Are you doing good or well?

Somewhere in the far off past, your elementary school teacher told you about parts of speech - the operative word being told. At the time, you were more concerned with playing kickball at recess or walking with your friends to the lunch room. Many years later, you are at college, and suddenly your English Professor is telling you that you are misusing adverbs. Meanwhile, you rake your distant memories, trying to discern facts from the fog: What is an adverb?

So, let's make a quick review of the different parts of speech. We will then conclude with an activity so you can apply your learning.

noun - a person, place, thing, or idea (examples: cloud, apartment, happiness, Denver)

proper noun - this is a specific noun (examples: Troy, United States, McDonald's)

pronoun - a general word used in place of a noun (examples: he, she, they, her, us)

adjective - describes a noun (examples: cold, smart, hidden, good)

verb - an action or state of being (examples: think, play, is, study)

adverb - describes a verb (examples: quickly, effectively, poorly, well)

preposition - shows relationship between words (examples: above, below, in, near)

conjunction - connects parts of a sentence (examples: and, but, because, either/or)

articles - gives information about a non (examples: a, the, an)

Now, identify the parts of speech in the following sentence: Peter Piper precisely picked a peck of pickled peppers, but Sally sold sea shells by the sea shore. 

1. Peter Piper
a. verb   b. proper noun   c. pronoun   d. preposition

2. precisely
a. verb   b. adverb   c. adjective   d. article

3. picked
a. verb   b. adverb   c. adjective   d. conjunction

4. a
a. noun   b. conjunction   c. article   d. adverb

5. peck (which is a unit of volume equal to two gallons)
a. noun   b. verb   c. adverb   d. pronoun

6. of
a. verb   b. article   c. conjunction   d. preposition

7. pickled
a. noun   b. adverb   c. adjective   d. conjunction

8. peppers
a. adjective   b. proper noun   c. noun   d. preposition

9. but
a. conjunction   b. preposition   c. article   d. noun

10. Sally
a. conjunction   b. article   c. adjective   d. proper noun

11. sea shells
a. noun   b. pronoun   c. adjective   d. verb

12. by
a. noun   b. pronoun   c. preposition   d. conjunction

13. the
a. proper noun   b. adverb   c. adjective   d. article

14. sea shore
a. conjunction   b. adverb   c. proper noun   d. noun

15. How are you doing?
a. I am doing well.   b. I am doing good.

16. How are you?
a. I am well.   b. I am good.


Key: The correct answers are below. Review your incorrect answers to determine why they are incorrect.1.b  2.b  3.a  4.c  5.a  6.d  7.c  8.c  9.a  10.d  11.a  12.c  13.d  14.d  15.a ("well" is an adverb describing "doing," which is a verb)  16.b