Parts of Speech Practice

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Hopkins- English III

Ahelping verb(also called anauxiliary verb) is a verb (such ashave, do, orwill) that comesbeforethemain verbin a sentence. This exercise will give you practice in identifying helping verbs.

Keep in mind that more than one helping verb (such ashas been) can be used in front of a main verb. In addition, remember that sometimes another word (such as not) separates the helping verb from the main verb.

  1. My sister has promised to come with us to the Thousand Islands.
  2. Keaton and Spencer will prepare a PowerPoint presentation for the class.
  3. I must return to Yellowstone National Park to appreciate its significance and astonishing beauty.
  4. We should read another book by E.B. White.
  5. We should not waste our time watching TV.
  6. My brother will be flying out of Brigham City tomorrow morning.
  7. We have been studying all week for the final exam.
  8. Heidi has not been studying very hard.
  9. My car was stolen by a couple of kids out for a good time.
  10. I can help you tonight if you will drive me home later.
  11. Thousands of people, braving the cold and the rain, had been waiting for hours for the band to show up.
  12. Cooper and his friends are bored with their lives, and so they are always looking for trouble.
  13. I know that I must make a decision soon, but first I may ask my teacher for advice.
  14. Elizabeth could not start her car this morning, so she will probably not go into work at all today.
  15. I have finished the quiz on helping verbs, and now I am going home.

A preposition is a word that relates the noun or pronoun that appears with it to another word in a sentence. Prepositions perform the important job of linking words within a sentence. The relationships they indicate may involve such things as location, direction, cause, or possession. A prepositional phrase contains a noun or pronoun known as the object of the preposition.

Ex. Sit beside me and tell me about Crispus Attucks.

  1. Crispus Attucks was a former slave of African ancestry who probably spent much of his later life aboard whaling ships.
  2. To this day, little is known of him aside from a fateful event in 1770.
  3. On March 5, in Boston, Massachusetts, British soldiers fired upon a crown of American colonists.
  4. The crowd had gathered outside, opposite the soldiers, and had begun to challenge them.
  5. Attucks was killed in the conflict on that day.

Add an appropriate preposition to complete each sentence.

  1. Richard Wright was born ______1908 near a small Mississippi town.
  2. He made his way to the North ______working as an unskilled laborer.
  3. During the Great Depression, he was the editor ______a newspaper.
  4. He wrote books that were ahead ______of their time.
  5. According to many critics, Native Son is the best ______all his works.

Unlike prepositions, which simply relate words, conjunctions join words into a single unit. A conjunction is w word used to connect other words or groups of words. Coordinating conjunctions connect words or groups of words. Correlative conjunctions also join elements in sentences, but they always work in pairs. Subordinating conjunctions join two ides by making one of the ideas conjunctive—that is, dependent—on the other.

Circle the conjunction used in the following sentences. Then, identify each as coordinating, correlative, or subordinating.

Ex. I looked for The Proud Valley, but I couldn’t find it. COORDINATING

  1. Paul Robeson became neither a lawyer nor an athlete after his academic career.
  2. He did not become a lawyer because there were few opportunities for African Americans at law firms in 1923.
  3. He began his celebrated acting career while he was earning his law degree.
  4. The Emperor Jones was both a critical and commercial success.
  5. Theater audiences hailed Robeson in the title role, yet they knew little of his terrific singing talent.
  6. Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie are two of the founders of bebop.
  7. Parker played alto saxophone, and Gillespie played trumpet.
  8. Both Parker and Gillespie composed music and led bands.
  9. After they played with many bands in the 1930s and 1940s, Gillespie began to jam in Harlem with Parker and others.
  10. The recordings they made together are timeless, but many young people have never heard their music.