Grammar by Diagram CONVENTIONS: (ELA9C1, a.b.c.) The fun way to learn grammar Jamison/Harrison High School

The Eight Parts of Speech Words are the basic building block of any language. One way to begin analyzing a language, then, is to classify each word as belonging to a distinct category and to determine how the categories work together to make meaning. Most of you are already familiar with the parts of speech. Just for fun, see if you can list them right now……

Parts of Speech… Noun – Person, place, thing, or idea Pronoun – takes the place of the noun Categories: personal (nominative or subjective) reflexive or intensive, possessive, impersonal, interrogative, demonstrative, relative. Verb – Shows either action (transitive or intransitive) or state of being (be verb or linking verb).

Parts of Speech… Adjective: modifies a noun or pronoun and answers – 1. which one? 2. how many? 3. what kind? Adverb: Modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Answers-1. how? In what manner? 2. under what condition? 3. when? 4. where? Preposition: relates a noun or pronoun (the object of the preposition) to the rest of the sentence; every prep phrase acts as either an adjective or an adverb. Must be followed by a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase.

Parts of Speech… Conjunction: connects words, phrases, or clauses. Coordinating, subordinating, correlative, conjunctive. Interjection: Expresses emotion As neat and tidy as this organizational system seems, though, we must beware of assuming that each word in English can be tucked neatly into one of these categories and remain there. Part of what makes English such a dynamic language is that the same word can be used as more than one part of speech.

Categories of Nouns… Noun: Person, place, thing, or idea. Abstract: intangible entities such as justice, love, philosophy, etc. Concrete: tangible entities such as house, tree, computer., etc. Proper: If individualized and therefore capitalized – The Declaration of Independence, Sally. Common: declaration, independence, girl.

Now you try… Copy the passage, then underline the nouns in the following passage. “The governess insisted that the children should not be allowed to indulge their whims. She instructed the butler, Percy Shaw, to ignore their complaints; as she put it, “These spoiled darlings need to learn the meaning of discipline!”

Pronoun… Takes the place of a noun… Categories: Personal: Nominative or subjective pronouns: the form used for the subject of a sentence or for the subjective complement. Subject – She is here. Sub. Comp. – Who is she? Objective: the form used for the direct object, indirect object, or object of a preposition. DO: Joe understands me. IO: Sally bought him a present. Ob. Of Prep: The company will do anything for them.

Pronouns… Reflexive: the form used to refer back to the antecedent (a noun or pronoun used earlier in the sentence). Reflexive pronouns are necessary for clarity of meaning; intensive pronouns are optional forms used for emphasis. Reflexive: Mrs. Jamison found herself alone in the room. Intensive: The students themselves painted by ceiling tile. These categories (nominative, subjective, objective, and reflexive/intensive, are personal pronouns because they relate to the three “persons” of English grammar (first, second, third).

Possessive Pronouns… The form used to show possession of a noun. Possessive pronouns have two forms, depending on whether they are acting as free-standing pronouns or as determiners before a noun. As determiners they act as adjectives because they provide more information about the noun that follows. First person: Mine/Ours Second person: Yours/Yours Third person: his, hers, its/theirs

Impersonal Pronouns… Indefinite pronouns: used to take the place of a noun which cannot be names specifically. Anyone, someone, everyone, no one, anybody, somebody, everybody, nobody, anything, something, everything, nothing. Reciprocal Pronouns: indicate reciprocity, either singular or plural. They love each other. They love one another. Joe and Samantha get on each other’s nerves.

These are terrible tests! Impersonal Pronouns… Interrogative Pronouns: “who,” “whom,” “whose,” “which,” and “what” when used to begin a question. What is the name of this object? Which is the painting that you just bought? Whose is this? Demonstrative Pronouns: Used to point out a specific noun. There are only four demonstrative pronouns: “this” “these” “that” and “those”. This is a dirty shirt. These are terrible tests!

Impersonal Pronouns… Relative Pronouns: begin a relative, or adjective, clause. Who, whoever, whom, whomever, whose. The police officer who helped us was extremely courteous. That piano, which has been in storage during the winter, needs to be tuned. Do not trust a wild animal that has been caged.

Now you try… Name the nine kinds of pronouns… Subjective Objective Reflexive Possessive Indefinite Reciprocal Interrogative Demonstrative Relative

Now you Try… Underline the pronouns in the following passage. Then see if you can take the next step and categorize each pronoun as well… “That is not acceptable,” proclaimed the schoolmaster, rocking himself emphatically back and forth on his heels. “I want to know the person who is responsible for this suggestion. Should students have the right to determine their own grades? It is a preposterous idea! I will assign grades to you as I see fit, and anyone wishing to argue with me may do so. Grades are my prerogative You will not grade yourself, nor will you grade one another. Who would ever think of such a thing?”

Here are the pronouns. See if you identified all of them. “That is not acceptable,” proclaimed the schoolmaster, rocking himself emphatically back and forth on his heels. “I want to know the person who is responsible for this suggestion. Should students have the right to determine their own grades? It is a preposterous idea! I will assign grades to you as I see fit, and anyone wishing to argue with me may do so. Grades are my prerogative You will not grade yourself, nor will you grade one another. Who would ever think of such a thing?”

That-demonstrative Himself – reflexive his – possessive, function here as adjective I – Nominative or subjective Who – relative this – demonstrative, functioning as adjective their – possessive, adjective it – nominative or subjective I – nominative you – objective anyone – indefinite me – objective my – possessive you – nominative yourself – reflexive one another – reciprocal who – interrogative “That 1 is not acceptable,” proclaimed the schoolmaster, rocking himself 2emphatically back and forth on his 3heels. “I 4 want to know the person who 5 is responsible for this 6 suggestion. Should students have the right to determine their 7own grades? It 8is a preposterous idea! I 9will assign grades to you 10as I 11 see fit, and anyone 12 wishing to argue with me 13may do so. Grades are my 14 prerogative You 15will not grade yourself 16, nor will you 17grade one another 18. Who 19 would ever think of such a thing?”

Verbs… Verbs are the most complex of the eight parts of speech. It is essential to identify verbs and to classify them in order to determine the function of other elements in the sentence. Active: Mrs. Jamison threw the pen. Passive: The pen was thrown by Mrs. Jamison.

Definition and Categories of Verbs… A verb shows either action or state of being (existence). Note that sometimes the “action” does not involve physical motion, as in “we slept” or “Mrs. Jamison considered the idea.” Action verbs can either be transitive or intransitive. Transitive: verbs that are followed by an object indicating who or what receives the action. He kicked the ball. She waved her hand. Intransitive: verbs are not followed by an object. He kicked. She waved.

State of being verbs and linking verbs.. Present Tense: I am, You are, He, she, it is, we are, you are, they are.. Past Tense: I was, you were, he, she, it was, we were, you were, they were. Linking Verbs: Can be replaced by a form of be without substantially changing the meaning of the sentence. They seemed happy. The soup tasted good. The soup smelled good. I become sleepy around midnight. Leaves turn red in the fall.

Verb Phrases… Verbs often appear in phrases, making it more difficult to determine which category of very you are dealing with. When you see a verb phrase, the last word in the phrase determines whether you have an action or state of being verb. The last word in the verb phrase is the main verb; the other verbs, those leading up to the main verb, are called auxiliaries or helping verbs. They allow us to express various shades of meaning, including tense.

Four types of verbs can be used as auxiliaries: Modals: (shall, should, will, would, can, could, may, might, must, have to, had to, ought to) Forms of have: (has, have, had) Forms of be: (as, is, are, was, were, being, been) Forms of do: (does, do, did)

Mrs. Jamison has been dancing. The teacher is being unreasonable. Now you try…Identify the verb phrase (action or state-of-being) and state whether it is transitive or intransitive… Mrs. Jamison has been dancing. The teacher is being unreasonable. My sister is feeling happy. My sister is feeling her boyfriend’s biceps. The toddler should have been eating at the table.

Mrs. Jamison has been dancing. Action/Intransitive The teacher is being unreasonable. State of being My sister is feeling happy. State of being/linking verb category My sister is feeling her boyfriend’s biceps. Action/Transitive The toddler should have been eating at the table.