Building Blocks of Language I

Parts of Speech

Only when we use the eight parts of speech correctly do our words convey meaning. Nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections are the building blocks of communication. Identifying these parts of speech and understanding their function in a sentence is the first step toward developing confidence and fluency in developing writers, readers, and speakers.

• Noun: names a person, place, or thing
• Verb: shows action or state of being
• Adjective: describes a noun or a pronoun
• Adverb: describes a verb
• Pronoun: used instead of a noun
• Preposition: specifies relationships between nouns, pronouns, and phrases within a sentence
• Conjunction: links words, phrases, and clauses
• Interjection: added to a sentence to convey emotion

Mnemonic devices such as IVAN CAPP may help students remember the eight parts of speech, though you’ll want to make sure students can also identify how a word functions and the conventions that govern its form.

Nouns describe a person, place, thing, or state of being. A noun can serve a variety of functions in a sentence including: subject, direct object, indirect object, appositive, adjective or adverb. In addition to a variety of these functions, nouns have classifications that students must be able to identify in order to construct meaning:

• Common nouns: Most nouns are common nouns and are capitalized only when they begin a sentence. Common nouns can combine with function words (also called determiners) such as: the, a, this, every. If a word can combine with a determiner and has a plural form, we can usually conclude it is a noun.
• Proper nouns: Names, days of the week, titles, months, institutions, holidays, magazines, newspapers, and organizations, are examples of proper nouns and are always capitalized.
• Singular nouns: The singular form of any noun names one person, place, or thing: banker, book, bedroom.
• Plural nouns: Generally, nouns become plural by adding -s or -es, as in, book/books, bath/baths. Other nouns, however, have irregular plural forms that students must learn to identify, such as person and people. In some cases, the singular and plural forms remain the same, as in sheep or deer. You’ll want to make sure students are familiar with common types of irregular plurals as they begin to compose sentences.
• Singular possessive: Usually, nouns become possessive by adding a combination of an apostrophe and the letter -s. Example: The kitten’s favorite toy is a pink ball of yarn.
• Plural possessive: For a plural noun ending in -s, you can form the possessive by adding an apostrophe after the -s, as in the following example: The sisters’ houses are both on the same street. You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does not end in -s by adding an apostrophe and an -s, as in the following example: The puppies like to play with the children’s ball of yarn.

Verbs are the most important part of a sentence. If you can make a past and a progressive form of a word, then it is likely a verb. Most verbs fall into one of two categories:

• Action verbs express mental or physical action, as in, He thought about home. Or, He raced toward the finish line.
• Linking verbs make a statement by connecting the subject with a word that describes or explains it such as: He had been tired.

Verbs have three basic tenses: present, past, and future. Each has a perfect form, indicating completed action during an indefinite time period; a progressive form, indicating ongoing action; and a perfect progressive form, indicating ongoing action that will be completed at some definite time.

Verbs are subdivided into two groups, regular verbs and irregular verbs, on the basis of how their past tense and past participles are formed. Most verbs are regular verbs. Regular verbs are those whose past tense and past participles are formed by adding a -d or an -ed to the end of the verb, such as bill, billed, billed. Sometimes the last consonant must be doubled before adding the -ed ending, as in, plan, planned, planned.

Irregular verbs change into very different words as they move from singular to plural or past to present (am/are, has/have, does/do). There are over 250 irregular verbs in the English language. Although they do not follow a formula, there are some fairly common irregular forms that students should learn to recognize.

Review

• The eight parts of speech in the English language consist of the noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, and interjection.
• Noun classifications include common nouns, proper nouns, singular and plural nouns, and singular and plural possessive nouns.
• Proper nouns are always capitalized and include names, days of the week, titles, months, institutions, holidays, magazines, newspapers, and organizations.
• Action verbs express mental or physical action; linking verbs make a statement by connecting the subject with a word.
• Verbs have three basic tenses: present, past, and future.
• The perfect form indicates completed action during an indefinite time period; the progressive form indicates ongoing action; and the perfect progressive form indicates ongoing action that will be completed at some definite time.
• Both nouns and verbs have regular and irregular plural forms that students must learn to identify as they begin to compose sentences.

Adjectives generally answer the questions: Which? What kind? or How many? Adjectives can be used to make comparative or superlative statements with the use of suffixes or by using the adjective together with more or most.

Examples: bright, brighter, brightest; intelligent, more intelligent, most intelligent

Adverbs generally answer the questions: How? When? Where? To what degree? or How much? Interrogative adverbs introduce questions: How? When? How often? and Where?

Examples: He fought swiftly and bravely. What time does the show start?

Pronouns take the place of a noun. There are many types of pronouns, including: nominative, objective, reflexive, possessive, and relative.

Preposition: A preposition introduces a noun, pronoun, phrase, or clause functioning in the sentence as a noun. The word or phrase the preposition introduces is its object. The preposition never stands alone. It must always have a noun or pronoun as its object.

Example: We were under the bridge at the lake.

In the above example, under the bridge and at the lake are both prepositional phrases. Prepositional phrases include the preposition and the object of the preposition as well as any modifiers related to either. Prepositional phrases usually tell when or where.

Example: Meet me {at the bridge} {on Lake Pleasant} {in twenty minutes.}

Conjunctions link words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence. The three types of classifications are subordinating, coordinating, and correlative conjunctions.

Students should be familiar with the definitions of phrases and clauses. Understanding how phrases are constructed and function within a sentence helps developing writers compose varied sentences and revise problematic structures during the writing process.

• A phrase is a group of words that does not have either a subject or a verb and does not make sense by itself.
• An independent clause has a subject and a predicate, and can stand alone as a complete sentence.
• A dependent clause has a subject and a predicate but depends on an independent clause to be complete. Dependent clauses are introduced by subordinating conjunctions such as after, although, because, before, if, though, unless, until, when, where, who, which, and that.

Interjections are exclamatory phrases used to convey emotion. Though they normally begin a sentence, they don’t always follow that rule.

Example: Wow! That was some weather. That hurt. Ouch!

Let’s take a look at how some of this information might be presented in a test question.

Review

• The eight parts of speech in the English language consist of the noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, and interjection.
• Adjectives generally answer the questions Which? What kind? How many? and can be used as comparatives or superlatives by adding endings to a word or by using the adjective together with more or most.
• Adverbs generally answer the questions How? When? Where? To what degree or How much?
• Pronouns take the place of a noun and can be nominative, objective, reflexive, possessive, or relative.
• Prepositions introduce a noun, pronoun, phrase, or clause and always have a noun or pronoun as their object.
• Prepositional phrases include the preposition and the object of the preposition as well as any modifiers related to either.
• Conjunctions join clauses and can be classified as coordinating, subordinating, or correlative.
• A phrase is a group of words that does not have either a subject or a verb and does not make sense by itself.
• An independent clause has a subject and a predicate, and can stand alone as a complete sentence.
• A dependent clause has a subject and a predicate but depends on an independent clause to be complete.
• Interjections are exclamatory phrases used to convey emotion.