Parts of Speech Review
Developed for English Works! by Ellen Beck and Dawn Taylor.

Nouns	Verbs	Adverbs	Adjectives
Pronouns	Conjunctions	Prepositions	Interjections

Nouns

A noun is a the name of a person, place, thing, quality, concept or action

The first letters of some nouns are capitalized to show a specific name or title (Alan). These are called proper nouns. Other nouns that are not specific do not use a capital letter (man). These are called common nouns. Nouns that have a singular and plural form are called count nouns. Nouns that only have a singular form are called non-count nouns.

Non-count nouns never add -s.

Nouns function in many ways:

Verbs

A verb is a word that tells what the subject of the sentence does, says, thinks, or feels.  Sometimes the verb shows movement (jump) or sometimes it shows how a thing is or that it exists (is). The verb also shows time which is called tense. The form of the verb or its tense can tell when events take place.

For example, the verb kiss (*note: kiss is also a count noun):

Adverbs modify or describe verbs (run fast), adjectives (often sad), or other adverbs (too often). Adverbs often, but not always, end in -ly. A test for deciding if a word is an adverb is to think about the word's function. Adverbs tend to tell where, when, or how.

For example: very pretty, most unhappy, never angry, come soon

Adverbs often answer three questions:

 

THE ROYAL ORDER OF ADVERBS Verb Manner Place Frequency Time Purpose Beth swims enthusiastically in the pool every morning before dawn to keep in shape. Dad walks impatiently into town every afternoon before supper to get a newspaper. Tashonda naps in her room every morning before lunch. In actual practice, of course, it would be highly unusual to have a string of adverbial modifiers beyond two or three (at the most). Because the placement of adverbs is so flexible, one or two of the modifiers would probably move to the beginning of the sentence: "Every afternoon before supper, Dad impatiently walks into town to get a newspaper." When that happens, the introductory adverbial modifiers are usually set off with a comma. The Royal Order of Adverbs was created by Dr. Charles Darling, Professor of English, Capital Community College. Source: Capital Community College Guide to Grammar & Writing: Adverbs. Reprinted with permission 25 February 2003.

  Adjectives

Adjectives are words that describe a noun. Ugly, funny, big, round, and loose are all examples of adjectives. Some less obvious examples are: that dog, her bone, enough food, every room. Adjectives can also describe how much or how many: fewer friends, less food, more people.

Verb+ED becomes an adjective when it is used to describe a person or animal that experiences an emotion We will call this adjective the Experiencer adjective.

One good way to remember to use ED to describe the Experiencer is to remember that both words start with E. The Experiencer is described with ED.

Verb+ING becomes an adjective when it is used to describe the things that cause an emotion. We will call this the Instigator (Causing) adjective.

One good way to remember to use ING to describe the Instigator (or Causing) adjective is to remember that both words start with I. The Instigator is described with ING.

 

THE ROYAL ORDER OF ADJECTIVES Determiner Observation Physical Description Origin Material Qualifier Noun Size Shape Age Color a beautiful old Italian touring car an expensive antique silver mirror four gorgeous long- stemmed red silk roses her short black hair our big old English sheepdog those square wooden hat boxes that dilapidated little hunting cabin several enormous young American basketball players some delicious Thai food The Royal Order of Adjectives was created by Dr. Charles Darling, Professor of English, Capital Community College. Source: Capital Community College Guide to Grammar & Writing: Adjectives. Reprinted with permission 25 February 2003.

  Pronouns

Pronouns are words that take the place of a noun.

Example: Carol is nice. She is also pretty.

Conjunctions

A conjunction is a word that connects phrases, words, or clauses. Conjunctions are often used as transitions.

There are two kinds of conjunctions:

Prepositions

Prepositions are words that express the relation of a noun or pronoun to another word in the sentence. Prepositions show the relationships among things, people, and places.

An interjection is an exclamatory word (or words) that shows strong or sudden feeling and has no grammatical function in the construction of a sentence.

Oh! Alas! So! Wow! Cool!

For more detailed parts of speech review, see the Gallaudet University Handbook on Grammar & Usage by Marcia Bordman and Anne Womeldorf.