8 Parts of Speech for beginners with exercise: English Grammar

In this lesson, I will discuss 8 parts of speech. Do you remember them? Parts of Speech is the categories of English speech or sentence.

Read at the sentence below:

Jakia is a brilliant student.

You can divide the above sentence into different parts, such as:

Jakia/is/a/brilliant/student.

Again these parts play different functions as:

i) Jakia-> refers to a person

ii) is-> states something

iii) brilliant-> gives more information about 'student'

iv) student-> refers to Jakia

Now, you understand that in Parts of Speech words are classified according to their functions. In English, these are eight parts of speech. They are given below:

Noun
Pronoun
Adjective
Verb
Adverb
Preposition
Conjunction
Interjection.

Now, read about each type of parts of speech:

Noun

A noun is a word used to name something: a person/animal, a place, a thing, or an idea.

For example:

All of the following are nouns.

Rahul, Ann, Hamida, Malek.

Japan, Venezuela, the Atlantic, London, the Bay of Bengal

pencil, store, music, air biology, honesty, geometry

Look at some more examples of nouns

Names of:

People and profession: Alam, Rosy, teacher, doctor
Animals: rat, zebra, lion, tiger
Places: house, Dhaka, factory, school
Objects: table, camera, printer, computer
Materials: lead, nitrogen, water, ice
Qualities: kindness, beauty, bravery, faithfulness
Actions: rowing, cooking, driving, reading, listening
Measures: minute, second, day, month, litre

Parts of Noun

Read the section below to know more about different types of nouns.

Common nouns

These are the general names of people, places, things, or ideas.

Examples: writer, city, park, religion

Proper nouns

This type of noun has two features:

i) It names a specific [usually a one-of-a-kind] item, and

ii) It begins with a capital letter [no matter where it occurs in a sentence]

Examples: Rabindranath Tagore, Paris, Dhaka, Islam

The chart below shows examples of common nouns and proper nouns:

Common Noun	Proper Noun
Write	Azad Hossen
Teacher	Hujjatul Kayes
Boy	Tarhiml Quader
City	New York
Mango	Language
School	X High School

Abstract nouns

Look at the following list. Can you touch or see any of them? Can you count any of them?

Peace	Conduct	Speed	Taste
Warmth	Courage	Experience	Evil
Hospitality	Leisure	Time	Liberty

They name something that you cannot experience with your five senses they do not physically exist.

Concrete nouns: Concrete nouns physically exist and can be experienced by the five senses.

For example:

Can you chase them away with your sharp horns?

Horn is an example of a concrete noun. You can see horns of an animal and touch them with your finger and smell its breath.

Look at this chart contrasting abstract and concrete nouns:

Abstract Noun	Concrete Noun
Love	Table
Intelligence	Laptop
Kindness	Crow
Mercy	Plants
Honestly	Building

Collective nouns

These are nouns that refer to a group of things. Look at the chart below:

Army	Audience	Board	Crowd
Class	Committee	Company	Corporation
Council	Department	Faculty	Family
Farm	Group	Jury	Majority
Minority	Navy	Society	Team

What do nouns do?

Nouns can do lots of things in sentences. Let's look at some of the jobs nouns do:

1. Subjects are nouns that tell us who or what a sentence is about.

e.g. Jakia kicked the ball.

2. Direct objects are nouns that receive the action of certain kinds of verbs ( Transitive active verb)

e.g. Jakia kicked the ball.

3. Indirect objects are nouns that receive the direct object.

e.g. Jakia kicked Azad the ball.

4. Objects of prepositions are nouns that come after prepositions in prepositional phrases.

e.g. Jakia kicked the ball to Azad.

Pronoun

A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun. It helps us to avoid repetitions.

For example:

Instead of Elina talked to Elina's child, you might say Elina talked to her child. Her is the pronoun. It refers to the noun, Elina.

Adjective

An adjective modifies (describes) a noun or pronoun. Usually, in English, the adjective comes before the noun.

For example:

The smart student earned an 'A’.

Adjectives also come after linking verbs. For example, I feel happy.

Now, let's try to describe adjectives.

Adjectives are words that are used to describe nouns and pronouns and to quantify and identify them.

For example:

He was wearing a blue shirt.

Here 'blue’ is an adjective as it is describing the noun 'shirt' by answering the question 'What kind of shirt?’

There are seven rooms in the house.

Here ‘seven’ is also an adjective as it is mentioning the quantity/the number of the noun ’rooms', answering the question 'how many rooms?’.

There are different types of adjectives based on their relationships with a noun and what they describe about the noun. There are five categories of adjectives:

1. Adjectives of Quality: These adjectives are used to describe the nature of a noun. They give an idea about the nature of the noun by answering the question 'what kind', e.g. honest, kind, large, bulky, beautiful, ugly, etc.

Dhaka is a large city with many places of historical interest.

Akhi is a beautiful woman.

2. Adjectives of Quantity: These adjectives help to show the approximate amount of the noun or pronoun. These adjectives do not provide exact numbers; rather they tell us the amount of the noun, e.g. all, half, many, few, little, no, enough, great, etc.

They have finished most of the rice.

Many people came to visit the fair.

3. Adjectives of Number: These adjectives are used to show the number of nouns and their position in a phrase. There are three different types within adjectives of number; they are:

one, two, twenty, thirty-three, etc. (also known as cardinals) first, second, third, seventh, etc. (also known as ordinals)

4. Demonstrative Adjectives: These adjectives are used to indicate a particular noun or pronoun this, that, these and those.

That has belongs to Neela.

Try using this paintbrush in your art class.

These flowers are lovely.

5. Interrogative Adjectives: These adjectives are used to ask questions about nouns or pronouns. They are what, which and whose.

What test did I miss?

Which book of this author do you like?

Whose pen is this?

Verb

Verb is one of the most important parts of speech. Verbs generally express an action or a state of being. There are several classifications for verbs - action verbs, linking verbs, main verbs, auxiliary verbs, transitive, intransitive and phrasal verbs.

For example:

Action verbs show action.

He runs. She plays. They study.

linking verbs link the subject to an adjective or a noun.

Matin is intelligent. He is a teacher.

Here the linking verbs connect the adjective (intelligent) or a noun (teacher) with the subject.

Now, let’s try to descdbe the vetbs:

A word or phrase that describes an action, condition or experience is a verb. The words ’run’, 'keep’, and 'feel’ are all verbs. The grammatical forms of verbs include number, person, and tense.

Now, read the following examples and think about the uses of different verbs. Hete are some examples of auxiliary verbs expressing tense (main verbs in bold)

Examples of Auxiliary Verbs:

I have been sitting here since 7 o'clock.

Sabit was waiting for the train to arrive.

He will have broken the record by then.

Auxiliary Verbs and Verb Phases: An auxiliary verb (also called a helping verb) accompanies a main verb to express its tense, mood, or voice. The most common auxnliary verbs are be, do, and have. You will see these in the following forms:

Be: am, is, are, was, were, being. been

Do: does, do, did

Have: has, have, had, having

Modal auxiliary verbs are also auxiliary verbs. They are can, could, may, might, must, ought to, shall, should, will, and would. (These never change their forms.)

A verb phrase is made up of the auxiliary verb(s) and the main verb. In the examples below, the verb phrase is underlined with main verb in bold:

For example, He is reading a book. Here 'is reading’ is a verb phrase where ‘is’=an auxiliary verb and 'reading'= main verb

Now, let's try to flnd out the differences between regular and irregular Verbs.

Regular Verbs

Those verbs that form their past participle with 'd' or 'ed’ are regular verbs. These verbs do not undergo major changes while changing forms.

1. If the verb ends with a vowel, only 'd' is added. For example:

Present Tense	Past Tense
Share	Shared
Scare	Scared

2. If the verb ends with consonant, 'ed' is added.

For example:

Present Tense	Past Tense
Want	Wanted
Shout	Shouted
Kill	Killed

Adverb

An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb.

The teacher carefully checks the homework. (Here carefully is an adverb that modifies the verb check.)

For examples:

Tomal was extremely enthusiastic about doing his homework. (Here extremely is an adverb that modifies the adjective enthusiastic.)

Maliha ran out of the classroom very quickly. (Here very is an adverb that modifies the adverb quickly.)

Types of Adverbs

Generally adverbs are used to describe various aspects of a particular action- the time, place, manner at frequency of the action. Thus adverbs are categorised as follows:

Adverbs of manner
Adverbs of place
Adverbs of time
Adverbs of frequency

Adverbs of Manner

Read the following seven places of advice on making a happy & successful life.

Adverbs of Place

An adverb of place tells us where something is done or happens. We use it after the verb, object or at the end of a sentence.

Adverbs of Time

An adverb of time tells us the time when something happens.

Adverbs of Frequency

An adverb of frequency tells us how often something is done or happens.

Preposition

Prepositions are words that connect a noun or pronoun to another word in a sentence. Some common prepositions are on, in, at, with, about, for, to, before, after, though, etc.

For example:

I live in Dhaka. (Here in is a preposition)

He runs after money. (Here after is a preposition)

Conjunction

Conjunctions join together words, phrases and clauses.

For examples:

He and his brother will come. (words)

He came to the class and started teaching (clauses)

It is easy to say but difficult to do. (phrases)

She is intelligent; therefore, she does not need too much help. (clauses)

Interjection

Interjections are words used to express emotional states. They can usually be found in narrative writing, interviews, and spoken English. They can stand alone. Some common interjections Oh!, Wow!, Ouch!, Oops!, Hey!, Hurrah!, etc.

For examples:

Wow! we won the match. (Here wow is an interjection)

They can also be used in a phrase or sentence.

For example:

What a lovely day!

How strong the man is!

Here is a beautiful poem that will help you remember the parts of speech.

Every name is called a noun,As field and fountain, street and town;
In place of noun the pronoun standsAs he and she can clap their hands;
The adjective describes a thing,As magic wand and bridal ring;
The verb means action, something doneTo read, To write, to jump, to run;
How things are done, the adverbs tell,As quickly, slowly, badly, well;
The preposition shows relation,As in the street, or at the station;
Conjunctions join, in many ways,Sentences, words, phrases and clauses;
The intersection cries out,"Harki I need an exclamation mark!"Collected: [http://www.happychild.org.uk.acc/tpr/mne/0011gram.html]

More About Parts of Speech:

A NOUN's the name of anything,

As: school or garden, toy, or swing.

ADJECTIVES tell the kind of noun,

As: great, small, pretty, white, or brown

VERBS tell of something being done:

To read, write, count, sing, jump, or run.

How things are done the ADVERBS tell,

As: slowly, quickly, badly, well.

CONJUNCTIONS join the words together,

As: men and women, wind or weather.

The PREPOSITION stands before a noun