Parts of Speech

Nouns

A noun is a word that represents a person, place, or thing.

• Common Noun → Can be any person, place, or thing and is not capitalized

  » Ex: firefighter, town, nook

• Proper Noun → Names a person, place, or thing and is capitalized

  »Ex: Chief Wilson, Kansas City, Sara

• Abstract Noun → A type of noun that is intangible

  »Ex: love, courage, knowledge

• Concrete Noun → Can be experienced with one of the five senses

  »Ex: lightning, thunder, ice cream

• Compound Noun → Contains two or more words that join together to make a single noun

  »Ex: doghouse, race car, middle class

• Collective Noun → Names groups of things and people

  »Ex: family, jury, team

• Count Noun → A noun in which you can add a number to the front of it and add an ‘s’ at the end of it

  »Ex: cake/cakes, pig/pigs, storms/storms

• Non Count Noun → A noun that only has a single form

  »Ex: rain, music, advice

Pronouns

A pronoun is a part of speech that replaces a noun in a sentence.

• Personal Pronoun → A pronoun that refers to a specific person or thing

  »Ex: he, she, it, them

• Possessive Pronoun → A pronouns that shows ownership

  »Ex: mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs, whose

• Indefinite Pronoun → A pronoun that refers to things or people in general

  »Ex: few, everyone, all, anything, nobody, some

• Relative Pronoun → A pronoun that connects a phrase or clause to a noun or pronoun

  »Ex: who, whom, which, that

• Reflexive Pronoun → Used with another noun or pronoun when something does something to itself.

  »Ex: pronouns that end in “self” or “selves”

• Intensive Pronoun → Emphasize a noun or a pronoun

  »Ex: myself, himself, herself, themselves, itself, yourself

• Demonstrative Pronoun → Focus the attention on the noun that they are replacing

  »Ex: this, these, those, that, such

• Interrogative Pronoun → Used when you are asking a question

  »Ex: who, whom, which, what, whatever

Adjectives

An adjective is a word that describes or modifies a noun.

• Descriptive Adjective → Describes a noun. It can describe its quantity, quality, color, size, etc.

  »Ex: colors (blue, yellow), numbers (three, fourteen), textures (smooth, bumpy), etc.

• Demonstrative Adjective → Used to indicate or point out a particular noun or pronoun

  »Ex: this, that, these, those

• Interrogative Adjective → Used to ask questions about nouns or pronouns

  »Ex: where, what, which, whose

• Comparative Adjective → An adjective that is used to compare two nouns or pronouns to each other

  »Ex: stronger, faster, wiser, more fun

• Superlative Adjective → Used to show superiority between three or more nouns or pronouns

  »Ex: strongest, fastest, wisest, most fun

• Coordinate Adjective → Adjectives that can be rearranged and still make sense

  »Ex: The friendly, brown dog… The brown, friendly dog

• Non-Coordinate Adjective → Adjectives that cannot be switched or rearranged

  »Ex: Fido went into his green dog house. Fido went into his dog green house.

Verbs

A verb is a word that expresses an action that the subject of the sentence completes.

• Action Verb → A word that expresses an action that the subject of the sentence does

  »Ex: run, jump, ski

• Linking Verb → Connects a subject of the verb to additional information about the subjects

  »Ex: be (am, is, was, were, has, been), become, seem

• Auxiliary/Helping Verb → Accompanies another verb to help express its tense, mood, or voice

  »Ex: be (am, is, are, was, were, being, been), do (does, do, did), have (has, had)

• Irregular Verbs → An irregular verb does not follow the usual rules for verb forms

  »Ex: swim, drive, sing

Linking vs. Auxiliary Verbs

• Linking Verbs: do not show action. They connect the subject of the verb to more information about the subject

  »Ex: Louisa is a student. The class seems interesting.

• Auxiliary Verbs: come before the main verb in a sentence to assist the main verb by showing time and meaning

  »Ex: Louisa is writing the paper. Jose can go to the arcade.

Adverbs

An adverb is a word that describes or modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb.

He ate the amazingly delicious dessert very quickly

~ amazingly modifies the adjective delicious

~ very modifies the adverb quickly

~ quickly modifies the adjective quickly

• Adverbs of time → Describes when something happens

  »Ex: now, soon, then, yesterday, etc.

• Adverbs of Manner → Describes how something is done

  »Ex: sadly, happily, angrily, fast, well, etc.

• Adverbs or Place → Indicates where the action occurs

  »Ex: inside, outside, above, below, here, etc.

• Adverbs of Degree → Explains the extent in which something is done or happens

  »Ex: too, very, almost, nearly, really, quite, etc.

• Adverbs or Frequency→ Explains how often an action occurs

  »Ex: always, often, sometimes, rarely, etc.

• Relative Adverbs → Introduces a clause (word group)

  »Ex: where, when, why

• Interrogative Adverbs → An interrogative adverb is placed at the beginning of a sentence to ask a question

  »Ex: why, where, how, when

Conjunctions

A conjunction is a word that connects parts of speech together.

• Coordinating Conjunctions → Connects words, phrases and clauses of equal ranks

  »Ex: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so (FANBOYS)

  » I want to by an ice cream cone, but I have no money.

• Subordinating Conjunctions → Connects two ideas and establishes importance between two clauses

  » After I go to the bank, I will have money for the ice cream.

• Correlative Conjunction → A paired conjunction that links words, phrases, and clauses

  » I want both the chocolate syrup and the sprinkles in my ice cream

• Conjunctive Adverb → An adverb that connects words, phrases, and clauses

  »Ex: also, besides, however, nonetheless, likewise, otherwise, similarly, next

Prepositions

A preposition is a word that describes or indicates the location or direction of objects in a sentence.

• Prepositions of Time

  »Ex: at, on, in

  » The essay is due in the morning. There is a test about prepositions on Friday.

• Prepositions of Place

  »Ex: at, on, in

  »Ex: She sat on the chair. We live at 1234 Main Street. My best friend lives in Maine

• Prepositions of Movement

  »Ex: to, toward, through, across, over, under

  » A dog ran across the meadow. The woman ran through the finish line tape. The hot air balloon floated across the horizon

25 Commonly Used Prepositions

of, on, as, over, without

in, at, into, between, before

to, from, like, out, under

for, by, through, against, around

with, about, after, during, among