The Parts of Speech

The 8 parts of speech are:

• Noun• Pronoun• Adjective• Verb

• Adverb• Preposition• Conjunction• Interjection

see pp. 6-7 (LN:Blue)

A More Detailed Look:

• 1. A noun is a word used to name a person, place, thing, or idea.

– It took courage for Billy Bob to save his sister from the fire in the canyon.

• a) Nouns may be concrete or abstract, common or proper, singular, plural, or collective

2. A pronoun is a word used to replace one or more nouns.

– Joe gave the book to Marie in Joe’s room.

becomes– He gave it to her in his room.

• a) The pronouns in the previous example are personal pronouns.

• b) Other types of pronouns include: relative, interrogative, indefinite, demonstrative, reflexive, and intensive pronouns.

see pp. 9-12 (LN:Blue)

3. An adjective is a word used to modify a noun or pronoun.

– My large, black dog broke his rusty chain and leaped over the wooden fence into my elderly neighbor’s yard.

• a) Adjectives tell which one, what kind, how much, or how many about the nouns or pronouns they describe.

• b) The most common adjectives a.k.a. articles are a, an, and the.

see p. 17 (LN:Blue)

4. A verb is a word used to express action, condition, or a state of being.

• a) An action verb expresses activity, whether physical or mental.– The poet wrote a sonnet.

• b) A linking verb links the subject with a noun, a pronoun, or an adjective.– The answer is incorrect.

• c) A verb phrase consists of a main verb preceded by at least one helping verb.– We could never have moved the car alone.

5. An adverb is a word used to modify a verb, an adjective or another adverb

• a) Adverbs modify other words by telling where, when, how, or to what extent.

• b) Adverbs usually modify verbs or verb phrases.– She runs quickly.

• c) Adverbs may come before or after the verbs they modify.– She quickly ran by.

• d) Sometimes adverbs interrupt the parts of a verb phrase.– She has never been caught running.

• e. Although many adverbs end in –ly, the –ly ending does not always signal that a word is an adverb.

• f. To tell whether a word is an adverb, ask yourself these questions:– 1) Does the word describe a verb, an

adjective, or an adverb?– 2) Does it tell when, where, how, or to what

extent?

see pp. 20-21 (LN:Blue)

Examples:

• We lived there. (where)• Dave laughed loudly. (how)• He hardly moved. (to what extent)• Water the plant now. (when)• Calvin was almost never late. (to what

extent)• Beth did an exceptionally fine job. (how

fine)

• 6. A preposition is a word used to show the relationship of a noun or pronoun to some other word in the sentence.

– The dog slept near my bed.– The dog slept under my bed– The dog slept on my bed.

• a) A preposition always introduces a prepositional phrase. The noun or pronoun that ends the phrase is the object of the preposition.

• b) In the example below, beach is the object of the preposition:

– Everything (about the beach) was wonderful.

• c) Many words can be either adverbs or prepositions depending on how they are used in a sentence.

– Welcome aboard. (adverb telling where)– Welcome aboard our boat. (preposition

followed by an object)

• 7. A conjunction is a word used to join words or groups of words

• a) A coordinating conjunction connects words or groups of words that are used in the same way– Judy wrote down the number, but she lost it.

(2 complete thoughts)

see pp. 26-27 (LN: Blue)

• b) Subordinating conjunctions join two clauses, or thoughts, in such a way as to make one grammatically dependent on the other.– Since you learned to dance, you have

become more graceful.

see p. 29 (LN:Blue)

8. An interjection is a word used to express emotion.

– Hey! Be careful of that wire.

– Well, I guess that’s that.