Saturday, August 24, 2013

B is for BEING VERBS!


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B is for BEING VERBS!

In our books, we group being/helping/linking verbs together since they often serve the same purpose, and they all have the same modifiers (i.e. adjectives modifying noun before BHL verb as opposed to adverbs modifying the verb), etc. 

To help you remember the Be, a Helper, Link verbs, there is a little rhyme that you can sing to the tune of ABC’s (or “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”):

(ABCDEFG)
Be, a Helper, Link verbs,

( HIJKLMNOP)
Is, Are, Am, Was, & Were.

(QRSTUV)
Be, & Being, Been, Become,

(WXYZ)
Has, & Had, & Have are ones.

(Now I said my ABC's)
Can, Could, Shall, Should—they are fun.

(Next time won't you sing with me?)
Will, Would, Do, Did, Does, & Done.

(ABCDEFG)
May, Might, Must—they are some as well,

(HIJKLMNOP)
Appear, Look, Seem, Remain, Taste, Feel, & Smell.





B is for BHL VERBS!

There are a number of reasons to memorize being, helping, and linking verbs:

(1) When one stands alone as a linking verb or is used before a base verb as a helping verb, it is the verb that you match with the subject: He IS happy...is must match with He; they ARE going (are must match with they.

(2) They tell WHEN something happened (present, past, etc.).

(3) When one stands alone, it may have an adjective following it--which is going back to the noun or pronoun before it, describing that noun or pronoun. (You do not use an adverb with a single BHL verb.)

(4) When one stands alone, it should have the subjective form of a pronoun following it (if it has a pronoun following it), not the objective: This is SHE (not this is HER).

(5) When a base verb follows has, had, or have (and oftentimes was and were), it should be in its past participle tense:

a. has written
b. had gone
c. have done
d. had lain
e. has risen
f. have come



A is for APPOSITIVES!

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A is for APPOSITIVE!

We teach the appositive extensively in our writing and language arts books because it is an amazing conciseness technique--and it shows a student's skill in handling difficult grammar concepts and punctuation challenges. Plus, it truly does help a student write more concisely!

Here is the basic of this grammar item:

1. Is a phrase that restates something else.

2. Is usually used to restate (or elaborate on) the subject (though it can be used to restate anything really.

3. Is set off with commas if it falls in the middle of the sentence. (Remember: Anything that is set off with commas should be "removable" and a complete sentence remains without it!)

4. Can be used to combine two sentences into one in short, choppy sentences.

Example:

Donna writes language arts and composition books every day.

Donna has written over fifty curriculum texts.

Donna, WHO HAS WRITTEN OVER FIFTY CURRICULUM TEXTS, writes language arts and composition books every day.

Cool, huh?







A is for APPOSITIVE

Did you know that last week's PUNCTUATION PUZZLE had an appositive in it?

I had barely noticed her mood, HER TEMPERAMENT, when she suddenly blew up, and she began shouting and throwing things at me, which was something I was not accustomed to seeing.

Notice the following:

1. Her temperament renames the noun mood.
2. It is set off with commas surrounding it (her temperament).
3. It (along with the commas) can be removed from the sentence, and a complete sentence remains.