Depending upon its function in a sentence, a word can be placed in one of eight categories of parts of speech.
Contents
A word used to name a person, place, thing, or idea.
Classification of nouns:
Proper-name of a particular person, place, or thing.
Capitalized: John, Louisville, The Manhattan Project
Common-does not name a particular person, place, or thing.
Not capitalized: boy, city, project
Abstract-names a
quality, characteristic, or an idea: bravery, truth, goodness, force
Concrete-names an object which can be perceived by the
senses: pen, button, coat, envelope
Collective-names a group: family, club, flock, audience
A word that expresses action or helps to make a statement.
Action verbs
These verbs show either physical or mental action.
walk, chew, carry, push, remember, believe
Face scowling, fists clenching, Vincent walked into his brother's room.
Linking verbs
These verbs link the subject to a word or idea in the predicate. They
are verbs that show a state of being.
appear, be, become, feel, grow, look, taste, stay
Sandra was a world-class skating champion.
Some verbs can be either an action verb or a linking verb.
look, taste, feel, etc.
How can you tell the difference? If a verb is showing physical or mental action, it is an action verb. If it is describing a state of being for the subject, it is a linking verb.
Action: He looked at the woman.
Linking: He looked pale.Action: Tandy reached into her pocket and felt the key.
Linking; Tandy felt excited about finding the key in her pocket.
Verb Phrase
A verb phrase is up of a main verb and one or more helping
verbs.
Common helping verbs: have, might, should, could, will be
Examples of verb phrases: have studied, should be arriving, will be hired, might have been honored
Cheri must have helped Andrus with his homework.
In the preceding example, the main
verb is helped and the helping verbs are must have.
A helping verb is also called an auxiliary verb.
A word used in place of a noun. It may stand for a person, place, thing, or idea.
Elsa received a raise for her hard work. She certainly earned it.
Antecedent-the noun or pronoun for which a pronoun stands. In the above example, Elsa is the antecedent for she, and raise is the antecedent for it.
Classification of pronouns:
Personal Pronouns-I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it,
we, us, they, them
Relative Pronouns-who, whom, which, that, what, whose,
where, whoever
Sylvia, who had perfect attendance in the past, missed the first three classes of the semester.
Interrogative Pronouns-Who...? Whom...? Which...? What...? Whose...?
Who is going to clean up this mess?
Demonstrative Pronouns-this,
these, that, those
Indefinite Pronouns-all, any, anybody, anyone, both,
each, either, everybody, everyone, few, many, neither, nobody, no one,
one, several, some, somebody, someone.
Reflexive Pronouns-these pronouns end with -self or -selves. They act like direct objects or subjective complements.
He loves himself more than anything.
Intensive Pronouns-these pronouns also end with -self or -selves. They act like appositives.
The killer herself was responsible for destroying her life.
A word used to modify a noun or a pronoun.
Adjectives describe:
What kind. Examples: brown hair, small town
Which one. Examples: this student, those books
How many. Examples: nine boys, many examples
Types of Adjectives
Articles--tell "which one" ; there are only three articles:a, an and the.
The woman carried a grocery bag and an ice cream cone.
Pointing Adjectives-these adjectives also tell "which one" by pointing at objects; pointing adjectives include this, that, these, and those.
this book
that television
these baseballs
those cars
If used by themselves, without a noun or pronoun to describe, pointing adjectives become pronouns: This is the book I borrowed from the library.
Limiting Adjectives-these adjectives tell "how many" by "limiting" the amount. Limiting adjectives include:
more, enough, most, several, few, each, any, many, some, no, every
Several people filed a complaint when the hours of the library changed.
Descriptive Adjectives-tell "what kind"; pick descriptive adjectives closely to give the reader a close description of the noun or pronoun you are describing:
We watched the blue sky.
Productive people plan ahead.
Her beautiful singing entranced the large audience.
Hockey can be a dangerous game.
As stated above, some words are both adjective and pronouns:
all, another, few, neither, some, which (just to name a few)
They are pronouns when they stand alone, but adjectives when they modify a noun or pronoun.
Which book did you buy? (which is an adjective)
Which did you buy? (which is a pronoun)
She likes those designs. (those is an adjective)
She likes those. (those is a pronoun)
A word used to modify a verb,
adjective or another adverb.
The adverb is used most commonly as
the modifier of a verb. It may tell how, where or
to what extent. Many times the adverb ends in -ly.
The chorus sang beautifully. (The adverb beautifully describes the verb sang. It tells how the chorus sang.)
An adverb may modify an adjective.
She is thoroughly honest. (The adverb thoroughly describes the adjective honest. It tells how honest).
An adverb may modify another adverb.
The team played unusually well. (The adverb unusually describes the adverb well. It tells how well the team played. The adverb well describes the verb played. It describes how they played.)
Some adverbs do not end in -ly. They are:
Afterward, already, hard, never, today, low, rather, tomorrow, then, yesterday, late, often, almost, back, long, soon, when, here, next, still, where, far, too, near
A word used to show the relationship of a noun or pronoun to some other word in the the sentence.
Common prepositions
About, above, across, after, against, along, amid, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, between, beyond, but (meaning except), by, concerning, down, during, except, for, from, in, into, like, of , off, on , over, past, since, through, throughout, to, toward, under, underneath, until, unto, up, upon, with, within, without.
A preposition always introduces a phrase called a prepositional phrase.
Mary went to her aunt's house.
The prepositional phrase to her aunt's house is showing the relationship of the noun house to the rest of the sentence—showing where Mary went. The noun house is called the object of the preposition.
He ate lunch at the corner deli.
In the phrase at the corner deli, at is the preposition and deli is the object of the preposition.
If a prepositional phrase is moved to the beginning of a sentence, it should have a comma following it.
At the corner deli, he ate lunch.
A word which joins words and groups of words.
Types of Conjunctions
Coordinating Conjunctions-and, but, or, nor, for
Steve aided and abetted the kidnapper.
Bridgette invited both men and women to the party.
Each counselor received a gift certificate, but few used them.
Correlative Conjunctions-either...or, neither...nor, both...and, not only...but, not only...and, wheither...or
Neither Toni nor your aunt is permitted to enter the hotel again.
Subordinating conjunctions-used to begin a dependent clause. Common subordinating conjunctions:
After, although, as, as much as, because, before, how, if, inasmuch as, in order that, provided, since, so that, than, that, though, till, unless, until, when, whenever, where, wherever, while
My attendance has improved since I started going to bed earlier.
I do not know when I shall cook again.
A word which expresses emotion and has no grammatical relation to other words in the sentence.
Oh!
Well!
Oh, dear!
Help!
Ouch!
My goodness!
An interjection doesn't necessarily have to be followed by an exclamation mark. If the feeling is not that strong, a comma will do.
Dear me, the bleach has spilled onto the jeans.
Indeed, the caterer is the killer.