Eight Parts of Speech

Singular NounA word that names one person, place, thing,

or idea

Example-brother, classroom

Nouns

Plural NounNames more than one person, place, thing, or

idea

Example-brothers, classrooms

Nouns

Names a group. When the collective noun refers to a group as a whole, it is singular.

When it refers to individual group members, the collective noun is plural.

Example-The class meets two times a week. (singular)The board of trustees come from all walks of

life. (plural)

Collective Nouns

Common nouns name a general class of people, places, things, or ideas.

Example: soldier, country

*Proper nouns specifies a particular person, place, thing, event, or idea. Proper nouns are always capitalized.

Example: America, July

Common vs. Proper

Concrete nouns name an object that occupies space or that can be recognized by any of the senses.

Example: desk, chair

*Abstract Nouns name an idea, a quality, or a characteristic

Example: courage, sanity, power, and memory

Concrete vs. Abstract

A possessive noun shows possession, ownership, or the relationship between two nouns:

Example: Kate’s house, the cat’s fur, and the girl’s soccer ball.

Notice-who has possession in each of the examples?

Possessive Nouns

It is crucial that you know the 8 basic parts of speech before you engage in any type of writing.

Why is this important?By learning the grammar of the language-its

structure-the way it fits together –you will begin to see the words, phrases, and clauses you normally use and those you tend to avoid.

What do nouns do in our language?

Every complete sentence has a word (or group of words) that serves as the grammatical subject of the sentence.

The grammatical subject is always a noun or group of words acting as a noun.

Though, the subject may also be a pronoun, which takes the place of a noun.

The grammatical subject

Oh say can you see by the dawn’s early lightWhat so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last

gleaming?Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the

perilous fight, O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly

streaming?And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,Gave proof through the night that our flag was still

there.Oh say does that star-spangled banner yet waveO’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Pop Practice-Identify the nouns

Oh say can you see by the dawn’s early lightWhat so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last

gleaming?Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the

perilous fight, O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly

streaming?And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,Gave proof through the night that our flag was still

there.Oh say does that star-spangled banner yet waveO’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Answers

Remember the definition of a noun?It’s a word characterized by plurals and

possessive endings. Three words in our national anthem appear in the possessive-

Dawn’s, twilight’s and rockets’

*the ‘s and s’ should have tipped you off that these words are nouns

Dawn’s, twilight’s, and rockets’

You may not have gotten this one because gleaming looks like a verb, though if you look closely at the example-

at the twilight’s last gleaming

The possessive noun twilight’s is in possession of what? In this case, twilight is possessing gleaming.

gleaming

The word star is a bit tricky as well. The word is very much a noun. In this sentence it is joining forces with spangled to serve as an adjective.

Star

A word that takes the place of a noun; a group of words acting as a noun, or another pronoun. (I, me, my, mine, our, ours, your, yours we, us, you, he, him, she, her, it, its, they, them, theirs)

The group of words the pronoun refers to is called its antecedent.

Pronouns

Though Georgia O’Keefe was born in Wisconsin, she grew to love the landscape of the American Southwest.

What is the pronoun that takes the place of the pronoun antecedent ( a group of words to which the pronoun refers) Answer:_______

Pronoun Examples

1. After getting a D on his paper, Yuri began to study harder than he had before.

2. My tooth hurt, so I went to the dentist.3. I saw you at the mall last night, but I am

pretty sure you didn’t see me.

Pronoun Practice

1. his, he2. My, I3. I, you, me

Answers

Breakdown of the four major verb types-action transitive verbs-action intransitive verbs-the verb to be-linking verbsThe 5th major category of the verb:5) Helping verbs

Verbs in the English Language

Action verbs tell what someone or something does.

Physical action versus Mental Action-waved -hoped-sit -feared

Verbs!!!

Transitive verbs are followed by a direct object- (a word that answers the question what? or whom?) Look at the example-the sentence tells you what the batter swung…

Example-The batter swung the bat confidently.

Action Verb? Direct object?

Transitive Verbs

NOT followed by a direct object.

Example: The batter swung wildly.

In the example, it does not say what the batter swung. Therefore, the verb is intransitive.

Intransitive Verbs

Write each verb-either transitive (what? whom?

ORintransitive (not followed by a direct object)

1. Thomas Morris once skipped rope from Melbourne to Adelaide, Australia.

Practice! Practice! Practice!

My sister Elena and I stayed at the school until for o’clock for practice.

Then we ran most of the way home.

The big yellow cat watched her, a gleam of mischief in his dark gold eyes.

Practice! Practice! Practice!

Linking Verbs-Links or joins the subject of a sentence (often a noun or pronoun) with a noun, pronoun, or an adjective that identifies or describes the subject.

**A linking verb does not show action***

A New Kind of Verb

Am, is, are, was, were-are the most commonly used.

Examples-The person behind the mask was you.The players are ready.Soccer is an outdoor sport.They were sports fans.

Linking Verbs

Look, stay, taste, remain, grow, smell, seem, appear, feel, become, sound, turn

Examples-This salad tastes good.The sun feels warm on my shoulders.You look comfortable.The leaves turned brown.

Other forms may include…

If we start out a sentence with that good old noun John and follow it with the verb is, we get…

John is…

In the English language we will usually follow the expression with an adjective or a noun

John is big. (The adjective big modifies the noun John)

Combo. Practice

We might use the expression with a noun.

John is my friend.

The noun friend, which follows the complement; its also called the predicate noun.

Also…

Helping verbs help us do the following-

1. Express permission (You may go to the movies)

2. Express one’s ability to do something (She can play gold extremely well.)

A little bit more on verbs…

Lastly, helping verbs enable us to ask questions.

Do you think he cares. Will he win the race?

Remember: 4 major verbs include—-action transitive verbs-action intransitive verbs-the verb to be-linking verbs

A little bit more on verbs…

Verb tenses to be honest can be tricky. Here is why…some people confuse the past tense with present and confuse the correct tense all together.

When you hear someone say..I seen it!

Correction, they should say, I saw it.

Verb Tenses

Verb Past Tense Past Participle

Arise arose arisenBegin began begunBreak broke brokenGo went goneLay (to place) laid laidLie (to recline) lay lain

Some tricky verb tenses

Describes or modifies nouns or pronouns

Example: He is a fast runner

Here you have fast as an adjective describing the noun runner.

Proper adjectives- formed from a proper nounAmerican flag-formed from the proper noun

America.

Adjectives-

Adverbs Conjunctions Prepositions interjections

Other parts of speech to look forward to…