Parts of Speech

© 2016 Time4Writing.com. All Rights Reserved. www.time4writing.com/free-writing-resources
Parts of Speech
Recognizing the Different Word Types
Time4Writing provides these teaching materials to teachers and parents at no cost. More presentations, handouts,
interactive online exercises, and video lessons are freely available at Time4Writing.com. Consider linking to these
resources from your school, teacher, or homeschool educational site.
The rules: These materials must maintain the visibility of the Time4Writing trademark and copyright information.
They can be copied and used for educational purposes. They are not for resale. Want to give us feedback? We'd like to
hear your views: info@time4writing.com.

Every sentence should have a subject and a
predicate and express a complete thought.
“The girl walked home.”
But what does that mean, exactly?
In this sentence, “girl” is the subject,
and “walked” is the predicate.
The subject of a sentence is the person, place, thing, or idea
that is doing or being something. The predicate is the part of a
sentence which tells us what the subject does or is.

There are 8
different
Parts of
Speech
● Noun
● Verb
● Adjective
● Adverb
● Pronoun
● Conjunction
● Preposition
● Interjection
Is there a 9th part of speech? Articles like a, an and
the are sometimes considered to be adjectives; while
other authorities identify articles as a separate part
of speech.

A noun is a naming word.
A noun names all sorts of
things:
• a person
• a place
• an object
• an idea
• a quality
• an animal

Some
examples of
nouns:
• person: doctor
• a place: doctor’s office
• an object: stethoscope
• an idea: healing
• a quality: compassion

A special kind of noun is a
proper noun.
Common nouns name general places, things, ideas, or
people (e.g. man, mountain, day).
Proper nouns name specific places, things, ideas, or
people (e.g. John, Mt. Fuji, Monday).

A verb describes what you are doing (action) or
how you are being or feeling (state).
Action verbs: jump, run, sing, laugh, eat, fall, cook, remember, believe, think
Abstract verbs: am, want, own, seem, like, fear, owe, mind, need, belong, love
Notice that action words are not always acts that a physical
body or object does. Your mind can also perform some
actions, like thinking. What matters about verbs (both types) is
that they tell you what is happening!

An adjective describes or modifies a noun. They
can also tell what kind, what color, or how many.
Example: “the tall teacher”
The adjective (tall) tells you
something about the noun
(teacher).
Example: “the slow computer”
The adjective (slow) tells you
something about the noun
(computer).

Some
examples of
adjectives:
• green
• healthy
• fast
• windy
• delicious
• set
• smelly
You can use many different adjectives to
describe almost every noun.

An adverb describes or modifies a verb.
Example: “He spoke clearly.”
The adverb (clearly) tells you
the way he spoke (verb).
Example: “She sang well.”
The adverb (well) tells you
the way she sang (verb).
You could say that some adverbs tells
you how something happens.

Adverbs can also describe where or when
something happens.
Example: “She left yesterday.”
The adverb (yesterday) tells you
when she left (verb).
Example: “It rained everywhere.”
The adverb (everywhere) tells
you where it rained (verb).

Adverbs can also tell to what extent or to what
degree.
Example: “Extremely excited, the
boy jumped up and down.”
The adverb (extremely) tells you
to what degree the boy is excited
(verb).
Example: “The house was
completely covered in water.”
The adverb (completely) tells
you to what extent the house is
covered (verb).

Some
examples of
adverbs:
• quickly
• patiently
• thoroughly
• angrily
• thickly
• now
• here
• very
Notice that most adverbs describe how
rather than where or when or to what
extent. They also very often end in -ly.

A pronoun acts like a noun, but stands in place
of it.
Example: “I love my bike. I ride it all the time.”
“Bike” is the noun. “It” is the pronoun taking the place of the noun (bike).
We use pronouns to avoid constant repetition of the same
noun in a sentence. That would get boring!

You always need to know what the noun in the
sentence is before using a pronoun.
Incorrect: “I love it and always
use it.”
The reader doesn’t know what “it”
refers to in the sentence.
Correct: “I brought my lunch and
ate it.”
“Lunch” is the noun, so “it”
(pronoun) refers back to the
noun.

A conjunction joins two words,
phrases, or sentences together.
Two sentences:
“I love my bike. I ride it all the time.”
Two sentences joined with a conjunction:
“I love my bike, and I ride it all the time.”

Other examples and uses of
conjunctions:
But - “I love running, but I hurt my foot.”
So - “I read quickly, so I finished early.”
Because - “I'm late because I slept in.”
Or - “You can write the paper with a pencil or pen.”
And - “I enjoy watching basketball and football.”

A preposition joins a noun, pronoun, or phrase
to another part of the sentence.
The preposition almost always comes before the noun it refers to. The noun is
called the object of the preposition.
Example: “The dog jumped over the fence.”
In the example sentence, “over” is the
preposition, and “fence” is the object.
“Over the fence” is called a prepositional
phrase.

Prepositions
often show
location or
position
in the room
across the table
under the water
on the fence
However, prepositions aren’t always location words. They can
link parts of a sentence in other ways and for other reasons.

Examples of non-positional
prepositions:
“The garden benefited from the rain.” (cause)
“We met at midnight.” (time)
“The dog’s fur was as soft as cotton .” (comparison)
“That is the property of the teacher.” (possession)
Prepositions show the way in which their
objects connect to the rest of the
sentence.

An interjection expresses emotion!
It is often one word
standing alone
It is often followed by an
exclamation mark
Sometimes an interjection
may introduce a sentence,
but it is not really connected
in meaning to the events in
the sentence.

Examples of interjections:
“Wow! That’s wonderful!”
“Ah! I see!”
“Okay, I believe you.”
“Ouch! That hurt!”
“Well, that was interesting.”
Notice there is not always an exclamation mark and that the
interjection is not always on its own.

More free WRITING MECHANICS &
GRAMMAR resources:
•Subject-Verb Agreement
•Capitalization
•Punctuation
•Homophones, Homonyms, &
Homographs
The End
Sign up for one of these eight-week
WRITING MECHANICS & GRAMMAR
courses:
● Elementary School Grammar Skills
● Middle School Writing Mechanics
● High School Writing Mechanics

Parts of Speech

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Parts of Speech

Similar to Parts of Speech (20)

More from Ri Na

More from Ri Na (8)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Parts of Speech