The Eight Parts of Speech Punctuation Noun Common nouns refer to any person, place, thing, or idea. EXAMPLE: gate idea tulip time spider shock Proper nouns are capitalized and refer to specific persons, places, objects, or ideas. EXAMPLE: Carlos London Friday Supreme Court Pronoun A pronoun can take the place of a noun. EXAMPLE: My friend decided he would do something nice for me. There are three kinds of personal pronouns. EXAMPLE: He gave me some of his cows. subjective objective possessive Verb A verb shows action or state of being and indicates the time of that action or state. EXAMPLE: I thought I locked the gate. (past) Now I see my cows are grazing in the tulip field. (present) I will lock the gate more carefully tomorrow. (future) Adjective Adjectives are words that describe nouns and specify size, appearance, number, and so on. This is called modifying; adjectives are modifiers. EXAMPLE: The four cows looked smug as they chewed on bright red and yellow tulips. Adverb Adverbs are words that describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They specify in what manner, when, where, and how much. EXAMPLE: They ambled slowly back through the gate as I shouted impatiently. Preposition Prepositions show how a noun or a pronoun is related to another word in a sentence. EXAMPLE: Finally, they went back into the barnyard. I didn’t know the gate behind the barn was broken too. Conjunction Conjunctions join words, phrases, or clauses. EXAMPLE: I thought everything was fine, but then I glanced out the window again. Maybe I should just become a poet or an accountant. Interjection Interjections are also known as exclamations and are indicated by the use of the exclamation mark (!). EXAMPLE: Wow! I didn’t know cows could run like that. Place a period at the end of a statement. EXAMPLE: We went to the Tulip Festival. Also use a period at the end of an imperative sentence that does not express strong emotion. EXAMPLE: Please hush. Use a question mark after all interrogative sentences. EXAMPLE: Where will we go for our field trip? Use an exclamation mark after sentences that express surprise or deep feeling. EXAMPLE: Rodney looks just great! Use a comma to separate words and phrases in a series. EXAMPLE: Ally Smith has goats, some cows, and a pair of llamas. Use a semicolon when a conjunction is omitted. It indicates a greater degree of separation than a comma would. EXAMPLE: The trail was steep and rocky; the wind was savage. Use em dashes to set off intensifying or explanatory parts of a sentence. EXAMPLE: My cats—Leo, Theo, and Marv—like to sleep on my bed. Double quotation marks are used around a direct quotation. EXAMPLE: “I was born in Lethbridge,” said Mr. Duncan. “Where are you from?” Use a colon to start a list or to formally introduce a statement. EXAMPLE: There are three kinds of honeybees: queens, drones, and workers. Use an apostrophe to form contractions or to show possession. EXAMPLE: It’s too late for Dirk’s dog to have a bath. 1 . ? ! , ; — “ ” : 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Structuring Sentences ’ RESOURCE PAGES R–6
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