New Hampshire Foundations of Reading Practice Test

What element of speech typically shows emotion within a sentence?

1. Interjections

2. Pronouns

3. Adverbs

4. Conjunctions

The correct answer is: Interjections

Interjections are a unique part of speech specifically designed to convey strong emotions or sudden exclamations. They often stand alone or are integrated into sentences to express feelings such as surprise, joy, anger, or excitement. For example, in the sentence "Wow! That’s amazing!" the interjection "Wow!" conveys a clear emotional response. In contrast, the other parts of speech have different functions. Pronouns serve to replace nouns and help avoid repetition, but they do not inherently express emotion. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, often providing information about manner, time, place, or degree, but they do not express emotions directly. Conjunctions are used to connect words, phrases, or clauses, indicating relationships between the parts of the sentence, which does not involve conveying emotion. Thus, interjections stand out as the element of speech that specifically shows emotion.