2. Traditional grammarian recognised eight parts of speech which represent eight functions of words in a sentence.

 

PART OF SPEECH

FUNCTION/USE

EXAMPLE

1

Noun

To name a person, place, things, state or action

Ahmed, Lagos, School, House

2

Pronoun

To use instead of a Noun

He, She, It

3

Verb

To express action – or non-action (state of being)

Walk, slap, run, dance, speak

4

Adverb

To modify or qualify any v

Verb, Adjective and Adverb

Very slowly, done bravely, yours sincerely

5

Adjective

To modify or qualify Noun or Pronoun

Foolish man, short girl, many boys, red biro

6

Preposition

To show the relationship between a Noun or Pronoun and some other words

Near the room, on the table, over the bar, before the man

7

Conjunction

To join two words or two group of words

Boy and girl, tall but foolish, either or, neither nor

 

8

Interjection

To display emotion eg. Surprise, joy, anger, hurt etc

Hurrah! Aaaah! Goodness gracious!