Understanding Parts of Speech: Nouns, Verbs, and Prepositions, Study notes of English Language

Download Understanding Parts of Speech: Nouns, Verbs, and Prepositions and more Study notes English Language in PDF only on Docsity! Parts of Speech: Nouns, Verbs, and Prepositions ENG 0990 Cuyahoga Community College Amy Raufman, Lecturer Every word in every sentence plays a role. Ex: The man in the red coat jumped on the bus. “Man” tells us who the sentence is about. “The” and “in the red coat” tell us which man. “Jumped” tells us what he did. “On the bus” tells us where he jumped. Nouns •A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea. •You’ll find it as the subject of sentences or the object of an action verb or preposition. Ex: The books were on the table. “Books” and “table” are our nouns. Ex: Hunting can be dangerous. “Hunting” and “dangerous” are nouns. Verbs show action or a state of being—or they “help” other verbs. She walked to school. “Walked” is an action verb. She is quiet. “Is” is a state of being verb (also called “linking”) She was walking in the park. “Was” is a helping verb that allows “walking” to be an active verb Verbs can act on their own or in groups He danced all night. He would have gone dancing all night if allowed. He was dancing yesterday at 3 p.m. Finding the subject: Ask who or what is the sentence about? Ex: The tiny cat climbed up the tree. Who is the sentence about? See also PR pp 200-2 Finding the verb: Ask what the sentence says about the subject or what the subject does or feels. Ex: The tiny cat climbed up the tree. What did the cat do? Or—try putting a pronoun in front of the word you think is the verb. Tiny? No, you cannot say “I tiny” Climbed? Yes, you can say “I climbed” See also PR pg 194-7