A Conjunction an Adverb and a Preposition - What do These Have to do with Writing?
Posted: Tuesday, August 05, 2008
by Teresa Ortiz
Freelance writer/Speaker
The other day someone sent me an email in response to something I had written. He said I was an encouragement to him and he was looking forward to reading more from me. No harm here, this made me feel good. The problem is he went on to tell me that I was a prolific writer.
What in the heck is that? I had to ask someone at work the other day, because I was too lazy to pull out my dictionary. Sure, I have heard this word before and though it is somewhat of a sophisticated word, it never applied to me, so why look it up? Now that I know it means abundant, or continuous, or more of--is it even a compliment?
This was three days ago and I haven't been able to get it off my mind. It is time for me to confess; I have no business writing. What was I thinking? I mean really, I don't even know the basics.
What is a preposition? What is a conjunction? Should these words be capitalized? Let's see, noun equals person, place or thing-okay, well the last time I checked prepositions and conjunctions were "things", so I suppose I should have capitalized them.
The only thing I remember about conjunctions is the old Saturday morning cartoon, "Conjunction-junction, what's your function….something, something…phrases and clauses." What is a clause? Does it have something to do with Santa?
Have I mentioned that I failed English class three times? It was the teacher's fault, I'm sure. The tests were ridiculous--seriously; allow me to give you an example:
Instructions: Please breakdown the following sentence.
"Hector was outside playing with his brown Chihuahua."
Um, well, there is this boy and his name is Hector and um, he is outside playing with his brown Chi-Wawa.
I got an F. What other way can you breakdown this sentence? What didn't I get?
Eventually I passed the class--thanks to Tim, who sat in front of me, and willingly shared his answers in exchange for a back rub. It was a small price to pay.
So here I am, all these years later. What is the deal? If I would have known then, what I know now. Would I pass the test today? Um, well, I think his name is still Hector, and unless he went inside, he is still playing outside with his brown Chi-Wawa. Although, Hector is probably an old man by now and his Chi-Wawa must be dead, so does it really matter?
Okay, fine--I won't be lazy. Let's see what my trusty dictionary has to say.
Conjunction = A joining; or being joined together; union; association."
What? This sounds like marriage to me. What does this have to do with proper grammar? No wonder I failed.
As for an adverb, "Any of a class of words used generally to modify a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a phrase, or a clause…"
Gee, thanks Mr. Webster, of the New World, it's all making sense now.
Finally, the preposition "In some languages, a relation or function word, as English in, by, for, with, etc."
So let me see if I have learned anything new:
Hector = Noun
Was = Verb
Outside = Adjective
Playing = Verb
With = Preposition
His = Pronoun
Brown = Adjective
Chi-Wawa = Dog
How did I do? What can I say, writing is a gift.
(For the record, Chihuahua is the correct spelling **grin**)
© Teresa Ortiz
What in the heck is that? I had to ask someone at work the other day, because I was too lazy to pull out my dictionary. Sure, I have heard this word before and though it is somewhat of a sophisticated word, it never applied to me, so why look it up? Now that I know it means abundant, or continuous, or more of--is it even a compliment?
What is a preposition? What is a conjunction? Should these words be capitalized? Let's see, noun equals person, place or thing-okay, well the last time I checked prepositions and conjunctions were "things", so I suppose I should have capitalized them.
The only thing I remember about conjunctions is the old Saturday morning cartoon, "Conjunction-junction, what's your function….something, something…phrases and clauses." What is a clause? Does it have something to do with Santa?
Have I mentioned that I failed English class three times? It was the teacher's fault, I'm sure. The tests were ridiculous--seriously; allow me to give you an example:
Instructions: Please breakdown the following sentence.
"Hector was outside playing with his brown Chihuahua."
Um, well, there is this boy and his name is Hector and um, he is outside playing with his brown Chi-Wawa.
I got an F. What other way can you breakdown this sentence? What didn't I get?
Eventually I passed the class--thanks to Tim, who sat in front of me, and willingly shared his answers in exchange for a back rub. It was a small price to pay.
So here I am, all these years later. What is the deal? If I would have known then, what I know now. Would I pass the test today? Um, well, I think his name is still Hector, and unless he went inside, he is still playing outside with his brown Chi-Wawa. Although, Hector is probably an old man by now and his Chi-Wawa must be dead, so does it really matter?
Okay, fine--I won't be lazy. Let's see what my trusty dictionary has to say.
Conjunction = A joining; or being joined together; union; association."
What? This sounds like marriage to me. What does this have to do with proper grammar? No wonder I failed.
As for an adverb, "Any of a class of words used generally to modify a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a phrase, or a clause…"
Gee, thanks Mr. Webster, of the New World, it's all making sense now.
Finally, the preposition "In some languages, a relation or function word, as English in, by, for, with, etc."
So let me see if I have learned anything new:
Hector = Noun
Was = Verb
Outside = Adjective
Playing = Verb
With = Preposition
His = Pronoun
Brown = Adjective
Chi-Wawa = Dog
How did I do? What can I say, writing is a gift.
(For the record, Chihuahua is the correct spelling **grin**)
© Teresa Ortiz
This Article has been viewed 4,358 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
More commentsI would kindly refer you to the "Writing Tip of the Day" on the home page. It'll work wonders.
Great article Teresa!I Rob, thanks so much, I do love those tips, I have already learned a few things from them. Thanks for reading and for the kind comment. God bless!!
Not grammer...but life experience, emotion and God's blessing that touches the readers and the writer as well. WHo cares about grammer.For this I will rate you all 'FIVE'May God Bless you...So true, heart is everything, but it doesn't hurt to know a few basics :-)God bless you and thank you for the 5 stars for this article. God bless you too!!
Teresa,OK, stop hogging all the comments, will ya? Geeshhh. I don't care about your grammar, just let us other writers get some comments about how great, fun, enjoyable, interesting, insightful our writing is once in a while . . . errrrrrr. Hmmmmm. Like the old saying goes, if they're buying just keep selling. Guess that means your English teacher don't know squat.As a soon to be former college professor of English (I'm tired of the academic wee-weeees and the academic woo-woooos--those who get caught up in theory but never come down to earth to deal with real problems), I often tell my students how stupid English is, don't waste your time on too much grammar (just get the basics, and I'll go with Danny's input on MadLibs--learned a lot there) and just be glad you grew up speaking English because the rules suck. Seriously. English just way too often don't make sense.Here's a great article for you to read, it's called English is a Crazy Language by Richard Lederer. Just Google it. Here's an out take:"Let's face it -- English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.""And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese... One blouse, 2 blice?"Yeah baby! That's our English!!! A language in which you write the "fffff" sound as "f" "ff" "ph" and "gh." And why if I can say can't, can't I say am't? I do!!! I'm coin-a-phrase-word-whatever happy! (that means to make up stuff--I love making up stuff).On a final note, let's hear from my Aunt Rose who had no formal education beyond high school respond to my father's (an Ivy League grad) correction of her use of the word wheel barrow."Your uncle was outside yesterday using the wheel barrel and . . . ""That's WHEEL BARROW!"Auntie's response, "Wheel barrow my ass!!"Let us all remember Autie's lesson and word to the wise.Love your stuff!!!!JeffWhat can I say Jeff, When you got it, you got it. :-)Thanks so much for all your professorly advice (is professorly is real word), it is now.And I love your Aunt's response!! She is my kind of lady.Seriously, I appreciate all of your support. I have learned a lot from reading your articles. Lord bless you always.Good for you for taking a long awaited, well deserved break from teaching. I think I missed out on not having you as an official teacher, but I am reaping the benefits nonetheless.Thanks again!
Teresa, I love this article! What a legitimate challenge to all English teachers I loved diagramming sentences - uh, breaking them down...and yet you make me think of my teaching days with 12 and 13 year olds who preferred to give me a baby shower rather than do the grammar...and I loved each one of those kids! I know you'll keep writing...you cannot escape it, right?Hi Jane, I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I never thought of it as being a challenge to English teachers, thanks!I will keep writing, I cannot escape it. Who knew?Thanks for your support and encouraging words. God Bless!
Hi Teresa, Your article almost had me running to pick up my dictionary. This was the second time I read it and it was still excellent. I love the personality you put into your writing. God bless you my friend.Ha! That's funny. I actually used it when I wrote this article. And I still got one answer wrong! Thanks for the comments and support. God bless you too!
hahah i LOVE this article, it's my favorite!!!! it made me laugh out loud, all three times i read it hehe, your writing style is so unique i want to keep reading.Thank you Jess, I am humbled :-)
Great, fun article.Hi Steve, thanks for reading and taking a moment to comment. I am glad you enjoyed this little story.Blessings to you!
Well, that is one messed up English professor, or is it english purveyor? Beats me, all I know is (ur, your, you're) , an AWESOME writer! My one and only "rule" is this- if it sounds, and looks, right, it is right. Everything else is a "guideline," or a "suggestion." If I took an "English" test right now I LIKELY WOULD FAIL!!I am so glad you kept on writing.Hey Bro, thanks so much for going back and reading a few of my oldies :-) And thanks for the encouraging words. I will keep on writing! You do the same! God bless you abundantly!
Hi Teresa.
Thanks for putting the link to this in your response. I have no memory of having read it (doesn't mean I didn't :)) and I quite enjoyed it.
Geez! I hated breaking down sentences and if I had to know how to do that in order to write, I probably wouldn't write. I like your first break down best. Don't know why your teacher failed you. :) And what was with that funky spelling of Chihuahua anyway?
Thanks again and hugs,
Dianne
P.S. I got smart and looked through the other pages of comments and found that I did read it two years and 298 days ago today (how sweet of SW to keep track of it all for us). So much for the steel trap memory. Gack! Getting older is no fun. :) Anyway, I enjoyed it ... again!Hi Dianne. Thanks for taking the time to read, I'm glad you enjoyed it. again :-) I need to fix this. The only weird Chihuahua spelling should have been in my breakdown, not the teacher's. I'm fixing it right now. Hugs, T
the word 'outside' in this sentence is an adverb not an adjectiveThank you Usha! I missed that correction.
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