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Grefs1, Cumulative REFERENCES
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A1
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Why and when paragraphs,
Paragraphing both prose and poetry
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B1
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The comma, uses and misuses
Punctuating both prose and poetry, Enjambment
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C1
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The hyphen, dash, ellipsis, colon, semicolon .
. . and
GLOSSARY of grammatical terms.
. prepositions, conjunctions, participles, gerunds--
. . . . . Check
the glossary for PUNCTUATION,
nouns, pronouns, adjectives, articles, verbs, adverbs
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D1
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Three uses of the apostrophe, and one, not !
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E1
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Nouns and verbs "It is what it does" |
The Start of What is Yet to Come
Have you read
GrammGuru
and GRefs
and the self-tester?
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The Source of All Knowledge (?)
Grammar REFS
Grefs1
These pages are the explanations I would have given if I were
able to sit beside you, answering questions.
Starting to claw back the Age of Literacy
You think I jest? Forsooth!
Updated USAGE
.... .A..
The 1995 text that serves as reference is recent but will be replaced within
....
the next few years as we get more and more muddled. Keep current........
......
And so we begin a Leisurely Crash Course in Written English
starting from "scratch,"
known here as Grammar References:
i
. . . . .
A1
. Paragraphs
& Punctuating
. . . . Paragraphing both
prose and poetry
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What is a paragraph?
A paragraph may be a single sentence, or a group of
related sentences
where all belong
together for the same purpose.
In poetry they work as stanzas. (verses)
What is a sentence?
A sentence has a complete thought, having at least a
subject and a
verb. The subject
can be a noun or pronoun, or a group of words telling what it is about, and the verb
(bare predicate) is an action word
telling what it does. [More later.]
Notes especially for writers
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This is an example of "block paragraphing. Not seen in fiction, it is used in
formal reports and technical writing. It has a blank line between paragraphs.
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To someone on a boat, it looked like two couples on the patio watching the gulls
on a warm and sunny afternoon,
in quiet conversation over drinks. Not an ordinary
patio, this one was part
of the glass-walled executive wing of the major employer in East
Bay, a town of less than
five thousand. Neither were they two
couples. It was a staff meeting, a secret one but for NorEl, of extreme importance even so.
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Sonya Fischer, as secretary to the President, had brought irregularities to the attention of Harry Newcomb, who in turn suggested that Carlo Palmer ask his secretary Dina Mitchell to
join them. On the surface,
not an earth-shaking event. To these four,
they were staring at catastrophe.
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"So many minor setbacks have already
impacted the status quo,"
Harry summed up. In the unbalanced budget they had already established it as a recent problem.
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You should have seen the use of comma, sometimes to separate phrases, or to permit
taking a breath when reading aloud.
They should also have real reason
to be used, to clarify meaning.
It is important to avoid overuse,
and, some may easily be replaced with
period and a capital.
(in 3) 'In
the unbalanced budget they had already established...'
Note it is not needed after
'budget.' Can you read through it smoothly?
.
(in2)A sentence fragment with its
[subject and verb 'understood,' ] is permitted when the
meaning is clear. On the surface, [ it was ]
not an earth-shaking event.
.
And (in 3), in "So many minor setbacks
have already impacted the
status quo," Harry summed up, we see the use of
quotation marks.
"We hear what is between."
| (in 2) The little blue line is the hyphen, 'wing,' and 'event' are NOUNS |
glass-walled executive wing
earth-shaking event |
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A hyphen is needed when
two related
......words describe the same noun. |
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.In 'earth-shaking event' it is not an earth event,
or a shaking event,
.......The event is earth-shaking.
(Wing: part of a building.) It is not a glass executive wing,
not a walled executive
wing, but a glass-walled executive wing.
"Wing," part of a building usually a right angles to the main building.
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Every game has its rules. PARAGRAPHS do too.
[: "Week1"
paragraph 1, New topic: introduces what, where, and who. All belong together in the same paragraph..
paragraph 2, New topic: introduces four characters,
and the reason why they are there.
paragraph 3, New speaker: Harry
speaks. The reason why belongs in the
same paragraph.
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HOW DIALOGUE PUNCTUATION WORKS (Dialog,
US)
Paragraphs in dialog are often quite short. Indented
here.
(When only
two are speaking, and no confusion is likely,
they need not always be identified.)
Note the comma within quotation marks.
! and ? are inside too.]
......"I hear you," she muttered.
......"No way!"
......"I wish it weren't so." Three paragraphs,
indented.
......Indented means moved
at least 5 spaces in from the margin. Other than the first line of each paragraph, all other lines start as
usual at the margin. ( dent = tooth, bitten out, background colour.)
......Check out any published
novel, there is no blank line between
paragraphs. (In html, hold Shift, then Enter to get a single space.
Enter alone gives a double space.) |
(If in doubt whether to use a ? or an ! choose according to emotion: ? if it doesn't matter much, but ! if
it does!)
Note the period is in there too if nothing else follows:
"I wish it weren't so."
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paragraph 4 has
a change of speaker: Sonya. (Short but complete)
paragraph 5 has a change of speaker: Dina.
It also describes the speaker's
position which leads to the rest of what she says.
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[NOTE the paragraphing: Indented paragraphing, used in almost
all fiction, stories, novels, and in newspaper reports and articles.]
This is one use of "square" brackets: EDITORIAL COMMENT.
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4 |
......."We never ran into this
while Gwen was with us," Sonya said.
Harry had been the last to speak. Now it is Sonya. |
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5 |
....... "Exactly,"Dina agreed. As a long-term employee, Dina had seen people come and go. "Gwen Green was on top of everything that went
on here; nothing and nobody could get past her high standards." |
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(The speaker did not
change so it all fits in the same paragraph.)
Parentheses, (here bla bla bla) are used to set another thought apart.) |
[ NOTE for novelists, this is an example of "foreshadowing."
That is why Gwen is gone. The villain knew he'd be arrested
before he could....etc.] A use of brackets, often by editors.
.
paragraph 6 has a change of speaker: a comment
by Carlo, giving us a hint
of his personality. NOTE, the use of a semicolon.
paragraph 7 has a change of speaker: a long
explanation by Sonya. We see why their fears for Gwen are particularly hard on Sonya.
paragraph 8 has a change of speaker: Harry's
warm relationship with his
employees is clear. We have already found that there is a good reason
why top executives in the company are on easy first-name terms. ]
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[NOTE the paragraphing below:] Who said it? |
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6 |
....... "I
guess it's human nature," Carlo sadly
said, "to
appreciate people after we've lost them." |
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7 |
....... "We
loved her even before." Sonya surrepticiously caught a tear. "I have been needing to say some things for weeks now.
Gwen was my mentor when I first joined you here; she made me welcome. She showed me the personal skills that create teams working together.
You remember I was just a file clerk when I started, but she showed
how to help others do
their jobs when needed. I am sure that I would not have been promoted
out of the secretarial pool without knowing that."
[ Check website Grefs1 C1 too.] |
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8 |
....... Harry smiled.
"Best decision we ever made." |
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6: Note
the placement of 'he said' into the middle of the quotation.
Note also, use of an apostrophe to replace a letter in it's, [it is].
7: Theatrical
script writers call it 'business' when a character does something. Here
such action identifies the speaker,
8:
Harry smiled. "Best decision we ever made."
[NOTE especially, the period after smiled. He smiled.
Never assume that smiling and speaking are the same thing.
"Smiling, he said..." would be correct too with a slight change in meaning.]
[Brackets] and (parentheses)
[An insertion such as this one to tell some of the "RULES" is one use of
"square" brackets. Brackets are often used by editors for their comments.
(This also shows another use of quotation marks to draw attention to
"square.")
The closing bracket closes the whole thing. ]
Brackets can enclose parentheses. Parentheses do not contain brackets.
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. . . . ... . . . . . . . ... . . .
. . ... . . . . . . . ... . .. Assignment
A1a
. . . . ... . . . . . . . ... . .PARAGRAPHING:.
At work, Gwen's friends worry about her unexplained absence,
and remember nice things about her.
To do all assignments, save time! Copy the thing, paste it into Notepad or e-mail, and then make the changes it needs. Sort it into paragraphs
with single blank line between,
Like this [Clue: "know . . . " "I-- two sets of quotation
marks from different people] Here, use the facts, especially for the hyphen, ellipsis and the dash. The other punctuation
has been left intact as clues. [ When are ellipses used, and how are their use and the use of a dash different?
Show it.]
Sort it into paragraphs with a single blank line between them. [Clue: "know . . . " "I..., two sets of quotation marks from different
people] Marking? There are several right ways it may be done. It just has to make sense.]----
"Thank you, but it was Gwen. She made it possible. Such a good friend...
Sorry," Sonya found a tissue. "I don't know " "I do," Dina said. "She was much more
than eagle-eyed " "No-nonsense, against waste!" "Sure Harry, but that was her secret!"
Carlo was right. "We all knew about Gwen's quick wit. Her comment could leave us puzzled, knowing it would
be hilarious if we caught it." "I saw it ripple though her audience one day," Gina added. "Just
a few words. No reaction, and Gwen went on talking." "I think I was there. Later, suddenly like a bulb
switched on, meaning hit. A soft cough, heaving shoulders." Sonya blew her nose. Should happy things make
us cry? Gwen was such a gentle person, completely at peace within and with the world, happy, yet very much aware
of the position of trust that she held. They had gone silent. "We are talking about Gwen as if she's dead."
. . ... . . . . . . . ...Assignment
A1b See also B1b (
. . . . ... . . . . . . . .Verses are Paragraphing for poets
Generally the same paragraphing rules apply in poetry, except for line lengths.
It is of course, a guide only.
Use the details above, ( or your own, what it inspires )
in a 12-line poem, not necessarily rhymed. Separate stanzas as for block paragraphs with a blank line between.
Remember it is the meaning, the emotional content, that really makes a poem--
and a joy when one finds you!
If not also claimed in B1b,
.
Do both A1a and b, optional
for extra credit.
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B
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B1
. . .The COMMA,
Uses & MISuses
. . . . . . . . . .Punctuating both prose and poetry,
. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .Enjambment
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REFERENCE: PUNCTUATION REVIEW
Check this out, if you found the assignment awkward to do:
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Uses of the COMMA
Commas, as above, are used to separate items in a list as above.
Some countries prefer "this, this, this, and that." They also subdivide
parts of long sentences to allow us to
catch a breath, and to show that two or more groups of words differ from each other.
Avoid overuse.
In lines of poetry,
they are used sometimes in midline as above, but at the ends of lines only where a pause is needed, and not in enjambment, where without a break, two or more lines run together without pausing.
A comma never replaces a period (.)
Example of Enjambment:
(a reaction to a friend's poem.)
Her Pain.
Taking this poem as an isolated item,
I see lines of irregular lengths, a total
lack of the usual signposts of meaning,
punctuation, capitals... the usual
things.
And then, the words, each one needed,
each one carrying more meaning
than it was made for,
because of all the
similarly loaded words all around them.
Their accumulated grief overwhelms
to a point that has ruptured into the void
beyond my experience and left me
panting in its wordless reality. It
bleeds.
It bleeds bloodlessly, exhales airlessly,
and follows me invisibly no matter where
I might try to hide, tearlessly--
And they weren't even my own!
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. . . . ... . . . . . . . ... . . .
. . ... . . . . . . . ... . .. Assignment
B1a
. . . . ... . . . . . . . ... . .PUNCTUATING
To do all assignments, save time! Copy the thing, paste it into Notepad or e-mail, then make the changes it needs.
Keep the paragraphs with a single blank line between.
the motorboat that passed covered the need to speak when they had nothing to
say harry newcomb broke the silence i refuse to believe that gwen will never return
.
i know even after police could find no clue accounts had certainly gone missing in short a mess sonya got busy
looking for something in her purse even after gwen stopped coming to work i kept expecting to see her hanging her
coat in the closet in the a sob caught her it was a strangled morning
.
sonya we miss her too there has to be a happy explanation dina said gwen changed her plans that's all
.
the scramble to find excuses was interrupted by carlo much as he sympathized
this was not getting us anywhere nevertheless we must at least temporarily have someone in that position
.
the ad was published with amazing speed. their advertising brought several replies almost before two thoughts could
connect a likely candidate had been hired shawna elliott
.
See: Uses of the DASH and the ELLIPSIS, COLON and the SEMICOLON
. . ... . . . . . . . ... . .. Assignment
B1b
. . . . ... . . . . . . . ... Enjambment
for poets
Generally the same paragraphing rules apply in poetry.
If your 12-line poem, (not
necessarily rhymed.) can be edited to include enjambments (at least
one) call it B1b
instead for extra credit, but be sure it really is all part of the same
sentence! Both B1a
and b optional
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C
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C1
The Hyphen, Dash, Ellipsis
. . . . Colon,
Semicolon
. . . . . . Treasure
Hunt
.
. GLOSSARY
of grammatical terms.
. . . To be used again and again as needed
in future. .
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[ Uses of the COMMA, HYPHEN, DASH and the ELLIPSIS.
[ Use Find for more on each of these topics.]
Hyphen, a single ' - ' connects sets of words that act as a single word
to describe something: "a six-year-old boy"
or when words like "unfortu-
nately" must be split at the end of
a line. (seldom seen now). It also makes
a neat separating line like the one below, and is used
to type a dash.
------------------------------------------------
Dash,
--made with two
joined hyphens-- can be an interjection,
or an extra thought, as in this statement, giving more information.
It often is used in conversation where someone is interrupted.
Ellipsis, usually shown with three dots .
. . (with some software,
space-dot space-dot space-dot) is a more thoughtful interruption
where more could have been said, but was not.
Sometimes it waits for an answer . . . ? or shows
surprise . . . !
or lets us know that a lot more was not said . . . . but won't.
It ends then, with a period.
Uses of the COLON and the SEMICOLON
Colon: Briefly a major use of the colon
is to indicate that something
follows, after the word, Example.
Semicolon connects parts of a sentence which might otherwise
have had conjunctions "and," "or," "but."]
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. . ... . . . . . . . ... . .. Assignment
C1a
. . . . ... . . . . . . . ... . .TREASURE HUNT.
Seach through all of Unit 1, to find unrelated examples of each kind of punctuation
as they are described here.
First copy/paste this set of titles into Notepad
Hyphen
Dash
Ellipsis
Colon
Semicolon
As you find, copy and paste the entire sentence where it belongs, at least
two for each. Feel free to invent your own if it is taking too much time.
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. .C1c
The GLOSSARY
--------------------------------------------------------....
.. . . .. . . REFERENCE GLOSSARY,
PARTS OF SPEECH
Check the glossary for
Nouns, pronouns, adjectives, articles, verbs, adverbs,
prepositions, conjunctions, participles, gerunds
and punctuation
In response to a request, for all to COPY/PRINT and keep
If you cannot find what you need in a dictionary or here, e-mail
tmatt at vianet.ca
.
Q: What is an ADJECTIVE?
A: a word (or group of words) to describe a noun.
Q: What is an ARTICLE?
A: an adjective like 'the,' 'a' or with a vowel, 'an' (apple)
Q: what is a VOWEL?
A: a letter, a, e, i, o, u, at the end of a word, y
All the rest are CONSONANTS: bcdfghjklmnpqrstvwxyz
Q: What is a NOUN?
A: a name of a person, place, thing, a condition, an idea. child, home, spoon, health, honour
Q: What is a PRONOUN?
A: a word standing for a noun: I, it, him, us, they, them, who
Q: What is a VERB?
A: usually an action word telling what "it" does.
Also 'is, was,seems' (it gives a state or condition
as in, 'I feel sick' )
Q: What is an ADVERB?
A: a word or group of words describing a verb (or adjective or another adverb, ) usually answering how? (fast,
slowly, /very/ good meal, ate /too/ well )
ADVERB also answers when? 'soon' 'after lunch' 'while he sleeps'
Q: What is a PARTICIPLE?
A: A verb ending in 'ing' acting as an adjective, "winding road"
Q: What is a GERUND?
A: A verb ending in 'ing' acting as a noun "walking is healthy."
Q: What is a CONJUNCTION?
A: A joining word. Dick AND Jane, tired BUT happy, hot OR cold
Q: What is a PREPOSITION?
A: pre, in front position introducing a phrase.
Q: What is a PHRASE?
A: a group of words that describes: in the bag, with me (NO verb in it)
Q: What is a CLAUSE?
A: like a phrase, but having a verb: after we ate
Q: What is a SUBORDINATE clause?
A: "a sentence fragment" After they arrived... As I spoke
Q: What is a PRINCIPAL clause?
A: It is a complete thought. Come in. This is handy.
Q: What is a COMPOUND sentence?
A: It has two or more principal clauses
Uses: He came, he saw, he conquered. It has 3.
Cat, come in or stay out.
Q: What is a COMPLEX sentence?
A: A principal clause with a subordinate clause:
We thought it was a perfect house, until the roof leaked.
Keep it handy to make sense of more advanced work.
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D
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. .D1
. . Three
Uses of the APOSTROPHE
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What is an apostrophe? It looks like a floating comma.
[ Use Find for more on each of these topics.]
Uses of the APOSTROPHE
Some people think all
plural's need apostrophe's. WRONG!
Most plurals have no apostrophe at all.
Very few do. Ph.D's do ( We will deal with the exceptions in week2.)
(1) The most common use is
in the possessive
Example: one dog's bone, (singular) many dogs' noise (plural)
one child's coat (singular)
many children's shouts,
one politician's promises,
many politicians' promises
(plural)
(2) replacing a hidden letter (sometimes several)
Examples:
It'll, ...it will.
they've,... they have
we'd better go,... we had better
go,
he'd go, ... he would go
don't fall, ... do not fall
(3) Apostrophe as quotation mark.
When there is a quotation
within another quotation, the
quoted quotation has 'single quotation marks.' How's that again?
She said, "When the dam burst I heard, 'Run for your life' and
it saved us."
[ Use Find for more on these topics.]
Check the text, Practical English Usage by Swan,
for UK alternative.
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. . ... . . . . . . . ... . .. Assignment
D1a
. . . . ... . . . . . . . ... . .Three Uses of the Apostrophe.
To do all assignments, save time! Copy the thing, paste it into Notepad or e-mail, and then make the changes it needs.
(1) The most common use is
in the possessive
(2) Replacing a hidden letter
(sometimes several)
(3) Apostrophe as quotation mark.
Write short sentences to show the correct form, each into
the correct category ("of" meaning belonging to) Ten best.
*______ of many girls (eg. coats belonging to....)
* ______ of an old dog
* ______ of many women
* ______ of a wolf
* ______ of many cars
* Someone asking to buy a particular book
* Someone repeating gossip or news
* Someone describing a bird's call to a friend
* Short form of will not ____________
* Short form of we are ____________
* Short form of it is ____________
* Short form of could not ____________
* Short form of he is ____________
* Short form of might have ____________
* Short form of I will ____________
Proofread for spelling
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E
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E1
Parts of Speech: See C1c
Dictionary, Nouns and verbs
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This begins a section on PARTS OF SPEECH
Nouns, pronouns, adjectives, articles, verbs, adverbs, prepositions,
conjunctions, participles, gerunds
Goal: By the end of #8 to be able
to analyse any sentence anywhere.
Analyse means to identify what every word in a sentence does,
in its sentence from any source.
Why? Partly as a challenge,
Partly for those who enjoy puzzles,
but truly to understand how language is put together,
As an aid in proofreading to avoid awkwardness and error.
[ Later, use Find for more on each of these topics.]
[ Uses of the NOUN
A noun is a general name for a person, place, or thing: girl, town, tissue.
A proper noun is a particular person, place, or thing: Mary, Paris, Kleenex.
A pronoun is a general replacement for a noun, depending on what it does: subject, it,
they, I, you, we object: it,
them, me, you, us
(subject, who, what it is about. Objects receive the action, what, whom
The subject hits the object. Also, it is IN the object, behind the object,
IN and behind are prepositions.]
More later, about "phrases" [preposition plus object]
Example: canvas, canvass (Check dictionary for canvass)
canvas can be a noun: The artist painted on canvas. (on what)
It can be an adjective:
The canvas roof of the
tent leaked. (what kind
of roof) More about adjectives later.
A door-to-door canvass showed popular opinions. (noun)
They canvass for contributions every summer. (verb)
[What is a verb, and what does it do? Verbs are action words, mostly.
Some verbs are (intransitive) and stand alone. we talk. we travel
Others are (transitive) and hit an object. drive a car, love music
(Copula verbs) give an existing state or condition: She feels happy.
He is quiet, she is a student, it seems difficult
As above they also can join the subject and its description, The group is, was, had been effective.]
Some vedrbs can serve more than one purpose.
She feels happy. Copula
but She feels the heat. Transitive
he looks tired Copula but
he looks at the book Intransitive
feels WHAT? "What"
is a noun, object. The verb is what it does.
Offside: What is your name? "What," a noun, subject of its
sentence.
What topic did he choose? "What," an adjective describing
the noun "topic." [More about sentence analysis bit by bit]
[What is an adjective , and what does it do? Adjectives describe nouns.
If it describes a noun or pronoun, it is an adjective, no matter what it can do in a different place]. Examples below.
Canvass : verb, to canvass
for opinions (to ask for
information)
It can also be a Noun:
the result of such a survey:
The canvass showed a preference
for that candidate.(subject)
It is what it does.
Whew! A start! Return to Grefs1 when in doubt.
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. . . . ... . . . . . . . ... . . .
. . ... . . . . . . . ... ... . . Assignment E1
. . . . ... . . . . . . . ... . .PARTS OF SPEECH.
To do all assignments, save time! Copy the thing, paste it into Notepad or e-mail, and then make the changes it needs.
Use your dictionary!
Homonyms sound alike.
Use each NOUN in a short sentence.
1)clime, climb
2)root, route
3)chute, shoot
4)flee, flea
5)great, grate
6)would, wood
7)aloud, allowed
8)lie, lye
9)sail, sale
10)seem, seam
11)hew, hue
12)medal, meddle
13)serge, surge
14)break, brake
15)council, counsel
I'd appreciate a blank line between pairs.
(I counted 22 nouns, but 15 will be enough.)
Matter of interest for vocabulary builders: Many of these can be used
both as nouns and as verbs.
(It is what it does.)
Self-tester: http://www.mattaweb.ca/web2006/GrammGuru.htm
Try it!
End of part E1
Good luck
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