PARTS OF SPEECH

In language, the parts of speech are the categories of words based on their function within a
sentence. This is true with English, as well as any number of other languages such as Arabic and
Swahili. Understanding part of speech is a helpful way to look at words to help you understand
the underlying grammar and logic of any language you study.
In English, there are eight different parts of speech. However, some people also classify
determiners as part of speech making a total nine.
1. NOUN (N)
A noun is a word that refers to a person, place, or thing. The category of “things” may sound
super vague, but in this case it means inanimate objects, abstract concepts, and activities. Phrases
and other parts of speech can also behave like nouns and can be the subject in a sentence, as in
jogging is a fun exercise. Here, the verb jogging acts like a noun and is the subject of the
sentence.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF NOUNS
 Proper nouns
Proper nouns help to distinguish a specific person, place, or thing. These words should be
capitalized. The names and titles of things are always proper nouns, such as the brand name
Coca cola and the personal name Jenny.
 Common nouns
Are words that refer to undefined or generic people, places, or things. For example, the country
is a common noun that refers to a generic place (not specific) while the word Canada is not a
common noun because it refers to a specific place. Common nouns are only capitalized when
they begin sentences, the words like house, cat, girl, foot, and country are the good examples of
common noun.
 Concrete nouns
A concrete is something that can be perceived through the five senses. If you can see, hear,
touch, taste, or smell something, it uses a concrete noun, the words like table, apple, rabbit and
ear are the examples of a concrete noun.
 Abstract nouns
Abstract noun are intangible ideas that can’t be perceived with the five senses, such as social
concepts, political theories and character traits. For example, the abstract noun anger refers to an
emotion and the abstract noun courage refers to the quality a person has, so the words like, and
democracy are the abstract noun.
  Collective nouns
A collective noun is a noun that functions as a singular noun while referring to a group of people
or things. A collective noun refers to a group that functions as one unit or performs the same
action at the same time, words like crowd, committee, and flocks are the collective nouns.
 Countable nouns
A countable nouns also known as a count noun, is one that you can count, when you have two
books or 10 pencils, you are describing a noun that is countable. Words like table, apple and
rabbit are the examples of countable noun.
 Uncountable noun
An uncountable noun also known as a mass noun; is one that cannot be counted. For example,
happiness cannot be counted. You don’t say that you have “three happiness.” Uncountable nouns
typically don’t have plural forms, words like salt, sugar, sand and water are the examples of
uncountable noun.
2. ADJECTIVES (A)
An adjective describes or modify nouns and pronouns. They may name the qualities of all kinds:
huge, red, angry, rare, etc. An adjective usually comes right before a noun: a red dress, fifteen
people. When an adjective follows a linking verb such as be or seem, it is called a predicate
adjective: “That building is huge,” “The workers seem happy.” Most adjectives can be used as
predicate adjectives, although some are always used before a noun. Similarly, a few adjectives
can only be used as predicate adjectives and are never used before a noun.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF ADJECTIVES
 Descriptive adjectives
Are the ones that show the kind and quality of a person or thing. For example “a brave person.”
“a beautiful child.”, “a careful mother.”, all the underlined words are the examples of
descriptive adjectives.
 Demonstrative adjectives
Are the ones that point out which person or thing, the four demonstrative adjectives “this,”
“that,” “these,” and “those,” which are identical with the demonstrative pronouns. They are
used to distinguish the person or thing being described from others of the same category or class.
‘This and these” describe people or things that are nearby, or in the present. “That and those”
are used to describe people or things that are not here, not nearby, or in the past or future. For
example; That car is mine, this car is mine.
 Interrogative adjectives
The interrogative adjectives are primarily which, what, and whose that are used to begin
questions. They can also be used as interrogative pronouns. For examples:
Which horse did you bet on? = which did you bet on?
What songs did they sing? = what did they sing?
Whose coat is this? = whose is this?
 Possessive adjectives
Words like my, your, his, her, our, its, our, their – tell you who has, owns, or has experienced
something, as in “I admired her laptop, “our cat is 14 years old,” and “They said their trip was
wonderful.
 Participles (ordinary) adjectives
They may come before a noun or after a linking. A present participle (an –ing word) describes
the person or thing that causes something; for example a boring conversation is one that bores
you. A past participle (usually an –ed word) describes the person or thing who has been affected
by something; for example, a bored person is one who has been affected by boredom.
3. PRONOUN (PRN)
A pronoun is a word that is used instead of a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns refer to either a
noun that has already been mentioned as in Sarah said she is almost finished with the application
or to a noun that does not need to be named specifically as she is almost finished with the
application. So, words like I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they, me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them
are examples of personal pronoun.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF PRONOUNS
 Personal pronouns
Are the ones which refer to the person or people speaking or writing (first person), the person or
people being spoken to (second person), or other people or things (third person). Like nouns,
personal pronouns can function as either the subject or the object of a verb or preposition: “she
likes him” but he loves her.” Most of the personal pronouns have different subject and object
forms.
 Interrogative pronouns
These are the ones introduce questions for which a noun is the answer. The interrogative
pronouns are who, what, which, and whose. For example “what is your name?, “who wants a
bag of jelly beans?
 Possessive pronouns
Possessive pronouns refer to things or people that belong to someone. The main possessive
pronouns are mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, and theirs. For example “The students practiced
their presentation after school” “paschal is working in his application.
  Demonstrative pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns take a place of a noun or a noun phrase that has already been
mentioned, distinguish the person or thing being referred to from other people or things; they are
identical to the demonstrative adjectives. Words like this, that, these, and those are typically used
as the demonstrative pronoun. For example “here is a letter with no return address. Who could
have sent this?” “That is my wife.”
 Reflexive pronouns
Reflexive pronouns refer back to the subject of a sentence or clause and are formed by adding
-self or selves to a personal pronoun or possessive adjectives as in myself, herself, ourselves, and
itself. For example “They booked themselves a room at the hotel.” “I told myself it was
nothing.”
 Indefinite pronouns
Indefinite pronouns are used when you need to refer to a person or thing that doesn’t need
specifically identified. Some common indefinite pronouns are one, other, none, some, anybody,
everybody, and no one.
4. ADVERBS (ADV)
Adverbs are words that usually modify, that is they limit or restrict the meaning of verbs. They
may also modify adjectives, other adverbs, phrases, or even entire sentences. An adverb answer
the question when?, where?, how?, how much?, how long?, or how often?. For example “Alex
works hard,” “I love her very much.” Many adverbs end in –ly like in sentence “He wrote that
willingly” but some words which end in –ly (such as friendly) are not adverbs. Many words can
be both adverbs and adjectives according to their activity in the sentence.
There are, however many common adverbs that do not end in –ly, such as again, also, just,
never, often, soon, today, too, very, and well.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF ADVERBS

 Adverbs of place/Direction (Where?)
Adverbs of place/direction that indicate place/direction of the action in the sentence. They
answer the question “where is the action performed?
The words like: Across, over, under, in, out, backward, around, here are some common adverbs
of place/direction. For example “Alex is going to school,” “He plays in the field”
 Adverbs of manner (How?)
Adverbs that express the manner/approach/process of the action in the sentence are called
adverbs of manner. They answer the question ‘how is the action performed?. Hence adverbs
like beautifully, equally, carefully, coldly, nicely, slowly, etc. These adverbs usually end with –ly.
For example: “Let’s divide the prizes equally,” “Mike is walking slowly.”
  Adverbs of degree (How Much?)
Adverbs that express the importance/degree/level of the action in the sentence are called adverbs
of degree. They answer the question ‘how much is the action performed?’.
The words like; completely, nearly, entirely, excessively, very are common adverbs of degree.
For example; “She completely forgot about her anniversary,” “I read the newspaper
thoroughly”
 Adverbs of time/Frequency (When)
Adverbs of time/frequency indicate time or frequency of the action in the sentence. They answer
the question ‘when/how frequently is the action performed?’.
Words like Always, never, often, eventually, now, frequently, occasionally, once, forever, before,
Sunday, Monday, 10 AM, etc. are common adverbs of time/frequency. For example “I will leave
Monday,” “He smokes occasionally,” “She always get a good result.”
 Sentence adverbs
When an adverb modifies a whole sentence or clause, it is called a sentence adverb, words such
as fortunately, frankly, hopefully, and luckily are generally used as sentence adverbs and usually
express the speaker’s feelings about the content of the sentence, but may also come in the middle
or at the end. For example; “Unfortunately, Friday will be cloudy,” “Friday, unfortunately, will
be cloudy,” “Friday will be cloudy, unfortunately,” “Hopefully, we will win the match,”
5. VERBS (V)
A word that characteristically is the grammatical center of a predicate and expresses an act,
occurrence, or state of being. Almost every sentence requires a verb, verbs are the important part
of the English language, without them sentences wouldn’t have any action. For example “He
drove to the mountains,” (The action is driving), “She prefers coffee,” (The state of being is
preferring coffee)
DIFFERENT TYPES OF VERBS
 Action verbs
As the name indicates, these verbs describe actions. They describe things a person can do or
demonstrate. For example “she accepted the job offer” (The action is to accept), “He sings a
song” (The action is to sing). Action verbs can be either transitive or intransitive.
 Transitive verbs
The only thing to note with this category of verbs is that they are always followed by a direct
object, which is someone or something that’s receiving the action of the verb. With transitive
verbs, an object is required. Sentence with transitive verbs follow the pattern subject, verb, direct
object. In the example below, subject is underlined, the transitive verb is bold, and the direct
object is italicized.
  Molly drove the car.
 Joshua ate the cake
 Allen wrote a letter
 Intransitive verbs
Intransitive verbs are also verbs that show action. Unlike transitive verbs, they are ones that are
not followed by a direct object. Nothing is receiving the action of the verb. Instead, the action is
being performed by the subject of the sentence. For example:
 The plane lands at 5 o’clock.
 We went to the coffee shop.
Some verbs can be either transitive or intransitive; the type depends on how the verb is used in a
sentence.
 Linking verbs
Linking verbs do not express action. Rather, they connect the subject to the additional
information that’s about to come. In other words, they link the subject to details about the
subject. Various forms of the verb “to be” are linking verbs, including verbs like “am,” “is,”
“are,” and “were.” For example;
 The car was here.
 I am Jennifer.
Some words (such as smell, look or appear) can be used as linking verbs or action verbs. With
these words, it’s important to consider the function the verb is performing in the sentence in
order to identify the type.
 Helping verbs
Helping verbs do exactly what it seems like they should do. They help the main verb of the
sentence by extending its meaning. They are used in cases where the linking verb on its own is
not sufficient to form a complete thought or sentence. For example;
 We are reading the book together.
 He will run for president.
 Stative verbs
Stative verbs they describe a position or state of being; they have no duration, no beginning and
no end. Normally they don’t perform any action, notice that they are typically followed by a
direct object. For example;
 You deserve prize.
 Henry loves Jenny.
6. PREPOSITION (P)
A preposition is an important part of the English language. It is used to show a relationship
between a noun or pronoun in a sentence and another words in the sentence, and almost always a
very small, very common word that shows direction (“to”) in (“a letter to you,”), location
(“at”) in (“at the door”), or time (“by”) in (“by noon”). Prepositions are typically followed by
an object, which can be a noun (noon), a noun phrase (the door), or a pronoun (you).
The most common prepositions are; at, by, for, from, in, of, on, to, and with. Other common
prepositions are; about, above, across, after, against, along, among, around, because of, before,
behind, below, beneath, between, close to, etc.
7. CONJUNCTION
Conjunctions are used to connect words, phrases, and clause. They coordinate the words together
so they make sense as a cohesive thought, sentence, or paragraph.
DFFERENT TYPES OF CONJUNCTIONS
 Coordinating conjunction
A coordinating conjunction connects words, phrases, and clauses of equal importance. The main
coordinating conjunctions are and, or, and but. For example;
 They bought apples, pears, and oranges.
 You can wait either on the steps or in the car.
 The paintings are pleasant but bland.
 A subordinating conjunction
A subordinating conjunction introduces a subordinate clause (a clause that does not form a
simple sentences by itself) and joins it to a main clause (a clause that can be used as a simple
sentence by itself). It had been quiet since the children left.
8. INTERJECTION
Interjections are words used as exclamations to show feelings. They are usually abrupt,
interrupting the speech for emotional effect. Are words or phrases which grammatically
independent from the words around them, and mainly express feeling rather than meaning. For
examples;
 Uh-oh, this look bad.
 I can’t believe I lost the key! Ugh!