Parts of speech Flashcards
Adjective
a descriptive word that modifies a noun or pronoun
Adverb
a word that modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb and indicates when, how, where, why, or how much
Article
a word that is used to limit a noun, either indefinite (a and an) or definite(the)
Clause
a group of words that are related and contain both a subject and a verb
Direct Object
the noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb and answers the question, whom, or what
noun
a word for a person, place or thing
object of the preposition
the noun, pronoun, phrase, or clause to which the preposition refers
phrase
a group of words that are related but do not contain a verb and a subject together
possessive pronoun
a pronoun used to indicate ownership
preposition
a word such as (by, at, to, from) that gives additional information, usually in relationship to something else in the sentence
pronoun
a word that replaces and refers to a noun
subject
a noun, or pronoun that performs the action of the verb. if a sentence contains a verb of being or linking verb such as (be, feel, become, look) the subject of the sentence is the noun or pronoun being described
verb
a word that shows an action or a state of being
Example of different parts of speech being used in a sentence.
The (definite article) young (adjective) boys (subject-noun) enjoy (verb) soccer (adjective) practice (direct object).
In this sentence, both adjectives clearly modify the nouns they precede (boys and practice), the subject of the sentence (boys) performs the action, which is the verb (enjoy), and the direct object (practice), answers the question WHAT after the verb (i.e., “what do the boys enjoy?” practice). However, not all sentences are so easily described.
prepositional phrase
usually composed of a preposition, an article, and an object of the preposition, with modifiers added sometimes as well. The sentence below has all prepositional phrases in parentheses
Bryan headed (to the mall) (for the latest release) (by the band) (from his home state) (of Oregon).
a mnemonic about a box to remember prepositions
prepositions are in parentheses:
The boy can sit (on) the box, (by) the box, (above) the box, (below) the box, (around) the box, or (near) the box.
However, this does not allow for (to) and (from), which are the two most common prepositions.
Remembering possessive pronouns
A possessive pronoun shows possession automatically; that is its purpose. For example below possessives are in parentheses:
That green Volvo is (mine). Did you drive (your) Explorer? (Their) new Lexus is larger than (our) older model.
Also, in this sentence their are no apostrophes added as there are with proper nouns.
Common possessive pronouns
First Person Singular: mine, my First Person Plural: our, ours Second Person Singular: your, yours Second Person Plural: your, yours Third Person Singular: her, hers, his, its Third Person Plural: their, theirs
Remembering adverbs
usually modify verbs, though they can modify adjectives or other adverbs. When thinking of adverbs the -ly ending is commonly remembered. For example below adverbs are in parentheses:
That student performs (poorly) in a test environment, but he performs (well) in a relaxed setting.
The adverb (poorly), clearly shows how the student performs. In the second clause, (well) is also an adverb, though an irregular one, telling how the student performs in different conditions.
Conjugations of the verb (run)
First Person Singular: I run First Person Plural: We run Second Person Singular: You run Second Person Plural: You run Third Person Singular: He runs Third Person Plural: They run
Most common pronouns
First Person Singular: I, me, mine, my
First Person Plural: we, us, our, ours
Second Person Singular: you, your, yours
Second Person Plural: you, your, yours
Third Person Singular: he, she, him, her, it, hers, his, its
Third Person Plural: they, them, their, theirs
pronoun-antecedent agreement
The noun that a pronoun refers back to. For example:
Mom went to the store before I could remind her to buy ingredients for my favorite dish, her special spicy spaghetti.
The first pronoun (her) refers back to the noun (Mom). The antecedent for the pronoun (her) is thus (Mom). The second pronoun (her) is a possessive pronoun, but it still refers back to Mom. (I) and (my) are pronouns as well, replacing the proper name of the speaker, which is not given in this sentence.
Proper usage of pronoun-antecedent agreement
A pronoun and it’s antecedent must agree in number. If the antecedent is singular or plural, the pronoun must be the same. Example:
If the noun (apples) is replaced with a pronoun, the plural pronoun (they) (or one of the other pronouns from the third person plural category) must be used, since the word (apples) is plural.
