Unit 1: Parts of Speech



Unit 1: Parts of Speech

Nouns: Singular, Plural, and Collective

A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. A singular noun names one person, place, thing, or idea, and a plural noun names more than one. Most plural nouns are formed by adding –s to the singular form. Words that end in ch, sh, s, x, or z form the plural by adding –es. Words that end in a consonant and y form the plural by changing y to i and adding –es. Some plurals are formed irregularly, for example, child, children; foot, feet; mouse, mice. Some singular and plural forms are the same, for example, sheep, deer, series.

SINGULAR PLURAL SINGULAR PLURAL

Person: child children Thing: piano pianos

Place: corner corners Idea: religion religions

A collective noun names a group. A collective noun is singular when it refers to the group as a whole. It is plural when it refers to the individual members of a group.

The jury is still deliberating. (singular) The jury are arguing loudly. (plural)

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Nouns: Proper and Common; Concrete and Abstract

A proper noun is a noun that names a particular person, place, thing, or idea. A proper noun begins with a capital letter. A common noun is the general name of a person, place, thing, or idea.

PROPER COMMON

Person: Uncle Al uncle

Place: Dominican Republic country

Thing: Schindler’s List movie

Idea: the Renaissance era

A concrete noun names an object that occupies space or can be recognized by any of the senses. An abstract noun names an idea, quality, or characteristic.

Concrete: sneeze, star, explosion, hedgehog, chimney

Abstract: politeness, ability, honesty, love, beauty

Pronouns: Personal and Possessive; Reflexive and Intensive

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun, a group of words acting as a noun, or another pronoun. A personal pronoun refers to a specific person or thing and can be either singular or plural. The first person indicates the person speaking. The second person indicates the person being addressed. The third person indicates the person or thing being discussed.

SINGULAR PLURAL

First Person I, me we, us

Second Person you you

Third Person he, him they, them

she, her, it

We are aware that you will be bringing them to the party.

A possessive pronoun indicates possession or ownership. It takes the place of the possessive form of a noun.

SINGULAR PLURAL

First Person my, mine our, ours

Second Person your, yours your, yours

Third Person his their, theirs

her, hers, its

My coat and your bookbag are in her locker.

A reflexive pronoun refers to a noun or another pronoun and indicates that the same person or thing is involved. An intensive pronoun adds emphasis to a noun or another pronoun.

SINGULAR PLURAL

First Person myself ourselves

Second Person yourself yourselves

Third Person himself, herself, itself themselves

Reflexive: I bought myself a pair of jeans. Intensive: I myself bought a pair of jeans.

Pronouns: Interrogative, Relative, Demonstrative, Indefinite

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun, a group of words acting as a noun, or another pronoun. An interrogative pronoun is used to form a question.

who whom whose what which

Which is the correct answer?

A relative pronoun is used to begin some subject-verb word groups called subordinate clauses.

who whom whose whoever whomever which

whichever that what whosoever whatever

Maya is the student who wrote the article.

A demonstrative pronoun points out specific persons, places, things, or ideas.

this these that those

These are the most interesting videodiscs.

An indefinite pronoun refers to persons, places, or things in a more general way than a noun does.

all both everything none several

another each few no one some

any either many nothing somebody

anybody enough most one someone

anything everyone nobody others

Few are ever found again.

Adjectives

An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or pronoun by limiting its meaning.

shiny toaster friendly neighbor horrible accident green bird that book

Articles are the adjectives a, an, and the. A and an are indefinite articles. The is the definite article.

Possessive pronouns, such as my and our, can be considered adjectives because they modify nouns. Similarly, possessive forms of nouns, such as Roger’s and the captain’s, can also be considered adjectives.

A proper adjective is formed from a proper noun and begins with a capital letter.

Cervantes was a Spanish writer. The Korean restaurant is very popular.

Verbs: Action (Transitive / Intransitive)

A verb is a word that expresses action or a state of being and is necessary to make a statement. An action verb tells what someone or something does. Some action verbs express physical action. Other action verbs express mental action. A transitive verb is an action verb that is followed by a word or words that answer the question what? or whom?

The dancer performed the most difficult movements. (The action verb performed is followed by the noun movements, which answers the question what?)

An intransitive verb is an action verb that is not followed by words that answer the question what? or whom?

The dancer performed gracefully. (The action verb performed is followed by a word that tells how.)

Verbs: Linking

A linking verb links, or joins, the subject of a sentence (often a noun or pronoun) with a word or expression that identifies or describes the subject. Be in all its forms (am, is, are, was, were, been, being) is the most common linking verb. Other linking verbs include look, sound, feel, grow, remain, stay, seem, appear, become, and taste.

I am a soldier. Bananas were plentiful.

The opera sounded wonderful. She felt sad.

Verb Phrases

The verb in a sentence may consist of more than one word. The words that accompany the main verb are called auxiliary, or helping, verbs. A verb phrase consists of a main verb and all its auxiliary verbs.

forms of be am, is, are, was, were, being, been

forms of have has, have, had

other auxiliaries can, could, may, might, shall, will, do, does, did, must, should, would

The most common auxiliary verbs are the forms of be and have.

They are going. They have gone. They had been going.

The other auxiliary verbs are not used primarily to express time.

She should be arriving. Could she have arrived?

She could already be sitting there.

Adverbs

An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb by making its meaning more specific. Adverbs modify by answering the questions when? where? how? and to what extent?

We left early for the soccer game. (The adverb early modifies the verb left by answering the question when?)

Janine waited there for the bus. (The adverb there modifies the verb waited by the answering the question where?)

The nurse quietly shut the door of the hospital room. (The adverb quietly modifies the verb shut by answering the question how?)

Very few parts of life are completely perfect. (The adverb completely modifies the adjective perfect by answering the question to what degree?)

Negative words, such as not and its contraction –n’t, are also considered adverbs. Other negative words such as nowhere, hardly, and never can also function as adverbs.

The boat has not arrived. I have never eaten squid.

Prepositions

A preposition is a word that shows the relationship of a noun or a pronoun to some other word in a sentence.

The cat food is inside the cupboard. We’ll go there after lunch.

These are some commonly used prepositions:

aboard as but (except) in out toward

about at by inside outside under

above before concerning into over underneath

across behind despite like past until

after below down near pending unto

against beneath during of regarding up

along beside except off since upon

amid besides excepting on through with

among between for onto throughout within

around beyond from opposite to without

A compound preposition is a preposition made up of more than one word.

according to apart from because of in front of next to out of

ahead of aside from by means of in spite of on account of owing to

along with as to in addition to instead of on top of

Prepositions begin phrases that generally end with a noun or a pronoun called the object of the preposition.

The horses jumped over the fence. They showered the king with gifts.

Conjunctions: Coordinating, Correlative, and Subordinating

A conjunction is a word that joins single words or groups of words. A coordinating conjunction joins words or groups of words that have equal grammatical weight in a sentence. And, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet are coordinating conjunctions.

Germain washed the dishes and dried them.

The squirrel buried the nut, but the dog dug it up.

Correlative conjunctions work in pairs to join words and groups of words of equal weight in a sentence.

both. . .and just as. . . so not only. . .but also

either. . .or neither. . .nor whether. . .or

Both whales and dolphins are mammals.

Whether I fail or succeed, my parents will still support me.

A subordinating conjunction joins two ideas, or clauses, so that one is grammatically dependent on the other.

after as long as if than whenever

although as soon as in order that though where

as as though since unless whereas

as far as because so until wherever

as if before so that when while

He listened to music until he fell asleep.

Whenever I see a mountain, I want to climb it.

Interjections

An interjection is a word that expresses emotion or exclamation. An interjection has no grammatical connection to other words.

oh wow oops ouch well whew ah yipes uh-oh

gee ow hey hooray alas why man my uh-huh

Why, I didn’t realize that. Oops, sorry about that. Uh-oh, she’d better watch out.

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