Download What is a noun? What is a pronoun? What is a verb?

Grade 7 LA Parts of Speech Review
Student Notes
What is a noun?
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A noun is a word that names a person, place, or thing.
In a sentence, nouns answer the questions who and what. Example: The dog ran after the ball. In this sentence,
there are two nouns, dog and ball.
A noun may be concrete (something you can touch, see, etc.), like the nouns in the example above, or a noun
may be an abstract idea, as in this sentence: She possesses integrity.
Examples of Nouns:
Person
Amy (P)
police man
girl
father
Place
Chicago (P)
city
ocean
barnyard
Thing
house
ship
summer
cat
Abstract Quality
love
dream
fear
honesty
 Proper nouns name a particular, specific person, place or thing as in this sentence: Thanksgiving is in October
every year. Proper nouns always begin with a capital letter. All other nouns are called common nouns.
What is a pronoun?
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A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun in a sentence. Example: Sandy was bored so she decided to
go to a movie.
The noun that the pronoun replaces is called its antecedent.
Example:
Antecedent Noun
Marsha
Teacher
Cats
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Possible pronouns
she, her, herself
he, his, himself
they, them, themselves
Other pronouns include: it, me, mine, our, ours, you, yours, someone, something, etc.
What is a verb?
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Usually a verb is a word that shows action such as: Tom ran away from the bully.
However, some verbs are non-action (linking) verbs that describe a state of being: Tom was safe.
Examples:
juggle
think
crash
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Action Verbs
predict
laugh
growl
swim
choose
borrow
is
was
Non-action or Being Verbs
seem
appear
are
were
become
am
There may be multiple verbs one a sentence. Example: She turned the key and opened the door.
There may be a verb phrase consisting of a verb plus a helping verb. Example:Jackson was studying.
When verbs express an action, the tense of the verb is used to show when an action takes place: past, present,
future.
Examples:
Present
I live in Airdrie now.
Pete rides bikes with friends.
The dog barks at cars.
Past
I lived in Calgary last year.
He rode in the parade in July.
Last night, the dog barked at the moon.
Future
I shall live many places in my life.
Pete will ride again next year.
Tomorrow, he will likely bark at cats.
LA 7 Student Notes
Nouns, Pronouns, and Verbs: Singular and Plural
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Singular means one; Plural means any number over one
Nouns usually show plural by simply adding an „s‟ eg: one car(singular); four cars (plural)
o Nouns may also show plural by adding „es‟( or „ies‟ if the word ends in a „y‟) eg: one witch; two witches or
one family; two families
o Some nouns are the exception and their plural is a totally different word. Eg; one mouse; two mice
o General rules
Nouns
Plural
Examples
Most nouns
add s
book, books; cup, cups; sprout, sprouts
Most nouns that end in ch, sh, s, x, or z
add es
box, boxes; bus, buses; prize, prizes
Most nouns that end in a vowel and y
add s
boy, boys; day, days; key, keys
Most nouns that end in a consonant and y
y becomes ies
baby, babies; country, countries; spy, spies
Most nouns that end in f or fe
f or fe becomes ves elf, elves; loaf, loaves; thief, thieves
Most nouns that end in o
add s
Certain nouns that end in a consonant and o add es
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kangaroo, kangaroos; piano, pianos; video, videos
hero, heroes; potato, potatoes; volcano, volcanoes
Pronouns show plural with a different word
Pronoun singular
Plural
I, he, she
we, they
her, him
them
**you (same word for sing. and plural) you
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mine
ours
your
yours
Verbs show plural depending on the noun that is doing the action and they form plurals in the opposite way from
nouns; to form a plural verb, you drop the „s‟ eg: He wants. They want.
Subject (noun or pronoun)
boy or boys
horse or horses
Verb
run
prance
child or children
He or they
is
smell
Example
The boy runs. (Singular)
The boys run. (plural)
A beautiful horse prances in the ring. (sing.)
Three beautiful horses prance in the ring. (plural)
A child is a gift .(sing.) Children are gifts. (plural)
He smells the apple pie. (sing.) They smell the apple
pie. (plural)
LA 7 Student Notes
What is an adjective?
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An adjective is a word that modifies (changes), or describes a noun.
Adjectives may precede nouns, or they may appear after a form of the verb to be (am, are, is, was, etc.).
Example 1: We live in the old, white house. Both adjectives (old, white) describe the noun (house).
Example 2: That girl is tall for her age. The adjective (tall) appears after the verb (is) but still describes the noun (girl).
Adjectives may be used to compare two or more nouns as shown in the examples below.
Adjective
strong
funny
beautiful
No Comparison
Sue is strong.
Sandy told a funny joke.
Lexi is a beautiful dog.
good
He is a good boy.
Comparative
Sue is stronger than Pat.
Sandy told a funnier joke than Joe.
Lexi is a more beautiful dog than
Rex.
He is a better boy than his brother.
Superlative
Sue is the strongest girl in the class.
Sandy told the funniest joke of all.
Lexi is the most beautiful dog in the
world.
He is the best boy in the family.
Articles are a special kind of adjective and there are only three: a, an, the.
the boy
the dog
the hockey game
‘the’ refers to specific nouns
‘a’ refers to non-specific nouns
and goes before all words that
begin with consonants
‘an’ also refers to non-specific
nouns but goes before all words
that begin with vowels
the school
a boy
a dog
a hockey game
a school
an angry
boy
an ugly dog
an exciting hockey
game
an enormous school
**Important Rule: Adjectives modify only nouns; adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.
What is an adverb?
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Just as adjectives modify nouns, adverbs modify (change) or describe verbs.
Example: He waved wildly to get her attention. The adverb (wildly) modifies the verb(waved).
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Adverbs may also modify adjectives and other adverbs.
Example: The shirt he wore to the party was extremely bright. The adverb ( extremely) modifies the adjective
(bright) which describes the noun (shirt).
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Many, though not all, adverbs end in „ly’.
Adverbs ending in “ly”
Quickly
recklessly
sadly
fortunately
gratefully
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Adverbs not ending in “ly”
now
often
then
soon
there
While nouns answer the questions who and what in a sentence, adverbs answer the questions how, when, how
much, and where.
WHEN?
I did my work yesterday.
Peter spoke up immediately.
Henry moved quickly.
WHERE?
I did my work here.
Sami ran in the hall. (adverb phrase).
Henry moved back.
HOW?
I did my work badly.
Susan shouted rudely.
The dog happily barked.
HOW MUCH?
I barely did my work.
Susan talked constantly.
Henry scarcely moved.
What is an interjection?
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Interjections are words tossed into a sentence that usually express a strong emotion like surprise or pain.
They do not affect the sentence‟s structure and are the least important part of speech; do not overuse them.
Examples: hello, goodbye, hey, oh, Ouch! Wow! Ugh! Great!
What is a preposition?
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A preposition is usually a small word that shows the relationship of a noun (pronoun) to another word in the
sentence. Example: Susan threw the ball to him. The preposition (to) connects the pronoun (him) to the verb
(threw) making an adverb phrase telling where.
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Examples of prepositions:
Preposition Examples
in
on
over
behind
between
up
through
against
Example phrases
in the house
on the square table
over the stone wall
behind the white fence
between them
up the rough road
through a dense wood
against the other team
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A preposition begins a phrase (group of words) that is made up of a preposition and noun (pronoun) and their
modifying adjectives. Example: The horse disappeared into the old red barn. The phrase (into the old red barn)
is made up of a preposition (into), a noun (barn) and adjectives (old, red) describing barn.
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A phrase acts as a unit in a sentence and is either an adverb phrase (modifies a verb) or an adjective phrase
(modifies a noun).
Example: He ran into the deep forest. The phrase (into the deep forest) tells where he ran so it is an adverb.
Example: The book on the table was a biography. The phrase (on the table) tells which book so it is an adjective.
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Here is a list of some of the prepositions in the English language: aboard, about, above, across, after, against,
along, amid, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, by, down, during,
except, for, from, in, into, like, near, of, off, on, onto, out, over, past, since, through, throughout, to, toward, under,
underneath, until, unto, up, upon, with, within, without.
What is a conjunction?
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Conjunctions are joining words. They act like “trailer hitches” and can join sentences or parts of sentences
together.
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There are two types of conjunctions: coordinate conjunctions or subordinate conjunctions
 Coordinate Conjunctions: join words, phrases or sentences of equal value (independent clauses).There
are only 7 coordinate conjunctions – and, but, or, for, nor, yet, so
 Subordinate Conjunctions: join two or more sentences where at least one of the sentences depends on
the other to make sense (dependent clauses). Examples of subordinate conjunctions are: if, because,
until, when, although, since, unless, wherever, etc.
Coordinate Conjunction Examples
The dog and cat race each other to the tree.
The ball rolled over the road and into the trees.
The other kids wanted to go home, but I wanted to stay.
Susan was mad at Cara so she would not answer the phone.
Subordinate Conjunction Examples
Tom agreed to play if he could be the pitcher.
I got an „A‟ on the test because I studied hard.
Although I was scared, I did not quite trying.
Note: An independent clause is a group of words that contains a noun and verb, and can stand alone and expresses
a complete thought. An independent clause is a sentence.
Note: Dependent Clause: A dependent clause cannot stand alone and is a group of words that contains a noun and
verb but does not express a complete thought. A dependent clause cannot be a sentence. Example: When Jim
studied in the library for his chemistry quiz . . . (What happened when he studied? The thought is incomplete.)