs

 Verbs  Scream  Laugh  Loudly  sit

Adverb  A word that describes a verb.

 Adverbs  spoke  Slowly  Awkwardly  sadly

 What kind of words are most important in descriptive writing?

 Verbs!!  Powerful verbs!

 Lightning fired his fiercest bolt straight at Shrek’s head. Shrek just gobbled it, belched some smoke, and grinned.

 John Henry sang and he hammered and the air danced. The rainbow shimmered and Earth shook and rolled from the blows of the hammer.

He went to the store.  Went is booooring! Pick a better verb!  Skipped  Hauled  Tip-toed  Galloped  Bolted  crawled

The mean teacher yelled, “What do you think your doing?”  Yelled is a boring verb.  How about:  Roared  Scolded  Growled  Spit

The whole class laughed at me.  Try to find the right word, always!  Did they laugh, or:  Giggle  Crack up  Squeal  Roar  Thunder  Chuckle

What is the difference between action, linking, and helping verbs?  Action Verbs: Express action; something that a person, animal, thing can do.  Run  Laugh  Jump  Play  Think  Sleep

Linking Verbs  Do not show action.  Connects the subject of the verb to additional information about the subject  Ex. Mr. K is a history buff. Am, are, is, was, were, be, being, been, become, and seem.

Helping Verbs  Always appear with an action verb in a sentence.  Ex. I had hoped to get an A in this class. May, might, must Do, does, did Should, could, would Will, can, shall Have, had, has Am, are, is, was, were, be, being, been.

Interjection  A word added to a sentence to convey emotion.  Examples:  Ouch, that hurt!  Oh no, I forgot that the exam was today.  Hey! Put that down!

Conjunction  Links words, phrases, and clauses  Example:  I ate the pizza and the pasta.  Call the movers when you are ready.

Preposition  A preposition links nouns, pronouns, and phrases to other words in a sentence.  Example:  The book is on the table.  The book is beneath the table.  The book is leaning against the table.  The book is beside the table.  She read the book during class.

Every Sentence Must have a…  Subject and a Predicate (Main verb)

Subject  Who or what the sentence is about.  Complete Subject: all words that tell who or what the sentence is about  Simple Subject: Main word in complete subject.

Find the complete subject and the simple subject:  The study of space travel has brought us many new inventions.  Complete subject: The study of space travel  Simple subject: study

Predicate  Tells about the subject.  Complete predicate: all the words that state the action or condition of the subject.  Simple predicate: main Verb of the sentence

Find the complete and simple predicate in the following sentence:  The study of space travel has brought us many new inventions.  Complete predicate: has brought us many new inventions.  Simple predicate: has brought.

Direct Object  Tells who or what receives the action of the verb.

Find the direct object in the following sentence:  The study of space travel has brought us many new inventions.  Direct Object: Inventions

Indirect object  tells to whom or for whom an action is done.  (to have an I.o., sentence must have a d.o.)

Find the Indirect object in the following sentence:  The study of space travel has brought us many new inventions.  Indirect Object: Us

Clause  A group of words containing a subject and a predicate

Independent Clause  A clause that expresses a complete thought  Can stand alone as a sentence. Ex. The weather is nice in spring.

Dependent Clause  A clause that does not express a complete thought. (fragment)  Has a subject and verb but relies on other words being added  Ex. Before the trial ended.  Ex. When I get home.  Ex. Because we couldn’t find the theater.

Subordinating Conjunctions (signal dependent clauses)  After  Although  As  Because  Before  If  Since  Though  Unless  Until  When  Whenever  Where  Wherever

Coordinating Conjunctions  And  But  So  Or  For  Yet  Nor

Compound Sentence  A sentence containing at least two independent clauses  Usually connected by the conjunctions: and, but, so, or, for, yet  Ex. I like to dance, but Jim likes to sing.

Complex Sentence  A sentence containing an independent and a dependent clause.  Ex. When the fire alarm wailed, everyone left the building.  Ex. We went for a walk because the sun came out.

Simple Sentences  A sentence containing only one clause  What kind of clause do you think it needs to be? INDEPENDENT!!! Now you’re getting it

What kind of sentence?  The book was heavy, but I could lift it easily.  Everyone was feeling tired from the long night.  Everyone left the building when the drill started.  I studied all night because I knew the test would be hard.  The class came in and sat down quietly.  When the coach called my name, I got off the bench, and I went into the game.  I was very nervous, yet I didn’t let anyone know.

Gerund  The -ing form of a verb when it is functioning as a noun.  Ex. Writing is easy.  Gerund = writing

Prepositional Phrase  A phrase consisting of a preposition, its object, and any other modifiers  Ex. I slept under the bridge.  Prepositional phrase = under the bridge.  HW - List of prepositions.