A Simple Guide To Writing: Foundations of Grammar

The Eight Parts of Speech

Nouns
When you talk about a person, place, thing, or idea, you are talking about a noun. The two main types of nouns are common and proper nouns. Also, nouns can be abstract (i.e., general) or concrete (i.e., specific).

Common nouns are the class or group of people, places, and things (Note: Do not capitalize common nouns). Examples of common nouns:
People: boy, girl, worker, manager
Places: school, bank, library, home
Things: dog, cat, truck, car
Proper nouns are the names of a specific person, place, or thing (Note: Capitalize all proper nouns). Examples of proper nouns:
People: Abraham Lincoln; George Washington; Martin Luther King, Jr.
Places: Los Angeles, California; New York; Asia
Things: Statue of Liberty, Earth*, Lincoln Memorial

*Note: When you talk about the planet that we live on, you capitalize Earth. When you mean the dirt, rocks, or land, you lowercase earth.
General nouns are the names of conditions or ideas. Specific nouns name people, places, and things that are understood by using your senses.

General nouns:
Condition: beauty, strength
Idea: truth, peace

Specific nouns:
People: baby, friend, father
Places: town, park, city hall
Things: rainbow, cough, apple, silk, gasoline
Collective nouns are the names for a person, place, or thing that may act as a whole. The following are examples of collective nouns: class, company, dozen, group, herd, team, and public.

Pronouns
Pronouns are words that are used to stand in for a noun. A pronoun may be classified as personal, intensive, relative, interrogative, demonstrative, indefinite, and reciprocal.
Personal: Nominative is the case for nouns and pronouns that are the subject of a sentence. Objective is the case for nouns and pronouns that are an object in a sentence. Possessive is the case for nouns and pronouns that show possession or ownership.

Singular


Plural


Intensive: I myself, you yourself, he himself, she herself, the (thing) itself, we ourselves, you yourselves, they themselves
Relative: which, who, whom, whose
Interrogative: what, which, who, whom, whose
Demonstrative: this, that, these, those
Indefinite: all, any, each, everyone, either/neither, one, some, several
Reciprocal: each other, one another

Verbs
If you want to write a sentence, then you need a verb. Without a verb, you have no sentence. The verb of a sentence explains action or being. In other words, the verb shows the subject’s movement or the movement that has been done to the subject.

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
A transitive verb is a verb whose action (e.g., drive, run, jump) points to a receiver (e.g., car, dog, kangaroo). Intransitive verbs do not point to a receiver of an action. In other words, the action of the verb does not point to a subject or object.

Transitive: He plays the piano. | The piano was played by him.
Intransitive: He plays. | John writes well.
A dictionary will let you know whether a verb is transitive or intransitive. Some verbs can be transitive and intransitive.

Action Verbs and Linking Verbs
Action verbs show what the subject is doing in a sentence. In other words, an action verb shows action. Unlike most types of words, a single action verb, in the right context, can be an entire sentence. Linking verbs link the subject of a sentence to a noun or pronoun, or they link a subject with an adjective. You always need a verb if you want a complete sentence. However, linking verbs on their own cannot be a complete sentence.

Common linking verbs include appear, be, become, feel, grow, look, seem, smell, sound, and taste. However, any verb that shows a condition and has a noun, pronoun, or adjective that describes the subject of a sentence is a linking verb.
Action: He sings. | Run! | Go! | I talk with him every day. | She reads.

Linking:
Incorrect: I am.
Correct: I am John. | I smell roses. | I feel tired.
Note: Some verbs are followed by words that look like prepositions, but they are a part of the verb and a part of the verb’s meaning. These are known as phrasal verbs, and examples include call off, look up, and drop off.

Voice
Transitive verbs come in active or passive voice. If the subject does an action or receives the action of the verb, then you will know whether a verb is active or passive. When the subject of the sentence is doing the action, the verb is in active voice. When the subject receives the action, the verb is in passive voice.
Active: Jon drew the picture. (The subject Jon is doing the action of drawing a picture.)
Passive: The picture is drawn by Jon. (The subject picture is receiving the action from Jon.)

Verb Tenses
A verb tense shows the different form of a verb to point to the time of an action. The present and past tense are shown by changing the verb’s form. An action in the present, I talk, can change form for the past: I talked. However, for the other tenses, an auxiliary (i.e., helping) verb is needed to show the change in form. These helping verbs include am, are, is | have, has, had | was, were, will (or shall).



Present: The action happens at the current time.
Example: He walks to the store every morning.

To show that something is happening right now, use the progressive present tense: I am walking.

Past: The action happened in the past.
Example: He walked to the store an hour ago.

Future: The action is going to happen later.
Example: I will walk to the store tomorrow.

Present perfect: The action started in the past and continues into the present.
Example: I have walked to the store three times today.

Past perfect: The second action happened in the past. The first action came before the second.
Example: Before I walked to the store (Action 2), I had walked to the library (Action 1).
Future perfect: An action that uses the past and the future. In other words, the action is complete before a future moment.
Example: When she comes for the supplies (future moment), I will have walked to the store (action completed before the future moment).

Conjugating Verbs
When you need to change the form of a verb, you are conjugating a verb. The key forms of a verb are singular, present tense (dream); singular, past tense (dreamed); and the past participle (have dreamed). Note: the past participle needs a helping verb to make a verb tense. For example, I have dreamed of this day.

The following tables demonstrate some of the different ways to conjugate a verb:

Singular

Plural

Mood
There are three moods in English: the indicative, the imperative, and the subjunctive.
The indicative mood is used for facts, opinions, and questions.

Fact: You can do this.
Opinion: I think that you can do this.

Question: Do you know that you can do this?
The imperative is used for orders or requests.

Order: You are going to do this!
Request: Will you do this for me?

The subjunctive mood is for wishes and statements that go against fact.
Wish: I wish that I were going to do this.
Statement against fact: If I were you, I would do this. (This goes against fact because I am not you. You have the chance to do this, and I do not have the chance.)
The mood that causes trouble for most people is the subjunctive mood. If you have trouble with any of the moods, then be sure to practice.

Adjectives
An adjective is a word that is used to modify a noun or pronoun. An adjective answers a question: Which one? What kind? or How many? Usually, adjectives come before the words that they modify, but they may also come after a linking verb.
Which one? The third suit is my favorite.
What kind? This suit is navy blue.
How many? I am going to buy four pairs of socks to match the suit?

Articles
Articles are adjectives that are used to mark nouns. There are only three: the definite (i.e., limited or fixed amount) article the and the indefinite (i.e., no limit or fixed amount) articles a and an. Note: An comes before words that start with a vowel sound. For example, “Are you going to get an umbrella?”

Definite: I lost the bottle that belongs to me.
Indefinite: Does anyone have a bottle to share?

Comparison with Adjectives
Some adjectives are relative and other adjectives are absolute. Adjectives that are relative can show the comparison between things. Adjectives that are absolute can show comparison. However, they show comparison in a different way. Let’s say that you are reading two books. You think that one book is perfect, and the other book is not exactly perfect. It is not possible for one book to be more perfect than the other. Either you think that the book is perfect, or you think that the book is not perfect.
The adjectives that are relative will show the different degrees of something or someone to something else or someone else. The three degrees of adjectives include positive, comparative, and superlative.
The positive degree is the normal form of an adjective.

Example: This work is difficult. | She is smart.
The comparative degree compares one person or thing to another person or thing.
Example: This work is more difficult than your work. | She is smarter than me.
The superlative degree compares more than two people or things.

Example: This is the most difficult work of my life. | She is the smartest lady in school.

Adverbs
An adverb is a word that is used to modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb. Usually, adverbs answer one of these questions: When?, Where?, How?, and Why? . The negatives not and never are known as adverbs. Adverbs that modify adjectives or other adverbs strengthen or weaken the words that they modify.

Examples:
He walks quickly through the crowd.
The water flows smoothly on the rocks.

Note: Some words that end in -ly are adjectives, not adverbs. Examples include: early, friendly, holy, lonely, silly, and ugly. To know if a word that ends in -ly is an adjective or adverb, you need to check your dictionary. Also, while many adverbs end in -ly, you need to remember that not all adverbs end in -ly.

Examples:
He is never angry.
You talk too loudly.

Comparison with Adverbs
The rules for comparing adverbs are the same as the rules for adjectives.
The positive degree is the standard form of an adverb.

Example: He arrives soon. | She speaks softly to her friends.
The comparative degree compares one person or thing to another person or thing.

Example: He arrives sooner than Sarah. | She speaks more softly than him.
The superlative degree compares more than two people or things.

Example: He arrives soonest of the group. | She speaks the most softly of any of her friends.

Prepositions
A preposition is a word placed before a noun or pronoun that shows the relationship between an object and another word in the sentence.

Common prepositions:
about
before
during
on
under
after
beneath
for
over
until
against
between
from
past
up
among
beyond
in
through
with
around
by
of
to
within
at
down
off
toward
without

Examples:
The napkin is in the drawer.
The Earth rotates around the Sun.
The needle is beneath the haystack.
Can you find me among the words?

Conjunctions
Conjunctions join words, phrases, or clauses and they show the connection between the joined pieces. Coordinating conjunctions connect equal parts of sentences. Correlative conjunctions show the connection between pairs. Subordinating conjunctions join subordinate (i.e., dependent) clauses with independent clauses.

Coordinating Conjunctions
The coordinating conjunctions include: and, but, yet, or, nor, for, and so

Examples:
The rock was small, but it was heavy.
She drove in the night, and he drove in the day.

Correlative Conjunctions
The correlative conjunctions are: either…or | neither…nor | not only…but also

Examples:
Either you are coming or you are staying.
He not only ran three miles but also swam 200 yards.

Subordinating Conjunctions
Common subordinating conjunctions include:
after
since
whenever
although
so that
where
because
unless
wherever
before
until
whether
in order that
when
while

Examples:
I am hungry because I did not eat breakfast.
He went home when everyone left.

Interjections
Interjections are words of exclamation (i.e., great amount of feeling) that are used alone or as a part of a sentence. Often, they are used at the beginning of a sentence for an introduction. Sometimes, they can be used in the middle of a sentence to show a change in thought or attitude.
Common Interjections: Hey! | Oh, | Ouch! | Please! | Wow!