LEARN THE PARTSOFSPEECH

The parts of speech are a way to classify words. They are nouns, pronouns, verbs, articles, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions.

A noun names a person, place, or thing. There are two types of nouns: common and proper. Proper nouns name specific persons, places, or things. Proper nouns are capitalized.

Common	Proper
continent	Africa
country	Zimbabwe
religion	Islam
desert	Kalahari
island	Madagascar
ocean	Indian Ocean

Concrete vs. AbstractNouns

Concrete nouns name things we can see, hear, smell, feel, and taste. Abstract nouns name ideas, emotions, and subjects.

Gerunds: NounsThatShowActivity

Gerunds are nouns that end in -ing and that show activities, such as asking, diving, living, moving, reading, seeking, and writing.

Nouns act as subjects and objects. A subject is the person, place, or thing that does an action or that the sentence is describing. An object is a person, place, or thing that receives an action.

Pronouns replace nouns. A pronoun stands for a person, place, or thing. There are five types of pronouns: personal, relative, demonstrative, indefinite, and reflexive.

Personal pronouns can act as subjects or objects. They can also show possession.

Relative pronouns introduce dependent (subordinate) clauses—clauses that cannot stand alone in a sentence.

Madagascar is a large island that offers a varied topography.

Madagascar lies in the Indian Ocean, which is the world’s third-largest body of water.

Demonstrative pronouns point out nouns that follow them.

"This country has been made better because of your example," said the speaker.

Everyonein my tour group class wanted to visit the ancient Mayan city.
Noone knew much about the Yucatan people who built it.

She blessed herself as she entered the church.
The police advised him to control himself, or he would be arrested.

A verb shows what a subject does (action), or it helps describe a subject.

Showsaction:	Pediatricianstreatchildren.
Helpsdescribe:	Theyaremedicalspecialists.

Articles are short words that point to a noun. The points to specific persons, places, and things. A and an do not point to something specific.

The elephant charged the party of tourists. (A specific elephant charged.)
An elephant is unpredictable (Any elephant is unpredictable.)

An adjective describes (modifies) a noun or pronoun by answering questions such as "Which?" "What kind of?" or "How many?" It can come before a noun or pronoun or after a linking verb.

An adverb tells something about (modifies) a verb, an adjective, or another adverb by answering questions such as "Where?" "When?" "How?" "How much?" "How often?" and "To what extent?"

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) energetically supported a revival in Irish literature.

[Energetically modifies the verb supported.]

An extremely talented poet and dramatist, Yeats is still associated with Dublin’s Abbey Theater.

[Extremely modifies the adjective talented.]

His poems, plays, and Celtic tales are still very widely read.

[Very modifies the adverb widely.]

A preposition comes before a noun or pronoun and shows how that word relates to other words in the sentence.

Lincoln spoke of a government "of the people."

In the First World War, Turkey fought against Britain and the Allies.

Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet) join words or ideas of the same importance.

Subordinating conjunctions (such as although, because, rather than, since, though, unless, while, and whenever) join ideas by showing that one is less important than the other. Such conjunctions introduce subordinate (dependent) clauses.

Virginia is one of the original thirteen states, but West Virginia became a state in 1863.
Although Texas declared its independence from Mexico in 1836, that state did not enter the Union until 1845.

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A phraseis a group of words without a subject.
A clause is a group of words with both a subject and a verb. There are two types of clauses:

Independent (main) clauses.
Dependent (subordinate) clauses.

To be complete, a sentence must contain at least one independent clause. An independent clause states a complete idea. Also known as a main clause, an independent clause expresses the sentence’s main idea even when joined with phrases or subordinate clauses.

A dependent clause has a subject and verb but does not express a complete thought. A dependent clause must be joined to an independent clause. Otherwise, the lone clause will be a sentence fragment—an error. Also known as a subordinate clause, a dependent clause expresses an idea less important than (subordinate to) an idea expressed in a main clause.

Below, the words in bold are dependent clauses. They are attached to independent (main) clauses in complete sentences:

After a long and successful career, the president resigned.
My mother, who is now 58, was born in Nigeria.
Lenin’s revolution was successful because living conditions in early 20th- century Russia were deplorable.

Phrases are groups of words without subjects. Like dependent clauses, phrases express incomplete thoughts and cannot act as sentences. Phrases must be attached to independent (main) clauses to avoid being fragments.

According to the Old Testament, Abel was the second son of Adam and Eve.
Cain, Abel’s older brother, murdered him out of jealousy.

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