Understand that content words are definable, and their meaning can be changed by adding various prefixes or suffixes. The simplest part of speech is the noun, which is understood to be a person, place, thing or idea. Nouns can be identified by word order or suffixes. Words ending in --tion or --ment are usually nouns. Words that can be made plural by the suffix --s or --es are nouns.
Recognize that two types are verbs are action verbs and state-of-being verbs. Action verbs demonstrate an activity or something happening in the sentence. State-of-being verbs such as "to appear" or "to be" denote a physical state or feeling. Verbs are essential to form a complete sentence.
Practice using adjectives to enhance understanding. Adjectives are descriptive words applied to nouns or pronouns. Adjectives can be applied directly before the noun, such as "A good boy." They can also be used after a state-of-being verb to describe a noun, such as "The boy is good." There may be several adjectives that describe one noun.
Understand that adverbs are descriptive words applied to verbs. The majority of adverbs end with the --ly suffix. Adverbs demonstrate when, where, why and how the verb is being used. In the sentence "The presentation went smoothly," the adverb "smoothly" answers the question of how the presentation went and modifies the past tense of the verb "to go."
Be familiar with function words, such as pronouns. Function words describe the relationship of one content word to another. Pronouns are used in place of nouns. Pronouns must refer to the word it is substituting, which is called the antecedent. Examples of pronouns are "I," "she" and "it."
Notice the placement of prepositions. Prepositions are used before nouns, pronouns and noun phrases. The noun, pronoun or noun phrase that follows the preposition is called the object of the preposition. You can recognize prepositions because they often indicate the location of a noun. In the sentence "Sue is in the office," "in" is the preposition and "office" is the object of the preposition and the location.
Notice that conjunctions form a link between two phrases, words or sentences. Conjunctions such as "because," "and" and "or" are used to join two independent clauses to form a compound sentence. Conjunctions are also used with individual words to create a link between them.
Know that articles are easy to recognize. The only articles used in English are "the," "a" and "an." Articles are always placed before a noun. The article "an" is used in front of a noun that begins with a verb. The article "a" is used in front of a noun that begins with a consonant.