1. 8th Grade Semester One English Exam Review
To be used in conjunction with review handout and your textbook.

2. Nouns

3. Nominative & Objective Case Nouns
The best source to study for this is your packet.
Page one covers your Nominative Case Nouns (S, SC, DA, Appos).
Page two covers your Objective Case Nouns (DO, IO, OP, Appos).

4. Nominative Case Nouns can be found on pages 251 & 252 in your textbook.

5. Nominative Case Nouns
Subject:
Where: They are usually at the front of the sentence in front of the verb.
What: They are the noun or nouns that do the verb.
Clue: Find the verb and ask “who” or “what” is doing it.
Example: Susan walked three miles to her home.
Subject Compliment:
Where: They are always behind the linking verb toward the back of the sentence.
What: They are nouns that restate the subjects in front of them.
Clue: Find the subject and verb and ask the question “who” or “what”, look behind the l
linking verb for the answer. (Remember, these can not be in prepositional phrases.)
Example: My sister is the girl in the third row.
Direct Address:
Where: They can be in the front, middle, or end of the sentence.
What: They are the nouns (usually people) that are being spoken to in the sentence.
Clue: Most direct addresses are people, and commas always set them off.
Example: Go to the store, Sarah, and buy some bread.
Appositives:
Where: They are always directly behind the noun they replace. (No verb is between
them).
What: They are nouns that repeat or restate a noun in front of them.
Clue: They are similar to subject compliments without the linking verb between
them, and commas sometimes set them off.
Appositives in the Nominative case can restate subjects and subject compliments
Example: Joseph, my neighbor, gave me a ride to school.

6. Objective Case Nouns - These can be found on pages 257-258 in your textbook.

7. Nouns in the Objective Case
Direct Object:
Where: They are behind the action verb.
What: They are nouns that receive action from the verb.
Clue: Find the subject and verb and ask “who” or “what”, look behind the verb for the answer.
(Remember DO’s can not be in prepositional phrases).
Example: Tony received the award for his speech.
Object of Preposition:
Where: They are the noun or nouns located behind the prepositions in the prepositional phrases.
What: They are nouns that complete the prepositional phrases.
Clue: You must know your prepositions!! Ask who or what after your preposition.
Example: Jenny went {to the store} yesterday.
Indirect Object:
Where: They are behind the action verb and in front of the direct object.
What: They are nouns that receive the direct object from the subject.
Clue: Find the verb and direct object and ask “to whom” or “for whom”,
Look behind the verb and in front of the direct object for the answer. You will NOT have an
indirect object without a direct object, and they can never be in prepositional phrases.
Example: The teacher gave the class a test.
Appositives:
Where: They are directly behind the noun they replace. (There is no verb between them.
What: They are nouns that repeat or restate a noun in front of them.
Clue: They are similar to subject compliments without the linking verb between
them, and commas sometimes set them off.
Appositives in the Objective case restate direct objects, objects of the prepositions, and indirect
objects.
Example: I gave the bone to Spike, my friend’s dog.

8. Possessive Nouns
You add ‘s to all singular nouns to make them possessive. Ex: glass’s
You add ‘s to all plural nouns that don’t end in “s” to make them possessive. Ex: children’s
You add just an ‘ to plural nouns that already end in “s” to make them possessive. Ex: boxes’

9. Possessive rules can be found on the third page of your packet & on page 254 of your textbook.

10. Plural Rules for Nouns
The many different rules for making nouns plural can be found on pages in your textbook.

11. Proper & Common Nouns – These rules can be found on page 241 of your textbook.
Proper nouns are words that name a specific person, place, thing or idea. Proper nouns are capitalized so the reader can tell them apart from common nouns.
Common nouns do not name a specific person, place, thing or idea. Common nouns are not capitalized unless they are at the beginning of a sentence or part of a title.
Proper - George Washington Common – man
Proper - White House Common - building
Proper - United States Constitution Common - document

12. Concrete & Abstract Nouns – These rules can be found on pages 242 & 243 of your textbook.
Concrete nouns are words that represent objects one can see, hear, touch, smell, taste with the senses.
Abstract nouns are anything one cannot literally see, hear, touch, smell or taste.
Examples:
Concrete Noun – Heart, Flag
Abstract Noun – Love, Patriotism

13. Collective Nouns – These can be found on page 242 of your textbook.
Collective nouns, a special class, name groups [things] composed of many members.
Ex:
army audience board cabinet class committee company corporation
Each noun from the list above is a single thing.

14. Pronouns

15. Person of Pronouns – This can be found in your packet or on page 268 in the text book

16. Number of Pronouns – This can be found in your packet or on page 268 in the text book

17. Case of Pronouns – This can be found in your packet or on page 269 - 273 in the text book

18. Personal Pronouns
Nominative Case: ( ____ baked a cake)
Singular Plural
I We (1st person)
You You (2nd person)
He, She, It They (3rd person)
Objective Case: (Mary baked a cake for ______)
Singular Plural
Me Us (1st person)
You You (2nd person)
Him, Her, It Them (3rd person)
Possessive Case: (That was ___ cake. The cake was ____)
Singular Plural
My, Mine Our, Ours (1st person)
Your, Yours Your, Yours (2nd person)
His, Her, Hers, Its Their, Theirs (3rd person)
Remember:
First person = person speaking
Second person = person spoken to
Third person = person spoken about
Nominative parts of speech = Subject, Subject Compliment, Direct Address, Appositive
Objective parts of speech = Direct Object, Indirect Object, Object of Preposition, Appositive
Possessive part of speech = Adjective

19. Compound Pronouns – These can be found on page 278 of your textbook.
Compound Pronouns are also called reflexive and intensive pronouns.
They are the words myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.
EX:
I gave myself plenty of time to get to work.
You should let yourself into the house.

20. Interrogative Pronouns These can be found on page 281 & 282 of your textbook.
Interrogative pronouns take the place of nouns in questions.
Interrogative pronouns include the words:
who, whom, which and what
Who = Subject
Whom = Object
Ex:
Who is at home?
Whom did you ask over?
(you is the subject)

21. Relative Pronouns These can be found on page 284 & 285 of your textbook.
Relative pronouns are used to link adjective clauses to other phrases or clauses. The relative pronouns are:
who, whom, that, which
Who = Subject
Whom = Object
Ex: The girl who sits behind me is talkative.
The boy whom we invited is arriving. (we is the subject)

22. Demonstrative Pronouns These can be found on page 289 of your textbook.
The four demonstrative pronouns are:
this, that = singular
these, those. = plural
A demonstrative pronoun identifies and specifies a noun or pronoun. They point to something “Vanna White” pronouns.

23. Indefinite Pronouns These can be found on page 290 of your textbook.
An indefinite pronoun refers to something that is not definite or specific or exact.
Some plural indefinite pronouns are all, another, any, few, many, some, several. You can replace these with “THEY” to get the right verb.
The singular indefinite pronouns are:
anybody, anyone, anything, everybody, everyone, everything, nobody, none, nothing, somebody, someone, something
You can replace them with “HE” and get the right verb.

24. Distributive Pronouns These can be found on page 291 of your textbook.
Distributive Pronouns are used distributively.
They are: each, either, neither.
These are always singular and can be replaces by “HE” to get the correct verb.

25. Pronoun Subject Verb Agreement Rules
Page 275: Pronouns after “than” or “as” (The pronoun behind must take the same case as the word it is being compared to.)
Ex: The girl is as tall as (he, him). = subject form
Page 279: Agreement of Compound Pronouns (They must agree in number with the antecedent.)
Ex: Susan asked (herself, themselves) a question.
Page 282: Who or Whom as Interrogative Pronouns (who = subj., whom = obj.)
Ex: Who do you like? Whom did you ask that question?
who = subject you = subject, so whom = object

26. Pronoun Subject Verb Agreement Rules Cont..
Page 285: Who or Whom as Relative Pronouns (who = subject, whom = object)
Ex: The girl who is tall is nice. (Who = subject)
Ex: The boy whom we like is nice. (We = subject)
Page 292: Distributive & Indefinite Pronouns (all distributives = singular, each, either, neither; can replace with “he”.)
(Indefinites that end with “one,” “thing,” or “body” are singular; can replace with “he”.)
Avoiding Double Negatives
Ex: I didn’t do (anything, nothing).

27. Adjectives

28. Position of Adjectives This is found on page 305 in your text book.
Adjectives can be:
In front of the word they modify: That is a tall tree.
A subject compliment behind a linking verb: That tree is tall.
Directly behind the word it modifies: The tree, tall and green, is an Elm.

29. Descriptive Adjectives These can be found on page 303 of your textbook.
These are words that describe a noun.
They could be said to answer the question “what kind of.”
Ex: That is my favorite book.
My new car is blue.
The loud music isn’t to my taste.

30. Articles These can be found on page 308 of your textbook.
The three article are: a an the
Definite article is: THE
Indefinite articles are: A AN

31. Demonstrative Adjectives These can be found on page 309 &311 of your textbook.
This That These Those
Singular: This, That
Plural: These, Those
Close: This, These
Distant: That, Those

32. Possessive Adjectives These can be found on page 309 of your textbook.
These are formed from possessive pronouns.
My, mine,
our, ours,
your, yours,
his, her, hers, its,
their, theirs

33. Distributive Adjectives These can be found on page 309 of your textbook.
Each, Either, Neither, & Every

34. Indefinite Adjectives These can be found on page 309 of your textbook.
These represent an indefinite number.
Examples: some, few, many, several, all etc.

35. Interrogative Adjectives These can be found on page 309 of your textbook.
These ask a question.
which, what, whose

36. Positive/Comparative/Superlative Adjectives These can be found on page 313-315 of your textbook.
Positive is describing one thing Ex: strong, interesting
Comparative is describing two things: Ex: stronger, more/less interesting
Superlative is describing more than two things. Ex: strongest, most/least interesting

37. Verbs

38. Simple Tenses These can be found on pages 338 of your textbook.
Present: (today I…)
jump sing
Past: (yesterday I…)
jumped sang
Future: (Tomorrow I…)
will jump will sing
Passive Voice: (Tense is determined by helping verbs)
Present: is, am, are, jumped is, am, are, sung
Past: was, were, jumped was, were sung
Future: will be jumped will be sung

39. Perfect Tenses (Compound) These can be found on page 340 of your textbook.
Present Perfect: have, has jumped
have, has sung
Past Perfect: had jumped
had sung
Future Perfect: will have jumped
will have sung
Passive Voice: Add a form of “be”
Present Perfect: have, has been jumped
have, has been sung
Past Perfect: had been jumped
had been sung
Future Perfect: will have been jumped
will have been sung

40. Progressive Tenses- Pg. 342 These always have a verb ending in “ing”
Present Progressive: is, am, are, jumping
is, am, are, singing
Past Progressive: was, were jumping
was, were singing
Future Progressive: will be jumping
will be singing
Notice the tense is determined by the helping verbs
Passive Voice: Move the “ing” to the additional form of “be.”
Present Progressive: is, am, are, being jumped
is, am, are, being sung
Past Progressive: was, were being jumped
was, were being sung
Future Progressive: There is no form of this

41. Regular/Irregular Verbs These can be found on page 323 of your textbook.
Regular verbs are verbs that you add “d” or “ed” to from the present to the past tense.
Ex: jump = jumped
carry = carried
waste = wasted
Irregular verbs are verbs that you do anything else to from the present to the past tense.
Ex: sing = sang
take = took
choose = chose

42. Active/Passive Voice These can be found on page 335 of your textbook.
In active sentences, the thing doing the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing receiving the action is the object.
Ex: Susan baked a cake.
In passive sentences, the thing receiving the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing doing the action is optionally included near the end of the sentence.
Ex: The cake was baked by Susan.
Passive voice will always have a form
of “be” as a helping verb.

43. Troublesome Verbs These can be found on pages327 - 329 of your textbook.
SIT – To sit means to take a resting position. There is no object of this verb.
sit sat have sat
SET - Set must have a direct object. It means to place something in a position.
set set have set
• Lie means that the (subject) is doing something to himself or herself.
lie lay have lain
Lay means that the subject is acting on something else; therefore, it requires an object.
lay laid have laid
Raise is transitive, it needs a direct object. You do it to something else.
raise raised have raised
Rise is intransitive, it doesn’t have a direct object. You do it to yourself.
rise rose have risen

44. Troublesome Verbs Cont
Troublesome Verbs Cont. These can be found on pages of your textbook
Bring vs. Take
He brings his lunch to work every day.
• emphasizes movement in the direction of the destination.
bring brought have brought
She takes her lunch to work every day.
• emphasizes movement away from the starting point
take took have taken
Leave as a verb means to depart or to go away.
leave left have left
Let as a verb means to allow or to permit.
let let have let
BORROW needs an object, you get something from someone else.
LEND needs an indirect object + a direct object, you give something to someone else.

45. Transitive/Intransitive Verbs These can be found on pages 331-332 of your textbook.
The meaning of a transitive verb is incomplete without a direct object as in the following examples:
The shelf holds three books.
The committee named a new chairperson.
An intransitive verb, on the other hand, cannot take a direct object.
The shelf holds.
The committee named.

46. Action/Linking Verbs These can be found on page 333 of your textbook.
Common Linking Verbs
State of Being or State Verbs
Forms of to be
feel
grow is
were
taste
remain, stay, am be
look
seem
are
being
smell
sound
was
been
appear
become,
Action Verbs do an action:
Ex: jump, run, ask
Linking verbs have a subject compliment:
She is tired.
It smell beautiful.

47. https://mjanes8.wikispaces.com/
Subject/Verb Agreement Rules These can be found on pages of your textbook.
There is a pod cast of all the subject/verb agreement rules on the classroom Wiki page in the “audio/video” page link.

48. Subjects Joined by “and”… Page 354
When the subject of a sentence is composed of two or more nouns or pronouns connected by and, You almost always should use a plural verb. You can replace the subjects with the pronoun they, and you will always get the right answer.
Ex: She and her friends (is, are) at the fair.
Answer: They (are) at the fair.

49. Exceptions to That Rule…
Rarely, but sometimes, two subjects joined by and represent one object. If that is the case, you should use a singular verb. You can replace the subjects with he, she, or it, and the sentence will work.
Ex: Ice cream and cake (is, are) my favorite dessert.
Answer: It (is) my favorite dessert.
since the SC = one dessert, then the subject must be singular.

50. Compound Subjects Preceded by Each, Every, Many a, or No… Page 355
When you have two subjects joined by “and” but preceded by “each” or “every”, “many a”, or “no”, you should use a singular verb. You can replace the subject with “he”, “she”, or “it” and it will work.
Ex: Every aunt and uncle (was, were) at the reunion.
He (was) at the reunion.
Ex: Each lion and tiger (is, are) dangerous.
It (is) dangerous.

51. Subjects Joined by “or” or “nor” Page 355
When a compound subject is joined by “or” or “nor”, the verb should agree with the part of the subject that is nearer the verb.
If it is singular, replace with “he”, “she”, or “it.”
If it is plural replace with “they.”
Ex: The boy or his friends (runs, run) every day.
They (run) every day.
Ex: His friends or the boy (runs, run) every day.
He (runs) every day.

52. Sentences Beginning with “There”
In sentences beginning with “there is” or “there are”, the verb agrees with the word/words that follows the verb.
Ex: There are many questions.
Ex: There is a question.

53. Collective Nouns Page 357
Collective nouns are words that imply more than one person but that are considered singular and usually take a singular verb, such as: group, team, committee, class, and family. You can replace the subject with “he”, “she”, or “it.”
Ex: The class (want, wants) a recess.
He (wants) a recess.

54. Singular Indefinite Pronouns Page 358
The indefinite pronouns that end in “one”, “body”, or “thing” are always singular and, therefore, require singular verbs. You can replace them with “he”, “she” or “it” and it will always work.
Ex: Everyone (has, have) done homework.
He (has) done homework.

55. Plural Indefinite Pronouns
Plural indefinite pronouns such as: some, many, few, several, are plural and can be replaced with “they” to use with the plural verb.
Ex: Several of the girls (swim, swims) on the team.
They (swim) on the team.

56. Distributive Pronouns Page 358
The pronouns each, neither and either are singular and require singular verbs even though they seem to be referring, in a sense, to two things. You can replace it with “he”, “she”, or “it” and it will work.
Ex: Neither of the two traffic lights (is, are) working.
It is working.
Ex: Either shirt (is, are) fine with me.
It is fine with me.

57. Phrases between the Subject & Verb Page 352
You should ignore any phrases between the subject and verb, remembering to just look at the subject.
Ex: Everyone of the girls (is, are) tired.
She (is) tired.
Ex: Melody, as well as her sisters, (like, likes) running.
She (likes) running.

58. Special Singular Subjects Page 359
Some nouns that may look plural actually use a singular verb. They can be replace with “he”, “she”, or “it” and it will always work. Ex: aeronautics, athletics, civics, economics, mathematics, physics, measles, mumps, news, molasses.
Ex: Mumps (is, are) contagious.
It (is) contagious.

59. Special Plural Subjects Page 359
Some other nouns are always considered plural and should be used with a plural noun. You can replace them with the pronoun “they” and it will always work.
Ex: pincers, pliers, scales, scissors, shears, tongs, tweezers, clothes, glasses, trousers, suspenders, ashes, proceeds, thanks
Ex: The pliers (are, is) in the shed.
They (are) in the shed.

60. Good Luck!