Parts of Speech

PARTS OF SPEECH

What are Parts of Speech?

Every word in English can be categorised according to its function and meaning. These categories are known as parts of speech. A word can be a noun, an adjective or a pronoun depending on the role it plays in a sentence.

There are nine parts of speech

• Nouns
• Verbs
• Adjectives
• Adverbs
• Pronouns
• Articles
• Prepositions
• Conjunctions
• Interjections

Nouns

A noun is a word which is used to name a person, a thing, a place or an idea.

• Proper Noun: Proper nouns are specific names given to a person, place or thing. The first letter of each proper noun is capitalised.

• Common Noun: Common nouns are names which are generic names. They are the opposites of proper nouns.

• Abstract Noun: Abstract nouns are names given to entities which have no physical form but exist as ideas.

• Collective Nouns: Collective nouns are names given to groups or collections.

• Material Nouns: Material nouns are names given to materials or substances through which other things can be made.

• Countable Nouns: Countable nouns are nouns which can be counted.

• Uncountable Nouns: Uncountable nouns are nouns which cannot be counted. These nouns are measured using various systems of measurement.

Verbs

Verbs are words which represent actions or express the state of being. They form the main part of the predicate. Without verbs, the sentence will make little or no sense.

• Transitive Verbs: Verbs which can take one or more objects are known as transitive verbs.

• Intransitive Verbs: Verbs which cannot take objects are known as intransitive verbs.

• Finite Verbs: A finite verb is that which has a subject and shows the tense in a sentence.

• Nonfinite Verbs: A nonfinite verb is that which neither has a subject nor exhibits tenses in a sentence.

• Main Verbs: A main verb is the primary verb of the sentence. It carries the meaning in the verb phrase of which it is the main part.
• Helping or Auxiliary Verbs: A helping, or auxiliary verb is not the primary verb. It expresses ideas such as tense, mood and nature of the main verb. It is always used before the main verb.

• The verbs which are in italics are main verbs.
• The verbs which are underlined are helping or auxiliary verbs.

Adjectives

Adjectives are words which are used to describe nouns or pronouns. They can be used to describe the quality, quantity, size, age and function of the words they qualify.

• Adjectives of Quality: Adjectives of quality show the kind or quality of the noun or the pronoun.

• Adjective of Quantity: Adjectives of quantity show the amount of the noun or the pronoun.

• Adjective of Number: Adjectives of number show the number of the noun.

• Distributive Numeral Adjective: Distributive numeral adjectives are used to refer to members of a group individually.

• Demonstrative Adjectives: They point towards the nouns they qualify.

• Interrogative Adjectives: They are used with nouns to ask questions.

Adverbs

An adverb is a word which qualifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb.

• Adverbs of Manner: They describe the manner of the action.

  

• Adverbs of Time: They describe when the action took place.

  

  

• Adverbs of Place: They describe where the action took place.
• Adverbs of Frequency: They describe how often the actions take place.

  

• Adverbs of Degree or Quantity: They show how much or to what extent.

  

• Adverbs of Affirmation or Negation: They express certainty and uncertainty; surety and unlikelihood; affirmation or negation.

• Adverbs of Reason: They express the reason or purpose of an action.

  

Pronouns

Pronouns are words used in place of a noun or a noun phrase.

• Personal Pronouns: They are pronouns which represent ‘persons’ in the grammatical sense.

1st Person: I, me, mine, myself, we, us, ours, ourselves 2nd Person: You, yours, yourself

3rd Person: He, she, it, his, hers, its

• Reflexive Pronouns: We use a reflexive pronoun when the actions by the subject affect itself.

• Emphatic Pronouns: These pronouns may look like reflexive pronouns, but they have a completely different function. They are used solely for the purpose of emphasis.

• Demonstrative Pronouns: They are used to refer to or point at objects they refer to.

• Indefinite Pronoun: They are used to refer to persons or things in the general sense.

• Distributive Pronoun: They are used to refer to people or things one at a time.

• Relative Pronoun: They are used to connect clauses or phrases to a noun or a pronoun.

Articles

Articles are words which accompany nouns. They are adjectives which provide a definition to the nouns.

• Definite Articles: They introduce nouns or noun phrases which have already been mentioned before. They refer to nouns which are definite or specific.

• Indefinite Articles: They introduce nouns which have not been mentioned before. They refer to nouns which are neither definite nor specific.

Conjunctions

Conjunctions are words used to join sentences, phrases or clauses.

• Co-ordinating Conjunctions: They are used to connect sentences, phrases or clauses of equal rank.

• Subordinate Conjunctions: They are used to connect clauses which are not of equal rank. One clause depends on the other for completing its meaning.

Prepositions

Prepositions are words which establish relationship between two things in a sentence.

Interjections

Interjections are words used to express emotions such as happiness, sadness, surprise or disgust.

Every word in English can be categorised into one of these groups. When two or more words have similar grammatical qualities, they are said to belong to the same part of speech.