Are You Ready for the SAT & ACT?

Word Play

Author: Elizabeth Owens

Parts of Speech

Parts of speech are like the building blocks of sentences. Every word in a sentence has a function. Knowing the function of each word can help you figure out what”s going on in a sentence. It can also help you to construct interesting and varied sentences.

There are 8 parts of speech.

1. Nouns are people, places, things, or ideas.

a. Common nouns: tree, store, badger, mummy

b. Proper nouns: Frankenstein, Harry Potter, January, Rodeo Dr.

2. Verbs express actions, events, or states of being.

Ex: Malcolm rode the roller coaster. Malcolm was first in line.

3. Adjectives describe nouns.

Ex: The creepy store sold cheap costumes.

4. Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.

Ex: The cookie quickly disappeared. The chocolate was extremely delicious.

5. Pronouns replace nouns and make sentences less repetitive.

a. Personal pronouns refer to specific people or things: she, it, they

b. Demonstrative pronouns point to and identify a noun or pronoun: this, that, these

c. Interrogative pronouns ask questions: which, whom, what

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6. Prepositions link nouns, pronouns, and phrases to other words in a sentence. They give information about where the object is in space or time.

Ex: The troll is under the bridge. The movie started after the previews.

7. Conjunctions link words or phrases.

Ex: and, but, for, yet

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8. Interjections are used to express emotion.

Ex: Ouch! Hey! Oh.