Download Grammar Cheat Sheet.PDF and more Exams Grammar and Composition in PDF only on Docsity! Grammar, Usage, and Style Cheat Sheet Parts of Speech Noun: Names a person, place, or thing-either abstract (Love is wonderful.) or concrete (The flower bloomed.) Verb: Expresses action (He jumped.) or state of being (She will be late.) Pronoun: Replaces a noun or pronoun (Tom found his watch.) Adjective: Describes or limits nouns or pronouns (She is a pretty girl). Adverb: Describes or limits verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs (He runs quickly.) Preposition: Shows relationships between a noun or pronoun and another noun or pronoun (The towel was on the floor.) Conjunction: Links words, phrases, or clauses (Mary and I went home.) Tips For Using the Parts of Speech • Capitalize proper nouns: My uncle was in Desert Storm. • Make nouns plural by adding -s or -es in most cases: The bears awoke. • Make nouns possessive by adding -'s to singular nouns (dog's bone) or the apostrophe alone if the noun is plural (the Smiths' home). • Singular nouns require singular verbs: My sister laughs often. • Plural nouns require plural verbs: My sisters laugh often. • A verb tense indicates the action of the verb. Six Most Common Verb Tenses Present (I walk.) Present Perfect (I have walked.) Past (I walked.) Past Perfect (I had walked.) Future (I will walk.) Future Perfect (I will have walked.) Sentence Review A predicate is the part of a sentence that tells what the subject does or is, or what is done to the subject. Phrases are groups of related words that are missing either a subject or a predicate. Clauses are groups of related words, with a subject or predicate, that are part of a longer sentence. Sentences express a complete thought and have a subject and predicate. Tips for Writing Good Sentences • Fix run-on sentences by rewriting the sentence or adding punctuation between two independent clauses.