Nouns, pronouns, and verbs

Parts of Speech

I. Noun (n.) – word that names people, places, things, and ideas; some nouns are tangible, meaning you can touch them (ex. gum), but some are intangible and abstract (ex. love).

Subject - every sentence needs a subject and a subject is always a noun

Proper noun – name of a specific person, place, or thing. Always begins with a capital letter.

Pronoun (pr.) – words that replace nouns

Personal pronouns: I, me, my, mine, you, your, yours, he him, his, she, her, hers, it, its, we, us, our, ours, they, them, their, and theirs

Demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, and those.

Hints – how to spot a noun:

• Can put an article in front of it: a, an, or the (Ex. a dog, an orange, the people)
• Can be singular or plural (Ex. one victory, ten victories)
• Can be possessive (Ex. my meal, their parents)
• Can be described with an adjective (Ex. Tom’s smelly socks, difficult adolescence)
• Beware of nouns that can also be verbs; you need to look at the context and how the word is used:
• Noun: I raced in the 10-mile run.
• Verb: I run with my dog

More examples: student, agenda book, weekend, Park Slope, chair, air, peace, anger…

Underline nouns and pronouns in the following sentences:

1.   810 walked down 5^th Street during the fire drill.

2.   Ms. Galang hates when students leave garbage in their desks and make the room a mess.

3.   We are going to a dance to dance our butts off.

4.   It seems like it will rain today.

II. Verb (v.) – a word that expresses action or state of being

Action verb – tells what a noun is doing (Ex. run, think, decide, read)

Linking verb – shows what a noun is (Ex. to be – is, are, was, were; seem; appear)

Helping verb – some verbs have two or more words such as is going, should have been done, and will be talking

Hints – how to spot a verb:

• Every sentence     needs at least 1 verb; the verb often comes after the subject or noun that it is connected to so sometimes it helps to determine the noun (Ex. It is the playoff season in major league baseball).
• If you see any form of the verb to be, that is the verb.
• You can put the word "to" in front of a verb (Ex. to go, to be)

* Circle the verbs in the sentences above.