The Language Sandwich:

An Overview ofthe Nine Parts

of Speech

IF OUR RECIPE IS "THE ENGLISHLANGUAGE , " THEN OUR INGREDIENTS LISTCONSISTS OF THE NINE PARTS OF SPEECH .

L E T ' S S TART ASSEMBL I NG THAT SANDW ICH !

1 . NOUNS ( THE BREAD )

2 . VERBS ( THE MEAT )

3 . PRONOUNS ( THE T Y PE OF BREAD )

4 . ADVERBS ( THE T Y PE OF MEAT )

5 . AD JEC T I V E S ( THE BUT T ER )

6 . CON JUNCT IONS ( THE CHEESE )

7 . ART I C L E S ( THE MAYO )

8 . PREPOS I T I ONS ( THE L E T TUCE )

9 . I N T ER J EC T I ONS ( THE MUSTARD )

NOUNSThe Bread

Nouns are the bread of the sandwich. Without the bread, we'd justhave a sloppy mess. The sentence kneads nouns. (See what I didthere?) Just as there are many different kinds of bread, there aremany different kinds of nouns.

We use a noun to name athing such as a person,

animal, object, place, action,abstract idea, or quality.

Verbs

A verb is used to describe an action, event,or state. Verbs are the meat of a sentence.Just as you need both a noun and a verbto form a sentence, most people agree youneed at least bread and meat to make asandwich. The Meat

PRONOUNSPronouns are used in place of nouns. Choosinga pronoun is like choosing which type of breadto use for your sandwich. Will it be white bread(he), whole wheat bread (she), rye (it),sourdough (they), or pita bread (this)?

The Type of Bread

Adverbs

AN ADVERB DESCRIBES HOW

SOMEONE OR SOMETHING

PERFORMS AN ACTION. FOR

EXAMPLE, YOU CAN PUT MEAT IN

YOUR SANDWICH (AND YOU

SHOULD), BUT WHAT KIND OF

MEAT? WILL IT BE HONEY HAM,

PROSCIUTTO, OR BOLOGNA?

CHOOSING THE TYPE OF MEAT

GREATLY INFLUENCES HOW THE

SANDWICH WILL TASTE. THE SAME IS

TRUE FOR ADVERBS!

THE TYP E OF MEAT

ADJECTIVESTHE BUTTER

Adjectives are words used todescribe or modify nouns and

pronouns by depicting,quantifying, or identifying

them. Just as butter is closelyrelated to bread, adjectives are

closely related to nouns. Andjust as butter adds flavor to the

bread, adjectives add flavor tonouns.

T H E C H E E S ECON J UNC T I O N S

A conjunction is a part of speech that functions as a connector between two

sentences, clauses, phrases, or words. Popular conjunctions include for,and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. Because conjunctions draw relationshipsbetween parts of the sentence, they're kind of like cheese. Gooey,

delicious, melting cheese. Mmmmm. . . Sorry, what was I talking about

again? Oh, right! Conjunctions connect the parts of the sentence just as

cheese connects the sandwich.

ARTICLESThe Mayo

A R T I C L E S H E L P D E T E R M I N E W H E T H E RY O U A R E R E F E R R I N G T O S O M E T H I N G O FA S P E C I F I C T Y P E ( W I T H T H E D E F I N I T EA R T I C L E T H E ) O R O F A G E N E R A L T Y P E( W I T H I N D E F I N I T E A R T I C L E S A O R A N ) .J U S T L I K E S A N D W I C H E S A R E S O M E W H A TI N C O M P L E T E W I T H O U T M A Y O ,S E N T E N C E S A R E I N C O M P L E T E W I T H O U TA R T I C L E S . A L S O , I T ’ S P R E T T Y E A S Y T OT E L L W H E N A S A N D W I C H D O E S N ’ T H A V EM A Y O B E C A U S E I T ’ L L B E V E R Y , V E R YD R Y . A N D N O B O D Y L I K E S A D R YS A N D W I C H ! I T ’ S J U S T S A D .

PREPOSITIONSThe Lettuce

Lettuce acts as a bridge between the breadand the meat. Plus, no sandwich is completewithout that wonderful crunch. In the sameway, prepositions are that missinglink. Prepositions link nouns, pronouns, andphrases to the other words in asentence. They govern nouns (or pronouns)to express a relationship between nouns (orpronouns) and other words in a sentence.

INTERJECTIONSAn interjection is not necessarilygrammatically connected to the sentence, butit is designed to convey the emotion of thespeaker or narrator. Interjections are oftenfollowed by an exclamation mark; for example,"yum!" and "wow!" are both interjections.Like mustard, interjections can be surprising(oh!) in taste and smell, adding a littlesomething extra to the sandwich. And, likemustard, interjections change the flavor ofthe whole sentence.

THE MUSTARD

WE HOPE YOU'RE READY TO EAT. WE'VE BEEN THROUGH THE NINE PARTS OFSPEECH, AND NOW WE HAVE A MAGNIFICENTENGLISH-LANGUAGE SANDWICH TO CONSUME.

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NOW THAT YOU'RE FINISHED, IT'S TIME TOENJOY. WHY NOT KICK BACK, EAT YOURSANDWICH, AND CRACK OPEN A BOOK?

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