Nouns are people, places, things or ideas.
Examples: Megan, fish, dream, boy…
Where are nouns in a sentence? A noun can be the subject or object of a sentence.
A good hint that something is a noun is an article (a, an, the) before it.
Pronouns are words that take the place of a noun after we know what the noun is.
Examples: he, she, we, her, him, they….
There are different pronouns for different places in the sentence (subject pronouns “he, she, it” and object
pronouns “him, her, them”), and some pronouns can show possession (having something) like “his,
hers, theirs…”
Verbs are words that show actions. EVERY SENTENCE NEEDS A VERB! Verbs are usually found after
the subject of a sentence.
Examples: jump, think, smell, look, cut…
Verbs often end in ‘–ed,’ ‘-s’ and ‘-ing’ to show the tense of the verb or the agreement with the subject.
Adjectives are words that give more information about a noun.
Examples: tall, ugly, fun, crazy, strange…
Adjectives often come before a noun or another adjective. Some adjectives end in ‘–ing’ or ‘–ed,’ so
you should be careful not to confuse them with verbs.
A common sentence in English might contain the BE verb followed by an adjective like: “I am tall.”
Adverbs are words that describe verbs.
Examples: quickly, slowly, quietly, fast, well, repeatedly…
The most common adverbs tell us HOW something is done (adverbs of manner), when something is
done (adverbs of time), or how often something is done (adverbs of frequency).
Usually, adverbs come before the verb they describe: “I quickly ate the frog.” Sometimes, the adverb
comes at the beginning or end of a sentence: “I ate the frog quickly.” Adverbs come after the “be”
verb: “She is usually late.”
Many adverbs of manner end in ‘–ly.’
Prepositions are words that can describe time and location.
Examples: to, in, on, at, under, in front of, behind, after…
Prepositions are usually followed by an object (noun): “I put the book on the table.”
Note: If you want to improve your speaking skills, do not do the exercises in this book before class unless
they are assigned as homework. During class you will have a chance to build your speaking skills. Going
ahead in the book will cause you to lose important speaking skills that are the focus of this textbook.
Trust us on this one!