LANGUAGE FLASH CARDS

REGULAR, IRREGULAR, COMPOUND, COLLECTIVE

NOUN FORMSNOUN FORMS

REGULAR NOUNS The regular way to form a plural noun is

to add an s (dogs, horses). The plural of some nouns is formed by adding an es (buses, foxes). Also, drop the y, add i and es. Musical terms do not end in es (pianos, silos, altos, sopranos, etc.)

Some nouns are the same in the singular and plural (sheep, trout, deer, salmon)

IRREGULAR NOUNS

Undergoes a spelling change (woman – women; goose – geese)

COMPOUND NOUNS Written as one word and is

formed by adding s or es (cupfuls, strongboxes)

The plural of compound nouns consisting of a noun plus a modifier is formed by making the modified noun plural: sisters-in-law; editors in chief

COLLECTIVE NOUNS Name a group. Examples: jury, swarm, staff, team,

band, troop, herd, etc. May be either singular or plural

depending upon the meaning in the sentence ( will discuss more with S-V agreement)

REGULAR AND IRREGULAR

VERB FORMSVERB FORMS

REGULAR VERBSOne that forms its past and past participle by adding d or ed (walk –walked; ease – eased)

IRREGULAR VERBS

One that forms its past and past participle in some other way than the regular verb ( drink, drank, have drunk; catch, caught, have caught)

Singular subjects must AGREE with singular verbs. Plural subjects must AGREE with

plural verbs.

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENTSUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

Click for Definition

NUMBER A verb must agree with its subject in

number (singular – one, plural – more than one)

The number of the subject is not changed by intervening phrases or clauses (FLUFF)

SINGULAR PRONOUNSEach, either, neither, one,

everyone, no one, nobody, anyone, anybody, someone, somebody, everybody, much

Neither is in the classroom.

PLURAL PRONOUNS Several, few, both, many,

others

Many are becoming endangered.

SINGULAR OR PLURAL PRONOUNS

Some, any, none, all, most may be either singular or plural depending on the meaning of the sentence. (LOOK AT THE OBJECT OF THE PREPOSITION!)

OTHER RULES TO REMEMBER Singular subjects joined by or or nor

generally take a singular verb. When a singular subject and a plural

subject are joined by or or nor, the verb agrees in number with the second one.

Be careful with inverted word order (verb comes first).

Nouns of amount are generally singular.

A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in two ways: number

and gender. ANTECEDENT: What the

pronouns refers to.

PRONOUN-ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT

PRONOUN-ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT

NUMBER – SINGULAR OR PLURAL GENDER - MASCULINE,

FEMININE, or NEUTER Refer to singular and plural

pronouns already discussed.

Do not shift needlessly from one tense to another.

(present participle, past, past participle)

SHIFTS IN TENSESHIFTS IN TENSE

3 cases of personal pronouns:Nominative (subject, PN)Objective (DO, IO, OP)

Possessive (shows ownership; never spelled with an

apostrophe)

PRONOUN CASEPRONOUN CASE

HINTS WITH PRONOUNS

Drop the noun and leave the pronoun (Tammy and I were studying.)

Say pronouns separately (She, Her) and (I, me) are going to

the movies.

ACTIVE – when the subject does the action

PASSIVE – when the action is performed on the subject

EFFECTIVE USE OF VOICEEFFECTIVE USE OF VOICE

HINTS WITH VOICE

Passive voice USUALLY has was or were

Passive voice will often have by

Describes or limits the meaning of another word.

MODIFIERSMODIFIERS

DANGLING MODIFIERS

When there is no word that the phrase or clause can modify.

Example: Eating my dinner quietly, the explosion made me jump. (There needs to be a noun or pronoun for the modifier to describe.) CORRECT: Eating my dinner, I jumped when I heard the explosion.

MISSPLACED MODIFIER The modifier describes the wrong word

in the sentence. EXAMPLE: The photographer, soaring

over the cliff, took a picture of the eagle.

CORRECT: The photographer took a picture of the eagle soaring over the cliff.

Learn to appropriately use words that sound or look alike.

(A list will be given.)

COMMONLY CONFUSED WORDS

COMMONLY CONFUSED WORDS

Words that create clarity, precision, and vivid

description.

APPROPRIATE WORD CHOICE

APPROPRIATE WORD CHOICE

TERMS WITH WORD CHOICE CLARITY - clear PRECISION - to the point;

measurements; amounts, etc. VIVID DESCRIPTION - details; uses

imagery REDUNDANCY - repetitive wording

FORMAL LANGUAGE: does not include the use of slang, contractions, 2nd person pronouns, and jargon;

used in reports, textbooks, research papersINFORMAL LANGUAGE: includes the previous items; used in conversations with friends and in

friendly letters

FORMAL AND INFORMAL LANGUAGE

FORMAL AND INFORMAL LANGUAGE

RUN-ON sentence: When two sentences are not separated at all

SENTENCE FRAGMENT: part of a sentence; it does not express a complete thought with a subject

and verbCOMMA SPLICE: When two sentences are

separated by a comma

SENTENCE STRUCTURESENTENCE STRUCTURE

PARALLEL STRUCTURE: Use the same grammatical form

EXAMPLE: I enjoy reading and to exercise. CORRECT: I enjoy reading

and exercising.

INTERNAL PARALLELISMINTERNAL PARALLELISM

Capitalize proper nouns and proper adjectives.

Capitalize titles.A direct quote begins with a capital

letter.

CORRECT USE OF CAPITALIZATION

CORRECT USE OF CAPITALIZATION

Use commas to separate items in a series.Words used in direct address are set off by

commas.Use a comma before and, but, or, nor, for, yet

when they join independent clauses.Use commas to set off nonessential elements.

Use commas with direct quotations.

CORRECT USE OF COMMASCORRECT USE OF COMMAS

Use a semicolon between independent clauses not joined by and, but, for, or, nor, yet.

Use a semicolon between independent clauses joined by conjunctive adverbs.

Use a semicolon between items in a series if the items contain commas.

Use a colon before a list of items (but not after a verb or preposition)

CORRECT USE OF SEMICOLON AND COLON

CORRECT USE OF SEMICOLON AND COLON

Use quotation marks to enclose a direct quotation.

Use quotation marks to enclose titles of chapters, articles, short poems, short stories,

and songs. (SMALL THINGS)Use underlining for titles of books,

periodicals, newspapers, works of art, and ships. (LARGE THINGS)

CORRECT USE OF QUOTATION MARKS AND

UNDERLINING

CORRECT USE OF QUOTATION MARKS AND

UNDERLINING

To form the possessive case of a singular noun, add an apostrophe and s. (Helen’s dress)

To form the possessive case of a plural noun, add only the apostrophe. (girls’ hats)EXCEPTION: FOR SOME PLURAL

FORMS, ADD AN APOSTROPHE AND S. (men’s hats)

Use an apostrophe to show where letters have been omitted in a contraction. (we’ve)

CORRECT USE OF APOSTROPHES

CORRECT USE OF APOSTROPHES

Paragraphs must contain: introduction (capture the reader’s interest), body (ideas to

develop the paragraph) and conclusion (should “round out” the treatment of the topic).

TRASITIONAL WORDS: link ideas together is a paragraph; use them appropriately

LOGICAL PROGRESSION AND COMPLETENESS OF

PARAGRAPHS

LOGICAL PROGRESSION AND COMPLETENESS OF

PARAGRAPHS

IF YOU KNOW THESE STANDARDS AND OBJECTIVES AND CAN APPLY THEM, YOU WILL BE SUCCESSFUL IN PASSING THE AHSGE!