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This Skills Page is your guide to a variety of subjects we have studied in class. Each week, you will notice new areas added for you to read and review. Corresponding activities will be provided in the Lessons Page of this site!
SPOTLIGHT ON NOUNS Noun: Names a person, place, thing, or idea. Examples: man, beach, table, freedom Common Noun: Names a nonspecific person, place, thing, or idea. The examples listed above for nouns are also common nouns! They could refer to any man or beach, for instance. Proper Noun: Names a specific person, place, thing, or idea. Examples: George, Salisbury Beach, Somerville High School, Market Basket Note: All proper nouns begin with capital letters because they provide specific names or titles. Concrete Noun: Names a noun you can actually see or touch. Examples: sand, tree, mountain, grass Abstract Noun: Names a noun you cannot actually see or touch but instead, can feel. Examples: freedom, love, happiness, respect Collective Noun: Names a noun that is a group or collection of things. Examples: family, team, class (and even the words group and collection) Countable Noun: Names a noun you can...count! Example: boxes, books, pencils, songs Uncountable Noun: Names a noun that you cannot count. Example: water, advice, research, sand Note: In order to allow these nouns to BECOME countable, we would have to add something to HOLD or CONTAIN them. For instance, a BOTTLE of water is countable because we are counting the bottles, not the water. A PIECE of advice may be counted, but not advice itself. A PAGE of research and a GRAIN of sand are also countable, but research and sand are not. You generally cannot add an article (a, an, the) in front of an uncountable noun. For instance, you cannot say "a water" or "a sand." REMEMBER -- HOW A WORD IS USED IN A SENTENCE DETERMINES ITS PART OF SPEECH! For instance, If we are talking about a beach blanket, beach is now being used as an adjective because it describes the noun blanket. I can also turn blanket into an adjective by mentioning the blanket sleeper a baby is wearing. Words change into different parts of speech depending on how they are used in a sentence or phrase. This is why grammar usage is so important! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VERBS OF BEING (New on September 22, 2020) Action verbs are not the only verbs found in sentences! There is another group of verbs that can be slightly more difficult to detect. They are known as the verbs of being! An example of a sentence that contains a verb of being could be "That man is an actor." In that sentence, "is" does not show movement, and yet it is still a verb. It connects the subject "man" to the subject complement "actor." It does its job, but it simply does not show an action! The Verbs of Being are: am was be have do shall will can may is were being has does should would could might are been had did must You may try memorizing them (I did!), and I have listed them in the columns you can read from top to bottom. This makes them more rhythmic and easier to remember! Try it today! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parallel Sentence Structure (New on September 28, 2020) When we edit our sentences, we look for a certain type of structure that allows our writing to flow. Areas we look at include: 1) maintaining correct verb tenses 2) maintaining tone 3) continuing to create mood 4) using the same point of view throughout In order to maintain correct verb tenses, you first need to know what verb tenses are! For now, we will look at present, past, and future forms of verbs as examples and discuss them. Look at the examples below! Present: Students are reading books right now. Past: Students read lots of books over the weekend! Future: Students will read more books during the upcoming school year. Tone indicates the author's attitude or approach toward a subject. An example of this could be a serious tone or a humorous tone, depending on the subject matter. Mood shows the atmosphere, which we can sometimes figure out from setting descriptions and how we, as readers, feel as we read the story. Point of view refers to who is telling the story. The following are some of the most common types of point of view. Later, we will elaborate on third person point of view! First Person: Pronouns used include I, me, my, we, our, us. Second Person: Pronouns used include you, your, yours. Third Person: Pronouns used include he, she, it, they, their, them. We will discuss each of these in class so that you can understand how and why they are used in various types of writing. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paraphrasing and Inference Extra Notes 10/14/20 Remember: When you paraphrase, you take text you read or words someone stated and put them into your own words without changing their meaning! For example, if someone said or wrote: "Juan whistled a tune while he removed two slices of bread from their packaging, spread peanut butter on one of them, and spread jelly on the other. Then he pressed the two slices of bread together," the paraphrase would be: Juan made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. But when you make an inference, you add thought and meaning. The inference for the very same quotation could be: Juan enjoys making (or eating) peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Its or It's October 20, 2020 When choosing between its and it's, we need to look at what the differences are between these two words that sound exactly the same (but mean very different things!). Its is a possessive pronoun used as an adjective. This means that it shows ownership, and it describes a noun. Examples: The quarter landed on its side. Did you see my notebook, with its purple cover? That flower belongs in its special vase. Reading the story, with all its difficult vocabulary, was becoming much easier. It's is a contraction. A contraction occurs when you put two words together and place an apostrophe where a missing letter or letters should be. For instance, the two words that make up it's are "it" and "is." If we were to simply put them together, they would look like this: itis Instead, we take out the second "i" and place an apostrophe in its place: it's We could do that with other words, such as the contraction for "I am." We could put them together: Iam Then we could take out the "a" and replace it with an apostrophe: I'm We will try more contractions on our Lessons Page exercises (along with practice for its and it's). Now back to it's. When we place this word in a sentence, we can check its accuracy by seeing if the words "it is" could replace it's. Examples: It's a perfect day for taking a walk around the neighborhood. Did you know it's about two-thirds of the way through October already? It's hard to understand why some people do not wear masks during this pandemic. It's so nice to see you! We can check each of the sentences above by inserting it is in place of it's to see if it makes sense! Example: It is a perfect day for taking a walk around the neighborhood. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prepositional Phrases How in the world do we find them in our sentences? Added November 8, 2020 A preposition is a positional word. It does not perform an action, as a verb does. It does not name a person, place, or thing, as a noun does. It does not describe a noun, as an adjective does. It does not describe a verb, adjective or another adverb, as an adverb does. So exactly what does it do? A preposition, especially when it begins a phrase, provides some extra information in reference to a noun or pronoun in the sentence. When in phrase form, it does not contain a verb or even a subject. In the title of this section ("Prepositional Phrases," shown above), the words in purple are prepositional phrases! Can you name both the preposition and the noun it leads us to? Examples of prepositions are as follows: in from after with among about on under before into around through above over to during throughout between below of beyond including for since behind at beneath until towards without for by along against upon down across except up out off near regarding Examples of some prepositional phrases are: at the movies over the rainbow with you for me on the beach except these words without her near the lake behind the door to the classroom until June down the road Examples of a few prepositional phrases used within sentences are shown in purple below: Tim and Shay were at the movies. The pot of gold can be found over the rainbow. The gift has been hidden behind the door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- YOUR or YOU'RE November 9, 2020 There is always a bit of confusion when it comes to homophones, which are words that sound the same but are spelled in different ways and mean different things. 1) YOUR is a possessive pronoun that functions as an adjective. This means that it is used to show ownership between a person and an object. Example: Reading every day should be your top priority. Example: Is that your book on the table in the back of this room? Bonus: Can you find the three prepositions and prepositional phrases in the second example above? Can you even find one in this very sentence? 2) YOU'RE is a contraction that is comprised of the words you and are. Notice how the apostrophe is taking the place of the letter you must remove when you put these two words together. youare = you're (An apostrophe replaces the a.) Example: You're a wonderful student. Example: Is this the pen you're looking for? Hint: Check to see if you can change the words you are for you're in a sentence, resulting in a sentence that makes sense. Examples that accompany the ones given above: You are a wonderful student. Is this the pen you are looking for? As you can see, these choices make perfect sense, which means you have selected the correct words! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SYLLABLES: Why do we need to know about them, and how do they relate to POETRY? November 11, 2020 A syllable could, in some cases, be an entire word, or it could be part of a word in which you hear a vowel sound. For example, in the word ride, how many vowels do you hear (NOT how many do you SEE)? ANSWER: We hear only the long "i" sound. Ultimate Answer: This means that the word ride has only one syllable. Note: It does not matter that we can see two vowels in the word because we do not hear both of them. The "e" is silent. Example #2: Now let's try the word meanwhile. If we were to make the mistake of looking only at how many vowels we can see in this word, we would count four (e, a, i, e). But we do NOT hear all four vowels! We only hear a long "e" sound and a long "i" sound. We do not hear the "a" or the final "e." Both of these vowels are silent. Answer: We can conclude that the word meanwhile has two syllables! We can also make a grand conclusion that although a word could have many vowels in it, only the vowels we hear are part of what we count as syllables. Syllables connect to poetry because lines of poetry are often counted or divided by how many syllables occur in each line. Let's look at this line of poetry, which was taken from Shakespeare's "Sonnet 18" and is one of the most famous sonnets of all time: Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day? To figure out how many syllables are in this line, we need to see how many vowels we hear in each word. After that, we will add them all together to get a final count. What did you get for your final line count? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALLITERATION Notes added November 12, 2020 When the same sound starts several words (as the S sound just did), you are using the literary device known as alliteration. It is used because it is pleasant to the ear, which happens a lot in the genre of POETRY! An important rule of alliteration is to remember that it is the beginning sound we are looking at. It does not matter what the letter actually is--if the sound is the same in two or more words, you have witnessed alliteration! Example: Kathy crunched on cookies in the kitchen. Notice that each beginning letter highlighted in red makes the same sound, even though they are different letters. The letters K and C often make the same sound. It does not matter that they are not two K's or two C's. What does matter is that in this sentence they make the same sound! This is alliteration. Here is another example: Paul painted purple petals in his painting. In the example above, the letters and sounds just happen to be the same. Notice also that alliteration does not have to involve every single word; the words in and his are not included in our example of alliteration. But we still need these words to complete our thought. Try a few of your own--I'm sure you'll agree they are fun to create! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Direct Objects (and a quick intro to adverbs) November 19, 2020 Direct objects are fun to pick out in sentences. They answer the verb in the sentence with questions such as what or whom. For instance, in the sentence Laura wrote a book, let's first pick out the verb. The verb is the word wrote. Once you have your verb, if there is a direct object in your sentence, you can find it by asking the question Laura wrote what? The answer in this case is the word book. Book is, therefore, the direct object. Let's try another! Can you find the direct object in the following sentence? Joe bought pizza at the store. First, pick out the verb. Then ask the question what or whom in relation to that verb. Your answer will be the direct object. How about one more example that answers the question whom? Lisa chose Margo for her maid of honor. In this case, the question what would not work, but whom certainly does. What is the direct object in this sentence? But what if you cannot answer these questions? Is there a direct object in the following sentence? Paul walked carefully down the street. Well, we see that the verb is walked. Can we say Paul walked what or whom? No, neither one makes sense. We only see a word that tells how Paul is walking. When a word tells how, when, or where in relation to the verb, it is an adverb. There is, therefore, no direct object in this sentence. Instead, there is an adverb, which is the word carefully, and the prepositional phrase down the street. Here is another example of a sentence that does not have a direct object. Can you find the verb and explain why no direct object is written in this sentence? Sandra sat comfortably in the chair. More exercises will follow in the Lessons section! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Conjunction Connections:) November 19, 2020 Did you know there are SEVEN LETTERS that will help you remember specific CONJUNCTIONS that can connect INDEPENDENT CLAUSES? They derive from the following acronym: FANBOYS F = for I love reading, for it is exciting! A = and He played the guitar, and he wrote songs. N = nor I don't like ice, nor do I like to drive in it. B = but He is skilled, but he is not able to take the job. O = or Would you like to go skating, or would you rather sit and talk? Y = yet Writing is my passion, yet sometimes I procrastinate. S = so She passed every HiSET, so she is ready to graduate! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ADJECTIVES Aren't they great? Part One November 21, 2020 The adjective is a part of speech that describes a noun. Its main function is to provide more information about that person, place, thing, or idea in the sentence. An adjective can be an effective writing tool, when used correctly and sparsely. Important Note: Too many adjectives should never take the place of an effective verb, a strong clause, or an informative appositive. Choose your adjectives carefully! Examples of various types of traditional adjectives: 1. The small dog barked incessantly 2. I loved my new red sweater! NOTE: The word my is a possessive pronoun that also functions as an adjective in this sentence. In modern terms, it is called a determiner. Other determiners may include the articles a, an, the; they may be demonstrative, as in this, that, these, those; and they may show quantity, as in the number used in Example 3 below. 3. There were three children in the classroom. 4. Your mom is wonderful. NOTE: An adjective does not have to appear right before the noun it is describing, as you can see in Example #4. 5. Susan enjoys French toast. 6. That computer game is lots of fun! NOTE: A noun can function as an adjective if it is used to describe another noun, as we can see in Example #6. 7. Lawrence is angry today. 8. Jonah will cook something delicious for supper tonight. Special note regarding numbers: Numbers such as one, two, three, etc. are known as cardinal numbers. They specify how many. They are the numbers we use for counting. Words such as first, second, third, and so forth are known as ordinal numbers. An easy way to remember them is that they show order or sequence. For instance, "You were first in line" shows the order of the line, as well as your position! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adverbs - Use them carefully! December 2020 Adverbs are words (parts of speech) that show:
Fun Note: Did you know that please is an adverb? It is thought to be similar to "kindly" when used in a sentence. For example, "Please pass the paper" and "Would you kindly pass the paper" have identical meanings! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Just a Couple of Things to Know About a Couplet! As we continue our poetic journey, let's take a look at the couplet. Couplets are defined as two lines of poetry that have the same number of syllables (known as meter) that rhyme! Couplets can be formal, with each line end-stopped or closed, or they can be run-on, which means open. In the sonnet, a 14-line Shakespearean poem, the very last two lines form a couplet. "Sonnet 18," a poem written by The Bard himself (William Shakespeare) concludes with the following couplet: "So long as men can breathe or eyes can see So long lives this and this gives life to thee." Take a moment to count up the syllables in each line. How many do you get per line? If you grouped the syllables into twos, how many groups would you then count? Are you able to also tell where the accent is on each syllable? Is it a closed or open couplet? [Note: Accented syllables are also known as stressed syllables. We say these syllables a bit louder!] Your results would be what is known as iambic pentameter! You will be writing verse very soon in this rhythm, as we add new words to your vocabulary, such as feet or iambs! But for now, let's try out a few couplets of our own! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's Fun to Study the Appositive, a Word or Phrase that Renames a Noun and Adds More Detail to our Sentences! The appositive loves to hide--in fact, there is one in the very title of this section! Appositives are nouns or noun phrases that follow (or even come before) a noun in order to provide more information and detail. They are used in such a way that sometimes we do not even realize they are there or just how important they are! In order to understand what an appositive is, to identify it correctly in a sentence, and to ultimately use it within your own writing, we have to know exactly what it is....and what it is not! Appositives must balance with the noun in the sentence. This means they are equal with the noun you are hoping to provide more information about. When you add an appositive to a sentence, for instance, you are NOT adding another person, place or thing; you are simply giving a different NAME to the noun you already have. Let's look at some examples to understand this better: Sharon, my youngest cousin, was at the wedding in September. In this sentence, Sharon is a proper noun as well as the subject of the sentence. This means she is doing the main action in the sentence. The sentence would be just fine if it read: Sharon was at the wedding in September. But perhaps we want to tell the reader or listener exactly who Sharon is. Perhaps this detail will help them understand other parts of what we are about to say. So we add the appositive my youngest cousin to provide that extra detail. Now let's see if the noun and the appositive are in balance. The noun is Sharon. The noun part of the appositive is cousin. Sharon and cousin mean the same thing to the writer of this sentence. Cousin is not a different person; there is still only one person in this sentence. The noun and its appositive are in balance. The appositive is being used correctly! Let's try one more example: Maine, a state that is part of New England, has beautiful lighthouses that dot the ocean shore. Can you name both the subject of the sentence and the noun in the appositive in green that renames this subject? Do they both mean the same thing; are they in balance? Maine = state They are in balance, and the words a state that is part of New England is an appositive. We have not added a new state to the sentence. There is still only one state, and that state is Maine. Now let's talk about what an appositive is NOT. It is not simply adding extra information that describes the noun or tells where or when a specific noun in a sentence will do something. If words are used in these ways, they would be considered adjectives or adverbs respectively--not appositives. Let's look at a NON-example: The park, down the street from Issa, is a great place to play socccer. At first glance, we may simply look at the word park and notice that it is followed by words enclosed in commas. Although many appositives do require commas, not all words that are written between commas are appositives. In the example above, we are looking at the word park and deciding if what follows is an appositive, which means it would have to rename park. It would have to be in balance with park. There is no part of the two prepositional phrases down the street or from Issa that could be used in place of the word park. The park is NOT a street, and the park is most definitely not Issa. The phrases instead tell us generally where the park is located and are instead prepositional phrases used as adverbs (or adverbial phrases). There is no appositive in that sentence. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Synonym: A Word that Means the Same as Another Word, But May Just Be a Slightly Better Choice in Your Writing! When we speak about synonyms, we have to talk about denotation and connotation, as well. Denotation is simply the literal definition of a word; it is what you find when you look up a word in the dictionary. Connotation, on the other hand, provides more than just meaning; it has a feeling attached, as well! For instance, words like cry and sob may mean the same thing, but when we hear sob, we imagine someone who is crying quite hard. We need to keep these ideas in mind when deciding on word choices in our writing; they can make quite a difference! When we approach the appositive, we often look for a synonym that can help to rename a noun in the sentence. For instance, in a sentence that reads "John took the boat out to sea," we may wish to add an appositive to provide more information to the sentence. We must first look at the nouns in the sentence to do so. In this case, the nouns are "John," "boat," and "sea." Let's first think of synonyms, or words that can rename "John." An important point to remember is that sometimes the synonym you select may be specific to the noun you are using. What this means is that you may know something more about John than I do. Perhaps he was a captain in the Navy. In this case, "John" and "captain" could be synonyms! This does not mean that every person named John could use the synonym captain to rename him. Not every John has been a captain in the Navy! If we decide to add an appositive to John, your new sentence could look like this: John, a former captain in the Navy, took the boat out to sea. Let's now look at the noun boat in the sentence. There are many ways to add an appositive to this word. You could think about the type of boat it could be or you could even give us the name of the boat. Can you think of a synonym for the word boat? How can you add it this sentence? Some possibilities are: ship, motorboat, canoe, yacht, vessel, sailboat, cruise ship, barge, raft, and so on! Which word fits your sentence best? Which connotation for the word boat do you need to add an important detail to your sentence? Your new sentence could read: John, a former captain in the Navy, took the boat, an old barge, out to sea. Let's also take a look at the other noun in the sentence, which is sea. You would want to find a synonym for sea that matches the meaning in your sentence. Do you want to tell us which sea in particular this is? Are you talking about the Mediterranean Sea? Your new sentence could be: John, a former captain in the Navy, took the ship, an old barge, out to sea, the Mediterranean Sea. In this case, we would have to make a decision. Too many appositives can take away from the flow of a sentence, just as too few can take away important details. It would be up to you to decide which appositives added the most to your sentence, and which one was not truly necessary. Effective writing is all about choices, and the choices are always yours to make! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |