http://www.wordsintransition.com Mon, 05 May 2008 10:29:38 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Infinitives and gerunds are verbals, words formed from verbs. Verbals can function in a sentence as nouns, adjectives, or clauses. Infinitives and gerunds can both be used as nouns and, therefore, can follow main verbs as direct objects. Some main verbs can be followed by either an infinitive or ... http://www.wordsintransition.com/2008/04/05/verbs-followed-by-an-infinitive-or-a-gerund/ Two-word verbs consist of a main verb plus a particle (a preposition or adverb). Note that the particle changes the meaning of a verb completely. let down [disappoint] let out [free] These combinations of verb + particle are idiomatic; that is, the separate meanings of the verb and the particle do not ... http://www.wordsintransition.com/2008/04/05/place-the-object-of-transitive-two-word-verb-correctly/ The passive voice of a verb (V) consists of a form of be (am, is, are, was, were, being, be, or been) plus the past participle of the main verb. In a sentence in the passive voice, the subject (S) receives the action; it does not do the action. Diamonds and ... http://www.wordsintransition.com/2008/04/05/form-the-passive-voice-correctly/ Form the Prefect Tenses Correctly The perfect tenses of a verb are created by combining a form of have with the past participle of the main verb. (Read about the present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect tenses) Present Prefect Luis has grown fast this year. Past Prefect We already had started dinner when the ... http://www.wordsintransition.com/2008/03/30/perfect-tenses-form-the-prefect-tenses-correctly/ Mastering a language, whether it is your own or a second language, is an ongoing process. This unit is designed to help students of English as a second language (ESL) with the most frequent problems in writing grammatically correct, idiomatic English. Verbs Verbs formed with helping verbs (auxiliaries) can be troublesome ... http://www.wordsintransition.com/2008/03/30/mastering-verbs/ Sentences can be classified either in terms of the kinds of clauses they contain (grammatically) or in terms of their purpose (rhetorically). Becoming aware of types of sentences allows you to vary your writing style to suit your audience, content, and purpose. You will find, too, that sentence variety ... http://www.wordsintransition.com/2008/03/22/types-of-sentences/ A noun clause can function any way that a noun does-as a subject, a predicate adjective, a predicate noun, a direct or an indirect object, an object complement, an object of a preposition, or an appositive (A). A relative pronoun (who, whom, whose, which, that, whoever, whomever, whatever) usually ... http://www.wordsintransition.com/2008/03/22/noun-clauses/ An adverb clause modifies a verb, an adjective, or an adverb. It is always introduced by a subordinating conjunction, such as if, after, when, though, since, where, while. An adverb clause answers the questions posed by the words when, where, why, or how. The children looked for coins under the ... http://www.wordsintransition.com/2008/03/22/adverb-clauses/ An adjective clause (also called a relative clause) modifies a noun or pronoun. Usually it immediately follows the word or words modified and is introduced by a relative pronoun-who, whom, whose, which, that, whoever, whomever, or whatever - or by the subordinating conjunction when or where. Ted's old Volkswagen, which had ... http://www.wordsintransition.com/2008/03/22/adjective-clauses/ A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a predicate. A main clause, or independent clause, can stand alone as a complete sentence. Janie bought Ted's old Volkswagen. It had a good engine but a rusted body. A subordinate clause, or dependent clause, in contrast, cannot stand alone as ... http://www.wordsintransition.com/2008/03/22/clauses/