Nouns Nouns are words that name persons, places, things, or ideas. Safety became a concern. Mr. Todd lives in London. Julia, Mr. Todd, and London are proper nouns. Proper nouns name specific persons, places, things, or ideas. They start with capital letters. Common nouns, like tennis, safety, and concern, do not begin with capital letters unless they begin a sentence.

Nouns (articles) The words a, an, and the are articles, and they always signal that a noun will follow. They had an argument. The information seems important. Other words may come between a, an, or the and the noun. They had a terrible argument. Many nouns appear without a, an, or the. Information comes from many sources.

Pronouns A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. Notice how pronouns replace some of the nouns in the following sentences: Julia plays tennis. She plays tennis. Safety became a concern. It became a concern. Mr. Todd lives in London. He lives in London. *These words that substitute for specific persons, places, or things are personal pronouns. They are the most common pronouns. Other personal pronouns include I, me, we, us, you, him, her, they, and them.   Another common type of pronoun is the indefinite pronoun. Indefinite pronouns include words like each, everyone, everybody, anyone, somebody, both, some, all, and most. Look at these sentences that contain indefinite pronouns: Everyone bought a ticket. The storm caught all of the workers by surprise. Anybody can learn English grammar.

Verbs Verbs are words that show action or state of being. They also indicate the time that the action or state of being occurs: either present, past, or future. Look at the verbs that show action in the following sentences: Action in the present: The spider weaves a web. Action in the past: The spider wove a web during the night. Action in the future: The spider will weave a new web after the storm. Verbs like am, is, are, was, were, seem, feel, and become usually express state of being. These verbs are called linking verbs. Look at the linking verbs that show state of being in the following sentences: State of being in the present: I am tired. State of being in the past: I became sleepy during class. State of being in the future: I will rally to stay awake and learn!

Adjectives Adjectives are words that describe nouns or pronouns. Adjectives usually come right before the words that they describe; however, sometimes they come after linking verbs. The articles a, an, and the are always adjectives. Look at the following sentences that contain adjectives: Adjectives before nouns: The soft blanket kept the baby warm and cozy. Adjectives after linking verbs: The babies were cozy. The parents were happy.