Parts of Speech
Noun
Name of a person place or thing.
Pronoun
A word that substitutes for a noun and is therefore the name of a person, place, or thing.
Verb
A word that expresses "action, being, or state of being." Uh, ok. Also, a verb is a word that demonstrates that a subject is doing something or simply that the subject exits.
Article
An article functions in many ways like a modifier, in that it cannot exist in isolation. Articles always point toward nouns so they are sometimes called "noun markers." English has three articles: the, a, an. "The" is the definite article; "a" and "an" are indefinite articles. Adjective
An adjective is a modifier; therefore, it must have something to modify. Adjectives modify nouns and noun substitutes. Adverb
An adverb modifies verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. It is highly versatile and often misused. Conjunction
Conjunctions join grammatical units, such as words, sentences, and phrases together. Conjunctions come in two general flavors: coordinating and subordinating. Coordinating conjunctions join units of equal importance together, while subordinating conjunctions join units of unequal importance. (Ugly phrase, eh?) Preposition
Like a conjunction a preposition can connect, but what it connects, in the first instance, is itself to an object. A preposition cannot exist unless it has an object. That object will always be somewhere to the right of the preposition and because it is an object it will be a noun or noun substitute. Interjection
Don't use these darn things in formal writing. But just so you know, an interjection is a word or group of words (phrase) that interrupts the normal flow of a sentence. Interjections are associated with commas and exclamation points. Sentence Functions
Subject
Properly phrased: The subject of the predicate (and therefore the subject of the sentence). The subject is a noun or noun substitute. Predicate
The predicate is a word or words that states that something (the subject) is doing something or simply exists. The easiest way to think of a predicate is to say that it is a verb that either shows action or does not show action. Modifier
A modifier is a word or words that change the mental image or meaning or another word or words. For instance if you think of the word "lake," you will have your own personal vision of what a "lake" is. But if other words are added, such as "muddy, weedy, shallow" then that crystal-clear high-mountain lake you were contemplating disappeared to be replaced by a much different lake. The same idea applies to other parts of speech. Consider "walk." Again, we all have our own picture of what "walk" means, but if place the word "slowly" after "walk" then most of us will now have a different mental image of the word "walk." Of course, we're talking about adjectives and adverbs . Object
An object receives action or direction from another word or words. Confusion can reign here unless you keep one idea firmly in mind: in order for a sentence to have either a direct or indirect object the predicate must contain an action verb verb. Non-action predicates can not generate objects. Objects of prepositions don't really receive action, but they often receive direction (Go in the room) . Complement
A complement is any word or phrase that completes the meaning or adds to subject or object structures. (Note the spelling-the word means "additional" not "you're cute.") In certain sentences complements are required. For instance, you must have a complement when the predicate is a non-action verb. The pseudo-sentence "I am" is not a sentence because "am" is non-action; the sentence must have a complement such as "happy." The sentence "I am happy" is correct. Connectors
Connectors join various sentence elements together. The two main groups are conjunctions and prepositions, though it can be argued that the preposition and its attendant object form a much less cohesive structure than a conjunction. Markers
Markers can be very useful structures since they always mark the position of nouns or noun substitutes. Articles perform this function in English.