Download Label the underlined words according to their part of speech

La Causerie Française
FR 1
English Grammar for French Students
In order to better understand French grammar, it may be useful to briefly review some basic English
grammar. Using what you already know about English grammar as a point of reference when learning a
new language can help you to recognize patterns, similarities, and differences.
Parts of Speech
Parts of speech are the building blocks of both English and French. With them we are able to construct
statements. Look at the list below. See if you are able to define and give English examples of each part of
speech listed. (If you know some of this in French, write it down too!)
Article/Determiner:
Example:

What is the difference between a definite article and an indefinite article?
Noun:
Example:
Pronoun:
Example:
Verb:
Example:

What is an infinitive?
Example:

What is a tense? What tenses do you know?
Example:
Adjective:
Example:
Adverb:
Example:
Preposition:
Example:
Conjunction:
Example:
Tumanut//2013-2014
La Causerie Française
FR 1
Directions: In each of the sentences below, label the part of speech for the underlined word.
1. Dr. Alexander discovered a cure for anemia.
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2. He was a great man.
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3. The boys played happily in the snow.
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4. The dangerous river flowed rapidly.
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5. The Tigers were never an exciting group of ballplayers.
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6. During the storm the other day, several windows cracked.
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Parts of a Sentence and Word Order
In both English and French, there is a particular order of words in statements and questions. For example, in English
You are hungry is a statement, but Are you hungry is a question. Even without punctuation or intonation, we can tell
which is a statement and which is a question by the order of the words. Similarly in French, Tu as faim is a statement
while As-tu faim is a question. (For those of you in the know, there is another way of asking questions in French that
we’ll talk about.)
The order of words can tell you if a phrase is a statement or question, but only if all of the necessary parts are
present. In the statement You are hungry, you is the subject, are is the verb, and hungry is the complement. If we
leave out any part of the sentence, the statement makes no sense. The parts of a sentence that you should be
familiar with are listed below.
Subject: The person, place or thing that is doing or being something; usually a noun phrase or a pronoun.
Verb: Carries the idea of being or action in the sentence; always a verb.
Object: Receiver of the action; can be direct or indirect; always a noun or pronoun.
Complement: Completes the idea carried in the sentence; can be an adjective or a noun phrase.
Adverbial: Gives information about manner, time, or location; can be an adverb or a prepositional phrase.
Directions: In each of the sentences below, label the part of a sentence for the underlined words.
1. Marie Antoinette est la femme de Louis XVI.
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2. Jean François et son chien vont souvent à la campagne.
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3. J’ai très envie de voyager en Australie.
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4. La collocataire de M. Arnaud est intelligente.
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Tumanut//2013-2014