Lesson 1: Parts Of Speech
Verbs, Adjectives, and Adverbs
In this lesson, we will discuss verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Verbs
Once you have located the subject, the verbs are easy to find. A verb can be active or passive. If the subject is doing the action, the verb is active. If the subject is receiving the action, then the verb is passive. Let's look at some examples.
Active Verbs
1. The cat chased the ball in the living room.
Cat is the subject. Chased is the verb. It shows what the cat is doing.
2. Tom and Mary read their science fiction books every night.
Tom and Mary are the subjects. Read is the verb.
Passive Verbs
A passive verb is identified by a helping verb. It doesn't show action. The subject is receiving the action.
For example in the following sentence, the subject isn't doing any action: Tom was given an award for completing his course with honors.
Tom is the subject. Was given is the verb. It shows that Tom was receiving an award.
For further information on active and passive voice, the book "Essentials of English Grammar" by L. Sue Baugh is an excellent resource book. It covers every aspect of basic grammar.
Now, let's look at some exercises.
Exercises
See if you can identify the verbs in the following sentences and tell whether they are active or passive.
1. The mailman was here yesterday but not today.
2. We watched a great mystery on television last night.
3. Sadey played with Penny in the morning.
4. Penny's door was slightly ajar when she returned home.
5. The mailman delivered our mail.
These exercises are for your own benefit. I will devote a section to exercises that you will submit to me by e-mail.
Adjectives
An adjective describes a noun.
For example: The red ball went into the yard. Red is the adjective. It describes the noun, ball.
Exercises See if you can find the adjectives in the following sentences.
(1) The squirrels come on our screen porch and take peanuts out of the green bowl and drink water from the red bowl.
(2) Sadey likes to play with her black and white squeaky ball.
(3) Abby likes to run out of the bedroom and lick out Penny and Tippy's blue bowls.
(4) There were red and white flowers in the flower bed.
(5) When Tippy was a puppy, he liked to crawl under the coffee table and hide.
Adverbs
Ad adverb describes a verb. For example. The cat ran quickly up the tree. Quickly is the adverb. It describes how the cat ran up the tree.
Exercises See if you can locate the adverbs in these sentences.
(1) The squirrels quickly dashed up the tree.
(2) I finally got some printer paper for my printer.
(3) The carpet was laid evenly over the floor.
(4) The Rottweilers bark ferociously at anyone they see.
(5) Tippy came inside immediately when I shouted the word bread.
