The building blocks of spoken English

1. Parts of
speech

2. There are eight parts of speech in the English
language: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb,
preposition, conjunction, and interjection.

3.  A noun is a word for a person, place, thing, or idea. Nouns are often used
with an article (the, a, an), but not always. Proper nouns always start with
a capital letter; common nouns do not. Nouns can be singular or plural,
concrete or abstract.
Proper noun: common noun: Concrete noun:
is a noun that names an
idea, quality, or concept
(courage and freedom, for
example).
is a noun that refers
to a specific person,
place, or thing (Lady
Gaga, Monongahela
River, and iPad).
 Nouns can function in different roles within a sentence; for example, a
noun can be a subject, direct object, or indirect object.
is a noun that's not the
name of any particular
person, place, or thing (for
instance, singer, river,
and tablet).
Abstract noun:
is a noun that names a
material or tangible object—
something recognizable
through the senses (such
as chicken and egg).

4.  A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. A pronoun is usually
substituted for a specific noun, which is called its antecedent. In the
sentence(Mahmoud finished his presentation, “Mahmoud" is the
antecedent and "his" is the pronoun).
 Pronouns are further defined by type: personal pronouns(he, she, they…) refer to
specific persons or things; possessive pronouns(mine, yours, his, hers..) indicate
ownership; reflexive pronouns(myself, yourself, herself…) are used to emphasize
another noun or pronoun; relative pronouns(who, which, that..) introduce a
subordinate clause; and demonstrative pronouns(this, these, that, those) identify,
point to, or refer to nouns.

5.  The verb in a sentence expresses action or being. There is a main verb and
sometimes one or more helping verbs. ("She can sing." Sing is the main
verb; can is the helping verb.) A verb must agree with its subject in number (both
are singular or both are plural). Verbs also take different forms to express tense.
 A verb must agree with its subject in number (both are singular or both are
plural). Verbs also take different forms to express tense.

6.  An adjective is a word used to modify or describe a noun or a
pronoun. It usually answers the question of which one, what kind, or
how many.
Ex: red house tall man large hut

7.  An adverb describes or modifies a verb, an adjective, or another
adverb, but never a noun. It usually answers the questions of when,
where, how, why, under what conditions, or to what degree. Adverbs
often end in -ly.
Ex: She ran fast in the race.
• I swiftly ran after the ball.

8.  A preposition is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to form a
phrase modifying another word in the sentence. Therefore a
preposition is always part of a prepositional phrase.
 A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words
in a sentence. Some common prepositions are:
at, under, over, of, to, in, out, beneath, beyond, for,
among, after, before, within, down, up, during, without,
with, outside, inside, beside, between, by, on, out, from,
until,
toward, throughout, across, above, about, around.
EX. The book is on the table.

9.  A conjunction is a word that is used to connect words, phrases, and
clauses. There are many conjunctions in the English language, but
some common ones include and, or, but, because, for, if, and when.
EX. Sleep now or you will miss the class tomorrow.
 Susan makes good grades because she studies every night.
 Neither Sam nor Vinny ate lunch.

10.  Oh!... Wow!... Oops!
 An interjection is a word used to express emotion. It is often
followed by an exclamation point.
EX. Wow! You did a fabulous job.
What is the interjection in this sentence?