Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech
O All words can be categorized into one of

EIGHT parts of speech

O Some people use 9 categories or more O Part shows its function in a sentence
O Not what the word IS but how it is USED O Some words can fall under more than one

category
O E.g. Survey verb and noun

O Can you name all 8 parts of speech?

Nouns
O Person, place, or thing O Often preceded by a/an/the
O Proper nouns vs. common nouns (Dad, dad) O Concrete nouns vs. abstract nouns (brain,

thought) O Possessive nouns (-s, -s) O Plural nouns (-s, -es)

O Countable vs. non-countable nouns (dog/dogs

vs. moose) O Collective nouns (flock, pride)

Find the Nouns

The man walked quickly over the bridge and ran through the long, dark tunnel.

Find the Nouns

Five majestic moose lumbered out of the woods and passed right in front of my friend Johns house.

Find the Nouns

Zeuss daughter Athena was born from the top of his head. Needless to say, that gave Zeus a splitting headache.

Find the Nouns

The bosses children always seem to manage to find summer employment, because their mommies and daddies give them jobs!

Pronouns
O Replace nouns O Many different types
O Personal subject pronouns O I, you, he/she/it, we, you, they O Personal object pronouns O me, you, him/her/it, us, you, them O Reflexive pronouns O myself, yourself, his self, her self, itself, ourselves,

their selves
O Personal possessive pronouns
O Subject: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs

Pronouns (cont)
O Demonstrative pronouns
O this, that, these those

O Interrogative pronouns
O which, who, whom, what, whichever, whoever, whomever,

whatever O E.g. Who should we invite to the party?

O Relative pronouns
O who, whom, which, and that when they link phrases and

clauses O E.g. He is the man who sold me the car.

O Indefinite pronouns
O Refer to an identifiable but indefinite thing O Most common are: any, anything, anyone, each, many,

none, someone O E.g. Someone needs to clean up this room!

Find the Pronouns

I am going to Tim Hortons. Would you like to come with me?

Find the Pronouns

Which of the two books will you choose for the class assignment?

Find the Pronouns

Oh, never mind! I will do it myself.

Find the Pronouns

Would you please pass that to me? I cant reach it from here.

Find the Pronouns

No one is getting extra time for this test. It is your responsibility to manage your time, not mine.

Adjectives
O Modify nouns and pronouns by identifying,
O O O O

describing, or quantifying Include a/an/the (count and non-count articles) Are often modified by words that are sometimes adverbs, like very Some have possessive forms: my, your, his, her, its, our, their Usually find them:
O Just before a noun O After a stative verb (e.g. is, look, seems) O Example: The cake looks good.

Find the Adjectives

The truck-shaped balloon floated over the lush, green treetops.

Find the Adjectives

The coal mines are dark and dank.

Find the Adjective

She is very tall, but that does not mean she is good at basketball.

Verbs
O Tell us something about the subject of a
O O O O

sentence Show actions, events, or states of being Can be compound E.g. will be, am going Are conjugated into different tenses The to ___ form is called the infinitive

O Active verbs to jump, to walk, to skip, to

dance, to look O Stative verbs to be, to seem, to look, to appear O Modal verbs might, may, can, should, would

Find the Verbs

The baby bird seems to be alright, but he took quite a fall when his mother pushed him out of the tree.

Find the Verbs

After I complete my high school diploma requirements, I plan to go to university or to college.

Adverbs
O Modify verbs, other adverbs, adjectives, and

phrases and clauses O Indicate time, place, manner, cause, and degree O Often but do not always end in y or ly O Adverbs should NEVER come in the middle of an infinitive verb (split infinitive)
O E.g. To boldly go where no one has gone

before
O Conjuctive Adverbs join clauses and

phrases
O finally, hence, thus, also, furthermore, etc.

Find the Adverbs

Thus, one should never upset Ms Doucet. The consequences might be very grave. Running quickly could be just one of the results.

Find the Adverbs

The government has drastically cut university budgets; consequently, class sizes have increased dramatically.

Prepositions
O Connecting words that show the

relationships between things through time and space O English has 76 prepositions
O E.g. to, from, across, over, with, at,

through, of, in, up, except, despite

O Often begin a prepositional phrase
O E.g. In the heat of the night

Find the Prepositions

The dog is hiding under the porch because it knows it will be punished for chewing up a new pair of shoes.

Find the Prepositions

In each of the preceding examples, a preposition locates the nouns and pronouns in space or in time.

Conjunctions
O Join words, phrases, and clauses
O Co-ordinating Conjunctions O Join individual words, phrases, and clauses O and, but, yet, or, nor O Sub-ordinating Conjunctions O Join dependent clauses to independent clauses

and show relationships O because, since, where, although, if

O

Correlative Conjunctions
O Always come in pairs and show logical

relationships O Either...or, neither...nor, so...as, whether...or

Find the Conjunctions

You can choose not to do your homework, but that will probably result in you failing the course.

Find the Conjunctions

If the paperwork arrives on time, your cheque will be mailed on Tuesday.

Find the Conjunctions

He is trying to decide whether to go to medical school or to go to law school.

Interjections
O Words added to show emotion
O Often if not usually followed by ! O Not related to any other part of speech O Not used in formal writing O Examples
O Ouch! That hurt. O Oh, $#!&! My mother is going to kill me when

she finds out. O Got a new car, eh?

For more information

O University of Ottawa Writing Centre

Hyper Grammar Parts of Speech O http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writc ent/hypergrammar/partsp.html