Transcript is the noun - SchoolNotes

Grammar Basics
Part I
Union Catholic High School
Humanities Department
PARTS OF SPEECH

Nouns

Pronouns

Verbs
Nouns

A noun is defined as a word that names a
person, place, thing, or idea.
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Examples:
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person = boy, Tom
place = classroom, Scotch Plains
thing = book, Of Mice and Men
idea = friendship, justice
Nouns can be categorized or labeled in
several ways:
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common or proper
concrete or abstract
singular or plural
collective
compound
Common Nouns vs. Proper Nouns
A noun can be categorized or labeled as
common or proper.
1.
•
•
A common noun does not name a particular person,
place, or thing.
•
Ex. movie
A proper noun names a particular person, place, or thing
•
Ex. Shrek II
Note: A proper noun is capitalized and may be more than one word
Can you give examples of common and proper nouns?
Concrete Nouns vs. Abstract Nouns
A noun can be categorized or labeled as
concrete or abstract
2.
A concrete noun can be seen and touched. A concrete
noun is tangible.
•
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Ex. desk, pen, sweater
An abstract noun can not be seen or touched in the way
that a desk can be seen and touched. An abstract noun
often names an idea.
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Ex. Perseverance, freedom
Singular Nouns vs. Plural Nouns
A noun can also be categorized as singular or
plural.
3.
A singular noun names one person, place, or thing.
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•
Ex. girl, child
A plural noun names more than one person, place, or
thing.
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Ex. girls, children
Collective Nouns
A noun can be categorized or labeled as a
collective noun. A collective noun names a
group of persons or things.
4.
•
Ex. class, choir, pod
Compound Noun
A noun can be categorized or labeled as a
compound noun. A compound noun is a single
noun formed from two or more words.
5.
•
Ex. Afternoon, playground, income tax
Tips For Finding Nouns
Look for words that do the following:
Who? Or What?
1.
Look for a word that answers the question
who or what, thus naming a person, place,
thing or idea.
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Who called? John, the teacher
What is that? A city, New York City
-ment, -tion, -ity, -ness
Look for a word that ends in –ment, -tion, ity, -ness.
2.
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Ex. enjoyment
satisfaction
equality
happiness
Flag Words - “A, An, The”
Words such as “a, an, the” are called articles.
Use these words as “flag words.” If you see a
flag word, a noun will follow.
3.
Ex. a cat, an egg, the song
Note: Sometimes a word that describes a noun (adjective)
will be used after the article and before the noun. Be
careful to choose the noun, the word that names, and not
the word that describes the noun.
•
•
Ex. a small dog – “a” is the article (flag word), “small” is the
adjective (descriptive word), “dog” is the noun
Pronouns

A pronoun is a word that is used in place of a
noun.
If the English language did not have pronouns,
we would have to talk like this:
John asked Mary if Mary would like to go to the
concert with John. Mary said Mary would have to
check Mary’s calendar before saying yes or no to
John.
How would you re-write the above using pronouns?

Pronouns
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John asked Mary if she would like to go to the
concert with him. She said she would have to
check her calendar before saying yes or no to
him.
Personal Pronouns vs. Indefinite Pronouns
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There are different kinds of pronouns, just
like there are different kinds of nouns.
For now, you need to know about two kinds
of pronouns: personal and indefinite
Personal Pronoun
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A personal pronoun refers to a specific
person, place, thing, or idea. The noun that the
pronoun replaces is called the pronoun’s
antecedent. (ante=before)
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Ex. John = antecedent
Mary = antecedent
him = pronoun
her = pronoun
Personal Pronoun cont.
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How do you know what personal pronoun to
use? How do you know whether to say “he”
or “him”?
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The pronoun you choose depends upon the
way the pronoun is used in the sentence. The
pronoun can be used as a subject, to indicate
ownership, or as an object.
Pronoun as a subject
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If the pronoun is used as a subject of the
sentence or follows a linking verb (subject
complement), use “I, you, he, she, it, they”
Pronoun to indicate ownership
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If the pronoun is used to indicate ownership,
use “my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers,
its (no apostrophe), their, theirs, our, ours”
Pronoun as an object
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If the pronoun is used as an object (in other
words, neither of the above situations) use
“me, you, him, her, it, us, them”
For now, just make sure that you can recognize
pronouns. We’ll worry about the correct use of
pronouns at a later date.
Indefinite Pronouns
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An indefinite pronoun does not refer to a
particular person, place, thing, or idea.
The correct use of an indefinite pronoun is
very important. However, for the moment,
you need only to be aware of the following
indefinite pronouns:
Indefinite Pronouns cont.
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Singular – each, either, neither, -one, -body, -thing
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Plural – several, few, both, many, others

Singular or Plural – most, all, any, none, some
(MAANS)
We will return to our discussion of indefinite pronouns
when we work on subject – verb agreement.
Verbs

There are two kinds of verbs: action or linking
(also called “state of being” verbs)
Action Verbs
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An action verb tells what a person or thing is
doing. The action may be physical or mental.
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Ex. Run, jump, talk, think, wish, remember
Linking Verb
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If the verb does not express an action, then it is called a
linking verb because it links the subject of the sentence (the
part that tells who or what the sentence is about) to a word in
the predicate (the last part of the sentence). This word could
be a noun (or pronoun) or an adjective (a word that describes
a noun or pronoun). A linking verb acts like an = sign.
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Ex. The principal is Sister Percylee. The principal = Sister Percylee (noun)
The principal is nice.
The principal = nice (adj.)
Linking Verb cont.
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The most common linking verbs are a form of “to be”. These
“to be” verbs should be memorized: am, are, is, was, were
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Ex. The child is happy.
Other linking verbs are words that can be used in place of a
“to be” verb and yet mean the same. For example, rather than
say “The child is happy” you could say:
 The child seems happy.
 The child remains happy.
 The child feels happy.
 The child looks happy.
 The child appears happy.
Verbs*
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Note: A word can be used in different ways. In one
sentence, a word may be an action verb and in
another a linking verb.
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Ex. The boy tastes the donut. (action verb)
The donut tastes good. (linking verb)
_______________________________________________________________
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Note: A person feels bad. (adj)
A person does not feel badly. (adv)
This is the #1 error educated people make. Do not make this mistake
yourself when using standard English
Verbs: Transitive vs. Intransitive
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An action verb may also be categorized as transitive or intransitive.
When a verb is defined in the dictionary, the dictionary will indicate v.t.
(verb transitive) or v.i. (verb intransitive)
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If the action verb is transitive, that means that there is a receiver of the
action (called a direct object).
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Ex. Mary saw Tom.
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Mary – subject (doer)
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saw – action verb
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Tom – direct object (receiver of the action)
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Note: Both the subject and the direct object must be a noun or pronoun
Verbs: Transitive vs. Intransitive cont.
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If the action verb is intransitive, there is no receiver of the
action (no direct object following the action verb).
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Ex. The man listened carefully.
The dog ran up the street.
Verbs
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The main verb (MV) must be action or linking. Both action and
linking verbs sometimes are preceded by helping verbs (HV) (also
called auxiliary verbs). There may be 1, 2, or even 3 helping verbs
preceding the main verbs.
 Ex.
I can play.
HV MV
I should be playing.
HV HV MV
I should have been playing.
HV
HV
HV
MV
Verbs cont.
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Note: What often causes confusion is the fact that the “to be”
verbs can be linking or helping. The good news is that “am,
are, is, was, were” are always verbs (either linking or
helping).
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Ex.#1 Jean will be the president.
will = HV
be = MV (linking)
Jean will be running for president.
will = HV
be = HV
running = MV (linking)
Verbs cont.
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Ex. #2 I am a swimmer
am = LV
I am swimming
am = HV
swimming = MV
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Note: The helping verbs always come before the main
verb. The main verb is always the last verb.
Nouns, Pronouns & Verbs

Nouns, pronouns and verbs are the basic
building blocks used to construct a sentence.
This marks the end of the first Grammar
Basics presentation. The second presentation
will discuss sentences and sentence structure.