Short Stories Worksheet

Answer the following questions which are critical to help your understanding of the story that you have read.

 Title of the Story:  __________________________________________________________

1.      Who is the main character? Does this person’s character change during the course of the story? Do you like the main character? What sort of person is he or she?

2.      What is the theme of the story? Can you state it in a single sentence?

3.      Does the author’s style of writing affect your interpretation of the story? If so, how would you describe the style? For example, is it conversational or formal? Familiar or unfamiliar? Simple or ornate? Ironic or satiric?

Commas & Complex Sentences

Follow the directions for each sentence.

COMPLEX SENTENCES

Add commas where they are needed.

1.       She did not eat the cookies nor did she chew the gum that Jane made for her.

2.       I am going to bed to read the book  that Elizabeth wrote.

3.       Paul is going to the movie  and may not come home until late.

4.       Did Mary go along with her parents to the game?

Put the independent clause in parentheses and underline the fragment. Insert commas where they are needed.

5.       George could not find his son’s bat or his glove that he had just bought for him.

6.       Because she wasn’t very hungry Julia only ate half of her sandwich.

7.       I was tired of doing homework even though I had only worked for fifteen minutes.

8.       Sue brought her books to class but Janet left hers in the car because she tends to be forgetful.

COMPOUND/COMPLEX SENTENCES

Insert commas where needed. Underline any subordinate/dependent clauses

1.       She wanted to go to bed and read her new book but she didn’t realize that it had fallen behind the sofa.

2.       Jack is going to the movie about World War II so he may be home late because it a three hour long movie.

3.       Denise was upset that she could not go to London but she chose to save her money in order to pay for college.

4.       I told her not to eat the fresh bread but she didn’t pay attention because she was so hungry.

Put the independent clause in parentheses and underline the subordinate/dependent clauses.  Add commas.

Note:  A compound sentence has two independent clauses.

5.       Chris had tried to find his puppy but it had run around the house and hid under a bush.

6.       My father told me that he was proud that I had improved my grades and I celebrated with pizza.

7.       Peter found a part-time job around the corner so it was easy for him to get to work.

8.       I am planning to take the children to the park so that we can have a picnic because their father has the day off.

Sentence Patterns Practice (Three of my friends)

Sentence Patterns Practice

For each sentence: 

Underline the subject once and label it with “S;” 

Underline the verb twice and label it “V;” 

Circle the predicate complement, i.e. the Direct Object, the Indirect Object, the Predicate Noun, or the Predicate Adjective

Label the predicate complement.  (DO for direct object, IO for indirect object, PN for predicate noun, PA for predicate adjective).

1. Three of my friends formed a band.
2. The weather was calm and peaceful.
3. Max drinks soda with his lunch.
4. My dog is smelly after his encounter with the skunk. 
5. Our guest is the senator from Maine.
6. Dad washed his car at the gas stations.
7. I bought the whole class some candy.
8. Callie seems the best candidate for the class representative position.
9. Cindy baked the elderly twelve dozen cookies.
10. We use expensive pots and pans in the restaurant kitchen.
11. Uncle Fred told the children stories from his time in the army.
12. Sue, send me an e-mail about that meeting.
13. John Glenn was a pilot, an astronaut, and a senator.
14. Mr. Johnson appears distracted by the TVs at the restaurant.
15. This unpredictable weather is crazy.

Adjectives & Adverbs Worksheet

ADJECTIVES

Definition:  Adjectives are words that describe or modify nouns (persons, places, or things) in the sentence. The articles — a, an, and the — are adjectives.  Multiple adjectives can be used to modify/describe a noun. Possessive pronouns are also adjectives (e.g. my, your, his, etc.)

Adjectives answer these questions: what kind, which one, how many, and how much.  They may be placed before the noun (or pronoun), after the noun (or pronoun), or after a linking or helping verb.

In the following sentences, the adjectives are underlined and in bold:

·         The funny movie was the best part of a long day.

·         My old gray sweater has a large hole on the left sleeve.

·         Four dogs ran wildly in the enormous hay field.

·         That blue car belongs to his grumpy Latin teacher.

·         The fifth student in that long line fainted in the hot summer sun.

ADVERBS

Definition:  An adverb is a word (or phrase or clause) that modifies or describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.   Adverbs answer the following questions:  How? When? Where? To what extent? How much? How often? 

Placement:  Adverbs of one word almost always come before the word modified.  Clauses and phrases should be placed as closely as possible to the verb is modifies.

Formation:  Adverbs can be formed by adding “-ly” to an adjective.  (e.g.  correctly, happily, sparingly)  Another way to form an adverb is to place an adjective in the following formula:  “in a _________ manner.”

In the following sentences, the adverbs are underlined and in bold:

·         The horse lazily meandered through the very dense forest.

·         Her brother playfully teased her yesterday.

·         Tomorrow the band will carefully practice that insanely hard piece.

·         Carefully, John put a foot on the thin ice.

·         Bill stubbornly refused to do his homework.

·         Joan instantly recognized the very famous actor.

·         I secretly planned a party for the students.

  

Adjectives Practice

Underline the adjectives in the following sentences.

1.       My ancient grandfather wrote an insightful book about his long time as a cattle rancher.

2.       The woman’s new wool coat sold for fifty dollars at the neighborhood discount store.

3.       The tangy red ketchup on the grilled hamburger dripped on the clean picnic table cloth.

4.       This smelly garbage in my uncle’s car is gross and disgusting.

5.       My amazing essay was read by some appreciative students.

Fill in adjectives for each of the blanks in the sentences below.

1.       My _____________________ book is both ______________  and  ___________________.

2.       The _________________ kitten slept on the _______________ blanket.

3.       The ___________________________ weather ruined my ________________________ trip.

4.       My __________________________ sailboat on the lake was  _________________.

5.       The __________________________ student in the _______________________ class studied for the

_______________________ test.

Adverbs Practice

Underline the adverbs in the following sentences.

1.       The horse raced speedily around the very crowded racecourse.

2.       The man next to her coughed annoyingly all through the performance today.

3.       Katherine accidentally deleted her files.

4.       We silently watched the amazingly beautiful sunset.

5.       We will all take that infuriatingly difficult test tomorrow.

Fill in adverbs for each of the blanks in the sentences below.

1.       The boy ran ______________________________ 

2.       Jackson  ______________________________  finished his homework.

3.       I  ______________________________  drove to the store.

4.       Corey ______________________________  handed in his essay.

5.       The team  ______________________________   played the game.

Nouns & Pronouns Worksheet

NOUNS

Definition:  A noun is a word (or phrase or clause) that names a person, place, think, idea, or quality. 

There are several categories of nouns:

Common – every day words, not capitalized (ex:  dog, cat, building, town, man, woman)

Proper – specific names, capitalized (ex:  Spot, Fluffy, Empire State Building, Northfield, Mr. Jones, Sally Forth)

Compound – nouns made up of two or more words (ex:  ice cream, playground, mainstream, brother-in-law)

Collective – nouns that in its singular form denotes many within (ex:  army, company, herd)

Concrete – tangible, touchable things (ex:  rock, ball, bird, house)

Abstract – a quality or idea; something that cannot be touched (ex:  liberty, hope, honesty, love)

Countable – nouns that form their plural with an s or es, that can be counted and numbered (ex:  bugs, projects, boys, girls)

Non-countable – nouns that have no plural and cannot be counted (ex:  poverty, peace, ideas, principles)

Nouns can be used as subjects of a sentence, direct objects, indirect objects, objects of a preposition, and predicate nouns.

In the following sentences, the nouns are underlined and in bold:

·         The dog under the tree had a leash around his neck.

·         My dog, Scooby, wanted freedom from his collar.

·         The playground in Northfield had a statue of General Washington who fought for liberty.

·         Sarge’s Parlour, a small business, sold ice cream in Storm Lake, Iowa to many generations of residents.

·         My brother bought a snowmobile because he wanted to have fun during the winter.

Some words can be both a noun and a verb.

Examples:

I had a swim in the lake.

I swim in the lake.

I will drive to school.

We had a nice drive.

I watched the third act of the play.

This man can really act.

I wrote a check at the diner.

Will you check to see if it is right.

I have a new dress from Target.

The doctor will dress my wound.

She has a delightful laugh.

I laugh all the time.

PRONOUNS

Definition:  A Pronoun is a word that takes the place of a nouns.  We can substitute a pronoun for a noun in a sentence.  Pronouns are classified in five (5) different categories. They are personal pronouns, relative pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, indefinite pronouns, and interrogative pronouns. 

Antecedent:  The antecedent is the word or words that the pronoun is substituting. 

Examples:

The lady drank her coffee. She said it was hot.  (lady is the antecedent for her & she; coffee is the antecedent for it)

Roger sat on the chair, but it broke when he sat down. (Roger is the antecedent for he; chair is the antecedent for it)

Below is a chart showing the forms of personal pronouns

Personal Pronouns
	Singular			Plural
Person	Nominative	Objective	Possessive	Nominative	Objective	Possessive
1st person	I	me	mine	We	us	ours
2nd person	You	you	yours	You	you	yours
3rd person	He, she, it	him, her, it	his, hers, its	They	them	theirs

In the following sentences, the personal pronouns are underlined and in bold.

·         I gave her the bottle that used to belong to you.

·         She knew right away that it was a collector’s piece.

·         It had been used by Queen Elizabeth in her castle.

·         They say it held the perfume that she used every day.

·         My family has had many antiques in their collection and loves to talk about them.

·         Do you think she will get any money for it?

Reflexive pronouns are a compound of personal pronouns with “self” or “selves.”  They are used when you refer back to the subject of a sentence or clause.

Examples:

·         I saw myself in the mirror.

·         She made herself some lunch.

·         The bird hurt itself when it flew into the window.

Relative pronouns introduce relative clauses (dependent clauses that relate the clause to a noun or pronoun in the sentence).  The five relative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which, that.

Examples:

·         The car that hit me was yellow.

·         The student whose phone just rang should answer it.

·         Jane is the girl who won the contest.

·         Mr. Jones is a man on whom I can rely.

Demonstrative pronouns are pronouns that point out.  They are this, that, these, and those.

Examples:

·         This is my hat.

·         I like these, not those.

·         That is a great idea.

·         How much money do you want for this?

Indefinite pronouns are pronouns that do not point out specifically. They point out generally. They include such words as another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, both, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, many, neither, nobody, none, no one, one, other, others, some, somebody, and someone.

Examples:

·         Does anyone have a pencil?

·         Please stand with the others.

·         No one can solve this equation.

·         Both of you should do the dishes.

Interrogative pronouns ask questions. Who, whom, whose, which, and what are interrogative pronouns.

Examples:

·         Who will give me the money?

·         With whom are you going to movie?

·         Whose books are these?

·         What will you bring to the dinner?

Nouns Practice

Underline the nouns in the following sentences.

1. Our job has become harder this year.
2. Elizabeth looked in her backpack for her homework.
3. This plant looks dead.
4. Mrs. Jones called the doctor from the other clinic.
5. Her son bought a cheeseburger and fries.

Fill in a noun for each of the following sentences:

1. Jane baked the __________________  yesterday.

2. My __________________  ache after gardening.

3. The __________________  sang a solo at the concert. 

4. The __________________ fell into the river.

5. __________________  is my home.

Pronouns Practice

Underline the pronouns in the following sentences.

1.       Sally, your mother needs you to call her.

2.       Steve brought his own lunch because he is allergic to most foods.

3.       I have strong opinions, but my sister doesn’t agree with them.

4.       The amazing performance brought the crowd to its feet.

5.       You can tell her because she will keep it a secret.