The Parts of Speech

Adjective

It answers the question: What does it look like? An _______ modifies (limits or describes) a noun or a pronoun. Essentially, it provides more information about a person, place, or thing. For instance, in the sentence Frank is a tall, skinny man, both tall and skinny are ________ as they are used to describe Frank. (examples: blue black 3 Husky, furry)

Pronoun

A _____ is a word that is used to replace a noun. For example, instead of saying "Sam likes pizza" we can use "He" as a substitute for Sam. Writers need to be careful with _______ use, as ______ should only be used after a noun has been used first, and it must be clear which noun the ________ is replacing.

Preposition

A ______ shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and some other word in the sentence. This relationship is spatial, temporal, or directional. For instance, in the sentence Mark walked towards the house, the word towards is a _______ since it shows direction. (THINK OF TABLE: ABOVE BELOW BESIDE AGAINST)

Common Noun

names that do not require capitalization (dog, bird, desk, airplane)

Proper Noun

the names of people or places that are capitalized (Modern Montessori School, John Smith, etc.)

Verb Tense

when verbs change their form as different endings are added to them to show a verb's relationship to time (swam instead of swim)

Verb

a _______ is a word that describes action or a state of being. The second part of this definition is important, as many believe that ____ are always action words that can be visualized.

Linking Verb

a type of verb that does not express action; instead, it expresses identity, classification, or existence; the following are the most common examples: is, am, was, were, are, and verb phrases ending in be, been, being (like hapening)

Noun

generally defined as a person, place, or thing; _______ can be divided into two categories

Interjection

An __________ is a word added to a sentence to convey emotion and is not grammatically related to any other part of the sentence. _______ can also serve as a single word sentence (ex: Wow!). ___________ are rarely used in academic writing and their use should be avoided in most essays.

Conjunction

Connects clauses (usually small words) used to link words or parts of sentences together; there are three different types of _________: coordinating, subordinating, correlative

Adverb

Similar to adjectives, an _______ modifies a verb, an adjective, or another _______. In the sentence "Susan walked slowly towards the door," the word slowly serves as an ______ since it describes how she walked. (usually end in ly)