Section Three:  The Parts of Speech

 

The term parts of speech indicates the classification of words with reference to the functions that they perform in the sentence.  The eight parts of speech are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.  The word fast, for example, may be used as a noun, a verb, an adjective, or an adverb; which part of speech it is in a particular sentence will be determined by the way it is used in that sentence.  Studying the following explanations will give additional insights into the parts of speech and how they function.

 

Nouns (N)

 

      A noun is a word used to name a person, place, thing, or idea.

 

                     A common noun names any one of a class of persons, places, or things:

                               woman, state, truth, choice, school, street, player, boy

 

                     A proper noun names a specific person, place, or thing:

                               Tammy, Central High School, Sherman Avenue, Michigan, Dr. Smith, the United States

 

                     A collective noun is a name applied to a group:

                               army, orchestra, band, club, class, flock, clan

 

                     A concrete  noun is a name applied to something that can be seen or touched:

                               water, boy, table, food, rain, book, apple

 

                     An abstract noun is a name applied to a quality or general idea:

                               love, fear, foolishness, beauty, justice, loyalty, bravery

 

                     A compound noun is a noun made up of two or more words:

                               father-in-law, schoolhouse, race track, West Indies, living room

 

                     NOTE: A noun may belong to more than one category:  father-in-law is common, concrete, and compound.

 

Pronouns (Pro)

 

      A pronoun is a word used in place of one or more nouns.

 

                     Personal pronouns indicate (1) the speaker, (2) the one spoken to, or (3) the one spoken about.

 

                               Speaker:  I, my, mine, me, we, our, ours, us

                               One spoken to:  you, your, yours

                               One spoken about:  he, his, him, she, her, hers, it, its, they, theirs, their, them

 

                     Compound personal pronouns (the self pronouns) have two uses:  (1) as intensive pronouns (to emphasize) or (2) as reflexive pronouns (to refer to the subject).

 

                               Intensive:            He did the work himself.

                                                            You yourself must decide.

                                                            I myself was afraid.

 

                               Reflexive:             He hurt himself.

                                                            They blamed themselves for the loss of the game.

                                                            She burned herself with the torch.

                     Interrogative pronouns ask questions.  Interrogative pronouns are who, whose, whom, which, what.

 

                     Relative pronouns are both substitute words and connectives (joining words).  As connectives they introduce dependent (subordinate) clauses and refer to a word in the main clause.  Relative pronouns include who, whom, whose, which, and that.  Some relative pronouns may be compounded:  whoever, whomever, whichever.

 

                               The recipe that he tried was new to him.

                               The lady whom you introduced performed the operation.

 

                     Demonstrative pronouns point out.  They are this (plural, these) and that (plural, those.).

 

                               What is this?                            Those are my shoes.

 

                     Indefinite pronouns do not make definite references to specific nouns.  They include another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, both, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, many, neither, nobody, none, no one, one, others, some, somebody, someone, such.

 

      Both nouns and pronouns have four properties:  number, person, gender, and case.

 

                     Number:          There are two numbers, singular and plural.

 

                     Person:           Person denotes the speaker (first person),

                                             the person spoken to (second person),

                                             or the person spoken about (third person).

 

                                 First person singular:  I, Mark Townsend, can help you.

                                 First person plural:  We, the members of the class, choose him.

                                 Second person singular:  Marilyn, you may be next to bat.

                                 Second person plural:  You students in the corner may leave.

                                 Third person singular:  Carey said that she sent him the letter.

                                 Third person plural:  They planted new trees on Arbor Day.

 

                     Gender:           Gender indicates sex:  masculine, feminine, neuter.

 

                                 Masculine, male:  The man has completed his paintings.

                                 Feminine, female:  Jane must complete her experiment.

                                 Neuter, inanimate objects:  The paint has lost its color.

 

                     Case:               The form of a noun or pronoun that shows its relation to the rest of the sentence is called case.  The cases are nominative, possessive, and objective.

 

                                 Nominative case refers to subjects:  He is the president.

                                 Possessive case denotes ownership:  His book is lost.

                                 Objective case refers to objects:  Scott hit the ball.  She met him.

 

Verbs (V)

 

      A verb is a word used to express action or to help make a statement (express a condition).

 

      A verb may consist of only one word.

 

                     John caught the ball.  (action)  He is our captain.  (condition)

      A verb phrase is a group of words used as one verb.

 

                     Jackie had hit the most home runs.

                     Mike should have written to his friend.

                     He has been our leader.

 

      A verb phrase combines one or more auxiliary or helping verbs with a verb of action or condition.  There are twenty-three auxiliary verbs: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been, has, have, had, do, does, did, shall, will, should, would, may, might, must, can, could.

 

      Eight of the auxiliaries may also be used as linking verbs.  These are is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been.  Other linking verbs are seem, appear, look, become, feel, grow (when it means become), remain, smell, taste, and sound.  Linking verbs join nouns and adjectives in the predicate to the subject.

 

                     Patrick is my brother.  (links noun brother to subject Patrick)

                     She seems ambitious.  (links adjective ambitious to subject She)

 

      The parts of a verb phrase may be separated in a sentence.

 

                     Mr. Mitchell does not always shop in that store.

                     The children have often been chased by that dog.

                     Can you compose the opening for the show?

 

      A verb may be compound.

 

                     The band marched in the parade and then gave a concert in the park.

 

      Verbs have five properties: person, number, tense, mood, and voice.

 

                     Person and number:  These are derived from the change in form of a verb to show its agreement with its noun or pronoun subject.

 

                     Tense:  The tense of a verb means the time of the action, condition, or state of being expressed.  There are six tenses:  present, past, future, present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect.

 

                     Mood:  Mood shows the manner of the action expressed by the verb.  There are three moods:  indicative, subjunctive, imperative.

 

                     Voice:  Voice is the change in the form of a verb to show whether the subject is the doer or the receiver of the action.

 

                               Active voice shows the subject as the doer of the action.

                                          Mother baked that cake.

                               Passive voice shows the subject as the receiver of the action.

                                          That cake was baked by Mother.

 

      To show all of the properties of any verb is to conjugate.  The orderly charting of such properties is called the verb conjugation.

 

      All forms of a verb are derived from the principal parts of the verb:  the present tense, the past tense, and the past participle.  Regular verbs, such as talk, form the past tense and the past participle by adding ed or d to the present:  talk, talked, talked.  Irregular verbs follow no such rule to form the past and the past participle; one must learn the forms of such words.  Some verbs with irregular past and past participle forms follow:

                                                         Past                                                                                  Past

Present                    Past                   Participle                      Present                Past                   Participle

 

become                   became             become                        lie                       lay                     lain

begin                      began                begun                          run                     ran                    run

choose                    chose                chosen                        see                     saw                   seen

buy                          bought               bought                         set                      set                    set

do                            did                     done                            sing                    sang                  sung

draw                        drew                  drawn                          sink                    sank                 sunk

eat                          ate                     eaten                           sit                       sat                    sat

give                         gave                  given                           speak                 spoke                spoken

go                            went                  gone                            swim                  swam                swum

hit                           hit                     hit                               tear                    tore                   torn

know                       knew                 known                         wear                   wore                  worn

lay                           laid                    laid                              write                   wrote                written

 

Adjectives (Adj)

 

      An adjective is a word used to modify a noun or pronoun by describing or limiting it.

 

      Descriptive adjectives describe.  They may be either common or proper.

 

                     a small town                           an American village                                           the Kentucky horse

                     white paint                             strong tea                                                           Indian rug

 

      Limiting adjectives tell how many, either definitely or indefinitely.

 

                     The articles a, an, and the limit.

                     Pronominal adjectives are pronouns used to limit nouns or pronouns.

                               her coat               that car                    every student          which book

                     Numeral adjectives may either be cardinal or ordinal numbers.

                               Cardinal numbers (one, two) tell how many:  ten Indians, twenty stories

                               Ordinal numbers (first, second) tell which:  tenth Indian, twentieth floor

                     Possessive nouns may also serve as adjectives:  Stan’s jacket.

 

Adverbs (Adv)

 

     An adverb is a word used to modify a verb or another modifier (adjective or adverb).

 

      Adverbs tell manner (how), time (when), place (where), degree (how much), and cause (why).

 

                     Adverbs of manner:  angrily, carefully, not, lazily, rough, quickly, suddenly

                     Adverbs of time:  now, then, soon, lately, early, after, often, before, immediately

                     Adverbs of place:  here, there, near, forward, outside, away, where

                     Adverbs of cause:  why, therefore, hence, thus

 

      Many adverbs are formed by adding ly to descriptive adjectives.

 

                     He is an eager student. (adj.)  Many watched him eagerly. (adv.)

 

      Most adverbs can be compared.  For adverbs ending in ly, use more and most to form the comparative and the superlative degrees.

 

                     Positive                                 Comparative                                Superlative

                     quickly                                 more quickly                              most quickly

                     carefully                               more carefully                           most carefully

 

      For some adverbs that are not formed from adjectives, use er and est to form the comparative and the superlative:  soon, sooner, soonest.

     

 

 

 

Use irregular forms in comparing certain adverbs.                                                                                

                     Positive                                 Comparative                                Superlative

                     badly, ill                                worse                                          worst

                     well, good                              better                                         best

 

Prepositions (Prep)

 

     A preposition is a word used to show a relationship between the noun or pronoun that follows it and some other word in the sentence.

 

      A preposition and its object (noun or pronoun following it), with or without modifiers, constitute a prepositional phrase.  Prepositional phrases modify words as either adjective phrases or adverb phrases.

 

                     The first score of the game came in the second quarter.  (Of the game is an adjective phrase, and in the second quarter  is an adverb phrase.)

 

      Frequently-used prepositions are listed below.

 

      about               at                        but (except)           in                     outside                  to

      above               before                 by                           inside              over                       toward

      across              behind                concerning            into                  past                       under

      after                below                  despite                  like                  regarding              underneath

      against            beneath              down                      near                round                     until

      along               beside                 during                   of                     since                     up

      amid                besides               except                    off                    through                 upon

      among             between             for                          on                    throughout            with

      around             beyond                from                       out                   till                          within, without

 

Conjunction (C)

 

      A conjunction is a word used to connect words or groups of words.

 

      Co-ordinate conjunctions join words, phrases, and clauses of equal value.

      Simple co-ordinate conjunctions are and, or, nor, but, and sometimes for.

      Paired co-ordinate conjunctions, like both-and, either-or, neither-nor, not only-but also,  are called correlative conjunctions.

 

                     Sam and Sal waited.  (Simple)

                     Neither Sam nor Sal waited.  (Correlative)

 

      Subordinate conjunctions connect dependent (subordinate) clauses with independent (main) clauses.  Subordinate conjunctions include since, before, after, while, than, if, until, unless, as where, when, although, though, and because.

 

                     We cannot start (independent clause) until he comes (dependent clause).

 

Interjections (Int)

 

      An interjection has no grammatical relation to the other words in the sentence and is therefore considered an independent element.

 

         Help!  Fire!  Help!   (Strong emotion; followed by exclamation point)

                        Well, I tried to help her.  (Mild emotion; followed by comma)