Parts of Speech - Key Concepts

The parts of speech refer to the way words are classified according to their function in a sentence.  There are eight parts of speech:  noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection.

Your Turn: In your notes, write down the eight parts of speech given above.  They will each be further categorized below.

Nouns

Concrete - names an object that can be seen, touched, tasted, etc.

Collective - names a multiple subject or group

Common - general name for a person, place, or thing

Compound - a noun formed from two words

Your Turn: Is a collective noun, as in "a flock of geese," considered singular or plural?

Pronouns

A pronoun takes the place of a noun in a sentence.

There are seven different kinds of pronouns.

1.  The personal pronoun takes the place of a specific or named person or thing. Personal pronouns come in three different cases: nominative, objective, and possessive.

• he, she, it, they  (nominative)
• her, him, you, them  (objective)
• his, hers, yours, ours, its, theirs  (possessive)

2.  The  reflexive pronoun adds information by pointing back to a noun or another pronoun.  

• myself, yourself, herself, ourselves, themselves, etc.
  • Students who cheat are only hurting themselves.

3.  The  intensive pronoun adds emphasis to a noun or pronoun.  

• myself, yourself, herself, ourselves, themselves, etc.
  • I, myself, am unsure of the procedure.

4.  The demonstrative pronoun points out a specific person, place, or thing.  

• this, that, these, those, such
  • This is incredible!

5. The relative pronoun begins a subordinate clause and relates the clause to a word in the main clause.  

• who, whoever, which, that
  • The student who studies the hardest usually does the best.

6. The interrogative pronoun is used to ask a question. The personal interrogative pronouns come in the same three cases as the personal pronouns.

• what, which, who/whom/whose
  

7. Indefinite pronouns refer to persons, places, or things without specifying for certain which one.

• everybody, anybody, somebody, all, each, every, some, none, one
• whoever, whomever, whatever  (indefinite relative pronouns)
  • Somebody is wondering if any is left.

 Verbs

Action Verb

An action verb expresses a mental or physical action.

• run, jump, working, sits
• He tasted the ice cream.  (action)

Your Turn: Conjugate (list all the forms of) the action verb "to take."

Linking Verb

A linking verb is a verb which links or establishes a relationship between the subject and a term in the predicate which describes or renames the subject.

It does not show action, but, rather, it links. One way of testing for a linking verb is to replace the verb with the appropriate form of seem. If the sentence is still saying pretty much the same thing, the verb is a linking verb.

Auxiliary Verbs

An auxiliary verb combines with another verb to help form the tense, mood, voice, or condition of the verb it combines with.

The verbs to have, to be, to do, will, shall, would, should, can, may, might, and could are the common auxiliary verbs in English.

Auxiliary verbs are sometimes called helping verbs. In the last sentence, are is the auxiliary verb in the passive verb phrase are called.

Your Turn: Compare the sentences "The operation may have saved her" and "The operation might have saved her."  Do both sentences imply the same occurrence?

The Difference Between an Adjective and an Adverb

An adjective describes or modifies nouns or pronouns.  It can give the size, shape, condition, color, or amount of the noun.

• strong horses

An adverb modifies verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.  It can tell you how, when, or where, or to what extent the action, being, or condition is happening.

• extremely strong horses

Prepositions 

Prepositions are words which relate a noun or pronoun (called the object of the preposition) to another word in the sentence.

The preposition and the object of the preposition together with any modifiers of the object is known as a prepositional phrase.

The following is a list of a few of the prepositions used in English today.  Note that many of the words may also function as other parts of speech.  Also note that some prepositions are compound, made up of more than one word.

• across, among, on, at, beside, between, for, of, to, with

Your Turn: For many years, it was considered incorrect to end a sentence with a preposition.  Why do you think that is?

Prepositional Phrases

A prepositional phrase is a phrase beginning with a preposition and ending with a noun or  pronoun. The phrase relates the noun or pronoun to the rest of the sentence. The noun or pronoun being related by the preposition is called the object  of the preposition.  In this paragraph the prepositional phrases are red. The objects of the prepositions are italicized.

Your Turn: A prepositional phrase can serve the same purpose as an adjective or an adverb.  Which of the phrases highlighted above are serving as adjectives (that is, modifying nouns) and which are serving as adverbs?

Conjunctions

Conjunctions are words that join words, phrases, or sentence parts.

In English there are three kinds of conjunctions.

1. Coordinate conjunctions join similar words, phrases, or clauses to each other. In English the main coordinate conjunctions are and, or, for, but, nor, so and yet. (Note the use of or and and in the last two sentences.)

2. Correlative conjunctions also join similar words, phrases, or clauses, but act in pairs. In modern English these are main correlative conjunctions:

• either/or, neither/nor, both/and, whether/or, not/but, not only/but also.

3.  Subordinating conjunctions join subordinate clauses to main clauses. The following is a list of the most common subordinating conjunctions.

Common Subordinating Conjunctions
after although as as if as long as as though because before even if even though	if if only in order that now that once rather than since so that than that	though till unless until when whenever where whereas wherever while

A subordinating conjunction is always followed by a clause. Many subordinating conjunctions can be other parts of speech.

• Subordinating Conjunction: Jill came tumbling after Jack had fallen.  (after is followed by a clause)

Adverb Clause

An adverb clause is always introduced by a subordinating conjunction. A noun clause and adjective clause sometimes are introduced by subordinating conjunctions. 

Adverb clause: Before you go, sign the log book.

Noun clause: He asked if he could leave early.  

Adjective clause: That is the place where he was last seen.  

Your Turn: If you took a subordinate clause and removed the subordinating conjunction, would you get a complete sentence?  Why do you think these words are classified as conjunctions?

Conjunctive Adverb 

Conjunctive adverbs are adverbs that act as a transition between complete ideas. They normally show comparison, contrast, cause-effect, sequence, or other relationships. They usually occur between independent clauses or sentences.

The following words are common conjunctive adverbs:

• accordingly, again, also, besides, consequently, finally, furthermore, however, indeed, moreover, nevertheless, otherwise, then, therefore, thus

Interjections

An interjection is a word or phrase showing emotion or surprise which has no grammatical relationship to any other words or part of a sentence.

They are often punctuated by exclamation points and are used infrequently.  It is best to avoid the use of them in formal writing other than direct quotations.

• Ouch, Hey, Oh my, Wow