In this Magoosh ACT English lesson we are going to talk about grammar basics. Now don't be fooled, even though we're gonna talk about two very fundamental concepts about the English language, they're really important for you to know for the ACT for reasons I will point out. So stay with me here, it's gonna seem basic at first. You're gonna think, oh I learned this in kindergarten.

但我要告诉你为什么在更复杂的情景中很重要，你将面对这一行为。 好吧，所以首先，是什么犯了句子？很多你可能已经知道这个，但它是一个主题和动词。 所以，如果我们只有“狗”那不是句子，那就是一个名词。或者一个主题，咆哮，也不是句子，这只是动词。

但是狗吠是一句话，我们在这里有一个主题，狗，我们有一个动词，吠叫。 Now what about the sentence the dog barking, is that a sentence? Well it's actually not because what we've done here is we've taken 动词'吠声'，我们已经使用了它的格子形式。你不需要知道这是什么所谓的 you need to know how to recognize it.

这是动词的形式。喜欢跳舞，或唱歌或跑步。 而在自己身上，Gerund并没有真正表现得像一个动词，所以这不是句子。但是，如果我们给它一点帮助动词就是这样。 The dog is barking. The dog was barking, the dog had been barking.

Then, it becomes progressive tense and that is a verb. So, be careful that you don't just automatically assume a gerund 是一个动词，即使你已经看到它多次用作动词的一部分，但这总是有一个帮助动词就像或已经或已经或曾经是或曾经。 Those helping verbs show that action is progressing over time, so the dog is barking is a sentence.

一只吠叫的狗。现在怎么样？ Is this a sentence? Well, it's not because we've inserted this word, that, here. So what is that? This trips up a lot of students in more complex examples on the test 因为它周围有很多额外的话语。

You say, well there's a subject here and there's a verb here so this must be a sentence. 但这个词，这不是一个句子。为什么它毁了它？ That here is a definite article, it's like that girl is sitting in the front row. Okay, so again, you don't need to know what definite articles are, that's getting a little bit sophisticated for the English test, but you do need to know that adding something like that, or which is going to ruin the sentence.

Now the whole thing has become what's called a noun phrase. A dog that is barking. 所以，如果我们有这句话，那个女孩就和那只吠叫的狗一起走。这是一个句子。 现在我们这里有这个名词短语。它可能是女孩和雨伞一起走。

这个女孩和她的祖母一起走，但这是一只吠叫的狗。所以这是一个名词短语，这里我们有一个主题和 we have a verb in progressive tense. So that works there. So be careful you don't just assume just because you see something that looks like a subject and something that looks like a verb, that it is a sentence.

All right. Here is the second point that's really important to know on the test, 这是英语是被称为SVO语言的。这意味着它是一个主题动词对象语言。 There are some, there are some languages out there that don't have that order. Greek is one of them.

例如，如果您已经研究了西班牙语，您可能会知道有时候您可以做主题和 verb and sometimes the verb can come first and it can be reordered that way. But generally speaking the clearest way to make a statement in English 是拥有主题和动词，然后是对象。例如。

女人，一个主题，建造，动词，沙堡，所以一个物体接收该动词的动作。 我吃麦片。我是我们的主题，吃的是我们的动词，麦片是对象。 It's what we are eating. My sister is a subject, loves is a verb, watching TV is an object.

Okay? So this could be a sentence. My sister loves watching TV. 然后我们有我在这里呼唤其他东西。技术上，这是一个介词短语。 但是我只是在这里称之为其他东西的原因是因为当你在英语中写一个句子时，最好的方法是 have subject and then verb, and then the object, if there is one.

There isn't always an object. But definitely subject and verb and then other stuff. Now sometimes you are going to see Introductory phrases or modifiers. This sentence could be written after she finishes her homework, 我姐姐喜欢看电视。那就是很好的，但如果你对测试有很好的选择， 您想选择要拍摄主题的结构，动词，其他东西或对象。

All right, let me show you how this works in a couple test-like examples. The fitness industry, therefore, burgeoning, and this means that health 每个街区都会弹出俱乐部和锻炼中心。这是我们的答案选择。 所以，现在我们在这里拥有这个格子，蓬勃发展，但我们没有我们的帮助动词在这里让这是一个句子，所以这是一个大线索。

它可能是健身行业，因此是蓬勃发展的，但还有其他方法可以解决这个问题。 So you might have that instinct, but we want to take a look at our answer choices first of all. So it's not no change because this does not have a verb, at least in the first part.

这是一个复合句子。第二部分有一个主题和动词的句子。 So, B is Therefore, the fitness industry burgeoning. So what this did is it just moved therefore to the beginning. 你可能会想，哦，好吧，那是更清晰的。因此，在开始时摆脱这一点。

但我们仍然没有我们的帮助动词。我们仍然没有那样。 因此，健身行业是蓬勃发展的。 That is what we said would fix this sentence, adding that helper verb there. And then D, The burgeoning fitness industry, comma, therefore.

And this means, but again, we're missing a verb here. So in this case, that gerund's been put before fitness industry, 现在它将充当形容词。你可能会思考嘿，听起来更好。 I like how that sounds but we're still missing a verb. We need a verb.

所以这也是不正确的。而C是我们的答案。 现在有时在测试中，您将寻找最清晰的方式来表达一个想法。 And this is where that subject verb object, or subject verb other stuff structure becomes really important.

所以让我们来看看这个例子。说服他更深入地刺激潜在的原因 在他的发现中的差异背后，史密斯的导师很有用。对我来说听起来有点尴尬，所以让我们来看看我们的替代品。 B, Smith's mentor convinced him to prod deeper into the underlying causes behind the discrepancies in his findings.

So note here we have a subject here, the mentor or Smith's mentor. We have a verb and we have an object, him, and then we have our other stuff. 所以这是一个非常明确的结构。让我们确保最清晰。 C，在他的调查结果中更深入地刺激潜在的原因是史密斯被他的导师所做的事。

That sounds a little wordy, a little awkward to have this passive tense going on here, which generally we want to try to avoid, 并用活跃的动词积极紧张，史密斯的导师确信他。所以我们会越过那个。 D，被他的导师说服，史密斯在他的研究结果中的差异背后的潜在原因中更深。

现在,我把这个答案的选择in here for a very important reason. There's nothing really wrong with this sentence. I get what it means, Smith was convinced by his mentor, so we do have that subject here, we have a verb, we have other stuff, and 我们有这个介绍性修饰，史密斯被他的导师相信。但如果你在测试中看到这样的东西，你就会在B和B之间选择 D choose B because that is always our clearest structure.

So if there's a comma in there that doesn't seem necessary, if you can write the sentence, and it will be clear without creating extra verbs or 括号信息，这是我们有逗号设置的信息，然后选择该选项，这始终是最清晰的句子。 好的，只是快速回顾。你想知道什么是句子吗？

A subject and a verb. Watch out for gerunds, those ING words that do not have a helping verb with them. And watch out for phrases that throw in something like that. A dog that is barking. 因为这会破坏句子并使它不是一个句子。并注意寻找主题，动词，其他东西结构 when you are being asked to find the clearest way to state a phrase in English.

And remembering these two grammar basics are gonna help you out so much on the test.