English grammar explained in plain language simple enough to be understood.
Nouns that show ownership are called possessive nouns. When you own something, you possess it. That’s why we call these possessive nouns. To show that a noun owns something, we add apostrophe -s (‘s) like this: I rode Tom’s bike…. Read more29. Possessive Nouns
In the last post, we learned about avoiding the run-on sentence. A run-on sentence happens when we run two complete thoughts together. It is important to keep each thought separate from another. Sometimes we think that we can avoid a… Read more13. Avoid the Comma Splice in Run-on Sentences
Let’s talk about why a sentence gets labeled a fragment. A fragment is a piece of something, so a sentence fragment is a piece of a sentence. A true sentence is a complete thought. With a sentence fragment, the thought… Read more11. The Sentence Fragment
A compound sentence is two complete thoughts joined together. Usually we use a comma and one of the FANBOYS to join two simple sentences into a compound sentence. You can also join two simple sentences with a semicolon. The semicolon… Read more3. The Compound Sentence with a Semicolon
Sometimes we join two simple sentences together. We call that a compound sentence. A compound sentence is two complete thoughts joined together. Use a coordinating conjunction to join two simple sentences together. The coordinating conjunctions are called FANBOYS because each… Read more2. Compound Sentences – the FANBOYS
In English, we put our thoughts into groups of words called sentences. A sentence is a complete idea. A sentence always has a subject and a verb. Subject – a person or thing doing something Verb – an action that the… Read more1. The Simple Sentence
A contraction is a shortened version of two words that were bumped together. When two words get bumped together into one word, letters get knocked out and an apostrophe (‘) takes the place of the missing letters. We talked yesterday… Read more82. More Contractions
Yesterday we talked about contractions made with pronouns and helping verbs will, am, and are. Contractions can also be made with pronouns and the helping verbs have and has (present tense). I have = I’veyou have = you’vewe have =… Read more83. Contractions With Have and Had
Contractions are words made from two words that have been pushed together and shortened. Contractions always have an apostrophe (‘) inside. The apostrophe replaces letters taken out of the two words. Certain contractions are similar to other words. Today we… Read more84. Easily Confused Words – Contractions
Here are some practice exercises using contractions. Section A: Write the two words that were bumped together to make the contraction. Ex: can’t = can not1. didn’t2. hasn’t3. we’re4. she’s5. they’re6. I’m7. won’t8. they’ve9. doesn’t10. you’re11. I’ve12. we’ll Section B:… Read more85. Practice With Contractions