English Language Grade 8

Noun

A word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. Examples: girl, book, freedom.

Proper Noun

A specific name of a person, place, or thing. Always capitalized. Examples: Karabo, South Africa.

Common noun

A general name for a person, place, or thing. Examples: teacher, school.

Abstract Noun

A noun that names a feeling, quality, or idea that cannot be touched. Examples: love, fear.

Collective Noun

A noun that names a group of people, animals, or things. Examples: team, flock.

Concrete Noun

A noun you can see, touch, taste, smell, or hear. Examples: chair, apple, music.

Pronoun

A word that replaces a noun to avoid repetition. Examples: he, she, they.

Personal Pronoun

Refers to people or things. Examples: I, you, he, she, they.

Possessive Pronoun

Shows ownership. Examples: mine, yours, his.

Reflexive Pronoun

Refers back to the subject. Examples: myself, herself.

Demonstrative Pronoun

Points out something. Examples: this, that, these.

Interrogative Pronoun

Used for questions. Examples: who, what, which.

Relative Pronoun

Connects clauses. Examples: who, which, that.

Indefinite Pronoun

Refers to something not specific. Examples: everyone, something.

Verb

A word that shows action or state of being. Examples: run, is, think.

Action Verb

Shows an action. Examples: run, jump.

Linking Verb

Connects the subject to more information. Examples: am, is, was.

Helping Verb

Helps main verbs to show tense or possibility. Examples: will, have, can.

Transitive Verb

Needs an object to complete meaning. Example: She reads a book.

Intransitive Verb

Does not take an object. Example: He sleeps.

Regular Verb

Forms past tense by adding -ed. Example: walk → walked.

Irregular Verb

Changes form in past tense. Example: go → went.

Adjective

A word that describes a noun. Examples: tall, beautiful.

Descriptive Adjective

Describes qualities. Examples: tall, pretty.

Quantitative Adjective

Tells how much or how many. Examples: few, many.

Demonstrative Adjective

Points out something. Examples: this, those.

Possessive Adjective

Shows ownership. Examples: my, their.

Adverb

A word that describes a verb, adjective, or another adverb. Examples: quickly, very, often.

Preposition

A word that shows the relationship between nouns/pronouns and other words. Examples: in, on, under.

Conjunction

A word that joins words, phrases, or clauses. Examples: and, but, because.

Interjection

A short word showing emotion or feeling. Examples: wow! ouch! hey!

Simple Sentence

One main idea. Example: The dog barked.

Compound Sentence

Two simple sentences joined by a conjunction. Example: I ran and she walked.

Complex Sentence

One main clause and one dependent clause. Example: I left because it rained.

Simile

Comparison using like or as. Example: as brave as a lion.

Metaphor

Direct comparison without like/as. Example: The world is a stage.

Personification

Gives human qualities to non-human things. Example: The wind whispered.

Hyperbole

Exaggeration. Example: I’ve told you a million times.

Alliteration

Repeating consonant sounds. Example: Peter Piper picked…

Onomatopoeia

Words that imitate sounds. Example: buzz, splash, bang.

Irony

Opposite of what’s expected. Example: A fire station burns down.

Euphemism

A polite way to say something harsh. Example: passed away = died.

Pun

A play on words. Example: Time flies like an arrow.

Oxymoron

Two opposite words together. Example: bittersweet, deafening silence.