Basic Parts of Speech
- Noun: A noun names persons, places, things, or concepts. Nouns can function in a variety of ways in a sentence.
A noun can be the...
Subject: John.
Direct object: Tanya liked John.
Indirect object: Tanya gave John a kiss on the cheek.
Object of a preposition: Tanya gave John a kiss on the cheek.
Subject complement: From then on, they were boyfriend and girlfriend
*Note: subject complements may also be adjectives.
- Verb: A verb either denotes an action or an assertion. More specifically, a verb shows what something has, does, or is.
Verbs take different tenses:
Past tense: played, were, had, saw
Present tense: play, are, have, see
Future tense: will play, will be, will see
~Verbs agree with their subject in number:
I am we are I see we see
you are you see
he, she, Ryan is they are he, she, Ryan sees they see
~Verbs can be...
Transitive: transfers action from a subject to an object
He kicked the ball.
Intransitive: does not need an object to make a complete thought
John walked.
Linking: links a subject with subject complement (word that describes or defines the subject)
Marisa seems intelligent.
John is an actor.
Auxiliary (helping): combine with main verbs to create verb phrases
I have been busy lately.
Eric does need the rest.
- Adjective: A word that describes a noun. It answers the question "what kind" of a noun. Some examples are beautiful, red, strange, etc.
- Adverb: A word that describes verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. It answers the questions when, how, where or under what conditions.
* Verb modified by an adverb: He ran slowly.
* Adjective modified by an adverb: Her dress was extremely beautiful.
* Adverb modified by another adverb: He ran very quickly.
- Pronoun: A word that replaces a noun and functions as a noun. Pronouns take one of three forms:
Subject case: I, we, you, he/she/it, they, who/whoever
Object case: me, us, you, him/her/it, them, whom/whomever
Possessive case: my/mine, our/ours, your/yours, his/her/its, their/theirs, whose
*Note: There are many other types of pronouns; these cause the most confusion.
- Conjunction: A word that joins words or groups of words to each other and shows the relationship between these words.
There are four types:
Coordinating (joins equal elements): and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet
Correlative (works in pairs to join equal elements): either...or, neither...nor, not only...but also Subordinating (connects the independent part of a sentence to the dependent part): after, although, as, because, if, since, that, though, unless, whether, etc.
Conjunctive adverbs (answers one of the questions adverbs answer-how, when, where, under what
conditions): also, anyway, finally, furthermore, however, likewise, moreover, nevertheless, still, therefore, thus, etc.
- Preposition: A word that shows the relationship of the noun/pronoun that follows it to the rest of the sentence. Some common prepositions are the following words: about, above, after, against, among, as, at, before, behind, beside, by, down, except, for, in, into, near, off, on, out, past, since, through, until, upon, and with.
- Article: English has two types of articles: definite (the) and indefinite (a/an). Definite articles are used when referring to specific nouns and indefinite articles are used when referring to nouns that are not identified specifically.
(For more information on articles, please see our "Using Articles" Quick Tip.)
*Note: Information taken from The Everyday Writer by Andrea Lundsford and Robert Connors