Every word in the English language, whether written or spoken, has a purpose--a reason for being written or said. If not used for its intended purpose, a word can alter the meaning of a sentence. It can also greatly confuse the reader or listener. Knowing the correct parts of speech can help one become a better reader, writer, and speaker.
Lesson One introduces the parts of speech in a simple, well-explained manner.
Lesson One: The Parts of Speech
*Note: Lesson One is the longest lesson in this course. Master it, and the rest will be easier!
I. Nouns are persons, places, things, or ideas.
A. Types of Nouns
1. Common nouns name a person, place, or thing that is not specific, such as mayor, lake, or dog.
Common nouns are not capitalized. 
2. Proper nouns designate the specific name of a person, place, or thing, such as John F. Kennedy, Chicago, or Senior Prom.
3. Compound nouns are formed by combining two or more words in one of three ways.
a. Combining two words by putting them together, such as baseball. 
b. Combining two words but keeping them separate, such as hot dog. 
c. Combining two or more words with hyphens, such as mother-in-law. 
4. Collective nouns represent a group composed primarily of people or things, such as choir and herd. 
They can be singular or plural depending upon whether the group is working as a UNIT or as INDIVIDUALS.
a. Example: The couple is planning a quiet dinner at home.
In this sentence, the word coupleis SINGULAR because the group's two members plan as a UNIT to have a
quiet evening at home. They will be doing the same thing at the same time in the same place.
b. Example: The couple leave on separate vacations tomorrow.
In this example, the word couple is PLURAL because the two members of this group are not working as a single unit.
They are working as individual units.
II. Pronouns
A. Words used to take the place of or refer to nouns or other pronouns.
1. Example: Jack forgot his driver's license, so he could not drive us home. 
In this sentence, his and he are both pronouns that take the place of the proper noun Jack.
2. Example: Somebody left his or her jacket at the arena last night. 
The words somebody, his, and her are all pronouns. His and her take the place of the pronoun somebody.
B. Antecedents are words that pronouns replace or refer to.
1. Example: In Sentence A1 above, Jack is the antecedent for the pronouns his and he.
2. Example: The pronoun somebody is the antecedent for the pronouns his and her in Sentence A2 above.
C. Types of Pronouns - Personal, Indefinite, Demonstrative, Interrogative, Reflexive, and Intensive
1. Personal pronouns refer to people, places, or things.
a. Natalie worked on her essay for two hours. 
The personal pronoun her refers to the proper noun Natalie. Natalie is the antecedent of the personal pronoun her.
b. The fire station renamed its truck after the accident. 
The personal pronoun itsrefers to the compound noun fire station. Fire station is the antecedent of the personal pronoun its.
c. Which pronouns are personal? Study the chart below. 
Personal Pronouns
| I, he, she, we, they, you, it, who, whoever |
| me, him, her, us, them, you, it, who, whoever |
| my, mine, his, her, hers, our, ours, their, theirs, your, yours, its, whose, whosever |
2. Indefinite Pronouns refer to non-specific people or things, such as somebody and anything.
a. They can be singular or plural, depending upon their meanings.
b. What do indefinite pronouns look like? Check out the chart below. 
Indefinite Pronouns
| Singular | Plural | Singular or Plural |
| anyone, anybody, anything | both | all |
| someone, somebody, something | few | most |
| everyone, everybody, everything | many | none |
| no one, nobody, nothing | several | some |
| each, either, neither | | |
| one | | |
c. Examples:
1. Anyone can join the Chess Club if he or she is interested enough. 
The indefinite pronoun anyone is the antecedent of the personal pronouns he and she. All of these pronouns are singular.
Pronouns and their antecedents MUST agree in number. For example, if a pronoun is singular, its antecedent must be, also.
In the same way, if a pronoun is plural, its antecedent MUST be plural as well.
2. Several of my friends drove their own cars to the basketball game. 
Since the indefinite pronoun several is plural, the possessive pronoun their must also be plural.
3. Most of the piehas already been eaten. 
Most in this sentence refers to the noun pie. Since the word pie is singular, the verb has been eatenmust also be singular.
4. Most of the cowsare lying down.
In this sentence, the indefinite pronoun most refers to the plural noun cows, so most is also plural. Sincemostis the subject of
the sentence and plural, the verb are lying is also plural.
5. None of the instructorsplan to attend the conference. 
The indefinite pronoun none refers to the nouninstructors, which is plural; therefore, the word none, the subject of the
sentence, is also plural. The verb plan is plural as well since it must agree with the subject none.
6. None of the team is practicing today. 
In this sentence, the indefinite pronoun none refers to team, which is a collective noun. The noun team is singular in this
example because the entire team is practicing at the same time as a unit. None is also the subject of the sentence, so the verb
is practicingis also singular.
3. Demonstrative Pronouns
a. Point out specific people, places, or things.
b. Singular demonstrative pronouns: this, that
c. Plural demonstrative pronouns: these, those
d. Examples: This is the door that keeps slamming during a wind. 
That is the girl to whom I gave money for my concert ticket. 
These are my keys. 
Those are my brothers. 
4. Relative Pronouns
a. Relate or connect parts of a sentence.
b. The words that, which, who, whom,and whose are all relative pronouns.
c. Examples:
(1) The dress that I wanted to wear is torn. 
In this sentence, the word that connects the dress I want to wear to the rest of the sentence.
(2) The play which we attended Saturday has been held over for another week. 
The relative pronoun which connects we attended Saturday with the remainder of the sentence.
(3) The first one who called me was my brother. 
The indefinite pronoun who connects called me with the rest of the sentence.
5. Interrogative Pronouns
a. Used to ask questions: What? Which? Who? Whom? Whose?
(1) What day do you want to go shopping?
(2) Whichjeans should I wear to the party?
(3) Who is your grandfather?
(4) Whom did you say is driving?
(5) Whose keys are these?
b. Interrogative pronouns generally appear at the beginning of a question.
c. Interrogative pronouns will never have an antecedent.
6. Reflexive Pronouns
a. End in -self or -selves
b. Used to refer back to the subject of the sentence or clause.
c. Example: Marianne thought she would make a good campaign director herself. 
The reflexive pronoun herself refers back to the subject of the sentence--Marianne.
d. Example: Our neighbors decided to fix the tornado damage themselves. 
Themselves refers back to the subject neighbors.
7. Intensive Pronouns
a. Also end in -self or -selves
b. Used for emphasis
c. Example: The team itself did not want to reorganize the squad.
Itself merely emphasizes that the team did not want to reorganize the squad.
d. Example: They did not care if the governorhimself would be there.
Again, the intensive pronoun himself simply stresses that they did not care if the governor would be there.
e. Intensive pronouns can be removed from a sentence without changing the sentence's meaning.
III. Verbs
A. Action Verbs
1. Physical action verbs show action that one can see, hear, touch, taste, or smell. 
a. Example: The boys worked on their tree house all summer. 
b. Example: Maggie smelled the flowers as soon as she came in the door. 
2. Mental action verbs portray action that cannot be seen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled.
a. Example:I thoughtabout what I would do if I won the lottery. 
b. Example: Cherieforgaveher husband. 
B. Linking Verb
1. Link parts of a sentence together to better convey the meaning of a sentence. A linkng verb does not show action.
Example: My brother is an accountant. 
The linking verbisLINKS the first part of the sentence (My brother) to the last part of the sentence that
tells the reader that he is an accountant.
2. All forms of the verb to be are linking verbs: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been.
3. Other linking verbs convey a state of being, such as remain, became, seem, appear, stay, feel, taste, touch, smell, grow, and sound.
Examples: The stew really smells good!
Since stew cannot "smell," the verb smell in this sentence is a linking verb. It portrays the state of being of the stew.
Cynthia has remained my best friend since we were little girls. 
The word remained in this sentence does not portray action but rather the state of being of my relationship with Cynthia
since we were both children; therefore, remained is a linking verb rather than an action verb.
C. Helping Verbs
1. Help the main verb in a sentence to convey a meaning of time.
2. Which words can serve as helping verbs? Study the chart below. 
Helping Verbs |
is, am are, was, were, be, being, been has, have, had could, should, would can, will, shall may, might, most do, does, did |
3. Examples:
a. The cow has jumped over the moon two hundred times. 
The main verb in this sentence is the word jumped. The helping verb is has. If the main verb did not have a helping
verb, the time meaning of the sentence would not be clear. For example, if the sentence read "The cow jumped
over the moon two hundred times," the meaning would be that the cow JUST jumped over the moon two hundred times.
The helping verb hastells the reader that since the cow began jumping over the moon (in the past) and continues to
jump today, he has jumped a total of 200 times--so far!
b. Papa had been eating fried fish when he became ill. 
The main verb in this example is eating. The two helping verbs are had and been. The helping verbs tell the reader that the act
of Papa eating fried fish occurred in the past--but it also occurred in the past BEFORE something else happened (his illness).
c. Sadie might have finished her homework by now if she had started earler. 
The helping verbsmight andhave, combined with the main verbfinished, tell readers that Sadie has NOT YET finished
her homework. The second main verb in this sentence is the word started. When it is combined with its helping verb had, the
sentence conveys under what condition Sadie could have finished her homework.
D. Verb Tense
1. The word tense means time. 
2. Verbs change tense to convey different times. Tense allows readers to understand sentences more effectively.
3. The verb tenses are present, present perfect, past past perfect, future, and future perfect.
a. Present tense means the action is happening RIGHT NOW!
Ex.: He saddles his horse to go riding. 
The subject "he" is in the process of saddling his horse RIGHT NOW.
b. Present Perfect tense means the action began in the past and continues into the present. A verb in present perfect tenses has a
main verb plus a helping verb of either has or have. See the subsection Helping Verbs in Section C above.
Ex.: Keila has played on the soccer team for five years. 
Keila began playing on the soccer team five years ago and continues to play today.
c. Past Tense means something has already happened.
Ex.: Sarah worked for the same company for ten years. 
The verb worked tells readers that at some point in the past, Sarah worked for the same company for ten years.
d. Past Perfect Tense also means something has already happened, but it also means that whatever has already happened occurred
before something else happened. Verbs in the past perfect tense use the helping verb hadto help the main verb express time.
Ex.: Sarah had worked for the same company for ten years before she quit to open her own business.
Sarah's working for the same company for ten years had already happened before she quit her job.
e. Future Tense means that something has not yet happened but is expected to happen.
Ex.: Jasmine will fax her application tormorrow. 
Jasmie has not yet faxed her application, but she expects to do so tomorrow.
f. Future Perfect Tense means that an action has not yet happened, but it will happen at some point in the future before another
action occurs.
Ex.: The gates will have closed by the time the sun goes down. 
Although the gates are not yet closed, they will have closed by the time the sun goes down.
4. When writing, do not jump around from one tense to another. It is important to remain consistent, or you will confuse your reades.
Ex.: The store discounts its merchandise, and it also gave rebates on top dollar items. 
The first verb is in present tense, which means the store is discounting its merchandise right now. The second verb, gave, is in
past tense. Since the verbs convey differing "time meanings," it is unclear if the store continues to give rebates on top dollar
items.
E. Active and Passive Voice
1. Active voice means that the subject of a sentence performs the action stated in the sentence.
Example: David washes his car every Saturday. 
David is the subject of the sentence (whom the sentence is about), and the verb is washes. David is the person who
performs the washing of his car; therefore, the verb in this sentence is in active voice.
2. Passive voice mean that the action expressed in a sentence is being performed ON the subject rather than BY the subject.
Example: The new puppy was bathed by Kayla every morning. 
The subject in this sentence is "puppy." The verb is the main verb bathed, and its helping verb was. The puppy did not
wash itself. Instead, the action of bathing was performed on the puppy by Kayla.
Example: Their research papers were hurridly completed by the seniors. 
The subject in this sentence is the word "papers," and the verb is "were completed." The papers did not complete
themselves. They had the action of completing performed on them by the seniors.
IV. Prepositions
A. Prepositions are words that link parts of a sentence together to give the sentence more meaning.
B. Prepositions indicate time, direction, and location.
Example: The bird's nest was located near the topof the tree. 
C. Prepositions can be compound, such as on top of, in front of, instead of, etc.
Common Prepositions
about, above, across, after, against, along, amid, among, around, as, at before, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, between, beyond, by concerning, considering | down, during except for, from in, inside, into like, near | of, off, on, onto, on top of, opposite, outside, over through, to, toward, towards under, underneath, up, upon,with, within, without |
V. Adjectives
A. Modify or describe nouns and pronouns.
B. Tell what kind, how many, and which one.
1. Cheryl wanted the blue dress instead of the black pants.
The adjective blue tells which one and describes the noun dress. The adjective black describes pants and also tells which one
or what kind.
2. She had two children by the time she was twenty-seven years old. 
The adjective two modifies or describes the noun children and tells HOW MANY children she had.
C. Adjectives are also used to compare.
1. Add -er to adjectives that have only one (and sometimes two) syllables to compare two people, places, or things. This form is the
comparative form.
2. Examples: I am shorter than my brother.
He is friendlier than I am.
3. Place the word "more" in front of adjectives that have more than two syllables and compare just two people, places, things, or ideas.
This is also the comparative form.
a. My college instructor is more understanding than my high school teacher.
b. After I finish college, I intend to become more involved in my community.
4. Add -est to adjectives that compare more than two people, places, things, or ideas. This is the superlative form.
a. This is the greatest chili I have ever eaten! 
b. Jerry Don is the oldestone in his family. 
The English/Writing provides a demonstration lesson in Parts of Speech, the first lesson in this course. A sample quiz follows this demonstration lesson.
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