Parts of speech

Question 1

The nine parts of speech

Answer 1

All words in the English language fall into nine categories, called “the parts of speech.” They are: noun, article, pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection.

Question 2

noun (*2)

Answer 2

A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, quality, or act, which includes tangible objects (concrete nouns) and abstract objects (abstract nouns).

Nouns fall into two categories: Proper nouns and common nouns.

Question 3

proper nouns and common nouns

Answer 3

Proper nouns are formal names, such as names of people, places, and countries. Common nouns refer to everything else in more general terms (man, city, nation).

Question 4

adjective (*2)

Answer 4

A word or group of words that describes a person or thing more precisely by indicating a quality that he, she, or it possesses; they point out some distinguishing mark or feature of the noun (or pronoun).

Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns; they limit or restrict the words they are modifying. (Not just any possum, but the purple possum.)

Question 5

article (*2)

Answer 5

Articles belong to the group of words called determiners. An article is a word placed before a noun to show whether the noun is used in a particular or general sense; they limit the application of nouns.

English has two types of articles: the definite article and indefinite article.

Question 6

definite article

Answer 6

A term for the determiner “the”. It is called the definite article because it refers to a specific person or thing; thus, “the man” means a specific individual.

Question 7

indefinite article

Answer 7

A term for the determiner “a” (or an). This is called an indefinite article because it does not refer to a particular person or thing but indicates the noun in its most general sense; for instance, “a man” can mean any man on the planet.

Question 8

pronoun (*3)

Answer 8

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun so that you don’t have to repeat the same noun too often and to avoid falling into repetition.

They are used instead of a noun to indicate someone or something that has already been mentioned (its antecedent).

Pronouns fall into two categories: singular and plural.

Question 9

antecedent

Answer 9

What a pronoun replaces is called its antecedent. Pronouns are particularly helpful if the antecedent is long or complicated: an inter-city after-school programme.

Question 10

singular pronouns (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
(15 eg.)

Answer 10

The singular pronouns are: I, me, my, mine; you, your, yours; he, him, his; she, her, hers; and it, its.

Question 11

plural pronouns (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
(11 eg.)

Answer 11

The plural pronouns are: we, us, our, ours; you, your, yours; and they, them, their, theirs.

Question 12

verb

Answer 12

Verbs are the most important of the nine (or eight) parts of speech.

A verb is a word that signifies action or the doing of something; or it may be a word that affirms, commands, or asks a question.

Verbs describe what a person or thing does, or what happens. A sentence isn’t complete without a verb.

Question 13

auxiliary verb
(Auxiliary verbs have a gram...)
(They come befo...)
(For example, ‘have’ ...)
(In English, the primary ...)

Answer 13

Auxiliary verbs have a grammatical rather than a lexical role; they are used in combination with other verbs to form particular tenses and constructions.

They come before the main verb and save you the trouble of changing the main verb to show past, present, and future tenses.

For example, ‘have’ is an auxiliary verb (forming the perfect) in ‘They have sold their house’, where it is used in combination with the main verb ‘sold’. By contrast, ‘have’ is a main verb in ‘They have a lovely house’, where it has lexical meaning (‘own, possess’) and is not used to support another verb.

In English, the primary auxiliary verbs are ‘be’, ‘have’, and ‘do’; modal verbs such as ‘can’, ‘must’, etc., are also a type of auxiliary verb.

Question 14

linking verbs

Answer 14

Provide the connection between the subject and the noun or adjective in the predicate. They are used to link the subject of a clause to a complement that describes it.

Question 15

adverb
(… is a …)
(Adverbs answer su…)
(Adverbs are mai…)

Answer 15

An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Essentially, they give more information, saying when, where, and how.

Adverbs answer such questions as when (now), where (aloft), how much (very), to what extent (extremely), and in what manner (deftly).

Adverbs are mainly used to express in one word what would otherwise require two or more words.

Question 16

conjunction

Answer 16

A word that joins two words, phrases, clauses, and sentences together.

The most common conjunctions are: and, also; either, or; neither, nor; though, yet; but, however; for, that; because, since; therefore, wherefore, then, and if.

Question 17

coordinating conjunction

Answer 17

Coordinating conjunctions connect terms of equal grammatical value (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet).

Question 18

correlative conjunctions

Answer 18

Correlative conjunctions are coordinating conjunctions that come in pairs.

The 4 most common being:

• Either … or
• Whether … or
• Both … and
• Not only … but also.

Question 19

subordinating conjunctions

Answer 19

Subordinating conjunctions connect clauses of unequal grammatical value: an independent and a dependent clause.

Subordinating conjunctions include: until, since, before, as, if, when, although, because, as long as, and after.

Question 20

preposition
(… is a …)
(… shows the …; they show …)
(… can also be …)
(Examples …)

Answer 20

A preposition is a word or phrase that shows how people and things relate to the rest of the words in a sentence.

A preposition shows the relationship between its object (usually a noun or pronoun) and another part of the sentence; they show a relationship in space or time or a logical relationship between two or more people, places, or things.

They can also be used to introduce an object.

Examples are: at, after, before, behind, for, in, of, out.

Question 21

prepositional phrase

Answer 21

A prepositional phrase consists of the preposition plus its object and any modifiers of the object.

Question 22

interjection

Answer 22

A word that expresses surprise, shock, or some other sudden emotion. Nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs become interjections when they are uttered as one-word exclamations: Nonsense! Strange! No!

Question 23

independent clause

Answer 23

An independent clause is a group of words that contains both a subject and a predicate and that grammatically could stand alone as a complete sentence (unlike a dependent clause).

Question 24

dependent clause (subordinate clause)
(A ... conta...)
(A d… cannot … because …)
(… is usually int…)
(Because a d…)

Answer 24

A dependent clause (aka subordinate) contains a subject and a predicate but isn’t a complete sentence on its own. It is a clause that does not express a complete thought.

A dependent clause cannot stand alone as a complete sentence because of the presence of a word by which it would normally be linked to an independent clause.

A dependent clause is usually introduced by a word or phrase that subordinates it; a subordinating conjunction or a relative pronoun.

Because a dependent clause is always subordinate to an independent clause for contextual meaning, it is also called a subordinate clause.

Question 25

finite verb
(… is a …)
(It is the …)
(A … agr…)
(The f…)

Answer 25

A finite verb is a verb that is fixed in time; it has tense (either present or past) {played [past tense]}.

It is the form of the verb that is complete in itself and can be used alone as the verb phrase in a sentence.

A finite verb agrees with its subject in person and number (ie, a singular subject takes a singular verb).

The finite verb alone is sometimes known as the *“simple predicate”.