1: Sentences

To write well, we need the basics of language:

There are four people in my family. My husband’s name is Jake. We have been married since 2006. Jake is an exterminator and an artist. We have two boys, an eight-year-old named Henry and a six-year-old named Louis. Henry loves to play video games and read scary stories. Louis likes to draw and wrestle. Both of my boys play the piano. We are a busy family, but we love to spend time together.

In this unit, we will start to look at words and sentences.

Words can be split into the following grammatical groups. A few examples are given for you. As a class, add more words to each group. Use your NGSL (New General Service Word List, words 1-1500).

noun	verb	adjective	adverb	pronoun
country	leave	small	never	his

conjunction	preposition	interjections	determiner (article)
because	into	wow	the

In our vocabulary, many words belong to “families” of words. That is, they can be easily changed into a different grammatical form. Consider the word interest.

Learning about different cultures interests me. (verb) I have no interest in tennis. (noun)

India’s culture is very interesting. (adjective)

Practice 1A

Put the following words from the list (1-250) into categories. Write them in the chart. HINT: Some of the words can be in more than one group!

between	make	thing	give	new	pause	right
point	include	end	important	seem	hand	through
read	government	study	around	business	build

NOUNS	VERBS	ADJECTIVES	PREPOSITIONS

Practice 1B

Choose either the noun or verb form of the words on the left to write in the sentences on the right. Put the word in the correct grammatical form.

Noun	Verb	Sentence practice
work	work	My brother ___________ for Ford Motor Company. I enjoy cooking for people, but it’s a lot of ___________.
study studies	study	I quit my job so I could focus on my ___________ . Jaime ___________ at the library on Sunday afternoons. A ___________ showed that most people in Ann Arbor drive cars to work.
requirement	require	Intermediate ESL Grammar is a ___________ for me. This class ___________ 800 pages of reading.
experience	experience	When I came to the U.S., I ___________ stress because of culture shock. Traveling around the world has given Karla many interesting ___________ I volunteer at the hospital just to get ___________ .

Good sentences are essential for good writing. A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought. To be a complete sentence¸ we need to:

• begin with a capital letter.
• end with a period. The other possible punctuation marks are a question mark (?) and exclamation point (!). These are not used often. Use a period at the end of most sentences.
• include a subject and verb.
• be careful to write a complete thought

Example:

RIGHT: I was absent because I was sick. (complete sentence)

WRONG: Because I was sick. (NOT a sentence: because should connect to other parts of the sentence)

Note

When writing by hand, be careful to make clear capital letters. Sometimes handwriting can be confusing! Look at these f and t letters.

Write: For example, I like French fries.

Write: There are three people in the car.

Here are some more rules about capital letters in English:

1. Use a capital letter with proper nouns. These are usually the names of specific people, places or things. Most English nouns are common nouns and do not get capital letters. Here are some examples of proper nouns:

names of streets, cities, states, countries, and people, including their titles:

Detroit Istanbul	Thailand Mexico	the United States Lakeview Court	Main Street Nevada
George Washington Ms. Brown		Dr. Matthew Green Uncle Wally

names of geographic places, companies, institutions, and buildings

the State Theatre the Nile River

Smith Window Company Lincoln Elementary School

2. The pronoun I is always capitalized in English.

Quang and I have known each other for five years.

3. There are specific rules for capital letters in titles.

War and Peace is an epic novel by Leo Tolstoy.

We enjoyed watching the movie Beauty and the Beast.

Practice 1C

In the following paragraph, try to fix the errors in:

• capital letters
• end of sentence punctuation

My family and i took a wonderful trip to chicago this summer we took the train from ann arbor we went to shedd aquarium and millennium park. we stayed at a nice hotel and ate at many wonderful restaurants, on the last day we went swimming in lake michigan the weather was perfect we all relaxed and slept on the train back to michigan.

What does a paragraph look like? More instruction on formal paragraph writing will come in Unit 3, The Basics of Paragraphs. For now, start writing with the correct paragraph format. Here are some basic requirements:

1. Write your name, class (ESL 128), and the date in the upper left corner.
2. Indent. If you are writing by hand, put about a two-finger space in front of the first sentence. If you are typing, use the TAB key for the first line.
3. Do not start each new sentence on a new line.

Example:

Wrong

Saturday is my favorite day of the week.

I work Monday through Friday, so on Saturday, I sleep in.

Then my family and I eat a big breakfast and stay in our pajamas for hours. After that, we often go to a movie or visit some friends.

I cook dinner every day except Saturdays.

We usually go out to a restaurant or order pizza for dinner on Saturday. Every week, I look forward to Saturday.

Right

Saturday is my favorite day of the week. I work Monday through Friday, so on Saturday, I sleep in. Then my family and I eat a big breakfast and stay in our pajamas for hours. After that, we often go to a movie or visit some friends. I cook dinner every day except Saturdays. We usually go out to a restaurant or order pizza for dinner on Saturday. Every week, I look forward to Saturday.

4. Double-space. Skip one line between each line.
5. If you are typing, use a 12-point font.
6. If your paragraph has a title, center it.

Here is an example of a typed paragraph, correctly formatted.

Nadya Jackson
ESL 128
September 12, 2017

My Family

There are four people in my family. My husband’s name is Jake. We have been married since 2006. Jake is an exterminator and an artist. We have two boys, an eight-year-old named Henry and a six-year-old named Louis. Henry loves to play video games and read scary stories. Louis likes to draw and wrestle. Both of my boys play the piano. We are a busy family, but we love to spend time together.

Practice 1D

What is wrong with the FORMAT of these paragraphs?

1. Nadya

   There are four people in my family. My husband’s name is Jake. We have been married since 2006. Jake is an exterminator and an artist. We have two boys, an eight-year-old named Henry and a six-year-old named Louis. Henry loves to play video games and read scary stories. Louis likes to draw and wrestle. Both of my boys play the piano. We are a busy family, but we love to spend time together.

MISTAKE #1: ______________________________________________________________________________

MISTAKE #2: ______________________________________________________________________________

MISTAKE #3: ______________________________________________________________________________

2. Nadya Jackson
   ELS 128
   Introduce My Family
   9/12/17

   There are four people in my family.

   My husband’s name is Jake. We have been married since 2006. Jake is an exterminator and an artist.

   We have two boys, an eight-year-old named Henry and a six-year-old named Louis. Henry loves to play video games and read scary stories. Louis likes to draw and wrestle. Both of my boys play the piano.

   We are a busy family, but we love to spend time together.

   MISTAKE #1: ______________________________________________________________________________

   MISTAKE #2: ______________________________________________________________________________

   MISTAKE #3: ______________________________________________________________________________

Every sentence in English must have a Subject and a Verb, and most sentences have an Object. Before we are able to write longer sentences, we should make sure that our simple sentences are correct. Simple sentences have the basic parts of a sentence: Subject, Verb and Object = S V O

How do we find the Subject? 🡪 ask WHO?

How do we find the Verb and Object? 🡪 ask DID WHAT?

S V O

My daughter is attending preschool at WCC this semester.

Look at the examples below.

S V O

Amjed is a student.

S V O

Megan loves reading.

Practice 1E

Label the sentences below with S V O.

(Image 5)

1. Painting is my favorite hobby.
2. The Johnson family loves camping.
3. Ali can run twelve miles.
4. Maria and David are getting a new car.
5. Do you like your present ?
6. Who is your favorite movie star?
7. What is your favorite subject?
8. Leo has seven dogs and six cats.
9. ESL 128 is a fun class.
10. Washtenaw Community College has over 10,000 students.

Practice 1F

On a separate piece of paper, write a short paragraph about yourself. Your paragraph should have five simple sentences. Label your sentences S V O. Use correct paragraph format.

Practice 1G

In the sentences below, cross out all other parts of the sentence that are not the S V O. Label the S V O.

S V O

Example: Peter drove his car to the market.

1. Megan is studying at the library.
2. In the afternoon, the baby takes a nap.

   

   (Image 6)

3. We usually check our homework at the beginning of class.
4. My daughters are cleaning their rooms.
5. Tom drove to the college quickly.
6. Jem was born in Kijabe in 1999.
7. Ken gave the card to Barb.
8. Chop six carrots and put them in the pot.
9. Amy bought a new car from Craig’s List.

Many sentences add information about where and when the activity happened. Thus, to understand sentences with S V O, we can add P and T. P refers to the place of the action. T refers to the time of the action. Place comes before Time in sentences and after the S V O. Place and Time are given in adverbs, expressions, and prepositional phrases.

How do we find the Subject? 🡪 ask WHO?

How do we find the Verb and Object? 🡪 ask DID WHAT?

How do we find the Place? 🡪 ask WHERE?

How do we find the Time? 🡪 ask WHEN?

S V O P T

My daughter is attending preschool at WCC this semester.

Note

Time (T) may come before the S V O but is separated with a comma (,).

T S V O P

This semester, my daughter is attending preschool at WCC.

Practice 1H

Label the sentences below with S V O P T.

1. Jacques and Lou play soccer at the park every Saturday.
2. Before breakfast, Martha must do her chores.
3. My family is going to see the new Captain America movie at the Rave Theater tonight.
4. The grammar students took a diagnostic test in class yesterday.
5. At 6 pm tomorrow, I am meeting my cousin at the new Italian restaurant downtown.

Practice 1I

On a separate piece of paper, write a short paragraph about a place you like to visit when you have a day off. Your paragraph should have six simple sentences. Label your sentences S V O, and P T as necessary. Use correct paragraph format.

Practice 1J

For more practice, label the following sentences with S V O P T.

1. Hassan saw a picture on the wall.
2. Hassan looked at the picture.
3. Hassan recognized the people in the picture.
4. Annika lost her ring yesterday.
5. Annika lost her ring in the sand.
6. Annika lost her ring in the sand at the beach.
7. We were at a meeting.
8. Please be on time in the future.
9. We bought a house in Miami in 2005.
10. Last night, we went to a movie.

Practice 1K

Write sentences using the words given. Use S V O P T word order.

1. began / last week / Kimi / through Turkey / a bike trip

___________________________________________________________________________

2. at his uncle’s bakery / Alexi / on Saturday mornings / works

___________________________________________________________________________

3. arrived / in the early morning / at the airport / my plane

___________________________________________________________________________

4. are going to take / on Wednesday / the 128 students / an SVOPT quiz / in class

___________________________________________________________________________

Each language of the world has its own grammatical rules for word order. How does your first language order sentences? Is it S V O P T?

Translate the sentence “We drink coffee in the garden every afternoon.” Write it in your language. Then explain the word order to a partner.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Some languages require an “extra” subject or object that does not translate well into English. Other languages don’t require a “be” verb. Some languages don’t require an It subject before verbs. Translating these grammar rules can cause incomplete sentences, or sentences that have extra words in English.

Practice 1L

The following sentences have errors in English word order and sentence structure. Rewrite the sentences correctly on the line.

1. My hobby is reading books, religious, cooking, and health books. __________________________________________________________________
2. My husband understands me and tries to give me sometimes a chance to go to parties. _______________________________________________
3. The cow gives every day five liters of milk. ____________________________________________________________________________________
4. My daughter, she is six years old. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Audrey Hepburn in this movie is a very lovely princess. ___________________________________________________________________________
6. My brother, he works the night shift at the airport. ______________________________________________________________________________

Practice 1M

The following sentences have errors using It and the be verb. Rewrite the sentences correctly on the line.

1. This city is the capital of my country. It always busy with people and cars. ________________________________________________________________
2. When I there, I enjoy all of the markets. __________________________________________________________________
3. My birthday in July. Is often rainy when I celebrate my birthday in Mexico. ________________________________________________________________
4. I could feel the earthquake and hear the dishes shaking. Was a day that I will never forget. __________________________________________________

A common error in writing is run-on sentences. What is a run-on sentence?

A run-on sentence is two or more sentences put together with not enough punctuation. A comma is not enough. Two sentences separated by a comma is called a comma splice. This is a kind of run-on sentence.

Example: X We waited patiently our flight finally started boarding.

X We waited patiently, our flight finally started boarding.

There are several ways to correct run-on sentences:

• Separate the sentences with a period. 🡪 We waited patiently. Our flight finally started boarding.
• Add a connecting word to make the sentence correct.

🡪 We waited patiently until our flight finally started boarding.

🡪 We waiting patiently, and our flight finally started boarding.

Practice 1N

Which sentences are correct? Which are incorrect? Mark the correct sentences with “C” and the incorrect with “I.”

1. ______ The gym is my social spot, I meet a lot of friends there.
2. ______ I always feel better after I work out and see my friends at the gym.
3. ______ You can watch the dolphins while you are waiting for your food.
4. ______ I started to learn English I felt very good.
5. ______ Bathrooms here are very different, they’re harder to clean.

Practice 1O

All of the following sentences are run-on sentences or comma splices. Correct the sentences. Rewrite them on the lines.

1. Farming is a good business, people always need to eat.
2. I learned guitar because I wanted to, I listened, watched people, and followed the video of a guy who plays the guitar very well.
3. There are long beaches in Rio, I can go swimming and fishing and play soccer and many more activities.
4. Facebook it is really the thing I can enjoy it, it is a good hobby for me. [extra Subject and Object]

Attributions

Image 1:

“25 things about my friends In a Word Cloud” by Aldon Hynes is licensed via Flickr under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Image 2:

“Basic constituent structure analysis of a sentence (The cat sat on the mat)” by AnonMoos is licensed via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY SA 3.0.

Image 3:

“Latin letter F” by Spider is licensed via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Image 4:

“Document Page Text Paper Empty” is licensed via Pixabay under CC0 1.0.

Image 5:

“Pitching a tent at Bear Creek Lake State Park” by vastateparkstaff is licensed via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY 2.0.

Image 6:

“Newborn sleeping” by Vera Kratochvil is licensed via Public Domain Files under Public Domain Mark 1.0.

Image 7:

“Sandy Ring” by Derek Gavey is licensed via Flickr under CC BY 2.0.