Learning Resource Centre Guides: Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech

 

 

 

 

Prepositions usually tell:               

WHERE?	WHEN?
above, against, through, beside   e.g. There is a cat under the table.	about, after, since, by   e.g. Watch a movie before dinner.

 

 

Adverbs usually tell:

HOW?	HOW OFTEN?	WHEN?	WHERE?
loudly	always	soon	here
carefully	sometimes	always	everywhere
I sing happily	I visit rarely	She died recently	Go inside

Many adverbs end in –ly.

 

 

Nouns tell the names of people, animals, things and places.      

 

COMMON NOUNS common names of things: e.g. pencil, desk, sun, computer	PROPER NOUNS titles, places, dates; always begin with a capital: e.g. Patea, May, Mount Taranaki, Aunty Mere
ABSTRACT NOUNS names for things we cannot touch: e.g. happiness, motherhood, culture	COLLECTIVE NOUNS names of groups: e.g. a bunch of grapes, a pod of whales

        

 

There are four articles.  Each one gives a different meaning:

 

 

THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE – A/AN refers to the nonspecific: e.g. We need a car.	THE DEFINITE ARTICLE - THE refers to the specific: e.g. I need to go to the dentist.
SOME/ANY the plural of a/an: e.g. The newspaper has some cars advertised.	ZERO ARTICLE when there is no article at all: e.g. Do you speak Latin?

 

 

Special note:  When to use either ‘a’ or ‘an’ *

Use a before a consonant sound.  A vehicle, a keyboard, a screen.

Use an before a vowel sound (a,e,i,o,u).  An apple, an egg, an umbrella.

 

*There are exceptions.  See Learning Centre handout on Articles.

 

 

People do things:  People fly, surf, cry, shout and sing. 

 

Animals and objects do things:  Cats purr.  Computers hum.

 

TENSES – tell you WHEN?

Three simple tenses are:

 

PAST (has happened)	PRESENT (is happening now)	FUTURE (will happen)
ate	eat	will eat
came	come	will come
said	say	will say
left	leave	will leave

 

 

the white dove                  cold water                        French cheese

 

an American car               three blind mice

 

 

 

Replacing the noun with a pronoun makes the sentence less repetitive.

 

For example:  Huia likes to read her newspaper while she is lying on her couch.

 

                   sounds better than

 

Huia likes to read Huia’s newspaper while Huia is lying on Huia’s couch.

 

PRONOUNS:

 

 

 

 

For example:  I like you because you have a great sense of humour.

 

Conjunctions sometimes tell WHEN?

 

 

For example:  I will have dinner after I have seen the movie.

 

 

Further Learning Centre Handouts relating to this topic: 

 

·         Articles

 

 

Parts of Speech last updated 5 July 2011