This document provides an overview of grammar concepts including parts of speech, verbs, sentences structures, and composition. It covers the eight parts of speech with a focus on nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, and interjections. Verbs are discussed in terms of person, number, tense, mood, and voice. Sentences can be independent or dependent clauses. Grammar rules are applied through composition exercises.

1. Grammar Crash Course!!
Buckle Up!

2. Focus of Today’s Grammar
Crash Course:
• What is Grammar?
• The 8 Parts of Speech, focusing on
• Nouns and Pronouns
• Verbs and Adverbs
• person, number, tense, and voice of verbs
• Adjectives
• Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases
• Basic Sentence Structures
• Dependent vs. Independent Clauses
• Grammar Based Composition for Practice

3. What is Grammar?
• The system and
structure of a language
OR
• Both the framework of
a language and the
process through which
a language conveys
meaning

4. Why Bother Learning
Grammar?
• Understanding grammar
means understanding the
mechanics of your own
language, making you
better at:
 reading
 writing
 communicating
 understanding the world
around you
 learning Latin!

5. Where Did Grammar Come From?
• Waaaay back in ancient Greece, the philosophers Aristotle and Plato
began describing the grammar of their native language, classical
Greek.
 They did this as part of their philosophical investigation into the true
meaning of words, ideas, and concepts; what words in language actually
represent; and how people communicate using words.
• Grammar became a formal study that looks a lot like modern grammar
under the Romans.
 The Romans needed all these fancy grammar words because they wanted
to quickly learn a foreign language: Greek.
 “Grammar” makes this a lot easier because it allows a clear comparison
between the structures and patterns of your native language with the
foreign language you are trying to learn.

6. The Real Question is . . .
Who has the better beard, Plato or Aristotle?
Plato, Long and Curly Aristotle, Full but Trim

7. The 8 Parts of Speech
• Noun
• Pronoun
• Adjective
• Conjunction
• Verb
• Adverb
• Preposition
• Interjection
Every word you have spoken,
speak, or will speak
falls into one of these
categories!

8. Nouns
• A noun is a person,
place, thing, or idea
• Examples:
– Billy, Portland, table,
freedom
• Proper Nouns are
nouns that require
capitalization
– Generally names of
people and places

9. Pronouns
• What is a Pronoun?
– It’s a word that takes the place of a noun (PPTI). The
teacher gives the presentation that he wrote. Rather
than repeat “the teacher,” we use “he.”
• Common Pronouns:
– I we
– you
– he/she/it they
• Common Pronouns that show Possession
– my/mine our/ours
– your/yours
– his/her/its their

10. Pronouns II
• The pronoun “who/which/that” refers back to a noun
already mentioned and governs its own clause
– The boy who cried wolf was sorry in the end.
• Who can only refer back to people.
• Use “whom” when the person referred to is an object in
the clause
– The boy whom the wolf ate was definitely sorry in the
end.
– I gave the prize to the winner for whom it was intended.
• Use “which” or “that” when referring back to to things.
– The books that are on the shelf should be required
reading.

11. Pronoun Errors
• On the SAT/ACT Multiple Choice Writing Questions, you will
often be asked to identify a place where a noun or nouns do not
agree with a pronoun.
• Example: A smart tennis player such as Roger is someone
A
who knows how to move around the court, can hit winners at
B C
the net, and controls their emotions. No error.
D E
– The mistake is in choice D. Their is a plural pronoun. The subject
in the sentence, player, is singular. Instead of using their, the
sentence should have used his as the pronoun.

12. Adjectives
• Adjectives are descriptive words that “modify”
(describe) nouns
– The bad man robbed the bank.
– The book was very long and difficult.
• Adjectives are qualities and quantities. Find
them below:
– Twenty happy women filled the spacious square
on a sunny afternoon.

13. Conjunctions
• Conjunctions are the little words that join other parts of speech
together.
– You and I are studying grammar but not zoology.
– She filled up when she arrived at the gas station.
• Conjunctions can join parts of sentences, nouns, adjectives,
adverbs, verbs . . . almost anything!
• Conjunction = conjoin => think: conjoined twins to help you
remember
• We’ll get more on conjunctions in a bit when we talk about
sentence structures

14. Verbs = Action!
 Verbs are ACTION words - EXPLODE, do,
make, run, eat, sleep, spin, draw, feel, sprint,
play, study, pass, fail, grow . . .
 Also “to be” is a verb in all its forms - be, am,
are, is, was, has been, etc.
 Verbs have 5 attributes, or aspects, to the
action they express:

Person

Number

Tense

Mood

Voice

15. Person
 “Person” refers to the noun’s point of
view as he/she/it performs the action of
the sentence.
 There are 3 possible points of view:
 1st person = I or we
 2nd person = you
 3rd person = he/she/it or they

16. Number
 This is easy:
 Singular = one
 Plural = more than one
 Let’s look at the verb “love” in all possible persons
and numbers:
“love” Singular Plural
1st Person I love we love
2nd Person you love you love
3rd Person he/she/it loves they love

17. Tense = Time
 When did the action of the verb
happen? The answer is the verb’s
tense.
 Six main tenses:
1. Present = right now = he eats
2. Past = before now = he ate
3. Future = after now = he will eat
4. Present Perfect = before now,
with an effect now = he has
eaten (and is now therefore full)
5. Past Perfect = before a time in
the past = he had eaten already
when he arrived
6. Future Perfect = after a time in
the future = he will have eaten
when he arrives tomorrow

18. Hey! You Payin’ Attention?!
 Put the verb “love” into
all six tenses in the 1st
person plural
 Present =
 Past =
 Future =
 Present Perfect =
 Past Perfect =
 Future Perfect =

19. Hey! You Payin’ Attention?!
 Put the verb “love” into all six
tenses in the 1st person
plural
 Present = we love
 Past = we loved
 Future = we shall love
 Present Perfect = we have
loved
 Past Perfect = we had loved
 Future Perfect = we shall
have loved

20. Back to Verbs: Mood
 Mood refers to the “tone” of the
verb or the attitude of the speaker.
 Three moods:
 Indicative - think “indicate.” This
mood just points things out and
makes statements. Example: I
am studying for my exam.
 Imperative - expresses
commands. Example: “Finish
your homework, Bobby.” “Enjoy
Coke.”
 Subjunctive - expresses unreal
or hypothetical situations.
Example: I would go to class if I
ever learned anything.

21. Voice
 Two Voices:
 Active: the subject
performs the action
of the verb.
Example: Jim hits
the ball.
 Passive: the subject
does NOT perform
the action. Example:
The ball is hit (by
Jim).

22. Voice Practice
Let’s change these verbs
from active to passive
or vice versa.
 We drive.
 He was denied.
 You will eat.
 They had been helped.
 Stephen was covering.

23. Verb Practice
 Can you identify the five attributes
of these verbs?
 We held
 Person
 Number
 Tense
 Mood
 Voice
 She will have read
 Person
 Number
 Tense
 Mood
 Voice
You had been aided
Person
Number
Tense
Mood
Voice
Just do it!
Person
Number
Tense
Mood
Voice

24. Adverbs
• Adverbs modify verbs and
sometime adjectives
• Usually end in -ly
• Examples: “We barely escaped.”
“The students submitted an
extremely excellent performance.”

25. Prepositions and
Prepositional Phrases
• Prepositions are little words that most
often, but not always, express place.
– Examples: under, through, around, with,
without, into, in, on, about
• A prepositional phrase is simple the
preposition itself and the words it
governs.
– Example: “He ran into the cave.” “I came
with him.”

26. Interjections
• Hey, these are obvious and easy!
• Holy cow!
• Wow!
• Whoa, did you see that?
• Hi, how are you?

27. Basic Sentence Structures
Subject = the noun that performs the
action of the verb
Direct object = the noun that receives
the action of the verb
 Billy hits Timmy.
 Billy is the subject => he hits
 Timmy is the direct object => he is hit

28. Basic Sentence Structures
 Indirect Object = a noun that is affected by the action
of the verb in a secondary way.
 The noun answers the question “To whom?” or
“For whom?
 Indirect Objects are found with verbs of giving,
showing, and saying.
 Examples: “I said to Billy, ‘Do not hit Timmy.” “She
showed her stamp collection to the class. It was
really boring.” “Santa gives gifts to children at
Christmas time.”
 Sometimes the to/for gets left out, depending on the
wording. “Santa gives children gifts at Christmas
time.”

29. What is a Sentence?
 A complete sentence needs to have at just two
words: a subject and a verb that go together.
 We sleep.
 Anything else is considered a phrase or a dependent
clause.
 A phrase consists of two or more words expressing a
thought but without a subject-verb combo
 Example: Sleeping at night . . .
 To investigate the crime . . .
 And remember prepositional phrases? We ran
around the house.
 A dependent clause uses a subordinating conjunction
and may have a subject-verb combo
 => more on this . . .

30. Independent vs. Dependent
Clauses
A dependent clause requires a subordinating
conjunction. Let’s look at some examples:
 While I was at work, I missed the game.
 You eat breakfast because it’s healthy.
“While I was at work.” is not a complete
sentence. It is dependent on the complete
idea of “I missed the game.”
While is the word that makes it
dependent/subordinate to the main idea of “I
missed the game.”

31. Bringing It All Together
 Grammar based composition: I will give you a list
of grammatical items that must appear in a
sentence that you will write.
 Example: write a sentence that contains the
following: a verb in third person singular and past
tense, a prepositional phrase, and an indirect
object.
– One possible answer: She gave him a gift on his
birthday.
• “She gave” is 3rd person singular, past tense.
• “him” is an indirect object of “give”
• “on his birthday” is a prepositional phrase.

32. Your Turn
1. Write a sentence that contains the
following:
– a verb in the 2nd person, future tense
– two adjectives
– one adverb
– a prepositional phrase

33. Your Turn
 Write a sentence that contains the
following:
– a dependent clause
– a verb in the 1st person, past perfect tense
– a direct object of “the pancake people”
– a verb in the passive voice

34. Review of Today’s
Presentation:
• What is Grammar?
• The 8 Parts of Speech, focusing on
– Nouns and Pronouns
– Verbs and Adverbs
• person, number, tense, and voice of verbs
– Adjectives
– Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases
• Basic Sentence Structures
• Dependent vs. Independent Clauses
• Grammar Based Composition for Practice