Page 37 - Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking

Parts of speech are categories of words sorted by their roles within the structure
of the language.

Most of us learn about parts of speech when we first learn to write. But what
often escapes us is that these boundaries between parts of speech are fluid. Verbs

(see section 6.0) can behave like nouns. Nouns (see section 8.0) can behave like
adjectives. Adjectives (see section 11.0) can behave like adverbs (see section

12.0). Many parts of speech can act as interjections (see section 15.0).
Sometimes, a word in a particular part of speech transforms into a new word

permanently (see section 4.4, Affixes), and becomes another part of speech.

The parts of speech are briefly defined here, and then explained in more
detail in relevant sections throughout this book.

■ Adjectives modify or describe nouns. See section 11.0.
■ Adverbs modify or describe adjectives, verbs, or other adverbs. See
section 12.0.

■ Articles are determiners that introduce nouns. See section 8.5.

■ Conjunctions connect clauses or sentences together. See section
14.0.

■ Determiners are words that control the meaning of a noun or noun
phrase. See section 7.0.

■ Interjections are brief and abrupt insertions into speech, usually
expressing emotion. See section 15.0.

■ Nouns refer to people, places, or things. See section 8.0.
■ Prepositions give context to nouns in relationship to other nouns or

to pronouns. See section 13.0.
■ Pronouns replace nouns or noun phrases. See section 10.0.

■ Verbs (see section 6.0) show action or an ongoing condition, and are
part of the predicate (see section 5.1).