Adverbs, prepositions, connectives and sentences
Adverbs
Adverbs give extra detail about other words. They can add detail to a verb, to an adjective or even to a whole sentence. Like adjectives, they can be single words or phrases. An adverb describes how, when or where something happens (and they often end in 鈥樷搇y鈥):
- the dog growled menacingly
- there were several seagulls squawking nearby
- the seagulls suddenly pounced on the family鈥檚 picnic
- the family could hardly move
Prepositions
Prepositions are short words and phrases that give information about place, time and manner, eg: 'on', 'under', 'near', 'below', 'by', 'at', 'in'
Examples:
- she first put it on the table but then hid it under her bed
- he鈥檚 coming at 6
A preposition can also be used at the start and end of a sentence, eg:
- After ten o鈥檆lock, no shops were open in the town.
- At the stroke of six, he walked away.
Connectives
You can join sentences, clauses and phrases together using connectives, or joining words. Some common connectives include 鈥榓nd鈥, 鈥榖ut鈥, 鈥榮o鈥 and 鈥榯hen鈥. Using these can make your writing flow.
Examples:
- He was seventeen years old. He lived in Edinburgh. = He was seventeen years old and he lived in Edinburgh.
- She was cold. She didn鈥檛 put her jacket on. = She was cold but she didn鈥檛 put her jacket on.
Be adventurous with connectives and aim to use some of the following:
- while
- beforehand
- afterwards
- firstly
- finally
- although
- moreover
- since
- despite
- consequently
- because
- instead
- when
- nevertheless
- furthermore
Sentences
A sentence:
- is basically built from a subject and a verb
- contains at least one main idea
- sounds complete
- starts with a capital letter
- ends with a full stop or equivalent
Subjects and verbs
In a sentence, the verb describes the main action or state of the subject. Different types of verbs have different functions:
- to show action, eg run, play, skip, discuss
- to show state, eg think, consider, wish
- to help out the main verb (auxiliary verbs), eg do, have, is
- to show likelihood or possibility (modal verbs), eg might, could, would, should
Verbs also show the time frame of the action (past, present, future):
- past, eg the game finished at 4 o鈥檆lock
- present, eg he runs to work or he is eating his breakfast
- future, eg the Johnsons will celebrate Christmas in style
In most sentences, the verb comes after its subject. The subject is usually a noun (a person, place or thing), for example:
- he ran
- their pet Siamese cat mewed
- the day was long
Words and phrases
A sentence is built up from words. Sometimes words are grouped together in phrases.
A phrase acts as a single unit of meaning 鈥 for example 鈥榯heir pet Siamese cat鈥, 鈥榯he fast-paced Hollywood film鈥.
A phrase can be replaced by a single word, eg the phrase 鈥榩et Siamese cat鈥 would be replaced by the single word 鈥榗at鈥 and still have the same basic meaning. We use phrases to add more detail to our writing.