Parts of Speech Grammar Notes

Parts of Speech Grammar Notes Glencoe Language Arts Grammar and Composition Handbook Grade 9 (92-128)

Noun: A noun is a word that names a person, a place, a thing, or an idea (93). • uncle, doctor, kitchen, apple, respect, pride • Nounscan be singular or plural depending on whether they name one person, place, thing, or idea, or more than one. • To form the plural of most nouns, simply add –s. • girl—girls, doctor—doctors, desk—desks

For Nouns ending in s, ch, sh, x, or z add –es to form the plural • dress—dresses, switch—switches, brush—brushes, box—boxes, waltz—waltzes • For nouns ending in consonant –y, change the y to i and add –es. • hobby—hobbies, mystery—mysteries, • joy—joys (joy does not end in consonant –y) Practice exercise page 94.

For most nouns ending in f or fe, change the f to v and add –s or –es. knife—knives, life—lives, wife—wives, chief—chiefs Other nouns have irregular plurals. man—men, child—children, ox—oxen Some nouns do not change form from singular to plural. fish—sheep—salmon

Possessive nouns: A noun can show possession, ownership, or the general relationship between two nouns (94). • Add an apostrophe and –s to form the possessive any singular noun, even one that already ends in s. • Use an apostrophe alone to form the possessive of a plural noun that ends in s. • Add an apostrophe and –s to form the possessive of a plural noun that does not end in s.

Practice exercise page 95.

Collective nouns: A collective noun is singular in form but names a group (97). family, herd, company, band, team, audience, troop, committee, jury, flock

A collective noun is considered singular if you are talking about the whole group acting together. • The juryis ready with its verdict. • The collective noun is considered plural if you are talking about the individual members of the group. • The juryare comparing their interpretations of the evidence. • Practice exercises page 98.

Pronoun: A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun, a group of words acting as a noun, or another pronoun. The word or group of words to which a pronoun refers is called its antecedent (98).

Personal Pronouns

Possessive Pronouns Practice exercise page 100.

Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns

The reflexive pronoun reflects back to the subject and always adds information. • Jim uses a stopwatch to time himself on the track. • The intensive pronoun adds emphasis to another noun or pronoun in the same sentence. • You must sign the application yourself. • (101-102)

Demonstrative Pronouns • Demonstrative pronouns point out specific persons, places, things, or ideas (103). • This is your locker. • My uniform is cleaner than those.

Interrogative Pronouns • An interrogative pronoun is used to form questions (103). • Who is at the door? • Whatever were you thinking of?

Relative Pronouns • Relative pronouns beginning a special subject-verb word group called a subordinate clause (103-104). • The driver who arrived last parked there. • The meal that you prepared was delicious.

Indefinite Pronouns An indefinite pronoun refers to persons, places, things, or ideas in a more general way than a noun does (104). Practice exercise page 105.

Verb: A verb is a word that expresses action or a state of being and is necessary to make a statement (105). • Action verb: An action verb tells what someone or something does (106). • Transitive verb—followed by a direct object. • The batter swung the bat confidently. • Intransitive verb—not followed by a direct object. • The batter swung wildly. Practice exercises page 107.

Linking verbs: A linking verb links, or joins, the subject of a sentence (often a noun or a pronoun) with a noun, a pronoun, or an adjective that identifies or describes the subject. A linking verbdoes not show action (108). • The person behind the mask was you. • Archery is an outdoor sport. • The players are ready. • They were sports fans.

Be in all its forms—is, are, was, were, be, am—is the most commonly used linking verb. Other verbs that can be linking verbs: Practice using linking verbs by writing ten sentences containing linking verbs. Remember that they must link the subject to a word that identifies or describes the subject.

Verb phrases: The verb in a sentence may consist of more than one word. The words that accompany the main verb are called auxiliary, or helping, verbs. A verb phrase consists of a main verb and all its auxiliary, or helping verbs (108). • Auxiliary verbs help the main verb express time by forming the various tenses—see Chapter 5, pages 184-212.

Auxiliary Verbs These verbs are more easily memorized in this order. Practice exercises pages 109-110.

Adjective: An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or a pronoun by limiting its meaning. An adjective tells what kind, which one, how many, or how much (110). • Possessive pronouns may function as adjectives—my kitten, our house, their books. • Demonstrative pronouns may function as adjectives—those bicycles, these books, this door. • Possessive nouns may function as adjectives—Lucy’s report, Suzie’s homework, Bob’s house.

Two verb forms may also function as adjectives • The present participle, which is formed by adding –ing • A spinning top is beautiful to see. • The past participle, which is formed by adding –ed or is irregularly formed • Burned toast smells terrible. • A fallen tree will quickly deteriorate. Practice exercises page 111.

Forms of adjectives: Many adjectives have different forms to indicate their degree of comparison. The positive form indicates no comparison. The comparative form compares two nouns or pronouns. The superlative form compares more that two nouns or pronouns (112).

Articles: Articles are the adjectives a, an, and the. A and an are indefinite articles. A is used before a consonant sound and an is used before a vowel sound. The is the definite article (113). Proper adjectives are formed from proper nouns and begin with a capital letter. Practice exercises page 114.

Adverbs: An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb by making its meaning more specific (114). • Modifying verbs • Neverswim alone. He hasseldomcomplained. • Modifying adjectives • The movie was veryscary and toolong. • Modifying adverbs • She almost always waited quite patiently.

Adverbs modify by answering these questions: When? Where? How? To what degree? • Adverbs may be placed in various positions relative to the verb or verb phrase. • Negative words, including the contraction n’t are adverbs. Other negative words can function as adverbs of time and place. Practice exercises page 116.

Adverbs that compare: Like adjectives, some adverbs have different forms to indicate their degree of comparison. The comparative form compares two actions. The superlative form compares more that two actions. • For most adverbs of only one syllable, add –er to form the comparative and –est to form the superlative • Most adverbs that end in –ly or have more that one syllable use the word more to form the comparative and most to form the superlative

Some adverbs form the comparative and superlative irregularly: Practice exercises page 118.

Prepositions: A preposition is a word that shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun to another word in a sentence. A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or a pronoun that is called the object of thepreposition (118).

PREPOSITIONS: You should know these

A compound preposition is a preposition that is made up of more than one word.

Some words may be used as either a preposition or an adverb. If the word has an object, it is used as a preposition. If not, it is an adverb. • I left my boots outside the back door. • I left my boots outside. (adverb) • The speech was over my head. • The speech was over. (adverb) Practice exercises page 120.

Conjunctions: A conjunction is a word that joins single words or groups of words (120). • Coordinating conjunctions join words or groups of words that have equal grammatical weight in a sentence. • and, but, or, so, nor, yet, for • A comma is needed when the coordinating conjunction combines two main clauses. • I wanted a new sun hat,so I bought one.

Correlative conjunctions work in pairs to join words and groups of words of equal grammatical weight in a sentence (121). • both…and, just as…so, not only…but (also), either…or, neither…nor, whether…or • The correlative conjunction makes the relationship between the words a little clearer than do coordinating conjunctions. • I scrubbed and waxed the floor. • I not only scrubbed but also waxed the floor. Practice exercises page 122.

Subordinating conjunctions join two clauses, or thoughts, in such a way as to make one grammatically dependent on the other (122). • The clause that the subordinating conjunction introduces is said to be “subordinate,” or dependent, because it cannot stand by itself as a complete sentence. • When the subordinate clause begins a sentence, it is followed by a comma. • We can’t skate on the pond until the ice is thicker. • Until the ice is thicker, we can’t skate on the pond.

Common Subordinating Conjunctions Practice exercises page 123. Write ten original sentences using different subordinating conjunctions from this page. Five subordinate clauses should begin the sentence and five should be at the end.

A conjunctive adverb is used to clarify the relationship between clauses of equal weight in a sentence. • A conjunctive adverb is usually stronger, more precise, and more formal than the coordinating conjunctions it replaces. • A coordination conjunction requires only a comma between the two main clauses • A conjunctive adverb requires a semicolon preceding and a comma following.

Common Conjunctive Adverbs Practice exercises pages 124-125. Write five sentences using conjunctive adverbs. Be sure to punctuate them correctly.

Interjections: An interjection is a word or a phrase that expresses emotion or exclamation. An interjection has no grammatical connection to the other words (125). Note the punctuation. • O, my! What is that? • Ouch! It’s hot! • Yikes, I’ll be late! • Ah, that’s better. Practice exercises page 125-126. The second exercise is the first parts of speech review.

Review Assignment: • Produce a Review Cover Page for your Parts of Speech notes. • Procedure: • Divide one sheet of unlined paper into eight equal sections. • Use one section for each of the eight parts of speech.

Each section review must contain • A definition—be sure to include parenthetical documentation referencing your source. • An illustration—may be neatly hand drawn, downloaded, imported, or pasted. Must be colored. • A sentence demonstrating usage—highlight all of the words in the sentence that are the part of speech review. • Some students have used just one sentence that employs all eight parts of speech for each square.

Noun: A word that names a person, place, thing, or and idea (26). Look! A little green frog is leaping quickly from leaftoleaf and catching flies for himself. • You may use two sheets divided into four sections each if you need more space for your work, but you may not use the back of your paper.

Parts of Speech Grammar Notes