Parts of Speech

Most languages have eight parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. Each part of speech explains not what the word is, but how the word is used. In order to identify the part of speech of a word, it is necessary to understand the function of the word in a sentence.

• Nouns are the simplest words and they name people, places, things, and ideas.
• Pronouns take the place of nouns and can be either singular or plural.
• Verbs are action words that express what is happening.
• Adjectives describe people or things and usually go in front of the noun they are describing.
• Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs and usually come after the verb.
• Prepositions show relationships between people or things and usually come before a noun.
• Conjunctions connect words or groups of words.
• Interjections are sudden outbursts and usually come at the beginning of a sentence.
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Now that you understand the function of each part of speech, you can begin to identify the part of speech of words in a sentence. To do this, ask yourself what function the word is performing in the sentence. Is the word a subject, object, or verb? Does the word describe something? Is the word connecting two ideas? Once you have determined the function of the word, you can identify the part of speech.