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GRAMMAR
PARTS
OF SPEECH
DETERMINERS /
ARTICLES
NOUNS
PRONOUNS
VERBS
ADJECTIVES
PREPOSITIONS
ADVERBS
CONJUNCTIONS
ARTICLES
DETERMINERS
Go before nouns
NOUNS
Name objects,
people and places
PRONOUNS
VERBS
Stand in for
nouns
Describe action
PREPOSITIONS
ADJECTIVES
Describe place
or position
(Where)
Describe nouns
ADVERBS
Qualify verbs
or adjectives
(How)
CONJUNCTIONS
Join parts of
a sentence
Nouns
These are divided into:
 Proper nouns
- names of people, places or things. (e.g.
Wellington, Pink, Massey High
School)
 Concrete nouns – things which exist (e.g. car, school, house,
shell)
 Abstract nouns – things which cannot be seen or touched.
Ideas, attitudes or emotions. (e.g. love
sorrow, idealism, loyalty)
 Collective nouns – used for referring to groups of things
(e.g. a fleet of ships, a gaggle of geese, a
herd of cows)
Determiners or Articles
There are 2 types of determiner or article:
Definite article = the
Indefinite article = a, an, some
e.g. Put the books on the desk in the room – this refers to a definite,
specific, certain desk.
Put the books on a desk in the room – this is an indefinite,
unspecified, uncertain desk.
You can test to see if a word is a noun by putting an article (or
determiner) in front of it.
Nouns beginning with vowels (a,e,i,o and u) must have an in front of
them… e.g. An apple, an ice-cream, an umbrella. While nouns beginning
with consonants can have a before them… e.g. A banana, a car, a
student.
If an article (the, a, an, some…) can be used in front of the word then that word is
probably a noun.
e.g. the house (noun) but the under (not a noun)
an apple (noun) but a smiling (not a noun)
some anger (noun) but some violent (not a noun)
Pronouns
These words replace nouns.
e.g. John bought the book for his wife and he gave it to her.
What if we didn’t have pronouns? Consider this little story….
David’s mother reminded David to go and brush David’s teeth before David
left for school. David’s mother asked David if David had packed David’s
lunch. Then David and David’s sister Jenny walked to the bus stop
where David and Jenny were joined by David and Jenny’s friends.
Replace the words in bold with the correct pronoun. Rewrite the sentence to do
this.
Adjectives
Adjectives describe nouns.
They add information to nouns or modify them.
e.g. A black cat. A tall man. A dark, threatening sky.
Pre modifiers are adjectives before the noun. e.g. The long, dusty road
stretched for miles.
Post modifiers are adjectives after the noun. e.g. The road, long and
dusty, stretched for miles.
It is possible to have too many adjectives in a sentence.
e.g. The great big, huge, ugly, scary monster chased me.
Sometimes less is more! Choose your adjectives carefully!
Types of adjectives…
Some describe … green hat, brave woman, happy cat.
Some tell us how much or how many … little money, some
sunshine, lots of bread….
Some are numerals… ten fish, the second runner, all men..
Some demonstrate ….this book, that car, these people…
Some are possessive (owned) my room, her motorbike,
their uniforms.
Some are ‘proper’ (names) a French woman, my English
class, the Massey way.
Adverbs
Adverbs describe verbs. They add to them!
These are the HOW words we use in sentences. They give more
information to the reader, telling us how the action was done.
Many of them end in ly but NOT ALL!
e.g. He walks quickly. Some people talk slowly. They played happily.
BUT there are other HOW words too….
e.g. They ran fast. They shop often. The girl fell hard.
Adverbs can also add more meaning to adjectives –
e.g. A very good essay. A fairly easy job. Too hot.
Or other adverbs – The car moved quite slowly.
Conjunctions
These are joining words.
They join words, phrases and sentences. Some conjunctions are:
and, because, but, if, although, whereas, until, when, so, for, as, or….
e.g. John and Jim went although they didn’t have to because they
were not needed.
We went to the shop to buy drinks but we didn’t have enough
money.
The bus made it up the hill but broke down on the other side.
Sometimes the conjunction comes at the beginning of the sentence!
e.g. Although they didn’t want to, Kate and Lina washed the dishes.
Because they were late, Alan and Paul got a detention.
Prepositions
Tell us where things are!
(POSITION)
They connect nouns (or pronouns) and other words.
Below the window. Beside the desk. Under the umbrella.
Or where things are going…. To the shops, from the beach
Some examples are:
To, from, at, on, under, below, past, for, beside, around, with, opposite..
e.g. She went down the road in the car with her brother to the shop
beside the bridge.
Verbs
Lights….camera…..ACTION!!!
Verbs are ACTION words.
The athlete jumped
The bus stopped
Horses gallop
These are the doing word verbs with which we are all familiar.
There are other verbs – irregular verbs – which are the most commonly
used ones:
I am happy.
Are you sorry?
We were late.
She is gorgeous.
Its all about timing…….
Verbs tell us WHEN things happen.
Past – We laughed
We were laughing
Present – We are laughing
We laugh
Future – We will laugh
We will be laughing
There are also verbs called auxiliaries. Auxiliary really means to be
added to…so these are words that add something – usually tense –
to the verb
e.g. I have seen the light!
Can you answer the question?
She will feel better tomorrow.
Auxiliary verbs are: may, might, shall, will, should, can, could, would,
have, had, has…
Finite Verbs
Verbs with the word ‘to’ in front of them are infinite…. They can be
changed, e.g. to walk, to eat, to walk, to become etc. These can all
be changed into an infinite number of forms when we give them a
subject and a tense.
For example: I am walking. She is writing. He seems annoyed. These
are finite sentences because they involve people and an action in
time (subject and tense).
Most present tense verbs end in ing e.g. walking, looking, running,
being.
Past tense verbs often end in ed walked, looked. BUT some don’t, e.g.
ran, been.
Future tense usually involves an auxiliary verb. e.g. I will be walking
tomorrow
Finite and non finite verbs
• Every sentence has a finite verb. This is the verb which belongs to
the subject. They can stand on their own and they give the tense.
• When the verb is incomplete it is nonfinite and needs to have other
verbs (auxiliaries) to make sense.
• e.g. The girls staring
doesn’t make sense so staring is a nonfinite
verb – it’s not finished it needs more (an auxiliary like are for
example.
• But The girls stared
does make sense so stared is a finite verb
– it doesn’t need other bits attached to make sense.
Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
A verb that takes an object is called a transitive verb. If there is no object the
verb is intransitive.
Verbs have a subject (a doer of the action). Sometimes the verb also has an
object (something that has the action done to it)
e.g. You play. Play = verb, you = subject or ‘doer’ of the action.
Play is therefore an intransitive verb – (no object).
You play the guitar. The guitar is the object that is played.
Play is now a transitive verb because it ‘takes’ an object.
Find the subject and the object (if there is one) in the following sentences:
1/ He sucks his thumb.
2/ The bird warbled it’s song.
3/ We voted for you.
4/ Jim wrote a letter to Mr Jones
5/ Mike flew the kite high in the air. 6/ Waterfalls fall.
The verbs are underlined. Are they transitive or intransitive?
1
The heron flew.
transitive / intransitive
2
The printer spewed paper.
transitive / intransitive
3
I spread the jam on my toast.
transitive / intransitive
4
Waves curl over.
transitive / intransitive
5
Write a sentence with a transitive verb.
6
Write a sentence with an intransitive verb.
Sentences
A complete sentence has a finite verb.
“Running down the street.”
This is NOT a complete sentence because it does NOT have a finite
verb – it has no place in time. Is it past, present or future?
WHO or WHAT was running down the street? We don’t know.
“Aroha was running down the street”
This IS a complete sentence because we know WHO is running
(Aroha) and we know when because ‘was’ (the auxiliary) gives us
the tense or time – past.
“I can see a horse running down the street.”
This is also a complete sentence because we know what was running
and we know when – right now, in the present!
More on sentences….
When we are speaking we often speak in unfinished sentences…
e.g. “Going to Rarotonga these holidays?” If a sentence has pieces
missing but can still be understood, it is a minor sentence.
HOWEVER we don’t usually use these in writing – more in speech.
If you are using speech in your writing then it is fine to use minor
sentences.
If a sentence has parts missing and cannot be understood it is called
INCOMPLETE. e.g “Are you getting a….?”
In writing we need to use complete sentences UNLESS we
are using direct speech.
“Well I declare….!”
Declarative sentences are just saying something. Declaring it.
e.g. “I am going to physio after school.”
“I have a letter to post.”
Interrogative sentences are asking or ‘interrogating’
e.g. “Are you going to physio after school?”
“Have you posted that letter yet?”
Imperatives give orders!
e.g. “Go to physio after school!”
“Post the letter!”