Summary of Adverbs and Relative Adverbs

Adverbs

• Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or adverbs
• Adverbs answer questions like "When?", "Where?", "In what manner?", and "To what extent?"
• Adverbs add precision and interest to writing

Relative Adverbs

• There are three relative adverbs: "why", "where", and "when"
• Relative adverbs link sentences and/or clauses together and provide additional information about the subject of a sentence
• These adverbs tell you more about the time, location, and reasons for something occurring

Articles

• Articles are a type of determiner that gives more information about the noun or pronoun
• Articles help to give structural information, especially in a sentence
• The absence of both definite and indefinite articles is called zero articles
• Articles are never stressed in general speech, but they can be stressed when one wants to distinguish them from other words
• Articles are not applicable with non-countable nouns (e.g., milk, water, air, joy, happiness, pride, and love)
• There are two types of articles: Definite and Indefinite
• Definite article: "the" (refers to a specific thing or person)
• Indefinite article: "a" and "an" (used before nouns in their singular form)

Conjunctions

• Conjunctions are words that join two or more words, phrases, or clauses
• There are three types of conjunctions: Coordinating, Correlative, and Subordinating
• Coordinating conjunctions: one-word connectors that sit between the two words, clauses, or phrases they're connecting (e.g., and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet)
• Correlative conjunctions: words that join forces with other words to make connections (e.g., both/and, either/or, neither/nor, not only/but also)
• Subordinating conjunctions: used when one clause is independent and one clause is dependent (e.g., since, after, although, as, because, before, once, that, though, while, unless)

Prepositions

• Prepositions show relationships in sentences
• Prepositional phrases link the preposition and the object of the preposition to the subject of the sentence
• Prepositional phrases usually answer where or when questions

Interjections

• Interjections are one of the eight parts of speech
• Interjections convey emotion
• Interjections can be classified by their purpose into three categories: volitive, emotive, cognitive, and sometimes onomatopoeia
• Interjections can further be classified by whether they are primary or secondary in nature
• Interjections are punctuated by an exclamation point or a comma depending on the strength of emotion demonstrated
• Interjections should be used sparingly and with a specific purpose in order to be most effective

Homophones

• Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings
• Homophones can have the same or different spelling
• The reader may need to use context clues to find out what makes sense
• Examples of homophones: "here" and "hear"

Synonyms

• Synonyms are words that mean the exact same or almost the same thing as another word
• Synonyms can help your writing be more descriptive and colorful
• Synonyms can be interchangeable with other words, but they shouldn't change the context
• You can find synonyms using a thesaurus

Antonyms

• Antonyms are words that have opposite meanings of another word
• Antonyms are generally adjectives, prepositions, and verbs
• Nouns (like colors) rarely have antonyms
• Keep in mind that, while some words may be very different, that doesn't mean they're the opposite of each other

Analogies

• Analogies make a parallel comparison based on a similar characteristic or feature
• A simple analogy contains two pairs of words with similar relationships
• In literature, there are often more complex analogies that compare parallel concepts to create vivid descriptions

Root Words, Prefixes, and Suffixes

• A root word is the most basic form of a word
• Root words can have prefixes (attachments at the beginning) and suffixes (attachments at the end)
• A knowledge of root words, prefixes, and suffixes can be helpful to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words
• Prefixes are pairs or groups of letters that come before a base word, changing its meaning
• Examples of prefixes: "en-" (means "in" or "within"), "-ed", "-ing", "-ly", "-est"
• Suffixes are word parts that are added to the end of a root word to change the meaning
• Examples of suffixes: "-ment" (means the act of doing something or the result of an action)

Context Clues

• Context clues are a skill that readers use to figure out the meaning of unknown words
• Context clues can come in the form of examples, definitions, or synonyms
• By looking at the words or sentences that come before and after the word in question, we can use clues to unlock the meaning

Written and Spoken Language

• Written language is considered more formal and should follow the rules of the English language
• Spoken language is generally less formal, and the rules are less important