Parts of Speech Notes

Parts of Speech

What Does Part of Speech Mean?

  • Each part of speech explains not what the word is, but how the word is used.

The Eight Parts of Speech

  • Verb
  • Noun
  • Pronoun
  • Adjective
  • Adverb
  • Preposition
  • Conjunction
  • Interjection

More Details

  • Each part of speech explains not what the word is, but how the word is used.
  • The same word can function as a noun in one sentence and as a verb or adjective in another.

Adverbs

  • Adverb: An adverb can modify a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a phrase, or a clause.
  • Example: The seamstress quickly made the mourning clothes.

Example of Adverbs

  • Carefully
  • Faithfully
  • Sincerely

Verbs

  • Verb: A verb "is what you do!"
  • Example: I will run, hop, and skip down the track.

Nouns

  • Noun: A noun is a person, place, or thing.
  • Example: Ms. Arruda is going to Vegas this weekend.

Pronouns

  • Pronoun: A pronoun can replace a noun or another pronoun.
  • Example: Which show do you want to see?

Personal Pronouns

  • Personal Pronouns: A personal pronoun refers to a specific person or thing and changes its form to indicate person, number, gender, and case.

Possessive Personal Pronouns

  • Possessive Personal Pronouns: A possessive pronoun indicates that the pronoun is acting as a marker of possession and defines who owns a particular object or person.
  • Examples: mine, yours, hers, his, its, ours, theirs

Interrogative Pronouns

  • Interrogative Pronouns: An interrogative pronoun is used to ask questions.
  • Examples: who, whom, which, what, and the compounds formed with the suffix "ever"

Demonstrative Pronouns

  • Demonstrative Pronouns: A demonstrative pronoun points to and identifies a noun or a pronoun.
  • Examples: this, that, these, and those

Adjectives

  • Adjectives: An adjective modifies a noun or pronoun by describing, identifying, or qualifying words.
  • Example: The truck-shaped balloon floated over the treetops.

Conjunctions

  • Conjunctions link words, phrases, and clauses.
  • Example: I ate the pizza and the pasta!

Prepositions

  • Prepositions: A preposition links nouns, pronouns, and phrases to other words in a sentence.
  • Examples: on, against, over, during, beneath, beside

Interjections

  • Interjections: An interjection is a word added to a sentence to convey emotion.
  • Examples: Ouch!, Hey!

Parts of Speech Poem by Kim Vetter

  • A noun’s the name of anything, As house or garden, hoop, or swing.
  • Instead of nouns the pronouns stand- Her head, your face, his arm, my hand.
  • Adjectives tell the kind of noun, As great, small, pretty, white, or brown.
  • Verbs tell of something to be done- To read, count, sing, talk, laugh, or run.
  • How things are done the adverbs tell, As slowly, quickly, ill, or well.
  • Conjunctions join the words together, As men and women, wind or weather.
  • The preposition stands before A noun, as in or through a door.
  • The interjection shows surprise, As Oh! How Pretty; Ah! How wise.
  • That’s why we learn the parts of speech Which reading, writing, speaking teach.
  • ‘Cause grammar needs to be correct To help you earn the world’s respect.