Parts of Speech

Nouns Interjections

Pronouns

Conjunctions

The Eight Parts of Speech

Verbs

Prepositions Adverbs

Adjectives

Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e

 Nouns name persons, places, things, qualities, feelings, concepts, activities, and measures.
Persons Places Things Qualities Feelings Concepts Ryan, Mary, employees San Francisco, Hawaii, Europe pizza, popcorn, table reliability, flexibility, patience happiness, anger, confusion communication, productivity, freedom Activities working, dancing, walking Measures day, week, inch, kilometer
Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e 3

 Pronouns replace nouns. Use them for efficiency and variety.

Without pronouns, sentences sound like this:
Matt said that Matt must find Matts keys before Matt can leave for work.

How would that sentence sound with pronouns?

Matt said that he must find his keys before he can leave for work.

Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e

 Verbs express an action, an occurrence, or a state of being.

Kim drove her car to work. (Action)

Kim has a bicycle too. (Occurrence) Her bicycle is red. (State of being)

Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e

 Adjectives describe nouns or pronouns. They answer the questions What kind? How many? and Which

one?

A good student submitted excellent work. (What kind?) Our manager bought two computers and one printer. (How many?) This printer is expensive. (Which one?)
The words a, an, and the form a special group of adjectives called articles.
Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e 6

 Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. They answer such questions as When? How? Where? and To what extent?
Yesterday the printer jammed repeatedly. (When and how?) The restaurant is over there. (Where?) We were served very quickly. (How and to what extent?)

Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e

 Prepositions join nouns and pronouns to other words in sentences. For example,
The truck was driven

by Kim. for Kim. to Kim. with Kim. around Kim. over Kim.

Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e

How many prepositions do you see in the following sentence?

After the accident Kim went to Hawaii for a vacation in the sun.

Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e

 Conjunctions connect words or groups of words. The coordinating conjunctions are:

and or nor but so (used casually) yet (used occasionally) for

Pizza and burgers are Kims favorites, but she is also able to tolerate sandwiches.

Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e

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 Interjections show surprise, disbelief, or strong feeling.

Oops, I cant believe I forgot the attachment again! Wow! Did you feel that tremor?

Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e

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Identify the part of speech for each word in the following sentence.
TRY YOUR SKILL

1.

Kim becomes angry when receives spam messages.

she

Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e

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1. Kim becomes angry when she receives spam messages.

TRY YOUR SKILL

Identify the part of speech for each word in the following sentence.

Kim (noun) becomes (verb) angry (adjective) when (conjunction) she (pronoun) receives (verb) spam (adjective) messages (noun)
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Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e

Identify the part of speech for each word in the following sentence.
TRY YOUR SKILL

2. Ryan was upset, but he quickly solved the problem.

Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e

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2. Ryan was upset, but he quickly solved the problem.

Ryan (noun) was (verb) upset (adjective) but (conjunction) he (pronoun) quickly (adverb) solved (verb) the (article-adjective) problem (noun)
15

TRY YOUR SKILL

Identify the part of speech for each word in the following sentence.

Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e

Identify the part of speech for each word in the following sentence.
TRY YOUR SKILL

3. They work carefully on a big project.

Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e

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3. They work carefully on a big project.

TRY YOUR SKILL

Identify the part of speech for each word in the following sentence.

They (pronoun) work (verb) carefully (adverb) on (preposition) a (article-adjective) big (adjective) project (noun)

Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e

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4. Kim and Ryan prepared two work sheets.

TRY YOUR SKILL

Identify the part of speech for each word in the following sentence.

Kim (noun) and (conjunction) Ryan (noun) prepared (verb) two (adjective) work (adjective) sheets (noun)

Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e

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TRY YOUR SKILL

Identify the part of speech for each word in the following sentence.

4. Kim and Ryan prepared two work sheets.

Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e

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Identify the part of speech for each word in the following sentence.
TRY YOUR SKILL

5. The work for the project is very hard.

Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e

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5. The work for the project is very hard.

TRY YOUR SKILL

Identify the part of speech for each word in the following sentence.

The (adjectivearticle) work (noun) for (preposition) the (adjective-article) project (noun) is (verb) very (adverb) hard (adjective)
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Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e

Exercise - Parts of Speech

1. You have to believe in yourself if you ever expect to be successful at something.

2. We left for the mountain just before six in the morning.

3. We first went to the store to buy a few things. 4. We had a breakfast at a caf near the rail station. 5. My friend wasn't strong enough to lift his heavy bag.
Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e 2-22 22

Exercise - Parts of Speech

6. I helped him carry it.

7. The sun was shining brightly, and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky.
8. My friend said, "Oh! What a cold weather!" 9. Immediately, John decided that it was the perfect day for a picnic.

10.We got back home late at night but we didn't go to sleep immediately. We were very hungry.
Mary Ellen Guffey, Business English, 9e 2-23 23

Answers
1. Pronoun 2. Verb 3. Preposition

4. Noun
5. Adjective 6. Pronoun 7. Adverb 8. Interjection 9. Adverb 10.Conjunction
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