Parts of Speech and Grammar

Objective

In this lesson, you will review the parts of speech and the grammar rules that govern them.

• In their famously slim writing guide, The Elements of Style, Strunk and White admonished writers to “write with nouns and verbs.” That’s where we’ll begin our review. We’ll also review pronouns, verbals, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions, and we’ll cover word order and identifying incorrect grammar.

You may remember that a noun names a person, place, thing, or abstraction.

The girl grabbed her backpack.

When the student is ready, the teacher appears.

Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen.

Independence formed the foundation of her personality.

There are several different types of nouns. For example, concrete nouns and abstract nouns distinguish between physical objects and concepts, but both types can also be proper nouns.

Here are some of the most common types of nouns.

This type of noun . . .	does this.	Examples include:
Compound Nouns	use more than one word to name a person, place, thing, or abstraction.	tree house, bookcase, street lamp, football
Concrete Nouns	name a physical object.	piano, dime, picture frame, candlestick
Abstract Nouns (also called Abstractions)	name a concept or idea.	freedom, acceptance, happiness
Collective Nouns	name a group of things or people.	herd, gaggle, team, bouquet, audience, bunch
Proper Nouns	name a specific person, place, thing, or abstraction.	Queen Victoria, Fiji, the Hope Diamond, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity
Pronouns	take the place of a noun. More on pronouns later.	he, she, it, we, us, they

Singular and Plural Nouns

Nouns can be singular or plural. To make most nouns plural, simply add an –s.

Singular	Plural
gem	gems
kiwi	kiwis
doctor	doctors
New Yorker	New Yorkers

Add –es to pluralize nouns ending in –s, -sh, -ch, and –x. If the word ends in –e, just add –s.

Singular	Plural
bass	basses
marsh	marshes
match	matches
toolbox	toolboxes
Great Dane	Great Danes

Nouns that end in –y follow their own rule. When a noun ends in –y and follows a vowel, just add an –s. When a noun ends in –y and follows a consonant, change the y to ie and then add the –s. Note: For proper nouns, just add –s without changing the –y.

Singular	Plural
attorney	attorneys
family	families
Sally	Sallys

Nouns that end in –o have their own rule, too. When a noun ends in –o and follows a vowel, just add –s. When a noun ends in –o and follows a consonant, add –es.

Singular	Plural
video	videos
tomato	tomatoes

Nouns derived from other languages form the plural as they would in the original language.

Singular	Plural
medium (Latin)	media
panino (Italian)	panini

Some nouns are just unpredictable! Use the dictionary if you have a question about how to pluralize a particular noun. If the noun is indeed irregular, the dictionary will list how to pluralize it.

Singular	Plural
elf	elves
child	children
die	dice
shrimp	shrimp or shrimps

Finally, pluralize the last word in most compound nouns. In hyphenated nouns, pluralize the main word even if it’s not at the end.

Singular	Plural
tablecloth	tablecloths
tree house	tree houses
brother-in-law	brothers-in-law

Nouns and Function

The same noun, whether collective, proper, or any other type, can wear many different hats in a sentence.

The subject of a sentence indicates who or what is doing the action. It’s often placed at the beginning of a sentence before the verb.

A giant coast redwood can grow to heights exceeding 350 feet.

A direct object identifies to whom or to what the action was done. Direct objects are usually placed after the verb in a sentence.

He climbed the redwood quietly, listening to the creaks of the old tree.

An indirect object answers the question “For what did the action occur?” or “For whom did the action occur?”

She gave all the love she had to the venerable redwood.

A noun can also function as the object of a preposition.

The upper branches of a healthy redwood can even contain soil, which can support plants from Douglas firs to huckleberry bushes.

An appositive provides more information about a noun.

Her favorite tree, the coast redwood, was known for living 2,000 to 3,000 to years.

A subject complement comes after a linking verb to explain or identify the subject. Subject complements that are nouns are called predicate nouns.

subject complement that’s an adjective : The redwood was mighty.

subject complement and predicate noun : It was her redwood.

Question

Choose the correctly punctuated appositive.

1. Basil, an important ingredient in Italian cooking grows easily in the southern United States.
2. Elaine added bay leaves, which reduced the acidity of the dish.
3. The many varieties of thyme, including lime and lemon thyme, grow under the same conditions as common thyme.
4. Rosemary is a popular seasoning and a deer-deterring plant.

Reveal Answer

The correct answer is C because it contains an appositive (including lime and lemon thyme) that is appropriately set off with commas. Answer A lacks a comma after the appositive an important ingredient in Italian cooking. Answer B includes the adverbial phrase which reduced the acidity of the dish, but does not include an appositive. A comma sets off the adverbial phrase correctly. Answer D has a compound predicate nominative a popular seasoning and a deer-deterring plant but does not contain an appositive.

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