If your school grammar teacher appeared out of nowhere and handed you a pencil and paper, could you list the eight parts of speech?
I’d wager that when most of us sit down to write something, we almost never consider the eight parts of speech. We write what we want to say. If we write it well, we produce something that will speak clearly to the reader. But we rarely contemplate the individual components that make that writing clear.
Maybe we should.
After all, if we could occasionally think about the way we construct sentences along with the words we select, our writing might even be better.
First things first, I should point out that not all grammar authorities agree that there are eight parts of speech. Some suggest there are more than that. For example, in his book Perfect English Grammar, Grant Barrett lists 10. Other sources list nine.
But I see quite a few that set eight as the magic number. So I’ll go with that number for the purpose of this post. After all, this is intended as a basic review of how we construct sentences.
1. Nouns
You can definitely construct a grammatical sentence without a noun, but sooner or later, you can’t skip over nouns forever. A noun is the person, place or thing that the sentence is all about. Obviously, if you don’t define that person, place or thing, you’re setting your writing up to fail. (There are ways around specifically identifying the noun, in mysteries, for example. But even without naming something specific, you can still use nouns.)
2. Verbs
Verbs are the action part of the sentence. But verbs can express forms of action or being. You can say, “John attends church,” which is an example of action, or “John is very religious,” which is an example of being. Verbs also carry tenses to describe whether something previously happened, is currently happening or will likely happen.
Auxiliary verbs, which some also know as “helping verbs” enhance tense and/or mood to further describe a situation. If you write, “Alice’s car needs to be washed,” your reader can deduce that the car has not been washed recently, is probably not currently being washed and that there may not necessarily be an immediate plan to wash it at the moment. The car, however, exists in a state at which, for some reason, a good wash might be a good idea.
3. Pronouns
Pronouns take the place of nouns by substituting words so you don’t have to use a proper name every time. As a general rule, unless you’re trying to be mysterious, it’s best to use the noun first so that when you subsequently sprinkle in pronouns, the reader will understand which noun the pronoun refers to.
If you’re writing a sentence about Daniel getting dressed for work, here’s what it might look like if you couldn’t use the pronouns he, his, or him:
Daniel knew Daniel needed to look impressive if Daniel was going to convince Daniel’s boss that Daniel was the right man for the job. So Daniel pulled the navy blue suit from the closet. Daniel smiled when Daniel remembered receiving the suit as a gift from Daniel’s parents when Daniel moved to the big city.
You can see how ridiculous the passage reads without pronouns. It almost gave me a headache just writing it!
These days, pronouns carry challenges related to gender identity. But that doesn’t change the fact that they are an important part of speech. As long as you choose the right pronoun based on a person’s preferences should generally solve even those concerns.
4. Adjectives
Adjectives are words that modify nouns. The adjective usually appears before the noun and gives additional information about it.
You can choose the red book from the shelf as you sit down on the comfortable sofa and enjoy an ice-cold soda. Without adjectives, you’d select a book from the shelf, sit down on the sofa and enjoy a soda. Either conveys the general action, but adjectives add information to help the reader have a deeper understanding of what’s happening.
5. Adverbs
As the term implies, adverbs modify verbs. But they can also modify adjectives and other adverbs. Like their adjective counterparts, you can write a sentence that’s easy to understand without them. But adding them can add depth to the description of what’s being conveyed.
A lot of writers, Stephen King among them, have little respect for adverbs at times. They often can come off as unnecessary. But used sparingly, they can be very effective.
An older person may step lightly as they investigate a noise outside and then suddenly see a very large bear glaring menacingly through the downstairs window.
King might not approve of all of those adverbs, of course. He would certainly take issue with the last one, menacingly. After all, how else but menacingly would a wild animal “glare” at someone?
6. Prepositions
Prepositions connect nouns or pronouns to add additional meaning. In doing so, prepositions form little phrases that modify other words in the sentence. Thanks to the preposition, you can receive a gift for your birthday, rent a cabin during the weekend, or have a cup of coffee while you wait. You can drink that cup of coffee at the doctor’s office or even in a coffee shop.
7. Conjunctions
Even after all these years, it’s hard to think about conjunctions without recalling a certain cartoon. People of a certain age will remember a Saturday morning feature called Schoolhouse Rock. One of the little cartoons, “Conjunction Junction,” focused on little grammar device.
Conjunctions are little words like and, or and but (among others) that connect multiple things in a list or multiple clauses in a sentence. You can ask someone to pass the salt and pepper during dinner. After dinner, you can tell your friends that you loved the salad but felt the entree was too spicy for your taste.
8. Interjections
This one strikes me as the most curious on the list because interjections sometimes aren’t part of a sentence. Once in a while, they’re the entire sentence. Most people will likely think of their favorite curse word when they think of an interjection. That’s not necessarily wrong.
A famous interjection comes from Star Trek actor George Takei. He’s known for his catchphrase, “Oh my!” He explained the humorous origin of that particular phrase on the UK’s Graham Norton Show here.
Honorable Mention: Determiners
Since I started this post with the notion of eight parts of speech, I decided to add this one as an “honorable mention.” But some sources, including Garrett’s book, list determiners as parts of speech.
Determiners are words that can further define nouns by placing limits on them. Articles like a, an and the, are a kind of determiner. Garrett lists 10 because he lists articles separately from determiners even though he acknowledges that articles are themselves determiners.
Look for the determiners in these sentences:
Alice took the last box of rice from the shelf.
Jeff’s coffee cup fell to the floor during the earthquake.
Can you hand me that book?
That’s the list. How well would you have done? Would you have remembered all eight parts of speech? (Or all nine?)