Language Arts 7th Grade
What we've learned this year! By Kelsey Latiolais
Rules and Words in Bold!
Chapter 1 The Sentence
A sentence is a word or word group that contains a subject and a verb and that expresses a complete thought.
Ex. Why did you stop running?
A sentence fragment is a group of words that looks like a sentence but does not contain both a subject and a verb or does not express a complete thought.
Ex. during her vacation last summer
The subject tells whom or what the sentence is about.
Ex. Swimming is good exercise.
The simple subject is the main word or word group that tells whom or what the sentence is about.
Ex. The four new students arrived early.
The complete subject consists of all the words that tell whom or what a sentence is about.
Ex. Is the winner of the go-cart race present?
The predicate of a sentence tells something about the subject.
Ex. The phone rang.
The simple predicate, or verb, is the main word or word group that tells something about the subject.
Ex. The pilot broke the sound barrier.
The complete predicate consists of a verb and all the words that describe the verb and complete its meaning.
Ex. We should have visited the diamond field in Arkansas.
A verb phase consists of a main verb and at least one helping verb.
Ex. Kathy is riding the Ferris wheel.
A compound subject consists of two or more subjects that are joined by a conjunction and that have the same verb.
Ex. Paris and London remain favorite tourist attractions.
A compound verb consists of two or more verbs that are joined by a conjunction and that have the same subject.
Ex. The team played well but lost the game anyway.
A declarative sentence makes a statement and ends with a period.
Ex. I couldn't hear what Jason said.
An imperative sentence gives a command or makes a request. Most imperative sentences end with a period. A strong command ends with an exclamation point.
Ex. Be quiet during the play.
An interrogative sentence asks a question and ends with a question mark.
Ex. Did the surfboard cost much?
An exclamatory sentence shows excitement or expresses strong feeling and ends with an exclamation point.
Ex. Gabriella won the match!
Chapter 2 Parts of Speech Overview
A noun is a word or word group that is used to name a person, a place, a thing, or an idea.
Ex. The dog was fat.
A compound noun is a single noun made up of two or more word used together.
Ex. Justin and Kole play football.
A proper noun names a particular person, place, thing, or idea and begins with a capital letter.
Ex. Mississippi is far away.
A common noun names any one of a group of persons, places, things, or ideas and is generally not capitalized.
Ex. The cat was yellow.
A concrete noun names a person, place, or thing that can be perceived by one or more of the senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell).
Ex. The corn tasted buttery.
An abstract noun names an idea, a feeling, a quality, or a characteristic.
Ex. Chris has a lot of intelligence.
A collective noun is a word that names a group.
Ex. The class of all girls is louder than they expected.
A pronoun is a word that is used in place of one or more nouns or pronouns.
Ex. She is dumb.
A personal pronoun refers to the one speaking (first person), the one spoken to (second person), or the one spoken about (third person).
Ex. Your hair is messed up.
A reflexive pronoun refers to the subject and is necessary to the meaning of the sentence.
Ex. She is dumber than her.
An intensive pronoun emphasizes a noun or another pronoun and is unnecessary to the meaning of the sentence.
Ex. The boy, himself is smart.
A demonstrative pronoun points out a person, a place, a thing, or an idea.
Ex. It is a long time away to travel by car.
An Interrogative pronoun introduces a question.
Ex. How is the car so fast?
An indefinite pronoun refers to a person, place, thing, or an idea that may or may not be specifically named.
Ex. He is taller than everyone else.
A relative pronoun introduces a subordinate clause.
Ex. The straws were bent, after they were dropped.
An adjective is a word that is used to modify a noun or a pronoun.
Ex. The cat was small and yellow.
Articles are a, an, and the.
Ex. A dog was oddly green.
Demonstrative Adjectives modify a noun a pronoun.
Ex. He is short.
A Proper adjective is formed from a proper noun.
Ex. Texas is huge.
Chapter 3 Parts of Speech Overview
A verb is a word that expresses action or a state of being.
Ex.The dog jumped.
An Action verb is a verb that expresses either physical or mental activity.
Ex.The girl kicked the soccer ball.
A linking verb is a verb that expresses a state of being. A linking verb connects, or links, the subject to a word or word group that identifies or describes the subject.
Ex. The boy is fat.
A helping verb (auxiliary verb) helps the main verb express action or a state of being.
Ex. Have you been to school before?
A verb phrase contains one main verb and one or more helping verbs.
Ex. The baby has and will not drink from the toilet.
A transitive verb is a verb that expresses an action directed toward a person, a place, a thing, or an idea.
Ex. The girl screamed at the top of her lungs.
An intransitive verb expresses action without the action passing to a receiver, or object. An Adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
Ex. The girl screamed at her sister.
A preposition is a word that shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun to another word.
Ex. The book was on the shelf.
A prepositional phrase includes a preposition, a noun or a pronoun called the object of the preposition, and any modifiers in the object.
Ex.The girl sat on the slide.
A conjunction is a word that joins words or word groups.
Ex. The water was cold, but it felt good.
Chapter 4 Complements
Ex.Medical societies honored him.
A direct object is a noun, pronoun, or word group, that tells who or what receives the action of the verb.
Ex. The mail man gave Kelsey the book.
An indirect object is a noun, pronoun, or word group that sometimes appears in sentences containing direct objects.
Ex. The mail man gave Kelsey the book.
A subject complement is a word or word group in the predicate that identifies or describes the subject.
Ex. The racetrack looks slippery.
A predicate nominative is a word or word group in the predicate that identifies the subject.
Ex.The girl is giving me a prize.
A predicate adjective is an adjective that is in the predicate and that described the subject.
Ex. The girl is dumb.
Chapter 5 The Phrase
Ex. The little kid could have been hiding.
A prepositional phrase includes a preposition, the object of the preposition, and any modifiers of that object.
Ex. The bird was sitting on the tree.
An adjective phrase modifies a noun or a pronoun.
Ex. The store with the neon sign is open.
An adverb phrase modifies a verb, an adjective, or an adverb.
Ex. He barks loudly for a puppy.
A participle is a verb form that can be used as an adjective.
Ex. We skated on the frozen pond.
A participial phrase consists of a participle together with its modifiers and complements.
Ex. Reading the assignment, she took notes carefully.
An infinitive phrase consist of an infinitive together with its modifiers and complements. The entire phrase may be used as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb.
Ex. To be a good gymnast takes hard work.
Chapter 6 The Clause
A clause is a word group that contains a verb and its subject and that is used as a sentence or as part of a sentence.
Ex. I hate peas and carrots.
A clause that does not express a complete thought is called an independent clause.
Ex. I woke up late this morning.
A clause that does not make sense by itself is called a subordinate clause.
Ex. if the dress is too long
An adjective clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun or a pronoun.
Ex. a blue flowerChapter 7 Kinds of Sentence Structure
Ex. The dog jumped.
A Compound sentence contains two or more independent clauses.
Ex. The dog ran, while the cat screamed.
A complex sentence contains one independent clause and one subordinate clause.
Ex. The dog jumped, and fell, instead of becoming dead.
A compound-complex sentence contains two or more independent clauses and at least one subordinate clause.
Ex. The girl was smart, the boy was dumb, and the cat can't hear.
Chapter 8 Agreement
A collective noun is singular in form but names a group of persons, animals, or things.
Ex. The dogs had puppies.
Indefinite Pronouns do not refer to definite nouns.
Ex. Neither of these apples is ripe.
A pronoun usually refers to a noun or another pronoun called its antecedent.
Ex. Willy said he likes chocolate.
Chapter 9 Using Verbs Correctly
Ex. We ran to the store.
An irregular verb forms its past and past participle in some way other than by adding -d or -ed to the base form.
Ex. We runned to school.
The tense of the verb indicates the time of the action or the state of being that it is expressed by the verb.
Ex. We will buy that candy.
A verb in the active voice expresses an action done by its subject.
Ex. We wrote on the board.
A verb in the passive voice expresses an action done to its subject.
Ex. The award was given to her.
Chapter 10 Using Pronouns Correctly
Ex. We jumped over the hurtle.
The subject of the verb should be in nominative case.
Ex. He is in my class.
A predicate nominative should be in the nominative case.
Ex. She ran the marathon.
Chapter 11 Using Modifiers Correctly
Ex. That is a fluffy dog.
Adverbs make the meanings of verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs more specific.
Ex. She quickly ran the marathon.
The positive degree is used when at least one thing is being described.
Ex. The dog is really cute.
The comparative degree is used when two things or groups are being compared.
Ex. Out of those two, the pink one is cuter.
The superlative degree is used when three or more things or groups of things are being compared.
Ex. The dog is the cutest of them all.
A prepositional phrase consist of a preposition, a noun or a pronoun called the object of the preposition, and any modifiers of that object.
Ex. We ran over to the store.
A Participial phrase consist of a present participle or a past participle and its modifiers and complements.
Ex. We ran with the dogs to the park.
An adjective clause modifies a noun or a pronoun.
Ex. The dog is cute and fluffy while the others are ok.