Parts of Speech All of the words in the English language can be classified according to eight parts of speech. Depending on how they are used in a sentence, some words can fall into various categories. Following are the parts of speech and some examples. •
Noun: A noun is a word that names a person, place thing, or idea. Nouns may be common or proper. Common nouns name any person, place, thing, or idea, while proper nouns are specific and must always be capitalized. Examples of Common Nouns: child, valley, table, truth Examples of Proper Nouns: Jennifer, Texas, the George Washington Bridge, Equal Rights
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Verb: A verb is a word that shows action, a condition, or state of being. Examples: walk, watched, enjoy, study, imagine, am, is, was, were, remains, finish, missed
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Pronoun: A pronoun is a word that is used in place of a noun. Examples: I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they, him, her, them, mine, our, someone, who, whom, whose
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Adjective: An adjective is a word that is used to describe a noun or pronoun. A proper adjective is an adjective that is formed from a proper noun. It must always be capitalized. Examples: big, small, tall, short, blue, long, English, German, Mexican, Spanish, Chinese, African
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Adverb: An adverb is a word that is used to describe a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Examples: silently, quietly, swiftly, always, seldom, often, never, very
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Conjunction: A conjunction is a word used to join words or groups of words. Examples: and, or, but, nor, either, neither, because, however, since
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Preposition: A preposition is a word used to show the relationship of a noun or pronoun to another word. Examples: above, at, below, for, of, from, to, during, after
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Interjection: An interjection is a word or phrase that is used to express strong emotion. Examples: Oh! Oh no! Look out! Great! Aha!