Notes on grammar - Mr Cliffford

Introduction to Grammar

Verb – Doing word

Adverb – Describes a verb

Adjective – Describing word

Noun – Naming word of class, people, place or thing

Concrete Noun – Things we can see, hear, taste, touch, smell

Proper Noun – Names for individuals, events, places e.g. London, Mr Clifford, V fest

Common Noun – Something with ‘the’ before it e.g. the table

Noun Phrase- a noun or any word that modifies the noun and then changes the meaning. E.g. Determiner, adjectives, propositions. ‘Plane crash’ turns to ‘A horrible plane crash’

How do nouns make a difference in writing?

• Lexical Cohesion
• Paint a clear picture
• Emotional response

Modal Verbs – Deontic and epistemic

Imperatives – a command or order. E.g. you must walk

Verb Phrases – a verb phrase is built around a head word, the main verb

Clauses- Groups of words centred on a verb phrase.

Co-ordinated clauses- 2 clauses joined together by using a conjunction. Makes sense on its own too if you remove the conjunction.

Subordinated Clauses – a main clause that makes sense on its own, if separated one makes sense and the other doesn’t.

Active Voice – the subject is responsible for carrying out the verb is placed in the subject position. Usually at the start of a sentence.

- usually the attention is at the beginning of the headline

Passive Voice – Opposite to active voice as the subject isn’t the main focus of the story

 its used when we don’t know the subject

 -we don’t want the talk about the subject

  -the subject is not the focus of the story