In this four part humorous series, middle school students continue to learn the essential elements of grammar as a foundation for writing.
Note: This is the fourth in a series of four articles offering the fundamental nuts and bolts of grammar for middle school students. More about the series can be found in the first article.
Dependent and Independent Clauses
As you know, all sentences have a noun and verb. In the same way, all clauses have a noun and a verb. There are some clauses that can stand alone, and some that can not. Independent clauses can stand alone (e.g., You are running). Dependent clauses can not stand alone (Tell us what you said). Notice, both still have a noun and verb!
Now that you have a basic understanding of clauses, let’s see how they act as big adjectives, adverbs, and nouns!
The infinitive clause contains an infinitive (“to” & verb) plus a subject (e.g., I asked Bob to vote for me). Bob to vote cannot stand alone; therefore, it is a _______ clause. Can you guess?
The adjective clause starts with a relative pronoun (you remember, that, which, where, who…) plus a noun and a verb that act like adjectives (e.g., The story that you told was great). that you told cannot stand alone; therefore, it is a _______ clause. Can you guess again?
The adverb clause starts with a subordinating conjunction (because, since, unless…) plus a noun and a verb that acts like, you guessed it, adverbs (e.g., Because you study English, you will be world famous).
Finally, noun clauses begin with indefinite relative pronouns, which look identical to relative pronouns (that, what, who, whom) plus a verb and maybe a name or a pronoun (e.g., Tell us what you said). One way to discover if you have a noun clause instead of an adjective clause is to remove the clause from the sentence. If the sentence losses its original sense, it is just like taking a main noun out of a sentence! On the other hand, if you remove an adjective clause, it is just like taking a mere modifier out of a sentence, nothing fundamentally changes!
Voices
Active and Passive Voices. Try to follow this logic: if the subject verbs the object, then it is in the active voice. For example, I hit the ball. I am verbing (hit) the object (ball). On the contrary, if we said, “The ball was hit by me,” then the object (ball) is coming before the verb (was hit) and the sentence is in the passive voice. Try at all costs to avoid using the passive voice unless you are trying to make a specific point.
Voices. There are four main types of voices, or purposes of a sentence: the interrogative, the imperative, the exclamatory, and the indicative (or declarative). The interrogative sentence asks a question and ends with a question mark. The imperative issues a command and usually ends with an exclamation point. The indicative simply states a fact or idea and ends with a period. The subjunctive sentence always contains the verb “were” and indicates that the subject wishes or dreams about something. I wish I were a great English student!
Nobody said that learning grammar was going to be fun, but hopefully this summary has helped you learn some of the nitty-gritty along the way. Best of luck in Middle School!
References:
Parker, Douglas. (2001) Basic Public Speaking, 2nd Edition. Philadelphia: Xlibris, Random House Ventures
Warriner, John E. (1977) English Grammar and Composition – Third Course. Chicago: Harcourt, Brace, and Jonanovich
