The Parts of Speech |
The chart below is a review of the parts of speech of the English language.
|
| Parts | Purpose | Examples | Helpful Hints |
| Adjectives | Describe or limit the meaning of nouns and pronouns. Answer one of three questions: Which one? What kind? How many? | The tall building. The laughing boys threw water on the little girls. |
Change when used as comparatives
(cold colder, coldest). Usually precede the nouns they modify. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adverbs | Add to or modify the meaning of verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Answers one of three questions: How? When? Where? | Mary drove carefully to the hospital. | Most, but not all, adverbs end in ~ly. Adverbs may follow or precede the verbs they modify. |
| Articles | Help define nouns | I met the new student yesterday. We have an hour before class. |
Two classes of articles: definite article the
and indefinite article
a/an The article an comes before words that begin with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) The article a comes before words that begin with consonants except silent h. |
| Conjunctions | Connect words, phrases, and clauses within a sentence. | I dropped the vase, but it didn't break. | Some conjunctions (however, but, moreover, etc) also show the relationship between ideas. |
| Interjections | Show surprise or emotion. | Yes! Let's do it! | Interjections are not acceptable in formal writing |
| Nouns | Name persons, places, things, and ideas. There are two classes of
nouns. Common nouns - refer to non-specific places, things and ideas. Proper nouns - refer to specific person, places, or things and always begin with a capital letter. |
The girl was so embarrassed that she ran out of the room. | Requires slight changes to indicate the plural form and
possession. Nouns are capitalized when referring to specific people , places, or things. |
| Prepositions | Show the relationship between a noun or pronoun and some other word in a sentence. | The man was sitting on the sofa watching TV. | Prepositions usually come before a noun or pronoun to form a prepositional phrase. |
| Verbs | Express action or state of being. | This is the second time I have come here this | Form changes to reflect person and time. Agree with the subject in person and number. |
| Pronouns | Take the place of a noun. | This is the only time he can meet with me. | Change form according to the noun they replace. |