Grammar Songs

 PARTS OF SPEECH SONG
(to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”)

Every NOUN will say its name,
like Shakespeare, Stratford, stage or fame.

In place of nouns the PRONOUN stands,
like he and she will clap their hands.

An ADJECTIVE describes a thing,
like magic wand or wedding ring.

A VERB shows something being or done:
to read, to write, to be, to run!

How things are done the ADVERBS tell
like quickly, slowly, badly, well.

A PREPOSITION shows relation
like in the street or at the station.

CONJUNCTIONS join in many ways,
and, or, but join word and phrase.

An INTERJECTION calls out “Hark!”
I need an exclamation mark!

EIGHT parts of speech, it’ll be no sweat;
Just sing this song and don’t forget!

-Modified from an old English classroom rhyme about grammar.


 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NOUN JOBS!
The subject gets...
the direct object...
of the possessive...
to the indirect...
in the preposition's object.

The subjects get...
the direct objects...
of the possessives...
to the indirects...
in the preposition's objects.

Example - Sophia collected the assignments of a class for a teacher in college.


PRONOUN-OUETTE
I and you,
He, she, it,
We and ye,
They won't quit.
These are all the
Personal pronouns.
Personal! Personal!
Pronouns! Pronouns!
I and you,
He, she, it,
We and ye,
They won't quit.


ADJECTIVE SONG
Ask "What kind?" "Which one?" "How many?" and "Whose?"
But don't you step on my blue suede shoes!
Ask your adjective questions,
But not on my blue suede shoes!
Ask "What kind?" "Which one?" "How many?" and "Whose?"
But don't you step on my blue suede shoes!
Ask your adjective questions,
But not on my blue suede shoes!


 HELPING VERB SONG
(to the tune of “Witch Doctor”)

Am, is, are, was, were, shall, be,
Will, been, being, have*, has, had,
Would, could, should, may, might,
Must, can, do, did, does!
* and 'having'


LINKING VERB SONG
Am, is, are, was, were, and be!
Forms of be!
Forms of be!
Look, feel, taste, smell, sound, and seem...
Grow, become, appear, remain.


ADVERB SONG
Ask "When?" "Where?" "Why?" "How?" "How much?"
But no, my friend, don't even touch!
No, don't you step on my blue suede shoes!
Ask your adverb questions,
But not on my blue suede shoes!
Ask "When?" "Where?" "Why?" "How?" "How much?"
But no, my friend, don't even touch!
No, don't you step on my blue suede shoes!
Ask your adverb questions,
But not on my blue suede shoes!


ADJECTIVE AND ADVERB SONG
Ask "What kind?" "Which one?" "How many?" and "Whose?"
But don't you step on my blue suede shoes!
Ask your adjective questions,
But not on my blue suede shoes!
Ask "When?" "Where?" "Why?" "How?" "How much?"
But no, my friend, don't even touch!
No, don't you step on my blue suede shoes!
Ask your adverb questions,
But not on my blue suede shoes!


 THE PREPOSITION SONG
(to the tune of “Yankee Doodle”)

Above, around, across, before,
Below, behind, beside,
After, during, under, for,
Down, onto, at, from, inside,
In, on, off, by, up, with, to,
Near, despite, until, beyond,
Outside, out, of, toward, through,
Unlike, except, past, along


SOMEWHERE, OVER THE CONJUNCTION
Somewhere, over the rainbow,
Way up high,
There's a conjunction connecting,
Two clauses in the sky.
For, and, nor, but, or, yet, so
Join independent clauses;
When, where, while, as, since, if, although
Subordinate dependent clauses.


Grammar Fun Fact!
"Buffalo buffalo, Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo!" is a sentence!
How?
Buffalo [from the city of] Buffalo [to whom I am speaking], Buffalo [from the city of] Buffalo buffalo [that's a verb meaning "to bully"] [other] buffalo [from the city of] Buffalo."


A note about the gender-neutral pronoun "he":
Although in some circles it has become popular to avoid the use of "he/him/his" when referring to both men and women, grammatically speaking this masculine pronoun frequently functions in its epicene role.  While it can be used as a true masculine pronoun, it is frequently employed as a gender-neutral pronoun referring to both men and women, as in "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" (Gen. 1:27).  In fact, it is the only singular pronoun that can fulfill this gender-neutral function.  In the sentence "A doctor must do no harm to his patients", "his" refers to either a male or a female doctor.  It is not functioning as a masculine pronoun referring to a specific man, nor is it used grammatically in this exclusive role.

Of course, you must appeal to your audience, so ethos will dictate whether you use the masculine pronoun in its epicene role, or whether you sacrifice rhythm and style by recrafting your sentence to avoid it altogether.


RESOURCES
SCHOOL HOUSE ROCK
Classic, Saturday-morning songs by which folks like me first learned some grammar. All eight parts of speech are explained with catchy tunes and creative animations.


WORD CRIMES (by Weird Al)
Weird Al explains why you need to brush up on your grammar.

ENGLISH-GRAMMAR-REVOLUTION
Elizabeth O'Brien's wonderful sentence diagramming program.


SENTENCE DIAGRAMMING TOOL
An automated sentence-diagramming tool.


LINKS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDc&list=UUshnCkfV7U6DqR4IHbQbI7Qhttp://1aiway.com/nlp4net/services/enparser/
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/grammarrock.htm#nouns
http://www.english-grammar-revolution.com/english-grammar-exercise.html