Nouns and Pronouns Person, place, thing, or idea Nouns and pronouns are the subjects and objects of actions and thoughts. Without these two parts of speech, nothing happens to anything. Writing begins with nouns, with stories built around subjects. Every writer should appreciate the roles of nouns and pronouns. The…
Tag: parts of speech
Prepositions Indicating physical and conceptual relationships It has been said that all things relate to each other. In English, prepositions describe relationships, even if not of the metaphysical sort. Preposition (prep.) Prepositions express the relationship of a noun or pronoun to another word or phrase in the sentence. The relationship…
Conjunctions Connecting words, phrases, and clauses When you want to write about more than one subject or action in the same sentence, it’s time for a conjunction. It helps to understand phrases and clauses when studying the more advanced uses of conjunctions. Conjunction (conj.) A conjunction connects words or groups…
Doubles Working as two parts of speech simultaneously A double is a word that performs the functions of two parts of speech simultaneously. There are various ways for this to occur, so do not think we offer an exhaustive list of doubles. Six Common Doubles To determine the primary role…
Basic Grammar Parts of speech and a little more It is a cliché: learn the rules before breaking them. Unfortunately, many writers lack basic knowledge of grammar. American schools stopped asking students to diagram sentences many years ago. Possibly worse, American English dictionaries and grammar guides increasingly accept non-standard word…