The Possessive Form demonstrates the relationship between two or more objects (physical things, not sentence endings). These sentences are loaded with Nouns, Proper Nouns, and Pronouns. And so, it’s essential to understand the difference between a Proper Noun and a Pronoun to construct Possessive Form sentences.
Pronouns take the place of a Noun. They are found in a sentence’s Subject as words like “his, her, she” and “theirs.” But, Proper Nouns are specific, capitalized nouns. They may be something like Dr. Smith.
Let’s look at some Possessive Form sentences:
“Dr. Smith’s cat is at Eric’s house” demonstrates a relationship between “Dr. Smith’s cat” and Eric’s house,” our two Possessive Nouns. And so, our Verb Phrase is “is at.”
Here’s another example of a Possessive Form Sentence:
“Oxymorons” have been used since the heyday of Greek poetry, The Greco-Roman Period.
They are a figure of speech in which seemingly contradictory concepts are smashed together, and a literary device that describes those contradictory bits of life, like a bittersweet moment.
I Hope This Blog Doesn’t Go Down Like a Lead Balloon
As I write this blog, I hope it doesn’t go down like a lead balloon, fail to be engaging, or communicate my point.
This “oxymoron” is as fun as “jumbo shrimp.” The images it brings to mind are exceedingly funny. It could even be applied to historic events like the crash of the Zeppelin.
Interrogative Sentence is used to ask questions. And, the most common interrogative words, in alphabetical order, are:
What
When
Where
Whether
Which
Who
Whom
Whose
Why
How
These words are sometimes called “wh-words” because most of them begin with wh. “Who,” a wh-word is our interrogative word of the day.
“Who,” pronounced /ho͞o/, is a Pronoun that means what or which person or people, among other things.
Who is Behind the Mask
For example, you may go to a Halloween party and hear a native English speaker ask, “Who is behind the mask?” This may even be something you’ve wondered about Batman or the anime character Tuxedo Mask. By asking this, the speaker wants to know who is wearing the mask. Sometimes costumes conceal identity.
Modal Verbs are statements of probability. Modal Verbs express a belief in an outcome. The Modal Verb “can’t,” the topic of today’s lesson, expresses that something is most likely untrue.
When it comes to the Modal Verbs, “can’t” is usually used with “be” to speak of disbelief.
What Alva said can’t be true
For example:
When Alva said he had invented electric light, nobody believed him. The people said, “this can’t be true, it’s the fire that lights the home.”
Those who heard Alva speak believed that he was lying and so they showed their disbelief by saying “this can’t be true.” Yet, it was true, Thomas Alva Edison invented the light bulb.
The idiom “change of heart” doesn’t literally mean that you can swap one organ with another. It means that you can change your mind, usually after long consideration.
As you know, you can’t change your heart, you were born with it. But, the English idiom “change of heart” implies that you can.
Mary Had a Change of Heart and Set Her Little Lamb Free
You may know the Nursery Rhyme, “Mary Had a Little Lamb”. Taking from that, I have an example of the idiom “change of heart” to share:
Mary had a little lamb. Mary loved her little lamb. But, one day she had a change of heart and decided it was time to set the little lamb free. For she knew that to love something is to let it go. If it returns, it loves you.
Meaning and use of Passive voice in a proper sentence
How do I use Passive Voice in a proper sentence?
There’s a format for converting Simple Present Tense Active Voice sentences into the Passive Voice. It’s:
Object + is/are + Past Participle
For Example, “The pottery is made by Gilda.”
“The pottery” is the Object. And then we have “is.” “Made.” “Made” is the Past Participle of the verb make. Finally, we throw the Preposition “by” into the mix and our Subject “Gilda.”
But, this can easily be rewritten in the Active Voice.
“Gilda makes the pottery.”
Sentences like this focus on the subject and the reader’s thoughts are with Gilda.
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As a writer, I’m often told not to use Passive Voice because it’s used to shift blame. Sentences like:
“Mistakes were made by the fire department,” place the focus on “mistakes” rather than the “fire department.” It’s almost like the fire department wants the reader to be aware of the mistakes but only vaguely associate the fire department with them. To rectify the sentence, in regards to placing blame, not grammar, it might be better to write:
“The fire department made mistakes.”
Even style guides suggest using Passive Voice lightly.
However, Passive Voice can be used to highlight a sentence’s Object. Or, as aptly described by Steven Pinker, “Passive [Voice] allows the writer to direct the reader’s gaze, like a cinematographer choosing the right camera angle (The Sense of Style).”
For example:
“The pottery is made by Gilda,” draws attention to “the pottery.” Typically, “the pottery” would be in the sentence’s Object and the sentence would read like this:
Back in the 1900s, the term “green fingers” was popular in the United Kingdom. It came from the green-stained fingers of farmers.
Often, plant extracts are used to dye fabric. Many plants secrete a stain. And so, during the harvest, the fingertips of farmers’ would become green with plant dyes.
The earliest use of “green fingers” came from the novel “The Misses Make-Believe” by Mary Stuart Boyd, a Scottish author.
She wrote:
“What old wives call green fingers: those magic digits that appear to ensure the growth of everything they plant.”
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Later, the phrase “green thumb” came about. It was first used in the Daily Globe, in 1937.
An American journalist wrote:
“Miss Dvorak has what is known as the green thumb. That’s horticultural slang for being a successful gardener.”
Having a green thumb is a blessing. Those who have a green thumb make the plants grow. And, it’s said that “the lady who has a green thumb never lacks beauty, she is surrounded by flowers, nor goes hungry, food springs from the earth for her.”
Of course, having a green thumb can be cultivated and many have found their green thumb during the pandemic.
Structure and Rules of Using Past Continous Passive Voice
There are times you may want to write in both Passive Voice and Past Continuous tense. Simply, the Past Continuous tense can be identified by the past tense form of “be” and Verbs ending in ing.
For example, the sentence:
“Many elephants were being killed by poachers,” suggests that elephants had been killed by poachers, but no longer are. Something stopped the elephants from being killed.
Passive Voice is deployed to highlight a sentence’s Object. In our case, “elephants.” By writing the above example, we want the reader to focus on the “elephants” rather than the poachers. “For example,” the sentence could be rewritten in an Active Voice like so:
“Poachers were killing elephants.”
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Psychologically, we are trained to focus on a sentence’s header. A sentence’s subject is much more significant to the reader or listener.
You may ask, how was this sentence constructed? There’s a simple format to follow. It goes like this:
Object + was/were + being + Past Participle Simple, right?
