Parts of Speech Overview

Languages are made up of different parts of speech.  Knowing the parts of speech will help you talk about words and understand grammar rules. 

Nouns are words that represent people, places, or things.

Examples: mother, school, apple

Common nouns are general items.  They are not capitalized.

Examples: cat, country, state

Proper nouns are specific items.  They are capitalized.

Examples: Fluffy, Brazil, Alaska

Pronouns are general words that take the place of nouns.  

Examples: he, she, we, they, him, her, us, them, it

Male pronouns refer to boys or men

Examples: he, him, his

Female pronouns refer to girls or women.

Examples: she, her, hers

Singular pronouns refer to just one person or thing.

Examples: he, she, it

Plural pronouns refer to several people or items.

Examples: they, them, their

Possessive Pronouns show that something belongs to someone.

Examples: her, his, their, hers, his, theirs, its

Indefinite Pronouns refer to people who are not specified.

Examples: everyone, no one, none, few, many, several, each, etc.

Verbs are words show what nouns and pronouns do.  They are usually action words, but can also be linking verbs.  

Action verbs show an action.

Examples: run, eat, sit, jump, sank, tripped

Linking verbs link a noun or pronoun to an adjective or other noun.

Examples: is, was, am, are, were

Adjectives are the words used to describe nouns and pronouns.  The show what something looks like, what color it is, or how many there are.  “This” and “that” are also adjectives, because they tell you what item you mean (for example, “This dog?  Or that dog?”)

Examples: red, hot, ten, twelve, pretty, mean, this, that

Adverbs are the words used to describe verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.  Adverbs often end in “ly,” but don’t always end in “ly.”  To decide if a word is an adverb or an adjective, figure out what word it modifies (or describes).  If it describes a noun, it’s an adjective.  It if describes any other kid of word, it’s an adverb.

Examples: quickly, slowly, sickly, hesitantly, fast, very

Articles are the words come before nouns that tell you if the upcoming noun is a specific item or one of many of those items.  “The” is a definite article, and “the cat” refers to a specific cat.  “A” and “an” are indefinite articles.  “A cat” or “an apple” refer to some cat or apple, or an unknown cat or apple.

Examples: the, a, an

Conjunctions are the words that join other words or clauses.

Examples: and, or, so, for, because, nor, while

Prepositions are the words that create relationships between other words in terms of time, space, or direction.  Prepositions usually come in “prepositional phrases” as they describe the relationship between two other words, so you’ll see prepositional phrases such as “under a log” or “before the storm.”

Examples: over, under, between, around, before, after, during

(NOTE: This quick lesson is included in the worksheet below for reference.  Feel free to skip to the work when printing if you can refer to the screen and save paper.)