First Grammar Lessons: Part I, Lesson I

First Grammar Lessons: Part I, Lesson I

Lesson I

Words put together so as to make sense form what is called a sentence.

Barley oats chair really good and cherry—is not a sentence, because it makes no(n)sense.

‘Tom has said his lesson’—is a sentence.

It is a sentence because it tells us something about Tom.

Every sentence speaks of someone or of something, and tells us something about that of which it speaks.

So a sentence has two parts:

(a) The thing we speak of.
(b) What we say about it.

In our sentence we speak of “Tom”; we say about him that he “has learned his lessons.”

The thing we speak of is often called the subject, which just means, that about which we talk.

To be learnt.

Words put together so as to make sense form a sentence.

A sentence has two parts, that which we speak of, and what we say about it.

That which we speak of is the subject.

Exercise I

1. Put the first part to:

_____ has a long mane.
_____ is broken.
_____ cannot do his sums.
_____ played for an hour.

2. The second part to:

That poor sailor _____.
My brother Tom _____.
The red flower-pot _____.
Bread and jam _____.
The white pony _____.

3. Add six different subjects to each half-sentence in 1.

4. Make six different sentences with each subject in 2.

5. Say which part is wanting and supply it in:

Has been mended.
Tom’s knife.
That little dog.
Cut his finger.
Ate too much fruit.
My new book.
The snowdrops in our garden.

Be careful to call the first part of each sentence the subject.

Draw a line under the subject of each sentence in the exercise.