The Eight Parts of Speech

The Eight Parts of Speech The classification of words

1. Nouns 2. Pronouns 3. Verbs 4. Adjectives 5. Adverbs 6. Prepositions 7. Conjunctions 8. Interjections 8 Parts of Speech

1. Noun • A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea.

Nouns • Some nouns we can perceive with our five senses. These are persons, places, and things. • Some nouns cannot be perceived by the senses. They are ideas, thoughts, emotions, and beliefs.

Persons: - Thomas Jefferson - architect - girl Places - Salem - library - continent Examples

Things: - desk - barn - boot Ideas: - curiosity - health - eternity Examples

Common Nouns • Common nouns are a name common to a whole group. It does not specify a member of the group. (frog)

Proper Nouns • A proper noun is the name of an individual person, place, or thing. It is capitalized. (Blue Dart Frog)

Common: singer river building Proper Mariah Carey Mississippi River GlenOak High School Examples

2. Pronouns • Pronouns are words used in place of nouns to avoid awkward repetition.

Pronouns • The word that the pronoun stands for or refers to is its antecedent. • Ex: Kim said she would call the airport. (Kim is the antecedent of she.)

6 kinds of pronouns • 1. Personal • 2. Compound personal • 3. Indefinite • 4. Demonstrative • 5. Interrogative • 6. Relative

Personal Pronouns • Takes the place of a person’s name but may also take the place of things. • Ex: Monica is a dancer. She has the lead in the school musical.

Compound Personal Pronouns • Pronouns that are combined with the suffix -self or -selves. • Ex: myself, ourselves

Indefinite Pronouns • These are pronouns that do not refer to a specific person or thing. They sometimes have antecedents.

Example: • The players practiced in the rain. Some got sick. • Players is the antecedent for the indefinite pronoun some.

No antecedent example: • Everything you say is true. another no one anybody everything anyone either both each many one few several

Demonstrative Pronouns • This, that, these, those: Pronouns that point to what they are referring to. • Example: This is the poem I wrote. (This refers to poem)

Interrogative Pronouns • Pronouns that are used to ask questions. (Whose, Who, Whom, What, Which) • Example: Who won the game?

Relative Pronouns • Some pronouns are used to relate one idea to another and these are called relative pronouns. • Example: Mr. Talbott, who is the history teacher in our community, is an excellent cyclist.

3. Verbs • A verb tells what is happening in a sentence. • A verb expresses action, condition, or state of being.

ACTION VERBS: Tell what the subject is doing May be physical or mental LINKING VERBS: Link or connect the subject of a sentence with a noun, pronoun, or adjective 2 verb categories

Action Verbs • Examples: • Collide (visible) • Run (visible) • Enjoy (not) • Decide (not)

Linking Verbs • Can be sensory (like sounds, looks, and tastes), can be verbs of condition (like grew, became, seemed), or can be verbs of being. • May have helping verbs with the main verb. • Example: This bookisnow regarded as a classic.

Verbs of Being • am - is - been • are - was - being • were - be

2 kinds of action verbs • Transitive: Who or what receives the action. • Intransitive: Nothing receives the action.

Examples (Transitive) • He moved the car. • Did they pass the law? • *Ask who or what receives the action.*

Examples (Intransitive) • He moved. • They passed. • *Ask who or what receives the action….in this case, there is nobody/nothing receiving the action.

4. Adjectives • Adjectives modify or describe nouns and pronouns. • They tell which one, what kind, how many, or how much.

Adjectives • There is a row of yellow ducks. • YELLOW says what kind of ducks so it is the adjective.

The Articles • A, an, and the are considered adjectives because they modify nouns.

5. Adverbs • Modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. • Adverbs are sort of like adjectives. *Tell where, when, how, or to what extent*

Examples: • WHERE: They lingered outside. • WHEN: The team left early. • HOW: The story ended happily. • TO WHAT EXTENT: The writing was totally illegible.

6. Prepositions • Common way to link and show relationships between words. • Prepositions have objects. • Example: The doctor went into the house.

The preposition song!! • About • Above • Across • After • Around • At

Before Behind Below Beside By Down During For From In Inside Near Of Off On Song

Song • Out • Outside • Over • Through • To • Under • Up • With • Without

7. The Conjunction • A conjunction is a word that connects words, phrases, and clauses. • Conjunctive adverbs connect groups of words that could not stand alone.

Conjunctions And But So Or For Yet Conjunctive Adverbs Consequently Hence Also Furthermore However Examples

8. Interjection • A word or group of words that expresses strong feeling or emotion. • Wow! Help! Oh no! Attention!

Source • Building English Skills

The Eight Parts of Speech