PARTS OF SPEECH

PARTS OF SPEECH

There are thousands of words in any language. But not all words have the same job. To make a sentence words are needed. There can be maximum eight types of words to make a sentence.

ü       Noun

ü       Pronoun

ü       Verbs

ü       Adjective

ü       Adverb

ü       Preposition

ü       Conjunctions

ü       Interjections

1.          NOUN:          A noun is a word used to refer to people, animals, objects, substances, states, events and feelings. Nouns can be a subject or an object of a verb, can be modified by an adjective and can take an article or determiner. (Example:           Ali likes to eat spinach) (Ali showed up for work two hours late)

Nouns may be divided into following kinds:-

a.         Common Noun:        Refers to a class of people, places and things (Example: Boy, Table,
                                    City, and Country)

b.         Proper Noun:            Used to name a particular person or a place. It always begins with a
                                    capital letter (Example: Allama Iqbal, Karachi, Atlantic Ocean)

c.         Concrete Noun:        A noun that names a material or tangible object or phenomenon-
                                    something recognizable through the senses. A concrete noun also
                                    names things that can be measured or perceived with the aid of
                                    technical devices, we cannot see, smell or taste them but they can be
                                    measured (Example: smell, breeze, oxygen)

d.         Abstract Noun:         A noun that names an idea, event, quality, or concept (Example:
                                                depression, happiness, intellect, courage, freedom)

e.         Compound Noun:     Two or more nouns combined to form a single noun. Compound
                                    nouns are written as separate words as words linked by a hyphen or as
                                    one word (Example: grapefruit juice, sister-in-law, schoolteacher)

f.          Collective Noun:       A noun that refers to a collection of individuals. (Example: team,
                                                family, public)

2.         PRONOUN: A word that takes the place of a noun. Thus a pronoun refers to persons, places, things or ideas without renaming them. (Example: Ali was studying for the mid-term exam when he realized that it was three o’clock in the morning). There are seven important kinds of pronouns:           

a.         Personal:                    A pronoun that refers to a particular person, group, or thing.
                                                (Example: I, me, my, mine - we, us, our, ours - you, your, yours - he,                                               she, it, him, her, his, hers, its - they, them, their, theirs)

 

b.         Interrogative:             A pronoun that introduces a question (Example: who, whom. Which,                                             what and whose)

c.         Demonstrative:         Point out the individual or the group that is being referred to. There are                                            four demonstrative pronouns: (Example: this, that, these and those)

d.         Indefinite:                  Refer to people, places or things in general.(Example: All, another,
                                                any, both, each, either, little, enough, either, none, plenty, some, much,                                            less, more, most, a few, many, nothing, several)

e.         Relative:                     Introduce adjective clauses which modify nouns and pronouns
                                                (Example: that, who, whom, whose, which)

f.          Intensive:                   These are the same words as the reflexive pronouns, but they draw
                                                special attention to a person or a thing mentioned the sentence.

g.         Reflexive:                   Formed with the suffixes-self or selves. The most common use of the                                               reflexive pronoun is an object that reflects back to the subject
                                                (Example:  He hurt himself. I my self invited trouble.)

3.         VERBS:          The part of speech that describes an action or occurrence or indicates a state of being. The verb expresses an action or a state of mind

a.         Action Verbs:            These describe the behavior or reaction of someone or something.
                                                Action verbs may represent physical actions or mental activities.

b.         Linking Verbs:          A linking verb connects a noun/pronoun with words that
                                                identify/describe that noun/pronoun. Many linking verbs are verbs of                                              being which are formed from the infinitive

c.         Auxiliary Verbs:        Two or more words may be joined together into a single verb phrase
                                                that functions as the full verb. The auxiliary verb acts as a helping verb                                            to the lexical verb or main verb.

d.         Lexical Verbs:           The lexical verb carried the chief burden of semantic content. It
                                                comes after the auxiliary verbs

e.         Transitive Verbs:      A verb is ‘transitive’ when its action is directed toward someone or
                                                something, which is the object of the verb. (Example: The wind
                                                slammed the door shut)

4.         ADJECTIVE:             An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or a pronoun. An adjective usually answers one for the three questions. Which? What kind? Or How many? Adjectives usually appear directly before the nouns or pronouns that they modify. Sometimes a comma separates adjectives from the words that they modify

Which color?                           Yellow color

What kind of loan                    G.P. Fund advance

How Many?                             More than a hundred

 

5.         ADVERB:      An adverb is a word used to modify a verb an adjective or another adverb. An adverb answers one of the five questions about the word or phrase that it modifies

How--------------- Talks fluently.

When ------------- very late/early

Where------------- children ran ahead

How often--------- usually read the newspaper

To what extent------------ was actually expecting

 

6.         PREPOSITION:       A preposition is a word that expresses a relationship between a noun or a pronoun and another word is a sentence. The following list contains the prepositions that are used most frequently:

Along, among, around, at before, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, between, beyond, despite, down, during, except, for from, in near, off, on, into, out, outside, over, past, since, through, till, to, towards, under, underneath, until, up, upon, with, within, without

A compound preposition is a preposition that consist of more than one word.

According to, in regard to, aside room, as of, as well as, because of, in addition to, in front of

7.         CONJUNCTIONS:  A conjunction is a word that connects words or groups of words. The word conjunction literally means the act of joining or combination. There are three kinds of conjunctions

a.         Coordinating conjunctions: A coordinating conjunction connects individual words or
                                                            groups  of words that perform the same function in a sentence.                                                          (and, but, for, nor, or, yet)

b.         Correlative conjunctions:     A correlative conjunction is a conjunction that consists of two                                                          or more words that function together. Like coordinating
                                                            conjunctions, correlative conjunctions connect words that
                                                            perform that perform equal functions in a sentence. (both-----                                                           and, either----- or, neither----- nor)

c.         Subordinating conjunctions: A subordinating conjunction introduces a subordinate clause,                                                           which is a clause that cannot stand by itself as a complete
                                                             sentence. A subordinating conjunction connects a
                                                             subordinate clause to an independent clause, which can stand                                                           by itself as a complete sentence

8.         INTERJECTIONS:  An interjection is an exclamatory world or phrase that can stand by itself, although it may also appear in a sentence. Many interjections express strong emotions. They are followed by exclamation marks (Example: My goodness!, Stop!, Hurrah, Alas)