1. The 9 Parts of Speech1.D
There are nine parts of speech.
These parts of speech consist in
subcategories to which words belong
according to their syntactic functions.
Each part of speech explains how a
word is used.
A word can occupy more than one
part of speech depending on the how
it is used in a sentence.

2. The 9 Parts of Speech1.D
The 9 parts of speech are:
 adjectives
 adverbs
 conjunctions
 determiners
 exclamations
 nouns
 prepositions
 pronouns
 verbs
They are major word class
categories.

3. Subcategories
Each part of speech has subcategories or minor word categories that
specify the type of function of each word in a specific structure.
The following sentence identifies the part of speech and subcategory
of the word “a”:
Let’s see a movie tonight.
Part of speech: determiner
a word placed before a noun to make
specific reference
Class: indefinite article
indicates that the identity of the
singular noun is not known
The 9 Parts of Speech1.D

4. Words can occupy various parts of speech
as they take on different functions or are
combined with other words. Take a look at
the different functions of the words in
bold:
“Waits” as a verb:
Jennifer waits for the bus on Sundays.
“Wait” as a noun:
Jennifer's wait for the bus on Sunday was
half an hour!
The 9 Parts of Speech1.D

5. In the following section, each of the 9 parts of speech will be
broken down into some minor word categories.
The 9 Parts of Speech1.D

6. Adjectives are words used to modify a noun or pronoun. They
describe, identify, and quantify nouns by answering which one,
what kind, and how many?
The 9 Parts of Speech1.D

7. Determiners are also words used to modify a noun in the form of
a present participle. They occur before nouns and specify or limit
it in some way.
The 9 Parts of Speech1.D

8. Nouns are words that are generally thought of as referring to
people, animals, places, ideas, or things. A noun provides lexical
or semantic meaning.
The 9 Parts of Speech1.D

9. Pronouns are structure words that function to substitute for a
noun or noun phrase.
The 9 Parts of Speech1.D

10. Adverbs are words that describes or modify a verb, an adjective,
another adverb, a phrase, or a sentence.
The 9 Parts of Speech1.D

11. Conjunctions are words that connect clauses. There are two
types of conjunctions: coordinators and subordinators.
The 9 Parts of Speech1.D

12. Prepositions are words that, like conjunctions, connect a noun or
pronoun to another word in a sentence. They show a relationship
between the noun or pronoun and some other idea in the
sentence.
The 9 Parts of Speech1.D

13. Verbs are words that refer to actions, situations, states, attitudes,
and mental conditions.
The 9 Parts of Speech1.D

14. Exclamations are words that show strong feeling in informal
English.
The 9 Parts of Speech1.D

15. KEY TERMS & CONCEPTS1.D
The key terms and concepts you should know for this lesson
are:
adjectives (6)
adverbs (10)
conjunctions (11)
determiners (7)
exclamations (14)
functions (4)
Refer to the slide (in parenthesis) indicated after each term to
review its meaning.
nouns (8)
prepositions (12)
pronouns (9)
subcategories (3)
verbs (13)
9 parts of speech (5)

16. BEFORE YOU CONTINUE TO THE NEXT LESSON:
• Download the Lesson Summary.
Please review the terms and concepts for this lesson
before completing part 1.5. Once you feel you are
ready to continue, complete the tasks in part 1.5.