What are Parts of Speech

The answer to the question ‘what are parts of speech’ can describe you how the words in a language are made. This shows how different classes of words contain the words in a language. It is not very hard to understand how these words are divided into different classes. They are divided into different classes depending on the use they have. In other words, parts of speech are made by the part a word plays in a sentence. All of these parts are important. In the English language, there are eight parts of speech. They are noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection.

Parts of Speech

Noun

The noun is the most basic part of a language. It is also the first part we use to teach a language to a child. So, we can define a noun in this way. A noun is a word that we use as a name for a person, thing or a place.

“Mary caressed the lamb.”

“The king read the letter slowly.”

“His courage was what made him a hero.”

In the sentences given above, Mary, lamb, king, letter, courage and hero are all nouns.

‘Mary caressed the lamb.’

Pronoun

A pronoun is a word we use instead of a noun.

“Mary could not eat with us because she had to help in the kitchen.”

“David found the knife he had lost in the barn.”

In the first sentence, ‘she’ is used instead of Mary. In the second sentence, ‘he’ is used instead of David. Pronouns help us to avoid using the same noun over and over again.

Adjective

An Adjective is a word that we use to qualify or modify a noun. Adjectives generally placed before a noun. When we use an adjective, the meaning of the noun is enhanced

“She gathered dried wood.”

“They found white roses in the valley.

“There was a big rain cloud in the sky.”

‘Dried’ qualifies wood. It shows what type of wood she gathered’. White’ modifies roses while ‘Big’ qualifies the rain cloud.

Verb

A verb is a word that describes an action, a state or an occurrence.

“She wrote her journal without going to sleep.”

“They found the lost necklace in the cabinet.”

“She is happy now.”

The verb in the first sentence is ‘wrote’. It describes an action. The verb in the second sentence is ‘found’. It also describes an action. The verb in the third sentence is the verb ‘is’. It shows a state.

Adverb

An adverb add meaning or qualifies a verb,adjective or another verb.

“She cried happily as she saw him.”

“They saw a very handsome horse in the barn.”

“She was quite loud as she made her case.”

In the first sentence, the adverb ‘happily’ qualifies the verb ‘cried’. In the second sentence, the adverb ‘very’ qualifies the adjective ‘handsome’. In the third sentence, the adverb ‘quite’ qualifies the adverb ‘loud’.

Preposition

A preposition comes always with a noun or a pronoun to show the type of relationship that word shares with another word.

“She looked through the window.”

“The found the cat in the garden.”

“The plane flew over our house.”

The preposition ‘through’ shows the connection between the window and the person. The preposition ‘in’ demonstrates the link between the cat and the garden. The preposition ‘over’ highlights the connection between the plane and the house.

‘She looked through the window.’

Conjunction

A conjunction joins words or sentences.

“Peter and Belle came to the feast.”

“I came to the bus stop on time, but I had forgotten my umbrella.”

“They love their grandmother because she is very kind.”

In the first sentence, the conjunction ‘and’ joins the words, Peter, and Belle. In the second sentence, the conjunction but joins two sentences. In the third sentence also, the conjunction ‘because’ joins two sentences.

Interjection

An interjection conveys a sudden feeling.

“Alas! They lost their child to cancer.”

“Yippee! We have won the match.”

‘Alas’ in the first sentence expresses grief. ‘Yippee’ in the second sentence expresses delight.

Summary:

Depending on the use they have in a sentence, words in the English language are divided into eight groups. These are known as parts of speech. The eight parts of speech are noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection. A noun is a word that we use as a name for a person, thing or a place while a pronoun is a word we use instead of a noun. Both nouns and pronouns act as the subject or objects of sentences. Adjectives are used to qualify or modify a noun. A verb is used to describes an action, a state or an ocurrence in a sentence. We use an adverb to add meaning or to qualify a verb, adjective or another adverb. A preposition is used to illustrate the relationship between two words. A conjunction joins words or sentences while an interjection conveys a sudden feeling.

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