Question

The Eight Parts of Speech

Answer 1

Before you can play a sport, you must learn the rules of the game. The same theory applies to writing with proper grammar. Before you can write effectively, you must learn the rules. Let‟s meet the starting lineup.

Nouns 

A noun names a person, place, thing, feeling, or idea. Nouns can be as specific as Starbucks coffee or as abstract as freedom and happiness. Nouns are broken into two groups: proper nouns and common nouns. Proper nouns are capitalized, and they refer to specific things. Common nouns are not capitalized, and they refer to general things.  

Pronouns

Pronouns take the place of a noun in a sentence and provide efficiency to your writing. Without pronouns, writing becomes bogged down in nouns. For example: Without pronouns: Mary sent Fred a text message to remind Fred to pick up dinner for Mary and Fred. (Difficult to read)

With pronouns: Mary sent Fred a text message to remind him to pick up dinner for them. (More efficient)

Pronouns can act as the subject of a sentence (I, he, she, they, it) or the object of a verb (me, them, us). Pronouns will be covered more in Chapter 4.

Verbs Verbs show the action or a state of being. Every sentence must have a verb to be complete. Without verbs, the subjects of sentences wouldn‟t be doing anything. Verbs are further broken down into three categories: action verbs, helping verbs, and linking verbs.

Action verbs describe the action of the subject. Run, jump, climb, read, think, and cook are all examples of action verbs.

Linking verbs describe a state of being of the subject. The action is more descriptive and connective. Is, are, seems, look, become, and feel are all linking verbs. Helping verbs do not show action in a sentence. They do exactly what their name implies. They help other verbs. Helping verbs work with a main verb to form a verb phrase. Common helping verbs are the following: am, are, were, has, was, will, have, and had.

Mary has passed everyone in the marathon.

Mary will win the race.

Verbs will be covered in more detail in Chapters 5 and 6. For now, it is important to be able to identify if a sentence has a verb. A sentence is not complete without a verb.

Adjectives

Adjectives are words that describe nouns and pronouns. Without adjectives, our language would be flat and boring. Adjectives often add information that explains which one, how many, what color, and what kind.

Orange cat (what color?)

One cat (how many?)

Fluffy cat (which one?)

Siamese cat (what kind?)

These are all adjectives that are working to describe the cat. Adjectives usually appear in front of the nouns and pronouns that they describe, but they can also appear after a linking verb.

The cat is orange.

The cat is fluffy.

A, an, and the form a unique group of adjectives called articles. These will be discussed further in Chapter 7. For now, just know that articles are part of the adjective team.

Adverbs

Adverbs are words that describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Adverbs describe how, when, where, or to what extent the action takes place.

Mary ran quickly to win the race. (How did she run?)

Mary‟s legs will be sore tomorrow. (When will her legs be sore?)

Mary‟s family waited for her there. (Where did they wait?)

She was very relieved to have a few days of rest. (To what extent?)

Adverbs often end in –ly, but some of the most common adverbs do not. There, then, now, sometimes, very, today, and inside are all common adverbs that do not end in –ly.

Adverbs (not adjectives) describe and modify verbs. The word verb is even inside the word adverb in case you forget.

Prepositions

Prepositions join nouns and pronouns to other words in the sentence. Prepositions show a relationship between words. Prepositions often show a relationship of space and time.

The name itself has the word position in it. A preposition is a short word that will reveal a position in time or space. If you lost your keys, think of all of the places (positions) your keys could be. They could be on the table, under the couch, between the books,  with your gym clothes, at the office, or behind the refrigerator. A preposition can also reveal a more abstract relationship.

Mary is against the new law, but Fred is for it.

Prepositions are usually very short words. Some of the most common prepositions are at, by, for, from, in, of to, and with.

Conjunctions

Conjunctions are the big joiners of the grammar world. They join words, phrases, and clauses. The most common conjunctions are and, but, and or.

Mary and Fred enjoy drinking coffee.

Mary drank coffee, but Fred drank tea.

Either Fred or Mary needs to run to the store.

Interjections

Interjections are the interrupters of the group. Interjections express strong feelings and emotions. When these expressions stand alone as a sentence, an exclamation point is used. When the emotion is not as strong, the interjection is set apart with a comma.

Wow! Did you see the race? (Interjection standing alone as a sentence)

Oh well, I had planned to order the soup, but they are sold out. (Interjection set apart with a comma)

Interjections show strong emotion and excitement. Avoid overusing interjections in formal writing. Too many interjections and exclamation points give the impression that the writer is shouting.

Team Grammar

Let‟s review our grammar team.

Nouns/Pronouns: represent people, places, things, and ideas

Verbs: show the action

Adjectives/Adverbs: the describers

Prepositions/Conjunctions: the joiners

Interjections: the interrupters