Download Parts of Speech, Phrases, and Clauses

Parts of Speech
 Words in the English language are divided up into eight
categories called parts of speech based on their function.
 The eight parts of speech are
Noun—person, place, thing, or idea
Pronoun—a word that takes the place of a noun
Adjective—a word that describes a noun or pronoun
Verb—an action word
Adverb—a word that describes a verb, adjective or other
adverb
 Conjunction—a word that links words, phrases, or clauses
together
 Preposition—a word that describes position
 Interjection—a word that is uttered in surprise or pain
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The parts of speech in action
 In the following sentence, the parts of speech are
labeled:
 James ran down the street and waved his arms
frantically.
 Green=Noun
 Orange=Verb
 Preposition=Blue
 Conjunction=Red
 Pronoun=Black
 Adverb=Aqua
Olive Green=article (a form of
adjective)
Why is this Important for Writing?
 Knowing the parts of speech tends to give us
terminology that helps us describe parts of the
language, so we can describe how it works and what
types of mistakes are frequently made (for example
subject/verb agreement errors).
Phrases:
 Phrases are groups of words, but are not complete
sentences. There are a few types of phrases in English
two of which are
 Prepositional phrase: this phrase starts with a
preposition and ends with a noun (for example “under
the bed”)
 Verb phrase: This phrase consists of verbs, frequently a
main verb and a helping verb (for example “had read”)
We use phrases to help us describe the function of groups
of words that are parts of a sentence.
Clauses
 A clause is a group of words that have a subject and a
verb.
 There are two types of clauses in English:
 Dependent (the clause cannot stand on its own as a
sentence)
 Independent (the clause can stand on its own as a
sentence)
Dependent clause example: “Because it rained”
Independent clause example: “I kicked the ball”
Clauses continued
 The English language connects clauses together to
form more sophisticated sentences.
 As you study this, you will run into the four sentence
types:
 Simple
 Compound
 Complex
 Compound Complex
Some errors are created by not joining clauses together
correctly to create these types of sentences.
Examples of Sentence Types:
 Simple Sentence: I drove home.
 Compound Sentence: I drove home, and I cleaned the
garage.
 Complex sentence: Because I brought my umbrella, I
won’t get wet walking home.
 Compound Complex: Because I brought my umbrella,
I won’t get wet walking home, and I won’t catch cold.