Super Grammar: August 2011

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The Adjective

The Adjective is a hero with an incredible eye for detail, and as a member of The Amazing Eight (A.K.A. parts of speech), this hero puts his keen powers of observation to work for the good of all our sentences.
The Adjective is a modifier, and with the help of his super handy modifying tool, he delivers a fist full of descriptive power to nouns.  The details supplied by The Adjective serve our sentences by adding richness and interest to the people, places, and objects within them.  For instance, “the hero” can become “the fearless hero,” and “the villain” can become “the twisted villain.”  Also, adjectives can be very useful additions to our sentences because they add clarity and understanding by answering the questions: which one, how many, and what kind?

So, the next time you want to add some distinct and dynamic description to your sentences, remember our detail oriented hero—The Adjective. 

SUPER POWERS:
The Adjective has the ability to modify nouns in a sentence with the addition of descriptive detail.  By modifying these words with description, he helps answer these questions: which one, how many, and what kind?
 
SUPER EXAMPLES:

1)
The slimy thief got away.

slimy: adjective answering the question which one?

2)
Three heroes are on patrol.

Three: adjective answering the question how many?

3)
Circuit Breaker is a powerful villain.

powerful: adjective answering the question what kind?

THE POWER OF PHRASING:
The Adjective has The Power of Phrasing.  Sometimes an adjective needs to be more than a single word to properly do its job.  This is when The Adjective uses The Power of Phrasing.  This power allows the adjective to stretch out into being several words that act as a single unit within a sentence.  This group of words is called: a phrase.

SUPER EXAMPLES:

1)
The man with the enormous brain is controlling us.

with the enormous brain: adjective phrase answering the question which one?

2)
His more than two arms gave him the advantage.

more than two: adjective phrase answering the question how many?

3)
He is a hero of tremendous virtue.

of tremendous virtue: adjective phrase answering the question what kind?

Thursday, August 4, 2011

The Completion Team

There are only two members that belong to The Completion Team (A.K.A. parts of a sentence), and they are The Subject and The Predicate
With only two members, The Complete Sentence Super-Team is the smallest of all the super-teams, but just because they don’t have as many team members as the other bigger groups, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have a big and important part to play in keeping your sentences strong and correct.  In fact, these two wholesome heroes may very well have one of the most important grammar jobs of all: making complete sentences.

Now, citizen, you might be wondering, “Why are complete sentences so important?”

Well, think about it this way: If you were a super crime-fighter, would you go into battle with only half of your body armor?

No, you wouldn’t—because you’d get clobbered if you did that!
 
Well, it’s the exact same thing with sentences: They need both sides of their armor, the Subject and the Predicate, in order to be complete. And if sentences don’t have their complete armor, they’ll get completely clobbered by the grammar mistakes. But once a sentence is fully complete, that sentence is ready to test its super protective armor against any grammar mistake that dares to attack it, because a complete sentence is a strong sentence.

So, citizen, it's time for you to join forces with the Completion Team and learn all about their superpowers. And after that, your super protective sentence armor will be complete!

SUPER POWERS:
The Subject and The Predicate are members of the Completion Team (A.K.A. parts of a sentence), and they have the power to form strong and complete sentences.

THE COMPLETE SENTENCE SUPER-TEAM MEMBERS:
  • The Subject: the someone or something the sentence is about.
  • The Predicate: tells (verbalizes) something about the subject.
SUPER EXAMPLE:
The hero rescued the crowd.

Is this a complete sentence?  Let's check.
First, find the subject (ask: who or what is the sentence about?).

 

Next, find the predicate (ask: what is the sentence telling about the subject?).

Now, put the subject and the predicate together, and ...
                 The Subject                                  The Predicate

Yes, this is a complete sentence.