Parts of Speech
Traditional grammar classifies words based on eight parts of speech: the verb, the noun, the pronoun, the
adjective, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction, and the interjection.
Each part of speech explains not what the word is, but how the word is used. In fact, the same word can
be a noun in one sentence and a verb or adjective in the next.
1. Adjectives
Adjectives are words that describe nouns and pronouns. Adjectives answer the questions:
What kind? How much? Which one? How many? For example:
What kind? red nose gold ring
How much? more sugar little effort
Which one? second chance those chocolates
How many? several chances six books
There are five kinds of adjectives: common adjectives, proper adjectives, compound adjectives, articles,
and indefinite adjectives.
1.Common adjectives describe nouns or pronouns.
strong man, green plant, beautiful view
2. Proper adjectives are formed from proper nouns.
California vegetables (from the noun “California”)
Mexican food (from the noun “Mexico”)
3. Compound adjectives are made up of more than one word.
far-off country, teenage person
4. Articles are a special type of adjective. There are three articles: a, an, the.
The is called a “definite article” because it refers to a specific thing.
A and an are called “indefinite articles” because they refer to general things. Use a with consonant
sounds; use an before vowel sounds.
5. Indefinite adjectives don’t specify the specific amount of something.
all another any both
each either few many
more most neither other
several some
1. Adjectives Adjectives are words that describe nouns and pronouns. Adjectives answer the questions:
What kind? How much? Which one? How many? For example:
What kind? red nose gold ring
How much? more sugar little effort
Which one? second chance those chocolates
How many? several chances six books
There are five kinds of adjectives: common adjectives, proper adjectives, compound adjectives, articles,
and indefinite adjectives.
1.Common adjectives describe nouns or pronouns.
strong man, green plant, beautiful view
2. Proper adjectives are formed from proper nouns.
California vegetables (from the noun “California”)
Mexican food (from the noun “Mexico”)
3. Compound adjectives are made up of more than one word.
far-off country, teenage person
4. Articles are a special type of adjective. There are three articles: a, an, the.
The is called a “definite article” because it refers to a specific thing.
A and an are called “indefinite articles” because they refer to general things. Use a with consonant
sounds; use an before vowel sounds.
5. Indefinite adjectives don’t specify the specific amount of something.
all another any both
each either few many
more most neither other
several some
2. Adverbs
Adverbs are words that describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Adverbs answer the
questions: When? Where? How? or To what extent?
When? left yesterday begin now
Where? fell below move up
How? happily sang danced badly
To what extent? partly finished eat completely
Most adverbs are formed by adding -ly to an adjective. For example:
Adjective Adverb
Quick - quickly
Careful - carefully
Accurate - accurately
3. Conjunctions
Conjunctions connect words or groups of words and show how the words are related. There are three
kinds of conjunctions: coordinating conjunctions, correlative conjunctions, and subordinating
conjunctions.
1. Coordinating conjunctions link similar words or word groups. There are seven coordinating
conjunctions:
for and nor but or yet so
2. Correlative conjunctions also link similar words or word groups, but they are always used
in pairs. Here are the correlative conjunctions:
both . . .and either . . . or
neither . . . nor not only . . . but also whether . . . or
3. Subordinating conjunctions link an independent clause (complete sentence) to a dependent
clause (fragment). Here are the most often used subordinating conjunctions:
after, although, as long as, as soon as as, though, because, before, since, unless, until, when, whenever,
where, wherever. 4. Interjections Interjections show strong emotion. Since interjections are not linked grammatically to other
words in the sentence, they are set off from the rest of the sentence with a comma or an exclamation
mark. For example:
Oh! What a shock you gave me with that gorilla suit.
Wow! That’s not a gorilla suit! 5. Nouns A noun is a word that names a person, place, or thing. Nouns come in these varieties: common
nouns, proper nouns, compound nouns, and collective nouns.
1. Common nouns name any one of a class of person, place, or thing.
girl city food
2. Proper nouns name a specific person, place, or thing. Proper nouns are always capitalized.
Barbara New York City Rice-a-Roni
3. Compound nouns are two or more nouns that function as a single unit. A compound noun
can be two individual words, words joined by a hyphen, or two words combined.
Individual words: time capsule
Hyphenated words: great-uncle
Combined words: basketball
4. Collective nouns name groups of people or things. 6. Prepositions Prepositions link a noun or a pronoun following it to another word in the sentence. Use this
chart to help you recognize some of the most common prepositions:
about, above, across, after, against, along, amid, around, behind, below, beneath, beside, between,
beyond, down, for,
from, in, inside, into, near, out, outside.
A noun or pronoun always follows a preposition. A prepositional phrase is a preposition and
its object. A prepositional phrase can be two or three words long.
on the wing in the door
However, prepositional phrases also can be much longer, depending on the length of the
preposition and the number of words that describe the object of the preposition. 7. Pronouns A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun or another pronoun. Pronouns help you avoid
unnecessary repetition in your writing and speech. A pronoun gets its meaning from the noun
it stands for. The noun is called the antecedent.
Although Seattle is damp, it is my favorite city.
There are different kinds of pronouns. For example:
1. Personal pronouns refer to a specific person, place, object, or thing.
Singular Plural
First person I, me, mine, my we, us, our, ours
Second person you, your, yours you, your, yours
Third person he, him, his, she, her, hers, it they, them, their, theirs, its
2. Possessive pronouns show ownership. The possessive pronouns are: your, yours, his, hers,
its, ours, their, theirs, whose.
Is this beautiful plant yours?
Yes, it’s ours.
3. Reflexive pronouns add information to a sentence by pointing back to a noun or pronoun
near the beginning of the sentence. Reflexive pronouns end in -self or -selves.
Tricia bought herself a new car.
All her friends enjoyed themselves riding in the beautiful car.
4. Intensive pronouns also end in -self or -selves but just add emphasis to the noun or pronoun.
Tricia herself picked out the car.
5. Demonstrative pronouns direct attention to a specific person, place, or thing. There are
only four demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, those.
This is my favorite movie.
That was a fierce rain storm.
6. Relative pronouns begin a subordinate clause. There are five relative pronouns: that,
which, who, whom, those.
Jasper claimed that he could run the washing machine.
Louise was the repair person who fixed the machine after Jasper washed his sneakers. 8. Verbs Verbs name an action or describe a state of being. Every sentence must have a verb. There
are three basic types of verbs: action verbs, linking verbs, and helping verbs.
Action Verbs
Action verbs tell what the subject does. The action can be visible (jump, kiss, laugh) or mental
(think, learn, study).
The cat broke Louise’s china.
Louise considered buying a new china cabinet.
An action verb can be transitive or intransitive. Transitive verbs need a direct object.
The boss dropped the ball.
The workers picked it up.
Intransitive verbs do not need a direct object.
Who called?
The temperature fell over night.
Linking Verbs
Linking verbs join the subject and the predicate. They do not show action. Instead, they help
the words at the end of the sentence name or describe the subject. the most common linking verbs
include: be, feel, grow, seem, smell, remain, appear,
sound, stay, look, taste, turn, become. Look for forms of to be, such as am, are, is, was, were,
am being, can be, have been, and so on.
The manager was happy about the job change.
He is a good worker.
Many linking verbs can also be used as action verbs.
Linking: The kids looked sad.
Action: I looked for the dog in the pouring rain.
Helping Verbs
Helping verbs are added to another verb to make the meaning clearer. Helping verbs
include any form of to be, do, does, did, have, has, had, shall, should, will, would, can, could,
may, might, must. Verb phrases are made up of one main verb and one or more helping
verbs.
They will run before dawn.
They still have not yet found a smooth track.
TOP Online English
http://toponlineenglish.yolasite.com
English grammar course, english grammar study, english grammar free, english grammar examples, english grammar for dummies, english grammar dictionary.Interactive english grammar, improve english grammar, simple english grammar, intermediate english grammar.
English grammar course, english grammar study, english grammar free, english grammar examples, english grammar for dummies, english grammar dictionary.
Interactive english grammar, improve english grammar, simple english grammar, intermediate english grammar.
Free English grammar, noun, adjective, verb, adverb, pronoun, preposition, interjection, conjunction.
|
|
