Sentence Diagramming

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Gerunds and Infinitives

Gerunds

A gerund is a noun made from a verb. To form a gerund we just add -ing to the base form of a verb.

                               Runing
                               Swimming
                               Eating

Gerunds perform the same functions as nouns in the sentence (Subject, Direct Object)

                              Walking everyday in the morning is good for our heart. (subject)

                              Gabriela likes drinking coffee in her break time. (direct object)

Infinitives

An infinitive is "to" plus the base form of a verb. Infinitives often take the place of nouns.

                             I have to sleep.

                             We need to buy something here.

They perform (as well as gerunds) the function of subjects, direct objects, subject complements, etc.

                            To know me is to love me. (Subject)

                            Singing is to know people's hearts. (Direct object)

• Gerunds and infinitives have the same functions in the sentence. They can work as subject, direct object, prepositional complemets, etc.
• In spanish, gerunds and infinitives are know as formas no personales del verbo. They also have the same gramatical functions as in english.
• In spanish gerunds finish in -ando, -iendo. Caminando, cocinando, corriendo. And infinitives finish in -ar, -er, -ir. Tomar, conducir, hablar.
• At the time of translating, we have to note this to translate in a proper way.

Adverbs

Adverbs are words that modify a verb, an adjective and another adverb.

            Examples:

                        Richard answers correctly.  (Its modifying the verb answers)

                        Monica drinks a black warmly cocktail (modify an adjective)

                        She move quite slowly (modify an adverb)

If we want to recognize an adverb without confusing it with an adjective or with a noun we only have to ask the sentence these questions:

                        When, Where, Why or under what conditions something happens or happened. And also we have to know what is modifying. Another clue is that many adverbs end in –ly (quickly, badly, slowly, etc.)

Types of adverbs

Adverbs of Manner:

Tells the verb how the action takes place. She moved slowly.

Adverbs of Place:

Tells the verb where the action takes place. The students are here.

Adverbs of Time:

Tells the verb when the action takes place. I left early from my work.

Adverbs of Frequency:

Tells the verb how often does the subject makes the action. Junior always talks in class.

There are many other types of adverbs (adverbs of purpose, instrument, focusing, relative, etc.) but these are the most used.

Position of Adverbs in the sentence

There is a basic order in which adverbs can go in the sentence. Is not mandatory but is advisable to do so for the good flow of the sentence.

Verb        Manner           Place                      Frequency              Time                Purpose

Plays      happily          in the park              every day        in the afternoon     to have fun

Verbs

What are verbs? Verbs are words that express action in a sentence.

               John runs in the park.

Verbs are classified in three categories:

               1. Action verbs
               2. Linking verbs
               3. Helping verbs

The Action Verb tells what action is performing, has performed or will perform the subject of the sentence.

               For example:

               The little girl talks with her friends in the school. The action in this sentence is talking.

The Linking Verb connects the subject of the sentence with a noun or an adjective in the predicate. The work of this type of verb is to be a bridge between the subject and the predicate.

Also the predicate modifies the subject and it act as a modifier or adjective. This kind of predicate is called Nominative Predicate.

The most common linking verbs are:

Is, are, was, were, been, being, am, appear, become, feel, grow, remain, seem, smell, sound, stay, taste, turn.


                 For example:

                 My mother is beautiful.

                 The car of my father seems very old.


                  This kind of flower smells good during spring.

The Helping Verb assists the main verb in a sentence. It is also know as the auxiliary verb, the one who help to reflect the time of the action.

                 For example:

                The police man has been watching the area. Main verb: watch

                I am going to be in the cafeteria. Main verb: to be

                We shall not do our homework in school. Main verb: do

The common helping verbs are: am, is, are, was, were, be, been, being, has, had, have, do, does, did, may, might, must, can, could, shall, should, will, would.


 Curious Note: Do you know these verbs in Spanish?

The linking verbs in Spanish are know as: “Verbos Copulativos”. The most common of these verbs are: “Ser, estar, parecer”. We had learned that the predicate that goes after the linking verbs is know as the Nominative Predicate, and in Spanish it is called “Atributo”, because it modifies the subject.

Examples:

El conductor es mi amigo.


Mi abuela está vieja.


Miguel parece confundido.

Adjectives

What are adjectives? Adjectives are words used to modify a noun or a pronoun. More poetically they are "decorations for the language". If the adjetives did not exist, the language will be bored and without sense.

Example: Panama has beautiful green mountains with cristalline rivers and tall green trees.

If we quit the adjectives from this sentence it will sound different:

               Panama has mountains with rivers and trees.

Without adjectives, this sentence sounds bored and without life.

Remember that the adjectives qualifies the nouns and the pronouns and they can come before or after them. In this sentence, these are the words being modified:

               adjectives                        nouns
              beautiful green -------> mountains
              cristalline ------------> rivers
              tall grenn ------------> trees

Also the adjectives answers the questions: What kind? How many? How much? Which one(s)? The tall one, three of them, the pretty one, the old one, the green one, etc.

Order of adjectives

In a sentence, it is appropiate and advisable that the adjectives go in this order:

Determiners, opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, purpose... Noun
Example: The elegant big round table
               A white Chinese tiger
               The small young Panamanian kid

It is important to know that adjectives are an open class of words, so that means that every time someone is inventing a new adjetive, maybe from new technology words or new types of materials.

Try different types of adjectives in every sentence that you write or say and you will see the difference.

The Pronouns

Presentation of pronouns

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The Nouns

Presentation of nouns

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