Parts of speech

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Parts of Speech

nouns[edit | edit source]

verbs[edit | edit source]

  • express action
  • verb phrases
  • verb forms

transitive and intransitive verbs[edit | edit source]

  • transitive verbs act upon a direct object
    • ex. "The soccer player kicked the ball"
  • intransitive verbs do not have a direct object
    • ex. "The soccer player played hard"

<< to complete / expand

infinitives[edit | edit source]

  • infinitives use "to"
    • ex. "I go to see the game"
  • root forms act like infinitives but without the "to"
    • infinitive and base forms are generally interchangeable:
    • ex. "He helped her clean her desk" (root form)
    • v. "He helped her to clean her desk" (infinitive form)
  • note that "root" and "base" forms are used interchangeably
    • except "base form" of a verb includes infinitive and simple present forms of the verb

present tense forms[edit | edit source]

  • simple present
    • denotes a single action that is repeated, always happens, or the present condition of something
    • examples
      • repeated action: "I eat lunch at noon."
      • action that always (or, in the negative, never) happens: "I can't speak Latin"
    • denotes the condition or state of something: "The car is clean" or "I feel great!"
    • simple present form is also considered as a "base" verb form
  • present progressive
    • = -ing form for a verb to express an ongoing action
      • used with "to be" conjugations ("am" "is", etc.) the -ing verb form denotes an ongoing action
      • ex. "She is dancing"
      • see participle for the -ing form of a verb that acts as an adjective or a noun (called a gerund)
    • note that present progressive verb forms are frequently used to combine sentences or independent clauses
    • click EXPAND to see examples of present progressive verbs used to combine independent clauses
  • ex. "I went to see the sequel, and I hoped it would be as good as the first
  • the two independent clauses (complete sentences) can be combined by converting the "I hoped" to the present progressive form, "hoping"
  • "I went to see the sequel, hoping it would as good as the first"
  • note that "hoping" renders the second clause dependent (not a complete sentence or thought), thus employing only a comma and not a comma + conjunction
  • present progressive verbs subordinate clauses:
    • "Hoping it would be as good as the first" is not a complete sentence or thought
      • thus it is a dependent or subordinate clause
  • see also:
  • present perfect
    • indicates an action that happened at one point or that just happened and that consequences on the present
    • usually uses the "has" or "have" forms of a verb
      • "Yes, I have eaten dinner already"
      • "I have played soccer since I was five"
      • "I haven't seen her in years"

past tense forms[edit | edit source]

  • past simple
    • an action that happened in the past
    • click EXPAND for past simple examples:
      • "I ate before they showed up"
      • "I played soccer yesterday"
      • "I lived in Brazil"
  • past progressive
    • actions that were ongoing at some point in the past or that were repeated in the past
    • uses the -ing form of a verb
  • * click Expand for past progressive examples:
past progressive examples:
      • "I was eating when they showed up"
      • "I was playing soccer all last year"
      • "I was living in Brazil"
  • past perfect
  • an action that happened before something else happened (both in the past)
  • uses "had" to show the earlier event
    • and compares it to another even with "before", "because" or "by the time", etc.
  • click Expand for past perfect examples:
    • "I had already eaten when they showed up"
    • "I had played soccer long before I learned rugby"
    • "Because I had lived in Brazil, I already knew some Spanish"

future tense forms[edit | edit source]

  • future simple
    • an action that will take place in the future, usually with "will"
  • click Expand for future simple examples:
      • "I will eat after they show up"
      • I will play soccer tomorrow"
      • I will live in Brazil next year"
    • future simple also indicates a promise to do something in the future
      • "I will play harder next time"
  • future progressive
    • an action that will be ongoing in the future, usually with "will" and "-ing"
  • click Expand for future progressive examples:
      • "I will be eating with them when they show up"
      • "I will be playing soccer again after my ankle heals"
      • "I will be living in Brazil all next year"
  • future perfect
    • an action that will happen before something else, usually with "will have"
    • future perfect combines the future "will" with a past tense verb form
    • future perfect also indicates an ongoing future state or condition
  • click Expand for future perfect examples:
  • "I will have eaten before they show up"
  • "I will have played much better by the time we got to the playoffs"
  • "I will have lived in Brazil by the end of next summer"
    • or
  • "If they show up late, I will have been eating already."
  • "By next year, I will have played soccer for 12 years"
  • "I will have lived in Brazil a full year as of next week"
  • future perfect progressive
    • an action that will be going on until something else happens
    • uses the "will have been" and -ing form of the verb
  • click Expand for future perfect progressive examples:
  • "I will have been eating by the time they show up"
  • "By the end of the season, I will have been playing better"
  • "By next week, I will have been living in Brazil a full year"

participles and gerunds[edit | edit source]

  • verb forms that act like an adjective or a noun
  • types:
    • present participle:
      • verb form using -ing that acts as an adjective
    • past participle:
      • past tense verb form that acts as an adjective
    • gerund
      • verb form using -ing that acts as a noun
  • click on EXPAND for more explanation and examples of participles and gerunds
  • present participle
    • uses the -ing form of a verb as an adjective
  • click EXPAND to see examples of present participles
    • "The boiling water is hot" (describes the water)
    • "This trip is exciting" (modifies or describes the trip)
    • "The directions are confusing" (modifies the directions)
  • past participle
    • verbs in the past tense used as an adjective
    • where the simple past tense of a verb is used to show a condition of something
    • typically are -ed -en and -t forms
    • includes irregular verbs in the past tense, such as "to be" "to go" etc.
  • click on EXPAND for past participles as adjectives examples:
    • "Boiled water is sanitized" ("boiled" and "sanitized" describe the water)
    • "The glass was broken when I found it" ("was broken" describes the glass)
    • "The cut flowers are pretty" ("cut -
  • gerunds
    • verbs that act as nouns
    • use the -ing form of the verb
  • click on EXPAND for gerund (participles as nouns) examples:
    • "to swim" + -ing = "swimming" = a noun for the act of swimming
    • "Swimming is fun"
    • "Boiling water sanitizes it" ("boiling" is an act, therefore a noun, from the verb "to boil")
      • Note: gerunds are often interchangeable with infinitives
        • "I hate doing math" versus "I hate to do math"
        • however, note that gerunds and infinitives may act differently in terms of the object of the sentence
  • click on EXPAND for how gerunds and infinitives change the meaning of a sentence using College Board Writing practice test 6 question 21:

"Burland advocated using soil extraction:"

  • A) NO CHANGE
    • "Burland advocated using..." = he advocates for the use of soil extraction (he advocates the the object)
  • B) advocated to use
    • "Burland advocated to use..." = he advocates "to use" (he advocates the action)
  • A) NO CHANGE is correct because it is the object of the sentence, "soil extraction," that Burland advocates, not the action of its use (to use")

conjugations[edit | edit source]

  • students of Latin, Spanish or French verb conjugations while not learning about them in English
  • English has conjugations, just like many other languages
    • however, the conjugations in English do not vary as much
  • conjugations work by changing the verb suffix or form to match subject case

>> to chart out comparison of Latin, Spanish, French and English cases << to do

adverbs[edit | edit source]

  • modify verbs

adjectives[edit | edit source]

  • modify nouns

articles[edit | edit source]

  • definite article:
    • the
    • refers to a specific noun, usually already stated or defined
  • indefinite article:
  • a or an
    • refers to a general noun, usually not already stated or defined
    • indefinite articles are not used to refer to a general noun or one that cannot be counted
  • click on EXPAND to see examples of articles:
      • ex. "water" cannot be counted, so "a water" is incorrect
        • "may I have a water" should be instead "may I have some water"
    • zero articles
      • when the noun represents a generic idea, the article can be omitted
      • ex.
        • "They went on vacation" as opposed to "they went on a vacation "

pronouns[edit | edit source]

prepositions[edit | edit source]

  • express relationship in time, place, or sequence
  • prepositions add information to a sentence
  • prepositions are dependent clauses, so are separated from a main or dominant clause by a comma

interjections[edit | edit source]

  • aside remarks or interruptions
  • exclamation
    • expresses a spontaneous reaction or emotion
examples of exclamations:
        • "no!"
        • "okay"
        • "damn!"
        • "heh!"
  • click EXPAND to see full definitions and examples of participles and gerunds

Categories[edit | edit source]