BUILDING SENTENCES
The Parts of Speech
and How They Fit Together
NOUN
• A noun names a person, place, thing, or idea
– Proper: Mary, Frank, Jose, Medford
– Common: car, building, book, money, freedom
Identify the nouns in the sentences
below.
•
N
N
• Example: Rob played his guitar.
• Most breakfast cereals contain sugar.
• The drawer of the bureau sticks on rainy days.
APPLICATION
• Label the nouns (N) in the sentences on the
handout provided in class.
PRONOUN
•
A pronoun takes the place of a noun. Pronouns eliminate the need for constant repetition.
•
For example:
•
The phone rang, and Malik answered the phone.
•
The phone rang, and Malik answered it.
Type:
Examples:
Personal
Indefinite
Reflexive
Relative
Demonstrative
Interrogative
–
I, we, you, me, us, their , it
some, everyone, nobody, each, none
myself, yourself, ourselves, themselves
who, whom, which, that
that, this, those, these
who, whom, whose, which, what
The “pro” in “pronoun” comes from the Latin word meaning “for”.
Identify the pronouns in the sentences
below.
•
Pro
Pro
Pro
• Example: He has played it since he was ten.
• They all agreed it was a fun party.
• Mary wanted to kiss him, but she was too shy.
APPLICATION
• Label the pronouns (Pro) in the sentences on
the handout provided in class.
VERB
• A verb either shows action or links the subject
to another word.
Type:
Action
Linking
Examples:
run, jump, fish, read, write
is, seem, become, feel
Every complete sentence must contain a verb.
MAIN VERB
• Some sentences contain only one verb. It’s the MAIN
VERB of the sentence.
Examples: (marked with MV)
MV
The students enrolled in the class.
MV
The citizens voted.
HELPING VERB
• Helping verbs show time, condition, or circumstances.
These words are ALWAYS helping verbs:
can
may
could
will
must
would
shall
might
should
HELPING VERB
These words are SOMETIMES helping verbs and
SOMETIMES main verbs:
have
have
has
had
do
do
does
did
be
am was
is
were
are
be
being
been
HELPING VERB
Examples of sentences with helping verbs: (marked with HV)
HV MV
The students have enrolled in the class.
HV
HV MV
The students could have enrolled in the class.
HV MV
The citizens will be voting.
HV HV HV MV
The citizens must have been voting.
COMPLETE VERB
• The complete verb in a sentence includes a MAIN VERB and
possibly one or more HELPING VERBS.
MV
The students enrolled in the class.
HV MV
The students are enrolling in the class.
HV HV MV
The students should be enrolling in the class.
HV HV HV
MV
The students must have been enrolling in the class.
APPLICATION
• Label the helping verbs (HV) and main
verbs (MV) in the sentences on the
handout provided in class.
MODIFIERS
• Modifiers limit, describe or intensify a word, or
change the meaning in some other way.
• ADJECTIVE: Modifies a noun or a pronoun.
Example: Ernie is a rich man.
The man is rich.
• ADVERB: Modifies a verb, adjective, or another
adverb. (Usually ends in –ly)
Example: The teacher calmly stopped the fight.
APPLICATION
• Label the adjectives (adj) in the sentences on
the handout provided in class.
• Label and adverbs (adv) in the sentences on
the handout provided in class.
CONNECTORS
• Connectors show the relationship of one part of a
sentence to another.
• CONJUNCTION: Joins two parts of a sentence.
– Coordinating conjunctions: join two equal ideas. (also
called “joining words”)
• Example: Kevin and Steve interviewed for the job, but their
friend Anne got it.
To remember the 7 coordinating conjunctions, remember the
word FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)
APPLICATION
• Label the coordinating conjunctions (cconj) in
the sentences on the handout provided in
class.
Conjunctions (continued)
• Subordinating conjunctions: When a subordinating conjunction is
added to a word group, the words can no longer stand alone as an
independent sentence (also known as a “clause”).
• Example:
• Independent clause: Karen fainted in class.
• Dependent clause: When Karen fainted in class
• We’ll return to this type of connector after we’ve talked about clauses.
CONNECTORS (continued)
• PREPOSITION: Relates a noun or pronoun to some
other word in the sentence.
Prep
• She waited by the door.
•
Prep
Prep
• One of the yellow lights at the school crossing
began flashing.
APPLICATION
• Label the prepositions (prep) in the sentences
on the handout provided in class.
Prepositional Phrase
[Preposition + possible modifiers + noun or pronoun]
Prep
object
She waited [ by the door].
Prep
object
Prep
object
• One [of the yellow lights] [ at the school crossing]
began flashing.
APPLICATION
• Mark the prepositional phrases in the
sentences on the handout by putting square
brackets [ ] around them.
OTHER PARTS OF SPEECH
• Interjections
– An interjection is a word that can stand independently and is used
to express emotion.
• Oh, I forgot to tell you something.
• Well, isn’t that just terrific?
• Articles (sometimes considered adjectives)
• a
• an
• the
APPLICATION
• Label the articles (art) in the sentences on the
handout provided in class.
• Look for and label any interjections (int) that
you find in the sentences on the handout.
Summary of Parts of Speech
& Their Abbreviations
•
•
•
•
•
Nouns (N)
Pronouns (Pro)
Verbs (V)
Adjectives (Adj)
Adverbs (Adv)
•
•
•
•
Prepositions (Prep)
Conjunctions (Conj)
Interjections (Int)
Articles (Art)
SUBJECTS AND VERBS
IN SENTENCES
Some things to remember:
• Subjects are nouns and pronouns.
• To find the subject of a sentence, first find the
complete verb of the sentence.
• Then ask, “Who or what is doing _______
(whatever the main verb is)?
• A sentence may contain more than one subject
and more than one verb.
APPLICATION
• In each sentence on the handout, identify the
complete verb by a double underline.
• Example: Anna and Rob have gone to the party.
• After you have identified the complete verb,
as yourself, “Who or what is doing that?”
• Find all of the nouns and/or pronouns that
answer that question, and underline them
with a single underline.
Example: Anna and Rob have gone to the party.
A NOTE ON VERBALS:
• Verbals appear in sentences but do NOT function as verbs.
Infinitive: Begins with the word to
Examples: to run, to jump, to write
MV
INF
They wanted to enroll.
Gerund: The “-ing” form of a verb without a helping verb
Examples: running, jumping, writing
GERUND MV
Running is my favorite form of exercise.