parts of speech

1. ADVANCED GRAMMAR
PARTS OF SPEECH

2. Parts of
Speech
◦ The term “part of speech” refers to the role a word
plays in a sentence.
◦ It is classified into eight classes: nouns, pronouns,
adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjuctions,
and interjections.

3. 1. Nouns
◦ Basically, anything that’s a “thing” is a noun.
◦ Nouns fall into two categories: common nouns and proper nouns.
◦ Common nouns are general names for things, like planet and place.
◦ Proper nouns are specific names for individual things, like Jupiter and Denpasar.
◦ Common nouns are subdivided into countable and uncountable nouns.
◦ Countable nouns are nouns which can be counted.
◦ Uncountable nouns are nouns that come in a state or quantity which is impossible
to count; liquids are uncountable, as are things that act like liquids (sand, air).

4. 2. Pronouns
◦ Pronouns are the words you substitute for specific nouns when the reader or listener knows
which specific noun you’re referring to.
◦ For example: “Jennifer was supposed to be here at eight,” then follow it with “she’s always
late; next time I’ll tell her to be here a half-hour earlier.”
◦ Instead of saying Jennifer’s name three times in a row, you substituted she and her and your
sentences remained grammatically correct.

5. Pronouns are divided into a range of
categories:
Personal pronouns – I, me, mine, her, she
Indefinite pronouns – somebody, anybody
Interrogative pronouns – who? Whom? Whose?
Relative pronouns – who, whom, which

6. 3. Adjectives
◦ Adjectives are the words that describe nouns.
◦ They are often called “describing words” because they give us further
details about a noun, such as what it looks like (the white horse), how
many there are (the three boys) or which one it is (the last house).
◦ Most often, adjectives are easy to identify in a sentence because they
fall right before the nouns they modify.

7. There are three
subclasses of adjectives:
Descriptive adjectives
The most common adjectives
(big, small, reasonable, etc.)
Proper adjectives
Formed with suffixes from proper nouns
(British, Australian, Indonesian)
Verbal adjectives
Verbs that are used as adjectives
(the –ing form shaking; the –en form shaken)

8. 4. Verbs
◦ Verbs are words that describe specific actions, like running, winning,
and writing.
◦ Not all verbs refer to literal actions. Verbs that refer to feelings or states
of being, like to love and to be, are known as nonaction verbs.
◦ Conversely, the verbs that do refer to literal actions are known
as action verbs.

9. Types of Verbs
Dynamic (action) verbs
◦ Most verbs describe a physical action or activity, something external that can be seen or heard.
◦ These verbs are formally known as dynamic verbs, but can also be called action or event verbs.
Examples: walk, laugh, swim, play, eat, drink, sing, dance
Stative (state-of-being) verbs
◦ Stative verbs describe a subject’s state or feeling, including things they like and don’t like.
Examples: want, need, prefer, love, hate, like, dislike

10. Auxiliary (helping) verbs
◦ Auxiliary verbs, or “helping verbs,” are used in English to change another verb’s tense, voice, or
mood.
◦ The main auxiliary verbs are be, have, and do.
◦ When auxiliary verbs are used, there’s always a main verb that represents the main action.
Modal auxiliary verbs
◦ Modal auxiliary verbs are not the main verb, but they do change its meaning slightly.
◦ Some common examples are can, may, could, should, would, must, ought, and might.

11. Transitive, intransitive and ditransitive verbs
◦ A transitive verb is a verb that requires an object to receive the action.
Example: Andrew threw a ball to Della.
In this example, the subject is Andrew and the verb is threw. The direct object is the ball because
that is what was thrown—Andrew did the action to the ball. The indirect object is Della because
she received the direct object, the ball.
◦ Verbs that don’t use either a direct or indirect object are called intransitive. These verbs are
complete actions by themselves.
Examples: go, walk, run, talk, sit, sleep, work
◦ Verbs that use both direct and indirect objects are called ditransitive. They don’t always need an
an indirect object, but they have the option.
Example: sing, read, eat, drink

12. 5. Adverbs
◦ An adverb is a word that describes an adjective, a verb, or another adverb.
Example: I entered the room quietly. Quietly is describing how you entered (verb) the room.
Here’s another example: A cheetah is always faster than a lion. Always is describing how
frequently a cheetah is faster (adjective) than a lion.
◦ Many adverbs start off as adverbs: here, now, there, then. But many adverbs derive from
adjectives with the addition of suffix –ly. Slow  slowly.
◦

13. Subclasses of adverbs
◦ Adverbs of manner  tells how the verbs that they modify are carried out (slowly, quickly,
highly)
◦ Adverbs of place  Modify the verb by telling us the place where what is expressed by the verb
takes place (here, there)
◦ Adverbs of time  Modify a verb by telling us the time when what is expressed by the verb
takes place (now, then, yesterday)
◦ Adverbs of frequency  never, often, always
◦ Adverbs of numbers  once, twice
◦ Adverbs of degree  hardly, almost, quite

14. 6. Prepositions
◦ Prepositions indicate relationships between other words in a sentence.
◦ Many prepositions tell you where something is or when something happened.
Example: above, across, against, along, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside,
between

15. 7. Conjunction
◦ Conjunctions are words that link other words, phrases, or clauses together.
◦ Coordinating conjunctions allow you to join words, phrases, and clauses of equal
grammatical rank in a sentence.
◦ The most common coordinating conjunctions are for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so

16. 8. Interjection
◦ An interjection is a word that you throw in between sentences or thoughts to express
a sudden feeling.
◦ You can use an interjection before or after a sentence that explains what’s going on.
Example: Ouch! Oh my! Wow!