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We talked about PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES when we did the letter P a while ago. Now we are going to move into S–SUBORDINATE CLAUSES.

We have talked at length about what a sentence contains:

C apital

A ll makes sense

V erb

E nd mark

S ubject

CAVES!

Again, most people have trouble witht the A one–All makes sense. When a “sentence” doesn’t make sense, it is often because it is not a sentence at all, but it is a phrase or a clause.

We are going to talk in detail about phrases and clauses in the upcoming weeks because we are going to talk a lot about sentence structure–openers, simple sentences, compound sentences, etc.

So…a little “phrase and clause” lesson is in order first:

1. Phrase–

a. Group of words

b. Group of words that is not a sentence

c. Group of words that is not a sentence and does not usually contain a subject and a verb (though may seem to have one or the other)

d. There are various types of phrases–the one that people are most familiar with is the prepositional phrase–begins with a preposition and ends with the object of the preposition:
      i. over the clouds
     ii. into the clouds
    iii. around the clouds
   iv. within the clouds
    v. under the clouds

2. Clause

a. Group of words

b. Group of words that might or might not be a sentence

c. Group of words that contains a subject and a verb

d. Two kinds of clauses

     i. Independent clause–also called a sentence

     ii. Dependent clause–also called a subordinate clause

Don’t despair! These are not as complicated as they sound! You write with them all the time–but I hope to help you recognize them and punctuate them correctly in sentences–over the next few weeks!

Happy writing!

The post S is for SUBORDINATE CLAUSE—Phrases and Clauses appeared first on Character Ink.

1. First of all, a word is seldom a certain part of speech in isolation. Words are called parts of speech because they are used in a certain way in speech (and writing). Thus, it is often incorrect to say that, for instance, a dog is a noun. You can be dog tired. You can dog somebody to pay you. A part of speech is a part of speech when it is used–not in isolation.

2. Thus, the preposition as other parts of speech problem. We have students memorize lists of prepositions (though we prefer to have them use them in Check Sentences, again, because that is how “parts of speech” are used)–but we have to remember that those prepositions are only prepositions when they are used as prepositions–how is that for confusing? Remember, a preposition must have an object following it in order to be considered as being used as a preposition.

3. Examples!!! I will list prepositions below to show how they may be used as prepositions or how they may be used as other parts of speech–again, in context.

a. Over
    i. I am coming over. (Adverb–tells where you are coming….)
    ii. Jump over the water. (Preposition–begins the prepositional phrase (PP for short): over the water…)

b. Down
  i. He fell down. (Adverb–tells where he fell..)
  ii. We rode down the hill. (Preposition–begins the PP down the hill…)

c. Before
  i. Before we go to class, let’s check our backpacks. (Subordinator–before is used as a subordinator beginning the subordinate clause before we go to class–a subordinate clause is a clause (subject/verb) that begins with a subordinator and is not a real sentence by itself.)

  ii. I heard that story before. (Adverb–tells when you heard that story…)

  iii. He has to go before the leaders. (Preposition–begins the PP before the leaders…)

Hope this helps! Feel free to write in questions–if I don’t know the answer, I will look the question up in my 600 page reference! 🙂

The post day 110: more prepositions as other parts of speech appeared first on Character Ink.

This pet peeve is people using the preposition with as an adverb (or, in the case of my daughter–with an understood object of the preposition–her way of using grammar terms to justify its use!). 


Here is the run down on what I see as this pet peeve’s problem:


1. First of all,  yes, words have multiple uses and parts of speech everywhere all the time. This is one reason why we advocate only using grammar programs for children that have the words used–not lists of words in which the student is to identify what part of speech it is. A part of speech is determined by the word’s use, not the word itself:
     a. jump–a student might determine that jump is a verb…which it can be. But it can also be a noun (she made a huge jump) and an adjective (it was a jump start program).
     b. to–a student might determine that to is a preposition…which it can be. But it can also be part of a verbal phrase known as an infinitive (to run).


2. With is not one of those “multiple use” kinds of words. With is almost always (and probably always) a preposition. 
   a. With is a preposition because a preposition is a word that shows possession, has an object with it (the object of the preposition), and is the beginning of a prepositional phrase: with her, with the show, with the leader.
  b. With is seldom, if ever, used alone as an adverb (like many other prepositions can be):
      i. She is going along. (Along is an adverb here.)
      ii. She ran along the trail. (Along is a preposition here.)


     iii. I told him to jump down. (Down is an adverb here.)
    iv. He ran down the street. (Down is a preposition here.)


3. With is not an adverb by itself. It is not the kind of word that can stand alone as another part of speech. It is a preposition that needs an object to show a relationship (with whom? with what?).


So…tell who you are going with–and use with as a preposition, the way it was intended to be used! Smile…

The post day 109: another pet peeve–“I’m going to come with” appeared first on Character Ink.

C apital

A ll makes sense

V erb

E nd mark

S ubject

CAVES!

Again, most people have trouble witht the A one–All makes sense. When a “sentence” doesn’t make sense, it is often because it is not a sentence at all, but it is a phrase or a clause.

We are going to talk in detail about phrases and clauses in the upcoming weeks because we are going to talk a lot about sentence structure–openers, simple sentences, compound sentences, etc.

So…a little “phrase and clause” lesson is in order first:

1. Phrase–

a. Group of words

b. Group of words that is not a sentence

c. Group of words that is not a sentence and does not usually contain a subject and a verb (though may seem to have one or the other)

d. There are various types of phrases–the one that people are most familiar with is the prepositional phrase–begins with a preposition and ends with the object of the preposition:
      i. over the clouds
     ii. into the clouds
    iii. around the clouds
   iv. within the clouds
    v. under the clouds

2. Clause

a. Group of words

b. Group of words that might or might not be a sentence

c. Group of words that contains a subject and a verb

d. Two kinds of clauses

     i. Independent clause–also called a sentence

     ii. Dependent clause–also called a subordinate clause

Don’t despair! These are not as complicated as they sound! You write with them all the time–but I hope to help you recognize them and punctuate them correctly in sentences–over the next few weeks!

Happy writing!

The post day 74: phrases, clauses, and sentences appeared first on Character Ink.

Beside each of the phrases provided, write an I if each is an
infinitive; write PP if it is a prepositional phrase.

            1. to go       I    

            2. to sing           I

            3. to the government        PP   

            4. to a boy           PP

            5. to walk          I

            6. to be      I    

            7. to see    I      

            8. to France   PP       

            9. to John Adams  PP       

            10. to crush        I

            11. to believe      I    

            12. to his belief     PP     

            13. to write          I

            14. to the sun      PP    

            15. to confess     I      

The post day 69: infinitive and prepositional phrase quiz—answer key! appeared first on Character Ink.

The post day 50: final subject review—and a subject is not in a prepositional phrase appeared first on Character Ink.

The post day 37: wrapping up prepositions appeared first on Character Ink.

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

3. Against
1. anti
2. barring
3. despite
4. in spite of
5. opposite of
4. Ahead
1. ahead of
2. before
3. in front
4. in front of
5. 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
6. 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
7. anti
1. across from
2. against
3. barring
4. opposite
5. opposite of
6. versus
8. around
1. about
2. amid
3. amidst
4. among
5. amongst
6. aside
7. aside of
8. circa
9. 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
10. astride
1. a. atop
2. atop of
3. on
4. on top of
5. over
6. up
7. upon
11. at
1. beside
2. beside of
3.  by
4. toward
5. close to
12. barring
1. anti
2. opposite
3. opposite of
4. outside
5. outside of
6. due to
7. except for
8. save
13. before
1. ahead
2. ahead of
3. in front of
14. behind
1. beyond
2. following
3. in back
4. in back of

The post day 36: prepositions that are synonyms appeared first on Character Ink.