Download Parts of Speech


An adjective is a word that modifies a
noun or pronoun by limiting its meaning.
E.g. three dollars, any objections, baby
ducks, Chinese teacup, purple balloon,
no parking.

Any adjective may describe a noun or
pronoun by answering one of these
questions:
What kind?
Blue scarf
Artistic license
Which one?
That attitude
Second try
How many?
Thirty pages
Several
improvements
How much?
Any trouble
No mayonnaise
Two verbs can also act as adjectives: the
present participle, which ends in ‘-ing’,
and the past participle, which ends in
‘-ed’ or is irregularly formed.
 E.g. a dancing hen
the crumpled paper
a broken dish
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Pronouns can also serve as adjectives.
For example, possessive pronouns (my,
our, your, his, her, its, and their) act as
adjectives when they modify nouns.

Demonstrative pronouns (this, that,
these, and those) can also be
considered demonstrative adjectives
when they modify nouns.
Nouns can also serve as adjectives.
Possessive nouns, like possessive
pronouns, can be used as adjectives. In
fact, any noun that modifies another
noun can be considered an adjective.
 E.g. My kitten. (possessive adjective)
 Those bicycles (demonstrative adj.)
 Lucy’s report (possessive noun acting as
adj.)
 Leather shoes (noun acting as adjective)

The apple pie is delicious.
2. Several large trees fell in the storm.
3. Strong winds radiate from the eye of a
hurricane.
4. His left arm is in a cast.
5. I seldom wear my dress shoes.
6. Quiet music is soothing to babies.
7. Fifty years is a short time in history.
1.

Many adjectives have different forms to
indicate their degree of comparison. The
positive form indicates no comparison.
The comparative form compares two
nouns or pronouns. The superlative form
compares more than two nouns or
pronouns.
POSITIVE
COMPARATIVE
SUPERLATIVE
Slow
Slower
Slowest
Lucky
Luckier
Luckiest
Strenuous
More strenuous
Most strenuous
Good, well
Better
Best
Bad
Worse
worst
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
This is the (good) choice of the two.
I am (tall) than my brother.
Of the three athletes, Hal is (good).
That is the (complicated) math problem
I have ever tackled.
The seniors voted Manuel (likely) to
succeed.
This work is (difficult) than I had originally
thought it was.
The most frequently used adjectives are a,
an and the. These words are usually called
articles.
 A and an are indefinite articles. They
indicate that a noun refers to one of a
general group. A is used before words
beginning with a consonant sound; an is
used before words beginning with a vowel
sound. An is also used before words
beginning with the consonant h when the h
is not pronounced.

A ranger helped us.
 They planted an acre of corn.
 We kept watch for an hour.

The is the definite article. It indicates that
a noun refers to someone or something in
particular.
 Examples
1. The ranger helped us.
2. The hour dragged by.
3. They planted the acre with corn.

A proper adjective is formed from a
proper noun and begins with a capital
letter.
 E.g. We attended the Shakespearean
Drama Festival.
 The Texan barbeque was a success.
 The Victorian Era in England lasted from
1837 to 1901.


The following suffixes, along with others,
are often used to form proper adjectives:
-an, -ian, -n, -ese, and –ish. Sometimes
there are other changes as well.
PROPER NOUNS
PROPER ADJECTIVES
Jamaica
Jamaicans
China
Chinese
England
English
Africa
African
Bahamas
Bahamian
An adverb is a word that modifies a
verb, an adjective, or another adverb by
making its meaning more specific.
_____________________________________

MODIFYING VERBS
• She ran quickly.
• She has often won.
MODIFYING ADJECTIVES
• She is very talented and
extremely diligent.
MODIFYING ADVERBS
• She almost always runs quite fast.
WHEN
I got your letter yesterday.
WHERE
The wagon train headed west.
HOW
Play this section softly and sweetly.
TO WHAT DEGREE
This railing is dangerously rickety.
An adverb that is modifying a verb can
sometimes be placed in different
positions in relation to the verb.
 An adverb that modifies an adjective or
another adverb, however, must
immediately precede the word it
modifies.

MODIFYING A VERB
Generally we eat at six.
We generally eat at six.
We eat at six generally.
MODIFYING AN ADJECTIVE
The soup was definitely lukewarm.
MODIFYING AN ADVERB
We almost never have dessert.

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The word not and the contraction n’t are
adverbs. Certain adverbs of time, place
and degree also have negative meanings.
The colour didn’t fade.
That dye hardly ever fades.
If correctly set, this dye never fades.
The tints can barely be distinguished.
There are no undyed patches.
We cannot complain about the colour.
1. Soraya often shops at outlet stores.
2. I am thoroughly disgusted.
3. Seldom can I select a good watermelon.
4. Please set the table properly.
5. A rather brisk wind is blowing.
6. The air conditioner is barely working.
7. In the spring, the grass grows too fast.
8. Dan is an unusually good driver.

Some adverbs, like adjectives, have
different forms to indicate the degree of
comparison.
POSITIVE
COMPARATIVE
SUPERLATIVE
Sat near
Sat nearer
Sat nearest
Talks slowly
Talks more
slowly
Talks most slowly
Dances well
Dances better
Dances best
Writes badly
Writes worse
Writes worst
Draws
beautifully
Draws more
beautifully
Draws most
beautifully
Looks far
Looks farther
Looks farthest
Fast
 Carelessly
 Early
 Frequently
 High
 Deeply
 high

recently
delicately
poorly
low
A preposition is a word that shows the
relationship of a noun or a pronoun to
another word in a sentence.
 E.g. The mother of the kittens lives here.
(Of shows the relationship of the mother
to the kittens.)
 I will see you after lunch. (After expresses
the time relationship between lunch and
when I will see you.)

Aboard
Beneath
In
Regarding
About
Beside
Inside
Respecting
Above
Besides
Into
Since
Across
Between
Like
Through
After
Beyond
Near
Throughout
Against
But
Of
To
Along
By
Off
Toward
Amid
Concerning
On
under

A compound preposition is a preposition
that is made up of more than one word.
According to
Because of
Instead of
Ahead of
By means of
Next to
Along with
Except for
On account of
Apart from
In addition to
On top of
Aside from
In front of
Out of
As to
In spite of
Owing to
A prepositional phrase is a group of
words that begins with a preposition and
ends with a noun or a pronoun called
the object of the preposition.
 Jorge and Mei Ling went to the fair.
 Cesar rode along with them.
 Cesar satisfied his sweet tooth with
saltwater taffy.
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Some words may be used as either
prepositions or adverbs. A word is used
as a preposition if it has a noun or a
pronoun as its object. A word is used as
an adverb if it does not have an object.
WORD USED AS
PREPOSITION
WORD USED AS ADVERB
I left my boots outside the I left my boots outside.
back door.
The bird flew over the
fence.
The bird flew over.
Everyone came aboard
the boat.
Everyone came aboard.
The diameter of a circle extends from
one side to the other.
2. During my study period, I consulted the
adviser about my schedule.
3. On the outskirts of town are several
parks.
4. In spite of the heat, band practice
continued through the afternoon and
into the evening.
1.
A conjunction is a word that joins single
words or groups of words.
 A coordinating conjunction joins words
or groups of words that have equal
grammatical weight in a sentence.

COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
And
But
Or
So
Nor
For
yet
Their skirt includes a rabbit and a bird.
 Ms. Fernandez dresses fashionably but
tastefully.
 Winter days are short, so houseplants
may need extra light.
 We didn’t stop to ask directions, nor did
we even consult a map.


Correlative conjunctions work in pairs to
join words and groups of words of equal
grammatical weight in a sentence.
Both… and
Just as… so
Not only… but
(also)
Either… or
Neither… nor
Whether… or

Correlative conjunctions make the
relationship between words or groups of
words a little clearer than do coordinating
conjunctions.
COORDINATING
CONJUNCTIONS
CORRELATIVE CONJUNCTIONS
Kim and I must test the
software.
Both Kim and I must test the
software.
You or Jose can make the call.
Either you or Jose can make
the call.
He spray painted the security
camera and robbed the bank.
He not only spray painted the
security camera but also
robbed the bank.
Do you want the apple or the pear?
 Neither the attorney nor the client
wanted to appeal the case.
 I’ll serve your eggs either scrambled or
poached?
 The bride’s family hired a caterer to
prepare the food and serve it.

A subordinating conjunction joins two
clauses, or thoughts, in a such a way as
to make one grammatically dependent
on the other.
 The though or clause that a
subordinating conjunctionm introduces is
said to be subordinate, or dependent,
because it cannot stand by itself as a
complete sentence.

Since you learned to dance, you have
become more graceful.
 Whenever I skate, I wear elbow and
knee pads.
 The children may come along provided
that they stay with us.
 We sat by the lake while the sun set.

A conjunctive adverb is used to clarify
the relationship between clauses of
equal grammatical weight in a
sentence.
 Conjunctive adverbs are usually
stronger, more precise, and more formal
than coordinating conjunctions.

Notice that when a coordinating
conjunction is used between clauses, a
comma preceded the coordinating
conjunction.
 When a conjunctive adverb is used
between clauses, a semicolon preceded
the conjunctive adverb, and comma
follows it.

COORDINATING CONJUNCTION
I don’t mind bright green kitchen
walls myself, but shouldn’t we ask
your mother?
COORDINATING ADVERBS
I don’t mind bright green kitchen
walls myself; still, shouldn’t we ask
your mother?
Conjunctive Adverbs have many uses, as the
following examples show.
To replace AND
Also, besides,
furthermore, morever
To replace BUT
However, nevertheless,
nonetheless, still
To state a result
Accordingly,
consequently, then,
therefore, thus
To state equality
Equally, likewise, similarly
My older sister lives in Germany, but she
visits us every spring.
 Hillary is a sports enthusiast, so she often
attends football games.
 Joseph is a talented musician: He plays
the piano, and he composes music for
school plays.
 Our French teacher is strict, but he is
always fair.


An interjection is a word or a phrase that
expresses emotion or exclamation. An
interjection has no grammatical
connection to other words in the
sentence and is set off from the other
words by an exclamation or a comma.

Different emotions are expressed by
different interjections.
SURPRISE
Oh, my! I had no idea.
DELIGHT
Ah, that’s good.
CONFUSION
Good grief! Is that true?
PAIN
Ouch! That hurts.
JOY
Wow! This is super!