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Sentence Construction


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This section is lengthy, so I'm breaking i up into smaller sections. Otherwise I might bore you to death.

Sentence Construction

Part 1

Create good sentence structure by using the acronym SVC (subject, verb, completer).

Subjects:

Subjects come first to tell you who or what you re talking about. Subjects are nouns or pronouns. Nouns name people, places, things, qualities, concepts, and ?active? things including gerunds (actions that are things).

People: Bill, secretary, mother, child

Places: office, Chicago, Georgia

Things: car, television, memo, desk

Qualities: truthfulness, honesty, attentiveness

?Active? things: singing, running, traveling

Pronouns:

A pronoun may ?pitch it? for a noun so that the same people, places and things are not repeated over and over.

Without pronouns, this statement is awkward and redundant: The manager went into the manager?s office to prepare the manager?s report for the meeting at which the manager planned to present the manager?s new budget request.

Pronouns allow a more concise and clear statement: The manager went into her office to prepare her report for the meeting at which point she planned to present her new budget request.

Caution: A pronoun must agree with its ?antecedent? (the word for which it stands).

Incorrect: Each of the boys liked their teacher.

Correct: Each of the boys liked his teacher.

Pronouns that act as subjects:

I........................ we

You.....................they

He......................who

She.....................it

Pronouns that act as objects (objects of verbs or objects of prepositions):

Me......................us

You.....................them

Him....................whom

Her.....................it

Pronouns that show ownership (possessives):

My, mine........................our, ours

Your, yours.....................their, theirs

His.................................her, hers

Caution: Who and whom should not be used interchangeably.

To figure out whether to use who or whom, replace the word with he or him. If he sounds right, use who. If him sounds right, use whom.

Reflexive pronouns:

Her............................it

Myself........................ourselves

Yourself, yourselves....themselves

Himself.......................itself

Herself

Reflexive pronouns are used in three main situations:

When the subject and object are the same.

As the object of a preposition, referring to the subject.

When you want to emphasize the subject.

Caution: Do not use a reflexive pronoun unless the sentence contains the noun to which it refers. For example, myself would only appear in a sentence containing I.

Incorrect: Jim, Esperanza, and myself were planning a trip.

Correct: Jim, Esperanza, and I were planning a trip.

Exercise 2 ? Pronouns: Reflexive, Subject/Object

Choose the correct word to finish each of the following sentences.

1. Kai, Chandra, and _____________(I, me, myself) are headed to the conference now.

2. Give the paperwork to _____________(she, her, herself) so that it can be submitted this pay period.

3. Edward stayed all weekend to finish that report all by _____________(he, him, himself).

4. Anders gave a copy of that memo to Jim, Tom, and _____________(I, me, myself).

5. To _____________(who, whom) should the packages be addressed?

6. The company?s analysts _____________( they, their, themselves) knew what _____________(they, them, their) predictions were based on, but no one else understood_____________(them, their, themselves).

7. Just between you and_____________(I, me), I think this is the best work we?ve ever done.

8. Jonquil wondered why _____________(she, her) employees complained about a lack of vacation since _____________(she, her) __________(hers, herself) never took a day off.

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This section is lengthy, so I'm breaking i up into smaller sections. Otherwise I might bore you to death.

Sentence Construction

Part 1

[... snipped for brevity]

Pronouns that show ownership (possessives):

My, mine........................our, ours

Your, yours.....................their, theirs

His.................................her, hers

And its. The caution with its is that as a possessive pronoun there is no apostrophe.

Reflexive pronouns:

Her............................it

These two aren't reflexive. I think this is a typo.

Great post - explaining English grammar is no easy task but this is a nice clear grammar snippit. Thanks.

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Ooohh multiple choice. I always liked these.

1. Kai, Chandra, and I are headed to the conference now.

2. Give the paperwork to her so that it can be submitted this pay period.

3. Edward stayed all weekend to finish that report all by himself.

4. Anders gave a copy of that memo to Jim, Tom, and I.

5. To whom should the packages be addressed?

6. The company?s analysts themselves knew what their predictions were based on, but no one else understood them.

7. Just between you and me, I think this is the best work we?ve ever done.

8. Jonquil wondered why her employees complained about a lack of vacation since she herself never took a day off.

I?m not happy with question #4. I would have preferred to re-word the whole thing.

Sharon

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And its. The caution with its is that as a possessive pronoun there is no apostrophe.

These two aren't reflexive. I think this is a typo.

Great post - explaining English grammar is no easy task but this is a nice clear grammar snippit. Thanks.

If it's a typo, it's on the publisher of the book and not me.

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I still would prefer to reword the entire sentence. Even though placing ?me? in the blank space is correct, the sentence sounds awkward in my head. Granted it sounded awkward with the ?I? also. Therefore, I flipped a mental coin. Next time I'm using eenie, meenie, minie, moe....

Sharon

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I still would prefer to reword the entire sentence. Even though placing 'me' in the blank space is correct, the sentence sounds awkward in my head. Granted it sounded awkward with the 'I' also. Therefore, I flipped a mental coin. Next time I'm using eenie, meenie, minie, moe....

Yeah, it's a crappy sentence to begin with. No argument.

However my point was to give a class on how to break something down. It's actually three sentences (AND). Step one is to nuke a prepositional phrase, then see what you've got lost. Keep breaking it down until it's so simple you have it.

When I saw the original post I just *knew* someone would get it wrong, and I waited (scumbag that I am). The problem with contrived exercises is that you can make sentences that sound horrid regardless. :)

(I am less than perfect, so I probably shouldn't talk anyway.)

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A cautionary note: don't leap on the Wibby bandwagon too eagerly. Raccoons can turn rabid and bite. Wait till you have him edit your work!

There is an easier way to parse that sentence to find the correct pronoun form, if I can enter the fray. I like things as simple as possible. You don't need to say it three ways to know what is correct. You can subsititiue just one word.

Instad of He gave a copy to blank, then to blank, then to me, think of it as, he gave a copy to we, or he gave a copy to us. "Us" is obviously the correct word. As "us" is objective rather than nomiinative, "me" would be the correct work rather than the nominative "I". Clear?

Cole

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Cole, it's the linking of "us" and "me", "I" and "we" that's the problem with your explanation. Or was that "us" and "I" and "we" and "me". Whatever. :icon11:

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A cautionary note: don't leap on the Wibby bandwagon too eagerly. Raccoons can turn rabid and bite. Wait till you have him edit your work!

There is an easier way to parse that sentence to find the correct pronoun form, if I can enter the fray. I like things as simple as possible. You don't need to say it three ways to know what is correct. You can subsititiue just one word.

Instad of He gave a copy to blank, then to blank, then to me, think of it as, he gave a copy to we, or he gave a copy to us. "Us" is obviously the correct word. As "us" is objective rather than nomiinative, "me" would be the correct work rather than the nominative "I". Clear?

Cole

When I was in 8th grade in intermediate school, my Creative Writing teacher gave us this rule: Drop all of the extra prepositional phrases and write the sentence so there's only one. Then it's clear: "He gave a copy to me." "He gave a copy to Mary, two copies to John, and a copy to me." And: "He gave a copy to us." "He gave a copy to the administrative staff, a copy to the school board, and a copy to us."

That rule has always made it easy for me to pick the correct pronoun.

Colin :evilgrin:

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  • 1 month later...

Sorry, I just realized I never posted the answers to this exercise.

Exercise 2 ? Pronouns: Reflexive, Subject/Object

Choose the correct word to finish each of the following sentences.

1. Kai, Chandra, and _____________(I, me, myself) are headed to the conference now.

2. Give the paperwork to _____________(she, her, herself) so that it can be submitted this pay period.

3. Edward stayed all weekend to finish that report all by _____________(he, him, himself).

4. Anders gave a copy of that memo to Jim, Tom, and _____________(I, me, myself).

5. To _____________(who, whom) should the packages be addressed?

6. The company?s analysts _____________( they, their, themselves) knew what _____________(they, them, their) predictions were based on, but no one else understood_____________(them, their, themselves).

7. Just between you and_____________(I, me), I think this is the best work we?ve ever done.

8. Jonquil wondered why _____________(she, her) employees complained about a lack of vacation since _____________(she, her) __________(hers, herself) never took a day off.

1. I

2. her

3. himself

4. me

5. whom

6. themselves, their, them

7. me

8. her, she, herself

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  • 3 years later...

Certainly some squabbling was to be expected, Des. You can't buy this kind of entertainment.

Cole, your explanation worked for me. That ought to scare you. Wibby, yours did, too, but that's to be expected. :wav:

But I don't get the her/it thing at all. I'll just avoid that one. Easy enough in conversation. Written conversation-easier yet.

Next lesson awaits. Thanks, Jan, all.

Tracy

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