|LEO: Literacy Education Online|
|PARTS OF SPEECH||PARTS OF A SENTENCE|
|Part of Speech||Definition||Examples|
|Nouns||Name persons, places, things, ideas, or qualities.||Capote, woman, Mississippi River, seashell, hardship, courage|
|Pronouns||Usually replace nouns and function as nouns.||I, you, he, this, that, who, which, everyone|
|Verbs||Express actions, occurences, or states of being||run, write, be, appear, seem|
|Adjectives||Describe or modify nouns or pronouns.||necessary, private, beautiful|
|Adverbs||Answer these questions: when, where, why, how, how much, in what way? They modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.||very, too, loudly, finally, yesterday, next, daringly.|
|Prepositions||Relate nouns or pronouns to other words in a sentence.||about, to, with, around, during, in, of, within|
|Conjunctions||Link words, phrases, and clauses.|
|Coordinating conjunctions and correlative conjunctions||Links words, phrases, or clauses of equal importance.||and, but, so, for, or, nor, not only . . . but also, either . . . or|
|Subordinating conjunctions||Introduce clauses that cannot stand by themselves as complete sentences and link them to main clauses.||although, because, if, whenever, as, whether, in order that|
|Interjections||Express feeling or command attention, either alone or in a sentence.||hey, oh, darn, wow, hark!|
|Part of Sentence||Definition||Examples|
|Subject||The noun, or word group acting as a noun, that performs the action expressed in the predicate of a sentence or clause.||The author uses symbolism and repetition to convey the character's personality.|
Analyzing a literary text is a subjective process; supporting the analysis is not.
|Predicate||The part within a given clause or sentence other than the subject and its modifiers.||Linguists study the science of language.|
The connection between economic conditions and fashion trends appears variable rather than fixed.
|Object||A noun, pronoun, word, or word group acting as a noun that receives the action of a verb or is influenced by a transitive verb, verbal (a word derived from a verb, i.e., gerund, infinitive, and participle), or a preposition.|
|Direct objects||Receive the action of a verb or verbal and frequently follow it in a sentence.||The essayist Pico Iyer examines social issues.|
Aristotle's words about invention deserve renewed study.
|Indirect objects||Tell for whom, to whom, or to what something is done.||Reading the poem "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" gives me a sense of a long journey lying ahead.|
The heroine lends the situation dignity.
|Objects of Prepositions||Follow prepositions and are linked by them to the rest of the sentence.||Accomplished public speakers can move their audiences to action with their eloquent words.|
|Complements||A word or word group that completes the sense of a subject, object, or a verb.|
|Subject complements||Follow a linking verb and modify or refer to the subject. They may be nouns (also known as predicate nouns) or adjectives (also known as predicate adjectives).||The market is dynamic.|
(adjective complement/predicate adjective)
The market is an economic indicator.
|Object complements||Follow and modify or refer to direct objects.||The Church labeled Galileo a heretic.|
(The noun heretic complements the direct object Galileo.)
They considered his ideas dangerous.
|Verb complements||Are direct or indirect objects of a verb. They may be nouns, pronouns, or words or word groups acting as nouns.||Campus-based volunteer groups provide students an opportunity to work in the community.|
(Students is the indirect object, and opportunity is the direct object of the verb provide; both objects are verb complements.
|Phrases||A group of related words that lacks a subject or predicate or both and that acts as a single part of speech.|
|Prepositional phrases||Consist of prepositions and their objects and modifiers.||The poet leads the reader through her childhood.|
A consultant forms an opinion during an initial meeting.
|Verb phrases||Are verb forms of more than one word that serve as the predicate of a sentence or clause.||The main character has experienced much isolation.|
Can we define normalcy?
|Verbal phrases||Are formed from a verbal (a word derived from a verb).|| |
|Infinitive phrases||Consist of infinitives and their objects, plus any modifiers.||The critic seems to avoid direct comment.|
|Participle phrases||Consist of participles and their objects, plus any modifiers that function as adjectives.||The corporation seeking financial stability must remain flexible.|
|Gerund phrases||Consist of gerunds (the -ing form of a verb used as a noun) and their objects, plus any modifiers, which function as nouns.||Tracing an earthquake's causes requires data from several sources.|
|Clauses||A group of related words containing a subject and a predicate.|
|Main (independent) clauses||Can stand by themselves as sentences.||The author's style emphasizes the character's confusion.|
|Subordinate (dependent) clauses||Cannot stand by themselves.||The author's style emphasizes the character's confusion when he is captured.|
This page was written by Sharon Cogdill and Judith Kilborn for the Write Place, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, Minnesota, and may be copied for educational purposes only. If you copy this document, please include our copyright notice and the name of the writer; if you revise it, please add your name to the list of writers.
Last Update: 5 October 1999
Last Update: 5 October 1999