Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech Overview

NOUN

            Nouns are words that name people, places, things, and ideas.

                        Examples of nouns include student, chef, Jennifer, school, Florida, Europe, chair, homework, book, peace, happiness, and anger.

                        A proper noun is the name of a specific person, place, or thing. Proper nouns always begin with a capital letter. A common noun is a general word that can mean more than one person, place, or thing. These nouns are lower case, except when they come at the beginning of a sentence.

                        ***BEWARE of words that look like actions, but are being used as nouns:

                                    Noun: I raced in the 10-mile run.

                                    Verb: I run with my dog.

                                    Noun: Are you going to the dance?

                                    Verb: We will dance to the music.

PRONOUN

            Pronouns are words that replace nouns.

                        The personal pronouns are I, me, my, mine, you, your, yours, he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its, we, us, our, ours, they, them, their, and theirs.

                        The demonstrative pronouns are this, that, these, and those.

All pronouns have antecedents. The antecedent is the noun that a pronoun stands for. For example, in the sentence “Miss Lease told us her classroom rules,” the word her is the pronoun and its antecedent is Miss Lease.

           

VERB

            Verbs are words that express action or condition.

                        Action verbs tell what a person, place, or thing is doing. Run, think, decide, read, and go are action verbs.

                        Linking verbs tell what a person, place, or thing is. Is, are, was, were, seem, and become are linking verbs.

                        Helping verbs have two or more words, such as is going, should have been done, and will be talking.

ADJECTIVE

            Adjectives are words that describe people, places, and things (nouns).

                        Adjectives answer these questions: What kind? Which one? How many? Some examples of adjectives include purple, five, talkative, large, many, and smart.

                        There are three special adjectives called articles: a, an, and the.

                        Pronouns can be used as adjectives when they come before a noun.

                                    Pronoun: I want a slice of that.

                                    Adjective: I want a slice of that cake.

                        **BEWARE of adjectives that end with the letters –ly, such as friendly and ugly. Although most words that end with –ly are adverbs, some are adjectives!

ADVERB

            Adverbs are words that describe actions or descriptions (verbs, adjectives, and adverbs).

                        Adverbs answer these questions: Where? When? How? How much?

                        Many adverbs end with the letters –ly, such as slowly, gently, carefully, totally, widely, and usually. Others do not: often, fast, tomorrow, very, sometimes.

                        **BEWARE of telling the difference between adverbs and adjectives. Ask yourself what the word is describing. If it’s a person, place, or thing, the word is an adjective. If it’s an action or description, the word is an adverb.

                                    adjective = Make a right turn at the stoplight.

                                    adverb = We turned right onto Benvenue Road.

PREPOSITION

            Prepositions tell in what position a noun or pronoun is.

                        Common prepositions include in, on, under, beside, below, to, at, by, like, of, over, since, and with.

                        Prepositions are always found in prepositional phrases. A prepositional phrase is made up of a preposition and the noun or pronoun that comes after it, like “at the mall,” “under the table,” “with Mrs. Brown,” or “of mine.”

                        ***BEWARE of prepositions that can also be used as adverbs. Remember that a preposition always has to be part of a prepositional phrase – it can’t stand alone. An adverb can stand alone.

                                    Preposition = We waited in line outside the movie theater.

                                    Adverb = I like to play inside and outside.

CONJUNCTION

            Conjunctions are words that connect words, groups of words, or sentences.

                        There are two kinds of conjunctions. The first kind, called coordinating conjunctions, is the FANBOYS: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, and So.

                        The second kind, called correlative conjunctions, are made up of two or more words: both-and, either-or, neither-nor, not only-but also, and whether-or.

                        **BEWARE of “for.” It’s only a conjunction when it connects two sentences. Otherwise, it’s a preposition:

                                    conjunction = I got a new coat, for it’s cold this winter.

                                    preposition = I got a new coat for my birthday.

INTERJECTION

            Interjections are words that show strong emotion, like wow! Yippee! Boo! Ouch!

                        Usually, these stand alone and are followed by an exclamation point (!).  Sometimes (as in the sentence “Oh dear, I forgot my homework again”) they are followed by commas instead.

Exercise: Label the underlined words with the part of speech.

1. Ms. Galang can’t stand when students chew gum in class.

2. In Social Studies, we are learning about American History.

3. The school lunch isn’t as bad as you think, and it is usually pretty healthy.

4. Shoot, I forgot my homework again.

5. Ms. Berner was delighted that the students lined up quietly  outside the school during the fire drill.

6. Yay! The staff had a victory over the students at the student-faculty basketball game.

7. In the summer, I often go to Coney Island because I love to ride the Cyclone.

 

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