The Parts of Speech

Traditional grammar classifies words based on eight parts of speech: the verb, the noun, the pronoun,

the adjective, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction, and the interjection.

Each part of speech explains not what the word is, but how the word is used. In fact, the same word

can be a noun in one sentence and a verb or adjective in the next. The next few examples show how a word's

part of speech can change from one sentence to the next.

Books are made of ink, paper, and glue.

In this sentence, "books" is a noun, the subject of the sentence.

Deborah waits patiently while Bridget books the tickets.

Here "books" is a verb, and its subject is "Bridget."

We walk down the street.

In this sentence, "walk" is a verb, and its subject is the pronoun "we".

The mail carrier stood on the walk.

In this example, "walk" is a noun, which is part of a prepositional phrase describing where the mail

carrier stood.

The town decided to build a new jail.

Here "jail" is a noun, which is the object of the infinitive phrase "to build."

The sheriff told us that if we did not leave town immediately he would jail us.

Here "jail" is part of the compound verb "would jail."

They heard high pitched cries in the middle of the night.

In this sentence, "cries" is a noun acting as the direct object of the verb "heard."

The baby cries all night long and all day long.
 But here "cries" is a verb that describes the actions of the subject of the sentence, the baby.

Word categories

 NOUN - PRONOUN - VERB - ADJECTIVE

 ADVERB - PREPOSITION - CONJUNCTION - INTERJECTION

1.1. An overview of nouns

A noun: any word which names a person, place, thing, idea, animal, quality, or action.

1. Count Nouns: anything which can be counted; singular and plural

Example: car - cars

2. Mass Nouns: entities which cannot be counted; they have no plural form.

Example: money

3. Collective Nouns: groups of people or things; sing. and plural.

Example: herd - herds

4. Possessive Nouns: express ownership by adding an apostrophe.

Examples: (singular.) Kelly's anger (plural.) birds' feathers

1.2. An overview of pronouns

A pronoun: a word which takes the place of a noun (called "the antecedent")

1. Personal: they refer to person/people speaking, spoken to or spoken about.

Examples: I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it, we, us, they .

2. Possessive: they function independently; they show possession.

Examples: my, mine, your, yours, our, ours, his, her, hers .

3. Indefinite: they have no specific antecedents.

Examples: another, both, everything, nothing

4. Reflexive: they show that the subject performs actions to/for itself

Examples: myself, yourself, itself, ourselves, themselves

 5. Intensive: they refer back to a noun/pronoun to add emphasis to it

Examples: (same forms as reflexive pronouns)

6. Reciprocal: they show a mutual action or relationship

Examples : each other, one another

7. Interrogative: they are used to ask a question

Examples: who, which, what

8. Relative: they are used to introduce a relative clause

Examples: who, which, that

9. Demonstrative: they substitute for specific nouns

Examples: this, that, these, those

1.3. An overview of verbs

A verb: expresses action or state of being

1. Transitive: it is an action verb; it passes action on to a direct object

Example: We bought a car.

2. Intransitive: it does not indicate a transfer of action; it does not require a direct object

Example: The eagle soared.

3. Linking: it joins the subject with a word that renames/describes it

Example: The sky is blue.

4. Main: it indicates the primary activity

5. Auxiliary: "helps" the main verb

6. Modal: indicates ability, obligation, permission, possibility

Examples: can, may, must, should, could, might, ought, would

7. Finite: it describes a definite and limited action or condition

8. Non-finite/Verbal: shows an unfinished action or condition

 o Infinitives: to + verb; act as nouns, adjectives, adverbs

o Participles: past or present; always act as adjectives

o Gerunds: present participle form; act as nouns

1.4. An overview of adjectives

An adjective: modifies nouns and pronouns

1. Descriptive: it names a quality of the noun

o Attributive: Eg. The brown cow.

o Predicate: Eg. It was a brown cow.

2. Limiting: it limits a noun

o Definite/Indefinite Articles: Eg. the, a, an

o Possessive: Eg. his, her, its, their

o Demonstrative: Eg. this, that, these, those

o Indefinite: Eg. several, few, less, many, more

o Interrogative: Eg. what, which, whose

o Cardinal: Eg. one, two, four

o Ordinal: Eg. third, fourth, fiftieth

o Nouns: Eg. the milk cow

o Proper: Eg. the German cow

1.5. An overview of adverbs

An adverb: modifies verbs, adjectives, adverbs, sentences

Examples: sang loudly, ran swiftly

 1.6. An overview of prepositions

A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. The word or phrase

that the preposition introduces is called the object of the preposition.

A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the

sentence as in the following examples:

The book is on the table.

The book is beneath the table.

She read the book during class.

In each of the preceding sentences, a preposition locates the noun "book" in space or in time.

Functions of Prepositions

Prepositions in English may have one of the three functions:

1. Join a noun to anther noun to show the relationship between the two as in:

The bag is on the table.

There is a book in the bag.

2. Connect a noun to an adjective as in:

I am fond of chocolate.

He is proud of his children.

3. Link a verb to a noun as in:

The boy ran to the gate.

The recipe consists of three basic ingredients.

Ending a sentence with a preposition

Usually, prepositions in English are used prior to their objects but in some cases prepositions are placed at

the end of the sentence (Preposition Stranding, Danison (1998)) as in:

The car had not been paid for. (Ends with a preposition but is acceptable)

Unclear Revision: Paid for the car had not been. (Unclear sentence.)

Where is the letter that I asked you about? (Ends with a preposition but is acceptable)
 The letter I asked you about is where? ( inacceptable sentence)

Since the purpose of writing is to clearly communicate your ideas, it is acceptable to end a sentence with a

preposition if the alternative would create confusion or is too overly formal, as in:

I would like to know where she comes from. (Ends with a preposition but is acceptable)

Overly Grammatical Revision: I would like to know from where she comes. (Grammatical but

overly formal. Nobody actually speaks like this.)

However, in academic writing, you may decide that it is worth revising your sentences to avoid ending with

a preposition in order to maintain a more formal scholarly voice, as in:

My research will focus on the community the students lived in.

Revision: My research will focus on the community in which the students lived.

I like the people I am working with.

Revision: I like the people with whom I am working.

In other cases, they may be placed at the beginning of a sentence (Pied- Piping, Cable & Harris

(2011)) as in:

About what are you talking? (most common in formal than in speech)

What are you talking about? (most common in speech than in formal)

To whom should we send the invitation? (formal)

 Who should we send the invitation to? (informal)

1.7. An overview of conjunctions

A conjunction : links sentence elements, ie. words, phrases, clauses

1. Coordinating conjunctions : (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet) can be used to join individual words,

phrases, and independent clauses.

*Note that you can also use the conjunctions "but" and "for" as prepositions.

Examples: Lilacs and violets are usually purple.

This movie is particularly interesting to feminist film theorists, for the screenplay was written by

Mae West.

2. Correlative conjunctions: they are coordinating conjunctions that work in pairs; they join words,

phrases, clauses, sentences.( both...and, either...or, neither...nor …etc)

Examples

Both my grandfather and my father worked in the steel plant.

Corinne is trying to decide whether to go to medical school or to go to law school.

The explosion destroyed not only the school but also the neighbouring pub.

3. Subordinating conjunctions: introduce a dependent clause and indicates the nature of the relationship

among the independent clause(s) and the dependent clause(s).

Examples:

After she had learned to drive, Alice felt more independent.

If the paperwork arrives on time, your cheque will be mailed on Tuesday.

 Gerald had to begin his thesis over again when his computer crashed.

Common Subordinating Conjunctions

After as long as though whenever

although as though till where

as because unless whereas

as if before until wherever

so that even if when while

Than that

1.8. An overview of interjections

An interjection is an unusual kind of word,

because it often stands alone. Interjections are words which express emotion or surprise, and they are

usually followed by exclamation marks.

Examples: Ouch!, Hello!, Hurray!, Oh no!, Ha! yuk, ouch, eh .

PARTS OF SPEECH PRACTICE

 EXERCISE 1. NAME THE PARTS OF SPEECH IN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES

-The weather was quite warm, so we walked lazily along the shady path near an old cemetery in the

countryside.

-While Josephine nonchalantly ate her huge sandwich, we numbly watched a sly cat as it climbed almost

imperceptibly onto the ledge by the sofa and rather greedily eyed a poor little mouse under the chair.

EXERCISE 2. PUTTING PREPOSITIONS BACK

The clock is famous _____ its reliability, which can be attributed to one _____ its designers, the horologist

Edmund Beckett Denison. The tower was completed _____ 1859, so Denison had time to experiment and

invented the double three-legged gravity escapement which provided the best separation _____ pendulum

and clock mechanism. The pendulum is installed _____ an enclosed windproof box sunk _____ the

clockroom. It is 3.9m long, weighs 300 kg and beats every two seconds. The clockwork mechanism _____

the room below weighs five tons.

EXERCISE 3. COMPLETE EACH SENTENCE USING THE SUBORDINATING

CONJUNCTION FROM THE PARENTHESIS:

1. I visit the Grand Canyon _________ I go to Arizona. (once, whenever, wherever)

2. This is the place _________ we stayed last time we visited. (where, when, how)

3. _________ you win first place, you will receive a prize. (wherever, if, unless)

4. You won’t pass the test _________ you study. (when, if, unless)

5. I could not get a seat, _________ I came early. (as, though, when)

6. We are leaving Wednesday _________ or not it rains. (if, whether, though)

7. Pay attention to your work _________ you will not make mistakes. (so that, unless, or)
8. The musicians delivered a rousing performance _________ they had rehearsed often. (though, as, once)

9. She’s honest _________ everyone trusts her. (if, so, when)

10. Write this down _________ you forget. (or, when, lest)

EXERCISE 4. COMPLETE EACH SENTENCE USING THE CORRECT CORRELATIVE

CONJUNCTION PAIR FROM THE PARENTHESIS:

1. I plan to take my vacation _________ in June _________ in July. (whether / or, either / or, as / if)

2. _________ I’m feeling happy _________ sad, I try to keep a positive attitude. (either / or, whether / or,

when / I’m)

3. _________ had I taken my shoes off _________ I found out we had to leave again. (no sooner / than, rather /

than, whether / or)

4. _________ only is dark chocolate delicious, _________ it can be healthy. (whether / or, not / but, just as /

so)

5. _________ I have salad for dinner, _____________________I can have ice cream for dessert. (if /then,

when / than, whether / or)

6. _________ flowers _________ trees grow _________ during warm weather. (not only / or, both / and, not /

but)

7. _________ do we enjoy summer vacation, _________ we _________ enjoy winter break. (whether / or, not

only / but also, either / or)

8. Calculus is _________ easy _________ difficult _________ (not / but, both / and, either / or)

9. It’s _________ going to rain _________ snow tonight. (as / if, either / or, as / as)

10. Savory flavors are _________ sweet _________ sour. (often / and, neither / nor, both / and)

Exercise 5. Complete each sentence using the correct conjunctive adverb from the parenthesis:

1. Bianca wore her rain boots; _________, her feet stayed dry during the storm. (however, therefore, on the

other hand)

2. I love the color red; _________, this shade seems a little too bright. (therefore, nonetheless, in fact)
3. You have to be on time; _________, you’ll miss the train. (nonetheless, however, otherwise)

4. Teresa likes to read; _________, her sister Julia prefers to watch TV. (however, in contrast, again)

5. She really wanted to eat ice cream; _________, she had a salad. (however, likewise, instead)

6. We were working hard; _________, Jill and Jerry were lounging by the pool. (meanwhile, instead,

therefore)

7. He is a weak leader; _________, he has plenty of supporters. (otherwise, moreover, nevertheless)

8. She has an incredible voice; _________, she will go far in her music career. (otherwise, undoubtedly,

similarly)

9. Natalie wanted to make pie but didn’t have apples; _________, she decided to bake a cake. (therefore,

namely, in contrast)

10. We had hoped to go to Spain; _________, we ended up in France. (otherwise, instead, again)

References

- Greenbaum (S) & Nelson (G) 2002 : AN Introduction to English Grammar Second Edition
Pearson Education Limited
- Murphy (R) 2019 English Grammar in Use Fifth Edition. Cambridge University Press.