GRAMMAR RULE 1A: Reviewing Parts of Speech
Name_________________________
Every word in our language fits into one of eight parts of speech: noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb, conjunction,
interjection, or preposition. Knowing the parts of speech makes it easier to avoid certain mistakes with
grammar. We will start by looking at three of the most important types of words: nouns, adjectives, and verbs.
Nouns
You are probably most familiar with nouns. Nouns name a person, place, thing, or idea. Examples include man, river,
computer, freedom. Nouns give a good idea of exactly what you are talking about in a sentence. For instance,
you immediately know what a man or a river is but might have more trouble deciding what something is; man
and river are nouns while something is a pronoun, a word that replaces a noun.
The curator of the museum gathered paintings based on ideas of beauty.
In this sentence, the words curator, museum, paintings, ideas, and beauty are nouns. Curator names a person,
museum is a place, paintings are things, and ideas and beauty are ideas.
Adjectives
Adjectives describe a noun or pronoun. Examples of adjectives include muddy, wild, first, right, loud, tiny, strong, new,
next. An adjective will answer one of these four questions:
 Which one?
 What kind?
 How much?
 How many?
The patient officer heard each complaint offered at full volume by both protestors.
In this sentence, the words patient, each, full, and both are adjectives. Patient describes what kind of officer, each tells
which one of the complaints, full describes how much volume, and both tells how many protesters.
The tall building on the right is old.
In this sentence, the words tall and old are adjectives. Tall and old both describe what kind of building.
Even the short words a, an, and the are adjectives because they tell which one (a book in general or the specific book).
These three special adjectives are called articles.
Sometimes, nouns are used as adjectives.
race horse (What kind of horse?)
house fly (What kind of fly?)
For the purposes of this class, label as adjectives any nouns acting as adjectives.
Verbs
Verbs can be described as being action verbs or linking verbs. Most verbs show an action, but not all verbs do; some
verbs just link the subject to another word in the sentence.
Action verbs
These verbs show either physical or mental action. Examples include walk, carry, push, remember, believe
After knocking on the door, Cody walked into his brother’s room.
Linking verbs
These verbs link the subject to a word or idea in the rest of the sentence. Linking verbs show a state of being or existing.
Examples of linking verbs include feel, grow, look, taste, stay, is, are, was, were
Marcus was a world-class wrestling champion.
Action: Antonia reached into her backpack and found the notebook.
Linking: Antonia felt relieved about finding the notebook.
Some verbs can be either an action verb or a linking verb: look, taste, feel, etc. How can you tell the difference? If a verb
is showing physical or mental action, it is an action verb. On the other hand, you should be able to replace a
linking verb with is, are, or am and get the same meaning in the sentence.
Action: He looked at the new car. (What is he doing? Looking.)
Linking: He looked pale. (We can replace looked with is for the same meaning.)
Verb phrase
A verb phrase is made up of a main verb and one or more helping verbs. A helping verb is also called an auxiliary
verb.
Common helping verbs: have, might, should, could, will be, has been, will have
Examples of verb phrases: have studied, should be arriving, will be hired, might have been honored
Morgan must have helped the crew with their repairs.
In the example above, the main verb is helped because that is the main action being performed in the sentence; the
helping verbs are must have.
Negatives
Negatives like never and not are not helping verbs. Those negatives are adverbs that tell when, where, why, or to what
extent an action happened. In other words, adverbs describe the verbs.
I did not laugh at the corny joke.
In this example, did laugh is the verb phrase; not is a negative that tells to what extent I laughed – none at all.
EXERCISES (-1 Each)
Practice 1 – Put an N over the nouns in the sentences below. There are a total of 12 nouns in the sentences.
1. The school on the ridge offers several classes.
2. The river runs through the jungles of Africa.
3. My first car was missing a window.
4. Thunder and lightning filled the kitten with fear.
Practice 2 – Put an A over the adjectives in the sentences below. There are a total of 12 adjectives in these
sentences. NOTE: You do not have to mark the special adjectives that are called articles - a, an, the - in
this exercise, but you should label nouns that are being used as adjectives.
1. The new school on the ridge offers several new classes.
2. The black cat tried to find a shady spot during hot days.
3. Alex's first car was old and rusty.
4. Loud thunder and bright lightning filled the tiny kitten with fear.
Practice 3 – Put a V over the verbs in the sentences below. Remember to include helping verbs and linking
verbs. There are a total of eight verbs.
1. You should never waste electricity.
2. When I enter Princeton, I will study hard.
3. He was the best salesman in his division.
4. The police officer stopped the driver and warned him about the dangerous road conditions.
Practice 4 – Label the nouns, adjectives, and verbs in the sentences below. There are a total of 14 nouns, six
adjectives, and six verbs.
1. Miranda is going to the sale at Target to buy a Nintendo game.
2. The father bought the child a new toy.
3. The doctor gave electronic prescriptions to his new patients.
4. Jeremy wanted a CD player and a stereo as birthday gifts.
Practice 5 – Write a sentence of your own and label the nouns, adjectives, and verbs in that sentence.