LEARN ENGLISH GRAMMAR | LEARN PARTS OF SPEECH | BASIC GRAMMAR

PARTS OF SPEECH- THE FIRST STEP TO LEARN ENGLISH GRAMMAR

Everyone knows that a thorough knowledge of grammar ensures ease and confidence while using both spoken and written English. Inspite of this, learning grammar is viewed as a tedious activity by many people.

THE PEPPY WAYS aims to make this process of learning enjoyable for everyone.

Learning the English parts of speech is a must if you want to learn grammar. Words are the smallest element of any language. Every single word that we use in English belongs to one of the eight word groups called parts of speech.

Part of speech is a category of words which have same grammatical properties.

Here is a list of the eight parts of speech in English Language and a brief description about them:

1. NOUNS

Naming words are called nouns. A noun is the name of a person, place, animal or thing.

There are four types of nouns- Common nouns, Proper nouns, Abstract nouns and Collective Nouns.

Let’s have a look at a few examples to make it more clear-

• Mary has a basket of flowers. (Mary – Common noun)
•  The girl has a basket of flowers. (girl – Proper noun)
•  Without health, there is no happiness. (happiness – Abstract noun)
•  There was a huge crowd in the market. (crowd – Collective noun)

 2. PRONOUNS

Observe the following sentence:

A boy saw a mango. The boy wanted the mango. The boy said, “The mango is ripe”. The boy took the mango.

Isn’t the sentence a bit awkward?

Let’s rewrite the sentence by replacing the nouns by some other words.

A boy saw a mango. He wanted it. He said, “It is ripe”. He took it.

We observed that in a sentence, it is always better to use such words rather than repeating the nouns again and again. Such words are called pronouns.

A pronoun is a word which is used in place of a noun.

Example-

• I, me, he, she, it, him and her refer to singular nouns.
• We, us, they and them refer to plural nouns.
• You refers to both singular and plural nouns.

3. VERBS

A verb is mainly a doing word. It says what somebody or something does.

Words like be(is/ are/ am/ was/ were) and have(have/ has/ had) are also verbs. They say what somebody or something is or has.

Example –

• The dog barks.
• I am your friend.
• The train is very fast.
• I have a CD player.

 Sometimes, a verb is not always one word. It often consists of more than one word.

Example –

• She is singing.
• Harsh is reading a book.

4. ADVERBS

Words that tell us more about verbs are called adverbs. They add something to the meaning of a verb. An adverb tells us how, where and when an action took place.

Example –

• The old man walked slowly. ( slowly – Adverb of manner)
• The woman is sitting here. (here – Adverb of place)
• Meera lost her purse yesterday. (yesterday – Adverb of time)

5. ADJECTIVES

Adjectives are the describing words. They add something to the meaning of a noun.

Adjectives tell about –

• Size ( example – large, small )
• Shape ( example – square, round )
• Material ( example – wooden, gold )
• Speed ( example – fast, slow )
• Age ( example – old, young )
• Number/ quantity/ amount ( example – ten, more )
• Colour ( example – red, pink )
• Nature/ quality/ feeling ( example – good, sad )
• Appearance ( example – beautiful )
• State ( example – sick )

6. PREPOSITIONS

Words that show the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence are called prepositions. Prepositions usually come before a noun.

Example –

The book is on the desk.

The book is under the desk.

The book is near the desk.

The book is behind the desk.

The book is below the desk.

The book is beside the desk.

Each of the above sentences contains a word that shows the relation between the book and the desk. Such words are called prepositions.

in front of, of, in, from, into, through, at, to, with, between, around, among are some other examples of prepositions.

7. CONJUNCTIONS

A conjunction is a word that joins words, word groups or sentences.

Here are a few examples of conjunctions -

• AND joins words, ideas or sentences that are similar.

For example – Father is a teacher + Mother is a teacher.

Father and mother are teachers.

• BUT joins words, ideas or sentences that are opposite in nature.

For example – Mother speaks Hindi + Father does not speak Hindi.

Mother speaks Hindi but the father does not speak Hindi.

• OR joins, words, ideas or sentences that give a choice.

For example – Will you have an apple or orange?

Words like when, because and if are also conjunctions. They can be used in a sentence like –

• Grandfather was at home when I came back from school.
• I did not go to school because it was raining heavily.
• Study well if you want to pass.

8. INTERJECTIONS

Interjections are the words which are used to show some strong feeling such as joy, sorrow, surprise, anger, etc.

Following are a few examples of interjections –

• The word Hurray! is a noise made to express pleasure.
• The word Alas! to express sadness.
• Shh! is used to ask somebody to be quiet.
• Bravo! is used to show approval of something.
• Hello! is used when meeting or greeting someone or when starting a conversation on the phone. We also use this word to attract someone’s attention.
• Ouch! is a cry expressing sudden pain.
• Wow! is used to express great surprise or admiration.
• Hey! is used to attract someone’s attention or to express interest, surprise or anger.
• Ah! expresses surprise, pleasure admiration, etc.
• Oh! expresses surprise, disappointment, pleasure, etc.

Words like these are called interjections.