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Helpful English Terms

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Just what you've been asking for- easy, simple definitions for common parts of speech. There are so many to remember! Use this as a guide. You may not need all of the information, so don't get confused. Take what you need to answer your question and forget the rest!

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Parts of Sentences

A sentence is a group of words telling an idea.

Parts of Speech and examples

Noun- person (girl), place (city), thing (table) or idea (selfishness)

The girl likes flowers.

article/ nounverbnoun

adjective

singular nouns refer to one noun (cat, rat, dog)

plural nouns refer to more than one thing

Pronoun- replaces a noun in a sentence

personal pronouns (subjective pronouns)

I, we, he, she, it, they, you, this

I like flowers.

pronounverbnoun

possessive pronouns (take the place of possessive nouns)

my, our, his, hers, its, theirs, yours

My sister likes flowers.

possessivenounverbnoun

pronoun

object pronouns (objective pronouns)

me, us, him, her, it, them, you, these

Give them to her.

verb objectpreposition object

pronoun pronoun

Adjective- describes a noun or pronoun (happy girl, dirty city, yellow table, bold selfishness)

Certain adjectives, or article adjectives, are referred to as definite and indefinite articles.

Definite Articles: the

Indefinite Articles: a, an, some

"a" is used with words that do not begin with vowels (a,e,i,o,u)

a banana

"an" is used with words with begin with vowels. sometimes if an h comes before the vowel an is used, if the h sounds silent..

an apple

an herb

The happy girl smelled the flowers.

articleadjectivenounverbarticlenoun

Verb- shows action (action verb) or being (linking verb)

he runs (runs is the verb) or he is (is = verb)

The girl smelled the flowers.

article noun verbarticlenoun

infinitive (for definition)

To run is to move fast

present tense (happens now) Now I run.

Present participle (happening now)

Now I am running.

past tense (happened in the past)

Yesterday I ran.

Past participle (happening yesterday)

Yesterday I was running.

future (will happen)

Tomorrow I will run.

conditional (will happen if something happens)

If I can I will go.

intransitive verb (common verb) I run.

transitive verb (used with direct and indirect objects)

I run to her.

A simple verb chart

singular pronounverbplural pronounverb

run

you

run

you

run

he, she it

runs

they

run

The irregular verb : to be

singular pronounverbplural pronounverb

are

you

are

you

are

he, she it

they

are

For a more complete list of verbs, try here:

Helping verb- works with the verb to show tense

He had gone (had is the helping verb)

He had gone to the flower store.

subject

helping verb

preposition article

adjective

noun

pronoun

verb

Adverb- describes the verb

he runs fast (fast is the adverb)

he quickly runs (quickly is the adverb)

he has never gone (never is the adverb)

The girl happily smelled the flowers.

articlenounadverbverbarticlenoun

Article (type of adjective)- describes a noun

the

Take the flowers.

verbarticlenoun

(command)

Conjunction- Connecting words in a sentence

and, but, if, or

She has flowers and candy.

subjectverbnounconjunctionnoun

pronoun

For a more complete list of conjunctions, see here.

preposition- another type of connecting word that connects nouns with objects

to, over, from, by, beside

object of the preposition- the noun or pronoun the preposition refers to

prepositional phrase- the phrase connecting the preposition and the object

She went (to the store).

subject

verb proposition article

object of the proportion

pronoun

Other parts of Sentences

Subject

simple subject- the noun or pronoun of the sentence only

The silly girl likes all flowers. (girl is the subject- the sentence is about girl)

complete subject- the whole subject part of the sentence, usually before the verb

The silly girl likes flowers. (the sentence is about a silly girl)

simple predicate- the verb of the sentence, showing action.

The silly girl likes all flowers. (likes is what the girl does)

complete predicate- the verb and related parts of the sentence that tell what the

subject does

The silly girl likes all flowers. (likes all flowers is what the girl does)

clause- a group of words in a sentence

Sally went to the store.

Sally went to the store (to get some flowers) (for the party).

subordinate clause (also called dependent clause)- a group of words that are part of a sentence but cannot be a sentence alone

went to the store

Types of Sentences

simple sentence- a subject and a predicate

Sally likes flowers.

complex sentence- a sentence with more than one clause

Sally likes flowers therefore she has a garden.

statement/ declarative sentence- a statement of information (uses a period)

Sally likes flowers.

Sally likes flowers therefore she has a garden.

command/ imperative sentence- tells someone to do something (uses a period)

Water the flowers.

question/ interrogative sentence- asks for information (uses a question mark)

Does Sally like flowers?

interjection- interrupts, like shouting

Look! Sally has a garden.

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