Parts of Speech

There are ONLY 8 parts of speech.  Some of them have different types or forms, but there are only 8 parts of speech.  You can remember them with a handy acronym:

IVAN CAPP

Interjection - expresses excitement or emotion; found at beginning of sentence, set off from sentence with a comma or exclamation point --- Oops! I did it again! --- Hey, are you coming over today?

Verb - indicates action or state of being (existence) --- The fish swam. --- I am awake. --- I will survive!

Adjective - describes or modifies a noun or pronoun --- Five dogs chased me.

Noun - the name of a person, place, object, or idea --- Jake is a fun kid. --- Holmdel is a nice town. --- I want to buy a fast car. --- Give me liberty or give me death!

Conjunction - connects words or groups of words --- I went to bed early because I was up before dawn. --- I like peanut butter and jelly.

Adverb - describes or modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb; often (but not always) end in "-ly" --- He ran quickly. --- That is a very nice jacket. --- Alex painted rather sloppily.

Pronoun - takes the place of a noun --- I like you, but he doesn't like her.

Preposition - shows the relative position, direction, or relationship between two nouns or pronouns --- My books are in my locker. --- The hamster jumped through the flaming hoop. --- Amy went to the store.

REMEMBER: You can't tell what part of speech a word is until you see how it is being used in the sentence!

Back to Main Index