[ACTCOMM] Unit 2: Parts of Speech and Common Errors

Error

something you don’t know or haven’t learned yet

Mistake

an accident; you know it’s wrong

Parts of Speech

term used for one of the eight categories into which words are classified according to functions

Parts of Speech

building blocks of grammar

Nouns

make up the largest class of words in most languages, including English

Nouns

a word that refers to a thing, a person, an animal, a place, a quality, an idea, or an action

Endings/Suffixes

sometimes help determine nouns

Capital letters
Number of nouns
Interchanging of words

3 Common Errors with Nouns

proper nouns

begin with a capital letter

capitalization

for emphasis

Pronouns

words that stand for nouns or for words that take the place of nouns

Pronouns

a word that is used instead of a noun or noun phrase

Pronouns

refer to either a noun that has already been mentioned or to a noun that does not need to be named specifically

Antecedents

nouns (or words that take the place of nouns) for which pronouns stand

Ambiguous
Nominative vs. objective

2 Common Errors with Pronouns

Nominative
Objective
Possessive

3 Types of Pronouns

Verbs

a word or group of words that expresses time while showing an action, condition or the fact that something exists

Verbs

every complete sentence contains at least one

Action
Linking

2 Types of Verbs

Action Verbs

expresses either physical or mental action

Linking Verbs

serve a more passive function, expressing condition; verbs used as LV may also be used to simply show that something exists

Verb Tenses
Subject-Verb Agreement

2 Common Errors with Verbs

Present
Past
Future
Present Perfect
Past Perfect
Future Perfect
Present Progressive
Past Progressive
Future Progressive
Present Perfect Progressive
Past Perfect Progressive
Future Perfect Progressive

12 Verb Tenses

Present
Present Participle
Past
Past Participle

4 Principal Parts of Verbs

Regular Verbs

one whose past and past participle are formed by adding –d or –d to the present form

Irregular Verbs

one whose past and past participle are not formed by adding –ed or – d to the present form

Modifiers

Slightly change the meaning of other words by adding description or by making them more precise

Adjectives

qualifies the meaning of a noun or pronoun by providing information about its appearance, location and so on

Adjectives

a word used to describe a noun or pronoun or to give it a more specific meaning

Superlatives

1 Common Error with Adjectives

Positive
Comparative
Superlative

Degrees of Adjectives

Adverbs

a word that modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb

Positioning

1 Common Error with Adverbs

Prepositions

make it possible to show relationships between words (location, direction, time, cause or possession)

Prepositions

relates the noun or pronoun that appears with it to another word in the sentence

Wrong preposition

1 Common Error with Prepositions

Conjunctions

words that join other words within sentences

Conjunctions

word used to connect other words or groups of words

Coordinating
Correlative
Subordinating

3 Kinds of Conjunctions

Subordinating Conjunctions

join two complete ideas by making one of the ideas subordinate to or dependent upon the other

Double conjunctions
Unrelated ideas

2 Common Errors with Conjunctions

Interjections

express feelings or emotions and function independently of a sentence

Interjections

do not have any grammatical connection to other words in a sentence

Interjections

can express a variety of sentiments such as happiness, fear, anger, pain, surprise, sorrow, etc.

Sounds like

1 Common Error with Interjections