Saturday, February 03, 2007

The Eight Parts of Speech jingle

1. All names of person, places, things,

Are NOUNS, as Caesar, Rome, and kings.

2. PRONOUNS are used in place of nouns:

I think; she sings; they work; he frowns

3. When the kind you wish to state,

Use an ADJECTIVE, as great.

4. But if of manner you would tell,

Use ADVERBS, such as slowly, well.

To find an adverb, this test try:

Ask, “How?” or “When?” or “Where?” or “Why?”

5. PREPOSITIONS show relation,

As with respect, or in our nation.

6. CONJECTIONS, as their name implies,

Are joining words; they are the ties

That bind together day and night,

Calm but cold, dull or bright.

7. Next we have the VERBS, which tell

Of action, being, and state as well.

To work, succeed, achieve, and curb

Each one of these is called a VERB.

8. The INTERJECTIONS show surprise,

As Oh! Alas! Ah me! How wise!

Thus briefly does this jingle state

The PARTS OF SPEECH, which total eight.

(Some authorities give a ninth part of speech, the ARTICLE. A and an are called the indefinite articles, and the is known as the definite article. The words are, in reality, adjectives….)

This is from an English course copyright 1930s. “The New Self-Teaching Course in Practical English and Effective Speech” by Estelle B. Hunter, Ph.B. The Better-Speech Institute of America Chicago USA


"Let the questions be the curriculum" Socrates

3 comments:

Brenda said...

thank you for posting this I have looked everywhere for the "poem" I learned when I was in 4th grade and here it is. (which was back in the 80's)

Lynn said...

Thank you for this post! My parents had a set of books/pamphlets, and this was in that set - which has since disappeared from the face of the earth (grin). I've searched before and didn't find it.

Amber said...

I have looked for this for years! I had to learn it in school 30 years ago and still refer to the parts of it I can remember. My husband is now an English teacher and I told him he should post this in his classroom.