Parts of Speech

Words perform different functions in a sentence. They convey different meanings as per their position in the sentence. Based on their use and functions, words are categorised into several types or parts of speech.

1. Noun	2. Pronoun	3. Adjective	4. Verb
5. Adverb	6. Preposition	7. Conjunction	8. Interjection

Noun 

Nouns are the simplest among the parts of speech. A Noun refers to words that are used to name persons, things, animals, places, ideas or events. In simple words, nouns are naming words. Manav, boys, class, Chandigarh, cattle, happiness, marriage are examples of nouns. Let us look at some of these for clear understanding.

For Example :

1.         Shakespeare was a great dramatist.

The underlined word is a noun that refers to a person.

2.         This book is new.

The underlined word is a noun that refers to a thing.

3.         Moga is my beloved city.

The underlined word is a noun that refers to a place.

4.         Love is the best feeling.

The underlined word is a noun that refers to an idea.

5.         Sympathy can be extremely helpful.

The underlined word is a noun that refers to an idea.

6.         Lion is the king of the jungle.

The underlined word is a noun that refers to an animal.

7.         I celebrated my anniversary.

The underlined word is a noun that refers to an event. We can categorise nouns as given below:

a.         Proper Nouns : They always start with a capital letter and refer to specific names of persons, places, or things.

For Example : The Adi Granth, The Vindhyas, Bharat

b.         Common Nouns : They are just generic names of persons, things, or places.

For Example : house, school.

c.         Concrete Nouns : They refer to nouns which you can perceive through your five senses.

For Example : mud, cement, wood.

d.         Abstract Nouns : These are nouns which you can’t perceive through your five senses.

For Example : sadness, happiness.

e.         Countable Nouns – Anything that is countable, and has a singular and plural form is a countable noun.

For Example : dogs, bats.

f.         Uncountable Nouns : Anything that cannot be counted and needs to have ‘counters’ to quantify it with terms like kilo, cup, meter, etc.

For Example : dust, sand, water, a sack of sand, a pail of water.

g.         Collective Nouns : Such nouns refer to a group of persons, animals, or things.

For Example : cluster, class, herd : a class of boys, a herd of cattle, a cluster of stars

Pronoun 

1.          Manas is a good athlete. He practises for at least ten hours a day.

2.          Simarjit is a good cook. She has also written a recipe book.

In the above sentences, the nouns, ‘Manas’ and ‘Simarjit’ are replaced by ‘He’ and ‘She’ in the subsequent sentences. These are used in place of the nouns, ‘Manas’ and ‘Simarjit’ to avoid repetition. Such words are called pronouns. They are ‘Friends of Nouns’. They belong to a sub class of nouns. They define new creations.

Pronouns are of the following types:

1.        Personal Pronouns: I, we, you, he, she, it, etc.

2.        Indefinite Pronouns: one, someone, somebody, all, etc.

3.        Relative Pronouns: who, whom, what, as, that, etc.

4.        Demonstrative Pronouns: this, these, those, such, etc.

5.        Distributive Pronouns: each, either, neither, etc.

6.        Interrogative Pronouns: which, whose, who, etc.

Adjective 

An adjective is a word that is used to qualify or describe a noun or a pronoun. An adjective is descriptive by nature. Adjectives add something to the meaning of a noun or a pronoun. Examples : a red pencil, a blue shirt, a smart boy.

1.        It is a red pencil.

2.        He is wearing a blue shirt.

3.        Harry is a smart boy.

The underlined words are Adjectives.

There are different kinds of adjectives. They express the quality or state of mind of the word they qualify.

a.           Adjectives of Quality : They tell the quality or the state of something they qualify, e.g, nice couple, happy life, fine cloth.

b.          Adjectives of Quantity : They tell us how much of a thing is expressed. e.g, some, much, little, less etc.

Much ado about nothing.

All the fruits were fresh.

c.           Adjectives of Numbers : They tell us how many persons or things are expressed. e.g, many, all, two, three, a few, etc.

A student was writing on the blackboard. Two monkeys were fighting with each other. Many girls were playing in the ground.

They are sub divided into:

(i)   Cardinal numbers : Exact numbers like one, two, three etc.

(ii)   Ordinal numbers : They denote ranks or order like first, second, third, etc.

(iii)   Indefinite adjectives : They do not express any exact number; some, any, all, enough, few, no, none etc.

For Example : Enough money was given to the beggar.

All the players applauded their team.

d.          Distributive Adjectives : Express that persons or things denoted by the noun are taken singly or in separate lots, such as: each, every, neither, either etc.

For Example : Each child was given an orange.

Every student had a book in hand.

e.          Demonstrative Adjectives : They are used to point out the persons or things that they qualify, such as: this, that, those, such etc.

For Example : This chair is made of teak wood.

Such elements are harmful for our health.

f.          Interrogative Adjectives : They are used to ask questions, e.g., which, what, whose etc.

For Example : Whose book is that?

Which house is theirs?

Which dress will you wear?

g.          Possessive Adjectives : They indicate possession of a thing or person.

For Example : My story is interesting.

Your shirt is beautiful.

His picture was excellent.

h.          Proper Adjectives : They are derived from proper nouns and always begin with a capital letter, e.g., The African Safari, The English Queen.

For Example :              We enjoyed the African Safari in Kenyan jungles.

An Indian writer won the Nobel Prize.

Degrees of comparison :

Adjectives of Quality have three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative and superlative.

Positive : It does not denote any comparison and shows the simple quality.

Comparative  : It is used when two things or two groups of things are compared.

Superlative : It is used when one thing is compared with all other things of the same class.

For Example :

Positive Comparative Superlative

long         longer        longest

hot          hotter         hottest

bright      brighter     brightest

tall           taller          tallest

cold colder coldest ‘Than’ is used with comparative degree of adjective and the article ‘the’ is used with superlative degree of an adjective.

Sindhu is a good badminton player.

Sindhu is better than any other badminton player. Sindhu is the best badminton player in her age-group.

In some cases, where adjectives have two or more syllables, ‘more’ and ‘most’ are used before the positive degree of adjective to make comparative and superlative degrees of adjective respectively.

Positive Comparative Superlative

useful           more useful           most useful

beautiful           more beautiful           most beautiful

For Example :              We saw a beautiful movie.

Madhuri Dixit is more beautiful than many other heroines. Aishwarya Rai is the most beautiful actress these days.

Verb

A verb is a word used to denote an action or being or possession. In simple words, we call them action words.

For Example : He wrote a poem. (action)

She sang a song. (action)

Sachin has a hard ball. (possession) Arjun is a smart boy. (state of being)

The underlined words are verbs. They can be categorised into:

1.                          Transitive Verb : that requires an object to complete its meaning. (Example: She brushes her teeth twice a day.)

2.                          Intransitive Verb : that has a complete meaning by itself and does not require an object to complete its meaning. (Example: He laughed.)

3.                          Auxiliary Verbs : They are used with main verbs to form tenses. They are further divided into Primary Auxiliaries and Modal Auxiliaries.

Verbs take different forms when they conjugate. There are two kinds of verbs: Strong verbs and Weak verbs.

Present	Past	Past participle
awake	awoke	awoken
begin	began	begun
buy	bought	bought
	ADVERB

1.          Shana dances beautifully.

2.          Karan speaks Punjabi fluently.

3.          She is absolutely beautiful.

The underlined words ‘beautifully’, ‘fluently’ and ‘absolutely’ modify the verbs ‘dance’, ‘speak’ and the adjective ‘beautiful’ respectively. Such words are called Adverbs. They are ‘modifiers’. They modify a verb, an adjective or another adverb. They add depth and intensity to these qualifiers. They not only clarify time, place and manner of the actions but also beautify the quality or intensity of thoughts and actions.

Preposition 

Prepositions are relationship words. They are words that are used before a noun or pronoun to show in what relation the person or thing denoted by the noun stands to something else.

For Example : The clock is on the wall.

The train starts at 9.00 a.m.

He was standing under the tree.

The boys were playing in the ground.

The underlined words are Prepositions. They show the relationship between the Nouns used in each sentence.

Conjunction 

Conjunctions are linking words. They are used to link words or phrases or sentences together. They are also called joining words or coordinators.

For Example : Pardeep and Sandeep are brothers.

He ran fast but missed the bus.

The child smiled as he saw his mother. Win or lose.

The underlined words are Conjunctions. They are used to link two nouns or situations.

Interjection 

Interjections are ‘exclaiming words’. They are used to express a sudden feeling of the mind or certain sounds to express a surprise or sorrow or joy or an unexpected reaction. They are often marked with an exclamation sign, i.e ‘!’. For Example : Alas! We lost the match.

Hurrah! I won a lottery. Bravo! Well played.

The underlined words are Interjections.