Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech

In a sentence words are divided into different classes or kinds because of their functions and usage. And it is described by the term of parts of speech.

Parts of speech help to understand the uses or functions words and how different words can make a meaningful sentence.

There are Eight types of parts of speech.

Noun
Pronoun
Verb
Adverb
Adjective
Preposition
Conjunction
Interjection

Noun: 
Name of anything like person, animal, place, thing, abstract, idea, action, state or quality is called Noun.

Example:
Maria, Girl, Dhaka, Book, Teacher, Water, Honesty, Happiness, Family, Sleep, Death etc.
In Sentence: (Bold words are noun)
- A boy is coming towards us.
- Sarah is a pretty girl.
- The sun shines in daytime.
- Education removes darkness.
- Poverty is curse.

Function of Noun: 
Noun plays the role in a sentence as subject of a verb or object of a verb or both subject and object of a verb.

Classification of nouns:
Noun can be classified into five categories:

Proper noun
Common noun
Collective noun
Abstract noun
Material noun

i. Proper Noun:

Proper noun is the name of some particular person, place or things.

Example:- Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh. ( Dhaka is the name of one particular capital)
- Sunny is a smart boy. ( Sunny is the name of one particular boy)
- Rimi is a clever girl. (Rimi is the name of one particular girl)

Proper noun always starts with capital letter.

ii. Common Noun:

Common noun is a noun that is not the name of a particular thing or class but that represents one or all of the members of that class or thing.

A common noun can be preceded by the definite articles (a, the).

Example:
- Sunny is a smart boy. (Here boy is common noun while Sunny is a proper noun)
- Rimi is a clever girl. (Here girl is common noun while Rimi is a proper noun)

Example without sentence:
- People: boy, girl, mother, father, baby, child, teacher, student, man, woman etc.
- Things: book, table, computer, pen, pencil etc.
- Animals: bird, dog, cat, cow, goat, wolf, tiger etc.
- Place: city, country, state, capital, beach, forest etc.

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iii. Collective Noun:

A collective noun is the name of a collection or number or group of things or persons taken together and considered of as one whole.

Example:
- The navy is the ready for the voyage.
- Public was not aware for the incident.
- The proposal was approved by the cabinet.

Example without sentence:
Crowd, class, army, mob, gang, team, jury, family, herd, committee, audience, council, public, navy, cabinet, group, company, society, troupe, corporation, senate, faculty, board etc.

iv. Material Noun:

A material noun is the name of material, substance or ingredient of things.
Such as iron, steel, copper, gold, coal, silver, milk, water, tea, sugar, wheat etc.

Example:
- The necklace is made of gold.
- The cow gives us milk.
- Give me a cup of tea.

v. Abstract Noun:

An Abstract Noun is usually the name of a quality, action, state or concept.
Abstract noun are the names of such things those can’t be touched, tested, smelt or heard.
Such as:
Quality- honesty, beauty, bravery, wisdom, heroism, stupidity, darkness, kindness, goodness, brightness etc.
Action- Judgment, movement, laughter, hatred, theft etc.
State- Childhood, boyhood, youth, death, poverty, slavery, sickness, sleep etc.

The names of Arts and Science such as grammar, chemistry, physics, music etc. are also abstract noun.

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Pronoun
A Pronoun is a word used instead of a noun-equivalent. It is the replacement of noun.

Common pronouns are I, me, he, she, him, his, her, they, them, it, we, and us.

Example:
- She is a pretty girl.
- His contribution is appreciable.
- They are unbeatable.
- This job is done by them.

Role of Pronoun in a sentence: Pronouns are usually short words and they are used to make sentence less cumbersome and less repetitive.

Kinds of Pronoun:
There are many different kinds of pronouns. Such as:

Personal Pronoun
Possessive Pronoun
Reflexive Pronoun
Intensive Pronoun
Indefinite Pronoun
Demonstrative Pronoun
Relative Pronoun
Interrogative Pronoun
Reciprocal Pronoun.

i. Personal Pronoun:

Personal pronoun is used instead of person. Such as I, you, he, she, we, they and who.

When a personal pronoun is the subject of a verb then it is called Subjective Pronoun (I, we, he, she, they, and you).
E.g. I love this book.

When a personal pronoun is not a subject and acts as the object then it is called Objective Pronoun (me, you, her, him, it, us, them and whom).
E.g. Give it to him.

ii. Possessive Pronoun:

A Possessive Pronoun shows ownership of something. Such as his, hers, its, mine, yours, ours, and theirs.

Example:- This pen is mine.
- Yours one is not real.
- Take hers from the room.

iii. Reflexive Pronoun:

Reflexive Pronoun refers back to the subject in the sentence. They are myself, himself, herself, ourselves, themselves, yourselves and itself.

Example:
- I ask myself when I take a decision.
- He spoke to himself.
- We learn about ourselves every day.

iv. Intensive Pronoun:

An Intensive Pronoun is used for emphasis. Intensive pronouns are myself, himself, herself, yourself, itself, yourselves, ourselves and themselves.

Example:
- I myself have done the job.
- The president himself visited the area.
- He himself can’t do it.

v. Indefinite Pronoun:

An Indefinite Pronoun refers to an indefinite or non-specific person or thing. Indefinite pronouns are any, anything, some, someone, somebody, everybody, everything, everyone, nobody, none, one, several, some, few, many and each.

An Indefinite pronoun may look like an indefinite adjective but it is used differently in sentences by taking the place of a noun.

Example:
- All people gathered here for the same purpose.
- Does anyone know anything about the matter?
- Anybody can play the game easily.
- None but the brave deserves the fair.
- Each must do his best.
- One must do one’s duty.

vi. Demonstrative Pronoun:

A Demonstrative Pronoun particularly point out a noun. This, these, that and those are demonstrative pronouns to point out a noun.

A Demonstrative pronoun stands alone but a demonstrative adjective qualifies a noun.

Example:
- You can smell that from here.
- This smells good.
- Those were bad days.
- Look at that.
- Would you deliver this?

vii. Relative Pronoun:

A Relative Pronoun is a pronoun that introduces or links one phrase or clause to another in the sentence.
Relative Pronoun are that, who, whom, where, when, whoever, whichever and whomever.

Example:
- The person who called me is my uncle.
- I know where I am going.
- The pen which I lost was red.
- You should buy the book that you need for the course.
- Robii Thakur is a poet who wrote the National Anthem.

Who and whom refer only to people.
Which refers to things, qualities and ideas.
That and whose refer to people, qualities, things and ideas.

viii. Interrogative Pronoun:

An Interrogative Pronoun is used to ask question. It helps to ask about something.

Interrogative Pronouns are who, which, what, whom, whose as well as whoever, whomever, whichever andwhatever.

It is used in the beginning of the sentence.

Who and whom refer to person.
What refers to thing.
Which refers to person or thing and whose refers to person as possessive.

Example:
- What’s happened?
- What do you expect from me?
- Who designed this website?
- Whose mobile is this?
- Whatever did you want?

ix. Reciprocal Pronoun:

A Reciprocal Pronoun refers the relations between two or more persons or things. Each other and one another are Reciprocal Pronouns.

We use Reciprocal Pronouns when there are two or more persons or things doing the same thing.

Example:
- Rimi and Raju like each other.
- Why don’t we believe each other?
- They do not tolerate each other.
- We should help one another.

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Adjective:An adjective is a part of speech (word) that modifies a noun or a pronoun by qualifying, specifying or describing it.

Generally an adjective modifies a noun by answering one of these following questions:
Which? What kind? How many?

Example:
- Foxes are cunning animal. (Answer the question “What king of animal?”)
- Five or six gunmen attack the area. (Answer the question “How many gunmen?”)
- The one eyed man tells him the story. (Answer the question “Which man?”)

Adjective Classification:

Qualitative Adjective or Descriptive Adjective or Adjective of quality
Quantitative Adjective or Adjective of quantity
Numeric Adjective or Adjective of Number
Demonstrative Adjective
Distributive Adjective
Possessive Adjective
Interrogative Adjective

i. Qualitative Adjective or Adjective of quality:

Express the qualities of something or someone.
Such as great, good, bad, wise, poor, nice, happy, pretty, angry, blue etc.

Example:
- He gives me a great idea.
- Mr. Rahim is a good person.
- He is a bad guy.

ii. Quantitative Adjective or Adjective of quantity:

Express or indicate the quantity of a noun or pronoun.
Such as some, little, much, enough, whole, sufficient, all, none, more, half, no etc.

Example:
- I have enough money to but he car.
- The whole countrymen congratulate the president.
- She wants all the money.

Adjective of quantity answer the question: How many or much?

iii. Numeric or Adjective of number:

Express the number or order of something or someone. Such as one, two, three, ………., first, second, third, ……………, single, double, triple, quadruple, twofold, threefold, fivefold, ………… etc.

Example:
- He can eat ten eggs at a time.
- She is the first girl in the class.
- The house owner does not rent the room to the single person.

Adjective of number is to types Definite and Indefinite.

Definite Numeric adjectives are of three kinds.
Such as
- Cardinal (one, two, ….),
- Ordinal (first, second, ……),
- Multiplicative (Single, double, ……..)

iv. Demonstrative Adjective:

Specify the nouns or pronouns. Such as this, that, those, these etc.

Example:
- This boy is good.
- That is her room.
- These are the book to follow.

v. Distributive Adjective:

Express the distributive state of nouns. Such as every, each, neither, either, both etc.

Example:
- Every movie in the series is popular.
- Both the boys are appreciated by them.
- Each person will get the reward.

vi. Possessive Adjective:

Shows the possession or belongingness in the sentence. Such as his, her, him, my, our, your, their etc.

Example:
- This is her cell phone.
- I have seen their house.
- Our house is tow stored house.

vii. Interrogative Adjective:

Interrogative Adjective modifies nouns in interrogative sentence. Such as which, what, whose etc.

Example:
- What kind of man he is?
- Whose phone is this?
- Which program are you listening?

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Verb
A verb is a word or group of word (phrase) that is used to describe an action, state or occurrence.

Role of Verb in a sentence:
Verb forms the main part of the predicate of a sentence. Every complete sentence must have a verb.

Verbs are:
Action: read, do, walk, bring, run, learn, eat etc.
State: be, exist, stand etc.
Occurrence: happen, become etc.

Example:- He is a good man. (Using the most common to be verb)
- We learn from the Web.
- She speaks in English.
- Rimi is thinking about the incident. 

Verbs change their form based on time/tense (past, present, and future), person (first person, second person, and third person), number (singular, plural), voice (active and passive) etc.

Kinds of Verb:

Firstly verb is divided into two categories:

i.    Principal or Lexical or Main Verb
ii.   Auxiliary or Helping Verb

i. Principal or Lexical Verb:

Verbs which are used independently without help of other verbs are called Principal or Main verb.

Example:- He is a singer.
- She does her job.
- They have many problems.

Principal verbs are two types depending on the object they take:

a. Transitive verb.

Transitive verb is an action verb that requires one or more objects which receive the action of the verb in a sentence.

Example:
- She reads the book. (verb with the object ‘the book’)
- He gave me a mobile phone. (verb with the object ‘me’ and ‘mobile phone’)
- I saw her in the market.
- Rifat wants a pen form Ryan.

b. Intransitive verb.

Intransitive verb is an action verb that requires no direct object in the sentence.

Example:
- She reads. (no object in the sentence)
- Sit down here. (“)
- The birds are flying. (“)
- She is singing. (“)
- The sun set. (“)
- I walked to the park today. (“)
- I went to the campus for a scheduled class. (“)

Way to find transitive and intransitive verb:
If object is available in a sentence then the verb is transitive of that sentence.
And if object is not present in sentence then the verb is intransitive of that sentence.

So, to find an object we ask the verb by “Whom” or “what” and the answer we get is an object of that sentence.

Example:
-He gave me a mobile phone.
Gave Whom? Answer is me. And Gave what? Answer is mobile phone.
So the “gave” verb should be a transitive verb.

-She reads.
Reads what? No answer is found.
So the reads verb is intransitive verb.

ii. Auxiliary or Helping Verb:

Verbs which help a Principal verb to form a sentence are called Auxiliary or Helping verb.

Example:
- He is singing a song.
- She is doing her job.
- They are facing many problems.
Here, is and are helping the main verb sing, do, face.

Auxiliary verbs are two types:

i. Primary or Tense Auxiliaries such as be, am, is was, are, were, been, being, have, has, had, having, do, does and did.

Example:
Different forms of verb are used in different situations.
- I am doing the job. (present Continuous)
- Ryan was sleeping that moment. (past Continuous)
- It is done by her. (passive form)
- Rifat reads the book. (present form as principle verb)
- She is here. (principle verb)
- They have completed the mission. (present perfect)
- Does he make it?
- Have you prepared for the situation?

ii. Modal Auxiliaries such as can, could, shall, should, will, would, may, might, must, need, dare, used to, ought to etc.

Modals only take the base form of verbs after them.

Example:
- Shall we start the game? (Asking the question)
- You should read the book attentively. (Suggest)
- Would you give a cup of coffee? (request)
- I can do the sum? (ability)
- May I come in? (permission)
- I used to have tea in the evening. (habit)
- We ought to respect our seniors (moral obligation)

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Finite and Non-finite Verbs:

Finite verb:

A Verb which changes its form according to the number, person or tense and must has subject is called finite verb

Example:
- I saw her crying.
- He makes me proud.
- I will write a book in this month.
- The honey tastes sweet.
- They are doing a good job.

Non-finite verb:

A Non-finite verb is a form of verb that is not limited by person, number or tense in a sentence and cannot act as main verb.

There are three kinds of non-finite verbs.

i. Infinite
ii. Gerund
iii. Participles

Infinite:

Infinite verb is a non-finite verb that is made up of “to + base form of verb”.

Example:
- He likes to play football.
- Honey is sweet to taste.
- The man is too late to go.
- People gathered here to hear the news.

Certain verbs such as bid, let, make, need, dare, see, hear is used without ‘to’ and is called bare infinitive.

Example:
- Make her stand.
- Let the people go there.
- You need not leave the place.

Gerund:

A gerund is a form of non-finite verb which is made up by adding the ‘ing’ at the end of the base form of a verb.

Example:
- I saw her crying.
- Swimming is good for health.
- Being tired I took rest for a while.
- Seeing is believing.

Participles:

A Participle is verbal and works as an adjective. Participle can be following types.

Present Participle: Present participle is made by adding ‘ing ’ to the base form.

Example:
- A swimming snake bit him in the leg.
- Don’t put your hand into boiling water.
- Look at the setting sun.
- Don’t get into a running bus.

N. B.:
Both of Gerund and Present Participles are made by adding ‘ing’ to the base form.
But difference between them is Gerund functions as a noun and present participles functions as an adjective.
Example:
- Swimming is good for the people. (Here swimming is noun)
- A swimming snake bit him in the leg. (Here swimming is an adjective)

Past Participle: Past participle is made by adding ‘ed’, ‘-d’ or ‘-t’ to the base form of a regular verb. Such as looked, said, slept, broken etc.

The past participle can be preceded by have, has, had etc. to express the perfect aspect. And it also expresses the passive voice.

Example:
- They have invited him to the party.
- The faded flower attracts none.
- It is said by them.
- The floated area is good for cultivation.

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Adverb
An adverb is a word which modifies or qualifies the meaning of a verb, adjective, other adverb or any other words or phrases in the sentence such as quickly, firmly, lightly, carefully, extremely etc.

Example:- The leopard runs quickly. ( Here quickly modifies the verb)
- He works extremely hard. (here extremely modifies the adverb)
- Most of our countrymen are very poor. (Here very modifies the adjective)
- I absolutely have idea about the matter. 

Function of adverb in a sentence:
Adverb adds information and impression about time, manner, place etc. in a sentence.

Form of Adverbs:
Many adverbs those express how an action is performed are end in ‘ly’. But many others like fast, well, never, least, more, far, now, very, just, still etc.

Kinds of Adverbs:

There are different kinds of adverb according to their functions in a sentence.

i. Adverbs of Time: Indicate the time of an action and answer the question ‘when’?
Such as now, soon, still, then, today, yet, since, back, ago, already, before, after, recently, today, lately, tomorrow, once, someday, early etc.

Example:- I have already finished my job.
- I will do it now.
- The result will be published tomorrow.

ii. Adverbs of Manner: Express the manner of an action and answer the question ‘How’?
Such as happily, slowly, quickly, carefully, loudly, easily, fast, bravely, hard, well, badly etc.

Example:- Rafat is speaking quietly.
- He is doing the job carefully.
- The boy is crying loudly.

iii. Adverbs of Place: Indicate the place of an action and answer the question ‘Where’?
Such as here, there, up, down, in, out, by, hither, thither, where, anywhere, somewhere, everywhere, nowhere etc.

Example:- Go out.
- I love to be here.
- People still live there.

iv. Adverbs of Degree or Quantity: Express quantity and answer the question ‘How much/ How far/ to what extent’?
Such as extremely, fully, quite, almost, very much, too, a lot, totally, absolutely, fairly, hardly, rather etc.

Example:- He is quite wrong.
- She is fully cured.
- He is bad enough to kill you.

v. Adverbs of Affirmation and negation: Indicate assertion and express the one’s reaction to question.
Such as yes, no, yeah

Example:- Yes, I can.
- No, she isn’t.

vi. Adverbs of Frequency: Express the frequency of an action and answer the question “How often”?
Such as never, ever, always, often, seldom, everyday, sometimes, usually, normally, frequently, rarely, hardly, scarcely, once a week etc.

Example:- He always helps the poor.
- The barking dog seldom bites.

vii. Adverbs of reason: Express the reason and make the conclusion.
Such as hence, therefore, thence etc.

Example:- He therefore resigned the job.

Conjunctive Adverb:

Conjunctive adverb is used to join two clauses together.
Such as also, finally, furthermore, consequently, hence, however, incidentally, indeed, instead, likewise, nevertheless, meanwhile, next, nonetheless, otherwise, then, still, thus and therefore.

N.B: Conjunctive Adverb joins two independent clauses with a semi-colon.

Example:- The people waited for an hour; finally the train comes to the station.
- The police men searched the market; indeed the gunman has escaped through the basement door. 

Position of Adverb:

General positions of adverbs are as follows:

i. Adverbs of time usually come at the end of a sentence or at the beginning of sentence.

Example:- It may rain today.
- Last night I dreamt a sweet dream.

ii. Adverbs of place usually follow the verb.

Example:- The doctor is in.
- They were everywhere.

iii. Adverbs of Degree or Quantity come before the verb, adjective or adverb.

Example:- He is fairly good.
- You are quite wrong.
- He can run very fast

Prepositions:
By the word preposition means position something before something. And in English grammar-

A preposition is a word placed or positioned before a noun or a pronoun or noun equivalent to show the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence.

The following are the words used as preposition in the sentence-
For, of, on, at, in, to, off, by, up, with, from, into, within, like, until, above, about, against, under, before, after, among, along, across, around, behind, bellow, beneath, beside, between, beyond, down, during, except, inside, near, since, toward, through and upon.

Role or function of preposition in a sentence:
A preposition sits before a noun or a pronoun to show noun’s or pronoun’s relationship to another word in the sentence. Preposition helps to construct a sentence.

Example:
- He is looking for papers.
- Rifat lives in Dhaka.
- Place the book on the table.
- I will go there after breakfast.
- Look at the sky clearly.
- You should stand by him.

Prepositions are five different kinds:

i. Simple Preposition such as in, at, by, of, for, on, over, under, up, to, from, out, about, under, with etc.
- He goes to school.
- Maruf is about seven.
- These people are coming from abroad.

ii. Double Preposition such as into, onto, within, without, from, among, toward, behind etc.
- He will be back within three days.
- We cannot do this job without you.
- She is different among the girls.

iii. Compound or Phrasal or Complex Prepositions are made of two or more words. Such as instead of, in front of, in between, out of, in behalf of, in place of, except for, throughout, underneath, on account of, according to etc.
- Rahat is talking in behalf of his team.
- Musfiq is playing in place of Rasel.
- They carried on rescue mission in spite of bad weather.
- Her GPA is 3.50 out of 4.00

iv. Participial Preposition.
Present or Past Participles can be used as Prepositions. Such as concerning, regarding, considering, pendingetc.
Example:
- What does he know regarding this proposal?
- Considering the quality, the price is not high.

Following are the specific area to use prepositions.

i. Preposition of Place, Position and Direction (in, at, on, by, next, to, beside, )

In
At
On
By
Above
To
Towards
From
Into In the room.
At the window. At the office.
On the table.
Sitting by the woman.
Above the sky.
Go to university.
Towards east.
Fled from home.
Jumped into the well.

ii. Preposition of time

At
After
Before
By
During
From
For
In
On
Since
Within
throughout At 10 a.m., at dawn, at noon, at night, at an early age.
After 3 O’clock, after his arrival.
Before the 15th July.
By 4 p.m.
During five years. During the whole day/summer, during five years.
From 1st January.
For a week/month.
In June, in 2010, in the morning/evening/afternoon.
On Sunday.
Since he comes.
Within three days.
Throughout the year.

iii. Preposition of Reason or Purpose

For
Form
Of
Through
With For the good of the people, died for the country.
Died from fatigue, suffering from fever/cold.
Died of cancer.
Lost his pen through negligence
Trembles with fear shivers with fever.

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Conjunction:
A conjunction is a part of speech or word that connects –
- One word to another word.
- One word to another clause.
- One sentence to another sentence.

The conjunctions are and, but, or, for, nor, so, yet, because, if, whether, lest, unless, as, since, how, when, where, while, why, till, until, after, before, however, as soon as, thoughand than.

Example:
One word to another word:
- Rupom and Rifat are two brothers. (noun to noun)
- Rimi and you have done this work. (Noun to pronoun)
- You and I will go there. (Pronoun to pronoun)
- The old man sat down and wept. (verb to verb)
- We are sad but hopeful. (adjective to adjective)
- A cat moves slowly and silently. (Adverb to adverb)
- The bird flies through and through the sky. (preposition to preposition)

One word to another clause:
- He is so weak that he cannot walk.
- Such was her beauty that everybody loved her.

One sentence to another sentence:
- I trust him because he is honest.
- He says that he will do it.
- They will come if they are allowed here.
- It is a long time since I saw you last.
- You must wait here until your father comes back.
- I wish to know whether he will come or not.

There are different types of conjunctions:

- Coordinate Conjunction
- Subordinate Conjunction
- Correlative conjunction

Coordinate Conjunction:

Coordinate conjunctions such as and, but, or, nor, for, so, or yet are used to join individual words, phrases and independent clauses.

Example:
- She stood first and got a prize.
- He is sad but hopeful.
- The snake is small but dangerous.
- You must read or you may fail in the examination.

Subordinate Conjunction:

The subordinate clause such as since, because, although, as, until etc. are used to join an independent clause to a dependent clause.

The subordinate conjunctions are used before the dependent clauses. Dependent clause can be placed before or after the independent clauses.

Example:
- He never gives up until he wins.
- Since she had the headache, she did not go to work.
- Though he loved her cousin, he married another one.
- Despite calling several times, she never received a replay.

 Correlative conjunctions:

Correlative conjunctions are pairs of conjunctions such as both…and, either…..or, neither……nor etc. used in the sentences to link words, phrases and clauses.

Correlative conjunctions connect two words or phrases or clauses those have the similar structure and are grammatically similar. That means nouns are linked to nouns, adjectives to adjectives, prepositional phrases to prepositional phrases.

Correlatives conjunctions are:
Both….and, either….or, neither….nor, not only….but also, so….that, such….that, no sooner….than, hardly….when, scarcely….when, else….than, else….but.

Example:
- He is both a fool and a knave. (noun to noun)
- She is both wise and good. (adjective to adjective)
- He must either work or go. (verb to verb)
- He behaved neither wisely nor kindly. (adverb to adverb)
- He is so tired that he cannot run.
- Such was her beauty that everybody loved her.
- No sooner had I sat down than they left the room.
- Hardly had I left the room when it began to rain.
- Scarcely had I left the room when it began to rain.
- She has none else than her mother.
- She has none else but her mother.

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Interjection:
The part of speech that expresses strong feeling or sudden emotions or sentiment is called interjection or exclamation.

Interjections are not grammatically related to any other part of the sentence.

Example:
- Oh no, I missed the schedule of the class. (express failure)
- Hey! Don’t you hear me? (calling attention)
- Hey! Take it easy. (calling attention)
- Uh, I forget the answer. (Express hesitation)
- Hurrah! We have won the match. (Express joy)
- Wow! She is amazing. (Express surprise)