Parts of Speech

A noun is a word that 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, wanted

• moved, to

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

• across

• sand

• scurried

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

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

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

• we

• cruise

• enjoyed

• were

Verbs are active and like to change around. They change form depending on how many people or things 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" 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 option is the best example of rewriting this sentence using pronouns?

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

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

• Laura left Laura a message saying that Laura 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. (Modifying nouns is the adjective's job). Many adverbs end in -ly, like happily, quickly or hungrily. But if an adjective ends in y, drop the y and add -ily to make an adverb. So, "happy" becomes "happily," and "hasty" becomes "hastily."

Identify the adverb in the following sentence.

The puppy trotted sadly.

• puppy

• trotted

• the

• sadly

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 prepositions. Other prepositions include: with, before, beyond, through and under.

Identify the preposition in the following sentence.

Yanni went to the mall.

• Yanni

• went

• to

• mall

A conjunction is a word that connects words, phrases and clauses. The coordinating conjuctions are "for," "and," "nor," "but," "or," "yet" and "so." An easy way to remember them is with the acronym FANBOYS.

Identify the conjunction in the following sentence.

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

• would

• time

• been

• but

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

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

• Yikes!

• I wish I hadn’t lost those.

• My keys are ruined.

• I will have revenge.