Central Houston IWA!

This post provides a quick review of the basic parts of speech. Nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections each have their own function in a sentence and can break our writing when used incorrectly.

NOUNS: A proper or common noun may be used as the subject of a sentence, the object of a preposition, or as a direct or indirect object. Proper nouns are names of people and places, and they are capitalized. Common nouns are places and things.

• PROPER NOUN EXAMPLES: Houston, Mary, Minute Maid Park
• COMMON NOUN EXAMPLES: arena, city, girl

PRONOUNS: Pronouns may replace nouns when the identity of the noun has already been established. The form of the pronoun may change depending on its role in the sentence.

• USED AS THE SUBJECT: I, you, he, she, it, they
• ALL OTHER USES: me, you, him, her, it, them

VERBS: Main verbs express action, occurrence or state of being. They indicate whether something occurs in the past, present or future.

• ACTION EXAMPLE: She danced in the competition.
• OCCURRENCE / BEING EXAMPLE: Mr. Smith is in the hospital.

ADJECTIVES: Also called “modifiers,” adjectives describe nouns and pronouns. In the following examples, the boldfaced adjectives modify the underlined noun or pronoun.

• EXAMPLE: A brisk wind blew across the road. 
• EXAMPLE: She was busy, but she still found time to play with her children.

ADVERBS: These modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Many adverbs end in ly. However, don’t be misled into using them incorrectly, and be wary of using too many ly adverbs in stories and articles. In the following example, each bold word is an adverb. The first modifies the verb plan, the second modifies the adjective important, the third modifies the adverb heavily, and the last modifies the adjective, salted.

• EXAMPLE: Chefs plan meals carefully, keeping both good nutrition and presentation in mind. They use vegetables that provide very important vitamins and minerals. They are careful to see that the food is not too heavily salted.

PREPOSITIONS: These include words like on, in, under, below, to, after, over, and by. Prepositions are paired with a noun to form a prepositional phrase that establishes relationships in time or place. For a more comprehensive list of prepositions, click here.

• TIME EXAMPLE: We will attend the wedding in June.
• PLACE EXAMPLE: Mary sat under a large orange umbrella.

CONJUNCTIONS: Coordinating and subordinating conjunctions connect words, dependent clauses, or independent clauses. Coordinating conjunctions join two or more independent clauses or two words. Subordinating conjunctions introduce a dependent clause and join it to an independent clause.

• Coordinating Conjunctions: and, but, yet, so, for, or, and nor
  EXAMPLE: We hike and bike every summer. (Joins two words) 
  EXAMPLE: I love vacations at the beach, but my husband prefers the mountains. (Joins two independent clauses)
• Subordinating Conjunctions (for example): because, after, before, once, since, until, if, even if, although, and wherever
  ** Click here for a complete list.
  EXAMPLE: Before each movie starts, they always show a bunch of previews. (Forms a dependent clause that is linked to the beginning of the independent clause)

INTERJECTIONS: These are words or expressions that convey surprise or other strong emotions. When used alone, they are punctuated with an exclamation mark.  As part of a sentence, they are set off by commas.

• SINGLE WORD EXAMPLE: Hooray! We won the championship.
• SENTENCE EXAMPLE: Oh my, they are very late.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this discussion where we will cover when to use who vs. that vs. which.