Download Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech
There are eight parts of speech: noun, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions,
interjections (exclamations), and prepositions.
Verbs show action or a state of being. We group verbs as action, linking (state of being),
helping.
Helping or Linking:
am
was
be
is
were being
are
been
Helping or Action:
have
do
has
does
had
did
shall
will
Helping: John is helping me. Helping: I have done my work.
Linking: John is the captain. Action: I have my book.
John is tall.
Always Helping:
should may
would might
must
can
could
I will go to the store.
I should have gone to the play.
I have never been to France.
Action verbs show action, either physical (run, throw, jump) or mental (think, consider).
WARNING: Do not confuse a verbal (a verb used as another part of speech) with a
verb. There are three kinds of verbals: participles, infinitives, and gerunds.
 Gerunds: -ing verbs used as nouns. Swimming is my favorite sport. KEY: Gerunds
are easily recognized because they are in the position and functions of nouns
when we cover them. More on this later.
 Infinitives: to + a verb to learn, to go. KEY: If a verb is preceded by to, it is a
verbal.
 Participles: verbs ending in –ing (present tense) that are used as adjectives. Don’t
worry about understanding this yet, just be aware of them. KEY: You can
recognize action verbs ending –ing because they will be preceded by a helping
verb.
Example of a verb: I am going to the STAR meeting today.
Example of a participle: The boy standing by the tree is my brother.
Conjunctions- a word that joins words, phrases, clauses, or sentences. Common
conjunctions are the coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).
Notice that there are two verbs in the following example: Jose ran down the field and
scored a goal. (What did Jose do? He ran and scored.)
Nouns- A noun names a person, place, thing, quality, or idea. They may be concrete
objects that you can see and feel, or they can be abstract concepts, such as honesty or
love. Proper nouns name a particular person, place, thing, or idea, so they may consist of
more than one word (the Statue of Liberty, Manhattan Island). Articles—a, an, the—
often clue nouns: The man at the window is rude. Man and window are both nouns.
Pronouns- Pronouns take the place of nouns. Common pronouns are personal pronouns,
such as I, you, he, she, we, they, it, me, us, them, who and whom.
Nouns and pronouns have distinct functions in a sentence. They generally function as a
subject (S), a direct object (DO), an indirect object (IO), a predicate noun (PN), an
appositive (app), or an object of a preposition (OP).

A subject usually comes before the verb. To find the subject, locate the verb and
ask who or what + the verb.
S
AV
DO
Example: John threw the ball. (Who threw the ball? John.)

A direct object comes after an action verb and receives the action. To find a direct
object, ask: S+AV+ who or what? (John threw what? the ball. Notice that the
article the clues the noun ball.)

Occasionally a sentence will also have an indirect object. An indirect object
comes between an action verb and direct object and tells to whom the action is
done. There can only be an indirect object if there is a direct object.
S
AV
IO
DO
Example: John threw Tom the ball. (John threw the ball to whom? Tom.)
Note: John did not throw Tom; he threw the ball to Tom.
Object Complement- follows a direct object and complements it like a PN or PA does.
S
AV
DO
OC
s
AV
DO
OC
Example: We elected John president. I consider John very responsible.
In fact, you can think of it as one.
We elected John [to be] president.
(PN renaming John as the president)
I consider John [to be] very responsible. (PA describing John as responsible)

A predicate noun also comes after the verb, but in this case it comes after a
linking verb, such as am, is, or are). The linking verb links the subject with a
noun that renames it.
S
LV
PN
Example: John is the captain of the soccer team.
Notice that the subject and predicate noun are interchangeable:
John is the captain :: The captain is John.

Appositives: Sometimes a noun (or noun phrase) will come immediately after a
noun and rename it.
S
APP
AV
DO
Example: John, the team captain, won an athletic scholarship.
Note: Appositives are often set off by comma as nonessential, for they add information
that is not essential to the meaning or completeness of the sentence. Notice that the team
captain helps to identify who John is, but it can be removed from the basic sentence John
won an athletic scholarship.

Object of a preposition: A preposition is always followed by a noun or pronoun,
thus forming a prepositional phrase. When you analysis a sentence, you may want
to mark off prepositional phrases with parenthesis, so that the phrase begins with
a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun. Prepositional phrases are used to
modify nouns, pronouns, and verbs, and a sentence may have any number of
them.
OP
OP
OP
OP
Example: (After the game), we went (to the mall) (for dinner and a movie).
Note: The last prepositional phrase has two objects joined by the conjunction and.
Prepositions: A preposition is a word that shows a relationship between a noun or
pronoun and another word in a sentence.
COMMONLY USED PREPOSITIONS
aboard
beside
off
about
between
on
above
beyond
over
across
but (except)
past
after
by
since
against
down
through
along
during
throughout
amid
except
to
among
for
toward
around
from
under
at
in
underneath
before
into
until
behind
like
unto
below
near
up
beneath
of
upon
with
within
without
Examples of prepositional phrases:
Aboard the ship
about the case above the television
COMPOUND PREPOSITIONS
as---as (as long as, as well as)
because of
by way of
on account of
in spite of
instead of
apart from
with regard to
according to
in---of (i.e. in front of)
ahead of
along with
in addition to
across the deck
Adjectives- Adjectives modify or describe nouns and pronouns. They answer the
questions which one, what kind, how much, how many or whose about the noun or
pronoun that they modify. They often come before a noun or pronoun and may be
compound. The articles—a, an, and the—are adjectives.
adj
adj
adj
adj
S
AV
Example: The tall, handsome young man strolled into the room.
Notice that tall, handsome, and young all describe and limit the man. If there is a room
full of people, the man being discussed is thus made more specific.
Adjective may come after a linking verb as a predicate adjective (PA).
S
LV
PA
Example: The city is noisy.
Notice that noisy describes city and limits it by telling what kind of city it is. It can be put
in front of the word city and the phrase still makes sense (the noisy city).
Adjectives can also come after a noun.
S
adj
adj
LV
The lake, calm and peaceful, is the perfect spot for our picnic
Notice that calm and peaceful describe the lake. Try putting them before lake (the calm,
peaceful lake).
.
Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, and answer the questions when,
where, how, how often, or to what extent. Adverbs often, but not always, end in –ly, and
they can come almost any where in the sentence if they modify a verb.
Examples:
He ran slowly.(ran how?) Tomorrow we will go to Tampa. (go when?)
She will never quite.
KEY: Not and never are never verbs; they are adverbs. Also note that that only helping
verbs can be a helping verb (there is a very limited list of them on the list you received),
so if a word comes between the helping verb and main verb, and the sentence is not a
question (i.e. Are you coming?) the word will be an adverb.
When adverbs modify adjectives or other adverbs, the adverb will come immediately
before the word it modifies and tell to what extent (very cold, extremely tired, or seldom
lonely)
Interjections (exclamations)- Exclamatory words that are interjected into a sentence or at
the beginning of a sentence followed by an exclamation mark.
Wow! That was a great game!
Oh, I think it will be ok.