This document provides an overview of parts of speech including nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. It explains that traditional grammar classifies words into eight parts of speech and that knowing parts of speech can help improve understanding of texts. Specific definitions and examples are given for each part of speech. Nouns name people, places, things, ideas. Verbs describe actions or states of being. Adjectives describe nouns. Adverbs usually describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs and can indicate how, when or where something is done. The difference between adjectives and adverbs is also explained.

1. Parts of
Speech:
Nouns,
Adjectives,
Verbs, and
Adverbs
By N. Valdelomar

2. Parts of Speech
Traditional grammar usually
classifies words based on eight
parts of speech: nouns,
adjectives, adverbs, verbs,
pronouns, prepositions,
conjunctions, and interjections.

3. Building
blocks of a
language
• Luisa read.
• Luisa read a book.
• Luisa read a book
yesterday.
• Luisa read a book to him
yesterday.
• Wow! Luisa wrote and
read a book to him
yesterday.

4. Why should we know the parts of speech?
To understand grammar explanations.
To use the right word form in the right place.
To find the correct word in the dictionary.

5. Knowing the
different parts
of speech can
be very
helpful in
improving
your
understandin
g of a text.
It can help you to…
- infer a word’s meaning
based on the context
- determine the word’s
importance within the
sentence.
- have clues to see how words
relate to each other and make
sense of what you are reading.

6. NOUNS
• A noun is a naming
word. It names a
person, place, thing,
idea, living creature,
quality, or action.
Examples: cowboy,
theatre, box, thought,
tree, kindness, arrival

7. VERBS
• A verb is a word
which describes an
action (doing
something) or a state
(being something).
Examples: walk, talk,
think, believe, live,
like, want, am, was

8. ADJECTIVES
• An adjective is a word that
describes a noun. It tells you
something about the noun.
Examples: big, yellow, thin,
amazing, beautiful, quick,
important

9. ADVERBS
• An adverb is a word which
usually describes a verb, an
adjective, or another adverb. It
tells you how something is
done. It may also tell you when
or where something happened.
Examples: slowly, intelligently,
well, yesterday, tomorrow, here,
everywhere

10. The Adverbs and the Adjectives in English
• Adjectives tell us something about a person or a thing.
Adjectives can modify nouns (girl) or pronouns (she).
• Adverbs tell us in what way someone does something. Adverbs
can modify verbs (drive), adjectives or other adverbs.
adjective adverb
Mandy is a careful girl. Mandy drives carefully.
She is very careful. She drives carefully.
Mandy is a careful driver. This sentence is
about Mandy, the driver, so use
the adjective.
Mandy drives carefully. This sentence is
about her way of driving, so use
the adverb.

11. Form
adjective adverb
dangerous dangerously
careful carefully
nice nicely
horrible horribly
easy easily
Adjective + -ly

12. Irregular Forms
adjective adverb
good well
fast fast
hard hard

13. Not all words ending in -ly are adverbs:
adjectives ending in -ly: friendly, silly, lonely, ugly
nouns ending in -ly: ally, bully, Italy, melancholy
verbs ending in -ly: apply, rely, supply
There is no adverb for an adjective ending in -ly.

14. How do you know whether to use an
adjective or an adverb?
John is a careful driver.
In this sentences we say how John is: careful.
If we want to say that the careful John did not drive the usual way yesterday – we have to
use the adverb:
John did not drive carefully yesterday.
Here is another example:
• I am a slow walker. (How am I? → slow → adjective)
• I walk slowly. (How do I walk? → slowly → adverb)