How to Explain Parts of Speech
Start with the basic parts of speech., Introduce other parts of speech gradually., Master the most advanced parts of speech last., Underline parts of speech., Ask questions., Make a chart., Diagram sentences.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Start with the basic parts of speech.
Before you can explain to others what the parts of speech are, it is good to brush up on them yourself.
Knowing the parts of speech can help clarify grammar lessons, increase understanding from students, and improve your own writing.It is best to start with the four basic parts of speech.
These are the nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Noun: a person, place, thing, or idea.
A noun can be common (a general object) or proper (the name of a person or place).
For example, dog and goodness are common nouns while Rhode Island and Joe are proper nouns.
Verb: a word that shows action or state of being.
For example, run, jump, sit, learn are actions that a subject can do.
Adjective: a word that describes a noun or a pronoun.
For example, pretty, large, beautiful, and loud are all adjectives.
Adverb: a word that describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
Adverbs usually end in
-ly, but not always.
For example, quickly and carefully are adverbs that modify verbs while very is an adverb that modifies adjectives and other adverbs. -
Step 2: Introduce other parts of speech gradually.
As your lessons develop, you can start introducing the more complex parts of the speech.
Pronouns, prepositions, and conjunctions are a good intermediate step, as they have a clear function in the sentence and they interact with the basic parts of speech.
Pronoun: a word that takes the place of a noun.
The most common type are person pronouns.
Personal pronouns include:
I, me, you, we, he, she, it, and they.
There are many different kinds of pronouns besides the personal.
They include indefinite, interrogative, reflexive, intensive, relative, and others.
Preposition: a word that describes the position of an object.
For example, in, on, under, over, beside are all prepositions.
A preposition begins a prepositional phrase.
Conjunctions: words that join words, phrases, or clauses.
The most common are the coordinating conjunctions (and, or, but, nor, for, yet, and therefore) and subordinating conjunctions, which are those words that join dependent clauses to main clauses in complex sentences (since, when, where, if, although, etc.). , Interjections and determiners can be difficult to teach and to learn because their function in the sentence is often ambiguous.
Without a strong basis in the other parts of speech, learners might struggle with identifying these parts, and you might find it difficult to explain them.
Save your lessons on these parts for last.
Interjections: words that are used to express an emotion like surprise or shock or disappointment.
They are words that are thrust into the midst of the sentence (hence, interjected).
Determiners: the first words in noun phrases that act in a way that limits or quantifies the noun.
Articles such as “a/an” and “the” as well as words like many, some, or two are what “determines” if the noun is specific or general., With eight differently colored pens or markers, underline, circle, or box every part of speech.
Tell your students which color marker corresponds to which part of speech.
For the rest of the lesson, whenever you underline that part of speech, use the same color.
Once you are finished teaching the lesson, give your students a short passage to read.
Ask them to underline each part of speech using the same corresponding colors as you did., For nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, you can encourage students to ask certain questions to help them understand what the different parts of speech are.
These questions will encourage them to think about how each part functions in the sentence as well as give them an easy tool for identifying the parts of speech.
Nouns answer the questions “who?” and “what?”Adjectives answer the questions "what kind?”; "which?"; and "how many?"Verbs answer the question “what is it doing?” Adverbs answer the questions “how?”; “when?”; “where?”; and “why?” , For the more difficult parts of speech—such as pronouns, conjunctions, interjections, and conjunctions—it may be easier to make a chart of the most common examples of these parts of speech.
Explain these parts of speech, pointing to these examples on the chart.
After the student has learned them, try asking them to make their own chart from memory. , Diagramming sentences is a traditional method of explaining the parts of speech.
In a sentence diagram, the parts are visualized on a series of connecting lines to show how the parts of speech relate to one another.
On a horizontal line, write the noun subject and verb of the sentence.
Divide these with a vertical line.
Using diagonal lines, connect adjectives and determiners to the noun that they modify and adverbs to the verb or adjective that they modify.
Use dotted lines to link conjunctions with the words that they connect. -
Step 3: Master the most advanced parts of speech last.
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Step 4: Underline parts of speech.
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Step 5: Ask questions.
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Step 6: Make a chart.
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Step 7: Diagram sentences.
Detailed Guide
Before you can explain to others what the parts of speech are, it is good to brush up on them yourself.
Knowing the parts of speech can help clarify grammar lessons, increase understanding from students, and improve your own writing.It is best to start with the four basic parts of speech.
These are the nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Noun: a person, place, thing, or idea.
A noun can be common (a general object) or proper (the name of a person or place).
For example, dog and goodness are common nouns while Rhode Island and Joe are proper nouns.
Verb: a word that shows action or state of being.
For example, run, jump, sit, learn are actions that a subject can do.
Adjective: a word that describes a noun or a pronoun.
For example, pretty, large, beautiful, and loud are all adjectives.
Adverb: a word that describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
Adverbs usually end in
-ly, but not always.
For example, quickly and carefully are adverbs that modify verbs while very is an adverb that modifies adjectives and other adverbs.
As your lessons develop, you can start introducing the more complex parts of the speech.
Pronouns, prepositions, and conjunctions are a good intermediate step, as they have a clear function in the sentence and they interact with the basic parts of speech.
Pronoun: a word that takes the place of a noun.
The most common type are person pronouns.
Personal pronouns include:
I, me, you, we, he, she, it, and they.
There are many different kinds of pronouns besides the personal.
They include indefinite, interrogative, reflexive, intensive, relative, and others.
Preposition: a word that describes the position of an object.
For example, in, on, under, over, beside are all prepositions.
A preposition begins a prepositional phrase.
Conjunctions: words that join words, phrases, or clauses.
The most common are the coordinating conjunctions (and, or, but, nor, for, yet, and therefore) and subordinating conjunctions, which are those words that join dependent clauses to main clauses in complex sentences (since, when, where, if, although, etc.). , Interjections and determiners can be difficult to teach and to learn because their function in the sentence is often ambiguous.
Without a strong basis in the other parts of speech, learners might struggle with identifying these parts, and you might find it difficult to explain them.
Save your lessons on these parts for last.
Interjections: words that are used to express an emotion like surprise or shock or disappointment.
They are words that are thrust into the midst of the sentence (hence, interjected).
Determiners: the first words in noun phrases that act in a way that limits or quantifies the noun.
Articles such as “a/an” and “the” as well as words like many, some, or two are what “determines” if the noun is specific or general., With eight differently colored pens or markers, underline, circle, or box every part of speech.
Tell your students which color marker corresponds to which part of speech.
For the rest of the lesson, whenever you underline that part of speech, use the same color.
Once you are finished teaching the lesson, give your students a short passage to read.
Ask them to underline each part of speech using the same corresponding colors as you did., For nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, you can encourage students to ask certain questions to help them understand what the different parts of speech are.
These questions will encourage them to think about how each part functions in the sentence as well as give them an easy tool for identifying the parts of speech.
Nouns answer the questions “who?” and “what?”Adjectives answer the questions "what kind?”; "which?"; and "how many?"Verbs answer the question “what is it doing?” Adverbs answer the questions “how?”; “when?”; “where?”; and “why?” , For the more difficult parts of speech—such as pronouns, conjunctions, interjections, and conjunctions—it may be easier to make a chart of the most common examples of these parts of speech.
Explain these parts of speech, pointing to these examples on the chart.
After the student has learned them, try asking them to make their own chart from memory. , Diagramming sentences is a traditional method of explaining the parts of speech.
In a sentence diagram, the parts are visualized on a series of connecting lines to show how the parts of speech relate to one another.
On a horizontal line, write the noun subject and verb of the sentence.
Divide these with a vertical line.
Using diagonal lines, connect adjectives and determiners to the noun that they modify and adverbs to the verb or adjective that they modify.
Use dotted lines to link conjunctions with the words that they connect.
About the Author
Andrea Sanders
Specializes in breaking down complex crafts topics into simple steps.
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