As we learn Grammar we come across a term called as 'Parts of speech'. This element as a whole comprises of grammatical features which together combine to form what we call as the grammatical construction of sentences.
The traditional pattern of English grammar consists of eight parts of speech. Let us take a closer look at what are these eight elements which constitute the important aspect of grammar.
a. Nouns: Nouns constitute the subject part of a sentence and is defined as the name of a person, place or a thing (animals and other living things have also been included here). It is further classified in to various kinds such as common nouns, proper nouns, collective nouns, countable and un countable nouns depending upon the meaning of the word.
b. Pronouns: Nouns which replace the proper and common nouns are called as Pronouns such as he, she, they, we etc.
c. Verbs: Verbs are the utmost important part of sentence construction as they denote action and support the cause of an action with a subject in a sentence. Again they too get classified in to two main kinds which is 'Main verbs' and 'Auxiliary verbs'. While run, take, watch are some examples of Main verbs, the helping words such as shall, being, be, will, would form a part of the Auxiliary verbs.
d. Adjectives: An adjective functions in describing, quantifying or identifying the words. In short they provide us some more information about that particular noun or pronoun. E.g. She looked very angelic. Over here the word 'angelic' is helping us know something about the subject or rather it is describing the appearance of the subject as 'angel looking'.
e. Adverbs: Adverb is the one which describes a verb. E.g. The tortoise ran slowly. Here the action word slow gets further accompanied by the suffix -ly thus turning in to an adverb. Words such a mildly, smartly, abruptly etc are adverbs.
f. Prepositions: Just as the name stands the word 'preposition' deals with the positioning of words before nouns or pronouns that help in connecting the relationship of the subject with respect to space and time. 'There was plenty of light in the room' is a sentence with one notable preposition here, 'in' which related to space that is 'room' in the sentence.
g. Conjunction: There are words that bridge the gap between two words to connect a relationship. E.g. My mother went to the shopping mall and to the parlour. The word 'and' is a bridge or a conjunction which is forming a relationship here between two phrases 'going to the shopping mall 'as well as 'to the parlour'. Other words that are well used as conjunctures are 'but', 'both/and', 'either/or', 'neither/nor'. When conjunctions join two 'equal' parts of the sentence it is a known as 'coordination conjunction'. For example when we say,' the boy is poor but rich by heart' it is a coordinating conjunction. However a 'Subordinating conjunction joins the 'unequal' parts of the sentence such as in this, ' It didn't occur to me that he is crazy because at that point of time I was madly in love with him' where the word 'because' is suitably used.
h. Interjections: Interjections or exclamatory sentences are often used to express one's feelings and emotions such as 'wow! What a beautiful picture it is.'
Thus, the parts of speech of grammar are inevitably the most important aspects which serve as a foundation in effective approach towards English language.