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Parts of Speech

What are the parts of speech, a formal definition.

Table of Contents

The Part of Speech Is Determined by the Word's Function

Are there 8 or 9 parts of speech, the nine parts of speech, (1) adjective, (3) conjunction, (4) determiner, (5) interjection, (7) preposition, (8) pronoun, why the parts of speech are important, video lesson.

• You need to dig a well . (noun)
• You look well . (adjective)
• You dance well . (adverb)
• Well , I agree. (interjection)
• My eyes will well up. (verb)
• red, happy, enormous
• Ask the boy in the red jumper.
• I live in a happy place.
• I caught a fish this morning! I mean an enormous one.
• happily, loosely, often
• They skipped happily to the counter.
• Tie the knot loosely so they can escape.
• I often walk to work.
• It is an intriguingly magic setting.
• He plays the piano extremely well.
• and, or, but
• it is a large and important city.
• Shall we run to the hills or hide in the bushes?
• I know you are lying, but I cannot prove it.
• my, those, two, many
• My dog is fine with those cats.
• There are two dogs but many cats.
• ouch, oops, eek
• Ouch , that hurt.
• Oops , it's broken.
• Eek! A mouse just ran past my foot!
• leader, town, apple
• Take me to your leader .
• I will see you in town later.
• An apple fell on his head .
• in, near, on, with
• Sarah is hiding in the box.
• I live near the train station.
• Put your hands on your head.
• She yelled with enthusiasm.
• she, we, they, that
• Joanne is smart. She is also funny.
• Our team has studied the evidence. We know the truth.
• Jack and Jill went up the hill, but they never returned.
• That is clever!
• work, be, write, exist
• Tony works down the pit now. He was unemployed.
• I will write a song for you.
• I think aliens exist .

Are you a visual learner? Do you prefer video to text? Here is a list of all our grammar videos .

Video for Each Part of Speech

The Most Important Writing Issues

The top issue related to adjectives, the top issue related to adverbs.

• Extremely annoyed, she stared menacingly at her rival.
• Infuriated, she glared at her rival.

The Top Issue Related to Conjunctions

• Burger, Fries, and a shake
• Fish, chips and peas

The Top Issue Related to Determiners

The Top Issue Related to Interjections

The top issue related to nouns, the top issue related to prepositions, the top issue related to pronouns, the top issue related to verbs.

• Crack the parts of speech to help with learning a foreign language or to take your writing to the next level.

This page was written by Craig Shrives .

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The 9 Parts of Speech: Definitions and Examples

• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

A part of speech is a term used in traditional grammar for one of the nine main categories into which words are classified according to their functions in sentences , such as nouns or verbs. Also known as word classes , these are the building blocks of grammar.

Parts of Speech

• Word types can be divided into nine parts of speech:
• prepositions
• conjunctions
• articles/determiners
• interjections
• Some words can be considered more than one part of speech, depending on context and usage.
• Interjections can form complete sentences on their own.

Every sentence you write or speak in English includes words that fall into some of the nine parts of speech. These include nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, articles/determiners, and interjections. (Some sources include only eight parts of speech and leave interjections in their own category.)

Learning the names of the parts of speech probably won't make you witty, healthy, wealthy, or wise. In fact, learning just the names of the parts of speech won't even make you a better writer. However, you will gain a basic understanding of sentence structure  and the  English language by familiarizing yourself with these labels.

Open and Closed Word Classes

The parts of speech are commonly divided into  open classes  (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs) and  closed classes  (pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, articles/determiners, and interjections). The idea is that open classes can be altered and added to as language develops and closed classes are pretty much set in stone. For example, new nouns are created every day, but conjunctions never change.

In contemporary linguistics , the label  part of speech has generally been discarded in favor of the term word class or syntactic category . These terms make words easier to qualify objectively based on word construction rather than context. Within word classes, there is the lexical or open class and the function or closed class.

The 9 Parts of Speech

Read about each part of speech below and get started practicing identifying each.

Nouns are a person, place, thing, or idea. They can take on a myriad of roles in a sentence, from the subject of it all to the object of an action. They are capitalized when they're the official name of something or someone, called proper nouns in these cases. Examples: pirate, Caribbean, ship, freedom, Captain Jack Sparrow.

Pronouns stand in for nouns in a sentence. They are more generic versions of nouns that refer only to people. Examples:​  I, you, he, she, it, ours, them, who, which, anybody, ourselves.

Verbs are action words that tell what happens in a sentence. They can also show a sentence subject's state of being ( is , was ). Verbs change form based on tense (present, past) and count distinction (singular or plural). Examples:  sing, dance, believes, seemed, finish, eat, drink, be, became

Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns. They specify which one, how much, what kind, and more. Adjectives allow readers and listeners to use their senses to imagine something more clearly. Examples:  hot, lazy, funny, unique, bright, beautiful, poor, smooth.

Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, and even other adverbs. They specify when, where, how, and why something happened and to what extent or how often. Examples:  softly, lazily, often, only, hopefully, softly, sometimes.

Preposition

Prepositions  show spacial, temporal, and role relations between a noun or pronoun and the other words in a sentence. They come at the start of a prepositional phrase , which contains a preposition and its object. Examples:  up, over, against, by, for, into, close to, out of, apart from.

Conjunction

Conjunctions join words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence. There are coordinating, subordinating, and correlative conjunctions. Examples:  and, but, or, so, yet, with.

Articles and Determiners

Articles and determiners function like adjectives by modifying nouns, but they are different than adjectives in that they are necessary for a sentence to have proper syntax. Articles and determiners specify and identify nouns, and there are indefinite and definite articles. Examples: articles:  a, an, the ; determiners:  these, that, those, enough, much, few, which, what.

Some traditional grammars have treated articles  as a distinct part of speech. Modern grammars, however, more often include articles in the category of determiners , which identify or quantify a noun. Even though they modify nouns like adjectives, articles are different in that they are essential to the proper syntax of a sentence, just as determiners are necessary to convey the meaning of a sentence, while adjectives are optional.

Interjection

Interjections are expressions that can stand on their own or be contained within sentences. These words and phrases often carry strong emotions and convey reactions. Examples:  ah, whoops, ouch, yabba dabba do!

How to Determine the Part of Speech

Only interjections ( Hooray! ) have a habit of standing alone; every other part of speech must be contained within a sentence and some are even required in sentences (nouns and verbs). Other parts of speech come in many varieties and may appear just about anywhere in a sentence.

To know for sure what part of speech a word falls into, look not only at the word itself but also at its meaning, position, and use in a sentence.

For example, in the first sentence below,  work  functions as a noun; in the second sentence, a verb; and in the third sentence, an adjective:

• The noun  work  is the thing Bosco shows up for.
• The verb  work  is the action he must perform.
• The  attributive noun  [or converted adjective]  work  modifies the noun  permit .

Learning the names and uses of the basic parts of speech is just one way to understand how sentences are constructed.

Dissecting Basic Sentences

To form a basic complete sentence, you only need two elements: a noun (or pronoun standing in for a noun) and a verb. The noun acts as a subject and the verb, by telling what action the subject is taking, acts as the predicate. 

In the short sentence above,  birds  is the noun and  fly  is the verb. The sentence makes sense and gets the point across.

You can have a sentence with just one word without breaking any sentence formation rules. The short sentence below is complete because it's a command to an understood "you".

Here, the pronoun, standing in for a noun, is implied and acts as the subject. The sentence is really saying, "(You) go!"

Constructing More Complex Sentences

Use more parts of speech to add additional information about what's happening in a sentence to make it more complex. Take the first sentence from above, for example, and incorporate more information about how and why birds fly.

• Birds fly when migrating before winter.

Birds and fly remain the noun and the verb, but now there is more description. 

When  is an adverb that modifies the verb fly.  The word before  is a little tricky because it can be either a conjunction, preposition, or adverb depending on the context. In this case, it's a preposition because it's followed by a noun. This preposition begins an adverbial phrase of time ( before winter ) that answers the question of when the birds migrate . Before is not a conjunction because it does not connect two clauses.

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Parts of Speech

What is a Part of Speech?

We can categorize English words into 9 basic types called "parts of speech" or "word classes". It's quite important to recognize parts of speech. This helps you to analyze sentences and understand them. It also helps you to construct good sentences.

Parts of Speech Table

Parts of speech examples.

• Parts of Speech Quiz

This is a summary of the 9 parts of speech*. You can find more detail if you click on each part of speech.

• lexical Verbs ( work, like, run )
• auxiliary Verbs ( be, have, must )
• Determiners may be treated as adjectives, instead of being a separate part of speech.

Here are some examples of sentences made with different English parts of speech:

Here is a sentence that contains every part of speech:

Words with More Than One Job

Many words in English can have more than one job, or be more than one part of speech. For example, "work" can be a verb and a noun; "but" can be a conjunction and a preposition; "well" can be an adjective, an adverb and an interjection. In addition, many nouns can act as adjectives.

To analyze the part of speech, ask yourself: "What job is this word doing in this sentence?"

In the table below you can see a few examples. Of course, there are more, even for some of the words in the table. In fact, if you look in a good dictionary you will see that the word " but " has six jobs to do:

• verb, noun, adverb, pronoun, preposition and conjunction!

People often ask

FAQ: frequently asked parts of speech questions

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Free English Lessons

Parts of speech in english – video.

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In this lesson, you can learn about parts of speech in English.

How many parts of speech are there in english can you name them, and explain what they do, understanding parts of speech —nouns, verbs, adjectives, and so on—can help you to understand english sentence structure and how english grammar works., in this class, you’ll learn the basic information about parts of speech, you’ll see some ways that parts of speech can be more complicated than you might expect, and you’ll have several chances to practice, quiz: parts of speech in english.

Now test your understanding of the different parts of speech by trying this quiz. There are 20 questions, which get harder as you go through it!

When you have finished, click ‘View Questions’ to see all the correct answers and read the explanations. There are links to further study resources in the explanations.

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That’s an excellent score and this quiz is extremely difficult! Congratulations!

A perfect score on an incredibly difficult quiz! Congratulations!

1 . Question

For the first five questions, answer true or false.

True or false: a word can be different parts of speech depending on its function and meaning in the sentence.

Review part three of the lesson if you need help with this one.

2 . Question

True or false: a noun can be a word or a phrase.

3 . Question

True or false: if a word can be a noun, it can only be a noun.

4 . Question

True or false: when analysing parts of speech, you don’t need to think about what the sentence means.

5 . Question

True or false: articles (‘the’, ‘a’), demonstratives (‘this’, ‘that’), quantifiers (‘some’, ‘few’) and possessive adjectives (‘your’, ‘their’) are all determiners.

Remember that determiners specify the noun you’re referring to. Do all these words do this?

6 . Question

For the next five questions, choose the part of speech described.

What part of speech can be an action or a state?

• Interjections
• Conjunctions

‘Run’ is an action and ‘understand’ is a state.

7 . Question

What part of speech can describe verbs, adjectives, adverbs or whole sentences?

• Prepositions

8 . Question

What part of speech represents or replaces nouns?

9 . Question

What part of speech expresses an emotion or can be used to react to something?

10 . Question

Which part of speech doesn’t indicate something about a noun?

• Determiners

11 . Question

For the next five questions, match the words in the sentence with the parts of speech.

“He slept badly.”

Sort elements

12 . question.

Match the words in the sentence with the parts of speech.

“She has bought a second-hand car.”

• noun phrase

This time, you’re not analysing each word but the function of word groups and phrases in the sentence.

13 . Question

“Um, can you stop making so much noise, please?”

• ‘um’ and ‘please’
• 'can' and 'stop'
• 'you'
• 'making so much noise'

14 . Question

“Is this your bag or mine?”

• conjunction
• (possessive) pronoun

15 . Question

“Hey! Give his new watch back to him.”

• interjection
• preposition

16 . Question

For the last five questions, tick all the words that are correct.

Which words can be nouns?

You need to choose three answers.

17 . Question

Which words can be adverbs?

Only one word here is not an adverb.

18 . Question

Which words can be determiners?

This time there are two correct answers.

19 . Question

Which words can be more than one part of speech?

Two answers are correct; one of the others doesn’t even exist!

20 . Question

Which words are conjunctions?

• nevertheless

This is a deliberately difficult question to end with! A conjunction must be followed by a noun (or noun phrase) and then a verb, with no commas.

So, first question: how many parts of speech are there?

Well, we did a Google search, and many of the top results said ‘eight’. So there must be eight parts of speech in English.

Wrong! There are nine.

So, what are they?

1. Guide to Parts of Speech in English

Number one: nouns. Nouns can be things, animals, or people, like doctor, pencil, tree or cat.

Nouns can also be ideas or abstract things, like idea, happiness, time or money.

Number two: verbs. Verbs can be actions, like do, run, fly or win.

Verbs can also describe states, like be, love, believe or understand.

Number three: adjectives. Adjectives describe nouns. For example: red, big, metal, or beautiful.

Number four: adverbs . Adverbs can describe verbs, meaning they describe how someone does something. For example, quickly, loudly, angrily or well.

Adverbs can also describe adjectives, other adverbs, or even whole sentences. For example, very is an adverb which can describe an adjective— very slow —or another adverb— very slowly.

Unfortunately or sometimes are adverbs which can be used to add information to a whole sentence.

For example:

• Unfortunately, they missed the train and were late to their own wedding!
• Sometimes, I wish I’d made different choices in life.

So, adverbs are a little more complicated. Here’s a good way to remember it: adjectives and adverbs both describe other words. They are both used to add information to something else.

Adjectives describe nouns, and adverbs describe everything else: verbs, adjectives, adverbs and whole sentences.

Number five: pronouns.

Pronouns replace or represent nouns. For example, I, you, she or they are pronouns which represent different people.

You use pronouns to avoid repeating the same word, or to refer to something when it’s obvious what you mean.

• How was the weather there?

There is a pronoun which refers to a place. If you’ve already mentioned the place you’re talking about, you don’t need to say it again.

Another example:

• Give me two, please.

Two is a pronoun which refers to a quantity of something which has already been mentioned. The person you’re talking to already knows what you’re talking about.

Number six: prepositions.

Prepositions usually go before a noun or noun phrase. What’s their job?

Prepositions can do two basic things: first, they can add an idea of time, place, or movement to a noun. For example:

• on Wednesday
• in the corner
• towards the door

Secondly, prepositions can connect other words to a noun, or a pronoun.

For example, think about the verb depend on. The preposition on connects the verb depend to the object of the verb. For example:

• It depends on the cost.

Usually, the noun or noun phrase goes after the preposition.

However, sometimes the preposition can link to a noun (or pronoun) earlier in the sentence. For example:

• What does it depend on?

Here, on links to the pronoun what.

Number seven: conjunctions.

Conjunctions connect two things. A conjunction can connect two words:

• I like cake and ice-cream.

A conjunction can connect two phrases:

• Do you want to go now or wait till this afternoon?

You can also use a conjunction to connect two clauses:

• Although I’ve been trying to learn for years, I’m still really bad at drawing.

Number eight: determiners

Determiners go before a noun. They include words like a, the, this or that, which help to specify which noun you’re talking about.

Words like my, your, his, her, etc. are also determiners. They specify which noun you’re talking about by saying who something belongs to.

Determiners can also tell you how many of something there are. Look at three examples:

• ten bananas
• some people
• both of my brothers

The words ten, some and both are determiners.

Number nine: interjections

Interjections are different, because they aren’t normally part of a sentence.

Interjections are words or phrases which show how you feel. For example:

So, now you know about the nine parts of speech in English.

2. Practice with Parts of Speech in English

Let’s practice! Look at three sentences. Each sentence has five words.

• They told me about it.
• Look in the big cupboard.
• Put it there, but carefully.

Can you identify which part of speech each word is? Pause the video and think about your answers.

How did you do? Could you identify the parts of speech correctly?

Let’s look at one more.

• I’m staying in this evening.

What part of speech are these words? Think about it.

So, I is a pronoun, am is a verb, and staying is also a verb.

What about in? Did you say it’s a preposition?

It’s not a preposition; it’s an adverb.

How does this work? We had the word in in one of the sentences you saw before, and it was a preposition.

So, what’s going on?

3. The Same Word Can be More than One Part of Speech

Some words can only be one thing.

For example, the words independence or hair can only be nouns.

Believe and destroy can only be verbs.

However, many words can be more than one part of speech.

There are two things happening here.

First, a word can be two different things, which have the same written form and the same pronunciation.

Think about the word win. Is it a noun or a verb?

It can be both.

• I’m sure they’ll win the game this weekend.
• We’ll be hoping for a win in the big game this weekend.

Many words are like this. Another example: red can be an adjective or a noun.

• What do you think about this red for the kitchen?
• I like that red top she was wearing.

This is very common: very often, a word with one written form can be two (or more) different parts of speech.

We told you there are two things happening here; what’s the other?

Sometimes, a word can be different parts of speech depending on its function in the sentence.

Look at two sentences:

• I have a few photos of my grandparents.
• Sure, you can have a few.

Here’s a question: what part of speech is few in these sentences?

In the first sentence, few is a determiner; in the second, it’s a pronoun.

Can you explain why this is?

Think about what few does in these two sentences.

In the first sentence, few adds a quantity to the noun photos. It tells us how many photos you have. This makes it a determiner.

In the second sentence, few replaces a noun. You don’t know which noun it replaces, but in context, you would understand what the person meant.

Maybe it was ‘a few biscuits’, or ‘a few pieces of paper.’

We don’t know! But, you do know that few replaces a noun, which makes it a pronoun.

Another example is the sentence we saw before:

Prepositions go with nouns, and connect nouns to other words in the sentence. In here doesn’t go with a noun, so it can’t be a preposition.

Learn more with this Oxford Online English lesson on adverbs – to, in, at .

In here means ‘at home’, and it adds information to the verb stay. What kind of words add information to verbs?

Adverbs! So, in is an adverb.

Wait a minute, did we ever finish explaining what parts of speech are in this sentence?

You’re right! We didn’t. Let’s do it now. You need to say what parts of speech the words this evening are.

Can you do it?

Maybe you said that this is a determiner, and evening is a noun. That’s technically correct, but it’s not the best answer.

The best answer is that this evening is an adverb.

How do you explain that?

4. Compound Parts of Speech in English

Until now, you’ve seen single words, and how single words can be nouns, verbs, etc.

However, when you’re thinking about parts of speech, you can’t just think about single words. Phrases can also be nouns, verbs, adjectives, and so on.

Let’s do an example:

• Add a small spoonful of brown sugar, then turn the heat down and stir the mixture gently.

Think about the first part of this sentence: add a small spoonful of brown sugar.

What parts of speech do we have here?

Of course, you can go through it word by word. You can say, add is a verb, a is a determiner, small is an adjective and so on.

But, is that the most useful way of looking at it?

It makes more sense to see this as a verb— add —and a noun— a small spoonful of brown sugar.

The noun is made up of several parts of speech: determiners, adjectives, prepositions and nouns, but together they have one meaning. These words refer to one thing.

You can analyse a sentence in several different layers. So, you can see a small spoonful of brown sugar as six individual words, or one noun phrase.

You could also see it as three parts: a determiner— a small spoonful —a preposition— of —and a noun— brown sugar.

Confused? We understand! You want to know the answer. You want to know which way is ‘correct’.

There isn’t one ‘correct’ way to see this. There are different perspectives.

A better question is: which perspective makes more sense?

In this sentence, a small spoonful of brown sugar refers to one thing in the world. So it makes sense to think of it as one part of speech in the sentence.

What about the second part of the sentence? How would you analyse the parts of speech?

As you saw before, there isn’t one right answer, but here’s a suggestion.

The sentence contains a conjunction— then —and then two verb phrases linked with the conjunction and.

This makes sense because the sentence is telling you to do two things: turn the heat down and stir the mixture gently.

So, it makes sense to see turn the heat down as one part of speech, because it’s telling you do to one thing.

Let’s put these ideas together.

First, when you think about parts of speech, you can’t just memorise information. You have to look at each sentence individually, and think about what each word is doing.

Secondly, always think about what the sentence means in the real world. Sentences aren’t abstract things; they refer to real people, real things and real actions.

There is always more than one way to analyse the parts of speech in a sentence: choose the way that makes sense based on what the sentence is telling you about real life!

Let’s do a more challenging practice exercise so you can see these ideas in action.

5. More Challenging Practice with English Parts of Speech

Look at three sentences:

• Amazing! It’s way better than I ever thought it would be.
• She was an amazing clinician , who came up with many innovative ways to treat patients.
• I don’t believe it!

How would you analyse the parts of speech in these sentences? Think about the ideas we talked about in the last section. Does it make sense to break the sentences into individual words, or is it better to group words into phrases?

Pause the video and think about your ideas.

You can pause the video again to look at these in more detail.

Notice how the same word can be different parts of speech in different sentences. For example, amazing is an interjection in one sentence, and an adjective in another.

Notice also the different layers of analysis. For example, look at the phrase many innovative ways. You can see this as one noun phrase, or as a determiner plus a noun phrase, or as three individual parts: a determiner, an adjective and a noun.

Which is correct? They all are! Choose the perspective which makes more sense to you.

Thanks for watching!

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What are the parts of speech?

Today's the day for you to learn about this important grammatical concept! But first...let's see what the parts of speech have to do with your clothes.

Imagine that it's laundry day, and you've just finished washing and drying your clothes. You dump the contents of the laundry basket onto your bed, and you begin to organize everything. You fold matching socks together, you create a pile of perfectly folded shirts that you would be proud to show Marie Kondo, and you do the same thing with your pants, jackets, and everything else.

In the same way that we organize our clothes into groups based on each item's function and features, we organize our words into categories based on each word's function and features. We call these categories of words the parts of speech .

Some people categorize words into eight parts of speech, and some people categorize them into nine parts of speech. Neither one is wrong; they're just two ways of looking at things. We'll go over these categories below. Here at English Grammar Revolution, we categorize words into eight groups, but I'll tell you about the ninth one as well.

There's one important thing for you to know before we look at these categories: most words can function as more than one part of speech . They will only do one job at a time, but they can do different things in different sentences. Look at the word love in the following sentences.

My  love  of grammar inspired me to make this website.

Here, love is functioning as a noun. It's the subject of the sentence. 

I  love  you.

Now, love is acting as a  verb ! It's telling us an action.

The only way we can know how to categorize a word is to look at how it's acting within a sentence.

Okay, let's check out the parts of speech!

The 8 Parts of Speech

Nouns  name people, places, things, or ideas. They're important parts of our sentences because they perform  important jobs  (subjects, direct objects, predicate nouns, etc.).

A peacock walked through our yard .

The dog howled during the night , and it woke up our whole family .

Sometimes people get bogged down with this part of speech because there are also many subcategories of nouns. This is similar to the way that we have subcategories for our clothes. You may have a whole drawer full of pants, but you may also have different types of pants that you use for different purposes (workout pants, lounge pants, work pants, etc.). This is similar to the way that we can further categorize nouns into smaller groups. 

Here are a few of the subcategories of nouns:  proper nouns, common nouns ,  collective nouns ,  possessive nouns , and compound nouns.

Tip : Other parts of speech also have subcategories. If you're studying this information for the first time, ignore the subcategories and focus on learning about each broader category.

2. Pronouns

Pronouns  take the place of nouns. When most people hear the word pronoun , they think of words like I, we, me, he,   she, and they . These are indeed all pronouns, but they're a part of a subcategory called personal pronouns. Know that there are other kinds of pronouns out there as well. Here are some examples: myself, his, someone , and who .

Here are a few of the subcategories of pronouns:  reflexive pronouns ,  indefinite pronouns ,  possessive pronouns , and  relative pronouns . 

When we walked across the bridge,  we saw someone who  knows you .

I will fix the dishwasher  myself .

Verbs  show actions or states of being. They are integral elements of  sentences .   

The shuttle will fly into space.

The loving mother comforted  and soothed the baby.

In the Montessori tradition of education, they use a large red circle or ball to symbolize a verb, and they often teach children to think of verbs as a sun providing the energy of a sentence. Isn't that a lovely way to think of verbs?

I know that you're getting tired of hearing about subcategories, but linking verbs, action verbs, and helping verbs are described on the  verb page here . 

Modal verbs  are described on that link, and you can learn even more about  action verbs  and  linking verbs  from those links.

4. Adjectives

Adjectives  describe, or  modify , nouns and pronouns. I like to think of them as adding color to language. It would be hard to describe a beautiful sunset or the way a touching story makes us feel without using adjectives.

The wise, handsome owl had orange eyes.

The caring father rocked the baby.

One helpful strategy for learning about and identifying adjectives is to learn how they are diagrammed . Sentence diagrams are pictures of sentences that help us see how all of the words are grammatically related. Since adjectives modify nouns and pronouns, we diagram them on slanted lines under the nouns/pronouns that they are modifying. 

My green and white book fell.

Book is a noun. It's the subject of this sentence. My, green , and white are all adjectives describing book , so we diagram them on slanted lines underneath book . Isn't that a great way to SEE what adjectives do?

Nine Parts of Speech

When people categorize words into eight parts of speech, they say that articles/determiners ( a, an,   the, this, that, etc. ) are subcategories of adjectives.  

When people categorize words into nine parts of speech, they say that articles/determiners make up their own category and are not a part of the adjective category. 

Adverbs  modify (describe) verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Adverbs are similar to adjectives in that they both modify things. 

The extremely cute koala hugged its mom very tightly .

The dog howled loudly .

Sentence diagrams also make it really easy to see what adverbs do. Take a look at this diagram. What do you notice about the way the adverbs are diagrammed? 

James ran very quickly.

Did you notice that the adverbs are diagrammed on slanted lines under the words that they are modifying?

Ran is a verb. Quickly is an adverb telling us more about the verb ran . Very is an adverb telling us more about the adverb quickly .

Doesn't the diagram make it easier to SEE what adverbs do?

6. Prepositions

Prepositions  are probably the most difficult part of speech to explain, but people generally have an easier time understanding them when they look at lots of examples. So...let's start with some examples of commonly used prepositions! 

in, for, of, off, if, until

The frog sat in the flower.

The baby cried for a long time.

I'm so convinced that memorizing some of the prepositions will be helpful to you that  I'll teach you a preposition song . 

Okay, now that we've looked at some examples, let's look at the definition of a preposition. 

Prepositions show the relationship between a noun or a pronoun and some other word in the rest of the sentence. 

Sentence diagrams will come to the rescue again to help us visualize what prepositions do. Think of prepositions as "noun hooks" or "noun bridges." In the diagram below, notice how the preposition down links the noun tree to the rest of the sentence.  

The cat ran down the tree.

Since prepositions always function as "noun hooks," they'll always be accompanied by a noun. The preposition plus its noun is called a prepositional phrase .

If you find a word from the preposition list that's not a part of a prepositional phrase, it's not functioning as a preposition. (You remember that words can function as different parts of speech , right?)

7. Conjunctions

Conjunctions  join things together. They can join words or groups of words (phrases and clauses).

The hummingbird sat   and   waited .

The conjunction and is joining the words sat and waited .

Do you live  near the park or near the hospital ?

The conjunction or is joining the phrases near the park and near the hospital.  

The two conjunctions we just looked at ( and and or ) belong to a subcategory called coordinating conjunctions, but there are other subcategories of conjunctions as well. The other one that we use most often is  subordinating conjunctions . Subordinating conjunctions are a little trickier to learn because they involve a more complicated concept ( dependent adverb clauses ).

For now, just know that all conjunctions, no matter what type they are, connect things together. In fact, let's LOOK at how they do this by looking at a sentence diagram.

Here is a sentence diagram  showing how the coordinating conjunction  and  connects two clauses. 

She cooked, and he cleaned. 

8. Interjections

Interjections show excitement or emotion. 

Wow ! That jump was amazing!

Phew , the baby finally fell asleep.

They are different from the other parts of speech in that they're not grammatically related to the rest of the sentence, and the way that we diagram them reflects that. Look at how we diagram interjections :

Yes ! We won the lottery!

The interjection yes sit sits there on its own line floating above the rest of the sentence. This helps show that it's not grammatically related to the other words in the sentence. 

It's time to review what we covered on this page.

• We can categorize the words that we use into groups based on their functions and features. We call these groups the parts of speech.
• Many words can function as multiple parts of speech. You need to look at each word in the context of a sentence in order to say what part of speech it is. 
• The eight parts of speech are nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections. 
• You just learned about all of the parts of speech. Give yourself a high five! 

If you'd like to teach or learn grammar the easy way—with sentence diagrams—check out our  Get Smart Grammar Program .

It starts from the very beginning and teaches you grammar and sentence diagramming in easy, bite-size lessons. 

Hello! I'm Elizabeth O'Brien, and my goal is to get you jazzed about grammar. 

This is original content from  https://www.english-grammar-revolution.com/parts-of-speech.html

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Parts of Speech

English grammar.

The parts of speech explain how a word is used in a sentence.

There are eight main parts of speech (also known as word classes): nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections .

Most parts of speech can be divided into sub-classes. Prepositions can be divided into prepositions of time, prepositions of place etc. Nouns can be divided into proper nouns, common nouns, concrete nouns etc.

It is important to know that a word can sometimes be in more than one part of speech. For example with the word increase .

Increase can be a verb e.g. Prices increased and increase can also be a noun e.g. There was an increase in the number of followers.

The eight main parts of speech in English are:

NOUN - (Naming word)

A noun is the name of a person, place, thing or idea.

Examples of nouns: Daniel, London, table, dog, teacher, pen, city, happiness, hope

Example sentences: Steve lives in Sydney . Mary uses pen and paper to write letters .

Learn more about the different types of nouns .

PRONOUN - (Replaces a Noun)

A pronoun is used in place of a noun or noun phrase to avoid repetition.

Examples of pronouns: I, you, we, they, he, she, it, me, us, them, him, her, this, those

Example sentences: Mary is tired. She wants to sleep. I want her to dance with me .

ADJECTIVE - (Describing word)

An adjective describes, modifies or gives more information about a noun or pronoun.

Examples: big, happy, green, young, fun, crazy, three

Example sentences: The little girl had a pink hat.

VERB - (Action Word)

A verb shows an action or state of being. A verb shows what someone or something is doing.

Examples: go, speak, run, eat, play, live, walk, have, like, are, is

Example sentences: I like Woodward English. I study their charts and play their games.

ADVERB - (Describes a verb)

An adverb describes/modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb. It tells how, where, when, how often or to what extent. Many adverbs end in -LY

Examples: slowly, quietly, very, always, never, too, well, tomorrow, here

Example sentences: I am usually busy. Yesterday , I ate my lunch quickly .

PREPOSITION - (Shows relationship)

A preposition shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun to another word. They can indicate time, place, or relationship.

Examples: at, on, in, from, with, near, between, about, under

Example sentences: I left my keys on the table for you.

CONJUNCTION - (Joining word)

A conjunction joins two words, ideas, phrases or clauses together in a sentence and shows how they are connected.

Examples: and, or, but, because, so, yet, unless, since, if.

Example sentences: I was hot and exhausted but I still finished the marathon.

INTERJECTION - (Expressive word)

An interjection is a word or phrase that expresses a strong feeling or emotion. It is a short exclamation.

Examples: Ouch! Wow! Great! Help! Oh! Hey! Hi!

Example sentences: Wow! I passed my English test. Great! – Ouch! That hurt.

Summary Chart

Sometimes teachers include Articles as a ninth part of speech so we have included it here. Note, an article is a type of adjective.

ARTICLE - (Defining word)

An article is used before a noun. These are divided into definite (the) and indefinite (a, an). Articles help define nouns.

Examples: a, an, the

Example sentences: I need a dictionary. The dictionary needs to be in English.

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See our grammar notes with more details about nouns , pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections (coming soon).

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Understanding Parts of Speech (9 Types With Examples)

What are parts of speech? In the American English language, parts-of-speech is a category to which a word is assigned in accordance with its syntactic functions. They exist under the verb , noun, pronoun, interjection , adjective , conjunction, adverb, and preposition forms.

Learn more about parts of the speech in this comprehensive worksheet…

What are parts of speech?

“Parts of speech” refers to the essential words used in sentence formation in the English language.

Every word used in a sentence structure plays an important role in defining the sentence’s meaning. These words use and placement give proper intentions in sentence structures.

Parts of speech are the basic grammar lessons taught during the primary phases of learning English.

Any word used in sentence formation falls into one of these categories for proper sentence structure.

Some of those words can be a part of one or more parts of speech. This topic further explores the essential parts of speech used in the English language.

Watch this as a video lesson

In total, there are nine categories of parts of speech

These nine parts of speech are namely: Verbs, Nouns , Adjectives, Determiners, Adverbs , Pronouns, Prepositions , Conjunctions, and Interjections.

Another additional classification is used as a part of speech, i.e. , Articles, a subprogram of determiners.

To comprehend the meaning and use of each word in the English language, it is essential to clearly understand the various parts of speech and select the right parts of speech form at the appropriate place in the sentence.

What are the 9 parts of speech with their functions?

Here are the nine parts of speech and how they impact the English language.

‘Verbs’ are the words used in a sentence to define the action/state of action being performed. Most of the sentences in sentence formation require the inclusion of verbs.

Some examples of verbs used in the English language are Love, Break, Fall , and Cry . These are the basic forms of verbs and are known as infinitives .

Most of the verbs used have two other major forms called participles . The use of these participles is for the formation of various verb-tense combinations.

These participles define the forms of verbs concerning the time of action/performance. These verb-tense combinations can be used in two types: Active voice and passive voice .

A ‘noun’ are words used in a sentence to give recognition or the name of an object, individual, or animal.

Nouns can be sub-classified into two major categories: Common nouns , which give generic descriptor names to things, and common items, such as a bat, a bicycle , etc. The other category of nouns is Proper nouns , which have specific descriptor names to refer to a specialized object, place, or individual, such as Charley, The Empire State Building, The Telegraph , etc.

Additionally, nouns can be classified as singular nouns and plural nouns based on the number of individuals/objects.

Singular Nouns

The definition of a Singular Noun is the same as that of a noun when used commonly. It carries the same definition as the noun: “A word referring towards an individual/object/event/material/place.”

Plural Nouns

The word plural relates to “more than one in certain languages or more than two in certain languages.”

Thus singular nouns can be converted to their plural noun format when there is an implication of more than one or two objects/individuals/places.

A general Singular/Common Noun can be turned into the appropriate form of a Plural Noun by adding a ‘s’/’es’/’ ies’/’ves.’ It is also initiated by changing ‘us’ to ‘i’, ‘is’ to ‘es’ , or ‘on’ to ‘a’ .

Some common nouns do not change when interchanged between their singular and plural noun forms. Some other common nouns do not fall under plural nouns and are called irregular nouns, which are made plural by changing the spelling or adding a suffix to the word.

‘Adjectives’ are words that give a description or modify the scope of nouns/pronouns by being specific. For example, adjectives used to define a noun can be red, small, hot, common, etc.

An adjective is usually placed before a noun or after the verb that it modifies. Three forms of adjectives are used to compare similar characteristics of different individuals/objects. These three degrees of comparison are:

• Positive/Absolute form

This comparison of adjectives defines the original form of the adjective as stated in English. For example, “this candy is tasty .” This degree of comparison states that no relative subject is available for comparison.

• Comparative form

This form of the adjective gives a relative comparison between two objects performing similar actions with identical characteristics. For example, “the candy we had today is tastier than the one we received yesterday.”

• Superlative form

This form of the adjective gives the superiority declaration of one object over similar objects possessing similar characteristics. For example, “this candy is the tastiest I have ever had in the last two years .”

Adjectives can be sub-classified based on their function in sentence formation. This sub-classification is:

• Possessive Adjectives

These adjectives show/represent the possessiveness of an object. For example, mine, my, his/her, their, its, etc.

• Interrogative Adjectives

These adjectives modify the noun/pronoun by interrogation. Only a select few adjectives are available in this form. For example, whose, which, what, and where.

• Demonstrative Adjectives

These adjectives describe the current state/position of the noun/pronoun concerning space/time. For example, this, these, those, that.

• Compound Adjectives

These adjectives are a result of the combination of two or more adjectives. The resulting adjective modifies the subject in the sentence. For example, hand-dried, heavy-weighted, spike-haired, etc.

‘Determiners’ are the words placed before a noun/pronoun group terms to refer to a single/multiple things. Some commonly used determiners in English are ‘a’, ‘the’, ‘some’, ‘any’, and ‘this.’ Determiners are generally placed before descriptive adjectives . It tells the reader more about the description of the noun being referred to.

Determiners are classified into sub-categories, articles, and demonstratives.

An ‘Article’ can be either definite or indefinite. An article modifies a noun/pronoun without specifying any description of the object. In English, an example of a ‘definite article’ is the , whereas examples of two ‘indefinite articles’ are a and an .

Here, the refers to specific things or things that are identified beforehand. A or a refer to non-specific things that have not been identified beforehand.

Demonstratives

A ‘Demonstrative’ is defined as a demonstrative adjective/pronoun based on its usage in the sentence. Some examples of demonstratives are ‘this’, ‘that’, and ‘those’ .

A determiner has the same rules of use as in the case of adjectives in sentence formation. Thus, confusion takes place when carefully choosing the type of parts of speech to assign when given a choice of either a determiner or adjective.

An ‘Adverb’ defines essential information about the verb, similar to what an adjective is to a noun. It provides a descriptor for a verb used in a sentence and some cases, can also describe an adjective or another adverb.

Some adverbs used in sentences with verbs are ‘slowly’, ‘hastily’, ‘unfortunately’, and ‘angrily’.

Adverbs are further sub-classified into various types based on their application in a sentence.

• Adverbs of Time (to inform about the occurrence of a verb), For example, ‘now’, ‘tomorrow’, and ‘soon’.
• Adverbs of Manner (to describe the action of a verb), For example, ‘hastily’, ‘slowly’, and ‘minutely’.
• Adverbs of Place (to indicate the place of action of the verb),
• Adverbs of Frequency (to describe the frequency of a verb action),
• Adverbs of Degree (to describe the intensity of an action),
• Conjunctive Adverbs (are used to link/act as a conjunction to two sentences).

A ‘Pronoun’ is a word used in specifically providing an alternate name for a non/noun phrase. They are alternate words for referring to an object/individual when the requirement of a noun is unnecessary, as the noun has been mentioned previously in some parts of the sentence.

Some examples of pronouns are ‘it’, ‘he/she’, and ‘himself/herself’.

Pronouns are sub-classified into different categories based on their use in the sentence.

Some of these sub-categories are:

• Relative Pronouns (to relate a part of a sentence with the other)
• Possessive Pronouns (to show possessiveness)
• Reflexive Pronouns (to refer back to the subject of discussion)
• Demonstrative Pronouns (to refer to specific objects/individuals)
• Interrogative Pronouns (to ask questions)
• Indefinite Pronouns (to avoid reference to any specific object/individual/place)
• Personal Pronouns (to use as substitutes for proper names)
• Subject Pronouns (to assign acting on an object)
• Object Pronouns (to assign receiving action towards an object)
• Reciprocal Pronouns (to express two-way/mutual relationship)
• Preposition

A ‘Preposition’ is a word used as a connective between a noun, a noun phrase, or a pronoun with another word.

Prepositions are used in sentence formations to convey these meanings:

• To show the direction towards/of something/someone
• To refer to the period of an action taking place
• To specify the location/position of an object
• To present the space and time relationship between objects

Based on their use and function, prepositions are classified into four subtypes:

• Prepositions of Time (to indicate the happening of an action/event)
• Preposition of Place (to indicate the location of an object)
• Preposition of Direction (to indicate the direction/orientation of an object)
• Prepositions of Spatial Relationship (to indicate an object moving away/towards a source)
• Conjunction

A ‘Conjunction’ is a word that combines two/more objects and behaves as connectives in a sentence. These can appear in the beginning/middle/end of the sentence following the location of the objects.

There are three types of conjunctions used in sentence formation:

• Coordinate conjunction (to combine two independent clauses )
• Subordinate conjunction (to combine an independent with a dependent clause)
• Correlation conjunction (to combine two phrases having equal weightage)

Interjection

An ‘Interjection’ is a word to convey the expression of a variety of emotions/feelings. As such, there is no specific rule for the use of interjection and where it is to be placed.

However, in most cases, it is placed at the beginning of the sentence. For example, some of the most commonly used interjections are ‘ouch’, ‘phew’, and ‘well’.

Parts of speech examples

Here are some examples of the parts of speech used in sentences. Note the placement and its relation with other parts of speech present in the sentence format.

• John is  cutting  a pipe.
• John intends to  come  to the office this Monday .
• Jogging  regularly is good for health.
• Drinking  and  driving  put other motorists in danger.
• Would you want to wear  a suit?
• I love  to sing  in between classes.

See another example in the image below.

• Juno  ran towards the classroom.
• The janitor  requested the students to clear their lockers.
• The monkey  was caged after being sedated.
• I gifted my brother a  phone .
• Why did you purchase the  book ?
• I misplaced the  manuscript .
• Do you want to eat some  ice cream ?
• Mum loved my new car .
• Daniel gifted  his brother  a Porsche.

• I purchased a blue suit for the reception.
• Mary purchased two oranges from the fruit seller.
• The curry is tasty .
• Juno’s brother is arrogant .
• The documentary that premiered on television was fascinating .
• Giovanni Giorgio is a great music composer.

• My house is currently under lease.
• This novel is lengthy.
• I purchased some fruits and vegetables.
• She sent me an expensive watch.
• Velma loved  the  dress gifted by her parents.
• Joyce and Jill watched  a  movie together.
• Grandma gave us materials to prepare  the   dessert.

• Typically , we visit Mom on Mondays.
• Don’t you taste the coffee to be  too  bitter?
• Do not be nervous. You will  eventually get the hang of it.
• The movie I watched was  very  scientific.
• It is  scorching hot inside the workshop.
• Can I visit the office  today ?

• His aunt will be staying at the apartment for a while .
• He is the man I was referring to.
• I found my missing luggage outside the airport.

• I won’t be coming  to  the office  in  the afternoon.
• He arranged the cutlery  on  the table.
• Bhaskar made the dog hide  under  its bed.
• I enjoy strolling by the lake in the mornings.

• James  and  I trekked to the hilltop today.
• I stayed back home  because  I felt uneasy.
• He did not enjoy the yogurt ,  yet  he finished it.

• Interjection
• Hurray!  We got the funding.
• Ouch!  That wound looks severe.
• Wow!  You look great in the wedding gown.
• Oh my God !  I hope he is safe.

See an example in the image below.

Words with more than one job

Many parts of speech can have more than one function/job in the sentence. This improves the versatility of the words being used and makes the use more situational in its placement and conveyance of meaning.

• Myers can shift for herself (Preposition)
• Give prayers to the Almighty; for He is the one above all (Conjunction)
• We require more women to have the same vigor. (Adjective)
• More of the women died in the operating room than in the cabin. (Pronoun)
• Agatha needs to shut the gossiping and work more (Adverb)

To see how all the objects work together, see the table below.

Here is a chart showing the parts of speech:

How to identify parts of speech

In sentence formation, it often becomes difficult to ascertain the parts of speech represented by each word. To help out and to make the process of identification easier, follow these steps:

• Identify any word which names an object/individual/place in a generalized form as a noun .
• To identify a specific noun, use pronouns .
• Any words which describe/identify actions/performance are verbs .
• Any word that modifies or gives a greater definition to nouns is an adjective.
• Any word that modifies or gives meaning to the actions of verbs, are adverbs.
• It is easy to pick out prepositions as they describe relationships between a noun/pronoun with other nouns/pronouns.
• Any joiner used to join two clauses is a conjunction .
• Exclamations generally follow any interjections in the text.

• Parts of speech

More parts of speech:

• Conjunctions
• Prepositions
• Possessive nouns
• Irregular plural nouns
• Proper nouns
• Concrete nouns
• Collective nouns
• Possessive and plural nouns
• Verbs: The Definitive Guide
• Nouns | Explore Definition, Examples & Types with Examples
• What Are Pronouns? Definitions and Examples
• What Are Adverbs? (with Examples)
• Interjections – Explore Meaning, Definition, Usage and Examples
• What Is A Conjunction? Types & Examples
• The 9 Parts of Speech: Definitions and Examples
• What Is a Determiner?
• The 8 Parts of Speech: Examples and Rules
• Adverbs – What is It? Explore the Meaning, Definition, Types, Usage and Examples

Inside this article

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About the author

Dalia Y.: Dalia is an English Major and linguistics expert with an additional degree in Psychology. Dalia has featured articles on Forbes, Inc, Fast Company, Grammarly, and many more. She covers English, ESL, and all things grammar on GrammarBrain.

Core lessons

• Abstract Noun
• Accusative Case
• Active Sentence
• Alliteration
• Adjective Clause
• Adjective Phrase
• Adverbial Clause
• Appositive Phrase
• Body Paragraph
• Compound Adjective
• Complex Sentence
• Compound Words
• Compound Predicate
• Common Noun
• Comparative Adjective
• Comparative and Superlative
• Compound Noun
• Compound Subject
• Compound Sentence
• Copular Verb
• Collective Noun
• Colloquialism
• Conciseness
• Conditional
• Concrete Noun
• Conjugation
• Conditional Sentence
• Comma Splice
• Correlative Conjunction
• Coordinating Conjunction
• Coordinate Adjective
• Cumulative Adjective
• Dative Case
• Declarative Statement
• Direct Object Pronoun
• Direct Object
• Dangling Modifier
• Demonstrative Pronoun
• Demonstrative Adjective
• Direct Characterization
• Definite Article
• Doublespeak
• Equivocation Fallacy
• Future Perfect Progressive
• Future Simple
• Future Perfect Continuous
• Future Perfect
• First Conditional
• Gerund Phrase
• Genitive Case
• Helping Verb
• Irregular Adjective
• Irregular Verb
• Imperative Sentence
• Indefinite Article
• Intransitive Verb
• Introductory Phrase
• Indefinite Pronoun
• Indirect Characterization
• Interrogative Sentence
• Intensive Pronoun
• Inanimate Object
• Indefinite Tense
• Infinitive Phrase
• Intensifier
• Indicative Mood
• Juxtaposition
• Linking Verb
• Misplaced Modifier
• Nominative Case
• Noun Adjective
• Object Pronoun
• Object Complement
• Order of Adjectives
• Parallelism
• Prepositional Phrase
• Past Simple Tense
• Past Continuous Tense
• Past Perfect Tense
• Past Progressive Tense
• Present Simple Tense
• Present Perfect Tense
• Personal Pronoun
• Personification
• Persuasive Writing
• Parallel Structure
• Phrasal Verb
• Predicate Adjective
• Predicate Nominative
• Phonetic Language
• Plural Noun
• Punctuation
• Punctuation Marks
• Preposition of Place
• Parts of Speech
• Possessive Adjective
• Possessive Determiner
• Possessive Case
• Possessive Noun
• Proper Adjective
• Proper Noun
• Present Participle
• Quotation Marks
• Relative Pronoun
• Reflexive Pronoun
• Reciprocal Pronoun
• Subordinating Conjunction
• Simple Future Tense
• Stative Verb
• Subjunctive
• Subject Complement
• Subject of a Sentence
• Sentence Variety
• Second Conditional
• Superlative Adjective
• Slash Symbol
• Topic Sentence
• Types of Nouns
• Types of Sentences
• Uncountable Noun
• Vowels and Consonants

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Parts of Speech: The Ultimate Guide for Students and Teachers

This article is part of the ultimate guide to language for teachers and students. Click the buttons below to view these.

What are Parts of Speech ?

Just as a skilled bricklayer must get to grips with the trowel, brick hammer, tape measure, and spirit level, the student-writer must develop a thorough understanding of the tools of their trade too.

In English, words can be categorized according to their common syntactic function in a sentence, i.e. the job they perform.

We call these different categories Parts of Speech . Understanding the various parts of speech and how they work has several compelling benefits for our students.

Without first acquiring a firm grasp of the various parts of speech, students will struggle to fully comprehend how language works. This is essential not only for the development of their reading comprehension but their writing skills too.

Parts of speech are the core building blocks of grammar . To understand how a language works at a sentence and a whole-text level, we must first master parts of speech.

In English, we can identify eight of these individual parts of speech, and these will provide the focus for our Complete Guide to Parts of Speech .

THE EIGHT PARTS OF SPEECH (Click to jump to each section)

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Often the first word a child speaks will be a noun, for example, Mum , Dad , cow , dog , etc.

Nouns are naming words, and, as most school kids can recite, they are the names of people, places, and things . But, what isn’t as widely understood by many of our students is that nouns can be further classified into more specific categories. 

These categories are:

Common Nouns

Proper nouns, concrete nouns, abstract nouns, collective nouns, countable nouns, uncountable nouns.

All nouns can be classified as either common or proper .

Common nouns are the general names of people, places, and things. They are groups or classes on their own, rather than specific types of people, places, or things such as we find in proper nouns.

Common nouns can be further classified as abstract or concrete – more on this shortly!

Some examples of common nouns include:

People: teacher, author, engineer, artist, singer.

Places: country, city, town, house, garden.

Things: language, trophy, magazine, movie, book.

Proper nouns are the specific names for people, places, and things. Unlike common nouns, which are always lowercase, proper nouns are capitalized. This makes them easy to identify in a text.

Where possible, using proper nouns in place of common nouns helps bring precision to a student’s writing.

Some examples of proper nouns include:

People: Mrs Casey, J.K. Rowling, Nikola Tesla, Pablo Picasso, Billie Eilish.

Places: Australia, San Francisco, Llandovery, The White House, Gardens of Versailles.

Things: Bulgarian, The World Cup, Rolling Stone, The Lion King, The Hunger Games.

Nouns Teaching Activity: Common vs Proper Nouns

• Provide students with books suitable for their current reading level.
• Instruct students to go through a page or two and identify all the nouns.
• Ask students to sort these nouns into two lists according to whether they are common nouns or proper nouns.

As mentioned, all common and proper nouns can be further classified as either concrete or abstract .

A concrete noun is any noun that can be experienced through one of the five senses. In other words, if you can see, smell, hear, taste, or touch it, then it’s a concrete noun.

Some examples of concrete nouns include:

Abstract nouns refer to those things that can’t be experienced or identified through the five senses.

They are not physical things we can perceive but intangible concepts and ideas, qualities and states.

Some examples of abstract nouns include:

Nouns Teaching Activity: Concrete Vs. Abstract Nouns

• Provide students with a book suitable for their current reading level.
• Instruct students to go through a page or two and identify all the nouns (the lists from Practice Activity #1 may be suitable).
• This time, ask students to sort these nouns into two lists according to whether they are concrete or abstract nouns.

A collective noun is the name of a group of people or things. That is, a collective noun always refers to more than one of something.

Some examples of collective nouns include:

People: a board of directors, a team of football players, a cast of actors, a band of musicians, a class of students.

Places: a range of mountains, a suite of rooms, a union of states, a chain of islands.

Things: a bale of hay, a constellation of stars, a bag of sweets, a school of fish, a flock of seagulls.

Countable nouns are nouns that refer to things that can be counted. They come in two flavors: singular and plural .

In their singular form, countable nouns are often preceded by the article, e.g. a , an , or the .

In their plural form, countable nouns are often preceded by a number. They can also be used in conjunction with quantifiers such as a few and many .

Some examples of countable nouns include:

COUNTABLE NOUNS EXAMPLES

Also known as mass nouns, uncountable nouns are, as their name suggests, impossible to count. Abstract ideas such as bravery and compassion are uncountable, as are things like liquid and bread .

These types of nouns are always treated in the singular and usually do not have a plural form. 

They can stand alone or be used in conjunction with words and phrases such as any , some , a little , a lot of , and much .

Some examples of uncountable nouns include:

UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS EXAMPLES

Nouns teaching activity: how many can you list .

• Organize students into small groups to work collaboratively.
• Challenge students to list as many countable and uncountable nouns as they can in ten minutes.
• To make things more challenging, stipulate that there must be an uncountable noun and a countable noun to gain a point.
• The winning group is the one that scores the most points.

Without a verb, there is no sentence! Verbs are the words we use to represent both internal and external actions or states of being. Without a verb, nothing happens.

There are many different types of verbs. Here, we will look at five important verb forms organised according to the jobs they perform:

Dynamic Verbs

Stative verbs, transitive verbs, intransitive verbs, auxiliary verbs.

Each verb can be classified as being either an action or a stative verb.

Dynamic or action verbs describe the physical activity performed by the subject of a sentence. This type of verb is usually the first we learn as children. 

For example, run , hit , throw , hide , eat , sleep , watch , write , etc. are all dynamic verbs, as is any action performed by the body.

Let’s see a few examples in sentences:

• I jogged around the track three times.
• She will dance as if her life depends on it.
• She took a candy from the bag, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth.

If a verb doesn’t describe a physical activity, then it is a stative verb.

Stative verbs refer to states of being, conditions, or mental processes. Generally, we can classify stative verbs into four types:

• Emotions/Thoughts

Some examples of stative verbs include: 

Senses: hurt, see, smell, taste, hear, etc.

Emotions: love, doubt, desire, remember, believe, etc.

Being: be, have, require, involve, contain, etc.

Possession: want, include, own, have, belong, etc.

Here are some stative verbs at work in sentences:

• That is one thing we can agree on.
• I remember my first day at school like it was yesterday.
• The university requires students to score at least 80%.
• She has only three remaining.

Sometimes verbs can fit into more than one category, e.g., be , have , look , see , e.g.,

• She looks beautiful. (Stative)
• I look through the telescope. (Dynamic)

Each action or stative verb can also be further classified as transitive or intransitive .

A transitive verb takes a direct object after it. The object is the noun, noun phrase, or pronoun that has something done to it by the subject of the sentence.

We see this in the most straightforward English sentences, i.e., the Subject-Verb-Object or SVO sentence. 

Here are two examples to illustrate. Note: the subject of each sentence is underlined, and the transitive verbs are in bold.

• The teacher answered the student’s questions.
• She studies languages at university.
• My friend loves cabbage.

Most sentences in English employ transitive verbs.

An intransitive verb does not take a direct object after it. It is important to note that only nouns, noun phrases, and pronouns can be classed as direct objects. 

Here are some examples of intransitive verbs – notice how none of these sentences has direct objects after their verbs.

• Jane’s health improved .
• The car ran smoothly.
• The school opens at 9 o’clock.

Auxiliary verbs, also known as ‘helping’ verbs, work with other verbs to affect the meaning of a sentence. They do this by combining with a main verb to alter the sentence’s tense, mood, or voice.

Auxiliary verbs will frequently use not in the negative.

There are relatively few auxiliary verbs in English. Here is a list of the main ones:

• be (am, are, is, was, were, being)
• do (did, does, doing)
• have (had, has, having)

Here are some examples of auxiliary verbs (in bold) in action alongside a main verb (underlined).

She is working as hard as she can.

• You must not eat dinner until after five o’clock.
• The parents may come to the graduation ceremony.

The Subject-Auxiliary Inversion Test

To test whether or not a verb is an auxiliary verb, you can use the Subject-Auxiliary Inversion Test .

• Take the sentence, e.g:
• Now, invert the subject and the suspected auxiliary verb to see if it creates a question.

Is she working as hard as she can?

• Can it take ‘not’ in the negative form?

She is not working as hard as she can.

• If the answer to both of these questions is yes, you have an auxiliary verb. If not, you have a full verb.

Verbs Teaching Activity: Identify the Verbs

• Instruct students to go through an appropriate text length (e.g., paragraph, page, etc.) and compile a list of verbs.
• In groups, students should then discuss and categorize each verb according to whether they think they are dynamic or stative, transitive or intransitive, and/or auxiliary verbs.

The job of an adjective is to modify a noun or a pronoun. It does this by describing, quantifying, or identifying the noun or pronoun. Adjectives help to make writing more interesting and specific. Usually, the adjective is placed before the word it modifies.

As with other parts of speech, not all adjectives are the same. There are many different types of adjectives and, in this article, we will look at:

Descriptive Adjectives

• Degrees of Adjectives

Quantitative Adjectives

Demonstrative adjectives, possessive adjectives, interrogative adjectives, proper adjectives.

Descriptive adjectives are what most students think of first when asked what an adjective is. Descriptive adjectives tell us something about the quality of the noun or pronoun in question. For this reason, they are sometimes referred to as qualitative adjectives .

Some examples of this type of adjective include:

• hard-working

In sentences, they look like this:

• The pumpkin was enormous .
• It was an impressive feat of athleticism I ever saw.
• Undoubtedly, this was an exquisite vase.
• She faced some tough competition.

Degrees of Adjectives 

Descriptive adjectives have three degrees to express varying degrees of intensity and to compare one thing to another. These degrees are referred to as positive , comparative , and superlative .

The positive degree is the regular form of the descriptive adjective when no comparison is being made, e.g., strong .

The comparative degree is used to compare two people, places, or things, e.g., stronger .

There are several ways to form the comparative, methods include:

• Adding more or less before the adjective
• Adding -er to the end of one syllable adjectives
• For two-syllable adjectives ending in y , change the y to an i and add -er to the end.

The superlative degree is typically used when comparing three or more things to denote the upper or lowermost limit of a quality, e.g., strongest .

There are several ways to form the superlative, including:

• Adding most or least before the adjective
• Adding -est to the end of one syllable adjectives
• For two-syllable adjectives ending in y , change the y to an i and add -est to the end.

There are also some irregular adjectives of degree that follow no discernible pattern that must be learned off by students, e.g., good – better – best .

Let’s take a look at these degrees of adjectives in their different forms.

Let’s take a quick look at some sample sentences:

• It was a beautiful example of kindness. 

Comparative

• The red is nice, but the green is prettier .

Superlative

• This mango is the most delicious fruit I have ever tastiest. 

Quantitive adjectives provide information about how many or how much of the noun or pronoun.

Some quantitive adjectives include:

• She only ate half of her sandwich.
• This is my first time here.
• I would like three slices, please.
• There isn’t a single good reason to go.
• There aren’t many places like it.
• It’s too much of a good thing.
• I gave her a whole box of them.

A demonstrative adjective identifies or emphasizes a noun’s place in time or space. The most common demonstrative adjectives are this , that , these , and those .

Here are some examples of demonstrative adjectives in use:

• This boat is mine.
• That car belongs to her.
• These shoes clash with my dress.
• Those people are from Canada.

Possessive adjectives show ownership, and they are sometimes confused with possessive pronouns.

The most common possessive adjectives are my , your , his , her , our , and their .

Students need to be careful not to confuse these with possessive pronouns such as mine , yours , his (same in both contexts), hers , ours , and theirs .

Here are some examples of possessive adjectives in sentences:

• My favorite food is sushi.
• I would like to read your book when you have finished it.
• I believe her car is the red one.
• This is their way of doing things.
• Our work here is done.

Interrogative adjectives ask questions, and, in common with many types of adjectives, they are always followed by a noun. Basically, these are the question words we use to start questions. Be careful however, interrogative adjectives modify nouns. If the word after the question word is a verb, then you have an interrogative adverb on hand.

Some examples of interrogative adjectives include what , which , and whose .

Let’s take a look at these in action:

• What drink would you like?
• Which car should we take?
• Whose shoes are these?

Please note: Whose can also fit into the possessive adjective category too.

We can think of proper adjectives as the adjective form of proper nouns – remember those? They were the specific names of people, places, and things and need to be capitalized.

Let’s take the proper noun for the place America . If we wanted to make an adjective out of this proper noun to describe something, say, a car we would get ‘ American car’.

Let’s take a look at another few examples:

• Joe enjoyed his cup of Ethiopian coffee.
• My favorite plays are Shakespearean tragedies.
• No doubt about it, Fender guitars are some of the best in the world.
• The Mona Lisa is a fine example of Renaissance art.

Though it may come as a surprise to some, articles are also adjectives as, like all adjectives, they modify nouns. Articles help us determine a noun’s specification. 

For example, ‘a’ and ‘an’ are used in front of an unspecific noun, while ‘the’ is used when referring to a specific noun.

Let’s see some articles as adjectives in action!

• You will find an apple inside the cupboard.
• This is a car.
• The recipe is a family secret.

Adjectives Teaching Activity: Types of Adjective Tally

• Choose a suitable book and assign an appropriate number of pages or length of a chapter for students to work with.
• Students work their way through each page, tallying up the number of each type of adjective they can identify using a table like the one below:
• Note how degrees of adjective has been split into comparative and superlative. The positive forms will take care of in the descriptive category.
• You may wish to adapt this table to exclude the easier categories to identify, such as articles and demonstrative, for example.

Traditionally, adverbs are defined as those words that modify verbs, but they do so much more than that. They can be used not only to describe how verbs are performed but also to modify adjectives, other adverbs, clauses, prepositions, or entire sentences.

With such a broad range of tasks at the feet of the humble adverb, it would be impossible to cover every possibility in this article alone. However, there are five main types of adverbs our students should familiarize themselves with. These are:

Adverbs of Manner

Adverbs of time, adverbs of frequency, adverbs of place, adverbs of degree.

Adverbs of manner describe how or the way in which something happens or is done. This type of adverb is often the first type taught to students. Many of these end with -ly . Some common examples include happily , quickly , sadly , slowly , and fast .

Here are a few taster sentences employing adverbs of manner:

• She cooks Chinese food well .
• The children played happily together.
• The students worked diligently on their projects.
• Her mother taught her to cross the road carefully .
• The date went badly .

Adverbs of time indicate when something happens. Common adverbs of time include before , now , then , after , already , immediately , and soon .

Here are some sentences employing adverbs of time:

• I go to school early on Wednesdays.
• She would like to finish her studies eventually .
• Recently , Sarah moved to Bulgaria.
• I have already finished my homework.
• They have been missing training lately .

While adverbs of time deal with when something happens, adverbs of frequency are concerned with how often something happens. Common adverbs of frequency include always , frequently , sometimes , seldom , and never .

Here’s what they look like in sentences:

• Harry usually goes to bed around ten.
• Rachel rarely eats breakfast in the morning.
• Often , I’ll go home straight after school.
• I occasionally have ketchup on my pizza.
• She seldom goes out with her friends.

Adverbs of place, as the name suggests, describe where something happens or where it is. They can refer to position, distance, or direction. Some common adverbs of place include above , below , beside , inside , and anywhere .

Check out some examples in the sentences below:

• Underneath the bridge, there lived a troll.
• There were pizzerias everywhere in the city.
• We walked around the park in the pouring rain.
• If the door is open, then go inside .
• When I am older, I would like to live nearby .

Adverbs of degree express the degree to which or how much of something is done. They can also be used to describe levels of intensity. Some common adverbs of degree include barely , little , lots , completely , and entirely .

Here are some adverbs of degree at work in sentences:

• I hardly noticed her when she walked into the room.
• The little girl had almost finished her homework.
• The job was completely finished.
• I was so delighted to hear the good news.
• Jack was totally delighted to see Diane after all these years.

Adverb Teaching Activity: The Adverb Generator

• Give students a worksheet containing a table divided into five columns. Each column bears a heading of one of the different types of adverbs ( manner , time , frequency , place , degree ).
• Challenge each group to generate as many different examples of each adverb type and record these in the table.
• The winning group is the one with the most adverbs. As a bonus, or tiebreaker, task the students to make sentences with some of the adverbs.

Pronouns are used in place of a specific noun used earlier in a sentence. They are helpful when the writer wants to avoid repetitive use of a particular noun such as a name. For example, in the following sentences, the pronoun she is used to stand for the girl’s name Mary after it is used in the first sentence. 

Mary loved traveling. She had been to France, Thailand, and Taiwan already, but her favorite place in the world was Australia. She had never seen an animal quite as curious-looking as the duck-billed platypus.

We also see her used in place of Mary’s in the above passage. There are many different pronouns and, in this article, we’ll take a look at:

Subject Pronouns

Object pronouns, possessive pronouns, reflexive pronouns, intensive pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, interrogative pronouns.

Subject pronouns are the type of pronoun most of us think of when we hear the term pronoun . They operate as the subject of a verb in a sentence. They are also known as personal pronouns.

The subject pronouns are:

Here are a few examples of subject pronouns doing what they do best:

• Sarah and I went to the movies last Thursday night.
• That is my pet dog. It is an Irish Wolfhound.
• My friends are coming over tonight, they will be here at seven.
• We won’t all fit into the same car.
• You have done a fantastic job with your grammar homework!

Object pronouns operate as the object of a verb, or a preposition, in a sentence. They act in the same way as object nouns but are used when it is clear what the object is.

The object pronouns are:

Here are a few examples of object pronouns in sentences:

• I told you , this is a great opportunity for you .
• Give her some more time, please.
• I told her I did not want to do it .
• That is for us .
• Catherine is the girl whom I mentioned in my letter.

Possessive pronouns indicate ownership of a noun. For example, in the sentence:

These books are mine .

The word mine stands for my books . It’s important to note that while possessive pronouns look similar to possessive adjectives, their function in a sentence is different.

The possessive pronouns are:

Let’s take a look at how these are used in sentences:

• Yours is the yellow jacket.
• I hope this ticket is mine .
• The train that leaves at midnight is theirs .
• Ours is the first house on the right.
• She is the person whose opinion I value most.
• I believe that is his .

Reflexive pronouns are used in instances where the object and the subject are the same. For example, in the sentence, she did it herself , the words she and herself refer to the same person.

The reflexive pronoun forms are:

Here are a few more examples of reflexive pronouns at work:

• I told myself that numerous times.
• He got himself a new computer with his wages.
• We will go there ourselves .
• You must do it yourself .
• The only thing to fear is fear itself .

This type of pronoun can be used to indicate emphasis. For example, when we write, I spoke to the manager herself , the point is made that we talked to the person in charge and not someone lower down the hierarchy. 

Similar to the reflexive pronouns above, we can easily differentiate between reflexive and intensive pronouns by asking if the pronoun is essential to the sentence’s meaning. If it isn’t, then it is used solely for emphasis, and therefore, it’s an intensive rather than a reflexive pronoun.

Often confused with demonstrative adjectives, demonstrative pronouns can stand alone in a sentence.

When this , that , these , and those are used as demonstrative adjectives they come before the noun they modify. When these same words are used as demonstrative pronouns, they replace a noun rather than modify it.

Here are some examples of demonstrative pronouns in sentences:

• This is delicious.
• That is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
• These are not mine.
• Those belong to the driver.

Interrogative pronouns are used to form questions. They are the typical question words that come at the start of questions, with a question mark coming at the end. The interrogative pronouns are:

Putting them into sentences looks like this:

• What is the name of your best friend?
• Which of these is your favourite?
• Who goes to the market with you?
• Whom do you think will win?
• Whose is that?

Pronoun Teaching Activity: Pronoun Review Table

• Provide students with a review table like the one below to revise the various pronoun forms.
• They can use this table to help them produce independent sentences.
• Once students have had a chance to familiarize themselves thoroughly with each of the different types of pronouns, provide the students with the headings and ask them to complete a table from memory.  

Prepositions

Prepositions provide extra information showing the relationship between a noun or pronoun and another part of a sentence. These are usually short words that come directly before nouns or pronouns, e.g., in , at , on , etc.

There are, of course, many different types of prepositions, each relating to particular types of information. In this article, we will look at:

Prepositions of Time

Prepositions of place, prepositions of movement, prepositions of manner, prepositions of measure.

• Preposition of Agency
• Preposition of Possession
• Preposition of Source

Phrasal Prepositions

It’s worth noting that several prepositional words make an appearance in several different categories of prepositions.

Prepositions of time indicate when something happens. Common prepositions of time include after , at , before , during , in , on .

Let’s see some of these at work:

• I have been here since Thursday.
• My daughter was born on the first of September.
• He went overseas during the war.
• Before you go, can you pay the bill, please?
• We will go out after work.

Sometimes students have difficulty knowing when to use in , on , or at . These little words are often confused. The table below provides helpful guidance to help students use the right preposition in the right context.

The prepositions of place, in , at , on , will be instantly recognisable as they also double as prepositions of time. Again, students can sometimes struggle a little to select the correct one for the situation they are describing. Some guidelines can be helpful.

• If something is contained or confined inside, we use in .
• If something is placed upon a surface, we use on .
• If something is located at a specific point, we use at .

A few example sentences will assist in illustrating these:

• He is in the house.
• I saw it in a magazine.
• In France, we saw many great works of art.
• Put it on the table.
• We sailed on the river.
• Hang that picture on the wall, please.
• We arrived at the airport just after 1 pm.
• I saw her at university.
• The boy stood at the window.

Usually used with verbs of motion, prepositions of movement indicate movement from one place to another. The most commonly used preposition of movement is to .

Some other prepositions of movement include:

Here’s how they look in some sample sentences:

• The ball rolled across the table towards me.
• We looked up into the sky.
• The children ran past the shop on their way home.
• Jackie ran down the road to greet her friend.
• She walked confidently through the curtains and out onto the stage.

Preposition of manner shows us how something is done or how it happens. The most common of these are by , in , like , on , with .

Let’s take a look at how they work in sentences:

• We went to school by bus.
• During the holidays, they traveled across the Rockies on foot.
• Janet went to the airport in a taxi.
• She played soccer like a professional.
• I greeted her with a smile.

Prepositions of measure are used to indicate quantities and specific units of measurement. The two most common of these are by and of .

Check out these sample sentences:

• I’m afraid we only sell that fabric by the meter.
• I will pay you by the hour.
• She only ate half of the ice cream. I ate the other half.
• A kilogram of apples is the same weight as a kilogram of feathers.

Prepositions of Agency

These prepositions indicate the causal relationship between a noun or pronoun and an action. They show the cause of something happening. The most commonly used prepositions of agency are by and with .

Here are some examples of their use in sentences:

• The Harry Potter series was written by J.K. Rowling.
• This bowl was made by a skilled craftsman.
• His heart was filled with love.
• The glass was filled with water.

Prepositions of Possession

Prepositions of possessions indicate who or what something belongs to. The most common of these are of , to , and with .

Let’s take a look:

• He is the husband of my cousin.
• He is a friend of the mayor.
• This once belonged to my grandmother.
• All these lands belong to the Ministry.
• The man with the hat is waiting outside.
• The boy with the big feet tripped and fell.

Prepositions of Source

Prepositions of source indicate where something comes from or its origins. The two most common prepositions of source are from and by . There is some crossover here with prepositions of agency.

Here are some examples:

• He comes from New Zealand.
• These oranges are from our own orchard.
• I was warmed by the heat of the fire.
• She was hugged by her husband.
• The yoghurt is of Bulgarian origin.

Phrasal prepositions are also known as compound prepositions. These are phrases of two or more words that function in the same way as prepositions. That is, they join nouns or pronouns to the rest of the sentence.

Some common phrasal prepositions are:

• According to
• For a change
• In addition to
• In spite of
• Rather than
• With the exception of

Students should be careful of overusing phrasal prepositions as some of them can seem clichéd. Frequently, it’s best to say things in as few words as is necessary.

Preposition Teaching Activity: Pr eposition Sort

• Print out a selection of the different types of prepositions on pieces of paper.
• Organize students into smaller working groups and provide each group with a set of prepositions.
• Using the headings above as categories, challenge students to sort the prepositions into the correct groups. Note that some prepositions will comfortably fit into more than one group.
• The winning group is the one to sort all prepositions correctly first.
• As an extension exercise, students can select a preposition from each category and write a sample sentence for it.

ConjunctionS

Conjunctions are used to connect words, phrases, and clauses. There are three main types of conjunction that are used to join different parts of sentences. These are:

• Coordinating
• Subordinating
• Correlative

Coordinating Conjunctions

These conjunctions are used to join sentence components that are equal such as two words, two phrases, or two clauses. In English, there are seven of these that can be memorized using the mnemonic FANBOYS:

Here are a few example sentences employing coordinating conjunctions:

• As a writer, he needed only a pen and paper.
• I would describe him as strong but lazy.
• Either we go now or not at all.

Subordinating Conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions are used to introduce dependent clauses in sentences. Basically, dependent clauses are parts of sentences that cannot stand as complete sentences on their own. 

Some of the most common subordinate conjunctions are: 

Let’s take a look at some example sentences:

• I will complete it by Tuesday if I have time.
• Although she likes it, she won’t buy it.
• Jack will give it to you after he finds it.

Correlative Conjunctions

Correlative conjunctions are like shoes; they come in pairs. They work together to make sentences work. Some come correlative conjunctions are:

• either / or
• neither / nor
• Not only / but also

Let’s see how some of these work together:

• If I were you, I would get either the green one or the yellow one.
• John wants neither pity nor help.
• I don’t know whether you prefer horror or romantic movies.

Conjunction Teaching Activity: Conjunction Challenge

• Organize students into Talking Pairs .
• Partner A gives Partner B an example of a conjunction.
• Partner B must state which type of conjunction it is, e.g. coordinating, subordinating, or correlative.
• Partner B must then compose a sentence that uses the conjunction correctly and tell it to Partner A.
• Partners then swap roles.

InterjectionS

Interjections focus on feelings and are generally grammatically unrelated to the rest of the sentence or sentences around them. They convey thoughts and feelings and are common in our speech. They are often followed by exclamation marks in writing. Interjections include expressions such as:

• Eww! That is so gross!
• Oh , I don’t know. I’ve never used one before.
• That’s very… err …generous of you, I suppose.
• Wow! That is fantastic news!
• Uh-Oh! I don’t have any more left.

Interjection Teaching Activity: Create a scenario

• Once students clearly understand what interjections are, brainstorm as a class as many as possible.
• Write a master list of interjections on the whiteboard.
• Partner A suggests an interjection word or phrase to Partner B.
• Partner B must create a fictional scenario where this interjection would be used appropriately.

With a good grasp of the fundamentals of parts of speech, your students will now be equipped to do a deeper dive into the wild waters of English grammar. 

To learn more about the twists and turns of English grammar, check out our comprehensive article on English grammar here.

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The 8 Parts of Speech in English Grammar

Table of Contents

Introduction.

In English grammar, The fundamental components of language that are essential for constructing meaningful and grammatically correct sentences are known as parts of speech. This article will delve into the eight parts of speech, providing definitions, examples, and insights into their distinct roles within sentences.

What are Parts of Speech?

Parts of Speech Defined

In grammar, parts of speech , also referred to as lexical categories, grammatical categories, or word classes, categorize words based on their linguistic functions. These parts play a crucial role in sentence construction by conveying specific meanings and relationships between words.

In English, there are eight parts of speech:

• Adjectives.
• Interjection.
• Conjunction.

Prepositions

Let’s explore these parts of speech in more detail!

A List of 8 Parts of Speech

Definition: Verbs express actions or states of being within a sentence.

• She goes to school every day.
• He writes a diary entry every night.
• The unicorn exists only in myths.
• They are happy together.

English has various types of verbs:

A. Action Verbs : Action verbs denote physical or mental actions and are the most common type of verbs. These verbs can be conjugated in simple and continuous tenses

• She runs in the park every morning. (Simple Present
• He thought deeply about life. (Simple past)
• Look at the students are copying the lesson. (Present Continuous)

B. Stative Verbs:  Stative verbs express a state of being or conditions that are not changing or likely to change. In contrast to action verbs, these verbs can’t be conjugated into continuous tenses. It is incorrect to say “The book is belonging to Jane.”

• The necklace belongs to her.
• They love each other deeply.
• He prefers tea to coffee.

C. Linking Verbs: Linking verbs connect the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, which describes or identifies the subject.

• She is a teacher.
• The plan seems perfect.
• They become friends quickly.

D. Helping (Auxiliary) Verbs:   Helping verbs work in conjunction with the main verb to express nuances such as tense, mood, or voice.

• She has finished her homework.
• They will come to the party.
• He is working on a project.

E. Modal Verbs:  Modal verbs express ability, possibility, necessity, or permission.

• She can swim very well.
• You must finish your assignment.
• He may join us later.

F. Transitive Verbs: Transitive verbs require a direct object to complete their meaning.

• She eats an apple.
• They built a sandcastle.
• He reads a book every night.

G. Intransitive Verbs : Intransitive verbs do not require a direct object to convey a complete meaning.

• She runs every morning.
• They laughed loudly.
• He arrived early.

READ MOR ABOUT VERBS

Definition: Nouns represent people, animals, objects, substances, states, events, ideas, and feelings. They function as subjects or objects and can be modified by adjectives.

Here are the major noun characteristics: 

• Nouns identify people, places, things, or ideas in a sentence.
• Nouns can serve as subjects, objects, or indirect objects.
• Nouns can be modified by adjectives or possessive pronouns.
• Nouns can be singular or plural.

There are different types of nouns:

• Common Nouns: Refer to general, non-specific entities (e.g., dog, city).
• Proper Nouns: Refer to specific, unique entities and are capitalized (e.g., John, Paris).
• Countable Nouns: Can be counted and have both singular and plural forms (e.g., book, books).
• Uncountable Nouns: Cannot be counted individually and lack a plural form (e.g., water, knowledge).
• Concrete Nouns: Refer to tangible, physical entities (e.g., table, tree).
• Abstract Nouns: Refer to intangible concepts or qualities (e.g., love, courage).
• Collective Nouns: Denote a group or collection of individuals (e.g., team, family).
• Compound Nouns: Comprise two or more words to express a single concept (e.g., toothpaste, basketball).

Example sentences with nouns:

• John is my neighbor.
• lion: The lion roared loudly.
• table: The table is made of oak.
• freedom: Freedom is a precious gift.
• love: Love conquers all.

READ MOR ABOUT NOUNS

Definition: Adjectives describe or specify nouns or pronouns. Examples of adjectives include good, beautiful, nice, my, etc.

• It’s a good day.
• She wears a beautiful dress.
• He has a nice car.
• This is my house.

READ MORE ABOUT ADJECTIVES

Definition: Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Adverbs often end in -ly as in nicely, beautifully, slowly, etc (formed by adding -ly to an adjective). But that’s not always the case. 

There are various types of adverbs in English:

• Adverbs of Time: Indicate when an action occurs. ( Today, now, later, etc. )
• Adverbs of Place: Specify the location of an action. ( Here, there, everywhere, etc. )
• Adverbs of Manner: Describe how an action is performed. ( Quickly, softly, well, etc. )
• Adverbs of Frequency: Express how often an action occurs. ( Always, rarely, sometimes, etc. )
• Adverbs of Degree: Modify the intensity or degree of an adjective or adverb. ( Very, too, quite, etc. )
• Adverbs of Certainty: Indicate the level of certainty about an action. ( Surely, certainly, maybe, etc. )
• Adverbs of Purpose: Describe why an action is performed. ( In case, so that, in order to, etc.)

Example sentences with adverbs:

• She is completely unaware.
• I never expected this.
• The book is there on the shelf.
• She speaks slowly .

READ MORE ABOUT ADVERBS

Definition: Pronouns replace nouns or phrases.

Pronouns can be categorized based on their functions:

• Example: She, they, it
• Example: His, hers, theirs
• Example: Himself, herself, themselves
• Example: Who, which, that
• Example: This, these, those

Example sentences with pronouns:

• I love chocolate.
• This is for you.
• He is coming tomorrow.
• She likes ice cream.
• It is on the table.

READ MORE ABOUT PRONOUNS

Definition: Prepositions indicate the relationship between nouns and other words in a sentence. A preposition is positioned before a noun or pronoun, creating a phrase that modifies another word within the sentence.

Consequently, a preposition is an integral component of a prepositional phrase, typically functioning either as an adjective or an adverb. 

Below is a compilation of the most frequently used prepositions:

• in, on, under
• with, without, beside
• for, during, after
• between, among, beyond

Example sentences with prepositions:

• The cat is in the basket.
• The plane is above the clouds.
• She went to the market.
• This gift is for you.

READ MORE ABOUT PREPOSITIONS

Conjunctions

Definition: Conjunctions connect clauses, sentences, or words.

There are three types of conjunctions in English:

Coordinating Conjunctions:

• Examples: and, but, or
• Sentence: She likes tea and coffee.

Correlative Conjunctions:

• Examples: not only…but also, either…or
• Sentence: He is not only smart but also diligent.

Subordinating Conjunctions:

• Examples: although, because, since
• Sentence: Although it’s raining, we will go out.

More example sentences:

• She is rich and successful.
• He is intelligent, but he is shy.
• Although it’s raining, we will go out.
• They won because they worked hard.

READ MORE ABOUT CONJUNCTIONS

Interjections

Definition: Interjections express surprise or emotion. Examples of interjections include oh, wow, alas, yippee, etc.

• oh!: Oh! That was unexpected.
• Good Lord: Good Lord, what a mess!

READ MORE ABOUT INTERJECTIONS

Analyzing Sentence Structure (Parts of Speech) 

In the following examples, we will analyze the structure of sentences to identify the different parts of speech used.

Sample Sentences:

• My (adjective) friend (noun) speaks (verb) English (noun) fluently (adverb).
• Oh! (interjection) I (pronoun) went (verb) to (preposition) school (noun) and (conjunction) I (pronoun) met (verb) Fred (noun).

In conclusion, parts of speech serve as crucial categories that describe the distinct roles words play within a sentence. A comprehensive grasp of these categories empowers you to discern how words function, fostering a deeper understanding of language nuances. 

1. How many parts of speech are used in English? In English, there are traditionally eight parts of speech.

2. Are there 9 parts of speech? No, there are traditionally eight parts of speech in English.

3. Are articles and determiners parts of speech? Yes, articles and determiners are considered parts of speech. They fall under the category of adjectives.

4. How do you identify parts of speech in a sentence? To identify parts of speech in a sentence, analyze the function of each word. Determine whether it expresses an action (verb), describes a noun (adjective), modifies a verb, adjective, or adverb (adverb), replaces a noun (pronoun), connects words or groups of words (conjunction), shows a relationship (preposition), or expresses strong emotion (interjection).

English EFL

Introduction to grammar

Parts of Speech

The  parts of speech  explain how a word is used in a sentence.

There are eight main parts of speech (also known as word classes):  nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions  and  interjections .

Most  parts of speech  can be divided into sub-classes. Prepositions can be divided into prepositions of time, prepositions of place etc. Nouns can be divided into proper nouns, common nouns, concrete nouns etc.

It is important to know that a word can sometimes be in more than one part of speech. For example with the word  increase .

Increase  can be a verb e.g. Prices  increased and  increase  can also be a noun e.g. There was an  increase  in the number of followers.

A list of parts of speech in English grammar include the following:

A verb is used to show an action or a state of being

go, write, exist, be

A noun is a word used to refer to people, animals, objects, substances, states, events, ideas and feelings. A noun functions as a subject or object of a verb and can be modified by an adjective.

John, lion, table, freedom, love ...

3. Adjective

Adjectives are used to describe or specify a noun or pronoun

good, beautiful, nice, my  ...

An adverb is used to modify a verb, adjective and other adverbs.

completely, never, there  ...

A pronoun is used in the place of a noun or phrase.

I, you, he, she, it  ...

6. Preposition

Prepositions are used before nouns to form a phrase that shows where, when, how and why

in, above, to, for, at ...

7. Conjunction

Conjunctions join clauses or sentences or words

and, but, when ...

8. Interjection

Interjections are used to show surprise or emotion.

oh!, Good Lord

Examples of parts of speech

Here are some examples of parts of speech: My ( adjective ) friend ( noun ) speaks ( verb ) English ( noun ) fluently ( adverb ). Oh! ( interjection ) I (  pronoun ) went ( verb ) to ( preposition ) school ( noun ) and ( conjunction ) I (  pronoun ) met ( verb ) Fred ( noun ).

Course Curriculum

• Basic English Grammar Components 20 mins
• Auxiliary Verbs 30 mins
• Articles 20 mins
• Parts of Speech 20 mins

by Kitty Nash

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• Pretest: Nouns
• Lesson 1: What Is a Noun?
• Lesson 2: Common and Proper Nouns
• Lesson 3: Singular and Plural Nouns 1
• Lesson 4: Singular and Plural Nouns 2
• Lesson 5: Irregular Plural Nouns
• Lesson 6: Compound Nouns
• Lesson 7: Collective Nouns
• Lesson 8: Possessive Nouns
• Lesson 9: Classifying Nouns
• Review: Nouns
• Posttest: Nouns

2. Pronouns

• Pretest: Pronouns
• Lesson 1: Personal Pronouns
• Lesson 2: Cases of Personal Pronouns
• Lesson 3: Challenging Uses of Cases
• Review: Pronoun Cases
• Quiz: Pronoun Cases
• Lesson 4: Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns
• Lesson 5: Interrogative Pronouns
• Lesson 6: Demonstrative Pronouns
• Lesson 7: Relative Pronouns
• Lesson 8: Indefinite Pronouns
• Review: Types of Pronouns
• Quiz: Types of Pronouns
• Lesson 9: Pronoun Agreement
• Lesson 10: Challenges in Pronoun Agreement
• Lesson 11: Indefinite Pronoun Agreement
• Review: Pronoun Agreement
• Quiz: Pronoun Agreement
• Review: Pronouns
• Posttest: Pronouns

3. Verbs: Types, Tenses, and Moods

• Pretest: Verbs: Types, Tenses, and Moods
• Lesson 1: Action Verbs
• Lesson 2: Linking Verbs
• Lesson 3: Action vs. Linking Verbs
• Lesson 4: Helping Verbs
• Review: Types of Verbs
• Quiz: Types of Verbs
• Lesson 5: Principal Parts of Verbs
• Lesson 6: Principal Parts: Spelling Chan...
• Lesson 7: Irregular Verbs
• Lesson 8: Tenses of Verbs
• Lesson 9: Negative Statements
• Lesson 10: Shifts in Verb Tense
• Review: Using Tenses
• Quiz: Using Tenses
• Lesson 11: Transitive vs. Intransitive Ve...
• Lesson 12: Phrasal Verbs
• Lesson 13: Active vs. Passive Voice
• Lesson 14: The Verb To Be
• Lesson 15: Moods of Verbs
• Review: Moods, etc.
• Quiz: Moods, etc.
• Review: Verbs: Types, Tenses, and Moods
• Posttest: Verbs: Types, Tenses, and Moods

4. Verbs: Agreement and Challenges

• Pretest: Verbs: Agreement and Challenges
• Lesson 1: Agreement of Verbs
• Lesson 2: Agreement: Subjects with And, ...
• Lesson 3: Agreement: Collective Nouns
• Lesson 4: Agreement: Nouns that End in s
• Lesson 5: Agreement: Titles of Creative ...
• Lesson 6: Agreement: Proper Nouns
• Lesson 7: Agreement: Money, Time, and Me...
• Lesson 8: Agreement: Fractions and Perce...
• Lesson 9: Agreement: Indefinite Pronouns
• Lesson 10: Agreement: Hard to Find Subjects
• Lesson 11: Challenging Verbs: Lie/Lay
• Lesson 12: Challenging Verbs: Sit/Set
• Lesson 13: Challenging Verbs: Rise/Raise
• Review: Verbs: Agreement and Challenges
• Posttest: Verbs: Agreement and Challenges

6. Modifiers: Adjectives and Adverbs

• Pretest: Modifiers: Adjectives and Adverbs
• Lesson 1: Adjectives
• Lesson 2: Different Types of Adjectives
• Lesson 3: Compound Adjectives
• Lesson 4: Order of Adjectives
• Review: Identifying Adjectives
• Quiz: Identifying Adjectives
• Lesson 5: Adverbs Modifying Verbs
• Lesson 6: Adverbs Modifying Adjectives
• Lesson 7: Adverbs Modifying Other Adverbs
• Lesson 8: Special Types of Adverbs
• Lesson 9: Adjective versus Adverb
• Review: Identifying Adverbs
• Quiz: Identifying Adverbs
• Lesson 10: Comparing with Adjectives and ...
• Lesson 11: Challenging Comparisons
• Lesson 12: Challenging Adjectives and Adv...
• Lesson 13: Common Mistakes and Dangling M...
• Review: Using Adjectives and Adverbs
• Quiz: Using Adjectives and Adverbs
• Review: Modifiers: Adjectives and Adverbs
• Posttest: Modifiers: Adjectives and Adverbs

7. Prepositions

• Pretest: Prepositions
• Lesson 1: Prepositions and Prepositional...
• Lesson 2: Compound Prepositions and Comp...
• Lesson 3: Preposition versus Adverb
• Lesson 4: Adjective Prepositional Phrases
• Lesson 5: Adverb Prepositional Phrases
• Lesson 6: Prepositional Phrases as Nouns
• Review: Prepositional Phrases
• Quiz: Prepositional Phrases
• Lesson 7: Layered Prepositional Phrases
• Lesson 8: Adjective or Adverb Prepositio...
• Lesson 9: Placement Problems and Danglin...
• Lesson 10: Troublesome Prepositions
• Lesson 11: Commas with Prepositional Phra...
• Lesson 12: Idiomatic Verbs
• Review: Working with Prepositional Phr...
• Quiz: Working with Prepositional Phr...
• Review: Prepositions
• Posttest: Prepositions

8. Conjunctions and Interjections

• Pretest: Conjunctions and Interjections
• Lesson 1: Coordinate Conjunctions
• Lesson 2: Correlative Conjunctions
• Lesson 3: Parallel Ideas
• Lesson 4: Conjunctive Adverbs
• Lesson 5: Subordinating Conjunctions
• Lesson 6: Other Words that Act as Conjun...
• Lesson 7: As / As if Versus Like
• Lesson 8: Interjections
• Review: Conjunctions and Interjections
• Posttest: Conjunctions and Interjections