PARTS OF SPEECH.

DEFINITION: A noun is a word that names a person, a place, a thing, or an idea.

• A concrete noun names an object that occupies space or that can be recognized by the senses. e.g. water, dinosaur, leave.

• An abstract noun names an idea, a quality, or a characteristic. e.g. surprise, wellness,  intelligence

• A singular noun names one person, place or thing. 

• A plural noun names more than one.

• A proper noun is the name of a particular person, place, thing. e.g. William Shakespeare, Argentina, May

• A common noun is the general -not the particular- name of a person, a place, a thing. e.g. writer, country, month

• A collective noun names a group. e.g. jury, committee

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DEFINITION: A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun.

IMPORTANT: The word or group of words that a pronoun refers to is called its antecedent.

• A personal pronoun refers to a specific person or thing. e.g. He wants to be awarded the Nobel prize!
• A reflexive pronoun refers to a noun or another pronoun and indicates that the same person or thing is involved. e.g He discovered the answer himself.
• A possessive adjective takes the place of the possessive form of a noun. e.g His discovery will change the history of science.
• A demonstrative pronoun points out specific persons, places, things, or ideas. e.g That is his laboratory.
• An interrogative pronoun is used to form questions. e.g Who wants to be a Nobel Prize?
• A relative pronoun is used to begin a special subject-verb word group called a subordinate clause. e.g This is the scientist who discovered the vaccine against cholera.
• An indefinite pronoun refers to people, places, or things in a general way. (all, another, any, anything,  everything, both, ...) e.g Is there anything to add?

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ACTION VERBS & LINKING VERBS

A verb is a word that expresses action ( physical or mental) or a state of being. It expresses time—present, past, and future—by using tense forms.

He worked on the painting. (physical action)

She admires Miró. (mental action)

The artist painted a new portrait. (transitive verb) 

The artist painted a quickly. (intransitive verb) 

A linking verb links, or joins, the subject of a sentence (often a noun or a pronoun) with a word or expression that identifies or describes the subject.

Linking verbs: be, appear, feel, look, seem, sound, taste, become, grow, remain, smell, and stay. Most of these verbs can also be action verbs. To determine whether a verb is an action verb or a linking verb, substitute seem for the verb.

Linking verb: The leaves turned yellow. [Seemed makes sense.]

Action verb: The thief has turned the corner. [Seemed cannot be substituted.]

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An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or a pronoun by limiting its meaning. e.g.

old woman      last time 

few dreams     that goal 

those kids       many cups

• Possessive nouns and pronouns are considered adjectives because they modify nouns. e.g.   Tim's car      his folder    

• Articles are the adjectives a, an, and the. 

• A proper adjective is formed from a proper noun and begins with a capital letter. e.g. Chinese food   American dream

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An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb by making its meaning more specific.
Antonia often calls me. (modifies verb calls)
You seem more upset than I. (modifies adjective upset)
He spoke very quickly. (modifies adverb quickly)

Adverbs tell when, where, how, and to what degree.
He’ll do the job later. (when)
Ben is studying downstairs. (where)
We were treated kindly. (how)
Ana completely forgot that. (to what degree)
We haven’t left for the play yet.
The performance had hardly begun.
The word not and the contraction n’t are considered adverbs. 

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A preposition is a word that shows the relationship of a noun or a pronoun to some other word in a sentence.

The new car is behind the station.
I saw him after the announcement.
She acted the part with difficulty. 

A compound preposition is a preposition that is made up of more than one word.
They were late because of car trouble.

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A conjunction is a word that joins single words or groups of words.

A coordinating conjunction joins words or groups of words that have equal grammatical weight.
I wanted to go, but I did not have time.

A correlative conjunctions works in pairs to join words or groups of words that have equal grammatical weight in a sentence.
Neither he nor I went.

A subordinating conjunction introduces a subordinate, or dependent, clause.
Although I wanted to go, I did not.

A conjunctive adverb is used to clarify the relationship between clauses of equal weight in a sentence.
I had little time; therefore, I did not go.

An interjection is a word or phrase that expresses emotion or exclamation. It has no grammatical connection to other words.
Alas, I couldn’t go.

stella ;-)