parts of speech

• noun - names a person, place, or thing

• pronoun - takes the place of a noun

• adjective - modifies a noun

• verbs

  • linking - link the subject to the predicate with a form of to be (is, was, looks, sounds, feels)

  • action - express an action or state of being

• adverbs - modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs

• preposition - show the relationship between a noun and the object of the preposition

• conjunction - join single words and/or groups of words

• interjection - express emotion or exclamation

parts of the sentence

• subject - what the sentence is about, most often a noun or pronoun

• simple predicate - verb or verb phrase that tells something about the subject

• complements - complete the meaning of the verb

  • direct object - answers what? or whom? after an action verb -- receives the action of the verb ex: She kicked the ball (kicked what?)

  • indirect object - answers to whom? for whom? to what? after an action verb

    ex: She read him the book. (read the book to whom?)

• subject complements - follow linking verbs

  • predicate nominative - noun or pronoun that identifies or renames the subject

  • predicate adjective - adjective that describes the subject

• object complements - identify or describe a direct object

  • answer what? after a direct object to complete the meaning

  • ex: “The mayor appointed Ken treasurer.”

• phrases - group of words that doesn’t include a verb

  • prepositional phrases - begins with preposition and ends with noun or pronoun

    • can function as adjective: Darcy chose the room above the garage. (which room)

    • or as adverb: The poem is meaningful to me. (modifies meaningful)

  • gerunds + gerund phrases

    • gerund - a verbal ending in -ing, used as a noun

      may be a subject, object

    • ex: Jessica’s snoring keeps everyone awake.

    • gerund phrase - gerund + any complements/modifiers

    • ex: She hates waiting for trains. (hates what? +object complement)

  • infinitives + infinitive phrases

    • infinitive - verbal functioning as a noun, adjective, or verb

      formed as to + verb ex: to love, to read, to sleep

    • ex: Pedro refused to play by our rules. (direct object, refused what?)

  • participles + participial phrases

    • participles - verbal acting as an adjective ex: the smiling girl

      • present - end in -ing, walking

      • past - usually end in -ed, applauded

      • ex: Practicing constantly, Mike improved his tennis game. (modifying Mike)

• appositives - noun or pronoun further modifying/identifying another noun

  • if it necessarily specifies the noun, the appositive is not between commas

    ex: My friend Jessica is a cheerleader.

  • if it unnecessarily specifies the noun, the appositive is between commas

    ex: My doctor, Dr. Enriquez, recently moved. (modifying doctor)

• clauses - contains both a subject and a noun

  • main/independent clause - group or words containing a complete subject and a complete predicate, can stand alone as a complete sentence

    She was tired.

  • subordinate/dependent - also contains subject and verb, but cannot stand alone

    usually introduced with a subordinate conjunction

    ex: Because she was tired,

    (if the sub. clause comes before the main, there is a comma. if after, no comma)

    • noun clause - sub. clause that acts as a noun, can be used as subj, obj

      ex: The barren part of town is where the tornado hit.

    • adverb clause - sub. clause modifying a verb, adj, or adverb

      tells where, when, why

      ex: The cold breeze blows after the thunderstorm has passed. (not prep bc verb, modifies when it blows)

    • adjective clause - modifies a noun or pronoun

      often introduced by relative pronoun

      ex: The present that I bought is lost.

• sentences

  • simple sentence - contains one subject-verb pair, independent clause

  • compound sentence - contains two subject-verb pairs, as two independent clauses

    • joined by a coordinating conjunction: and, or, but, so, or by a semicolon

  • complex sentence - contains a main clause and one or more subordinate clauses

    ex: We played charades [when the electricity went out].

    or [When the electricity went out], we played charades.

  • compound-complex sentence - contains more than one main clause and one or more subordinate clauses

    ex: [When we have an ice storm], the twins go skating, and I enjoy the peace.