In grammar there are eight parts of speech which are divided into four major parts and four minor parts. Other than speech is a category assigned to a word or a phrase. The four main parts of speech are noun, adjective, adverb, and verb. In English, a word can be more than one part of speech depending on how it is used.
A noun is a word used to name a person (Nicolás), a place (Guatemala), a thing (television), a quality (beauty), an action (flight), or an idea (mercy). There are several different types of nouns, including proper nouns, common nouns, and abstract nouns. Proper nouns are used to name specific people, places, or things and are capitalized. Dawn Williams, Dawson City, and the Golden Gate Bridge are examples of proper names. Common nouns refer to all nouns that are not proper and are not capitalized. Abstract nouns name ideas, qualities, and other intangibles. Some of these include words like fear, happiness, and honesty.
Adjectives are words that describe, modify, or qualify a noun or pronoun. An adjective tells us how many, what kind or which. In the following sentences, the words in italics are examples of adjectives.
“Jordan gave his mother the silver bracelet for her birthday.” (What type?)
“There were thirty coats for sale in his store.” (How much?)
“Of the sisters, Sarah was the oldest.” (Which?)
Adjectives can also change form by adding -er or -est to the end of if they are preceded by “more” or “most”. The easiest way to find an adjective is to find the word that describes the noun. Articles are also considered adjectives. There are two different types of articles and they are: definite (el) and indefinite (a, an).
Verbs are words that describe an action (walk, jump, think) or a state of being (become, be, seem). A complete verb is made up of the main verb and auxiliary verbs that may or may not be used with it. The most frequently used auxiliary verbs are called the nine models which are could, should, could, could, may, shall, will, must, and can. These models express how the writer feels about the verb. They give the verb a sense of urgency or obligation. Each verb has five forms which include; base form (walk), past tense (walked), past participle (I have walked), present tense (he/she/it walks) and present participle (I am walking).
Adverbs modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb. To find out which words in a sentence are adverbs, ask yourself when, where, how, why, under what circumstances, and to what extent, since the answers to all of these questions are, in fact, adverbs. The italicized words in the following sentences are all adverbs.
“She walked near her house.” (Where?)
“She walked yesterday morning.” (When?)
“He walked carefully.” (How?)
“She walked because she needed to go to work.” (Why?)
“She walked while feeling sad.” (Under what circumstances?)
“He walked very carefully through the snow.” (Up to what point?)
Another way to recognize an adverb is to look for words that end with the suffix -LY. Most of these adverbs are created by ending -LY at the end of an adjective. Some examples of this are slowly (slow), aggressively (aggressive), and desperately (hopelessly).
The four main parts of speech are found in any good writing. Learning to use them correctly is the best way to ensure that you will understand them when you come across each part while reading or writing.