Note: This is the second in a series of four articles offering the fundamental ground rules of grammar for middle school students. More about the series can be found in the first article.
More Parts of Speech
The Verb. The verb shows action in a sentence: run, ran, hit, jump, etc. The verb also joins the subject of a sentence with its predicate, but more on that later. Do not forget the little words that help the verbs, the helping verbs: am, is, has, could, be, etc. These helpers come before a verb (e.g., I AM running).
Linking Verbs. Just when you thought you knew everything about verbs, here comes a twist. Linking verbs do not show action. A linking verb links, or glues, a noun or pronoun with its modifier adjective or noun. Think of an adjective such as “happy.” Imagine that you want to say that your friend is in a state of happiness. You could say, “Happy friend.” However, this does not sound very educated. Instead, you would say, “My friend IS happy.” In this way, you have linked the noun (friend) with its adjective (happy). In this example, “is” is the linking verb, and “happy” is called the predicate adjective, because it is an adjective and it is in the predicate rather than coming before the noun it describes. Be careful with this one. If someone asks how you are feeling, and you say, “I am feeling well,” what you have really said is that your fingers have the capacity to sense pressure and heat to a high degree (well is an adverb). You should have said, “I am feeling good,” because good is an adjective modifying yourself. If someone asks, “What do you do for a living?,” you could answer, “I am a student.” In this case, “student” is a noun telling what you are. This is called a predicate nominative.
The Adverb. An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb. Most adverbs end in “ly,” such as “quickly.” Other adverbs are: soon, now, and too.
Conjunctions. Simply put, conjunctions (and, or, nor, but, for, yet) join words and groups of words. They also join independent clauses with each other with a comma coming before the conjunction.
Interjection. No Way! Get it? It is a fast command or comment, usually followed by an exclamation point.
Nobody said that learning grammar was going to be fun, but hopefully this summary can help middle school students learn some of the topics along the way to writing well. In the next installment of Middle School Grammar Basics, we will continue with phrases, clauses, and sentences.
