Series index: English Parts of Speech Overview
Prepositions
After reading Wikipedia’s entry on Adposition, I wondered why traditional grammar only mentions prepositions. What about postpositions? Ambipositions? Circumpositions? Anyway, prepositions link a noun phrase to another part of the sentence in order to express the relationship between the two. (Is the book on the table, under the table, or next to the table?) Here are some useful preposition links:
- Prepositions of Time, Place, and to Introduce Objects - a quick overview.
- Prepositions: Locators in Time and Place - a more detailed explanation with quizzes at the bottom.
- The American Heritage Book of English Usage - Prepositions - explains why you can end a sentence with a preposition. I especially like the quote from Winston Churchill: "This is the sort of English up with which I cannot put."
Conjunctions
When I think of conjunctions, I think of Schoolhouse Rock: “Conjunction junction, what’s your function? Hooking up words and phrases and clauses.” Here are the three types of conjunctions:
- Coordinating Conjunctions - for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so, and while.
- Subordinating Conjunctions - unless, before, if, that, etc. These introduce dependent or subordinate clauses.
- Correlative Conjunctions - either/or, neither/nor, not only/but also, etc.
Note: some words can function as both conjunctions and prepositions, like before, after, and until. See Prepositions Vs. Subordinating Conjunctions.
Interjections
Interjections are words used for the sole purpose of expressing emotion. They’re either used as complete sentences, often with an exclamation mark (Wow! Oh! Good grief!), or within a sentence, offset by a comma (Well, I hope so. Oh, thank you!).