Grammar Review!

Parts of Speech

What are Parts of Speech?

A part of speech is a category to which a word is

assigned in accordance with its syntactic functions

(www.dictionary.com).
There are eight (8) parts of speech in the English

language: nouns; pronouns; adjectives; verbs; adverbs;

prepositions; conjunctions; and interjections.

Nouns: words which describe a

person, place, or a thing.
Proper Nouns vs. Common
Nouns
A proper noun names a

specific person, place or

thing, and therefore will
begin with a capital letter.
Ex. Mexico, Ms. Edwards,

Atlantic Ocean

A common noun does not

name a specific person, place,

or thing.
Ex. Girl, country, piano

Concrete Nouns vs. Abstract

Nouns
A concrete noun names a

person, place, or thing one

can experience with one or
more of his or her five senses.
Ex. Table, bed

An abstract noun names

something with which one

cannot physically interact.
Ex. Liberty, freedom, hate,

love

Pronouns: words which can

replace nouns in a sentence.
Personal, Possessive, and
Reflexive/Intensive Pronouns.
Personal pronouns always refer to a

specific person, place, or thing, and

change its form according to person,
number, gender, and case.

Ex. I, you, he, she, they, us.

Possessive pronouns identify who

owns a particular object or person.

Ex. Mine, yours, his, hers, theirs, ours

Reflexive/Intensive pronouns refer

back to the subject of the sentence or

clause or may be used to emphasize
the antecedent.

Ex. Myself, yourself, himself,

themselves.

Interrogative, Demonstrative,
Relative, and Indefinite
Pronouns

Interrogative pronouns are used to ask

questions.

Ex. Who, which, whom, what

Demonstrative pronouns identify

nouns or pronouns.

Ex. This, these, those

Relative pronouns link one phrase or

clause to another phrase or clause.

Ex. Who, whoever, whomever, which,

whichever

Indefinite pronouns refer to an

identifiable but unspecified person,

place, or thing,

Ex. Many, all, some

Adjectives: words that describe a

noun.
Adjectives usually come before the nouns they describe.
Ex. The lovely woman, the old man.
Multiple adjectives are separated by a comma.
Ex. She was tall, beautiful, and very intelligent.
Most adjectives do not change form when the nouns

change from singular to plural or vice versa.

Ex. Ugly shirt Ugly shirts

Possessive adjectives show possession or ownership.

Ex. My dog, his cat, their books

Verbs: words which show action or

a state of being in a sentence.
Tense
Verbs have an important

relationship to time; their

tenses change according to
past, present, or future.
Ex. Taught, teach, will teach

A verb must agree with its

subject.
Ex. He teaches vs. He teach

Transitive vs. Intransitive

verbs
Transitive verbs have a
subject and a direct object.
Ex. He throws the ball, she

read the book

Intransitive verbs only have a

subject.
Ex. I run, he sits

Adverbs: words which describes verbs,

adjectives, or other adverbs in terms of
time, frequency, or manner.
Adverbs often end in ly
Sentence examples:
Do it now.
I wanted to eat quickly and get out of there.
We sometimes get confused.
She never reads.
They usually eat breakfast before school.

Prepositions: words which show

relationships between other
words.
These relationships include direction, place, time,

cause, manner, and amount.

Ex. She went to school (direction), I came by taxicab

(manner), The cat sits under the table (place).

Prepositions always go with a noun or a pronoun and

almost always go before the noun or pronoun.

Heres a way to remember prepositions (most of the
time). If the word fits into the blank space in the
following sentence, it is a preposition:

The squirrel ran _____________ the tree.

Conjunctions: words which

connect other groups of words.
And is used to join or add words together in a sentence.
Ex. Beverly and Will are best friends.
But is used to show opposing or conflicting ideas in a

sentence.
Ex. Beth is smart but unaware of what occurred.

Or is used to show choices or possibilities in a sentence.

Ex. I wanted apples or oranges with my oatmeal.
So is used to show result in a sentence.
Ex. Caroline was tired so she went to sleep.

Interjections: words or phrases

used to indicate surprise, to
protest, or to command.
Interjections may indicate isolated emotion of the speaker.
Filler words such as um, er, and uh are also interjections.
Interjections are sometimes followed by exclamation

points, but not always.

Oh, I didnt want cream in my coffee.
Wow! I wasnt expecting to win the race!
No, you shouldnt have done that.