This document defines and provides examples of the eight main parts of speech in English: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. It describes the key functions and types of each part of speech, such as how nouns name people, places and things, verbs express actions or states of being, and pronouns refer to other nouns instead of repeating them. Examples are given for each part of speech to illustrate their uses in sentences.

1. Parts of Speech

2. •word class
•that describes the role a word plays
in a sentence.
•can help you analyze how words
function in a sentence and
•improve your writing

3. Eight parts of speech
•nouns,
•Pronouns
• verbs,
•adverbs,
•adjectives,
•prepositions,
•conjunctions and
• interjections

4. NOUNS
•are used to name people,
places, animals, ideas and
things
eg. man... Butte
College... house... Happiness
•can act as the subject of a
sentence (i.e., the person or
thing performing the action) or
•as the object of a verb (i.e., the
person or thing affected by the
action)

5. Types of Nouns
• Common nouns - used to refer to nonspecific people,
concepts, places, or things,
• Proper nouns -used to refer to specific people, concepts,
places, or things
• Collective nouns - used to refer to a group of people or things.
• Concrete noun - that can be perceived with the
five senses (touch, hearing, sight, smell, and taste)
• Eg.
• My house is made of brick and mortar.
• A cat ran across the garden and climbed the fence.

6. Contd.,
• Abstract noun - that refers to
something non-physical—something
conceptual that you can’t perceive
directly with your senses.
• Examples: “sadness,” “analysis,”
“government,” and “adulthood.”
• Countable - refer to things that can
be counted
- they can be pluralized.
Most nouns are countable e.g.,
“fact(s)” or “misnomer(s)“.
• Uncountable nouns or mass
nouns
- refer to things that can’t be
counted
- they cannot be pluralized
(e.g., “information” or “advice“).

7. Pronouns
• used in place of a noun
• refer back to an antecedent (a
previously mentioned noun)
• Like nouns, pronouns can refer to
people, places, concepts, and things
• personal pronouns (used in place
of the proper name of a person),
• demonstrative pronouns (used to
refer to specific things and indicate
their relative position), and
• interrogative pronouns (used to
introduce questions about things,
people, and ownership).

8. Examples
• I don’t really know her.
• That is a horrible painting!
• Who owns the nice car?
Reflexive Pronouns and Intensive pronoun - self/ selves

9. • an action (e.g., “jump”), occurrence (e.g., “become”), or state of being
(e.g., “exist”)
• what the subject of a sentence is doing
• Regular verbs are verbs whose simple past and past participles are
formed by adding“-ed” to the end of the word.
• Irregular verbs are verbs whose simple past and past participles are
formed in some other way.
• Examples
• “Will you check if this book is in stock?”
• “I’ve already checked twice.”
• “I heard that you used to sing.”
• “Yes! I sang in a choir for 10 years.”

10. Adverbs
• modify a verb
• adding “-ly” to the end of an adjective
(e.g., “slow” becomes “slowly”)
• adverbs of manner used to describe
how something occurs
• adverbs of degree (used to indicate
extent or degree), and
• adverbs of place (used to describe
the location of an action or event).
• Examples:
Ray acted rudely.
Talia writes quite quickly.
Let’s go outside!

12. Conjunctions
• a word used to connect different
parts of a sentence
• coordinating
conjunctions used to connect
items that are grammatically
equal (FANBOYS)
• subordinating
conjunctions used to introduce
a dependent clause and
• correlative conjunctions used
in pairs to join grammatically
equal parts of a sentence
• Examples :
And, or, because, either….or

13. Interjections
• used to express a feeling, give a
command, or greet someone
• Ouch! I hurt my arm.
• I’m, um, not sure.
• Hey! How are you doing?