Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A noun is a word for a person, place, or thing. (You might like to think of
nouns as naming words.)
Everything we can see or talk about is represented by a word which names
it. That "naming word" is called a noun.
Sometimes a noun will be the name for something we can touch (e.g., lion,
cake, computer), and sometimes a noun will be the name for something we
cannot touch (e.g., bravery, mile, joy).
Everything is represented by a word that lets us talk about it. This includes
people (e.g., man, scientist), animals (e.g., dog, lizard), places (e.g., town,
street), objects (e.g., vase, pencil), substances (e.g., copper, glass), qualities
(e.g., heroism, sorrow), actions (e.g., swimming, dancing), and measures
(e.g., inch, ounce).
Here are some more examples:
2- Adjectives
Adjectives are describing words. Large, grey, and friendly are all examples of
adjectives. In the examples below, these adjectives are used to describe an
elephant.
Examples:
Large elephant
Grey elephant
Friendly elephant
Adjectives Modify Nouns
The word elephant is a noun. Adjectives are added to nouns to state what
kind, what colour, which one or how many. Adjectives are said to
modify nouns and are necessary to make the meanings of sentences clearer
or more exact.
Examples:
Examples:
It is a blue one.
(In this example, the adjective blue modifies the pronoun one.)
Medals will only be given to those runners who complete the marathon
in less than 8 hours.
(Those is a demonstrative adjective. It refers to specific people.)
The chief has heard many people make the same promise.
(The indefinite adjective many modifies the noun people.)
3- Adverbs
An adverb can be added to a verb to modify its meaning. Usually, an adverb
tells you when, where, how, in what manner, or to what extent an action is
performed.
Many adverbs end in ly particularly those that are used to express how an
action is performed.
Although many adverbs end ly, lots do not, e.g., fast, never, well, very, most,
least, more, less, now, far, and there.
Examples:
He runs fast.
(The word fast is an adverb. It modifies the verb to run.)
Types of Adverbs
Although there are thousands of adverbs, each adverb can usually be
categorized in one of the following groupings:
Adverbs of Time
Badly trained dogs that fail the test will become pets.
(The adverb badly modifies the adjective trained.)
(Note: The adjective trained is an adjective formed from the verb to train. It
is called a participle.)
It is a little bit more complicated than shown above because the noun can be
anything that plays the role of a noun. For example:
from her
(the "noun" is a pronoun)
from sleeping
(the noun is a gerund, i.e., a verbal noun)
with John
(There are no modifiers in this example. Compare it to the next example.)
without trying
(There are no modifiers in this example. The object of the preposition is a
noun. In this case, it's a gerund. Compare it to the next example.)
5- Infinitive Phrase
What Is an Infinitive Phrase? (with Examples)
An infinitive phrase is the infinitive form of a verb plus
any complements and modifiers.
The complement of an infinitive verb will often be its direct object, and
the modifier will often be an adverb. For example:
Let him show you the best way to paint the door.
(Lee is the subject of the sentence. Lee is the subject of the main verb ate;
i.e., Lee is the doing the action.)
That new boy from Paris puts a lot of garlic in his food.
(That new boy from Paris is a complete subject. It is the simple subject
(boy) plus all modifiers.)
That new boy from Paris and the tall girl with the long hair put a lot of
garlic in their food.
(That new boy from Paris and the tall girl with the long hair is a compound
subject made up of two complete subjects.)
A complete subject will be a noun phrase or a noun clause.
7- Predicate Nominative
A predicate nominative or predicate noun completes a linking verb and
renames the subject. It is a complementor completer because it completes
the verb. Predicate nominatives complete only linking verbs. The linking
verbs include the following: the helping verbs is, am, are, was, were, be,
being, and been; the sense verbs look, taste, smell, feel, and sound; and
verbs like become, seem, appear, grow, continue, stay, and turn.
(What has Sean Connery been? He has been an actor. Actor is the predicate
nominative; it identifies Sean Connery.)
-
(What are stallions? They are horses. Horses is the predicate nominative; it
identifies stallions.)
-
Art Deco is a style of design that was popular in the 1920s and
1930s.
8 Direct Object
What Is a Direct Object? (with Examples)
The direct object of a verb is the thing being acted upon (i.e., the receiver of
the action).
Examples of Direct Objects
Here are some examples of direct objects (shaded):
This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. (Neil
Armstrong)
(The word a before man is a modifier. The object of a preposition is often
accompanied by modifiers that precede it or follow it.)
Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we
have rushed through life trying to save. (Will Rogers, 1879-1935)
(In this example, the preposition relates to the noun clause the time we
have rushed through life trying to save. The object of the preposition
is time, which is the head noun. The word the is modifier. The clause we
have rushed through life trying to save is also a modifier. It's an adjective
clause.)
If you change the way you look at things, the things you
look at change. (Wayne Dyer)
(Remember, the object of a preposition does not always follow the
preposition. This is the case with the second things.)
Objects of Prepositions Are in the Objective Case
The noun or pronoun governed by a preposition is always in the objective
case. In English, this only affects pronouns. For example:
Go with her.
(The pronoun her is the objective case version of she.)