We gathered notes about writing and sentence structure from your Edmentum lessons (and some extra basics) here, so you can find them all in one place!
If you saw something related to grammar in your Tutorial and aren't sure what it means, you can find info about it below!
If you're behind and trying to catch up, there are OTHER grammar notes on the websites for the other courses - Head to the front page to check those out!
Independent clauses:
has a subject and a verb and forms a complete sentence or makes sense by itself.
Streton and Ryan are going biking along the bayou this afternoon.
Sylvester forgot his helmet at home.
Dependent Clauses:
has a subject and a verb but does not make sense by itself or form a complete sentence; may begin with a subordinating conjunction such as when, until, although, while, that, since, and before. (note: there is no period at the end of these examples because dependent clauses are not complete sentences.)
Although he ran
When Dawn is finished reading her book
For other notes on Phrases and Clauses from ENG 9B, click here!
Simple Sentences
A simple sentence has one independent clause and no dependent clauses.
Example: The students played games.
A simple sentence can provide power and punch. Authors use simple sentences to emphasize important ideas. Many simple sentences can also create a conversational tone or add rhythm.
Compound Sentences
A compound sentence has at least two independent clauses linked with a conjunction (and, but) or a semicolon.
Example: The students played games at recess, but they went straight home after school.
In a compound sentence, two independent clauses balance each other in weight and importance while also bringing two ideas closer together by putting them in one sentence. Authors may use compound sentences to show contrast or equal importance.
Complex Sentences
A complex sentence is a sentence with one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.
Example: The students played the games that the teacher had given them.
The independent clause tells us what is happening in the sentence (the students are playing games), and the dependent clause here gives us more detail about other elements of the statement (the games were given to them by the teacher). Complex sentences add dimension and richness to writing. Authors may use these sentences in formal writing to create a serious tone. Complex sentences are more sophisticated, have a formal tone, and show complicated relationships.
Complex Sentences
A compound-complex sentence has at least two independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses.
Example: The students played the games that the teacher had given them, but they went straight home after school.
A compound-complex sentence communicates several ideas in different clauses. Authors may use these sentences to express a relationship between different ideas in a sentence.
Need a refresher on what independent or dependent clauses are? Check the section right above this one!
A phrase is a group of words that acts as a single part of speech.
Sentences are composed of phrases. The type of phrase is determined by the part of speech it represents. For example, a phrase that acts as a noun is called a noun phrase.
Noun phrase: A noun phrase acts as a noun within a sentence.
The gigantic black dog barreled down the street toward me.
The italicized phrase acts as the subject noun. One way to identify a noun phrase is to replace the phrase with just the noun. If the sentence still makes sense, the phrase is a noun phrase.
The dog barreled down the street toward me.
Verb phrase: A verb phrase acts as the verb within a sentence.
The gigantic black dog barreled down the street toward me.
The italicized phrase acts as the active verb. As with noun phrases, if the sentence makes sense after replacing the phrase with just the verb, the phrase is a verb phrase.
The gigantic black dog barreled toward me.
Prepositional phrase: A prepositional phrase begins with and acts as a preposition within a sentence.
The gigantic black dog barreled down the street toward me.
The italicized phrase acts as a preposition. Again, replacing the phrase with a single preposition should maintain sentence clarity if the phrase is prepositional.
The gigantic black dog barreled down toward me.
And here's a worksheet about phrases from ENG 10A that might help with your writing!
Prepositional phrases can also act as adjectives or adverbs. If the prepositional phrase is also an adjectival phrase, it will modify the noun that precedes it.
The gigantic black dog from the neighbor’s house barreled down the street toward me.
The italicized phrase begins with the preposition from, so it is prepositional. The phrase also modifies the preceding noun phrase, The gigantic black dog, so it is also an adjectival phrase.
If the prepositional phrase is also an adverbial phrase, it will modify the verb that precedes it.
The gigantic black dog from the neighbor’s house barreled down the street toward me.
The italicized phrase begins with a preposition, down, so it is prepositional. The phrase also modifies the preceding verb, barreled, so it is an adverbial phrase too.
Participles and infinitives are two types of verbals.
A participle is a verb form that acts as an adjective and modifies (changes) a noun or a pronoun.
Present participles: End in "-ing" and are used for continuous tenses. For example, "jumping" is the present participle of the verb "jump".
Past participles: End in "-ed", "-en", "-d", "-t", "-n", or "-ne". For example, "asked", "eaten", "saved", "dealt", "seen", and "gone".
An infinitive is a base verb form that usually begins with the word “to” and can act as a noun, adjective, or adverb. For example, "to eat," "to walk," "to run," "to dress," and "to shout". Both participles and infinitives can extend into phrases.
Infinitives can have two forms: the "to-infinitive" and the "infinitive without to". The "to-infinitive" is made up of "to" plus the base form of the verb, like "I want to speak to you" or "We came here to work, not to play". The "infinitive without to" is made up of just the base form of the verb, like "She made us wait for half an hour" or "John lets the dog sleep on the sofa".
A participial phrase is simply a participle, past or present, along with any modifiers and complements. Look for the participial phrase in this sentence:
Maria's steadily increasing headache distracted her from her studies.
Here, increasing is the present participle. The participial phrase “steadily increasing" acts as an adjective to modify (change) the noun headache. Here's another example:
He stood with his ear pressed to the door in an attempt to eavesdrop on their private conversation.
Pressed is the past participle in this example. The participial phrase “pressed to the door" modifies ear.
An infinitive phrase is an infinitive along with any modifiers and complements. Take a look at this sentence:
The dog was excited to receive a treat for her good behavior.
The infinitive in this example is “to receive." It is part of the larger infinitive phrase “to receive a treat for her good behavior," which acts as an adverb modifying (changing) the adjective excited. Here's another example:
He stood with his ear pressed to the door in an attempt to eavesdrop on the private conversation.
Notice that, along with a participial phrase, this sentence also contains an infinitive phrase. “To eavesdrop” is the infinitive. The infinitive phrase “to eavesdrop on the private conversation" acts as an adjective that modifies the noun attempt. In the following example, the infinitive phrase begins the sentence:
To show any concern was a characteristic that the captain regarded as a weakness.
In this case, the infinitive phrase acts as a noun and is the subject of the sentence.
Colons are used to punctuate salutations in business letters, to denote the time, or to denote a reference in some religious texts. For clarity in writing, colons are also often used in sentences to indicate that related information will follow.
A colon may be used to introduce a list. Colons often follow phrases such as "as follows" or "the following."
Matthew's new car was equipped with the following features: a sunroof, temperature-regulated leather seats, and a navigation system.
As a general rule, colons should not follow verbs or prepositions. Instead, colons should be preceded by an independent clause.
Incorrect: The competing chefs in the competition prepared: calamari, filet mignon, and tiramisu.
Correct: The competing chefs in the competition prepared the following dishes: calamari, filet mignon, and tiramisu.
A colon is also used between two independent clauses when the second clause summarizes or elaborates on the first.
Michelle had one more task to complete before attending her daughter’s graduation the next afternoon: she had to order a cake.
Similarly, a colon may be used to introduce a quotation, but only when the quotation consists of an independent clause.
American writer Alice Munro expresses the gratification she receives from writing: "It may not look like pleasure, because the difficulties can make me morose and distracted, but that's what it is—the pleasure of telling the story I mean to tell as wholly as I can tell it, of finding out in fact what the story is, by working around the different ways of telling it."
Hyphens are punctuation marks (-) that serve a variety of purposes, including modifying (changing) adjectives.
In a hyphenated compound modifier, two related adjectives are placed before a noun. The first adjective describes the second, and together they describe the noun. When two adjectives appear after a noun, they are not compounded or hyphenated.
Example: ". . . a pile of "skids" on the slope of the stone-paved wharf, and the fragrant town drunkard asleep in the shadow of them; two or three wood flats at the head of the wharf."
The term stone-paved is a compound modifier and therefore has a hyphen between the adjectives. The adjective "stone" modifies the adjective "paved" by describing the type of paving, and the two adjectives together describe the wharf.
However, if the text said, "the wharf was stone paved," a hyphen would not be necessary because the adjectives appear after the noun "wharf".
Note that the words "fragrant" and "town" are not hyphenated, even though they appear before the noun drunkard. Although fragrant and town modify drunkard, fragrant does not modify town.
Hyphens are used in fractions as well, such as the fraction two-thirds. They are also used to write the word form of the numbers 21 through 99.