THE PARTS

OF SPEECH
The Basics
WHAT ARE PARTS OF SPEECH?
 Grammar is the system and structure of a
language. The rules of grammar help us decide
the order we put words in and which form of a
word to use.
 When you’re talking about grammar, it’s useful
to know some basic terms.
 The following are called parts of speech and they
each have their own function.
 Nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs,
conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections.
 NOUNS
A noun is a word or word group
that is used to name a person,
place, a thing, or an idea.
 Examples:
Persons: teacher, Paris Hilton,
mother
Places: school, Johnson City, mall

Things: lamp, book, desk

Ideas: love, courage, freedom

 TYPES OF NOUNS
1. Proper nouns name a particular
person, place, thing, or idea and
begin with a capital letter.
 Examples:
 Person: George Washington

 Place: United States of

America
 Thing: Shrek 3

 Ideas: Christianity

 __________________(your
2. Common nouns name any one of a
group of persons, places, things,
ideas and is generally not
capitalized.
 Examples:
 Person: president

 Place: country

 Thing: movie

 Ideas: religion

 _________________ (your example)

3. Concrete nouns name a person,
place, or thing that can be
perceived by one or more of the
senses.
 Examples:
 photographs

 music

 sand

 Washington Monument

 _________________ (your
4. Abstract nouns name an idea, a
feeling, a quality, or a
characteristic.
 Examples:
 love

 fun

 wisdom

 Hinduism

 _________________ (your
5. A collective noun is a word that
names a group.
 Examples:
 alumni

 faculty

 committee

 team

 _________________ (your
example)
6. Compound nouns are formed by
joining two simple nouns
together.
 Examples:
 boy + friend= boyfriend

 ice + land= Iceland

 brother + in + law= brother-

in-law
 grass + hopper= grasshopper
 Practice!
 Find the nouns in the following sentence:
(Remember!...a noun is a person, place, thing, or
idea)
1. Mark and Jennifer have a son.
2. There are many people in this classroom who
are missing assignments.
3. I am ready for Thanksgiving.
4. The man in the mirror was no one but himself.
5. I have never been so upset in my life!

*Your turn: Write 2 sentences and identify the

nouns in your sentences.
 PRONOUN
A pronoun can replace a noun.

 Example:

 Mark----He
 Mary-----She
 Mark and Mary-----They
 PRONOUN TYPES:
Possessive: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours,
whose, theirs
Demonstrative: this, that, these, those
Objective: me, you, him, her, it, us, whom,
them
Subjective: I, you, he, she, it, we, who, they
Reflexive: myself, yourself, himself, herself,
ourselves, themselves
Indefinite: anybody, everybody, nobody,
somebody
PRONOUN PRACTICE
Identify the pronouns in the following
sentences:

1. They have never been so happy.

2. It was a really good day today.
3. She was upset with herself for failing it.
4. You and I should take a walk.
5. The candy is neither yours nor mine.
*Your turn! Write 2 sentences and identify the
pronouns in the sentences.
 PRONOUNS (cont’d)
 The noun to which the pronoun refers is
called the antecedent.
 For example:
Allen got off work at seven, then he went home.
He=pronoun Allen=antecedent

Maria is a very bright student; she made all A’s

on her report card.

She, Her=pronouns Maria=antecedent

 WHAT IS A VERB?
 There are two types of verbs that we
will look out closely:

 Action Verb

 Linking Verb
 ACTION VERBS
 Action verbs express action,
something that a person, animal,
force of nature, or thing can do

Playing Driving
 LINKING/ HELPING VERB
 Linking verbs, on the other hand, do not express
action. Instead, they connect the subject of a verb
to additional information about the subject.

 Any form of the verb “Be”

 Am
 Were
 Has
 Been
 Are being
 Is
ACTION VERB OR LINKING VERB?
 There are verbs that can be linking verbs in
SOME sentences, but are action verbs in other
sentences. One way to determine if the verb is
functioning as an action verb or a linking verb is
to substitute the word “is” for the verb in
question. If the sentence still makes sense, then
it is probably a linking verb. If the sentence
would not make sense with the word “is,” then it
is probably an action verb in the sentence.
 Jake appeared sick after eating the candy.

 The students grew silent.

 The cake smells good.

 VERBS PRACTICE
 Identify the verbs in the following sentences:
Remember…verbs can show action or link one part of the
sentence to the next.

1. Marion was the first woman to become Vice

President.
2. I love him.

3. There is a large group of students in the hallway.

4. She danced all night long.

5. I will be 18 next month.

*Your turn! Write two sentences with action verbs

and 2 sentences with linking verbs. Identify
them!
 ADJECTIVE
Adjectives are words that
describe or modify another
person, place, thing, or idea in
the sentence

Adjectives are descriptive

words!
Special Note-Articles “an, a,
the” are also adjectives.
 ADJECTIVE
Descriptive adjectives: Describe
the noun.
Ex: red house tall man large hut

Limiting Adjectives: Limits or

specifies the noun
Ex: high school student, two
teams, every employee
 ADJ. PRACTICE…
Identify the following adjectives and tell if
they are limiting or descriptive:
1. There are many good students in high school.
2. She was grateful for the interview.

3. I am a very intelligent person.

4. The basketball team was very adept in knowing

the difficult plays.
5. The bluish-green sky was a beautiful sight to
see.
Your turn! Write two sentences with adjectives in
them and identify them!
 ADVERBS

 Adverbs are words that modify

*a verb (He drove slowly. — How did he drive?)
*an adjective (He drove a very fast car. — How
fast was his car?)
*another adverb (She moved quite slowly down
the aisle. — How slowly did she move?)

 some adverbs can be identified by their

characteristic "ly" suffix
 Answers questions such as: "how," "when,"
"where," "how much".
 ADVERBS PRACTICE…
 Identify the following adverbs; then write out the
question that corresponds to the adverb:
 Ex: She ran fast in the race. (How did she run?)

1. Ashley danced very well.

2. I swiftly ran after the ball.
3. She angrily slammed the door shut after screaming
very loudly at her boyfriend.
4. She is a very happy person to be around.
5. The night crept up stealthily like a burglar in a
house.
*Your turn! Write two sentences with adverbs in them
and identify them!
 CONJUNCTIONS
 A conjunction is a joiner, a word that
connects (conjoins) parts of a sentence.

 Coordinating Conjunctions
 And
 Or
 But
 For
 Nor
 So
 Yet
 CONJUNCTIONS
 A subordinating conjunction introduces a
dependent clause and indicates the nature of the
relationship among the independent clause(s) and
the dependent clause(s).

The most common subordinating

conjunctions are: after, although, as, because,
before, how, if, once, since, than, that, though,
until, when, where, whether, and while.
 CONJUNCTIONS
 Correlative conjunctions always appear in
pairs -- you use them to link equivalent
sentence elements.
 The most common correlative conjunctions
are:
both...and, either...or, neither...nor,
not only...but also, so...as, and whether...or
 CONJ. Practice!
 Identify the conjunctions in the following
sentences; then, tell what type of conj. they
are.
1. Ashton and I will go out tonight.
2. After the movie, let’s go out to eat.
3. Neither Sam nor Vinny ate lunch.
4. My true passion in life is writing, and I
hope to get published soon.
5. Susan makes good grades because she
studies every night.
6. Either you will put forth effort in your
classes or you will not do your best.
 PREPOSITIONS
 A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other
words in a sentence. Some common prepositions are:
at, under, over, of, to, in, out, beneath, beyond, for, among,
after, before, within, down, up, during, without, with, outside,
inside, beside, between, by, on, out, from, until,
toward, throughout, across, above, about, around.

 examples:
The book is on the table.
The book is beneath the table.
The book is leaning against the table.
The book is beside the table.
She held the book over the table.
She read the book during class.
OBJECT OF THE PREPOSITION
 The Object of the Preposition
Recognize an object of the preposition when you
see one.
 Prepositions often begin prepositional phrases.
To complete the phrase, the preposition usually teams
up with a noun, pronoun, orgerund, or the object of
the preposition. Here are some examples:
 At noon
 At = preposition; noon = noun or the object of the
preposition.
 Behind them
 Behind = preposition; them = pronoun or
the object of the preposition.
OBJECT OF THE PREPOSITION
 Without sneezing
 Without = preposition; sneezing = gerund or the object of
the preposition.

 The object of the preposition will often

have modifiers that add description:
 At the kitchen counter
 At = preposition; the, kitchen = modifiers; counter = noun
or the object of the preposition.

 Between us only
 Between = preposition; us = pronoun or the object of the
preposition; only = modifier.
 Without completely finishing
 Without = preposition; completely = modifier; finishing =
gerund or the object of the preposition.
OBJECT OF THE PREPOSITION
 Infrequently, a clause will be the object of the
preposition, as in this example:

In class today, we talked about what Mr. Duncan

expects in our next research essay.

About = preposition; what Mr. Duncan expects

in our next research essay = noun clause or
the object of the preposition.
 Preposition Practice
Identify the prepositions in the following sentences,
then identify the object of the preposition.
1. I don’t want to go before the judge tomorrow.

2. Andrew tossed the ball into the air.

3. Sienna quickly ran across the yard.

4. Christian walked inside the house to get his dad.

5. Kalvin is a great musician and often plays shows

around the country.
*Make a list of all the prepositions you can think
of.
 PREPOSITIONS VS.
CONJUNCTIONS
 Prepositions are connecting words.
 Prepositions are words like: on, over, to, from,
about, for, against, with, between, etc.
 In general, a preposition “glues” a noun or
pronoun into a sentence.
 That is, a preposition is only able to connect a
noun element into a sentence.

Preposition=Introduces a noun into the sentence.

 PREPOSITIONS VS.
CONJUNCTIONS
 Conjunctions are also connecting words, but they
can do much more than a preposition.
 Conjunctions are words like: and, but, or,
because, then, etc.
 In contrast to a preposition, a conjunction can
connect any two like elements together in a
sentence.
 Most notably, conjunctions have the ability
to connect verbs together.
 This means that conjunctions can connect two
sentences together.
Conjunctions=introduce verbs
 PREPOSITIONS VS.
CONJUNCTIONS Practice:
 Decide whether each underlined word is a
preposition or a conjunction. Explain your
answer.
1. I want to read a good book beside the tree.
2. After we danced, we out for a walk.
3. While you were away, you missed lots of work.
4. She sent him a text instead of speaking.
5. He left the room without talking to anyone.
6. The train had to stop because of the weather.
 INTERJECTIONS

Words of strong emotion. (Usually followed by an

exclamation point.

Hey!
Wow!
Oops!
Well,
Whoops!