My Grammar and I (Or Should That Be 'Me'?): Old-School Ways to Sharpen Your English

PARTS
OF SPEECH

---

S
AY WHAT
? (
OR
, P
ARTS OF SPEECH
)
Every  word  in  every  language  can  be  categorized  according  to  its  grammatical
function,  which  is  what  we  mean  by  parts  of  speech  .  As  with  so  many  other
things, this system was invented by the Ancient Greeks, copied by the Romans
and  later  adopted  into  English  by  scholars  who  were  well  versed  in  Latin,
whether  it  was  appropriate  or  not.  (In  many  cases  it  was  not  appropriate,  but
we’re stuck with it now, and that’s what this book is all about.)
In English there  are generally considered  to be eight  parts of speech:  noun,
pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection, and you
may once have learned this useful piece of doggerel to help you remember what
each did:
Every name is called a NOUN,
As field and fountain , street and town ;
In place of noun the PRONOUN stands
As he and she can clap their hands;
The ADJECTIVE describes a thing,
As magic wand and bridal ring;
The VERB means action, something done -