Chapter 2
Overview of Parts of
Speech
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Business English at Work, 3/e
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Objectives
Recognize the importance of the
terminology used in studying grammar.
Identify nouns, pronouns, verbs,
adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions,
prepositions, and interjections.
PP 2-1
Why Study Parts of Speech?
1. You may offend people by violating the
major rules of the language.
2. You become a more effective
communicator.
3. You become more confident when
proofreading and correcting errors.
PP 2-2
Nouns . . .
Name people, places, things, activities, ideas, or qualities.
Common Nouns
woman
state
college
company
continent
Proper Nouns
Melissa
Illinois
Dana College
Target
Asia
PP 2-3a
Nouns
continued
 People
Katrina, student, class
 Place
San Francisco,
highway, school, Ohio
 Things
Activities
walking, keyboarding,
swimming, searching
 Ideas or Qualities
promptness, privacy,
motivation, efficiency
books, desks, pens
PP 2-3b
Examples of Nouns
continued
 Maria lives in St. Louis.
 Tom drives a Honda.
 This store sells Dell computers.
 The magazine compares printers.
PP 2-3c
Personal Pronouns . . .
Take the place of nouns.
Noun Substitutes
I
you
he
she
it
we
they
me
you
him
her
it
us
them
Possessives
my
your
his
her
its
our
their
mine
yours
hers
ours
theirs
PP 2-4a
Examples of Pronouns
continued
 He answered my voice message.
 She called her friend at work.
 I will forward the message to him.
 The answering machine is ours.
PP 2-4b
Verbs . . .
Give your statements power and add meaning.
Three Kinds
 Action Verbs - show action.
read buy walk send scrape
 Linking Verbs - show a state of being or condition.
am
is
are
was were
 Helping Verbs - assist and precede the main verb.
will
are
had have might
PP 2-5a
Examples of Verbs
continued
Action Verbs:
I answered the telephone.
He calls customers about late payments.
Linking Verbs:
Diana and Dana are excellent employees.
Pam is a customer service representative.
Helping Verbs:
Karen will work in our Santa Fe office.
I am answering the telephone for our company.
PP 2-5b
Adjectives . . .
Modify nouns and pronouns.
Adjectives answer the questions:
 What kind? helpful salesperson, white paper
 How many? frequent messages, five days
 Which one? innovative excuse, latest report
PP 2-6
Adverbs . . .
Modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.
Adverbs answer the questions:
 In what manner? We work efficiently in the morning.
 Where? She moved the deadlines forward.
 When? We prepare the summary yearly.
 To what extent? He carefully designed the Web site.
PP 2-7
Conjunctions . . .
Connect or join words, phrases, or clauses.
Coordinating conjunctions
and
or
but
nor
Cell phones and computers can change your life.
Cell phones or computers can change your life.
PP 2-8
Prepositions . . .
Connect words; they show the relationship of nouns
or pronouns to other words in the sentence.
about
after
at
before
behind
by
down
from
in
into
near
of
off
on
over
through
to
under
up
with
PP 2-9a
Examples of Prepositions
continued




The telephone is on the desk.
John took papers from the fax machine.
Karen put the report in my inbox.
We went to the board room for the meeting..
PP 2-9b
Interjections . . .
Show an emotion or reaction.
Usually are followed by an exclamation mark.
Good!
No Way!
Ouch!
Great Job!
Oh!
Wow!
Ha!
Oh,
Yes!
Impossible!
Oh No!
Oops!
PP 2-10