THE EIGHT PARTS OF SPEECH
verb: (abbrev. v.) expresses action, condition, or state of being
noun: (abbrev. n.) names a person, place, thing, or idea
pronoun: (abbrev. prn.) substitutes for a noun and functions as one
adjective: (abbrev. adj.) describes, modifies, or limits nouns and pronouns
adverb: (abbrev. adv.) describes, modifies, or limits a verb, adj. or other adv.
preposition: (abbrev. p.) relates a noun or pronoun to another word in a sentence
conjunction: (abbrev. con.) links words, phrases, and clauses
interjection: (abbrev. int.) expresses a strong emotion or commands attention
A part of speech is always determined by its function in the sentence
The mother gave her infant baby food.
Jim and Sara love to play video games.
A dictionary can be a good friend, when in doubt.
Identify each part of speech in this
text message from you to me:
like
prep.
tired
adj.
dude, n.
but
conj.
Wow!
we
prn.
really
dig
interject.
adv.
v.
grammar
n.
Five Sentence Patterns
In English, we have just five sentence
patterns, which means that you can identify
any sentence’s core by carefully analyzing the
total amount of words and their functions.
To help you get a better focus on all the
patterns, you should first know the difference
between an intransitive and transitive verb form:
An intransitive verb (in the dictionary, v.i.)
is a one that does not need an object to complete
its meaning, e.g., be, rise, walk, fly, sit, lie
A transitive verb (in the dictionary, v.t.) is
one that needs an object to complete its meaning:
raise, write, give, pick, drink, set, lay
Pattern 1 : Subject + Intransitive Verb
Examples: The students went online
to purchase their Longman Reader.
The eagle flew over the trees that were a part
of the national forest in Prescott.
Pattern 2: Subject + Intransitive Linking Verb +
Subject Complement ( A subject complement = a
predicate noun or a predicate adjective). The following
sentences contain (1) a common intransitive linking
verb and a predicate noun and (2) a common
intransitive linking verb and predicate adjective.
Examples:
P. N.
A. The English professor is a man who wants to
help his students.
P.A.
B. The English professor feels good when his students
write well.
Pattern 3: Subject + transitive verb + direct object
d.o.
Examples: Lindsay picked up a six pack on her way to
slamming into a tree.
After BP plugged the well, Lindsay and Mel Gibson began
d.o.
a fight to see who could be called “the biggest disaster.”
Pattern 4: Subject + transitive verb + indirect object + direct object
i.o.
Examples: Barack Obama offered Joe Biden the
d.o.
vice presidency.
i.o.
d.o
The professor brought the students a slide show that
explained the sentence patterns.
Pattern 5: Subject + transitive verb + direct object
object complement-----this may be an noun or adj.
Example A:
In On April 23, the Arizona governor made
d.o
obj-c-n
SB 1070 a contentious issue.
Example B:
On this same day, the law’s passage made many
d.o
obj-c-adj
immigrants unhappy.
Phrases and Clauses
The two groups of words that do much of the
work within our main clauses are phrases and
dependent clauses. What differentiates the former
from the latter is the lack of a subject and predicate.
Depending on their structure and placement, both types
may function in three ways: adj, adv, or n.
The two groups of words that do much of the
work within our main clauses are phrases and
dependent clauses. What differentiates the former
from the latter is the lack of a subject and predicate
Depending on their structure and placement,
both types may function in three ways: adj, adv, or n.
Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009: first sentence on the New York Times front page
Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44th president
of the United States on Tuesday and promised to “begin again the
work of remaking America” on a day of celebration that climaxed
a once-inconceivable journey for the man and his country.
as the 44th president pp/adv
of the United States pp/adj
on Tuesday pp/adv
to “begin again the work inf//n
of remaking America” pp/adj
on a day pp/adv
of celebration pp/adj
that climaxed a once-inconceivable journey adj clause
for the man and his country pp/adj
Determine if the following phrases and clauses
are adjectives or adverbs (modifiers)
pp/adj
pp/adv
Example: The cat in the blender is staring at me, intently.
dependent clause/adj
Example: Those people who text while driving put other drivers at great risk.
dependent clause/adv
Example: Early on, BP reacted as if very little oil was leaking from the well.
The phrases and clauses that function as modifiers may often be identified by their
positions in the sentence because writers usually place them close to what they modify.
Identifying the noun function for each is a little more difficult.
To determine a word’s or group of words’ noun function
in a sentence, it is wise to know the four primary noun positions:
subject
direct object
predicate noun
object of the preposition
dependent clause in the subject position
What the English 101 students craved was to learn more about grammar.
infinitive phrase in the direct object position
The English 101 students wanted to learn more about grammar.
gerund in the predicate noun position
The English 101 students major task was learning more about grammar.
dependent clause in the object of the
preposition position
The English 101 students were thrilled with what they were learning about grammar.
Types of sentences according to grammatical structure
Simple: contains one independent clause
Compound: contains at least two independent clauses
Complex: contains one independent and at least one
dependent clause
Compound-complex: contains at least two independent and
at least one dependent clause
Types of sentences according to grammatical structure
Discussing types of sentences, the professor wrote
a simple one first.
He wrote a compound sentence next; its clauses are
often connected by a semi-colon.
When he wrote a complex sentence, he explained the importance
of the subordinating conjunction.
He finally wrote a compound-complex sentence because he
wanted to show his students the fourth type; then he distributed
a homework assignment, due Monday.
Can you identify each grammatical structure?
Well, all the major airlines have raised their fees to
check in baggage; in fact, it's getting so expensive
now to bring bags on board, even people who aren't terrorists
are stuffing things into their underpants. C-CX
It could rain 20 inches this week, which is more bad news for Jay
Leno because he just had all 600 of his cars washed. CX
The heaviest snowfall in over 60 years is being reported in Beijing,
China; to give you an idea of its severity, the army is now having
to use snowplows to run over dissidents. C
One of Osama Bin Laden’s kids is writing a book with examples like
his turning eighteen and getting permission from dad to blow up
his first car. S
What kind of a sentence is this one?
Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44th president
of the United States on Tuesday and promised to “begin again the
work of remaking America” on a day of celebration that climaxed
a once-inconceivable journey for the man and his country.
Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44th president
of the United States on Tuesday and promised to “begin again the
work of remaking America” on a day of celebration that climaxed
a once-inconceivable journey for the man and his country. CX
Need some additional grammar help?
Guide to grammar and writing
The Sentence Fragment Error
Chp. 51
A fragment is a group of related words that begin with
a capital letter and end with a final mark of
punctuation; however, in formal writing, it is
unacceptable because of its incompleteness. The
three most common fragmented elements are
phrases, the second half of a compound predicate,
and dependent clauses.
The Comma Splice Error: Chp. 52
A comma splice occurs when a writer
connects two independent clauses with only a
comma; in formal writing, this is
unacceptable.
IC,IC
Knowing the four types of sentences (grammatical
structure) can be helpful:
Simple
Complex
Mistake can never occur!
Compound
Compound-complex
The Run-0n Error: Chp. 52 Aka: a
fused sentence
A run-on occurs when a writer places two
independent clauses together without
anything in between them in formal writing,
this is unacceptable.
Knowing the four types of sentences (grammatical
structure) can be helpful:
Simple
Complex
Mistake can never occur!
Compound
Compound-complex
IC IC
Chps 53 and 55a
The two forms of agreement in sentences are
subject and verb and antecedent and pronoun.
Mistakes often occur when students do not match
the “number” of one of the items to the other’s.
Example one:
In this sentence, pick out the verb or verb form which
(appear, appears) in parentheses.
Example two:
Because of the numerous financial scandals --or”Madoffs”
in our country, ethics seems to have lost (their, its) appeal.
Who or Whom?
Who (whoever) is always a subjective case
relative pronoun, and whom (whomever) is
always the objective case relative pronoun.
In the following sentence, is the usage correct?
Who are you staring at?
How about in this one?
He taught the pronoun usage to whoever would listen
And this one?
For who is this an issue?
Affect or Effect?
Affect is always a verb meaning “to have an
influence on.”
Effect is most often used as a noun meaning
“a change resulting from an action,” but it can
be used as a verb meaning“to bring about.”
In the following sentence, is the usage correct?
The English 101 students admitted that the
PowerPoint presentation had an affect on them.
How about in this one?
The English professor students hoped it would help
them effect a better understanding of grammar and usage.