The parts of speech

THE PARTS OF SPEECH
Traditional grammar classifies words based on eight parts of speech: the verb, the noun, the pronoun, the adjective, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction, and the interjection.
Each part of speech explains not what the word is, but how the word is used. In fact, the same word can be a noun in one sentence and a verb or adjective in the next.

VERB
The verb is themost important part of the sentence. A compound verb asserts something about the subject of the sentence and express actions, events, or states of being. A compound verb is the critical element of the predicate of a sentence.

NOUN
A noun is a word used to name a person, animal, place, thing, and abstract idea. Nouns are usually the first words which small children learn.

NOUN GENDER
Manycommon nouns, like "engineer" or "teacher," can refer to men or women. Once, many English nouns would change form depending on their gender -- for example, a man was called an "author" while a woman was called an "authoress" -- but this use of gender-specific nouns is very rare today.

NOUN PLURALS
Most nouns change their form to indicate number by adding "-s" or "-es".

POSSESSIVE NOUNS
Inthe possessive case, a noun or pronoun changes its form to show that it owns or is closely related to something else. Usually, nouns become possessive by adding a combination of an apostrophe and the letter "s."
You can form the possessive case of a singular noun that does not end in "s" by adding an apostrophe and "s".
You can form the possessive case of a singular noun that ends in "s" byadding an apostrophe alone or by adding an apostrophe and "s".
You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does not end in "s" by adding an apostrophe and a "s".
You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does end in "s" by adding an apostrophe:

USING POSSESSIVE NOUNS
When you read the following sentences, you will notice that a noun in the possessive case frequentlyfunctions as an adjective modifying another noun:

TYPES OF NOUNS
There are many different types of nouns. As you know, you capitalise some nouns, such as "Canada" or "Louise," and do not capitalise others, such as "badger" or "tree" (unless they appear at the beginning of a sentence). In fact, grammarians have developed a whole series of noun types, including the proper noun, the common noun, theconcrete noun, the abstract noun, the countable noun (also called the count noun), the non-countable noun (also called the mass noun), and the collective noun. You should note that a noun will belong to more than one type: it will be proper or common, abstract or concrete, and countable or non-countable or collective.

PROPER NOUNS
You always write a proper noun with a capital letter, since thenoun represents the name of a specific person, place, or thing. The names of days of the week, months, historical documents, institutions, organisations, religions, their holy texts and their adherents are proper nouns. A proper noun is the opposite of a common noun

COMMON NOUNS
A common noun is a noun referring to a person, place, or thing in a general sense -- usually, you should write itwith a capital letter only when it begins a sentence. A common noun is the opposite of a proper noun.

ABSTRACT NOUNS
An abstract noun is a noun which names anything which you can not perceive through your five physical senses, and is the opposite of a concrete noun.

COUNTABLE NOUNS
A countable noun (or count noun) is a noun with both a singular and a plural form, and it names anything (oranyone) that you can count. You can make a countable noun plural and attach it to a plural verb in a sentence. Countable nouns are the opposite of non-countable nouns and collective nouns.

NON-COUNTABLE NOUNS
A non-countable noun (or mass noun) is a noun which does not have a plural form, and which refers to something that you could (or would) not usually count. A non-countable noun always...