Download Parts of Speech - GS Lakie Middle School

Name: _______________________
Parts of Speech
All the words in our language have been divided into eight groups. These word groups are
called the parts of speech. Each part of speech includes words that are used in the same
way in a sentence.
Understanding Our Language
8 Things You Should Know! (Parts of speech at a glance.)
1. Nouns name a person, place, thing, or idea. (Bill, billboard)
2. Pronouns are used in place of nouns. (I, me, you)
3. Verbs express action or state of being. (is, are, run, jump)
4. Adjectives describe a noun or pronoun. (tall, quiet, neat)
5. Adverbs tell something about a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. (gently,
easily, fast)
6. Prepositions show how a noun is related to some other word in the sentence. (on,
near, over)
7. Interjections show emotion or surprise. (Wow, Oh, Yikes!)
8. Conjunctions connect words or groups of words. (and, or, because)
1. Nouns
A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea.
Person
Maria, friend, Josh, parent
Place
home, Lethbridge, city, backyard
Thing
basketball, homework, secret
Idea
happiness, trouble, friendship
Exercise 1: Circle or underline the nouns in each sentence.
1. Champlain was a famous explorer and mapmaker from France.
2. Courage is necessary, fear is natural.
3. Yousuf Karsh, a Canadian photographer, has photographed many celebrities.
4. Rick Mercer is the creator of The Rick Mercer Report.
5. The greatest library of the ancient world was in Alexandria, Egypt.
6. Arcade Fire is a successful Canadian band from Montreal.
7. Thomas Crapper invented many parts of the modern toilet.
8. Terry Fox, a runner who lost a leg to cancer, ran 5342 kilometers across Canada.
9. The Halifax Gazette was the first newspaper in Canada.
10. The airport in Calgary was closed due to a storm.
11. Winnipeg is a city on the Red River.
12. Icarus flew too near the sun.
13. Anger won’t solve the problem.
14. They have promised their children a trip to Disneyland.
15. Superb is a town in the province of Saskatchewan.
16. Emily Carr painted the forests of British Columbia.
17. Kindness is its own reward.
18. Are myths true stories?
19. The maze at Crete held a monster.
20. Ideas come into my head at night.
Common and Proper Nouns
A common noun is the general name or a person, place, thing, or idea. Common
nouns are not capitalized.
A proper noun is the specific name of a person, place, thing, or idea. Proper
nouns are always capitalized.
Common Nouns
Proper Nouns
woman
Taylor Swift
fort
Fort Whoop Up
mountains
the Rocky Mountains
team
Saskatchewan Roughriders
park
Waterton Lakes National Park
Exercise 2: Underline the common nouns and circle the proper nouns in each sentence.
1. London, Ontario is close to the border between Canada and the United States.
2. Do you remember the story about Scrooge and Tiny Tim?
3. Canmore is a town in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta.
4. In Canada, the weather is a favourite topic of conversation.
5. The Great Sphinx is the most famous monument in Egypt.
Exercise 3: Write a common noun suggested by each proper noun.
1. Brazil _______________________
6. Alexander Graham Bell __________
2. The Hunger Games _____________
7. North America ________________
3. Nova Scotia __________________
8. December ___________________
4. Pacific ______________________
9. Toronto _____________________
5. Dr. Seuss ____________________
10. Rocky Mountains _______________
Exercise 4: Write a proper noun suggested by each common noun.
1. Continent ____________________
6. building _____________________
2. mountain ____________________
7. month ______________________
3. hotel _______________________
8. prime minister ________________
4. hero ________________________
9. web site _____________________
5. inventor ____________________
10. musician _____________________
Uses of Nouns
A subject noun is a noun that does something or is being talked about.
Josh told Maria the secret. (The noun Josh did something: told the secret.)
An object noun receives the action of the verb or names the person to whom
something is done.
Josh told Maria the secret. (The secret is what is told, and Maria is whom it is told to.)
Exercise 5: Underline subject nouns and circle object nouns in each sentence.
1. Mark played basketball.
2. Doug and Dave washed and waxed the car.
3. Julie read a book and ate a box of chocolates.
4. Bob and Jan drank coffee and ate donuts.
5. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Collective Nouns
Nouns can be singular (name one person, place thing or idea) or plural (name more than
one person, place, thing or idea).
Singular note, paper, friend, hope
Plural
notes, papers, friends, hopes
A collective noun is a noun that is singular in form, but refers to a collection of things
or persons. Collective nouns can be confusing to use properly in a sentence, because
they require a singular verb.
A herd of cows is grazing on my lawn.
In this example, it is one herd, so it is grazing (rather than “they are grazing.”)
Exercise 6: Write a collective noun to describe the following collections.
1. birds _______________________
6. soldiers _____________________
2. musicians ____________________
7. whales ______________________
3. hockey players ________________
8. listeners ____________________
4. lions ________________________
9. employees ___________________
5. students in school ______________
10. baby kittens __________________
Exercise 7: Write meaningful sentences using the collective nouns in brackets.
Remember to use a singular verb. Choose five.
1. (crowd) ________________________________________________________
2. (jury) _________________________________________________________
3. (swarm) ________________________________________________________
4. (collection) _____________________________________________________
5. (gang) _________________________________________________________
6. (bundle) ________________________________________________________
7. (committee) _____________________________________________________
8. (bunch) ________________________________________________________
9. (league) ________________________________________________________
10. (band) _________________________________________________________
11. (family) ________________________________________________________
12. (community) _____________________________________________________
2. Pronouns
A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun.
Carla dropped her lunch tray.
She dropped her lunch tray. (She is a pronoun that replaces the noun Carla.)
Just like nouns, pronouns can be the subject of the sentence or the object
of the sentence.
Subject
A subject pronoun is used as the subject of a sentence.
I can never remember jokes. (Singular subject pronoun)
Pronouns
They really make people laugh. (Plural subject pronoun)
Singular I, you, he, she, it
Plural
we, you, they
Object
An object pronoun is used after an action verb or preposition.
Mr. Newman teases me. (Me comes after the action verb teases.)
Pronouns
My friends made a funny card for him. (Him is the object for whom the
card was made.)
Singular me, you, him, her, it
Plural
us, you, them
Possessive A possessive pronoun shows ownership.
Jackie finished writing her story.
Pronouns
The idea for it was mine.
(my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, their, theirs)
Indefinite An indefinite pronoun does not name the word it replaces.
Somebody needs to videotape the practice.
Pronouns
MR. NEWMAN’S TOTALLY AWESOME PRONOUN TIP!
Usually you can choose which pronoun is correct simply because it sounds right:
Don’t give up on (I, me).
But sometimes it is tricky to decide whether to use a subject pronoun or an object
pronoun:
Jon threw snowballs at Megan and (I, me).
Becky sang a song to Winston and (she, her).
Susan and (I, me) are going to the movie.
Here’s the trick…Leave out the other person, and you’ll be able to “hear” which
pronoun to use!
Jon threw snowballs at Megan and (I, me).
Becky sang a song to Winston and (she, her).
Susan and (I, me) are am going to the movie. (In order for this one to work, you have to
change the verb to the singular form.)
Now it’s easy to “hear” which pronoun to use!
Exercise 8: Circle each correct pronoun.
1. Stephanie spoke to Erik and (I, me) about it.
2. He will let (I, me) know when he finds out.
3. Please bring Anna and (I, me) some cool water.
4. Mr. Newman praised (her, hers) essay.
5. Carla and (he, him) were late today.
6. (She, Her) wrote this poem.
7. I don’t believe I can communicate with (they, them).
8. Desmond and (I, me) were playing badminton.
9. Mona took Doug and (we, us) to work.
10. He told Frank and (she, her) about the problem.
11. Don’t you think (someone, us) should help?
12. Laura and (I, me) are giving the chocolates to Ben and (she, her).
Exercise 9: Write sentences using the following pronouns:
1. theirs _________________________________________________________
2. you and I _______________________________________________________
3. you and me ______________________________________________________
4. them __________________________________________________________
5. anyone _________________________________________________________
6. me and him _____________________________________________________
7. she and I _______________________________________________________
8. my ____________________________________________________________
3. Verbs
A verb is a word that expresses action, being, or state of being
Pat went to the store.
A action verb is a verb that expresses action.
The track star ran fast
Exercise 10: Circle the action verb is each sentence.
1. Watch your favourite TV show.
2. Andrea carefully checked her new smartphone.
3. Jason, prove your courage.
4. A wood fire burned in the huge fireplace.
5. This button fell from my sweater.
6. The Lakie Gators played basketball around the city.
7. The musicians practised for the concert.
8. The waves dashed the light boat against the rocks.
9. A sentence expresses a complete thought.
10. Everybody enjoys camping in the summer.
11. This long, narrow trail leads to the mountaintop.
12. It snowed almost every day in February.
13. We hiked along the trail through the Rockies.
Exercise 11: Replace the underlined verb with more vivid verbs.
1. Diana ate ______________________ a sandwich.
2. The eagle was ______________________ near her nest.
3. Early settlers had ______________________ many hardships.
4. The boy fell ______________________ to the valley floor.
5. We walked ______________________ along the beach for an hour.
6. The dishes broke ______________________ during the earthquake.
The tense of a verb tells the time of the action or being.
Present
Tells about what is happening now.
Mirna is busy. She studies hard.
tense
Past
Tells about something that happened before.
Denver was sick yesterday.
tense
Present
Tells about something that will happen. The auxiliary (helping)
tense
verbs will and shall are used in future tense.
Gayle will take the test tomorrow. I shall keep my word.
Exercise 12: Complete each sentence using a verb in the tense shown.
1. (future) Pierre ________________________ tomorrow.
2. (future) Kai ________________________ her up at the airport.
3. (past) We ________________________ into the brook yesterday.
4. (past) Karl ________________________ reservations for tomorrow night.
5. (present) Andrea ________________________ my friend.
6. (future) We ________________________ a poem about courage.
7. (present) I ________________________ very excited about Jean’s visit.
8. (past) Margaret ________________________ Toby last week.
9. (present) Juan ________________________ his birthday.
10. (present) Beth ________________________ her dog.
Exercise 13: Write present, past, or future for each underlined verb.
1. Classes will end next month.
________________________
2. We studied hard yesterday.
________________________
3. Final exams will start soon.
________________________
4. I review every evening.
________________________
5. This method worked at midterm.
________________________
6. I got A’s on my tests then.
________________________
7. Millie studies with me.
________________________
8. We will study every evening this week.
________________________
9. I hardly studied last year.
________________________
10. My grades showed it, too.
________________________
Subject-Verb Agreement
Singular subjects require singular verbs, and plural subjects require plural
verbs.
TIP: To check if you have subject-verb agreement, find your subject and
circle just the word (or words) that forms the subject.
Singular
subject,
singular
verb
Plural
subject,
plural
verb
Collective
noun,
singular
verb
Allison spread the photos on the floor.
The dog plays with a stick.
Her grandmother and her uncle were born in Vancouver.
My family speaks several languages.
***Special Situation***
When a phrase containing a plural noun separates a singular subject and a
verb, the verb is singular.
The proper treatment of diseases is very important.
NOT
The proper treatment of diseases are very important.
Exercise 14: Circle the subject(s) and underline the verbs. Write “yes” if they agree,
and “no” if they do not agree. If they do not agree, correct the sentence.
1. The cat were a symbol of good luck. _____
2. The team play ball every Friday evening. _____
3. The internment of Japanese Canadians during the War was wrong. _____
4. The collection of photos were extremely impressive. _____