Q&A for How to Identify Parts of Speech

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  • Question
    What part of speech is the word "has"?
    Community Answer
    "Has" is a verb because it expresses an action. Depending on the sentence it is used in, it may be a main verb (He has the flu) or an auxiliary verb (She has traveled to Spain), but either way, it is still a verb.
  • Question
    What part of speech is an article?
    Community Answer
    Articles (a, an, and the) are considered by some to be adjectives because they modify nouns. Other people consider articles to be a completely separate part of speech.
  • Question
    In the sentence "Spring flowers are very beautiful" what part of speech is "spring"?
    Community Answer
    "Spring" is an adjective because it modifies the noun "flowers."
  • Question
    What are the parts of speech in this sentence? "Asking questions is easier than answering them."
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    "Asking" is a noun (a "gerund"); "questions" is a noun; ("asking questions" is a noun phrase that is the subject of the sentence); "is" is a verb; "easier" is an adjective; "than" is a conjunction; "answering" is a noun; "them" is a pronoun.
  • Question
    Identify the parts of speech in the sentence "I receive calls throughout the day."
    Community Answer
    I = pronoun, receive = verb, calls = noun, throughout = preposition, the = article (which some consider an adjective), day = noun
  • Question
    Sandy's ideas are not really conservative. What parts of speech can I identify here?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    "Sandy" is a proper noun. "Sandy's" is used as a modifying adjective. "ideas" is a noun and the subject of the sentence. "are" is a verb. "not" is an adverb modifying "are." "really" is an adverb modifying "conservative," which is an adjective.
  • Question
    In the sentence "Patrick did not like to do home work," what part of speech is "home work"?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    "Home work" (or "homework") is a noun.
  • Question
    In the sentence "He let the dog out an hour ago;" what part of speech is "out"?
    Community Answer
    It is an adverb.
  • Question
    Identify the parts of speech in the following words: first, probably ,important, technologies, human, focus, analytical, study, science, speculation.
    Community Answer
    First = adjective or adverb, depending on context; Probably = adverb; Important = adjective; Technologies = noun; Human = noun; Focus = noun or verb, depending on context; Analytical = adjective; Study = noun or verb, depending on context; Science = noun; Speculation = noun
  • Question
    In the sentence "He feels sick" what part of speech is "sick"?
    Community Answer
    "Sick" is a predicate adjective. It's part of the predicate, modifying the subject through a verb.
  • Question
    What part of speech is "language"?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    Noun.
  • Question
    "To be or not to be, that is the question." Which part of speech is "the question" here?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    "Question" is a noun that is part of the sentence's predicate.
  • Question
    In the sentence "Help preserve the Earth," what part of speech is "help"?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    "Help" is commonly a verb. Here it is part of a verb phrase. This is an imperative sentence (a command). It's diagrammed with an understood "you" as the subject, "help preserve" as the verb phrase, and "Earth" as the direct object.
  • Question
    What part of speech is "defraud"?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    "Defraud" is a verb.
  • Question
    "I'm hungry." Which word is a noun?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    There's no noun. "I" is a pronoun, "am" is a verb, and "hungry" is a predicate adjective.
  • Question
    What part of speech is the word "speed?"
    Community Answer
    It is both a noun and a verb, depending on the context. As a noun, it would be like: the crash was caused by too much speed. As a verb, it would be: he liked to speed through the neighborhood.
  • Question
    In the sentence, "He paused in relish of the memory," would relish be a noun?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    Yes.
  • Question
    What part of speech is each word in this sentence: "This will deprive your body of vital energy needs"?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    "This" is a noun and the subject of the sentence; "deprive" is a verb, and "will" is an auxiliary or "helping" verb; "your" is an adjective; "body" is a noun and the direct object of "deprive"; "of" is a preposition; "vital" is an adjective; "energy" is a noun used as a modifying adjective; "needs" is a noun and the object of the preposition "of."
  • Question
    "He should go and see a doctor." Is the word "should" a verb?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    It is called an auxiliary (or "helping") verb. It helps the verb "go" and -- by extension -- the verb "see."
  • Question
    "We played a game called Sign of Spring." In this sentence, what part of speech is the word "game"?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    "Game" is a noun and the direct object of "played."
  • Question
    What are the parts of speech for "like," "to," and "movies"?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    It's hard to say without seeing these words in a sentence."Like" can be a verb, a noun, an adjective, a preposition, or an adverb. "To" is a preposition or part of an infinitive verb. "Movies" is a noun. If the sentence is "I like to go to the movies," "like" is a verb, "to" is first a part of the infinitive "to go" and then a preposition, and "movies" is a noun.
  • Question
    "They are chronically hungry, unable to get health care, lack safe drinking water and sanitation and perhaps lack rudimentary shelter." What part of speech are the following words, they, health, lack, drinking?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    "They" is a pronoun. "Health" can be thought of as an adjective modifying "care," but it's really part of a two-word noun phrase. "Lack" is a verb. "Drinking" is also part of a two-word noun phrase that could be considered an adjective modifying "water."
  • Question
    Is the word "autobiography" the subject in the sentence, "Betty's autobiography was most interesting"? If so, why?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    Yes, because "autobiography" is what "was." (Look for a sentence's verb. The subject is who or what is performing the "action" -- or in this case the "being" -- of the verb.)
  • Question
    Can you break down the different types of verbs?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    That's a rather complicated subject. One way to classify verbs is as "normal" ("lexical") or "auxiliary" ("helping"). We can also classify verbs by voice (active and passive) and by tense. Present, past and future are the main tenses, which can be subdivided into "perfect" or "progressive" ("continuous"). Linguists have thought of many other ways to classify verbs, such as "transitive" or "intransitive" and "dynamic" or "stative." There are quite a few other lesser-known classifications.
  • Question
    Which part of speech is 'think'?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    "Think" is a verb.
  • Question
    What part of speech is this word: "shaded" areas?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    It's an adjective, because it modifies the noun "areas."
  • Question
    What part of speech is the word "a"?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    "A" is an indefinite article.
  • Question
    "How do you do." Which part of speech is "do"?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    The second "do" is the main verb. The first "do" is a helping verb. Here's how that sentence is diagrammed: "you" is the subject, "do do" is the verb, and "how" is an adverb modifying the verb.
  • Question
    "I do not know him at all." In this sentence what part of speech is "at all"?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    "At all" is a prepositional phrase used to modify "know."
  • Question
    What part of speech is "disobeying" in the sentence "He was angry at the child disobeying"?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    Here "disobeying" is a gerund, because it is acting as a noun, the object of the preposition "at." (It's more grammatically correct to write "at the child's disobeying," or even better, "at the child's disobedience.")
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