Parts of speech

Parts of speech:

NOUNS name things

¨ common e.g. the table, the pencil (things you can touch and see)

¨ abstract e.g. the anger, the commitment (things you cannot touch and see)

¨ proper e.g. Peter, South Africa, University of Cape Town (names of people, places and institutions)

¨ collective e.g. the bunch, the pack, the school (words that refer to a group of something)

ADJECTIVES describe nouns

¨ descriptive e.g. green, seven, tall (tell you more about the noun)

¨ proper e.g. American, French (adjectives derived from proper nouns)

¨ demonstrative e.g. this, that, which (distinguish the noun)

¨ definite article e.g. the

¨ indefinite article e.g. a & an

PRONOUNS replace nouns

¨ personal e.g. she, he, it, they (replaces nouns)

VERBS name actions and tense

¨ finite names action & indicates tense e.g. reads, ran, will go

¨ infinite omits one of the above e.g. running, to call,

ADVERBS describe everything except nouns

¨ of manner e.g. hard, quickly, loudly

¨ of time e.g. now, yesterday

¨ of place e.g. here, there

¨ of reason e.g. why, because

¨ of degree e.g. also, too, very

PREPOSITIONS convey relative positions

e.g. in, under, on, behind

CONJUNCTIONS join two parts of a sentence

e.g. and, but, because, although, since