Parts of speech in grammar

Parts of speech

In grammar, a part of speech (also a word class, a lexical class, or a lexical category) is a linguistic category of words (or more precisely lexical items), which is generally defined by the syntactic or morphological behaviour of the lexical item in question. Common linguistic categories include noun and verb, among others. There are open word classes, which constantly acquire new members, and closed word classes, which acquire new members infrequently if at all.

What is a noun? It is a word used as the name or identification of a person, animal, thing, place or quality. Nouns can be divided into:

Common nouns: a noun that is not a proper name and which can refer to any member of a class of things, e.g. car, table, girl as opposed to Paris, John.

Proper nouns: the name of a particular person, place or thing, e.g. Rebeca, Arturo, Xochilt, Internet.

Count nouns: a noun which can be qualified in the singular by the indefinite modifier and can also be used in the plural, e.g. car (as in a car or cars) but not furniture.

Mass nouns: a noun which cannot be qualified in the singular by the indefinite modifier and cannot be used in the plural, e.g. furniture.

Abstract nouns: a noun that denotes a quality, condition or action rather than a physical thing, e.g. kindness, greed, love.

Concrete nouns: a noun that denotes a physical thing, e.g. house, rather than a quality, condition or action.

What is a pronoun? It is a word such as her, him, them, it, etc., used in place of, and to refer to, a noun, phrase, clause, etc. Pronouns can be divided into:

Personal: I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they.

Possessive: mine, yours, his, hers, ours.

Reflexive: myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves, themselves.

Interrogative: who, whom.

Relative: who, whose, which, that.

What is a verb? It is a word or group of words that belongs to a grammatical class denoting an action, experience, or state, e.g. to do, to feel, to happen, to love.

What is an adjective? It is a word that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun, as dark describes hair in She has dark hair, and sad describes him in “The story made him sad”.

What is and adverb? It is a word which describes or adds to the meaning of a verb, adjective or another adverb, such as very and quietly in “They were talking very quietly”.

What is a preposition? It is a word, or words, such as to, from, into, out of, etc, typically preceding nouns and pronouns, and describing their position, movement, etc., in relation to other words in the sentence.

What is a conjunction? It is a word used to link sentences, clauses or other words, e.g. and, but, if, or, because, etc.

What is an interjection? It is a word, phrase or sound used as an exclamation to express surprise, sudden disappointment, pain, etc. Wow! Oh my god! Excellent!

Test exercise

Test your ability to recognize four major word classes, or parts of speech. In each of the following sentences, one word has been italicized. What kind of word is it? After the number of the sentence, put the right abbreviation:

N for noun; V for verb (or part of the complete verb); ADJ for adjective; ADV for adverb

1. These coupons came in the mail. _________

2. Our relatives lived on a quiet street. _________

3. The patient forgot the appointment. _________

4. My sister opened the letter eagerly. _________

5. She used a small computer in her business. _________

6. The earthquake had weakened the foundations. _________

7. Our meeting was a very fortunate coincidence. _________

8. He always sent me stamps for my collection. _________

9. Our guide will explain the procedure. _________

10. The tour buses rarely stop here anymore. _________

11. The winds were stronger at the higher elevations. ________

12. The women in the shop demanded higher pay. _________

13. The club may organize a trip to Utah. _________

14. The fishing season begins tomorrow. _________

15. We expected a more reasonable proposal. _________

16. The police should have investigated the incident. ________

17. The commission will soon finish its report. ________

18. The article described plans for a new engine. ________

19. Complaints had come in from many sources. ________

20. Our guides were used to extremely cold weather. _______

Some important expressions

How often? ¿Qué tan a menudo?

How much? ¿Cuánto? (Incontable)

How many? ¿Cuánto? (Contable)

How fast? ¿Qué tan rápido?

How long? ¿Cuánto tiempo?

How high? ¿Qué tan alto?

How old? ¿Cuántos años? (personas) ¿Qué tan viejo, antiguo? (cosas)

A history of computer viruses

In the following report, “computer viruses” will be explained in detail. A lengthy and informative description of the evolution and history on microcomputer viruses will be given, to give you a background of their origin for some understanding of how they came to be. The next segment in the report is on how to combat computer viruses with the development of anti-virus applications. The current status of microcomputer viruses will also be discussed, naming the most common types of viruses and the most harmful type at this present point in time. Details of the most recent outbreaks of computer viruses, such as the “Melissa”, “I Love You” and the most recent “Anna Kournikova” viruses will be explained, and why they are so harmful. I will also give you my recommendations on how to combat this threat of computer viruses, what Anti-virus Applications that I believe should be used, and why updating your virus definitions for these programs on a regular basis is so vital and important in your quest to have a happy and uninfected computer. And finally, I give you my conclusion in which I can only hope that you will find helpful. . .

Chemistry

Chemistry in society focuses on the problems that humans perform against the ecosystem. This essay will discuss direct problems with the environment and ways in which I personally can help solve these problems through making different decisions in my life. The issues on hand will include air pollution, ozone depletion, and global warming. The solutions to these problems combine my ideas as well as those discussed in class. Air pollution, as mentioned in class, is mainly due to four major gaseous pollutants in our troposphere. The four pollutants consist of carbon monoxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide. Carbon monoxide which is released from cars and furnaces can be the most deadly out of all four pollutants. Small amounts of carbon monoxide that are inhaled cause learning disabilities where large amounts can lead to death. Ozone is a special form of oxygen that has an odor and can cause a reduction in the function of your lungs. Sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide both affect breathing which create lower resistance to respiratory infection and tend to mostly target children and the elderly. Some solutions that I have come up with to fight the problems of air pollution in . . .

Endangered species

In 1973 a law was passed that allowed endangered animals to be protected from poachers. It is called the Endangered Species Act. The endangered species act still helps animals who are endangered or threatened to become endangered today. Currently, there are some problems with the act. For example, if a farmer has an endangered species on his land that is destroying his crops or eating his herds, he can not do anything about it because if he did, he would get in trouble with the law. He could possibly go to jail and/or get a fine. Another problem is that we are protecting animals that the public does not know are endangered. If we are protecting these rare and endangered species, then why don't we know more about them? So we can know what they look like in case a problem arises that causes the need for action to be taken. This is just a couple of the many problems that people have with the Endangered Species Act. What can people do to help them in these situations?

Some solutions to these problems mentioned above, for instance, the farmer, is that if he is having problems with this animal then he should call the right authorities to come and help him take this animal off his property. Some farmers would take extreme measures. . .

Chinese Book Report

The book China Since 1945 written by author Stewart Ross opens in a description of the Chinese Empire in the 1900’s. There it describes the terrain of the Chinese lands and thoroughly states the fact of having the Great Wall of China to keep out the barbarians at 221 B.C. The author uses a very admiring tone of the Chinese Empire and seems to think it is one of the very few best empires that have ever formed. In fact, Rozman states, ‘ …the cultural and scientific achievements of the Chinese had been immense, including the invention of paper, printing and gunpowder, and the creation of the most exquisite paintings and by most “Empire Critics” China was one of the best Civilizations around. The author starts the book by Revolution and disintegration incident that happened in 1911, where the British . . .

Career choices

What is a pediatrician? A pediatrician is a physician who treats children. The choice to care for children should be based on a love

...