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Parts of Speech

Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb, Conjunction, Article, Preposition, Interjection

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Opening Tip

The best way to identify a word’s part of speech is to consider what the word means. Next, look at the word in its context and decide what that word means in conjunction with other words.

I want you to know these terms only insofar as I will be referring to them when I speak about writing; this is not a linguistics course.

I am hoping this will all be review for you….

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Noun

Person, place, thing or ideaE.g.: sailor, Edmonton, chair, loveNoun test: Nouns can be made into

plural and possessive formsIn sentences, nouns represent

“things” that “do” (“doing” is represented by verbs)

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Noun Types

Common noun: the basic category of nouns: general things or groups of things. E.g., dog, fruit, height, thought

Proper noun: A name (must be capitalized). E.g., Edmonton, Dave Chapelle, Asia

Collective noun: Noun that represents a group of things but is still considered “singular.” E.g., group, team, herd

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Noun Types (cont.)

Count noun: Noun that represents things that can be counted and therefore has a plural form. E.g., one pen, three pens

Non-count noun: Noun that represents things that cannot be counted and therefore do not have plural forms. E.g., flour, traffic, hopelessness, meat

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Noun CasesIn English, nouns have three forms

(cases): singular, plural and possessive

Singular is the regular form. E.g., dog, dish, sheep, ox

Plural (more than one): add -s or -es to the end. E.g., dog dogs; dish dishes

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Noun cases (cont.)

Some nouns have irregular plurals. E.g., plural of sheep = sheep; plural of ox = oxen

Non-count nouns tend not to have plurals (they are always singular). E.g. hope hopes (WRONG)

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Noun cases (cont.)

Possessive (ownership): Both singular and plural nouns can have possessive cases.

Form the possessive of a singular noun by adding -’s to the end. E.g., dog dog’s

Form the possessive of a plural noun by adding -’. E.g., dogs dogs’

Note: The apostrophe is not optional.

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Pronoun

A substitute for a noun.Sometimes the substitute is implied.

Other times, the substitute is explicit.

The noun that the pronoun substitutes is called that pronoun’s antecedent. An antecedent is usually explicit but can be implicit.

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Pronoun (cont.)

E.g., I am going for lunch with Jane. She is my former supervisor.

I does not have an explicit antecedent. The person who is speaking calls himself or herself I (whom the reader may or may not know).

She is a pronoun that replaces Jane. Jane is the (explicit) antecedent for she.

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Pronoun typesThere are an alarming number of pronoun

types. Start with these for now.1. Personal pronoun: substitute for a

specific person or thing. English has four cases of pronouns: subjective (I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they), objective (me, you, him, her, it, us, them, you), possessive (my, your, his, her, our, their), and reflexive (myself, yourself, herself, etc.)

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Pronoun types (cont.)

E.g., He saw me. I saw him. They saw her. She saw them. It saw you. You saw it. (all subjective or objective pronouns)

E.g., Her dog ate his homework. Their dog ate your homework.

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Pronoun types (cont.)

Relative pronouns introduce adjective clauses. They refer to the noun (or even pronoun) that the clause modifies (we will talk about adjectives and clauses soon….)

The relative pronouns are who, whom, which, that, whose.

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Pronoun types (cont.)E.g., The dog that ate my homework lives

next door. My neighbour, who is a close friend, apologized.

The antecedent of that is the dog. The antecedent of who is my neighbour.

The relative pronouns save you from having to write this:

The dog ate my homework. The dog lives next door. My neighbour apologized. My neighbour is a close friend.

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Verb

A word that denotes action (or a state of being.)

E.g., I went for lunch with Jane. She is my former supervisor.

Verbs also help indicate time. The different verb tenses communicate when actions occur. E.g. swim, swam, swum.

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Verb (continued)

A verb has several conjugated forms.

E.g., be =am, is, are, was, were, been, being = conjugated

In many verb tenses, the conjugated form has two or more words. In those tenses, all the words must be present to be complete (and correct).

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Verbs (cont.)

E.g., I am going for lunch with Jane. I have seen my friend’s car.

WRONG E.g., I am for lunch with Jane. I seen my friend’s car.

WRONG E.g. I going for lunch with Jane.

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Adjective

Modifier of a noun or pronounAdjectives specify the characteristics

of a noun or pronoun.E.g., black dog, gentle giant,

concentrated formula, homeopathic cure

E.g., She is my former supervisor.

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AdverbModifies or specifies the nature of a verb,

adjective, adverb or clause.Adverbs give information about the time,

place, reason and manner of an action.Adverbs are the “adjectives” for verbs.

But they also modify adjectives, other verbs, or even clauses.

Tip: Many adverbs end with “ly”

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Adverb

E.g., The dog quickly ate my homework.E.g., The very rude dog ate my

homework.E.g., The dog ate my homework quickly.Adverb test: adverbs that modify verbs,

phrases or clauses can occur in several places in a sentence.

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Adverb typesOf particular interest are the conjunctive

adverbs: they function like coordinating conjunctions (see upcoming), but they are not really conjunctions because they can move around in a sentence.

E.g., The man likes dogs; however, he also like cats.E.g., The man likes dogs; he also likes cats, however.E.g., The man likes dogs; he also, however, likes cats.

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Adverb types (cont.)Conjunctive adverbs are not punctuated

like coordinate conjunctions.E.g., Moby is an interesting musician, but

he is not as interesting as Miles Davis. WRONG E.g., The man likes dogs,

however he also like cats.CORRECTED: The man likes dogs;

however, he also likes cats.

Adverb types (cont.)

Some conjunctive adverbs:

accordingly, also, besides, consequently, finally, furthermore, hence, however, moreover, nevertheless, now, still, subsequently, then, therefore, thus

Distinguishing conjunctive adverbs from conjunctions will help you avoid run-on sentences and improper punctuation. 23

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Conjunction

A word that joins words or word groupsThe conjunction’s meaning specifies what

relationship exists between the words or word groups it joins.

FYI: Improper conjunction use leads to many writing problems.

There are three types of conjunctions: coordinating, subordinating and correlative.

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Conjunction types

A coordinating conjunction indicates that connected words or ideas are equal in importance.

There are only seven of them: FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).

E.g., Moby is an interesting musician, but he is not as interesting as Miles Davis.

E.g., I like coffee and tea.

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Conjunction types (cont.)

A subordinating conjunction indicates that one group of words (or an idea) depends on another group of words (or an idea) for a sentence to make sense.

Some common subordinating conjunctions: after, although, as, as if, because, before, even though, if, in order that, once, since, so that, than, that, though, unless, until, when, where, whether, while

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Conjunction types (cont.)

Subordinating conjunctions connect subordinate (dependent) clauses to main (independent) clauses (more on these later….)

E.g., If you look in your mailbox, you may find some mail.

We decided to walk because we missed the bus.

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Conjunction types (cont.)

Correlative conjunctions present pairs (showing choice or absence of choice).

Two words always make up correlative conjunctions (so as to highlight the options): both-and, either-or, neither-nor, not only-but also. (You need both words).

E.g., Either I will meet you at home, or I will meet you at the theatre.

E.g., Both Phil and Morris will meet us.

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Article

An article precedes a noun and indicates the specificity of the noun.

The = definitive (indicate the noun is a specific or recognizable individual)

A/an =indefinite (indicates the noun is meant to refer to a general group or to something not before encountered).

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Article (cont.)

E.g., The dog is eating my homework. (The speaker means a specific dog--knows the dog).

E.g., A dog is eating my homework. (The speaker does not know the dog.)

E.g. An annoying dog is eating my homework. (Use “an” before vowels or unvoiced “h”).

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Article (cont.)

Plural nouns that in their singular form would take the indefinite article take no article at all.

E.g., The dogs are eating my homework. (A group of known dogs, perhaps belonging to a neighbour)

E.g., Dogs are eating my homework. (A pack of unknown dogs have converged upon the homework.)

FYI: Some words have irregular usage in this regard.

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Preposition

a word that connects nouns or pronouns to other words

Don’t confuse prepositions with conjunctions (though they have similar “connecting” functions): prepositions deal with nouns and pronouns

Some prepositions: about, above, at, by, during, for, in, into, of, off, on, to, toward, with, within

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Preposition (cont.)E.g., A prepositional phrase ends with a

noun or pronoun.E.g., In one gulp, the dog ate my

homework.Unfortunately, some prepositions double

as subordinating conjunctions….E.g., I never wake up before 7 o’clock.E.g., Before you go to bed, feed the dog.

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Interjection

a word or group of words that expresses emotion

E.g., alas, oh, gosh, ouch.Punctuate them like sentences or

initial adverbs.E.g., Gosh! I didn’t know that E.g., Oh, I didn’t know that.PS: Formal writing rarely uses these.

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Conclusion

To write well, you must have a good grasp of these terms..