AMNE 301 - Skills Quiz 2

verb

The main word of the sentence (with a few exceptions such as interjections). It has person, number, tense (and aspect, voice, mood). Test: can you say 'It [verbs]', and can you move it from present (sits, walks) to past (sat, walked)?

What does a verb convey?

What is happening in a sentence: an action (transitive and intransitive verbs) or a state of being (stative verbs). There are also auxiliary verbs such as might or would.

noun

A person, place, thing or idea. Tests: it makes sense to say 'a [noun]', 'the [noun]' or 'my [noun]', and it can be the subject of a verb. In English it is also the only form that can take 's to become possessive.

pronoun

A word that takes the place of a noun (he for Fred). It can tell you gender or number but not the meaning. The antecedent (what it refers back to) provides the meaning, and should be the closest earlier word that is grammatically plausible.

adjective

A word that modifies (gives more information about) a noun. For this course you need regular adjectives and participles, not articles or determiners.

participle

An adjective made from a verb (verbal adjective). It has tense and can take an object, which other adjectives cannot. Present participle: printing. Past participle: printed. Also found in Greek and Latin.

attributive noun (attributive)

A noun functioning as an adjective, as in dog food or elbow surgery. Not found in Greek or Latin, which use the genitive case or an adjectival suffix instead. In AMNE 301 treat attributives as adjectives.

gerund

A noun made from a verb (verbal noun), such as printing in 'Printing is one way of writing'. Also found in Greek and Latin. In AMNE 301 treat gerunds as nouns. Words ending in ing can be nouns or adjectives depending on function.

substantive adjective (substantive)

An adjective functioning as a noun, such as 'The Reds' or 'The wicked will suffer'. Also found in Greek and Latin. In AMNE 301 treat substantives as nouns.

adverb

A word that modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb. It typically answers where, when or how. In English the suffix ly often turns an adjective into an adverb.

preposition

A relational word such as in, at, on, over, under, through, by or with. It takes a noun or noun phrase as its object. It can be several words: 'pertaining to' is a compound preposition and also a deverbal preposition (made from the verb pertain). 'Involving' is another.

conjunction

A word that joins elements of a phrase or clause. Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or) join parallel words. Subordinating conjunctions (which, that) introduce a phrase or clause that depends on another word.

interjection

A short expression that conveys emotion (yikes, oh no) but stands apart from the rest of the grammar. Unimportant for AMNE 301.

particle and clitic

Particles are words that convey grammar but have no meaning. Clitics are morphemes that would be words but cannot stand alone. Not significant in AMNE 301.

What are the AMNE 301 parts of speech?

Adjectives (regular adjectives, attributives and participles), nouns (regular nouns, substantives and gerunds), verbs, and prepositions.

Which parts of speech matter less or not at all in AMNE 301?

Less important: adverbs, conjunctions, pronouns. Unimportant (except for good English writing): articles, interjections, particles.

Why can one English word act as different parts of speech?

Sometimes there is no form distinction (I fish for fish), but often the word has taken on a second job. Part of speech depends on the word's function in context.