verb
PARTS OF SPEECH
by Laura Jensen
How To Build A Beautiful Sentence
preposition
adverb
noun
conjunction
Each part of speech is unique!
Get to know each one:
What is it like?
What is it best at?
What can’t it do?
End here!
nouns & verbs
Part I: Nouns & Verbs
Someone is always doing something!
Superman, a beautiful woman, the bad guys
Nouns
flying, saving, lifting, shooting, fainting, escaping
Verbs
Minimum Requirements for a Sentence?
1 Noun
+ 1 Verb =

Time flies.

My teacher adores grammar.

These students are very intelligent.

The baby is sleeping.
1 Clause
And every
sentence has at
least one clause.
Meet the Verb!
Action!
But also non-action…
Some Examples:
Action verbs
Non-action verbs
(also called non-progressive or stative verbs)












Remember: Non-action verbs cannot be used in continuous tenses!
Base Form
They like to go out to dinner.
-s Form
He likes to go out to dinner.
Past
We cooked dinner at home last night.
Past Participle
We have already eaten lunch.
Present Participle
My family is eating dinner right now.
Verbs have five forms
Learn when to use each form!
Other useful things to know about verbs:
Tense: past, present, future
Agreement: Remember to use that –s form!
Auxiliaries are helping verbs: do, be, have, and modals


Linking verbs: the “equal sign” verbs
Transitive or Intransitive: Does the verb take an object?


Voice: active or passive (Is the subject doing the action?)
Find the verbs in these sentences:
How much can
you tell me
about each of
these verbs?
•



Tense?
•
Five forms?

•
Agreement?

•
Helping verbs?
•

Linking?
•
Transitive?
•


Laura a teacher.
Laura
042 now.
Laura
teaching!
Laura picky.
Laura
enthusiastically.
Laura
at NSC since 1991.
Laura
other ESL classes?
ESL 042
by other teachers, too.
My students
me in my office.
Meet the Noun!
Person
Place
Thing
Idea
Other things to know about nouns
Proper or Common: Is it a name?
Count or Non-count: Can I make it plural?
Nouns Do Jobs: They can be subjects, objects, etc.
•
Nouns: Proper or Common?
Common Nouns
Proper Nouns:

a university

The University of Washington

a community college

North Seattle College

a city


my professor


his native country


the zoo


a history class


our family doctor

Seattle
Professor Collins
Ethiopia
Woodland Park Zoo
Modern European History 101
Doctor Zhivago
Nouns: Count or Non-count?
Count
an apple
 three rings
 many chairs
 my glasses
 these cars

Non-count:

[a piece of] fruit
some jewelry
 a lot of furniture
 my coffee
 this traffic

Note many + plural count noun much + non-count noun (neg.)
few + plural count noun
less + non-count noun
some, enough, a lot of
Information
Homework
Advice
Three Common Non-Count Nouns
Never make them plural!
Noun Jobs
Subject
Direct Object
Object of a
Preposition
Subject
Complement
•
Noun Jobs:
Subject
Laura teaches ESL to her amazing students.
Who teaches?
Direct
Object
Teaches what?
Object of
the
Preposition
To what or whom?
[Her amazing]
Noun Jobs: The dog is chasing a child around the garden.
Subject
What is chasing?
Direct
Object
Chasing what?
Object of the
Preposition
Around what?
[The]
[A]
[The]
Links
What about subject complements?
Complement—something that completes.
 Subject complements follow linking verbs.
 A subject complement completes the idea of the subject:
the subject and its complement refer to one person or thing.

subject
subject complement
Laura is a teacher.
Those women are my classmates.
Laura = teacher
women = classmates
The man in the grey suit is his doctor.
man
= doctor
Noun Jobs are different
from Parts of Speech!
Nouns do Noun Jobs
Noun is the name of one part of speech
•Subject, Object, & Subject Complement are the names of jobs that nouns
can do in a sentence.
•
Part II: Now shake hands with six more!
These parts of speech relate or
connect things to other things:
These parts of speech modify: they give
more information about other words.
articles
 adjectives
 adverbs

prepositions
 pronouns
 conjunctions

Prepositions
Prepositions
show a
relationship
between a noun
and another
part of the
sentence.
Sometimes, the
relationship is
spatial.
To Learn More about Prepositions:
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/prepositions.htm
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/594/01/
Crazy Giant List of Prepositions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_prepositions
Pronouns replace other nouns
A pronoun is a
word that is
used to
represent a
noun.


Pronoun
means for-anoun.

Pronouns must agree in number and
gender with the nouns they stand for.
The noun that a pronoun replaces is
called its antecedent.
Like nouns, pronouns do noun jobs in a
sentence: they act as subjects, objects,
etc.
Pronouns come in lots of yummy flavors:
Personal Pronouns
Subject Pronouns






I
You
He, she, it
We
You
They
Object Pronouns






Me
You
Him, her, it
Us
You
Them
Like all nouns, pronouns do jobs in a sentence.
Pronoun or Adjective?
If it replaces a noun
and does a noun job, I
call it a pronoun.
If it modifies a noun,
then I call it an
adjective.
The comic to the left is
full of possessive
pronouns and
possessive adjectives.
Which is which?
Adjectives…
give us information about nouns & pronouns:
The weather is beautiful today.
meow
This is an interesting class.
I have a sweet little cat.
Annie
Fun Facts about Adjectives:


Adjectives have three degrees of comparison:

the positive—big

the comparative—bigger

the superlative—the biggest
Participles can be used as adjectives:


This is an interesting class, so the students are never bored!
Nouns can also function as adjectives:

The fire alarm rang loudly.

He wrote a newspaper article about his adventure.
Adjectives add spice to your writing.

Use enough to make your writing interesting—exciting, never bland.

Don’t use so many spicy adjectives that you can’t taste the nouns and verbs.
Use adjectives to describe Laura’s garden:
Colorful
Crowded
Wild
Exotic
Abundant
Fragrant
Overgrown
Exuberant
Learn More about Adjectives
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/adjectives.htm
Note: This site considers articles to be a kind of adjective,
but I group articles in a separate part of speech.
Articles

This is the
easiest part of
speech to
learn!
Articles are a
piece of cake!



A
An
The
Like adjectives, articles accompany nouns.
Use An Before a Vowel Sound

You should bring an umbrella.

He will study at a university.

She wants to find a husband.

She hopes to marry an honest man.

He is an NSC student.
Which article should I use?
Adverbs
I’m afraid it’s true:
Adverbs are more complicated
than adjectives or articles…
…but that’s only because adverbs are
so incredibly versatile!
Adverbs can
modify:

verbs

adjectives

adverbs

and even whole
sentences!
adjectives
verbs
adverbs
Adverbs tell us:
•
•
•
•
•
why?
when?
where?
how?
how
often?
Adverbs can do lots of cool stuff.
Because I was so hungry, I ate too quickly.
So let’s show adverbs a little respect, please!
They really work
hard to help us
communicate.
Conjunctions


Con- = with, together
junct = act of joining
}
conjunctions let us combine words, phrases,
and clauses
1. Laura enjoys teaching, gardening, and cooking.
(3 words)
2. She has lived in Washington State since 1990 and has taught at NSC
since 1991.
(2 phrases)
3. Laura likes to visit California, but she prefers to live in Washington. (2 clauses)
Bonus Question: What is a parallel structure?
Coordinating Conjunctions
Fan
For
And
Nor
But
Or
Yet
So
Boys
Use conjunctions to combine two clauses into one sentence.
Coordinating—Two equal clauses
Subordinating—Two unequal clauses





After you learn the parts of speech, you will
understand English better.
You will understand English better after you learn the
parts of speech.
If you yawn in my class, I will have a heart attack.
You should understand nouns and verbs before you try
to learn the other parts of speech.
You won’t move up to ESL 051 unless your grade in
ESL 042 is at least 75%.
after
although
as
because
before
if
since
though
unless
until
when
while
Analyze this sentence:
Maria has studied very hard lately because
she wants an excellent grade in her English class.
Independent Clause & Dependent Clause
S
S
Maria has studied very hard lately because
noun
verb
verb
adverb
adv
adv
conjunction
DO
wants an
verb
article
noun
pron
Obj/prep
excellent grade in
adj
she
prep
her English class.
adj
adj
noun
Once You Know How to Use These Building Blocks,
You Can Build Anything!