Unlike a few years ago, I had no challenges comprehending concepts in recent grammar classes. After studying topics assigned for week one, I now know that traditional grammar classifies words into eight different categories, collectively known as parts of speech (VanderMey, Meyer, and Rys). These include nouns, pronouns, verbs, conjunctions, prepositions, adjectives, adverbs, and interjections. In particular, the first four are straightforward to understand. However, there are also specific rules, like placement of commas, capitalization, periods, and question marks, that one must observe while using the building blocks of a speech to construct sentences.
Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs, and Conjunctions
A noun is a naming word (boy, ocean, and flowers), while a pronoun is a substitute for naming. Some words that can replace the nouns in the previous examples are he, it, and they, respectively (VanderMey, et al 634-663). Likewise, verbs describe actions, occurrences, or a state of being (639), whereas conjunctions are connecting words (98). Examples of verbs are doing, can, die, and was, while conjunctions include and, but, or, yet.
Oxford Comma
Of the various punctuation marks, the section on commas had the most significant impact on me. I realized that placing a comma in the wrong position results in a sentence having completely different meanings (VanderMey, Meyer and Rys 576). Consider the sentence: I hate smokers like you; I believe chewing is decent, and, I hate smokers, like you; I believe chewing is decent. The first sentence means that I do not like you because you are a smoker, while the second one implies we both loathe smokers.
Knowledge in parts of speech will now contribute significantly to my writing skills. Though not much of a challenge before, I am now proficient in adhering to grammar rules, which in turn helps me join words to make both simple and complex readable sentences. Moreover, I can correctly punctuate sentences by, for instance, placing commas in the correct position to avoid ambiguous meanings.
Works Cited
VanderMey, Randall, Meyer Verne, Rys John, and Sebranek Patrick. The College Writer: A Guide to Thinking, Writing, and Researching. Wadsworth, 2014.
