Grammatical Categories

Study Notes

Nouns:
- Refer to entities, concepts, or objects
- Can be common (cat) or proper (John)
- Can be concrete (book) or abstract (happiness)
Verbs:
- Express actions, events, or states
- Can be action verbs (run) or linking verbs (be)
Adjectives:
- Modify nouns or pronouns
- Can be qualitative (happy) or quantitative (three)
Adverbs:
- Modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs
- Can indicate manner (quickly), time (yesterday), place (here), frequency (often), or degree (very)
Pronouns:
- Replace nouns in a sentence
- Can be personal (I), possessive (my), reflexive (myself), or demonstrative (this)
Prepositions:
- Show relationships between entities or concepts
- Can indicate location (in), direction (to), time (at), manner (by), or other relationships
Conjunctions:
- Connect words, phrases, or clauses
- Can be coordinating (and) or subordinating (because)
Interjections:
- Express emotion or feeling
- Often followed by an exclamation mark (!)

Independent Clause:
- Has a subject and a predicate
- Can stand alone as a complete sentence
Dependent Clause:
- Has a subject and a predicate, but cannot stand alone
- Begins with a subordinating conjunction (because, although)
Relative Clause:
- Begins with a relative pronoun (who, which, that)
- Provides additional information about a noun

Noun Phrase:
- Functions as a single noun
- Can have a head noun and modifiers (the big red car)
Verb Phrase:
- Functions as a single verb
- Can have a main verb and auxiliaries (will have eaten)
Adjective Phrase:
- Functions as a single adjective
- Can have a head adjective and modifiers (very happy)
Adverb Phrase:
- Functions as a single adverb
- Can have a head adverb and modifiers (very quickly)
Prepositional Phrase:
- Functions as a single preposition
- Can have a head preposition and an object (in the box)

Nouns are words that refer to entities, concepts, or objects and can be common (cat) or proper (John), and concrete (book) or abstract (happiness)
Verbs express actions, events, or states and can be action verbs (run) or linking verbs (be)
Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns and can be qualitative (happy) or quantitative (three)
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs and can indicate manner (quickly), time (yesterday), place (here), frequency (often), or degree (very)
Pronouns replace nouns in a sentence and can be personal (I), possessive (my), reflexive (myself), or demonstrative (this)
Prepositions show relationships between entities or concepts and can indicate location (in), direction (to), time (at), manner (by), or other relationships
Conjunctions connect words, phrases, or clauses and can be coordinating (and) or subordinating (because)
Interjections express emotion or feeling and are often followed by an exclamation mark (!)

Independent Clauses have a subject and a predicate and can stand alone as a complete sentence
Dependent Clauses have a subject and a predicate, but cannot stand alone and begin with a subordinating conjunction (because, although)
Relative Clauses begin with a relative pronoun (who, which, that) and provide additional information about a noun

Noun Phrases function as a single noun and can have a head noun and modifiers (the big red car)
Verb Phrases function as a single verb and can have a main verb and auxiliaries (will have eaten)
Adjective Phrases function as a single adjective and can have a head adjective and modifiers (very happy)
Adverb Phrases function as a single adverb and can have a head adverb and modifiers (very quickly)
Prepositional Phrases function as a single preposition and can have a head preposition and an object (in the box)