3-1 Parts of Speech

Key Concepts

• Nouns
• Verbs
• Adjectives

Nouns

Nouns are words that represent people, places, things, or ideas. They are the names of specific objects or concepts. Nouns can be singular (one) or plural (more than one).

Example:

• Person: teacher, student
• Place: school, park
• Thing: book, pencil
• Idea: happiness, freedom

Verbs

Verbs are action words that describe what the subject of the sentence is doing. They can also describe a state of being. Verbs can be in different tenses (past, present, future) and can have different forms (base, past, participle).

Example:

• Action: run, jump, sing
• State of being: is, am, are

Adjectives

Adjectives are words that describe or modify nouns. They provide more information about the noun, such as its size, color, shape, or other qualities.

Example:

• Size: big, small
• Color: red, blue
• Shape: round, square
• Other qualities: happy, sad

Examples and Analogies

Think of nouns as the building blocks of a sentence. Just like bricks build a house, nouns build a sentence by naming the key elements. For example, in the sentence "The cat sleeps," "cat" is the noun.

Verbs are like the engines of a sentence. They drive the action or state of being. For example, in the sentence "The cat sleeps," "sleeps" is the verb that tells what the cat is doing.

Adjectives are like the paint and decorations that make a house beautiful. They add details and make the nouns more interesting. For example, in the sentence "The big cat sleeps," "big" is the adjective that describes the cat.

Practical Application

To practice identifying parts of speech, try the following exercises:

• Write a sentence and underline the nouns.
• Write a sentence and circle the verbs.
• Write a sentence and highlight the adjectives.