This document provides an overview of various grammar topics including parts of speech, sentence structure, punctuation, run-ons and fragments, verb tense agreement, pronoun-antecedent agreement, transitive/intransitive verbs, and notorious confusables. It begins with definitions and examples of the core parts of speech and then covers more complex topics like sentence types, punctuation rules, identifying and correcting errors, and agreement. The document serves as a grammar reference guide for an 11th grade English class.

1. 1. Grammar Basics (Beowulf)
2. Sentence Structure (King Arthur)
3. Punctuation (Canterbury)
4. Run Ons + Fragments (Elizabeth)
5. Verb-Tense Agreement (Sonnets)
6. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement (Hamlet)
7. Transitive/Intransitive Verbs (Romanticism)
8. Notorious Confusables (Satire)
ENGLISH 11 GRAMMAR FCAS

2. GRAMMAR BASICS: PARTS OF SPEECH
 Noun: a person, place or thing.
boy, dog, church, car, ball, school
 Verb: an action or state of being.
is, swim, eat, run, be, do, sing, laugh
 Adjective: a description word that modifies a noun.
windy, dark, funny, tall, boring, purple.
 Adverb: a description word that modifies a verb (explains how
the verb is done).
slowly, quickly, lightly, happily, much
 Article: three words used to signal that a noun is about to be
used.
a, an, the.

3. GRAMMAR BASICS: PARTS OF SPEECH
 Conjunction: a word that connects other words, phrases or
sentences.
and, but, because
 Interjection: a word or phrase used as an exclamation and
capable of standing alone.
Oh! My goodness! Gosh! Darn-it!
 Preposition: a word or phrase that show the relationship of a
noun to another noun.
at, from, to, from, with, by, in
 Pronoun: a word that replaces and stands for another noun.
his, her, their, them, she, he, they, which

4. GRAMMAR BASICS
 These words or phrases have different “roles”, or do different
things in the English Language, depending on how they are
arranged in sentences.
 Subject: is the noun that performs the verb in a sentence.
Andrew threw the ball. (Andrew is the subject)
 Direct Object: is the noun that is affected by the verb.
Andrew threw the ball. (The ball is the object)
 Indirect Object: tells to whom or for whom something is done.
The indirect object always comes between the verb and the
direct object.
She gave me a gift. (Me is the indirect object)

5. GRAMMAR BASICS
 In a sentence, you have a subject and a
predicate.
 The subject is the word(s) that the sentence is
about.
 The predicate is the verb phrase, or group of
words, that explain what happens, or the action of
the sentence.
Jenny walked to the store. The wind blew the power
out. The cats pooped in the litter box.
The subjects are Jenny, the wind and the cats. The
predicates are the verb phrases that make up the
rest of the sentence.

6. GRAMMAR BASICS
 Complements: come in two types.
 Subject Complementsdefine or explain the subject
of the sentence after a linking verb.
The weather is hot. The lake is peaceful. (Hot and
peaceful are the subject complements)
 Object Complements define or explain the object of
the sentence.
The videogame got the children too excited.
(Excited is the object complement)

7. LINKING VERBS
 Linking Verbs: connect the subject of the verb to
additional information. The most common linking
verb is any form of the verb “to be”.
Jenny is a black belt in Karate. My cats are sleeping.
We were in line at the movies. (Is, are, were are all
linking verbs and all forms of “to be”)
 These are all of the forms of “to be”. All of these are
TRUE linking verbs: Am, Is, Is being, Are, Are
being, Was, Was being, Were, Has, Has
been, Have been, Will have been, Had been, Are
being, Might have been. As well as all forms of
“become” and “seem”.

8. SENTENCE STRUCTURE
 A sentence may be one of four kinds, depending upon
the number and type(s) of clauses it contains.
What are clauses?
 An independent clause contains a subject, a verb, and
a complete thought.
I wrote my first novel last year.
 A dependent clause contains a subject and a verb, but
no complete thought.
After I wrote my first novel.
Now we can move on to the four kinds of sentences.

9. SENTENCE STRUCTURE
A SIMPLE SENTENCE has one independent
clause.
Tom reads novels.
Tom reads newspapers and novels.
Tom doesn’t read novels.
Tom reads and enjoys novels.
Tom and Harry enjoy reading novels.

10. SENTENCE STRUCTURE
A COMPOUND SENTENCE has two independent clauses joined by one of
the following three things:
a coordinating conjunction
 Coordinating conjunctions join equals to one another: words to
words, phrases to phrases, clauses to clauses. Some coordinating
conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so (FANBOYS)
Tom reads novels, but Jack reads comics.
a conjunctive adverb
 Conjunctive adverbs join independent clauses together. Some
conjunctive adverbs: After all, also, however, in addition, therefore
Tom reads novels; however, Jack reads comics
a semicolon alone.
 A semicolon joins independent clauses (complete thoughts)
Tom reads novels; Jack reads comics.

11. SENTENCE STRUCTURE
A COMPLEX SENTENCE has one dependent clause
joined to an independent clause.
Although Tom reads novels, Jack reads comics.
Jack reads comics although Tom reads novels.
Jack, who reads comics, rarely reads novels.
 In the first example, the dependent clause is “Although
Tom reads novels” and the independent clause is Jack
reads comics.
 Complex sentences are created using connectors called
subordinating conjunctions to connect the dependent
and independent clauses.
 Some examples of these are: after, although, as, as,
wherever, whenever, while, unless, as soon as, as
though, because, before, since, though.

12. SENTENCE STRUCTURE
A COMPOUND-COMPLEX SENTENCE has two
independent clauses joined to one or more
dependent clauses.
While Tom reads novels, Jack reads comics but
Sam only reads magazines.
Tom reads novels, but Jack reads comics because
books are too difficult.
 In the first example, the dependent clause is “While
Tom reads novels” and the two independent
clauses are “Jack reads comics” and “Sam only
reads magazines”.

13. PUNCTUATION
The colon used in the following situations.
 To introduce a list.
You will have to order several accessory components: chargers, cases, cords,
cables, and speakers.
 To introduce a quotation that follows an introductory sentence.
As Author, Erica Jong, stated: “If you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.”
 In the greeting of a formal business letter.
Dear Sir: or Dear Madam:
 Before a long explanation.
There are two conditions that must exist before we can experience true freedom:
first, each person must be entitled to act independently of the other; secondly, each
must agree not cross those parameters that have been set in place as protection
from harm.
 Before you restate an idea.
The play was poorly performed: it lacked both experience and characterization
from the actors.

14. PUNCTUATION
The semicolon is used in the following situation.
 To separate two independent thoughts in a
sentence that otherwise, would have been
separated by using a conjunction such as “and” or
“but”.
It was the first of April; all the spring lines were on
display.

15. PUNCTUATION
The comma is used in the following situations.
 To separate items in a list, including the last two.
He hit the ball, dropped the bat, and ran to first base.
 With a conjunction to separate independent clauses.
He hit the ball well, but ran to third base.
 To set off introductory elements.
Running toward the base, John was breathing hard.
 To set off parenthetical elements.
Corey’s dream, of being an NHL goalie, is within reach.
 Before a quotation.
She said, “I want to play hockey.”

16. RUN ONS AND FRAGMENTS
 A run-on is a sentence that really has TWO sentences
(or complete ideas) INCORRECTLY combined into
one. This happens when there is no punctuation or
connecting word to break up the string of ideas.
The computer is a useful tool it can be used for writing
papers.
My mother says I can go first I have to empty the
garbage, though.
Once a time there was a man his name was Josh.
Bees don’t eat flowers they gather nectar from them
then they go back to the hive.
I heard the tires squeal then the car came around the
corner I got out of the way fast.

17. RUN ONS AND FRAGMENTS
 How do I fix a run-on?
Fixing a run-on sentence is a matter of detecting the
sentence in the first place, and
thenadding in a punctuation mark.
To detect the presence of a run-on sentence, a
student should re-read his or her work. Reading
aloud tends to be more effective than reading to
oneself because voice intonation reveals where
individual sentences start and stop.

18. RUN ONS AND FRAGMENTS
 To understand how fragments are wrong, you first need to
understand the 3 parts of a complete sentence.
A complete sentence has:
1. A subject (the actor/person/noun that the sentence is about).
2. A predicate (the verb or the action).
3. A complete thought (it can stand alone and make sense- it is
independent).
Some sentences can be very short, with only two or three words
expressing a complete thought, like this:John waited.
This sentence has a subject (John) and a verb (waited), and it
expresses a complete thought. We can understand the idea
completely with just those two words, so again, it's
independent—an independent clause.

19. RUN ONS AND FRAGMENTS
 A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence.
Some fragments are incomplete because they lack
either a subject or a verb, or both. The fragments
that most students have trouble with, however, are
dependent clauses—they have a subject and a
verb, so they look like complete sentences, but they
don't express a complete thought. They're called
"dependent" because they can't stand on their own.
 Many fragments are the products of misplaced
SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS.

20. RUN ONS AND FRAGMENTS
 Look at these dependent clauses. They're just begging for
more information to make the thoughts complete:
Because his car was in the shop (What did he do?)
After the rain stops (What then?)
When you finally take the test (What will happen?)
Since you asked (Will you get the answer?)
If you want to go with me (What should you do?)
 Does each of these examples have a subject? Yes. Does
each have a verb? Yes. So what makes the thought
incomplete?? It's the first word
(Because, After, When, Since, If). These words belong to a
special class of words called subordinators or
subordinating conjunctions. If you can pick out
subordinating conjunctions, you can probably eliminate 90%
of your fragments.

21. RUN ONS AND FRAGMENTS
 So, how do you find and fix your fragments?
Remember the basics: subject, verb, and complete
thought. If you can recognize those things, you're
halfway there.
Then, scan your sentences for subordinating
conjunctions. If you find one, first identify the whole
chunk of the dependent clause (the subject and
verb that go with the subordinator), and then make
sure they're attached to an independent clause.


22. VERB-TENSE AGREEMENT
 Verb-Tense agreement means that all of your verbs
agree with each other in time period.
 Shifts in tense can cause confusion- good writers make
sure they keep the same tense throughout a piece of
writing
 There are a few different types of tenses. They indicate
when something is happening in a story.
Simple Present: They walk
Present Perfect: They have walked
Simple Past: They walked
Past Perfect: They had walked
Future: They will walk
Future Perfect: They will have walked

23. VERB-TENSE AGREEMENT
 For narratives (stories)- simple past
 For essays and formal writing- simple present
 As writers, we have the choice to make stylistic
decisions about which tense we use but remember
the importance of clarity for the reader

24. VERB-TENSE AGREEMENT
 General guideline: Do not shift from one tense
to another if the time frame for each action or
state is the same.
1. The ocean contains rich minerals that washed
down from rivers and streams.
Contains is present tense, referring to a current state;
washed down is past, but should be present (wash
down) because the minerals are currently
continuing to wash down.
Corrected: The ocean contains rich minerals that
wash down from rivers and streams.

25. VERB-TENSE AGREEMENT
Hints:
 Rely on past tense to narrate events and to refer to an author
or an author's ideas as historical entities
 Use present tense to state facts and to discuss your own
ideas or those expressed by an author in a particular work.
Also use present tense to describe action in a literary
work, movie, or other fictional narrative. Occasionally, for
dramatic effect, you may wish to narrate an event in present
tense as though it were happening now. If you do, use present
tense consistently throughout the narrative, making shifts only
where appropriate.
 Future action may be expressed in a variety of ways, including
the use of will, shall, is going to, are about to, tomorrow and
other adverbs of time, and can be used to encourage your
reader to think about the future (perhaps at the end of a
persuasive essay!).

26. PRONOUN-ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT
 A Pronoun is a word used in place of a noun.
Usually pronouns refer to something that was
already mentioned in previous sentence or
understood by the listener or reader. They are very
useful words because when you use them, you do
not need to repeat nouns all the time.

27. PRONOUN-ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT
 When a pronoun replaces a word (or a group of
words), the word being replaced is called an
antecedent.
Example: I wrote a letter to the president, who
responded quickly.
In that sentence, president is antecedent of the
pronoun who.

28. PRONOUN-ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT
 Different kinds of pronouns:
Personal: I, she, he, me, her/hers, his, their, mine,
your/yours, our/ours, we, us, they, them, it, its
Demonstrative: This, that, these, those
Reflexive: Myself, yourself, herself, himself
Indefinite: No one, nothing, nobody, someone,
somebody, something, every one, everybody,
everything, anyone, anybody, anything
Interrogative: Who, whose, whom, which, what

29. PRONOUN-ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT
 Pronouns and Antecedents need to agree in
1. Person (1st, 2nd, or 3rd)- I, you, he/she
2. Number (Singular or plural)- his/her, their
3. Gender (Male or Female)- he/she, him/her

30. PRONOUN-ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT
 Identify where the disagreement is and fix the
following problems:
1. If a person wants to succeed in corporate life, you
have to know the rules of the game
2. During early rehearsals, an actor may forget their
lines
3. The committee members put their signatures on
the document.
4. One of the students must give their oral report
tomorrow.
5. Most dogs are loyal to his or her owner.

31. TRANSITIVE/INTRANSITIVE VERBS
 Transitive Verbs are ACTION VERBS. They give an
ACTION to an OBJECT. In other words, the object
of the sentences receives the action of the verb
Example:
The judge sentences the man to five years in prison.
The judge applies an action (sentencing) to an object
(the man).

32. TRANSITIVE/INTRANSITIVE VERBS
 Intransitive verbs DO NOT pass an action onto an
object. In other words, they don’t DO something to
anything or anyone.
Examples:
James fell down.
The cat lies there.
Dan walks for miles.
Every single person voted.

33. TRANSITIVE/INTRANSITIVE VERBS
 Lie is an INTRANSITIVE VERB:
Lie down. (The verb isn’t being done to something)
 Lay is a TRANSITIVE VERB
Lay the book down. (The verb is doing something to
the book)

34. TRANSITIVE/INTRANSITIVE VERBS
 Sit is an INTRANSITIVE VERB.
Sit down. (Nothing is being “sat”)
Set is a TRANSITIVE VERB.
Set the keys on the table. (The keys are receiving the
action)

35. TRANSITIVE/INTRANSITIVE VERBS
 Rise is an INTRANSITIVE VERB
Rise early in the morning. (Nothing is being “risen”)
Raise is a TRANSITIVE VERB
Raise a glass for the couple. (The glass is receiving
the action)

36. TRANSITIVE/INTRANSITIVE VERBS
 Are the following sentences correct? If not, change
the verb to make them correct.
1. Lay down on the couch
2. The house sets on top of the hill.
3. She raises the shades.

37. NOTORIOUS CONFUSABLES
 Its- possessive/It’s- it is
 Your- possessive/You’re- you are
 Their- possessive/They’re- they are/There- place
 Accept- take on/Except- excluding
 Allusion- refer to/Illusion- fake/not real
 Affect- verb/Effect- noun
 Were- past tense/We’re- we are
 To- preposition/Two- number/Too- also
 Allot- give out/A lot- big amount