Stangherlin 1

Grammar Review: 8 Parts of Speech: Brief Version

Nouns: name persons, places, things, and ideas

• Proper: specific persons, places, things, ideas [Mr. Smith, New
York,
• Niki]
• Common: ordinary ppti [man, city, sneakers]
• Abstract: love, hate, emotions
• Concrete: names of tangible things
• Compound: mother-in-law
• Collective: gaggle of geese, pride of lions

Pronouns: replace nouns

• Subject Personal Pronouns: I, you, he, she, it; we, you, they
• Object Personal Pronouns: me, you, him, her, it; us, you, them
• Possessive Personal Pronouns: my, mine; your, yours; his; her,
hers; its//our, ours; your, yours; their, theirs
• Intensive and Reflexive Personal Pronouns: myself, yourself,
himself, herself, itself; ourselves, yourselves, themselves
• Relative Pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, what, that
[introduce dependent clauses
• Compound Relative: whoever, whomever, whosoever, whatever
• Indefinite Singular Pronouns: another, anyone, anybody,
anything, everyone, everybody, everything, nothing, each,
either, no one, neither, nobody, one, someone, somebody,
something
• Indefinite Plural Pronouns: both, few, many, several
• Indefinite Singular or Plural Pronouns: all, most, none, some
• Demonstratives: this, that; these, those
• Interrogative: who, whom, which, what

Verbs: show action or state of being

• Action can be mental think, ponder, cogitate, ruminate, love;
have]
• Action can be physical [shout, talk, cry]
• Being verbs: be, am, is, are, was, were, been, being
• Have voice, mood, tense, number, and person
o Voice
 Active: subject is the doer of the action [Sally bakes a
cake each week.]
 Passive: used a being verb as a helper [The cake was
baked by Sally.]
o Mood

15 September 2008
 Stangherlin 2

 Indicative: makes a statement; indicates [I wish for

world peace.]
• Indicative Mood has a Progressive, Emphatic,
and Poterntial form
o Progressive; verbs end in –ing [is
baking…]
o Emphatic: uses do, does, did plus a main
verb [does bake]
o Potential: uses can, could; should; may,
might [could bake]
 Imperative: gives a command [Do this now.]
 Subjunctive: indicates a wish that is contrary to fact
[I wish I were in Italy right now.
o Tense
 3 simple tenses: present, past, future [begin began,
will begin]
 3 Perfect Tenses: present perfect, past perfect, future
perfect [has begun, had begun, will have begun]
o Number: Singular or Plural
o Person: indicated by the subject
 1st person: speaker
 2nd person: spoken to
 3rd person: spoken about

Adverbs: modify:
• verbs [The class settled quickly and began to work
immediately].
o Adverbs modifying verbs answer the questions when,
where, how
• Adverbs: [The class began very quickly to open their
computers.]
o Adverbs modifying adverbs answer the questions to what
extent, to what degree
• Adjectives: [The queen was very beautiful and regal as well.]
o Very modifies beautiful and beautiful is an adjective

Adjectives: modify nouns (and pronouns, or anything that becomes a

noun substitute or equavelent]
• Descriptive adjectives: describe
• Limiting adjectives: limit the quantity

Prepositions: introduce
• prepositional phrases; is a word that relates a noun or pronoun to
another word in a sentence. [The dog sat under the tree.]

15 September 2008
 Stangherlin 3

• Common prepositions
about behind from on toward
above below in on top of under
across beneath in front of onto underneath
after beside inside out of until
against between instead of outside up
along by into over upon
among down like past with
around during near since within
at except of through without
before for off to

Conjunctions: 3 Kinds
• Coordinating Conjunctions (used to create compound sentences)
o F A N B O Y S
o for and nor but or yet so
 Remember, when using a conjunction to join two
sentences, use a comma before the conjunctions
o CONJUNCTION WHAT IS LINKED SAMPLE SENTENCES
o and noun phrase+noun phrase We have tickets for the
symphony and the opera.
o but sentence+sentence The orchestra rehearses on
Tuesday, but the chorus rehearses on Wednesday.
o or verb+verb Have you seen or heard the opera by
Scott Joplin?
o so sentence+sentence I wanted to sit in the front of
the balcony, so I ordered my tickets early.
• Correlative Conjunctions
o both...and not only...but also either...or
neither...nor whether...or
o Remember, correlative conjunctions are always used in
pairs. They join similar elements (nouns to nouns, verbs
to verbs, adjectives to adjectives…). When joining
singular and plural subjects, the subject closest to the
verb determines whether the verb is singular or plural.
o CONJUNCTIONS WHAT IS LINKED SAMPLE
SENTENCE
o both...and subject+subject Both my sister and my
brother play the piano.
o either...or noun+noun Tonight's program is
either Mozart or Beethoven.
o neither...nor subject+subject Neither the orchestra
nor the chorus was able to overcome the terrible
acoustics in the church

15 September 2008
 Stangherlin 4

o not only...but also sentence+sentence Not only

does Sue raise money for the symphony, but she also
ushers at all of their concerts.
• Subordinate Conjunctions (used to create dependent clause in
complex sentences
o after because although if
o before since though unless
o when now that even though only if
o while as whereas whether or not
o since in order that while even if
o until so in case (that)
o Subordinating conjunctions are important in writing solid
essays because they are used to create complex
sentences
o CONJUNCTION SAMPLE SENTENCE
o after We are going out to eat after we finish taking
the test.
o since Since we have lived in Atlanta, we have gone
to every exhibit at the High Musuem.
o while While I was waiting in line for the Matisse
Exhibit, I ate my lunch.
o although Although the line was long and the wait
over two hours, the exhibit was well worth it
o even if Even if you have already bought your ticket,
you will still need to wait in line.
o because I love Matisse's works because he uses
color so brilliantly.

Interjections:
• Interjections are words or phrases used to exclaim or protest or
command. They sometimes stand by themselves, but they are
often contained within larger structures. Refer to our class
discussion.

Verbals
• words that begin their life as verbs but can also function as other
parts of speech: nouns, adjectives, and adverbs.
• 3 kinds of verbals: infinitives, participles, and gerunds

• Infinitives and gerunds are verbal nouns; they look like verbs but
act like nouns
• Participles are verbal adjectives; they look like verbs but act like
adjectives.

15 September 2008
 Stangherlin 5

• Infinitive Participle Gerund

• To powder powdering powdering

• note that there is no difference in how a participle and a

gerund looks but there is a difference in how each functions

o Verbals can stand alone:

o To see is to believe. [infinitives]

o Sitting in the foyer, Carol waited for the hostess to arrive.
[participle modifying Carol[
o Seeing is believing. [gerunds]

• Verbals can create a verbal phrase:

o To power a vampire’s nose is risky business.

[infinitive]
o A powdered vampire’s nose demands respect.
[participle]
o Powering a vampire’s nose is risky business.
[gerund]

Infinitives
• The only verbal that can act as 3 parts of speech:
o Noun
o Adjective
o Adverb

Infinitives used as a noun [see pp. 186-87]

• Simple Subject
o To see is to believe.
• Predicate Noun/Subject complement
o To see is to believe.
• Direct Object
o Sally needs to see the proof that you claim you have.
• Retained Object (is the direct object of a passive voice verb
phrase) [p. 184]
o He was forced to sign a contract.

Infinitives used as adjectives

• Usually follows the noun/pronoun that it modifieis

15 September 2008
 Stangherlin 6

o The ubiquitous baguette was nowhere to be seen.

[modifies nowhere]
• May be a predicate adjective
o This house is to rent. [awkward but accurate)

Infinitives used as adverbs

• Modifying an adjective
o Osbert was difficult to lose. [modifies difficult]
• Modifying a verb
o Simpson returned to plague us. [modifies returned]

Participles [for uses and tenses see pp. 180-182]

• Present Participle Past Participle Perfect Participle
o beginning begun having
begun
• Participles modifing a noun (or pronoun)
o The dancing clown made the audience laugh hysterically.
• Objective Complement
o [my definition] an objective complement comes after a
nounand usually ends in –ing [starving], but could also be
a past participle [starved]
 Hilda and Bouregard found the vampire starving.
 Hilda and Bouregard found the vampire starved.
• Nominative Absolute [see p. 94]
o Usually begins with the and is followed by a noun and a
perfect participle and a comma, then a subject and a
verb
 The + noun + perfect participle
 The time having come, the class left.

Gerunds [for uses and tenses see pp. 78-80]

• A gerund has the same uses as an infinitive used as a NOUN

[refer to the Infinitives used as nouns section of these notes]
• The most difficult thing to distinguish about gerunds is when it is
being used as a noun versus being used as a verb

o Gerund as a noun, simple subject

 Swimming in the Mediterranean at Monte Carlo was
so much fun.
o Gerund as a noun, direct object
 I loved swimming in the Mediterranean at Monte
Carlo

15 September 2008
 Stangherlin 7

• Do not confuse a gerund with a verb

o The kids are swimming in the Mediterranean at Monte
Carlo.
 In this sentence, are swimming is the verb phrase
 A gerund is only a gerund when it is used as a noun

15 September 2008