Parts of Speech Nouns

A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea. Whatever exists, we assume, can be named, and that name is a noun. A proper noun, which names a specific person, place, or thing (Carlos, Queen Marguerite, Middle East, Jerusalem, Malaysia, Presbyterianism, God, Spanish, Buddhism, the Republican Party), is almost always capitalized. A proper noun used as an addressed person's name is called a noun of address. Common nouns name everything else, things that usually are not capitalized. A group of related words can act as a single noun-like entity within a sentence. A Noun Clause contains a subject and verb and can do anything that a noun can do:
What he does for this town is a blessing.

A Noun Phrase, frequently a noun accompanied by modifiers, is a group of related words acting as a noun: the oil depletion allowance; the abnormal, hideously enlarged nose. There is a separate section on word combinations that become Compound Nouns such as daughter-in-law, half-moon, and stick-in-the-mud.

Categories of Nouns
Nouns can be classified further as count nouns, which name anything that can be counted (four books, two continents, a few dishes, a dozen buildings); mass nouns (or non-count nouns), which name something that can't be counted (water, air, energy, blood); and collective nouns, which can take a singular form but are composed of more than one individual person or items (jury, team, class, committee, herd). We should note that some words can be either a count noun or a non-count noun depending on how they're being used in a sentence:
a. b. c. d. He got into trouble. (non-count) He had many troubles. (countable) Experience (non-count) is the best teacher. We had many exciting experiences (countable) in college.

Whether these words are count or non-count will determine whether they can be used with articles and determiners or not. (We would not write "He got into the troubles," but we could write about "The troubles of Ireland."

Forms of Nouns
Nouns can be in the subjective, possessive, and objective case. The word case defines the role of the noun in the sentence. Is it a subject, an object, or does it show possession?

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The English professor [subject] is tall. He chose the English professor [object]. The English professor's [possessive] car is green.

Nouns in the subject and object role are identical in form; nouns that show the possessive, however, take a different form. Usually an apostrophe is added followed by the letter s (except for plurals, which take the plural "-s" ending first, and then add the apostrophe). See the section on Possessives for help with possessive forms. There is also a table outlining the cases of nouns and pronouns. Almost all nouns change form when they become plural, usually with the simple addition of an s or -es. Unfortunately, it's not always that easy, and a separate section on Plurals offers advice on the formation of plural noun forms.

Assaying for Nouns*

Back in the gold rush days, every little town in the American Old West had an assayer's office, a place where wild-eyed prospectors could take their bags of ore for official testing, to make sure the shiny stuff they'd found was the real thing, not "fool's gold." We offer here some assay tests for nouns. There are two kinds of tests: formal and functional what a word looks like (the endings it takes) and how a word behaves in a sentence.
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Formal Tests 1. Does the word contain a noun-making morpheme? organization, misconception, weirdness, statehood, government, democracy, philistinism, realtor, tenacity, violinist 2. Can the word take a plural-making morpheme? pencils, boxes 3. Can the word take a possessive-making morpheme? today's, boys' Function Tests 4. Without modifiers, can the word directly follow an article and create a grammatical unit (subject, object, etc.)? the state, an apple, a crate 5. Can it fill the slot in the following sentence: "(The) _________ seem(s) all right." (or substitute other predicates such as unacceptable, short, dark, depending on the word's meaning)?

Testing the Tests:

With most nouns, the test is clear. "State," for example, can be a plural ("states"), become a possessive ("state's"), follow an article ("a/the state"), and fit in the slot ("the state seems all right"). It doesn't have a noun-making morpheme, but it passes all the other tests; it can pass as a noun. (The fact that "state" can also be a verb "We state our case" is not relevant.) "Greyness" cannot take plural ending nor can it be possessive, but it does contain a noun-making morphene and it can follow an article and fit in the slot sentence. Can the word "grey," which is

obviously also an adjective, be a noun? It's hard to imagine it passing any of the formal tests, but it can follow an article and fill the slot: "The grey seems acceptable." And what about "running," which is often part of a verb (He is running for office)? Again, it won't pass the formal tests, but it will fit the slot sentence: "Running is all right." (It can also follow an article, but in rather an odd way: "The running is about to begin.") "Grey" and "running" are nouns, but just barely: one is an adjective acting like a noun, and the other is a verb acting like a noun (a gerund).

Pronoun
Definition
Generally (but not always) pronouns stand for (pro + noun) or refer to a noun, an individual or individuals or thing or things (the pronoun's antecedent) whose identity is made clear earlier in the text. For instance, we are bewildered by writers who claim something like
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They say that eating beef is bad for you.

They is a pronoun referring to someone, but who are they? Cows? whom do they represent? Sloppy use of pronouns is unfair. Not all pronouns will refer to an antecedent, however.
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Everyone here earns over a thousand dollars a day.

The word "everyone" has no antecedent. This section will list and briefly describe the several kinds of pronouns.

KINDS OF PRONOUNS: Personal || Demonstrative || Indefinite || Relative || Reflexive || Intensive || Interrogative || Reciprocal

Personal Pronouns
Unlike English nouns, which usually do not change form except for the addition of an -s ending to create the plural or the apostrophe + s to create the possessive, personal pronouns (which stand

for persons or things) change form according to their various uses within a sentence. Thus I is used as the subject of a sentence (I am happy.), me is used as an object in various ways (He hit me. He gave me a book. Do this for me.), and my is used as the possessive form (That's my car.) The same is true of the other personal pronouns: the singular you and he/she/it and the plural we, you, and they. These forms are called cases. Personal pronouns can also be characterized or distinguished by person. First person refers to the speaker(s) or writer(s) ("I" for singular, "we" for plural). Second person refers to the person or people being spoken or written to ("you" for both singular and plural). Third person refers to the person or people being spoken or written about ("he," "she," and "it" for singular, "they" for plural). When a personal pronoun is connected by a conjunction to another noun or pronoun, its case does not change. We would write "I am taking a course in Asian history"; if Talitha is also taking that course, we would write "Talitha and I are taking a course in Asian history." (Notice that Talitha gets listed before "I" does. This is one of the few ways in which English is a "polite" language.) The same is true when the object form is called for: "Professor Vendetti gave all her books to me"; if Talitha also received some books, we'd write "Professor Vendetti gave all her books to Talitha and me." When a pronoun and a noun are combined (which will happen with the plural first- and secondperson pronouns), choose the case of the pronoun that would be appropriate if the noun were not there.
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We students are demanding that the administration give us two hours for lunch. The administration has managed to put us students in a bad situation.

With the second person, we don't really have a problem because the subject form is the same as the object form, "you":
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"You students are demanding too much." "We expect you students to behave like adults."

Among the possessive pronoun forms, there is also what is called the nominative possessive: mine, yours, ours, theirs.
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Look at those cars. Theirs is really ugly; ours is beautiful. This new car is mine. Mine is newer than yours.

Demonstrative Pronouns
The family of demonstratives (this/that/these/those/such) can behave either as pronouns or as determiners. As pronouns, they identify or point to nouns.

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That is incredible! (referring to something you just saw) I will never forget this. (referring to a recent experience) Such is my belief. (referring to an explanation just made)

As determiners, the demonstratives adjectivally modify a noun that follows. A sense of relative distance (in time and space) can be conveyed through the choice of these pronouns/determiners:
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These [pancakes sitting here now on my plate] are delicious. Those [pancakes that I had yesterday morning] were even better. This [book in my hand] is well written; That [book that I'm pointing to, over there, on the table] is trash.

A sense of emotional distance or even disdain can be conveyed with the demonstrative pronouns:
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You're going to wear these? This is the best you can do?

Pronouns used in this way would receive special stress in a spoken sentence. When used as subjects, the demonstratives, in either singular or plural form, can be used to refer to objects as well as persons.
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This is my father. That is my book.

In other roles, however, the reference of demonstratives is non-personal. In other words, when referring to students, say, we could write "Those were loitering near the entrance during the fire drill" (as long as it is perfectly clear in context what "those" refers to). But we would not write "The principal suspended those for two days"; instead, we would have to use "those" as a determiner and write "The principal suspended those students for two days."

Relative Pronouns
The relative pronouns (who/whoever/which/that) relate groups of words to nouns or other pronouns (The student who studies hardest usually does the best.). The word who connects or relates the subject, student, to the verb within the dependent clause (studies). Choosing correctly between which and that and between who and whom leads to what are probably the most Frequently Asked Questions about English grammar. For help with which/that, refer to the Notorious Confusables article on those words (including the hyperlink to Michael Quinion's article on this usage and the links to relevant quizzes). Generally, we use "which" to introduce clauses that are parenthetical in nature (i.e., that can be removed from the sentence without changing the essential meaning of the sentence). For that reason, a "which clause" is often set off with a comma or a pair of commas. "That clauses," on the other hand, are usually deemed indispensable for the meaning of a sentence and are not set off with commas. The pronoun which refers to things; who (and its forms) refers to people; that usually refers to things, but it can also refer to people in a general kind of way. For help with who/whom refer to the section on

Consistency. We also recommend that you take the quizzes on the use of who and whom at the end of that section. The expanded form of the relative pronouns whoever, whomever, whatever are known as indefinite relative pronouns. A couple of sample sentences should suffice to demonstrate why they are called "indefinite":
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The coach will select whomever he pleases. He seemed to say whatever came to mind. Whoever crosses this line first will win the race.

What is often an indefinite relative pronoun:

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She will tell you what you need to know.

Indefinite Pronouns
The indefinite pronouns (everybody/anybody/somebody/all/each/every/some/none/one) do not substitute for specific nouns but function themselves as nouns (Everyone is wondering if any is left.) One of the chief difficulties we have with the indefinite pronouns lies in the fact that "everybody" feels as though it refers to more than one person, but it takes a singular verb. (Everybody is accounted for.) If you think of this word as meaning "every single body," the confusion usually disappears. The indefinite pronoun none can be either singular or plural, depending on its context. None is nearly always plural (meaning "not any") except when something else in the sentence makes us regard it as a singular (meaning "not one"), as in "None of the food is fresh." Some can be singular or plural depending on whether it refers to something countable or noncountable. Refer to the section on Pronoun Consistency for help on determining the number of the indefinite pronouns (and the number [singular/plural] of the verbs that accompany them). There is a separate section on the uses of the pronoun one. There are other indefinite pronouns, words that double as Determiners: enough, few, fewer, less, little, many, much, several, more, most, all, both, every, each, any, either, neither, none, some
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Few will be chosen; fewer will finish. Little is expected.

Intensive Pronouns
The intensive pronouns (such as myself, yourself, herself, ourselves, themselves) consist of a personal pronoun plus self or selves and emphasize a noun. (I myself don't know the answer.) It is

possible (but rather unusual) for an intensive pronoun to precede the noun it refers to. (Myself, I don't believe a word he says.)

Reflexive Pronouns
The reflexive pronouns (which have the same forms as the intensive pronouns) indicate that the sentence subject also receives the action of the verb. (Students who cheat on this quiz are only hurting themselves. You paid yourself a million dollars? She encouraged herself to do well.) What this means is that whenever there is a reflexive pronoun in a sentence there must be a person to whom that pronoun can "reflect." In other words, the sentence "Please hand that book to myself" would be incorrect because there is no "I" in that sentence for the "myself" to reflect to (and we would use "me" instead of "myself"). A sentence such as "I gave that book to myself for Christmas" might be silly, but it would be correct. Be alert to a tendency to use reflexive pronoun forms (ending in -self) where they are neither appropriate nor necessary. The inappropriate reflexive form has a wonderful name: the untriggered reflexive. "Myself" tends to sound weightier, more formal, than little ol' me or I, so it has a way of sneaking into sentences where it doesn't belong.
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Bob and myself I are responsible for this decision. These decisions will be made by myself me. If you have any questions, please contact myself me or Bob Jones.

When pronouns are combined, the reflexive will take either the first person
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Juanita, Carlos, and I have deceived ourselves into believing in my uncle.

or, when there is no first person, the second person:

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You and Carlos have deceived yourselves.

The indefinite pronoun (see above) one has its own reflexive form ("One must have faith in oneself."), but the other indefinite pronouns use either himself or themselves as reflexives. (There is an entire page on the pronoun one.) It is probably better to pluralize and avoid the clumsy himself or herself construction.
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No one here can blame himself or herself. The people here cannot blame themselves.

Interrogative Pronouns
The interrogative pronouns (who/which/what) introduce questions. (What is that? Who will help me? Which do you prefer?) Which is generally used with more specific reference than what. If we're taking a quiz and I ask "Which questions give you the most trouble?", I am referring to specific questions on that quiz. If I ask "What questions give you most trouble"? I could be

asking what kind of questions on that quiz (or what kind of question, generically, in general) gives you trouble. The interrogative pronouns also act as Determiners: It doesn't matter which beer you buy. He doesn't know whose car he hit. In this determiner role, they are sometimes called interrogative adjectives. Like the relative pronouns, the interrogative pronouns introduce noun clauses, and like the relative pronouns, the interrogative pronouns play a subject role in the clauses they introduce:
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We know who is guilty of this crime. I already told the detective what I know about it.

Reciprocal Pronouns
The reciprocal pronouns are each other and one another. They are convenient forms for combining ideas. If Bob gave Alicia a book for Christmas and Alicia gave Bob a book for Christmas, we can say that they gave each other books (or that they gave books to each other).
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My mother and I give each other a hard time.

If more than two people are involved (let's say a whole book club), we would say that they gave one another books. This rule (if it is one) should be applied circumspectly. It's quite possible for the exchange of books within this book club, for example, to be between individuals, making "each other" just as appropriate as "one another." Reciprocal pronouns can also take possessive forms:
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They borrowed each other's ideas. The scientists in this lab often use one another's equipment.

Verbs
A verb is often defined as a word which shows action or state of being. The verb is the heart of a sentence - every sentence must have a verb. Recognizing the verb is often the most important step in understanding the meaning of a sentence. In the sentence The dog bit the man, bit is the verb and the word which shows the action of the sentence. In the sentence The man is sitting on a chair, even though the action doesn't show much activity, sitting is the verb of the sentence. In the sentence She is a smart girl, there is no action but a state of being expressed by the verb is. The word be is different from other verbs in many ways butcan still be thought of as a verb.

Unlike most of the other parts of speech, verbs change their form. Sometimes endings are added (learn - learned) and sometimes the word itself becomes different (teach-taught). The different forms of verbs show different meanings related to such things as tense (past, present, future), person (first person, second person, third person), number (singular, plural) and voice (active, passive). Verbs are also often accompanied by verb-like words called modals (may, could, should, etc.) and auxiliaries(do, have, will, etc.) to give them different meanings. One of the most important things about verbs is their relationship to time. Verbs tell if something has already happened, if it will happen later, or if it is happening now. For things happening now, we use the present tense of a verb; for something that has already happened, we use the past tense; and for something that will happen later, we use the future tense. Some examples of verbs in each tense are in the chart below:

Present look move talk

Past looked moved talked

Future will look will move will talk

Verbs like those in the chart above that form the past tense by adding -d or -ed are called regular verbs. Some of the most common verbs are not regular and the different forms of the verb must be learned. Some examples of such irregular verbs are in the chart below:

Present see hear speak

Past saw heard spoke

Future will see will hear will speak

The charts above show the simple tenses of the verbs. There are also progressive or continuous forms which show that the action takes place over a period of time, and perfect forms which show completion of the action. These forms will be discussed more in other lessons, but a few examples are given in the chart below:

Present Continuous is looking is speaking is talking

Present Perfect has looked has spoken has talked

Simple present tense verbs have a special form for the third person singular. Singular means "one" and plural means "more than one." Person is used here to show who or what does the action and can have the following forms: 1st person or the self (I, we) 2nd person or the person spoken to (you) 3rd person or a person not present (he, she, it, they) The third person singular forms are represented by the pronouns he, she, it. The chart below shows how the third person singular verb form changes:

Singular 1st Person (I) see hear come see hear come sees hears comes 1st Person (we)

Plural see hear come see hear come see hear come

2nd Person (you)

2nd Person (you)

3rd Person (he, she, it)

3rd Person (they)

A verb must "agree" with its subject. Subject-verb agreement generally means that the third person singular verb form must be used with a third person subject in the simple present tense. The word be - the most irregular and also most common verb in English - has different forms for each person and even for the simple past tense. The forms of the word be are given in the chart below:

Number 1st (I) Singular 2nd (you)

Person

Present am are is are are are

Past was were was were were were

Future will be will be will be will be will be will be

3rd (he, she, it) 1st (we) Plural 2nd (you) 3rd (they)
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Usually a subject comes before a verb and an object may come after it. The subject is what does the action of the verb and the object is what receives the action. In the sentence Bob ate a humburger, Bob is the subject or the one who did the eating and the hamburger is the object or what got eaten. A verb which has an object is called a transitive verb and some examples are throw, buy, hit, love. A verb which has no object is called an intransitive verb and some examples are go, come, walk, listen.

As you can see in the charts above, verbs are often made up of more than one word. The future forms, for example, use the word will and the perfect forms use the word have. These words are called helping or auxiliary verbs. The word be can serve as an auxiliary and will and shall are also auxiliary forms. The chart below shows two other verbs which can also be used as auxiliaries:

Number 1st (I) Singular 2nd (you)

Person

Present have do have do has does have do have do have do

Past had did had did had did had did had did had did

3rd (he, she, it) 1st (we) Plural 2nd (you) 3rd (they)

There is a type of auxiliary verb called a modal which changes the meaning of a verb in different ways. Words like can, should, would, may, might, and must are modals and are covered in other lessons. There are other lessons that cover the use of verbs. This lesson presents some of the important features of verbs and also shows some common forms. Review this lesson as many times as you want, and when you are ready, take the pop quiz on this chapter. y END OF CHAPTER 3

Resources: http://eslus.com/LESSONS/GRAMMAR/POS/pos3.htm http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/pronouns1.htm