The Parts of Speech

The Parts of Speech

Parts / Purpose / Examples / Helpful Hints
Adjectives / Describe or limit the meaning of nouns and pronouns. Answer one of three questions: Which one? What kind? How many? / The tall building.
The laughing boys threw water on the little girls. / Change when used as comparatives (cold colder, coldest).
Usually precede the nouns they modify.
Adverbs / Add to or modify the meaning of verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Answers one of three questions: How? When? Where? / Mary drove carefully to the hospital. / Most, but not all, adverbs end in ~ly. Adverbs may follow or precede the verbs they modify.
Articles / Help define nouns / I met the new student yesterday.
We have an hour before class. / Two classes of articles: definite article the and indefinite article a/an
The article an comes before words that begin with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u)
The article a comes before words that begin with consonants except silent h.
Conjunctions / Connect words, phrases, and clauses within a sentence. / I dropped the vase, but it didn't break. / Some conjunctions (however, but, moreover, etc) also show the relationship between ideas.
Interjections / Show surprise or emotion. / Yes! Let's do it! / Interjections are not acceptable in formal writing
Nouns / Name persons, places, things, and ideas. There are two classes of nouns.
Common nouns - refer to non-specific places, things and ideas.
Proper nouns - refer to specific person, places, or things and always begin with a capital letter. / The girl was so embarrassed that she ran out of the room. / Requires slight changes to indicate the plural form and possession.
Nouns are capitalized when referring to specific people , places, or things.
Prepositions / Show the relationship between a noun or pronoun and some other word in a sentence. / The man was sitting on the sofa watching TV. / Prepositions usually come before a noun or pronoun to form a prepositional phrase.
Verbs / Express action or state of being. / This is the second time I have come here this / Form changes to reflect person and time.
Agree with the subject in person and number.
Pronouns / Take the place of a noun. / This is the only time he can meet with me. / Change form according to the noun they replace.