Parts of Speech
What is it and why do I need to know this?
Understanding the 8 parts of speech is beneficial for analyzing the meaning of each word. By learning the 8 parts of speech, you can easily identify the gramatical structure in the sentence, and it will make it easier for you to complete the exercises brought by the exam.
Click to learn more about each part of speech:
A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea.
dog… Daniele… woman… happiness
A noun is a word for a person, place, thing, or idea. Nouns are often used with an article (the, a, an), but not always.
Proper nouns (Daniele, New York, Brazil) always start with a capital letter; common nouns (house, cat, school, car) do not.
Nouns can be singular or plural, concrete or abstract.
Nouns show possession by adding ‘s.
Nouns can function in different roles within a sentence; for example, a noun can be a subject, direct object, indirect object, subject complement, or object of a preposition.
The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher,
and then she quickly disappeared. Oh, my!
A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun.
She… we… they… it
A pronoun is usually substituted for a specific noun, which is called its antecedent.
In the example above, the antecedent for the pronoun she is the girl.
Pronouns are further defined by type:
- personal pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, they) refer to specific persons or things;
- possessive pronouns (my, your, his, her, its, our, their) indicate ownership;
- reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, themselves, ourselves, themselves) are used to emphasize another noun or pronoun;
- relative pronouns (who, that, which, whose, whom, where) introduce a subordinate clause;
- demonstrative pronouns (this, that, these, those) identify, point to, or refer to nouns.
The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher,
and then she quickly disappeared. Oh my!
A verb expresses action or being.
jump… is… write… become
There is a main verb and sometimes one or more helping verbs.
“She can sing.” = Sing is the main verb; can is the helping verb.
A verb must agree with its subject in number (both are singular or both are plural).
Verbs also take different forms to express tense (present, past, future).
The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher,
and then she quickly disappeared. Oh my!
An adverb modifies or describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
gently… extremely… carefully… well
An adverb describes or modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, but never a noun.
It usually answers the questions of when, where, how, why, under what conditions, or to what degree.
Adverbs often end in -ly.
The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher,
and then she quickly disappeared. Oh my!
An adjective modifies or describes a noun or pronoun.
pretty… old… blue… smart
It usually answers the question of which one, what kind, or how many. (Articles [a, an, the] are usually classified as adjectives.)
The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher,
and then she quickly disappeared. Oh my!
A preposition is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to form a phrase modifying another word in the sentence.
by… with…. about… until
(by the tree, with our friends, about the book, until tomorrow)
A preposition is always part of a prepositional phrase. The prepositional phrase almost always functions as an adjective or as an adverb.
The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher,
and then she quickly disappeared. Oh my!
from = preposition
from the teacher = prepositional phrase
You can say the girl brought you a very long letter, but if you say “a long letter from” you must specify from whom, therefore a prepositional phrase is formed.
A conjunction joins words, phrases, or clauses.
and… but… or… while… because
A conjunction joins words, phrases, or clauses, and indicates the relationship between the elements joined.
Coordinating conjunctions connect grammatically equal elements: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet.
Subordinating conjunctions connect clauses that are not equal: because, although, while, since, etc.
There are other types of conjunctions as well.
The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher,
and then she quickly disappeared. Oh my!
An interjection is a word used to express emotion.
Oh!… Wow!… Oops!
It is often followed by an exclamation point (!).
The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher,
and then she quickly disappeared. Oh my!