The 8 parts of speech: examples and rules (2023)

Every word in English can be classified as one of eight parts of speech. the conditionpart of speechrefers to the role a word plays in a sentence. And as with any ensemble workplace or television show, these roles are designed to work together.

Read on to learn about the different parts of speech that the words we use every day fall into, and how we use them together to clearly communicate our ideas.

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The 8 grammar lessons

1nouns

A noun is a word that names a person, place, concept or object. In short, anything that calls a "thing" is a noun, whether you're talking about abasketball court,San Francisco,Cleopatra, oself maintenance.

Nouns are divided into two categories: common nouns and main nouns.commonly used nounsare common names for things, such asplanetetelegame.Own namesare names or titles for specific things, such asZeuseRisk!

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2pronouns

Pronouns are words that you replace with specific nouns if the reader or listener already knows which specific noun you are referring to.

You could say, "Jennifer should be here at eight" and then continue with "She isAlways late; next time i will sayofbe here half an hour earlier."

Instead of saying Jennifer's name three times in a row, you took the placesheeofand his sentences remained grammatically correct. Pronouns are divided into several categories and we cover them all in our guide to pronouns:

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3adjectives

Adjectives are words that describe nouns. Think about your favorite movie. How would you describe this to a friend you've never seen?

You could say the movie wasfunny,attractive,well written, ospanning. When you describe the movie with those words, you use adjectives. An adjective can come immediately before the noun it describes ("I have athereforedog"), but you don't have to. Sometimes adjectives come at the end of a sentence ("My dog ​​istherefore”).

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4Verbs

I'm going!INincredible!LoopAs fast as you can!To winof race!Congratulateeach participantI putin the project andcompeted!

Words in bold are verbs. Verbs are words that describe specific actions, such asloop,Successful, eareincredible.

However, not all verbs refer to literal actions. Verbs that refer to feelings or states of being, such asAmareare, are known asnon-action verbs. Reverse the verbsI am doingreferencing literal actions are known asverbs.

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5adverbs

An adverb is a word that describes an adjective, verb, or other adverb.

Stilldescribes how you entered the room (verb).

Alwaysdescribes how often a cheetah is faster (adjective) than a lion.

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6intentions

Prepositions tell you the relationships between other words in a sentence.

You could say, “I left my bike tiltedin return forthe garage." In this sentence,in return foris intended because it tells usWhereyou left your bike.

Here's another example: "Put the pizza downemthe oven." without meaningem, we don't know where the pizza is.

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7Link

Conjunctions allow you to form complex sentences that express multiple ideas.

“I like marinara sauce. I like alfredo sauce. I don't like puttanesca sauce.” Each of these three sentences expresses a clear idea. There's nothing wrong with stating your preferences this way, but it's not the most efficient way to do it.

Instead, think, "I like marinara sauce.eAlfredo Saus,ButI don't like puttanesca sauce.

In this sentence,eeButthey are the two links that connect your ideas.

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8Article

Apera.Obrick house.Aexciting experience. These words in bold are called articles.

Items come in two flavors:final articleseindefinite articles. And just like with the two types of nouns, the type of article you use depends on how specific you need to be about the topic you're discussing.

A particular article, such asOOAre,describes a specific noun.

From the above sentence, we understand that the speaker is referring to a specific car that has been discussed earlier.

Now go to an indefinite article:

Do you see how the implication that you are referring to something specific has disappeared and you are asking a more general question?

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Identifying parts of speech

Sometimes it is not easy to know which part of speech is a word. Here are some simple tips to quickly identify which part of speech you are dealing with:

• If it's an adjective plus the suffix -just now, it is aadverb. Examples:generally,fast.
• If you can replace it with a noun and the sentence still makes sense, it's apronoun. Example: "Heplay basketball." / "Stephenplay basketball."
• If it's something you do, you can modify the sentence to include the wordI am doing, it is averb. Example: “II havean umbrella." / "IThey havean umbrella."
• If you can remove the word and the sentence still makes sense, but you're missing a detail, then that's the wordprobablyAnAdjective. Example: “He drives aRoodvan." / "He drives a van."

And if you get really confused, just look at the word. Dictionaries usually list the part of speech of a word in their entry, and if it has multiple forms with different parts of speech, they are all listed with examples.

This brings us to another common problem that can confuse writers and language learners alike.

When a word can have several parts of speech

exactly likesimsometimes it's oneconsonantand sometimes oneagreement, there are words that are sometimes part of one part of speech and sometimes another part. Here are some examples:

• To work
  • "I wentto work" (content-related).
  • "EUto workin the garden" (verb).

• Bom
  • "He paints a lotBom" (adverb).
  • "It's finallyBomnow, after weeks of illness” (adjective).
  • “I dropped a dimeBom" (content-related).
• But
  • "I prepared breakfast and lunch,ButSteve cooked dinner” (link).
  • “I took everythingButthe pens you asked for' (preposition).

And sometimes words evolve to add forms that are new parts of speech. A recent example is the wordadult. Before the 2010sadultit was usually a noun that referred to an adult person. It can also be used as an adjective to refer to specific types of media, such as adult contemporary music. But then, in the middle of the 2010 shift, word got outmaturity, an entirely new verb, appeared in the Internet dictionary. As a verb,maturityrefers to performing adult-related tasks such as paying bills and shopping.

Open and closed word categories

Parts of speech are divided into two wordsKlassen:OpeneClosed.

Open word classes are the parts of speech that regularly acquire new words. Language evolves, and this evolution typically takes place in nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs. In 2022, new words have been added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionaryperiod(content-related),green wash(verb), e.gheartbreak(Adjective).

Closed word classes are the parts of speech that do thatNeeacquire new words easily. These parts of speech are more concrete and include pronouns, conjunctions, articles and prepositions.

Are you using the parts of speech correctly?

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