1. Nouns and Pronouns A noun is… a person, place, thing, or idea
person: Andrew Jackson
place: Waukee Middle School
thing: pencil, class, phone
idea: freedom, love, liberty
A noun can be…
common - a generic term for something specific
cat, dog, school
or…
proper - a specific term or name for something
Snuggles, Bently, Waukee Middle School

2. Andrew Jackson = he or him pencil = it Sally = she or her
Nouns and Pronouns
A pronoun is…
A word that takes the place of a name (proper noun) or common noun
Andrew Jackson = he or him
pencil = it
Sally = she or her
the basketball team = they or them

3. Verbs and Verb Phrases
A verb...
tells what the subject does
It can be mental (prefer) or physical (rides)
A verb phrase…
2+ words that explain what the subject is doing or the state of being - She is running across the street.

4. List of linking verbs is am are was were be being been has have had do
does
did
shall
should
will
would
may
might
must
can
could

5. Subject and Predicates
The complete subject is…
all the words that tell whom or what the sentence is about
The simple subject is…
the main word in the complete subject
The complete predicate is…
the verb and all the words that tell what the subject is or does
The simple predicate is…
the main verb in the predicate

6. Adjectives and Adverbs
An adjective is…
a word that describes a noun or a pronoun.
An adverb is…
a word that describes a verb, adjective, or another adverb

7. Capitalization - Names of people, places, or things.
¨Capitalize any noun that is proper
- Names of people, places, or things.
¨DO NOT capitalize common nouns
Name a general item or person
When giving directions you WILL NOT capitalize the direction
Drive west to get to my childhood house.
When saying a location you WILL capitalize the direction
- My parents live out West.

8. Capitalization
¨When there is a title in front of a name, like Uncle Tom or President Obama, you will capitalize the title and the name.
- I went to my Uncle Tom’s cabin this summer.
¨However, if there is not a specific name attached to the title it will not be capitalized.
-I went and visited the president.
¨When you have the title of a piece of writing, capitalize the first word of the title and then any principal word – nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and so on
¨You WILL NOT capitalize articles in titles.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

9. Capitalization - I look forward to history class.
¨Capitalize the name of school subjects only when you are referring to a specific course
- I look forward to history class.
- I am taking History II at the community college.
¨At the same time, you will ALWAYS capitalize a language whether it is a specific class or not.
- I am going to Spanish class.
-I love going to English.

10. Commas in a series In a list
Use a comma with 3 or more items (series) joined with “and” or “or”
Double adjectives/adverbs
Use a comma to separate two or more adjectives/adverbs next to each other
Dates
Put a comma between the day and the year
City/State
Put a comma between the city and the state

11. Dialogue Punctuation Dialogue punctuation:
-Use quotation marks around the actual words someone is saying
- Capitalize the first word of the dialogue sentences.
- Quotes are separated from dialogue tags with punctuation
-Note: Periods and commas go INSIDE quotations marks unless the tag is before the dialogue then the comma is outside of the quotation mark.
-Indent: Start a new paragraph every time you change speakers.

12. Verb Tense: What’s what?
—Past: Tells action that happened in the past
◦I gave, I ran, I jumped
—Present: Tells action that is happening right now
◦I give, I run, I jum
—Future: Tells action that will be happening
◦I will give, I will run, I will jump
Within the same paragraph the verbs need to be in the same tense

13. Clauses (Independent and Dependent)
• Dependent clause – incomplete thought
After the game
•Independent clause – complete thought (subject, predicate, doesn’t need more info)
* After the game, we went to get pizza.

14. Subordinating Conjunctions
Subordinating conjunctions help to create complex sentences. They help to answer the question “Then what?”
Some Subordinating conjunctions:
A - as U - unless
A - although B - because
A - after B - before
W - while I - if
W - when S - since

15. Subordinating Conjunctions
- If a sentence begins with an AAAWWUBBIS word, it signals a comma will be needed.
Example: After we left the park, the wind storm knocked over some of the trees.
- If the AAAWWUBBIS word/phrase is not at the beginning of the sentence, you will not need a comma.
Example: The wind storm knocked over some trees after we left the park.

16. FANBOYS, Coordinating Conjunctions
FOR AND NOR BUT
OR YET SO
- FANBOYS are conjunctions used to join words or groups of words.
- Can be used to create a compound subject or predicate
- If you have two complete thoughts (independent clauses), they can be joined with a comma and a FANBOYS conjunction.

17. FANBOYS conjunctions and Semi Colons
Watch out! Both sides must be an independent clause (complete thought- subject and predicate).
* Use a comma ONLY if:
* The sentence has a FANBOYS
* Each side has a subject & a predicate
* Each side is a complete idea
Using a comma WITHOUT a FANBOYS results in a comma splice.
SEMI COLON: If you have two complete thoughts (independent clauses), they can be joined together with a semi-colon.

18. Active and Passive Voice
What is “voice”?
* Describes the relationship between the action of the verb and the subject or object of the sentence
* It says WHO does WHAT in the sentence
Voice can be either passive or active

19. Active and Passive Voice
• Active voice verbs are used when the subject is acting in a sentence.
• Example: Cindy steered the boat.
•“Passive voice” verbs are used when the subject is being acted upon in a sentence.
B is done [by A].
•Example: The mountain’s peak was reached by Ed Danvers.

20. Types of Sentences
A simple sentence is one independent clause
Some students like to study in the mornings.
A compound sentence is two independent clauses put together
I tried to speak Spanish, and my friend tried to speak English.
A complex sentence is one independent clause + a dependent clause OR a dependent clause + one independent clause.
- Because Juan and Arturio play football every afternoon, they are quite tired when then get home.

21. Appositives and Middle-Branch Clauses
An appositive is a noun or pronoun — often with descriptive words — set beside another noun or pronoun to explain or identify it.
if it’s non-essential information then the appositive phrase needs to be surrounded by commas.
When there is an essential information contained in the appositive, then you don’t need commas.

22. Apostrophe to Show Possession
Always put an ’s after any singular noun that shows possession.
It doesn’t matter if there is an s at the end of the word or not.
If you have two nouns that own the same thing, you can just put an ’s after the last name.
But if the two nouns own separate things, you must put an ’s after each noun.
If you have a noun that is plural, you will add s’

23. Direct and Indirect quotations
Direct quotes are the exact words that were used
He said, “Don’t do that!” He said that “everyone should stay inside.”
Indirect quotations are the paraphrased version of the quote being used
- He said that he didn’t want you to come
along.

24. Subjective Case
Subjective case is when the pronoun is used as the subject in the sentence. The subjective form is I when referring to I or me.
Objective case is when the pronoun is used as the object of something that is happening to. The objective case of I and me is me.
Tips to help figure it out:
*Always put the other person first if there are two subjects or objects – that’s just common courtesy!
*To figure out if you are in subjective or objective take the other person out

25. Who vs. Which vs. That
Who = people(Tierney is the only one who got the right answer.)
Which = things(My bike, which has 10 speeds, is for sale.)
That = people or things (He is the one person that can help you.)

26. A vs. An and Then vs. Than
A = before words beginning with a consonant sound (Market Avenue is a one-way street.)
An = before a word beginning with a vowel sound (An oryx is a large antelope.)
Then = at that time (If the baby is awake by four o’clock, then we will leave)
Than = amount/comparison(Great Danes are larger than Dobermans.)

27. When to Spell Out Numbers
Spell out numbers that can be written in one or two words
Use numerals for numbers that would be written in three or more words
Never start a sentence with a numeral
Spell out numbers used to indicate order
If you have multiple numbers in a sentence, write them all as whatever the first one is.

28. Hyphen Rules
Rule #1: Hyphenate numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine, Hyphenate fractions
Rule #2: Hyphenate two or more words when they are used as one word
Rule #3: Hyphenate words that would be mispronounced easily because of prefixes
Rule #4: Use a hyphen when a word is omitted. These omitted words would be words like through, to, or and.