Lesson 1 Kinds of Nouns LESSON SUMMARY Learn

Lesson 1: Kinds of Nouns • LESSON SUMMARY • Learn why the noun, and its six identifiable subgroups, is the fundamental component of our language.

The Six Types of Nouns ** Common Nouns A common noun is a word that speaks of something only in a general way, like book, car, and person. Common nouns can be written in singular form (book, car, and person) or plural (books, cars, and people). Proper Nouns Unlike common nouns, proper nouns name a very specific person, place, or thing. One distinguishing aspect of proper nouns is that they always begin with a capital letter. Catcher in the Rye, BMW Z 4, and Arnold Schwarzenegger are proper nouns.

Concrete Nouns Concrete nouns name something that appeals to your senses. For instance, toothbrush, cell phone, moonlight, waves, and breezes are all concrete nouns. Abstract Nouns Abstract nouns name beliefs, concepts, and characteristics or qualities—things that can’t be touched, seen, or accrued. For example, composure, sovereignty, free enterprise, daring, and handsome are abstract. Collective Nouns Collective nouns are words used to name people, places, and things in terms of a unit. For instance, class, flock, herd, and family are collective nouns. Compound Nouns New words can be formed by combining two or more words, thus forming a compound word.

Lesson 2: Noun Usage • LESSON SUMMARY • Pluralize singular nouns, and turn them into possessives with ease—spelling tips included. • Most, but not all, nouns can be made plural by simply adding an -s or -es at the end of the word, like printer/printers, lunch/lunches, bill/bills, etc. Some nouns, however, actually change their word form altogether, while others don’t change at all. Here are some important rules for making a singular noun plural.

MAKING SINGULAR NOUNS PLURAL 1. Add -s to the end of most words to make them plural. grill/grills, paper/papers, snake/snakes, razor/razors The plural form of nouns like these, referred to as count nouns, is rather predictable. 2. Add -es to the end of words ending with ch, -sh, -ss, -x, and -z. punch/punches, gas/gases, garlic press/garlic presses, brush/brushes, box/boxes, fez/fezes It would be strange to try and pronounce dresss or crashs if we didn’t put an e in front of the s, which forms another syllable. 3. Change -f, -lf, or -fe at the end of words to ves. leaf/leaves, half/halves, knife/knives Be careful; there are exceptions to this rule, for example, chief/chiefs, giraffe/giraffes.

4. Change -y to -ies when the -y follows a consonant. party/parties, battery/batteries, penny/pennies, baby/babies 5. Just add an -s after a -y when the -y is preceded by a vowel. guy/guys, day/days, play/plays, key/keys, boy/boys 6. Add -es to words ending with an -o that follows a consonant. tornado/tornadoes, potato/potatoes, echo/echoes, hero/heroes 7. Simply add -s to words ending with an -o that follows another vowel. patio/patios, video/videos, radio/radios 8. For hyphenated compound nouns, add an -s to the word that is changing in number. passer-by/passers-by, brother-in-law/brothers-in-law 9. There are no rules for pluralizing irregular nouns; you must memorize them. mice/mouse, deer/deer, child/children, man/men, foot/feet, person/people, stimulus/stimuli, tooth/teeth, octopus/octopi, die/dice, louse/lice, ox/oxen

Lesson 3: Pronouns • LESSON SUMMARY • Pronouns are more than “a word that takes the place of a noun. ” Learn about their categories and cases and the importance of making them agree in number, gender, and person.

Pronouns take the place of, or refer to, a specific noun in a sentence. To use pronouns correctly, make sure that your pronoun agrees in gender, number, and person with the noun it is replacing or referring to (the antecedent, or referent noun). þ Gender The English language has three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. The gender of a pronoun tells us whether it is replacing (or referring to) a masculine, feminine, or neuter noun. When referring to a male, his, and him is used; referring to a female, she, her, and hers; and to animals or things, it and its. Examples: Joseph took Wanda’s car to the mechanic. He took her car to the mechanic. He took it to the mechanic.

þ Person English grammar has three “persons”: first, second, and third. First-person pronouns like I, me, we, and us include the speaker. Second-person pronouns involve only you, your, and yours. Third-person pronouns—he, she, it, they, them, and so on—include everybody else. Examples: I went with my family to Yellowstone State Park. You wouldn’t have believed your eyes— the scenery was amazing. Doug said he would take photos with his new camera.

þ Number A pronoun that takes the place of or refers to a singular noun (one person, place, or thing) must be singular as well. The same applies to plural pronouns and nouns. Examples: If an employee wants to park in the hospital parking lot, then he or she must apply for the appropriate tag to do so. Employees who need to renew their parking tags must show their current hospital ID cards.

Lesson 4: Verb Types • LESSON SUMMARY • Some action and linking verbs look the same. Learn how to tell the difference, and get some help with helping verbs along the way.

þ Action Verbs Most action verbs represent a visible action, one that can be seen with our eyes. For example, waltz, surf, gallop, chop, row, swing, and punch are action verbs. Identifying such doing words in a sentence is generally easy. But some action verbs are more difficult to identify because the action is far less obvious, as in depend, yearn, foresee, understand, consider, require, mean, remember, and suppose. It is helpful to remember that mental verbs are action verbs too, even though they are less visible than the others.

þ Linking Verbs Unlike the action verb, the linking verb expresses a state of being or a condition. Specifically, it links, or connects, a noun with an adjective (a descriptor) or another noun (an identifier) in a sentence. Example: Nathan and Sara are hardworking students. The noun students identifies or renames the compound subjects, Nathan and Sara; hardworking is an adjective describing the noun students; and the verb are links the two components together.

þ Helping Verbs Helping verbs enhance the main verb’s meaning by providing us with more information about its tense. –VERB TYPES– COMMON HELPING VERBS am is are was were be do does did have had has may might must shall will can should would could ought

Lesson 5: Regular and Irregular verbs Most, but not all, verbs follow a simple and predictable pattern when expressing past action: They end in -ed. These types of verbs, called regular verbs, can be changed from the present tense to the past tense by simply adding -ed or -d. Example: Those musicians play jazz music well. Last evening, though, they surprised the crowd and played some blues pieces. Irregular verbs, on the other hand, do not follow any type of pattern when forming the past tense and require memorization. Example: “Put the tennis racquets away in the storage bin, please, ” said Coach. "I put them away already, ” replied Kevin. Here, the irregular verb put stays the same whether it is past or present. Other verbs that follow suit are cost, burst, bid, cut, and set, to name a few.

COMMON IRREGULAR VERBS PRESENT PAST PARTICIPLE be was/were been beaten become became become begin began begun bite bitten blow blew blown break broken bring brought broadcast build built buy bought catch caught choose chosen