English Grammar: Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech

• Nouns: words that refer to people, places, things, and ideas
  • Proper nouns: names of specific people, places, and things (e.g. John, London)
  • Common nouns: general categories (e.g. dog, city)
  • Collective nouns: groups of people, places, or things (e.g. family, team)
• Verbs: words that express action or a state of being
  • Action verbs: describe an action (e.g. run, jump)
  • Linking verbs: connect the subject to additional information (e.g. be, seem)
  • Helping verbs: used to help form the tense of another verb (e.g. will, would)
• Adjectives: words that describe or modify nouns or pronouns
  • Quantitative adjectives: describe quantity (e.g. five, tenth)
  • Qualitative adjectives: describe quality (e.g. happy, blue)
• Adverbs: words that describe or modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs
  • Manner adverbs: describe how something is done (e.g. quickly, loudly)
  • Time adverbs: describe when something is done (e.g. yesterday, soon)
  • Place adverbs: describe where something is done (e.g. here, there)
• Pronouns: words that replace nouns in a sentence
  • Personal pronouns: replace nouns referring to people or things (e.g. I, you, he)
  • Possessive pronouns: show ownership or possession (e.g. my, your, his)
  • Reflexive pronouns: refer back to the subject of the sentence (e.g. myself, yourself)

Sentence Structure

• Independent clauses: complete sentences with a subject and a verb
• Dependent clauses: incomplete sentences that cannot stand alone
• Complex sentences: combine an independent clause with one or more dependent clauses
• Compound sentences: join two or more independent clauses with a conjunction

Tense and Aspect

• Present tense: describes an action that is happening now
• Past tense: describes an action that happened in the past
• Future tense: describes an action that will happen in the future
• Aspect: describes the duration or completion of an action
  • Simple aspect: describes a completed action
  • Progressive aspect: describes an ongoing action
  • Perfect aspect: describes an action that started in the past and continues up to the present

Clause and Phrase Types

• Relative clauses: provide additional information about a noun
• Subordinate clauses: cannot stand alone as a complete sentence
• Appositive phrases: provide additional information about a noun
• Absolute phrases: provide additional information about a sentence or clause

Modality

• Modal verbs: express degrees of possibility, necessity, or obligation
  • Can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would
• Modal adverbs: express degrees of possibility or certainty
  • Probably, possibly, certainly, necessarily

Parts of Speech

• Nouns: refer to people, places, things, and ideas
  • Proper nouns: specific names (e.g. John, London)
  • Common nouns: general categories (e.g. dog, city)
  • Collective nouns: groups of people, places, or things (e.g. family, team)
• Verbs: express action or a state of being
  • Action verbs: describe an action (e.g. run, jump)
  • Linking verbs: connect the subject to additional information (e.g. be, seem)
  • Helping verbs: used to help form the tense of another verb (e.g. will, would)
• Adjectives: describe or modify nouns or pronouns
  • Quantitative adjectives: describe quantity (e.g. five, tenth)
  • Qualitative adjectives: describe quality (e.g. happy, blue)
• Adverbs: describe or modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs
  • Manner adverbs: describe how something is done (e.g. quickly, loudly)
  • Time adverbs: describe when something is done (e.g. yesterday, soon)
  • Place adverbs: describe where something is done (e.g. here, there)
• Pronouns: replace nouns in a sentence
  • Personal pronouns: replace nouns referring to people or things (e.g. I, you, he)
  • Possessive pronouns: show ownership or possession (e.g. my, your, his)
  • Reflexive pronouns: refer back to the subject of the sentence (e.g. myself, yourself)

Sentence Structure

• Independent clauses: complete sentences with a subject and a verb
• Dependent clauses: incomplete sentences that cannot stand alone
• Complex sentences: combine an independent clause with one or more dependent clauses
• Compound sentences: join two or more independent clauses with a conjunction

Tense and Aspect

• Present tense: describes an action that is happening now
• Past tense: describes an action that happened in the past
• Future tense: describes an action that will happen in the future
• Aspect: describes the duration or completion of an action
  • Simple aspect: describes a completed action
  • Progressive aspect: describes an ongoing action
  • Perfect aspect: describes an action that started in the past and continues up to the present

Clause and Phrase Types

• Relative clauses: provide additional information about a noun
• Subordinate clauses: cannot stand alone as a complete sentence
• Appositive phrases: provide additional information about a noun
• Absolute phrases: provide additional information about a sentence or clause

Modality

• Modal verbs: express degrees of possibility, necessity, or obligation
  • Can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would
• Modal adverbs: express degrees of possibility or certainty
  • Probably, possibly, certainly, necessarily