Parts of Speech

Parts of speech refers to the basic classes or categories of words. The nine parts of speech are:

Nouns
Pronouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs
Prepositions
Conjunctions
Interjections
Article

Personal Pronouns

A personal pronoun is a pronoun that takes the place or refers to a particular person or thing.

Personal pronouns have

• case - subject, object, possessive
• number - singular or plural
• person - 1^st person is the person speaking, 2^nd person is the person being spoken to, 3^rd person is the person being spoken about.

1. Subjective case pronouns (nominative case) - are pronouns that act as subjects of sentences.

The subject of a sentence is what the sentence is about. The subject of a sentence usually, but not always, performs the action of the verb. So, in the sentence: Chuck juggled grapefruits., the subject of the sentence is 'Chuck.'

Subjective case pronouns include "I", "you", "he", "she", "it", "we", "they", "who".

Examples of singular subject case pronouns in a sentence:

I passed the test.
You passed the test.
She passed the test.

Examples of plural subject case pronouns in a sentence:

We passed the test.
They passed the test.
You passed the test.


2. Object case pronouns - are pronouns that act as objects of sentences.

An object receives the action of the verb in a sentence. So, in the sentence: Jack hugged Santa Claus., 'Jack' would be the subject, as Jack is performing the action of the verb 'hugged.' 'Santa Claus' is receiving the action of the verb, as Santa Claus is the person being hugged. Santa Claus is the object in this sentence.

Object case pronouns include "me", you", "him", "her", "it", "us", "them", "whom"

Examples of singular object case pronouns in a sentence:

Jack hugged me.
Jack hugged you.
Jack hugged him.

Examples of plural objective case pronouns in a sentence:

Jack hugged us.
Jack hugged you.
Jack hugged them.

3. Possessive case pronouns - are pronouns that show ownership

Possessive case pronouns include "my (mine)", "your (yours)", "his", "her (hers)", "it (its)",
"our (ours)", "their (theirs)", "whose"

Examples of possessive case pronouns used in a sentence:

That is my book.
The book is mine.
That is her book.


English Grammar 101: Personal Pronouns
Purdue Online Writing Lab: Pronoun Case
Study.com: What are Pronouns?

Pronouns

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of or refers to a noun.

For instance, you wouldn't say Janet has to study in order for Janet to get the job that Janet wants. Instead you would say Janet has to study in order for her to get the job that she wants.

The noun that a pronoun is referring to is called the antecedent.

For example, in the sentence Tom loves to play with his toys. The word his is a pronoun and Tom is the antecedent.



Study.com: What are Pronouns?
English Grammar 101: Personal Pronouns
Grammar Revolution: What is a pronoun?

Classifying Nouns

I've gone over common/proper nouns, singular/plural nouns, possessive nouns and collective nouns. There are also other ways of categorizing nouns. Also, it is important to understand that most nouns fit into more than one category.

For example:

Tom's - is a proper, singular, possessive noun.
Cars - is a common, plural noun.
Families - is a common, plural, collective noun.


English Grammar 101: Classifying Nouns

Nouns: Collective

A collective noun is a noun that represents a class or group of things. For example: flock of sheep, crowd of people, deck of cards, etc. Though collective nouns refer to a group, grammatically speaking, they are singular.

Examples include:
family
team
crowd
committee
jury
pack

Usually, the things described as a collective noun functions as a unit, and is therefore treated as a singular noun paired with singular verbs. For instance, you wouldn't say My family are big. Instead you would use a singular verb and say, My family is big.

An exception to this rule applies when you refer to the members of a collective group as separate individuals. When this is the case, use a plural verb. For instance, you probably wouldn't say The team is putting on their helmets because the collective team doesn't have one helmet to put on one head. Instead you would say The team are putting on their helmets since each seperate team member is putting on their helmet.



Study.com: What are collective nouns? 
English Grammar 101: Collective Nouns
QuickandDirtyTips.com: Grammar Girl: Collective Nouns
Onlinemathlearning.com: Collective Nouns

Nouns: Possessive

Possessive nouns are used to show ownership or possession of something by that noun.

Singular Possessive Nouns

1. To make a singular noun possessive, add an apostrophe and an s.

Dog's collar
(dog+'s)

Bus's engine

(bus+'s)

Charles's sneakers
(Charles+'s)

2. You may sometimes have to show what's called joint possession, which occurs when two or more people own something together. To show joint possession, add an apostrophe and an s to the end of the last noun. 

John and Jennifer's car was stolen. 

Note that if each had a car that was stolen it would be written as such:

John's and Jennifer's car was stolen.

Plural Possessive Nouns

1. To make a plural noun that ends in an s possessive, add an apostrophe (no additional s)

Dogs' collars
(dogs+')

Smiths' house
(Smiths+')

2. To make a plural nouns that doesn't end in s possessive, add an apostrophe and an s.

Children's homework
(children+'s)


Note: Here we used the apostrophe to make a noun possessive but there are other uses such as when forming a contraction.

English Grammar 101: Possessive Nouns
Study.com: What are possessive nouns?

Nouns: Singular & Plural

Singular & Plural Nouns
Nouns can be either singular or plural. A singular noun names one person, place, thing, or idea while a plural noun names more than one person, place, thing or idea. 

Regular Plural Nouns
Many singular nouns can easily be made into plural nouns. These are known as regular plurals. The basic rules for making these nouns plural are:

1. Add an 's' to the end of the singular noun.

cat ⇒ cats
truck ⇒ trucks
book ⇒ books
whale ⇒ whales

2. Singular nouns ending in 's', 'sh', 'ch', 'x', or 'z' need an 'es' at the end to become plural. For words that end in 'z' add an extra 'z' before the 'es'.

bus ⇒ buses

brush ⇒ brushes

switch ⇒ switches
fox ⇒ foxes
quiz ⇒ quizzes

Irregular Plural Nouns
There are many nouns that don't follow the standard rules for pluralization described above. These are referred to as irregular nouns.

3. Some nouns are the same in both their singular and plural forms.

deer ⇒ deer
fish ⇒ fish
offspring ⇒ offspring

4. Some nouns ending in 'fe' and some nouns ending in 'f' just add 's'. Some nouns that end in 'fe' or 'f' change the 'f' or 'fe' to 'v' and add 'es'.

roof ⇒ roofs
safe ⇒ safes
shelf ⇒ shelves
wife ⇒ wives

5. Nouns that end in a vowel + 'y' just add an 's'.
donkey ⇒ donkeys
monkey ⇒ monkeys
6. Nouns that end in a consonant + 'y' change the 'y' to 'i' and add 'es'.

family ⇒ families
trophy ⇒ trophies
7. Nouns that end in a consonant + 'o' usually add 'es' except for musical terms.

potato ⇒ potatoes
tomato ⇒ tomatoes
piano ⇒ pianos
soprano ⇒ sopranos
8. Some nouns ending in 'is' are pluralized by dropping the 'is' and adding 'es':

axis ⇒ axes
basis ⇒ bases
crisis ⇒ crises
neurosis ⇒ neuroses

9. There's not a hard and fast rule for some irregular plurals; just take note of them when you see them to become familiar with them.

child ⇒ children
man ⇒ men
foot ⇒ feet
mouse ⇒ mice


Khan Academy: Introduction to singular and plural nouns
Study.com: Singular & Plural Nouns: Definitions, Rules & Examples
English Grammar 101: Singular and Plural Nouns1
English Grammar 101: Singular and Plural Nouns 2

Noun

A noun is a word used to identify a person, place, thing, idea or action.

The underlined words in the following sentences are examples of nouns:

This is Raul.

He is from Argentina.

He is a penguin.

Raul has big dreams.

Khan Academy: Introduction to nouns

Nouns: Common & Proper

Common & Proper Nouns
Nouns can be categorized as either common or proper. Common nouns name a general class of objects (person, place, thing or idea) while a proper noun names a specific object.

For example:

Common Nouns    Proper Nouns
president              Barack Obama
country                 United States
sandwich               Big Mac
movie                   Casablanca

The first letter in a common noun typically isn't capitalized unless it is the first word in a sentence.

The first letter in a proper noun typically is capitalized. Also, be sure to capitalize all parts of a proper noun such as Ohio River and Orange County.

Standard American English

"The term Standard American English customarily refers to a variety of the English language that's generally used in professional communication in the United States and taught in American schools." "In the United States, we don't have a language academy, but we have many grammar and usage books that people turn to for the determination of standard forms. The key words in this definition are 'prescribed' and 'authority' so that the responsibility of determining standard forms is largely out of the hands of most speakers of the language. . . ."

"If we took a sample of everyday conversational speech, we would find that there are virtually no speakers who consistently speak formal standard English as prescribed in the grammar books. In fact, it is not unusual for the same person who prescribes a formal standard English form to violate standard usage in ordinary conversation."(1)



(1) About.com: Standard American English (SAE)