Parts of
speech
This presentation is full of facts and
activities to help you to revise the ‘parts
of speech’.
In speaking, reading and writing you
need to use the correct ‘parts of speech’
for your words to make sense and to be
understood.
The eight key parts of speech are: nouns, pronouns, verbs,
adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.
These are sometimes referred to as ‘word classes’.
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Parts of speech
adjectives
nouns
verbs
pronouns
imperative
verbs
adverbs
proper nouns
collective
nouns
preposition
conjunction
interjection
You will need a pen and some lined paper. Please click on a link to view the part
of speech that you would like to study.
adjectives
Adjectives are describing words that usually come before a noun
(the name of a person, place or thing).
Adjectives can describe a look, a mood or even a character.
Examples:
The old house had a lovely garden.
It was a cold day.
The beautiful dress cost £400!
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activity
The grumpy teenager stamped her feet.
The lazy man never did any work.
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answers
adjectives activity
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version
Task: re-write these sentences replacing the underlined word with
the most fitting word from the box below (or your own word) to
make these descriptive sentences more interesting.
1. Leeds is a nice city with a good night life.
2. Park Lane College is a good college with nice students.
3. Returning to study is a nice thing to do.
4. It can be nice to be able to sit and chat with friends.
5. It can be nice to go for long walks in the summer.
relaxing
pleasant
hard-working
clever
brilliant
vibrant
fantastic
lively
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friendly
challenging
rewarding
You can look up words using an
online dictionary such as
www.askoxford.com
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adjectives activity – type, print page & check.
Write an adjective in the boxes to make the
writing more interesting.
Salina thinks that George is a
George because of his
man. She likes to spend time with
personality. She thinks he is a
friend.
George likes Salina because she is a
George likes to watch
person. She makes him laugh.
movies with Salina, so that they have something
to talk about over dinner.
Adjectives you might use:
action
genuine
happy
confident
mean
interesting
kind
funny
documentary
boring
brilliant
angry
adjectives - answers
• Leeds is a vibrant city with a fantastic night life.
• Park Lane College is a friendly college with hard-working students.
• Returning to study is a rewarding thing to do.
• It can be pleasant to sit outside and chat with friends.
• It can be relaxing to go for long walks in the summer.
You may have used different words for your answers. This is just an example of
the selection you could have made. Ask your tutor to check your work.
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nouns
A noun is the name of something. A common noun is the name of a general
thing: ice cream, dog, cat and pen are all everyday nouns.
A concrete noun is something you can see, hear, smell feel or taste:
It was a very tasty pizza dripping with cheese, ham and pineapple.
It was a vanilla ice cream.
She wore a woolly cardigan.
An abstract noun is an idea, feeling or quality that you cannot touch. It is something
you cannot see, smell, touch or taste. For example: loneliness, politeness,
happiness, sadness, faith, courage, embarrassment, bitterness.
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You can look up words using an
online dictionary such as
www.askoxford.com
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answers
common and abstract
nouns activity
Activity one: look at this piece of writing.
“She had no more clean dishes, clean knives or clean forks.
Although she was not known for her tidiness, the house was unusually
messy today. Rather than do the cleaning and cook a meal, Bev
decided she would go out and get a takeaway. She had had too many
late nights and her tiredness was making it harder to cope with the
housework.”
Activity two: make a list of all the common nouns you see.
Activity three: make a list of all of the abstract nouns you
see. Do you notice anything about them?
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common and abstract
nouns - answers
“She had no more clean dishes, clean knives or clean forks.
Although she was not known for her tidiness, the house was
unusually messy today. Rather than do the cleaning and cook a meal,
Bev decided she would go out and get a takeaway. She had had too
many late nights and her tiredness was making it harder to cope
with the housework.”
Common nouns: dishes, knives, forks, house, takeaway,
housework, today, meal, nights
Abstract nouns: tidiness, tiredness
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turning adjectives into nouns
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turning adjectives into nouns
Adjectives: happy
forgetful
sad
weak
good
ready
tidy
She was a happy girl but she could also be a weak person.
(Happy and weak are used here to describe the girl’s character).
Activity: turn the adjectives in the box into nouns by adding
a –ness ending e.g. sadness.
Remember that when words end in ‘y’ you should change the
‘y’ into an ‘i’ e.g. readiness.
Extra activity: put two of these words into sentences of
your own.
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pronouns
When we write about people using their names over and over
again our writing can become boring.
For example:
Ali is great at hands-on work. Ali wants to get onto an
apprenticeship scheme to become an engineer. Ali works
very hard at school. Ali is doing well in his exams.
You can replace the name Ali with the word ‘he’ because the
reader now knows (after the first Ali) who you are talking
about.
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pronouns continued
The same piece of writing using the pronoun ‘he’:
Ali is great at hands-on work. He wants to get onto an
apprenticeship scheme to become an engineer. He
works very hard at school. He is doing well in his exams.
Personal pronouns:
it
he
she
they
I
we
Objective pronouns: me you her him it us you
you
them
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pronouns activity
Re-write the following sentences choosing the best
pronoun to replace the person / people being written
about.
1. Sharon is a brilliant swimmer. Sharon wants to compete professionally.
Sharon is a very fast swimmer.
2. Bob, Mat and Bev go to the pub a lot. Bob, Mat and Bev like to drink.
Bob, Mat and Bev are best friends and spend most nights together in their
local pub.
3. I like to go to the shops. Jane likes to go to the shops too. Jane and I
often go shopping together. Jane and I can spend a lot of money if Jane
and I are not careful.
Use either: I, we, they, you, it, he or she.
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proper nouns
• A proper noun is the name of something
unique.
• A proper noun could be the name of a person
or a place, for example:
James, Samera, Leeds, Bradford, Park Lane
College, England, Gregg’s, Cineworld and
Burger King.
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activity
proper nouns - activity
1.
2.
Draw a table like the one on the
right.
Look at the following nouns and
write them under the correct
heading.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Corn Exchange
shops
pool
Lightwaves
Tracy
college
biscuit
Park Lane
Jaffa Cakes
girl
Common
noun
Proper noun
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proper nouns – type, print and check
Common noun
Proper noun
The Corn Exchange
college
shops
biscuit
pool
Park Lane
Lightwaves
Jaffa Cakes
Tracy
girl
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proper nouns - answers
Common noun
Proper noun
Shops
The Corn Exchange
pool
Lightwaves
girl
Tracy
college
Park Lane
biscuit
Jaffa Cakes
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collective nouns
Collective nouns are used to show a collection of people or things
regarded as a unit. Common collective nouns are:
team
enemy
committee
group
clergy
family
company
flock
public
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activity on using
collective nouns
using collective nouns
When we use collective nouns we have to think about whether we are talking
about them as singular (one group as a whole e.g. the team is playing well…)
or plural (a group of people in a team = the team have been playing well).
For example:
The police are having trouble catching a gang of thieves
(‘are’ shows we are talking about more than one unit)
Her family is falling apart.
(We are talking about one family, this is singular and so we use ‘is’).
Activity: take the collective nouns ‘family’, ‘class’ and ‘company’ and write
sentences showing their meaning. Take care and discuss your sentences with
your tutor to get advice on your grammar if you are unsure about whether you
are using them as singular or plural nouns.
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verbs
Some verbs are action words:
Some verbs show feelings or states
and are there to act as links to add
description to a noun.
Explain
Instruct
Speak
Cook
Run
is
(he is boring)
am
(I am boring)
been (he has always been
boring)
was
(he was always told he
was boring)
have (I have always been
boring)
feel
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(I feel I have been boring
today)
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imperative verbs
Silence! Shut the door! Sit down!
Stir the rice. Light the fire.
Imperative verbs can be orders or commands.
These are words that tell you what to do.
Imperative verbs are often used in instructional
writing such as:
•Recipes
•Manuals
•Washing labels
•Medicine packets
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imperative verbs - activity
Write down all of the imperative verbs that you can
see in this recipe.
Method:
1. Fill a pan with cold water
2. Bring the water to the boil
3. Stir-fry the onion and garlic in a little oil
4. Place the pasta into the pan of boiling water – reduce the heat and allow
to simmer for ten minutes
5. Add the stir-fry vegetables to the wok and fry on a high heat for two
minutes
6. Remove the pasta from the heat, drain and empty onto the plates
7. Add the stir-fried vegetables and serve.
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imperative verbs - answers
Method:
1. Fill a pan with cold water
2. Bring the water to the boil
3. Stir-fry the onion and garlic in a little
oil
4. Place the pasta into the pan of
boiling water – reduce the heat and
simmer for ten minutes
5. Add the stir-fry vegetables to the
wok and fry on a high heat for two
minutes
6. Remove the pasta from the heat,
drain and empty onto the plates
7. Add the stir-fried vegetables and
serve.
Answers are in bold.
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adverbs
An adverb can tell us:
how something is
done, time, place,
cause or degree.
Adverbs often have an -’ly’ ending such
as:
•slowly (how)
•quickly (how)
•gently (how / manner)
An adverb can answer
questions such
as: "how," "when,"
"where," "how much".
•happily (manner)
•noisily (manner)
•lately (time)
•occasionally (how often)
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Hint: to check the meaning of an
adverb take off the ‘ly’ when looking
for the word in the dictionary
adverbs - activity
Activity: re-write these sentences using the best adverb from the box
below.
1. She spoke to the man so ____________ that she made him cry.
2. He sang so ___________ that all of the judges laughed.
3. The pan was balanced so ______________ close to the edge it was amazing
that it didn’t fall off.
4. They laughed ____________ at the comedian – because he was so bad!
5. Her hair was styled _____________.
6. Get ready _________ or you will miss the bus!
7. Come over here __________. The baby is asleep.
quietly
beautifully
harshly
dangerously
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terribly
uncontrollably
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adverbs (as conjunctions – joining words)
‘Instead,’ ‘although,’ ‘also,’ ‘otherwise,’ ‘still’ and ‘therefore’
are a few examples of adverbs that can be used to join
ideas together in your writing.
Examples of adverbs as conjunctions in sentences:
She did not have enough money for the dress; therefore she
chose a different outfit.
The fans waited patiently; finally the doors to the stadium were
opened.
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For additional work and online activities on prepositions visit:
http://www.englishpage.com/prepositions/location_prepositions_2.htm
prepositions
Prepositions can show time, direction and place.
Look at the table below for a few examples.
Time
Direction
Place
in
into
at
on
onto
next to
at
up
on
since
down
under
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prepositions
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prepositions - activity
Decide which preposition for direction should be used and re-write the following
sentences inserting the correct preposition.
1. Put the bowl of porridge ___________ the microwave.
2. Put the cup __________.
3. Could you pick the laundry _______ for me, please?
4. Take care as you skate ________ the ice.
5. Go _______ the garden and I will bring out some chairs.
6. Are you travelling ________ to London by car, train or coach?
For direction:
into
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onto
up
down
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prepositions - answers
•
Put the bowl of porridge into the
microwave.
•
Put the cup down.
•
Could you pick the laundry up for me,
please?
•
Take care as you skate onto the ice.
•
Go into the garden and I will bring out
some chairs.
•
Are you travelling down to London by car,
train or coach?
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conjunctions
Co-ordinating conjunctions can join two simple
sentences together. These form a ‘compound
Sentence’ which is made of two ideas that are equally
important.
Examples:
Co-ordinates:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
and
but
or
nor
for
so
yet
Simon likes tea, and Jan likes coffee.
Simon likes tea, but Jan likes coffee.
Will you go to the shops, or shall I go to the
shops?
You should go to the shops, so I don’t have to go
to the shops.
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conjunctions - activity
Join these simple sentences together to form ‘compound’
sentences using the best co-ordinating conjunction from the box
below.
1.
I like porridge. Sam likes a fried breakfast.
2.
Kevin watches Eastenders. I prefer to watch Coronation street.
3.
Abby loves Jim. Kirsty loves Jim too.
4.
Mohammed likes to paint. Pat enjoys painting.
5.
I enjoy watching movies. We could go to the pictures together.
6.
I do not like my flat. Simon says it’s nice.
and but or
nor
for
so yet
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conjunctions task
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‘parts of speech’
conjunctions – type, print & check
1.
Retype the sentences joining the two simple sentences with the best word from the box
below.
I like porridge. Sam likes a fried breakfast.
Kevin watches Eastenders. I prefer to watch Coronation street.
Abby loves Jim. Kirsty loves Jim too.
Mohammed likes to paint. Pat enjoys painting.
and but or
nor
for
so yet
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conjunctions – sample answers
1. I like porridge, but Sam likes a fried breakfast.
2. Kevin watches Eastenders, but I prefer to watch Coronation
street.
3. Abby loves Jim, but Kirsty loves Jim too.
4. Mohammed likes to paint, and Pat enjoys painting.
5. I enjoy watching movies, so we could go to the pictures
6.
together.
7. I do not like my flat, yet Simon says it’s nice.
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interjections
Interjections are nearly always used at the start of a sentence - they are there to show
emotion and to grab your attention.
Common interjections include:
wow, ouch, oops, hey, watch, oh, yes, no,
move, stop, help… they are usually followed by an
exclamation mark!
“Oh, you’re coming too?
Wow! That’s a surprise.”
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