ACTION VERBS AND THE MIRACULOUS ONE WORD SENTENCE!

Action verbs show action.  Waddle, soar, plunk, reverberate, scream, dash, skedaddle, launch, gobble, and sleep are all examples of action verbs. In fact, an action verb can be the only word in a sentence.

Think about things you might urgently holler.

Stop!

Go!   

Run!   

Duck!

Each of these is a complete sentence. They are commands, and the subject is understood to be you.

(You) stop!  (You) go!   (You) run!  (You) duck!

We could call these bossy sentences, but their proper title is imperative. Imperative sentences can also be a lot longer than a single word command. Some imperative sentences are directions or requests. For example: Please stack the books in the corner. Turn left at the second stop sign.

All of the above sentences can also be called exclamatory sentences because they end in an exclamation point. But imperative sentences can also end with a period. Whisper.

I hope you enjoyed this mini grammar lesson. Thank you for reading my blog.

Parts of Speech: Intro

I'm beginning a series of grammar posts targeted toward adults who never quite grasped grammar in school, but now, they want a better understanding of the mysterious, mind-boggling subject.

Today we'll talk about the parts of speech. 

When learning the parts of speech, it's best to think of each term as a job description and not a category of a specific list of words. Words aren't confined to doing one job. The word name can be a noun: My name is Lill. Or, it can be a verb: I will name my cat Fred. 

Yes, I'm a grammar geek. I aim to keep these posts light-hearted, informal, and simple. However, I do use technical grammar terms. I call a gerund a gerund -- not an -ing word because sometimes an -ing word is actually a present participle.

See, sometimes keeping it simple isn't so easy for me.

Here's a brief overview of the type of work the major parts of speech perform in a sentence.

Verb: Verbs come in two varieties. Action verbs show action. State of being verbs link or connect.

Nouns and Pronouns: Nouns name things. Pronouns can take the place of a noun. (There are no anti-nouns.)

Adjectives and Adverbs: Both of these parts of speech are in the description business.

Prepositions and Conjunctions: These are connectors.

We'll get to each of these parts of speech in due time.

As we go along, you'll also learn about different sentence patterns. Varying sentence types and lengths results in strong, efficient writing. 

Thank you for reading and stay tuned for the next post.