Language, Grammar & Linguistics Compendium

Every word in the English language belongs to one of eight grammatical categories called parts of speech. Understanding the role each word plays is the foundation of clear, precise writing and reading comprehension.

1.1 The Eight Parts of Speech — Overview

Part of Speech	Role	Key Questions	Examples
Noun	Names a person, place, thing, or idea	Who? What?	teacher, city, freedom, justice
Pronoun	Replaces a noun	Who? What? (substituted)	he, she, it, they, whom, this
Verb	Expresses action or state of being	What does the subject do / be?	run, is, think, become, seem
Adjective	Modifies a noun or pronoun	Which? What kind? How many?	tall, three, blue, ancient
Adverb	Modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb	How? When? Where? To what degree?	quickly, very, never, here
Preposition	Shows relationship between a noun/pronoun and other words	Where? When? How related?	in, on, at, by, through, despite
Conjunction	Connects words, phrases, or clauses	How are these connected?	and, but, or, although, because
Interjection	Expresses emotion; grammatically independent	—	Oh! Wow! Alas! Indeed!

1.2 Nouns — Types & Properties

Type	Definition	Examples
Common	General names, not capitalized	dog, river, school
Proper	Specific names, always capitalized	Rover, Mississippi, Harvard
Abstract	Intangible ideas or concepts	love, justice, democracy
Concrete	Physically perceivable things	chair, thunder, bread
Collective	Groups treated as a unit	team, flock, jury, committee
Count	Can be counted individually	apple(s), idea(s)
Non-count (Mass)	Cannot be individually counted	water, air, information, advice
Compound	Made of two or more words	toothbrush, ice cream, mother-in-law
Gerund	Verb form functioning as a noun (-ing)	Swimming is healthy.

1.3 Pronouns — Types & Cases

Type	Examples
Personal (Subjective)	I, you, he, she, it, we, they
Personal (Objective)	me, you, him, her, it, us, them
Personal (Possessive)	my/mine, your/yours, his, her/hers, its, our/ours, their/theirs
Reflexive / Intensive	myself, yourself, himself, themselves
Demonstrative	this, that, these, those
Interrogative	who, whom, whose, which, what
Relative	who, whom, whose, which, that
Indefinite	anyone, each, few, many, none, several, somebody
Reciprocal	each other, one another

1.4 Verbs — Types & Properties

Property	Types / Description
Action vs. Linking	Action: run, write, think — Linking: be, seem, appear, become, feel, look, taste, smell, sound
Transitive vs. Intransitive	Transitive: takes a direct object — Intransitive: does not — She kicked the ball vs. She laughed.
Auxiliary (Helping)	be, am, is, are, was, were, been; have, has, had; do, does, did
Modal Auxiliaries	can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would, ought to
Regular Verbs	Add -ed for past tense: walk → walked, talk → talked
Irregular Verbs (common)	be→was/were, go→went, see→saw, take→took, write→wrote, bring→brought, think→thought, eat→ate, give→gave, come→came
Verb Phrases	Auxiliary + main verb: has been running, will have completed

1.5 Adjective & Adverb Degrees of Comparison

Degree	Adjective (short)	Adjective (long)	Adverb
Positive	fast	beautiful	quickly
Comparative	faster	more beautiful	more quickly
Superlative	fastest	most beautiful	most quickly

Irregular comparatives: good → better → best  |  bad → worse → worst  |  little → less → least  |  many/much → more → most  |  far → farther/further → farthest/furthest

1.6 Conjunctions — Types

Type	Examples	Use
Coordinating (FANBOYS)	For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So	Join grammatically equal elements
Subordinating	although, because, since, unless, while, whereas, after, before, if, when, though	Introduce dependent clauses
Correlative	both…and, either…or, neither…nor, not only…but also, whether…or	Used in pairs to connect equal elements
Conjunctive Adverb	however, therefore, moreover, furthermore, consequently, nevertheless, nonetheless	Transition between independent clauses (requires semicolon before)

1.7 Verb Tenses — The Complete Grid

Tense	Simple	Progressive	Perfect	Perfect Progressive
Present	I walk	I am walking	I have walked	I have been walking
Past	I walked	I was walking	I had walked	I had been walking
Future	I will walk	I will be walking	I will have walked	I will have been walking