Literary Analysis and Composition II - Larsen
Name ________________
Parts of Speech: How Words Are Used
Nouns—These are the names of something (people, places, things, ideas). Common nouns are
non-specific (girl, city, baseball team) while proper nouns refer to a specific person, place, or
thing (Britney Spears, Seattle, New York Yankees). Concrete nouns refer to actual, physical
items (pizza, dog, Joe Smith, Grand Canyon) and abstract nouns refer to ideas (greed, poverty,
joy, freedom, hope, the American Dream)
Pronouns--Pronouns are words that take the place of a noun. They always have an
antecedent—the noun that the pronoun refers to or replaces. For example, “Caitlin refused the
invitation even though she wanted to go.” In this sentence, “she” is the pronoun and “Caitlin” is
the antecedent. Personal pronouns refer to specific people or things. Examples: I, me, you, he,
she, him, it, we, they. Possessive pronouns show ownership. Examples: my, mine, your(s), her,
his, its, our(s), their(s). Relative pronouns introduce dependent clauses and show how that
clause relates to the rest of the sentence. Examples: who, which, that, what, whoever, whom,
whose. Indefinite pronouns refer to non-specific nouns. Examples: all, another, anybody, both,
each, either, everything, few, many, most, neither, none, no one, nothing, one, some, something.
Verbs—These express action, occurrences, or state of being. Action Verbs show action. They
indicate that someone or something is doing something (kicking or talking). Linking Verbs do
not show action. They simply show a state of being. Linking verbs are often forms of "to
be." Examples: is, are, was, were, am, be, seem.
Adjectives--Adjectives describe or modify nouns and pronouns. Examples: strong, red,
American, less foolish, smaller, three, wonderful.
Adverbs--Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They often end in –ly, but not
always. Generally, they tell us how, when, where, why, how often, or how much. Examples:
recently, very, frankly, however, likewise, yesterday, really, faster, unexpectedly
Prepositions—Show a connection between a noun or pronoun and another part of the
sentence. They are often, but not always, direction words. For example, in the sentence “We did
not want to leave during the game,” the word “during” is the preposition that connects “we” to
“the game.” In the sentence “The contestants waited nervously for the announcement,” the word
“for” is the preposition that connects “the contestants” to “the announcement.” Examples:
about, at, down, near, since, across, behind, except, off, toward, against, beneath, from, onto,
until, among, between, inside, over, upon, as, by, like, regarding, without.
Conjunction--Connect words, phrases, and clauses together, while telling us something about
the connection. Some are single words (and, but, or) and some must be used as a pair
(both…and…; either…or…) Other examples: nor, yet, either, if, because, before, while, not
only…also…; whether…or….; neither…nor…).
Interjections--These are words that stand alone but add strong emotion or surprise to a
sentence. Sometimes they stand on their own as a sentence. Other times they are set off from
the rest of the sentence by punctuation. Examples: hey! ouch! yow! alas, oh no, oh.
Literary Analysis and Composition II - Larsen
Name ________________
Parts of a Sentence: The Building Blocks
Subject—Required in every sentence. Who or what the sentence is about. It's the person or
thing that does something. Example: The dinosaur roared. ("Dinosaur" is the simple
subject). A sentence with a compound subject has two or more subjects. Example: The
dinosaur and the mammoth roared.
Keep in mind that the subject of the sentence is usually a noun, but not always. A verbal is A
verb that acts as a subject or object in a sentence (not as the predicate). Examples: Eating ice
cream is Joe's favorite thing to do in the summer. I love watching birds fly.
Predicate—Required in every sentence. What the subject does (a verb). These are usually
action verbs. Examples: The dinosaur roared. The dinosaur was angry. ("Roared" and "was"
are simple predicates). A sentence with a compound predicate has two or more predicates.
Example: The dinosaur was angry and roared.
Keep in mind that linking verbs (is, are, appears, becomes, seems) can be the predicate of a
sentence too. In those cases, the predicate is followed by a predicate noun or predicate
adjective which describe the subject or tell the reader more about who or what the subject is.
For example “The inventor of The Snuggie is a marketing genius (“is” = predicate; “a marketing
genius” = predicate noun). Or, “Spiders are numerous.” (are = predicate; “numerous” =
predicate adjective).
Object—These receive the action of a predicate. Most are direct objects which follow an action
verb. They answer the what/whom question. For example, in the sentence “I kicked the chair,”
the object is “the chair” because it is the item that received the kicking. In other words, it
answers the question “What did I kick?” Another example of a direct object would be “the large
turkey” in the sentence “The dinosaur ate a large turkey.”
Sometimes sentences contain an indirect object which is the person or thing to whom something
is given, told or taught. That means that only verbs about giving, telling, or teaching take
indirect objects. Indirect objects always come before direct objects in a sentence. Examples: I
taught Cherrie Japanese. Susan gave Herbert a box of cereal. I gave my friends gifts on their
birthdays.
Prepositional Phrase—These are groups of words that start with a preposition and ends with a
noun. They tell us how/ where/ when/ how much/ what kind. There can be multiple
prepositional phrases in a sentence and they can appear at any point in the
sentence. Examples: in July, over the rainbow, after the football game, inside the box, to
Cleveland.
Appositive--An appositive is a group of words that identifies, defines, or tells more about a noun
in the sentence. It is usually set off from the rest of the sentence by commas or
parenthesis. Example: “The paper, a five page discussion of evil in The Lord of the Flies, is due
on Thursday.” The appositive between the commas identifies what the paper is about. Or, “The
spinning jenny, a thread making machine, helped start the Industrial Revolution.” The appositive
between the commas defines what a spinning jenny is.
Literary Analysis and Composition II - Larsen
Name ________________
Sentence Structure: How Sentences Go Together
Phrase--A phrase is a group of related words that contains a subject or a predicate, but not
both. It cannot stand on its own as a sentence. For example, "the brown-haired girl" is a phrase
with only a subject. "Running quickly towards the store" is a phrase with only a predicate.
Clause--A clause is a group of related words that contains both a subject and a predicate. An
independent clause presents a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence. For
example, "Dogs are pets" or “Sparrows make nests in cattle barns” can stand alone. A
dependent clause does not express a complete thought by itself and cannot stand alone as a
sentence. Dependent clauses usually begin with a conjunction like "although, because, since,
when, if." For example, "Since dogs are pets" is not a complete thought. We need to know more
in order to understand what the writer means. "Since dogs are pets" …what?
Simple Sentence--This type of sentence contains only one independent clause (and perhaps one
or more phrases). It stands alone as one complete idea. Example: The student failed biology.
My back aches. A seahorse has a horse-like head and a curly tail.
Compound Sentence--Contains two or more closely related independent clauses (underlined)
joined by a semicolon or by a comma and conjunction together. Example: Philip is obsessed
with soccer; he plays for at least four hours every day. Ellis has a broken leg, but he isn’t in
pain anymore.
Complex Sentence--Contains an independent clause (underlined) and one or more dependent
clauses (italics). The clauses might be linked by commas or conjunctions. Examples: When he
finished the job, he seemed pleased. Since Zack is a funny guy, he was invited to a famous
comedy show. Julia decided to go to Homecoming with Norman because he gave her a year’s
supply of chocolate when he asked her.
Compound-Complex Sentence—Contains two or more independent clauses (underlined) plus
one or more dependent clauses (italics). Examples: Miranda’s chicken is brown and white and it
lays spotted eggs, unless it eats green alfalfa for dinner. When pirates attack another ship, they
steal all the food and they make the enemy sailors walk the plank.