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Parts of Speech 
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Traditional grammar classifies words based on eight parts of speech: the verb, the noun, the pronoun, the adjective, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction, and the interjection

Each part of speech explains not what the word is, but how the word is used. In fact, the same word can be a noun in one sentence and a verb or adjective in the next. The next few examples show how a word's part of speech can change from one sentence to the next, and following them is a series of sections on the individual parts of speech, followed by an exercise.   Copyright © 1994, 1995 and 1996 by the University of Ottawa (Terms of use.)

·        A noun is a name for a person, place, thing or idea.   Proper nouns begin with capital letters and name someone or something specific. 

·        A pronoun is a word that stands for a noun. 
    (I, me, my, you, your, yours, he, him, his, it, its, we, us our, they, them, their)

·        A verb is a word that expresses action or links other words.  Linking verbs join nouns to objects.  Helping verbs assist the main verb.  Some examples of helping verbs:  will, do, has, have, may, would, can, must, could, should  

·        Prepositions are words that connect a noun or a pronoun to another word, which is the object of the preposition.  A group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with an object is called a prepositional phrase.  .   

·        Adjectives are words that describe a noun.  An adjective may come before the word it describes or it may come after a linking verb. 

·        Adverbs are words that describe verbs, adjectives, or adverbs.  Many adverbs end in ‘ly,’ but very, often, never, always, and well are also adverbs. 

·        Conjunctions are words that connect.  Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, so, nor, for, yet) join two equal ideas, while subordinating conjunctions (after, although, as, because, before, even if, even though, if, since, though, unless, until, when, whenever, where, wherever, whether, while) are dependent words that cannot stand alone as independent sentences.

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