The Eight Parts of Speech are: nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections.
A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea.
It fills the role of being a subject or object.
It can be singular, plural, or possessive.
It can be proper or common.
It can be a single word or a collection of words working together called a noun phrase.
These are crucial to clear communication.
A pronoun is a word that stands in for a noun. It is a toold for reduction of repetition or for demonstration.
The noun a pronoun stands-in or is called its antecedent.
Personal pronouns have to agree in number and gender with their antecedents.
Demonstrative pronouns have to direct the reader to a noun.
Adjectives add description and detail to nouns and pronouns.
They include words that reveal: Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Color, Origin, Material, and Purpose (OSASCOMP)
The role of an adjective can also be played by different types of phrases (more on that later).
These are the actions or states of being. There are also some of these that work together to become a verb phrase (like with helping verbs).
Some examples are: Run, sleep, eat, slap, discourage, imply, erupt, disconcert, be, was, have, study, photograph.
These are one of the most important types of words. Without verbs, there is no clear communication.
These words describe how, when, where, to what extent, or how often a verb happens. They are always in reference to a verb (ergo the name).
These words join words, phrases, or clauses. They establish a relationship for that connection, as well.
There are different types: coordinating and subordinating are the most prevalent.
a preposition provides a relational connection between its object (a noun or pronoun) and another word or phrase in a sentence.Â
Prepositions always work in conjunction with its object to become a prepositional phrase.
Well, these are words that you use to express emotion. Gosh, I bet you can recognize these pretty darn well.
The True Test: Can you identify every word in a sentence by its part of speech? Pick up a book. Pick a sentence. See if you can do it.
For More Information, Visit The OWL @ Purdue's page on this topic.