2. Parts of Speech
are the building
blocks of writing.
Here’s a tip sheet
about the most
important things to
remember about
each part of speech

3. Nouns
You will encounter – and use -- four types of nouns
in your reading and writing:
concrete – wall
proper - John
collective - jury
abstract – truth
Abstract nouns represent ideas such as truth and
beauty, and can be the most difficult to identify.

4. Nouns
• In English, if you want to turn another part of
speech into a noun, you sometimes can do so
by adding the suffix (word ending) “ion” or
“ness.”
• He will graduate in June. (verb)
• His graduation is in June. (noun)

5. Adjectives
Remember that adjectives describe nouns by
answering questions about the noun:
– what kind? gold ring
–how many? dozen eggs
–which one? new puppy

6. Adjectives
Adjectives often come before the words they
modify, but they also can come after the verb
(if the verb is a linking verb).
– She makes great pizza.
– Her pizza is great.

7. Pronouns
• Pronouns replace nouns to avoid repeating
them.
• Pronouns need to be in the same number as
the nouns they replace.
• The boy is ready to eat his lunch.
• The girls are getting ready for their lacrosse
match.

8. Verbs
• Remember that verbs show action or link a
subject with a description. Every complete
sentence must have a verb.
• He runs like the wind.(action verb))
• He is a fast runner. (linking verb)

9. Verbs
• Linking verbs are usually a form of the verb to be (am,
is, are, was, were,) But other verbs such as
– seems
– feels
– becomes
– appears
can be used as linking verbs (and thus, followed by an
adjective) in the context of the sentence.
• She seems unhappy today.
• For more examples of linking verbs and what they do,
you can go to this link on the Grammar Bytes website.
http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/linkingverb.htm

10. Adverbs
• Adverbs give us more information about an
action (a verb). They are the easiest part of
speech to identify if they end in “ly.”
- He carefully counted all the pennies.
• There are other adverbs, however, that don’t
end in ly.
• Examples are: not, now, often, and very.

11. Adverbs
• To identify adverbs that do not end in ly, think
about the questions adverbs answer about
the verb: how, when, where, why, and in what
way (or, to what extent).
• He is going home now. (when)
• He is very tired (to what extent)

12. Conjunctions
• Conjunctions connect words, sentences, and clauses in
a sentence. There are two types:
– coordinating
– subordinate.
• The coordinating conjunctions can be remembered by
using the acronym FANBOYS, which stands for these
words: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.
• His attitude is decidedly hot and cold on that subject.
• Neither the boys nor their parents went to the game.

13. Conjunctions
• Subordinate conjunctions are words that
begin dependent clauses. They include words
such as when, who, which, that, because, if,
since.
• The field that was covered with snow was not
ready for baseball.
• Since I left home, I’ve been happier.

14. Prepositions
• Prepositions are words that begin
prepositional phrases.
• Here is a list of some of the most common
prepositions:
http://www.towson.edu/ows/prepositions.ht
m

15. Prepositions
• You can identify a preposition without
memorizing the list by remembering that they
indicate position in space or time.
• A preposition is the first word in a
prepositional phrase.
• The books in the library
• The girl with the cell phone

16. Identifying Parts of Speech
• Please go to noredink.com and log in. You will be
prompted to create a student account.
• Once you have created your account, enter this
code to become part of Ms. Lannin’s class:
mxcc8w8e
• Once you are a member, you will see a list of
practice exercises (called assignments) to be
completed.
• Once you have completed these exercises, you
will be ready to complete the graded assignment
for this lesson. Good Luck!