Transcript Parts of Speech - St. John's High School

PARTS OF SPEECH
From The Holt Grammar Handbook
(Chapter 1)
The Noun
 Names a person, place, a thing, or an idea.
 Types of nouns
- common noun – names any one of a group of persons, places, things, or
ideas; is not capitalized.
* Ex: uncle, island, metacognition
- proper noun – names a particular person, place, thing or idea; is capitalized.
* Ex: Flava Flav, Aruba, Buddhist
- concrete noun – names a person, place or thing that can be perceived by
one or more of the senses.
* Ex: Fez, llama, baptism
- abstract noun – names an idea, a feeling, a quality or characteristic.
* Ex: entropy, Modernism, jealousy
- collective noun – names a group in its singular form.
* Ex: gang, peck, congregation
- compound noun – consists of two or more words that together name a
person, a place, a thing, or an idea.
* stepsister, waterfall, lampshade
The Pronoun
 Takes the place of one or more nouns or pronouns; should agree in number and in gender with its
antecedent.
 antecedent – the word or word group that a pronoun stands for.
 Types of pronouns
- personal pronoun – refers to the one(s) speaking (first person), the one(s) spoken to (second
person), or the one(s) spoken about (third person).
* First person: I, me, my, mine, we, us, our, ours
* Second person: you, your, yours (can be both singular and plural)
* Third person: he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its, they, them, their, theirs
- reflexive pronouns – refers to the subject of a verb and functions as a compliment or as the
object of a preposition.
* Ex: himself, herself, themselves
- intensive pronoun – a reflexive pronoun that emphasizes its antecedent (a noun or another
pronoun) but has no other function in the sentence.
* Ex: Salman Rushdie himself spoke at the book launch party.
- demonstrative pronoun – points out a noun or another pronoun.
* Ex: this, that, these, those (“This is my book”)
- interrogative pronoun – introduces a question.
* Ex: who, whom, whose, which, what (“What is the date today?”)
- relative pronoun – introduces an adjective clause.
* that, which, who, whom, whose (“He is the boy that sits in the front row”)
- indefinite pronoun – refers to a person, a place, a thing or an idea that may or may not be
specifically named.
* anybody, most, neither, something etc. (“Everybody knows the Sox will win”)

Many of the words that can be used as pronouns can also be used as adjectives.
* Ex: That chair
The Adjective
 Modifies a noun or pronoun.
- Ex. blonde, charismatic, petite
 articles – the most frequently used adjectives.
- indefinite articles – refer to any member of a general group.
* a – used before words beginning with a consonant sound
* an – used before words beginning with a vowel sound
- definite article
* the – refers to a specific person, place, thing or idea
 In different contexts, words may be used as adjectives and as
nouns/pronouns.
- Remember, an adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun and that a
pronoun takes the place of a noun or another pronoun.
- The words this, that, these, and those are called demonstrative
pronouns when they take the place of nouns or other pronouns and
are called demonstrative adjectives when they modify nouns or
pronouns.
- proper adjective – an adjective that is formed from a proper noun;
is capitalized.
* Ex. Marine Corps cadet
The Verb
 Expresses action or a state of being
 A main verb and one or more helping verbs make up a
verb phrase
* Ex: could run, did talk, has been
 Types of verbs
- action verb – expresses either physical or mental
activity
* Ex: run, discuss, ponder
- linking verb – expresses a state of being
* Ex: am, is, are, was, were, feel, look, seem
- transitive verb – has an object
- intransitive verb – does not have an object; linking
verbs are always intransitive
- object – a word or word group that tells who or what
receives the action of the verb
The Adverb
 Modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb; tells
where, when, how, or to what extent most commonly
used to modify verbs and verb phrases. I.E. extremely,
articulately, thoroughly
Ex:
She spoke very slowly.
It is terribly cold.
We ran far.
 Some words that are often used as nouns may also be
used as adverbs.
Ex:
My grandmother arrives tomorrow.
Tomorrow is Sunday.
 The word not and its contraction (-n’t) are adverbs
telling to what extent.
The Preposition
 Shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun, called the object of a
preposition, to another word.
Ex: about, above, across etc…
 object of a preposition – a noun, pronoun, or word group that functions
as a noun; in most cases it follows a preposition and is the thing being
given a relationship to.
 prepositional phrase – made up of the preposition, its object, and any
modifiers of the object.
- to the raft
- from the raft
- below the raft
- above the raft
- on the raft
 compound preposition – a preposition that consists of two or more
words.
Ex: in addition to, as of
 Some of the words that are commonly used as prepositions may also be
used as adverbs; remember that an adverb is a modifier and that it
does not have an object, while prepositions always have objects.
- I will meet you outside the theater.
- I will meet you outside at noon.
The Conjunction
 Joins words or word groups.
 Types of conjunctions
- coordinating conjunction – joins words or word groups that are used in the same
way (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet)
* In A.D. 711, the Berbers invaded and conquered Spain.
* We missed the opening scene, but we enjoyed the rest of the party.
- correlative conjunctions – pairs of conjunctions that join words or word groups
that are used in the same way (both… and, either… or, whether… or, not only…
but also, neither… nor)
* Either Fred or Manuela will bring music for the party.
* Not only did Garrett Morgan patent the first gas mask, but he also
invented the automatic traffic signal.
- subordinating conjunctions – begins a subordinate clause and connects it to an
independent clause (although, because, provided, while, etc.)
* Many American Indians are reluctant to reveal their traditional names for
some places because the names have spiritual meanings.
* I gasped when I saw the headline.
* When I saw the headline, I gasped.
Note: Some words can be used as prepositions or as subordinating conjunctions.
* After the election, we celebrated.
* After we won the election, we celebrated.
The Interjection
 Expresses emotion and has no
grammatical relation to the rest of the
sentence.
- Ex: ah, aha, oh, hey, whoa, wow, etc.
-Hey! I think I know the answer.
-Well, I thought I knew the answer.
-I think that, aw, you are the greatest.
*Remember, the way a word is used in a
sentence determines what part of speech
the word is!