Parts of speech This presentation is full of facts and activities to help you to revise the ‘parts of speech’. In speaking, reading and writing you need

Parts of speech

This presentation is full of facts and activities to help you to revise the ‘parts of speech’.

In speaking, reading and writing you need to use the correct ‘parts of speech’ for your words to make sense and to be understood.

The eight key parts of speech are: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. These are sometimes referred to as ‘word classes’.

Please click here

adjectives nouns verbs

pronouns imperative verbs

proper nouns

adverbs

collective nouns

preposition conjunction interjection

Parts of speech

You will need a pen and some lined paper. Please click on a link to view the part of speech that you would like to study.

adjectives

Examples:

The old house had a lovely garden.

It was a cold day.

The beautiful dress cost £400!

The grumpy teenager stamped her feet.

The lazy man never did any work.

Adjectives are describing words that usually come before a noun (the name of a person, place or thing).

Adjectives can describe a look, a mood or even a character.

Click here for an activity

Click here to return to the main page ‘parts of speech’

adjectives activityTask: re-write these sentences replacing the underlined word withthe most fitting word from the box below (or your own word) to make these descriptive sentences more interesting.

Click here for the answers


relaxing pleasant brilliant vibrant friendly challenging

hard-working clever fantastic lively rewarding

1. Leeds is a nice city with a good night life.

2. Park Lane College is a good college with nice students.

3. Returning to study is a nice thing to do.

4. It can be nice to be able to sit and chat with friends.

5. It can be nice to go for long walks in the summer.

You can look up words using an online dictionary such as www.askoxford.com

Click for a printable version

adjectives activity – type, print page & check.

Write an adjective in the boxes to make the

writing more interesting.

Salina thinks that George is a man. She likes to spend time with

George because of his personality. She thinks he is a

friend.

George likes Salina because she is a person. She makes him laugh.

George likes to watch movies with Salina, so that they have something

to talk about over dinner.

Adjectives you might use: action mean kind documentary brilliant genuine happy confident interesting funny boring angry


adjectives - answers


• Leeds is a vibrant city with a fantastic night life.

• Park Lane College is a friendly college with hard-working students.

• Returning to study is a rewarding thing to do.

• It can be pleasant to sit outside and chat with friends.

• It can be relaxing to go for long walks in the summer.

You may have used different words for your answers. This is just an example of the selection you could have made. Ask your tutor to check your work.

nounsA noun is the name of something. A common noun is the name of a general thing: ice cream, dog, cat and pen are all everyday nouns.


A concrete noun is something you can see, hear, smell feel or taste:

It was a very tasty pizza dripping with cheese, ham and pineapple.

It was a vanilla ice cream.

She wore a woolly cardigan.

An abstract noun is an idea, feeling or quality that you cannot touch. It is something you cannot see, smell, touch or taste. For example: loneliness, politeness, happiness, sadness, faith, courage, embarrassment, bitterness.

You can look up words using an online dictionary such as www.askoxford.com

Click here for an activity.

common and abstract nouns activity

Activity two: make a list of all the common nouns you see.

Activity three: make a list of all of the abstract nouns you

see. Do you notice anything about them? Click here to return to the main page ‘parts of speech’


Activity one: look at this piece of writing.

“She had no more clean dishes, clean knives or clean forks.

Although she was not known for her tidiness, the house was unusually

messy today. Rather than do the cleaning and cook a meal, Bev

decided she would go out and get a takeaway. She had had too many

late nights and her tiredness was making it harder to cope with the

housework.”

common and abstract nouns - answers

“She had no more clean dishes, clean knives or clean forks.

Although she was not known for her tidiness, the house was

unusually messy today. Rather than do the cleaning and cook a meal,

Bev decided she would go out and get a takeaway. She had had too

many late nights and her tiredness was making it harder to cope

with the housework.”


Common nouns: dishes, knives, forks, house, takeaway, housework, today, meal, nights

Abstract nouns: tidiness, tiredness

Click here for an activity on turning adjectives into nouns

Adjectives: happy sad weak good ready tidy forgetful

Activity: turn the adjectives in the box into nouns by adding a –ness ending e.g. sadness.

Remember that when words end in ‘y’ you should change the ‘y’ into an ‘i’ e.g. readiness.

Extra activity: put two of these words into sentences of your own.

turning adjectives into nouns

She was a happy girl but she could also be a weak person.

(Happy and weak are used here to describe the girl’s character).


pronouns


When we write about people using their names over and over again our writing can become boring.

For example: Ali is great at hands-on work. Ali wants to get onto anapprenticeship scheme to become an engineer. Ali worksvery hard at school. Ali is doing well in his exams.

You can replace the name Ali with the word ‘he’ because the reader now knows (after the first Ali) who you are talking about.

Click here for more on pronouns

pronouns continued

The same piece of writing using the pronoun ‘he’:

Ali is great at hands-on work. He wants to get onto an apprenticeship scheme to become an engineer. He works very hard at school. He is doing well in his exams.

Personal pronouns: it he she they I we you

Click here for an activity on using pronouns

Objective pronouns: me you her him it us you them


pronouns activity

Re-write the following sentences choosing the bestpronoun to replace the person / people being writtenabout.

1. Sharon is a brilliant swimmer. Sharon wants to compete professionally. Sharon is a very fast swimmer.

2. Bob, Mat and Bev go to the pub a lot. Bob, Mat and Bev like to drink. Bob, Mat and Bev are best friends and spend most nights together in their local pub.

3. I like to go to the shops. Jane likes to go to the shops too. Jane and I often go shopping together. Jane and I can spend a lot of money if Jane and I are not careful.

Use either: I, we, they, you, it, he or she.


proper nouns

• A proper noun is the name of something unique.

• A proper noun could be the name of a person or a place, for example:

James, Samera, Leeds, Bradford, Park Lane College, England, Gregg’s, Cineworld and Burger King.



proper nouns - activity1. Draw a table like the one on the

right.2. Look at the following nouns and

write them under the correct heading.

• The Corn Exchange• shops• pool• Lightwaves• Tracy• college• biscuit• Park Lane• Jaffa Cakes• girl

Common noun

Proper noun


Click here for interactive, printable activity

proper nouns – type, print and check


Common noun Proper noun

The Corn

Exchange

shops

pool

Lightwaves

Tracy

college

biscuit

Park Lane

Jaffa Cakes

girl


proper nouns - answers

Common noun Proper nounShops The Corn Exchange

pool Lightwaves

girl Tracy

college Park Lane

biscuit Jaffa Cakes


collective nounsCollective nouns are used to show a collection of people or thingsregarded as a unit. Common collective nouns are:

teamenemy public

committee group

clergy family

company flock


Click here for an activity on using collective nouns

using collective nounsWhen we use collective nouns we have to think about whether we are talking

about them as singular (one group as a whole e.g. the team is playing well…)

or plural (a group of people in a team = the team have been playing well).

For example:

The police are having trouble catching a gang of thieves

(‘are’ shows we are talking about more than one unit)

Her family is falling apart.

(We are talking about one family, this is singular and so we use ‘is’).

Activity: take the collective nouns ‘family’, ‘class’ and ‘company’ and write

sentences showing their meaning. Take care and discuss your sentences with

your tutor to get advice on your grammar if you are unsure about whether you

are using them as singular or plural nouns.


verbs


Some verbs are action words:Some verbs show feelings or states and are there to act as links to add description to a noun.

Explain

Instruct

Speak

Cook

Run

is (he is boring)

am (I am boring)

been (he has always been boring)

was (he was always told he was boring)

have (I have always been boring)

feel (I feel I have been boring today)

imperative verbs

Silence! Shut the door! Sit down!

Stir the rice. Light the fire.


Imperative verbs can be orders or commands.

These are words that tell you what to do.

Imperative verbs are often used in instructional writing such as:

•Recipes

•Manuals

•Washing labels

•Medicine packets

Click here for an activity page

imperative verbs - activity

Write down all of the imperative verbs that you cansee in this recipe.


Method:

1. Fill a pan with cold water

2. Bring the water to the boil

3. Stir-fry the onion and garlic in a little oil

4. Place the pasta into the pan of boiling water – reduce the heat and allow to simmer for ten minutes

5. Add the stir-fry vegetables to the wok and fry on a high heat for two minutes

6. Remove the pasta from the heat, drain and empty onto the plates

7. Add the stir-fried vegetables and serve.


imperative verbs - answersMethod:1. Fill a pan with cold water2. Bring the water to the boil3. Stir-fry the onion and garlic in a little

oil4. Place the pasta into the pan of

boiling water – reduce the heat and simmer for ten minutes

5. Add the stir-fry vegetables to the wok and fry on a high heat for two minutes

6. Remove the pasta from the heat, drain and empty onto the plates

7. Add the stir-fried vegetables and serve.

Answers are in bold.


adverbs


An adverb can tell us: how something is done, time, place,cause or degree.

An adverb can answer questions suchas: "how," "when," "where," "how much".

Adverbs often have an -’ly’ ending such as:

•slowly (how)

•quickly (how)

•gently (how / manner)

•happily (manner)

•noisily (manner)

•lately (time)

•occasionally (how often)

Click here for adverbs activity

adverbs - activityActivity: re-write these sentences using the best adverb from the box below.

1. She spoke to the man so ____________ that she made him cry.

2. He sang so ___________ that all of the judges laughed.

3. The pan was balanced so ______________ close to the edge it was amazing that it didn’t fall off.

4. They laughed ____________ at the comedian – because he was so bad!

5. Her hair was styled _____________.

6. Get ready _________ or you will miss the bus!

7. Come over here __________. The baby is asleep.

quietly beautifully harshly dangerously terribly uncontrollably


Click here to study adverbs as joining words

Hint: to check the meaning of an adverb take off the ‘ly’ when looking for the word in the dictionary

adverbs (as conjunctions – joining words)

‘Instead,’ ‘although,’ ‘also,’ ‘otherwise,’ ‘still’ and ‘therefore’are a few examples of adverbs that can be used to joinideas together in your writing.

Examples of adverbs as conjunctions in sentences:

She did not have enough money for the dress; therefore she chose a different outfit.

The fans waited patiently; finally the doors to the stadium were opened.


prepositionsPrepositions can show time, direction and place.

Look at the table below for a few examples.


Time Direction Place

in into at

on onto next to

at up on

since down under

For additional work and online activities on prepositions visit: http://www.englishpage.com/prepositions/location_prepositions_2.htm

Click here for an activity of directional prepositions

prepositions - activityDecide which preposition for direction should be used and re-write the following

sentences inserting the correct preposition.

Click here to return to the main page ‘parts of speech’Click here for the answers

For direction: into onto up down

1. Put the bowl of porridge ___________ the microwave.

2. Put the cup __________.

3. Could you pick the laundry _______ for me, please?

4. Take care as you skate ________ the ice.

5. Go _______ the garden and I will bring out some chairs.

6. Are you travelling ________ to London by car, train or coach?

prepositions - answers• Put the bowl of porridge into the

microwave.

• Put the cup down.

• Could you pick the laundry up for me, please?

• Take care as you skate onto the ice.

• Go into the garden and I will bring out some chairs.

• Are you travelling down to London by car, train or coach?


conjunctionsCo-ordinating conjunctions can join two simplesentences together. These form a ‘compoundSentence’ which is made of two ideas that are equallyimportant.

Co-ordinates:

• and • but • or • nor • for • so • yet


Examples:

Simon likes tea, and Jan likes coffee.

Simon likes tea, but Jan likes coffee.

Will you go to the shops, or shall I go to the shops?

You should go to the shops, so I don’t have to go to the shops.


conjunctions - activity


Join these simple sentences together to form ‘compound’

sentences using the best co-ordinating conjunction from the box

below.

1. I like porridge. Sam likes a fried breakfast.

2. Kevin watches Eastenders. I prefer to watch Coronation street.

3. Abby loves Jim. Kirsty loves Jim too.

4. Mohammed likes to paint. Pat enjoys painting.

5. I enjoy watching movies. We could go to the pictures together.

6. I do not like my flat. Simon says it’s nice.

and but or nor for so yet


Click here for a mini printable version of the conjunctions task

I like porridge. Sam likes a fried breakfast.

Kevin watches Eastenders. I prefer to watch Coronation street.

Abby loves Jim. Kirsty loves Jim too.

Mohammed likes to paint. Pat enjoys painting.



conjunctions – type, print & check

and but or nor for so yet

1. Retype the sentences joining the two simple sentences with the best word from the box below.

conjunctions – sample answers

1. I like porridge, but Sam likes a fried breakfast.

2. Kevin watches Eastenders, but I prefer to watch Coronation

street.

3. Abby loves Jim, but Kirsty loves Jim too.

4. Mohammed likes to paint, and Pat enjoys painting.

5. I enjoy watching movies, so we could go to the pictures

6. together.

7. I do not like my flat, yet Simon says it’s nice.


interjections

Common interjections include: wow, ouch, oops, hey, watch, oh, yes, no,move, stop, help… they are usually followed by anexclamation mark!


Interjections are nearly always used at the start of a sentence - they are there to show emotion and to grab your attention.

“Oh, you’re coming too?Wow! That’s a surprise.”

Documents

Parts of speech This presentation is full of facts and activities to help you to revise the ‘parts of speech’. In speaking, reading and writing you need