How many common parts of speech are there?

Answer 1

Traditionally, it has been said that there are eight parts of speech. A problem arose, however, because authorities could not agree on exactly what the parts of speech are.

According to the Purdue University Online Writing Lab, the eight parts of speech are: nouns, pronouns, articles, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, and prepositions.

However, the University of Ottawa Writing Centre lists the eight parts of speech as: the verb, the noun, the pronoun, the adjective, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction, and the interjection.

At first, it was thought that a compromise could solve this dilemma.

The University of Victoria English Language Centre says there are nine parts of speech, including both articles and interjections. South Texas College concurs.

The debate, however, is far from over.

The "Cambridge Grammar of the English Language" now claims that pronouns are a subset of nouns. It also drops the term "articles" and replaces it with with a new category called "determinatives."

Not to be outdone, the English Department (Linguistics) at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, openly admits that the so-called eight parts of speech "is not quite enough to cover the reality of English." It suggests that the list should number 12 and include nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, proforms, determiners, qualifiers, conjunctions, particles, expletives and interjections.

This issue is likely going to be discussed for years to come.

Answer 2

Some of the parts of speech are nouns, verbs, prepositions, and adjectives. There are nine common parts of speech, and some words can be used as two or more parts of speech.