PARTS OF SPEECH STUDY GUIDE



GRAMMAR STUDY GUIDE

Prepositions

Prepositional Phrase: Begins with a preposition – ends with a noun or pronoun.

Sentences still make sense when the prepositional phrase is taken out.

| |

|aboard as during near throughout |

|about because of except of to |

|above before for off toward |

|across behind from on under |

|according to below in on account of underneath |

|after beneath in addition to onto unlike |

|against beside in front of out until |

|along between in spite of out of up |

|amid beyond inside over upon |

|among by instead of past with |

|around by means of into since within |

|at down like through without |

Sentence

A group of words that contains a subject (who or what the sentence is about) and a

verb (what the subject does, has, or feels) and expresses a complete thought.

1) Declarative – Makes a statement.

2) Interrogative – Asks a question.

3) Imperative – Gives a command or makes a request. (Subject is you)

4) Exclamatory – Shows excitement or expresses strong feeling.

The best part of the movie was the popcorn. Declarative

Why do you say that? Interrogative

Just stop! Imperative

You make me so angry when we talk about movies! Exclamatory

Conjunctions

Conjunction Junction, what’s your function: hooking up words and phrases and clauses

Each side of the conjunction must be equal.

|The bird flew easily and swiftly. |“And” joins two adverbs |

|During the day or at night you can leave. |“And” joins two prepositional phrases |

|He ran and they walked. |And joins two independent clauses |

|Coordinating Conjunctions |

|and or nor for so yet but |

| |

|Correlative Conjunctions (co-related) – always act in pairs |

|either...or neither...nor both...and not only...but also whether...or |

|just as…so |

|Subordinate Conjunctions |

|after as long as if than when wherever |

|although as soon as in order that though whenever while |

|as because since unless where |

|as if before so that until whereas |

Clause

A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and verb.

Independent Clause Expresses a complete thought and can stand by itself

as a sentence.

Subordinate Clause Does not express a complete thought and cannot

or stand alone. *Begins with a subordinate

Dependent Clause conjunction or relative pronoun (which, who whom,

whose, that).

Examples:

Independent Clause the man left his house

Subordinate Clause because the man left his house

|Type of Sentence Independent Dependent |

|Simple 1 0 |

|She went to the game. |

|Compound 2 0 |

|She liked the game, but her team didn’t win. |

|Complex 1 1+ |

|Although they lost, they played well. |

|Compound-Complex 2 1+ |

|The team was down, but they stayed positive because they liked each other. |

| Writing Errors |

|Fragment – Missing one or more of the following: subject, verb, or complete |

|thought |

| |

|Run-on – Two independent clauses put together without punctuation |

| |

|Comma Splice – Two independent clauses joined by a comma |

Nouns

People (except short words like “she”), places, things, and ideas (joy, sadness)

Follow describing words (example - hungry dog)

Follow the words a, an, and the

Follow possessives (his, her, my, our, their, its, your)

Found at the end of prepositional phrases

| |

|Common Nouns are not capitalized. |

|examples: store, girl, game |

|Proper Nouns are capitalized. |

|examples: Target, Sue, Madden 2007 |

|Concrete Nouns refer to things you can see. |

|examples: ball, glove, hat |

|Abstract Nouns name ideas, feelings, or qualities. |

|examples: happiness, joy, love, hours, dedication |

|Compound Nouns are nouns of two or more words. |

|examples: together (earthquake, corncob) |

|spaced (high school, corn bread) |

|hyphens (son-in-law) |

| |

|Collective Nouns name a group or collection considered as one unit. |

|examples: crowd, army, class |

|Possessive Nouns show ownership. |

|examples: Mike’s, dog’s |

| Appositives |

|Nouns (or noun phrases) that identify, describe, or rename the noun they follow. |

|Example |

|Billy, the 32 year military veteran, is a really neat guy. |

Verbs

Show action (Action verbs)

Show a “state of being” (Linking verbs)

Help the main verb (Helping verbs)

Most common ending is –ed

Ask “Who (or what) did what” – what they did is a verb

“Not” is not a verb

Memorized Verbs

am be has do may can shall will

is being have does might could should would

are been had did must

was

were

Other Linking Verbs: appear, become, feel, grow, look, remain, seem, stay, smell, sound, taste.

Verb Tenses

Perfect means have has had

Progressive means –ing ending

Present: walk(s)

Past: walked

Future: will walk

Present perfect: has/have walked

Past perfect: had walked

Future perfect: will have walked

Present progressive: is walking

Past progressive: was walking

Future progressive: will be walking

Present perfect progressive: has/have been walking

Past perfect progressive: had been walking

Future perfect progressive: will have been walking

|Intransitive verbs do not have an object or “receiver” of the action. |

|Transitive verbs direct their action toward an object. |

| |

|Direct Objects Receive the action expressed by the verb. |

|Find the verb then ask “what?” |

|Indirect Objects Come before the direct object. |

|Tells to whom or what or for whom or what. |

|Example: The coach hit Joey fly balls. |

|1) Who (subject) = coach |

|2) Did what (verb) = hit |

|3) Hit what (direct object) = fly balls |

|4) Who received the direct object (indirect object) = Joey |

|*Can’t have an indirect object if there isn’t a direct object. |

Active Voice The subject performs the action.

The subject comes before the verb.

Passive Voice The subject receives the action.

The doer of the action is unknown or unimportant

Examples: Active Voice The coach hit fly balls.

Passive Voice Fly balls were hit by the coach.

Subject-Verb Agreement

A verb must agree with its subject in number.

Singular Subjects (no s‘s) take Singular Verbs (have s‘s)

Plural Subjects (have s’s) take Plural Verbs (no s‘s)

Examples: Tom wins almost every game.

Good athletes win almost every game.

Rules: 1) “And” makes subjects plural

2) Use a verb that agrees with the nearer of two subjects joined by “or”

3) Movie and book titles (etc…) take a singular verb

4) Terms that refer to amounts (money, time, weight) are usually singular

5) Subjects of sentences cannot be in prepositional phrases

|Troublesome Verbs |

|Lie – to rest Lie Lying Lay Lain |

|Lay – to place Lay Laying Laid Laid >>> Must have a direct object! |

| |

|Rise – to get up or go up Rise Rising Rose Risen |

|Raise – to lift up or force up Raise Raising Raised Raised >>> Must have a |

|direct object |

| |

|Affect – verb meaning to influence Accept – verb meaning to receive willingly |

|Effect – noun (can be verb) Except – preposition used to exclude or leave out |

|Verbals – Verb forms that act as another part of speech. |

|*Not the main verb in the sentence. |

|Participle A verb form that can be used as an adjective. |

|Example: The workers fixed the destroyed bridge. |

| |

|Gerund A verb form ending in -ing that functions as a noun. |

|Example: Steve enjoys running. |

|Infinitive A present tense verb that follows the word “to.” |

|Example: You will get to vote for class officers. |

Uses for Commas

• Use commas to separate all items in a series

o Example: He jumped, hopped, and skipped at recess.

• Use a comma between two or more adjectives that come before a noun.

o If “and” would make sense between the adjectives, use a comma

o If the adjectives can be reversed, use a comma

o Example: Large, bulky cameras are difficult to use.

• Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction that separates two fairly long independent clauses

o Example: We wanted to take a senior picture, but it rained that day.

• Use a comma after words, phrases, and clauses at the beginning of sentences.

o Example: After it rained, the grass turned a deep green color.

• Use commas to separate interrupters from the rest of the sentence.

o Example: The flowers, of course, looked splendid.

• Use commas before and/or after people’s names when they are spoken to.

o Example: Don’t you think so, John?

• Use commas to set off appositives that are not necessary to identifying the noun.

o Example: Maybe the mayor, Bill Klubben, will give us a lawn award.

• Use commas after the day and the year in dates.

o Example: On June 7, 2005, we received our nomination letter.

o Do not use a comma if only the month/day or the month/year are given.

• Use a comma after a city and after the state if both are given.

o Example: We went to Billings, Montana, for the convention.

• Use a comma to separate each item in an address except the Zip Code.

o Example: We went to 311 Jones Street, Billings, Montana 55554.

• Use a comma after the greeting in a friendly letter and after the closing in both a friendly letter and a business letter.

o Example: Dear committee,

Uses for Quotation Marks

• Use quotation marks around a speaker’s exact words. (Notice the punctuation in the following sentences.)

o Example: Mary said, “I can’t believe we won!”

o “Miracles never end,” my mom replied.

o “Well,” the announcer smiled, “we’re glad you’re happy.”

• Use quotation marks around titles of short works. Capitalize all words except the articles (a, an, the) and prepositions.

o Short Story: “Jug of Silver”

o Poem: “Jabberwocky”

o Chapter of a Book: “Writing Business Reports”

o Magazine Article: “How to Ask for a Raise”

o Song: “The Star Spangled Banner”

Uses for Italics and Underlining

• Use italics or underlining for titles of long works. Capitalize all words except the articles (a, an, the) and prepositions.

o Book: A Summer to Remember

o Magazine: Sports Illustrated

o Newspaper: Springfield Advance-Press

o Play: Anne Frank and Me

o Movie: Hoosiers

o TV Series: Survivor

o Painting: Sunflowers

o Musical Works: Symphony No. 5, The Marriage of Figaro

Uses for Colons (:) Semicolons (;) and Apostrophes (‘)

• Use a colon after the greeting of a business letter.

• Use a colon to separate the hour from the minute when writing the time.

• Use a colon before a list of items.

o Example: We won the following prizes: money, a trip, and a plaque.

• Use a semicolon instead of a comma and coordinating conjunction when two independent clauses are closely related.

o Example: We bought our friends souvenirs; they really loved them.

• Use a semicolon to join two independent clauses when the second clause begins

with an adverb such as however, therefore, consequently, besides, moreover,

furthermore, or nevertheless.

o Example: We spent a lot of money; however, it was worth it.

• Use an apostrophe to show possession and to replace letters dropped in contractions.

o Example: Jim’s smile was the best.

o Example: His excitement couldn’t be hidden.

• Use an apostrophe and s to form the plural of words, letters, numerals in mathematics, and symbols, but not for years and decades.

o Example: There were no if’s, and’s, or but’s about it.

o Example: The played a medley of songs from the 1980s.

Pronouns

Replace nouns (usually short words)

Endings one, body, thing, self, and selves make words pronouns

Antecedent – The noun the pronoun replaces

Indefinite Pronouns (plus words ending in one, body, and thing)

all both few more neither several

another each little most none some

any either many much other(s)

Interrogative Pronouns

who whom what which whose

Personal Pronouns (possessive pronouns are underlined)

I mine yours he she they theirs we

me you it him hers them ours us

my your its his her their our

Demonstrative Pronouns

this that these those

Adjective – Modifies (describes) a noun or pronoun

Verb – Shows action or otherwise helps to make a statement

Adverb – Modifies (describes) a verb, an adjective, or another adverb

Adverbs

Describe verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs

Often end in -ly

Most common adverbs (need to memorize)

too, very, quite, rather, not, never, almost, so, really, always, often, a lot, well

Steps to finding adverbs

1. Who did what? Subject/Verb

2. Did it when…where…how? Adverbs

3. Ask “how” to all the words in the sentence. Adverbs

INTERJECTIONS

Show emotion or feeling

Have no grammatical relationship to other words around them

Punctuated with an exclamation point if they show strong emotion

Punctuated with a comma for mild feeling

Examples: Wow shh yippie hooray no (swear words)

Adjectives

Describe nouns and pronouns

Answer the questions Which, How many, How much, What kind of

Usually found: Before nouns, after little verbs, and in the middle of prepositional

phrases

Articles – a, an, and the (they are adjectives)

Most numbers and colors are adjectives

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