Definition of noun pronoun verb adverb adjective with examples

Do you remember those grammar classes where your teacher echoed the parts of speech? I’m sure you don’t. Or maybe you do. Whatever the case, parts of speech are an integral part of any language you study. They are to the language what the Warrens are to Conjuring!

Parts of speech are categories in which words with similar grammatical properties are classified. The English language has eight main parts of speech. This comprises of the noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. These indicate how a word functions in meaning as well as grammatically within a sentence. A single word can function as more than one part of speech when used in different contexts. It is important to understand parts of speech to ascertain the correct meaning of a sentence.

Let’s walk through them and recall our grammar lessons at school.

1. NOUN

A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea.

Example: Mary, China, table, joy, etc.

They are often used with an article (the, a, an). There are several different types of nouns such as common nouns, proper nouns, singular nouns, plural nouns, abstract nouns, concrete nouns, collective nouns, countable and uncountable nouns.

• Common noun — Common noun is the general name for a person, place, or thing. E.g. friends, movies, radio, etc.
• Proper noun — They identify a single entity and always start with a capital letter. This is not the case with common nouns. E.g. Turkey, Ravi, Microsoft, etc.
• Singular and Plural nouns — Nouns can be singular or plural, referring to one thing or many like. E.g. bee is a singular noun whereas its plural form, bees is a plural noun.
• Concrete noun — It refers to something that can be perceived through one of the five senses. For example, in the sentence, “He put the book on the table.”, the noun book is a concrete noun since one can touch it, see it, and maybe even smell it.
• Abstract noun — Abstract nouns are intangible ideas like happiness, anger, joy, liberty, etc.
• Collective noun — A collective noun describes a group of things. E.g. A flock of birds. The word “flock” is a collective noun here.
• Compound noun — A compound noun is something that is a combination of two words such as swimming pool, classmate, etc.
• Countable and Uncountable noun — Things that can be counted and things that cannot be counted fall under the countable and uncountable nouns category respectively. For example, six pencils, an apple, two dogs, etc. are countable nouns. Air, water, sand, etc. are uncountable nouns.

Nouns can function in various roles within a single sentence. It can be a subject, direct object, indirect object, etc.

2. PRONOUN

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun.

Example: She, he, we, they, etc.

There is often a specific pronoun for a specific noun, called its antecedent. For instance, “He ate apples.” In this sentence, the antecedent for the pronoun “he” is “the boy”.

Pronouns are further defined by the following type:

• Personal pronouns — They refer to specific persons or things such as I, me, we, us.
• Possessive pronouns — They indicate ownership or possession of something. For example, “my bag” or “the bag is mine” indicates the owner of the bag. “Our flat” is another example of a possessive pronoun.
• Reflexive pronouns — Reflexive pronouns are used to emphasize another noun or pronoun. They include myself, himself, herself, and themselves. An example of a reflexive pronoun is the expression “He kicked himself.”
• Reciprocal pronouns — Reciprocal pronouns are like reflexive pronouns, but they involve groups of two or more person, place, or thing that perform the same action as one another. There are only two reciprocal pronouns: each other (for groups of two) and one another (for larger groups).
• Relative pronouns — They introduce a subordinate clause; they start with a clause. Who, that, and which are all relative pronouns.
• Demonstrative pronouns — They identify, point to, or refer to nouns. This and that (for singular words), and these and those (for plural words) are the four demonstrative pronouns.
• Interrogative pronouns — They question. For example, in “Who are you?”, the interrogative pronoun starts the question. Who, whom, and whose (for questions that involve people), and which and what (for questions that involve things) are the five interrogative pronouns.
• Indefinite pronouns — They resemble personal pronouns. However, they do not refer to a particular person or thing. Examples of these include some, everyone, and anything.

3. VERB

A verb is an action word that expresses action or being.

Example: Sing, write, become, go, etc.

There are 3 main types of verbs. They are:

• Action verbs — Any verb that demonstrates an action is known as an action verb like walking, painting, etc. They can be transitive or intransitive.

1. Transitive verb — It is always followed by a noun that’s receiving the action, called the direct object. For e.g. I patted the cat’s head. The verb is “patted,” and the noun that’s receiving this action is “the cat’s head,” which is the direct object of the action verb.
2. Intransitive verb — When an action verb has no direct object, it’s called an intransitive verb. Intransitive verbs are often followed by an adverb or adverb phrase, but there will never be a direct object. Riya runs quickly away. The verb is “runs,” and the phrase “quickly away” gives more information about the verb, but there is no object here to receive the action.

• Modal verbs — Modal verbs help us understand more about the verb in question. Thus, they are also known as helping verbs. A sentence constitutes the main verb and sometimes one or more helping verbs. In the sentence, “She can draw,” draw is the main verb; can is the helping verb. Should, has, did, was, are some other examples of modal verbs.
• Auxiliary verb — Auxiliary verbs are also called linking verbs as they link a subject with its complement in the sentence. Complement is a word or words that describe the subject of a sentence. The food tastes great. In this sentence, “tastes” is the linking verb that joins the subject (pizza) with the adjective (great).

A verb must agree with its subject in number (either both are singular or both are plural). Verbs also take different forms to express tense.

4. ADJECTIVE

An adjective describes a noun or pronoun. Adjectives mostly answer questions like which one, what kind, or how many.

Example: Smart, old, pretty, etc.

• Adjectives are of the following types:
• Descriptive adjective — It describes nouns and pronouns. E.g. The hungry kids are crying.
• Quantitative adjective — It gives information about the number of nouns and pronouns. E.g. I have five pens.
• Demonstrative adjective — It is an adjective that directly refers to something or someone. An example of a demonstrative adjective is, these dolls are cute.
• Possessive adjective — A possessive adjective, much like a possessive pronoun indicates possession or ownership. Some common possessive adjectives are my, his, her, our, their, your.
• Interrogative adjective — An interrogative adjective asks a question. It must be followed by either a noun or a pronoun. For example, which app do you use? Other examples are: what and whose.
• Indefinite adjective — It describes or modifies a noun but unspecifically. An indefinite adjective provides indefinite information about the noun. Any, many, each, every, either, several, etc. are some commonly found indefinite adjectives.
• Article — Since articles modify the nouns, they are also adjectives. They determine the specification of nouns. While ‘a’ and ‘an’ refers to an unspecific noun, ‘the’ is used to refer to a specific noun.

5. ADVERB

Adverbs are words that describe a verb, an adjective, or even another adverb. Adverbs often end in -ly.

Example: Gently, beautifully, gently, well, etc.

It mainly answers the questions of when, where, how, why, among others.

There are five basic types of adverbs:

• Conjunctive adverbs — Conjunctive adverbs connect phrases or independent clauses. They are also known as connectors.
• Adverbs of time — It indicates the time or frequency of the action in a sentence. They answer the question ‘when or how frequently is the action performed?’. E.g. now, once, always, etc.
• Adverbs of place — Adverbs of place indicate a place. They can even explain the direction of the action. They provide an answer to the question ‘where is the action performed?’.
• Adverbs of manner — Adverbs of manner provide more information about a verb. They mainly answer the question ‘how the action is performed?’ They are the most common of all adverbs. They’re easy to spot too. Most of them will end in –ly. Examples include swiftly, slowly, kindly, etc.
• Adverbs of degree — Adverbs of degree indicate the level or the intensity of action, adjective, or even another adverb. Example of adverbs of degree: almost, quite, too, enough, just, hardly, etc.

6. PREPOSITION

Prepositions are words placed before a noun or pronoun to form a phrase.

Example: About, with, until, etc.

A preposition is always part of a prepositional phrase that functions as an adjective or as an adverb.

There are 5 types of prepositions:

• Prepositions for time — These are used to refer to time in different aspects. E.g. in, on, at, etc.
• Prepositions for place — They are used to give information about a place. E.g. in, at, on, etc.
• Prepositions for direction — These prepositions express the direction in a sentence. Into, through, to, towards are examples of prepositions for direction.
• Prepositions for agent — They are used to express a relationship between the noun and the verb. By, with, etc. are some examples.
• Prepositions for instruments — They are used to join nouns with other words. E.g. on, by, with the help of.

7. CONJUNCTION

A conjunction joins words, phrases, or clauses. It indicates the relationship between the elements joined.

Example: But, because, while, etc.

They are of 3 types:

• Coordinating conjunctions — They connect grammatically equal elements: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet.
• Subordinating conjunctions — They connect clauses that are not equal: because, although, while, since, etc.
• Correlative conjunctions — They work in pairs to join words or phrases that have equal importance in a sentence, like “either/or,” “such/that” and “not only/but also.”

8. INTERJECTION

An interjection is a word used to express emotion. It is a word used to express emotion. It is often followed by an exclamation point.

Example: Hey! Can you pass that ball?

Interjections are commonly categorized as follows:

• Interjection of joy — Hurray! Wow! Yippie!
• Interjection of surprise — Oh! Ah! What!
• Interjection of grief or pain — Alas! Ouch! What a pity!
• Interjection of approval — Bravo! Well done!
• Interjection of greeting — Hi! Hello! Hey!

These were the eight parts of speech the English language revolves around. They not only provide a structured understanding of the language but also helps you to be grammatically correct.

So, what you’re waiting for? Get Grammar Nazi. Just Kidding!