Parts of Speech

Speech consists of sentences and sentences consist of words. In linguistics, each word is called a part of speech.

In the sentence “The old man held the line delicately, and softly, with his left hand, unleashed it from the stick” (Hemingway), there are 18 words, each one being a separate part of speech.

There are eight parts of speech: Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives, Articles, Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions, and Conjunctions.

1. Nouns

Nouns name persons, things, places, or ideas. Nouns answer the questions what and who.

  • The nouns in the following sentence are in bold “The old man held the line delicately, and softly, with his left hand, unleashed it from the stick.”

2. Pronouns

Pronouns take the place of nouns in a sentence. Pronouns answer the questions what/who in the subject position and what/whom in the object position. Every subject pronoun has a corresponding object and possessive pronoun.

  • The pronouns in the following sentence are in bold “The old man held the line delicately, and softly, with his left hand, unleashed it from the stick.” The pronoun “his” renames the noun “the man’s,” and the pronoun “it” renames the noun “line.”

3. Adjectives

Adjectives describe nouns or pronouns. Adjectives answer the questions what kind, which one, how many, and whose. Similar to articles, adjectives usually precede nouns/pronouns and serve as markers. Adjectives can also follow linking verbs and function as subject complements.

  • The adjectives in the following sentence are in bold “The old man held the line delicately, and softly, with his left hand, unleashed it from the stick.” The adjective “old” describes the noun “man,” and the adjective “left” describes the noun “hand.”

4. Articles

Articles precede nouns or noun phrases. Articles are special kinds of adjectives that always mark upcoming nouns. There are three articles: a, an, and the.

  • The articles in the following sentence are in bold “The old man held the line delicately, and softly, with his left hand, unleashed it from the stick.” The 1st article “the” marks the noun “man,” the 2nd “the” marks the noun “line,” and the 3rd “the” marks the noun “stick.”

5. Verbs

Verbs express actions or states of being.

  • The verbs in the following sentence are in bold “The old man held the line delicately, and softly, with his left hand, unleashed it from the stick.” 

6. Adverbs

Adverbs modify or describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Adverbs answer the questions when, where, how, and why.

  • The adverbs in the following sentence are in bold “The old man held the line delicately, and softly, with his left hand, unleashed it from the stick.” The adverb “delicately” modifies the verb “held,” and the adverb “softly” modifies the verb “unleashed.”

7. Prepositions

Prepositions locate nouns or pronouns in time or place. There are one-word, two-word, and three-word prepositions. Look at some examples:

  • 1-Word Prepositions: about, above, at, after, against, beside, by, for, in, near, to, under, up, upon, with, etc.
  • 2-Word Prepositions: according to, as of, instead of, prior to, such as, up to, etc.
  • 3-Word Prepositions: as far as, in addition to, on behalf of, in order to, in place of, etc.

The prepositions in the following sentence are in bold “The old man held the line delicately, and softly, with his left hand, unleashed it from the stick.” The preposition “with” introduces the noun “hand,” and the preposition “from” introduces the noun “stick.”

8. Conjunctions

Conjunctions join two or more words, phrases, or clauses. There are three types of conjunctions: coordinating, subordinating, adverbial, and correlative.

Coordinating conjunctions: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So.
Subordinating conjunctions: if, when, because, why, who, that, which, how, what, etc.
Adverbial conjunctions: however, therefore, moreover, nevertheless, otherwise, etc.
Correlative conjunctions: not only … but also, either … or, both … and, etc.

  • The conjunctions in the following sentence are in bold “The old man held the line delicately, and softly, with his left hand, unleashed it from the stick.” The conjunction “and” joins two verbs “held” and “unleashed.”