Part of Speech

Part of Speech
Parts of speech are word categories that are defined by the grammatical roles
they play in sentence structures. This helps you to analyze sentences and
understand them. It also helps you to construct good sentences.

There are 9 part of speech:

1. Noun

Noun is described as words that refer to a person, place, thing, event, substance,
quality, quantity, etc. The noun is a part of speech typically denoting a person,
place, thing, animal or idea.

-Using a Noun in English Grammar:

• Using a Noun as a Subject or an Object
Each sentence that we speak or write must feature a subject and this will always
be a noun. When we talk about the subject, we are referring to the place, person
or thing which is completing the action (verb) within the sentence.
For example : John is tall
• Nouns Used as Object
The noun can also be used as the object of a sentence. An object can be either a direct object (a noun
that receives the action performed by the subject) or an indirect object (a noun that is the recipient of
a direct object). For example: Give the books to her.
Books is a direct object (what is being given) and her is the indirect object (who the books are being
given to).

• Nouns Used as Object and Subject Complements

A noun can be used as a subject complement and this usually occurs when using a linking verb such
as seem, to be or become. An example of this is the sentence “John is a builder.” The noun builder is
the subject complement as it is detailed what John is.
 2. Pronoun
A pronoun is a word that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns help keep our writing varied. Without
pronouns, we would have to constantly repeat the same noun over and over again to tell a story. For example, if we
wanted to write a story about Mary we would constantly have to repeat her name.

Mary went to the store to buy a shirt. Mary picked up a blue shirt to go with Mary’s jacket.
You could use alternative appellations to make the text more varied. However, this could confuse the reader. You
reader may think that the two names you use are different entities entirely. For this reason, we use pronouns for
noun substitutions.

Mary went to the store to buy a shirt. She picked up a blue shirt to go with her jacket.
Using she and her makes it clear that Mary is being referenced. There is no ambiguity.

A pronoun is used instead of a noun or noun phrase in a sentence. A pronoun may take place of the name of a
person, place or thing.

Pronoun examples: I, me, we, they, you, he, she, it, yours, himself, ourselves, its, my, that, this, those, us, who,
whom…
 3. Verb
A verb is a word which describes an action, often known as a ‘doing’ word. In the English language, the verb is the
only kind of word which will change to show whether the past or present is being spoken about.

A verb is a word or group of words that describes an action, experience or expresses a state of being.

Verb examples: Walk, is, seem, run, see, swim, stand, go, have, get, promise, invite, listen, sing, sit, …

* He speaks English
* I don’t know how to spell the word
* She studies hard
4. Adjective
An adjective is a word used to describe a noun.

An adjective can denote the color, size, condition, sense, quantity, appearance, time, or personality of a
noun or pronoun. Also, adjectives are capable of expressing comparisons by degrees.

However, adjectives do not simply have to describe an object, they can also be used in order to
describe something that is not tangible. A good example of this is the use of adjectives to talk about
someone’s personality. You might say something along the lines of ” My father is an intelligent man.”

Adjectives are a great way to appeal to the senses by describing visual aspects, taste, smell, sound, and
emotional or non physical attributes.
 5. Adverb
An adverb is used to modify, or further explain an adjective, verb or another adverb. They can add more information
to a sentence making it more clear and easier for the listener to imagine what is being described in detail. Most of
the time, adverbs will end in the letters -ly but there are some exceptions to this rule such as the words very and
never.

Examples:

Neatly, in the market, every day, tomorrow, very, badly, fully, carefully, hardly, nearly, hungrily, never, quickly,
silently, well, really, almost…

Adverb example sentences:

This is an extremely attractive photograph.

I have a very large pet dog.
My car drives quickly.
When I am running late for work, I eat my breakfast rapidly.
The boy is crying loudly.
She carefully preserved all his letters.
 6. Article
Articles are a sub-category of determiners that serve as a type of adjective to identify
nouns. They may be:

Definitive – which indicates that the noun’s identity is already known to the audience. The
word the would be a definitive article because it indicates a noun that is already known to
the reader/audience (“I am going to sit in the chair.”), or

Indefinite – indicates an unfamiliar noun, or references a noun for the first time, or shows a
noun belongs to a certain class of objects. The words a and an are considered indefinite
articles (“I am going to sit in a chair.”, “You are an accountant.”, or “I was born on a
Thursday.”).
7. Conjunction
A conjunction is used as a way of joining two or more ideas or words together. Most commonly
you will see the words for, and, not, but, or, yet and so used as a conjunction.

Examples:

And, however, still, but, or, so, after, since, before, either, neither, because, unless…

Conjunction example sentences:

- My boyfriend and I are going on a date.

- I will go to the shop but not before I have had something to eat.
- This is a gift for my friend.
- I was tired yet I still went to the gym.
 8. Preposition
A preposition is used in English to show a relationship between two words or phrases. You might
recognize a preposition as being words such as in, before, on, at, to, between etc.

Examples:

In, on, at, about, apropos, according to, after, along, above, except, from, near, of, before, since,
between, upon, with, to, after, toward…

Preposition example sentences:

- The cat is sitting on the wall.

I am going to the salon after my dinner.
The boy ran along the street for an hour.
You will find the theatre in the town centre.
I saw that news in the newspapers.
9. Interjection
An interjection could also be thought of as a exclamation. They are used to emotion, reaction or
excitement and have no grammatical link to anything else within the sentence they appear.

Examples:

Ahem!, aha!, gosh!, aw!, great!, hey!, hi!, hooray!, oh!, yeah!, oops!, phew!, eh!, oh!, ouch!, hi!, well!
…

Interjection example sentences:

Phew! That was a close call.

Wow! Did you see how big that bird was?
Oh, I forgot to tell you that I saw your father last week.
Hooray! You passed your exam!
Well, what did he say?
Yeah! She’s going with us tonight!
 Exercise !
1. I bought an (expensive) book at the mall.
a. Adjective
b. Verb
c. Noun
d. Conjunction

2. What did he (tell) you about me?

a. Adjective
b. Verb
c. Noun
d. Conjunction

3. I put my shoes (between) my sister’s and my brother’s in the garage.

a. Adjective
b. Verb
c. Preposition
d. Conjunction
4. If we run this program (well), we can get extra bonus from our boss.
a. Adjective
b. Verb
c. Preposition
d. Adverb

5. On Sundays, I (swim) from six to eleven in the morning.

a. Adjective
b. Verb
c. Preposition
d. Adverb

6. I will go to one of beautiful (islands) in Indonesia this month.

a. Adjective
b. Verb
c. Preposition
d. Noun

7. I haven’t finished my project (because) I am very busy.

a. Conjunction
b. Verb
c. Preposition
d. Adverb
8. I don’t (believe) him because he has lied to me for many times.
a. Adjective
b. Verb
c. Conjunction
d. Adverb

9. Tara cooked (chicken) soup, but that was not delicious.

a. Adjective
b. Verb
c. Noun
d. Adverb

10. After (taking) a bath, let’s go to the campus.

a. Adjective
b. Verb
c. Preposition
d. Noun

11. (Dita) is an amazing English teacher at school.

a. Adjective
b. Verb
c. Preposition
d. Noun
12. The dog (keeps) running with the other dogs.
a. Adjective
b. Verb
c. Preposition
d. Adverb

13. She brought (her) old car to the garage.

a. Pronoun
b. Verb
c. Preposition
d. Adverb

14. She drives very (carefully) because she has a traumatic car accident.
a. Adjective
b. Verb
c. Preposition
d. Adverb

15. (We) got a room with very beautiful view here but it is very expensive.
a. Adjective
b. Pronoun
c. Preposition
d. Adverb
16. It is (nice) to meet you since we haven’t met each other for two months.
a. Adjective
b. Verb
c. Preposition
d. Adverb

17. Learning (English) is very important for students.

a. Noun
b. Verb
c. Preposition
d. Adverb

18. I don’t know how to fix the (problem).

a. Adjective
b. Verb
c. Preposition
d. Noun

19 . She was the best students (in) this university.

a. Adjective
b. Verb
c. Preposition
d. Adverb
20. He probably loves (you) now.
a. Pronoun
b. Verb
c. Preposition
d. Adverb

21. I am not ready to get married this (year).

a. Adjective
b. Verb
c. Noun
d. Adverb

22. (Uh), can we go out this creepy house now?

a. Conjunction
b. Adjective
c. Interjection
d. Verb

23. Daisy is angry (because) her brother broke her computer.

a. Adverb
b. Adjective
c. Conjunction
d. Verb
24. (Um), mommy I am hungry
a. Conjunction
b. Adjective
c. Pronoun
d. Interjection

25. I’d like to bike (for) commuting to office downtown.

a. Adverb
b. Conjunction
c. Preposition
d. Verb