Parts of Speech. Clauses

Transcription

1 Parts of Speech noun the name of a person, place, thing, or idea creates a picture in the mind pronoun takes the place of a noun creates no picture in the mind verb an action or state of being adjective modifies (makes clearer, more specific) the noun or pronoun adverb modifies the verb (clarifies the circumstances of an action) and can also modify a modifier preposition a linking word (and a pointer word) that joins a noun or pronoun to the clause as an adjective or an adverb conjunction a joining word, either coordinating (joining exactly equal units) or subordinating (joining an adverb clause to some other clause, usually the independent clause) Answers to the question who? or what? Answers to the question who? or what? Answers the question what kind of? (person, place, thing, or idea) Answers any of the following questions: how? when? where? why? under what conditions? to what degree? Clauses (1) independent clause a group of words containing a subject and a predicate working to express a complete idea. Raul kicks the ball. Raul is a man. (2) noun clause a group of words containing a subject and a predicate working as a noun. It answers either the question who? or what? That Raul kicks the ball pleases his coach.

2 what? pleases his coach: That Raul kicks the ball This noun clause is working as the subject of the entire independent clause: That Raul kicks the ball pleases his coach. (3) adjective clause a group of words containing a subject and a predicate working together to modify some noun or pronoun. It answers the question what kind of? (person, place, thing, or idea) The man who kicks the ball is Raul. who kicks the ball is a clause. It has the subject who and the predicate kicks. What is this clause doing? It answers the question what kind of? (man) the who kicks the ball man. It is an adjective clause. (4) adverb clause a group of words containing a subject and a predicate working together to modify a verb. It usually answers any of three questions: when?(it happens); why? (it happens); under what conditions? (does it happen). Whenever Raul kicks the ball at the goalie, everybody expects a score. Whenever Raul kicks the ball at the goalie is a clause. It contains the subject Raul and the predicate kicks. What is this clause doing? It is modifying the verb expects (the predicate of the independent clause everybody expects a score. It answers the question when? (does everybody expect a score) Whenever Raul kicks the ball at the goalie. Please notice that since this adverb clause comes at the beginning of the sentence, it is set off with a comma. Phrases (1) prepositional phrase. In the sentence above, Whenever Raul kicks the ball at the goalie, everybody expects a score, at the goalie is a prepositional phrase. All prepositional phrases work as either adjectives or adverbs. If the entire phrase answers the question what kind of?, it s an adjective phrase.

3 If it answers how? or when? or where? or why? or under what conditions? or to what degree? it is an adverb prepositional phrase. In the sentence above, at the goalie is answering the question where? (does he kick the ball). It is modifying the verb kicks so that it is an adverb prepositional phrase. You already know a lot of prepositional phrases: in the room, to Jim, over the hill, by the river, down the long, slick slope. Notice that most prepositional phrases contain three words: during the war. But they can contain two words or many words. But there must be a preposition and at least one noun or pronoun (the object of the preposition). (2) infinitive phrase. You recognize an infinitive by its structure. It is the preposition to followed by a verb rather than by a noun. To run is an infinitive; to Jim is a prepositional phrase. To run the show is an infinitive phrase. And just as the prepositional phrase works as a part of speech (adjective or adverb), an infinitive phrase works as a part of speech (noun, adjective, or adverb). Here are examples: noun infinitive phrase: To run the show gives him pleasure. what? gives him pleasure: To run the show. It s working as the subject of the clause and is therefore a noun. adjective infinitive phrase: The desire to run the show caused him to be impatient with others. what kind of? desire to run the show desire. Please notice that an infinitive phrase working as an adjective is written right after the noun or pronoun it modifies. adverb infinitive phrase: He was assigned to run the show. how? was he assigned to run the show. It is an adverb infinitive phrase modifying the predicate of the clause.

4 (3) gerund phrase. It is always the ing form of the verb working as a noun no exceptions. Singing a lullaby gives him pleasure. What? gives him pleasure: Singing a lullaby. Singing a lullaby is a gerund phrase. It can appear in a clause in any of the noun positions: subject, predicate noun, direct object, indirect object, object of a preposition, or object of a verbal. (4) participle phrase. The present participle is the ing form of the verb. The past participle is the form of the verb that is used with the helping verb have : have talked, have spoken, have swum. Talked, spoken, and swum are past participles. The perfect participle contains the helping verb having followed by the past participle of the main verb: having talked, having spoken, having swum. Any of these three forms, present participle, past participle, or perfect participle, can be used to create a participle phrase (which usually works as an adjective but can work as an adverb). Talking his heart out, Jim convinced her. Talked out, he had no more to say. Having talked his heart out, he remained silent. The highlighted participle phrases in the sentences above are all working as adjectives: Talking his heart out modifies the noun Jim. Talked out modifies the noun heart. Having talked his heart out modifies the pronoun he. Infinitive phrases, gerund phrases, and participle phrases are called verbal phrases because they contain a verb along with any modifiers of that verb and any object or objects of that verb. They don t occur in English

5 sentences as frequently as prepositional phrases do, but they occur often enough to be relevant units for use and discussion.