1 Preamble
Why are you learning about this? Why do you need to know all these new terms?
You’re here to improve your understanding of written English, either because you want to or you need to, and in order to improve that understanding, you need to know the key vocabulary, just as you would in any other facet of life.
ADD TO THIS!
Even if you were bored to tears by English classes in high school, you probably remember a few pieces of information that teachers drilled into the minds of you and your classmates. I bet you know some kind of definition of noun, for example. When I ask, “What is a noun?” you probably think, “Person, place, or thing.” And you’re right!
But thinking about words in terms of what they are can end up being confusing. For example, if I ask you what type of word cat is, you will probably think to yourself, “Well, a cat is a thing, so it’s a noun!” And again you’re right.
But what about a word like light? It is a thing, for sure — there’s a light above the desk I’m working at right now — so it’s a noun. But can’t you also light a fire? Would that mean it’s an action rather than a thing? And if I say my backpack feels light, isn’t that a describing word? So what the heck is going on? What type of word is light?
The answer is — it’s all of them. It’s a thing (noun), an action (verb), and a describing word (adjective). When we try to identify words, we shouldn’t be questioning what type of word it is but how it is being used. In other words, when we look at individual words in a sentence, we should be asking ourselves, “What job is this word doing? What is its function?”
Parts of Speech: The Jobs That Words Do
When we want to refer to the jobs that words do, we use the term “part(s) of speech.” We’re going to discuss eight parts of speech in this text.
- Noun
- Pronoun
- Verb
- Adjective
- Adverb
- Preposition
- Conjunction
- Interjection