A b. B C d. D

A word’s part of speech determines its function and form. The word quiet, for example, can be either a verb or an adjective; it changes to quietly when it is an adverb. Be sure you know the different parts of speech and the job each part of speech performs in a sentence. The following table offers a quick reference guide for the main parts of speech. PART OF SPEECH FUNCTION EXAMPLES noun names a person, place, thing, or concept girl, Eleanor, street, Walsh Avenue, calculator, happiness pronoun takes the place of a noun so that noun I, you, he, she, us, they, this, that, themselves, does not have to be repeated somebody, who, which verb describes an action, occurrence, or jump, becomes, is, seemed, clamoring state of being helping verb combines with other verbs main verbs forms of be, do and have; can, could, may, might, also called to create verb phrases that help indicate must, shall, should, will, would auxiliary verb tenses adjective describes nouns and pronouns; red, small, glorious, unexpected; that e.g., can also identify or quantify that car; several e.g., several dogs adverb describes verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, slowly, happily, always, very, yesterday or entire clauses preposition expresses the relationship in time or space in, on, around, above, between, underneath, between words in a sentence beside, with, upon see list on page 83. 1. Since interest rates have dropped considerably in the last month, it would be wise to refinance the mortgage on your new home. 2. I finally reached Tom in his office, and he said he would ship the redesigned brochures by express mail. 3. When I mailed the 200-page manuscript to my editor, I didn’t realize that the pages were completely out of order. 4. Whether you are ready or not, the chemistry test is tomorrow at 9:00 in Room 213. 5. The seven-foot-tall ostrich is the fastest two-legged animal on Earth. Parts of Speech – S T R U C T U R E : G R A M M A R A N D S T Y L E – 5 8 The hunter approached the white-tailed deer silently, noun verb adjective noun adverb but the deer had sensed him and escaped into the woods. helping verb pronoun verb preposition noun Verbs Verbs are the agents of action in a sentence. They are the “heart” of a sentence because they express the action or state of being of the subject: It rains a lot in Seattle. action I feel really good about this deal. state of being The poor cat is starving. state of being Chester smiled broadly. action Verbs have five basic forms:

1. Infinitive base: the base form of the verb plus the word to.

to go to be to desire to arrange To indicate tenses of regular verbs when the action of the verb did occur, is occurring, or will occur, we use the base form of the verb and add the appropriate tense endings.

2. Present tense: the verb form that expresses what is happening now. I am glad you are here.

Chester smiles a lot. The present tense of regular verbs is formed as follows: SINGULAR PLURAL first person Iwe base form dream base form dream second person you base form dream base form dream third person hesheit, they base form + -s-es dreams base form dream 3. Present participle: the verb form that describes what is happening now. It ends in -ing and is accom- panied by a helping verb such as is. Chester is smiling again. They are watching the stock market very carefully. NOTE: Words that end in -ing don’t always function as verbs. Sometimes they act as nouns and are called gerunds. They can also function as adjectives called participial phrases. Present participle verb: He is eating the plastic fruit Gerund noun: That plastic fruit is not for eating Participial phrase adjective: The sleeping baby awoke when the phone rang. You will learn more about gerunds later in this chapter. – S T R U C T U R E : G R A M M A R A N D S T Y L E – 5 9