What Part Of Speech Is And

How To Determine The Part Of Speech

Only interjections have a habit of standing alone every other part of speech must be contained within a sentence and some are even required in sentences . Other parts of speech come in many varieties and may appear just about anywhere in a sentence.

To know for sure what part of speech a word falls into, look not only at the word itself but also at its meaning, position, and use in a sentence.

For example, in the first sentence below, work functions as a noun in the second sentence, a verb and in the third sentence, an adjective:

• Bosco showed up for work two hours late.
• The noun work is the thing Bosco shows up for.

Learning the names and uses of the basic parts of speech is just one way to understand how sentences are constructed.

Why Learn About Parts Of Speech

If youre looking for the parts of speech in English grammar, youve come to the right place! If youre trying to learn English online by yourself, understanding the parts of speech is a good place to start. They can help you to understand the structure of the language to guide your studying. If you are looking for an in-depth guide to English grammar, our complete English grammar guide might be more helpful.

Figuring Out Parts Of Speech

Sometimes, its not easy to tell which part of speech a word is. Here are a few easy hacks to quickly figure out what part of speech youre dealing with:

• If its an adjective plus the ending -ly, its an adverb. Examples: commonly, quickly.
• If you can swap it out for a noun and the sentence still makes sense, its a pronoun. Example: We played basketball. / Steve and I played basketball.
• If its something you do, and you can modify the sentence to include the word do, its a verb. Examples: I have an umbrella. / I do have an umbrella.
• If you can remove the word and the sentence still makes sense, but you lose a detail, the word is most likely an adjective. Example: She drives a red van. / She drives a van.
• If you can remove the word and the sentence doesnt make sense, its likely a preposition. Example: I left my notebook on the desk. / I left my notebook the desk.

And if youre ever really stumped, just look the word up. Dictionaries typically list the part of speech a word fits in its entry, and if it fits more than one part of speech, both are listed with examples.

That brings us to another common issue that can confuse writers and language learners:

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Is Which A Preposition

Few confuse which with prepositions mainly because both connect two parts of a sentence and both can precede a noun or pronoun. A case in point:

Well find about vaccine efficacy after the trials.

Well find which vaccine is more effective after the trials.

Well find which vaccine to take after the trials.

In all the three sentences, about and which connect two parts of the sentence and are followed by a noun or noun phrase. If about is a preposition, then why isnt which.

Looking at only the succeeding noun or noun phrase, though, doesnt present a holistic picture. This does:

Well find about vaccine efficacy after the trials.

Well find which vaccine is more effective after the trials.

Well find which vaccine to take after the trials.

In the second sentence, the noun clause introduced by which works as a unit. In other words, which doesnt come with just the noun vaccine but lot more, a clause. Thats not what prepositions do.

In the third sentence, if you recall what we covered earlier in the post, which is functioning as an interrogative adjective, implying it modifies noun. Thats not what prepositions do.

From the above examples, youd realize that mere presence of a noun or noun phrase after a word doesnt mean its a preposition. Adjectives can be followed by a noun or noun phrase. So can others be. Weve to look at the holistic picture.

Bottomline, which is not a preposition. And because its not a preposition, it cant initiate a prepositional phrase.

What Part Of Speech Is They’re

“They’re” is a contraction of “they” and “are.” It combines a pronoun and a verb, so it functions just like a pronoun and a verb function together in a sentence.

“They’re going to the park later” is the same as “They are going to the park later.”

Contractions do not have a separate part of speech. Not all contractions are pronoun + verb. Some other contractions are auxiliary verb + adverb , auxiliary verb + auxiliary verb , and noun + verb .

I hope this helps.

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Building New Sentences One Brick At A Time

Learning the parts of speech is just the first step to building a proper sentence. But parts of speech are slightly different from parts of a sentence and you need to know both in order to properly format your writing. Otherwise, you may encounter grammatical errors such as sentence fragments or run-on sentences.

S Of Speech Definition

• The Oxford Learners Dictionary defines parts of speech as one of the classes into which words are divided according to their grammar, such as noun, verb, adjective, etc.
• The Cambridge Dictionary also gives a similar definition One of the grammatical groups into which words are divided, such as noun, verb, and adjective.

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Types Of Part Of Speech

Works of English grammar generally follow the pattern of the European tradition as described above, except that participles are now usually regarded as forms of verbs rather than as a separate part of speech, and numerals are often conflated with other parts of speech: nouns ” rel=”nofollow”> cardinal numerals, e.g., “one”, and collective numerals, e.g., “dozen”), adjectives ” rel=”nofollow”> ordinal numerals, e.g., “first”, and multiplier numerals, e.g., “single”) and adverbs . Eight or nine parts of speech are commonly listed:

Some traditional classifications consider articles to be adjectives, yielding 8 parts of speech rather than 9. And some modern classifications define further classes in addition to these. For discussion see the sections below.

The classification below, or slight expansions of it, is still followed in most dictionaries:

Many English words can belong to more than one part of speech. Words like neigh, break, outlaw, laser, microwave, and telephone might all be either verbs or nouns. In certain circumstances, even words with primarily grammatical functions can be used as verbs or nouns, as in, “We must look to the hows and not just the whys.” The process whereby a word comes to be used as a different part of speech is called conversion or zero derivation.

How To Use The Correctly In Sentences

An important part of answering the question, “What part of speech is the word the?” includes explaining how to use the correctly in a sentence. Articles like the are some of the most common words used in the English language. So you need to know how and when to use it! And since using the as an adverb is less common, we’ll provide examples of how the can be used as an adverb as well.

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Figuring Or Defining The Parts Of Speech

At times, it might be difficult to evaluate which part of speech a word pertains to. Here are a few simple “hacks” for rapidly determining which section of speech you’re working with:

• It’s an adverb if it’s an adjective with the ending “-ly.” Examples: frequently, rapidly.
• If you can replace it with a noun, it’s a pronoun, and the statement still makes sense. We played chess, for example. / John and I played Chess.
• It’s a verb if it is some act you do, and you can change the statement to add the word do. I have an overcoat, for example. / I do have an overcoat.
• If you can eliminate the word and the sentence still makes perfect meaning, but the details are lost, the word is more or less an adjective. He owns a red van, for example. / He owns a van.
• If you take the word out and the phrase doesn’t make sense, it’s most certainly a preposition. I left my notepad on the workstation, for example. / I left my notepad the work station.

And if you’re ever at a loss for words, just look them up. In most dictionaries, the parts of speech the words belongs to is stated in its entrance, and if it belongs to more than one part of speech, all the forms are enlisted with example.

Here are a few questions you can ask about a specific word in a phrase to determine what part of speech it is.

This takes us to another major stumbling block for writers and language learners:

Constructing More Complex Sentences

Use more parts of speech to add additional information about what’s happening in a sentence to make it more complex. Take the first sentence from above, for example, and incorporate more information about how and why birds fly.

• Birds fly when migrating before winter.

Birds and fly remain the noun and the verb, but now there is more description.

When is an adverb that modifies the verb fly. The word before is a little tricky because it can be either a conjunction, preposition, or adverb depending on the context. In this case, it’s a preposition because it’s followed by a noun. This preposition begins an adverbial phrase of time that answers the question of when the birds migrate. Before is not a conjunction because it does not connect two clauses.

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Is How A Preposition

Few confuse how with prepositions mainly because both connect two parts of a sentence and both can precede a noun or pronoun. A case in point:

In spite of his average performance, he got promoted.

How he got promoted is beyond belief.

In both the sentences, in spite of and how connect two parts of the sentence and are followed by a noun or noun phrase. If in spite of is a preposition, then why isnt how.

Looking at only the succeeding noun or noun phrase, though, doesnt present a holistic picture. This does:

In spite of his average performance, he got promoted.

How he got promoted is beyond belief.

In the second sentence, the noun clause introduced by how works as a unit. In other words, how doesnt come with just the noun phrase he but lot more, a clause.

From the above examples, youd realize that mere presence of a noun or noun phrase after a word doesnt mean its a preposition. Adjectives can be followed by a noun or noun phrase. So can others be. But weve to look at the holistic picture.

Bottomline, how is not a preposition. And because its not a preposition, it cant initiate a prepositional phrase.

So far, weve looked at role of how in asking questions and connecting parts of a sentence. Lets now examine the final two pieces.

Is Which A Relative Pronoun

Yes.

It can function as a relative pronoun. A relative pronoun, if you recall, joins one part of a sentence to another by referring to a noun. It introduces relative clause, which gives more information about the noun referred to. Examples:

The house which was leaning dangerously after the recent flood was razed down by the municipal corporation.

Coelacanth, which went extinct with the dinosaurs millions of years ago, has been found alive in the Indian Ocean.

Note that in each example which refers to the immediately preceding noun. And because it refers to a noun, its a pronoun.

Common error: This error is less common than the one in noun clause, but people sometimes call which a subordinating conjunction, again for the same reason of associating a word that joins a dependent clause to an independent clause with subordinating conjunction. But which, in this role, is a relative pronoun.

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Are You Using The Parts Of Speech The Right Way

This guide has shown you the nine parts of speech and their grammatical functions. By now, you should already be able to give definitions and examples of each category, so they make sense.

To correctly use the parts of speech, ask yourself, what is the function of this word in the sentence? Keep practicing until you master the traditional grammar rules of English!

Is How A Verb

Although rarely, some raise question about how being a verb.

Is it a verb? Not even remotely!

We can murmur. We can talk. We can chant. We can sing.

But can we how?

How doesnt do any action. Hence, its not a verb.

Another test you can run is to check if how has past, past participle, and present participle forms like verbs do.

Can weve the words howed or howing, assuming it to be a regular verb?

No. Hence, its not a verb.

Few also confuse how with linking verb probably because of its role in linking a dependent clause to an independent clause. But its not a linking verb. As we saw earlier, how acts as a connector in its role in linking a dependent clause to an independent clause.

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Frequency Of Different Parts Of Speech

At Ginseng English, we believe in taking a research-informed, strategic approach to learning English. So understanding the general frequency of the different parts of speech is helpful. Take a look at the following table showing the proportion of the different parts of speech in conversational English and academic prose. (Note that the percentages are approximate and may not total 100% because the original categorization was slightly different from ours. This is only to give a general sense of the proportions.

Frequency of Parts of Speech

Source: Biber, et. al., . Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English.

Is Which A Pronoun

Yes.

It can function as an interrogative pronoun. An interrogative pronoun is a pronoun used to ask questions, the most common being who, whom, what, which, and whose. Examples:

Which is the best book you read last year?

Which is the best restaurant in the town? Sam asked.

Note that which can also act as interrogative pronoun in sentences where its not a question word. This has been covered later because it doesnt belong to the direct question category. Examples:

Well soon find which is more efficacious vaccine.

I dont know which to pick.

Which can also be used as relative pronoun where its not a question word. This too has been covered later . Example:

The house which was leaning dangerously after the recent flood was razed down by the municipal corporation.

If youre used to seeing only words such as he, she, and you as pronouns, you might struggle to visualize which as a pronoun. But remember every word in a sentence has to be one of the eight parts of speech. Think of which in the above sentences whether a direct question or not as referring to a particular thing, a role pronouns perform. And it comes with the added tag of interrogative because it asks questions.

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Open And Closed Word Classes

The parts of speech fall into two word classes: open and closed.

Open word classes are parts of speech that regularly acquire new words. Language evolves, and usually, evolution happens in these parts of speech: nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs. In 2020, new words added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary included deepfake, truthiness, and contactless.

Closed word classes are the parts of speech that dont regularly add new words. These parts of speech are more set in stone and include pronouns, conjunctions, articles, and prepositions.

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When A Term Is Used In 2 Distinct Ways Of Speaking

Phrases are often one part of speech or sometimes other, just as Y is often a vowel and sometimes a consonant. Here are a few of such examples:

Work

I went to work .

I work in the open area.

I work in the open area.

Well

She writes very well adverb).

He is well-liked in his neighborhood .

I tossed a dime into the well .

But I cooked lunch and dinner, but Dave cooked breakfast.

I purchased all the items but the pencils you requested for .

Words can also develop to fit into newer parts of speech. The word “adult” is a recent example. The adult was largely a noun that refers to a fully grown individual before to the 2010s. It could also be utilized as an adjective to describe certain genres of medias, such as adult modern music. But then, at the turn of the decade, a brand-new verb, adulting, arrived in the internet vocabulary. Adulting, as a verb, refers to the act of performing activities such as paying bills and going food shopping.