PARTS OF SPEECH

Parts of speech is the category which shows the grammatical function of the word in the sentence. The
main parts of speech include nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions
and interjections. They help convey meaning and structures with sentences.

The following are parts of speech with their meaning, examples and functions;

 NOUNS

A noun is a word that represents a person, place, thing or idea.

Example; cat, city, happiness

Types of nouns

There eight types nouns which are;

1. Common noun
Is a general name for a person, place, things or idea. It does not specify a particular individual or
item. Examples of common nous include;
Person; teacher, student, doctor
Place; city, park, school
Thing; table, chair, car
Idea; happiness, success, freedom
Example; Asia is a continent. (continent is a common noun of a place)
2. Proper noun

Is a specific name given to an individual person, place, thing or idea and is always capitalized. Unlike
common nouns, which refer to general categories, proper nouns identify unique entities.

Examples include;

Person; Marry, John,Anord

Place; Paris, Tanzania

Thing; Titanic, Coca-cola

Idea; Christianity, Buddhism

> proper nouns help distinguish and uniquely identify particular items or concepts.
3. Abstract nouns

Refers to ideas, qualities, emotions or states that cannot be perceived through the five senses. They
represent concepts rather than tangible objects.

Example of abstract nouns;

Emotions; love, happiness, anger

Qualities; honestly, bravery, intelligence

Ideas; freedom, justice, democracy

States; chaos, peace, confusion

>abstract nouns play a crucial role in expressing complex thoughts and feelings in language.

4. collective nouns

These are words used to describe group of people, animals, or things as a single, unified whole.
While the member of the group are individual, the collective nouns are refers to them collectively.

Example of collective nouns include; Team, family, herd, fleet.

> Collective nouns are singular in form but refer to a group of individuals.

5. Concrete nouns

They refer to tangible, physical entities that can be perceived through the five senses: sight,
hearing, touch, taste and smell. These nouns represent specific, real world objects.

Examples of concrete nouns include;

Objects; table, chair, book

Animals; dog, cat, elephant

Plants; tree, flower, grass

Substances; water, sand, metal

People; teacher, doctor, friend

6. Countable nouns
Countable nouns are entities that can be counted as individual units. They have both singular
and plural forms and can be preceded by numbers or quantifiers.
Examples of countable nouns include;
>singular
-apple
-chair
-cat
>plural
 -apples
-chairs
-cats
>> Countable nouns allow us to express quantity and can be used with words like; many,
several, or actual numerical value like three cats , five books.
7. Uncountable nouns
Uncountable nouns refers to substances, concepts or qualities that cannot be counted as
individual units. They are considered singular and they do not have plural form in the same
way countable nouns do.
 Uncountable nouns often represent abstract or continuous entities.
Examples
>substances; water, milk, sand
>abstract concepts; love, happiness
>qualities; beauty, courage, intelligence
>PRONOUNS

A pronoun word is used in place (substitute) of a noun in a sentence or phrase.

Examples; I, you, he, she, it, who, themselves

Types of pronouns

1: personal pronouns > they refer to specific people or things. Examples; I, you, he, she, it, we,
they

2: possessive pronouns> they indicate ownership or possession. Examples; mine, yours, his,
hers, its, ours

3: reflexive pronouns> they reflect the action of the verb back to the subject. Examples;
myself, yourself, himself, herself

4: demonstrative pronouns> they point to specific things or people. Examples; this, that,
these, those

5: interrogative pronouns> are used in questions. Examples; who, whom, whose, which, what

6: relative pronouns> they connect clauses and relate them to nouns. Examples; who, whom,
whose, which, that

7: indefinite pronouns> they refer to non-specific things or people. Examples; all, some, any,
anyone, someone, everyone, nobody

VERBS

A verb in syntax is a part of speech which conveys action (bring, read, walk, run, learn) or state of
being (exist, stand).

Examples;
= William writes short stories at home.

=Students went to the playground often.

= Emma is buying a newspaper today.

Types of verbs

1: Main verbs (or Action verbs)

Main verbs are used to express action; something that am animal, a person or a thing does.
Examples; run, swim, jump, move, look.

Consider the following sentences;

=He is reading the newspaper.

=A girl rolled down the hill on a skateboard.

=I wake up at 6 A.M everyday.

2: Helping verbs ( auxiliary verbs)

They are verbs helping the main verb in a sentence.

These verbs can assist in;

-Forming a question
-Creating a negative statement
-Showing a possibility
-Dictating a verb tense
Examples; is, be, do, have, could, must, will, should, may, might, must, were
=Does Sophia write all her own reports?
=I may marry you soon.
=She is watching a movie.
3: Linking verbs
Linking verbs do not express action. Instead, they connect the subject verb to additional
information about the subject.
Examples; be, being, been, am, are, were, seem, look, feel, sound and taste
=This sweet tastes.
= The pizza is heavenly?
=The fabric will feel.

ADVERBS
An adverb is a word that modifies verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. “Modifies means tells
more about”. An adverb tells more about how the verb is being done. Many adverbs end in
“..ly.”

Examples; quickly, patiently, badly

1. Adverb of time
An adverb of time tells us when something is done or happens.
Examples; now, yesterday, soon, later, tomorrow, yet, tonight, then, last month| year
= We are going to church on Sunday for prayer.
=He was in Thailand for two months last year.
=My father went to Chile last year for vacation.
2. Adverb of place
An adverb of place tells us where something is done or happens.
EXAMPLE; off, above, abroad, far, on , away, elsewhere, anywhere, somewhere, nearby,
towards, upstairs, indoors
- The kid is hiding behind.
- Teapot is inside the kitchen drawer.

3. Adverb of manner- an adverb of manner tell us how something is done or happens.

Example- cheerfully, efficiently, painfully, secretly.

4.Adverb of degree- An adverb of degree tell us the level or extent that something is done or
happen.

Example; quite, fairly, too, entirely, very, practicaly, barely, somewhat, terribly.

 Arthur is rather
 Father was much
 Father was very much

5. Adverb of frequency- An adverb of frequency tell us how often something is done or happens.
Example- Always, sometimes, often, normally, usually, ever, never.
 They were almost fifty when they got married.
 He always wear a shirt and tie.
 She normally eats three meals.

ADJECTIVES
An adjective is word which modifies a noun or pronoun. An adjective are describing words.
Large, grey, and friendly are all examples of adjectives.
Examples-
 They live in a big, beautiful.
 This shop is much nicer.
 The sky was multicolored.
- Adjectives come before noun
He found a new job.
-Adjectives may come after certain verbs like be, feel, seem, seem, look:
He is intelligent
I feel happy
She seems happy
They look fantastic
Types of adjectives
1: the articles
There are only three articles and all of them are adjectives; a, an and the. Because they are
used to discuss non-specific things and people, a and an are called indefinite articles.
Examples:
- I think an animal is in the garage.
- I own a horse and two cats.
- The girl is sitting next to me raised her hand.

2.Possesive adjectives
These are adjectives modify the noun in order to show possession; my, your, his, her, its,
our, your, their
Examples:
- This is my car.
- Why didn’t you clean your room?
- Its color is beautiful.
3. Demonstrative adjectives
-they are used to modify a noun so that we know which specific person, place or thing is
mentioned.
Examples; this, that, former, latter, these, those
= If I hear that parrot again, I will call the police.
= Can you pass me this black pen?
= The former education minister was a corrupt person.
4. Indefinite adjectives
-indefinite adjectives offers general information about the amount of noun it modifies.
Examples; another, any, less, little, many, more, more, much, some
= She left the house a few minutes ago.
= I expected several visitors for today’s function.
= Both charges have been approved.
5. Numbers adjectives – numbers are classified as adjectives too.
Examples;
-I have five……
- You have three……
- They have ten….
CONJUNCTIONS
The conjunction is the part of speech used as the “joiner” for words, phrase, or clauses in a
particular sentence.
Examples; for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so (FANBOYS)
-Pizza and burgers are my favorite snacks.
- Emma did not like bananas but she loved apples.
-You may bring a main dish or a side dish to the party.

Types of conjunctions;
1. Coordinating conjunctions
2. Collective conjunctions
3. Subordinating conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions- coordinating conjunctions, also called coordinators, are

Example; and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet.

-She plays tennis and soccer

- It is raining, so we have an umbrella.

-He works quickly but accurately.

Correlative conjunctions- correlative conjunctions are used in pairs. They work in pairs to
coordinate two items.

Examples; both….and.., either…or, not only….but also.

-My sister will begin either trade school or community college in the fall.

- I didn’t know that she can neither read nor write.

Subordinating conjunctions; subordinating conjunctions also called subordinators, are

Examples; After, Although, As, Because, Before, Even though, if, In order, Than, That,
Though, Unless, Until, While, Why.

-After dinner we will go see a movie.

-Whether or not you agree, I think it looks fine.

- Until we find it, we can’t leave.

INTERJECTIONS
 In grammar, an interjection is a part of speech which is used to show a short sudden
expression of emotions.

Interjections are short exclamations like Oh!, Um or Ah! They have no real grammatical
value but we use them quite often, usually more in speaking than in writing.

An interjection is a short word or phrase that shows emotion. It often standards alone
unconnected to a sentence.

Example;

-Oops! I did it again!

-Ooh! What lovely dress!

-Yahoo, we did it!

-Alas, it was not to be.