Writing basics: The parts of speech

Horror upon horror, I would wager that the last time you heard the phrase “parts of speech” you were dozing at the back of Mrs Sourberry’s English double period dreaming about Samantha Foxworthy playing netball, right? And in a frenzy of spitting hatred the old hag would beat the principles into your hand with her steel ruler: NOUN! VERB! PREPOSITION!

Those dark, bleak days are behind you, gentle reader, but I would not doubt that the mere mention of these words create a sense of deep anxiety, even now.

Well, pull yourself together, you are all grown up  and in order to make it out there you need to learn to LOVE those dreaded “parts of speech”. They are, after all, the spanner set in your writer’s toolbox.

And so, without any further blathering, I present with pride the most important parts of speech you will ever use:

THE NOUN

These are naming words and you get a variety of nouns: common nouns, proper nouns and collective nouns.

Common Nouns:

Common nouns are naming words such as albatross, pen, grape or car. Common nouns can be singular or plural.

Proper Nouns:

Proper nouns are names and usually start with capital letters e.g. Mark, Heidelberg and North Vietnam.

Collective Nouns:

Nouns which refer to groups or collections of things are known as collective nouns e.g. a murder of crowsa flock of seagulls or a gaggle of school girls.

THE VERB

Verbs are the action words – they express a state of being or a particular activity

e.g. Jesus wept, Barry stubbed his toe, Michelle ate hurriedly

THE PRONOUN

A pronoun substitutes for a noun. The phrase that the pronoun replaces is called the antecedent.

e.g. he, she, it, they, we, our

An interrogative pronoun replaces an item used in a question e.g. who

There are many types of pronouns.

THE ADJECTIVE

It’s time to get descriptive! Adjectives are describing words and go hand in hand with NOUNS.

e.g. red apple, happy baby, boring class and juvenile delinquent.

THE ADVERB

If you want to describe a particular action you would use an adverb. Adverb’s tell us more about how an action was performed.

e.g. danced gracefully, ate messily, jumped high, cried aloud

THE PREPOSITION

Prepositions are those little words that keep things flowing and hold it all together. Prepositions often describe direction or location.

e.g. onto, beside, near, above, below, against, beyond

These are the basics in terms of the parts of speech you should know as an English speaker. You can of course delve deeper into the fascinating world of parts of speech by reading great grammar books or websites.

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