THE PARTS OF SPEECH

PART OF SPEECH  All words serve a particular function in a sentence.  A word’s function is determined by what “part of speech” it is.  Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb, Preposition, Interjection, or conjunction.

NOUN  A noun is a person, place, or thing (idea).  Ex. Mr. Spitzer, Student, Class, School, Edwards, Intelligence, Education.  Subjects of sentences are nouns – every sentence needs at least one noun.  Mr. Spitzer teaches English.

TYPES OF NOUNS  Concrete Noun – A noun that is tangible or has substance. Ex. Desk, book, etc.  Abstract Noun – An abstract noun is something that cannot be seen or touched (an idea or concept). Ex. The soldier has great bravery.  Proper Noun – A specific person or place. Ex. California.  Common Noun – A noun that is not specific. Ex. School  Compound Noun – A noun made up of two or more words.  Collective Noun – A noun that names a group of individual people or things. Ex. Team, class, crowd (considered SINGULAR).

PRONOUN  A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun.  An antecedent is the noun that the pronoun replaces in a sentence. Ex. Mr. Spitzer is a teacher who teaches English.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS  Personal Pronouns refer to (1) the person speaking, (2) the person spoken to, or (3) the person, place, or thing spoken about.  Ex. I, me, my, mine  Ex. You, your, yours  Ex. He, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its  Ex. We, us, our, ours  Ex. They, them, their, theirs

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN  A Demonstrative Pronoun points out a specific person, place or thing.  It can come before or after it’s antecedent.  BEFORE: Ex. This/These (Singular/Plural)  AFTER: Ex. That/Those (Singular/Plural)

REFLEXIVE & INTENSIVE PRONOUNS  Reflexive Pronouns – Refers back, or reflects back, to a noun or pronoun used earlier in the sentence; adds information.  Ex. I exhausted myself working on the assignment for English.  Intensive Pronouns – Adds emphasis to another noun or pronoun; does not add information. Can be omitted.  Ex. You yourself told me where to go.  Myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.

INTERROGATIVE & RELATIVE PRONOUNS  An Interrogative Pronoun is used to form questions.  Ex. Who? Whom? Whose? What? Which?  Add –ever to make it intensive.  A Relative Pronoun is used to create a subordinate clause (a group of words that has a subject-verb but is not a complete idea).  Ex. Who, Whose, Whomever, That, What, Whom, Whoever, Which, Whichever, Whatever.

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS  An Indefinite Pronoun refers to person, places, or things in a more general way than a noun.  Ex. She seems to know everyone at school.  Ex. All, each, many, nothing, someone, everyone, few, both, etc.

VERB  A verb is an action or state of being.  It tells what a subject is doing, or what a subject is.  Ex. Mr. Spitzer teaches English.  Ex. Mr. Spitzer is a teacher.

ACTION VERBS  An action verb tells what something or someone does.  Transitive: Ex. Cats climb trees.  Intransitive: Ex. Cats climb to avoid large, hungry dogs.

LINKING VERBS  A linking verb links the subject of a sentence with a word or expression that identifies or describes the subject (it does not show action).  Ex. The student is intelligent.  Ex. He grew taller over the summer.  The most commonly used linking verb is “be” in all its forms – am, is, are, was, were, will be, has been, was being.

VERB PHRASES  A verb phrase consists of a main verb and all of its auxiliary or helping verbs.  Ex. I am walking.  Ex. I have walked.  Ex. I had been walking.

ADJECTIVES  An adjective modifies (describes) a noun or pronoun.  Ex. Tall girl, short boy, smart students, loud class  Articles are special types of adjectives: a, an, the.  Nouns and pronouns can be used as adjectives.  Proper Nouns can be used as Proper Adjectives: Britain  British

ADVERBS  An adverb modifies (describes) a verb, adjective, or other adverb.  Often, adverbs end in –ly.  Ex. He moves quickly.  Ex. The brilliantly funny Mr. Spitzer amuses the class.  Ex. He is rather shy.  Ex. They walked quite slowly.

PREPOSITIONS  A preposition shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun to some other word in a sentence.  Ex. The car started with ease.  Often, prepositions show location.  Ex. The garage is behind the house.  Ex. The engine started after the adjustment.  A Prepositional Phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun called an Object of a Preposition.  Ex. Near the back door, outside the house, beyond belief.

CONJUNCTION  A conjunction joins words or groups of words.  Coordinating conjunction joins words or groups of words that have equal grammatical weight.  Ex. He designs and builds  Subordinating conjunction joins two ideas, one dependent on the other.  Ex. We stopped talking when the bell rang.  Ex. I did well on the quiz because I studied.  Correlative conjunction works in pairs to join words.  Ex. Either you or I must go.

INTERJECTIONS  An interjection is a word or phrase that shows emotion or exclamation.  Ex. Hey!  Ex. Wow!  Ex. What?  Ex. Ouch!  Ex. Golly.  Ex. Ah