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GRAMMAR CHEATSHEET

GRAMMAR CHEATS

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Parts of Speech

PG 2

Frequently Confused Words (EX: Their, there)

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Sentence Structure and Types

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Sentence Structure and Types Continued

PG 5

Sentence Fragments

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Phrases and Clauses

PG 7

Subject Verb Agreement

PG 8

Correct Use of Pronouns

PG 9

Proper Punctuation Usage

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Proper Punctuation Usage Continued

PG 11

Dangling Modifiers

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PG 2

A complete sentence has three characteristics:


First, it begins with a capital letter.
In addition, it includes an end markeither a period [.], question mark [?],
or exclamation point [!].
Most importantly, the complete sentence must contain at least one main
clause. A main clause contains an independent subject and verb and
expresses a complete thought.
Example Sentences:
1. Did you notice the fly in your soup?
2. I cannot believe you tried some of that nasty vegetable pizza!
All sentences must contain a subject/predicate. All sentences are about
something or someone. The something or someone that the sentence is about is
called the subject of the sentence. The predicate is a verb that expresses the
subjects action or state of being.
Example sentences:

Subject: RED

Predicate: GREEN

1. Chelsea often comes late to class.


2. Lying on the couch watching cartoons is my favorite hobby.
3. My friend and I both have a cat named fluffy.
Simple subject/predicate: As seen in the examples above, both the subject and
the predicate can consist of many words. The simple subject is the main word in
the subject, and the simple predicate is the main word in the predicate. The
simple subject is always a noun/pronoun and the simple predicate is always a
verb.
Example Sentences: Simple Subject: RED

Simple Predicate: GREEN

1. My ESL teacher speaks a little Spanish.


2. My Friend and I are going on vacation together this year.

Simple: Contains a single, independent clause.


o I dont like pigs.
o Our school football team lost their last game of the season 40-12.

Compound: Contains two independent clauses that are joined by a


coordinating conjunction. (The most common coordinating conjunctions
are: but, or, and, so. Remember: boas.)
o I don't like dogs and my sister doesn't like cats.
o You can write on paper or you can use a computer.

Complex: Contains an independent clause plus one or more dependent


clauses. (A dependent clause starts with a subordinating conjunction.
Examples: that, because, while, although, where, if.)
o I don't like dogs that bark at me when I go past.
o She did her homework while her father cooked dinner.

Compound-complex: Contains 3 or more clauses (of which at least two


are independent and one is dependent).
o I don't like dogs and my sister doesn't like cats because they make
her sneeze.
o You can write on paper, but using a computer is better as you can
easily correct your mistakes.

A fragment occurs whenever you do these three things:


You begin a group of words with a capital letter.
You conclude this group of words with an end markeither a period [.],
question mark [?], or exclamation point [!].
You neglect to insert a main clause somewhere between the capital letter
at the beginning and the end mark concluding the word group.
Every sentence must have at least one main clause. A main clause contains an
independent subject and verb and expresses a complete thought. Once you have
a main clause, you can then add other grammatical elements, but you must have
the main clause as the base of the sentence. If the sentence does not contain a
main clause then it becomes a sentence fragment, which we dont want.
Examples of sentence fragments:
1. During the Shakespeare play.
2. Because his car was in the shop.
3. If you want to go with me.
Examples of complete sentences without fragments:
1. James yawned during the Shakespeare play.
2. Chris had to walk to work because his car was in the shop.
3. You have to clean your room if you want to go with me.

PHRASE
A phrase is two or more words that do not contain the subject-verb pair
necessary to form a clause. Phrases can be very short or long.
Examples of a phrase:
-

After lunch
Before the first test
Leaving behind the book

There are seven different categories of phrases and each have specific names
based on the type of word that begins or governs the word group. The seven
categories phrases are broken down into are: noun phrase, verb phrase,
prepositional phrase, infinitive phrase, participle phrase, gerund phrase, and
absolute phrase.

CLAUSE
A clause is a group of words that has both a subject and a predicate. An
independent clause can stand on its own as a sentence. A dependent
clause cannot.
Example of a Clause:
-

She is sleepy.
No matter how you look at it

Example of a dependent clause:


-

Although she is hungry


Until the sun sets.

Examples of an independent clause:


-

I am feeling well today.


I enjoy sitting outside and reading.

Subject verb agreement means the subject and the verb must agree in number.
That means both need to be singular (denoting or referring to just one person or
thing) or both need to be plural (more than one in number).
In the present tense, nouns and verbs form
plurals in opposite ways: nouns ADD an s to
the singular form; verbs REMOVE the s from
the singular form.

These agreement rules do not


apply to verbs used in the simple
past tense without any helping
verbs.
The agreement rules do, however, apply to the
following helping verbs when they are used with a
main verb: is-are, was-were, has-have, does-do.
The subject-verb
agreement rules
apply to all
personal pronouns
except I and you,
which, although
SINGULAR, require
PLURAL forms of
verbs.

A pronoun (I, me, he, she, herself, you, it, that, they, each, few, many, who,
whoever, whose, someone, everybody, etc.) is a word that takes the place of a
noun. In the sentence Chelsea saw James, and she said hi to him, the pronouns
she and him take the place of Chelsea and James, respectively.
There are three types of pronouns: subject (for example, he); object (him); or
possessive (his).
Subject Pronouns: are used when the pronoun is the subject of the sentence.
You can remember subject pronouns easily by filling in the blank subject space
for a simple sentence. Subject pronouns are also used if they rename the
subject. They will follow to be verbs, such as is, are, was, were, am, will be, had
been, etc.
Examples:
It is she.
This is he speaking.
Chelsea was said about the bad grade she received.
Object Pronouns: known more specifically as direct object, indirect object, and
object of a preposition. Object pronouns include me, him, herself, us, them, and
themselves.
Examples:
James saw him.
Are you talking to me?
Give her the last slice of pizza.
Possessive Pronouns: Possessive pronouns include my, mine, our, ours, its, his,
her, hers, their, theirs, your, and yours - all words that demonstrate ownership.
Examples:
The cat is hers.
The large pizza is theirs.
The house is officially ours.

Punctuation is used to create sense, clarity and stress in sentences. You use
punctuation marks to structure and organize your writing.
PUNCTUATION RULES

The Periodquestion or

Used to mark the end of a sentence which is not a


an exclamation.
Example: I was born in Paducah, but now I live in
Murray.
The Comma- separates phrases, words, or clauses in
lists.

Example: For lunch I had a sandwich, chips, and fruit.


*Avoid comma splices which occurs when a writer has connected two main clauses with
a comma alone. the error is called a comma splice: it's because the comma is used to
splice together two complete sentences when that isn't the function of a comma.

The Exclamation Mark- used to express exasperation, astonishment, or surprise, or to


emphasize a comment or short, sharp phrase.
Example: Thats unbelievable!

The Question Mark- Used to mark the end of all direct questions.
Example: What is your name?

The Colon- expands on the sentence that precedes it, often introducing a list that
demonstrates or elaborates whatever was previously stated.
Example: He had just one fault: an enormous ego.

The Semicolon- is somewhere between a full stop and a comma. Semicolons can be used in
English to join phrases and sentences that are thematically linked without having to use a
conjunction.
Example: I like your sister; shes a good friend.

The Quotation Mark- to cite something someone said exactly.


Example: Im going home now, he said.

The Apostrophe- used to indicate either possession or the omission of letters or numbers.
Example: This is the childrens room.

The hyphen and the dash- A hyphen joins two or more words together while a dash separates
words into parenthetical statement.
Example: Run-down, co-operate.

Parentheses and brackets- we use square brackets - [ ] - for special purposes such as in
technical manuals. Round brackets - ( ) - are used when we want to add further explanation,
an afterthought, or comment that is to do with our main line of thought but distinct from it.
Example: The government's education report (April 2005) shows that the level of literacy is
rising in nearly all areas.

A dangling modifier is a word or phrase that modifies a word not clearly stated
in the sentence. Sometimes an inexperienced writer will include a modifier but
forget the target. The modifier thus dangles because the missing target word
leaves nothing for the modifier to describe.
*Dangling modifiers are errors. Their poor construction confuses readers.
Examples of dangling modifiers:
1. Hungry, the left over chicken was devoured.
2. Searching in her giant bag, the pen escaped detection.
3. With a sigh of relief, the essay was turned in.
How to fix dangling modifiers:
Fixing a dangling modifier will require more than rearranging the words in the
sentence. You will often need to add something new so that the modifier finally
has a target word to describe:
Examples:
1. Hungry, I devoured the left over chicken.
2. Searching in her giant bag, Cindy failed to find her pen.
3. With a sigh of relief, James turned in the essay.

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