The eight parts of speech are defined as: the verb, the noun, the pronoun, the adjective, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction, and the interjection.

These words are defined in terms of how a word is used. In fact, the same word can be a verb in one sentence and a noun or adjective in the next.

Here are a couple of examples where the word changes function.

Joe asked Sally to walk to the park. (“Walk” is the verb.”)

Joe held Sally’s hand on the walk. (“Walk” is a noun.”)

Joe said they would call this a walk date. (“Walk” is an adjective.”)

The verb is the most important part of a sentence. No sentence is complete without a verb. A verb tells us what is happening. A sentence can be complete with only one word, if it is a verb. “Stop!” (Another complete one word sentence has just an interjection. “Oops!”) A verb may express an action or a state of being. Verbs change tense depending on when an action happened.

They went to school.

She has an iPod.

We were happy.

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A noun is usually described as “a person, place, or thing.” It can also include an idea, or other intangible thing. A name is a special kind of noun called a proper noun.

Cinderella went to the ball.

Fishing is my favourite activity.

I was in a blue funk over her insult.

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A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun. (He, she, it, they, us, or we.)

She gave it to me.

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An adjective modifies (or gives more information about) a noun.

We drove the red sports car.

John went to the sports complex.

I went to my brother’s house.

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An adverb modifies (or gives more information about) a verb.

She ran quickly.

I occasionally crave pizza.

I side stepped the tricky question.

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A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in the sentence. Prepositions include: “on,” “under,” “before,” and other connecting words. Prepositions give information about when and where a noun is located.

I went to gym before science.

He took my wallet yesterday behind the stadium.

Yesterday I was over the moon; today I feel under the weather.

A conjunction is a joining word: “and,” but,” or “therefore” and others.

I went to the grocery story and to the library.

I got caught in the rain storm, but I had my umbrella.

Sue was in Hawaii or Mexico for vacation.

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An interjection is a word put in a sentence to convey emotion. It is usually followed by an exclamation mark. It is not related grammatically to other words in the sentence.

Yikes! That was a hot tamale.

Yes! I got an A!

Sweet! My cheque arrived.