The sentence given is: He spoke to us gently.
To identify the part of speech of the underlined word "gently," we need to analyze its function in the sentence.
Part of speech definitions:
- Verb: A word that describes an action, state, or occurrence.
- Adverb: A word that modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb, often indicating when, how, where, or to what extent.
- Noun: A word that represents a person, place, thing, or idea.
- Adjective: A word that modifies a noun or pronoun, providing more information about it.
In the sentence, "gently" modifies the verb "spoke" by indicating how the action was performed.
Conclusion: The underlined word "gently" is an Adverb because it describes how he spoke.