Download Grammar Definitions

NAME_________________________________________________________________PERIOD________________
Part of Speech
Definition
NOUN
N
A person, place, thing,
or idea.
Tom, girl, California,
watch, happiness.
A noun is the name of any thing
As school, or garden, hoop, or swing.
ADJECTIVE
ADJ
Words that modify or
describe nouns.
The red (apple), a
clean (car), one
gigantic (house),
She, it, he, they, us,
me I, his, hers, yours
Adjectives describe the kind of noun
As great, small pretty, white, or brown.
PRONOUN
PRO
VERBS
AV action
LV linking
Helping Verbs
HV
ADVERBS
ADV
CONJUNCTIONS
CON
PREPOSITION
PREP
INTERJECTION
INT
Takes the place of a
noun.
Verbs show action or
state of being (how
things are). State of
being verbs are called
linking verbs.
Some verbs help other
main verbs.
Might have been
running, could have
had, should have gone.
Examples
Instead of nouns, Pronouns fit
As he, me, you, they and it.
Run, sing,
Is, was, were, tastes,
feels, smells
is, am, are, was, were,
be, being, been,
do, did, does,
has, have, had,
may, might, must,
shall, will, should,
would, could, can
Happily, slowly, now,
well, very, really, not,
always…
Adverbs modify verbs,
adjectives or other
adverbs. They often
end in ly and tell
when, when, how, how
much, how long, to
what extent.
Words that join words And, or, nor, but,
or groups of words
because, so, if,
together.
although, when, while,
Correlative
conjunctions
are used together:
neither..nor, either..or,
both and
Shows position or
Aboard, about, above,
relationship. Begins a below, in, out, down,
prepositional phrase.
by, from, to, like, on,
since, up, until….
Words that express
emotion or surprise.
Not grammatically
part of the sentence.
Memory Helper
OUCH! Yikes, Darn,
oops, hey, please, no,
wow.
Verbs tell of something being done,
To read, write, count, sing, jump, or run.
Memorize these!
How, when and where the Adverbs tell,
As slowly, near, now, then and well.
Conjunctions join the words together,
As men and women, wind or weather.
Prepositions come before
A noun, as in or through a door.
Prepositions are almost always followed by
some kind of noun.
The interjection shows surprise,
As Oh, how pretty, and Ah, how wise.
SEVEN USES OF THE NOUN OR PRONOUN
(Other grammar lingo you need to know!)
The SUBJECT of a sentence is the noun or pronoun that the sentence is about.
 The HOUSE is yellow.
The PREDICATE NOMINATIVE /PREDICATE NOUN is a noun or pronoun that follows a linking verb and
refers to the subject.
 The man is a DOCTOR.
The APPOSITIVE is a noun or pronoun that refers to another noun in the sentence, and is usually set off by
commas.
 Manuel, the owner, bought the store last year.

(the owner is the appositive and refers to the noun, Manuel)
The DIRECT OBJECT is a noun or pronoun that receives the action expressed by the verb, and answers the
question”Who?” or “What?” after the action verb.
 The boy hit the ball.
(Ball is the direct object and received the action from the verb. Ball
answers the question, “What?”)
The INDIRECT OBJECT of the verb is a noun or pronoun that precedes (comes before) the direct object and
tells TO WHOM OR FOR WHOM the action is done.
 Please give me the book. ( ME is the indirect object. It tells TO WHOM the book is given.)
 If the word “to” or “for” is used, the noun or pronoun is no longer an indirect object, but rather
part of a prepositional phrase. (Give the book to me.)
The OBJECT OF THE PREPOSTION is the noun or pronoun that ends a prepositional phrase.
 I went TO THE STORE (To the store is the prepositional phrase. Store is the object of the
preposition—to.
The NOUN OF DIRECT ADDRESS is the person in a sentence who is being spoken to. This noun is usually set
off by a comma.
 John, have you seen my brother?
A SHORT LIST OF PREPOSITIONS
Aboard
About
Above
Across
After
Against
Along
Amid
Among
Around
At
Before
behind
below
beneath
beside
between
beyond
but (except)
by
down
during
except
for
from
in
into
like
near
of
off
on
over
past
since
through
throughout
to
toward
under
underneath
until
unto
up
upon
with
within
without