This document defines and provides examples of the main parts of speech in English including nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. It also provides a short practice identifying the part of speech of bolded words based on their use in sentences.

1. Parts of Speech

2. ● Names person, place or thing
Examples:
captain, swimmers, Maria Tallchief, team,
Stratford-on-Avon, stories, “The Scarlet Ibis”,
justice, honesty
NOUNS

3. ● Takes place of one or more nouns or
pronouns
PRONOUNS

4. ● Refers to one(s) speaking (first person),
spoken to (second person), or spoken
about (third person)
Examples:
I, me, my, mine, we, us, our, ours, you, your, yours
he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its, they, them,
their, theirs
PERSONAL PRONOUN

5. ● Refers to subject and directs action of
verb back to subject
Examples:
myself, ourselves, yourself, yourselves, himself,
herself, itself, themselves
REFLEXIVE PRONOUN

6. ● Refers to and emphasizes noun or
another pronoun
Examples:
myself, ourselves, yourself, yourselves, himself,
herself, itself, themselves
INTENSIVE PRONOUN

7. ● Refers to specific one(s) of group
Examples:
this, that, these, those
DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN

8. ● Introduces question
Examples:
what, which, who, whom, whose
INTERROGATIVE PRONOUN

9. ● Introduces subordinate clause and refers
to noun or pronoun outside clause
Examples:
that, which, who, whom, whose
RELATIVE PRONOUN

10. ● Refers to one(s) not specifically named
Examples:
all, any, anyone, both, each, either, everybody,
many, none, nothing
INDEFINITE PRONOUN

11. ● Modifies noun or pronoun by telling what
kind, which one, how many or how much
Examples:
an old, flea-bitten dog; a Sioux custom; that one;
the twelve red roses; more water
ADJECTIVE

12. ● Shows action or state of being
VERB

13. ● Expresses physical or mental activity
Examples:
paint, jump, write, know, imagine
ACTION VERB

14. ● Connects subject with word identifying
or describing it
Examples:
appear, be, seem, become, feel, look, smell,
sound, taste
LINKING VERB

15. ● Combines with another verb to form a
verb phrase
Examples:
be, have, may, can, shall, will, would
HELPING (AUXILIARY) VERB

16. ● Modifies verb, adjective, or adverb by
telling how, when, where, or to what
extent
Examples:
drives carefully, quite dangerous, shortly
afterward, arrived there late
ADVERB

17. ● Relates noun or pronoun to another
word
Examples:
across, between, into, near, of, on, with, aside
from, instead of, next to
PREPOSITION

18. ● Joins words or word groups
CONJUNCTION

19. ● Joins words or word groups used in same
way
Examples:
and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet
COORDINATING CONJUNCTION

20. ● A pair of conjunctions that join parallel
words or word groups
Examples:
both...and, either...or, neither...nor, not
only...but (also)
CORRELATIVE CONJUNCTION

21. ● Begins subordinate clause and connects
it to independent clause
Examples:
as though, because, if, since, so that, than,
when, where, while
SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTION

22. ● Expresses emotion
Examples:
hey, oops, ouch, wow
INTERJECTION

23. Identify the part of speech of the bolded word based on
its use in the sentence.
1. The fine feathers of young birds are called down.
2. She wore a down vest.
3. Did the tackle down the ball in the end zone?
4. Her poster fell down.
5. My cousin lives down the street from my school.
6. Let’s get a drink of water.
DETERMINING PARTS OF SPEECH:
PRACTICE

24. 7. Did you water the plants?
8. Most water sports offer good exercise.
9. He promised us that he would meet us after the
game.
10. That CD didn’t cost much.
11. I never said that.
DETERMINING PARTS OF SPEECH:
PRACTICE, CONT’D.