# Aphorisms on the Parts of Speech ## expand\_more There are important differences between what we call *grammar* and what we call the *parts of speech*. *Grammar* is the set of rules that govern how the things referred to in a sentence relate to each other. Grammar speaks of subjects, predicates, and objects. The parts of speech are things like nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. The *parts of speech* are a relatively small number of categories that describe the nature of the concepts referred to by words. (Grammar is concerned with the way that words relate *to each other*.) Consider this sentence from Shakespeare: “Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind.” In terms of grammar, *suspicion* is the subject that performs an action, *haunts* is the action being performed, and *mind* the object of that action. In terms of the parts of speech, however, *suspicion* is a noun, *always* an adverb, *haunts* a verb, *the* an article, *guilty* an adjective, and *mind* a noun. The exact number and names of the parts of speech are not agreed upon by grammarians, but most include a list that looks like this: *nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, articles* and *interjections*. The same word can be used in different ways, which means that one word can belong to multiple parts of speech, depending on its use. With language, as with concepts (e.g., truth, virtue, beauty), meaning is not absolute and universal; meaning is contingent on use. For example, *walk* can be either a noun or a verb: *I went for a walk*, or, *I will walk home*. Additionally, *walking* can be either a verb or a noun: *I am walking home*, or, *Walking is a real joy*. You must examine how a word is used in a sentence to know with certainty which part of speech it belongs to. *Noun*: A word that names a person, place, thing, or idea (e.g. *queen, Queen Elizabeth I, country, England, body, love, milk, philosophy, stars, quotes, audience, children, doctor, Kansas, car-ride, concept, igloo, wealth, Australia*). - I know I have the *body* of a weak and feeble *woman*, but I have the *heart* and *stomach* of a *king*, and of a *king* of *England* too. – Elizabeth I - *Knowledge* is *power*. – Bacon *Pronoun*: A word that takes the place of a noun (e.g. *I, me, we, us, you, she, her, he, him, it, they, them, that, which, who, whom, whose, whichever, this, that, these, those, both, few, all, himself, yourself, most, mine, ours, someone, their*). - *It* is *myself* that *I* portray…. *I* am *myself* the matter of *my* book. – Montaigne - *You* are a king by *your* own fireside, as much as any monarch in *his* throne. – Cervantes *Verb*: A word that shows action, occurrence, or a state of being (e.g. *is, am, are, was, were, love, writes, kicked, to taste, was undergoing, will be, will be dining, might have thought*). - I *think*, therefore I *am*. – Descartes - If I *have seen* further it *is* by standing on the shoulders of giants. – Newton *Adjective*: A word that modifies a noun or pronoun (e.g. *English, happy, old-fashioned, blue, famous, low, colossal, ancient, delicious, few*, *this, hot, hotter, hottest, unique, five*). - In *such* condition there is … no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, *continual* fear and danger of *violent* death; and the life of man, *solitary*, *poor*, *nasty*, *brutish*, and *short*. – Hobbes - I cannot praise a *fugitive* and *cloistered* virtue, *unexercised* and *unbreathed*, that never sallies out and sees her adversary. – Milton *Adverb*: A word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb (e.g. *dearly, awkwardly, sometimes, soon, rather, well*). - To speak, and to speak *well*, are two things. – Jonson - Melancholy and despair, though *often*, do not *always*, concur. – Burton *Preposition*: A transitional word that leads into a modifying phrase (e.g. *above, despite, for, in, inside, like, as, of, to, with*). - *In* the country *of* the blind the one-eyed man is king. – Erasmus - All places, all airs make *unto* me one country; I am *in* England, everywhere, and *under* any meridian. – Browne *Conjunction*: A linking word that connects words or groups of words through coordination (e.g. *for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so*) or subordination (e.g. *if, because, when, since, although, unless, as if, insofar as, in order that, to the extent that*). - *Since* love and fear can hardly exist together, *if* we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved. – Machiavelli - Man is *neither* angel *nor* beast; *and* the misfortune is that he who would act the angel acts the beast. – Pascal Article: A word used with a noun or noun phrase that expresses the distinctiveness of the noun. That is, articles tell you how specific or general the noun. In English there are definite articles (*the*), indefinite articles (*a*/*an*), partitive articles (*some*), and negative articles (*no*). - Was this *the* face that launched *a* thousand ships? – Marlowe - *No* man is *an* island, entire of itself; every man is *a* piece of *the* continent, *a* part of *the* main. – Donne In informal speech, there are also *interjections*, or words that convey emotion (e.g. *ahem, darn, oops*).