1. Basic Grammar
For sentence writing.

2. What is a sentence? A sentence is an independent clause
It has a verb and a subject.
Sentences can also have objects, other clauses, phrases, and modifiers.
Sentences can be both simple and complex.

3. Subject and Verb A subject is a person, place, thing or idea. (a noun)
A verb shows action or state of being.
Each sentence should have both a subject and a verb.
Examples:
Jack walked.
They ate.

4. Basic Sentences
We often add other parts to make sentences more interesting.
Examples:
Jack walked to the store to buy milk.
They ate chocolate cake.
But a sentence always needs a subject and a verb.

5. Check your sentences Find the action or state of being word, the verb
Ask, “who or what” + the verb to find the subject
Example:
Jack walked to the store to buy milk.
The action word is walked, so walked is the verb.
Ask: Who or what walked? The answer is Jack, so Jack is the subject.

6. Diagramming When we are learning to write sentences we diagram them
We underline the verb twice and the subject once.
Jack walked to the store to buy milk.
They ate chocolate cake.
Even good writers should do this mentally with every sentence.

7. Compound Sentences Some sentences have more than one verb.
Jack walked to the store and bought some milk.
Some sentences have more than one subject
Jack and Jill walked to the store and bought some milk.

8. Subject and Verb Agreement
All subjects and verbs in a sentence must agree.
Singular subjects take singular verbs and plural subject take plural verbs.
John has a ball.
John and Sally have a ball.
They have a ball.
She has a ball.

9. Confusion It is important to recognize the subject.
The will of the people is to have the streets fixed.
The subject is “will” not “people”, so we use the verb “is”

10. More confusion Some nouns that seem plural are not.
Mankind has sought knowledge from the earliest times.
Mankind, even though it means all of the people is a singular noun.
The choir sings beautifully.
Choir means a group of people but it is singular.

11. Articles
The articles in English, a, an, the indicate specificity. They are determiners.
A and an are indefinite.
They are used when we are not referring to a specific thing.
Please bring me an apple. (any apple)
We saw a whale at the aquarium. (not a particular whale)

12. Articles “The” is a definite article.
We use “the” when we refer to a specific thing.
Please bring me the green apple from the bowl on the table. (a particular apple and a particular table.
The president. The Industrial Revolution. (we are speaking of a very specific thing)

13. Prepositions Prepositions show a relationship.
The rules for prepositions are complex.
You may need to memorize them.
One hint is to think about the relationship.
In the car. Under the desk. We walked from our house to the store., etc…
Reading as much as possible helps.

14. An idiom Practice makes perfect.
If you don’t practice writing and speaking you will not learn.
Do this:
Listen
Read
Write
Speak