Parts of Speech

1. Parts of Speech

3. NOUN = person, place, idea, or thing • Common – general name Ex: car • Proper – name of a particular person, place, or thing Ex: Honda • Concrete – a thing that can be experienced thru one of the 5 senses Ex: ice cream • Abstract – idea, feeling, or quality Ex: happiness • Collective – names a group Ex: class • Singular – names one person, place, thing, or idea Ex: man child • Plural- names more than one person, place, thing, or idea Ex: men children • Possessive – shows ownership Ex: father’s • Compound – two or more words working together to make a single noun Ex: baseball

5. Why Nouns matter… • Without using the right noun and the right kind of noun, writing can be too vague and/or not make sense to the reader. • Every complete sentence must have a subject. • Only nouns and pronouns can play the part of a subject in a sentence.

6. PRACTICE:Copy each sentence, underlining any nouns in the sentence and labeling the type(s) of noun(s) for each. • The project to land astronauts on the moon was named Apollo. • I was born on February 9, 1943. • I noticed that my sister’s purse had been left in the car. • I worked on my math project for three days! • My mom spends Sunday mornings clipping coupons from the newspaper. • The players took the field and waited for the referee to blow his whistle. • The students questioned the professor’s excitement about the new set of pencils. • The mice waited for the lab assistant to place the Swiss cheese in their cage.

8. Pronoun = takes the place of a noun • Possessive – shows ownership • Ex: me, mine, ours, yours, theirs • Reflexive – refers back to the subject • Ex: The girl dedicated herself to being the best. • Interrogative – introduces a question • Ex: who, whom, whose, what, which • Demonstrative – points out a person, place, or thing • Ex: this, that, these, those • Indefinite – does not refer to a specific person, place, or thing • Ex: few, both, all, some, either, everybody, nobody, something, etc. • Relative - Relative pronouns are that, who, whom, whose, which, where, when, and why. They are used to join clauses to make a complex sentence.

9. Every pronoun has an antecedent. • My mother washed her car and then it rained. “her” refers back to “mother” Mother is the antecedent to her.

10. Pronouns must agree with their antecedents • In gender • In number • In “person” (first person, second person, third person) • Mike wanted _____ paycheck to be deposited. • Teachers like _____ students to read. • The visitors realized that _____ were hungry.

11. Why Pronouns Matter • Readers get frustrated and may give up if writing is too confusing. To get ideas across, the writer must be clear about who is doing what.

12. Practice:How many pronoun errors are in this paragraph? How should these be corrected? What if my brother and me were abandoned by my entire community on our island home? How would us castoffs survive? What would we do with ourself? In Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O’Dell, the heroine was left behind with her brother, who was soon killed by wild dogs. It was her who remained on the island for eighteen years. She tamed one of the island dogs herself and named in Rontu; it’s friendship was invaluable to her. Few of the people I know would take such good care of himself or herself if left alone on an island. Even these who know the wilderness might not have the mental strength to last alone for such a long time. O’Dell’s heroine showed great skill, courage, and patience. Whom else would be so strong?

14. VERBS ARE CRITICAL IN A SENTENCE! • Every sentence has to have a verb! • You can get away with writing a sentence that contains no nouns: • Don’t do that. It’s dangerous and if you do it enough, it’ll kill you! • He likes her, but I like him more than she does. • Listen closely to what I say and you’ll learn to write right. • If I try to write a sentence without a verb, it’s a fragment, not a sentence. • Yum. Good food. More cookies anywhere?

15. Verbs show action or state of being • Action = run, swim, jump, taste, fall, dream, etc. • State of being (linking verbs) = be, appear, seem, feel, etc. • Be Verbs: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been • Examples of state of being verbs: feel, taste, look, smell, appear, grow, remain, turn, seem, sound, become

16. Action vs. linking • The monkey looked hungry. • The monkey looked for food. • The soup tasted good. • I tasted the soup. • He grew tired of walking. • He grew into a tall man.

17. Verb Tense: (When did it happen?) • Present : I run very fast. • Past : I ran very fast. • Future : I will run very fast.

18. Be careful to stay in the same tense throughout your sentence. • Weak – I got home late and Mom fusses at me for not calling to let her know where I will be. I got home = past Mom fusses = present Where I will be = future • Better – I got home late and Mom fussed at me for not calling to let her know where I had been. Everything is in the past tense.

19. Regular vs. Irregular Verbs Regular Verbs follow a pattern when moving from one tense to another: Irregular verbs sometime will seem to follow a pattern, but there is no steadfast rule:

20. Some of the most troubling irregular verbs:

21. Caution – Major Mistake Territory! Confusing lie and lay is probably the #1 mistake in the English language. Lie is a “still” verb. TENSES: Lie, lay, lain, lying Today I lie in bed. Yesterday I lay in bed. I have lain in bed many times. Yesterday I was lying in bed all day. Lying in bed all day is boring. • People lie on beds. • Dogs lie on people. • Fleas lie on dogs. The people, the dogs, and the fleas are in a state of stillness.

22. Caution – Major Mistake Territory! Confusing lie and lay is probably the #1 mistake in the English language. Lay shows that the noun is placing something and thus being active TENSES: lay, laid, laid, laying Today I lay the book on the counter. Yesterday I laid the book on the counter. Many times I have laid the book on the counter. Yesterday I was laying the book on the counter. Laying books on the kitchen counter is against the rules in my house. • A person picks up a hen and lays it on the hay. • A hen lays eggs. • I picked up the eggs and laid them in my basket.

23. Can you find the mistakes? • When I was a kid, I swang every day on an old tire my dad hanged in a tree for me. • I wish I’d waken up earlier. • Adam breaks the dish when he tossed it to Omar who is standing at the sink. • If I was you, I’d buy that gorgeous dress. • I’ve laid awake all night worrying about my math test. • I’m sure I lay my assignment on the teacher’s desk yesterday.

24. Can you find the mistakes? • When I was a kid, I swung every day on an old tire my dad hung in a tree for me. Watch out for irregular verbs! • I wish I’d (waked or woken) up earlier. Waken isn’t a word! • Adam broke the dish when he tossed it to Omar who stood at the sink. Keep all tenses the same in the sentence! • If I were you, I’d buy that gorgeous dress. Listen to the way the sentence sounds – your ear will tell you the correct way most of the time. • I’ve lain awake all night worrying about my math test. Unless you were producing eggs while you were worrying, you didn’t “laid” anything.  Remember – you are still in this sentence. • I’m sure I laid my assignment on the teacher’s desk yesterday. Placing something somewhere is active. You aren’t being still here.

25. Strong Verb Vs. Weak Verb My sister pinched a hunk of my arm when I wouldn’t let her sit by the window. My uncle zig-zagged across the yard. I relaxed in the chair, dozing from time to time. My sister hurt me because I wouldn’t let her sit by the window. My uncle walked across the yard. I sat in the chair.

26. Which verbs energize the sentences? • Melanie weaseled her way into my heart, and later I cursed myself for letting her in. • Melanie weaseled her way into my heart, and later I cursed myself for letting her in. • As he kneaded the bread, he wished it were Harry’s face there on the counter, in a convenient, doughy lump. • As he kneaded the bread, he wished it were Harry’s face there on the counter, in a convenient, doughy lump. • She pounded the desk with a frozen fish and demanded complete silence in the room. • She pounded the desk with a frozen fish and demanded complete silence in the room. • Doug snapped the head off a match with his thumbnail. • Doug snapped the head off a match with his thumbnail. • Lenny snickered as Angela tiptoed into the room. • Lenny snickered as Angela tiptoed into the room.

27. Practice:Rewrite the sentence using a more vivid verb to energize the sentence. 1.) Harold opened is mouth wide and bit off 12 square inches of pizza. 2.) The beauty queen walked up to the judges and placed her crown on the table. 3.) Paula removed her mittens and threw them into the fire. 4.) The pigeon sat on the dead branch. 5.) Walter walked into the den and fell flat on his face.

28. Match up each of the weak verbs on the left with a stronger option on the right. • Pointed • Walked • Wrote • Poured • Yelled • Rubbed • Teased • Looked • Picked • Scribbled • Howled • Scoured • Aimed • Bullied • Oozed • Peered • Harvested • Sauntered

29. As the can turns… • You are a can of soda. You have been popped, drained, smashed, bashed, and trashed. Tell your story to your psychologist. You are on the couch. Life has been hard. Use vivid, interesting verbs to tell the tale of your miserable aluminum life.

31. Adjective = a word that modifies, or describes, a noun or pronounAdjectives answer questions about nouns or pronouns:

32. Types of Adjectives • Proper – formed from a proper noun and always capitalized. Ex: English Tea, Colombian Coffee, Italian Espresso • Predicate – describes the subject of the sentence (only appears after a linking verb) Ex: The students are very intelligent. • Articles – the most common adjectives • A, an, the

33. Why Adjectives Matter… • Adjectives can be used to supply important details that make the writing more specific and clear. Adjectives can allow a writer to convey a lot of descriptive information in a single word. A large dinner party is being given in an up-country station by a colonial official and his wife. The guests are army officers and government leaders and their wives, and an American naturalist. -”The Dinner Party” by Mona Gardner

34. Practice:Rewrite the following passage adding adjectives to make it more detailed and descriptive. I just learned that fingerprints are not the only markings that distinguish us. Did you know that the patterns on our skin are also unique? So don’t take off your shoes the next time you rob the bank! Remember, the police have methods to catch you!

36. What is an adverb? • It is a word that describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb and tells these things: • Where: there, here, outside, inside, away • When: now, then, later, immediately, yesterday • How: quickly, slowly, stupidly, gracefully, effortlessly • How often or how long: frequently, never, twice, sometimes • How much: hardly, extremely, minimally, greatly, too, more

37. You can make most adverbs by adding an –ly to an adjective

38. Adverb mistakes can make your writing sloppy.  • What wrong with these sentences? • Meg looks real good in her new dress. • Simon turned the corner too quick and crashed. • We played awesome in our game. • I want to go to the game so bad I could scream.

39. So what’s the big deal?

40. What’s the difference between an adjective and an adverb? Adjective • Sad • Kind • Quick • Tender • Artistic • Noisy Adverb • Sadly • Kindly • Quickly • Tenderly • Artistically • Noisily

41. Examples: • This sentence is written awful bad. (you are telling “how” it’s written – you need an adverb!) • This sentence is written awful badly. (You need another verb to tell “how” badly it’s written.) • This sentence is not written awfully badly – it’s perfect! (And it’s grammatically correct! )

42. Which ones work? • We performed awesome! • Our performance was awesome! • We performed really awesome. • The awesome performance was great! • We performed awesomely!

43. Some words can be either an adjective or an adverb depending on how they’re used.

44. The best rule to remember: • Use adverbs with action verbs. • Use adjectives with linking verbs. Ex: She skates gracefully. He sings well. Tori is tired. David was thirsty.

45. Mistakes? I’ve made a few… • The dog smells badly. 2. This is a real pretty dress. 3. What a nice gesture on your part to greet them so nice when they arrived. 4. Josh’s mom hugged him real sweet and said, “Enough grammar. Let’s eat cake!”

48. Take the teasing comb and back-comb all your hair until it looks like an electrified Persian cat. To tease your hair, grab a small section and hold it up by the end. Comb downward with the teasing comb in short fast strokes until it gets tangled at the bottom. Pull the teased hair up and out to achieve maximum altitude. Liberally apply the hair spray to hold the teased hair in place. If you can still see the walls, you haven’t sprayed enough. Spray more. All these styles must be taken care of while you sleep. Some women use the beehive hairnet; others use feather pillows to sleep upon; while still others sleep upright in the La-Z-Boy. Your mileage may vary. Just be careful not to put anyone’s eye out.

49. Take the teasing comb and back-comb all your hair. To tease your hair, grab a small section and hold it. Comb downward. Pull the teased hair. Liberally apply the hair spray. If you can still see the walls, you haven’t sprayed enough. Spray more. All these styles must be taken care of while you sleep. Some women use the beehive hairnet; others use feather pillows; while others sleep upright. Your mileage may vary. Just be careful not to put anyone’s eye out.

50. What’s the difference? • The first passage is: • more descriptive • creates a visual • Longer How? The first passage makes use of prepositions!