Eight Parts of Speech: Themselves

Eight Parts of Speech
Blinn College – Bryan Writing Center

Fall 2018

NOUNS refer to a person, place, thing, or concept. Nouns can be proper, common, concrete, abstract, count or
non-count.
 Proper nouns are capitalized: Sam Jones, San Antonio, Tylenol, Math 101.
 Common nouns (all other persons, places, or things) are not capitalized: man, city, medicine, class.
 Concrete nouns can be seen: building, flower, rock, spice.
 Abstract nouns are qualities and ideas: fairness, magnificence, reality, integrity.
 Count nouns can be counted or have plural forms: boy, boys, town, towns, mouse, mice.
 Non-count nouns cannot be counted or do not have plural forms: tolerance, gold, mud, stuff.
PRONOUNS replace a noun or act as a substitute (or antecedent) for a specific noun. Pronouns can be
personal, possessive, intensive, reflexive, relative, interrogative, demonstrative, indefinite, and reciprocal.
 Personal pronouns: I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it, we, us, you, them, they
 Possessive pronouns: your, yours, my, mine, her, hers, his, its, your, yours, our, ours, their, theirs
 Possessive pronouns that serve as adjectives: your, my, our, his, her, its, their
 Intensive and Reflexive pronouns: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves,
themselves
 Relative pronouns: who, whom, whose, that, which
 Interrogative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, what
 Demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, those
 Indefinite pronouns: all, any, anything, both, each, few, either, one, nothing, none
 Reciprocal pronouns: each other, one another
VERBS describe an action or the act of being. “Be” verbs include one or more helping verbs, followed by a main
verb. Helping verbs, combined with main verbs, create tense.
 Helping: am, are, be, been, being, can, could, did, do, does, had, have, has, is, may, might, must, shall,
should, will, would, was, were.
 Main verbs can change form. For example:
Base form: try see eat
Present (-s) form: tries sees eats
Past form: tried saw ate
Past Participle form: have tried have seen have eaten
Present Participle form: am trying are seeing are eating
 “Be” verbs have eight forms:
Base: be
Present Tense: am, is, are
Past Tense: was, were
Present Participle: being
Past Participle: been
 Active vs. Passive verbs: In active voice (The dog bit the boy), the subject does the action. In passive
voice (The boy was bitten by the dog), the subject receives the action. Choosing active over passive
voice expresses meaning more powerfully than forms of the verb be or verbs in passive voice. Passive
verbs are weaker because their subjects receive rather than do the action.
Blinn College – Bryan Writing Center
Fall 2018
ADJECTIVES modify or describe nouns or pronouns ONLY. If a word answers the following questions, it is
probably an adjective: Which one? What kind of? How many?
 Adjectives usually come before the word they modify or follow linking verbs, which describe the
subject: The dog was older. My dog is brown. The older, brown dog is my pet.
 Articles (a, an, the) are adjectives.
 Some pronouns (all, her, his, its, my, their, this, and your) are adjectives.
 Nouns that modify other nouns are adjectives: peach cobbler, orange tree.
ADVERBS modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs ONLY. If a word answers the following questions, it is
probably an adverb: When? Where? How? Why? Under what conditions? To what degree?
 Examples include: today, yesterday, tomorrow, first, then, not, never, often, before, after, there, here,
upstairs, downstairs, carefully, tastefully, occasionally, actually, logically, personally.
PREPOSITIONS usually occur before a noun or pronoun to form a phrase that modifies another word in the
sentence. These are known as prepositional phrases. Prepositional phrases often act as adjectives or adverbs
and show relationships of words in sentences.
 As adjectives: When the prepositional phrase is an adjective, it usually follows the noun or pronoun
that it modifies. Adjective phrases tell us which one or what kind of.
 As adverbs: When prepositional phrases act as adverbs, they modify the verb but can also modify
adjectives or other adverbs. A prepositional phrase modifying a verb can appear in any place in the
sentence.
 Most common prepositions: about, above, across, after, against, along, among, around, as, at, before,
behind, below, beside, besides, between, beyond, but, by, concerning, considering, despite, down,
during, except, for, from, in, inside, into, like, near, next, of, off, on, onto, opposite, out, outside, over,
past, plus, regarding, respecting, round, since, than, through, throughout, till, to, toward, under,
underneath, unlike, until, unto, up, upon, with, within, without.
CONJUNCTIONS connect thoughts. They join words, phrases, or clauses. They help the reader understand the
relationship between the words they join. Different types of conjunctions are coordinating, correlative,
subordinating conjunctions, and conjunctive adverbs.
 Coordinating conjunctions: FANBOYS = for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.
 Correlative conjunctions: both . . . and, either . . . or, neither . . . nor, not only . . . but also, whether . . . or.
 Subordinating conjunctions: after, although, as, as if, because, before, if, once, since, than, that,
though, unless, until, when, where, whether, and while.
 Conjunctive adverbs: finally, furthermore, however, moreover, nevertheless, similarly, then, therefore,
thus.
INTERJECTIONS express emotion or surprise.
 Examples: Amen! Bye! Duh! Gee! Hello! Hey! Hurray! Wow! Yeah!
See A Writer’s Reference, pp. 305-12, for additional information and examples.

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Eight Parts of Speech

Blinn College – Bryan Writing Center

Eight Parts of Speech

INTERJECTIONS express emotion or surprise.

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