Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech
A traditional term to describe the different types of word which are used to form sentences. Parts of speech can be divided into two groups:
a) Open class is one whose membership is unlimited. New items are continually being added. Open class can be subdivided into:
1- Noun
It is a word which (a) can occur as the subject or the object (complement of a preposition) (b) can be modified by an adjective (c) can be used with determiners.
Nouns refer to people, animals, places, things, or abstractions e.g. John, room, horse, Baghdad, answer, …etc.
2- Adjective
It is a word that describes the thing, quality, state, or action which a noun refers to. For example, black in a black hat is an adjective. In English, adjectives usually have the following properties:
a- They can be used before a noun, e.g. a heavy bag.
b- They can be used after be, become, seem, etc. as complements, e.g. the bag is heavy.
c- They can be used after a noun as a complement, e.g. these books make the bag heavy.
d- They can be modified by an adverb, e.g. a very heavy bag.
e- They can be used in a comparative or superlative form, e.g. the bag seems heavier now.



3- Adverb
It is a word that describes or adds to the meaning of a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or a sentence, and which answers such questions as how?, where?, or when?. In English many adverbs have an -ly ending. Types of adverbs are: adverbs of manner e.g. carefully, slowly; adverbs of place e.g. here, there, locally; and adverbs of time e.g. now, hourly, yesterday. A phrase or clause which functions as an adverb is called an adverb phrase/ clause.
4-Verb
A word which, (a) occurs as part of the predicate of sentence, (b) carries markers of grammatical categories such as tense, aspect, person, number and mood, and (c) refers to an action or state.
For example:
He opened the door.
Jane loves Tom.