Download Part 1: Parts of Speech 8 Parts of Speech Noun Verb Adjective

Part 1: Parts of Speech
8 Parts of Speech
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Conjunction
Preposition
Pronoun
Interjection
Nouns
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The name of a person, place, thing, or quality
Answers the questions “who?” or “what?”
Types:
Common nouns- any person, place, or thing
Proper nouns- a specific person, place, or thing
Concrete nouns can be perceived with the 5 senses
Abstract nouns cannot be perceived with the 5 senses (emotions, ideas, qualities)
Verbs


Pronouns
Show action or state of being
Answers the question “what is the subject doing?”
Subject pronoun- can be used as the subject of a sentence
Object pronoun- can only be used as the object of a sentence or the object of a preposition (me, him,
What is an object??
Well, if a subject is the noun that is “doing the verb” in a sentence, an object is the noun that is NOT “doing the
verb”! There are 2 kinds of objects:
Direct object is the receiver of an action
Indirect object is the person or thing to whom or for whom the action was done
Adjectives
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
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Describes a noun or pronoun
Answers “which,” “how many,” “how much,” or “what kind”
5 types of adjectives:
Articles- a, an (indefinite); the (definite); or zero article (no article)
Possessive adjectives- my, your, his, her, its, our, their
Demonstrative adjectives- this, that, these, those
Quantity adjectives- many, much, a few, a little
Descriptive adjectives- beautiful, stormy, green, etc.
Adverbs
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Modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb
Answers the questions “how,” “when,” “where,” “how often,” and “how much”
3 types of adverbs:
Adverbs of manner, which tell HOW something happens: quickly, skillfully, rudely
Adverbs of frequency: always, never, usually, often, sometimes, seldom, rarely
Adverbs of degree: almost, hardly, extremely, very
Conjunctions
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Words that connect parts of a sentence (words, phrases, and clauses) together
4 types:
Coordinating conjunctions join words, phrases, or independent clauses
For, but, and, nor, so, yet, or
Subordinating conjunctions introduce a dependent clause and explain its relationship to the
main part of the sentence
Although, as, because, before, how, if, once, since, than, though, until, unless, when,
where, whether, while
Conjunctive adverbs are transitional devices that connect two main ideas
Consequently, however, likewise, moreover, nevertheless, nonetheless, otherwise,
similarly, therefore
Correlative conjunctions occur in pairs and connect equivalent sentence parts
Both…and, either…or, neither…not, not only…but also, so…as, whether…or
Prepositions
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A word that shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and the rest of the sentence
The combination of a preposition and its object is a prepositional phrase
Prepositions have many purposes but they often give information about place, time, or direction
Interjections
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Words that express strong feelings or emotions; More common in spoken than written language
Part 2: Sentence Structure
What is a sentence?
Every sentence MUST have at least a subject and a verb (in the correct form, of course!) Otherwise, it is a
FRAGMENT.
“I ran.”
This is a full sentence because it contains a subject (I), a verb (ran), and a complete meaning. You may not know
where I ran or what I was running from because this sentence is not part of a paragraph that would provide such
context, but grammatically, you can still understand simply that I ran (somewhere, anywhere, it doesn’t matter!)
without any additional explanation.
“Ran down to the store for some milk.”
This is a FRAGMENT because we are missing a subject!
To fix it, we might write “Jerome ran down to the store for some milk.”
“Jenny, standing in the rain and wishing she were home.”
This is a FRAGMENT. While we do have a subject (“Jenny”) and verbs (“standing” and “wishing”) the verbs are not
in the right form.
To fix it, we might write “Jenny was standing in the rain and wishing she were home.”
“The little cabin by the lake where I grew up.”
This is a FRAGMENT because there is no verb!
To fix it, we might write “The little cabin by the lake is where I grew up.”
Each one of these sentences is an example of the SIMPLE SENTENCE, which is made up of a single INDEPENDENT
clause. There are two types of clauses we need to know about in order to form correct sentences: INDEPENDENT
and DEPENDENT clauses.
Every sentence contains at least one independent clause, which can be combined with other independent and
dependent clauses to form more complex sentences.
So what are independent and dependent clauses?

Independent clause
All independent clauses have a subject and a verb and a complete
meaning. This is why they can stand alone independently as individual
sentences!

Dependent clause
Some dependent clauses DO have a subject and verb, but a subordinating
conjunction prevents them from having a complete meaning; other
dependent clauses are missing a subject or verb. Dependent clauses can
never stand alone—they always DEPEND on another clause to complete
their meaning.
Types of sentences:
Simple sentences—1 independent clause
“I want a pizza.”
“The Lion King makes me cry.”
Compound sentences—2 independent clauses
“I want a pizza, but I should probably have a salad instead.”
“The Lion King makes me cry; it makes my dog cry, too.”
Complex sentences—1 independent clause and at least 1 dependent clause
“I want a pizza because I am hungry.”
“The Lion King makes me cry whenever I watch it.”
Compound-complex sentences—2 independent clauses and at least 1 dependent clause
“I want a pizza, but I should probably have a salad because I know it’s better for my health.”
“The Lion King makes me cry whenever I watch it; it makes my dog cry, too.”
Now that we know about independent and dependent clauses and the different type of sentences we can create
with them, let’s take a look at HOW we can combine them correctly:
Simple sentence:
IC.
Compound sentence:
CC =Coordinating
Conjunction:
FOR
BUT
AND
NOR
SO
YET
OR
IC
, cc
IC.
IC
;
IC.
IC
.
IC.
Complex sentence:
IC
DC
DC.
,
IC.
Note: Dependent clauses often begin with a SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTION such as:
Before, after, because, since, when, while, although, as, if, whenever, in case, though, even if, wherever, whether,
unless, until, so that
Think for a second about what these words do and why they might be called “subordinating conjunctions.” They
make the clause they’re a part of SUBORDINATE to (that is, secondary to) some other part of the sentence. Just like
a private in the military is subordinate to his captain and can’t act without the captain’s orders, a subordinate
clause also can’t function without an independent clause to give it meaning. A subordinate clause is another name
for a DEPENDENT clause; it DEPENDS on some other part of the sentence for its meaning. When you start a
sentence with “Before I go to bed tonight…” or “While I was at the mall yesterday…” it’s clear you need to add
something (an independent clause!) in order for your statement to make sense.