Here is the first paragraph of Chapter 29 ofJohn Steinbeck's famous novel "The Grapes of Wrath," published in 1939. As you read this paragraph, see if you can identify all theprepositional phrasesused by Steinbeck to convey the dramatic return of rain after a long, painful drought. When y...
otherwise language would be dull and boring and it would be difficult to identify things. For instance, instead of saying"The car,"the speaker can say,"The red car."In this case,"red"is the adjective, because it tells
These subordinating conjunctions are words like "after," "although," "because" and "if." Once you find the use of the adverb clause, you will begin to understand how to identify it. It takes practice, but soon you'll be able to identify adverb clauses by following these simple rules. ...
These subordinating conjunctions are words like "after," "although," "because" and "if." Once you find the use of the adverb clause, you will begin to understand how to identify it. It takes practice, but soon you'll be able to identify adverb clauses by following these simple rules. ...
Identify the verb in the sentence. The verb is the main action that takes place. In the sentence "Bob closed the door," "closed" is the verb. Be careful not to be fooled by action words that perform a different function in the sentence. For example, in "Running is hard work," "Run...
3.Subject Complement: “how long” (Adjective Phrase asking the detail on the Subject “it”; ...
Unlike normal adjectives that usually come before the noun they modify, adjective clauses nearly always come after it. This makes it fairly easy to identify which noun they modify. The rich lady whose house we were at wasn’t even home. This means that you can never start a sentence with...
The best writers not only know how to identify essential elements of sentences, they also learn to shape their words into catchy, creative clauses. There are various types of clauses: dependent, independent, subordinate, adjective, noun and elliptical. They are found either at the beginning, mi...
This is one of the easiest components to locate. The predicate contains a verb or verb phrase that explains what the subject of the sentence is doing. Identify more complex elements in a sentence. The simple sentence above might be written as "I write sentences on a piece of paper." This...
act asadjectivesandadverbsto add meaning tonounsandverbs. They can also be arranged to be more effective, or condensed or eliminated tocut the clutter. Here's how: Arranging Prepositional Phrases A prepositional phrase often appearsafterthe word itmodifies: ...