Parts of Speech - 1 - lucyinthesky

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lucyinthesky

Parts of Speech - 1

Author: lucyinthesky

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Parts of Speech

Part One

What are the parts of speech?

In grammar, we traditionally classify words based on eight parts of speech: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, interjectionand conjunction. A part of speech doesn't explain what the word is - but rather, how the word is used in a particular sentence. A word which is a noun in one sentence may be a verb in another sentence. See Parts of Speech 2 and 3 here.

For example:

"A book can be fiction or non-fiction."

In this sentence, "book" is a noun and is the subject of the sentence.

"Sarah is going to book reservations at my favorite restaurant."

In this sentence, "book" is a verb and the subject is "Bridget."

Let's take a look at the different parts of speech!

Nouns

A noun can be a person, animal, place, thing or idea. In terms of an idea, this can range from a concept, substance or action, to a measure or quality:

Noun	Examples
person	man, woman, child, Amy, teacher
animal	lion, cat, puppy, butterfly
place	Taj Mahal, India, country, city, bridge
thing	apple, desk, pencil, plant
idea	hope, justice, love,freedom

Let's use some nouns in some sentences!

Noun	Sentence
person	Amy is a good friend of mine. You are a great man. Mr. Smith is a schoolteacher.
animal	A lion is sleeping in the den. There are butterflies everywhere! The cat purred at me.
place	The Taj Mahal is very beautiful. I want to visit India someday. The bridge is about to collapse.
thing	The apple is rotting. Please come to my desk. Do you have an extra pencil?
idea	A mother's love will never die. I believe in justice for all. Your hope and faith gives me strength.

Pronouns

A pronoun replaces a noun or another pronoun - this is to make sentences faster and easier to read.

For example:

"The boy went to market and the boy bought some bread."

You can replace the second occurrence of "the boy" with the pronoun "he".

"The boy went to market and he bought some bread."

There are various types of pronouns, as listed in the table below:

Type of Pronoun	Function and Examples
Subjective Personal Pronoun	I, you, she, he, it, we, you, they. The pronoun acts as the subject of the sentence "She is my best friend."
Objective Personal Pronouns	Me, you, her, him, it, us, you, them. Acts as an object of a verb, compound verb, preposition, or infinitive phrase "Please give the box to him."
Possessive Personal Pronouns	Mine, yours, hers, his, its, ours, theirs. Acts as a marker of possession. "This cat is ours."
Demonstrative Pronouns	This, that, these, those. Points to a noun or a pronoun. "Those trees cannot be cut down!"
Interrogative Pronouns	Who, whom, which, what, whoever, whomever, whichever, whatever. Used to ask questions. "Who is going to the party tonight?"
Relative Pronouns	Whom, whom, that, which. Who, whomever, and whichever are also relative pronouns. Used to link one phrase or clause to another phrase or clause. "The man who wins the lottery will be very lucky."
Indefinite Pronouns	All, another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, each, everything, everybody, everyone, few, many, nobody, several, none, one, some, somebody, someone. Refers to an identifiable but not specified person or thing. "Everything in the attic was covered with dust."
Reflexive Pronouns	Myself, yourself, herself, himself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves. Refers back to the subject of the clause or sentence. "Entrepreneurs often desire to do run things themselves."
Intensive Pronouns	Myself, yourself, herself, himself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves - identical in form to reflexive pronouns. A pronoun used to emphasise its antecedent. "The President himself said that war was inevitable."

Verbs

A verb is one of the most important parts of a sentence. It describes an action.

Generally speaking, verbs have a past, present or future tense. Let's take a look at the different ways you can use a verb in a sentence.

"The snow killed my plants."

The verb "to kill", used in past tense here, describes the action which the snow had taken upon the plants.

"The snow is killing my plants."

This sentence uses the verb "to kill" in the present tense, meaning the snow is in the process of killing my plants.

"The snow has killed my plants."

This sentence contains a compound verb - which is two verbs used together. In this case, the verbs "to have" and "to kill" are used. This compound verb describes an action which has taken place in the past.