Grammar for high school admissions tests

Sentence construction

sentence

• = a grammatically complete thought
  • contains a finite verb
  • makes a complete thought
    • The dog is playing.
      • as opposed to Since he is playing, which is not a complete thought.
• note: commands or "imperative" verbs are finite verbs, even if the subject is unstated (it is assumed)
  • ex.:Go home! = [you] Go home!
  • this concept will note be on a high school admissions test, but it may be on a college admissions test

finite verb

• verb that has a subject
• finite verbs form the predicate
  • predicate = the verb and its direct modifiers and objects

non-finite verb

• verb that does not have a subject
• non-finite verbs include
  • present participle adjective: That boring class is tedious
  • gerund (present participle as a noun): Cooking is a good skill to have
  • past participle adjective: The comedian left the audience
  • infinitive: can be an adjective, adverb, or noun
    • the concept of infinitives will not be measured on the high school entrance exam

• non-finite verbs act as adjectives, adverbs, or nouns
  • they DO NOT directly indicate an action by someone or something
  • however, they indicate a sense of an action

clause

• part of a sentence that contains a finite verb
• if the clause could be a sentence by itself, it is an independent clause
• if the clause cannot be a sentence by itself, it is a dependent clause

independent clause (IC)

• a part of a sentence that contains a finite verb and can be a sentence by itself
• ex. The dog is playing happily, since I gave him a bone

dependent clause (DC)

• a part of a sentence that contains a finite verb but cannot be a sentence by itsel
• ex. The dog is playing happily, since I gave him a bone

phrase

• two or more words that do not contain a finite verb
• important phrases for the high school entrance exam include
  • attributive noun phrase
    • two nouns next to one another, with one noun giving an "attribute" to the other
      • dog food, wine glass
  • appositive phrase
    • a parenthetical phrase to add information to another word or part of a sentence
      • ex. Steve, my nextdoor neighbor, is friendly
    • note that appositive phrases can come at the beginning or end of a sentence
      • A world expert physician, Dr. Goesa performed a postocalaptia, a groundbreaking operation.
      • Dr. Goesa,a world expert physician, performed a postocalaptia, a groundbreaking operation.
  • prepositional phrase
    • adds information to a noun or verb
      • He hit the ball out of the park
      • Thinking about math gives me a headache

sentence parts

predicate

• the verb and its direct modifiers, objects and complements
• finite verbs form the basis of a predicate

subject

• the actor or doer of a sentence
• a subject ALWAYS has a finite verb that matches to it
  • The kid wins v. The kids won
    • kid = singular; "wins" = singular verb conjugation
    • kids = plural; "win" = plural verb conjugation

Subject-verb matching: "to win"

	Singular			Plural
First person	I	win		We	win
Second person	You	win		You (pural)	win
Third person	He/ She / It	wins		They	win

complement

• adds additional information to a noun
  • can be either to a subject or object
• "complement" means to "go along with," "coordinate with"
• complements can be adjectives, adverbs or nouns, as well as phrases
• ex:
  • The dog is nice
    • "nice" is not the object of the linking verb "is"
  • My friend considers her brother crazy

object

• the recipient of an action
• note that complements are similar, but add information and are not the result of the verb's action

direct object

• the direct recipient of the action
  • She kicked the ball over the fence

indirect object

• a noun that is the indirect recipient of an action
  • ex. I gave the dog a bone
    • the bone is what "I gave" (result of the action, thus direct object)
    • the dog is the secondary effect or recipient of the verb (indirect object)

• to test:
  • if the object can be restated with "to" or "for" after the direct object, it is an indirect object:
    • The teacher taught the class grammar
    • = The teacher taught grammar to the class

• ex: sentence with direct and indirect objects

School provides students an education

subject	verb	direct object	indirect object
school	provides	education	[for] students

note on objects of non-finite verbs

• non-finite verbs do not have subjects, but they can have objects
  • high school admissions tests will not test student comprehension of this concept
• ex. sentence with gerund (non-finite verb as a noun) that has an object:
  • note that the finite verb of this sentence is "provides" and its subject is the gerund (non-finite verb as noun) "attending"

Attending school provides students an education

subject	object of gerund	verb	direct object	indirect object
Attending	school	provides	education	[for] students
note: "attending" may also be seen as a present participle adjective modifier of the subject "school"

Verbs

Subject-verb matching

verb conjugations

• finite verbs match the subject case
• test: when considering subject-verb matching

tense

• finite verbs match the subject case

Parallel verb tense

• if a sentence contains two tenses, it is likely incorrect
  • ex. HSPT test 1 no.

lie v. lay:

• lie = to put oneself down

• lay = to put an object down

• past tense

• lie >> lay

• participle lain/lied/lying

• lay > laid

• participle: laid/laying

irregular past participles

go

• simple past (preterite) = went

participle : gone

perfect tenses use the participle!

past perfect : have/has gone

present perfect: had gone

future perfect: will have gone

Punctuation

apostrophe

does 3 things:

1. creates possessive noun

• rule: only nouns can possess nouns
  • however, an adjective may come be between the nouns:
    • ex. A guitar's top string is the thickest <<"top" = adjective that describes "string"
• test: if the possessive word is followed by a word that is not a noun or an adjective that modifies another noun, it is wrong:
  • ex. The company's bought the workers new uniforms << incorrect
    • the "company" cannot possess the verb "bought"

• singular possession. Owen's parents are nice << singular "Owen"
• plural possession: The students' teacher is not so nice << plural "students"
• note: compound possessives rule:
  • if the compound possessors both possess the same thing, only the second noun uses the apostrophe
    • ex. Maria's and Joey's mother is nice << = they both have the same mother
  • if the compound possessors both posses something similar but not the exact same thing, both take the possessive
    • ex. Maria's and Joey's mothers are nice << = they both have nice mothers but not the same mother

2. creates contraction

• spoken English joins certain words to sound like a single word, which is represented in writing as a contraction
• the high school admissions test will use contractions only when testing homophones
  • such as they're v. their v. there, or its v. its'
• contractions are used in standard written English for
  • contracting "is" and "are"
    • it is > it's, they are >> they're

• contracting auxiliary and modal verbs with "not"
  • would not >> wouldn't, can not >> can't, will not won't

• see homophones below for more

• note: neither high school nor college admissions tests will use an apostrophe as a contraction for "is" or "are" with a common noun
  • ex. That elephant's big (with the 's" marking a slurred "is" sound in spoken
  • or, Those elephants'r big (with the 's" marking a slurred "is" sound in spoken

3. indicate plurality

• ex. "1960's",

• the high school admissions test will not measure for this use of the apostrophe

comma

does 6 things:

1. combines independent clauses (IC) with coordinating conjunction (cc)

• coordinating conjunction (cc) = FANBOYS (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So)

• rule: comma + cc to combine IC
• test: if both clauses could be sentence by themselves (each contains a finite verb and makes a complete thought)

2. combines phrases or dependent DC w/ IC

• rule: a sentence must contain a finite verb, which forms a clause, so anything added to the clause that does not contain a finite verb is a phrase
• ex.
  • dependent clause: Seeing how it's late already, we'll just skip lunch.
  • phrase: Arriving so late, we'll have to skip lunch.
    • "arriving" = a verb, but it does not have a subject, so it is non-finite (it is a present participle adjective)
  • phrase: On Tuesdays before noon, we get to swim at the pool

3. creates lists

• lists must be of the same grammatical form
  • i.e., a list is of nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. , and not a mix of them
    • Cows, sheep, and are all farm animals.
• note on "Oxford Comma"
  • = the comma between the second-to-last item in a list and the "and" (cc) that combines the last item in the list
    • it is correct to have a comma or not have a comma separating the second-to-last:
      • Cows, sheep and are all farm animals.
      • Cows, sheep, and are all farm animals.

4. sets up quotation

• comma separates a direct quotation from it's introduction
  • The clown said, "I feel funny."

• rules:
  • uses quotation marks around the quoted words
  • first word of the equation is capitalized
  • if at the end of a sentence, will have a period (often but not always inside the quotation mark)
  • if a question, will have a question mark
    • The clown asked, "Why are you so funny?"
  • the

5. set aside parenthetical information (appositives, relative clauses, etc.)

ex. "Steve, my neighbor, is not very nice."

  "Steve, who is my neighbor, is not very nice"

6. separate dates and place names

• month, day, year : We took the test on April 11, 2023.
• month day, year, in the middle of a sentence
  • On April 11, 2023, we took the test
• no comma for Month Year: We took the test in April 2023.

Comma and no comma with phrases and clauses

• restrictive elements are not separated by commas
• commas separate non-restrictive elements
  • non-restrictive = not essential to the meaning of the sentence

subordinate clause

= a form of a dependent clause

• subordinate clauses (a form of a dependent clause) are generally non-restrictive:
  • I took the test yesterday, although I was tired.
  • Although I was tired,I took the test.

when, because

= are subordinating conjunctions (among many others)

• can be either restrictive or non-restrictive
  • The car ran out of gas because I forgot to fill it
  • I ran out of gas, because I'm always forgetting.
  • When you leave, don't forget to turn out the lights.
  • Don't forget to turn out the lights when you leave.

relative clause

= a form of a dependent clause

= clause that follows a relative pronoun, that, where, which, who, whose

• relative clauses can be either restrictive or non-restrictive
  • that is always restrictive (no comma)
    • The cat that got stuck on the roof was hers
    • Five things that you need to learn are...
  • which can be either restrictive or non-restrictive
  • if "which" can be replaced by "that" it is restrictive (no comma)
    • The cat which got stuck on the roof was hers
  • but "which" can also be non-restrictive
    • if it cannot be replaced by "that" it is non-restrictive
    • ex. The cat, which is hers, got stuck on the roof. << correct
    • ex. The cat, that is hers, got stuck on the roof. << incorrect, so use "which" and commas
  • when which follows an independent clause it is usually non-restrictive
    • Roads across deserts are straight for miles, which makes you sleepy
    • Five beavers live under the dam, which they made from my favorite tree.
  • who, whose can be either restrictive or non-restrictive
    • The guy who always wins just won again.
    • That kid, who should know better, did it again
• note that the relative pronoun can be either a "dependent word" that serves as a conjunction
  • He turned out the lights, which he usually forgets to to.
    • which = relative pronoun and dependent word that combines the two clauses
• or as the subject of the relative clause
  • Don't forget to turn off the lights, which saves energy
    • which = relative pronoun and subject of the relative clause "which saves energy")

Nouns

proper noun capitalization

• titles are capitalized
  • the test may show a two-word proper noun with one word capitalized but not another
    • ex.: Tom jones

quotation marks

do 3 things:

1. quotations

2. indicate sarcasm

semicolon

does 2 things

1. combines independent clauses

• test: if the semicolon separates (or combines) two distinct subject-verb combinations AND each could be a sentence by itself, then the semicolon is correct

2. acts as a "supercomma"

• Note: this use will not appear on high school entrance exam, but it may appear on a college entrance exam

personal pronoun subjective & objective case

in compound objects, remove the first noun and test the pronoun

> Steve and I went to the park.

> Steve and me went to the park

me went to the park = wrong

> She gave Joey and me a bad grade.

> She gave Joey and I a bad grade

remove "joey"

she gave I a bad grade = wrong

personal pronouns and prepositions

>  prepositions create a prep phrase

> prep prhase contains a

> preoposition + an object

Between you and I, grammar sucks.  x b/c I = subjective

Between you and me, grammar sucks.

The car stopped right in front of the dog and he.

The car stopped right in front of the dog and him.

attributive nouns

nouns that act like adjectives (but are not adjectives)

dog food

wine glass

class government

dog, wine, class = nouns, but they are modifying the 2nd noun .. giving them an "attribute"

the attributive noun is ALWAYS SINGULAR .. bc it's acting like an adjective (which don't change pluraity)

> dog food not dogs food

attributive noun is ALWAYS next to the noun it modifies

big dog bone.

dog big bone  x

-------

cumulative v. coordinate adjectives

cumulative adjectives = no comma

the 1st adjective modifies the 2nd adj + the noun

expensive small gift

= expensive [small gift]

small expensive gift

= small [expensive gift]

coordinate adjectives

= uses a comma

big, red balloon

if you can swtich them, or put "and" in between them, it uses a comma (coordinate)

=

big and red balloon = ok

red, big balloon = ok

may v. please

• may = indicates possibility or a request for permission (usually of oneself)
  • May I have a couple more donuts?
• please = a polite command or request (usually of someone else_
  • Please leave me alone!
• rule:
  • may is used to ask for permission
  • please is used to make a request
• ex.:
  • Please pass the salt = correct
  • May you pass the sale = incorrect

homophones

• words that sound the same but spell differently

• high school will commonly use:
  • there, they're, their
    • there = indicates specificity or location
    • they're = contraction of "they are"
    • their = plural possessive pronoun
  • its, it's
    • its = singular possessive pronoun
    • it's = contraction of "it is"
  • then, than
    • then = indicates a chronology (next) or a prior time ("since then")
    • than = makes a comparison
• college admissions tests may also use:
  • site, cite, sight
  • fare, fair
• note: compare to homonyms, which are words that spell the same but pronounce or mean differently
  • ex. "bark" can mean the sound a dog makes or the skin of a tree
  • high school and college admissions tests will not measure this concept