PARTS OF SPEECH How To Build A Beautiful Sentence noun verb adverb article preposition adjective conjunction pronoun by Laura Jensen

Get to know each one: What is it like? What is it best at? What can’t it do? Each part of speech is unique! noun preposition verb conjunction adjective adverb pronoun article

Start here! End here! nouns & verbs

Someone is always doing something! Superman, a beautiful woman, the bad guys flying, saving, lifting, shooting, fainting, escaping Nouns Verbs

Minimum Requirements for a Sentence? 1 Noun + 1 Verb = 1 Clause And every sentence has at least one clause.  Time flies.  My teacher adores grammar.  These students are very intelligent.  The baby is sleeping.

Meet the Verb! Action! But also non-action… Kick! Jump! Score! I know what a verb is!

Some Examples: Action verbs Non-action verbs (also called non-progressive or stative verbs) Remember: Non-action verbs cannot be used in continuous tenses!

Learn when to use each form! Verbs have five forms Base Form They like to go out to dinner. -s Form He likes to go out to dinner. Past We cooked dinner at home last night. Past Participle We have already eaten lunch. Present Participle My family is eating dinner right now.

 Tense: past, present, future  Agreement: Remember to use that –s form!  Auxiliaries are helping verbs : do, be, have, and modals  Linking verbs: the “equal sign” verbs  Transitive or Intransitive: Does the verb take an object ?  Voice: active or passive (Is the subject doing the action?) Other useful things to know about verbs: review new

Find the verbs in these sentences: How much can you tell me about each of these verbs? Tense? Five forms? Agreement? Helping verbs? Linking? Transitive?

Meet the Noun! Person Place Thing Idea

Proper or Common: Is it a name?  Count or Non-count: Can I make it plural?  Nouns Do Jobs: They can be subjects, objects, etc. Other things to know about nouns

Nouns: Proper or Common?  a university  a community college  a city  my professor  his native country  the zoo  a history class  our family doctor  The University of Washington  North Seattle College  Seattle  Professor Collins  Ethiopia  Woodland Park Zoo  Modern European History 101  Doctor Zhivago Common NounsProper Nouns :

Nouns: Count or Non-count?  an apple  three rings  many chairs  my glasses  these cars  [a piece of] fruit  some jewelry  a lot of furniture  my coffee  this traffic CountNon-count: Don’t add -s some, enough, a lot of

Never make them plural! Three Common Non-Count Nouns Information Homework Advice Information Homework Advice -s I’ve gotten rather tired of correcting these three nouns…yawn…

Noun Jobs Laura teaches this class. Subject Laura teaches this class. Direct Object Laura teaches English to her students. Object of a Preposition Laura is a teacher. [Laura = teacher ] Subject Complement

Noun Jobs: Laura teaches ESL to her amazing students. Subject Who teaches? Laura! Direct Object Teaches what? ESL! Object of the Preposition To what or whom? [Her amazing] students!

Noun Jobs: The dog is chasing a child around the garden. Subject What is chasing? [The] dog! Direct Object Chasing what? [A] child! Object of the Preposition Around what? [The] garden!

Complement—something that completes. Subject complements follow linking verbs. A subject complement completes the idea of the subject: the subject and its complement refer to one person or thing. What about subject complements? Laura is a teacher. Laura = teacher Those women are my classmates. women = classmates The man in the grey suit is his doctor. man = doctor Laura is a teacher. Laura = teacher Those women are my classmates. women = classmates The man in the grey suit is his doctor. man = doctor subject subject complement Links

Noun is the name of one part of speech Subject, Object, & Subject Complement are the names of jobs that nouns can do in a sentence. Nouns do Noun Jobs Noun Jobs are different from Parts of Speech!

Part II: Now shake hands with six more!  articles  adjectives  adverbs  prepositions  pronouns  conjunctions These parts of speech modify : they give more information about other words. These parts of speech relate or connect things to other things:

Prepositions Prepositions show a relationship between a noun and another part of the sentence. Sometimes, the relationship is spatial.

To Learn More about Prepositions: Crazy Giant List of Prepositions:

Pronouns replace other nouns A pronoun is a word that is used to represent a noun. Pronoun means for-a- noun.  Pronouns must agree in number and gender with the nouns they stand for.  The noun that a pronoun replaces is called its antecedent.  Like nouns, pronouns do noun jobs in a sentence: they act as subjects, objects, etc.

Pronouns come in lots of yummy flavors: Personal Pronouns Indefinite Pronouns Possessive Pronouns Demonstrative Pronouns Reflexive Pronouns Relative Pronouns Interrogative Pronouns

Personal Pronouns  I  You  He, she, it  We  You  They  Me  You  Him, her, it  Us  You  Them Subject PronounsObject Pronouns Like all nouns, pronouns do jobs in a sentence.

Pronoun or Adjective? If it replaces a noun and does a noun job, I call it a pronoun. If it modifies a noun, then I call it an adjective. The comic to the left is full of possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives. Which is which?

give us information about nouns & pronouns: The weather is beautiful today. This is an interesting class. I have a sweet little cat. Adjectives… Annie meow

Fun Facts about Adjectives:  Adjectives have three degrees of comparison:  the positive—big  the comparative—bigger  the superlative—the biggest  Participles can be used as adjectives:  This is an interesting class, so the students are never bored!  Nouns can also function as adjectives:  The fire alarm rang loudly.  He wrote a newspaper article about his adventure.

 Use enough to make your writing interesting—exciting, never bland.  Don’t use so many spicy adjectives that you can’t taste the nouns and verbs. Adjectives add spice to your writing.

Use adjectives to describe Laura’s garden: Colorful Crowded Wild Exotic Abundant Fragrant Overgrown Exuberant

Learn More about Adjectives Note: This site considers articles to be a kind of adjective, but I group articles in a separate part of speech.

Articles This is the easiest part of speech to learn!  A  An  The Like adjectives, articles accompany nouns. Articles are a piece of cake!

Use An Before a Vowel Sound  You should bring an umbrella.  He will study at a university.  She wants to find a husband.  She hopes to marry an honest man.  He is an NSC student.

Which article should I use?

Adverbs I’m afraid it’s true: Adverbs are more complicated than adjectives or articles…

… but that’s only because adverbs are so incredibly versatile! Adverbs can modify:  verbs  adjectives  adverbs  and even whole sentences! verbs adjectives adverbs sentences

why? when? where? how? how often?

Because I was so hungry, I ate too quickly. Adverbs can do lots of cool stuff. The adverb so modifies the adjective hungry. The adverb too modifies the adverb quickly. The adverb quickly modifies the verb ate.

So let’s show adverbs a little respect, please ! They really work hard to help us communicate.

Conjunctions  Con- = with, together  junct = act of joining } conjunctions let us combine words, phrases, and clauses 1. Laura enjoys teaching, gardening, and cooking. (3 words) 2. She has lived in Washington State since 1990 and has taught at NSC since (2 phrases ) 3. Laura likes to visit California, but she prefers to live in Washington. (2 clauses) Bonus Question: What is a parallel structure?

Coordinating Conjunctions For And Nor But Or Yet So Fan Boys

Use conjunctions to combine two clauses into one sentence. Co ordinating—Two equal clauses Sub ordinating—Two unequal clauses Two Independent ClausesOne Clause is Dependent

after although as because before if since though unless until when while  After you learn the parts of speech, you will understand English better.  You will understand English better after you learn the parts of speech.  If you yawn in my class, I will have a heart attack.  You should understand nouns and verbs before you try to learn the other parts of speech.  You won’t move up to ESL 051 unless your grade in ESL 042 is at least 75%.

Analyze this sentence: Maria has studied very hard lately because she wants an excellent grade in her English class.

Independent Clause & Dependent Clause S S Maria has studied very hard lately because she noun verb verb adverb adv adv conjunction pron DO Obj/prep wants an excellent grade in her English class. verb article adj noun prep adj adj noun

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