ParentPedia - Parts of a Sentence
Nouns
There are many different types of nouns in the English language and they all have a different function:
- Common nouns are the common things we find around us: car, chair, home, grass
- Proper nouns are the names of people, places and things: Mr Jones, London, China, Tuesday, April
- Collective nouns are the names for groups of things: a flock of birds, a swarm of bees, a herd of cows
- Pronouns are the little words we use instead of nouns: he, she , they, it, me
- Compound nouns are words made from two different nouns: butterfly, cupboard, lightbulb, treetop
- Plural nouns are the words given to more than one thing: cats, dogs, children, women, geese
More Nouns
Pro Nouns
Personal pronouns like the ones above are words that we use instead of nouns, to stop us repeating ourselves.
Look at the text below.
Although it is grammatically correct, we cannot write like this, as it does not flow.
We need to change the nouns that are repeated into pronouns.
Here is the text again with some of the repeated nouns replaced with pronouns.
Now the text is easier to read and flows.
Other pronouns we use are listed below:
Demonstrative
Demonstrative pronouns (this, that and their plurals these, those) are used to distinguish something, for example:
What is that? Can I have these?
Relative
Relative pronouns (who, whom, whose, what, which and that) refer back to people or things that were mentioned previously, for example:
Dogs that bite, need to wear a muzzle.
Indefinite
Indefinite pronouns are the largest group of pronouns. They refer to one or more unspecified people or things.
One group includes compounds of some-, any-, every- and no- with -thing, -one and -body, for example:
Anybody can do that.
Another group, including many, more, both, and most, can appear alone or followed by of, for example:
Many of them like ice-cream.
Distributive
Distributive pronouns are used to refer to members of a group individually rather than collectively together, for example each:
Each to their own.
Negative
Negative pronouns indicate the non-existence of people or things, for example nobody, no one, not:
Nobody thinks that.
Impersonal
Impersonal pronouns usually refer to a person, but do not specify first, second or third person like personal pronouns, for example one:
One does not have to participate, if one would prefer not to.
Interrogative
Interrogative pronouns ask which person or thing is meant. If we are talking about a person, we may use who (subject), whom (object) or whose (possessive), for example:
Who did that?
In colloquial or slang speech, whom is usually replaced by who, for example:
To whom did he refer to? Who did he refer to?
Non-personal interrogative pronouns (which and what) have only one form, for example:
Which is it? What is it?
Collective Nouns
Collective nouns are the names for groups of things:
a bunch of flowers;
a patch of grass;
a swarm of flies;
a flock of birds
Plural Nouns
Plural nouns are nouns which change to another form when there is more than one thing.
For example:
boy => boys;
dog => dogs;
child => children;
man => men
Possessive Nouns
Possessive nouns are nouns with an apostrophe to show belonging:
the baby’s toy – the toy belongs to the baby;
the babies’ toys – the toys belong to the babies;
the boy’s book – the book belongs to the boy;
the boys’ bags – the bags belong to the boys;
the men’s work – the work the men have done;
the girl’s hair – the hair that belongs to the girl
the girls’ hair – the hair that belongs to the girls
Compound Nouns
Compound nouns are two words which have been joined together to make a new noun:
black + board = blackboard;
cup + board = cupboard;
butter + fly = butterfly
Abstract Nouns
Abstract nouns are nouns we cannot see like: fear, pride, friedndship, loyalty, honesty.
Verbal Nouns
Verbal nouns are
Uncountable Nouns
Uncountable nouns are..
Adjectives
An adjective is used to describe a noun or a pronoun.
It is a describing word.
Adjectives are usually found after an article such as ‘A, an or the’ but before the noun or between another determiner and a noun.
However, if a relative pronoun is used, such as which or that, then the adjective comes after the noun.
Look at the following sentences.
(The adjectives are in green)
Note: you can use more than one adjective to describe a noun, provided you separate them with a comma.
(Answers are found at the bottom)
Verbs
Verbs are doing words they are things that we do.
These words are tricky to learn because their endings change depending on whether we are talking in the past, present or future tense. To learn verbs, you should learn the base form first or the infinitive.
Adverbs
Adverbs are words which describe verbs (doing words), they describe how something is done or when it’s done.
Many adverbs end in -ly.
Adverbials
Adverbials are like adverbs they describe verbs (doing words), but they describe
- How something is done or
- When it’s done,
- Why it is done
- Where it is done.
They use an adverb and additional word or words, to add more description.
Rather than a word like many adverbs they are phrases.
Conjunctions
Conjunctions are joining words.
Co-ordinating conjunctions join 2 simple sentences together.
Conjunctions 2
Conjunctions used to start a subordinating clause are called subordinating conjunctions.
Relative pronouns can also be used to start subordinating clauses too.
An easy way to remember these subordinating conjunctions and relative pronouns is to use the mnemonic:
Homophones
Homophones are words in the English Language which sound the same but are spelt differently.
Homonyms
Homonyms are words in the English Language which are spelt the same and sound the same but have different meanings. One meaning is usually a noun, while the other can be used as a verb.
Some homonyms have multiple meanings and are also homophones.
Gender
When we are talking about things that are male or female, we sometimes need to use different words to show that things are masculine or feminine.
