English Grammar
Parts of Speech
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Eight Parts of Speech
Nouns
Interjections
Adjectives
Conjunctions
Word that names
A
Person
A
Place
 A Thing
 An Idea
Kinds of Nouns
Common Nouns
boy
girl
Proper Nouns
John
Mary
Kinds of Nouns
Compound-A compound noun is made up of two or more
words
Examples: workshop, father-in-law, ice age
Collective-A collective noun is a noun that names a group of
individual people or things
Examples: crew, flock, team
The pronoun is a word used in place of one or more nouns.
It may stand for a person, place, thing, or idea.
Indefinite Pronouns
anybody
each
either
none
someone, one, etc.
Pronouns
 Antecedents-A pronoun is a word used to
take the place of a noun. The noun for which
it substitutes is called an antecedent.
• Waving her hand, the actress greeted her fans.
 Personal Pronouns-refer to (1) the person
speaking, (2) the person spoken to, or (3) the
person place or thing spoken about.
Four Kinds of Pronouns
 Demonstrative-points out a specific person,
place, or thing. There are four.
• Singular: this, that
• Plural; these, those
 Relative-begins a subordinate clause and
connects it to another idea in the same
sentence. There are five.
• That, who, whose, which, whom
Four Kinds of Pronouns
 Interrogative-is used in the form of a
question. There are five .
• What, which, who, whom, whose
 Indefinite-refer to people, places, or things,
often without specifying which ones. There
are many indefinite pronouns, some
singular, some plural, and some either
singular or plural.
A word that expresses action or
otherwise helps to make a
statement
Kinds of Verbs

Action verbs express
mental or physical
action.
He rode the horse to
victory.

Linking verbs make a
statement by
connecting the
subject with a word
that describes or
explains it.
He has been sick.
Action Verbs
Visible and Mental

Visible and Mental
• An action verb tells what action a person or thing is
performing . Action verbs can express different kinds of
actions. Some actions are visible and can be seen
easily. Others are mental actions that can be seen only
with difficulty, if at all.
• Examples:
– Visible Action: jump, build, travel, grow
– Mental Action: dream, think, understand
Action Verbs
Transitive and Intransitive

Transitive Verbs –An action verb is transitive if the
receiver of the action is named in the sentence.
• Example: Meg unwrapped her present. (unwrapped
what?) present

Intransitive Verbs-An action verb is intransitive if no
receiver of the action is named in the sentence.
• Example: Both witnesses agreed. (agreed what?) no
answer.
Linking Verbs

Forms of Be - A linking verb connects a noun or pronoun at
or near the beginning of a sentence with a word at or near
the end. The verb be is the most commonly used linking
verb.
• Forms of Be:
– Am
-were being
– Are
-can be
– Is
-shall be
– Was
-Have been
– Were
-should have been
Other Linking Verbs

A number of other verbs can be used as linking verbs.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Appear
Become
Feel
Grow
Look
Remain
Seem
Smell
Sound
Stay
Taste
Turn
Action Verb or Linking Verb?

To see whether a verb is a linking verb or an action verb,
substitute am, is, or are for the verb. If the sentence still
makes sense and if the new verb links a word before it to a
word after it, then the original verb is a linking verb.
• Example of Linking:
– The costume looks interesting. (The costume is
interesting?]
• Example of Action:
– My brother often looks for his little sister. (My
brother often is for his little sister?)
Recognizing Helping Verbs


Helping verbs are added before another verb to make a
verb phrase. A helping verb can be one, two, or three words.
Forms of the verb be are often used as helping verbs.
Verb phrases are sometimes separated by such words as
not, often, slowly, and carefully. In looking for helping verbs
do not include these words.
• Typical Verb Phrases:
– Are growing -did open -have been taken
• Verb Phrases Seperated
– George has certainly been helpful
– Our friends will not arrive until the evening.
Every sentence must have
a
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An adjective is used to describe a noun or pronoun.
Modifies or describes a
noun or pronoun.
Did you lose your address
book?
Is that a wool sweater?
Just give me five minutes.
Answers these questions:
Articles-The definite article, the, refers to a specific
person, place, or thing. The indefinite articles, a
and an, refer to any one of a class of people,
places, or things.
 Nouns used as Adjectives-Nouns are sometimes
used as adjectives. When a noun is used as an
adjective, it comes before another noun and
answers the questions, What kind? Or Which one?

Noun
river
bottle
Used as an adjective
river bank (what kind of bank?)
bottle opener (which opener?)

Proper Adjectives-a proper adjective is a proper noun used as an
adjective or an adjective formed from a proper noun.
• Proper Nouns as Proper Adjectives
– Kennedy memoirs
– Chicago meeting
• Proper Adjectives from Proper Nouns
– Shakespearean costumes
– Indian costumes

Compound Adjectives-an adjective made up of more than one word.
• Hyphenated Compound Adjectives
– Three-piece suit
– Full-time job
• Combined Compound Adejctives
– Newspaper reporter
– Schoolwide project


Possessive Adjectives- A pronoun is used as an adjective is it modifies
a noun. A personal pronoun used as a possessive adjective answers the
question Which one? about a noun that follows it.
• Possesive Adjectives:
– My, His, Its , Their, Your, Her, Our
Demonstrative Adjectives-The four demonstrative pronouns-this, that,
these, those-can also be used as demonstrative pronouns.
• I want this one.
• She chose that car.
• These apples are sour.
• Did you read those notes?

Interrogative Adjectives-Three interrogative pronounswhich, what, and whose-can be used as interrogative
adjectives.
• Which member of the team scored the most points?
• What kind of hiking boots did you buy?

Indefinite Adjectives-Some indefinite pronouns can also be
used as indefinite adjectives. Some indefinite adjectives
can only be used with singular nouns, some only with
plural nouns, and some with both.
• Used with singular nouns: another, each, neither, either
• Used with plural nouns: both, few, several, many
• Used with singular or plural nouns: all, any, more, most, other,
some
Modifies or describes
a verb, an adjective,
or another adverb.
Answers the questions:
He ran quickly.
She left yesterday.
We went there.
It was too hot!
To what degree or how much?
A preposition is (usually) a small word that goes
before a noun,
indicating a place or direction
They received a postcard from Bobby telling
about his trip to Canada.
The preposition
never stands alone!
Also, you can never END
a sentence with a
preposition!
Some Common Prepositions
aboard
about
above
across
after
against
along
among
around
at
before
behind
below
beneath
beside
between
beyond
by
down
during
except
for
from
in
into
like
of
off
on
over
past
since
through
throughout
to
toward
under
underneath
until
up
upon
with
within
without
The conjunction
A conjunction is a word that joins words
or groups of words.
for
or
but
yet
The interjection
is an exclamatory word that expresses
emotion
Goodness! What a cute baby!
Wow! Look at that
sunset!