what is the speech word

More from M-W
To save this word, you'll need to log in. Log In

Definition of speech

declamation

Examples of speech in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'speech.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Middle English speche , from Old English sprǣc, spǣc ; akin to Old English sprecan to speak — more at speak

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing speech

hate speech
freedom of speech
figure of speech
free speech
acceptance speech

speech community

polite speech
speech form
part of speech
stump speech
visible speech
speech impediment
speech therapy

Dictionary Entries Near speech

Cite this entry.

“Speech.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/speech. Accessed 6 Apr. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of speech, medical definition, medical definition of speech, legal definition, legal definition of speech, more from merriam-webster on speech.

Nglish: Translation of speech for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of speech for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about speech

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.

Can you solve 4 words at once?

Word of the day.

See Definitions and Examples »

Get Word of the Day daily email!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

The tangled history of 'it's' and 'its', more commonly misspelled words, why does english have so many silent letters, your vs. you're: how to use them correctly, every letter is silent, sometimes: a-z list of examples, popular in wordplay, the words of the week - apr. 5, 12 bird names that sound like compliments, 10 scrabble words without any vowels, 12 more bird names that sound like insults (and sometimes are), 8 uncommon words related to love, games & quizzes.

Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

Knowledge Base
Parts of speech

The 8 Parts of Speech | Chart, Definition & Examples

A part of speech (also called a word class ) is a category that describes the role a word plays in a sentence. Understanding the different parts of speech can help you analyze how words function in a sentence and improve your writing.

The parts of speech are classified differently in different grammars, but most traditional grammars list eight parts of speech in English: nouns , pronouns , verbs , adjectives , adverbs , prepositions , conjunctions , and interjections . Some modern grammars add others, such as determiners and articles .

Many words can function as different parts of speech depending on how they are used. For example, “laugh” can be a noun (e.g., “I like your laugh”) or a verb (e.g., “don’t laugh”).

Prepositions
Conjunctions
Interjections

Other parts of speech

Interesting language articles, frequently asked questions.

A noun is a word that refers to a person, concept, place, or thing. Nouns can act as the subject of a sentence (i.e., the person or thing performing the action) or as the object of a verb (i.e., the person or thing affected by the action).

There are numerous types of nouns, including common nouns (used to refer to nonspecific people, concepts, places, or things), proper nouns (used to refer to specific people, concepts, places, or things), and collective nouns (used to refer to a group of people or things).

Ella lives in France .

Other types of nouns include countable and uncountable nouns , concrete nouns , abstract nouns , and gerunds .

Check for common mistakes

Use the best grammar checker available to check for common mistakes in your text.

Fix mistakes for free

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. Pronouns typically refer back to an antecedent (a previously mentioned noun) and must demonstrate correct pronoun-antecedent agreement . Like nouns, pronouns can refer to people, places, concepts, and things.

There are numerous types of pronouns, including personal pronouns (used in place of the proper name of a person), demonstrative pronouns (used to refer to specific things and indicate their relative position), and interrogative pronouns (used to introduce questions about things, people, and ownership).

That is a horrible painting!

A verb is a word that describes an action (e.g., “jump”), occurrence (e.g., “become”), or state of being (e.g., “exist”). Verbs indicate what the subject of a sentence is doing. Every complete sentence must contain at least one verb.

Verbs can change form depending on subject (e.g., first person singular), tense (e.g., simple past), mood (e.g., interrogative), and voice (e.g., passive voice ).

Regular verbs are verbs whose simple past and past participle are formed by adding“-ed” to the end of the word (or “-d” if the word already ends in “e”). Irregular verbs are verbs whose simple past and past participles are formed in some other way.

“I’ve already checked twice.”

“I heard that you used to sing .”

Other types of verbs include auxiliary verbs , linking verbs , modal verbs , and phrasal verbs .

An adjective is a word that describes a noun or pronoun. Adjectives can be attributive , appearing before a noun (e.g., “a red hat”), or predicative , appearing after a noun with the use of a linking verb like “to be” (e.g., “the hat is red ”).

Adjectives can also have a comparative function. Comparative adjectives compare two or more things. Superlative adjectives describe something as having the most or least of a specific characteristic.

Other types of adjectives include coordinate adjectives , participial adjectives , and denominal adjectives .

An adverb is a word that can modify a verb, adjective, adverb, or sentence. Adverbs are often formed by adding “-ly” to the end of an adjective (e.g., “slow” becomes “slowly”), although not all adverbs have this ending, and not all words with this ending are adverbs.

There are numerous types of adverbs, including adverbs of manner (used to describe how something occurs), adverbs of degree (used to indicate extent or degree), and adverbs of place (used to describe the location of an action or event).

Talia writes quite quickly.

Other types of adverbs include adverbs of frequency , adverbs of purpose , focusing adverbs , and adverbial phrases .

A preposition is a word (e.g., “at”) or phrase (e.g., “on top of”) used to show the relationship between the different parts of a sentence. Prepositions can be used to indicate aspects such as time , place , and direction .

I left the cup on the kitchen counter.

A conjunction is a word used to connect different parts of a sentence (e.g., words, phrases, or clauses).

The main types of conjunctions are coordinating conjunctions (used to connect items that are grammatically equal), subordinating conjunctions (used to introduce a dependent clause), and correlative conjunctions (used in pairs to join grammatically equal parts of a sentence).

You can choose what movie we watch because I chose the last time.

An interjection is a word or phrase used to express a feeling, give a command, or greet someone. Interjections are a grammatically independent part of speech, so they can often be excluded from a sentence without affecting the meaning.

Types of interjections include volitive interjections (used to make a demand or request), emotive interjections (used to express a feeling or reaction), cognitive interjections (used to indicate thoughts), and greetings and parting words (used at the beginning and end of a conversation).

Ouch ! I hurt my arm.

I’m, um , not sure.

The traditional classification of English words into eight parts of speech is by no means the only one or the objective truth. Grammarians have often divided them into more or fewer classes. Other commonly mentioned parts of speech include determiners and articles.

Determiners

A determiner is a word that describes a noun by indicating quantity, possession, or relative position.

Common types of determiners include demonstrative determiners (used to indicate the relative position of a noun), possessive determiners (used to describe ownership), and quantifiers (used to indicate the quantity of a noun).

My brother is selling his old car.

Other types of determiners include distributive determiners , determiners of difference , and numbers .

An article is a word that modifies a noun by indicating whether it is specific or general.

The definite article the is used to refer to a specific version of a noun. The can be used with all countable and uncountable nouns (e.g., “the door,” “the energy,” “the mountains”).
The indefinite articles a and an refer to general or unspecific nouns. The indefinite articles can only be used with singular countable nouns (e.g., “a poster,” “an engine”).

There’s a concert this weekend.

If you want to know more about nouns , pronouns , verbs , and other parts of speech, make sure to check out some of our language articles with explanations and examples.

Nouns & pronouns

Common nouns
Proper nouns
Collective nouns
Personal pronouns
Uncountable and countable nouns
Verb tenses
Phrasal verbs
Types of verbs
Active vs passive voice
Subject-verb agreement

A is an indefinite article (along with an ). While articles can be classed as their own part of speech, they’re also considered a type of determiner .

The indefinite articles are used to introduce nonspecific countable nouns (e.g., “a dog,” “an island”).

In is primarily classed as a preposition, but it can be classed as various other parts of speech, depending on how it is used:

Preposition (e.g., “ in the field”)
Noun (e.g., “I have an in with that company”)
Adjective (e.g., “Tim is part of the in crowd”)
Adverb (e.g., “Will you be in this evening?”)

As a part of speech, and is classed as a conjunction . Specifically, it’s a coordinating conjunction .

And can be used to connect grammatically equal parts of a sentence, such as two nouns (e.g., “a cup and plate”), or two adjectives (e.g., “strong and smart”). And can also be used to connect phrases and clauses.

Is this article helpful?

Other students also liked, what is a collective noun | examples & definition.

What Is an Adjective? | Definition, Types & Examples
Using Conjunctions | Definition, Rules & Examples

Unlimited Academic AI-Proofreading

✔ Document error-free in 5minutes ✔ Unlimited document corrections ✔ Specialized in correcting academic texts

Daily Crossword
Word Puzzle
Word Finder
Word of the Day
Synonym of the Day
Word of the Year
Language stories
All featured
Gender and sexuality
All pop culture
Grammar Coach ™
Writing hub
Grammar essentials
Commonly confused
All writing tips
Pop culture
Writing tips

the faculty or power of speaking ; oral communication; ability to express one's thoughts and emotions by speech sounds and gesture: Losing her speech made her feel isolated from humanity.

the act of speaking: He expresses himself better in speech than in writing.

something that is spoken ; an utterance, remark, or declaration: We waited for some speech that would indicate her true feelings.

a form of communication in spoken language, made by a speaker before an audience for a given purpose: a fiery speech.

any single utterance of an actor in the course of a play, motion picture, etc.

the form of utterance characteristic of a particular people or region; a language or dialect.

manner of speaking, as of a person: Your slovenly speech is holding back your career.

a field of study devoted to the theory and practice of oral communication.

Archaic . rumor .

Origin of speech

Synonym study for speech, other words for speech, other words from speech.

self-speech, noun

Words Nearby speech

speculum metal
speech center
speech clinic
speech community
speech correction

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use speech in a sentence

Kids are interacting with Alexas that can record their voice data and influence their speech and social development.

The attorney general delivered a controversial speech Wednesday.

For example, my company, Teknicks, is working with an online K-12 speech and occupational therapy provider.

Instead, it would give tech companies a powerful incentive to limit Brazilians’ freedom of speech at a time of political unrest.

However, the president did give a speech in Suresnes, France, the next day during a ceremony hosted by the American Battle Monuments Commission.

Those are troubling numbers, for unfettered speech is not incidental to a flourishing society.

There is no such thing as speech so hateful or offensive it somehow “justifies” or “legitimizes” the use of violence.

We need to recover and grow the idea that the proper answer to bad speech is more and better speech .

Tend to your own garden, to quote the great sage of free speech , Voltaire, and invite people to follow your example.

The simple, awful truth is that free speech has never been particularly popular in America.

Alessandro turned a grateful look on Ramona as he translated this speech , so in unison with Indian modes of thought and feeling.

And so this is why the clever performer cannot reproduce the effect of a speech of Demosthenes or Daniel Webster.

He said no more in words, but his little blue eyes had an eloquence that left nothing to mere speech .

After pondering over Mr. Blackbird's speech for a few moments he raised his head.

Albinia, I have refrained from speech as long as possible; but this is really too much!

British Dictionary definitions for speech

/ ( spiːtʃ ) /

the act or faculty of speaking, esp as possessed by persons : to have speech with somebody

( as modifier ) : speech therapy

that which is spoken; utterance

a talk or address delivered to an audience

a person's characteristic manner of speaking

a national or regional language or dialect

linguistics another word for parole (def. 5)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, what part of speech is the word 'the'.

General Education

When you start breaking it down, the English language is pretty complicated—especially if you're trying to learn it from scratch! One of the most important English words to understand is the.

But what part of speech is the word the, and when should it be used in a sentence? Is the word the a preposition? Is the a pronoun? Or is the word the considered a different part of speech?

To help you learn exactly how the word the works in the English language, we're going to do the following in this article:

Answer the question, "What part of speech is the ?"
Explain how to use the correctly in sentences, with examples
Provide a full list of other words that are classified as the same part of speech as the in the English language

Okay, let's get started learning about the word the !

What Part of Speech Is the Word The?

In the English language the word the is classified as an article, which is a word used to define a noun. (More on that a little later.)

But an article isn't one of the eight parts of speech. Articles are considered a type of adjective, so "the" is technically an adjective as well. However, "the" can also sometimes function as an adverb in certain instances, too.

In short, the word "the" is an article that functions as both an adjective and an adverb, depending on how it's being used . Having said that, the is most commonly used as an article in the English language. So, if you were wondering, "Is the a pronoun, preposition, or conjunction," the answer is no: it's an article, adjective, and an adverb!

While we might think of an article as a story that appears in a newspaper or website, in English grammar, articles are words that help specify nouns.

The as an Article

So what are "articles" in the English language? Articles are words that identify nouns in order to demonstrate whether the noun is specific or nonspecific. Nouns (a person, place, thing, or idea) can be identified by two different types of articles in the English language: definite articles identify specific nouns, and indefinite articles identify nonspecific nouns.

The word the is considered a definite article because it defines the meaning of a noun as one particular thing . It's an article that gives a noun a definite meaning: a definite article. Generally, definite articles are used to identify nouns that the audience already knows about. Here's a few examples of how "the" works as a definite article:

We went to the rodeo on Saturday. Did you see the cowboy get trampled by the bull?

This (grisly!) sentence has three instances of "the" functioning as a definite article: the rodeo, the cowboy, and the bull. Notice that in each instance, the comes directly before the noun. That's because it's an article's job to identify nouns.

In each of these three instances, the refers to a specific (or definite) person, place, or thing. When the speaker says the rodeo, they're talking about one specific rodeo that happened at a certain place and time. The same goes for the cowboy and the bull: these are two specific people/animals that had one kinda terrible thing happen to them!

It can be a bit easier to see how definite articles work if you see them in the same sentence as an indefinite article ( a or an ). This sentence makes the difference a lot more clear:

A bat flew into the restaurant and made people panic.

Okay. This sentence has two articles in it: a and the. So what's the difference? Well, you use a when you're referring to a general, non-specific person, place, or thing because its an indefinite article . So in this case, using a tells us this isn't a specific bat. It's just a random bat from the wild that decided to go on an adventure.

Notice that in the example, the writer uses the to refer to the restaurant. That's because the event happened at a specific time and at a specific place. A bat flew into one particular restaurant to cause havoc, which is why it's referred to as the restaurant in the sentence.

The last thing to keep in mind is that the is the only definite article in the English language , and it can be used with both singular and plural nouns. This is probably one reason why people make the mistake of asking, "Is the a pronoun?" Since articles, including the, define the meaning of nouns, it seems like they could also be combined with pronouns. But that's not the case. Just remember: articles only modify nouns.

Adjectives are words that help describe nouns. Because "the" can describe whether a noun is a specific object or not, "the" is also considered an adjective.

The as an Adjective

You know now that the is classified as a definite article and that the is used to refer to a specific person, place, or thing. But defining what part of speech articles are is a little bit tricky.

There are eight parts of speech in the English language: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. The thing about these eight parts of speech in English is that they contain smaller categories of types of words and phrases in the English language. A rticles are considered a type of determiner, which is a type of adjective.

Let's break down how articles fall under the umbrella of "determiners," which fall under the umbrella of adjectives. In English, the category of "determiners" includes all words and phrases in the English language that are combined with a noun to express an aspect of what the noun is referring to. Some examples of determiners are the, a, an, this, that, my, their, many, few, several, each, and any. The is used in front of a noun to express that the noun refers to a specific thing, right? So that's why "the" can be considered a determiner.

And here's how determiners—including the article the —can be considered adjectives. Articles and other determiners are sometimes classified as adjectives because they describe the nouns that they precede. Technically, the describes the noun it precedes by communicating specificity and directness. When you say, "the duck," you're describing the noun "duck" as referring to a specific duck. This is different than saying a duck, which could mean any one duck anywhere in the world!

When "the" comes directly before a word that's not a noun, then it's operating as an adverb instead of an adjective.

The as an Adverb

Finally, we mentioned that the can also be used as an adverb, which is one of the eight main parts of speech we outlined above. Adverbs modify or describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, but never modify nouns.

Sometimes, the can be used to modify adverbs or adjectives that occur in the comparative degree. Adverbs or adjectives that compare the amounts or intensity of a feeling, state of being, or action characterizing two or more things are in the comparative degree. Sometimes the appears before these adverbs or adjectives to help convey the comparison!

Here's an example where the functions as an adverb instead of an article/adjective:

Lainey believes the most outrageous things.

Okay. We know that when the is functioning as an adjective, it comes before a noun in order to clarify whether it's specific or non-specific. In this case, however, the precedes the word most, which isn't a noun—it's an adjective. And since an adverb modifies an adjective, adverb, or verb, that means the functions as an adverb in this sentence.

We know that can be a little complicated, so let's dig into another example together:

Giovanni's is the best pizza place in Montana.

The trick to figuring out whether the article the is functioning as an adjective or an adverb is pretty simple: just look at the word directly after the and figure out its part of speech. If that word is a noun, then the is functioning as an adjective. If that word isn't a noun, then the is functioning like an adverb.

Now, reread the second example. The word the comes before the word best. Is best a noun? No, it isn't. Best is an adjective, so we know that the is working like an adverb in this sentence.

How to Use The Correctly in Sentences

An important part of answering the question, "What part of speech is the word the ?" includes explaining how to use the correctly in a sentence. Articles like the are some of the most common words used in the English language. So you need to know how and when to use it! And since using the as an adverb is less common, we'll provide examples of how the can be used as an adverb as well.

Using The as an Article

In general, it is correct and appropriate to use the in front of a noun of any kind when you want to convey specificity. It's often assumed that you use the to refer to a specific person, place, or thing that the person you're speaking to will already be aware of. Oftentimes, this shared awareness of who, what, or where "the" is referring to is created by things already said in the conversation, or by context clues in a given social situation .

Let's look at an example here:

Say you're visiting a friend who just had a baby. You're sitting in the kitchen at your friend's house while your friend makes coffee. The baby, who has been peacefully dozing in a bassinet in the living room, begins crying. Your friend turns to you and asks, "Can you hold the baby while I finish doing this?"

Now, because of all of the context surrounding the social situation, you know which baby your friend is referring to when they say, the baby. There's no need for further clarification, because in this case, the gives enough direct and specific meaning to the noun baby for you to know what to do!

In many cases, using the to define a noun requires less or no awareness of an immediate social situation because people have a shared common knowledge of the noun that the is referring to. Here are two examples:

Are you going to watch the eclipse tomorrow?

Did you hear what the President said this morning?

In the first example, the speaker is referring to a natural phenomenon that most people are aware of —eclipses are cool and rare! When there's going to be an eclipse, everyone knows about it. If you started a conversation with someone by saying, "Are you going to watch the eclipse tomorrow?" it's pretty likely they'd know which eclipse the is referring to.

In the second example, if an American speaking to another American mentions what the President said, the other American is likely going to assume that the refers to the President of the United States. Conversely, if two Canadians said this to one another, they would likely assume they're talking about the Canadian prime minister!

So in many situations, using the before a noun gives that noun specific meaning in the context of a particular social situation .

Using The as an Adverb

Now let's look at an example of how "the" can be used as an adverb. Take a look at this sample sentence:

The tornado warning made it all the more likely that the game would be canceled.

Remember how we explained that the can be combined with adverbs that are making a comparison of levels or amounts of something between two entities? The example above shows how the can be combined with an adverb in such a situation. The is combined with more and likely to form an adverbial phrase.

So how do you figure this out? Well, if the words immediately after the are adverbs, then the is functioning as an adverb, too!

Here's another example of how the can be used as an adverb:

I had the worst day ever.

In this case, the is being combined with the adverb worst to compare the speaker's day to the other days . Compared to all the other days ever, this person's was the worst... period . Some other examples of adverbs that you might see the combined with include all the better, the best, the bigger, the shorter, and all the sooner.

One thing that can help clarify which adverbs the can be combined with is to check out a list of comparative and superlative adverbs and think about which ones the makes sense with!

3 Articles in the English Language

Now that we've answered the question, "What part of speech is the ?", you know that the is classified as an article. To help you gain a better understanding of what articles are and how they function in the English language, here's a handy list of 3 words in the English language that are also categorized as articles.

What's Next?

If you're looking for more grammar resources, be sure to check out our guides on every grammar rule you need to know to ace the SAT ( or the ACT )!

Learning more about English grammar can be really helpful when you're studying a foreign language, too. We highly recommend that you study a foreign language in high school—not only is it great for you, it looks great on college applications, too. If you're not sure which language to study, check out this helpful article that will make your decision a lot easier.

Speaking of applying for college... one of the most important parts of your application packet is your essay. Check out this expert guide to writing college essays that will help you get into your dream school.

Ashley Sufflé Robinson has a Ph.D. in 19th Century English Literature. As a content writer for PrepScholar, Ashley is passionate about giving college-bound students the in-depth information they need to get into the school of their dreams.

Student and Parent Forum

Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub.PrepScholar.com , allow you to interact with your peers and the PrepScholar staff. See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. Ask questions; get answers.

Ask a Question Below

Have any questions about this article or other topics? Ask below and we'll reply!

Improve With Our Famous Guides

For All Students

The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points

How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer

Series: How to Get 800 on Each SAT Section:

Score 800 on SAT Math

Score 800 on SAT Reading

Score 800 on SAT Writing

Series: How to Get to 600 on Each SAT Section:

Score 600 on SAT Math

Score 600 on SAT Reading

Score 600 on SAT Writing

Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests

What SAT Target Score Should You Be Aiming For?

15 Strategies to Improve Your SAT Essay

The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points

How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer

Series: How to Get 36 on Each ACT Section:

36 on ACT English

36 on ACT Math

36 on ACT Reading

36 on ACT Science

Series: How to Get to 24 on Each ACT Section:

24 on ACT English

24 on ACT Math

24 on ACT Reading

24 on ACT Science

What ACT target score should you be aiming for?

ACT Vocabulary You Must Know

ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score

How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League

How to Get a Perfect 4.0 GPA

How to Write an Amazing College Essay

What Exactly Are Colleges Looking For?

Is the ACT easier than the SAT? A Comprehensive Guide

Should you retake your SAT or ACT?

When should you take the SAT or ACT?

Stay Informed

Get the latest articles and test prep tips!

Looking for Graduate School Test Prep?

Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here:

GRE Online Prep Blog

GMAT Online Prep Blog

TOEFL Online Prep Blog

Holly R. "I am absolutely overjoyed and cannot thank you enough for helping me!”

paper-free learning

conjunctions
determiners
interjections
prepositions
affect vs effect
its vs it's
your vs you're
which vs that
who vs whom
who's vs whose
averse vs adverse
250+ more...
apostrophes
quotation marks
lots more...
common writing errors
FAQs by writers
awkward plurals
ESL vocabulary lists
all our grammar videos
idioms and proverbs
Latin terms
collective nouns for animals
tattoo fails
vocabulary categories
most common verbs
top 10 irregular verbs
top 10 regular verbs
top 10 spelling rules
improve spelling
common misspellings
role-play scenarios
favo(u)rite word lists
multiple-choice test
Tetris game
grammar-themed memory game
100s more...

Parts of Speech

What are the parts of speech, a formal definition.

Table of Contents

The Part of Speech Is Determined by the Word's Function

Are there 8 or 9 parts of speech, the nine parts of speech, (1) adjective, (3) conjunction, (4) determiner, (5) interjection, (7) preposition, (8) pronoun, why the parts of speech are important, video lesson.

You need to dig a well . (noun)
You look well . (adjective)
You dance well . (adverb)
Well , I agree. (interjection)
My eyes will well up. (verb)
red, happy, enormous
Ask the boy in the red jumper.
I live in a happy place.
I caught a fish this morning! I mean an enormous one.
happily, loosely, often
They skipped happily to the counter.
Tie the knot loosely so they can escape.
I often walk to work.
It is an intriguingly magic setting.
He plays the piano extremely well.
and, or, but
it is a large and important city.
Shall we run to the hills or hide in the bushes?
I know you are lying, but I cannot prove it.
my, those, two, many
My dog is fine with those cats.
There are two dogs but many cats.
ouch, oops, eek
Ouch , that hurt.
Oops , it's broken.
Eek! A mouse just ran past my foot!
leader, town, apple
Take me to your leader .
I will see you in town later.
An apple fell on his head .
in, near, on, with
Sarah is hiding in the box.
I live near the train station.
Put your hands on your head.
She yelled with enthusiasm.
she, we, they, that
Joanne is smart. She is also funny.
Our team has studied the evidence. We know the truth.
Jack and Jill went up the hill, but they never returned.
That is clever!
work, be, write, exist
Tony works down the pit now. He was unemployed.
I will write a song for you.
I think aliens exist .

Are you a visual learner? Do you prefer video to text? Here is a list of all our grammar videos .

Video for Each Part of Speech

The Most Important Writing Issues

The top issue related to adjectives, the top issue related to adverbs.

Extremely annoyed, she stared menacingly at her rival.
Infuriated, she glared at her rival.

The Top Issue Related to Conjunctions

Burger, Fries, and a shake
Fish, chips and peas

The Top Issue Related to Determiners

The Top Issue Related to Interjections

The top issue related to nouns, the top issue related to prepositions, the top issue related to pronouns, the top issue related to verbs.

Crack the parts of speech to help with learning a foreign language or to take your writing to the next level.

This page was written by Craig Shrives .

Learning Resources

more actions:

This test is printable and sendable

Help Us Improve Grammar Monster

Do you disagree with something on this page?
Did you spot a typo?

Find Us Quicker!

When using a search engine (e.g., Google, Bing), you will find Grammar Monster quicker if you add #gm to your search term.

Meaning of speech in English

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio

speech noun ( SAY WORDS )

She suffers from a speech defect .
From her slow , deliberate speech I guessed she must be drunk .
Freedom of speech and freedom of thought were both denied under the dictatorship .
As a child , she had some speech problems .
We use these aids to develop speech in small children .
a problem shared is a problem halved idiom
banteringly
bull session
chew the fat idiom
conversation
conversational
put the world to rights idiom
take/lead someone on/to one side idiom
tête-à-tête

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

speech noun ( FORMAL TALK )

talk She will give a talk on keeping kids safe on the internet.
lecture The lecture is entitled "War and the Modern American Presidency."
presentation We were given a presentation of progress made to date.
speech You might have to make a speech when you accept the award.
address He took the oath of office then delivered his inaugural address.
oration It was to become one of the most famous orations in American history.
Her speech was received with cheers and a standing ovation .
She closed the meeting with a short speech.
The vicar's forgetting his lines in the middle of the speech provided some good comedy .
Her speech caused outrage among the gay community .
She concluded the speech by reminding us of our responsibility .
call for papers
extemporize
maiden speech
presentation
talk at someone

speech | Intermediate English

Speech noun ( talking ), examples of speech, collocations with speech.

These are words often used in combination with speech .

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

Translations of speech

Get a quick, free translation!

Word of the Day

your bread and butter

a job or activity that provides you with the money you need to live

Shoots, blooms and blossom: talking about plants

Learn more with +Plus

Recent and Recommended {{#preferredDictionaries}} {{name}} {{/preferredDictionaries}}
Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English
Grammar and thesaurus Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English Grammar Thesaurus
Pronunciation British and American pronunciations with audio English Pronunciation
English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English
English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English
English–Dutch Dutch–English
English–French French–English
English–German German–English
English–Indonesian Indonesian–English
English–Italian Italian–English
English–Japanese Japanese–English
English–Norwegian Norwegian–English
English–Polish Polish–English
English–Portuguese Portuguese–English
English–Spanish Spanish–English
English–Swedish Swedish–English
Dictionary +Plus Word Lists
speech (SAY WORDS)
speech (FORMAL TALK)
speech (TALKING)
Collocations
Translations
All translations

Add speech to one of your lists below, or create a new one.

Something went wrong.

There was a problem sending your report.

The 9 Parts of Speech: Definitions and Examples

Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
B.A., English, State University of New York

A part of speech is a term used in traditional grammar for one of the nine main categories into which words are classified according to their functions in sentences , such as nouns or verbs. Also known as word classes , these are the building blocks of grammar.

Parts of Speech

Word types can be divided into nine parts of speech:
prepositions
conjunctions
articles/determiners
interjections
Some words can be considered more than one part of speech, depending on context and usage.
Interjections can form complete sentences on their own.

Every sentence you write or speak in English includes words that fall into some of the nine parts of speech. These include nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, articles/determiners, and interjections. (Some sources include only eight parts of speech and leave interjections in their own category.)

Learning the names of the parts of speech probably won't make you witty, healthy, wealthy, or wise. In fact, learning just the names of the parts of speech won't even make you a better writer. However, you will gain a basic understanding of sentence structure and the English language by familiarizing yourself with these labels.

Open and Closed Word Classes

The parts of speech are commonly divided into open classes (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs) and closed classes (pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, articles/determiners, and interjections). The idea is that open classes can be altered and added to as language develops and closed classes are pretty much set in stone. For example, new nouns are created every day, but conjunctions never change.

In contemporary linguistics , the label part of speech has generally been discarded in favor of the term word class or syntactic category . These terms make words easier to qualify objectively based on word construction rather than context. Within word classes, there is the lexical or open class and the function or closed class.

The 9 Parts of Speech

Read about each part of speech below and get started practicing identifying each.

Nouns are a person, place, thing, or idea. They can take on a myriad of roles in a sentence, from the subject of it all to the object of an action. They are capitalized when they're the official name of something or someone, called proper nouns in these cases. Examples: pirate, Caribbean, ship, freedom, Captain Jack Sparrow.

Pronouns stand in for nouns in a sentence. They are more generic versions of nouns that refer only to people. Examples: I, you, he, she, it, ours, them, who, which, anybody, ourselves.

Verbs are action words that tell what happens in a sentence. They can also show a sentence subject's state of being ( is , was ). Verbs change form based on tense (present, past) and count distinction (singular or plural). Examples: sing, dance, believes, seemed, finish, eat, drink, be, became

Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns. They specify which one, how much, what kind, and more. Adjectives allow readers and listeners to use their senses to imagine something more clearly. Examples: hot, lazy, funny, unique, bright, beautiful, poor, smooth.

Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, and even other adverbs. They specify when, where, how, and why something happened and to what extent or how often. Examples: softly, lazily, often, only, hopefully, softly, sometimes.

Preposition

Prepositions show spacial, temporal, and role relations between a noun or pronoun and the other words in a sentence. They come at the start of a prepositional phrase , which contains a preposition and its object. Examples: up, over, against, by, for, into, close to, out of, apart from.

Conjunction

Conjunctions join words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence. There are coordinating, subordinating, and correlative conjunctions. Examples: and, but, or, so, yet, with.

Articles and Determiners

Articles and determiners function like adjectives by modifying nouns, but they are different than adjectives in that they are necessary for a sentence to have proper syntax. Articles and determiners specify and identify nouns, and there are indefinite and definite articles. Examples: articles: a, an, the ; determiners: these, that, those, enough, much, few, which, what.

Some traditional grammars have treated articles as a distinct part of speech. Modern grammars, however, more often include articles in the category of determiners , which identify or quantify a noun. Even though they modify nouns like adjectives, articles are different in that they are essential to the proper syntax of a sentence, just as determiners are necessary to convey the meaning of a sentence, while adjectives are optional.

Interjection

Interjections are expressions that can stand on their own or be contained within sentences. These words and phrases often carry strong emotions and convey reactions. Examples: ah, whoops, ouch, yabba dabba do!

How to Determine the Part of Speech

Only interjections ( Hooray! ) have a habit of standing alone; every other part of speech must be contained within a sentence and some are even required in sentences (nouns and verbs). Other parts of speech come in many varieties and may appear just about anywhere in a sentence.

To know for sure what part of speech a word falls into, look not only at the word itself but also at its meaning, position, and use in a sentence.

For example, in the first sentence below, work functions as a noun; in the second sentence, a verb; and in the third sentence, an adjective:

The noun work is the thing Bosco shows up for.
The verb work is the action he must perform.
The attributive noun [or converted adjective] work modifies the noun permit .

Learning the names and uses of the basic parts of speech is just one way to understand how sentences are constructed.

Dissecting Basic Sentences

To form a basic complete sentence, you only need two elements: a noun (or pronoun standing in for a noun) and a verb. The noun acts as a subject and the verb, by telling what action the subject is taking, acts as the predicate.

In the short sentence above, birds is the noun and fly is the verb. The sentence makes sense and gets the point across.

You can have a sentence with just one word without breaking any sentence formation rules. The short sentence below is complete because it's a command to an understood "you".

Here, the pronoun, standing in for a noun, is implied and acts as the subject. The sentence is really saying, "(You) go!"

Constructing More Complex Sentences

Use more parts of speech to add additional information about what's happening in a sentence to make it more complex. Take the first sentence from above, for example, and incorporate more information about how and why birds fly.

Birds fly when migrating before winter.

Birds and fly remain the noun and the verb, but now there is more description.

When is an adverb that modifies the verb fly. The word before is a little tricky because it can be either a conjunction, preposition, or adverb depending on the context. In this case, it's a preposition because it's followed by a noun. This preposition begins an adverbial phrase of time ( before winter ) that answers the question of when the birds migrate . Before is not a conjunction because it does not connect two clauses.

Sentence Parts and Sentence Structures
100 Key Terms Used in the Study of Grammar
Prepositional Phrases in English Grammar
The Top 25 Grammatical Terms
Foundations of Grammar in Italian
Pronoun Definition and Examples
What Is an Adverb in English Grammar?
What Are the Parts of a Prepositional Phrase?
Definition and Examples of Adjectives
Definition and Examples of Function Words in English
Lesson Plan: Label Sentences with Parts of Speech
Sentence Patterns
Nominal: Definition and Examples in Grammar
Constituent: Definition and Examples in Grammar
Adding Adjectives and Adverbs to the Basic Sentence Unit
The Difference Between Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives

Dictionaries home
American English
Collocations
German-English
Grammar home
Practical English Usage
Learn & Practise Grammar (Beta)
Word Lists home
My Word Lists
Recent additions
Resources home
Text Checker

Definition of speech noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

speaker noun
speech noun
spoken adjective (≠ unspoken)
Several people made speeches at the wedding.
She gave a rousing speech to the crowd.
speech on something to deliver a speech on human rights
speech about something He inspired everyone with a moving speech about tolerance and respect.
in a speech In his acceptance speech , the actor thanked his family.
a lecture on the Roman army
a course/series of lectures
a televised presidential address
She gave an interesting talk on her visit to China.
to preach a sermon
a long/short speech/lecture/address/talk/sermon
a keynote speech/lecture/address
to write/prepare/give/deliver/hear a(n) speech/lecture/address/talk/sermon
to attend/go to a lecture/talk
George Washington's inaugural speech
He made a speech about workers of the world uniting.
In a speech given last month, she hinted she would run for office.
She delivered the keynote speech (= main general speech) at the conference.
He wrote her party conference speech.
His 20-minute speech was interrupted several times by booing.
Her comments came ahead of a speech she will deliver on Thursday to business leaders.
She concluded her speech by thanking the audience.
He gave an impassioned speech broadcast nationwide.
We heard a speech by the author.
This is very unexpected—I haven't prepared a speech.
The guest speaker is ill so I have to do the opening speech.
He read his speech from a prompter.
the farewell speech given by George Washington
He made the comments in a nationally televised speech.
During his victory speech the President paid tribute to his defeated opponent.
In his concession speech, he urged his supporters to try to work with Republicans.
The Prime Minister addressed the nation in a televised speech.
He delivered his final speech to Congress.
He delivered the commencement speech at Notre Dame University.
His speech was broadcast on national radio.
In her speech to the House of Commons, she outlined her vision of Britain in the 21st century.
President Bush delivered his 2004 State of the Union speech.
She gave a speech on the economy.
She made a stirring campaign speech on improving the lot of the unemployed.
The President will deliver a major foreign-policy speech to the United Nations.
The candidates gave their standard stump speeches (= political campaign speeches) .
The prizewinner gave an emotional acceptance speech.
a Senate floor speech
her maiden speech (= her first) in the House of Commons
the Chancellor's Budget speech
the Prime Minister's speech-writers
She's been asked to give the after-dinner speech.
You will need to prepare an acceptance speech.
a political speech writer
in a/the speech
speech about

Definitions on the go

Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.

Definition of 'speech'

Video: pronunciation of speech

speech in British English

Speech in american english, examples of 'speech' in a sentence speech, cobuild collocations speech, trends of speech.

View usage for: All Years Last 10 years Last 50 years Last 100 years Last 300 years

Browse alphabetically speech

speech bubble
speech clinic
All ENGLISH words that begin with 'S'

Related terms of speech

cued speech
free speech
hate speech
View more related words

Quick word challenge

Quiz Review

Score: 0 / 5

Wordle Helper

Scrabble Tools

Have a thesis expert improve your writing

Check your thesis for plagiarism in 10 minutes, generate your apa citations for free.

Knowledge Base
Parts of speech

The 8 Parts of Speech | Definition & Examples

A part of speech (also called a word class ) is a category that describes the role a word plays in a sentence. Understanding the different parts of speech can help you analyse how words function in a sentence and improve your writing.

Many words can function as different parts of speech depending on how they are used. For example, ‘laugh’ can be a noun (e.g., ‘I like your laugh’) or a verb (e.g., ‘don’t laugh’).

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Be assured that you'll submit flawless writing. Upload your document to correct all your mistakes.

Prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, other parts of speech, frequently asked questions.

Ella lives in France .

Other types of nouns include countable and uncountable nouns , concrete nouns , abstract nouns , and gerunds .

The only proofreading tool specialized in correcting academic writing

The academic proofreading tool has been trained on 1000s of academic texts and by native English editors. Making it the most accurate and reliable proofreading tool for students.

Correct my document today

That is a horrible painting!

A verb is a word that describes an action (e.g., ‘jump’), occurrence (e.g., ‘become’), or state of being (e.g., ‘exist’). Verbs indicate what the subject of a sentence is doing. Every complete sentence must contain at least one verb.

Verbs can change form depending on subject (e.g., first person singular), tense (e.g., past simple ), mood (e.g., interrogative), and voice (e.g., passive voice ).

Regular verbs are verbs whose simple past and past participle are formed by adding’-ed’ to the end of the word (or ‘-d’ if the word already ends in ‘e’). Irregular verbs are verbs whose simple past and past participles are formed in some other way.

‘I’ve already checked twice’.

‘I heard that you used to sing ‘.

Other types of verbs include auxiliary verbs , linking verbs , modal verbs , and phrasal verbs .

An adjective is a word that describes a noun or pronoun. Adjectives can be attributive , appearing before a noun (e.g., ‘a red hat’), or predicative , appearing after a noun with the use of a linking verb like ‘to be’ (e.g., ‘the hat is red ‘).

Adjectives can also have a comparative function. Comparative adjectives compare two or more things. Superlative adjectives describe something as having the most or least of a specific characteristic.

Other types of adjectives include coordinate adjectives , participial adjectives , and denominal adjectives .

An adverb is a word that can modify a verb, adjective, adverb, or sentence. Adverbs are often formed by adding ‘-ly’ to the end of an adjective (e.g., ‘slow’ becomes ‘slowly’), although not all adverbs have this ending, and not all words with this ending are adverbs.

Talia writes quite quickly.

Other types of adverbs include adverbs of frequency , adverbs of purpose , focusing adverbs , and adverbial phrases .

A preposition is a word (e.g., ‘at’) or phrase (e.g., ‘on top of’) used to show the relationship between the different parts of a sentence. Prepositions can be used to indicate aspects such as time , place , and direction .

I left the cup on the kitchen counter.

A conjunction is a word used to connect different parts of a sentence (e.g., words, phrases, or clauses).

You can choose what movie we watch because I chose the last time.

Ouch ! I hurt my arm.

I’m, um , not sure.

Determiners

A determiner is a word that describes a noun by indicating quantity, possession, or relative position.

My brother is selling his old car.

Other types of determiners include distributive determiners , determiners of difference , and numbers .

An article is a word that modifies a noun by indicating whether it is specific or general.

The definite article the is used to refer to a specific version of a noun. The can be used with all countable and uncountable nouns (e.g., ‘the door’, ‘the energy’, ‘the mountains’).
The indefinite articles a and an refer to general or unspecific nouns. The indefinite articles can only be used with singular countable nouns (e.g., ‘a poster’, ‘an engine’).

There’s a concert this weekend.

A is an indefinite article (along with an ). While articles can be classed as their own part of speech, they’re also considered a type of determiner .

The indefinite articles are used to introduce nonspecific countable nouns (e.g., ‘a dog’, ‘an island’).

In is primarily classed as a preposition, but it can be classed as various other parts of speech, depending on how it is used:

Preposition (e.g., ‘ in the field’)
Noun (e.g., ‘I have an in with that company’)
Adjective (e.g., ‘Tim is part of the in crowd’)
Adverb (e.g., ‘Will you be in this evening?’)

As a part of speech, and is classed as a conjunction . Specifically, it’s a coordinating conjunction .

And can be used to connect grammatically equal parts of a sentence, such as two nouns (e.g., ‘a cup and plate’), or two adjectives (e.g., ‘strong and smart’). And can also be used to connect phrases and clauses.

Is this article helpful?

Other students also liked, what is a collective noun | examples & definition.

What Is an Adjective? | Definition, Types & Examples

How to Identify Parts of Speech

Last Updated: March 15, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Alexander Peterman, MA . Alexander Peterman is a Private Tutor in Florida. He received his MA in Education from the University of Florida in 2017. There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 385,334 times.

Parts of speech are categories that are used to describe each word's function in a sentence. The best way to identify a word's part of speech is to think about what role the word plays in the sentence, but there are also a few clues that can help you figure out the part of speech if you are unsure about the word's function.

Analyzing the Word's Function

Proper nouns are used to name a specific person, place, or thing, and the main words are always capitalized (Fred, New York, the Declaration of Independence).
Nouns can be either singular or plural.
Nouns can be possessive, in which case they typically end in 's or s'.

Step 2 Know that pronouns stand in for nouns.

Some pronouns stand in for people's names (he, our, they, hers, etc.).
Other pronouns represent an object or idea (it, these, this, etc.).
Pronouns may also stand in for very indefinite nouns that may be difficult to name without the use of a pronoun (everyone, no one, something, etc).

Auxiliary verbs (also known as helping verbs) are words that are used to change the tense of the main verb (will, did, would, etc.). These are still considered verbs.

Step 4 Learn that adjectives modify nouns and pronouns.

Numbers are considered adjectives when they are used to answer the question "how many?"
Articles (a, an, and the) are considered adjectives by many because they answer the question "which one?" However, some people consider articles to be a separate part of speech.

Step 5 Know that adjective and verb modifiers are adverbs.

Adverbs may also modify other adverbs. (I ran very quickly.)

Step 6 Understand that prepositions express relationships.

Coordinating conjunctions are used to join two clauses that are equally important to the sentence. There are 7 coordinating conjunctions: and, but, for, nor, or, so, and yet. (I like cats, but I don't like dogs.)
Subordinating conjunctions are used to join a main clause and a subordinate clause, which is less important to the sentence. (I went outside, although it was raining.)

Step 8 Recognize exclamations as interjections.

Using Word Placement and Punctuation Clues

Step 1 Learn the Subject-Verb-Object rule.

Both the subject and object of a sentence will contain a noun or pronoun. This means that a sentence that has both a subject and an object will contain a noun or pronoun both before and after the verb. ( I ate the apple .)
The subject and object may contain modifiers such as adjectives as well.
When the sentence has a direct object, it will come directly after the verb. (I like cookies .) When the sentence has an indirect object, it will come after a preposition. (I gave the card to Frank .)

Step 2 Understand correct adjective and adverb placement.

Adjectives are almost always found before nouns and pronouns (We look at a red dress.) or after the linking verb "to be" (The dress is red .) [10] X Research source
When adverbs are used to modify adjectives, they are almost always found right before the adjective. (The meal was truly delicious.) [11] X Research source
When adverbs are used to modify verbs, they may be found before the subject ( Later I will walk to school.), directly before the verb (I will carefully clean the artifacts .), or directly after the verb. (I go to the park frequently .)

Step 3 Identify clauses and phrases to find conjunctions.

Conjunctions like "and" and "but" are sometimes used at the beginning of a sentence, although this is more rare. When it is done, you should be able to identify the other clause or phrase in the previous sentence.

Step 4 Use exclamation points to identify interjections.

Not all interjections are marked by exclamation points. Don't rely on exclamations as the only way to recognize interjections.
Another clue that a word might be an interjection is that it is used alone. If there are other words in the sentence, it is less likely to be an interjection.

Step 5 Look for nouns and pronouns to identify prepositions.

Keep in mind there may be an adjective, adverb, and/or article between the preposition and the noun or pronoun. These modifiers are all considered to be part of the noun or pronoun phrase. (We paid for the very expensive jeans.)

Using Suffix Clues to Identify Parts of Speech

Step 1 Recognize suffixes that are common in nouns.

-ion (population)
-sion (tension)
-tion (attention)
-acy (accuracy)
-age (image)
-ance (allegiance)
-ence (permanence)
-hood (childhood)
-ar (scholar)
-or (editor)
-ism (idealism)
-ist (realist)
-ment (government)
-ness (sadness)
-y (beauty)
-ity (capacity)

Step 2 Know which suffixes are common in adjectives.

-al (clerical)
-ful (wonderful)
-ly (friendly)
-ic (chronic)
-ish (squeamish)
-like (childlike)
-ous (contagious)
-ate accurate
-able (laughable)
-ible (horrible)

Step 3 Learn which suffixes are common in verbs.

-ify (typify)
-ate (proliferate)
-ize (rationalize)
-en (tighten)

Step 4 Remember that most adverbs share a common suffix.

There are some words that end in -ly that are not adverbs (butterfly), so be careful not to overgeneralize.
There are also a few adverbs that do not end in -ly (well, fast, very, etc.).

Practice Questions and Answers

Community Q&A

Context is key, as some words can act as multiple different parts of speech, depending on their role in a sentence. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0

↑ https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/noun-what.htm
↑ https://www.scribbr.com/nouns-and-pronouns/pronouns/
↑ https://www.butte.edu/departments/cas/tipsheets/grammar/parts_of_speech.html
↑ https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/grammar/prepositions
↑ https://www.scribbr.com/language-rules/conjunctions/
↑ https://gsalearningsupport.com/skills-for-study/communicating-your-learning/communicating-clearly-in-writing/clear-sentence-construction/clear-sentences-use-correct-grammar/subject-verb-and-object/
↑ http://grammarist.com/grammar/adjectives/
↑ https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/adverb-position.htm
↑ https://www.gingersoftware.com/content/grammar-rules/exclamation-mark/
↑ http://www.southcentral.edu/images/departments/ASC/documents/Suffixes_that_Indicate_Part_of_Speech_2.pdf

About This Article

To identify different parts of speech, analyze the function that the word plays in a sentence. If the word names a person, place, thing, or idea, it is a noun. Label a word as a pronoun if it takes the place of a noun. If you see a word that expresses an action, that is a verb, and words that modify a verb are adverbs. If a word modifies a noun or pronoun, it is an adjective. To learn how to identify prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

Send fan mail to authors

Reader Success Stories

Nov 26, 2017

Did this article help you?

Haven Weldem

Nov 1, 2017

May 7, 2022

Pannindriya Lam

Nov 18, 2019

Rohane Nayak

Jun 10, 2017

Featured Articles

Watch Articles

Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Do Not Sell or Share My Info
Not Selling Info

Don’t miss out! Sign up for

wikiHow’s newsletter

Page Content
Sidebar Content
Main Navigation
Quick links
All TIP Sheets

The Eight Parts of Speech

Prepositions
Conjunctions
Interjections
Basic Sentence Structure
Sentence Fragments
Run-on Sentences and Comma Splices
Sentence Type and Purpose
Independent and Dependent Clauses: Coordination and Subordination
Subject Verb Agreement
Consistent Verb Tense
Other Phrases: Verbal, Appositive, Absolute
Pronoun Reference
Relative Pronouns: Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Clauses
Avoiding Modifier Problems
Transitions
Would, Should, Could
Achieving Parallelism
Definite and Indefinite Articles
Two-Word Verbs

TIP Sheet THE EIGHT PARTS OF SPEECH

There are eight parts of speech in the English language: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. The part of speech indicates how the word functions in meaning as well as grammatically within the sentence. An individual word can function as more than one part of speech when used in different circumstances. Understanding parts of speech is essential for determining the correct definition of a word when using the dictionary.

1. NOUN

A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea.

man... Butte College... house... happiness

A noun is a word for a person, place, thing, or idea. Nouns are often used with an article ( the , a , an ), but not always. Proper nouns always start with a capital letter; common nouns do not. Nouns can be singular or plural, concrete or abstract. Nouns show possession by adding 's . Nouns can function in different roles within a sentence; for example, a noun can be a subject, direct object, indirect object, subject complement, or object of a preposition.

The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher , and then she quickly disappeared. Oh my!

See the TIP Sheet on "Nouns" for further information.

2. PRONOUN

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun.

She... we... they... it

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. A pronoun is usually substituted for a specific noun, which is called its antecedent. In the sentence above, the antecedent for the pronoun she is the girl. Pronouns are further defined by type: personal pronouns refer to specific persons or things; possessive pronouns indicate ownership; reflexive pronouns are used to emphasize another noun or pronoun; relative pronouns introduce a subordinate clause; and demonstrative pronouns identify, point to, or refer to nouns.

The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher, and then she quickly disappeared. Oh my!

See the TIP Sheet on "Pronouns" for further information.

3. VERB

A verb expresses action or being.

jump... is... write... become

The verb in a sentence expresses action or being. There is a main verb and sometimes one or more helping verbs. (" She can sing." Sing is the main verb; can is the helping verb.) A verb must agree with its subject in number (both are singular or both are plural). Verbs also take different forms to express tense.

The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher, and then she quickly disappeared . Oh my!

See the TIP Sheet on "Verbs" for more information.

4. ADJECTIVE

An adjective modifies or describes a noun or pronoun.

pretty... old... blue... smart

An adjective is a word used to modify or describe a noun or a pronoun. It usually answers the question of which one, what kind, or how many. (Articles [a, an, the] are usually classified as adjectives.)

See the TIP Sheet on "Adjectives" for more information.

5. ADVERB

An adverb modifies or describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

gently... extremely... carefully... well

An adverb describes or modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, but never a noun. It usually answers the questions of when, where, how, why, under what conditions, or to what degree. Adverbs often end in -ly.

See the TIP Sheet on "Adverbs" for more information.

6. PREPOSITION

A preposition is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to form a phrase modifying another word in the sentence.

by... with.... about... until

(by the tree, with our friends, about the book, until tomorrow)

A preposition is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to form a phrase modifying another word in the sentence. Therefore a preposition is always part of a prepositional phrase. The prepositional phrase almost always functions as an adjective or as an adverb. The following list includes the most common prepositions:

See the TIP Sheet on "Prepositions" for more information.

7. CONJUNCTION

A conjunction joins words, phrases, or clauses.

and... but... or... while... because

A conjunction joins words, phrases, or clauses, and indicates the relationship between the elements joined. Coordinating conjunctions connect grammatically equal elements: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet. Subordinating conjunctions connect clauses that are not equal: because, although, while, since, etc. There are other types of conjunctions as well.

The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher, and then she quickly disappeared. Oh my!

See the TIP Sheet on "Conjunctions" for more information.

8. INTERJECTION

An interjection is a word used to express emotion.

Oh!... Wow!... Oops!

An interjection is a word used to express emotion. It is often followed by an exclamation point.

The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher, and then she quickly disappeared. Oh my !

See the TIP Sheet on "Interjections" for more information.

Butte College | 3536 Butte Campus Drive, Oroville CA 95965 | General Information (530) 895-2511

How to use speech to text in Microsoft Word

Speech to text in Microsoft Word is a hidden gem that is powerful and easy to use. We show you how to do it in five quick and simple steps

Master the skill of speech to text in Microsoft Word and you'll be dictating documents with ease before you know it. Developed and refined over many years, Microsoft's speech recognition and voice typing technology is an efficient way to get your thoughts out, create drafts and make notes.

Just like the best speech to text apps that make life easier for us when we're using our phones, Microsoft's offering is ideal for those of us who spend a lot of time using Word and don't want to wear out our fingers or the keyboard with all that typing. While speech to text in Microsoft Word used to be prone to errors which you'd then have to go back and correct, the technology has come a long way in recent years and is now amongst the best text-to-speech software .

Regardless of whether you have the best computer or the best Windows laptop , speech to text in Microsoft Word is easy to access and a breeze to use. From connecting your microphone to inserting punctuation, you'll find everything you need to know right here in this guide. Let's take a look...

How to use speech to text in Microsoft Word: Preparation

The most important thing to check is whether you have a valid Microsoft 365 subscription, as voice typing is only available to paying customers. If you’re reading this article, it’s likely your business already has a Microsoft 365 enterprise subscription. If you don’t, however, find out more about Microsoft 365 for business via this link .

The second thing you’ll need before you start voice typing is a stable internet connection. This is because Microsoft Word’s dictation software processes your speech on external servers. These huge servers and lighting-fast processors use vast amounts of speech data to transcribe your text. In fact, they make use of advanced neural networks and deep learning technology, which enables the software to learn about human speech and continuously improve its accuracy.

These two technologies are the key reason why voice typing technology has improved so much in recent years, and why you should be happy that Microsoft dictation software requires an internet connection.

An image of how voice to text software works

Once you’ve got a valid Microsoft 365 subscription and an internet connection, you’re ready to go!

Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!

Step 1: Open Microsoft Word

Simple but crucial. Open the Microsoft Word application on your device and create a new, blank document. We named our test document “How to use speech to text in Microsoft Word - Test” and saved it to the desktop so we could easily find it later.

Step 2: Click on the Dictate button

Once you’ve created a blank document, you’ll see a Dictate button and drop-down menu on the top right-hand corner of the Home menu. It has a microphone symbol above it. From here, open the drop-down menu and double-check that the language is set to English.

One of the best parts of Microsoft Word’s speech to text software is its support for multiple languages. At the time of writing, nine languages were supported, with several others listed as preview languages. Preview languages have lower accuracy and limited punctuation support.

Supported languages and preview languages screen

Step 3: Allow Microsoft Word access to the Microphone

If you haven’t used Microsoft Word’s speech to text software before, you’ll need to grant the application access to your microphone. This can be done at the click of a button when prompted.

It’s worth considering using an external microphone for your dictation, particularly if you plan on regularly using voice to text software within your organization. While built-in microphones will suffice for most general purposes, an external microphone can improve accuracy due to higher quality components and optimized placement of the microphone itself.

Step 4: Begin voice typing

Now we get to the fun stuff. After completing all of the above steps, click once again on the dictate button. The blue symbol will change to white, and a red recording symbol will appear. This means Microsoft Word has begun listening for your voice. If you have your sound turned up, a chime will also indicate that transcription has started.

Using voice typing is as simple as saying aloud the words you would like Microsoft to transcribe. It might seem a little strange at first, but you’ll soon develop a bit of flow, and everyone finds their strategies and style for getting the most out of the software.

These four steps alone will allow you to begin transcribing your voice to text. However, if you want to elevate your speech to text software skills, our fifth step is for you.

Step 5: Incorporate punctuation commands

Microsoft Word’s speech to text software goes well beyond simply converting spoken words to text. With the introduction and improvement of artificial neural networks, Microsoft’s voice typing technology listens not only to single words but to the phrase as a whole. This has enabled the company to introduce an extensive list of voice commands that allow you to insert punctuation marks and other formatting effects while speaking.

We can’t mention all of the punctuation commands here, but we’ll name some of the most useful. Saying the command “period” will insert a period, while the command “comma” will insert, unsurprisingly, a comma. The same rule applies for exclamation marks, colons, and quotations. If you’d like to finish a paragraph and leave a line break, you can say the command “new line.”

These tools are easy to use. In our testing, the software was consistently accurate in discerning words versus punctuation commands.

Phrase and output screen in Microsoft Word

Microsoft’s speech to text software is powerful. Having tested most of the major platforms, we can say that Microsoft offers arguably the best product when balancing cost versus performance. This is because the software is built directly into Microsoft 365, which many businesses already use. If this applies to your business, you can begin using Microsoft’s voice typing technology straight away, with no additional costs.

We hope this article has taught you how to use speech to text software in Microsoft Word, and that you’ll now be able to apply these skills within your organization.

Adobe Dreamweaver (2024) review

Adobe Character Animator (2024) review

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 colors: every rumored shade

Uncensored Footage of Paul Heyman’s Scathing Words During 2024 WWE Hall of Fame

Paul Heyman was set to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year and that’s exactly what happened as he was truly the star attraction for the ceremony. He also brought back his ECW persona for one night only and we now have footage of his profane warning during the ceremony.

The WWE orchestrated a remarkable Hall of Fame 2024 Induction ceremony, commencing with a thrilling surprise: Paul Heyman’s induction into the prestigious Hall of Fame, presented by none other than the Undisputed WWE Champion, Roman Reigns. The decision to honor Heyman in the very city where he made waves with ECW in the 1990s, resonated deeply, paying homage to his trailblazing influence on the industry.

The gravity of Heyman’s induction was further underscored by the attendance of ECW icons like Rob Van Dam and Bully Ray , who graced the occasion to witness their mentor’s rightful place in history.

The excitement peaked when Heyman revealed a treasure trove of memorabilia from his ECW days, carefully unveiled from a box atop the podium. Among the cherished items were his iconic long-trenched leather jacket, vintage headsets, the original cell phone he once wielded, and an ECW cap that faithfully recreated his legendary look, momentarily resurrecting the spirit of the promotion for an electrifying evening .

As revealed by footage making rounds online, Paul Heyman had some scathing words for ECW detractors, as he told haters to suck his f***** d***.

“If you think that the spirit of ECW died in a bankruptcy court in 2001, you can suck my f*cking d*** .”

Paul Heyman even mentioned Brock Lesnar during his WWE Hall of Fame speech . Nevertheless, The Wiseman of The Bloodline truly stole the show and that is all that matters in the end.

Did you enjoy Paul Heyman’s Hall of Fame speech? Sound off in the comments section below!

Subhojeet is a professional wrestling fan for over 22 years. He got captivated by the sport during the Monday Night Wars and has a passion for it ever since. He also enjoys TV shows, movies, anime, novels and music, which broadens his perspective and appreciation for wrestling. He is a knowledgeable and respected voice in the industry.

WWE Announces Women’s North American Championship at 2024 WWE NXT Stand & Deliver
Bray Wyatt Statue Unveiled at WWE World Ahead of WrestleMania 40
Bray Wyatt’s Wife Explains Origin of the Fiend and Firefly Fun House

Inside the speech that changed Alabama basketball season en route to March Madness run

LOS ANGELES — The text buzzed on Patrick Murphy 's phone the night of Sunday, Jan. 7.

It was from Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats .

Oats: I might need that mudita talk .

Murphy: Oh yeah?

Oats: Absolutely .

FOLLOW THE MADNESS: NCAA tournament brackets, scores, schedules, teams and more.

Murphy: When do you want it?

Oats: Tomorrow, 11:30 a.m.

Murphy was in. The longtime Alabama softball coach had given the speech to six Crimson Tide teams and more than 100 groups, but never the Alabama men's basketball team.

That Monday, Murphy showed up at Coleman Coliseum and arrived in the team meeting room. A staffer helped him set up his equipment to present in front of the room. Then, after practice ran a half hour long, the players arrived to hear his talk.

"I was really, really worried they were going to be tired," Murphy told The Tuscaloosa News. "They were probably hungry as can be. Just walked off the court. And then they walk into their meeting room like, 'Who the heck is this guy? And he's going to talk to us?'"

Oats introduced Murphy, and off the softball coach went. Over the course of his presentation, he offered up a word that would later become the foundation of a March Madness run. He taught the Crimson Tide about mudita, which means having vicarious joy in someone else's success.

Fast-forward three months, and the message of mudita has not only stuck with Alabama basketball but has been something the players have put into practice. That has remained constant as the No. 4 seed Crimson Tide prepares to play in the Elite Eight against No. 6 seed Clemson. To put it simply, Alabama might not be here in Los Angeles without the speech Murphy gave.

"It’s a long season and it’s an emotional sport," forward Max Scharnowski said. "Everybody has a moment where they kind of break or can get in their own emotions or feelings. I think that was a time we needed it most to re-center ourselves. We needed it. We needed guys to kind of realize we’re not going to win games by ourselves."

GRANT NELSON: Alabama basketball has been waiting for this Grant Nelson, and he got Tide to Elite Eight

NICK SABAN COMMEMORATIVE BOOK: Relive Nick Saban's epic career with our special book. Preorder here.

The lesson to Alabama basketball about mudita

Whenever Murphy gives the mudita talk, he never wants to preach. He's trying to help, so he keeps it as concrete as possible.

Murphy provides examples. He gives points of reference that he has seen in softball. Or basketball. Or football. Mudita, a word he learned from a book he read in 2013, isn't limited to a sport.

After Oats introduced Murphy, he showed three short videos. One was of two former players talking about what mudita means to them.

"They really say it better than I do, because they've gone through it," Murphy said.

He also made it specific to the people in the room. Part of the mudita talk is about the opposite of mudita: Envy and jealousy.

We cannot have anybody in this room jealous of anybody else, because we all wear Alabama on our chests. You should be so happy that Mark (Sears) is wearing Alabama because we don’t have to guard him. We can’t be jealous of Mark. We’re so (dang) glad he choose Alabama.

Then Murphy pointed to Grant Nelson.

It’s the same thing with you. We’re not jealous of anybody on our team.

Murphy also stressed it's not worth trying mudita until a person is genuine about it. Murphy told the story about a class when he was at Northern Iowa decades ago called the foundations of educational excellence. The professor made a point Murphy hasn't forgotten since: A first-grader can tell when their teacher is fake.

So, Murphy told the basketball players that if or when they adopt mudita, they have to be all in.

How many first-graders are in this room? There's none. Everybody is in college or older. So don't even try to fake your way through mudita. Just don't do it. Don't say anything. Until you're at a point where you absolutely love your teammate, respect the heck out of what he did, maybe he's taking minutes from you, and you show mudita toward him, that's when you can do it. When it's 100% genuine.

The implementation of mudita in March Madness

Murphy can never know in the moment if mudita registered. In the case of Alabama basketball, he didn't have to wait long, though.

The next game, Alabama destroyed South Carolina, 74-47. Nick Pringle won the hard hat for the game, having tallied the most blue-collar points. So, he was handed hard hat postgame in the team meeting room. He didn't put it on, though.

Instead, Pringle turned and immediately placed the hard hat on Mo Dioubate's head. Pringle tallied the most blue-collar points over the course of the game, but Dioubate had the most per minute. The room erupted.

"I think the traction started right then and there that night," Murphy said.

Soon, Oats had director of equipment Garrett Walker create mudita shirts. Also before games, the slide that goes up on the screen with core values, main points and tactics has mudita at the center of it.

It's been more than a nice display, though. The phrase has been put into practice countless times since by a variety of players in a variety of games.

Look no further than the Sweet 16. Late in the game, Oats went to talk with leading scorer Sears. The senior guard told the coach that Nelson needs to get the ball, not Sears.

It was a good call; Nelson dominated in the final minutes to lead Alabama to an upset victory over No. 1 seed UNC, sending the Crimson Tide to its second ever Elite Eight appearance.

"When you have your leading scorer and best player to tell you run plays for somebody else," Oats said, "That's the definition of mudita."

Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men's basketball. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter .

Prosecutors say Trump team trying to 'rewrite indictment' in bid to dismiss Georgia election case

The judge did not make a ruling at the end of arguments in Thursday's hearing.

Attorneys for Donald Trump said that Trump's comments "calling into question" the election of 2020 were "the height of political speech," in arguments seeking the dismissal of the former president's Georgia election interference case Thursday.

Trump's lawyers were back in a Fulton County courtroom, where they argued that the election interference charges against Trump should be dismissed because his actions related to the 2020 election were "political speech advocacy that lie at the heart of the First Amendment."

Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee ended the hearing without making any rulings on the motions.

MORE: Fani Willis vows nothing 'will derail' Trump's election interference trial

"I don't think there's any question that statements, comment, speech, expressive conduct that deals with campaigning or elections has always been found to be at the zenith of protected speech," Trump attorney Sadow argued, saying that even if Trump's statements were false, they are protected as a valuable contribution to public discourse.

"The only reason it becomes unprotected in the State's opinion is because they call it false," Sadow said.

But prosecutor Donald Wakeford fired back, telling the court that the former president's speech was part of a conspiracy to commit crimes.

"It's not just that he lied over and over and over again," Wakeford said. "It is that each of those was employed as part of criminal activity with criminal intentions. "

PHOTO: Attorney Steve Sadow, representing former US President Donald Trump, speaks during a hearing on a motion to dismiss the election interference charges against Trump, at the Fulton County Courthouse on March 28, 2024, in Atlanta.

Arguing that Trump was part of a "criminal organization," Wakeford said that his speech was not protected by the First Amendment because he was using his words to commit crimes.

"It's not that the defendant has been hauled into a courtroom because the prosecution doesn't like what he said," Wakeford said. "What he is not allowed to do is employ his speech and his expression and his statements as part of a criminal conspiracy, to violate Georgia's RICO [racketeering] statute, to impersonate public officers to file false documents, and to make false statements to the government."

Wakeford also argued that Trump's motion to dismiss was premature and that it failed to form a basis to dismiss the indictment.

"What we have heard here today is an attempt to rewrite the indictment to take out the parts that are inconvenient and only say, 'Well, it's all speech ... and he was just a guy asking questions,'" Wakeford said. "All of this is an effort to get Your Honor not to look at the basic fact that this speech, this expression, all this activity is employed as part of a pattern of criminal conduct."

John Floyd, an expert on racketeering laws with the DA's office, argued that Trump's election comments could still be part of a criminal conspiracy even if they could be considered free speech.

"It doesn't matter whether that's First Amendment conduct or not ... this is a RICO conspiracy case," Floyd said. "It could be First Amendment protected conduct that also shows there's a conspiracy in operation."

Attorneys for Trump co-defendant and former Georgia Republican Party Chair David Shafer, meanwhile, asked the court to strike several phrases from the indictment, including "duly elected and qualified presidential electors," "lawful electoral votes" and "false Electoral College votes."

Judge rejects Trump's First Amendment challenge to indictment in Georgia election case

Apr 4, 1:35 PM

Judge denies Trump's motion for Ga. case dismissal

Apr 4, 2:09 PM

Trump's team cites First Amendment in contesting charges in Georgia election interference case

Mar 28, 12:10 AM

Shafer's attorney Craig Gillen argued that the so-called fake electors cannot be defined as "public officers."

"Just because the fact that they were nominated by their party doesn't make them a public official," Gillen said. "This particular count is flawed for the very purpose of these electors cannot be under Georgia law, public officers."

"By law, by federal law, they did not have the authority," Gillen said.

A prosecutor for the DA's office argued that "anything that purports to be someone acting by authority of the government" is a public officer.

"It doesn't even have to be a real public officer, it doesn't have to be a state officer," the prosecutor said. "Anything that purports to be someone acting by authority of the government is a public officer, and that's certainly what presidential electors do."

Gillen also sought to have the team "fake elector" removed from the indictment, saying, "They want to have ingrained in the minds of the community and of jurors a concept that if you are not Democratic elector on December the 14th ... then you are a fake elector. That is a pejorative term, not necessary for the charges, and should be stricken."

"The phrase fake elector does not exist in this indictment," a prosecutor responded.

The hearing in Fulton County, Georgia, marked the first time that the parties in the case returned to court since the failed disqualification effort against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Trump and several co-defendants in the case received permission last week to appeal that decision .

Trump himself did not attend the proceedings.

Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty last August to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. Four defendants subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.

Earlier this month, Judge McAfee dismissed six of the counts against Trump and his co-defendants, for soliciting the oath of a public officer, due to a technical fault in the indictment. McAfee ordered Thursday's hearing to consider three motions from lawyers for Trump and Shafer related to the dismissal of the indictment.

In their motions, Trump's lawyers argued that the First Amendment protects the former president's conduct related to the 2020 election, and makes the indictment "categorically invalid."

"President Trump enjoys the same robust First Amendment rights as every other American," Sadow argued in a filing before the hearing. "The indictment here does not merely criminalize conduct with an incidental impact on protected speech; instead, it directly targets core protected political speech and activity."

"Every charge and overt act alleged against President Trump rests on core acts of political speech and advocacy that lie at the heart of the First Amendment," the filing said.

Trump asks appeals court to review ruling allowing Fani Willis to remain on Georgia election case

Mar 29, 3:34 PM

Trump appeals ruling that let DA stay on Ga. case

Mar 29, 4:04 PM

ABC News Live

24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events

Share full article

Supported by

Guest Essay

Is This the End of Academic Freedom?

By Paula Chakravartty and Vasuki Nesiah

Dr. Chakravartty is a professor of media, communication and culture at New York University, where Dr. Nesiah is a professor of practice in human rights and international law.

At New York University, the spring semester began with a poetry reading. Students and faculty gathered in the atrium of Bobst Library. At that time, about 26,000 Palestinians had already been killed in Israel’s horrific war on Gaza; the reading was a collective act of bearing witness.

The last poem read aloud was titled “If I Must Die.” It was written, hauntingly, by a Palestinian poet and academic named Refaat Alareer who was killed weeks earlier by an Israeli airstrike. The poem ends: “If I must die, let it bring hope — let it be a tale.”

Soon after those lines were recited, the university administration shut the reading down . Afterward, we learned that students and faculty members were called into disciplinary meetings for participating in this apparently “disruptive” act; written warnings were issued.

We have both taught at N.Y.U. for over a decade and believe we are in a moment of unparalleled repression. Over the past six months, since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, we have seen the university administration fail to adequately protect dissent on campus, actively squelching it instead. We believe what we are witnessing in response to student, staff and faculty opposition to the war violates the very foundations of academic freedom.

While N.Y.U. says that it remains committed to free expression on campus and that its rules about and approach to protest activity haven’t changed, students and faculty members in solidarity with the Palestinian people have found the campus environment alarmingly constrained.

About a week after Hamas’s attacks in October, the Grand Staircase in the Kimmel student center, a storied site of student protests , closed indefinitely; it has yet to reopen fully. A graduate student employee was reprimanded for putting up fliers in support of Palestinians on the student’s office door and ultimately took them down; the person is not the only N.Y.U. student to face some form of disciplinary consequence for pro-Palestinian speech or action. A resolution calling for the university to reaffirm protection of pro-Palestinian speech and civic activity on campus, passed by the elected Student Government Assembly back in December, has apparently been stuck in a procedural black hole since.

The New York Police Department has become a pervasive presence on campus, with over 6,000 hours of officer presence added after the war broke out. Hundreds of faculty members have signed onto an open letter condemning the university’s “culture of fear about campus speech and activism.”

Such draconian interventions are direct threats to academic freedom.

At universities across the country, any criticism of Israel’s policies, expressions of solidarity with Palestinians, organized calls for a cease-fire or even pedagogy on the recent history of the land have all emerged as perilous speech. In a letter to university presidents in November, the A.C.L.U. expressed concern about “impermissible chilling of free speech and association on campus” in relation to pro-Palestinian student groups and views; since then, the atmosphere at colleges has become downright McCarthyite .

The donors, trustees, administrators and third parties who oppose pro-Palestinian speech seem to equate any criticism of the State of Israel — an occupying power under international law and one accused of committing war crimes — with antisemitism. To them, the norms of free speech are inherently problematic, and a broad definition of antisemitism is a tool for censorship . Outside funding has poured into horrifying doxxing and harassment campaigns. Pro-Israel surveillance groups like Canary Mission and CAMERA relentlessly target individuals and groups deemed antisemitic or critical to Israel. Ominous threats follow faculty and students for just expressing their opinions or living out their values.

To be clear, we abhor all expressions of antisemitism and wholeheartedly reject any role for antisemitism on our campuses. Equally, we believe that conflating criticism of Israel or Zionism with antisemitism is dangerous. Equating the criticism of any nation with inherent racism endangers basic democratic freedoms on and off campus. As the A.C.L.U. wrote in its November statement, a university “cannot fulfill its mission as a forum for vigorous debate” if it polices the views of faculty members and students, however much any one of us may disagree with them or find them offensive.

In a wave of crackdowns on pro-Palestinian speech nationwide, students have had scholarships revoked, job offers pulled and student groups suspended. At Columbia, protesters have reported being sprayed by what they said was “skunk,” a chemical weapon used by the Israeli military; at Northwestern, two Black students faced criminal charges , later dropped, for publishing a pro-Palestinian newspaper parody; at Cornell, students have been arrested during a peaceful protest . In a shocking episode of violence last fall, three Palestinian students , two of them wearing kaffiyehs, were shot while walking near the University of Vermont.

Many more cases of student repression on campuses are unfolding even as we write this.

Academic freedom, as defined by the American Association of University Professors in the mid-20th century , provides protection for the pursuit of knowledge by faculty members, whose job is to educate, learn and research both inside and outside the academy. Not only does this resonate with the Constitution’s free speech protections ; international human rights law also affirms the centrality of academic freedom to the right to education and the institutional autonomy of educational institutions.

Across the United States, attacks on free speech are on the rise . In recent years, right-wing groups opposed to the teaching of critical race theory have tried to undermine these principles through measures including restrictions on the discussion of history and structural racism in curriculums, heightened scrutiny of lectures and courses that are seen to promote dissent and disciplinary procedures against academics who work on these topics.

What people may not realize is that speech critical of Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies has long been censored, posing persistent challenges to those of us who uphold academic freedom. Well before Oct. 7, speech and action at N.Y.U. in support of Palestinians faced intense and undue scrutiny.

Our students are heeding Refaat Alareer’s call to bear witness. They are speaking out: writing statements, organizing protests and responding to a plausible threat of genocide with idealism and conviction. As faculty members, we believe that college should be a time when students are encouraged to ask big questions about justice and the future of humanity and to pursue answers however disquieting to the powerful.

Universities must be places where students have access to specialized knowledge that shapes contemporary debates, where faculty members are encouraged to be public intellectuals, even when, or perhaps especially when, they are expressing dissenting opinions speaking truth to power. Classrooms must allow for contextual learning, where rapidly mutating current events are put into a longer historical timeline.

This is a high-stakes moment. A century ago, attacks on open discussion of European antisemitism, the criminalization of dissent and the denial of Jewish histories of oppression and dispossession helped create the conditions for the Holocaust. One crucial “never again” lesson from that period is that the thought police can be dangerous. They can render vulnerable communities targets of oppression. They can convince the world that some lives are not as valuable as others, justifying mass slaughter.

It is no wonder that students across the country are protesting an unpopular and brutal war that, besides Israel, only the United States is capable of stopping. It is extraordinary that the very institutions that ought to safeguard their exercise of free speech are instead escalating surveillance and policing, working on ever more restrictive student conduct rules and essentially risking the death of academic freedom.

From the Vietnam War to apartheid South Africa, universities have been important places for open discussion and disagreement about government policies, the historical record, structural racism and settler colonialism. They have also long served as sites of protest. If the university cannot serve as an arena for such freedoms, the possibilities of democratic life inside and outside the university gates are not only impoverished but under threat of extinction.

Paula Chakravartty is a professor of media, communication and culture at New York University, where Vasuki Nesiah is a professor of practice in human rights and international law. Both are members of the executive committee of the N.Y.U. chapter of the American Association of University Professors and members of N.Y.U.’s Faculty for Justice in Palestine.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , WhatsApp , X and Threads .

an image, when javascript is unavailable

Joaquin Phoenix, Elliott Gould, Chloe Fineman and More Jewish Creatives Support Jonathan Glazer’s Oscars Speech in Open Letter (EXCLUSIVE)

Boots Riley, Debra Winger, Joel Coen, Todd Haynes and Lenny Abrahamson are also on the list of signees

By Ellise Shafer

Ellise Shafer

Winnie Harlow Signs With WME (EXCLUSIVE) 1 day ago
Elon Musk Restores Blue Checks on X for ‘Influential’ Users, Some of Whom Clarify They ‘Would Never Pay for This’ 2 days ago
‘Sasquatch Sunset,’ Bigfoot Movie With Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg, Gets U.K., Ireland Release From Icon Film Distribution (EXCLUSIVE) 2 days ago

Joaquin Phoenix , Elliott Gould, Chloe Fineman and more than 150 other Jewish creatives have signed an open letter in support of Jonathan Glazer ’s Oscars speech.

Variety has reached out to personal representatives for many of the signatories, as well as independently reviewed documents confirming their participation.

In a statement to Variety , Ilana Glazer said, “I signed this letter to help counter the climate of silencing that many workplaces and industries are facing around Israel’s war on Gaza, now entering its seventh month. This controversy surrounding Jonathan Glazer is just one example.”

Added Schamus, “It has been weeks since Jonathan Glazer’s acceptance speech at the Academy Awards, but, as we’re reminded by this week’s unconscionable killing of seven World Center Kitchen aid workers — and of countless more Palestinian civilians — his plea for humanity has only become more urgent, as has our duty as Jewish creatives to protest the vicious smear campaign waged against him.”

His words were met with both backlash and praise. In an open letter published on March 18 , over 1,000 Jewish creatives and execs denounced Glazer’s speech for helping to fuel “growing anti-Jewish hatred around the world,” while others like director Ken Loach have come to his defense by calling his statement “brave” and “hugely valuable.” Glazer has yet to publicly address the backlash to the speech, but earlier this week the director donated seven signed “Zone of Interest” posters to a Cinema for Gaza auction raising money for Medical Aid for Palestinians.

“We are Jewish artists, filmmakers, writers and creative professionals who support Jonathan Glazer’s statement from the 2024 Oscars. We were alarmed to see some of our colleagues in the industry mischaracterize and denounce his remarks,” the open letter reads. “Their attacks on Glazer are a dangerous distraction from Israel’s escalating military campaign which has already killed over 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza and brought hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation. We grieve for all those who have been killed in Palestine and Israel over too many decades, including the 1,200 Israelis killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and the 253 hostages taken.”

The letter continues, “The attacks on Glazer also have a silencing effect on our industry, contributing to a broader climate of suppression of free speech and dissent, the very qualities our field should cherish. Glazer, Tony Kushner, Steven Spielberg and countless other artists of all backgrounds have decried the killing of Palestinian civilians. We should all be able to do the same without being wrongly accused of fueling antisemitism.”

“We honor the Holocaust by saying: Never again for anyone,” the statement concludes.

Read the full open letter and see the list of signees below.

We are Jewish artists, filmmakers, writers, and creative professionals who support Jonathan Glazer’s statement from the 2024 Oscars. We were alarmed to see some of our colleagues in the industry mischaracterize and denounce his remarks. Their attacks on Glazer are a dangerous distraction from Israel’s escalating military campaign which has already killed over 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza and brought hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation. We grieve for all those who have been killed in Palestine and Israel over too many decades, including the 1,200 Israelis killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and the 253 hostages taken.

The attacks on Glazer also have a silencing effect on our industry, contributing to a broader climate of suppression of free speech and dissent, the very qualities our field should cherish. Glazer, Tony Kushner , Steven Spielberg and countless other artists of all backgrounds have decried the killing of Palestinian civilians. We should all be able to do the same without being wrongly accused of fueling antisemitism.

As the Director of the Auschwitz Memorial, Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, wrote , “’The Zone of Interest’ is not a film about the Shoah. It is primarily a profound warning about humanity and its nature.” We must not reserve this warning for a single group. To preserve our humanity and ensure our mutual survival, we must sound the alarm when any group faces such brutality and acts of erasure.

We are proud Jews who denounce the weaponization of Jewish identity and the memory of the Holocaust to justify what many experts in international law, including leading Holocaust scholars , have identified as a “ genocide in the making .” We reject the false choice between Jewish safety and Palestinian freedom. We stand with all those calling for a permanent ceasefire, including the safe return of all hostages and the immediate delivery of aid into Gaza, and an end to Israel’s ongoing bombardment of and siege on Gaza.

We honor the memory of the Holocaust by saying: Never again for anyone.

Lenny Abrahamson
Ra’anan Alexandrowicz
Erin Allweiss
Mark Asch
Liran Atzmor
Erin Axelman
Annie Baker
Todd Banhazl
Ariela Barer
Morgan Bassichis
Joshuah Bearman
Abner Benaim
Amy Berg
Kate Berlant
Gregg Bordowitz
Agnes Borinsky
Janicza Bravo
Margaret Brown
Dan Bucatinsky
Simone Bitton
Daniel Chalfen
Joel Coen
Dan Cogan
Dominic Cooke
Molly Crabapple
David Cross
Cyrus Dunham
David Ehrlich *
Deborah Eisenberg
Isaac Feldberg
Chloe Fineman
Jordan Firstman
Frances Fisher
Sarah Sophie Flicker
Esther Freud
Bella Freud
Uri Fruchtmann
Noah Galvin
Sarah Gavron
Tavi Gevinson
Ilana Glazer
Natalie Gold
Sam Gold
Jimmy Goldblum
Daniel Goldhaber
Nan Goldin
Josh Gondelman
Josh Gordon
Elliott Gould
Miles Greenberg
Doron Max Hagay
Gordon Hall
Todd Haynes
Fred Hechinger
Lee Hirsch
Eliza Hittman
Nicole Holofcener
Ilan Isakov
Abbi Jacobson
Kristi Jacobson
Rachel Leah Jones
Miranda July
David Katznelson
Deborah Kaufman
Ella Kemp
Sara Kiener
Lola Kirke
Dan Kitrosser
Alison Klayman
Naomi Klein
Pamela Koffler
Jess Kohl
Maris Kreizman
Lisa Kron
Justin Kuritzkes
Rachel Kushner
Serge Lalou
Nadav Lapid
Julliette Larthe
Michael Lieberman
Alison Leiby
Mike Leigh
Cindi Leive
Jonathan Lethem
Mica Levi
Avi Lewis
Kyle Lukoff
Darius Marder
Miriam Margolyes
Sam Marks
Daniel Maté
Gabor Maté
Jane Mayle
Jonathan Meth
Lise Mayer
Collier Meyerson
Avi Mograbi
Sophie Monks Kaufman
Mik Moore
Michael Morris
Hari Nef
Chani Nicholas
David Osit
Nira Park
Zeena Parkins
Joaquin Phoenix
Rain Phoenix
Max Posner
Jeff Preiss
Sarah Ramos
Allon Reich
Leo Reich
Boots Riley
Howard A. Rodman
Jon Ronson
Jacqueline Rose
Martin Rosenbaum
Jason Rosenberg
Tessa Ross
Ira Sachs
Tilly Scantlebury
James Schamus
Jane Schoenbrun
Sarah Schulman
Emma Seligman
Wallace Shawn
Mel Shimkowitz
Noam Shuster Eliassi
Amy Sillman
Nathan Silver
Michael Skolnik
Gillian Slovo
Robyn Slovo
Shawn Slovo
Sarah Adina Smith
Alan Snitow
Morgan Spector
Tom Stoppard
Kae Tempest
Lynne Tillman
Rachel Traub
V (formerly Eve Ensler)
Alicia Van Couvering
Adam Weber
Madeline Weinstein
Debra Winger
Matt Wolf
Jeremy Yaches
Gary Yershon
Jeremiah Zagar
Alexander Zeldin

*Ehrlich is a critic at IndieWire, which shares a parent company, Penske Media, with Variety .

More From Our Brands

‘star wars’: ‘the mandalorian & grogu’ making jump to big screen in may 2026, putter’s paradise: the $39 million pebble beach estate wants to help you sharpen your short game, the rock recruits: ufl signs u.s. army as exclusive sponsor, the best loofahs and body scrubbers, according to dermatologists, quantum leap cancelled after two seasons at nbc, verify it's you, please log in.

International edition
Australia edition
Europe edition

man in white tie looks over his shoulder

What a surprise! Free speech absolutist Elon Musk doesn’t really love free speech

The X owner is paying legal bills of people ‘unfairly treated’ over their posts while weaponizing the law to shut down his critics

Elon Musk is unravelling

Let’s check in on the platform formerly known as Twitter shall we? Let’s have a gander at how it’s doing since Elon Musk , the world’s cleverest man, decided to set its extremely valuable brand equity on fire and rename it “X”.

Huh, what do you know, it looks like it’s doing X-tremely poorly. Usage in the US has dropped by more than a fifth since Musk took the platform over in late 2022, a recent analysis found . This week Musk, who once named himself “Chief Twit”, also chaotically reversed his policy of making people pay for “verified status” and started forcing blue ticks on the site’s most-followed accounts – to the dismay of many users.

X might not be at the top of its game right now but, to be fair, Musk has plenty of other companies. So how’s Tesla doing? Not so great either, apparently. Inventory is piling up and the company is resorting to big discounts in order to shift cars . Meanwhile the Biden administration recently criticized SpaceX (another Musk company) for how heavily its operations are subsidized by the public.

While some of his biggest businesses are plagued with problems, Musk’s attention seems to be elsewhere. Half the time he seems to be tweeting about how he’ll never go to therapy or dramatically unfollowing his ex on X. The rest of the time the billionaire appears to be consumed by his favourite hobby : funding ridiculous lawsuits .

Last year Musk, who likes to refer to himself as a “free speech absolutist”, grandly announced that he would help pay the legal bills for people who felt they were “unfairly treated” for posting on Twitter. Musk was inundated with people asking for help and, last week, X officially announced that it was funding a lawsuit filed by Chloe Happe against her former employer Block – the financial technology company set up by Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter. While it’s not clear why Block terminated Happe, the lawsuit alleges it was because of her behaviour on Twitter.

“Block fired Chloe because of the political opinions she expressed on X,” the official X News account tweeted . “Chloe had two pseudonymous accounts on X, @bronzeageshawty and the now-deprecated @samsarashawty … because some of the opinions she expressed in her X accounts did not conform to the prevailing political orthodoxy, Block fired her, in violation of the law.” So what were those brave views that X is defending? Well, there are two key tweets (both of which Happe subsequently deleted) that are at the center of the lawsuit. One, described in the court filing as the “Restroom Post” said: “Looking fear in the eyes today as I’m using the ADA gender neutral restroom in the office and a retarded tranny in a wheelchair knocks on the door.”

The other tweet is described as the “Refugee Post”. In this one, posted soon after 7 October 2023, Happe pretended to be a “citizen” of Kurdistan (which is a region, not a country) and joked about refugees from Gaza coming to the area. Happe regularly uses this particular pseudonymous account to pretend to be a woman in Kurdistan with a sheep-herding husband and tweet “witticisms” like : “beautiful big tittie kurdish women just don’t fall out of the sky you know.”

Regardless of what you think about Happe’s comments, this seems like a bizarre case to throw your weight behind. I mean, let’s be very clear here: one of the richest and most influential men in the world has decided to invest his considerable resources in fighting for a woman’s right to say “tranny” and “retarded” online.

A cynic might say the motivation behind this lawsuit is not so much free speech as it is childish trolling. Musk, after all, has routinely demonstrated that he has the maturity of a 12-year-old. This is a man, let us not forget, who whited out the “w” on the Twitter office sign because he thought it would be funny for people to work at “ titter ”.

Despite the fact that he styles himself as a free speech warrior, Musk has also made it very clear that he’s not keen on certain forms of free speech. He will defend someone’s right to use transphobic and ableist language online to the very end but God forbid anyone should exercise their freedom of speech to say anything bad about him! The thin-skinned billionaire has forced employees to sign restrictive non-disparagement agreements and Twitter has been accused of suspending the accounts of journalists who have covered the platform . There are also claims that the platform has censored Palestinian public figures and suspended accounts which have been critical of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Musk has also weaponized the law to try to shut down his critics. Last month, for example, a judge dismissed a case X had filed against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a non-profit that has published reports detailing a rise in hate speech and racist content on X since the Musk takeover.

“Sometimes it is unclear what is driving a litigation …” wrote Charles Breyer, the US district judge, in the ruling. “Other times, a complaint is so unabashedly and vociferously about one thing that there can be no mistaking that purpose … This case is about punishing the defendants … X Corp has brought this case in order to punish CCDH for CCDH publications that criticized X Corp – and perhaps in order to dissuade others who might wish to engage in such criticism.”

Musk actively trying to suppress criticism while posturing as a free speech warrior? Gosh, it’s almost like the man is a raging hypocrite.

Why do a disproportionate number of women play bass guitar?

Once upon time the guitar was seen as a “ women’s instrument ”. Why? Because women could keep their bodies in “feminine” poses while playing it and because, in Europe during the late 1700s to the mid-1800s, it was generally perceived as a “lesser” instrument. Now the bass guitar is considered more of a “woman’s” instrument. Ashwanta Jackson takes a look at gender and music in JSTOR.

after newsletter promotion

You can’t even escape sexual harassment in Antarctica

A significant number of women working in Antarctica have experienced sexual harassment and assault for years now. A congressional investigation is finally under way .

Teachers’ union leader calls for inquiry into misogyny among young men in UK

“It’s very fair to say that there’s a real problem with sexism and misogyny within schools,” the leader of the UK’s largest education union said . “It’s not just influencers such as Andrew Tate , but aggressive hardcore pornography which is really easily accessible to young people. This stuff is having a real impact, particularly on young boys and young men and their views of women and relationships.”

Florida supreme court clears way for both abortion ballot measure and six-week ban

If that headline sounds confusing it’s because the situation in Florida right now is very confusing . Florida was one of the last states in the south-east where abortions were still somewhat accessible; now, however, a six-week ban is imminent. The good news, however, is that Florida residents will get the chance to vote on a ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.

Welcome to ‘Man Camp’: an evangelical men’s retreat in the Ohio River valley

“The weekend culminated with baptisms in an uninviting cow pond,” writes Jason Rogers in a piece ruminating about masculinity and spirituality.

The week in pawtriarchy

It’s a tail of two cities. Nearly nine months ago a terrier mix called Mishka went missing in California. Now he’s been discovered nearly 2,000 miles away in Michigan. How did he get there? “That’s a story only Mishka knows,” the vet who examined the dog said .

The Week in Patriarchy
Freedom of speech

Most viewed

IMAGES

The Eight Parts of Speech
Parts of SPEECH Table in English
Learn 8 Parts of Speech in English Grammar!
Parts of Speech in English, Definition and Examples
All Parts of Speech and Their Examples
8 Parts of SPEECH Table in English

VIDEO

ROBLOX TEXT TO SPEECH WORD STORY
daily speech word's#viral#teacher#teaching#students
Text to speech word count! #texttospeech #roblox #story #wordcount #viral #capcut
PARTS OF SPEECH ll PRONOUNS ll POSSESIVE, DEMONSTRATIVE, PERSONAL PRONOUNS
PARTS OF SPEECH
English:Part Of Speech( Word of Today :- Make Lazy :- आलसी बनाना) #Shorts

COMMENTS

Speech Definition & Meaning
speech: [noun] the communication or expression of thoughts in spoken words. exchange of spoken words : conversation.
The 8 Parts of Speech
A part of speech (also called a word class) is a category that describes the role a word plays in a sentence.Understanding the different parts of speech can help you analyze how words function in a sentence and improve your writing. The parts of speech are classified differently in different grammars, but most traditional grammars list eight parts of speech in English: nouns, pronouns, verbs ...
Understanding the 8 Parts of Speech: Definitions and Examples
In the English language, it's commonly accepted that there are 8 parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, conjunctions, interjections, and prepositions. Each of these categories plays a different role in communicating meaning in the English language. Each of the eight parts of speech—which we might also call the "main ...
SPEECH Definition & Meaning
Speech definition: the faculty or power of speaking; oral communication; ability to express one's thoughts and emotions by speech sounds and gesture. See examples of SPEECH used in a sentence.
What Part of Speech Is the Word 'The'?
In the English language the word the is classified as an article, which is a word used to define a noun. (More on that a little later.) But an article isn't one of the eight parts of speech. Articles are considered a type of adjective, so "the" is technically an adjective as well. However, "the" can also sometimes function as an adverb in ...
Parts of Speech: Explanation and Examples
The 9 parts of speech are adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, determiners, interjections, nouns, prepositions, pronouns, and verbs. (These are also known as "word classes.") A Formal Definition. A "part of speech" is a category to which a word is assigned in accordance with its syntactic functions. In English, the main parts of speech are noun ...
SPEECH
SPEECH meaning: 1. the ability to talk, the activity of talking, or a piece of spoken language: 2. the way a…. Learn more.
What Is Speech? What Is Language?
Speech is how we say sounds and words. Speech includes: How we make speech sounds using the mouth, lips, and tongue. For example, we need to be able to say the "r" sound to say "rabbit" instead of "wabbit.". How we use our vocal folds and breath to make sounds. Our voice can be loud or soft or high- or low-pitched.
The 9 Parts of Speech: Definitions and Examples
In contemporary linguistics, the label part of speech has generally been discarded in favor of the term word class or syntactic category. These terms make words easier to qualify objectively based on word construction rather than context. Within word classes, there is the lexical or open class and the function or closed class.
Parts of Speech: Complete Guide (With Examples and More)
The parts of speech refer to categories to which a word belongs. In English, there are eight of them : verbs , nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. Many English words fall into more than one part of speech category. Take the word light as an example. It can function as a verb, noun, or adjective.
The Parts of Speech
6. Conjunction. A conjunction is a word that binds words, clauses, and phrases. "And," "but," "because," and "consequently" are some examples of conjunctions. Conjunctions make it easy to construct more complex sentences because you can easily add new clauses. The category distinctions of this part of speech are: Coordinating ...
speech noun
Synonyms speech speech lecture address talk sermon These are all words for a talk given to an audience. speech a formal talk given to an audience:. Several people made speeches at the wedding. lecture a talk given to a group of people to tell them about a particular subject, often as part of a university or college course:. a lecture on the Roman army
SPEECH definition and meaning
6 meanings: 1. a. the act or faculty of speaking, esp as possessed by persons b. (as modifier) 2. that which is spoken;.... Click for more definitions.
What Are the 8 Parts of Speech? Examples and Usage
Knowing the different parts of speech is essential for good grammar. Become an expert at knowing when and what parts of speech to use with these examples.
The 8 Parts of Speech
The parts of speech are classified differently in different grammars, but most traditional grammars list eight parts of speech in English: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. Some modern grammars add others, such as determiners and articles. Many words can function as different parts of ...
How to Identify Parts of Speech (with Pictures)
Parts of speech are categories that are used to describe each word's function in a sentence. The best way to identify a word's part of speech is to think about what role the word plays in the sentence, but there are also a few clues that can help you figure out the part of speech if you are unsure about the word's function. Part 1.
The 9 Types of Parts of Speech: Definitions, Rules and Examples
Content words include nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. These are the words that carry the meaning in a sentence. Open and Closed Word Classes. There are two main types of parts of speech, or word classes: open and closed. Open word classes, also known as content words, include nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
The Eight Parts of Speech
The part of speech indicates how the word functions in meaning as well as grammatically within the sentence. An individual word can function as more than one part of speech when used in different circumstances. Understanding parts of speech is essential for determining the correct definition of a word when using the dictionary. 1. NOUN
How to use speech to text in Microsoft Word
Step 1: Open Microsoft Word. Simple but crucial. Open the Microsoft Word application on your device and create a new, blank document. We named our test document "How to use speech to text in ...
Uncensored Footage of Paul Heyman's Scathing Words During 2024 WWE Hall
Advertising. As revealed by footage making rounds online, Paul Heyman had some scathing words for ECW detractors, as he told haters to suck his f***** d***. "If you think that the spirit of ECW ...
Mudita: Inside the speech that changed Alabama basketball season
Inside the speech that changed Alabama basketball season en route to March Madness run. LOS ANGELES — The text buzzed on Patrick Murphy 's phone the night of Sunday, Jan. 7. It was from Alabama ...
Prosecutors say Trump team trying to 'rewrite indictment' in bid to
Arguing that Trump was part of a "criminal organization," Wakeford said that his speech was not protected by the First Amendment because he was using his words to commit crimes.
Anti-Ulez protesters arrested near Sadiq Khan's home
Multiple anti-Ulez protesters have been arrested near Sadiq Khan's home after police ordered them to disperse. There were chaotic scenes on Saturday as officers pinned a number of demonstrators ...
Joaquin Phoenix and Joel Coen sign open letter in support of Glazer's
The controversy over Glazer's speech, in which he said he refuted his "Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people" in ...
Scotland's new hate crime law: what does it cover and why is it
The government insists the law, coming into force on Monday, is needed to protect victims but critics say it limits freedom of expression A new law to tackle hate crime in Scotland will be ...
Opinion
To them, the norms of free speech are inherently problematic, and a broad definition of antisemitism is a tool for censorship. Outside funding has poured into horrifying doxxing and harassment ...
Jonathan Glazer Oscars Speech Backed by Joaquin Phoenix ...
His words were met with both backlash and praise. In an open letter published on March 18, over 1,000 Jewish creatives and execs denounced Glazer's speech for helping to fuel "growing anti ...
What a surprise! Free speech absolutist Elon Musk doesn't really love
A cynic might say the motivation behind this lawsuit is not so much free speech as it is childish trolling. Musk, after all, has routinely demonstrated that he has the maturity of a 12-year-old.
LA Times edits article after drawing the ire of LSU coach Kim Mulkey
The Los Angeles Times have edited a previously published commentary piece written about the LSU women's basketball team following criticisms of the article by the team's head coach, who ...
J.K. Rowling Is Right to Protest Hate-Speech Laws
Essay. J.K. Rowling Is Right to Protest Hate-Speech Laws A new Scottish ban on offensive language is meant to protect vulnerable groups, but history shows that unfettered free speech is a powerful ...

Definition of speech

Examples of speech in a Sentence

Word History

Phrases Containing speech

Dictionary Entries Near speech

Kids Definition

Can you solve 4 words at once?

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Have a language expert improve your writing

The 8 Parts of Speech | Chart, Definition & Examples

Table of contents

Other parts of speech

Check for common mistakes

Is this article helpful?

More interesting articles

Unlimited Academic AI-Proofreading

Origin of speech

Words Nearby speech

How to use speech in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for speech

Choose Your Test

What Part of Speech Is the Word The?

The as an Article

The as an Adjective

The as an Adverb

How to Use The Correctly in Sentences

Using The as an Article

Using The as an Adverb

3 Articles in the English Language

What's Next?

Ask a Question Below

Improve With Our Famous Guides

Series: How to Get 800 on Each SAT Section:

Series: How to Get to 600 on Each SAT Section:

Series: How to Get 36 on Each ACT Section:

Series: How to Get to 24 on Each ACT Section:

Stay Informed

Looking for Graduate School Test Prep?

Parts of Speech

The Part of Speech Is Determined by the Word's Function

Video for Each Part of Speech

The Most Important Writing Issues

The Top Issue Related to Conjunctions

The Top Issue Related to Determiners

The Top Issue Related to Interjections

Learning Resources

You might also like...

Meaning of speech in English

speech noun ( SAY WORDS )

speech noun ( FORMAL TALK )

speech | Intermediate English

Translations of speech

Learn more with +Plus

The 9 Parts of Speech: Definitions and Examples

Parts of Speech

Open and Closed Word Classes

The 9 Parts of Speech

Preposition

Conjunction

Articles and Determiners

Interjection

How to Determine the Part of Speech

Dissecting Basic Sentences

Constructing More Complex Sentences

Definition of 'speech'

Video: pronunciation of speech

speech in British English

Browse alphabetically speech

Related terms of speech

Wordle Helper

Scrabble Tools

Have a thesis expert improve your writing

The 8 Parts of Speech | Definition & Examples

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Table of contents

The only proofreading tool specialized in correcting academic writing

Determiners

Is this article helpful?

More interesting articles

How to Identify Parts of Speech