Introduction:
Most of you have already studied the parts of speech in English, but probably very few of you have answered the most important question about them: why even bother learning parts of speech at all? Being able to identify whether something is a noun or a verb probably doesn’t seem to have a lot of importance to your life, it doesn’t seem to be something that will make you a better writer, and only rarely is it something that will impress your friends. However, the truth of the matter is that knowing your parts of speech is a foundational skill that will allow you to understand a lot of things that will make you a better writer, which hopefully you realize is something that will help you achieve your goals in life (which might impress your friends). Think of learning the parts of speech like dribbling in basketball; it may not be exciting, it certainly is not why anybody plays the game, but it is essential to know how to do it well, before you can move on to more impressive things.
A different approach:
The most important thing about the approach that we are going to take in learning the parts of speech is focusing on words as they are used in sentences. You need to begin to think of the job that a word performs in a sentence as being the key to understanding what part of speech it is.
For example, up until now, when someone asks what a noun is, you are likely to respond, “A person, place, thing, or idea.” And for a verb, you are likely to say, “an action word!” However, for many of you, even though you can state the definitions of a noun or verb, you still have a difficult time identifying the part of speech of a word in a sentence, because you are not used to looking at the job it performs. Here is an example:
Is the word “bark” a noun or a verb?
For some of you, your first thought is, “Verb! Dogs bark, which is an action.”
For some of you, your first thought is, “Noun! A tree has bark on the trunk which is a thing.”
Of course, the correct answer is, bark can either be a noun or a verb depending on how it is used in a sentence.
The lesson:
You are going to learn some standard definitions of the 4 basic parts of speech, but each of them will have a fill in the blank sentence to help you identify that part of speech. The meaning of the sentence can be crazy and weird, just as long as what you end up with can occur in English grammar. For more help on that click here. ***( Semantic sense.)
Noun
Our Definition: A person, place, thing, or idea
Examples can include: dog, Mary, oven, baseball, anger
Fill in the blank test: I have a(n)_____________.
I have the ____________.
I have ___________.
Notice how I have a dog, I have an oven, I have a baseball, I have anger, and even the strange sentence I have Mary, are all sentences that can work in English, which shows us that these words are nouns. I have a tired, on the other hand, doesn’t work quite as well.
Verb
Our Definition: A word used to express the “action” of a noun.
Examples can include: is, sits, read, laughs, am, stands
Fill in the blank test: I _______.
He _______.
Notice how He is, he sits, I read, he laughs, I am, he stands, are all sentences that can work in English.
Don’t forget that the part of speech of a word can depend of how it is used in a sentence.
I have a stand for my television.
Stand is a thing for the tv to be on, so stand is a noun.
Paul and John stand next to the television.
Paul and John are actually doing the action of standing, so stand is a verb.
Adjective
Our Definition: A word used to provide information about a noun.
Examples can include: tall, dark, blue, three, pretty tired.
Fill in the blank test: I have (a/n) ___________ cat(s). OR
My __________ cat.
Notice how I have tall cats, three cats, pretty cats, tired cats, and even the unusual I have blue cats are all sentences that can exist in English. Also take special note that adjectives often appear right before a noun.
Adverb
Our Definition: A word used to provide information about a verb. (Or about how something is being done)
Examples: loudly, quickly, fast, beautifully
Fill in the blank test: She laughs ___________.
Notice how she laughs loudly, she laughs, quickly, she laughs fast, she laughs beautifully are all sentences that can work in English. Also take special note that adverbs often appear right before or after a verb.
The process:
Now let’s walk through the process so that you know how to approach a sentence. You have been asked to identify the part of speech of the word in bold as it is being used in the following sentence:
The newspapers are next to the old table.
There are two ways you can test this word.
One is by asking questions based on your understanding of definitions of the parts of speech:
N: Is old a person place thing or idea?
V: Is old an action being performed by a noun?
Adj: Is old providing me information about a noun?
Adv: Is old telling me how a verb is doing something?
The other is to ask questions using our fill in the blank tests.
Can I say:
N: I have an old.
V: I old.
Adj: I have an old cat.
Adv: I laugh old.
Sometimes, it’s a good idea to use both of these tests, because they work well together. On the fill in the blank test, you probably will eliminate your first two options right away, so you know it’s not a noun or a verb. You’re left with the option of adjective or adverb. Now, go to the other test. Is old providing you information about a noun or a verb? Hopefully, you realize that it’s providing you information about the word table which you recognize as a noun. Therefore the word old is being used as an adjective.
But wait:
The following are still important parts of speech, but more likely you will have to rely on your memory to know what job they perform in a sentence.
Pronoun
Our Definition: A shorter word used to take the place of a noun.
Examples: she, he, it, they, we, us, me, him
Preposition
Definition: A “small” word usually used to show location, relationship, direction, time…
Examples: to, on, in, over, between, with, for, under, at, as, after, from, off, out
© kmcelliott 2008