The Speech Family
The name of everything we know,
as slate, or book, or toy,
Is called a Noun.
All names are nouns; remember this, my boy.
A word that means to be,
to act, or to be acted on,
Is called a Verb; as is,
or eat, or sing; or he is gone.
A word that tells the color, form, or quality of things,
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Is called an Adjective; as, bright, or round, or softest wings.
A word that tells how things are done, as quickly, bravely, well.
Is called an Adverb; and I'm sure you many more can tell.
A word that's used in place of nouns, a Pronoun we may call;
As, I for mother; you, for James; this, that, for hoop or ball
A Preposition's placed before a noun, and serves to show
Relation to some other word; as, Rover's in the snow.
And then Conjunctions join two words or sentences together;
As, man and boy, or birds will fly and winds blow o'er the heather.
Then Interjections, Oh! and Ah! Behold! and many another,
Express surprise, delight; dismay, far more than every other.
And these the Parts of Speech we call; Eight parts as you may tell;
And all the language you will know, when these you've studied well.