GRAMMAR & STRUCTURE Parts of Speech

Introduction“Parts of speech” are the basic types of words that English has. Most grammar books say that there are eight parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions and interjections. We will add one more type: articles.

It is important to be able to recognize and identify the different types of words in English, so that you can understand grammar explanations and use the right word form in the right place. Here is a brief explanation of what the parts of speech are:

1. Nouns (people, places, or things)2. Verbs (the state or action word in a sentence)3. Adjectives (give more information about nouns)4. Adverbs (give more information about verbs)5. Determiners (words that come before most nouns)6. Prepositions (give information about place and time)7. Pronouns (replace nouns)8. Conjunctions (join sentences)

Noun A noun is a naming word. It names a person, place, thing, idea, living creature, quality, or action.Examples: cowboy, theatre, box, thought, tree, kindness, arrival

Verb A verb is a word which describes an action (doing something) or a state (being something).Examples: walk, talk, think, believe, live, like, want

Adjective An adjective is a word that describes a noun. It tells you something about the noun.Examples: big, yellow, thin, amazing, beautiful, quick, important

Adverb

An adverb is a word which usually describes a verb. It tells you how something is done. It may also tell you when or where something happened.Examples: slowly, intelligently, well, yesterday, tomorrow, here, everywhere

Pronoun A pronoun is used instead of a noun, to avoid repeating the noun.Examples: I, you, he, she, it, we, they

Conjunction A conjunction joins two words, phrases or sentences together.Examples: but, so, and, because, or

Preposition A preposition usually comes before a noun, pronoun or noun phrase. It joins the noun to some other part of the sentence.Examples: on, in, by, with, under, through, at

Interjection

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!

Article An article is used to introduce a noun.Examples: the, a, an

GRAMMAR & STRUCTURE — ExamplesParts of Speech

   

Sentences using different parts of speech

Read each sentence and then look at the chart below it. The chart shows the correct part of speech for each word in the sentence.

a) The university student studies hard in the school library, so he gets good grades.

Nouns

studentlibrarygrades

Verbs

studiesgets

Adjectives

universityschoolgood

Adverbs

hard

Prepositions

in

Conjunctions

so

Determiners

the

Pronouns

he

b) Some people exercise regularly and eat well, but other people are not as healthy because they spend too much time at home on the couch.

Nouns

peopletimehomecouch

Verbs

exerciseeatare

spend

Adjectives

healthytoo much

Adverbs

regularlywell

Prepositions

aton

Conjunctions

butand

because

Determiners

someotherthe

Pronouns

they

c) My mother always cooks a delicious dinner for my birthday, and the whole family eats it together happily.

Nouns

motherdinner

birthdayfamily

Verbs

cookseats

Adjectives

deliciousmy

whole

Adverbs

alwaystogetherhappily

Prepositions

for

Conjunctions

and

Determiners

athe

Pronouns

it

d) The tired children walk slowly to school in the morning, so they always arrive late.

Nouns

childrenschool

morning

Verbs

walkarrive

Adjectives

tired

Adverbs

slowlyalways

late

Prepositions

toin

Conjunctions

so

Determiners

the

Pronouns

they

e) The thin French chef bakes tasty fresh bread daily in his wood stove and sells it quickly from a small window.

Nouns

chefbread

Verbs

bakessells

Adjectives

thinFrench

Adverbs

dailyquickly

stovewindow

tastyfreshwoodsmallhis

Prepositions

infrom

Conjunctions

and

Determiners

thea

Pronouns

it

GRAMMAR & STRUCTURE — ExercisesParts of Speech

   

Answer the following questions to check your knowledge of the parts of speech.

Choose the correct part of speech in each sentence.

Example

Choose the verb in the sentence.My daughter brushes her long hair with a red brush every morning.

daughterhairbrushesred

The correct answer is "brushes".

1.Choose the noun in the sentence.He eats raw fish.

  he  eats  raw  fish     2.

Choose the verb in the sentence.He eats raw fish.

  he  eats  raw  fish     3.

Choose the adjective in the sentence.He eats raw fish.

  he  eats  raw

  fish     4.

Choose the pronoun in the sentence.He eats raw fish.

  he  eats  raw  fish     5.

Choose the verb in the sentence.My best friend sends me beautiful postcards from her vacations.

  my  postcards  sends  vacations     6.

Choose the preposition in the sentence.My best friend sends me beautiful postcards from her vacations.

  my  her  me  from     7.

Choose the conjunction in the sentence.Jerri loves travelling by car, but she hates travelling by bus.

  but  by  she  travelling     

8.Choose the pronoun in the sentence.Jerri loves travelling by car, but she hates travelling by bus.

  by  she  bus  Jerri     9.

Choose the nouns in the sentence.Jerri loves travelling by car, but she hates travelling by bus.

  Jerri / car / bus  travelling / loves /  hates  but / she / by  travelling / by / car     10.

Choose the adverbs in the sentence.Hedy plays tennis beautifully, but she plays squash terribly.

  plays / Hedy  tennis / squash  beautifully / terribly  Hedy / she