Unit 9 · Grammar, Speaking and Listening

Look at this sentence: The dog got there first. Ask, who is this about? The dog. That part is the subject. Now ask, what did the dog do? Got there first. That part is the predicate. Every full sentence has both parts. Take one away and it falls apart.

The subject is the who or the what. It can be one word or several: Devon. My cousin’s red kite. The strong wind at the beach. The predicate is the rest. It holds the action or tells what the subject is. Devon laughed. My cousin’s red kite went up. The wind at the beach was strong.

Here is a quick test. Cover the subject with your hand. Does the rest still tell what happened? Cover the predicate. Does the rest still tell who? If either half is missing, you do not have a sentence yet. You have a piece of one.

Read this: Priya lost Priya’s pencil, so Priya asked Devon if Devon had seen Priya’s pencil. Ouch. Now read this: Priya lost her pencil, so she asked Devon if he had seen it. Much better. The words her, she, he and it took the place of the names. Those words are pronouns.

First, the names. A noun is a word that names a person, a place, a thing or an idea. Priya, beach, kite and courage are all nouns. Some nouns name one thing: dog. Some name more than one: dogs. A noun that names one special person or place gets a capital letter: Devon, Chicago, Lake Michigan.

A pronoun stands in for a noun. I, you, he, she, it, we and they are the common ones. Here is the rule that matters: the reader must know which noun the pronoun replaces. Priya asked Devon, and he said no. Who said no? Devon, because he is the closest boy. If two boys were there, you would need the name again.

The kite went up. The kite is the noun. Went is the verb, the word that shows the action. Some verbs show a strong action: ran, snapped, barked. Some verbs show being, not doing: is, was, are. The sand was hot. Nothing moves, but was is still the verb.

Now add some color. The red kite went up. Red tells you more about the kite. A word that describes a noun is an adjective. The strong wind. A tiny dog. Three cousins. Adjectives answer which one, what kind, or how many.

One more. The kite went up fast. Fast tells you how it went up. A word that describes a verb is an adverb. Adverbs answer how, when or where. Many end in -ly: slowly, loudly, suddenly. The dog barked loudly. Loudly describes barked. Here is a trick: an adjective sticks to a noun, and an adverb sticks to a verb.

Where is the dog? The dog is under the table. On the table. Beside the table. Behind the table. Each little word tells you where the dog is. Those little words are prepositions. They link a noun (the table) to the rest of the sentence.

Prepositions can tell where: in, on, under, over, beside, between, across. They can tell when: before, after, during, until. They can tell other things too: with, for, about, of. A preposition never stands alone. It always comes with a noun or pronoun after it: after lunch, with my cousin, about the kite.

The preposition plus its noun is called a phrase. A phrase is a group of words that works together but is not a whole sentence. The string broke over the water. Over the water tells where. Take the phrase away and you still have a sentence: The string broke. Add it back and the reader can see the place.

The wind blew. That is a simple sentence. One subject, one predicate, one complete thought. The kite went up. That is another. Two short sentences in a row can sound choppy. So writers join them: The wind blew, and the kite went up. Now it is one compound sentence.

Look at what holds the two halves together: a comma and the word and. The words and, but, or and so are joining words, also called conjunctions. Each one means something different. And adds. But shows a change. Or gives a choice. So shows a result. The string broke, so the kite flew away.

Here is the rule for the comma. When you join two full sentences with a conjunction, put a comma before the conjunction. The dog got there first, but Devon did not care. Both halves could stand alone, so the comma goes in. If the second half cannot stand alone, no comma: Devon laughed and sat down.

Read this: When the string broke. Something is missing. You want to ask, what happened then? Now read: When the string broke, the kite flew away. There it is. The first part cannot stand alone. It leans on the second part. Together they make a complex sentence.

The part that cannot stand alone is a dependent clause. It depends on the rest. It starts with a word like because, when, if, although, after, before or since. The part that can stand alone is the main part: the kite flew away. A complex sentence has one of each.

The order can go either way. When the string broke, the kite flew away. Or: The kite flew away when the string broke. Notice the comma. If the dependent part comes first, put a comma after it. If it comes second, you usually need no comma. Complex sentences let you show why, when and what if.

Read this: Ran after the kite. Who ran? You cannot tell. Now this: The kite over the water. What did the kite do? Nothing happens. Each of these is a fragment. A fragment looks like a sentence. It starts with a capital and ends with a period. But a part is missing.

There are two ways a fragment usually breaks. Either the subject is gone: Ran after the kite. Or the predicate is gone: The kite over the water. Sometimes a dependent clause is left alone: Because the dog was faster. That is a fragment too. It still needs a main part.

The fix is simple. Ask what is missing and add it. Ran after the kite becomes We ran after the kite. The kite over the water becomes The kite hung over the water. Because the dog was faster becomes Because the dog was faster, it won. Read your sentence aloud. If it leaves you waiting, it is a fragment.

Devon’s beach paragraph was a run-on. It had nine sentences tied together with and. A run-on is two or more full sentences that run into each other without the right stop. Here is a short one: The string broke the kite flew away. Two full sentences, no stop at all.

Some run-ons have a comma where a period should be. It was hot, we swam. That is called a comma splice, and it is still a run-on. A comma alone is too weak to hold two full sentences apart. It needs help.

You have three good fixes. One: use a period. The string broke. The kite flew away. Two: use a comma plus a conjunction. The string broke, so the kite flew away. Three: use a word like because or when. When the string broke, the kite flew away. Pick the fix that fits what you mean. Any of them lets the reader breathe.

The dog barks. The dogs bark. Say them out loud. When the subject is one dog, the verb is barks. When there are two or more dogs, the verb is bark. The subject and the verb agree. They match in number. One dog, barks. Many dogs, bark.

It feels backward, and that trips people up. Adding -s to a noun makes it plural: dogs. Adding -s to a verb makes it singular: barks. So a plural subject usually takes a verb with no -s. The kids run. The kid runs. The waves crash. The wave crashes.

The tricky ones are is and are, was and were, has and have. She is here. They are here. He was late. We were late. It has a tail. They have tails. Watch out for words in between: The box of kites is heavy. The subject is box, not kites. Box is one thing, so the verb is is.

The kite flies. The kite flew. The kite will fly. Same kite, same action, three different times. The form of the verb tells you when. That is called tense. Present tense is now: flies. Past tense is before now: flew. Future tense is later: will fly.

Most verbs make the past by adding -ed: jump, jumped. walk, walked. But many common verbs change in other ways. These are irregular verbs, and you learn them by ear and by heart. Go, went. Run, ran. See, saw. Eat, ate. Break, broke. Nobody says goed or breaked.

Here is the rule that matters most in writing. Pick a tense and stay in it. Read this: We went to the beach and my cousin brings a kite. Went is past, brings is present. The reader stumbles. Fix it: We went to the beach and my cousin brought a kite. Change tense only when the time really changes.

Read this: There going to they’re house over their. Every word is said right, and every one is spelled wrong. Their, there and they’re sound the same. They are homophones. Their shows owning: their house. There points to a place: over there. They’re is short for they are: they’re going. Fixed: They’re going to their house over there.

Other pairs trip people up too. Your and you’re. Its and it’s. To, too and two. The test is the same each time. Say the long form. If it’s can become it is, use the apostrophe. If not, use its. The dog wagged its tail. It’s a good dog.

Word choice also depends on where you are. With friends you might say, Yo, that kite was sick. In a class talk or a letter to the principal, you use formal English: That kite flew very well. Formal English uses full sentences, no slang, and no text-speak. Neither way is bad. A good writer knows which one fits the room.

Sofia came to book club with a sticky note on page 30. It marked the moment the mermaid throws the knife into the sea. When Jamal asked to hear that part, she found it in five seconds. That is what it looks like to prepare. She did the work before the circle formed.

Preparing for a discussion means three things. Read the whole text, not just the first pages. Mark places that surprised you, confused you or made you feel something. Then write down one thing you want to say and one question you want to ask. That is enough. You do not need a speech.

Being prepared changes how you feel in the circle. You are not scrambling. You are not hoping nobody calls on you. You have something to give. And when someone says, Where does it say that?, you can put your finger on the page.

In the first try, Sofia talked before Jamal finished. In the second try, she said, Jamal thinks the ending was unfair because she gave up so much. Then she added her own idea. That is called building on what someone said. Her idea sat on top of his instead of knocking it over.

Real listening is not silent waiting. It is taking in the other person’s words so well that you could say them back. Try these starters: I agree with Jamal because. I want to add to what Sofia said. That connects to what Marcus asked. Each one shows you heard, and each one moves the talk forward.

One more rule: eyes on the speaker, not on your own page. When you look at the person talking, you catch more than words. You catch when they are unsure. You catch when they are excited. A discussion works when people are listening to each other, not performing at each other.

Jamal did not give up his view. He asked Sofia to read the page again. That is a good question: it asks for evidence, the proof in the text. Other good questions are: What do you mean by that? Where does it say so? Why do you think that? A question is not an attack. It is an invitation.

Disagreeing is allowed. Being rude is not. Compare these. You are wrong and that is dumb. Or: I see it differently, because the story says she chose to throw the knife. The second one disagrees with the idea and gives a reason. It does not call anyone a name. That is polite disagreement.

Here is a pattern you can use every time. Say what you heard. Say you see it differently. Give your reason from the text. Sofia did all three in one breath, and Jamal nodded. Nobody lost. A discussion where everyone agrees in one minute is usually a discussion where nobody thought very hard.

Jamal talked for a full minute about the ending. Then Sofia said, in one sentence, what he meant: Jamal thinks the ending was unfair because she gave up so much. That sentence is a summary. It is short. It is in Sofia’s words. And it keeps the main point and the biggest reason.

To summarize a speaker, listen for two things. First, the main point: what does this person want me to believe or know? Second, the reasons: what did they say to back it up? Leave out the small stuff, the jokes and the side trails. Keep the point and the reasons.

A summary should be much shorter than the talk. If someone speaks for a minute, your summary might be two sentences. Say it back to the speaker if you can: So you are saying that. If they nod, you got it. If they say no, not quite, you just learned something before you argued about the wrong thing.

Marcus asked, What if the story is about what kind of person she is? Priya was not sure what he meant. She could have nodded and stayed lost. Instead she said, Do you mean the ending shows she is kind? Marcus said yes. Now Priya can answer him. That is clarifying: asking so that something fuzzy becomes clear.

Good clarifying questions are short and honest. Can you say that again? What do you mean by fair? Are you saying the ending was good, or that it made sense? Can you give an example? None of these are dumb. Every one of them helps the whole circle, because if you were lost, someone else was too.

Clarifying also works when the speaker is a teacher, a video or a guest. Write down the parts you did not catch. Then ask about them. A listener who asks one good question learns more than a listener who nods at everything. Nodding is not the same as understanding.

Elena has to give a two-minute talk about her grandmother’s tamales. Her first try jumps around: the steaming, then the corn husks, then back to the filling, then her cousin’s birthday. Her class is lost. Her second try goes in order: first, the filling. Second, the wrapping. Third, the steaming. Now they can follow.

A short talk has three parts. The opening tells the audience what the talk is about in one or two sentences. The middle gives two or three main points, one at a time, in an order that makes sense. The ending says the big idea one more time, or tells why it matters. Do not just stop. End.

Words that show the order help a listener stay with you. First, next, then, finally. Another reason is. The last thing is. These are signposts. A reader can look back at a page. A listener cannot rewind you. Signposts tell them where they are and what is coming.

Marcus gives a talk about Lake Michigan. First try: Lake Michigan is really big and cool. That is a claim with nothing under it. Second try: Lake Michigan is so big that from a Chicago beach you cannot see the other side. It touches four states. Now the audience has something to picture. Those are details.

A detail is a specific fact, example or description that supports a main point. Big is not a detail. Cannot see the other side is. Each main point in your talk needs at least one detail under it. Pick the one that a listener could repeat to a friend later. That is the one that will stick.

Do not pile on. Three strong details beat ten weak ones. If a fact does not support your point, leave it out, even if you like it. And if you say a number or a name, be sure of it. A talk with one wrong fact makes the audience doubt the rest.

Priya knows her talk cold. She gets up and races through it in forty seconds. The class hears a blur. She sat down thinking she did fine. The words were right. The pace, the speed of her talking, was wrong. Nervous speakers almost always go too fast, because fast feels like it will be over sooner.

Slow down more than feels normal. What feels slow to you sounds normal to a listener. Pause at the end of each sentence, right where a period would go. Breathe there. A pause is not empty time. It is the moment your listener catches up.

Then think about volume, how loud you are. Do not yell. Aim your voice at the person in the back row and speak so they can hear every word. Lift your chin. Your voice goes where your face points. If your face points at the floor, your words go there too.

Elena brings a corn husk to her tamale talk. She holds it up when she says, she spreads dough on corn husks. Suddenly the class understands what a husk is. Nobody needed a definition. That is a visual aid: something the audience can see that helps them understand.

A visual aid can be a real object, a photo, a drawing, a map or a simple chart. Marcus showed a map of Lake Michigan touching four states. Jamal drew a dinosaur next to a school bus. It showed the size. Each one did a job that words could not do as well.

Two rules. First, the visual should help the point, not decorate it. If you cannot say what it shows, leave it out. Second, do not hide behind it. Hold it up, let people look, say what it shows, then put it down and keep talking to the audience. The aid is a helper. You are still the talk.

Priya records her talk on a tablet and plays it back. She is shocked. She says um eleven times. She rushes the ending. She says like every few seconds. None of that felt real while she was talking. Now she can hear it. A recording shows you what your audience hears, not what you meant.

Listen back for four things. Pace: are you racing? Volume: can you hear every word? Fillers: um, like, you know, so. And the ending: did you end on purpose or just stop? Write down one thing to fix. Just one. Record again. Then pick the next thing.

It feels strange to hear your own voice. Everybody hates it the first time. That feeling passes, and what is left is the fastest way to get better at speaking that there is. Athletes watch film. Singers listen to takes. Speakers listen back.

Elena gives her tamale talk twice. Once to her class. Once to a room of kindergartners. To her class she says, the dough is made from corn that has been soaked and ground. To the little kids she says, the dough is soft and yellow, like play dough you can eat. Same talk. Different audience. Different words.

The audience is who is listening. Before you speak, ask: What do they already know? What do they care about? Kindergartners do not know what ground corn is. Your class does. A room of parents wants something different again. Change your words and details to fit the people in front of you.

The purpose is why you are talking. To teach how tamales are made? To make people laugh? To convince the principal to have a tamale day? Each purpose changes what you say first and what you leave out. A speaker who knows the audience and the purpose has already won half the room.