Definitions for Language Arts 3:
(LA.03.01) Subject and predicate:
Definition: The subject is who or what the sentence is about, and contains a noun. The predicate is the part of the sentence that says something about what the subject does or is, and contains the verb. Each sentence can be broadly divided in half between subject and predicate.
Example: The boy / blew bubbles. “The boy” is the subject of the sentence; "blew bubbles" is the predicate.
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(LA.03.01) Fragment: Definition: A fragment lacks a complete subject or predicate and therefore does not express a complete thought. A fragment cannot stand alone as a sentence and is considered a dependent clause. Example: Fell on the ice. This predicate is missing the subject; who or what fell on the ice? Example: The beautiful girl in the hotel lobby. This subject is missing the predicate, telling what she does or is. | ||
| Types of Fragments: | Example: | |
| Gerund predicate - A gerund is a verbal ending in ing and being used as a noun. | Running through the street. This sentence is incomplete because it lacks the subject: The girl became exhausted from running through the street. | |
| Noun phrase predicates - A phrase whose head is a noun. | Ate at our favorite restaurant. Who ate at the restaurant? | |
| Infinitive predicate - A verb form that is preceded by the word “to." | The woman wanted to love. This sentence would be incomplete because it lacks the direct object; whom or what is receiving the love. | |
| Dependent clauses - A clause that contains a subject and a verb but cannot stand alone because it does not express a complete thought. A dependent clause always begins with a subordinating conjunction (such as although or since) or with a relative pronoun (such as who or which). Also called subordinate clause. | Although the dog had lived in the wild with the wolves expresses an incomplete thought, which can be added to in this way: Although the dog had lived in the wild with the wolves, it seemed to like Johnny and was gentle with him. | |
| Auxiliary verbs are also called helping verbs. These verbs work with the main verb to show time, such as have, has, had, am, is, were, been be, do, did, will, shall, can, would, could, should, must, may, and might. | The children singing in the choir. This fragment is missing the auxiliary verb "were." | |
(LA.03.02) Homophones:
Definition: Words that sound the same but have different spelling and meaning are called homophones. ("Homo" is the Greek root word for alike and "phone" is the Greek root word for sound.)
Example: dear/deer or pair/pear
(LA.03.03) Sentence syntax:
Syntax refers to the way in which words are put together to form phrases, clauses, or sentences.
| Passive construction missing auxiliary verbs - In passive constructions, the indirect object appears first and receives the action from the subject | The tree hit by the truck. Truck is the subject; tree is the object. This sentence is missing a needed auxiliary verb: The tree was hit by the truck. | |
| Run-on sentence - Two or more complete ideas that have been run together without the proper punctuation between them. | Jim and Mike like tennis they play as often as they can. These sentences either need to be separated or it needs punctuation and perhaps a conjunction. | |
| Active construction - In active construction sentences the subject is shown performing the action and is followed by the predicate. | Paul chased John. "Paul" is the subject; "was chased" is the predicate. | |
| Passive construction - In passive construction sentences the predicate appears before the subject. |
John was chased by Paul. "Paul" is the subject; "was chased" is the predicate. | |
| Predicate nominative construction - A predicate nominative is a noun or pronoun that follows a linking verb and renames the subject of the sentence. | Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese navigator and explorer. "Navigator" and "explorer" follow the linking verb "was" and rename the subject, "Ferdinand Magellan." | |
| Dependent and independent clauses - A dependent clause cannot stand alone as a sentence because the idea requires finishing in order to make sense. It starts with a dependent word (subordinating conjunction such as before, how, if, after, as, etc. or relative pronoun such as who or which). An independent clause has a subject and a verb that expresses a complete thought and can stand by itself. | After Carl jumped three times, he raced around the gym. "After Carl jumped three times" is a dependent clause because it leaves the reader wondering what happens after he jumped. "He raced around the gym" is an independent clause because it includes the subject "he" and the verb "raced" and makes sense. | |
| Matching subject and verb - The subject must match the verb in that they both must be singular or they both must be plural. | The scenery (was, were) destroyed by the fire. The student should be able to determine that because the subject is singular, the verb needs to be singular (was). The verb, were is plural and does not “agree” with the singular subject, scenery. | |
| Verb tense consistency - The tense of all verbs in a sentence must be consistent. (Some present tense verbs: am, is, are. Some past tense verbs: was, were.) | The child is played in the dirt has a present-tense helping verb with a past-tense verb; therefore it is not considered to be verb tense consistent. The boys ran and swim together yesterday. "Ran" is past tense, but "swim" is present tense. |
(LA.03.04) Combine two sentences using a variety of strategies:
The purpose of combining two or more sentences is to avoid monotony in writing/reading sentences of short and equal length. Sentences are called compound sentences when two or more smaller sentences are combined to form one larger sentence.
| Strategies: | Examples: | |
| Dependent/independent clauses - An independent clause contains thoughts which could stand alone as its own sentence. A dependent clause cannot stand alone as a complete thought or sentence and starts with a subordinating conjunction such as before, how, if, after, but, etc. | I like coffee. I don't like tea. These can be combined into: I like coffee, but not tea. ("I like coffee" is the independent clause because it has a subject and verb and expresses a complete thought. “But not tea” is the dependent clause because it is not a complete idea by itself and needs the other part of the sentence to make sense.) | |
| Adverbial conjunctions - Conjunctions are words used to connect ideas, such as and, but, as and because. | He was hungry. He ate lunch. These sentences can be combined into Since he was hungry, he ate lunch. | |
| Strings of descriptive phrases - Sometimes several sentences each describe one thing and can be combined by putting those phrases in a series. | The children colored pictures. They cut out the pictures. Then they hung the pictures up. These sentences can be combined like this: The children colored pictures, cut them out, and then hung them up. | |
| Relative clauses - Relative pronouns (that, which, who, whom, and whose) are often used to combine sentences by introducing adjectival clauses - clauses that describe a noun in the sentence. | The plumber finally arrived. We called the plumber earlier. These two sentences can be combined using the word "who" to form one sentence: The plumber, who we had called earlier, finally arrived. | |
| Items in a series - Related items can be linked together in a series. | We play softball. We play tennis. We play football. We play hockey. These can be joined into one sentence: We play softball, tennis, football and hockey. | |
| Gerunds - A gerund is a verbal, which is a verb being used as a noun. These words end in ing. | The girl sang beautifully. She wore a red dress. These can be combined into: The girl wearing the red dress sang beautifully. | |
| Infinitives - A verb proceeded by the word “to”, such as to be, to run, to go, etc. | George went into the store. George will buy milk. These can be combined: George went into the store to buy milk. | |
| Coordinating conjunctions - Coordinating conjunctions are joiners, or a word that connects parts of a sentence. When a conjunction connects two independent clauses it is often accompanied by a comma. FANBOYS is an acronym that can be used to remember the conjunctions: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So | The boy ran down the street. The monkey caught him before he got to my house. These can be combined into one sentence: The boy ran down the street, but the monkey caught him before he got to my house. |
(LA.03.05) Descriptors:
Descriptors are adjectives (describe nouns) and adverbs (describe verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs).
| Regular adjectives follow the usual pattern of forming the comparative (-er) and superlative (-est) forms. | Tall, taller, tallest | |
| Irregular adjectives do not follow the usual pattern. | Good, better, best | |
| Adverbial forms of descriptors are formed when -ly is added to an word, making it into an adverb. | Add -ly to slow to form slowly: He read the poem slowly. | |
| Comparative forms are used when two things are compared. Superlative forms are used when three or more things are being compared. | Slowly, more slowly, most slowly |
(LA.03.08) Direct quotations:
Definition: Direct quotations are in sentences reporting exact words that someone said.
Example: “I had a great time!”
(LA.03.08) Indirect quotations:
Definition: Indirect quotations are in sentences reporting what someone said without using the speaker’s exact words. You do not use quotation marks in these sentences.
Example: Amanda said she doesn’t need to eat her green beans because she is healthy.
(LA.03.09) Use apostrophes to show contractions:
Definition: A contraction is a shortened form of one or two words. An apostrophe stands for the missing letters.
Example: They’re stands for they are; he’ll for he will.
Definition: Use an apostrophe when a word shows possession or ownership.
Example: Todd’s dog licked my face. The apostrophe shows that the dog belongs to Todd. The dogs' feet had booties on them. The apostrophe shows that the booties belonged to more than one dog.
Common exceptions: Possessive pronouns (hers, his, its, ours, yours, and theirs) show ownership but do not require an apostrophe. (It's spelled with an apostrophe always means it is.)
(LA.03.10) Comma splice:
Definition: When two independent clauses are connected by only a comma, they constitute a run-on sentence that is called a comma splice. Independent clauses must be connected by a semicolon, or a comma with a conjunction (or, and, for, but, so).
Example: The sun is high, put on some sunblock is a sentence with a comma splice. In order to be correct, the sentence must be either of the following: The sun is high; put on some sunblock. The sun is high, so put on some sunblock
(LA.03.11) Use personal pronouns:
Definition: A pronoun is a word that is used in place of a noun in a sentence. Pronouns are used to avoid repeating nouns.
Example: I, you, we, he, me, us, them, him, our, his, her, theirs, myself,
yourself, herself, themselves “Derek is studying his
Spanish notes.”
(LA.03.11)
Match personal pronoun to antecedent:
Definition: The antecedent is the noun to which a pronoun refers.
Example: The I.D.E.A. program is in Alaska. It contains some very talented students! “The I.D.E.A. program" is the antecedent for the pronoun "it."
(LA.03.12) Identify the conventions of each type of literature:
Conventions: Conventions are generally agreed-upon usage and practice for different types of literature.
Fiction: Made up or imagined
Non-fiction: True or factual
Biography: Story of someone's life written by others
Auto-biography: Story of someone's life written by themselves
Fairy tales: Fanciful tale of legendary deeds and creatures, usually intended for children
Tall tales: Exaggerated story of an American frontiersman (such as Davy Crockett or Pecos Bill)
Fables: Fictitious story meant to teach a moral lesson; talking animals are often the main characters
(LA.03.14) Apply questioning strategies to extract information from a passage:
Definition: Questioning strategies are often referred to as “metacognition" which is simply defined as "thinking about thinking." This strategy is a higher-order thinking skill and contains the questions a person comes up with when reading through a passage. (One meaning for the Greek root word "meta" is going beyond, higher, transcending. Cognition means knowing or thinking.)
Example: After reading through a paragraph; the reader is left wondering why “Mary shook her fist at the parrot.” He turns the page, only to find the answer to his question, the parrot had bit Mary’s brother on numerous occasions. Applying questioning strategies means to pause in the reading to question what might come next, using who, what, when, where, why, and how questions.
(LA.03.15) Draw inferences from reading:
Definition: Inferences are what a person can conclude from evidence.
Example: We inferred from the dark, low clouds that a storm was coming up.
(LA.03.15) Similes:
Definition: A simile is an indirect comparison using the words like or as.
Example: Tonya eats like a horse is a simile because it compares Tonya to a horse using the word like.
(LA.03.15) Metaphors:
Definition: A metaphor is an expression showing that two things have similar qualities. A direct comparison helps a reader form a sharp, interesting picture.
Example: When Tonya runs, she is a deer. Notice that Tonya is being compared directly to the deer and is not using the words like or as (which would cause it to be labeled a simile).
(LA.03.15) Personification:
Definition: Personification is giving human qualities, feelings,
action, or characteristics to inanimate (non-living) objects.
Example: The stars winked at me. The verb wink
is a human action. Stars are inanimate objects. Therefore, this sentence is an
example of personification.
(LA.03.15) Idiomatic expressions:
Definition: An expression with a special meaning that cannot be understood from the meaning of the individual words in the phrase is an idiomatic expression.
Example: John tends to fly off the handle. "Fly off the handle" is an idiom that means “to lose one’s temper.”
(LA.03.15) Abstract and concrete meaning:
Definition: Abstract meaning refer to ideas or concepts that do not have a physical reference. Concrete meaning refers to objects or events that are available to the senses.
Example: The concrete meaning of "The Ugly Duckling" is that the other animals were nice to the ugly duckling once they saw that he was beautiful. The abstract meaning is that we all have inner beauty worthy of admiration.
(LA.03.18) Storyboard:
Definition: A visual depiction of the events in a story shown in a series of pictures.
(LA.03.19) Use context clues to discover meaning of words:
Definition: In using context clues to discover the meaning of words; a person reads the surrounding information to help them identify the meaning of a word.
Example: “ He is on the carpet for not finishing his essay.” Looking up the word “carpet” in a dictionary would not help in defining what happened in this sentence. The words “not finishing” would make the inference that this person was in trouble for not getting the essay done. In this manner context clues are used to discover the meaning of the words.
(LA.03.19) Antonym:
Definition: A word that is opposite or nearly opposite in meaning to another word is an antonym. (Anti = opposite, nym = name)
Example: Fast and slow are antonyms of each other.
(LA.03.19) Synonym:
Definition: A word that is similar or nearly similar in meaning to another word is a synonym. (Syn = together, nym = name)
Example: Big and large are synonyms of each other.
(LA.03.19) Homonym:
Definition: Words that sound the same and are spelled the same but have different meanings are homonyms. (Homo = same, nym = name)
Example: Die (to stop living) and die (to change the color of something)
(LA.03.20) Phonemes:
Definition: Phonemes are the smallest units of speech that distinguish one utterance from another.
Example: The sound made by the letter "p" in the words spin, pit, and tip.
(LA.03.21) Process approach:
Definition: There are many steps to complete a finished, and polished piece of writing, including pre-writing (generating ideas), writing a rough draft, proof-reading and editing, writing the final version.
(LA.03.21) Personal narrative:
Definition: A personal narrative is a true story that uses the pronouns I or me. This would be a story about yourself.
(LA.03.22) Compound words:
Definition: A compound word is made when two words are formed to make a new word.
Example: Thumb and tack are combined to make the word thumbtack.
(LA.03.22) Root words:
Definition: A word from which other words are formed by adding a suffix, prefix, or ending is a root word.
Example: Joy is the root word of the word joyful.
(LA.03.22) Prefix:
Definition: A word part added to the beginning of a base word or root word is a prefix. A prefix changes the meaning of the root word.
Example: Pre, un, in, dis, etc. The prefix dis in “dislike” changes the meaning of the word like, to mean “does not like” because dis means not.
(LA.03.22) Suffix:
Definition: A word part added to the ending of a base word or root word is a suffix.
Example: Ful, less, etc. are examples of suffixes. The suffix ful in the word “joyful” changes the meaning from joy to full of joy.
(LA.03.23) Topic sentence:
Definition: A topic sentence is a sentence that states the main idea in a paragraph and is often the first sentence.
Example: Walt Disney had a wonderful imagination could be a topic sentence that would include sentences following that would give details of why the author thought Walt Disney had a wonderful imagination.
(LA.03.23) Chronological order:
Definition: Chronological order is the order in time in which things happened. Sentences in a paragraph usually occur in the order they happened. Words at the beginning of a sentence can show time sequence.
Example: First, I brushed my teeth. Then I got ready for bed. Next my mom read a story to me. Finally, I went to sleep.
(LA.03.23) Transition words:
Definition: An expression that connects ideas, sentences or paragraphs to show time sequence are transition words.
Example: Some time sequence transition words are: firstly, meanwhile, at the end, soon Transitions that can point out how things are similar: alike, also, and in addition. Transition words that point out the differences are: however, and on the other hand, etc.
©2003 Galena City School District
