From The Holt Grammar Handbook (Chapter 1) PARTS OF SPEECH From The Holt Grammar Handbook (Chapter 1)

The Noun  Names a person, place, a thing, or an idea.  Types of nouns - common noun – names any one of a group of persons, places, things, or ideas; is not capitalized. * Ex: uncle, island, metacognition - proper noun – names a particular person, place, thing or idea; is capitalized. * Ex: Flava Flav, Aruba, Buddhist - concrete noun – names a person, place or thing that can be perceived by one or more of the senses. * Ex: Fez, llama, baptism - abstract noun – names an idea, a feeling, a quality or characteristic. * Ex: entropy, Modernism, jealousy - collective noun – names a group in its singular form. * Ex: gang, peck, congregation - compound noun – consists of two or more words that together name a person, a place, a thing, or an idea. * stepsister, waterfall, lampshade

The Pronoun  Takes the place of one or more nouns or pronouns; should agree in number and in gender with its antecedent.  antecedent – the word or word group that a pronoun stands for.  Types of pronouns - personal pronoun – refers to the one(s) speaking (first person), the one(s) spoken to (second person), or the one(s) spoken about (third person). * First person: I, me, my, mine, we, us, our, ours * Second person: you, your, yours (can be both singular and plural) * Third person: he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its, they, them, their, theirs - reflexive pronouns – refers to the subject of a verb and functions as a compliment or as the object of a preposition. * Ex: himself, herself, themselves - intensive pronoun – a reflexive pronoun that emphasizes its antecedent (a noun or another pronoun) but has no other function in the sentence. * Ex: Salman Rushdie himself spoke at the book launch party. - demonstrative pronoun – points out a noun or another pronoun. * Ex: this, that, these, those (“This is my book”) - interrogative pronoun – introduces a question. * Ex: who, whom, whose, which, what (“What is the date today?”) - relative pronoun – introduces an adjective clause. * that, which, who, whom, whose (“He is the boy that sits in the front row”) - indefinite pronoun – refers to a person, a place, a thing or an idea that may or may not be specifically named. * anybody, most, neither, something etc. (“Everybody knows the Sox will win”) Many of the words that can be used as pronouns can also be used as adjectives. * Ex: That chair

The Adjective  Modifies a noun or pronoun. - Ex. blonde, charismatic, petite  articles – the most frequently used adjectives. - indefinite articles – refer to any member of a general group. * a – used before words beginning with a consonant sound * an – used before words beginning with a vowel sound - definite article * the – refers to a specific person, place, thing or idea  In different contexts, words may be used as adjectives and as nouns/pronouns. - Remember, an adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun and that a pronoun takes the place of a noun or another pronoun. - The words this, that, these, and those are called demonstrative pronouns when they take the place of nouns or other pronouns and are called demonstrative adjectives when they modify nouns or pronouns. - proper adjective – an adjective that is formed from a proper noun; is capitalized. * Ex. Marine Corps cadet

The Verb  Expresses action or a state of being  A main verb and one or more helping verbs make up a verb phrase * Ex: could run, did talk, has been  Types of verbs - action verb – expresses either physical or mental activity * Ex: run, discuss, ponder - linking verb – expresses a state of being * Ex: am, is, are, was, were, feel, look, seem - transitive verb – has an object - intransitive verb – does not have an object; linking verbs are always intransitive - object – a word or word group that tells who or what receives the action of the verb

The Adverb  Modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb; tells where, when, how, or to what extent most commonly used to modify verbs and verb phrases. I.E. extremely, articulately, thoroughly Ex: She spoke very slowly. It is terribly cold. We ran far.  Some words that are often used as nouns may also be used as adverbs. Ex: My grandmother arrives tomorrow. Tomorrow is Sunday.  The word not and its contraction (-n’t) are adverbs telling to what extent.

The Preposition  Shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun, called the object of a preposition, to another word. Ex: about, above, across etc…  object of a preposition – a noun, pronoun, or word group that functions as a noun; in most cases it follows a preposition and is the thing being given a relationship to.  prepositional phrase – made up of the preposition, its object, and any modifiers of the object. - to the raft - from the raft - below the raft - above the raft - on the raft  compound preposition – a preposition that consists of two or more words. Ex: in addition to, as of  Some of the words that are commonly used as prepositions may also be used as adverbs; remember that an adverb is a modifier and that it does not have an object, while prepositions always have objects. - I will meet you outside the theater. - I will meet you outside at noon.

The Conjunction  Joins words or word groups.  Types of conjunctions - coordinating conjunction – joins words or word groups that are used in the same way (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet) * In A.D. 711, the Berbers invaded and conquered Spain. * We missed the opening scene, but we enjoyed the rest of the party. - correlative conjunctions – pairs of conjunctions that join words or word groups that are used in the same way (both… and, either… or, whether… or, not only… but also, neither… nor) * Either Fred or Manuela will bring music for the party. * Not only did Garrett Morgan patent the first gas mask, but he also invented the automatic traffic signal. - subordinating conjunctions – begins a subordinate clause and connects it to an independent clause (although, because, provided, while, etc.) * Many American Indians are reluctant to reveal their traditional names for some places because the names have spiritual meanings. * I gasped when I saw the headline. * When I saw the headline, I gasped. Note: Some words can be used as prepositions or as subordinating conjunctions. * After the election, we celebrated. * After we won the election, we celebrated.

The Interjection  Expresses emotion and has no grammatical relation to the rest of the sentence. - Ex: ah, aha, oh, hey, whoa, wow, etc. -Hey! I think I know the answer. -Well, I thought I knew the answer. -I think that, aw, you are the greatest.

*Remember, the way a word is used in a sentence determines what part of speech the word is!