Parts of Speech

1
Parts of Speech

• What are they? What do they mean?
• We need to know what these terms mean so that we
  can discuss ways to improve our writing.

2
Nouns

• Nouns name people, places, things, or ideas.
• How many can you name in this painting?

3
Concrete and Abstract Nouns

• Concrete nouns are things you can hear, smell,
  taste, smell, or touch monster
• Abstract nouns name feelings or characteristics
  love

4
Proper and Common Nouns

• Proper nouns name particular people, places,
  things, or ideas Ernest Hemingway
• Common nouns are general, not particular, and are
  not capitalized writer

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Collective and Compound

• Collective Nouns name a group family
• Compound nouns consist of two or more words high
  school

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Pronouns take the place of nouns or other
pronouns.

• Personal I, you, me, he, we, him, us, she, it,
  they, them
• Possessive my, mine, your, yours, our, ours,
  her, hers, his, their, theirs, its
• Its it is
• My mother likes her dogs little costume. She is
  proud of her creativity.

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More Pronouns

• Indefinite everyone, everybody, everything,
  anybody, anyone, anything, someone, somebody,
  something, nobody, no one, neither, one, some,
  all, few, many, several, each, most, none
• Interrogative who, what, which, whom
• Demonstrative this, that, these, those
• That is a very cute insect.

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More Pronouns

• Interrogative pronouns BEGIN a question Who,
  whose, which, what
• Reflexive and intensive pronouns end with self
  or selves.
• Mary herself told me about the latest styles.

9
Verbs

• Many verbs express actions, either ones you can
  see or ones you cant.
• When the monster roared, I worried he would bite
  me.

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Some verbs link ideas in the sentence and some
verbs help other verbs.

• Linking verbs am, are, is, was, were, being, can
  be,, have been, will be, should be, would have
  been, appear, feel, seem, sound, become, grow,
  remain, smell, taste
• Helping verbs forms of be and have and do, can,
  could, many, might, must, shall, should, will,
  would
• This aardvark looks sleepy. He should take a nap.

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Adjectives

• Adjectives give more information about the nouns
  and pronouns they modify what kind, how many,
  how much, which one
• Articles a, an, the
• Proper Irish setter
• The fuzzy, gray kitten crossed his white paws on
  the white chair.

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Why should you avoid vague adjectives?

• In a wonderful essay, Nora Ephron describes a
  lady who hopes to become the winner of a national
  baking competition
• Edna Buckley, who was fresh from representing New
  York State at the National Chicken Cooking
  contest, where her recipe for fried chicken in a
  batter of beer, cheese, and crushed pretzels had
  gone down to defeat, brought with her a lucky
  handkerchief, a lucky horseshoe, a lucky dime for
  her shoe, a potholder with the Pillsbury Poppin
  Fresh Doughboy on it, an Our Blessed Lady pin,
  and all of her jewelry, including a silver charm
  also in the shape of the doughboy. (from Crazy
  Salad)

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Vague Adjectives (cont.)

• I love what is not in this sentence vague
  character adjectives, words like superstitious or
  quirky or obsessive. Ephrons litany of details
  opens Edna Buckley up for inspection. Cloudy
  adjectives would close her down.
• Too often, writers turn abstractions into
  adjectives to define character. One writer tells
  us the shopkeeper was enthusiastic, or that the
  lawyer was passionate in his closing argument, or
  that the schoolgirls were popular. Some
  adjectives ashen, blond, and winged help us
  see. But adjectives such as enthusiastic are
  abstract nouns in disguise.
• from Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark

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Adverbs

• Adverbs tell more about verbs, adjectives, or
  other adverbs.
• Intensifiers are adverbs that answer the
  question to what extent, such as very and really
• I was really, really angry.

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Prepositions

• Prepositions connect a position word to a noun
  (or pronoun) and modifiers. These include words
  like against, by, into, of, since, up, with,
  above, before, during, like, off, outside, under,
  through, across, below, inside, on, over, to
• I had fun playing cards with the fish at the
  table under the light.

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Conjunctions joins words.

• Coordinating for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so
  (f.a.n.b.o.y.s.)
• Correlative either/or, both/and, neither/nor,
  not only/but also, whether/or
• Neither my mother nor I enjoy movies about
  superheroes.

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Interjections express emotion.

• These are always set off from the rest of a
  sentence with a comma or an exclamation point.
• Well, I guess I think clowns are funny. Wow!
  This one is scary!

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Heres a fun sentence!

• . . . a sentence with all parts of speech. Can
  you identify each?
• Well, she and young John walk to school slowly.

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Try this quiz!

• http//www.englishclub.com/grammar/parts-of-speech
  _quiz.htm