PARTS OF SPEECH
Parts of speech: noun, verb, adjective, adverb
Nouns name things, verbs show actions, adjectives describe nouns and adverbs describe verbs; place and ending show which is which.
| noun | verb | adjective | adverb | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| + | She has a car. | She drives. | She has a fast car. | She drives fast. |
| − | She has no car. | She doesn't drive. | She doesn't have a fast car. | She doesn't drive fast. |
| ? | Does she have a car? | Does she drive? | Does she have a fast car? | Does she drive fast? |
**Noun**
- person, place, thing
- Verb: action or state
- Adjective: describes a noun
- Adverb: describes a verb, an adjective or another adverb
Colours in the rules
- verb The action or state: walk, work, go.
- adjective Describes a noun: big, quiet, ready.
- adverb Says how, when or where: quickly, often, here.
- other words Time words and the rest of the pattern.
A1 Noun: a person, place or thing
A noun is a word for a person, a place or a thing: teacher, kitchen, phone. It often comes after a, the or my.
a / the / my noun
Examples
- My sister works in a hospital.Why: Sister is a person; hospital is a place.
- The phone is on the table.Why: Phone and table are things.
Common mistake
Wrong:Honest is important.
Right:Honesty is important.
Why: Honest describes a person; the name of the idea is honesty.
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A1 Verb: an action or a state
A verb shows an action or a state: run, eat, be, like. Every sentence needs a verb.
subject verb
Examples
- Tom plays tennis on Sundays.Why: Plays is an action.
- She is tired today.Why: Is shows a state.
Common mistake
Wrong:My dog sleepy all day.
Right:My dog sleeps all day.
Why: Sleepy is an adjective; the sentence needs the verb sleeps.
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A1 Adjective: describes a noun
An adjective tells us more about a noun: a big house, a cold day. It comes before a noun or after be.
a / the adjective noun
Examples
- She has a new bike.Why: New describes the noun bike.
- The soup is hot.Why: Hot comes after is and describes soup.
Common mistake
Wrong:It is a beautifully day.
Right:It is a beautiful day.
Why: A noun needs an adjective, not an adverb.
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A2 Adverb: how, when or where
An adverb tells us how, when or where something happens. It often ends in -ly and describes a verb or an adjective: speak slowly, very tall.
subject verb adverb
Examples
- She speaks quietly.Why: Quietly tells how she speaks.
- We arrive early on Mondays.Why: Early tells when we arrive.
Common mistake
Wrong:She sings beautiful.
Right:She sings beautifully.
Why: After a verb we use an adverb to say how.
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A2 Clues: place and ending
The place in the sentence helps: a noun follows the or a, a verb follows the subject. The ending helps too: -tion and -ness make nouns, -ful and -ous make adjectives, -ly makes adverbs.
the / a noun subject verb
Examples
- The decision was difficult.Why: Decision follows the and ends in -sion: a noun.
- He waited patiently for the information.Why: Patiently ends in -ly; information ends in -tion.
Common mistake
Wrong:He made a decide.
Right:He made a decision.
Why: After a we need a noun; decide is a verb.
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B1 One word, different jobs
Many words have more than one job: work, light, fast. Look at what the word does in this sentence to find its part of speech.
word verb / noun adj / adv
Examples
- I work in a bank, and I like my work.Why: The first work is a verb; the second is a noun.
- He drives fast in a fast car.Why: The first fast tells how; the second describes the car.
Common mistake
Wrong:He drives fastly.
Right:He drives fast.
Why: Fast is also an adverb; fastly does not exist.
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