1.5: Working with Language- Understanding Parts of Speech

The Parts of Speech

Noun

·        A person, a place, a thing, or a feeling.

·        Examples: Kate, British Columbia, house, river, canoe, happiness, joy.

·        Kate lives near a river in British Columbia. Paddling her canoe brings her great happiness.

Proper nouns are names of specific people or places, e.g., Kate or British Columbia; these nouns have capital letters. Common nouns are general items, of which there are many, e.g., house or canoe.

Concrete nouns are physical things you can touch, e.g., house, river, canoe; abstract nouns are feelings, ideas, and other things you cannot touch, e.g., happiness, joy.

Pronoun

·        A word that replaces a noun.

·        Examples: I, you, he, she, it, they, we, my, his, her, them, their.

·        I told you we should meet them at 8 o’clock.

Verb

·        An action or a state of being.

·        Examples: eat, read, sleep, be, have, enjoy, dance, sing, feel.

·        I slept for nine hours and ate a good breakfast; I feel great!

Adjective

·        A word that describes a noun or pronoun.

·        Examples: big, small, blue, cold, dirty, easy, difficult, delicious.

·        Larry drives a big blue truck. It is often dirty.

Adverb

·        A word that describes how or when a verb is done.

·        Examples: quickly, slowly, sometimes, always, never, tomorrow.

·        She sometimes works slowly, and she never checks her grammar.

Conjunction

·        A word that joins two words or phrases and shows how they are connected.

·        Examples: and, but, so, because, before, after.

·        We are tired and hungry because we have been skiing and snowboarding all day.

Preposition

·        A word that shows the connection between a noun or pronoun and another word.

·        Examples: in, on, at, for, by, near, opposite, with, through.

·        The school is near the shopping mall, opposite the gas station.

Interjection

·        A word that is used as an exclamation at the beginning of a sentence.

·        Examples: Wow! Hey! Oh! Oops! Ugh! (and many swear words).

·        Hey! That’s my coat you’re wearing!

You Try It!

Look at these sentences. Identify the underlined words.

1.     Ooh! Arabella is such a beautiful baby, and I love her name!

 

2.     Hamish is proud to be named after his great-grandfather.

 

3.     Religious names are popular in Spain and Portugal.

 

4.     It is important to choose a name that will not embarrass the child.

 

5.     Think carefully if you want to change your name; is it a good idea?

 

6.     Ugh! I can’t believe my parents gave me such an ugly name.

 

7.     Canadians rarely think about the meaning of names.

 

8.     Lady Gaga changed her name because her real name is too complicated.

 

9.     They called their daughter Paris because they went to France last year.

 

10.  In some countries, names with negative connotations can be banned.

Vocabulary-building Tip

When you come across a word that is not familiar to you, think about whether it has any “family members.” For example, if you learn the word decisive, ask yourself these questions:

·        What part of speech is it?

·        What other words is it related to? These will be nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs.

Fill in the table with word families. All words are taken from the readings in this unit. Note that not all words will have all four parts of speech.

Noun	Verb	Adjective	Adverb
		decisive
consideration
popularity
		offensive
			surprisingly
		original