Lesson 2: The 8 Parts of Speech

What are the 8 Parts of Speech? There are thousands of words in the English language but not all words have the same job. For example, some words show "action", some express a "thing". Other words "join" one word to another word. In order to make sentences, you need many different types of words and each word has its own job. In the English language, all words fall into 1 of 8 basic groups. These groups are called "parts of speech". It is very important to learn the parts of speech because it will help you learn to read sentences and understand them. It also helps you to write your own sentences. So what are the 8 Parts of Speech? Lets take a look
1. Nouns 5. Adverbs 2. Pronouns 6. Prepositions 3. Verbs 7. Conjunctions 4. Adjectives 8. Interjections

1. Nouns: A noun is a word used to name a person, animal, place, thing, and abstract idea, state, event and feeling. Nouns are usually the first words which small children learn. The highlighted words in the following sentences are all nouns:

1. Jill and Sam made a cake. ("Jill" and "Sam" are people, and "cake" is a thing.) 2. The moon is far away from the earth. ("moon" and "earth" are places) 3. His kindness was appreciated. ("kindness" is an idea, therefore, it's a noun)
A noun can function in a sentence as a subject, a direct object, an indirect object, a subject complement, an object complement, an appositive, an adjective or an adverb.

A noun is a part of speech that can have five different functions: Subject- example: Jill ate the ice cream. Direct Object- example: Jill ate the ice cream. Indirect Object- example: Jill gave Sam the ice cream. Predicate Nominative- example: The ice cream is chocolate. Object of a Prepositional Phrase- example: Jill gave Sam some (of the chocolate ice cream).
Nouns may be divided into basic groups: 1.1. 1.2. 1.3. 1.4. 1.5. Common Nouns Proper Nouns Concrete Nouns Abstract Nouns collective Nouns

1.6. 1.7. 1.8. 1.9.

Compound Nouns Countable Nouns Uncountable Nouns possessive nouns

1.1. Common Nouns

A common noun is a noun referring to a person, place, or thing in a general sense -- usually, you should write it with a capital letter only when it begins a sentence. A common noun is the opposite of a proper noun. o o o o o o

A girl and her dog played in the park. According to the sign, the nearest town is 60 miles away. All the gardens in the neighbourhood were invaded by beetles this summer. I don't understand why some people insist on having six different kinds of mustard in their cupboards. Many child-care workers are underpaid.

* Note: Sometimes you will make proper nouns out of common nouns, as in the following examples: o The tenants in the Garnet Apartments are appealing the large and sudden increase

in their rent. o The meals in the Bouncing Bean Restaurant are less expensive than meals in ordinary restaurants. o Many witches refer to the Renaissance as the Burning Times.
1.2. Proper Nouns A Proper noun is a name of individual people, title, calendar, time, day, week, month, historical document, institution, organisation, religion, country, etc. It always begins with a capital letter, such as John, London, Sunday, April, Christianity, Cambodia, etc. In each of the following sentences, the proper nouns are highlighted:

o o o o
o o o

The nurse is called Nicky They come from a country called England John and Nicky drink coffee from Starbucks They eat burgers from McDonalds

Many people dont like Friday afternoons. Beltane is celebrated on the first of May. Last year, I had a Baptist, a Buddhist, and a Hindu as roommates.

1.3. Concrete Nouns

A concrete noun is a noun which names anything (or anyone) that you can perceive through your physical senses: touch, sight, taste, hearing, or smell. A concrete noun is the opposite of a abstract noun, such as water, air, pizza, bread, perfume, music, bus, etc.

o The judge handed the files to the clerk. o Whenever they take the dog to the beach, it spends hours chasing waves. o The real estate agent urged the couple to buy the second house because it had

new shingles. o As the car drove past the park, the thump of a disco tune overwhelmed the string quartet's rendition of a minuet. o The book binder replaced the flimsy paper cover with a sturdy, cloth-covered board.
1.4. Abstract Nouns

An abstract noun is a noun which means the opposite to a concrete noun. If you cannot taste, touch, hear, smell or see something it is an abstract noun. Examples of abstract nouns are

honesty, courage , loyalty, education, courage, pleasure, communication, skill, freedom, thought, nature, beauty, etc.
o o o o o

Buying the fire extinguisher was an afterthought. Tillie is amused by people who are nostalgic about childhood. Justice often seems to slip out of our grasp. What brings you to New York business or pleasure? There are millions of people in this country who are living in poverty.

1.5. collective Nouns

A collective noun is a noun naming a group of things, animals, or persons. You could count the individual members of the group, but you usually think of the group as a whole is generally as one unit, such as pride of lions, army, A company of actors, A panel of experts, A deck of cards , A colony of ants , A swarm of bees, audience, etc.. o The flock of geese spends most of its time in the pasture. The collective noun "flock"

takes the singular verb "spends."

o A young lion had strayed some distance from the pride. o The jury is dining on take-out chicken tonight. o The steering committee meets every Wednesday afternoon.

(Here the collective noun "committee" takes a singular verb, "meets.")

1.6. Compound Nouns

A Compound noun is formed by joining two or more words acting as a single noun. These words may be written as one word, written as separate words, or hyphenated words. Examples are boyfriend (made from boy and friend) or girlfriend, blackboard, wallpaper, seafood, fish tank , mineral water, sport car, cloths shop , dining-table, brother-in-law, etc. o o o o

Please fasten your seatbelt before the plane takes off. Jewelry made out of seashells. Family law gives priority to the welfare of the child. Snowball is a ball of snow that children make and throw at each other.

o The workshop was attended by 25 participants from universities.

1.7. Countable Nouns

A countable noun (or count noun) is a noun with both a singular and a plural form, and it names anything (or anyone) that you can count. ** Singular and Plural Forms Regular noun plural Adding -S Ex: - cat - tree cats trees - bed - book beds books

Adding -ES Nouns ending in s, ss, sh, ch, x, z Ex: bus glass dish match box buzz buses glasses dishes matches boxes buzzes dress class brush watch fax dresses classes brushes watches faxes

Adding ES Most nouns that end in -O Ex: - potato - volcano potatoes volcanoes - hero - tomato heroes tomatoes

Adding -S Those words ending in O that are still felt to be foreign. Ex: - piano - dynamo pianos dynamos - photo - kilo photos kilos

Adding -S All nouns ending O preceded by a vowel. Ex: - cameo - studio cameos studios bamboo radio bamboos radios

Adding -IES Nouns ending in -Y change Y to IES

Ex:

- family - story

families stories

- lady - army

ladies armies

Adding -S Nouns ending in -Y preceded by a vowel letter simply add S Ex: - boy - donkey boys donkeys - key - valley keys valleys

Adding -VES Nouns ending in -f or -fe in most nouns is changed to VES Ex: - leaf - thief leaves thieves - wife - half wives halves

Adding -S *But there are many words ending in f or fe that simply add -S to form their plural: Ex: - roof - safe - belief roofs safes beliefs - cliff - chief - proof cliffs chiefs proofs

Irregular Plural Nouns by a change of vowel: Ex: man child mouse goose men children mice geese woman tooth foot louse women teeth feet lice

No change. Some words have the same singular and plural. Ex: - sheep - deer sheep deer - fish - aircraft fish (fishes) aircraft

Some words are always plural. Ex: - scissors - trousers/jeans/shorts a pair of scissors a pair of trousers/jeans/shorts

1.8. Uncountable Nouns

A uncountable noun (or mass noun) is a noun which does not have a plural form, and which refers to something that you could (or would) not usually count. A non-countable noun always takes a singular verb in a sentence.

Example: bread, glass, air, water, money, etc. Joseph Priestly discovered oxygen. We decided to sell the furniture rather than take it with us when we moved.
1.9. possessive nouns

A possessive noun shows ownership (having or owning). Possessive nouns are formed by adding an apostrophe and "s" or only an apostrophe. Examples:
Mark's
St. Saviour's

John's St Jude's dentist's newsagent's

Johns' brother St. Paul's grocer's chemist's

doctor's baker's

You can form the possessive case of a singular noun that does not end in "s" by adding an apostrophe and "s," as in the following sentences: The red suitcase is Cassandra's. The only luggage that was lost was the prime minister's. The exhausted recruits were woken before dawn by the drill sergeant's screams. The miner's face was covered in coal dust.

John's car or the car belongs to John it is not Mark's. Mark is Johns' brother. The possessive noun is also used to refer to restaurants, churches, shops and colleges combined with the job title or name of the owner. Examples are the doctor's, the dentist's, the grocer's or St. Saviour's or Smith's Common expressions such as Sunday's newspaper or the water's edge also use this type of noun
You can form the possessive case of a singular noun that ends in "s" by adding an apostrophe alone or by adding an apostrophe and "s," as in the following examples: The bus's seats are very uncomfortable. The bus' seats are very uncomfortable. The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus's eggs. The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus' eggs. Felicia Hemans's poetry was once more popular than Lord Byron's. Felicia Hemans' poetry was once more popular than Lord Byron's. You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does not end in "s" by adding an apostrophe and a "s," as in the following examples: The children's mittens were scattered on the floor of the porch.

The sheep's pen was mucked out every day. Since we have a complex appeal process, a jury's verdict is not always final. The men's hockey team will be playing as soon as thewomen's team is finished. The hunter followed the moose's trail all morning but lost it in the afternoon. You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does end in "s" by adding an apostrophe: The concert was interrupted by the dogs' barking, the ducks'quacking, and the babies' squalling. The janitors' room is downstairs and to the left. My uncle spent many hours trying to locate the squirrels' nest. The archivist quickly finished repairing the diaries' bindings. Religion is usually the subject of the roommates' many late night debates.

1. Noun 2. Pronoun 3. Verb 4. Adjective 5. Adverb

: a word that is the name of a thing, an idea, a place or a person: water, happiness, James, France, etc. : a word that is used in place of a noun or a phrase that contains a noun: he, it, hers, me, them, etc. : a word describes an action, experience, or state: come, see, put on, etc. : a word that describes someone or something: a beautiful girl : a word that tells you how, when, or where something is done: : a word that modifies or adds to the meaning of verb, adjective or other - Modifying a verb She spoke loudly. / Come here. / I went to the dentist yesterday. - Modifying an adjective It is very hot today. Are you quite comfortable? His work isnt good enough for a scholarship. - Modifying an adverb He plays extremely well. She drives too fast.

6. Preposition

: a word or phrase that is used before a noun or pronoun to show place, time, direction, etc. : a word or phrase which is put in front of a noun to show where, when, or how: in, for, to, out of, over, by, etc. : I study at NUM. She sat by the fire.

7. Conjunction

They went to town. : a word that uses to join words, phrases or sentences together: and, or, but, nor, either.or, neither.nor, etc. What he said was neither kind nor true. She opened the door and let the cat in. He tried hard but he was unsuccessful. : a word or phrase that is used to express surprise, pain, pleasure etc. They are often signaled by an exclamation mark. Oh! Hurry! Wow! Hey!

8. Interjection