English Grammar & Writing Parts of Speech Flashcards

24 sample cards from the Parts of Speech deck

Sampled from the end of the deck, so these are different cards from the ones shown on the syllabus page.

1. What is an indefinite pronoun? Give examples of singular, plural, and variable ones.

   An indefinite pronoun refers to non-specific people or things. Always singular: everyone, someone, anybody, nothing, each, either, neither. Always plural: both, few, many, several. Variable (singular or plural by context): all, any, most, none, some.

2. What verb form do indefinite pronouns like 'everyone', 'each', and 'nobody' take?

   They take a singular verb: Everyone is here; Each of the students has a book; Nobody knows. Despite implying many people, these are grammatically singular.

3. What is pronoun-antecedent agreement?

   A pronoun must agree with its antecedent (the noun it refers to) in number, person, and gender. Singular antecedent -> singular pronoun; plural antecedent -> plural pronoun (The dog lost its bone; The dogs lost their bones).

4. How do you handle pronoun agreement with a compound antecedent joined by 'or'/'nor'?

   The pronoun agrees with the nearer antecedent. Example: Neither the teacher nor the students brought their books; Neither the students nor the teacher brought her book.

5. What pronoun agrees with an indefinite antecedent like 'everyone' in modern usage?

   Traditionally singular 'his' or 'his or her' (Everyone must bring his or her book). Increasingly, singular 'they' is accepted (Everyone must bring their book) to remain gender-neutral.

6. What is the difference between an action verb and a linking verb?

   An action verb expresses a physical or mental action (run, think, build). A linking verb connects the subject to a word that renames or describes it (a subject complement), expressing a state of being rather than an action (be, seem, become).

7. List common linking verbs and give a test for whether a verb is linking.

   Common: be (am/is/are/was/were), seem, become, appear, feel, look, sound, taste, smell, grow, remain. Test: replace the verb with a form of 'be'; if the sentence still makes sense, it is linking (She looks tired -> She is tired).

8. How can a verb like 'taste' or 'feel' be both a linking and an action verb?

   As a linking verb it describes the subject and is followed by an adjective (The soup tastes salty). As an action verb it shows the subject doing something and is followed by an object/adverb (The chef tasted the soup).

9. What is the difference between a transitive verb and an intransitive verb?

   A transitive verb requires a direct object to complete its meaning (She threw the ball). An intransitive verb does not take a direct object (He slept; The baby cried).

10. How can you test whether a verb is transitive or intransitive in a sentence?

    Ask 'what?' or 'whom?' after the verb. If there is an answer (a direct object), it is transitive (She reads books -> reads what? books). If there is no object, it is intransitive (She smiled).

11. Can a single verb be both transitive and intransitive? Give an example.

    Yes. Many verbs work both ways depending on use. 'Sing': She sings (intransitive) vs. She sings a song (transitive). 'Grow': Plants grow (intransitive) vs. Farmers grow crops (transitive).

12. What is an auxiliary (helping) verb, and what are the three primary auxiliaries?

    An auxiliary verb helps the main verb express tense, voice, mood, or aspect. The three primary auxiliaries are be, have, and do (e.g., She is running; They have eaten; Do you know?).

13. What is a modal verb, and what are the nine core modals?

    A modal verb is a helping verb expressing ability, possibility, permission, obligation, or necessity. The core modals are: can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must.

14. What grammatical features distinguish modal verbs from ordinary verbs?

    Modals: (1) are followed by the base form of the main verb (can go, not can to go/goes); (2) do not add -s in the third person (she can, not she cans); (3) have no infinitive or -ing forms; (4) form questions/negatives without 'do'.

15. What is the difference between a regular verb and an irregular verb?

    A regular verb forms its past simple and past participle by adding -ed (walk/walked/walked). An irregular verb changes its spelling in unpredictable ways (go/went/gone; sing/sang/sung).

16. State the three principal parts (base, past simple, past participle) of five common irregular verbs.

    go/went/gone; eat/ate/eaten; take/took/taken; write/wrote/written; begin/began/begun.

17. What are the spelling rules for adding -ed to regular verbs?

    Base + ed normally (jump/jumped). If it ends in -e, add only -d (like/liked). Consonant + y -> change y to i + ed (carry/carried). Single stressed vowel + consonant -> double the consonant (stop/stopped).

18. What is a phrasal verb, and what are its parts?

    A phrasal verb is a multi-word verb made of a verb plus one or more particles (an adverb and/or preposition) whose combined meaning often differs from the individual words (give up = quit, look after = care for).

19. What is the difference between a separable and an inseparable phrasal verb?

    Separable: the object can go between the verb and particle (turn the light off / turn off the light); if the object is a pronoun it must go in the middle (turn it off). Inseparable: the object must follow the whole verb (look after the baby, not look the baby after).

20. How does the meaning of a phrasal verb compare to its literal parts? Give an example.

    Phrasal verbs are often idiomatic, so the meaning is not the sum of the words. Example: 'break down' does not mean physically break the floor; it means stop functioning or lose emotional control. 'Run into' can mean meet by chance.

21. What is the difference between a descriptive adjective and a limiting adjective?

    A descriptive adjective names a quality or characteristic of a noun (blue, tall, happy). A limiting adjective restricts or specifies the noun rather than describing quality (articles a/an/the, numbers, this/that, some, my, each).

22. Give the categories of limiting adjectives with an example of each.

    Articles (a, an, the); demonstratives (this, those); possessives (my, their); numbers/quantifiers (three, many, some); interrogatives (which, whose); indefinites (each, any). They limit rather than describe.

23. What is the standard order of adjectives before a noun in English?

    Quantity/number, opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, purpose, then the noun. Example: two beautiful small old round brown Italian wooden dining tables.

24. Apply the adjective-order rule: arrange 'wooden, lovely, large, old, brown' before 'table'.

    a lovely (opinion) large (size) old (age) brown (color) wooden (material) table -> 'a lovely large old brown wooden table'.

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