GrammarPhile Blog

What Are the 8 Parts of Speech?

Posted by Sara Richmond   Mar 10, 2022 8:00:00 AM

Quick explanations with simple examples

 

First, what’s the benefit of knowing the parts of speech? Isn’t this just nerd language about language, irrelevant to daily life? Nope. Learning what words do and how to categorize them will result in:

  • Clarity. When you learn the building blocks of language, just like place value and the decimal number system in math, you’ll be less confused. Language becomes more of a friend instead of a stumbling block.
  • Confidence. Once you have the basics down, you’ll be sure of your ability to wield language and stand behind your words.
  • Communication. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll write and speak more effectively.
  • Connections. Understanding the foundations of your own language will enable you to identify correlations in other languages.
  • Conquest. Nothing will stand in your way. You’ll slice your way through every obstacle using only words. All your dreams will come true.*

So, let’s get down to grammatical tacks.

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Topics: adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions, pronouns, verbs, prepositions, parts of speech, Nouns, articles

How Good Are You at Conjugating Verbs?

Posted by Kelly Creighton   Oct 5, 2017 7:30:00 AM

Take This Quiz to Find Out

Verb conjugation refers to how a verb changes from one form to another in order to show a different person, tense, number, aspect, or mood. Verbs are critical to understanding what and when something is happening to or via a subject or object in a sentence. It’s vital to know what’s happening in a sentence. And it’s just as important to know who is doing what when we’re communicating, as well as when they’re doing it, and how they’re doing it. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to communicate with one another very efficiently.

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Topics: verbs, conjugating verbs

Spring Has Sprung …

Posted by Terri Porter   Mar 25, 2015 6:30:00 AM

… at least in some parts of the country. In other parts, it sprang some time ago. Or is it “sprung some time ago”?

Spring the verb behaves in much the same way as spring the season — irregularly. Regular verbs march in lockstep, all forming their simple past tense by tacking on the easily remembered “ed” at the end. Some examples are laugh (laughed), cough (coughed) and shovel (shoveled).

But irregular verbs are misfits. They march to the beat of their own drum, using whatever past-tense form they feel like. Examples include drink (drank), begin (began) and choose (chose). The lack of any rhyme or reason for their behavior makes application of a rule difficult. That’s why we get questions like “Is it sprang or sprung?”

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Topics: verbs, past participle, regular verbs, participle, irregular verbs, present participle

Omitting Parts of Verbs

Posted by Phil Jamieson   Aug 27, 2014 6:30:00 AM

As the summer winds down, we thought we'd post a short article and perhaps cause you to laugh (or at least chuckle a little). Hope you enjoy today's post.

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Topics: verbs

Scaling Back on Functional Shift

Posted by Phil Jamieson   Jul 31, 2013 6:30:00 AM

turtle holding a gift boxHave you gifted anything lately?

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Topics: functional shift, verbs

Miscellaneous Items...

Posted by Phil Jamieson   Jan 23, 2013 5:30:00 AM

Here's a small collection of miscellaneous rules for grammar. Perhaps one will be something you can use in the next ten minutes.

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Topics: grammar, verbs

Active or Passive Voice? Take a Side.

Posted by Phil Jamieson   Oct 16, 2012 5:30:00 AM

Guideline. Unless you have a good reason for doing otherwise, express verbs in the active rather than the passive voice.

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Topics: verbs

Evie eat it my muffin!

Posted by Conni Eversull   Jun 21, 2011 5:30:00 AM

You’re probably thinking “What does that title mean and what does it have to do with grammar and punctuation and writing?” Well, today, I thought I’d take a little break from our standard posts. I don’t know about you, but with summer almost here I know I’m starting to look forward to long hot summer days and some vacation time. So, here’s a post from a lighter side.

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Topics: sentences, documents, punctuation, grammar, pronouns, verbs

Convince vs. Persuade

Posted by Phil Jamieson   Mar 8, 2011 5:30:00 AM

These two verbs are too often confused, even by experienced writers. Perhaps the confusion stems from the acceptable use of either in certain contexts. We either convince or persuade someone of the value of a proposition or of the goodness of a certain action. But the two verbs part ways when we try to make them lead into complementary infinitives with to...it works with persuade but does not with convince.

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Topics: verbs, complementary infinitives, convince, persuade

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