day 39: more on caves—five parts of a sentence

When you write, it is vital that you know what is and what is not a
sentence.
A sentence must have five things in order to be complete:

            1. Capital at the beginning

            a. The first letter of the first word in a sentence must be
capitalized.

            b. It does not matter what the first word is; it is always
capitalized.

For example: A kindergarten child is so cute.

            2. All makes sense

            a. A sentence must make sense.

            b. If a phrase has four of the other things a sentence must
have, but it leaves you hanging and does not make sense, then it is not a
sentence.

Examples:

                        1) When the boy ran. This is not a complete sentence
because it leaves you hanging.

                        2) The boy ran though the woods. This is a complete
sentence because it has all five things a sentence must have.

            3. Verb

            a. A sentence must have a verb (action or BHL—being verb, helping verb, linking verb).

            b. This tells what the subject does or is.

For example: The boys played football in the snow.

            4. End mark

            a. A sentence must have ending punctuation: 

                        1) a period (.)

                        2) an exclamation point (!)

                        3) question mark (?)

            b. Examples:

                        1) The boys are playing football.

2) Watch out for the football!
3) Are they playing football?
            5. Subject

            a. A sentence must have a subject.

            b. This is what or whom the sentence is about.

 The following acronym will help you to remember these five things:

Capital at the beginning

All makes sense

Verb

End mark

Subject

day 37: wrapping up prepositions

You are probably starting to notice that even a rudimentary knowledge of prepositions can unlock many more prepositions for you. I hope, that in the various studies we will do on LL 365, that you do not lose sight of the purpose of each one. Follow the links below to review prepositions—and join us tomorrow as we start our “sentence month”—and focus on fragments, sentences, clauses, and more!

day 36: prepositions that are synonyms

We have already learned prepositions that are antonyms (opposite). Now for our last day of preposition work, we will learn prepositions that are synonyms (meaning the same or almost the same).
First a little mnemonic for antonyms and opposites!
Antonyms—Opposite (both begin with vowel sounds—ant—opp)
Synonyms—Same (both begin with S—syn—same)
When you consider that prepositions show position, it makes sense that if you know one preposition that means a certain direction (i.e. over), then other words that mean the same thing may also be prepositions (above, on top of, etc.).
Consider these prepositions that might be considered synonyms—if you know one from each list, you are likely to be able to think of the others:
1. aboard
            a. on
            b. atop
            c. atop of
            d. astride
2. about
    1. amid
    2. amidst
    3. among
    4. amongst
    5. around
    6. by
    7. near
    8. next to
    9. round
  1. above
    1. atop
    2. atop of
    3. on
    4. on top of
    5. over
    6. up
    7. upon
  1. Against
    1. anti
    2. barring
    3. despite
    4. in spite of
    5. opposite of
  2. Ahead
    1. ahead of
    2. before
    3. in front
    4. in front of
  3. Along
    1. about
    2. alongside
    3. alongside of
    4. Along with
    5. Amid
    6. Amidst
    7. Among
    8. Amongst
    9. At
    10. Beside
    11. Besides
    12. Round
    13. Close
    14. Close to
    15. By means of
    16. Near to
    17. Next to
  4. amid/amidst
    1. about
    2. against
    3. among
    4. amongst
    5. around
    6. at
    7. beside
    8. beside of
    9. by
    10. next to
    11. round
    12. through
    13. throughout
  5. anti
    1. across from
    2. against
    3. barring
    4. opposite
    5. opposite of
    6. versus
  6. around
    1. about
    2. amid
    3. amidst
    4. among
    5. amongst
    6. aside
    7. aside of
    8. circa
  7. aside
    1. along
    2. alongside
    3. alongside
    4. aside of
    5. beside
    6. beside of
    7. by
    8. next
    9. next to
    10. close to
    11. near to
  8. astride
    1. a. atop
    2. atop of
    3. on
    4. on top of
    5. over
    6. up
    7. upon
  9. at
    1. beside
    2. beside of
    3.  by
    4. toward
    5. close to
  10. barring
    1. anti
    2. opposite
    3. opposite of
    4. outside
    5. outside of
    6. due to
    7. except for
    8. save
  11. before
    1. ahead
    2. ahead of
    3. in front of
  12. behind
    1. beyond
    2. following
    3. in back
    4. in back of
The purpose behind the “synonym prepositions” is two-fold: (1) help students realize that if a word is a preposition (and they know that one), then more than likely other words that mean the same thing and fit in the same space are probably prepositions as well; (2) to help students think of even more prepositions—that they might not realize they know. Again, if a student learns to recognize prepositions well, he will recognize prepositional phrases well and will be able to isolate them (mentally, at least) in his sentences to achieve correct subject-verb agreement. (Also, it will help in using prepositional phrase openers in sentences  and punctuating them correctly.)

day 34: two or more word prepositions

You have probably already noticed that many prepositions are made up of other words. That is, they have one preposition at the beginning and are followed by another preposition. Or they are compound words (like within).
This is another way to learn prepositions—by learning prepositions that are made up of two or more words.
For example, read the prepositions below—the first one of each set is a common preposition that you probably already know. The one(s) beneath that one is a preposition (or more) that is made from the top one.
  1. across
      *across from
  2. ahead
      *ahead of
  3. away
      *away from
  4. in
      a. into
      b. inside
      c. inside of
  5. on
      a. onto
      b. on top of
  6. out
      a. out of
      b. outside
      c. outside of
  7. to
      a. toward
      b. towards
  8. through
      *throughout
  9. under
       *underneath
10. up
      a. upon
      b. up to
11. with
      a. within
      b. without
Now put all that together, and you have learned many, many prepositions!

day 33: prepositions that are opposites

Our “homework help” is going beyond one week! Just a couple more categories of prepositions to give you, and you will be ready for any preposition quiz you ever have! Smile…
A person becomes a good student and an effective learner when he or she learns how he or she learns! For example, some people study for a test by making note cards; others like to recite facts aloud while studying; others learn best just by reading the textbook over and over.
Language Lady 365 will help you become a better learner by teaching you different learning strategies–and you can use the one(s) that work best for you.
For example, in learning prepositions, you may use your “Preposition Practice Pal” (PPP) from earlier. Or you could memorize them in alphabetical order. Or you could learn them in categories, like beginning letters or opposites.
Besides learning prepositions that fit into the “Birdie flew” sentence and learning prepositions that begin with certain letters, you can also learn prepositions that are opposites!
After all, prepositions show position, so it makes sense that opposite words are prepositions since many of them show position too.
Birdie flew ___________________ the tube.
Fill in the blank for any opposite word that might fit.
Note: Many words have more than one opposite of them—under has over and possibly above. You may list any one you think of for each one.
  1. Birdie flew above the tube.
  2. Birdie flew ___________________ the tube.
  3. Birdie flew beneath the tube.
  4. Birdie flew __________________ the tube.
  5. Birdie flew atop the tube.
  6. Birdie flew __________________ the tube.
  7. Birdie flew below the tube.
  8. Birdie flew __________________ the tube.
  9. Birdie flew inside of the tube.
10. Birdie flew__________________ the tube.
11. Birdie flew off the tube.
12. Birdie flew __________________ the tube.
13. Birdie flew over the tube.
14. Birdie flew __________________ the tube.
15. Birdie flew on the tube.
16. Birdie flew__________________ the tube.
17. Birdie flew inside the tube.
18. Birdie flew __________________ the tube.
19. Birdie flew to the tube.
20. Birdie flew__________________ the tube.
 Some of the prepositions that you may have listed include (but are not limited to):
  1. below, beneath, under, underneath
  2. out
  3. above, over, atop
  4. on
  5. below, beneath, under, underneath
  6. below, beneath, under, underneath
  7. outside
  8. down
  9. from
10. above, over, atop
11. above, over, atop
12. out, out of
13. to, toward, towards
14. outside of

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