How things are done the adverbs tell, As quickly, slowly, badly, well. Most verbs mean action, something done, To read and write, to jump and run.

The adjective describes a thing, As magic wand or bridal ring. In place of noun the pronoun stands, As he and she can clap their hands. Here’s an old children’s rhyme about the eight parts of speech: Every name is called a noun, As field and fountain, street and town. In addition, an individual word can function as more than one part of speech when used in different circumstances. There are eight parts of speech in the English language: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. And like any workplace or TV show with an ensemble cast, these roles were designed to work together. The term “part of speech” refers to a word’s role in a sentence. For example, under this scheme, my is termed a dependent possessive pronoun and mine an i ndependent possessive pronoun.Every word is a part of speech.Some authors who classify both sets of words as 'possessive pronouns' or 'genitive pronouns' apply the terms dependent/independent or weak/strong to refer, respectively, to my, your, etc. that substitute directly for a noun or noun phrase. However, unlike most other pronouns, they do not behave grammatically as stand-alone nouns, but instead qualify another noun – as in my book (contrasted with that's mine, for example, where mine substitutes for a complete noun phrase such as my book).įor this reason, other authors restrict the term ' possessive pronoun' to the group of words mine, yours etc.are sometimes classified, along with mine, yours etc., as possessive pronouns or genitive pronouns, since they are the possessive (or genitive) forms of the ordinary personal pronouns I, you etc.

They are also known as possessive adjectives, although the latter term is sometimes used with a wider meaning.Įxamples in English include possessive forms of the personal pronouns, namely: my, your, his, her, its, our and their, but excluding those forms such as mine, yours, ' ours, and theirs that are used as possessive pronouns but not as determiners. Possessive determiners constitute a sub-class of determiners which modify a noun by attributing possession (or other sense of belonging) to someone or something. Hmm… not even grammarians agree which part of speech is my in “my book”

The is what part of speech