Parts Of Speech Flashcards
Noun
A person, place or thing.
Eg dog, cat, person, shop, string, sellotape, pub, paper, television, light, plant
Usually preceded with a, an (if the noun starts with a vowel eg an elephant) or the.
Indefinite article
‘A’ or ‘an’ before a noun
An is used before a noun which starts with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u)
Eg a cat, an elephant
Definite article
‘The’ used before a noun.
Eg the shop, the bank, the cat
Pronoun
A word that can be used within a sentence to replace a noun usually that has been mentioned before.
Eg he, she, it, I, you, we, they.
The dog went to the beach. ‘He’ had a great time splashing in the waves.
Also in the object part of a sentence eg me, us, you, him, her, it, them.
Eg I gave John a new job or I gave ‘him’ a new job.
Other types of pronoun
Possessive pronoun - mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs.
Reflexive pronoun - myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, oneself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.
Reciprocal pronoun - each other, one another.
Relative pronoun - that, which, who, whose, whom, where, when.
Demonstrative pronoun - this, that, these, those.
Interrogative pronoun - who, what, why, where, when, whatever.
Indefinite pronoun - anything, anybody, anyone, something, somebody, someone, nothing, nobody, no-one.
Adjective
A word that describes a noun. This is a word that tells you more about a noun.
Eg a black cat, an old man, excellent work, beautiful countryside.
Some adjectives come from a proper noun and need a capital letter.
Eg Welsh cheese, London taxi, Cornish pastie.
Look at Descriptosaurus to get ideas for new adjectives to use in writing.
Verb
An action, ‘being’ or ‘doing’ word.
It tells you what someone or something is doing, feeling or thinking or what is happening. All sentences must have a verb. Eg Have you ‘seen’ this? I ‘thought’ so. He ‘is’ tired. The dog ‘moved’.
Verbs use different tenses to show action in the past, present and future.
Yesterday we ‘drove’ a long way.
Today it ‘is’ sunny.
Tomorrow I ‘will go’ on holiday.
Other tenses are shown in verbs too eg conditional tense. Eg
I ‘would like’ some chocolate.
Adverb
A word that describes a verb. Adverbs often end in -ly.
An adverb tells you more about the verb. Eg
We waited ‘patiently’.
The cat stalked the mouse ‘silently’.
An adverb can also modify the meaning of an adjective, another adverb or whole sentences (fronted adverbials). Adverbs express:
Manner - eg quickly, quietly, impatiently.
Place - outside, in his office, at home, by the gate.
Frequency - every morning, one afternoon, every day.
Time - before dinner, on Tuesday, at 8.00 o’clock, often, seldom.
Purpose - for exercise, to make money, because they’re tired, to see SB.
Degree - very, extremely, so, really.
The position of adverbs can change in the sentence very easily.
Quietly, I crept down the stairs.
I crept down the stairs quietly.
I crept quietly down the stairs.
Proper Noun
Proper nouns name people or places and need capital letters. Eg
Andrew Stein, Mrs Johnston, David Attenborough, London, Portsmouth, Peak District, Africa, English.
Days of the week and months of the year are also proper nouns and need capital letters. Eg
Wednesday, Monday, Saturday, March, April.
I don’t have to go to school on Saturdays.
My birthday is in March.
Holidays taken as a country eg Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Easter are also proper nouns and have a capital letter.
Seasons of the year are not generally shown with a capital - spring, summer, autumn, winter. Note ‘fall’ is what Americans call autumn (leaves fall).
‘I’ is always capitalised - it is a proper pronoun!
Abstract noun
An abstract noun names feelings, ideas and conditions that you can’t see. Eg
Thirst, truth, danger, happiness, bravery, envy, weakness, justice, calm, trust, anger, liberty, freedom, love, generosity, excitement, joy, courage, creativity, uncertainty, hunger, humour, friendship, time.
Check out a list of abstract nouns here.
Compound noun
Words which combine two nouns together. Eg
Apple tree, bathroom, skydiving, bus stop, seafood, housekeeper, lawn mower.
Collective noun
Words used for a group or set of something. Eg
A pack of cards, a flock of sheep, a raft of penguins, a memory of elephants.
Conjunction
A word that connects ideas within a sentence, also known as a connective.
Eg and, but, because, whereas, since, although, unless, or, for, yet and so.
You can change the underlying meaning, slightly or significantly, of a sentence by choosing a different conjunction.
Preposition
A word that describes the location of something in relation to something else.
