Parts of Speech
ď‚— Parts of speech are classifications of words according to
their relations to each other and to the things they represent.
ď‚— Parts of speech are divided into 11 categories: nouns,
pronouns, adjectives, numbers, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, exclamations, particles, articles.
Divisions Based on whether an affix can be added to the word: inflected (nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives) not inflected (all other parts of speech) Based on whether they accept new members: open class (nouns, lexical vebs, adjectives and adverbs) closed class (all other parts of speech)
Nouns ď‚— Words which denote names of persons, things, living
creatures, places, etc.
Pronouns ď‚— Words used to replace nouns
Adjectives Words which denote characteristics of nouns They can have: Attributive function
if they stand in front of a noun e.g. grey elephant
Predicative function if they are part of a predicate e. g. This function is predicative.
Numbers Words which denote the amount or order of
something They can be:
cardinal e. g. one, two, three ordinal
e. g. first, second, third
Verbs Denote an activity or state, function as a predicate They can be: stative and dynamic regular and irregular transitive and intransitive reflexive lexical and auxiliary
Adverbs Describe, modify or provide more information about a
verb, adjective or another adverb; they tell us when, where, how, in what manner or to what extent an action is performed They can usually be divided into four categories: time and frequency (now, never, daily, usually) place (everywhere, there, outside) manner (easily, badly, well) degree (almost, very, extremely)
Prepositions ď‚— words which stand in front of a noun and indicate
spatial and temporal relations, direction, possession, etc. (in, on, before, above)
Exclamations ď‚— words which indicate emotions and attitudes, usually
followed by an exclamation mark (Wow! Ouch! Yay!)
Conjunctions Linking words, phrases and clauses They can be divided into: coordinating
e. g. for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so
subordinating e.g. after, before, if, though, unless, since correlative
e.g. both - and, not only – but also, either – or, neither – nor, as – as
Particles ď‚— A function word that must be associated with another
word or phrase to impart meaning
ď‚— e. g. to (in the infinitive, e.g. to fly), not
Articles A kind of adjective which is used with and gives
information about a noun
a, an, the
Sometimes no article is used Can only be used with countable nouns
References Childs, Leslie. Support Materials And Exercises For
Grammar: Part 1. 1st ed. 1998. Web. [20 Dec. 2014]. http://en.copian.ca/library/learning/academic/engl ish/grammar/speech/module5.pdf Grammar-monster.com,. 'Free English Grammar Lessons And Tests'. N.p., 2014. Web. [20 Dec. 2014]. Web2.uvcs.uvic.ca,. 'ELC Study Zone: Parts Of Speech'. N.p., 2014. Web. [20 Dec. 2014]. Shopen, Timothy. Language Typology And Syntactic Description: Clause Structure - Volume 1. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2007. Print.