Honors English 9/ Mrs. Chen
What is a Preposition?
 A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to
other words in a sentence. The word or phrase that the
preposition introduces is called the object of the
preposition.
e.g. The book is on the table.
The book is beneath the table.
She read the book during class.
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Preposition Words
Common prep.
& compound
prep.
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Adverb or preposition?
Difference: Adverb answers the questions, Where?
When? How? To what extent? by itself. Prepositions
(both common and compound prepositions need
more than just themselves to answer the same
questions.
e.g. He fell down. (Down is a(n) _____ because it takes
only one word to tell where he fell.)
He fell down the stairs. (Down is a(an) ____ because
it takes more than a single word to tell where he fell.)
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Your turn to label the Parts of
Speech:
They walked aboard.
They walked aboard the ship.
* Summary: A common preposition is a word that
shows the relationship between a noun or a
pronoun and another word in the sentence.
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Preposition poem
Through the dark wet mists,
Beside the rushing river,
Into gigantic, beautiful trees,
Close to toucans and big, wet leaves,
We got lost in the rain forest.
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*Prepositional phrases will not be the
subject or verb of the sentence.
 How to look for subjects?
After crossing out all prepositional phrases, find who
or what the sentence is about.
e.g. The man with his son walked toward me.
 How to look for verbs?
After finding the subject of the sentence, decide what
happened or what “is” in the sentence. Remember: the
verb will never be in a prepositional phrase.
e.g. A book of stamps lay on the table.
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What is a Noun?
 A noun names a person, a place, or a thing.
Concrete nouns
usually can be seen:
book, car, chair,
hammer, towel,
store
* atom, air, wind,
breath
Abstract nouns
are those that
cannot be seen:
love, liberty,
grace, sadness
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Game: Put the nouns in the correct
basket.
Concrete Nouns
Abstract Nouns
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Identify a Noun through Determiners:
 Articles: a, an, and the will come before a noun and
sometimes a pronoun. The noun may have another
word in front of it, but a noun will be in the vicinity of
a, an, and the.
e.g. a book, the movie, an orange, a lovely scene
 Demonstrative: this, that, those, these, MAY be
signals for a noun to follow. However, sometimes they
stand alone.
e.g. this book, that light, those buttons, these cars
*This is fun. I like those. (This and Those stand alone.)
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Identify a Noun through Determiners (2)
 Numbers: numbers come before nouns.
Describing words often come between the number
and the noun.
e.g. fifty-one people
seven white ducklings
* If a number does NOT have a person, place, or
thing after it, the number will NOT serve as a
determiner for a noun.
e.g. Three stayed behind.
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Identify a Noun through Determiners (3)
 Possessive Pronouns (used as adjective
determiners): my, his, her, our, their,
its, your often signal a noun. They come
before a noun.
e.g. my hair
your key our new radio
 Possessive Nouns: often signal other
nouns. They come before nouns.
e.g. Craig’s house
visitor’s parking
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Identify a Noun through Determiners (4)
 Indefinites: some, any, no, many, few,
several come before nouns. A describing word
may fall between an indefinite and the noun.
e.g. Some sharp knives were lying on the
counter.
* Some of the newspapers were thrown away.
Some of the newspapers were thrown away.
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Another Way to Classify Nouns
 A common noun names any person, place, or thing
e.g. basketball, video, wizard, coin, woman, and coach
 A proper noun names a particular person, place, or
thing and begins with a capital letter.
e.g. Winston Churchill, Babe Ruth, Mr. Richard Turner,
and Chicago.
Common Nouns
Proper Nouns
hospital
Mercy General Hospital
woman
Martha Washington
school
Sayville Middle School
newspaper
The New York Times
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Another Way to Classify Nouns (2)
Collective Noun
 A collective noun names a
group of people or things.
Examples of collective nouns
are :
jury, herd, flock, family, fleet,
club, class, and group.
Compound Noun
 A compound noun is a noun
consisting of more than a single
word. It could be separate words:
social studies, physical education,
and dinning room. It could be
two words joined by a hyphen:
merry-go-round, thirty-three,
sister-in-law, and greatgrandmother. It could be a
combined word: schoolteacher,
bookkeepr, landlord, and
headmaster.
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What is a Pronoun?
 A pronoun is a word used in place of one or more nouns.
Personal
Pron.
Reflective
Pron.
Interrogative
Pron.
Demonstrative
Pron.
Indefinite
Pron.
1st person: I,
my, mine,
me; we, our,
ours, us
2nd person:
you, your,
yours
3rd person:
he, his, him,
she, her,
hers, it, its;
they, their,
theirs, them
*is formed by
adding –self
or –selves to
certain
personal
pronouns
e.g. myself,
himself,
ourselves
(!) There is
NO words like
hisself or
theirselves
*is used to ask
questions
e.g. which, who,
whom, and
whose
*is used to point
out a specific or
definite person or
thing
e.g. this, that,
these, and those
*often does
not refer to a
specific
person or
thing
e.g. all, each,
more, one,
another,
either, most,
other, any,
everybody,
neither, some,
anyone, both,
etc.
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Let’s Practice Personal Pronouns:
Complete the following table.
Singular
Plural
First person
(the person speaking)
Second person
(the person spoken
to)
Third person
(some other person or
thing)
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What is a Conjunction?
A conjunction connects words or group of words. There are
three types of conjunctions:
 Coordinating conjunction: a single connecting word.
Remember FANBOYS (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So).
 Correlative conjunction: pairs of connecting words. These
five pairs are both/and, either/or, neither/nor, not only/but
also, and whether/or.
 Subordinating conjunction: a connecting word used before
the adverb clauses, such as after, although, as, because,
before, even though, if, in order, since, so that, that, though,
unless, until, where, whether, while.
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Quick Write: use these coordinating and
correlative conjunctions in your own sentences:
1. Use neither … nor:
2. Use but:
3. Use for:
4. Use or:
5. Use either … or:
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What is an Interjection?
 An interjection is a word that expresses strong feeling
or emotion:
1. An interjection usually comes at the beginning of the
sentence.
2. An interjection is often followed by an exclamation
point (!) when the emotion is strong or a comma (,)
when the emotion is mild.
3. Do not overuse interjections. Include one when you
want to make your point. If you use too many
interjections, your writing loses its power and
effectiveness.
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Here are some common interjections:
Aw
Bravo
Darn
Dear me
Eek
Eh
Gee
Golly
Goodness
gracious
Horrors
Goah
Hallelujah
Hey
Hurrah
Hurray
Mmm
Oh
Oh no
Oops
Ouch
Phew
Rats
Really
Ugh
Well
Whoa
Whoops
Wow
Yea
Yeh
Yes
Yippee
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What is an adjective?
 An adjective modifies (qualifies or limits the meaning
of) a noun or a pronoun. It answers the questions,
What kind? Which one(s)? How many? How much?
e.g. Carrie read an interesting story. (What kind of story?)
The recent article has that information. (Which article?)
Kent owns those surfboards. (Which surfboards?)
Wendy paid fifty dollars for the jacket. (How many
dollars?)
Much space was devoted to her artwork. (How much
space?)
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Where to find adjectives in a sentence?
 An adjective normally comes before a noun, but after
an indefinite pronoun.
e.g. Italian bread, black-and-blue mark, intelligent
coaches;
something important, anyone valuable, etc.
* Do NOT use a hyphen after an adverb ending in –ly.
e.g. newly painted mural, sickly sweet odor, recently
purchased
** A, an, and the are normally used as adjectives, even
though they are called Articles.
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What is an adverb?
 An adverb is a word that modifies (qualifies or limits) a
verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
1. Many adverbs end in –ly.
2. Adverbs answer any of these four questions: Where?
When? How? To what extent?
3. Adverbs make writing more specific and more exact.
4. Some adverbs do not end in –ly: again, always, just,
nowhere, seldom, soon, very, almost, away, later, often,
so, then, alone, even, never, perhaps, sometimes,
there, yet, already, somewhat, quite, also, here, rather,
now, too, somewhere, today, yesterday, etc.
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Adverbs in Sentences
Adverbs Modify Verbs
Adverbs Modify
Adjectives
Adverbs Modify other
Adverbs
1. John ate quickly.
1. Rex is very happy.
1. Warren walks too
(How did he eat?)
(Very modifies the
quickly. (Too
2. I walk there. (Where
adjective happy and
modifies the adverb
did I walk?)
answers the
quickly and answers
3. Ashleigh will eat
question, To what
the question, How
soon. (When will
extent?)
quickly?)
Ashleigh eat?)
2. The program was
2. He moved rather
too unrealistic. (Too
recently. (Rather
modifies the
modifies the adverb
adjective unrealistic
recently and
and answers the
answers the
question, To what
question, How
extent?)
recently?)
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Practice: Adverb or Adjective?
 Identify the part of speech of the underlined word.
1. Helen has a yearly membership at the local
health club.
2. Helen contributes yearly.
3. Mike arrived late.
4. The late delivery cut down on sales in the
supermarket.
Note: Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns. Adverbs
describe verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.
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Comparisons: Big-Bigger-Biggest
 Big is called the positive; bigger is called the
comparative; biggest is called the superlative.
Positive
Comparative (-er;
more)
Superlative (-est,
most)
For short adj.
and adv., add er and –est.
e.g. Mary is
thin.
e.g. Lisa is thinner.
e.g. Katie is the
thinnest.
For longer adj.
and most adv.,
use more and
most, or less
and least
1. I am capable.
2. I eat quickly.
3. Helen is
willing.
4. Brent runs
gracefully.
1. You are more
capable.
2. You eat more
quickly.
3. Eric is less willing.
4. Sam runs less
gracefully.
1. Maria is most
capable.
2. She eats most
quickly.
3. Of the three, Rick
is least willing.
4. Of the three,
Mark runs least
gracefully.
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Alert: some adjectives can’t get any bigger
or better---they are already superlative.
 WRONG: This is my firstest trip to New York.
WRONG: This is my most first trip to New York.
RIGHT: This is my first trip to New York.
* Here are some other adjectives that work this way: best,
unique, only, perfect, round, square, one-of-a-kind, etc.
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Be careful where you place adverbs!
 WEAK: I had only been asleep for ten minutes when
the phone rang and woke me up.
BETTER: I had been asleep for only ten minutes when
the phone rang and woke me up.
 NOT VERY ROMANTIC: My darling, I only think
about you.
BETTER: My darling, I think only about you.
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What are verbs?
Action V.
Linking V.
Helping V.
*An action verb tells what
action (often a physical
action) a subject is
performing, has
performed and will
perform.
*A linking verb connects
(or links) a subject to a
noun or an adjective in
the predicate. The most
common linking verbs are
the forms of the verb “to
be” (am, is, are, was, were,
been, being) and appear,
become, feel, grow, look,
remain, seem, smell,
sound, stay, taste, and
turn.
e.g. Reggie looked
confused.
*A helping verb assists the
main verb in a sentence.
There can be more than
one helping verb in each
sentence. In a questioning
(interrogatives) sentence,
the helping verb is usually
separated from the main
verb. The common
helping verbs are: am, is,
are, was, were, be, been,
being, has, had, have, do,
does, did, may, might,
must, can, could, shall,
should, will, and would.
e.g. My father delivers
packages to department
stores each day.
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Practice: What kind of verb is it?
 Identify the part of speech of the underlined word.
Mark it with AV (action verb), LV (linking verb), or HV
(helping verb).
1. The member are going to the city tomorrow evening.
2. He appeared at the game.
3. Tammy grew tired during the long concert.
4. Oscar will help Petra with the project.
5. Susan skated across the rink in Central Park.
6. I remained calm when the accident happened.
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