![\"Manhattan](\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2018\/01\/gmat-grammar-parts-of-speech-elaine-loh.png\")
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Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We\u2019re not kidding! <\/i><\/b>Check out our upcoming courses here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n <\/i><\/b>I promise you this will not be a diatribe directed towards the American school system, but I have to say that many of us were not taught proper grammar when we were in\u2014ahem\u2014grammar school. Many of us were also not taught how to make funny puns on blog posts. ?<\/span><\/p>\n So, if you feel like you don\u2019t know some GMAT grammar fundamentals, never fear! You are actually in the great majority of people. That being said, you will only be doing yourself a favor on the GMAT if you learn that grammar now. Plus, you can <\/span>impress all your nerd friends<\/span><\/a>. Today\u2019s lesson is on parts of speech.<\/span><\/p>\n There is actually <\/span>a website<\/span><\/a> dedicated solely to parts of speech. They say that there are eight parts of speech. For this blog, I only care about three of them. It is incredibly important to be able to identify nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Why is it important to be able to differentiate them? Well, it will come into play when you\u2019re trying to do subject-verb agreement or parallel structure or core-vs-modifier\u2026 Knowing these parts of speech will help you in virtually all Sentence Correction strategies.<\/span><\/p>\n Nouns: person, place, or thing. That\u2019s how most people define nouns. I would add that a \u201cthing\u201d can also be something intangible, like an idea or a concept.<\/span><\/p>\n Simple example: <\/span>My cat is funny.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Here, the noun is <\/span>cat<\/span><\/i>. Done.<\/span><\/p>\n Harder example: <\/span>My cat\u2019s favorite pastime is meowing and to play with string.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Here, we have several nouns. The easier ones are <\/span>cat<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>pastime<\/span><\/i>, and <\/span>string<\/span><\/i>. But there\u2019s one more. The word <\/span>meowing<\/span><\/i> is also being used as a noun!! What?? I thought meowing was a verb (more on verbs in a second). Remember when we said that a \u201cthing\u201d could also be something intangible? Well, that\u2019s how I would define <\/span>meowing<\/span><\/i>. It\u2019s not a \u201cthing\u201d we can touch, but it\u2019s a concept or an idea. The grammatical term is that <\/span>meowing<\/span><\/i> is a gerund. A gerund is when a verb is used as a noun.<\/span><\/p>\n So, now we have to decide if this sentence is okay. I would argue that it\u2019s not. Because if we think of parallel structure, then my cat has to have pastimes that are logically and grammatically comparable. Here, my cat likes <\/span>to play<\/span><\/i> (which is an infinitive verb) and <\/span>meowing <\/span><\/i>(which, as we just said, is a noun). That\u2019s not okay!! So, just by knowing our parts of speech, we can eliminate this as a proper answer choice.<\/span><\/p>\n Verbs: action words or words that tell us a state of being.<\/span><\/p>\n Simple example:<\/span> My cat is funny.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n The word <\/span>is<\/span><\/i> is the verb here. This is an example of a state of being, what my cat \u201cis\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n Harder example: <\/span>My cat likes to play with string.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n The main verb of the sentence is <\/span>likes<\/span><\/i>. <\/span>Likes<\/span><\/i> is an example of an action word. It is paired with the main subject of the sentence, <\/span>cat<\/span><\/i>. But, as mentioned earlier, <\/span>to play<\/span><\/i> is also a verb. We call this an infinitive. It\u2019s a verb before it\u2019s been conjugated. \u201cTo ______\u201d is always the infinitive form. <\/span>To run, to climb, to eat<\/span><\/i>\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n Another quick rule to learn:<\/span> -ing<\/span><\/i> words (like <\/span>fighting<\/span><\/i>) can only be considered verbs if they are paired with a helping verb. For example, \u201cMy cat is fighting with the dog.\u201d Now, <\/span>is fighting<\/span><\/i> is the action of the sentence, and so it is a verb.<\/span><\/p>\n Adjectives: provide extra information about nouns. We put adjectives under the general category of modifiers. Many things provide extra information, but adjectives only describe nouns.<\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s stick with my hilarious cat.<\/span><\/p>\n Simple example: <\/span>My cat is funny.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Funny<\/span><\/i> is a descriptive word that gives us extra information about my cat. Therefore, it\u2019s an adjective.<\/span><\/p>\n Harder example: <\/span>My cat is funny, angry, and a monster.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n What do you think? Is this sentence okay? Again, I would argue that it isn\u2019t, based on parts of speech. <\/span>Funny<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>angry<\/span><\/i> both describe my cat. But <\/span>a monster<\/span><\/i> is a noun. While my cat might indeed be a monster, we can\u2019t join two adjectives with a noun. It\u2019s not parallel.<\/span><\/p>\n So, those are the three big parts of speech that I want you to know backwards and forwards for GMAT grammar. Of the other five listed on the parts of speech website I mentioned earlier, you should also be able to identify pronouns (particularly the <\/span>Deadly 5<\/span><\/a>), prepositions (those small words: in, on, of, to\u2026), and conjunctions (the <\/span>FANBOYS<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n Will the GMAT actually ever ask you to identify these parts of speech? Of course not. But if you can speak about them knowledgeably and be able to identify them easily, then that means you have a greater chance of answering Sentence Correction questions correctly\u2014and, you can come hang out with me and my comedic cat. ?<\/span><\/p>\n Want more GMAT tips? Don\u2019t forget to follow us on\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Facebook<\/i><\/b><\/a>,\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Twitter<\/i><\/b><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/i><\/b>LinkedIn<\/i><\/b><\/a>!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We\u2019re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here. I promise you this will not be a diatribe directed towards the American school system, but I have to say that many of us were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[873,880,929,52871,930,2,26,10],"tags":[267,53210],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-15098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-current-studiers","category-gmat-101","category-gmat-prep","category-gmat-strategies","category-gmat-study-guide","category-how-to-study","category-sentence-correction","category-verbal-on-gmat","tag-gmat-grammar","tag-parts-of-speech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/156"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15098"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15147,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15098\/revisions\/15147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15098"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=15098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWhat are the main parts of speech?<\/b><\/h4>\n
Nouns<\/b><\/h4>\n
Verbs<\/b><\/h4>\n
Adjectives<\/b><\/h4>\n
Other Parts of Speech<\/b><\/h4>\n
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\n![\"Manhattan](\"https:\/\/d27gmszdzgfpo3.cloudfront.net\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2017\/01\/elaine-loh-150x150.png\")
Elaine Loh<\/a>\u00a0is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Los Angeles, California.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/i><\/b>She graduated from Brown University with a degree in psychology and a desire to teach others. She can\u2019t get enough of standardized tests and has been a test prep tutor and teacher for over half her life.\u00a0<\/em><\/i>Check out Elaine\u2019s upcoming GMAT courses here<\/a>.<\/em><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"