Download Parts of Speech:

Parts of Speech:
I. Nouns:
Noun: A word that names a person, place, thing, or idea
Examples: Michael Jackson, Red Mango, book, freedom
A) Common or Proper--Common: A general name for a person, place, thing or idea. It's usually not capitalized.
Ex: singer, store, lake, month
-Proper: The name of a particular person, place, thing or idea. It's always capitalized.
Ex: John Mayer, Stop & Shop, Lake George, June
B) Concrete or Abstract--Concrete: Names an object that can be seen, heard, smelled, touched, or tasted (uses the
five senses).
Ex: book, bell, flower, sand, apple
-Abstract: Names an idea, quality, or state (of mind).
Ex: independence, curiosity, pride, sadness
C) Singular or Plural--Singular: One person, place, thing, or idea.
Ex: city, foot, student
-Plural: More than one person, place, thing, or idea.
Ex: cities, feet, students
*All nouns are either common or proper, concrete or abstract, and singular or plural (each
noun is one from each category)
D) Other Nouns--Collective Noun: Refers to a group of people or things. Is singular (just one), but refers to
a group as a single unit or as a number of individuals.
Ex: class, crowd, team, club, staff, family, audience
-Compound Noun: Is made up of two or more words. It may be written as one word,
separate words, or as a hyphenated word.
Ex: one word—airplane, sunlight, and keyboard. Separate words—rain forest, parking lot,
and City Hall. Hyphenated words—mother-in-law, runner-up, and fade-out.
-Possessive Noun: Shows ownership or relationship. An apostrophe is used with nouns to
show possession.
Ex: the singer’s outfit (ownership), the singer’s aunt (relationship)
II. Pronouns:
Pronoun: A word used in place of a noun or another pronoun—the word that replaces a noun
without specifying a name. The word that a pronoun stands for or in which it refers to is called its
antecedent.
Example: Ray said he wanted musical talents to audition for the play.
*An antecedent can consist of more than one word, and it may appear in an earlier
sentence.
Example: Chris and I auditioned together. We both got lead parts.
A) Personal Pronouns—
-Possessive: Show ownership or relationship (like nouns)
Ex: Sonia delivered her famous monologue.
-Singular: I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it
 Possessive: my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its
-Plural: We, us, you, they, them
 Possessive: our, ours, your, yours, their, theirs
B) Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns—
-Reflexive: Reflects action back upon the subject and adds information to the sentencerefers to the subject of the sentence. *A reflexive pronoun must have an antecedent.
Ex: Donna prepared herself for a long day.
-Intensive: Adds emphasis to a noun or a pronoun in the same sentence--emphasizes the
word to which it refers.
Ex: The wait itself would take hours
-Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns:
 Singular—myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself
 Plural—ourselves, yourselves, themselves
C) Demonstrative Pronouns—
-Demonstrative: Points out specific persons, places, things, or ideas. They allow you to
indicate whether the things you are pointing out are relatively near in time or space or
farther away. They replace a noun. Demonstrative Pronouns are: this, these, that, and
those.
D) Indefinite Pronouns—
-Indefinite: Does not refer to a specific person, place, or thing. An indefinite pronoun
usually does not have an antecedent.
Singular
Plural
Singular or Plural
Another, anybody, anything, each, either,
everybody, everyone, everything, much,
neither, nobody, no one, nothing, one,
somebody, someone, something
Both, few, many, several
All, any, more, most, none, some
E) Interrogative and Relative Pronouns—
-Interrogative: Is used to ask a question
Ex: What is your favorite song?
*Interrogative Pronouns: Who, whom, whose, which, what
-Relative: Is used to introduce subordinate clauses.
Ex: The seats that the students asked for were unavailable.
*Relative Pronouns: Who, whom, whose, which, that
III. Verbs:
Verb: Expresses an action, a condition, or state of being. The two main types: action and linking
verbs.
*Every sentence must have two parts: a subject and a predicate
1) Subject—tells who or what the sentence is about. Is a noun or a pronoun.
2) Predicate—tells what the subject is or does. The verb is found in the predicate.
A) Action Verbs--Action: A verb that expresses action-this may be physical or mental. The action verb tells
what the subject does (jump, kiss, laugh).
Examples:
The band marches onto the field. (physical)
The mobsters broke Irving’s kneecaps. (physical)
The audience expects a great performance. (mental)
Some people worry about the smallest things. (mental)
*Two kinds of action verbs—
1) Transitive Verbs: Have a direct object (a person or thing that receives the action)
2) Intransitive Verbs: Do not have a direct object
Examples:
Danny plays the trumpet like a professional.
The boss dropped the ball.
The workers picked it up.
Transitive Verbs
He travels around the country with the other musicians.
Who called?
Icicles dripped from his voice.
Intransitive Verbs
B) Linking Verbs--Linking: A verb that connects or links a subject to a predicate (what the subject is or does).
*They do not show action-they help the words at the end of the sentence name and describe the
subject. They express a state of being.
There are two groups of linking verbs: forms of to be and verbs that express condition. *If there
is no other verb form after a to be or condition verb, then you know it's a linking verb.
Examples:
The instruments are safe in the bus. (forms of to be)
The students seemed bored during the long trip. (condition)
*Forms of to be: is, am, are, was, were, have/has been, were/was being
*Verbs that Express Condition: Look, smell, feel, sound, taste, grow, appear, become, seem,
remain
Action Verbs
Linking Verbs
We felt the seat cushions.
They felt dry.
We tasted the popcorn.
It tasted salty.
*If you can substitute is, are, was, or were for a verb, you know it is a linking verb. Or, if you can
substitute an = sign (and it still makes sense), it is a linking verb.
Example:
The kids looked sad.
(are/were)
The kids=sad
C) Auxiliary Verbs--Auxiliary: Also called helping verbs-they are combined with verbs to form verb phrases-added
to another verb to make the meaning clearer.
A verb phrase may be used to express a particular tense of a verb (the time referred to) or to
indicate that an action is directed at the subject.
Helping verbs include any forms of to be.
Examples:
The stadium is filled to capacity.
We should have a seat for Jeff.
-Common Auxiliary Verbs: Be, can, have, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would
*Some of these auxiliary verbs can also be used as main verbs.
Example:
Sandra has a pair of Conga drums at home. (main)
She has practiced her drumming all summer. (auxiliary)
*"Has" stands alone in the first sentence and is a helping verb in the second.
IV. Adjectives:
Adjectives: Describe or modify the meaning of a noun or pronoun.
*They give our writing and speech flavor.
Adjectives answer the questions, "What kind?" "Which one?" "How much?" and "How many?"
Example:
We saw the famous singer at the legendary Carnegie Hall.
*Some examples (page 17):
What Kind?
famous song
squeaky noise
green light
Which One?
this star
that way
these words
How Many?
one dollar
three tenors
several years
How Much?
some music
more room
less energy
A) Articles--Articles: The most common adjectives are the articles a, an, and the (only these three).
*A and an are indefinite articles that refer to one of a general group of people, places, things, or
ideas.
*The is the definite article that usually refers to a specific person, place, thing, or idea.
Indefinite Articles—
A student volunteered.
Jesse brought an itinerary.
Definite Article—
The teacher arrived.
Phil borrowed the camera for her.
B) Proper Adjectives--Proper Adjectives: Are formed from proper nouns.
*They are capitalized and often end in: -n, -an, -ian, -ese, and -ish.
Examples:
American artists perform in the international countries.
California vegetables are the freshest around.
Mexican food is my favorite.
-More Examples:
Proper Nouns:
Proper Adjectives:
Portugal
Egypt
North America
Portuguese
Egyptian
North American
V. Adverbs:
Adverbs: Describe or modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
*Adverbs answer the questions, "When?" "Where?" "How?" and "To What Extent?" For example:
Where:
The student orchestra stopped here during a national tour.
When:
Will they be returning soon?
How:
Everyone played magnificently.
To What Extent:
The auditorium was completely full.
Other Examples:
We instantly recognized Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
The famous notes rang out quite clearly.
*Many adverbs are formed by adding the ending -ly to an adjective-this makes recognizing an
adverb fairly easy. Sometimes the spelling changes because of this addition.
Examples:
true + -ly=truly
possible + -ly=possibly
Although many adverbs end in -ly, there are many that do not. Other commonly used adverbs
that do not end in -ly are:
afterward
already
also
back
even
far
fast
forth
hard
instead
late
long
low
more
near
next
not
now
often
slow
sometimes
still
straight
then
today
tomorrow
too
yet
-Intensifier: Is an adverb that defines the degree of an adjective or another adverb. They always
come before the adjectives or adverbs they are modifying.
Example:
We were rather surprised that classical music is very popular.
Intensifiers:
extremely
just
more
most
near
nearly
only
quite
rather
really
so
somewhat
too
truly
very
VI. Prepositions:
Preposition: Show the relationship between a noun or a pronoun and another word in a
sentence. A preposition links a noun or pronoun to another word.
*Tips:
-A noun always follows a preposition.
-They express relationships of location, direction, or time.
-If a preposition does not have an object, it is not being used as a preposition!
 A preposition and an object, along with any other words in between, create a
prepositional phrase. Every preposition is part of a prepositional phrase, or it's not being used as
a preposition. A sentence may have more than one prepositional phrase.
Examples:
Many early jazz bands played in New Orleans.
The sounds came from a radio.
Musicians traveled to other large cities.
During the 1920s, jazz swept the country.
*Be familiar with the prepositions listed on page 23 in the grammar book.