St. Benedict Grade 6 Web Page: English
by Mr. Konieczny
Writing Classroom
Home
Writing
Lessons
Documents

Reading Classroom
Reading
Grade 4 Book
Grade 5 Book
Grade 6 Book

Other Pages
English 6
Religion 501
St. Benedict Grade 6 Web Page
English


May 22-26

601 602
Monday The students will complete a quiz on sentence diagramming.
Tuesday The students will practice diagramming sentences.
Wednesday The students will practice diagramming sentences.
Thursday The students will practice diagramming sentences.
Friday The students will be quizzed on sentence diagramming.

English Notes

Parts of Speech

There are eight parts of speech in the English language. All words can be identified as one of these parts of speech.

  1. Nouns
  2. Verbs
  3. Adjectives
  4. Pronouns
  5. Adverbs
  6. Prepositions
  7. Conjunctions
  8. Interjections

Top of Page

Nouns

DefinitionA noun is a word that names a person, place, thing or idea.
Part of the SentenceNouns are used as the subject, predicate nominative, direct object, indirect object, or object of the preposition.

Forms of Nouns
There are four ways that every noun can be written.

  1. singular form: names one person, place, thing, or idea
  2. plural form: names more than one person, place, thing, or idea
  3. singular possessive form: shows that one person, place, thing, or idea owns something
  4. plural possessive form: shows that more than one person, place, thing, or idea owns something

Classes of Nouns

  1. Common or Proper: A common noun can be used to name any thing of its kind (school). A proper noun is used to name specific people, places, things, or ideas (St. Benedict School).
  2. Concrete or Abstract: A concrete noun names sonthing that can be seen, heard, touched, smelled, or tasted (flower). An abstract noun names sonething that exists as an indea in people's minds (beauty).
  3. General or Specific: A general noun can name any of a large number of persons or things (animal). A specific noun can name only some of a group (pet).

Top of Notes

Verbs

DefinitionA verb is a word that shows action or being.
Part of the SentenceVerbs are used as the predicate. The present and past participle forms of verbs can be used to modify or describe nouns. The present participle can be used as a noun.

Forms of Verbs
Most verbs have five ways that they can be written.

  1. base form
  2. -s form
  3. past form
  4. past participle form
  5. the present participle form

base form-s formpast formpast participle formpresent participle form
walkwalkswalkedwalkedwalking
likelikeslikedlikedliking
typetypestypedtypedtyping
seeseessawseenseeing
givegivesgavegivengiving
writewriteswrotewrittenwriting
feelfeelsfeltfeltfeeling

Linking Verbs
A linking verb shows how a noun is being at a certain time.

am is are was were
look smell taste feel seem

Helping Verbs
A helping verb works with a main verb. There are twenty-three helping verbs.

Forms of Be Forms of Have Forms of Do Modals
am were have do will could
are be has does would may
is being had did shall might
was been _ _ should must
_ _ _ _ can _

Verbs and Complements
A complements is a word or phrase that completes the meaning of a verb.

  1. Linking Verbs and Predicate Nominatives: A predicate nominative is a noun or subject pronoun that comes after a linking verb and gives a new name to the subject.
  2. Linking Verbs and Predicate Adjectives: A predicate adjective is an adjective that comes after a linking verb and modifies or describes the subject.
  3. Transitive Verbs and Direct Objects: A direct object is a noun or a pronoun that comes after an action verb and tells what received the action. An intransitive verb is an action verb that does not have a direct object complement.

Tenses of Verbs
The tense of a verb tells when the action takes place.

  1. present tense: tells that an action happens now (base form or -s form)
  2. past tense: tells that an action happened (past form)
  3. future tense: tells that an action will happen (modal + base form)
  4. present pefect tense: tells that an action has happened recently (have or has + past participle form)
  5. past perfect tense: tells that an action had happened long ago (had + past participle form)
  6. future perfect tense: tells that an action will have happened at a time in the future (modal + have + past participle form)
  7. present progressive tense: tells that an action is happening now (am, are, or is + present particple form)
  8. past progressive tense: tells that an action was happening (was or were + present particple form)
  9. future progressive tense: tells that an action will be happening (modal + be + present particple form)

Top of Notes

Adjectives

DefinitionAn adjective is a word that modifies or describes a noun or pronoun.
Part of the SentenceAdjectives are used as modifiers.

We know that a word is an adjective if it tells "how many _____?" "which _____?" or "what kind of _____?" Place a noun from the sentence on the blank line. If there is a word in the sentence that then answers the question, that word is an adjective.

Forms of Adjectives
Adjectives can be written in three ways.

  1. positive form: This is the base form of an adjective.
  2. comparative form: This is the base form including an -er or more. It is used to compare two things
  3. superlative form: This is the base form including an -est or most. It is used to compare three or more things.

Special Adjectives

  1. The articles (a, an, the) are special adjectives that introduce a noun.
  2. Demonstratives (this, that, these, those) are adjectives when they come before a noun. Demonstratives "demonstrate" the position or location of a noun.
  3. Quantifiers (one, two, third, many, much, few, no) are adjectives when they come before a noun.
  4. A predicate adjective is an adjective that comes after a linking verb and modifies or describes the subject.
  5. Nouns written in the singular possessive form or the plural possessive form are adjectives.
  6. Verbs written in the past participle form or the present participle form are adjectives when the are used to describe a noun.

Adjective Suffixes
Some nouns and verbs can become adjectives if the appropriate suffix is added.

  1. y: having (hairy= having hair)
  2. less: without (speechless= without speech)
  3. ful: full of (colorful= full of color)
  4. ly: like a (manly= like a man)
  5. able: being able to (breakable= being able to break)

Top of Notes

Pronouns

DefinitionA pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun or noun form.
Part of the SentenceSubject pronouns are used in a sentence as the subject or predicate nominative. Object pronouns are used in a sentence as the direct object, indirect object, or object of the preposition. Possessive pronouns are used to modify or describe a noun or pronoun.

Cases of Personal Pronouns
There are three cases of pronouns.

Nominative Case
(Subject Pronouns)		Objective Case
(Object Pronouns)		Possessive Case
(Possessive Pronouns)
Imemymine
youyouyouryours
hehimhishis
sheherherhers
ititits_
weusourours
theythemtheirtheirs
used as the subject or predicate nominativeused as the direct object, indirect object, or object of the prepositionused as an adjective before a nounused on their own to replace a possessive pronoun and noun

Top of Notes

Adverbs

DefinitionAn adverb is a word that modifies or describes a verb, adjective, or another adverb.
Part of the SentenceAdverbs are used as modifiers.

We know that a word is an adverb modifying a verb if it tells "how did the subject _____?" "when did the subject _____?" or "where did the subject _____?" Place the verb from the sentence on the blank line. If there is a word in the sentence that then answers the question, that word is an adverb that modifies the verb. When an adverb modifies the verb, it can be placed in one of four different locations in the sentence.

  1. the beginning of the sentence: Quickly, the cat ran out of the room.
  2. before the verb: The cat quickly ran out of the room.
  3. after the verb: The cat ran quickly out of the room.
  4. at the end of the sentence: The cat ran out of the room quickly.

We know that a word is an adverb modifying an adjective if it tells "how _____?" Place an adjective from the sentence on the blank line. If there is a word in the sentence that then answers the question, that word is an adverb that modifies an adjective.

We know that a word is an adverb modifying another adverb if it tells "how _____?" Place an adverb from the sentence on the blank line. If there is a word in the sentence that then answers the question, that words is an adverb that modifies an another adverbs.

Forms of Adverbs
Adverbs can be written in three ways.

  1. positive form: This is the base form of an adverb.
  2. comparative form: This is the base form including an -er or more. It is used to compare two things
  3. superlative form: This is the base form including an -est or most. It is used to compare three or more things.

Adverb Suffix
When the suffix "ly" is added to the end of an adjective, that adjective become an adverb.

  1. ly: in a _____ manner (happily= in a happy manner)

Top of Notes

Prepositions

DefinitionA preposition is a word that shows a relationship between a noun or pronoun to another word in the sentence.
Part of the SentencePrepositions are used to begin phrases that will modify or describe a noun or verb.

Every preposition in a sentence must have an object that comes after it. This object of the preposition must be a noun or object pronoun.

Prepositonal phrases, then, begin with a preposition and end with the object of the preposition. Any modifiers (adjectives and adverbs) that describe the object will come between the preposition and its object. Prepositional phrases are used to modify or describe nouns and verbs.

I sat beside the very blue river
"beside the very blue river" is a prepositional phrase that is modifying the verb "sat" by telling readers "where did the subject sit?"
"beside" is a preposition, because it starts the prepositional phrase. "river" is the object, because it is the noun at the end of the prepositional phrase. "the very blue" are modifiers, because they describe the noun and object "river."
The preposition "beside" is showing and building a relationship between the words "sat" and "river." Notice that if a speaker merely said "sat river," it would be difficult to understand what this speaker meant. By adding the preposition, "sat beside river," the phrase is now beginning to make more sense, because the speaker has related the words "sat" and "river" using the preposition.

Top of Notes

Conjunctions

DefinitionA conjunction is a word that connects words, phrases, clauses, and sentences.
Part of the SentenceConjunctions are used to connect two or more parts of a sentence.

Coordinating Conjunctions
Coordinating conjuctions are used to connect words or word groups of the same kind. There are three popular coordinating conjunctions.

  1. and
  2. but
  3. or

compound subject two nouns The cat and dog ran.
compound predicate nominative two nouns The man was a swimmer and a runner.
compound direct object two nouns Her grandmother bought fruits and vegatables.
compound indirect object two nouns My teacher gave my mother and father my report card.
compound object of the preposition two nouns The store was near the bank and post office.
compound predicate two verbs The ball bounced and rolled.
compound modifier two adjectives The red and white flowers was bloomed each year.
compound predicate adjective two adjectives The fence was long and tall.
compound modifier two adverbs The boys carefully and skillfully hid during the game.
compound prepositional phrase two prepositional phrases The girls went through the forest and across the stream.
compound sentence two sentences He set the table, and she prepared the dinner.

Subordinating Conjunctions
Subordinating conjuctions are used to connect two clauses where one of the clauses is more important than the other. There are many subordinating conjunctions. The following words are some of the most common subordinating conjunctions.

  1. after
  2. although
  3. because
  4. before
  5. if
  6. since
  7. so
  8. that
  9. though
  10. unless
  11. until
  12. where
  13. while

I went to play outside after I finished my homework.
Notice that the word "after" is connecting two complete sentences. The speaker's main thought seems to be about playing outside. This speaker is using the sentence clause "we finished our homework" to tell when he or she was able to play outside.

Top of Notes

Interjections

DefinitionAn interjection is a word that stands by itself as an expression of emotion or feeling.
Part of the SentenceInterjections are not sentence parts. They are added to sentences without affecting the meaning.

Top of Notes

Last Update: August 31, 2005

Top