SAT Grammar Practice Exam Graded A+

noun - ANSWER-a word that names a person, a place, a thing, or an idea. common noun - ANSWER-a general name e.g. man, religion, document proper noun - ANSWER-names someone or something particular e.g. Andrew Jackson, Buddhism, the Declaration of Independence concrete noun - ANSWER-names an object that occupies space or that can be recognized by the senses e.g. wall juice sun abstract noun - ANSWER-an idea, a quality, or a characteristic e.g. liberty, freshness, dedication singular nouns - ANSWER-name one person, place, thing, or idea. plural nouns - ANSWER-name more than one person, place or thing. collective noun - ANSWER-names a group e.g. league, tribe, class possessive form of a noun - ANSWER-indicates possession, ownership, or the relationship between two nouns e.g. a mouse's tail, the mice's tails, James's car pronouns - ANSWER-take the place of nouns, words acting as nouns, or other pronouns. Personal pronouns - ANSWER-refer to specific people or things, e.g. *She* sold *them* to *us*. possessive pronouns - ANSWER-personal pronouns that indicate possession or ownership and they take the place of the possessive forms of nouns, e.g. *My* worry is *yours*, too. interrogative pronouns - ANSWER-(who, whom, whose, which, and what) form questions. verb - ANSWER-a word that expresses action or a state of being. action verb - ANSWER-tells what someone or something does, e.g. The dog *caught* the ball in its teeth. How she *yearned* to own such an animal. linking verb - ANSWER-links, or joins, the subject of a sentence (often a noun or pronoun) with a word or expression that identifies or describes the subject. The most common linking verb is *be* in all its forms, including *am*,* is*, *are*, *was*, *were*, *will be*, *has been*, and *was being*. Other verbs that can function as linking verbs are *look*, *grow*, *feel*, *remain*, *appear*, *seem*, *sound*, *become*, *taste*, *stay*, and *smell*. Mnemonic (acrostic): *BF BLASTS GR(A)SS* These verbs can also be used as action verbs. To determine whether a verb is used as an action or a linking verb, substitute *seem* for the verb. If seem can be substituted, the verb is probably a linking verb. *LINKING*: The crowd *stayed* calm. (Seemed makes sense.) ACTION: The crowd *stayed* on the street. (Seemed cannot be substituted.) adjective - ANSWER-is a word that modifies a noun or pronoun by limiting its meaning. *old* horse, *leisurely* stroll, *second* class, *tragic* play, *federal* law, *some* money, *this* aim, *those* coats, *few* quarrels Possessive pronouns and nouns are considered adjectives because they modify nouns. *our* teacher, *their* music *Kim's* bike Most adjectives have different forms to indicate their degree of comparison. Positive = good, comparative = better, superlative = best Articles are the adjectives *a*, *an*, and *the*. *A* and *an* are called indefinite articles. *The* is called a definite article. proper adjectives - ANSWER-formed from proper nouns and begin with capital letters. *African* continent, *Canadian* border, *Finnish* winters, *Japanese* cars adverb - ANSWER-is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb by making its meaning more specific. Saul *carefully* arranged the flowers. (modifies verb arranged) Midori was *very* careful. (modifies adjective careful) Pavlik left *quite* hastily. (modifies adverb hastily) Adverbs tell when, where, how, and to what degree or to what extent. They see her *often*. (when) Rob is asleep *downstairs*. (where) Rita drove *carefully*. (how) Anu *hardly* visits anymore. (to what degree) preposition - ANSWER-is a word that shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun to some other word in a sentence. The child ran *across* the hall. (Across shows the relationship between ran and the hall.) He was interrupted *during* his speech. (During expresses the time relationship between two events.) The extra room is *for* guests. (For relates the noun room to the noun guests.) compound preposition - ANSWER-made up of more than one word. They were late *because of* the weather. conjunction - ANSWER-a word that joins single words or groups of words. coordinating conjunctions - ANSWER-for, and, nor, but, or yet, so (FANBOYS) She hoped to go, *but* she could not. conjunctive adverbs - ANSWER-used to clarify the relationship between clauses of equal grammatical importance. She had very little time; *therefore*, she did not go. interjection - ANSWER-a word or phrase that expresses emotion or exclamation. An interjection has no grammatical connection to other words. *Oh*, she wanted to go. subject and a predicate - ANSWER-the two basic parts of every sentence simple subject - ANSWER-the principal noun or pronoun that tells what a sentence is about. *Snow* will continue. simple predicate - ANSWER-the verb or verb phrase that tells about the subject. Snow *will continue*. direct object - ANSWER-answers the questions *what?* or *whom?* after an action verb. America's farmers produce abundant *crops*. (produce what?) Agricultural scientists help *farmers* by applying new techniques to crop production. (help whom?) indirect object - ANSWER-answers the questions to whom? for whom? to what? or for what? after an action verb. The music gives *me* inspiration. (This music gives inspiration to whom?) Joel's aunt bought *him* the guitar. (Joel's aunt bought the guitar for whom?) They gave his *performance* their undivided attention. (They gave their undivided attention to what?) prepositional phrase - ANSWER-a group of words that begins with a preposition and usually ends with a noun or pronoun, called the object of the preposition. A preposition may have more than one object. A prepositional phrase normally acts as an adjective or an adverb. When it acts as an adjective, a prepositional phrase modifies a noun or a pronoun. When it acts as an adverb, a prepositional phrase modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. She is a candidate *for mayor*. (adjective phrase modifying the noun candidate) Which *of these* do you prefer? (adjective phrase modifying the pronoun which) Keith jumped *into the swimming* pool.