Parts of Speech

Adjectives Describe or limit the meaning of nouns and pronouns. They answer one of three questions: Which one? What kind? How many? The good students. The great book. Change when used as comparatives (great, greater, greatest). Usually precede the nouns they modify. Adverbs Add to or modify the meaning of verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Adverbs help answer: How? When? Where? They read their assignments eagerly Most adverbs end in ~ly. Adverbs generally follow or precede the verbs they modify. Conjunctions Connect words, phrases, and clauses within a sentence. I came to class, but I was five minutes late. Some conjunctions (however, but, moreover, etc) also show the relationship between ideas. Interjections An interjection is a word added to a sentence to convey emotion. It is not grammatically related to any other part of the sentence. You usually follow an interjection with an exclamation mark. Interjections are uncommon in formal academic prose, except in direct quotations. Watch out! Wow! Nouns Name persons, places, things, and ideas. Classes of nouns. Common nouns - refer to non-specific places, things and ideas. Proper nouns - refer to specific person, places, or things and always begin with a capital letter. Nouns are capitalized when referring to specific people , places, or things. Pronouns Pronouns take the place of a noun. He went with her to the concert. Pronouns change form according to the noun they replace. Prepositions Prepositions show the relationship between a noun or pronoun and some other word in a sentence. He came into the room and sat at the table. Prepositions usually come before a noun or pronoun to form a prepositional phrase. Verbs Verbs express action or state of being. The people cheered the speaker. Verb forms changes to reflect person and time. Verbs agree with the subject in person and number. See: http://www.johnsesl.com/templates/grammar/partsofspeech.php. http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/partsp.html