THE PARTS OF SPEECH

PART OF SPEECH

All words serve a particular function in a sentence.

A word’s function is determined by what “part of speech” it is.

Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb, Preposition, Interjection, or conjunction.

NOUN

A noun is a person, place, or thing (idea).

Ex. Mr. Spitzer, Student, Class, School, Edwards, Intelligence, Education.

Subjects of sentences are nouns – every sentence needs at least one noun.

Mr. Spitzer teaches English.

TYPES OF NOUNS

Concrete Noun – A noun that is tangible or has substance. Ex. Desk, book, etc.

Abstract Noun – An abstract noun is something that cannot be seen or touched (an idea or concept). Ex. The soldier has great bravery.

Proper Noun – A specific person or place. Ex. California. Common Noun – A noun that is not specific. Ex. School Compound Noun – A noun made up of two or more words. Collective Noun – A noun that names a group of individual people

or things. Ex. Team, class, crowd (considered SINGULAR).

PRONOUN

A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun.

An antecedent is the noun that the pronoun replaces in a sentence. Ex. Mr. Spitzer is a teacher who teaches English.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS

Personal Pronouns refer to (1) the person speaking, (2) the person spoken to, or (3) the person, place, or thing spoken about.

Ex. I, me, my, mine Ex. You, your, yours Ex. He, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its Ex. We, us, our, ours Ex. They, them, their, theirs

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN

A Demonstrative Pronoun points out a specific person, place or thing.

It can come before or after it’s antecedent. BEFORE: Ex. This/These (Singular/Plural) AFTER: Ex. That/Those (Singular/Plural)

REFLEXIVE & INTENSIVE PRONOUNS

Reflexive Pronouns – Refers back, or reflects back, to a noun or pronoun used earlier in the sentence; adds information.

Ex. I exhausted myself working on the assignment for English.

Intensive Pronouns – Adds emphasis to another noun or pronoun; does not add information. Can be omitted.

Ex. You yourself told me where to go. Myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself,

ourselves, yourselves, themselves.

INTERROGATIVE & RELATIVE PRONOUNS

An Interrogative Pronoun is used to form questions.

Ex. Who? Whom? Whose? What? Which? Add –ever to make it intensive. A Relative Pronoun is used to create a

subordinate clause (a group of words that has a subject-verb but is not a complete idea).

Ex. Who, Whose, Whomever, That, What, Whom, Whoever, Which, Whichever, Whatever.

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS

An Indefinite Pronoun refers to person, places, or things in a more general way than a noun.

Ex. She seems to know everyone at school. Ex. All, each, many, nothing, someone,

everyone, few, both, etc.

VERB

A verb is an action or state of being. It tells what a subject is doing, or what a

subject is. Ex. Mr. Spitzer teaches English. Ex. Mr. Spitzer is a teacher.

ACTION VERBS

An action verb tells what something or someone does.

Transitive: Ex. Cats climb trees. Intransitive: Ex. Cats climb to avoid large,

hungry dogs.

LINKING VERBS

A linking verb links the subject of a sentence with a word or expression that identifies or describes the subject (it does not show action).

Ex. The student is intelligent. Ex. He grew taller over the summer. The most commonly used linking verb is “be” in all

its forms – am, is, are, was, were, will be, has been, was being.

VERB PHRASES

A verb phrase consists of a main verb and all of its auxiliary or helping verbs.

Ex. I am walking. Ex. I have walked. Ex. I had been walking.

ADJECTIVES

An adjective modifies (describes) a noun or pronoun.

Ex. Tall girl, short boy, smart students, loud class

Articles are special types of adjectives: a, an, the.

Nouns and pronouns can be used as adjectives.

Proper Nouns can be used as Proper Adjectives: Britain British

ADVERBS

An adverb modifies (describes) a verb, adjective, or other adverb.

Often, adverbs end in –ly. Ex. He moves quickly. Ex. The brilliantly funny Mr. Spitzer amuses the

class. Ex. He is rather shy. Ex. They walked quite slowly.

PREPOSITIONS

A preposition shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun to some other word in a sentence.

Ex. The car started with ease. Often, prepositions show location. Ex. The garage is behind the house. Ex. The engine started after the adjustment. A Prepositional Phrase is a group of words that begins with

a preposition and ends with a noun called an Object of a Preposition.

Ex. Near the back door, outside the house, beyond belief.

CONJUNCTION

A conjunction joins words or groups of words. Coordinating conjunction joins words or groups

of words that have equal grammatical weight. Ex. He designs and builds Subordinating conjunction joins two ideas, one

dependent on the other. Ex. We stopped talking when the bell rang. Ex. I did well on the quiz because I studied. Correlative conjunction works in pairs to join words. Ex. Either you or I must go.

INTERJECTIONS

An interjection is a word or phrase that shows emotion or exclamation.

Ex. Hey!

Ex. Wow!

Ex. What?

Ex. Ouch!

Ex. Golly.

Ex. Ah