PARTS OF SPEECH

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MALANG

PARTS OF SPEECH

Group of words categorized by their function in a sentence.

1. Nouns
2. Pronouns
3. Verbs
4. Adjectives
5. Adverbs
6. Prepositions
7. Conjunctions
8. Interjections
 1. NOUN

words that name people, places, things, or ideas.

• Common: These name general, nonspecific people, places, things, or ideas. They start with a
lowercase letter unless they begin a sentence.
writer, city, park, religion
• Proper: These name specific people, places, things, or ideas. They always start with a capital
letter.
Victor Hugo, Paris, Disneyland, Christianity
• Abstract: These are the opposite of concrete. They name something that you cannot perceive
with your five senses - something that does not physically exist.
happiness, freedom, Christianity
• Concrete: These name something that you can perceive with your five senses - something
that physically exists.
cat, chocolate, Martha
• Countable: Yep. You guessed it. These can be counted, and they use both the singular and
the plural forms. Anything that you can make plural is a countable noun.
clock/clocks, David/Davids, poem/poems
• Uncountable: These guys cannot be counted. Since they cannot be counted, they only use
the singular form.
milk, rice, water
• Compound: These are made up of two or more smaller words.
tablecloth, haircut, applesauce
• Collective Nouns: These are singular nouns that refer to a group of things as
one whole.
class, audience, swarm
• Singular: These refer to one person, place, thing, or idea.
box, face, road, ball
• Plural: These refer to more than one person, place, thing, or idea. They
generally end in with an s.
boxes, faces, roads, balls
• Possessive Nouns: These show ownership.
Dad's car, the student's book, Marc's hat
2. PRONOUNS
→ A WORD THAT TAKES THE PLACE OF A NOUN

PERSONAL POSSESIVE POSSESSIVE REFLEXIVE OBJECT

pronouns adjective pronouns pronouns pronouns

I My mine myself me
You Your yours yourself you
He His his himself him
She Her her herself her
It Its its itself it
We Our ours ourselves us
You Your yours yourselves you
They their theirs themselves them

Soekarno was the first president of Indonesia. He was born in Surabaya.

3. VERBS

A verb is a word that expresses an action or a state of being.

As you can see from that definition, there are two main categories of
verbs: action verbs and state of being verbs (also known as
linking verbs).
 4. ADJECTIVE

Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns.

Adjectives answers at least one of these adjective
questions.
1. Which one? (yellow, the, that)
2. What kind? (furry, plastic, special)
3. How many? (sixteen, several, many)
4. Whose? (Caroline's, his, its, John's)

Let's look at this cute monkey here. How would you

describe it?
You could say it is a furry monkey.
The adjective furry describes the noun monkey and
answers the adjective question Which one? or What kind?
Which monkey? The furry monkey. What kind of
monkey? The furry monkey.
 5. ADVERBS

Adverbs modify (describe) verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.

The explanation is HERE

Let's look at some examples of adverbs modifying the verb

flew.
1. The girl sings beautifully. (How?)
2. Yesterday, the fox escaped. (When?)
3. The ship drowned there. (Where?)
4. That bird flew because it needed food. (Why?)
 6. PREPOSITIONS

Prepositions are words that show the relationship between a noun or a 

pronoun and some other word or element in the rest of the sentence.

Let’s see… It is a word that describes the relationship

between this caterpillar and this apple.
 7. CONJUNCTIONS

A conjunction is a word that joins two or more words, phrases, or clauses.

1. Coordinating Conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so

2. Subordinating Conjunctions: unless, whenever, since
3. Correlative Conjunctions: either...or, both...and
8. INTERJECTIONS
 REVIEW

Matching Definitions

1. Pronouns A. Words that name people, places, things, or ideas

2. Adverbs B. Words that modify nouns or pronouns

3. Verbs C. Words that connect words, phrases, or clauses

D. Words that describe a relationship between a noun or pronoun and

4. Adjectives
another element in the sentence

5. Conjunctions E. Words that show emotion

6. Prepositions F. Words that modify verbs, adjectives, and adverbs

7. Nouns G. Words that show an action or a state of being

8. Interjections H. Words that take the place of nouns

 EXERCISES 1: IDENTIFY & LABEL

Directions: Label the part of speech for each word in bold.

Example: (1) Mary Lennox = (proper) noun

When (1) Mary Lennox (2) was (3) sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live (4) with her

uncle everybody (5) said she was the (6) most disagreeable-looking child ever seen.

(7) She had a little thin face (8) and a little thin body, thin light hair and a (9) sour

expression. (10) Her hair was (11) yellow, and her face was yellow (12) because she

had been born (13) in (14) India and had always been (15) ill in one way (16) or

another.

From The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

EXERCISES 2: CHOOSE THE CORRECT PART OF SPEECH

Directions: For the words in bold, choose the correct part of speech from the choices
listed in a and b.
Example: 1. yellow = b. adjective
1. Today, I will wear my yellow skirt. a. noun b. adjective
2. No, you may not climb onto the roof. a. interjection b. pronoun
3. This warm bath will feel good on my legs. a. verb b. adverb
4. This is a good movie. a. adverb b. adjective
5. Throw the ball as hard as you can. a. verb b. noun

6. I am extremely excited for our trip to Costa Rica. a. adjective b. adverb

7. Should be stay in a hotel or in a youth hostel? a. interjection b. conjunction

8. Where is my suitcase? a. verb b. adverb

9. Your suitcase is in the closet. a. preposition b. adjective
10. Let's make cookies! a. noun b. preposition
EXERCISE 3: NAME THE PART OF SPEECH OF THESE WORDS AND
COMPOSE A SENTENCE FOR EACH WORD.

Example:
Simple = (adjective) His opinion is simple but very reasonable.

1. beauty
2. safe
3. safety
4. reference
5. curious
6. careless
7. wholeheartedly
8. boring
9. sometimes
10. through