Grammar Review!

1. Grammar Review! Parts of Speech

2. What are Parts of Speech? • A part of speech is a category to which a word is assigned in accordance with its syntactic functions (www.dictionary.com). • There are eight(8) parts of speech in the English language: nouns; pronouns; adjectives; verbs; adverbs; prepositions; conjunctions; and interjections.

3. Nouns: words which describe a person, place, or a thing. Proper Nouns vs. Common Nouns Concrete Nouns vs. Abstract Nouns • A proper noun names a specific person, place or thing, and therefore will begin with a capital letter. • Ex. Mexico, Ms. Edwards, Atlantic Ocean • A common noun does not name a specific person, place, or thing. • Ex. Girl, country, piano • A concrete noun names a person, place, or thing one can experience with one or more of his or her five senses. • Ex. Table, bed • An abstract noun names something with which one cannot physically interact. • Ex. Liberty, freedom, hate, love

4. Pronouns: words which can replace nouns in a sentence. Personal, Possessive, and Reflexive/Intensive Pronouns. Interrogative, Demonstrative, Relative, and Indefinite Pronouns • Personal pronouns always refer to a specific person, place, or thing, and change its form according to person, number, gender, and case. • Ex. I, you, he, she, they, us. • Possessive pronouns identify who owns a particular object or person. • Ex. Mine, yours, his, hers, theirs, ours • Reflexive/Intensive pronouns refer back to the subject of the sentence or clause or may be used to emphasize the antecedent. • Ex. Myself, yourself, himself, themselves. • Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions. • Ex. Who, which, whom, what • Demonstrative pronouns identify nouns or pronouns. • Ex. This, these, those • Relative pronouns link one phrase or clause to another phrase or clause. • Ex. Who, whoever, whomever, which, whichever • Indefinite pronouns refer to an identifiable but unspecified person, place, or thing, • Ex. Many, all, some

5. Adjectives: words that describe a noun. • Adjectives usually come before the nouns they describe. • Ex. The lovely woman, the old man. • Multiple adjectives are separated by a comma. • Ex. She was tall, beautiful, and very intelligent. • Most adjectives do not change form when the nouns change from singular to plural or vice versa. • Ex. Ugly shirt Ugly shirts • Possessive adjectives show possession or ownership. • Ex. My dog, his cat, their books

6. Verbs: words which show action or a state of being in a sentence. Tense Transitive vs. Intransitive verbs • Verbs have an important relationship to time; their tenses change according to past, present, or future. • Ex. Taught, teach, will teach • A verb must agree with its subject. • Ex. He teaches vs. He teach • Transitive verbs have a subject and a direct object. • Ex. He throws the ball, she read the book • Intransitive verbs only have a subject. • Ex. I run, he sits

7. Adverbs: words which describes verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs in terms of time, frequency, or manner. • Adverbs often end in –ly • Sentence examples: • Do it now. • I wanted to eat quickly and get out of there. • We sometimes get confused. • She never reads. • They usually eat breakfast before school.

8. Prepositions: words which show relationships between other words. • These relationships include direction, place, time, cause, manner, and amount. • Ex. She went to school (direction), I came by taxicab (manner), The cat sits under the table (place). • Prepositions always go with a noun or a pronoun and almost always go before the noun or pronoun. • Here’s a way to remember prepositions (most of the time). If the word fits into the blank space in the following sentence, it is a preposition: The squirrel ran _____________ the tree.

9. Conjunctions: words which connect other groups of words. • And is used to join or add words together in a sentence. • Ex. Beverly and Will are best friends. • But is used to show opposing or conflicting ideas in a sentence. • Ex. Beth is smart but unaware of what occurred. • Or is used to show choices or possibilities in a sentence. • Ex. I wanted apples or oranges with my oatmeal. • So is used to show result in a sentence. • Ex. Caroline was tired so she went to sleep.

10. Interjections: words or phrases used to indicate surprise, to protest, or to command. • Interjections may indicate isolated emotion of the speaker. • Filler words such as um, er, and uh are also interjections. • Interjections are sometimes followed by exclamation points, but not always. • Oh, I didn’t want cream in my coffee. • Wow! I wasn’t expecting to win the race! • No, you shouldn’t have done that.