Parts of Speech
Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Adjective,
Adverb, Conjunction, Article,
Preposition, Interjection
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Opening Tip
The best way to identify a word’s part of
speech is to consider what the word means.
Next, look at the word in its context and decide
what that word means in conjunction with
other words.
I want you to know these terms only insofar as
I will be referring to them when I speak about
writing; this is not a linguistics course.
I am hoping this will all be review for you….
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Noun
Person, place, thing or idea
E.g.: sailor, Edmonton, chair, love
Noun test: Nouns can be made into plural
and possessive forms
In sentences, nouns represent “things”
that “do” (“doing” is represented by
verbs)
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Noun Types
Common noun: the basic category of
nouns: general things or groups of things.
E.g., dog, fruit, height, thought
Proper noun: A name (must be
capitalized). E.g., Edmonton, Dave
Chapelle, Asia
Collective noun: Noun that represents a
group of things but is still considered
“singular.” E.g., group, team, herd
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Noun Types (cont.)
Count noun: Noun that represents things
that can be counted and therefore has a
plural form. E.g., one pen, three pens
Non-count noun: Noun that represents
things that cannot be counted and
therefore do not have plural forms. E.g.,
flour, traffic, hopelessness, meat
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Noun Cases
In English, nouns have three forms
(cases): singular, plural and
possessive
Singular is the regular form. E.g., dog,
dish, sheep, ox
Plural (more than one): add -s or -es to
the end. E.g., dog dogs; dish  dishes
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Noun cases (cont.)
Some nouns have irregular plurals. E.g.,
plural of sheep = sheep; plural of ox =
oxen
Non-count nouns tend not to have plurals
(they are always singular). E.g. hope 
hopes (WRONG)
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Noun cases (cont.)
Possessive (ownership): Both singular
and plural nouns can have possessive
cases.
Form the possessive of a singular noun by
adding -’s to the end. E.g., dog  dog’s
Form the possessive of a plural noun by
adding -’. E.g., dogs  dogs’
Note: The apostrophe is not optional.
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Pronoun
A substitute for a noun.
Sometimes the substitute is implied.
Other times, the substitute is explicit.
The noun that the pronoun substitutes is
called that pronoun’s antecedent. An
antecedent is usually explicit but can be
implicit.
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Pronoun (cont.)
E.g., I am going for lunch with Jane. She
is my former supervisor.
I does not have an explicit antecedent.
The person who is speaking calls himself
or herself I (whom the reader may or may
not know).
She is a pronoun that replaces Jane.
Jane is the (explicit) antecedent for she.
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Pronoun types
There are an alarming number of pronoun
types. Start with these for now.
1. Personal pronoun: substitute for a specific
person or thing. English has four cases of
pronouns: subjective (I, you, he, she, it,
we, you, they), objective (me, you, him,
her, it, us, them, you), possessive (my,
your, his, her, our, their), and reflexive
(myself, yourself, herself, etc.)
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Pronoun types (cont.)
E.g., He saw me. I saw him. They saw
her. She saw them. It saw you. You saw
it. (all subjective or objective pronouns)
E.g., Her dog ate his homework. Their
dog ate your homework.
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Pronoun types (cont.)
Relative pronouns introduce adjective
clauses. They refer to the noun (or even
pronoun) that the clause modifies (we will
talk about adjectives and clauses soon….)
The relative pronouns are who, whom,
which, that, whose.
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Pronoun types (cont.)
E.g., The dog that ate my homework
lives next door. My neighbour, who is a
close friend, apologized.
The antecedent of that is the dog. The
antecedent of who is my neighbour.
The relative pronouns save you from
having to write this:
The dog ate my homework. The dog lives
next door. My neighbour apologized. My
neighbour is a close friend.
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Verb
A word that denotes action (or a state of
being.)
E.g., I went for lunch with Jane. She is
my former supervisor.
Verbs also help indicate time. The
different verb tenses communicate when
actions occur. E.g. swim, swam, swum.
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Verb (continued)
A verb has several conjugated forms.
E.g., be =am, is, are, was, were, been,
being = conjugated
In many verb tenses, the conjugated form
has two or more words. In those tenses,
all the words must be present to be
complete (and correct).
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Verbs (cont.)
E.g., I am going for lunch with Jane. I
have seen my friend’s car.
WRONG E.g., I am for lunch with Jane. I
seen my friend’s car.
WRONG E.g. I going for lunch with Jane.
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Adjective
Modifier of a noun or pronoun
Adjectives specify the characteristics of a
noun or pronoun.
E.g., black dog, gentle giant,
concentrated formula, homeopathic
cure
E.g., She is my former supervisor.
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Adverb
Modifies or specifies the nature of a verb,
adjective, adverb or clause.
Adverbs give information about the time,
place, reason and manner of an action.
Adverbs are the “adjectives” for verbs.
But they also modify adjectives, other
verbs, or even clauses.
Tip: Many adverbs end with “ly”
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Adverb
E.g., The dog quickly ate my homework.
E.g., The very rude dog ate my
homework.
E.g., The dog ate my homework quickly.
Adverb test: adverbs that modify verbs,
phrases or clauses can occur in several
places in a sentence.
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Adverb types
Of particular interest are the conjunctive
adverbs: they function like coordinating
conjunctions (see upcoming), but they are
not really conjunctions because they can
move around in a sentence.
E.g., The man likes dogs; however, he also like cats.
E.g., The man likes dogs; he also likes cats,
however.
E.g., The man likes dogs; he also, however, likes
cats.
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Adverb types (cont.)
Conjunctive adverbs are not punctuated like
coordinate conjunctions.
E.g., Moby is an interesting musician, but he
is not as interesting as Miles Davis.
WRONG E.g., The man likes dogs, however
he also like cats.
CORRECTED: The man likes dogs; however,
he also likes cats.
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Adverb types (cont.)
Some conjunctive adverbs:
accordingly, also, besides, consequently,
finally, furthermore, hence, however,
moreover, nevertheless, now, still,
subsequently, then, therefore, thus
Distinguishing conjunctive adverbs from
conjunctions will help you avoid run-on
sentences and improper punctuation.
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Conjunction
A word that joins words or word groups
The conjunction’s meaning specifies what
relationship exists between the words or
word groups it joins.
FYI: Improper conjunction use leads to
many writing problems.
There are three types of conjunctions:
coordinating, subordinating and
correlative.
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Conjunction types
A coordinating conjunction indicates
that connected words or ideas are equal
in importance.
There are only seven of them: FANBOYS
(for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).
E.g., Moby is an interesting musician, but
he is not as interesting as Miles Davis.
E.g., I like coffee and tea.
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Conjunction types (cont.)
A subordinating conjunction indicates
that one group of words (or an idea)
depends on another group of words (or
an idea) for a sentence to make sense.
Some common subordinating
conjunctions:
after, although, as, as if, because, before,
even though, if, in order that, once, since,
so that, than, that, though, unless, until,
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when, where, whether, while
Conjunction types (cont.)
Subordinating conjunctions connect
subordinate (dependent) clauses to main
(independent) clauses (more on these
later….)
E.g., If you look in your mailbox, you may
find some mail.
We decided to walk because we missed
the bus.
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Conjunction types (cont.)
Correlative conjunctions present pairs
(showing choice or absence of choice).
Two words always make up correlative
conjunctions (so as to highlight the
options): both-and, either-or, neither-nor,
not only-but also. (You need both words).
E.g., Either I will meet you at home, or I
will meet you at the theatre.
E.g., Both Phil and Morris will meet us.
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Article
An article precedes a noun and indicates the
specificity of the noun.
The = definitive (indicate the noun is a
specific or recognizable individual)
A/an =indefinite (indicates the noun is meant
to refer to a general group or to something
not before encountered).
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Article (cont.)
E.g., The dog is eating my homework. (The
speaker means a specific dog--knows the
dog).
E.g., A dog is eating my homework. (The
speaker does not know the dog.)
E.g. An annoying dog is eating my homework.
(Use “an” before vowels or unvoiced “h”).
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Article (cont.)
Plural nouns that in their singular form would
take the indefinite article take no article at all.
E.g., The dogs are eating my homework. (A
group of known dogs, perhaps belonging to a
neighbour)
E.g., Dogs are eating my homework. (A pack
of unknown dogs have converged upon the
homework.)
FYI: Some words have irregular usage in this
regard.
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Preposition
a word that connects nouns or pronouns
to other words
Don’t confuse prepositions with
conjunctions (though they have similar
“connecting” functions): prepositions deal
with nouns and pronouns
Some prepositions: about, above, at, by,
during, for, in, into, of, off, on, to, toward,
with, within
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Preposition (cont.)
E.g., A prepositional phrase ends with a
noun or pronoun.
E.g., In one gulp, the dog ate my
homework.
Unfortunately, some prepositions double
as subordinating conjunctions….
E.g., I never wake up before 7 o’clock.
E.g., Before you go to bed, feed the dog.
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Interjection
a word or group of words that expresses
emotion
E.g., alas, oh, gosh, ouch.
Punctuate them like sentences or initial
adverbs.
E.g., Gosh! I didn’t know that
E.g., Oh, I didn’t know that.
PS: Formal writing rarely uses these.
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Conclusion
To write well, you must have a good
grasp of these terms..
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