Parts of Speech

Noun , Pronoun, Adjective

 NOUN
A noun is a part of speech that denotes a
person, animal, place, thing, or idea.
Person – He is the person to see.
Person – John started to run.
Person – Plato was an influential Greek
philosopher.
Animal – The dog barked at the cat.
Animal – Elephants never forget
 Examples
Place – The restaurant is open.
Place – Let’s go to the beach.
Place – Look over there.
Thing – Throw the ball.
Thing – Please close the door and lock it.
Thing – Use words properly to be understood.
Idea – Follow the rules.
Idea – The theory of relativity is an
important concept.
 Common and Proper Noun
• Common nouns are words used to name
general items rather than specific ones.
• Proper nouns have two distinct features: They
name specific one-of-a-kind items, and they
begin with capital letters, no matter where
they occur within a sentence
 Examples
• Common noun: I want to be a writer.
• Proper noun: Agatha Christie wrote many books.
• Common noun: I’d like to adopt a cat.
• Proper noun: Cleopatra is the cutest kitten ever.
• Common noun: Let’s go to the city.
• Proper noun: Let’s go to San Francisco.
• Common noun: My teacher starts work before sunup.
• Proper noun: Mr. Bell seems to understand what
students need
 Types of Nouns
Abstract Noun
Abstract nouns are those referring to ideas,
concepts, emotions, and other “things” you
can’t physically interact with. You can’t see,
taste, touch, smell, or hear something named
with an abstract noun.
Success seems to come easily to certain people.
She has an incredible love for nature
 Types of Nouns
Concrete Nouns
Concrete nouns are words used for actual things you can touch,
see, taste, feel, and hear – things you interact with every day.
Please remember to buy oranges.
Have a seat in that chair.
Collective noun 
is a word that refers to a group. It can be either singular or
plural, but is usually used in the singular
• Watch out for that swarm of bees.
• Our class graduates two years from now.
 Compound Nouns
• Compound nouns are words for people, animals,
places, things, or ideas, made up of two or more
words.
• Compound nouns are sometimes one word, like
toothpaste, haircut, or bedroom. These are often
referred to as closed or solid compound nouns.
• Sometimes compound nouns are connected with a
hyphen: dry-cleaning, daughter-in-law, and well-
being are some examples of hyphenated compound
nouns.
Sometimes compound nouns appear as two
separate words: full moon, Christmas tree, and
swimming pool are some examples of compound
nouns that are formed with two separate words.
Let’s just wait at this bus stop.
Be sure to add bleach to the washing machine.
Let’s watch the full moon come up over the
mountain.
He always gets up before sunrise
Countable and Uncountable Nouns
Anything that can be counted, whether singular – a dog, a
house, a friend, etc. or plural – a few books, lots of
oranges, etc. is a countable noun.
Anything that cannot be counted is an uncountable noun.
Even though uncountable nouns are not individual
objects, they are always singular and one must always use
singular verbs in conjunction with uncountable nouns.
There is no more water in the pond.
Please help yourself to some cheese.
I need to find information about Pulitzer Prize winners
 How Nouns Function

Nouns are subjects. Every sentence has a

subject, which is a noun that tells us what that
sentence is all about. John swung the baseball
bat.
Nouns are direct objects. These nouns receive
action from verbs. John swung the baseball bat.
Nouns are indirect objects. These nouns receive
the direct object. Brad threw John the ball.
• Nouns are objects of prepositions. These
nouns follow the prepositions in prepositional
phrases. John swung the baseball bat at Greg.
Nouns are predicate nominatives. These
nouns follow linking verbs and rename the
subject. John is a baseball player.
Nouns are object complements. These nouns
complete the direct object. They named their
dog Max.
 Exercise
Identify the proper noun in each sentence:
The boy threw the ball to his dog, Wilson.
I’d like you to meet my friend Jeremy.
We’ll be vacationing in Aspen this year.
My second grade teacher was Mrs. Gilbert, an old battle-
axe.
We went to Smith’s Furniture and bought a new couch to
replace our old one.
Do you think the Dolphins will win the game?
I’m flying first-class on Emirate Airlines
 Pronoun
A pronoun is defined as a word or phrase that
may be substituted for a noun or noun phrase.
Indefinite pronouns are those referring to one
or more unspecified objects, beings, or places.
For example any, anybody, anyone, either,
neither, nobody, no, someone, and some, every,
all, both, each any, some, several, enough,
many, and much.
__________________ is making my computer
act up.
Does _______________ know what’s happening
tonight?
_____________ baker presented a beautiful
cake to the king.
I don’t know __________ of the answers.
____________ happens for a reason.
 Personal Pronoun
• A personal pronoun is a pronoun that is associated primarily
with a particular person.
• First person, as in “I”
• Second person, as in “you”
• Third person, as in “It, he, she”
• Personal pronouns provide us with the following information:
• The person – Who is speaking?
• The number – Is the pronoun plural or singular?
• The gender – Is the pronoun feminine, masculine, or neuter?
 Examples
You need to stop lying to me.
We would love for you to join us.
Come look at my cat! He has climbed to the top of that tree
Subject Pronoun
A pronoun that takes the place of a noun as the subject of
a sentence.
An object pronoun
It is a type of personal pronoun that is normally used as a
grammatical object,
 Reflexive Pronoun
A reflexive pronoun is a type of pronoun that is
preceded by the adverb, adjective, pronoun, or noun to
which it refers.
I was in a hurry, so I washed the car myself.
You’re going to have to drive yourself to school today.
He wanted to impress her, so he baked a cake himself.
We don’t have to go out; we can fix dinner ourselves.
You are too young to go out by yourselves.
 Exercise
Each morning, I brush my teeth and stare at
______________ in the mirror.
Dad and I painted the trailer____________.
The children made holiday decorations by ___.
Paul copies his friend’s homework instead of
doing it _______________.
Please make ________________ at home while
you wait.
 Demonstrative Pronoun
A demonstrative pronoun is a pronoun that is used to point
to something specific within a sentence. Demonstrative
pronouns always identify nouns, whether the nouns are
named specifically or not.
This was my mother’s ring.
That looks like the car I used to drive.
These are nice shoes, but they look uncomfortable.
Such was her command over the English language.
None of these answers are correct.
Neither of the horses can be ridden.
 Exercise
• ________ was such an interesting experience.
• Are ___________ your shoes?
• You’ll have to get your own pen. ____ is mine.
• There is no end to ___________.
• Because of their bad behavior, ____________
of the children were given allowances.
 Possessive Pronoun
Possessive pronouns are those designating
possession.
Like its name suggests, a possessive pronoun
indicates ownership.
Possessive pronouns do not contain apostrophes
A possessive pronoun is used to avoid repeating
information that has already been made clear.
• This is my cat, not your cat. (Sounds repetitive)
• This cat is mine, not yours.
• I didn’t have my book so Jenny lent me her 
book. (Sounds repetitive)
• I didn’t have my book, so Jenny lent me hers.
• Your car is a lot faster than my car. (Sounds
repetitive)
• Your car is a lot faster than mine
 Exercise
The horse swished ___ tail to keep flies away.
This dessert is _______ but you can have it.
Please return _________ money at once.
______ car is so dirty I can’t even tell what color
it is.
When the cat saw the dog, it stopped in ______
tracks.
 Relative Pronoun
• A relative pronoun is one which is used to refer
to nouns mentioned previously, whether they are
people, places, things, animals, or ideas. Relative
pronouns can be used to join two sentences.
• The most common relative pronouns are which,
that, whose, whoever, whomever,
who, and whom. In some situations, the
words what, when, and where can also function
as relative pronouns.
 Examples
The cyclist who won the race trained hard.
The pants that I bought yesterday are already
stained.
The four team leaders, whomever the
committee selects, will be at tomorrow’s
meeting.
 Exercise
• The festival, ______________ lasted all day, ended
with a banquet.
• I am looking for someone __________ can watch my
dog while I go on vacation.
• The police needed details _____________ could help
identify the robber.
• I’d like to take you to a café _______________ serves
excellent coffee.
• The clubhouse, in __________ the dance was held,
housed about 200 people
 Adjectives
Adjectives are words that describe or modify
other words. They can identify or quantify
another person or thing in the sentence.
Adjectives are usually positioned before the
noun or the pronoun that they modify.
They live in a beautiful house.
 Comparing Adjectives
• Adjectives are also used for indicating the
position on a scale of comparison. The lowest
point on the scale is known as
the absolute form, the middle point is known
as the comparative form, and the highest
point is known as the superlative form.
This book is longer than
This book is long. This is the longest book.
that book.
 Comparative form
• When two objects or persons are being compared,
the comparative form of the adjective is used. The
comparative adjective can be formed in two ways:
• Adding –er to the absolute form of the adjective.
• Adding the word more before the adjective.
• For example:
• My essay is longer than yours.
• She is more beautiful than her sister.
 Superlatives
• The superlative is used to say what thing or person
has the most of a particular quality within a group
or of its kind. The superlative can be formed in two
ways:
• Adding –est to the absolute form of the adjective.
• Adding the word most before the adjective.
• For example:
• This is the most beautiful dress I have ever seen.
• The biggest table in the room.
 Positive Form
• The positive form is used in cases where there
are no differences between the two compared
things or persons. To form the positive, we use
the word as before and after the absolute
form of the adjective. For example:
• Danny is as smart as Phillip.
• She is as beautiful as her older sister.
 Exercise
• Name the type of comparing adjective in each
sentence:
• Jinx is a hairy dog.
• She has the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen.
• He made me madder than I’ve been in a long
time.
• We felt more excited than ever when we
heard the news
 Exercise
• My mother is a _____________ woman.
• The surgeon worked ____________ to
stabilize the patient.
• We ran ______________ than we did last
week.
• After the party, the house was the
_______________ it’s ever been
 Compound Adjective
• A compound adjective is formed when two or
more adjectives joined together to modify the
same noun. These terms should be hyphenated to
avoid confusion or ambiguity.
• This is a four-foot table.
• Daniella is a part-time worker.
• This is an all-too-common error.
• Beware of the green-eyed monster.
• He is a cold-blooded man.
 Adjective order
Adjectives denoting attributes usually occur in a specific order.
Generally, the adjective order in English is:
Quantity or number
Quality or opinion
Size
Age
Shape
Color
Proper adjective (often nationality, other place of origin, or
material)
Purpose or qualifier
• I love that really old big green antique car that always parked
at the end of the street. [quality - age - size - color - proper
adjective]
• My sister has a big, beautiful, tan and white, bulldog. [size -
quality - color - color]
• A wonderful old Italian clock. [opinion - age - origin]
• A big square blue box. [dimension - shape - color]
• A disgusting pink plastic ornament. [opinion - color - material]
• Some slim new French trousers. [dimension - age - origin]
• A wonderful old Italian clock. [opinion - age - origin]
• I bought a pair of black leather shoes. [color - material
 Much vs Many
• We saw _____ animals at the zoo.
• How _____ oranges did you put in the box?
• There isn’t _____ sugar in my coffee.
• I don’t have ______ friends.
• The old man hasn’t got _____ hair on his head.
• I’ve packed _____ bottles of water.
• I didn’t get _____ sleep last night.
• How _____ fruit do you eat in an average day?
 A few vs a little
• Can you please buy _______ apples.
• We need _______ water.
• I have _______ money left.
• I take _______ sugar with my coffee.
• We had _______ pints of beer there.
• You have _______ time left.
• There are _______ chairs in the room.
• He only spent _______ dollars there.
 Some vs many
• The child put _______ sand into the bucket.
• I can lend you _______ money if you need it.
• There aren’t _______ pears left. Only two.
• We had _______ cake with the tea.
• Don’t eat so _______ sweets or you’ll get fat.
• I had _______ beer last night at the bar.
• I don’t have _______ friends.
• He brought _______ food with him
 Little vs Less
• have _______ interest in classical music.
• I have _______ faith in him.
• We need _______ furniture in this dance hall than in the big
one.
• You have to drink _______ coffee.
• He has _______ money than I thought.
• Tonight I drank _______ wine than last night.
• She dedicates _______ time to her homework than to her
hobbies.
• This will take _______ time to finish than the last time we tried