Eight Parts of Speech

Blinn College – Bryan Writing Center

Spring 2023

Eight Parts of Speech

NOUNS refer to a person, place, thing, or concept. Nouns can be proper, common, concrete, abstract, count,
or non-count.
• Proper nouns are capitalized: Sam Jones, San Antonio, Tylenol, Math 101.
• Common nouns (all other persons, places, or things) are not capitalized: man, city, medicine, class.
• Concrete nouns can be seen: building, flower, rock, spice, landshark.
• Abstract nouns are qualities and ideas: fairness, magnificence, reality, integrity.
• Count nouns can be counted or have plural forms: boy, boys, town, towns, mouse, mice.
• Non-count nouns cannot be counted or do not have plural forms: tolerance, rain, mud, stuff.

PRONOUNS replace a noun or act as a substitute (or antecedent) for a specific noun. Pronouns can be
personal, possessive, intensive, reflexive, relative, interrogative, demonstrative, indefinite, and reciprocal.
• Personal pronouns: I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it, we, us, you, them, they
• Possessive pronouns: your, yours, my, mine, her, hers, his, its, your, yours, our, ours, their, theirs
• Possessive pronouns that serve as adjectives: your, my, our, his, her, its, their
• Intensive and Reflexive pronouns: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves,
themselves
• Relative pronouns: who, whom, whose, that, which
• Interrogative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, what
• Demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, those
• Indefinite pronouns: all, any, anything, both, each, few, either, one, nothing, none
• Reciprocal pronouns: each other, one another

VERBS describe an action or the act of being. “Be” verbs include one or more helping verbs, followed by a main
verb. Helping verbs, combined with main verbs, create tense.
• Helping: am, are, be, been, being, can, could, did, do, does, had, have, has, is, may, might, must, shall,
should, will, would, was, were
• Main verbs can change form. For example:
Base form: try see eat
Present (-s) form: tries sees eats
Past form: tried saw ate
Past Participle form: have tried have seen have eaten
Present Participle form: am trying are seeing are eating
• “Be” verbs have eight forms:
Base: be
Present Tense: am, is, are
Past Tense: was, were
Present Participle: being
Past Participle: been
• Active vs. Passive verbs:
o In active voice, the subject does the action: The dog bit the boy.
o In passive voice, the subject receives the action: The boy was bitten by the dog.
o Choosing active over passive voice expresses meaning more powerfully than forms of the verb be or
verbs in passive voice. Passive verbs are weaker because their subjects receive rather than do the
action.

See A Writer’s Reference, pp. 529-37, for additional information and examples.
 Eight Parts of Speech
Blinn College – Bryan Writing Center
Spring 2023
ADJECTIVES modify or describe nouns or pronouns ONLY. If a word answers the following questions, it is
probably an adjective: Which one? What kind of? How many?
• Adjectives usually come before the word they modify or follow linking verbs, which describe the subject.
Examples: The dog was older. My dog is brown. The older, brown dog is my pet.
• Articles (a, an, the) are adjectives.
• Some pronouns (all, her, his, its, my, their, this, and your) are adjectives.
• Nouns that modify other nouns are adjectives. Examples: peach cobbler, orange tree.

ADVERBS modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs ONLY. If a word answers the following questions, it is
probably an adverb: When? Where? How? Why? Under what conditions? To what degree?
• Adverbs: today, yesterday, tomorrow, first, then, not, never, often, before, after, there, here, upstairs,
downstairs, carefully, tastefully, occasionally, actually, logically, personally.

PREPOSITIONS usually occur before a noun or pronoun to form a phrase that modifies another word in the
sentence. These are known as prepositional phrases. Prepositional phrases often act as adjectives or adverbs
and show relationships of words in sentences.
• As adjectives: When the prepositional phrase is an adjective, it usually follows the noun or pronoun that it
modifies. Adjective phrases tell us which one or what kind of.
o Example: The jaws of the landshark move faster than the human eye can detect. (“Of the landshark”
modifies “jaws.”)
• As adverbs: When the prepositional phrase acts as an adverb, it modifies the verb but can also modify
adjectives or other adverbs. A prepositional phrase modifying a verb can appear in any place in the
sentence.
o Example modifying a verb: The landshark devoured my arm in milliseconds. (“In milliseconds” modifies
“devoured.”)
o Example modifying an adjective: I was loopy from all of the blood loss, but I fought him off with a rusty
spatula. (“From all of the blood loss” modifies “loopy.”)
o Example modifying another adverb: I can punch landsharks super effectively with my new robot arm.
(“With my new robot arm” modifies “effectively.”)
• Most common prepositions: about, above, across, after, against, along, among, around, as, at, before,
behind, below, beside, besides, between, beyond, but, by, concerning, considering, despite, down, during,
except, for, from, in, inside, into, like, near, next, of, off, on, onto, opposite, out, outside, over, past, plus,
regarding, respecting, round, since, than, through, throughout, till, to, toward, under, underneath, unlike,
until, unto, up, upon, with, within, without.

CONJUNCTIONS connect thoughts. They join words, phrases, or clauses. They help the reader understand the
relationship between the words they join. Different types of conjunctions are coordinating, correlative,
subordinating conjunctions, and conjunctive adverbs.
• Coordinating conjunctions: FANBOYS = for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.
• Correlative conjunctions: both + and, either + or, neither + nor, not only + but also, whether + or.
• Subordinating conjunctions: after, although, as, as if, because, before, if, once, since, than, that, though,
unless, until, when, where, whether, and while.
• Conjunctive adverbs: finally, furthermore, however, moreover, nevertheless, similarly, then, therefore,
thus.

INTERJECTIONS express emotion or surprise.

• Interjections: Amen! Bye! Duh! Gee! Hello! Hey! Hurray! Wow! Ye
• ah! Huzzah!

See A Writer’s Reference, pp. 529-37, for additional information and examples.