English 114:Basic Principles of Reading and Writing

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English 114Basic Principles of Reading and
Writing

• Prof. Mercedes Torres Almodóvar
• Lesson 3 The Structure of a Sentence

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Topic Sentence Construction

• A Simple Sentence has two basic parts

Subject Noun/pronoun
Predicate verb, verbs complements
I am a very sensitive person Honesty is the best
word to describe me. Luis wants and tries to be a
better person. Bring your dictionary tomorrow.
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Analyzing a simple sentence

• I am a very sensitive person.

article
Pronoun
adjective
noun
adverb
Verb to be
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Sentence Elements

• Luis wants and tries to be a better person.

Infinitive phrase
Noun
adjective
verb
verb
noun
conjunction
verb
article
preposition
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Sentence Elements

• Bring your dictionary tomorrow.

You
verb
pronoun
adverb
noun
Pronoun
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Sentence Elements

• Nouns are words that name people, places,
  actions and ideas
• Common nouns (girl, book, island)
• Proper nouns (Ponce, Luis, Puerto Rico)
• Concrete nouns (desk, classroom, computer)
• Abstract nouns (love, hate, sadness)

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Nouns

• Exercise 1
• The German Shepard was the best all-around breed
  of dog in the contest.
• A reputation that took years to build can be
  destroyed in minutes.
• The Pontifical Catholic University is located in
  the town of Ponce.

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Adjectives

• Adjectives describe or tell something about
  nouns
• Provide information
• Size
• Quality
• Color
• Age

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Adjectives

• Exercise 2
• Maria is a very efficient worker.
• Many TV programs are offensive to the public.
• My day, yesterday was exhausting.
• It was a beautiful place for the young boy, that
  farm of my grandfathers.

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The Comparative of Adjectives

• The comparative form is used for comparing two
  things, persons, or places. For most one-syllable
  adjectives add er than.
• Example
• A car is safe. (no comparison)
• A car is safer than a motorcycle. (comparative
  form)

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The Comparative of Adjectives

• For most adjectives of two or more syllables the
  form is
• more adjective than
• Reading a book is interesting.
• Reading a book is more interesting than
• watching a movie.

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The Superlative of Adjectives

• The superlative form is used when we want to
  compare three or more things, persons, or places
• For most one syllable adjectives the form is
• the adjective -est
• Ponce is hot. (no
  comparison)
• Ponce is hotter than Adjuntas. (comparative)
• Ponce is the hottest city on the island.
  (superlative)

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The Superlative of Adjectives

• For most adjectives of two syllables or more, add
  the most before the adjective when comparing
  three or more things, persons, or places.
• Christmas is a famous holiday in Puerto Rico
• Christmas is more famous than Halloween in Puerto
  Rico.
• Christmas is the most exciting holiday in Puerto
  Rico.
• http//a4esl.org/q/f/z/zz66fck.htm

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Verbs

• Verbs express an action, a condition, or a fact
  that something exists. Verbs are the essential
  element of the predicate.
• Action verbs
• Visible
• Mental
• Stative Verbs introduces a state or condition
  of the verb
• Luis is very upset with his test results.
• Paola seems to be nervous.

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Verbs

• The lesson seems quite simple.
• We wrote the first draft of the paragraph.
• Maria loves to watch soap operas.
• Daniel runs two miles every other day.
• I watched several movies this past weekend.

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Adverbs

• Adverbs an adverb provides information about a
  verb, an adjective or another adverb.
• Daniel runs fast.
• His grades were very low.
• The temperature dropped very quickly.
• http//a4esl.org/q/f/z/zz60fck.htm

• Verb
• Adjective
• Adverb

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Adverbs

• Adverbs can be grouped as
• Time (when, how often, and how long)
• now, yesterday, tomorrow, today
• Place (where, to where, and from where)
• there, here, nearby, forward
• Manner (tell how something is done)
• quietly, fast, well, regularly
• Degree or Intensity (tell how much or how little)
• very, too, greatly, partly

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Adverbs

• Melissa has become an extremely bright student.
• We completed the exercise fairly early.
• The family just recently moved.
• Melissa is doing very well.
• Registration will begin tomorrow.

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Sentence Elements

• Content Words words that give meaning to
  sentences
• Nouns
• Adjectives
• Verbs
• Adverbs

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Sentence Elements

• Function Words show a connecting relationship
  between the different content words.
• Determiners
• Prepositions http//a4esl.org/q/f/x/xz98mvt.htm
• Conjunctions

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Function Words

• Determiners are words that modify a noun they
  precede the noun and noun phrase
• Articles the, a, an
• Quantifiers some, any, much, most, many, each,
  every, either, neither
• Demonstratives this, that, these, those
• Possessives my, your, his, Joses
• http//a4esl.org/q/h/vc-pronouns-lb.html
• Cardinal and ordinal numbers one, two, first,
  second etc.

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Function Words

• Example
• The learning center is an important part of this
  university.
• It is located in the center of the campus.
• The center has computer facilities available for
  all the students.
• http//a4esl.org/q/f/y/zz94mck.htm

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Function Words

• Prepositions words that indicate relationships
  such as time, place, direction or movement. A
  preposition signals that a noun or noun structure
  follows it.

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Prepositions of Place

• Place In
• Room in the bedroom
• City in San Juan
• State in New York
• Country in Puerto Rico
• in the yard
• in the basement
• in the car
• in the front

• Place On
• Street on Derkes Street
• Floor on the first floor
• on the corner of Hostos and Ashford avenue
• on the bus
• on the plane
• on the top

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Prepositions

• Place At
• Building at the bank
• at the supermarket
• at home
• at work
• at the university

• For a street
• The bank is on Hostos
• Street.
• For a specific address
• The bank is at 114
• Hostos Street.

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Prepositions of Time

• In
• Month in March
• Season in the summer
• Year in 2006
• in the morning
• in a week
• in an hour

• At
• Exact time at 635
• at noon
• at night
• at the moment

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Prepositions of Time

• on
• Day on Monday
• Specific day on Thanksgiving
• Date on March 1
• on April 13, 2006
• on time
• on the weekend

• from to
• from 800 to 1200
• from Monday to Friday
• from 2000 to 2006

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Prepositions of Time

• in May
• in 1998
• on May 7
• on May 7, 2005
• on Monday
• http//a4esl.org/q/h/9704/dg-in-at-on.html

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Function Words

• Conjunctions words that connect a word with
  another word, a phrase with a phrase, or a clause
  with a clause
• Coordinating joins units that are equal
  grammatically (nouns, verbs, independent clauses)
• but
• for
• and
• or
• yet
• so
• nor
• I am studying and working.

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Function words

• Subordinating introduce a clause that depends on
  another clause for its meaning
• although
• if
• because
• until
• after
• before
• unless
• Before I go to sleep, I read a couple of pages
• from a book.

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Practice Exercises

• Identify the function words in the following
  sentences
• I can see a movie or stay at home.
• Luis visits his grandparents on Sunday.
• He participated in the marathon on Sunday.
• Cristobal did not come to the university because
  he was sick.
• They are waiting in the conference room.
• He drinks a glass of water before eating his
  meals.

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References

• Donald, R.B. et al. (1978). Writing Clear
  Paragraphs. New Jersey Prentice-Hall Inc.
• Ellis, J. et al. (1998). Write On A
  Grammar- Composition Workbook. Puerto Rico
  Editorial Plaza Mayor
• Sebranek, P., Verne, M. Kemper, D. (1997).
  Write for College. Mass. Houghton Mifflin
  Company
• http//a4esl.org/q/h/9704/dg-in-at-on.html
• http//a4esl.org/q/f/y/zz94mck.htm
• http//a4esl.org/q/f/z/zz66fck.htm