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Name______________________________________________ Date: __________ Period____
Parts of Speech Packet
Part I: Interjections
• An interjection is a word that expresses a feeling or emotion and functions independently in a sentence.
• Examples of interjections are Oh no, alas, hey, ouch, wow.
• Interjections are seldom used in formal writing.
• Ouch! I am never going to give blood again. OR I wanted to do well on this test, but alas, I failed.
Put a line through the interjection in the following sentences. There may not be on in each sentence.
1. Without a new contract, the teacher won’t be in the classrooms.
2. Alright, we can go to the movies this weekend.
3. Anyone without their homework done has detention!
4. Calm down, the author will present the thesis in the first paragraph
5. I wanted to go to Prom, but alas, I don’t have a date
6. Oh, I will never be able to finish this project
7. Congratulations! You won first prize!
Part II: Nouns
• Name a person, place, thing, or idea.
• There are two types: Common & Proper
• The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized because it names a specific person, place, thing, idea.
Underline the nouns in each sentence.
1. Where did you leave your math book? (1 noun)
2. Jack found a lizard under the log. (3 nouns)
3. After working thirty years for the company, he planned to retire in several weeks. (3 nouns)
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4. Nancy will astound her readers with the conclusion of the book. (4 nouns)
5. Our principal expects an increase in the number of students trying out for the drama club. (5 nouns)
Insert an appropriate noun.
1. While ( noun) are seldom seen, their raspy voices are unmistakable. ____________________
2. After (noun) finished his solo, the acts that followed seemed dull. ____________________
3. We are going to complete the painting of our house this (noun). ____________________
4. The order for one hundred (noun) was sufficient to clothe the choir. ____________________
5. I need to know the sizes of the (noun) so I can buy them new clothes. ____________________
6. Mom will distribute the pie evenly between my (noun) and myself. ____________________
Part III: Pronouns
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Pronouns replace a noun.
Every pronoun needs a clear antecedent, and the pronoun must agree with its antecedent. The antecedent
is the noun that a pronoun replaces.
Commonly used pronouns are:I, you, he, she, it, we, they, yours, our, ours, mine, me, us, them, hers, theirs.
Some words can function as pronouns or another part of speech, so to determine the part of speech, you
must determine a word’s function in the sentence. Some examples of these pronouns are as follows:
o Possessive Pronouns: his, her, my, their, its
o Demonstrative: This, that, these, those
o Interrogative: who, whom, whose, which, what
o Indefinite: Any, another, anybody, anyone, anything, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything,
neither, no one, one, someone, both, few, many, several, some, none, all, most.
Circle the pronouns in each sentence.
1. Be careful with the coffee because it is very hot.
2. Michael needs to finish his homework before he can watch television.
3. When we arrived at the restaurant, my family had to wait a long time for a table.
4. The children need to wash up before they can sit down and start eating lunch.
5. Andrew drew a picture, and I think it looks beautiful.
6. Every time I want to use the computer, my sister is already using it.
7. I thought I lost my watch, but then I found it in my locker.
8. The girl has a beautiful cat which she takes very good care of.
9. The wall needs to be five meters high and it must be made of concrete.
10. My truck will not start because it has a dead battery.
11. After the lion finished eating, it laid down and began a long nap.
12. Later, Travis asked his father to tell him about his experiences in the war.
Circle the pronoun in each sentence, then draw an arrow to its antecedent.
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1. All of these computers have their drawbacks.
2. People trying to reduce their salt intake should avoid canned foods.
3. At the men’s bowling tournament, one of the bowlers hurt his ankle.
4. Mr. Mass told the students “Anyone looking for a book can take one from this pile.”
5. Jill told Matt that she had to get more sleep.
6. “You need to get a new notebook,” Kate told Jenny.
Insert the correct pronoun.
1.Anyone can get ________ name in the news.
2.None of the checks were cashed;_ ________ finally expired.
3. A person should insure __________ valuables.
4. The code breakers shared _________ secrets.
5. San Diego and San Jose get _________ names from Spanish.
6. Either Eleanor Roosevelt or Ellen Wilson is believed to have covered for _________ husband during presidential
emergencies.
Part IV: Verbs
• Verbs show action or state of being.
• Verbs must agree with the subject of the sentence. If the subject is singular, the verb must be singular. If the
subject is plural, the verb must be plural.
Action Verbs
• Show action
• Action Verbs can have helping (or auxiliary) verbs to help denote tense.
Linking verbs
• Linking verbs connect the subject to a word that modifies or renames it.
• Common linking verbs are: am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been, seems, appears, looks
Helpful hint
• When unsure if a verb is an action or linking verb, replace the complete verb with is or are. If the meaning
remains the same, it is a linking verb. Look at the following examples:
Katie appeared ill. Katie is ill. The meaning is the same, so appeared in a linking verb.
Katie appeared out of thin air. Katie is out of thin air. The meaning is changed, so appeared is an action verb.
Underline the complete verb, then identify if it is action or linking.
1. Mike, Jeff and Tim followed the path to the top. __________________
2. The entrance to the stadium is filled with sports fans. __________________
3. The brown dress looked very drab on her. __________________
4. The region averages four intense tropical storms and two hurricanes per decade. __________________
5. He could have been on time if he tried harder. __________________
6. Jan can hardly wait to blossom into an adult. __________________
7. Moths can be very destructive to clothes made of wool. __________________
8. Visitors to the United States are allowed to stay for a maximum of six months. __________________
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9. The weather seemed nicer yesterday. __________________
10. John brought snorkeling gear to watch tropical fish cavort among the corals. __________________
Choose the correct verb
1. Until I have my first cup of coffee in the morning, I (is, are, am) so lethargic I can barely move.
2. Ginny exhibits odd behavior that (is, are, am) typical of people diagnosed with megalomania.
3. The FBI infiltrates criminal organizations in order to catch those who (is, are) in charge.
4. She (give, gave) us so much homework that we felt the teacher was trying to oppress us.
5. Christopher has amassed so many different kinds of rocks that I think we are going to have to (build, built) a shelf
to display them.
Part V: Adjectives
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Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns
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Adjectives answer the questions: What kind?, which one?, how many?, or how much?
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Generally, adjectives come before the nouns or pronouns that they modify, but at times, they can come
after.
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The words a, an, the are special adjectives that are sometimes called articles.
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There are also words that appear to be pronouns, but function as adjectives, such as this, that, these, those,
my, your, his, its, our, theirs, what, which, whose. So, one must determine how the word is functioning in a
sentence.
Underline all of the adjectives in the sentence.
1. Early people found that dogs made good hunters.
2. Strong sheepdogs help farmers with large herds of sheep.
3. One famous dog rescued forty lost people in the mountains.
4. Blind people use dogs to guide them through busy streets.
5. Some smart dogs learn to help deaf people.
6. Linda trains young dogs.
7. The dogs learn to help people.
8. Two people in California found a lost dog.
9. They took the little white dog to a shelter.
10. One kind worker at the shelter named the dog Penny.
Circle the adjective in each sentence. Draw a line under the noun it describes.
Example: Jason painted a beautiful picture.
1. Four turtles climbed on the log.
2. Mr. Henderson’s oldest son goes to college.
3. There is a squirrel on our front porch.
4. We sat beneath a shady umbrella.
5. Sally picked up sixteen rocks when she walked by the creek.
6. Have you seen my checkered shirt?
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7. A sidewalk leads to the back door.
8. The jacket I bought has deep pockets.
9. Polly fixed the broken car.
10. How do my new glasses look?
Fill in the blank with an appropriate adjective
1. When we got tickets to _______ concert, I was ______________.
2. Jimmy and Kate were late, and ______________ teacher was ______________.
3. If you are ______________ because of the test, see the tutor.
4. I love English class because it is ______________.
Part VI: Adverbs
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Adverbs modify verbs, adverbs, and adjectives
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Often times, adverbs are formed by adding an –ly ending to an adjective.
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Adverbs answer the questions: Where? , In what way?, When?, or To what extent?
An action verb is underlined in each sentence. Circle the adverb that describes the verb.
1. I carefully glued the last piece onto the model.
2. Francis played on the beach yesterday.
3. I will visit my friend tomorrow.
4. George, will you come here?
5. They swam lazily in the pool.
6. Neil slowly placed a card on the card house.
7. They cheerfully sing songs.
8. Nathan stamped his feet angrily.
9. My father snored loudly on the couch.
10. Sam accidentally slipped on the ice.
Circle each adverb and draw an arrow to the word it modifies.
1. Yesterday Sally went grocery shopping.
2. Will came late to class.
3. John quietly walked into the room.
4. Emily often goes to the mall.
5. Kate is always quiet.
6. Charlene forgets her books sometimes.
7. Jeannette foolishly left her math book in school.
8. Tomorrow the class will gather information in the library.
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9. Rudy is working hard in school.
10. Gene shouted angrily when his boots got wet.
Distinguishing between adjectives and adverbs
Fill in the correct form of the given words.
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Tom is (slow) _________________________. He works _________________________.
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Sue is a (careful) _________________________ girl. She climbed up the ladder _____________________.
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The dog is (angry) _________________________. It barks_________________________.
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He acted (excellent) _________________________. He’s an actor_________________________.
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They learn English (easy) _________________________. They think English is an ___________________
language.
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Max is a (good) _________________________ singer. He sings_________________________.
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It’s (awful) _________________________ cold today. The cold wind is _________________________.
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Dogs rely on their noses as they can smell (extreme / good) _________________________. If that is true,
why does dog food smell so (terrible) _________________________?
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The little boy looked (sad) _________________________. I went over to comfort him and he looked at
me_________________________.
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I tasted the soup (careful) _________________________, but it tasted (wonderful) ___________________.
Part VII: Prepositions
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A preposition shows a relationship between its object and other words in a sentence. The preposition may
be in the form of one word (at, by, in, on, etc.) or in the form of a phrase that functions as a unit (in front of,
by way of, etc.).
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Some of the relationships that prepositions express are place or position, time, manner, direction, and
agent.
to be a preposition, the word must have an object and create a prepositional phrase.
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Once a prepositional phrase is formed, it acts as either an adverb or adjective to modify another word in the
sentence.
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Common prepositions are: aboard, about, above, across, after, against, along, among, around, as, at,
because of, before, behind, below, beneath, but, by, down, during, except, for, from, like, in, in front of,
inside, into, like, near, next to, of, off, on, onto, out, outside, over, since, through, throughout, till, to, toward,
under, until, up, upon, with, without
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Many prepositions can function as other parts of speech, so beware of how these words are being used.
Put parentheses around the prepositional phrases in the following sentences. Then underline the word the
phrase is modifying. Example: The colors (of spring) are beautiful.
1. Louis Pasteur was a professor of chemistry at the University of Lille.
2. Pasteur discovered that bacteria could be destroyed with heat and fermentation.
3. This process of sterilization was called pasteurization.
4. Pasteur’s greatest contribution to medical science was his germ theory of disease.
5. He proved that food decay was caused by microorganisms carried on dust particles in the air.
6. Previously, people believed that worms and flies on decaying food had come from the food itself.
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7. The germ theory of disease maintained that microorganisms caused sickness in the human body.
8. Doctors then began searching for specific bacteria as the cause of diseases.
9. In his work, Pasteur studied about infectious diseases.
10. In 1877 Pasteur began working on the problem of anthrax.
11. Thousands of sheep died from the disease.
12. He found a way to make the sheep safe from bacteria.
Practicing modifiers: adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases: Identify each modifier and the word it
modifies. Remember some modifiers may appear in prepositional phrases.
1. John came out of the house and went to the store.
2. He went in and bought a box of chocolate chip cookies.
3. The cookies were hard and bland, so John decided to make some homemade cookies.
4. The new cookies were so chocolaty and melted in John’s mouth.
Part VIII: Conjunctions
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Conjunctions, unlike prepositions that show relationships between words, make direct connections between
words. There are three kinds of conjunctions: Coordinating, correlative, and subordinating.
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Coordinating conjunctions connect similar words or groups of words. The seven coordinating conjunctions
are and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet.
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Correlative conjunctions are always used in pairs and connect similar words or groups of words. The
correlative conjunctions are both...and, either...or, neither...nor, not only...but also, whether...or.
Subordinating conjunctions connect two complete ideas by making one of the ideas subordinate, or less
important than, the other. Frequently used subordinating conjunctions are after, although, as, as if, as long
as, as though, because, before, even if, even though, if, in order that, now that, since, so that, than, though,
till, unless, until, when, whenever, where, wherever, and while.
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Underline each of conjunction, then identify what kind of conjunction it is.
1. Since we couldn’t go swimming, we watched a movie. _______________________
2. It will rain as it is dark and cloudy. _______________________
3. Although he knew it was difficult, he still tried. _______________________
4. She wouldn’t cry unless she was hurt. _______________________
5. Whether or not I am going, it is none of your business. _______________________
6. I have prepared for the test, so I should do well. _______________________
7. Jean recycled not only consistently but also carefully. _______________________
8. Kim and Jane are going to the concert, but Joey cannot. _______________________
Parts of Speech Practice: identify the part of speech of each word in the following sentence.
Listen! One of the students from each row should quickly pass out the books.