A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea.
A pronoun is a word used in the place of a noun.
A verb is a word that does an action, shows a state of being, links two words together, or helps another verb.
An adjective is a word that describes a noun or pronoun. Adjectives tell what kind, which one, how many, and whose.
An adverb is a word that describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs tell how, when, where, how often, and to what extent.
A preposition is a word that shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun to another word in the sentence.
A conjunction is a word that joins words or groups of words together.
An interjection is a word that expresses sudden or strong feeling.
A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought. All sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a punctuation mark.
Glossary of Additional Terms to Know
command – a sentence that gives an order or makes a request. A command sentence ends with either a period or an exclamation point.
complete predicate – the verb and other words that tell us what is said about the subject. It is the part of the sentence in which the verb is found.
complete subject – the simple subject and other words that tell us who or what the sentence is about. It is the part of the sentence in which the simple subject is found.
compound subject – a subject with two or more parts that are joined by a conjunction.
compound verb – two or more verbs that are joined by a conjunction and that have the same subject.
contraction – two words drawn together and shortened by dropping some letters. Every contraction has an apostrophe in it. The apostrophe tells us where the letters were dropped to form the contraction.
direct object – the noun or pronoun in the complete predicate that receives the action of the verb.
direct quotation – the exact words that someone says. Direct quotations are always enclosed by quotation marks.
exclamation – a sentence that shows sudden or strong feeling. An exclamation always ends with an exclamation point.
homonym – words that are spelled alike and pronounced alike but have different meanings.
indirect quotation – the content of what a person says without using his or her exact words. There are no quotation marks surrounding an indirect quotation.
predicate adjective – an adjective in the complete predicate that describes the subject.
predicate nominative – a noun or pronoun in the complete predicate that renames the subject.
question – a sentence that asks something. A question always ends with a question mark.
simple predicate – the main verb plus any helping verbs.
simple subject – the main word or term that tells us who or what the sentence is about.
statement – a sentence that gives information. Statements always end with a period.
types of sentences – The four different types of sentences are statements, commands, questions, and exclamations.
Summary of Rules
Forming Plurals
Usually, add s to a noun to form the plural.
Add es to nouns ending in s, sh, ch, x, or z.
If a noun ends in y after a consonant, change the y to i and add es.
If a noun ends in y after a vowel, just add s.
Commas in a Series
Put a comma after every item except the last one in the series.
Direct Address
Put a comma after the name or names of the people to whom you are speaking.
Direct Quotation That Comes at the End of a Sentence
The exact words a person says are always enclosed by quotation marks.
Direct quotations begin with a capital letter.
The quotation is separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma.
The end punctuation mark always comes inside the quotation marks.
Direct Quotation That Comes at the Beginning of a Sentence
The exact words a person says are always enclosed by quotation marks.
Direct quotations begin with a capital letter.
If the direct quotation would normally end with a period, then the period is changed to a comma. This comma is always inside the quotation marks.
If the direct quotation ends with a question mark or exclamation point, that mark is always inside the quotation marks.
Since the direct quotation is only a part of the sentence, the larger sentence must have its own end mark.