Parts of speech with examples

Parts of speech are broad categories that are used to classify words based on their
function in a sentence. Since the ancient Greeks, academics have analysed speech
and attempted to categorise words into groups. There are traditionally considered
to be eight parts of speech in English:

1. Nouns: Nouns are words that refer to people, places, things, or ideas.
Examples of nouns include “book,” “cat,” “friend,” and “love“.
2. Pronouns: Pronouns are words that take the place of a noun in a
sentence. Examples of pronouns include “he,” “she,” “it,” “they,” and
“we.”
3. Verbs: Verbs are words that express action or state of being. Examples
of verbs include “run,” “swim,” “eat,” and “sleep.”
4. Adjectives: Adjectives are words that describe or modify nouns.
Examples of adjectives include “happy,” “green,” “large,” and
“delicious.”
5. Adverbs: Adverbs are words that describe or modify verbs, adjectives,
or other adverbs. Examples of adverbs include “quickly,” “happily,”
“very,” and “sometimes.”
6. Prepositions: Prepositions are words that indicate the relationship
between two words in a sentence. Examples of prepositions include
“on,” “in,” “at,” “to,” “for,” and “with.”
7. Conjunctions/connector/linker: Conjunctions are words that connect
words or phrases within a sentence. Examples of conjunctions include
“and,” “but,” “or,” and “so.”
8. Interjections: Interjections are words or phrases used to express
emotion or sentiment. Examples of interjections include “oh,” “wow,”
“ouch,” and “hey.”

By understanding the different parts of speech, you can learn how words work within
a sentence and how they are used to convey meaning. This understanding is crucial
for identifying function words in a text and using them correctly.

Function words vs content words

Function words connect the language together. They are the glue that binds
content words and expresses grammatical relationships within a sentence. However,
unlike content words, function words do not convey significant meaning on their
own. This is why they often go unnoticed. Here is a list of function word categories.
These can be entire parts of speech as seen above, or a subcategory within a part
of speech.

1. Prepositions: Prepositions form a relationship between words in a

sentence, often as part of a prepositional phrase. Examples of
prepositional phrases include “on the table,” “in the house,” and
“at the park.”
 2. Conjunctions: Conjunctions can connect ideas and phrases rather
than simply individual words. For example, “I like cars, but my brother
likes trucks.”
3. Articles: Articles are words that come before a noun to indicate
whether the noun is specific or general. “A” and “an” are indefinite
articles, while “the” is a definite article. For example, “A dog” refers to
any dog, while “The dog” refers to a specific dog.
4. Pronouns: Pronouns are words that take the place of a noun in a
sentence. Examples of pronouns include “he,” “she,” “it,” “they,” and
“we.” For example, instead of saying “Arthur went to the store,” you
could say “He went to the store.”
5. Auxiliary verbs: Auxiliary verbs are used to form verb tenses, as well as
to make questions and negative statements. Examples of auxiliary
verbs include “be,” “have,” “do,” and “will.” For example, “I have
been studying for two hours.“
6. Particles: Particles are grammar words that don’t fit into the traditional
eight parts of speech. They include the use of “to” as an infinitive
marker, “not” to form negatives and, most often, as part of a phrasal
verb. For example, “I turned off the lights.”
7. Determiners: Determiners go before nouns and clarify what they refer
to. They can indicate possession like “your” or “her“. They can indicate
quantity “many“, “some” or “plenty“. Determiners also include
demonstratives, “this“, “that“, “those“. for example, “These grapes are
delicious!“
8. Modal verbs: Modal verbs do contain meaning of their own, but they
can also act as auxiliary verbs in a sentence. They include common
verbs like “can“, “would“, “may” and “should“. For example,
“He may not come back after such a bad experience“

Take a look at the difference between function words and content words in this
famous quote:

It is essential to understand the role of function words in English, as they play a

crucial role in constructing meaningful sentences.
Function words in CAE Use of English Part 2

Cambridge Advanced (CAE) Use of English Part 2 focuses entirely on function words.
Cambridge calls it a focus on grammar or lexicogrammar. This means that the words
are either purely grammatical in use, such as articles, pronouns and auxiliary verbs,
or they are a mix, such as modal verbs, particles of phrasal verbs or words from fixed
expressions. Knowing the way sentences are constructed and the way words are
used goes a long way when completing a CAE Use of English Part 2 task.

Take a look at the quote above with one of the function words removed.

Any one of these words is a candidate for removal to create an open cloze task.
However, some would make the test more or less difficult.

For example, removing the auxiliary verb “are” as part of a present continuous
construction is quite an easy option. A B1 or B2 student would be expected to know
that grammar, so for a C1 level exam, it wouldn’t be an option.

Removing the determiner “other” or the pronoun “you” aren’t options either
because there are too many other possibilities which would change the meaning of
the sentence.

However, removing the conjunction “when” or the pronoun “what” are much more
likely candidates.