THE EIGHT PARTS OF SPEECH

There are eight parts of speech in the English language: noun, pronoun, verb,
adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. The part of
speech indicates how the word functions in meaning as well as grammatically within the
sentence. An individual word can function as more than one part of speech when used in
different circumstances. Understanding parts of speech is essential for determining the
correct definition of a word when using the dictionary.

1. NOUN

A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea.

man... Butte College... house... happiness

A noun is a word for a person, place, thing, or idea. Nouns are often used with an article
(the, a, an), but not always. Proper nouns always start with a capital letter; common
nouns do not. Nouns can be singular or plural, concrete or abstract. Nouns show
possession by adding 's. Nouns can function in different roles within a sentence; for
example, a noun can be a subject, direct object, indirect object, subject complement, or
object of a preposition.

The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher, and then she quickly
disappeared. Oh my!

The first real word you ever used probably was a noun-a word like mama, daddy, car,
or cookie. Most children begin building their vocabularies with nouns. A noun names
something: a person, place, or thing. Most other parts of our language either describe
nouns, tell what a noun is doing, or take the place of a noun.

Nouns have these characteristics:

 They are abstract or concrete.

 They are proper or common.
 Most are singular or plural, but...
 Some are collective.

In English, nouns are often preceded by noun markers – the

articles/adjectives a, an, the, or some for example; or possessive words like my or your.
A noun always follows a noun marker, though adjectives or other words may come
between them:

my former roommate
a sunny June day
an objective and very thorough evaluation
some existential angst

Because of their noun markers, you could safely guess

that roommate, day, evaluation and angst are nouns (even if you didn't know
what angst was). Although not all nouns are preceded by markers, you can use a noun
marker test to identify many, including abstract nouns. Consider this example:

Enthusiasm and willingness to work hard are a remedy for the existential angst of
many students.

Remedy is marked as a noun by the noun marker a. Angst is preceded by the noun
marker the. Students is preceded by the adjective (adjectives modify nouns) many. Test
the remaining words: can you have an enthusiasm or some enthusiasm? Certainly: "I
have an enthusiasm for snowboarding" or "Show some enthusiasm!" So enthusiasm is a
noun. Can you have an and or some and? Uh, no. So and is not a noun. Can you have a
willingness or some willingness? Sure, you can have "a willingness to
learn"; willingness is also a noun.

Every noun is either abstract or concrete.

Nouns like enthusiasm, willingness and angst are abstract nouns. Abstract nouns name
things we cannot see, touch, or detect readily through our senses. Abstract nouns name
ideas (existentialism, democracy), measurements (weight, percent), emotions
(love, angst), or qualities (responsibility). Concrete nouns, on the other hand, name
persons, including animals (cousins, Roger Rabbit), places (beach, Chico), or things we
can see, touch, or otherwise detect through our senses (smoke, beer).

Every noun is either proper or common.

A proper noun identifies a particular person, animal, place, thing, or idea--Roger Rabbit,
for example. The first letter of each word of a proper noun is capitalized. A common
noun does not name a particular person or thing; rather, it refers to a whole class or type.
Common nouns do not require capitalization.

Proper noun (capitalized)common nounSierra Nevada Crystal Wheatis his

favoritebeer.The Rooks and the Rangersare our local soccer and baseball teams.Bidwell
Parkis one of the largest municipalparks.Lundberg Family Farmis a sustainable,
organicfarm.

Most nouns are either singular or plural...

Most nouns are made plural with the addition of s or es.
Thus, instructor becomes instructors, and classbecomes classes. Some nouns have
irregular plural forms: man becomes men,
and woman becomes women. Child becomes children, and person becomes people.

Many people, both men and women, believe that having children will be a remedy for
their existential angst.

Some nouns have the same form in both singular and plural: "A moose is crossing the
river. No, wait--threemoose are crossing the river!"

...but some nouns are collective.

A collective noun names a collection or group of things. Although a collective noun
refers to a group of many things, it is usually singular in form. We think of a collective
noun as singular because its members act in one accord:

The army is withdrawing from those Asian countries that are in negotiations.

Here, army is a collective noun referring to a group of many people acting with one will.
We treat it as a singular noun. Countries is a plural noun. If several countries joined
together to form an alliance, we could say this:

The Asian alliance is united in its determination to repel foreign invaders.

In some instances a collective noun describes a group that is not acting with one will,
whose members rather are taking independent, divergent actions. In this case, the
collective noun is treated as a plural to reflect the plurality of the members' actions:

The jury were unable to come to any consensus.

If the jury had reached a unanimous decision, we would have said:

The jury was unanimous in its verdict.

2. PRONOUN

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun.

She... we... they... it

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. A pronoun is usually substituted for a

specific noun, which is called its antecedent. In the sentence above, the antecedent for
the pronoun she is the girl. Pronouns are further defined by type: personal pronouns
refer to specific persons or things; possessive pronouns indicate ownership; reflexive
pronouns are used to emphasize another noun or pronoun; relative pronouns introduce
a subordinate clause; and demonstrative pronouns identify, point to, or refer to nouns.

The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher, and then she quickly
disappeared. Oh my!

See the TIP Sheet on "Pronouns" for further information.

3. VERB

A verb expresses action or being.

jump... is... write... become

The verb in a sentence expresses action or being. There is a main verb and sometimes
one or more helping verbs. ("She can sing." Sing is the main verb; can is the helping
verb.) A verb must agree with its subject in number (both are singular or both are
plural). Verbs also take different forms to express tense.

The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher, and then she
quickly disappeared. Oh my!

See the TIP Sheet on "Verbs" for more information.

4. ADJECTIVE

An adjective modifies or describes a noun or pronoun.

pretty... old... blue... smart

An adjective is a word used to modify or describe a noun or a pronoun. It usually
answers the question of which one, what kind, or how many. (Articles [a, an, the] are
usually classified as adjectives.)

The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher, and then she quickly
disappeared. Oh my!

See the TIP Sheet on "Adjectives" for more information.

5. ADVERB

An adverb modifies or describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

gently... extremely... carefully... well

An adverb describes or modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, but never a

noun. It usually answers the questions of when, where, how, why, under what conditions,
or to what degree. Adverbs often end in -ly.

The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher,
and then she quickly disappeared. Oh my!

See the TIP Sheet on "Adverbs" for more information.

6. PREPOSITION

A preposition is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to form a phrase modifying

another word in the sentence.

by... with.... about... until

(by the tree, with our friends, about the book, until tomorrow)

A preposition is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to form a phrase modifying

another word in the sentence. Therefore a preposition is always part of a prepositional
phrase. The prepositional phrase almost always functions as an adjective or as an
adverb. The following list includes the most common prepositions:

The young girl brought me a very long letter fromthe teacher, and then she quickly
disappeared. Oh my!
See the TIP Sheet on "Prepositions" for more information.

7. CONJUNCTION

A conjunction joins words, phrases, or clauses.

and... but... or... while... because

A conjunction joins words, phrases, or clauses, and indicates the relationship between
the elements joined. Coordinating conjunctions connect grammatically equal elements:
and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet. Subordinating conjunctions connect clauses that are not
equal: because, although, while, since, etc. There are other types of conjunctions as well.

The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher, and then she quickly
disappeared. Oh my!

See the TIP Sheet on "Conjunctions" for more information.

8. INTERJECTION

An interjection is a word used to express emotion.

Oh!... Wow!... Oops!

An interjection is a word used to express emotion. It is often followed by an exclamation

point.

The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher, and then she quickly
disappeared. Oh my!