sábado, 4 de febrero de 2012

Subject-Verb Agreement


Subjects and verbs must AGREE for example if a subject is singular, the verb must also be singular; if a subject is plural, the verb must also be plural.

EXAMPLES:

  • My dog bitmy shirt
  • The students sing well
  • She makes me cry
  • He works a lot.
  • The boys talk to me.


In the present tense, nouns and verbs form plurals in opposite ways: nouns ADD an s to the singular form; verbs REMOVE the s from the singular form.
                                     
These agreement rules do not apply to verbs used in the simple past tense without any helping verbs.
                  
The agreement rules do, however, apply to the following helping verbs when they are used with a main verb: is-arewas-werehas-havedoes-do.
                      
The agreement rules do not apply to has-have when used as the SECOND helping verb in a pair. 
                     
They do NOT apply to any other helping verbs, such as can, could, shall, should, may, might, will, would, must.
                 
The subject-verb agreement rules apply to all personal pronouns except I and you, which, although SINGULAR, require PLURAL forms of verbs.
  


    CONJUNCTIONS

    Definition

    A conjunction is a joiner, a word that connects (conjoins) parts of a sentence.

    Coordinating Conjunctions

    The simple, little conjunctions are called coordinating conjunctions.

    For-And-Nor-But-Or-Yet-So. 

    EXAMPLES:

    • My mom go shopping and my father watch Tv at home.
    • She likes the roses or likes the chocolates.
    • He buys many candies for their family.

    Subordinating Conjunctions


    Subordinating Conjunction (sometimes called a dependent word or subordinator) comes at the beginning of a Subordinate (or Dependent) Clause and establishes the relationship between the dependent clause and the rest of the sentence. 

    after, although, as long as, as though, because, before, even if, even though, if only, in order that, rather than, since, unless, until, when, whenever, where, wherever, while, etc.


    EXAMPLES:
    • Lorena took to the stage as though she had been preparing for this moment all his life.
    • Because Fatima loved acting, she refused to give up his dream of being in the movies.
    • Unless we act now, all is lost.

    Correlative Conjunctions

    Some conjunctions combine with other words to form what are called correlative conjunctions: both... and, not only... but also, neither... or, etc.



    EXAMPLES:
    • Delmy led the team not only in statistics but also by virtue of her enthusiasm.
    • Freddy said, Neither a borrower nor a lender be.
    • Whether she win this race or lose it doesn't matter as long as she do her best.

    jueves, 2 de febrero de 2012

    Types of Sentences

    Simple Sentences

    A simple sentence has one independent clause. That means it has one subject and one verb.

    • The dog jumped.
    • The man bowed.
    • The little girl cried.

    Compound Sentences
    A compound sentence consists of two or more independent clauses.
    • My mother invited me to a tea party, but my husband didn't let me go.
    • Do you want to stay at home, or would you like to go play games with me?
    • I have a lot of homework to finish, so  I will be up all the weekend.

    Complex Sentences: 

    A complex sentence contains one independent clause and at least one dependent clause. The independent clause is called the “main clause.” These sentences use subordinating conjunctions to link ideas.

    • I ate the vegetables that my mom cooked.
    • I enjoyed the pizza that you bought for me. 
    • I ate cook before I went to the University

    Compound-Complex Sentences: 

    A compound-complex sentence has at least two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause. The dependent clause can be part of the independent clause.

    • The cat lived in the backyard, but the dog was superior, now  lived inside the house.
    • My mom live in New York, but  she decided  travel to Los Angeles, before I come back to my house.
      




    Declarative sentence: 
    Its shows a statement. 


    - His name is Fatima Ayala.


    Interrogative sentence: 
    Its asks a question. 


    - How much does the listening book cost?


    Exclamatory sentence: 
    Its shows statement that shows strong emotion.


    - I love you so much!


    Imperative sentence: 
    Its show a direction or a command. 


    - Don´t be late we have grammar class.