Your Hands and the Eight Parts of Speech
Hold your hands as shown.
Parts of speech are used to construct sentences, paragraphs, essays, and research papers just like construction workers and mechanics use parts to construct everything they make.
Who cares?
Good communicators get good jobs, so learn the parts of speech. If your sentences are broken, you need to know how to fix them. A mechanic could fix a car without knowing the names of all of his/her tools and parts, but what a nightmare!
Activity
Nouns
Use your index finger of left hand.
Point to yourself and others to show that nouns refer to persons.
Next point to your classroom or location to show that nouns also refer to places.
Now point to any object in the room to show that nouns also refer to things.
Now point to your head to show that nouns also refer to ideas.
Finally, point to your face to show that nouns also refer to attributes or qualities.
Examples of nouns: persons - boy, Tom, worker
places - school, Englewood High School, classroom, home, house
things - computer, pencil, shoe
ideas - war, peace, love, hate
attributes/qualities - beauty, ugliness, kindness
Verbs
Use your index finger of right hand.
Point to your legs and jog in place to show that verbs refer to action.
Next point to yourself, freeze in place, and say, "Exist, am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been, do, did, done, has, have, and had are tricky words that are verbs, but they don't show action."
Finally point to your eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and your left hand to show that verbs can involve the senses. People can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch objects.
Examples: Get into groups and try to list as many verbs as you can.
Pronouns
Look at the middle finger of your left hand.
It is next to your noun index finger. Hold both fingers up.
Say, "Pronouns substitute for nouns."
Say, "Index = Tom. Middle = he."
Examples: Get into groups and list as many pronouns as you can.
Adverbs
Look at the middle finger of your right hand.
It is next to your verb index finger. Hold both fingers up.
Now "walk" both fingers slowly across your desk.
Say, "Slowly is how I walk. Adverbs say how something is happening or how someone is doing something."
Examples: Get into groups and list as many adverbs as you can. (Watch out! Not all words that end in the letters "ly" are adverbs. The word "friendly" for example does not answer the question "How?" and it is an adjective.
Adjectives
Look at the ring finger of your left hand.
A ring can be worn on this finger to show that a person is married. The ring "dresses up" a hand and adds information
Adjectives add information to nouns and pronouns.
Look at your ring finger and say, "I have a pretty ring. Pretty is an adjective adding information about the ring. Adjectives add information to nouns. They often come before a noun."
Say, "The ring is pretty. After a verb that does not show action, sometimes I can find an adjective."
Say, "It is pretty. Adjectives can add information to pronouns. The word "it" is a pronoun."
Examples: Get into groups and list as many adjectives as you can. (Watch out! Not all words that end in the letters "ly" are adverbs. The word "friendly" for example does not answer the question "How?" and it is an adjective.
Interjections
Look at the ring finger of your right hand.
A ring may be worn on this finger for decoration. Rings often show our emotions, just like interjections do.
Look at your ring finger and say, "Wow! Gee! Words, not entire sentences, followed by exclamation points are being used as interjections. Interjections are not necessary in a sentence, but they do say a lot about a person or situation.
Examples: Get into groups and list as many interjections as you can. (Watch out! While curse words are often used as interjections, they are not appropriate in a classroom!)
Prepositions and Conjunctions
Link your little fingers.
See how well they can connect both of your hands together?
Say, "Prepositions and conjunctions join parts of sentences together."
Now unlink your fingers. Look at the little finger of your left hand. This finger represents prepositions.
Pick up a pencil and put it in the palm of your left hand. Hold it in place with your little finger.
Say, "My pencil is in my left hand. The word "in" is a preposition that shows the relationship of the pencil to my hand. Prepositions show the relationship of one noun to another."
Put your pencil in your right hand. Get out a piece of paper. Draw one or both of the following pictures:
Examples: A preposition shows the relationship of two nouns to each other. You can draw an airplane (noun) and a cloud (noun) or a cat (noun) and a log (noun). You can draw a cat on a log, in a log, above a log, going through a log, going around a log, etc. Remember the picture and the examples of prepositions (words in green). Get into groups and write as many prepositions as you can. To check your work, click here.
Link your little fingers.
Look at the little finger of your right hand. This finger represents conjunctions.
I hope you are a fan of your right little finger. Say, "FANBOYS are coordinating conjunctions:The words for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so are conjunctions. "
The PSAT,
SAT, and ACT college entrance test want you to know conjunctions so that you
can punctuate sentences correctly and not confuse readers. You also need to
learn subordinating conjunctions. The following words are the most often
used subordinating conjunctions: although, as, because, before, since,
though, until, when, where, and while.
Examples: Draw a picture that shows FANBOYS and subordinating conjunctions. Some artists like to draw a boss yelling a an employee because an employee is also called a subordinate. Be creative and include as many conjunctions as you can in your drawing.
Another Way to Remember the Parts of Speech
To watch the video lesson, please click here.
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Gale Sperry,
www.mrssperry.com, All rights reserved.