Do you know how to form an abstract noun?

Do you know proper usage of a definite

and indefinite articles? How about the difference between subjective pronouns and
objective pronouns? If you’re feeling a little rusty, this resource will help you
review parts of speech.

• Noun
Nouns are everywhere in our writing. But what are all the types of nouns you come
across, and how do you use them?
A noun is a word that names something, such as a person, place, thing, or an idea.
In a sentence, nouns can play the role of subject, direct object, indirect object,
subject complement, object complement, appositive, or modifier.

Some noun examples include:

* cat
* bicycle
* Taylor Swift
* Kuala Lumpur
Noun can name a person, place or things.

Nouns have two types :•

⁃ Proper noun :
A proper noun is a specific name of a person, place, or thing and is always
capitalized.
⁃ common noun :
common noun is the generic name of an item in a class or group and is not
capitalized unless appearing at the beginning of a sentence or in a title.

Common or generic nouns can be broken down into three subtypes: concrete nouns,
abstract nouns, and collective nouns. A concrete noun is something that is
perceived by the senses; something that is physical or real.

• Pronouns :
Pronouns are words (or phrases) you substitute for nouns when your reader or
listener already knows which noun you’re referring to. For example, you might say,
“I have a dog. She’s brown and white.” There’s no need to clarify that you’re
describing your dog in the second sentence because you already mentioned her in the
first. With the pronoun she’s, you can avoid annoying repetition of dog.

Pronouns do a whole lot more than helping us avoid repetitiveness. They provide
context, make your sentences’ meanings clearer, and shape how we perceive people
and things. Read on to learn about the different ways we use pronouns and how to
use them to construct sentences.

Some pronoun examples include:

* I
* me
* us
* you
* themselves
* who
* that

⁃ Personal pronouns
When you think of pronouns, you most likely think first of personal pronouns.
Personal pronouns are pronouns that change form based on their grammatical person—
that is, based on whether they refer to the person speaking or writing (the first
person), the person or thing being spoken to (the second person), or the person or
thing being spoken about (the third person). Here is a list of the main personal
pronouns :
* I/me
* she/her
* he/him
* they/them
* It
* we/us
* you

⁃ Relative pronouns
Relative pronouns are another class of pronouns. They connect relative clauses to
independent clauses. Often, they introduce additional information about something
mentioned in the sentence. Relative pronouns include these words:
* that
* what
* which
* who
* whom

Who vs. whom—subject and object pronouns

Knowing when to use who and when to use whom trips a lot of writers up. The
difference is actually pretty simple: Who is for the subject of a sentence or
clause, and whom is for the object of a verb or preposition. Here are a couple of a
quick examples:

- Who mailed this package?

- To whom was this package sent?

⁃ Demonstrative pronouns
That, this, these, and those are demonstrative pronouns. They can point directly to
an antecedent or replace one that has already been mentioned or is clear through
context.
This is used for singular items that are nearby. These is used for multiple items
that are nearby. The distance can be physical or metaphorical.

That is used for singular items that are farther away. Those is used for multiple
items that are farther away. Again, the distance can be physical or metaphorical.
Here are a few examples of these pronouns in action

- That house would be a nice place to live.

- Those aren’t swans, they’re geese.

⁃ Indefinite pronouns
Indefinite pronouns are used to refer generally to a person or thing that doesn’t
need to be specifically identified or has already been mentioned. Here are some
common indefinite pronouns:
* one
* other
* none
* some
* anybody
* everybody
* no one

⁃ Reflexive pronouns
Reflexive pronouns are forms of personal pronouns that end in –self or –selves:

* myself
* yourself
* himself
* herself
* itself
* oneself
* ourselves
* yourselves
* themselves
You can use a reflexive pronoun as the object of a verb or preposition to refer
back to the subject of the sentence or clause

⁃ Intensive pronouns
Intensive pronouns look the same as reflexive pronouns, but their purpose is
different. Intensive pronouns add emphasis by repeating their antecedent noun or
pronoun. Conceptualizing the difference between them and reflexive pronouns can be
challenging because the emphasis isn’t always obvious.

⁃ Possessive pronouns

As their names imply, both possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives show
ownership.

Possessive pronouns are sometimes called independent possessive pronouns or

absolute possessive pronouns. They show possession of a noun by replacing it. They
look like this:
* mine
* yours
* ours
* his
* hers
* theirs
* its

Possessive adjectives also clarify who or what owns something. Unlike possessive
pronouns—which replace nouns—possessive adjectives go before nouns to modify them.
They include the following:
* my
* your
* our
* his
* her
* their
* its

Each possessive pronoun also has a form called the independent possessive. They
look like this:
* mine
* yours
* ours
* his
* hers
* theirs
* its

⁃ Interrogative pronouns
Interrogative pronouns are used in questions. These are the interrogative pronouns:
* who
* whose
* whom
* what
* which

• Verbs

Verbs are words that describe actions, whether physical or mental. Verbs also
describe a “state of being,” like the verbs be, become, or exist.

- Salah ran across the field, kicked the ball, and scored a goal.

Some verbs also act as “helper verbs” to change the tense of another verb.
Likewise, these helper verbs can change a positive statement to a negative one with
words like “not.”
- She has been jogging for a month and already feels her stamina increasing.
- “I don’t feel so good.” —Spider-Man

Every sentence needs at least one verb. If there’s no verb, it’s an incomplete
sentence or a sentence fragment. Except for imperative sentences (commands), a
sentence also needs a subject, the thing doing the action.
Subjects are important for a verb because they change how it’s conjugated, which we
explain below. This is especially true for the most common verb: be.

Types of verbs
⁃ Dynamic (action) verbs
Most verbs describe a physical action or activity, something external that can be
seen or heard. These verbs are formally known as dynamic verbs, but can also be
called action or event verbs.

⁃ Stative (state-of-being) verbs

The opposite of dynamic verbs of action is stative verbs of being. Stative verbs
describe a subject’s state or feeling, including things they like and don’t like.

One of the most important parts of stative verbs is that you can’t use them in the
continuous tenses. Stative verbs stick to the simple tenses, or occasionally use
the perfect.

⁃ Auxiliary (helping) verbs

Auxiliary verbs, or “helping verbs,” are used in English to change another verb’s
tense, voice, or mood. When auxiliary verbs are used, there’s always a main verb
that represents the main action. However, the auxiliary verb must still be
conjugated correctly.

⁃ Modal auxiliary verbs

Some auxiliary verbs are added to another verb to show necessity, possibility, or
capability. Like other auxiliary verbs, modal auxiliary verbs are not the main
verb, but they do change its meaning slightly. Some common examples are can, may,
could, should, would, must, ought, and might.

⁃ Phrasal verbs
Phrasal verbs are phrases that act as individual verbs, often combining two or more
words and changing their meaning. The verb get, for example, becomes many different
phrasal verbs when combined with different prepositions.
 • adverb

Adverbs are words that answer the questions when, where, and how, for example,
recently, never, below, slowly, frankly. Typically, adverbs end in -ly though there
are a few adjectives that take this ending too, such as lovely, friendly, lonely.
Adverbs can be used to modify an adjective or an entire sentence. When modifying an
adjective, the adverb immediately precedes it: particularly hot weather, recently
re-elected president.

Adverbs of Manner
Adverbs of manner indicate how something is done. They are usually placed at the
end of a sentence or before the main verb, as in:

* Tom drives quickly.

* She slowly opened the door.
* Mary waited for him patiently.

Other examples of adverbs of manner include quietly, fitfully, and carefully.

Adverbs of Time
Adverbs of time tell you when or at what time something is done. Adverbs of time
are usually placed at the end of a sentence. They can also be used at the beginning
of a sentence followed by a comma.

* The meeting is next week.

* Yesterday, we decided to take a walk.
* I've already bought my tickets for the concert.
These adverbs are used with other time expressions, such as days of the week. The
most common adverbs of time include yet, already, yesterday, tomorrow, next week
(or month or year), last week (or month or year), now, and ago.

Adverbs of Place
Adverbs of place indicate where something is done and usually appear at the end of
a sentence, but they can also follow the verb.

* I decided to rest over there.

* She'll wait for you in the room downstairs.
* Peter walked above me upstairs.

Adverbs of place can be confused with prepositional phrases such as in the

doorway or at the shop. Prepositional phrases indicate where something is, but
adverbs of place can tell you where something occurs, such as here and everywhere.

Adverbs Modifying Adjectives

When adverbs modify an adjective, they are placed before the adjective:

* She is extremely happy.

* They are absolutely sure.

However, do not use very with adjectives to express increased quality of a basic
adjective, such as fantastic:

* She is an absolutely fantastic piano player.

* Mark is an absolutely amazing lecturer.

You would not say, "She is very fantastic," or "Mark is a very amazing lecturer."
 • Adjective

Adjectives are words that describe the qualities or states of being of nouns:
enormous, doglike, silly, yellow, fun, fast. They can also describe the quantity of
nouns: many, few, millions, eleven.

Adjectives modify nouns

As you may already know, adjectives are words that modify (describe) nouns.
Adjectives do not modify verbs or adverbs or other adjectives.

My new dog is small and good-tempered.

Degrees of adjectives
Adjectives come in three forms, known as degrees: absolute, comparative, and
superlative.

Absolute adjectives describe something in its own right.

* A cool guy
* A messy desk

Comparative adjectives, unsurprisingly, make a comparison between two or more

things. For most one-syllable adjectives, the comparative is formed by adding the
suffix -er (or just -r if the adjective already ends with an e). For two-syllable
adjectives, some use -er to form the comparative while others use the word more. In
general, two-syllable adjectives ending in –er, –le, –ow, –ure, or –y can be made
comparative by adding -er (in the case of -y words, replace y with –ier). For
adjectives of three or more syllables, add the word more.
* A cooler guy
* A messier desk

Superlative adjectives indicate that something has the highest degree of the
quality in question. One-syllable adjectives become superlatives by adding the
suffix -est (or just -st for adjectives that already end in e). As with the
comparative, some two-syllable adjectives use -est to form the superlative while
others use the word most. In general, two-syllable adjectives ending in -y replace
-y with -iest. Adjectives of three or more syllables add the word most. When you
use an article with a superlative adjective, it will almost always be the definite
article (the) rather than a or an. Using a superlative inherently indicates that
you are talking about a specific item or items.
* The coolest guy
* The messiest desk

Coordinate adjectives should be separated by a comma or the word and. Adjectives

are said to be coordinate if they modify the same noun in a sentence to the same
degree.
* This is going to be a long, cold winter.

One more thing you should know about adjectives is that, sometimes, a word that is
normally used as a noun can function as an adjective, depending on its placement.

• Conjunction
A conjunction is a word that is used to connect words, phrases, and clauses. There
are many conjunctions in the English language, but some common ones include and,
or, but, because, for, if, and when. There are three basic types of conjunctions:
coordinating, subordinating, and correlative.

Correlative conjunctions
Correlative conjunctions are pairs of conjunctions that work together. Some
examples are either/or, neither/nor, and not only/but also.

Subordinating conjunctions
Subordinating conjunctions join independent and dependent clauses. A subordinating
conjunction can signal a cause-and-effect relationship, a contrast, or some other
kind of relationship between the clauses. Common subordinating conjunctions are
because, since, as, although, though, while, and whereas. Sometimes an adverb, such
as until, after, or before can function as a conjunction.

Coordinating conjunctions
Coordinating conjunctions allow you to join words, phrases, and clauses of equal
grammatical rank in a sentence. The most common coordinating conjunctions are for,
and, nor, but, or, yet, and so;

Without conjunctions, you’d be forced to express every complex idea in a series of

short, simplistic sentences: I like cooking. I like eating. I don’t like washing
dishes afterward.

• Preposition
Prepositions tell us where or when something is in relation to something else. When
monsters are approaching, it’s good to have these special words to tell us where
those monsters are. Are they behind us or in front of us? Will they be arriving in
three seconds or at midnight?
Prepositions often tell us where one noun is in relation to another (e.g., “The
coffee is on the table beside you”). But they can also indicate more abstract
ideas, such as purpose or contrast (e.g., “We went for a walk despite the rain”).

Types of prepositions
Prepositions indicate direction, time, location, and spatial relationships, as well
as other abstract types of relationships.
Direction: Look to the left and you’ll see our destination.
Time: We’ve been working since this morning.
Location: We saw a movie at the theater.
Space: The dog hid under the table.

• Interjection
An interjection is a word or phrase used to express a feeling or to request or
demand something. While interjections are a part of speech, they are not
grammatically connected to other parts of a sentence.

Interjections are common in everyday speech and informal writing. While some
interjections such as “well” and “indeed” are acceptable in formal conversation,
it’s best to avoid interjections in formal or academic writing.

* Hey! Don't be so lazy!

* Well, let's think about it.
* Ouch! That hurts!