Writing Tools

Good morning, students.

Today's lesson is on the parts of speech. Can anyone name them? Wally? No, not the teeth, tongue and lips. They are body parts that help you speak, but they are not the parts of speech.

Hermione? Very good, young lady. Yes, you've got them all. There are eight parts of speech: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and "Pshaw!" my all time favorite, the interjection.

Say that with me, class. Yes, with vigor: IN-TER-JEC-TION! Brilliant.

Let's begin by shouting out a few examples of each. Ready class? Go!

[Much waving and shouting at the teacher.]
 
Noun: dog, Ralph, mistletoe, Oreo, education, taco, Mississippi, peace, music, pizza.

Pronoun: I, we, he, she, it, they, them, him, her, who, whom, whomever, that, which.

Verb: tumble, dictate, zigzag, is, are, was, were, enlist, inoculate, stab.

Adverb: speedily, tumultuously, harshly, dumbly, voraciously, democratically, tremulously, wherever, well, too.

Adjective: skinny, enthusiastic, dire, rueful, industrious, yellow, distasteful, Cuban, conservative, phat.

Preposition: off, on, in, out, over, through, to, under, above, about, throughout, with.

Conjunction: and, but, yet, so, however, nevertheless, neither, nor, either, or.

Interjections: Yikes! Whatever! Sheesh! Heck! Omigod! Awesome!

Let's talk more about adjectives, shall we? An adjective is a word that changes or "modifies" a noun.  So "red" is an adjective because it tells us what kind of "barn" it is; "Barn" is the noun and "red" is the adjective.

Yes, Hermione?

You think red is a noun because it's the name of a color –- and you think barn could be an adjective –- as in barnyard, because it "modifies" yard. Hmmmm.

OK, now let's turn to the part of speech that gives us the name of a person or thing or condition:  the noun. In fact, this is clever: The word "noun" is a noun! It's the name of a part of speech.

Yes, Hermione? My stars, you are curious today.

That is correct. The word "verb" is also a noun. As are all the parts of speech. Wait. Did I just say that all parts of speech were nouns?  I'm either confusing all of you, or I'm certainly confusing myself.

OK, let's move on to the adverb. This is a word that changes or –- class? -– "modifies" a verb. Let me see those quote fingers. You can always recognize the adverb because it ends with the letters LY.

What is it, Hermione? No, you are correct, "July" is not an adverb, it's a proper noun. No, you're right, "lovely" isn't one either. It's an adjective, as in "lovely flowers."

Well, we're almost out of time for this lesson, but I did want to leave you with some of my favorite interjections –- which is a word that you blurt out to express anger, surprise, or, perhaps, frustration.

OK. Are you ready, class? Here goes:

"Tiddleywinks!" Ha, ha, ha. I shouted that once after I hit my thumb with a hammer. What is it now, Hermione? Yes, Tiddleywinks is the name of a children's game, which means YES, it's a noun.

I suppose you have a better example of an interjection, you insufferable little know-it-all.

Yes, that IS an interjection, Missy, and for that you can march yourself right down to the principal's office.

A version of this essay aired originally on National Public Radio.