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The

Grammar SquadGrammar Book

(The Ultimate Super Hero’s Guide to Grammatical Propriety)

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Chapter 1 -- PrepositionsPrepositions are words that show relationships between a noun or pronoun and another part of the sentence.

Grammar Man jetted into the phone booth.

In this example, the preposition into is showing a relationship between phone booth and Grammar Man jetted. It is easier to think of prepositions this way: a preposition is anything that shows what a mouse can do to a chair. A mouse can run…under a chair,around a chair,in a chair, through a chair,beside a chair, with a chair, below a chair,etc.

Here are 50 of the most well-known prepositions in the Grammar Squad's arsenal:about behind down of toabove below during off towardacross beneath except on underafter beside(s) for onto underneathagainst between from out upalong beyond in outside uponamong but (except) inside over untilaround by into past withat concerning like since withinbefore despite near through without

You, as Super Grammarians-in-Training, will of course have to memorize all of these prepositions.

Prepositional Phrases consist of a preposition and its object (the noun at which it is directed). So, in our example

Grammar Dog bolted into the phone booth.

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the preposition is into and the object of the preposition is phone booth. Together they combine to make the prepositional phrase into the phone booth.

Practice Exercise #1 For the following sentences, underline the prepositional phrases. Label both the preposition and the object of the preposition.

1. Grammar Man’s arch-nemesis, Fragment Felicia, ran into the arcade.

2. The arcade, known as Rockin’ Roger’s Retro Arcade, was filled with old video games like Frogger and Asteroids.

3. Grammar Man jetted into Rockin’ Roger’s Retro Arcade, and his eyes popped with wonder at all of the games that he had played as a child.

4. He forgot about Fragment Felicia and launched himself into Frogger.

5. Grammar Man loved Frogger as a boy and felt like himself floating above himself in a haze of bliss to be playing again.

6. Meanwhile, Fragment Felicia ran across the room and escaped out the back door.

7. Despite his mission as an agent of grammar enforcement, Grammar Man could not draw his attention from the game.

8. He played Frogger until closing time.

9. The owner, Rockin’ Roger Nesbitt, had to grab him by his cape and carry him through the entrance.

10. Grammar man cried for two straight days.

**Note. There are also such things as compound prepositions likeaccording to, as of, away from, because of, in place of, instead of, next to, out of, prior to, etc. These are treated exactly like singular prepositions.

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ReviewPrepositional phrases can be anywhere in any sentence and are simple to identify:Every prepositional phrase begins with a preposition (consult your list) and ends with a noun. This noun is called the object of

the preposition (labeled at OP). PREP OP PREP OP

Before the show, Hopping Holly gave Captain Finn a candy bar from the floor. PREP OP PREP OP

After the show, Captain Finn was sick from the candy bar.

Practice Exercise #2 Prepositions. Place parentheses around all prepositional phrases. 1. Jenna is a good student in class but outside of class she is super.

2. Jenna likes to save people from thin ice.

3. Her superhero name is Thin Ice Lady.

4. She goes around the state looking for ponds that have thin ice on them.

5. During the winter, she spends almost all of her time ironing her super cape so that she can fly over the ice

6. Once she finds a potential victim, she hovers above the ice and rushes

from the sky with her billowing cape.

7. It is quite a scene because when she hovers above skates, they skate away from her and she sometimes flies straight through the ice.

8. Jenna doesn’t like to swim with fish in dirty lakes either.

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9. She has done reports concerning lakes and has found the lakes that are dirty across the world and she avoids those lakes like the plague.

10. Most people don’t believe her but she insists that no lakes except the clean ones need people saved from skating on thin ice.

FACTOID: Winston Churchill, prime minister of England during WWII, once said, when referencing the rule that you should never end a paragraph with a preposition:“That is the type of nonsense up with which I will not put..”Do you think he was serious?

Chapter 2 –- VerbsVerbs are divided into two groups: linking (or state of

being) and action.Linking verbs are the following: (easier to memorize if you separate into categories)6 PRIMARY 5 SENSES 5 STATE OF BEING 3STP Am feel seem stayIs taste remain turnAre smell grow proveWas sound appearWere look becomeHad been (and all its variations like would have been or could have been or will be, etc.)

The 13 non-primary linking verbs can be used as action as well so to be sure they are indeed linking you need to test them. You do this by plugging in one of the six primary verbs; if you do this and the sentence still makes sense, then the verb is linking. If it doesn’t make sense, the verb is action.

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is

Grammar Man looks sick. This makes sense, so looks is linking.

is

Grammar Man looks at the dog. This doesn’t make sense when you substitute is for looks, so

looks is action.

Once you’ve identified the verb, you then need to determine what follows it. Linking verbs are followed by either a predicate noun (PN) or a predicate adjective (PA). Linking verbs ARE NOT followed by direct or indirect objects.

Grammar Man is sick. The verb is is linking and it is followed by sick which is an

adjective so sick is a predicate adjective.

Grammar Man is a person. The verb is is linking and it is followed by person which is a noun. Therefore, person is a predicate noun.

FORMULA FOR SENTENCES WITH LINKING VERBS: S (subject) LV (linking verb) PA (predicate adjective) or PN (predicate noun)

Action verbs can be either transitive or intransitive.

Transitive verbs have a direct object (and may or may not have an indirect object).

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DO

Grammar Man likes soda. The verb likes is an action verb (we know this because it is not on the linking verb list). Once we identify it as action, we ask the question “Whom?” or “What?” The answer here is soda. Soda becomes the direct object.

Action verbs CANNOT have predicate adjectives or predicate nominatives. IO DO

GM gave Paul soda. Whatever receives the direct object is the indirect object—in this case Paul—as long as it comes between the verb and the direct object.

Intransitive verbs have no direct object or indirect object

GM walked home. Walked is the verb but home does not answer the question “Whom?” or “What?” It answers the question “Where?” Therefore, there is no direct object and the verb walked is intransitive.

When working with verbs, it is best to use...

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Mr. St. Pierre's Flawless 4-

Point Plan1. Find the verb

2. Determine if verb is linking or action

3. If linking, go no further. If Action, find direct object by asking whom? Or what?

4. If there is a direct object, then the verb is transitive.

If no direct object, then the verb is intransitive.

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Practice Exercise #3Determine whether the main verb in the following sentences is transitive (Tr), intransitive (Int), or linking (L). ___1. Lookout Laisha is mad at her boyfriend.___2. Bruno the Bruiser bought a house for her.___3. Mad Matt ran all the way home with the little piggy. ___4. Ginornous Gus chewed the bat until it was a toothpick.___5. Salty Sam loves to ski on the ski team.___6. Daring-D0-Derek read the book just before the test.___7. Frumpy Francis still scored a very high grade.___8. Jolly Joleena enjoys her English class.___9. Ascendant Alice vaulted at the regional track meet.___10. Killer Kelly bought an Emu at the pet store.___11. Bungling Boris made life hard for us after killing our hamster, Mr. Wheely.___12. Bucephalus was Alexander’s horse.___13. Caligula named a horse to the Roman Senate.___14. Paula the Pup likes the guy with the wet nose and snow hat. ___15. Mega Man’s snowmachine is his favorite item. ___16. Kevinator appeared ill in class.___17. Danny the Boy looks sharp today.___18. Brooke Trout read her French book all during study.___19. Christiana Cookoo lay on the floor of the classroom all period.___20. Katy sold her new sweater after it shrunk.___21. Carly Car-Car went to the doctor after cutting her finger on the paperclip. ___22. Amelia EarRing sounded sick during the play. ___23. Donny Donielle ran home to Chicago instead of flying. ___24. Stupendous Amy gave Arrogant Adrienne a book for the holiday.___25. Deaf-Tone Stephanie sang beautifully in the chorus. ___26. The dog ate Lucky Lee’s homework, again.___27. Arboreal Ann is an excellent student.___28. Big-Hat Brittany had chosen the play for this year’s production.___29. Maggot Maggie’s proposal was rejected by the council.___30. Shaunie Sheepskin loves math class.

Practice Exercise #4

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For each underlined word, write S for subject, DO for direct object, IO for indirect object, PN for predicate nominative, PA for predicate adjective, or OP for object of the preposition. ___1. Sally gave the plant to the horticulturalist. ___2. The car ran over the cat in the middle of the street. ___3. Meghan is an excellent skier. ___4. Brutus bought Popeye some spinach. ___5. The river is overflowing its banks. ___6. The husband sent his sick wife a bouquet of flowers. ___7. Give them a good reason to go to the game. ___8. He is ugly.___9. Outside the school, the snow is falling heavily. ___10. The cause of his success is his hard work. ___11. The horror show gave my sister bad dreams. ___12. I brought the cat to the veterinarian. ___13. My brother was killed during the war. ___14. The store remains open on weekends. ___15. Morgan rode his sled to school, against the rules.___16. Marybeth Polochnik does not like Joey Cortez. ___17. Randolph ate his neighbor’s cat for dinner. ___18. The beast from the lake ate all the sailboats. ___19. Donny appears smart when he actually does all of the work. ___20. Rex plowed my driveway all winter. ___21. The class was sick of Shakespeare. ___22. Their house by the lake was flooded during the storm.___23. Give me that bat!___24. Please go to the store and buy some milk. ___25. This is the end.

Passive Voice vs. Active Voice Active VoicePeople write and speak predominantly in the active voice (and when they don’t they should—it’s better than the passive voice.)

Mega Boy blasted Negative Newman to the moon.

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This sentence is in the active voice because the subject, Mega Boy, is doing the action, he’s actually doing the blasting. All active voice verbs have subjects that do the action: subject

Sir Cowpie pilfered the famous Ruby diamond.subject

California Cranford gobbled the cream tarts in one gulp.subject

Fresco the Frozen thawed his freeze ray in France.

The subject in all of these examples is doing the action in the sentence. Whenever you can, use the active voice. It is better. Stronger. Bolder.

Passive VoiceNow, the passive voice is a weaker style of writing because the subject is being acted on, it is not doing the action in the sentence. Take our first example for instance,

Mega Boy blasted Negative Newman to the Moon.

Negative Newman, which is the direct object (answers the question whom? after an action verb) is being acted on so we make that the subject:

Negative Newman was blasted by Mega Boy.

The subject (which was the direct object) is now Negative Newman. So, the only kind of sentence that can be made passive is one with a transitive verb (a sentence with a direct object).

Active: Bold Bertha dropped the house.

Passive: The house was dropped by Bold Bertha

Active: Baby Poo Poo lost the diapers.

Passive: The diapers were lost by Baby Poo Poo.

Hint: often passive voice sentences have verbs that require was or were as auxiliary verbs (helping verbs). Practice Exercise #5Label the following sentences as either ACTIVE or PASSIVE.______1.The Arena held a Super Squad grammar competition. _____2. Shoeless Juiceman was squeezed by The Salivating Salivator._____3. Gerund Gerry pulverized Parker Participle. _____4. The Goof was crushed in a strange move by The Pretzel._____5. Oh, the horror. The Pretzel confused him with his famous body curl.

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_____6. The body curl was considered an illegal maneuver by the Grammar Squad. _____7. Grammar Girl pulled The Pretzel off The Goof._____8. The Goof blabbered incoherently for several minutes._____9. Grammar Girl was angry at the Pretzel.____10. The Pretzel was blended by Grammar Girl back into Dough Boy.

Practice Exercise #6Change of the following sentences to passive.

1. Buzzy Blueboy’s sidekick, Mangy Mutt, ate Chicken Bone Boy.

2. Maximum Glide flew the victims to her hideout.

3. Thor threw his mighty hammer through the fortress wall.

4. Egghead broke his shell when he fell.

5. The Stone Giant defended the streets from The Wraith.

Change the following sentences to active.6. The Noble Nictitator was slugged by Sandman.

7. Sandman was bagged by Dharma.

8. The sentence was written by Grammar Man.

9. Verbs are loved by Grammar Girl.

10. Adjective Ally wrote her stories with many, many descriptive words.

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Grammar Squad Furtherances Option one: Write a story comprised of at least 20 sentences. At least 10 of the sentences should be active, 10 should be passive. No verbs can be repeated. Underline each verb (or verb phrase in the case of passive voice sentences) and label as active or passive.

Topics to consider for a story:The rise of Wild ThingCrossing the great Sentence SeaBattle between Baby Poo Poo and The Puff BallGrammar Girl’s first grammar rescue

Option 2: Copy a paragraph from a novel. Label and underline all verbs as active voice or passive voice.

Verb TensesThere are 6 primary verb tenses:Present Present Perfectbake have/has baked

Rapid Ray bakes a Tuscan Croissant. Bubble Boy has baked a lobster custard.

Past Past Perfectbaked had baked

Giovanni baked a French Fritter. Danger Dude had baked a German fritata.

Future Future Perfectwill bake will have baked

Guido will bake an Italian Pot Pie. Bertrand will have baked twelve quohog casseroles.

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There are also progressive tenses: (for showing ongoing actions, whether currently, in the past, or in the future)Present Progressive Present Perfect Progressiveam/is/are baking have/has been baking

Sir Fluffle is baking a large The Barracuda has been baking his moon pie for the joust. famous Whoopie pies for three

days in preparation for the Fryeburg Fair cook-off.

Past Progressive Past Perfect Progressivewas baking had been baking

California Joe was baking the Calypso had been baking the bricks brownies for his horse. long before she needed them to

build her headquarters.

Future Progressive Future Perfect Progressivewill be baking will have been baking

The Kalamazoo Kid will be Madam Moonstruck will have been baking in jail for eight years. baking all year to prepare for the

Moon Feast next month.

The first three tenses—present, past and future—have clear uses. The perfect tenses are a bit trickier. They help clear up actions happening at different times, like an ongoing action in the past (past perfect progressive), or an action completed in the past (past perfect).

There is also the conditional, which is simply using the words would, could an should.

Practice Exercise #7 Underline the whole verb phrase and write the proper tense of the verb on the line for the sentences below._________1. Super Magaw had slung his cape over his shoulder for the final time._________2. The Kingdom of Grammaria will require a new hero._________3. Rotundo had been oozing through the Gerund forest for eons._________4. One of his ooze trails through the center of Grammaria reeks of saggy cabbage. _________5. The Verbengers have vowed to stop this vile villain._________6. Rotundo, however, had not wanted to cause trouble._________7. He had only desired a warm, oozy embrace.

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_________8. This misguided quest had precipitated much disruption in the Kingdom of Grammaria. _________9. So, The Verbengers hugged him snuggly. _________10. He now likes to bake pumpernickel bread for hungry peasants. _________11. Meanwhile, the Vicious Sentence Slicer deliberates over his next caper._________12. He has never defeated the Verbengers. _________13. Nor is he capable of even the most simplistic sentence

constructions._________14. The Vicious Sentence Slicer had never learned the art of writing solid sentences._________15. He was always skipping that class in Grammar High._________16. To this day, he avoids confrontation with anything that requires writing._________17. This has always troubled the Vicious Sentence Slicer._________18. Applying for a job without using sentences causes much confusion. _________19. Numbers mean very little on job applications. _________20. So, the Vicious Sentence Slicer found himself a criminal out of

principle. _________21. He had been coming to terms with his issues for a while. _________22. Finally, he decided to embrace them. _________23. He would use crime to his advantage. _________24. But he had always avoided the Verbengers. _________25. The hunted him down like a rabid dog. _________26. When they were apprehending him,_________27. he managed to escape one last time. _________28. Today, he resides in Tahiti. _________29. He likes long walks on the beach_________30. and he adores moonlit picnics by the ocean.

Chapter 3 – PronounsPRONOUN CASES

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Nominative

I

he

she

we

they

who

whoever

you, it

Objective

me

him

her

us

them

whom

whomever

you, it

Possessive

my

his, hers

our

theirs

whose

yours, its

NOMINATIVE CASE PRONOUNS

The nominative case is appropriate for pronouns used as subject and predicate noun.

I ran to the dentist

“I” is the subject of the sentence and thus in the nominative case.

It is I

“I” in this case is the predicate noun (follows a linking verb) and is in the nominative case as well.

OBJECTIVE CASE PRONOUNS

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The objective case is used for pronouns used as direct objects, indirect objects and objects of the preposition.

He hit me.

“Me” is the direct object (follows action verb and answers the question “What?” or “Whom?”) so it is in the objective case.

He gave me the ball.

“Me” in this case is the indirect object (comes between the verb and the direct object and receives the direct object) and is also in the objective case.

He gave the ball to me.

“Me” is the object of the preposition “to” and thus is in the objective case.

PRACTICE EXERCISE #8For each sentence below, fill in the

proper pronoun and identify its use and case.

Use in sentence Pronoun Case

Example: ___They__ sent a letter to the president. _____subject__ nominative

1. Laser Lolita bought ________ a candy bar. ____________ ___________

2. Doctor Degago examined _____________. ____________ ___________

3. The winner is ________. ____________ ___________

4. The Squad gave a letter to _____________. ____________ ___________

5. _________ didn’t like the new Super Teacher. ____________ ___________

6. Her favorite hero is __________. ____________ ___________

7. He was accused of the crime by __________. ____________ ___________

8. I love _____________. ____________ ___________

9. They left __________ at the store. ____________ ___________

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PRACTICE EXERCISE #9 (taken from 1912 grammar book) On the first line, identify the italicized word as either in the nominative case or the objective case. On the second line, identify how the word is used in the sentence:

subject (S), predicate noun (PN), object of the preposition (OP), direct object (DO), or indirect object (IO),

Dotty Dimple shook her head in despair.

At the word of command, the two horsemen stop.