Nouns A noun is a the name of a person, place, thing, quality, concept or action

Persons child typist Mr. Harris Martha Places lobby courtroom Chicago college Things desk phone computer book Qualities dependability honesty loyalty sincerity Concepts beauty truth knowledge happiness Actions walking/to walk typing/to type writing/to write thinking/to think

The first letters of some nouns are capitalized to show a specific name or title (Alan). These are called proper nouns. Other nouns that are not specific do not use a capital letter (man). These are called common nouns. Nouns that have a singular and plural form are called count nouns. Nouns that only have a singular form are called non-count nouns. Non-count nouns never add -s.
person often count nouns { place thing Common Noun Count Singular girl country car ---------------------Non-Count Proper Noun Count Singular Maria America Ford ---------------------Plural Marias Americas Fords ----------------------

quality often non-count nouns { concept action

Plural girls -------countries -------cars homework ---------------------honesty beauty typing

Nouns function in many ways:

Noun Functions subject: The car runs well. direct object: I bought a book. complements: Mary was president. object of the prep: He walked to the store. indirect object: Sam mailed Joan a letter. possession: The woman's daughter left early.

Verbs

A verb is a word that tells what the subject of the sentence does, says, thinks, or feels. Sometimes the verb shows movement (jump) or sometimes it shows how a thing is or that it exists (is). The verb also shows time which is called tense. The form of the verb or its tense can tell when events take place. For example, the verb kiss (*note: kiss is also a count noun):
Present Simple kiss/kisses Present Perfect has/have kissed Present Continuous (Progressive) is/am/are kissing Present Perfect Continuous (Progressive) has/have been kissing Past Simple kissed Past Perfect had kissed Past Continuous (Progressive) was kissing Past Perfect Continuous (Progressive) had been kissing Future Simple will kiss Future Perfect will have kissed Future Continuous (Progressive) will be kissing Future Perfect Continuous (Progressive) will have been kissing

Adverbs Adverbs modify or describe verbs (run fast), adjectives (often sad), or other adverbs (too often). Adverbs often, but not always, end in -ly. A test for deciding if a word is an adverb is to think about the word's function. Adverbs tend to tell where, when, or how. For example: very pretty, most unhappy, never angry, come soon Adverbs often answer three questions:

THE ROYAL ORDER OF ADVERBS

Verb Beth swims Manner Place Frequency every morning every afternoon every morning Time before dawn before supper before lunch. Purpose to keep in shape. to get a newspaper. enthusiastically in the pool into town in her room

Dad walks impatiently Tashonda naps

In actual practice, of course, it would be highly unusual to have a string of adverbial modifiers beyond two or three (at the most). Because the placement of adverbs is so flexible, one or two of the modifiers would probably move to the beginning of the sentence: "Every afternoon before supper, Dad impatiently walks into town to get a newspaper." When that happens, the introductory adverbial modifiers are usually set off with a comma.

The Royal Order of Adverbs was created by Dr. Charles Darling, Professor of English, Capital Community College. Source: Capital Community College Guide to Grammar & Writing: Adverbs. Reprinted with permission 25 February 2003.

Adjectives Adjectives are words that describe a noun. Ugly, funny, big, round, and loose are all examples of adjectives. Some less obvious examples are: that dog, her bone, enough food, every room. Adjectives can also describe how much or how many: fewer friends, less food, more people.
colors blue red green orange fuschia yellow quality honest loyal sincere efficient confident rude size big small tiny large miniscule huge emotions numbers sad angry happy nervous one two three first second third demonstrative this (close) that (far) these (close) those (far)

action verbs of feeling articles (can be used as adj.) interested/interesting satisfied/satisfying bored/boring excited/exciting * a an the

possessive (+ noun) my (tradition) our (traditions) your (tradition) your (traditions) his (tradition) their (traditions) her (tradition) its (tradition)

Verb+ED becomes an adjective when it is used to describe a person or animal that experiences an emotion We will call this adjective the Experiencer adjective. One good way to remember to use ED to describe the Experiencer is to remember that both words start with E. The Experiencer is described with ED. Verb+ING becomes an adjective when it is used to describe the things that cause an emotion. We will call this the Instigator (Causing) adjective. One good way to remember to use ING to describe the Instigator (or Causing) adjective is to remember that both words start with I. The Instigator is described with ING.

THE ROYAL ORDER OF ADJECTIVES

Determi Observat ner ion Physical Description Size a an four her our those that several some delicious dilapidate little d enormo us youn g Americ an Thai big square beautiful expensiv e gorgeous longstemm ed short old Shape Age old antiq ue red blac k Englis h woode hat n Col or Italian silver silk touring car mirror roses hair sheepd og boxes Origin Materi Qualifi al er Noun

hunting cabin basket players ball food

The Royal Order of Adjectives was created by Dr. Charles Darling, Professor of English, Capital Community College.

Source: Capital Community College Guide to Grammar & Writing: Adjectives. Reprinted with permission 25 February 2003.