Lecture- 1

Eight Parts of Speech

Noun
Pronoun
Adjective
Verb
Adverb
Preposition
Interjection
Conjunction
 Parts of Speech Table

This is a summary of the 8 parts of speech.

Part of speech Function or “job” Example words Example sentences

Verb Action or state (to) be, have, do, like, Garfield is a cat.
work, sing, can, must I like Garfield.
Noun Thing or person pen, dog, work, music, This is my dog.
town, London, teacher, He lives in my house.
John We live in London.
Adjectives Describes a noun a/an, the, 23, some, good, My dog is big.
big, red, interesting I like big dogs.
Adverb Describes a verb, quickly, silently, well, My dog eats quickly.
adjective or adverb badly, very, really When he is very hungry,
he eats really quickly.
Pronoun Replaces a noun I, you, he, she, some Tara is my sister; she is
beautiful.
Preposition Links a noun to to, at, after, on, but We went to the park on
another word Monday.
Conjunction Joins clauses or and, but, when, for, nor, I like dogs and cats.
sentences or words or, yet, so, since, I like cars, but I don’t
like driving.
Interjection Short exclamation, Oh! Ouch! Hi! Well. Ouch! That hurts!
sometimes inserted Hi! How are you?
into a sentence Well, I don’t know.
NOUN
A noun is a word used to name a
person, place, thing, or idea
Types of Nouns
Singular- a word used to name one
person, place, thing, or idea
Plural- a word used to name more than one
person, place, thing, or idea

Q: What is the easiest way to make a singular

noun plural?
A: Add an –s or –es to the end of it!
Types of Nouns
Proper- a word used to name a particular
person, place, thing, or idea; this noun is
usually capitalized
Common- names any one of a group of
persons, places, things, or ideas, and is not
capitalized
Types of Nouns
Concrete- names an object that can be
perceived by the senses (most likely is
tangible)
Abstract- names an idea, a feeling, a quality, or
a characteristic (cannot be physically touched)
Types of Nouns
Collective- names a group; although it
contains individual members, it is identified as
a singular noun.
Compound- consists of two or more words
used together as a single noun; they may be
written as one word, two or more words, or as
a hyphenated word.
Pronouns
Pronouns- a word used in place of one or
more nouns or pronouns
Personal Pronouns
Singular Plural
First Person I, my, mine, me We, our, ours, us

Second Person You, your, yours You, your, yours

Third Person He, his, him, she, They, their, theirs, them
her, hers, it, its
Pronouns
Reflexive Pronouns
Singular Plural
First Person Myself Ourselves
Second Person Yourself Yourselves
Third Person Himself, Herself, Themselves
Itself

There is no such word as “hisself.” The grammatically correct

reflexive pronoun is himself.
Pronouns
Interrogative Pronouns- used to begin questions
Interrogative: who, whom, whose, which, what
Demonstrative Pronouns- used to point out a specific
person, place, thing, or idea Demonstrative: this, that,
these, those
Indefinite Pronouns- used to refer to people, places,
things, or ideas in general; frequently used without
antecedents
Indefinite: all, any, either, many, none, etc.
Pronoun and Antecedent
A pronoun usually refers to a noun that comes
before it. This noun, called an
antecedent, gives the pronoun its meaning.
Example: Thomas closed his book and put
it down.
his refers to the antecedent “Thomas”;
it refers to the antecedent “book”
Pronoun and Antecedent
Pronouns and Antecedents must match
in number.

Example: The coach showed the players how

they should throw the ball.

They refers to the antecedent “players.” Since

players is plural, the plural pronoun must be used.
Pronoun and Antecedent
A pronoun may appear in the same sentence
as its antecedent or in a following sentence.

Example: Have the birds flown south yet?

They should start migrating soon.
Example: Lee hit a home run. It was his first of the
season.
Adjectives
Adjective- a word used to modify (describe or make
more definite) a noun or pronoun
Adjectives will answer at least one of the following FIVE
questions:
1. Which one?
2.What kind?
3.How many?
4.How much?
5.Whose?
Adjectives usually precede the words they modify
(unlike other languages).
Adjectives
The most frequently used adjectives are called
ARTICLES.
Indefinite Articles are used for any general noun.
They are “A” and “AN.”
Q: How do you know when to use “A” and when to
use “AN”?
A: Look at the word that follows and choose:
A= word beginning with a consonant sound
AN= word beginning with a vowel sound
Adjectives
Use the Definite Article “THE” to
indicate someone or something in
particular.
Q: How do you know when to use “THE”,
and not “A” and/or “AN”?
A: It can precede any word, regardless of the
initial sound, but must indicate something in
particular
Verbs
Verb- a word used to express an action or a
state of being (a form of the word “be”)
ACTION VERBS- express physical or
mental activity; it’s what you do!
There are two types of ACTION verbs:
Transitive and Intransitive
Types of Action Verbs
Transitive Verbs- action verbs that express
action directed toward a person or thing
named in the sentence
Example: Neil rang the bell.
Intransitive Verbs- action verbs that express
action without passing the action from a doer
to a receiver
Example: The children laughed.
Types of Verbs
Linking Verbs- a verb that connects the
subject to a word that identifies or describes
it
Example: The answer is three.
Many linking verbs can be used as action
(nonlinking) verbs as well.
Example: The wet dog smelled horrible.
The dog smelled the bread.
Verb Phrases
Verb phrases- consist of a main verb preceded by at
least one helping verb (also known as an auxiliary
verb)
VP= HV + AV
All forms of the verb be are helping verbs:
Am Are Were Being
Is Was Be Been
Helping Verbs
Besides all forms of the verb be, helping verbs
include:

Have Do Shall Would Must

Has Does Will May Can
Had Did Should Might Could
Most common forms of be
Present:
Singular Plural
1st person I am We are
2nd person You are You are
3rd person He/She/It is They are

Past:
Singular Plural
1st person I was We were
2nd person You were You were
3rd person He/She/It was They were
Verb Tenses
Present tense- there is no distinctive form by which
it can be recognized, other than the –e(s) ending
used with 3rd person singular pronouns (he, she, it)
or the noun for which a 3rd person singular pronoun
can substitute
Example: John looks terrific.
He
The only two verbs irregular in 3rd person
singular are be (is) and have (has).
Verb Tenses
Past tense- there are typically two main
ways to form the past tenses, called regular
and irregular
Regular: formed by adding –(e)d
Dictionary form Past tense form
Pass Passed
Cough Coughed
Smile Smiled
Dread Dreaded
Verb Tenses
Irregular: do not add the –(e)d ending but
instead change the vowel of the dictionary
form
Dictionary form Past tense form
Dig Dug
Ring Rang
Freeze Froze
See Saw
Run Ran
Verb Tenses
Caution:
There are verbs with past tenses that are a mixture of
regular and irregular forms, i.e., they have both a
vowel change and a regular ending (sell-sold).
There is a group of verbs that have no distinct past
tense form at all; the verbs in this group are single-
syllable verbs that end in –t or –d; for example hit-
hit; slit- slit; cut-cut; rid-rid; shed-shed.
Is it a VERB?
Two very simple tests:
1. Recast the word in past tense.
2. Add will to form a future tense.
Examples:
Sentence: The children love New York. Past tense:
The children loved New York. Will: The children
will love New York.
Sentence: Children love spinach.
Past tense: Children love spinached.
Will: Children love will spinach.
Adverbs
Adverb- a word used to modify a verb, an
adjective, or another adverb
Adverbs will answer at least one of the
following FIVE questions:
1. Where?
2. When
3. How?
4. Why?
5. To what
extent?
Adverbs
Asking “to what extent” means how far, how
often, and so on.
Adverbs also have three forms to show
comparison:
Positive Comparative Superlative
Big Bigger Biggest
Fast Faster Fastest
Late Later Latest

Add –er or more to form the comparative.

Add –est or most to form the superlative.
Adverbs
The easiest way to recognize adverbs is to look
for words ending in –ly. Be careful; ask the five
questions to double-check the word usage.
If a word is normally considered a noun, but
answers one of the five questions, it should be
labeled as adverb.
Adjectives and Adverbs
Please remember, if you locate a word that
modifies a noun or pronoun, it is an adjective. If
you locate a word that modifies that adjective, it is
considered an adverb (not another adjective).
Adjective Adverb
Nouns Verbs
Pronouns Adjectives
Adverbs
Adverbs
Some of the most common adverbs are:
Quite Very Much Too

Rather Not Never -n’t

Prepositions
Preposition- a word used to show the
relationship of a noun or pronoun to some
other word(s) in the sentence
A preposition ALWAYS introduces a
phrase. The noun or pronoun that ends the
prepositional phrase is called the object of
the preposition.
…………………….(PREP…..N/PR)……………
…..
Prepositions
Prepositions cannot stand alone!
A prepositional phrase starts with a preposition
and ends with the first noun or pronoun that
follows that preposition.
PLEASE NOTE: Some words on the list of
prepositions may also be used as adverbs.
Remember than an adverb is a modifier and does
NOT take an object! Ask the adverb questions!
Prepositions
Please be cautious of compound
prepositions. These are prepositions
that are made up of several words, but
counted as one preposition.
EXAMPLES: as of today; in addition to the
assignment; next to Fred; in spite of your
objections; aside from that; in case of an
accident, etc…
Preposition or Adverb?
Prepositions have objects; adverbs don’t!
EXAMPLES:
Pr. V. ADV.
1. I went inside.
Pr. V. Prep. Adj. N.
2. I went(inside the house).
Types of Prepositional Phrases
Adjective- refers to a noun or pronoun; tells
which one or what kind
EXAMPLES:
1. The squirrel in the tree attacked me.
2. Let’s take a picture of that squirrel.
Sometimes there are more than one
prepositional phrase in a row
EXAMPLE:
1. We bought tickets for the trip to the museum.
Types of Prepositional Phrases
Adverb- refer to a verb, adjective or adverb;
tell where, when, or how
VERB: The squirrel ran past us. ADJECTIVE:
The squirrel is small in size. ADVERB: We
arrived late for class.
Sometimes more than one prepositional phrase
modifying the same word
In the afternoon, we went to your home.
Conjunctions
Conjunction- joins words or groups of words
THREE TYPES:
1. Join words or groups of words together as equals
(coordinating)
2. Considered two-part conjunctions, used with
words and phrases (correlative)
3. Join groups unequally, that is that
subordinate one group of words to
another (subordinating)
Coordinating Conjunctions
There are 7 coordinating conjunctions:
And But Or Nor
For Yet So

The conjunctions and and or are used to join

words, phrases, and sentences.
Examples: John and Mary, apples or oranges
The remaining conjunctions are normally used to
join sentences.
Example: He went to Chicago and New York.
Correlative Conjunctions
Words may come before, between, and/or
after the correlative conjunctions.
Both… and Either… or Not only… but also
Whether… or Neither… nor

EXAMPLES:
Either Mary loves John, or Alicia loves Fred.
Mary went not only up the stairs, but also down the hall.
Interjections
Interjection- a word used to express emotion. It
has no grammatical relation to the rest of the
sentence.
Interjections are set off by exclamation points (!)
to indicate strong emotion and/or commas (,)
indicate mild emotion or indifference.
EXAMPLES:
Hey! Be careful of that wire!
Well, I guess that’s that!