LEARNING MATERIAL

Eight Parts of Speech

There are eight parts of speech in the English language: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection. The part of speech indicates how the word functions in meaning as well as grammatically within the sentence. An individual word can function as more than one part of speech when used in different circumstances. Understanding parts of speech is essential for determining the correct definition of a word when using the dictionary.

 1. NOUN

  . A noun is the name of a person, place, thing or idea.

  A noun is a word for a person, place, thing or idea. Nouns are often used with an article ( the, a ,an), but not always. Proper nouns always start with a capital letter; common nouns do not. Nouns can be singular or plural, concrete or abstract. Nouns show possession by adding 's. Nouns can function in different roles within a sentence; for example, a noun can be a subject, direct object, indirect object, subject complement, or object of a preposition.

2. PRONOUN

 . A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun.

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. A pronoun is usually substituted for a specific noun, which is called its antecedent. Pronouns are further defined by type: personal pronoun refer to specific persons or things; possessive pronouns indicate ownership; reflexive pronouns are used to emphasize another noun or pronoun; relative pronoun introduce a subordinate clause; and demonstrative pronouns identify, point to, or refer to nouns.

3. VERB

 . A verb expresses action or being.

The verb in a sentence expresses action or being. there is a main verb and sometimes one or more helping verbs ( "she can sing". sing is the main verb can is the helping verb.). A verb must agree with its subject in number (both are singular or both are plural.), Verbs also take different forms to express tense.

4. ADJECTIVE

 . An adjective modifies or describes a noun or pronoun.

An adjective is a word used to modify or describes a noun or a pronoun. It usually answers the question of which one, what kind, or how many.

5. ADVERB

 . An adverb modifies or describe a verb or another adverb.

An adverb describes or modifies a verb. It usually answers the question of when, where, how, why, under what conditions, or to what degree. Adverbs often end in -ly.

6. PREPOSITION

 . A preposition is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to form a phrase modifying another word in the sentence.

A preposition is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to form a phrase modifying another word in the sentence. Therefore a preposition is always a part of a prepositional phrase. The prepositional phrase almost always functions as an adjective or as an adverb.

7. CONJUNCTION

. A conjunction joins words, phrases or clauses.

A conjunction joins words, phrases, or clauses, and indicates the relation between the elements joined. Coordinating conjunctions connect grammatically equal elements: and, but, or, not, for, so, yet.  Subordinating conjunctions connect clauses that are not equal: because, although, while, since, etc. There are other types of conjunctions as well.

8. INTERJECTION

 . An interjection is a word used to express emotion.

An interjection is a word used to express emotion. It is often followed by an exclamation point.