Who invented parts of speech

Written by Heather MacFadyen. In each of the following sentences, the verb or compound verb is highlighted : Dracula bites his victims on the neck.

The verb "bites" describes the action Dracula takes. In early October, Giselle will plant twenty tulip bulbs. Here the compound verb "will plant" describes an action that will take place in the future. My first teacher was Miss Crawford, but I remember the janitor Mr. Weatherbee more vividly.

Karl Creelman bicycled around the world in , but his diaries and his bicycle were destroyed. The highlighted words in the following sentences are all nouns: Late last year our neighbours bought a goat.

Portia White was an opera singer. The bus inspector looked at all the passengers' passes. According to Plutarch , the library at Alexandria was destroyed in 48 B. Philosophy is of little comfort to the starving. Noun Gender Many common nouns, like "engineer" or "teacher," can refer to men or women. David Garrick was a very prominent eighteenth-century actor. Sarah Siddons was at the height of her career as an actress in the s.

The manager was trying to write a want ad, but he couldn't decide whether he was advertising for a "waiter" or a "waitress" Noun Plurals Most nouns change their form to indicate number by adding "-s" or "-es", as illustrated in the following pairs of sentences: When Matthew was small he rarely told the truth if he thought he was going to be punished.

Many people do not believe that truths are self-evident. As they walked through the silent house, they were startled by an unexpected echo. I like to shout into the quarry and listen to the echoes that return. He tripped over a box left carelessly in the hallway. Since we are moving, we will need many boxes. Some words ending in "f" form the plural by deleting "f" and adding "ves," and words ending in "y" form the plural by deleting the "y" and adding "ies," as in the following pairs of sentences: The harbour at Marble Mountain has one wharf.

There are several wharves in Halifax Harbour. Warsaw is their favourite city because it reminds them of their courtship. The vacation my grandparents won includes trips to twelve European cities. The children circled around the headmaster and shouted, "Are you a mouse or a man? Possessive Nouns In the possessive case, a noun or pronoun changes its form to show that it owns or is closely related to something else.

The only luggage that was lost was the prime minister's. The exhausted recruits were woken before dawn by the drill sergeant's screams. The miner's face was covered in coal dust. You can form the possessive case of a singular noun that ends in "s" by adding an apostrophe alone or by adding an apostrophe and "s," as in the following examples: The bus's seats are very uncomfortable.

The bus' seats are very uncomfortable. The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus's eggs. The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus' eggs. Felicia Hemans's poetry was once more popular than Lord Byron's. Felicia Hemans' poetry was once more popular than Lord Byron's. You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does not end in "s" by adding an apostrophe and a "s," as in the following examples: The children's mittens were scattered on the floor of the porch.

The sheep's pen was mucked out every day. Since we have a complex appeal process, a jury's verdict is not always final. The men's hockey team will be playing as soon as the women's team is finished. The hunter followed the moose's trail all morning but lost it in the afternoon.

You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does end in "s" by adding an apostrophe: The concert was interrupted by the dogs' barking, the ducks' quacking, and the babies' squalling. The janitors' room is downstairs and to the left. My uncle spent many hours trying to locate the squirrels' nest. The archivist quickly finished repairing the diaries' bindings.

Religion is usually the subject of the roommates' many late night debates. Using Possessive Nouns When you read the following sentences, you will notice that a noun in the possessive case frequently functions as an adjective modifying another noun: The miner's face was covered in coal dust. The concert was interrupted by the dogs' barking, the ducks' quacking, and the babies' squalling. Proper Nouns You always write a proper noun with a capital letter, since the noun represents the name of a specific person, place, or thing.

A proper noun is the opposite of a common noun In each of the following sentences, the proper nouns are highlighted : The Marroons were transported from Jamaica and forced to build the fortifications in Halifax. Many people dread Monday mornings. Beltane is celebrated on the first of May. Abraham appears in the Talmud and in the Koran. Common Nouns A common noun is a noun referring to a person, place, or thing in a general sense -- usually, you should write it with a capital letter only when it begins a sentence.

In each of the following sentences, the common nouns are highlighted : According to the sign , the nearest town is 60 miles away. All the gardens in the neighbourhood were invaded by beetles this summer.

I don't understand why some people insist on having six different kinds of mustard in their cupboards. The road crew was startled by the sight of three large moose crossing the road. Many child-care workers are underpaid. Sometimes you will make proper nouns out of common nouns, as in the following examples: The tenants in the Garnet Apartments are appealing the large and sudden increase in their rent.

The meals in the Bouncing Bean Restaurant are less expensive than meals in ordinary restaurants. Many witches refer to the Renaissance as the Burning Times. The Diary of Anne Frank is often a child's first introduction to the history of the Holocaust. Concrete Nouns A concrete noun is a noun which names anything or anyone that you can perceive through your physical senses: touch, sight, taste, hearing, or smell. The highlighted words in the following sentences are all concrete nouns: The judge handed the files to the clerk.

Whenever they take the dog to the beach , it spends hours chasing waves. The real estate agent urged the couple to buy the second house because it had new shingles. As the car drove past the park , the thump of a disco tune overwhelmed the string quartet's rendition of a minuet. The book binder replaced the flimsy paper cover with a sturdy, cloth-covered board. Abstract Nouns An abstract noun is a noun which names anything which you can not perceive through your five physical senses, and is the opposite of a concrete noun.

The highlighted words in the following sentences are all abstract nouns: Buying the fire extinguisher was an afterthought. Tillie is amused by people who are nostalgic about childhood. Justice often seems to slip out of our grasp. Some scientists believe that schizophrenia is transmitted genetically. Countable Nouns A countable noun or count noun is a noun with both a singular and a plural form, and it names anything or anyone that you can count. In each of the following sentences, the highlighted words are countable nouns: We painted the table red and the chairs blue.

Since he inherited his aunt's library , Jerome spends every weekend indexing his books. Miriam found six silver dollars in the toe of a sock. The oak tree lost three branches in the hurricane. Over the course of twenty-seven years , Martha Ballad delivered just over eight hundred babies. Non-Countable Nouns A non-countable noun or mass noun is a noun which does not have a plural form, and which refers to something that you could or would not usually count.

The highlighted words in the following sentences are non-countable nouns: Joseph Priestly discovered oxygen. The word "oxygen" cannot normally be made plural. Oxygen is essential to human life. You cannot make the noun "furniture" plural. The furniture is heaped in the middle of the room. Since "furniture" is a non-countable noun, it takes a singular verb, "is heaped.

You cannot make the non-countable noun "gravel" plural. Gravel is more expensive than I thought. Since "gravel" is a non-countable noun, it takes the singular verb form "is. In each of the following sentences, the highlighted word is a collective noun: The flock of geese spends most of its time in the pasture. The collective noun "flock" takes the singular verb "spends.

Here the collective noun "committee" takes a singular verb, "meets. Personal Pronouns A personal pronoun refers to a specific person or thing and changes its form to indicate person, number, gender, and case.

Subjective Personal Pronouns A subjective personal pronoun indicates that the pronoun is acting as the subject of the sentence. You are surely the strangest child I have ever met. He stole the selkie's skin and forced her to live with him. When she was a young woman, she earned her living as a coal miner. After many years, they returned to their homeland. We will meet at the library at p.

We use cookies to provide you with the best online experience. By using this site, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use. I'm interested in: Select Homeschooling Independent Learning. I'm studying for: Select Follow Twitter Instagram Facebook. What is grammar? Why do we study grammar? Wonder What's Next? Try It Out Are you ready to have some fun with grammar? Check out the following activities with a friend or family member: Do you know the meanings of the most common Latin and Greek roots in the English language?

Spend some time learning more with Reading Rockets today. Can you think of any words that use these roots? Are any of them surprising to you? Discuss with a friend or family member. Can you correctly use commas, exclamation points, question marks, and periods? Make a poster that explains how to use each of these punctuation marks correctly. Be sure to include at least one example of each punctuation mark.

Want to play a fun game that helps you identify the parts of speech? Jump online to play a few games of The Grammar Gorillas! Identify parts of speech and earn bananas.

We're sure you'll find this game quite a-peel-ing! Did you get it? Test your knowledge. What are you wondering? Wonder Words proper tenses imagine anxious pronouns bothered importance punctuation accurately Take the Wonder Word Challenge.

Join the Discussion. Lilly Houchin Apr 3, It would be so weird to write if we did not have grammar. Abby Crooker Dec 2, Dec 2, Nil Miray Dec 29, What would happen if there was no such thing as grammar?

Jan 29, Jan 2, Reading would become much more confusing!! Julie Janovsky Dec 14, Dec 18, Hi, Julie! We're glad that you liked this Wonder! Nov 20, JaelGreewood Oct 18, Oct 1, I would like to use this as a resource in my classroom. Is it possible to get the authors name and date of publication?

Sep 17, The following is how you would cite this page: "Who Invented Grammar? Garrett Sanders Sep 8, Sep 12, Jun 5, Only if they have their pilot's license. Tom Jun 1, Jun 2, Glad to hear it, Tom! Thanks for checking out this Wonder with us!

May 30, Jun 1, Thanks for clarifying! Thus Nile is here noun. Here, "Sun" is the name of a planet, thus "Sun" is noun. Here "water" is the name of a liquid, thus, "water" is noun. Pronoun is used in the place of noun to avoid repetition of noun. Pronoun in sentence a Albert Einstein gave the concept of Gravity. He was a great scientist. Here, in the second sentence the word "he" came for Albert Einstein.

Thus, "he" is pronoun here. Here, the word "who" and "he" came for Galileo, thus "who" and "he" are pronoun. In other words, Adjective says about the quality of a noun or pronoun. Adjective qualifies a noun or pronoun. Adjective in sentence a He is good. Here "good" says about he. Thus, the word "good" is adjective here. Here the word "big" qualifies the continent Asia, thus "big" is here adjective. Verbs describe the action.

Verb in Sentecne a I eat. Here, the word "eat" tells that what the subject "I" is doing. Thus, "eat" is verb.