Sunday, September 23, 2012


            Grammar class was very interesting this week. On Tuesday we made ten S-V-O, S-Vi and S-Lv-Sc sentences on a magnet board. ALTHOUGH this seems like an easy task, we had to make sentences with only words that were given to us. I thought this activity was really fun, AND I was finally starting to understand how to pinpoint all three types of sentences. WHEN we did this activity it was very helpful, FOR I was having a lot of difficulties with these intransitive, transitive and linking verb sentences.

UNTIL we starting going over everybody’s sentences on Thursday, I thought I was finally getting this grammar thing. I was wrong. The transitive, intransitive and linking verb sentences just unclicked from my mind, BUT as I started to read through “More Nitty-Gritty Grammar” it started to make more sense.

What I discovered is the transitive verbs and intransitive verbs are the opposite of each other. An intransitive verb doesn’t have a direct object, SO a transitive verb does. WHILE these two verbs seem to be simple, the linking verbs are a little more complicated, YET these verbs are still easy to master. There are three different kinds of linking verbs. The first includes a verb that means “to be”. To make a linking verb “to be” sentence, one of these must be used: is, are, am, was, OR were (When using “or” in this context, is it still a FANBOYS?). The second kind is a verb that has something to do with the senses: to touch, hear, see, taste, and smell. The last kind of linking verb is in a miscellaneous group. The verbs like appear, believe, grow, remain, prove, and become are linking verbs.

            I can’t believe I finally understand these sentences! I don’t think that our teacher, NOR anyone else could help me. This was a difficulty that I had to figure out and learn for myself, and I can say that I understand transitive, intransitive and linking verbs. I think that these were so hard for me to understand because most everything else in this class was a nice review. These verbs were some that I had never heard of, and it was the first really big concept that was new to me in this class.

            We also talked about FANBOYS and AAAWWUBBIS clauses. I remember FANBOYS from years ago, but I really don’t think I was using them correctly. Thinking back I don’t think I always put a comma before “and” and now I know why it is needed. This week has been a good one, and I definitely learned a lot. Even though I didn’t know how to quite identify the transitive, intransitive, and linking verb sentences OR how to correctly punctuate the FANBOYS before this week, I do now and I am very glad for that!

3 comments:

  1. I definitely, definitely agree with what you said about having to figure this stuff out for ourselves. I was thinking the same thing earlier -- however helpful the books and lessons and such may be, in the end, it just kind of has to click for us on our own time, if that makes sense, haha.

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  2. I think you did a good job on the pattern of the week this week. The only sentence that seemed a little off was " WHILE these two verbs seem to be simple, the linking verbs are a little more complicated, YET these verbs are still easy to master." I think that even though you were putting the comma before YET, I think you might have needed a semi colon instead (although if I'm wrong then my bad!). Like I said, other than that you did the pattern of the week really good and I definitely know what you mean by things clicking and unclicking.

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  3. Technically, you punctuated that YET correctly.
    As for your question:
    "The first includes a verb that means “to be”. To make a linking verb “to be” sentence, one of these must be used: is, are, am, was, OR were (When using “or” in this context, is it still a FANBOYS?)."
    the answer is yes, OR is a coordinating conjunction, but in this instance, it's conjoining things in a series or a list. So FANBOYS can compound other structures in a sentence, not just sentences to make compound sentences.

    Notice this sentence:
    Thinking back I don’t think I always put a comma before “and” and now I know why it is needed." You forgot your comma before AND...

    Ditto on the last sentence: "I do now and I am very glad for that!" You're probably dropping that comma because the two sentences are short or because blogging is informal writing, which tends to be under punctuated.

    Thank you thank you for studying More Nitty Gritty Grammar on your own! You made my day!


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