QUICK REFERENCE RULES FOR ENGLISH

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From the 1920s through 1962 the late Miss Georgia Moore taught literature and English grammar at Shelbyville High School, Shelbyville, Indiana.

"Who did you get for English?" was a popular question when class schedules were passed out at the beginning of each semester. If the response was "Miss Moore," the halls often echoed with groans.

In truth Miss Moore's students respected this venerable task master. Many grew to love her. Valedictorians, honors candidates, C pupils, and even problem students could count on three things from this educator's class.

• All students would be treated fairly and equally.
  
• Nothing less than an individual's best would be accepted.
  
• Whatever their grade, at the end of the semester every student would know and understand the subject.

I was Miss Moore's student near the end of her teaching career. In the late 1920s she taught my mother. When my son was having trouble with high school English during the 1970s, I loaned him my faded, pencil-written copy of my notes from her class - the basic information that Miss Moore dictated and my classmates and I memorized.

Mother became a librarian. My son chose technical writing as his college minor. I write mystery/suspense novels.

My manuscripts are often described as "professional." They usually require minimal grammar corrections. I have no doubt that this is because of the excellent grounding I received in Miss Moore's classes.

In creating this booklet I began with the original material, most of which is common to all English texts. My aim was to address the basic rules and provide clearly written examples that would allow readers to quickly check questions about their own writing.

Today educators, parents, and even students decry the lack of emphasis placed on the fundamentals needed to survive in the fast-paced world of communication. For this reason, I believe Miss Moore's guidelines are more valid than ever. I hope you agree.

- Trish Macdonald Skillman

Table of Contents

RULES	DESCRIPTION	PAGES
1-2	THE PARTS OF SPEECH	1-2
3-26	SENTENCE STRUCTURE	3-6
27	PUNCTUATION OF COMPOUND SENTENCES	7
28	THE OUTLINE FOR THE STUDY OF THE VERB	8-10
29	RULES FOR THE VERBS SIT & SET	11
30-31	RULES FOR THE VERBS LIE & LAY and RISE & RAISE	12
32-44	RELATIONSHIPS OF SINGULAR & PLURAL NOUNS and VERBS	13-14
45	THE OUTLINE FOR THE STUDY OF THE NOUN	15-18
46-47	ANTECEDENTS OF PRONOUNS	19
48	THE OUTLINE FOR THE STUDY OF THE PRONOUN	19-21
49	USE OF ITALICS AND QUOTATION MARKS	22
50	THE OUTLINE FOR THE STUDY OF THE ADJECTIVE	23
51	RULES FOR THE USE OF THE COMMA	24
52	RULES FOR CAPITALIZATION	25-26
53	FACTS TO REMEMBER IN DIAGRAMING SENTENCES	27

12. A simple sentence is a sentence having one subject and one predicate, either or both of which may be compound.

examples:

Our school is open today.

single subject-single predicate

Jay and Jeff are going to move.

compound subject-single predicate

Greg rides a bicycle and wears a helmet.

single subject-compound predicate

Tom and Jerry tease and chase each other.

compound subject-compound predicate

13. A compound sentence is a sentence which contains two or more independent clauses, closely related.

examples: (omitted for this excerpt) . . .

14. A complex sentence is a sentence containing one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.

example:

Chris, who came in late, sat in the back of the darkened theater where he could sleep.

15. An independent clause is a group of words which expresses a complete thought when standing alone.

example:

Chris sat in the back of the darkened theater.

16. A dependent clause is a group of words containing a subject and a predicate and depending upon some other word in the sentence for its meaning.

examples:

Chris, who came in late, sat in the back of the darkened theater where he could sleep.

The clause - who came in late - depends on the word Chris for its meaning.

The clause - where he could sleep - depends on the word theater for its meaning.

How to obtain this publication

You may order copie(s) of Quick Reference Rules for English Grammar, edited by T M Skillman, directly from the author.