What are the so-called parts of speech? People use each and every one of them every day, but as a formal set of words called the "Parts of Speech,” they probably encountered them sometime during their school career. Specifically, these are the parts of speech: Nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, and articles.
On occasion, interjections and articles are left out of lists naming the parts of speech, but readers will find as they examine them that both are used in everyday speech, and that is why they are included on this list and some others. All the other categories listed above are indisputably parts of speech.
Nouns
Most people have heard more than once that a noun refers to a person, place, thing, or idea. A noun is basically a word that names something; for example, the words “girl,” “Kansas,” “home,” and “freedom” are all nouns, words that name someone, somewhere, something, or a concept.
In the sentence “George talked to our class about poverty in Mexico,” the words “George,” “class,” “poverty,” and “Mexico” are all nouns.
Pronouns
A pronoun is a word used in place of or in reference to a noun. Examples of pronouns are words such as “he,” “it,” “you,” “who,” and “myself.” A pronoun is simply a substitute for a noun.
In the sentence “Betty looked at John, and he looked back at her,” the pronoun “he” refers to the noun “John,” while the pronoun “her” refers to “Betty.”
Verbs
Verbs are usually thought of as action words, but some verbs are referred to as “helping” verbs because they “help” other words in the sentence. Think of verbs that indicate action as anything a person can do; an example of these kinds of verbs are words like “run,” “raked,” “typing,” etc. Helping verbs are words such as “is,” “can,” and “do.”
In the sentence “Why is it that we can never walk up that hill?” the words “is,” “can,” and “walk” are verbs.
Adverbs
Adverbs are commonly referred to as words that “modify” verbs and other parts of speech. Basically, adverbs help describe not only a verb but also adjectives and even other adverbs. Some adverbs are easily identified because they end with the suffix “-ly,” but there are many other adverbs that do not end this way. An adverb usually answers one of these questions: how, when, where, or how much?
In the sentence “Yesterday I very much enjoyed a cupcake when I sat there,” “yesterday,” “very,” “much,” and “there” are adverbs. Even numbers are adverbs, as in “three cars.” Adverbs are possibly one of the most versatile (and sometimes confusing) parts of speech, because they modify so many different kinds of words.
Adjectives
Adjectives are words that “modify” nouns; that is, they describe nouns. For example, some words that are adjectives are “pretty,” “red,” “thin,” and “cold.”
In the sentence “I picked up a heavy old book,” “heavy” and “old” are adjectives that modify the noun “book.”
Prepositions
A preposition is a word that links other words together, and a prepositional phrase is simply a phrase that begins with a preposition. Some English classes teach that a preposition is “anything one can do to a cloud”; that is, one can go “under” a cloud, “through” a cloud, “around” a cloud, and “toward” a cloud. A preposition includes other words, though, such as “without,” “against,” “from,” “on,” “about,” etc. Very often, a preposition serves as an indicator of location through either time or space. One can find lists of prepositions on the internet.
In the sentence “I stood in front of the house to wait for my sister,” “in” and “for” are prepositions.
Conjunctions
Conjunctions are connecting words that connect words, phrases, and clauses. Conjunctions include words such as “and,” “but,” “yet,” “or,” etc. Conjunctions are usually easy to spot and hard to confuse with other parts of speech.
In the sentence “I like chocolate and strawberry, but please don’t give me vanilla or cherry,” “and,” “but,” and “or” are all conjunctions.
Interjections
These parts of speech are sometimes called exclamations, because they are often one-word (or two-word) phrases, and they often indicate surprise (a word or words followed by an exclamation). Interjections are unlike any other part of speech and are fairly easy to identify. Examples of an interjection would be “Gosh!” and “Oh my!” and “Ouch!”
Articles
An article is simply a word that introduces a noun. There are three article--“a,” “an,” and “the.” “A” and “an” are known as “indefinite” articles because they do not specify anything specific, whereas “the” is considered a “definite” article because it refers to a specific object.
For example, a person might say, “Crack an egg and turn it over with the spatula.” It is understood that the “cook” in this case can crack any egg out of the ones available to him, but “the” spatula indicates that there is a specific one he must use. “A” and “an” are only used with singular nouns.
Which Part Goes Where?
Sometimes the best practice for understanding parts of speech is to go through a magazine or newspaper and try to identify in sentences which part of speech is being used. Most people use every part of speech every day when they speak, and they probably use most of them whenever they write too. Identifying these separate parts in one's writing will sometimes help one understand how the English language works, which, in turn, may help one's writing.
 |
