Parts of Speech

A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea. Identify the nouns in the following sentence.

Devon really wanted to move to Ghana.

• Devon, Ghana

• Devon, wanted

• really, move

• to, wanted

A verb is a word that expresses an action or state of being. Identify the verb in the following sentence.

The crab scurried across the sand.

• crab

• sand

• across

• scurried

The verb "to be" is one of the most common verbs in the English language. It is an irregular verb, and you might recognize it in one of its forms: am, is, was, were, had been, am being, are. The verb "to be" is usually followed by an adjective to tell more about the "state of being." For example, "I was happy when Alissa gave me a cupcake."

Identify the "to be" verb in the following sentence.

Even though we enjoyed the cruise, we were very homesick.

• we

• ejoyed

• were

• cruise

Verbs are active and like to change around. They change depending on how many people are doing an action and depending on when the action happened.

How could the following sentence be rewritten in the past tense?

She runs along the beach.

• She is running along the beach.

• She ran along the beach.

• She wants to run along the beach.

• She will be running along the beach.

An adjective is a word that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun.

Which of the following is an adjective?

• dances

• cute

• is

• him

A pronoun is a word that's used in place of a noun or noun phrase. Words like "he," "she," "it," "they," "his," and "her" are all pronouns. You can use pronouns to stand in for nouns so that sentences don't get repetitive.

Read the following sentence.

Laura left Laura's mom a message saying that Laura would be a few minutes late.

Which options is the best example of rewriting this sentence using pronouns?

• Laura left Angelica a message saying that Laura would be a few minutes lae.

• Laura left Laura a message saying that she would be a few minutes late.

• Laura left her mom a message saying that she would be a few minutes late.

• Laura left Laura's mom a message saying that she would be a few minutes late.

An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, as well as every other part of speech except a noun. Many adverbs end in -ly, like happily, quickly, or angirly. But if a word ends in y, drop the y and add -ily to make an adverb (happy becomes happily).

Identify the adverb in the following sentence.

The puppy trotted sadly.

• sadly

• the

• puppy

• trotted

Prepositions are little words that describe where, when, and in which direction something is going. On, in, at, upon, and against are just a few propositions. Other prepositions include: with, before, beyond, through, and under.

Identify the preposition in the following sentence.

Yanni went to the mall.

• went

• Yanni

• mall

• to

A conjunction is a word that connects words, phrases, and clauses. The coordinating conjunctions are "for," "and," "nor," "but," "or," "yet," and "so."

Identify the conjunction in the following sentence.

Laylah would have been on time, but she missed her bus.

• would

• time

• but

• been

Interjections are interrupting words, and they are often followed by an exclamation mark.

Nicola just dropped her keys in the late. What is an interjection she might yell?

• My keys are ruined.

• I wish I hadn't lost those.

• I will have revenge.

• Yikes!