GRANDMA’S GRAMMAR!
Here are a few grammar tips that might help you in your writing.
Basic Parts of Speech
Just like in a story that has different characters, words in sentences play different roles.
There are eight different parts of speech, and each part helps to build a sentence.
Parts of Speech: Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs, Adverbs, Adjectives, Conjunctions, Prepositions, Interjections.
Proper Nouns name a particular person, place or thing: Astronaut, Christmas, Chloe, George. You always capitalize proper nouns
Personal Pronouns: Plural: they, them, who, whom whoever, whomever
Indefinite Pronouns refer to males, females or males and females. They don’t specify gender.
Indefinite Pronouns: everybody, anybody, either, neither, each any
Demonstrative Pronouns are used to describe particular people, places or things. Demonstrative Pronouns: this, that, these, those
Possessive Pronouns shows ownership. Possessive Pronouns: my, mine, your, yours, her, hers, his, their, theirs, our, ours, its
VERBS can also be regular or irregular. A regular verb will allow you to form a Past Tense of the word by adding a -d or -ed to the word.
Example: follow - followed, smile - smiled, like - liked
Irregular VERBS follow a different rule. You cannot simply put a -d or -ed to show the Past Tense, to show a Past Tense in an Irregular VERB you create a different spelling of the word.
Example: sleep - slept, drink - drank, grow - grew
The most common form of Irregular VERBS shows a state of being (how you are).
Example: I am - I was, It is - It was, We are - We were
Infinity VERBS form is a VERB form that begins with to.
Example: to walk, to run, to play
To create a Future Tense of a VERB for both a regular and irregular VERB, put the word will in front of the Present Tense VERB.
Example: will walk, will run, will play
Example: You did a fantastic job! Chloe wore a striped dress.
You can make NOUNS into ADJECTIVES by changing their endings by adding a - y, -ful, and -tic.
Example: flower - flowery, color - colorful, fantasy - fantastic Special words we use like a, an, the Modify NOUNS and are called Articles.
Example: The dog barked loudly. (The adverb loudly modifies the verb barked)Many ADVERBS are ADJECTIVES with an -ly ending.
Example: The dog was hungry and thirsty. I wanted to take the dog to the park, but he was too lazy.
Example: The cat sat in my basket. In this sentence in is the PREPOSITION that refers to the object my basket to explain where the cat sat.
Example: Ouch, who left the Legos on the floor?
Here are a few grammar tips that might help you in your writing.
Basic Parts of Speech
Just like in a story that has different characters, words in sentences play different roles.
There are eight different parts of speech, and each part helps to build a sentence.
Parts of Speech: Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs, Adverbs, Adjectives, Conjunctions, Prepositions, Interjections.
- NOUNS are very important in a sentence. NOUNS describe people, places, or things.
Proper Nouns name a particular person, place or thing: Astronaut, Christmas, Chloe, George. You always capitalize proper nouns
- PRONOUNS are substitutes for NOUNS. There are four different types of PRONOUNS: personal, indefinite, demonstrative, and possessive
Personal Pronouns: Plural: they, them, who, whom whoever, whomever
Indefinite Pronouns refer to males, females or males and females. They don’t specify gender.
Indefinite Pronouns: everybody, anybody, either, neither, each any
Demonstrative Pronouns are used to describe particular people, places or things. Demonstrative Pronouns: this, that, these, those
Possessive Pronouns shows ownership. Possessive Pronouns: my, mine, your, yours, her, hers, his, their, theirs, our, ours, its
- VERBS describe actions or states of being.
VERBS can also be regular or irregular. A regular verb will allow you to form a Past Tense of the word by adding a -d or -ed to the word.
Example: follow - followed, smile - smiled, like - liked
Irregular VERBS follow a different rule. You cannot simply put a -d or -ed to show the Past Tense, to show a Past Tense in an Irregular VERB you create a different spelling of the word.
Example: sleep - slept, drink - drank, grow - grew
The most common form of Irregular VERBS shows a state of being (how you are).
Example: I am - I was, It is - It was, We are - We were
Infinity VERBS form is a VERB form that begins with to.
Example: to walk, to run, to play
To create a Future Tense of a VERB for both a regular and irregular VERB, put the word will in front of the Present Tense VERB.
Example: will walk, will run, will play
- ADJECTIVES give details
Example: You did a fantastic job! Chloe wore a striped dress.
You can make NOUNS into ADJECTIVES by changing their endings by adding a - y, -ful, and -tic.
Example: flower - flowery, color - colorful, fantasy - fantastic Special words we use like a, an, the Modify NOUNS and are called Articles.
- ADVERBS ask How? When? How much? Where? They help us answer questions.
Example: The dog barked loudly. (The adverb loudly modifies the verb barked)Many ADVERBS are ADJECTIVES with an -ly ending.
- CONJUNCTIONS: join words and ideas together.
Example: The dog was hungry and thirsty. I wanted to take the dog to the park, but he was too lazy.
- PREPOSITIONS help to clarify action.
Example: The cat sat in my basket. In this sentence in is the PREPOSITION that refers to the object my basket to explain where the cat sat.
- INTERJECTIONS show excitement!
Example: Ouch, who left the Legos on the floor?
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