The Nine Parts of Speech

1- Nouns

A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, idea, or quality.

Examples:
– Robert Frost wrote poems.
– Nasr City is located in Cairo.
– Work brings satisfaction.
– Honesty is important in relationships.

Nouns answer these questions: Who? What?

Types of Nouns:

1.Proper Nouns: Ali, London, May, ...

2.Common Nouns: car, bus, event, ...
3.Collective Nouns: team, class, jury..
4.Concrete Nouns: wood, plastic, ...
5.Abstract Nouns: honesty, love, trust

Note: Nouns may be:
  * Count Nouns (car – cars)
  * Non-count Nouns (milk)  

 

 

 2- Pronouns 



•A pronoun is a word used to take the place of a noun.
•Through use of pronouns, one may avoid repeating name words:
  ex:   Mary has lost her book.
          The box has lost its handle.

Types of Pronouns:

1- Personal Pronouns:

a) subjective case: I, you, he, she, it, we, they
          ex: I have travelled to Spain two years ago.

b) objective case: me, you, him, her, it, us, them 
               ex: I met him last week in the club.

c) possessive case: my, mine, your, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs
          ex: This is my book.
                This book is mine.

2- Demonstrative Pronouns: this, that, these, those
          ex: This bag is Ali's.

3. Reflexive Pronouns: myself, himself, ourselves,..
          ex: Mona hurt herself while slicing the bread.

4. Intensive Pronouns:

They are used to emphasize their antecedents. 
          ex: He himself wrote the poem

 

5.Interrogative Pronouns:  
  - refer to people: who, whoever, whom, whomever
          ex: Whom do you like more: Tamer Hosni or Amr Diab?

  - refer to things: what, which, whose

          ex: Which bag do you prefer? 

6.Relative Pronouns: 
They introduce dependent clauses that function as adjectives.
  - refer to people: who, whose, whom, ...
          ex: The boy who is wearing a blue shirt is my nephew.

  - refer to things: that, what, which, ...

          ex: The book that you are looking for is on the shelf.

7- Indefinite Pronouns:

They refer to people, things, or places in general.

          ex: nobody, each, few, several, ...
                Somebody threw a stone at the window and broke it.
 

3- Verbs

1-     Action Verbs:

• They express physical or mental activities.
• ex: play, run, grow,  ...
• ex: He runs three miles every day.
• They may be transitive or intransitive.

2-    Linking Verbs:

• They show existence.
• They connect a word to words that describe it.
• All forms of the verb (BE) are linking verbs.
• ex: Ali is a pilot.

3-     Helping Verbs:

• They are used along with action or linking verbs to indicate tense, mood or other information.
• ex: do, be, have, may, can, shall, will, must
• ex:  Ola must study hard to get high grades.

 A verb phrase = Helping verb + Main verb

4- Adjectives

•        They modify a noun or a pronoun.
 

•        It may be a single word.

               ex: I read an interesting book.
 

•        It may be a phrase.

               ex: The rug on the floor is old.

•        It may be a clause.

               ex: The man who is wearing a blue suit is my father.

       

Adjectives answer these questions:

§   What kind?

§   Which one?

§   How many?

§   How much?

 Whose?

5- Adverbs

• They are used to modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

• It may be a single word.

          ex: He sings beautifully.

 

• It may be a phrase.

          ex: The boy came into the room.

 

• It may be a clause.

                  ex: Ali left when I came.

 

 

• Adverbs answer the questions:

                                                 * How?

                                                 * When?

 

                                                 * Where?

                                                 * Why?

 

6- Prepositions

- They link nouns & pronouns expressing relationships between related words. 

-  Simple Prepositions are single words such as: in, at, on, ...

          ex: The purse is on the desk.

 

- Complex Prepositions are phrases which consist of two or more words such as: next to, instead of, as well as, in front of, ...

          ex: Ali is sitting next to Ahmed.

 

7- Conjunctions

•        They link related parts of a sentence.

•        They connect words, phrases, or clauses.

•        There are 3 types of Conjunctions:

               1- Co-ordinating Conjunctions

   - They link parts of equal value.

   - They are: and, but, or, nor, for, yet & so.

   - ex: Ali and Ahmed are present.

               2- Subordinating Conjunctions:

   - They link dependent clauses to independent clauses.

   - ex: I was here before you came.

               3- Correlative Conjunctions:

   - They are used in pairs.

   - ex: both ---- and, either ----- or, neither --- nor,
            not only --- but also.

   - ex: Neither Ali nor Ahmed will attend the party

 

8- Interjections

 - They are words that express surprise or some other strong   

    feelings.
 - They are set off with commas or followed with an exclamation 

    mark.  

 - ex: Oh! Wow! Yuck! Ouch!

 

9- Articles

There are 2 types of articles:

1-     Definite Article: THE: used with singular & plural nouns.

2-     Indefinite Articles: A, AN: used with singular nouns only.