PARTS OF SPEECH

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PARTS OF SPEECH
 NOUN
A Noun is a word that names:
• A person (teacher)
• A thing (pencil)
• An animal (cat)
• A plant (orchid)
• A place (Paris)
• An abstract idea (love)
NOUN EXAMPLES
NAMES
a person a teacher, a man, Peter, Sonya, a
Frenchman, the Queen
a thing a pencil, a computer, a hamburger, a
political party
an animal or a cat, an elephant, a caterpillar, blue
plant algae, pineapple
a place Paris, home, Africa, church, school, a
mountain, airport
an abstract love, freedom, attitude, education,
idea vivaciousness, liberalism
 VERB
A verb tells about an action or a state of
being. There are three types of verbs:
i) Action
ii) Linking
iii) Auxiliary
iv) Modal
Verbs of …. Examples
action An action verb expresses action. It tells
what a person or a thing does.
linking A linking verb links the subject of the
sentence with information about it.
Sometimes linking verbs are called
"state-of-being verbs."
auxiliary An auxiliary verb goes with another
verb. Sometimes auxiliary verbs are
called "helping verbs" because they
introduce or "help out" the main verb.
1) Action Verb
• An action verb expresses action. It tells what
a person or a thing does.
Muskrats swim in marshes. We built a
fantastic sandcastle.
• To find out whether a word is an action verb,
ask yourself whether that word expresses
something you can do. Can you muskrat? No!
Can you marsh? No. But can you swim? Yes—
swim is an action verb.
2) Linking Verb
• A linking verb links the subject of the sentence
with information about it. Sometimes linking
verbs are called "state-of-being verbs.“

Jeremy is tired.
This apple tastes so sweet.

• In the first sentence, is links Jeremy to

information about him-the fact that he is
tired. That is his state of being.
• In the second sentence, tastes links apple to
information about it—its sweetness.
• Did you think taste was an action verb? Well,
it is—when the subject is doing the tasting.
But here, the apple isn't doing any tasting. The
apple itself tastes sweet. That is its state of
being.
3) Auxiliary Verb
• An auxiliary verb goes with another verb. Sometimes
auxiliary verbs are called "helping verbs" because they
introduce or "help out" the main verb.

Ms. Sothros is reading our stories. We should dig for

buried treasure.
• In the first sentence, the auxiliary verb, is, helps out the
main verb, reading, by telling when the action is taking
place—right now.
• In the second sentence, the auxiliary verb, should, helps
out the main verb, dig, by telling about its importance—
digging must be important, if it is something
that should happen.
• Be, have, and do are the most common
auxiliary verbs. Other common auxiliary verbs
include can, could, should, would, may,
might, and must.
4) Modal Verb
Modal verbs include can, must, may, might,
will, would, should. They are used with other
verbs to express ability, obligation, possibility,
and so on.
 ADJECTIVE
• An adjective is a word that modifies
(describes) a noun or pronoun.
• Adjectives inform about the qualities and
features of people, things or concepts (big,
strong, beautiful, sensitive) and can be
considered as an added intensifier or even
"decoration" to the required basic sentence
elements, adding variety and liveliness.
Adjective Type Purpose Examples
Number adjectives pointing out quantity one, two, thirty-four,
and placement order first, second, thirty-
forth
Interrogative asking questions which, whose, what
adjectives
Quantity & describing quantity more, all, some,
Distribution half, more, every,
adjectives each
Quality adjectives relates to color, size, red, large, stinking
smell etc.
Possessive showing what my, his, their, your
adjectives belongs to whom
Demonstrative pointing at specific this, that, those,
adjectives nouns these
 ADVERB
• An adverb is a type of word that can modify
(describe) a verb, an adjective, another
adverb, or a whole sentence (composed from
at least an independent clause).
• As adverbs add several kinds of information,
they can be divided into the following groups
of types, each answering the mentioned
questions:
Adverb of Examples
manner - how? quietly, happily, sadly, quickly,
slowly, clockwise, well
place - where? away, at home, down,
everywhere, round, here, there
time - when? daily, last week, a year ago,
tomorrow, on Sunday,
immediately
frequency - how often ? always, often, usually,
sometimes, seldom, never
Adverb of Examples
degree - how much ? quite, rather, pretty, very,
completely, really, hardly, too,
just
whole sentence -  fortunately, unfortunately, luckily,
under what obviously, perhaps, surprisingly
circumstance?
 INTERJECTION
• An interjection is a word or expression that
conveys a strong emotion, such as surprise,
joy or disgust.
• It usually appears in dialogues and informal
writing settings.

Oh!, wow!, Ouch! Oops! Hey!

• They are punctuated with either commas (,)
or exclamation marks (!).
• Mild interjections are followed by a comma
but stronger interjections are punctuated
with an exclamation mark.

Oh, we’re late for the movie.

Oh! I’m late for work.
 PRONOUN
• A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun or
refers to it.
• Pronouns are divided into the following
groups:
Pronoun Type Examples
personal I remember her helping us our
problems, not yours.
demonstrative Those are my favorite, but these are
good too.
reflexive They did it themselves. I saw
it myself.
interrogative Who said so?
relative The man who lives next door
borrowed the book that you lent me.
reciprocal We like talking to each other.
indefinite Everybody comes to the party, each
and every one.
 PREPOSITION
• A preposition is a word that conveys
relationships between other words, usually in
time, place or direction.
 Some common prepositions:
About Before Down Into Through
Above Behind During Like To
Across Below Except Of Toward
After Beneath For Off Under
Among Beside From On Up
Around Between In Over With At
By Instead of Since Without
Preposition of … Examples

time on Sunday, in the summer, at 5

o'clock.
place under the bed, between you and
me, at work, in front of the
TV, from home

direction into the box, over the

city, towards the car, away
from here
 CONJUNCTION
A conjunction is a word that connects other
words, phrases and clauses.
• There are three kinds of conjunctions:
1) coordinating conjunctions
2) correlative conjunctions
3) subordinating conjunctions
1. Coordinating Conjunctions join parts of a
sentence (for example words or independent
clauses) that are grammatically equal or
similar.
• There are seven coordinating conjunctions in
English. You can use the mnemonic device
fanboys to remember them.
For And Nor But Or Yet So

For example:
Kyong Mee works hard, yet she still earns low
grades.
2) Correlative Conjunctions also join ideas, but
they work in pairs. They are:

Both…and neither…nor
whether…or
either…or
not only…but also

For Example:
Not only am I happy about the grades, but I am
also excited that you are learning!
3. Subordinating Conjunctions join an independent
clause (a clause that can stand alone) to a subordinate
clause (a clause that cannot stand alone). Some
frequently used subordinating conjunctions are:

after, although, as, as if, because, before, even if, even

though, if, since, so that, though, unless, until, when,
whenever, where, wherever, whether, while 
 
For Example:
Although the students were tired, they still came to
class.
 DETERMINERS
A determiner is a word that accompanies a
noun or noun phrase and determines whether
it is general or specific, its quantity, who it
belongs to and more.

Determiners are divided into the following

groups:
Determiner Examples
Type
articles The, a, and an
The teacher asked a student to
answer the question.

demonstrative  this and that, these and those

These students got this grade on the
test

quantifiers much/many, little/few,
more, most, less/fewer, least/fewest
Many got an average grade, some got
a pass, and few excelled.
Determiner Examples
Type

interrogative  which, what (these can be followed

by -ever for emphasis)
What answer was written the best?

numerical The fourth section in the second test

was very easy.

possessive my, your, his, her, its, our, their, whose
His grade was lower than her grade.

relative Which, whichever and whatever 

We know which test was copied.
 ARTICLES
Articles are the, a, and an.
There are two types of articles:
i) Definite article
The is called the definite article because it
points out a particular object or class.

This is the book I was talking about.

The dodo bird is extinct.
ii) Indefinite Article
A is called the indefinite article because it points
out an object, but not any particular specimen.

a book, a dog, a lawn mower

• The indefinite article has two forms:

A is used before words beginning with a consonant
sound or an aspirated h:
a car, a lamb, a hope, a habit, a hotel
An is used before words beginning with a vowel
sound:
an ape, an image, an untruth, an honorable man
Count and Non-count Nouns
The can be used with noncount nouns, or the
article can be omitted entirely.
"I love to sail over the water" (some specific
body of water) or "I love to sail over water"
(any water).
"He spilled the milk all over the floor" (some
specific milk, perhaps the milk you bought
earlier that day) or "He spilled milk all over the
floor" (any milk).
A/an can be used only with count nouns.
"I need a bottle of water."
"I need a new glass of milk."

Most of the time, you can't say, "She wants a

water," unless you're implying, say, a bottle of
water.
 Remember, using a or an depends on the
sound that begins the next word. So...

• a + singular noun beginning with a consonant: 

a boy; a car; a bike; a zoo; a dog

• an + singular noun beginning with a vowel: 

an elephant; an egg; an apple; an idiot;
an orphan
• a + singular noun beginning with a consonant
sound: 
a user (sounds like ‘yoo-zer,' i.e. begins with a
consonant 'y' sound, so 'a' is
used); a university

• an + nouns starting with silent "h": 

an hour

• a + nouns starting with a pronounced "h": 

a horse 
SPECIAL USES OF THE DEFINITE ARTICLE

The Definite Article with Place Names

Use ‘the’ with … Examples
All plural names the United States, the
Canary Island, the Sierra
Nevada Mountains, the
Great Lakes
All names The Gulf of Cadiz, the
containing ‘of’ University of Illinois, the
Republic of South Africa
Use ‘the’ with … Examples
Names of these the Congo, the Sudan,
countries the Dominican Republic
The name of this city The Hague
Groups of islands the British Isles, the
Aleutian Islands, (the
word ‘islands’ may be
omitted – such as the
Philippines)
Use ‘the’ with … Examples
Most bodies of water the Saint Lawrence
(rivers, seas, oceans, River, the China Sea,
channels, canals, gulfs, the Atlantic Ocean, the
straits) Persian Gulf, the Bering
Strait, (the words
‘river’, ‘sea’, and
‘ocean’ may be omitted
– such as the Pacific)
Use ‘the’ with … Examples
Names of mountain the Rocky Mountains,
ranges (the word ‘mountain’
may be omitted – such
as the Alps)
Name of peninsulas the Iberian Peninsula
Distinct geographic the East, the Midwest,
areas using north, the Middle East
south, east, and west
The names of libraries The Louvre, the
and museum Confederate Museum
Do not use ‘the’ Examples
with ….
Names of continents Europe, Asia, South
America
Names of most Japan, Venezuela, Haiti,
countries Australia, Oman
Name of cities and Seoul, Caracas, Louisiana,
states Florida
Name of lakes and Lake Michigan, Manila
bays Bay
Name of a single Mount Everest, Bald
mountain Mountain
Do not use ‘the’ Examples
with ….
Names of universities Harvard University, Rocky
and colleges (unless Mountain College, (The
part of the actual University of California,
name) Los Angeles)
Names of avenues, Fifth Avenue, Main
streets, and Street, Pontchartrain
boulevards Boulevard
Name of parks Central Park, Audubon
Park
 The Definite Article with Other Names
Use ‘the’ with … Examples
Names containing ‘of’ the President of the
United States
Titles of officials the king, the secretary
of state, the prime
minister
Names of historical the Middle Ages, the
periods or events Civil War, the Manchu
Dynasty, the Second
World War
Use ‘the’ with … Examples
Official documents and The Louisiana
acts Purchase, the Magna
Carta, the Equal Rights
Amendment
Branches of the the judicial branch, the
government and political Republican Party
parties
Names of organizations the United Nations, the
and foundations Carnegie Foundation, the
YMCA
Law enforcement groups the army, the navy, the
marines
Do not use ‘the’ with … Examples
Names of holidays New Year’s Day,
Independence Day,
Labor Day
Titles of officials when President Obama, King
the name accompanies Hussein, Prime Minister
the title Cameron
Names with roman World War II
numerals
 greetings
• himeros ... ahahaha