Parts of Speech

Context
Determines
Usage
Nouns
 Nouns name a person, place, thing, or idea.
 (i.e. persons: George Solti, conductor,
musicians, audience. Places: theater,
Symphony Center. Things: instruments,
chairs, podium, music stands. Ideas:
inspiration, joy, cooperation, freedom.)
Pronouns
Singular Plural
 Pronoun: a word used
in place of a noun
(antecedent) or another
First person I, me, my, mine We, us, our, ours
pronoun. (i.e. personal
pronouns.)
Second person You, your, yours You, your, yours

Third person He, him, she, it, his, They, them, their,
her, hers, its theirs
Verbs

A verb is a word used to express an action, a

condition, or a state of being.
The Mexicans fought a French army. (action)
They wanted independence. (action you
cannot see)
Cinco de Mayo is very popular in Mexico City.
(linking)
Verb Phrases

 A verb phrase is made Forms of be: is, am, are,

up of a main verb and was, were,
one or more helping be, being,
been
verbs.
 Common Helping
Verbs: Forms of do, does, did
do:
Helping Verbs continued

Forms of have: has, have, had

Others: may, might, can, should,

could, would, shall, will
Adjectives

 Modifies or limits the meaning of a noun or

pronoun.
Example: We saw the famous singer and
the legendary Carnegie Hall.
 Adjectives answer the questions:
– What Kind, Which One, How Many, How Much?
Proper Adjectives

 American artists Proper Proper

 Japanese lanterns
Nouns: Adjectives:

** Fresh, original Portugal Portuguese

adjectives sharpen your
writing where dull
Egypt Egyptian
overused adjectives like
good or great leave
your reader North North
uninterested. America American
Adverbs

 Adverbs modify a verb, an adjective, or another

adverb. Examples:
1.We instantly recognized Beethoven’s
Fifth Symphony.
2.The famous notes rang out quite
clearly.
3.The orchestra waited until the auditorium
grew completely quiet.
Adverbs continued

 Adverbs answer the questions:

– Where?
– When?
– How?
– To what extent?
Many adverbs are formed by adding –ly to
adjectives. Sometimes the spelling
changes because of this addition.
Commonly Used Adverbs:

Afterward Fast Low Often Today

Already Forth More Slow Tomorrow

Also Hard Near Some- Too

times
Back Instead Next Still Yet

Even Late Not Straight

Far Long Now Then

Adverb-Intensifiers

 Anadverb that defines the degree of an

adjective or another adverb. Intensifiers
always precede the adjectives or adverbs
they are modifying.

(i.e. We were rather surprised that classical

music is very popular.)
Common Adverb-Intensifiers
Extremely Most Quite So Truly

Just Nearly Rather Somewhat Very

More Only Really Too

Prepositions
A preposition shows the relationship between
a noun or a pronoun and another word in a
sentence.
List of Commonly Used Prepositions

About Before During Off Toward

Above Behind Except On Under
Across Below For Onto Underneath
After Beneath From Out Until
Against Beside In Outside Up
Along Between Inside Over Upon
Among Beyond Into Since With
Around By Like Through Within
As Despite Near Throughout Without
At Down Of To
Conjunctions
A conjunction connects words or groups of
words. There are three kinds of conjunctions:
coordinating, correlative, and subordinating.
Conjunctive adverbs are adverbs that
function somewhat like conjunctions.
Coordinating Conjunctions:

 Connect words or
groups of words of
equal importance in a
sentence.

for and nor but

or yet so
Correlative Conjunctions:

 These are word pairs

that serve to join words
or groups or words.

both…and neither… nor whether… or

either… or not only… but

also
Subordinating Conjunctions:

 Introduce subordinate
clauses-- clauses that
cannot stand alone--
and join them to
independent clauses.
After As though If So that When
Although Because Provided Than Where
As Before Since Unless Whereas
As if Even though In order that Until While
 Conjunctive Adverbs:

 Used to express
relationships between
independent clauses.

Accordingly Consequently Hence nevertheless Still

Also Finally However Otherwise Therefore
Besides furthermore Instead Similarly Thus
Interjections
A word or a phrase used to express emotion.
 Usually set apart from the rest of the
sentence by either a ! Or a ,
Examples:
Yikes! Our project is due tomorrow.
Well, where should we start?
Common Interjections:

 Wow
*A strong interjection is
 Ouch
followed by an
 Aha
exclamation point. A mild
 Gee
interjection is set off by
 Boy
 Imagine
commas.
 Unbelievable