Luleadey Tadesse

English Writing Specialist

The Writing Lab

Student Learning Support Center

WHAT ARE PARTS OF SPEECH?They are components of the English Language

CONJUNCTIONS

VERBS

PRONOUNSNOUNS

ADVERBS

ADJECTIVES

INTERJECTIONS

PREPOSITIONS

NOUNS

Nouns are used to name persons, animals, plants, places, things, substances, or ideas.

They are often indicated by definite and

indefinite articles, ‘the’ ‘a’ and ‘an’.

the goat, the policeman, the bride, the

certificate

a building, a train, a mountain

an airplane, an actor, an adapter

IDENTIFYING NOUNS IN A SENTENCE

A noun can be: A subject of a sentence.

Philip likes to ride a motorbike.

The chair is too high for me.

Direct object of a sentence.Salma loves fruit.

The doctor gave some medicine to me .

Indirect object of a sentenceThe coach gave a warning to Hassan.

PRONOUNS Anything unusual about these

sentences? Mrs. Hanson is texting because Mrs. Hanson

loves texting.

Maria and Giovanni are hugging because Maria and Giovanni just met after the summer break.

…CONT’D

Pronouns are substitutes for nouns:

He, she, it, they, we, you, I, me, her, him, them, etc.

They are used to avoid repetitions

…CONT’D Subject pronouns: they indicate the ‘who’

or ‘what’ subject in a sentence. [before the verb]

Object pronouns: they are action recipients. [after the verb]Subject Pronouns

Object Pronouns

Examples

He Him He is funny! I like him.

She Her She was just here; I’ve seen her.

It It It was a nice movie. I loved it.

They Them They are nice people but I never talked to them.

I Me “I am happy that you love me”.

You You You didn’t hear but she was calling you.

We us We bought a new house; it is now enough for all of us.

EXERCISE I.

Put the pronouns in their right place in the sentences she my our they him it her us

1. Ahmed is kind. Everybody likes ________.

2. Some people like to be famous and _______ work hard

for that.

3. That is _______ house over there; that’s where I live

by myself; do you see ______?

4. I hope ______ doesn’t mind that I took _______ seat.

5. We don’t have classes next week. ________ teacher

told _______ that he’ll be travelling.

ANSWER KEY

1. him

2. they

3. my, it

4. she, her

5. our, us

ADJECTIVES They modify/describe a noun or a pronoun.

They tell us what somebody or something is

like.

Beautiful, dutiful, determined, focused,

big, white, expensive, exciting, etc.

They usually come before or close to a noun

or a pronoun. They bought an expensive house. [noun]

We went to a party; it was exciting! [pronoun]

VERBSDescribe the photo: What do you see? What’s happening?

…CONT’D Verbs are words that describe actions,

feelings or states of being.

I take a bus to school every morning.

[action]

Mustafa loves his wife dearly. [feeling]

Leila is upset after the accident. [state of

being]

Put these verbs under the right category

Wish play love eat want know

wash dig sing enjoy think readAction Feeling/State

Eat know

…CONT’D

Action Feeling/State

Eat Know

Dig Love

Wash Wish

Read Enjoy

play Think

Sing Want

ADVERBS They describe verbs, adjectives and other

adverbs. They are usually written closer to the words

they describe [before or after].

Fatima immediately called the police.

The little girl ran quickly to her mother.

Hassan is extremely intelligent.

I saw her very briefly.

Many adverbs end in “ly”; however, there are some irregular adverbs such as ‘hard’ and ‘fast’ which do not have ‘ly’.

EXERCISE II. Fill in the blank spaces with the correct word

new gives she car seriously

Asma is a student at Qatar University.

_____(1.) is majoring in Linguistics. Each

morning, her friend ______(2.) her a ride to the

university. Asma doesn’t have a _____ (3.) but

she is planning to buy a _______ (4.) one this

month. She is thinking about it _______ (5.).

ANSWER KEY

1. She

2. gives

3. car

4. new

5. seriously

EXERCISE III. Underline the adjectives and circle the adverbs (total of 8)

We live in a big city called New York. I didn’t

like it when we moved there 3 years ago; but I

quickly realized that it was not bad at all. I got a

scholarship immediately after I’ve applied at NY

City University. I am now in my final year. Even

though I am extremely busy with assignments

and projects, I always make sure to spend a

relaxing time with friends whenever I can.

ANSWER KEYUnderline the adjectives and circle the adverbs (total of 8)

We live in a big city called New York. I didn’t

like it when we moved there 3 years ago; but I

realized that it was not bad at all. I got a

scholarship after I’ve applied at

NY City University. I am now in my final year.

Even though I am busy with

assignments and projects, I always make sure to

spend a relaxing time with friends whenever I

can.

quickly

immediately

extremely

EXERCISE IV.Write what part of speech the underlined word is

1. I like dogs very much. _______

2. Elena is very pretty. ______ , ______, ______

3. My city is big! ______, ______

4. We fly to Dubai this summer. ______, ______

5. That building is big and it is designed

beautifully. ______, _____, ________

ANSWER KEY

1. verb

2. noun, adverb, adjective

3. pronoun, adjective

4. pronoun, verb

5. noun, pronoun, adverb

Thank you for

your attention!

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