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Parts of Speech

An essential skill for good writing, the eight parts of speech are fundamental knowledge for good grammar.

Noun

Common noun

• Person (doctor)
• Place (beach)
• Thing (apple)
• Idea (religion)

Proper noun (a name) *always capitalized*

• Specific person (Krista)
• Specific place (Halifax)
• Specific thing (Buckingham Palace)
• Specific idea (Wednesday)

Pronoun

A pronoun takes the place of a noun. You use them to avoid repeating nouns over and over.

Example:
Krista went to school. Krista put Krista's books in Krista's locker. Krista looked for Krista's pen.
= Krista went to school. She put her books in her locker. She looked for her pen.

There are 3 kinds of pronouns:

• Subjective
  Used to replace the subject of a sentence.
  (The subject is the noun that performs the action in the sentence.)
  Examples: He, She, I, You, It (singular)

• Objective
  Used to replace the object in a sentence.
  (An object is the noun that receives the action. There isn't always an object in a sentence.)
  Examples: Me, You, Him, Her, It (singular)

• Possessive
  Used to replace nouns that show that an object/person/thing belongs to someone unnamed.
  Examples: Mine, Yours, His, Hers, Its (singular)

Verb
A verb shows an action or a state of being as well as indicating when it occurs.
There is always a verb in a sentence.

Past: He ran.
Present: He runs.
Future: He will run.

Adjective
An adjective "modifies", or describes a noun. Adjectives specify colours, shapes, sizes, quantities, etc.

Examples:
Large balloon
Ugly balloon
Blue balloon
Round balloon

Adverb
Adverbs modify (see above) verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They often end in -ly.

Examples:
He ran slowly.
A very pretty dress.

Preposition
A preposition shows the relation of a noun (or pronoun) to another word in a sentence.

Examples:
I went into the building.
The boy was below the bridge.

If you’re not sure if a word, for example "under," is a preposition, put it in front of "the box" = under the box. If it makes sense, it’s probably a preposition.

Conjunction
A conjunction joins two sentences or phrases to make one.

Example:
I went home then I went to bed.

And, or, but, and so are common conjunctions. Don't forget that colons (:) and semicolons (;) are also conjunctions, as well as words like therefore and when.

Interjection
An interjection usually has an exclamation behind it.
It’s an addition to the sentence used to show feeling.

Examples:
Wow! What a shot.
Yes, alas, she turned him down.

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