You might ask yourself,
"What are the parts of speech?" The parts of speech are the jobs that a
word can have within a sentence. Sometimes, a word that can be one thing
in one sentence, might be something else in another. For example, you might
think that "running" is a verb. That's not always true.
In the sentence He heard the running water., running is an
adjective. In the sentence, He is running., running
is a verb. It can even be a noun! In the
sentence Running is good for you., running is a noun!
When you read a sentence, you have to look at what the word is doing before
you can tell what part of speech it is. When it is by itself, you
can make a good guess. Below are descriptions
and examples of the parts of speech. There are sentences to practice
below. Then, if you are brave, you can try our game.
There are eight
parts of speech. They are:
Nouns: A noun is a person, place, thing,
or idea.
Examples: Hobbit, Bilbo, Gandalf, Hobbiton, Tolkien,
courage, friendship
VERBS: A verb is an action word or doing word.
Examples: run, walk, sleep, think, seek, is, has,
hath
ADJECTIVES An adjective is a word that describes
a noun.
Examples: dusty, quiet, tasty, swiftest
PRONOUNS: A Pronoun is a word that is used in
place of a noun.
Examples: he, she, it, ours, thee, thou, thy, you,
mine, his, whose
ADVERBS: An Adverb is a word that describes
verbs or an adjectives.
Examples: bravely, soon, mysteriously
CONJUNCTIONS: A Conjunction is a word that joins
two parts of a sentence.
Examples: but, and, so, as
PREPOSITIONS: A Preposition is a word that shows
relationships between words. In other words it shows connections between
two words.
Examples: on, off, around, through
INTERJECTIONS: A surprise or sudden spoken word.
Examples: Wow!, Yes!, Cool!
Note:
Just so you know, EVERY word...even the littlest...
have jobs. The words a, an, and the have job names,
too. They are called Articles. Remember....Every
word in this sentence has a job.
See if you can spot the part of speech in these sentences.
1. In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit.*
Find the nouns in this sentence. See below.
2. Gandalf ran quickly.
Find the verb in this sentence. See below.
3. The ring held huge powers, and it had to be destroyed.
Find the conjunction in this sentence. See below.
4. Wow! We made it!
Find the interjection in this sentence. See below.
5. Bilbo walked very stealthily into Smaug's cave.
Find the adverbs in this sentence. See below.
6. In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.*
Find the prepositions in this sentence. Check below.
7. They followed the slanting path.
Find the adjective in this sentence. Check and see below.
8. Gandalf gave him the ring.
Find the Pronoun in this sentence. Check below.
Are you ready to start your
quest?? Try out our Part of Speech
Game
ANSWERS
Sentence 1 - The nouns are hole,
ground, and Hobbit.
These are people, things and places.
Return to Practice
Sentence 2 - The verb is ran.
This is a action word.
Return to Practice
Sentence 3 - The conjunction
is and.
This is a joining word.
Return to Practice
Sentence 4 - The interjection
is Wow!.
This is a surprise word.
Return to Practice
Sentence 5 - The adverbs are
very and stealthily.
This is a word that describes a how and to what extent a verb is done.
Return to Practice
Sentence 6 - The prepositions
are both ins.
These are words that show connections between two words.
Return to Practice
Sentence 7 - The adjective is
slanting.
This describes the path.
Return to Practice
Sentence 8 - The pronoun is him.
The him was used instead of Frodo.
Return to Practice
* - Tolkien, JRR The Hobbit, New York: Ballantine Books, 1973, page 1