The Speech Family Lyrics
A rhyme that goes through the eight parts of speech one by one. Each is named, defined in a line or two, and given examples such as slate, book and toy for nouns, and Rover's in the snow for a preposition. It ends by counting the eight parts together.
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,
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.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/the-speech-family/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Tune
- A steady teaching chant, one part of speech at a time
- Best for ages
- 6 to 10 years
What Does The Speech Family Mean?
This is a grammar lesson in rhyme, made to be learned by heart. It names the eight parts of speech in order, and each comes with the poem's own examples. A noun is the name of everything, such as slate, book or toy. A verb means to be, to act or to be acted on, as in is, eat or sing. An adjective tells colour, form or quality: bright, round, softest.
An adverb tells how things are done: quickly, bravely, well. A pronoun stands in place of a noun, as I for mother. A preposition goes before a noun to show how it relates to another word, as in Rover's in the snow. A conjunction joins words or sentences, as and does in man and boy. An interjection, such as Oh! or Ah!, shows surprise, delight or dismay. The last couplet counts them: eight parts, and the language is known when they are well studied.
History and Origin
Mrs. E. P. Miller's Mother Truth's Melodies is a collection of rhymes that teach, and this one belongs to the 1896 edition.
Learning Activities
- Find a noun: walk around a room and name ten nouns, then check that each is a name for a thing.
- Action words: act out three verbs from the poem, eat, sing and go, and let others guess.
- Part of speech hunt: read a sentence from a picture book and pick out one noun and one verb.
- Eight fingers: hold up one finger for each part of speech as the poem names it, to get to eight.