Parts of Speech

Nouns

• Is a word that names or stands for a person, place, thing, class, concept, quality, or action. – For example: woman, character, city, country,

citizen, ship, garden, machine, silence, vegetable, road, beauty, river, spring, investigation.

Nouns

• Proper Noun: Person, place or thing that begins with a capital letter.– Dorothy, Rumpelstiltskin, Winnipeg, England, and

Titanic.

• Common Noun: only begins with a capital letter if it is at the beginning of the sentence.– Spring is my favorite season

Pronouns

• Is a word that functions like a noun or stands in place of a noun.– Joshua offered an opinion, but he didn’t feel

confident about it.– I, we, you, yours, he, she, it, they, him, his, her,

hers, them, mine, ours, our, its, their, theirs, etc.

Verbs• Are core parts of speech. A verb is the focal point of

a sentence. All verbs assert or ask something about their subjects (Noun or Pronoun). Does not always need to be an action word.– He throws curves.– The fresh bread smells delicious.

• Some are single words, others are phrases consisting of two or more words.– They will set out for Egypt in June.

Adjectives

• It modifies—limits, qualifies, or particularizes—a noun or pronoun.

• It can give description to a pronoun or noun.– A hybrid car, a once-in-a-lifetime chance, etc.– She is a careful driver.– He owns a fast car.– Canadian literature.

Adverbs

• While adjectives modify only nouns and pronouns, adverbs modify the verbs.– He likes to drive fast.– She drives carefully. (adverb modifying drives)– They flew low over the coast.

Review: Example sentences

Why are adjectives and adverbs important?

• Well without them, our sentences would be quite boring.

• Gives more details about a noun or verb; therefore, it allows you to visualize a better picture of what a sentence is saying.

Here are a few…

• Grass grows.– Noun verb.

• The green grass grows very slow.– Article adjective noun verb adverb.

• I paint.– Pronoun verb.

• I paint urban landscapes.– Pronoun verb adjective noun.

Now you try…

• Sandra enjoys opera.• It intrigues him.• Pierre is reading scripts.• The child toddled.• The young child toddled triumphantly.• Impatient journalists pursue tight-lipped

celebrities.

Conjunctions

• Coordinating Conjunctions: A conjunction is a joiner, a word that connects (conjoins) parts of a sentence. – It was cold and I wanted to go home.

Coordinating Conjunctions

– For– And– Nor– But– Or– Yet– So

Examples of Conjunctions

• The dog ate all the pizza, so I had to order more.

• Dad left without me, so I had to call a cab.• I helped him because he was a good friend.

Prepositions

• Prepositions are words that talk of time, place, and movement.

• Example: between, opposite, down, during, out of, past, at, etc…

• I’ll see you on Tuesday afternoon.• Is Sandra in the office today?

Interjections

• Interjections are a group of words dropped into a sentence to express emotion.

• Gosh, what fun!• It was, well, a bit of a disappointment.• Ouch! That hurt!