The 8 Principal Parts of Speech

NounA noun names a person, place, thing, quality, or condition.

Nouns have number: singular and plural and gender: masculine, feminine or neuter.

Types of Nouns Proper nouns name a specific person, place, thing,

quality, or condition. They are always capitalized.

Common nouns name ordinary persons, places, things, qualities, or conditions.

*Frequent noun suffixes: -ion, -er/-or, -on, -ity, -ing (without a preceding helping verb).

Pronoun

A pronoun replaces a noun or other pronoun. All pronouns have number and gender.

ALL pronouns need clearly stated antecedents.

Antecedent: a noun to which the pronoun refers or a noun the pronoun replaces.

Types of Pronouns(Examples and explanations follow.)

• Personal: replace people; reflect CASE (usage) and PERSON (who is speaking)• Reflexive: refer to –self/-selves• Demonstrative: replace by pointing out nouns/pronouns• Interrogative: ask questions• Indefinite: replace non-specific nouns/pronouns• Relative: connects a noun or adjective clause to the independent clause

Personal and Reflexive PronounsNominativeUsed as subject or predicate nominative

ObjectiveUsed as direct or indirect object or object of a preposition

PossessiveUsed to show ownership;

may also be possessive adjectives

ReflexiveUsed to refer to self

1st I me my, mine myself

2nd you you your, yours

yourself

3rd he, she, it

him, her, it

his,

her, hers,

its

himself,

herself,

itself

1st we us our, ours ourselves

2nd you you your, yours

yourselves

3rd they them their, theirs

themselves

Types of Pronouns

• Demonstrative

• Interrogative: when response is a noun/pronoun– Who? replaces people; nominative case– Whose? replaces people; possessive case– Whom? replaces people; objective case– Which? replaces objects/places; nominative, objective,

possessive case– What? replaces objects/places; nominative or objective case

singular plural

near this these

far that those

Types of Pronouns

• Indefinite– Always singular: each, either, neither, one

no- every- -one

some- any- -body– Always plural: both, few, several, many– Either depending on antecedent: some, all,

any, none, most

Types of Pronouns

• Relative– who refers to people; nominative case– whom refers to people; objective case– whose refers to people; possessive case– which refers to things/places; all cases– that refers to all; all cases

Adjective

An adjective describes a noun or pronoun.It will answer the following questions:

- What kind of noun/pronoun?- Which noun/pronoun?

- How many noun/pronoun?

*Frequent adjective suffixes: -ive, -ous, -ate, -al, -ful

Types of Adjectives (Examples and explanations follow.)

• Article: state a noun/pronoun will follow

• Demonstrative: show nouns/pronouns

• Interrogative: ask questions about

nouns/pronouns

• Indefinite: describe non-specific

nouns/pronouns

Types of Adjectives

• Articles (the, a/an)– Definite: speaker and audience share specific

noun/pronoun – Indefinite: speaker and audience relate

unknown noun/pronoun

• Demonstrative (used before a noun/pronoun)

singular plural

near this these

far that those

Types of Adjectives• Interrogative (used before a noun/pronoun)

– What? – Which?

• Indefinite (used before a noun/pronoun)– Each - Most– Either - No– Neither - All– Some - One– Any

VerbA verb is a word that shows action, state of

being, links a word in the subject to a word in the predicate, or helps another verb show tense.

A verb phrase is one or more helping verbs and a main verb that show action, state of being, or link a word in the subject to a word in the predicate. The group of words functions as one verb.

Types of Verbs (Examples and explanations follow.)

• Action: Can you or could you do it?

• Linking: functions like an =

• Helping: helps other verbs show tense

Tense is the time the verb shows.

Frequent verb suffixes: -ed, -ing

Types of Verbs

• Action Verbs– Transitive: must be used with a direct object

• Direct Object: Find these three criteria:» Noun or pronoun» After Action Verb» Answers: (Action Verb) whom?

(Action Verb) what?

– Intransitive: never a direct object after it

Types of Verbs

• Linking Verbsseem stay is

smell grow are

taste remain was

look appear were

feel become be

sound being been

Types of Verbs• Helping Verbs (always followed by another verb in a

verb phrase)

am can shall

is may will

are must have

was might has

were could had

be would do

being should did

been does

AdverbAn adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an

adjective, or another adverb.

It will answer the following: (verb/adjective/adverb) how? “ when? “ where? “ why? “ to what extent? how long/much? “ under what conditions?

Frequent adverb suffixes: -ly (Not all -ly words are adverbs.)

Always adverbs: not, never, always, very, soon, too,

also

Prepositions

A preposition is a word that relates a noun or pronoun after it to another word in the sentence.

The noun or pronoun after the preposition is called the Object of the Preposition. A preposition may not exist in a sentence without an object.

Think of it as anywhere a cat can be or go in relationship to a house. (p. 352)

Conjunction

A conjunction connects words or groups of words.

Types of Conjunctions (Examples and explanations follow.)

- Coordinate/coordinating - Correlative - Subordinate

Types of Conjunctions

Coordinate/Coordinating: joins equal words or

groups of words

- and: joins equals- but: excludes equals- or: allows choice- nor: negative choice- for: similar to because- yet: similar to but

Types of Conjunction

Correlative Conjunctions: joins equal words

or groups of words;

found in pairs

-either … or

-neither … nor

-both … and

-not only …but also

Types of Conjunctions

Subordinate: joins unequal parts of sentences; usually an adverb clause to an independent clause

Examples: because, so, when, if, where,

while (p. 419)

InterjectionAn interjection shows emotion or strong feeling

but has no other grammatical tie to the sentence.

Types of InterjectionsMild interjections are punctuated with a comma

and are not separated from the rest of the sentence

Strong interjections are punctuated with an exclamation point and are separated from the rest of the sentence.