Can you break down an English sentence into its part of speech? Knowing the different parts of speech will help accelerate your language learning. You will be able to identify similar parts of speech between your native language and the new one to translate between the two.
Unless you’re an adult learner of a new language, write in English professionally, or really recall lessons from your elementary class on parts of speech, you’re probably not familiar with the different components that make up a sentence.
If you want a fun refresher on the parts of speech, this Parts of Speech series is for you.
The Nine Parts of Speech
The following are the parts of speech for the English language:
- Nouns
- Pronouns
- Adjectives
- Verbs
- Adverbs
- Prepositions
- Conjunctions
- Interjections
- Articles / determiners
These are the building blocks of an English sentence. Let’s look into nouns first.
First Part of Speech: Nouns
Nouns are defined as “person, place, animal, object, concept, or thing.” See the following examples:
Person: Mom, dad, sister, brother, teacher, friend, coworker, cashier, or bus driver.
Place: House, city, country, restaurant, library, school, office, pharmacy, church, or park.
Animal or creatures: Dogs, cats, squirrels, insects, bugs, cows, sheep, tigers, birds, pigs, or fish.
Objects: Sandwich, strawberry plant, water, gold, airplane, train, chair, desk, keyboard, computer, television, hammer, cup, dish, plate, stapler, lip gloss, pen, books, soccer ball, or lamp.
Concepts: Love, sadness, happiness, physics, mathematics, economics, democracy, communism, freedom, friendship, or home.
Can you explain the labels for different types of nouns in the following picture? What would be an example of place in this photo? Can you name an object?
Noun Review
Let’s apply these noun examples to your life.
Person: Who are the members of your family? Who would you call your friends? Do you have teachers or coworkers?
Place: In what city were you born? What country is that city in? Where do you want to travel? What is your hometown? Which city does your favorite sports team play in? What’s your favorite restaurant?
Animal or creatures: Do you have any pets at home? What’s your favorite animal?
Objects: Can you name a piece of furniture in your home? What kind of tools do you need for your job or schoolwork? What was your favourite toy growing up?
Concepts: Is there a particular subject in school that interests you? What ideas have you seen explored in a recent movie or television show?
A Rose by Any Other Name
You should have a good grasp of nouns by now. In the next post, we’ll talk about Pronouns, which are related to Nouns. Pronouns are a way of referring to nouns without having to use their proper or common name.
English Ease Blog 