The following are parts of speech that you need to know prior to going into the exam:
- Noun: A person, place, or thing in a sentence
- Pronoun: Words that are used in place of nouns.
- Verb: An action word, usually following a noun
- Adjective: Modifies/describes a noun or pronoun.
- Adverb: Modifies/describes a verb. Most always end in -ly
- Prepositions: A word or phrase used before a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase showing direction, time place, location, or spatial relationships. It can also introduce an object. Examples of prepositions include in, at, on, of, to, around, In.
Look at the following sentence below:
A nervous Jackson called up Jennifer and asked her reluctantly if she wanted to go Homecoming at the end of the month.
What parts of speech are each of the words?
Nervous is anAdjective: It describes the pronoun/subject in the sentence–Jackson.
Called is a verb. It’s the action word that Jackson is doing.
Asked is also a verb. It’s another that Jackson is doing.
Reluctantly is an adverb. It describes the verb asked.
At is a preposition. It follows the noun Homecoming and shows time (at the end of the month).
Example 1
Here are three sentences. See if you can tell what parts of speech the bolded words are.
1. Stanley helped his mother around the house with the chores.
2. My teacher boldly predicted that it would rain today even though the weatherman said it wouldn’t.
3. The weather is so cold outside that my fingers went numb the minute I stepped outside.
4. At the start of each day, my dog likes to go outside and grab the paper for me to read.
Sentence 1: Around is a preposition. It follows the noun mother and shows direction.
Sentence 2: Boldly is an adverb. It describes how the teacher predicted–predicted being a verb.
Sentence 3: Cold describes the weather. Since weather is a noun, cold is an adjective.
Sentence 4: Dog is a noun. The sentence starts with a prepositional phrase (at indicates time), and the phrase is followed by a noun (dog) who gives the action go.
Here’s another example question similar to the type you may see on a test:
Example 2
The Science fair is always one of my favorite events of the year. Last year, my cousin David won the fair. He won by making a rocket ship. This year, I am hoping to win with a special 3D map of all the planets.
Which of the following underlined words contains a pronoun?
- Fair
- David
- He
- Planets
The correct answer here is He (C). Pronouns are words used in place of a noun, and “he” in this instance is used in place of David, which is the proper noun in this paragraph, not the pronoun.