THE PARTS OF SPEECH

The parts of speech are essential building blocks of the English language.
A poem to remember the eight main parts of speech in English
(Noun, Pronoun, Adjective, Verb, Adverb, Preposition, Conjunction and
Interjection):

THE PARTS OF SPEECH

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 -

To read, to write, to jump, to run

How things are done, the ADVERBS tell,

As quickly, slowly, badly, well

The PREPOSITION shows relation,

As in the street, or at the station

CONJUNCTIONS join, in many ways,

Sentences, words, or phrase and phrase

The INTERJECTION cries out, 'Hark!

I need an exclamation mark!'

Through Poetry, we learn how each

of these make up THE PARTS OF SPEECH.
Parts of Speech Examples

Here are some sentences made with different English parts of speech:

verb noun verb noun verb verb

Stop! John
pronoun verbworks.
nounJohn noun
is working.
verb adjective noun
She loves animals. Animals like kind people.

noun verb noun adverb noun verb adjective noun

Tara speaks English well. Tara speaks good English.

pronoun verb preposition adjective noun adverb

She ran to the station quickly.

pron. verb adj. noun conjunction pron. verb pron.

She likes big snakes but I hate them.

Here is a sentence that contains every part of speech:

interjection pron. conj. adj. noun verb prep. noun adverb

Well, she and young John walk to school slowly.

 Active Voice, Passive Voice
There are two special forms for verbs called voice:
1. Active voice
2. Passive voice
The active voice is the "normal" voice. This is the voice that we use most
of the time. You are probably already familiar with the active voice. In the
active voice, the object receives the action of the verb:

active subject verb object

>

Cats eat fish.

The passive voice is less usual. In the passive voice, the subject receives
the action of the verb:

passive subject verb object

<

Fish are eaten by cats.

The object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb:

subject verb object

active Everybody drinks water.

passive Water is drunk by everybody.

General Rule:
Normally, only those verbs can be passivized which have an object, such
verbs are called Transitive verbs i.e. verbs with objects. Thus, a typical
active voice sentence should have the following parts in order for it to be
passivized.
Subject (Doer) + Verb + Object
It is noticed that when the verb is changed from the Active Voice to the
Passive Voice, the Object of the transitive verb in the Active Voice
becomes the Subject of the Verb in the Passive Voice.
Tense Active Voice Passive Voice
Simple Present take is taken
takes are taken
Present Continuous am taking is being taken
is taking
are taking are being taken

Present Perfect has taken has been taken

have taken have been taken
Simple Past took was taken
were taken
Past Continuous was taking was being taken
 were taking were being taken
Past Perfect had taken had been taken
Simple Future will take will be taken
shall take shall be taken

MODALS:
Should take Should be take
Can take Can be take
Could take Could be take
May take May be take
Might take Might be take
Must take Must be take
Ought to take Ought to be take

Some more rules:

 When we change a sentence from active voice to passive voice, the

tense of the verb remains the same.

 The verb has to agree with the subject of the sentence

 Commands:
o Form: let + Subject + be (not) + past participle

E.g. Active: Shut the door

Passive: Let the door be shut
 Request:
o In these sentences the action does not pass to the object. The
advice remains limited to the subject only.
E.g. Active: Kindly help him.
 Passive: You are requested to help him.

Direct and Indirect Speech

When using indirect or reported speech, the form changes. Usually indirect
speech is introduced by the verb said, as in I said, Bill said, or they said.
Using the verb say in this tense, indicates that something was said in the past.
In these cases, the main verb in the reported sentence is put in the past. If the
main verb is already in a past tense, then the tense changes to another past
tense; it can almost be seen as moving even further into the past.

Verb tense changes also characterize other situations using indirect speech.
Note the changes shown in the chart and see the table below for examples.
With indirect speech, the use of that is optional.

Direct Speech Indirect Speech

simple present simple past

He said, “I go to school every He said (that) he went to school every
day.” day.

simple past past perfect

He said, “I went to school every He said (that) he had gone to school
day.” every day.
present perfect past perfect
He said, “I have gone to school He said (that) he had gone to school
every day.” every day.

present progressive past progressive

He said, “I am going to school He said (that) he was going to school
every day.” every day.

past progressive perfect progressive

He said, “I was going to school He said (that) he had been going to
every day.” school every day,

future (will) would + verb name

He said, “I will go to school He said (that) he would go to school
every day.” every day.

future (going to) present progressive

He said, “I am going to school He said (that) he is going to school every
every day.” day.

past progressive
He said (that) he was going to school
every day

Direct Speech Indirect Speech

auxiliary + verb name simple past

He said, “Do you go to school He asked me if I went to school every
every day?” day.*
He said, “Where do you go to He asked me where I went to school.
school?”
imperative infinitive
He said, “Go to school every He said to go to school every day.
day.”

*Note than when a Yes/No question is being asked in direct speech, then a
construction with if or whether is used. If a WH question is being asked,
then use the WH to introduce the clause. Also note that with indirect
speech, these are examples of embedded questions.
The situation changes if instead of the common said another part of the
very to say is used. In that case the verb tenses usually remain the same.
Some examples of this situation are given below.

Direct Speech Indirect Speech

simple present + simple present simple present + simple present

He says, “I go to school every He says (that) he goes to school every
day.” day.

present perfect + simple present present perfect + simple present

He has said, “I go to school every He has said (that) he goes to school
day.” every day.

past progressive + simple past past progressive + simple past

He was saying, “I went to school He was saying (that) he went to school
every day.” every day.

past progressive + past perfect

He was saying (that) he had gone to
 school every day.

future + simple present future + simple present

He will say, “I go to school every He will say (that) he goes to school
day.” every day.

Another situation is the one in which modal constructions are used. If the
verb said is used, then the form of the modal, or another modal that has a
past meaning is used.

Direct Speech Indirect Speech

can could
He said, “I can go to school every He said (that) he could go to school
day.” every day.

may might
He said, “I may go to school every He said (that) he might go to school
day.” every day.

might
He said, “I might go to school
every day.”

must had to
He said, “I must go to school every He said (that) he had to go to school
day.” every day.

have to
He said, “I have to go to school
every day.”

should should
He said, “I should go to school He said (that) he should go to school
every day.” every day.

ought to ought to
He said, “I ought to go to school He said (that) he ought to go to school
every day.” every day.

While not all of the possibilities have been listed here, there are enough to
provide examples of the main rules governing the use of indirect or
reported speech. For other situations, try to extrapolate from the examples
here, or better still, refer to a good grammar text or reference book.
Some other verbs that can be used to introduce direct speech are: ask,
report, tell, announce, suggest, and inquire. They are not used
interchangeably; check a grammar or usage book for further information.