Parts of Speech in English | Parts of Speech Definitions And Examples

Parts of Speech Definitions And Examples Parts of Speech in English 8 Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech in English Grammar today we are going back to basics we are looking at the building blocks of spoken English I'm going to be talking to you about the eight parts of speech every single word you say has a role within a sentence every single word is a part of speech

Today we're going to be breaking it down and looking at each one it makes up nearly everything that we say in English so we might as well get it right from the very beginning

If you want you can watch the 8 part of speech video also in down blow with full definitions and examples by English with lucy

Parts of Speech in English Definitions And Examples

Every word you say has a role in a sentence. Every word is a part of speech. Today we are going to take a closer look at these 8 parts of speech that make up nearly everything we say in English.

•  Parts of Speech

They are 8

1. Noun
2. Pronouns
3. Adjectives
4. Verbs
5. Adverbs
6. Prepositions
7. Conjunctions
8.  Articles

1 Noun

These are the bread and butter of our speech. It’s funny because ‘bread’ and ‘butter’ are both nouns! A noun is a word that names something, such as a person, place, thing, or idea

In a sentence, nouns can play the role of:

• subject
• indirect object
• direct object
• subject complement
• object complement
• appositive
• adjective

Nouns can name people:

• A girl
• Taylor Swift
• My dad

Nouns can name a place:

• A mountain
• Spain
• The kitchen

Nouns can also name things, concepts, activities, ideas, or processes:

• Love
• Rugby
• Shorts
• Knowledge

2 Pronouns

A pronoun is a word that is used instead of a noun or noun phrase. You use them when the reader or listener knows which specific noun you’re referring to. If I tell a story about my fiancé William, it will get so boring and repetitive if I keep saying William over and over again! Look at this example WITHOUT pronouns:

• William is my fiancé. William is extremely tall. William told me that William wants to marry me.

Now look at this example WITH pronouns:

• William is my fiancé. He’s extremely tall. He told me that he wants to marry me.

There are quite a few different types of pronouns, and some pronouns are found in more than one category. Here are some of the most common:

Personal pronouns

.I      .her    .we

.me   .he    .why

.you   .him    .them

.she    .us   

Demonstrative pronouns

• that
• this
• these
• those

We also have indefinite pronouns, used when you need to refer to a person or thing that doesn’t need to be specifically identified. For example:

.one    .anybody

.other  .nobody

.everybody 

• Everybody loves my homemade brownies! 
• Some love marmite, others hate it!

Interrogative pronouns 

• who
• what
• which
• whose

Progressive pronouns 

• my
• your
• their
• whose

Reflexive and intensive pronouns

• myself
• yourself
• themselves

Relative pronouns

• whom
• what
• which

3 Adjectives

Adjectives are the words that describe nouns. An adjective can go right before the noun it’s describing (I have an orange cat), but it doesn’t have to (my cat is orange).

Adjective order:

• Opinion

ugly, beautiful

• Size

big, small

• Physical quality

neat, rough

• Shape

round, square

• Age

old, new

• Colour

pink, orange

• Origin

Egyptian, Japanese

• Material

plastic, leather

• Type

unisex, three-legged

• Purpose

cooking, sewing

4 Verbs

Listen to me! Write what you hear! Learn to speak! These were all amazing examples of verbs. Verbs are words that describe actions.

Dynamic or action verbs refer to literal actions such as walking, running, talking. Stative verbs refer to feelings and states like to love, to be, to think.

Auxiliary verbs are used in English to change another verb’s tense, mood, or voice. This is why they are often referred to as ‘helping verbs’. The main auxiliary verbs are:

• be
• have
• do 

We also have modal auxiliary verbs, which are added to another verb to show: capability, possibility, or necessity. Some common examples are:

.may  .should

.might  .shall

.must   .would

.can     .will

.could   .ought

I should also mention phrasal verbs! These are phrases that act as a single verb, usually consisting of a verb and a preposition.

5 Adverbs

An adverb is a word that describes an adjective, a verb, or another adverb, or even a sentence

• I gently lifted him out of bed. (verb)
• He is more interesting than you. (adjective)
• That is an unusually tall tree. (adjective)
• Unfortunately, we had already left. (sentence)

6 Prepositions

A preposition is a word that tells you when or where something is in relation to something else.

• I put my bag on the table.
• I sat beside the wall.
• My birthday is on Monday.

Remember you can end a sentence with a preposition! Although be careful in formal writing or speech

7 Conjunctions

A conjunction is a word that is used to connect clauses, sentences, or words together.

Coordinating conjunctions allow us to join words, phrases, and clauses of equal rank. When remembering coordinating conjunctions, think of FANBOYS!

For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So

• I had a terrible headache. I still went to school.
• I had a terrible headache but I still went to school.

Correlative conjunctions are pairs that work together for example:

• either and or
• neither and nor

Take a look at this example:

• I want either the beef or the turkey roast.

Subordinating conjunctions join dependent and independent clauses together. Common subordinating conjunctions are:

.because   .as           .while/whilst

.since        .although   .whereas

                  .though

 

An example:

• I ate dinner because I was hungry.
• I drove while talking on the phone.

8 Articles

Finally, we have the articles! The definite article is the word 'the'. It limits the meaning of a noun to one particular thing. For example:

• Give me the ticket.

The indefinite article is either 'a' or 'an'. It is 'a' when it precedes a word that begins with a consonant, and 'an' when it precedes a word that starts with a vowel! The indefinite article indicates that a noun refers to a general idea rather than a particular thing!

• Can you pass me an apple?
• Should I bring a bottle of wine?

Video For Parts of Speech in English From English With Lucy

Parts of Speech in English Grammar With Examples

Parts of Speech Video Transcription

Parts of Speech 1 Noun

right let's get started with the lesson let's talk about the first part of the speech in my opinion the most important nouns are the bread and butter of our speech which is ironic

because bread and butter are both nouns a noun is something that names something such as a person an idea or a thing in a sentence a noun can play the role of a subject an indirect object a direct object a subject complement an object complement and a positive or an adjective there are so many different types of nouns they can name people such as a girl Taylor swift my dad they can name a place a mountain Spain the kitchen they can also name things activities concepts processes ideas such as love rugby shorts knowledge

I actually have a video on the 100 most important nouns in British English I will link to that video in the description box it's quite a good one if you want to quickly acquire a lot of vocabulary

Parts of Speech 2 Pronouns

let's move on to the second part of speech pronouns a pronoun is a word that's used instead of a noun or a noun phrase you use them when the reader or listener already knows the specific noun that you're referring to if I tell a story for example about my fiancee William it will get so boring and repetitive 

if I just say the noun, William, over and over again let's try let's see how it sounds William is my fiancee William is extremely tall William told me that William wants to marry me it makes me sound obsessed and weird, to be honest, and very repetitive

let's try it with a lovely pronoun instead William's my fiance he's very tall he told me he wants to marry me it sounds a little better less obsessive less boring now there are quite a few different types of pronouns and some pronouns are found in more than one category I will present you with some of the most common we have the personal pronouns

I Me You She Her He Him Us We They Them we also have the demonstrative pronouns I love the word demonstrative it sounds posh they are that this these and those we also have indefinite pronouns and these are used when the person or thing doesn't need to be specifically identified for example one other everybody anybody nobody

an example everybody loves my homemade brownies or some love marmite others hate it other types include interrogative pronouns like who what which and whose progressive pronouns like my you're their whose reflexive and intensive pronouns like myself yourself themselves and relative pronouns like whom what which

Parts of Speech 3 Adjectives

let's move on to part of speech number three adjectives these might be my favorite actually these are the words that describe nouns an adjective can go right before the noun it's describing,

for example, my orange cat but it doesn't have to for example my cat is orange now one of the most important things that you can learn when it comes to adjectives is adjective order I feel like this is a sneaky secret that's like the key to fluency only certain people know about this and once they learn it they're like oh my word it's so secret that many native speakers don't even know they're using it but when you present them with this information they are blown away because everyone follows the same order without even thinking about it

we're not taught this in school I made a video all about this again I will link it in the description box but I'll give you a quick summary from one to ten the order in which we naturally say adjectives number one opinion ugly beautiful number two size big tall number three physical quality neat rough four shapes,

for example, round or square number five age-old new number six color pink orange number seven origin Egyptian Japanese eight material plastic leather nine types unisex four-legged

for example and number ten purpose sewing cooking for example so I would talk about my beautiful brown leather suitcase or my big black Indian cooking pot I've got a little homework task for you using what you've just learned there I would like you to write three sentences using the correct adjective order describing three things that you can see from where you are right now please put that in the comment section

Parts of Speech 4 Verbs

okay part of speech number four verbs listen to me write what you hear learn to speak everything that is in bold here is a verb we use them all the time verbs are words that describe actions we have dynamic or action verbs that describe literal actions like walking running singing

we also have stative verbs that refer to feelings and states like to love to think to feel auxiliary verbs are used in English to change another verbs mood voice or tense this is why they're referred to as helping verbs the main auxiliary verbs are behaved and do

we also have modal auxiliary verbs commonly called modals or modal verbs these are a big pain point for many students learning English because they're so annoying they are annoying modals that are added to another verb to show capability or possibility or necessity as well as common

examples are may might must can could should and shall and would and will ah ought is also an important one too I made a video a very very long time ago about modal verbs so you can click on it to laugh about how young I was I think I was 21. yeah I was 21 when I started teaching English on youtube and I am now 27 can you believe that

and by the time this video comes out I will be married I'm not married right now um but yes my wedding hopefully will have passed I will put a link to that modals video in the description box but maybe that's something I ought modal verb to recreate soon let me know if you'd like a video about modal verbs

one last part of this segment phrasal verbs I hear you groan I've heard you all grown everyone seems to find phrasal verbs so annoying and they are they're really really frustrating but I really enjoy teaching them these are phrases that act as a single verb they usually consist of a verb and a preposition I have made so many videos over the years about phrasal verbs I'll list a few of my favorites in the description box down below as well

Parts of Speech 5 Adverbs

right number five let's talk about adverbs an adverb is a word that describes an adjective a verbs another adverb or even a sentence have a look at these

examples I gently lifted him out of bed here the adverb is describing the verb he is more interesting than you that is an unusually tall tree there the adverb is describing the adjective, unfortunately, we had already left unfortunately the adverb is describing the whole sentence

Parts of Speech 6 Prepositions

okay let's move on to prepositions another topic that learners of English tend to find quite tricky a preposition is a word that tells you when or where something is in relation to something else it tells you the relationship between words in a sentence I put my bag on the table I sat beside the wall my birthday is on Monday now let's take this opportunity to bust a myth I hate this myth so much it annoys me all the time I have lots of students

and viewers in my comment section telling me off because they've been mistaught about this myth by their teachers some people are adamant that you should never end a sentence with a preposition and they are wrong and teachers say this and it bugs me what do you think sounds more natural where do you come from or from where do you come it sounds beautiful

for a game of thrones where do you come from being a preposition at the end of a sentence sounds absolutely fine that's where you went to what else am I meant to say that is to where you went no an example are you going to the party I don't know who I'm going with you could say I don't know with whom I'm going but it's just too formal so yes there are many occasions when using a preposition to end a sentence is wrong especially in formal writing or formal speech don't let pedance make you scared to speak

Parts of Speech 7 Conjunctions

part of speech number seven conjunctions a conjunction is a word that's used to connect clauses sentences or words together firstly let's look at coordinating conjunctions they allow us to join words phrases or clauses of equal rank the most common coordinating conjunctions are fanboys no literally for and nor but or yet so fanboys that's a great way to remember them here we have two sentences or clauses of equal rank I had a terrible headache

I still went to school we can join them together with a coordinating clause I had a terrible headache but I still went to school we also have correlative conjunctions these are pairs that work together like either and or neither and nor I want either the beef or the turkey roast there are also subordinating conjunctions which join a dependent and an independent clause common subordinating conjunctions are because since as although though while or whilst and whereas I ate dinner because I was hungry I drove while talking on the phone

Parts of Speech 8 Articles

finally, we have number eight the eighth part of speech the articles very important part of speech the definite article is the word it limits the meaning of a noun to one particular thing give me the ticket I am talking about a specific ticket that both of us know about the ticket, not a ticket, not another ticket the indefinite article is a or it is uh when it precedes a word that begins with a consonant

or it is an or un when it precedes a word that begins with a vowel the indefinite article indicates that a noun refers to a general thing a general idea rather than a specific thing can you pass me an apple note that I said an because it starts with a vowel sound should I bring a bottle of wine tonight not the bottle of wine should I bring the bottle of wine implies that it's a very special bottle of wine that we both know about no a bottle of wine any bottle of wine

right that is it for my lesson on the eight parts of speech I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you learned something 

Source By English With Lucy