Grade 8 English FAL Summary

ENGLISH GRADE 8

THE ALPHABET
abcdefghijklmn
opqrstuvwxyz
- It’s the same order as in a dictionary (A - Z)
- If the first letters of the words are the same, we must take a look at the second letters.
- If the second letters of the words are the same, we must take a look at the third letters
etc.


• ASCENDING: = A to Z
• DECENDING: = Z to A




VOWELS
➢ a, e, i, o, u - Short vowels
➢ oo, ee, uu, aa - Long vowels
➢ oe, ie, eu - Mixed vowels


- Vowels are the letters a, aa, e, ee, i, ie, oo, o, u, uu
- Sometimes vowels can be short: Cat, red, hot, hut
- Sometimes vowels can be long: sheep, good
- We can also place 2 different vowels next to each other to form one sound: Coal, sea
- We say these two letters as one sound.


CONSONANTS
➢ The rest of the alphabet which are not vowels.
➢ b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, z




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, ➢ Statements (Stelsin) ➢ Questions (Vraagsin)
- They are sentences that tell us something. - Sentences that ask a question.
- These sentences supply is with information. - They end with a question mark?
- They end with a full stop.
- A sentence that states a fact.
➢ Exclamations (Uitroepsin)
- Are sentences that show strong feelings like surprise, fear or anger.
- They end with an exclamation mark!
- They describe excitement / shouting.
➢ Commands / Imperatives (Bevelsin)
- Are sentences that give instructions or orders.
- They end with a full stop.
- A command is when you tell someone to do something.



SENTENCES ARE ALSO CLASSIFIED AS FOLLOWS:

Simple sentence
- This sentence has one finite verb and deals with one idea.
- E.g. Arno reads a book.
Compound sentence
- This sentence has two or more finite verbs. It may be made up of two or mor simple
sentences joined by a conjunction.
- E.g. Stephan plays rugby at school and works on his computer at home.
Complex sentence
- This sentence contains one main clause or thought and one or more subordinate clauses
which provide additional information.
- They are joined by subordinating conjunctions.
E.g. Stephan received his results / while he was recuperating in hospital / after he had
broken his leg.




The subject (S)
- The subject reflects who or what we are talking about.
- It is the person or the thing which is performing the action.
- The boy (S) watched the fire.

The Predicate
- The predicate is the rest of the sentence.
- It expands on the subject and always begins with the verb.

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, SUBJECT PREDICATE

The boy watched the fire.
Arno built the sandcastle.

- The predicate can be divided into: a verb (V), and an object (O) in that order.
➢ Direct object: Answers who or what after the verb.
➢ Indirect object: Always tell you to whom / what or for whom / what after the direct
object.
- The subject and the object are both nouns. E.g.: The boy (S) watched (V) the fire (O).

PREDICATE
SUBJECT VERB DIRECT OBJECT (What) INDIRECT OBJECT
The boy brought the ball to his mother.
Matric opens doors to the future.




➢ Noun Phrases / Complex nouns
- Are a group of nouns that work together as a noun.
- They answer the question who or what in connection with the noun.
- Words are sometimes joined by hyphens.
- The new boy did not have any friends.
- The schools in our area are having a competition.
- An I-am-always-right attitude is not always wise.




- A clause is a group of words containing a finite verb.
- Has one idea and one finite verb.
- There can be more than one clause in a sentence.
✓ E.g. John looked around the room before he fell
asleep.

The main clause (Independent Clause)
- Gives the main idea of a sentence.
- Able to stand alone and make complete sense.
✓ E.g. John looked around the room before he fell asleep.


The subordinate clause (Dependent clause)
- Depends on the main clause for meaning?
- This always contains a verb but cannot stand alone.
- It is dependent on the main clause for its meaning.

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