Understanding Parts of Speech
Parts of speech are categories that classify words based on their function in a sentence. As a paraprofessional, you’ll need to recognize these categories to help students understand sentence structure and grammar. The ParaPro Assessment evaluates your understanding of the eight parts of speech and how they function in English.
The Eight Parts of Speech
- Nouns: Name people, places, things, or ideas
- Pronouns: Replace nouns to avoid repetition
- Verbs: Express actions, states, or occurrences
- Adjectives: Describe or modify nouns and pronouns
- Adverbs: Modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs
- Prepositions: Show relationships between words
- Conjunctions: Connect words, phrases, or clauses
- Interjections: Express emotion or exclamation
Nouns
What are Nouns?
Nouns name people, places, things, or ideas. They can function as subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, objects of prepositions, or complements in a sentence.
Types of Nouns
| Type | Definition | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Common Nouns | General names for people, places, things, or ideas | teacher, school, book, happiness |
| Proper Nouns | Specific names that are capitalized | Mrs. Garcia, Boston, Tuesday, Shakespeare |
| Concrete Nouns | Things you can perceive with your senses | desk, water, perfume, melody |
| Abstract Nouns | Concepts, feelings, qualities, or ideas | courage, freedom, love, education |
| Collective Nouns | Groups of people, animals, or things | class, team, flock, committee |
| Count Nouns | Nouns that can be counted | book, student, pencil (one book, two books) |
| Mass Nouns | Nouns that cannot be counted | water, air, furniture, advice |
Noun Forms
- Singular vs. Plural: Most nouns add -s or -es to form plurals (book/books, box/boxes)
- Irregular Plurals: Some nouns have irregular plural forms (child/children, mouse/mice)
- Possessive Forms: Add apostrophe + s (‘s) for singular possession, or just an apostrophe for plural possession ending in s (teacher’s desk, students’ projects)
Examples in Sentences
- The teacher explained the lesson to the class. (common, collective nouns)
- Ms. Johnson is teaching algebra this semester. (proper, abstract nouns)
- The committee’s decision affected the entire school. (possessive collective, common nouns)
Pronouns
What are Pronouns?
Pronouns replace nouns to avoid repetition. They must agree with their antecedents (the nouns they replace) in number, gender, and person.
Types of Pronouns
| Type | Function | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Personal Pronouns | Refer to specific people or things | I, me, you, he, she, it, we, us, they, them |
| Possessive Pronouns | Show ownership | mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs |
| Reflexive Pronouns | Refer back to the subject | myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves |
| Demonstrative Pronouns | Point to specific things | this, that, these, those |
| Interrogative Pronouns | Ask questions | who, whom, whose, which, what |
| Relative Pronouns | Connect clauses or phrases | who, whom, whose, which, that |
| Indefinite Pronouns | Refer to non-specific people or things | anyone, everybody, someone, all, few, many |
Common Pronoun Errors
- Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement: Pronouns must agree with their antecedents in number and gender.
- Incorrect: Each student must bring their book. (disagreement in number)
- Correct: Each student must bring his or her book.
- Also correct: All students must bring their books.
- Unclear Antecedents: Avoid using pronouns when it’s unclear what they refer to.
- Unclear: John told Mark that he had won the race. (Who won?)
- Clear: John told Mark, “You won the race.”
- Case Confusion: Using subject pronouns (I, he, she, we, they) and object pronouns (me, him, her, us, them) correctly.
- Incorrect: Me and John went to the library.
- Correct: John and I went to the library.
Examples in Sentences
- After Maria finished her assignment, she submitted it to the teacher. (personal, possessive pronouns)
- Who is responsible for this project? (interrogative, demonstrative pronouns)
- The students themselves organized the event that everyone enjoyed. (reflexive, relative pronouns)
Verbs
What are Verbs?
Verbs express actions, states of being, or occurrences. They are essential to forming complete sentences and can show tense, mood, voice, and aspect.
Types of Verbs
| Type | Function | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Action Verbs | Express physical or mental actions | run, teach, think, write, explore |
| Linking Verbs | Connect subjects to subject complements | be, become, seem, appear, feel, look |
| Helping/Auxiliary Verbs | Help main verbs express tense, voice, etc. | be, have, do, can, will, shall, may, might, must |
| Regular Verbs | Form past tense by adding -ed | walk/walked, jump/jumped, talk/talked |
| Irregular Verbs | Change form unpredictably in past tense | go/went, swim/swam, bring/brought |
| Transitive Verbs | Require direct objects to complete meaning | The teacher graded the tests. |
| Intransitive Verbs | Don’t require objects to complete meaning | The children laughed. |
Verb Forms and Tenses
- Present Tense: Actions happening now or regularly (I teach)
- Past Tense: Actions that happened before now (I taught)
- Future Tense: Actions that will happen later (I will teach)
- Present Perfect: Actions completed by the present (I have taught)
- Past Perfect: Actions completed before another past action (I had taught)
- Future Perfect: Actions that will be completed before a future time (I will have taught)
- Progressive Forms: Ongoing actions (I am teaching, I was teaching, I will be teaching)
Common Verb Errors
- Subject-Verb Agreement: Verbs must agree with their subjects in number.
- Incorrect: The group of students are studying.
- Correct: The group of students is studying.
- Irregular Verb Forms: Using incorrect past tense or past participle forms.
- Incorrect: I have went to the library.
- Correct: I have gone to the library.
- Tense Consistency: Maintaining consistent tense throughout writing.
- Incorrect: He runs to school and arrived early.
- Correct: He runs to school and arrives early.
Examples in Sentences
- The students are writing essays about history. (progressive form)
- The temperature has risen significantly since morning. (present perfect)
- By next year, they will have completed the project. (future perfect)
Adjectives
What are Adjectives?
Adjectives describe or modify nouns and pronouns, providing details about their qualities, quantities, or states. They answer questions like “which one,” “what kind,” or “how many.”
Types of Adjectives
| Type | Function | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Descriptive Adjectives | Describe qualities or appearance | happy, tall, blue, intelligent, wooden |
| Quantitative Adjectives | Indicate quantity or amount | many, few, several, three, some |
| Demonstrative Adjectives | Point to specific items | this, that, these, those |
| Possessive Adjectives | Show ownership or relationship | my, your, his, her, its, our, their |
| Interrogative Adjectives | Used to ask questions | which, what, whose |
| Proper Adjectives | Derived from proper nouns | American, Shakespearean, Victorian |
| Articles | Specify or generalize nouns | a, an, the |
Degrees of Comparison
- Positive: The basic form of the adjective (tall, beautiful)
- Comparative: Compares two things (-er or more) (taller, more beautiful)
- Superlative: Compares three or more things (-est or most) (tallest, most beautiful)
Adjective Order
When using multiple adjectives, they typically follow this order:
- Opinion/quality (beautiful, interesting)
- Size (large, tiny)
- Age/condition (old, new, ancient)
- Shape (round, square)
- Color (blue, crimson)
- Origin (American, Japanese)
- Material (wooden, cotton)
- Purpose (writing as in “writing desk”)
Examples in Sentences
- The enthusiastic students completed their challenging assignments. (descriptive, possessive adjectives)
- Which three books do you need for this class? (interrogative, quantitative, demonstrative adjectives)
- She bought a beautiful antique Chinese vase. (article, descriptive, age, origin adjectives)
Adverbs
What are Adverbs?
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or entire sentences. They typically answer questions such as “how,” “when,” “where,” “why,” or “to what extent.”
Types of Adverbs
| Type | Function | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Adverbs of Manner | Describe how actions are performed | quickly, carefully, well, badly |
| Adverbs of Time | Indicate when actions occur | yesterday, soon, now, never, often |
| Adverbs of Place | Show where actions happen | here, there, everywhere, upstairs |
| Adverbs of Frequency | Show how often actions occur | always, usually, sometimes, rarely |
| Adverbs of Degree | Indicate intensity or extent | very, extremely, quite, almost |
| Interrogative Adverbs | Used to ask questions | when, where, why, how |
| Conjunctive Adverbs | Connect independent clauses | however, therefore, meanwhile |
Formation of Adverbs
- Many adverbs are formed by adding -ly to adjectives (quick → quickly)
- Some adverbs have the same form as their adjective counterparts (fast, hard, early)
- Some adverbs are irregular and don’t follow patterns (good → well)
Degrees of Comparison
- Positive: The base form (quickly, well)
- Comparative: Compares two actions (-er or more) (more quickly, better)
- Superlative: Compares three or more actions (-est or most) (most quickly, best)
Common Adverb Errors
- Adjective-Adverb Confusion: Using adjectives where adverbs are needed.
- Incorrect: He runs quick.
- Correct: He runs quickly.
- Double Negatives: Using two negative words to express a single negative idea.
- Incorrect: I don’t have no pencils.
- Correct: I don’t have any pencils.
- Misplaced Adverbs: Placing adverbs where they modify the wrong words.
- Unclear: She only spoke to three students. (Did she only speak to them, or did she speak to only three?)
- Clear: She spoke to only three students.
Examples in Sentences
- The student answered the question correctly. (adverb of manner)
- We never go to the cafeteria early. (adverbs of frequency and time)
- The class performed remarkably well on the test. (adverbs of degree and manner)
Prepositions
What are Prepositions?
Prepositions show relationships between nouns/pronouns and other words in a sentence. They indicate relationships of direction, place, time, cause, manner, or possession.
Common Prepositions
Simple Prepositions
- at, by, for, from, in
- of, off, on, out, to
- up, with, about, above
- across, after, against
- along, among, around
- before, behind, below
- beneath, beside, between
- beyond, during, except
- inside, like, near, over
- since, through, under
- until, unto, upon, without
Compound Prepositions
- according to
- ahead of
- apart from
- because of
- by means of
- in addition to
- in front of
- in place of
- in spite of
- instead of
- on account of
- out of
Functions of Prepositions
- Location or Place: The book is on the desk.
- Direction: They walked toward the school.
- Time: The meeting starts at 3:00 pm.
- Manner: She completed the task with care.
- Agent: The poem was written by Maya Angelou.
- Possession: The pages of the book were torn.
- Purpose: I bought this laptop for my studies.
Prepositional Phrases
A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition and its object (and sometimes modifiers). It functions as an adjective or adverb in a sentence.
- Adjectival Prepositional Phrase: The student with red hair won the contest. (modifies “student”)
- Adverbial Prepositional Phrase: They studied in the library. (modifies “studied”)
Common Preposition Errors
- Incorrect Preposition Usage: Using the wrong preposition.
- Incorrect: I’m different than my brother.
- Correct: I’m different from my brother.
- Ending Sentences with Prepositions: In formal English, avoiding this is traditional.
- Informal: Who did you talk to?
- Formal: To whom did you talk?
- Unnecessary Prepositions: Adding prepositions where they’re not needed.
- Incorrect: Where are you at?
- Correct: Where are you?
Examples in Sentences
- The students waited for the bus in front of the school. (simple and compound prepositions)
- The book on Shakespeare is on the shelf behind the desk. (prepositions showing location)
- During the storm, we stayed inside the building. (prepositions of time and place)
Conjunctions
What are Conjunctions?
Conjunctions connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences. They show relationships between elements and help create more complex sentence structures.
Types of Conjunctions
| Type | Function | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Coordinating Conjunctions | Connect elements of equal grammatical rank | and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so (Remember with acronym FANBOYS) |
| Subordinating Conjunctions | Connect dependent clauses to independent clauses | after, although, as, because, before, if, since, when, while, unless, until |
| Correlative Conjunctions | Pairs of conjunctions that work together | both…and, either…or, neither…nor, not only…but also, whether…or |
Conjunctive Adverbs
While technically adverbs, these words function similarly to conjunctions by connecting independent clauses:
- however, moreover, therefore, consequently, meanwhile, nonetheless, thus, furthermore, accordingly, besides, hence, instead, likewise
Common Conjunction Errors
- Comma Splice: Using a comma instead of a conjunction to join independent clauses.
- Incorrect: He finished his homework, he went to bed.
- Correct: He finished his homework, and he went to bed.
- Also correct: He finished his homework; he went to bed.
- Missing Comma with Coordinating Conjunction: When joining independent clauses.
- Incorrect: The students studied hard but they still found the test difficult.
- Correct: The students studied hard, but they still found the test difficult.
- Correlative Conjunction Agreement: Ensuring parallel structure.
- Incorrect: She not only likes math but also science is her favorite.
- Correct: She not only likes math but also loves science.
Examples in Sentences
- The students learned grammar and vocabulary. (coordinating conjunction joining nouns)
- Although it was raining, the field trip wasn’t canceled. (subordinating conjunction introducing dependent clause)
- Neither the teacher nor the students knew the answer to that question. (correlative conjunctions)
- The test was difficult; however, most students passed it. (conjunctive adverb)
Interjections
What are Interjections?
Interjections are words or phrases that express strong emotion or surprise. They are grammatically independent from the rest of the sentence and are often followed by exclamation marks.
Types of Interjections
| Category | Function | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Mild Interjections | Express moderate emotions | ah, eh, hmm, oh, well |
| Strong Interjections | Express intense emotions | wow, ouch, yikes, hurray, aha |
| Greetings/Farewells | Express salutations | hello, hi, goodbye, bye |
| Response Interjections | Express agreement or disagreement | yes, no, okay, sure, indeed |
| Sound Imitations | Mimic sounds | splash, bang, boom, meow, beep |
Using Interjections
- Punctuation: Mild interjections are followed by a comma; strong ones by an exclamation point.
- Placement: Usually at the beginning of sentences, but can appear in the middle or end.
- In Writing: More common in dialogue, informal writing, and creative writing; less common in academic or formal writing.
- In Speech: Help express emotions that might not be conveyed through words alone.
Examples in Sentences
- Wow! That was an impressive presentation.
- Oh, I didn’t realize you were waiting.
- The answer is correct. Bravo!
- Well, let’s think about this problem differently.
- We won the championship game, hurray!
Identifying Parts of Speech in Context
Strategies for Identifying Parts of Speech
- Function: Consider how the word functions in the sentence.
- Position: The position of a word can provide clues about its part of speech.
- Word Form: Look at suffixes and word endings (e.g., -ly often indicates adverbs).
- Substitution: Try substituting the word with another word of known part of speech.
- Questions: Ask questions about the word to determine its function.
Sample Analysis
Consider this sentence: The enthusiastic students quickly completed their challenging assignments in the library.
- The: Article (adjective) – identifies a specific noun
- enthusiastic: Adjective – describes the noun “students”
- students: Noun – names the people performing the action
- quickly: Adverb – describes how the action was performed
- completed: Verb – shows the action performed
- their: Possessive adjective – shows ownership
- challenging: Adjective – describes the noun “assignments”
- assignments: Noun – names the things being completed
- in: Preposition – shows relationship between assignments and library
- the: Article (adjective) – identifies a specific noun
- library: Noun – names the place where the action occurred
Practice Quiz: Parts of Speech
1. Identify the part of speech of the underlined word: The excited children played in the park.
2. Identify the part of speech of the underlined word: She quickly finished her test.
3. Identify the part of speech of the underlined word: They submitted their assignments on time.
4. Which of the following is NOT an adverb?
5. Identify the conjunction in this sentence: The students worked hard, but they still needed more time.
6. Which word in the following sentence is a preposition? “The book under the desk belongs to Maria.”
7. Identify the interjection in this sentence: “Wow! You received an excellent grade on your project.”
8. In the sentence “She is extremely intelligent,” what part of speech is “extremely”?