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SOME Basic Parts of Speech Defined with Examples
Parts of speech are words that are classified according to their functions in sentences. Technically speaking there are eight “officially”
recognized parts of speech which are nouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, verbs, and interjections. Articles are
sometimes included, as well. You will note some additional definitions below regarding types of words – this will help you with
understanding word relationships and sentence structure.
Adjective
Adverb
A word that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun. They usually answer three questions: 1) what kind of? 2) how many? 3) which one?
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Demonstrative (Demonstrate) Adjectives: That, this, these, and those are demonstrative adjectives. They point out nouns
and always answer the question, "which one?"
(Examples: these shoes, that book, those children)
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Common Adjectives: Describes a common noun in a general way.
(Examples: huge, red, toasty, funny, fragrant)
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Proper Adjectives: Proper adjectives are made from proper nouns and are always capitalized.
(Examples: Japan - Japanese, America - American, U.S. Congress - Congressional)
A word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. They answer the questions: 1) how?; 2) when?; 3) where?
(Examples: slowly, kindly, here, above, inside, sometimes, daily, really funny, too sweet, somewhat quickly)
For Example: The dog ran quickly to his owner. (quickly is the adverb, it “modifies” or describes how the dog ran.
Adverbs will often end in “ly”
Article
A word that indicates that the word that follows is a noun. Includes: a, an, & the.
For Example: The horse is gray.
Conjunction
A word that connects words, phrases or clauses. Includes: and, but & or
For Example: Jim and Sally went to see an opera in Washington DC.
Definite Article
Word that restricts the noun that follows. Includes only “THE”
For Example: The car is yellow. “The” implies that you are talking about a specific car, not just any car, but THE car.
Direct Object
The noun or pronoun that receives the action of the preceding verb.
For Example: Please call him tomorrow. Call is the VERB, who or what is receiving the action of the VERB CALL. Ask the question
who/what are you going to call? The answer is HIM and therefore it is the direct object.
Indefinite Article
Article that does not restrict the noun that follows. Includes: “A & AN”
For Example: A teacher can help you with your question. In this sentence “A” implies that more than one, or any teacher can help. If you
had used “THE,” instead of “A” then you would be saying only ONE teacher could help.
Interjection -
Indirect Object
Interjection - a word that shows strong feelings like excitement, happiness, horror, shock, or pain. They usually come at the beginning
of a sentence and add some *pizazz* or emphasis to your story. But remember, they're not as powerful, if you use too many.
(Examples: Aha!, Super!, Yuck!, Ouch!, Hooray!)
A noun or pronoun that indicates to whom or for whom the action of a verb in a sentence is performed.
Ex: Give Marie the prize. (Marie is the indirect object because she is who GIVE (the verb) points to.
(With verbs that can be followed by two objects, the indirect object typically comes immediately after the verb and before the direct object.)
(When pronouns function as indirect objects, they customarily take the form of the objective case. The objective forms of English pronouns
are me, us, you, him, her, it, them, whom and whomever.)
Noun
A word that is used to name a person, place, thing, quality, or idea
For Example: The horse is winning the race. HORSE and RACE both describe THINGS
Preposition
Prepositions show how one word is related to another. They tell 1) where something is; 2) where something is going; 3) when something
happens 4) relationship between a noun or a pronoun and another word in a sentence.
Common Prepositions: aboard, about, above, across, after, against, along, alongside, among, around, as, at, before, behind, below, beneath,
besides, besides, between, beyond, by, despite, down, during, except, for, from, in, inside, into, like, near, of, off, on, onto, out, outside, over,
past, round, since, through, throughout, till, to, toward, under, underneath, until, up, upon, with, within, without
Pronoun
A word that functions as a substitute for a noun.
For Example: He, She, It, We, You, They
Proper Noun
A noun used as a name for a specific individual, place or event.
For Example: Marilyn Monroe, Virginia, Olympic Games
Verb
A word that expresses existence, action or occurrence
For Example: I am your teacher. Am is a word that expresses my existence as your teacher.
The tall girl ran down the hall. RAN is an action.
MORE ON VERBS
Examples of ACTION VERBS
Examples of State of Being of “Be” verbs
Examples of HELPING VERBS
Verb Tenses
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Simple Present: They walk
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Present Perfect: They have walked
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Simple Past: They walked
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Past Perfect: They had walked
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Future: They will walk
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Future Perfect: They will have walked