Parts of Speech

This particular post covers brief overview of Parts of Speech in English Grammar.

 

The first question while hearing about the parts of speech comes into mind is to know what actually the parts of speech are.

Parts of speech are the kinds or classes in which the words are divided according to their use. There are nine parts of speech in English language as mentioned below;

1. Noun
2.  Pronoun
3.  Adjective
4.  Article
5.  Verb
6.  Adverb
7.  Preposition
8.  Conjunction
9.  Interjection

In this blog we put a brief introduction of each part of speech one by one.

Let’s discuss one by one.

Noun

It is the naming word used for anything we see, hear, smell, touch, taste, feel or even think of.

Man, cow, sound, voice, song, fragrance, stick, milk, chocolate, spice, fever, flu, pain, death, integrity, health, honesty, scent.

Pronoun

It is used instead of noun to avoid repetition.

Qadir proposed Maria. Qadir likes Maria

Qadir proposed Maria. He likes her.

(He and her are pronoun used instead of nouns ‘qadir’ and ‘maria’ in order to avoid repetition).

Adjectives

It is used to qualify the noun or add something to the meaning of noun.

I drank fresh milk yesterday.

(Fresh is adjective qualifying noun ‘milk’ by telling that it was fresh).

 

Ten donkeys were employed for load.

(Ten is an adjective qualifying noun ‘donkeys’ by telling their number was ten).

 

Articles

It is used for generalizing or particularizing the noun.

 

Indefinite Articles:

‘a’ and ‘an’ used for generalizing noun.

‘a’ is used before noun that begins with consonant.

a man, a cow, a table

‘an’ is used before noun that begins with vowel.

an elephant, an inkpot, an apple

 

Definite Articles:

‘the’ used for particularizing noun.

‘the’ can be used with any noun (beginning either with consonant or vowel) for particularizing it.

 

I see a doctor.

(Indefinite article used means not a particular doctor but any doctor).

I see the doctor.

(Definite article used means it was some known or particular doctor who was seen).

Note: Article is sometimes regarded as a distinct part of speech, however in a proper sense it is merely an Adjective. There are only three articles in English i.e ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’.

 

Verb

It declares something about noun or pronoun or tells about the act performed by noun or pronoun.

Amjad goes to school.

(‘goes’ is verb that tells something about noun ‘Amjad’).

 

She gave birth to a baby.

(‘gave’ is verb that tells something about pronoun ‘she’).

 

His car met an accident yesterday.

(‘met’ is verb that tells something about noun ‘car’).

 

Adverb

adds something to the meaning of any parts of speech except noun and pronoun.

She is very beautiful.

(‘very’ is the adverb that adds to the meaning of the adjective ‘beautiful’).

 

He performs the task happily.

(‘happily’ is adverb qualifying or adding to the meaning of verb ‘performs’).

 

Preposition

It is used to show relation of noun or pronoun to something else.

 

I agree with you.

(‘with’ is preposition showing relation of ‘you’ to ‘I’).

 

He is good at English.

(‘at’ is preposition showing relation of ‘English’ to ‘he’).

 

They jumped into the river.

(‘into’ is preposition showing relation of ‘river’ to ‘they’).

 

Conjunction

It is a joining word and used to join words, sentence and word, and sentence with sentence.

 

Hanif and Zahid play squash.

(‘and’ is conjunction joining hanif and zahid).

 

It is unhealthy but recommended.

(‘but’ is conjunction joining sentence with a word ‘recommended’).

 

Lions roar and dogs bark.

(‘and’ is conjunction joining two sentences).

 

Interjection

It is a word used for expressing sudden feeling of mind.

 

Ah! We have not taken your bag.

(‘Ah’ is interjection expressing some sudden or surprising feeling).

 

Hurrah! We won the tournament.

(‘hurrah’ is interjection expressing pleasant feeling)

 

Alas! He died in young age.

(‘alas’ is interjection showing unpleasant or sorrowful feeling).

 

Note: Interjection always takes mark of exclamation ‘!’ after it.

 

So these were the nine parts of speech in English language which we have discussed not in much detail.

Our succeeding blogs will define these parts of speech and their rules of application in a very detailed manner one by one.

Hope the brief description in this post may prove for you helpful and simple to understand and remember parts of speech.