Parts of Speech

(from Elements of Literature Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics pp. 1008-1009)

1. Nouns

a. A noun is a word used to name a person, place, thing or idea
examples: teacher, Arizona, car, love
b. A common noun names general things, etc.
examples: sea, building
c. A proper noun names particular things, etc.
examples: Ms. Heinzel, Tucson
d. A compound noun is a single noun made up of two or more words
examples: chalkboard, Bart Simpson

2. Pronouns

a. Pronouns are words used in the place of one or more nouns
(called antecedents)
example: Manuel told his aunt that he bought a new computer.
b. Personal pronouns stand for people, places, and things
examples: I, me, yours, himself, she, hers, its, ours, they, theirs

3. Adjectives

a. An adjective is a word used to modify a noun or a pronoun; it
answers questions like What kind? Which one? How much? or
How many?
examples: red apple, that book, fifty cents, two touchdowns
b. Articles are adjectives that determine specific or general nouns
examples: a, an, the
c. Proper adjectives are formed from proper nouns
examples: Italian food, European vacation

4. Verbs

a. A verb is a word that expresses action or otherwise helps to make
a sentence
b. An action verb is a word that expresses mental or physical action
examples: jump, think, remember, write
c. A linking verb does not express action, but joins the subject with a
noun or adjective in the predicate of a sentence
example: Michael Jackson is a musical artist.
d. Auxiliary verbs help the main verb in a verb phrase
example: Tomorrow will be sunny.

5. Adverbs

An adverb is a word used to modify a verb, adjective, or another
adverb; it answers questions like When? Where? How? To what
extent?
examples: She drove upstate.
Please guard this carefully.

6. Prepositions

A preposition is a word used to show the relationship of a noun
or pronoun to some other word in the sentence
examples: above, before, during, for, in, near, off, to, with

7. Conjunctions

a. A conjunction is a word that joins words or groups of words
b. Coordinating conjunctions join two or more words, phrases,
or sentence parts of equal rank
examples: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet
c. Correlative conjunctions are always found in pairs that have
other words separating them
examples: either . . . or, both . . . and, not only . . . but also
d. Subordinating conjunctions are used to introduce subordinate
clauses in complex sentences
examples: after, as soon as, because, if, so, that, until, when,
while

8. Interjections

An interjection is a word that expresses emotion and is not
related grammatically to the other words in a sentence
examples: Well, you wouldn’t believe what I heard.
Ah, that was a delicious dessert!