Grammar Notes: Parts of Speech / Types of Sentences Page 1 of 2

Grammar Notes: Parts of Speech / Types of Sentences Page 1 of 2

PARTS OF SPEECH

Noun: Person/place/thing. Proper Noun: The title of a person/place/thing; must be capitalized.

the animal / the tree / the spoon. John / Ottawa / The Eiffel Tower.

Pronoun: Used in place of a noun.

I, me, we, us, you, he, she, him, her, it, they, them.

Relative Pronoun: Used to relate dependent clauses to the rest of the sentence.

that, which, who, whom, whose, whichever, whoever, whomever.

Verb: Expresses action/being.

run, ran, running / is, was, has been.

Adverb: Describes verb (how/how much/when/where).

I run quickly / he ran downstairs / he’s always running / I’m running tomorrow.

Adjective: Describes noun/pronoun.

large animal / dying tree / rusty spoon.

Preposition: Links object with another part of the sentence.

between, despite, at, as, except, during, in, for, from, into, onto, of, on, under, with, etc.

Conjunction: Joins words.

Coordinating Conjunctions: and, or, nor, for, but, so, yet

Subordinating Conjunctions: when, whenever, before, after, until, unless, if, although, because, since, while

Subject: The noun/pronoun that is doing the main action of the complete thought (independent clause).

Complete Subject: The part of the sentence containing the noun/pronoun; may include adjectives.

Bare Subject: The main word in the complete subject.

Predicate: The verb that is part of the complete thought (independent clause).

Complete Predicate: The part of the sentence containing the verb.

Bare Predicate: The verb in the complete predicate.

Types of Sentences:

Simple Sentence:

·  One independent clause

·  Contains subject & predicate

·  Complete thought

·  Ex: My sister is excited to start her first day at school.

·  Ex: Yesterday, the rain and thunder poured down.

Compound Sentence:

·  Two or more independent clauses (joined with coordinating conjunction)

·  Complete thought

·  Ex: My sister is excited to start her first day at school, but I wish summer would last forever.

·  Ex: Yesterday, the rain poured down and I forgot my umbrella.

Complex Sentence:

·  One independent clause

·  One or more dependent clauses

·  Complete thought

·  Ex: Although I wish summer would last forever, my sister is excited to start her first day at school.

·  Ex: Because I forgot my umbrella yesterday when the rain poured down, I got drenched.

Independent Clause: Group of words containing a subject and a verb, expressing a complete thought.

Ex: My sister is excited to start her first day at school… I wish summer would last forever.

Ex: The rain poured down… I forgot my umbrella.

Ex: I got drenched.

Dependent Clause: Group of words containing a subject and a verb, but does not express a complete thought.

Ex: Although I wish summer would last forever.

Ex: Because I forgot my umbrella yesterday when the rain poured down.

Kinds of Sentences:

Declarative: Simple statement (.): The sky is blue. The other day, I walked to school.

Interrogative: Question (?): Is the sky blue? Did you walk to school the other day?

Imperative: Command (!/.): Walk to school tomorrow. Don’t look up!

Exclamatory: Statement said with rising voice (!): The sky is red!