speech definition english grammar

The 8 Parts of Speech: Examples and Rules

​​Every word in English can be classified as one of eight parts of speech. The term part of speech refers to the role a word plays in a sentence. And like in any workplace or on any TV show with an ensemble cast, these roles were designed to work together.

Read on to learn about the different parts of speech that the words we use every day fall into, and how we use them together to communicate ideas clearly.

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The 8 parts of speech

A noun is a word that names a person, place, concept, or object. Basically, anything that names a “thing” is a noun, whether you’re talking about a basketball court , San Francisco , Cleopatra , or self-preservation .

Nouns fall into two categories: common nouns and proper nouns. Common nouns are general names for things, like planet and game show . Proper nouns are names or titles for specific things, like Jupiter and Jeopardy!

>> Read more about nouns

Pronouns are words you substitute for specific nouns when the reader or listener already knows which specific noun you’re referring to.

You might say, “Jennifer was supposed to be here at eight,” then follow it with “ She’s always late; next time I’ll tell her to be here a half hour earlier.”

Instead of saying Jennifer’s name three times in a row, you substituted she and her, and your sentences remained grammatically correct. Pronouns are divided into a number of categories, and we cover them all in our guide to pronouns:

>> Read more about pronouns

3 Adjectives

Adjectives are the words that describe nouns. Think about your favorite movie. How would you describe it to a friend who’s never seen it?

You might say the movie was funny , engaging , well-written , or suspenseful . When you’re describing the movie with these words, you’re using adjectives. An adjective can go right before the noun it’s describing (“I have a black dog”), but it doesn’t have to. Sometimes, adjectives are at the end of a sentence (“My dog is black ”).

>> Read more about adjectives

Go ! Be amazing! Run as fast as you can! Win the race! Congratulate every participant who put in the work and competed !

Those bolded words are verbs. Verbs are words that describe specific actions, like running , winning , and being amazing.

Not all verbs refer to literal actions, though. Verbs that refer to feelings or states of being, like to love and to be , are known as nonaction verbs . Conversely, the verbs that do refer to literal actions are known as action verbs .

>> Read more about verbs

An adverb is a word that describes an adjective, a verb, or another adverb. I entered the room quietly .

Quietly is describing how you entered (verb) the room.

A cheetah is always faster than a lion.

Always is describing how frequently a cheetah is faster (adjective) than a lion.

>> Read more about adverbs

6 Prepositions

Prepositions tell you the relationships between other words in a sentence.

You might say, “I left my bike leaning against the garage.” In this sentence, against is the preposition because it tells us where you left your bike.

Here’s another example: “She put the pizza in the oven.” Without the preposition in , we don’t know where the pizza is.

>> Read more about prepositions

7 Conjunctions

Conjunctions make it possible to build complex sentences that express multiple ideas.

“I like marinara sauce. I like alfredo sauce. I don’t like puttanesca sauce.” Each of these three sentences expresses a clear idea. There’s nothing wrong with listing your preferences like this, but it’s not the most efficient way to do it.

Consider instead: “I like marinara sauce and alfredo sauce, but I don’t like puttanesca sauce.

In this sentence, and and but are the two conjunctions that link your ideas together.

>> Read more about conjunctions

A pear. The brick house. An exciting experience. These bolded words are known as articles.

Articles come in two flavors: definite articles and indefinite articles . And similarly to the two types of nouns, the type of article you use depends on how specific you need to be about the thing you’re discussing.

A definite article, like the or this, describes one specific noun.

Did you buy the car?

From the above sentence, we understand that the speaker is referring to a specific previously discussed car.

Now swap in an indefinite article:

Did you buy a car?

See how the implication that you’re referring back to something specific is gone, and you’re asking a more general question?

>> Read more about articles

Figuring out parts of speech

Sometimes, it’s not easy to tell which part of speech a word is. Here are a few easy hacks for quickly figuring out what part of speech you’re dealing with:

• If it’s an adjective plus the ending – ly , it’s an adverb . Examples: commonly , quickly .
• If you can swap it out for a noun and the sentence still makes sense, it’s a pronoun . Example: “ He played basketball.” / “ Steve played basketball.”
• If it’s something you do and you can modify the sentence to include the word do , it’s a verb . Example: “I have an umbrella.” / “I do have an umbrella.”
• If you can remove the word and the sentence still makes sense but you lose a detail, the word is most likely an adjective . Example: “She drives a red van.” / “She drives a van.”

And if you’re ever really stumped, just look the word up. Dictionaries typically list a word’s part of speech in its entry, and if it has multiple forms with different parts of speech, they are all listed, with examples.

That brings us to another common issue that can confuse writers and language learners.

When a word can be different parts of speech

Just like y is sometimes a vowel and sometimes a consonant , there are words that are sometimes one part of speech and other times another. Here are a few examples:

• “I went to work ” (noun).
• “I work in the garden” (verb).
• “She paints very well ” (adverb).
• “They are finally well now, after weeks of illness” (adjective).
• “I dropped a penny into the well ” (noun).
• “ I cooked breakfast and lunch, but Steve cooked dinner” (conjunction).
• “I brought everything but the pens you asked for” (preposition).

And sometimes, words evolve to add forms that are new parts of speech. One recent example is the word adult . Before the 2010s, adult was primarily a noun that referred to a fully grown person. It could also be used as an adjective to refer to specific types of media, like adult contemporary music. But then, at right about the turn of the 2010s, the word adulting , a brand-new verb, appeared in the internet lexicon. As a verb, adulting refers to the act of doing tasks associated with adulthood, like paying bills and grocery shopping.

Open and closed word classes

The parts of speech fall into two word classes : open and closed .

The open word classes are the parts of speech that regularly acquire new words. Language evolves, and usually, that evolution takes place in nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs. In 2022, new words added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary included dumbphone (noun), greenwash (verb), and cringe (adjective).

The closed word classes are the parts of speech that don’t readily acquire new words. These parts of speech are more set in stone and include pronouns, conjunctions, articles, and prepositions.

Are you using the parts of speech correctly?

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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.

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• English Grammar
• Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech - Definition, 8 Types and Examples

In the English language , every word is called a part of speech. The role a word plays in a sentence denotes what part of speech it belongs to. Explore the definition of parts of speech, the different parts of speech and examples in this article.

Table of Contents

Parts of speech definition, different parts of speech with examples.

• Sentences Examples for the 8 Parts of Speech

A Small Exercise to Check Your Understanding of Parts of Speech

Frequently asked questions on parts of speech, what is a part of speech.

Parts of speech are among the first grammar topics we learn when we are in school or when we start our English language learning process. Parts of speech can be defined as words that perform different roles in a sentence. Some parts of speech can perform the functions of other parts of speech too.

• The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines parts of speech as “one of the classes into which words are divided according to their grammar, such as noun, verb, adjective, etc.”
• The Cambridge Dictionary also gives a similar definition – “One of the grammatical groups into which words are divided, such as noun, verb, and adjective”.

Parts of speech include nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections.

8 Parts of Speech Definitions and Examples:

1. Nouns are words that are used to name people, places, animals, ideas and things. Nouns can be classified into two main categories: Common nouns and Proper nouns . Common nouns are generic like ball, car, stick, etc., and proper nouns are more specific like Charles, The White House, The Sun, etc.

Examples of nouns used in sentences:

• She bought a pair of shoes . (thing)
• I have a pet. (animal)
• Is this your book ? (object)
• Many people have a fear of darkness . (ideas/abstract nouns)
• He is my brother . (person)
• This is my school . (place)

Also, explore Singular Nouns and Plural Nouns .

2. Pronouns are words that are used to substitute a noun in a sentence. There are different types of pronouns. Some of them are reflexive pronouns, possessive pronouns , relative pronouns and indefinite pronouns . I, he, she, it, them, his, yours, anyone, nobody, who, etc., are some of the pronouns.

Examples of pronouns used in sentences:

• I reached home at six in the evening. (1st person singular pronoun)
• Did someone see a red bag on the counter? (Indefinite pronoun)
• Is this the boy who won the first prize? (Relative pronoun)
• That is my mom. (Possessive pronoun)
• I hurt myself yesterday when we were playing cricket. (Reflexive pronoun)

3. Verbs are words that denote an action that is being performed by the noun or the subject in a sentence. They are also called action words. Some examples of verbs are read, sit, run, pick, garnish, come, pitch, etc.

Examples of verbs used in sentences:

• She plays cricket every day.
• Darshana and Arul are going to the movies.
• My friends visited me last week.
• Did you have your breakfast?
• My name is Meenakshi Kishore.

4. Adverbs are words that are used to provide more information about verbs, adjectives and other adverbs used in a sentence. There are five main types of adverbs namely, adverbs of manner , adverbs of degree , adverbs of frequency , adverbs of time and adverbs of place . Some examples of adverbs are today, quickly, randomly, early, 10 a.m. etc.

Examples of adverbs used in sentences:

• Did you come here to buy an umbrella? (Adverb of place)
• I did not go to school yesterday as I was sick. (Adverb of time)
• Savio reads the newspaper everyday . (Adverb of frequency)
• Can you please come quickly ? (Adverb of manner)
• Tony was so sleepy that he could hardly keep his eyes open during the meeting. (Adverb of degree)

5. Adjectives are words that are used to describe or provide more information about the noun or the subject in a sentence. Some examples of adjectives include good, ugly, quick, beautiful, late, etc.

Examples of adjectives used in sentences:

• The place we visited yesterday was serene .
• Did you see how big that dog was?
• The weather is pleasant today.
• The red dress you wore on your birthday was lovely.
• My brother had only one chapati for breakfast.

6. Prepositions are words that are used to link one part of the sentence to another. Prepositions show the position of the object or subject in a sentence. Some examples of prepositions are in, out, besides, in front of, below, opposite, etc.

Examples of prepositions used in sentences:

• The teacher asked the students to draw lines on the paper so that they could write in straight lines.
• The child hid his birthday presents under his bed.
• Mom asked me to go to the store near my school.
• The thieves jumped over the wall and escaped before we could reach home.

7. Conjunctions are a part of speech that is used to connect two different parts of a sentence, phrases and clauses . Some examples of conjunctions are and, or, for, yet, although, because, not only, etc.

Examples of conjunctions used in sentences:

• Meera and Jasmine had come to my birthday party.
• Jane did not go to work as she was sick.
• Unless you work hard, you cannot score good marks.
• I have not finished my project,  yet I went out with my friends.

8. Interjections are words that are used to convey strong emotions or feelings. Some examples of interjections are oh, wow, alas, yippee, etc. It is always followed by an exclamation mark.

Examples of interjections used in sentences:

• Wow ! What a wonderful work of art.
• Alas ! That is really sad.
• Yippee ! We won the match.

Sentence Examples for the 8 Parts of Speech

• Noun – Tom lives in New York .
• Pronoun – Did she find the book she was looking for?
• Verb – I reached home.
• Adverb – The tea is too hot.
• Adjective – The movie was amazing .
• Preposition – The candle was kept under the table.
• Conjunction – I was at home all day, but I am feeling very tired.
• Interjection – Oh ! I forgot to turn off the stove.

Let us find out if you have understood the different parts of speech and their functions. Try identifying which part of speech the highlighted words belong to.

• My brother came home  late .
• I am a good girl.
• This is the book I  was looking for.
• Whoa ! This is amazing .
• The climate  in  Kodaikanal is very pleasant.
• Can you please pick up Dan and me on  your way home?

Now, let us see if you got it right. Check your answers.

• My – Pronoun, Home – Noun, Late – Adverb
• Am – Verb, Good – Adjective
• I – Pronoun, Was looking – Verb
• Whoa – Interjection, Amazing – Adjective
• Climate – Noun, In – Preposition, Kodaikanal – Noun, Very – Adverb
• And – Conjunction, On – Preposition, Your – Pronoun

What are parts of speech?

The term ‘parts of speech’ refers to words that perform different functions in a sentence  in order to give the sentence a proper meaning and structure.

How many parts of speech are there?

There are 8 parts of speech in total.

What are the 8 parts of speech?

Nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections are the 8 parts of speech.

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The 8 Parts of Speech in English Grammar

Table of contents, introduction, what are parts of speech, a list of 8 parts of speech, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, analyzing sentence structure (parts of speech) .

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• Knowledge Base
• Parts of speech

The 8 Parts of Speech | Chart, Definition & Examples

A part of speech (also called a word class ) is a category that describes the role a word plays in a sentence. Understanding the different parts of speech can help you analyze how words function in a sentence and improve your writing.

The parts of speech are classified differently in different grammars, but most traditional grammars list eight parts of speech in English: nouns , pronouns , verbs , adjectives , adverbs , prepositions , conjunctions , and interjections . Some modern grammars add others, such as determiners and articles .

Many words can function as different parts of speech depending on how they are used. For example, “laugh” can be a noun (e.g., “I like your laugh”) or a verb (e.g., “don’t laugh”).

You can check whether you’re using each of the parts of speech correctly using our grammar checker .

Table of contents

• Prepositions
• Conjunctions
• Interjections

Other parts of speech

Interesting language articles, frequently asked questions.

A noun is a word that refers to a person, concept, place, or thing. Nouns can act as the subject of a sentence (i.e., the person or thing performing the action) or as the object of a verb (i.e., the person or thing affected by the action).

There are numerous types of nouns, including common nouns (used to refer to nonspecific people, concepts, places, or things), proper nouns (used to refer to specific people, concepts, places, or things), and collective nouns (used to refer to a group of people or things).

Ella lives in France .

Other types of nouns include countable and uncountable nouns , concrete nouns , abstract nouns , and gerunds .

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A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. Pronouns typically refer back to an antecedent (a previously mentioned noun) and must demonstrate correct pronoun-antecedent agreement . Like nouns, pronouns can refer to people, places, concepts, and things.

There are numerous types of pronouns, including personal pronouns (used in place of the proper name of a person), demonstrative pronouns (used to refer to specific things and indicate their relative position), and interrogative pronouns (used to introduce questions about things, people, and ownership).

That is a horrible painting!

A verb is a word that describes an action (e.g., “jump”), occurrence (e.g., “become”), or state of being (e.g., “exist”). Verbs indicate what the subject of a sentence is doing. Every complete sentence must contain at least one verb.

Verbs can change form depending on subject (e.g., first person singular), tense (e.g., simple past), mood (e.g., interrogative), and voice (e.g., passive voice ).

Regular verbs are verbs whose simple past and past participle are formed by adding“-ed” to the end of the word (or “-d” if the word already ends in “e”). Irregular verbs are verbs whose simple past and past participles are formed in some other way.

“I’ve already checked twice.”

“I heard that you used to sing .”

Other types of verbs include auxiliary verbs , linking verbs , modal verbs , and phrasal verbs .

An adjective is a word that describes a noun or pronoun. Adjectives can be attributive , appearing before a noun (e.g., “a red hat”), or predicative , appearing after a noun with the use of a linking verb like “to be” (e.g., “the hat is red ”).

Adjectives can also have a comparative function. Comparative adjectives compare two or more things. Superlative adjectives describe something as having the most or least of a specific characteristic.

Other types of adjectives include coordinate adjectives , participial adjectives , and denominal adjectives .

An adverb is a word that can modify a verb, adjective, adverb, or sentence. Adverbs are often formed by adding “-ly” to the end of an adjective (e.g., “slow” becomes “slowly”), although not all adverbs have this ending, and not all words with this ending are adverbs.

There are numerous types of adverbs, including adverbs of manner (used to describe how something occurs), adverbs of degree (used to indicate extent or degree), and adverbs of place (used to describe the location of an action or event).

Talia writes quite quickly.

Other types of adverbs include adverbs of frequency , adverbs of purpose , focusing adverbs , and adverbial phrases .

A preposition is a word (e.g., “at”) or phrase (e.g., “on top of”) used to show the relationship between the different parts of a sentence. Prepositions can be used to indicate aspects such as time , place , and direction .

I left the cup on the kitchen counter.

A conjunction is a word used to connect different parts of a sentence (e.g., words, phrases, or clauses).

The main types of conjunctions are coordinating conjunctions (used to connect items that are grammatically equal), subordinating conjunctions (used to introduce a dependent clause), and correlative conjunctions (used in pairs to join grammatically equal parts of a sentence).

You can choose what movie we watch because I chose the last time.

An interjection is a word or phrase used to express a feeling, give a command, or greet someone. Interjections are a grammatically independent part of speech, so they can often be excluded from a sentence without affecting the meaning.

Types of interjections include volitive interjections (used to make a demand or request), emotive interjections (used to express a feeling or reaction), cognitive interjections (used to indicate thoughts), and greetings and parting words (used at the beginning and end of a conversation).

Ouch ! I hurt my arm.

I’m, um , not sure.

The traditional classification of English words into eight parts of speech is by no means the only one or the objective truth. Grammarians have often divided them into more or fewer classes. Other commonly mentioned parts of speech include determiners and articles.

• Determiners

A determiner is a word that describes a noun by indicating quantity, possession, or relative position.

Common types of determiners include demonstrative determiners (used to indicate the relative position of a noun), possessive determiners (used to describe ownership), and quantifiers (used to indicate the quantity of a noun).

My brother is selling his old car.

Other types of determiners include distributive determiners , determiners of difference , and numbers .

An article is a word that modifies a noun by indicating whether it is specific or general.

• The definite article the is used to refer to a specific version of a noun. The can be used with all countable and uncountable nouns (e.g., “the door,” “the energy,” “the mountains”).
• The indefinite articles a and an refer to general or unspecific nouns. The indefinite articles can only be used with singular countable nouns (e.g., “a poster,” “an engine”).

There’s a concert this weekend.

If you want to know more about nouns , pronouns , verbs , and other parts of speech, make sure to check out some of our language articles with explanations and examples.

Nouns & pronouns

• Common nouns
• Proper nouns
• Collective nouns
• Personal pronouns
• Uncountable and countable nouns
• Verb tenses
• Phrasal verbs
• Types of verbs
• Active vs passive voice
• Subject-verb agreement

A is an indefinite article (along with an ). While articles can be classed as their own part of speech, they’re also considered a type of determiner .

The indefinite articles are used to introduce nonspecific countable nouns (e.g., “a dog,” “an island”).

In is primarily classed as a preposition, but it can be classed as various other parts of speech, depending on how it is used:

• Preposition (e.g., “ in the field”)
• Noun (e.g., “I have an in with that company”)
• Adjective (e.g., “Tim is part of the in crowd”)
• Adverb (e.g., “Will you be in this evening?”)

As a part of speech, and is classed as a conjunction . Specifically, it’s a coordinating conjunction .

And can be used to connect grammatically equal parts of a sentence, such as two nouns (e.g., “a cup and plate”), or two adjectives (e.g., “strong and smart”). And can also be used to connect phrases and clauses.

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• What Is an Interjection? | Examples, Definition & Types

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The Eight Parts of Speech

• Prepositions
• Conjunctions
• Interjections
• Basic Sentence Structure
• Sentence Fragments
• Run-on Sentences and Comma Splices
• Sentence Type and Purpose
• Independent and Dependent Clauses: Coordination and Subordination
• Subject Verb Agreement
• Consistent Verb Tense
• Other Phrases: Verbal, Appositive, Absolute
• Pronoun Reference
• Relative Pronouns: Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Clauses
• Avoiding Modifier Problems
• Transitions
• Would, Should, Could
• Achieving Parallelism
• Definite and Indefinite Articles
• Two-Word Verbs

TIP Sheet THE EIGHT PARTS OF SPEECH

There are eight parts of speech in the English language: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. The part of speech indicates how the word functions in meaning as well as grammatically within the sentence. An individual word can function as more than one part of speech when used in different circumstances. Understanding parts of speech is essential for determining the correct definition of a word when using the dictionary.

1. NOUN

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

man... Butte College... house... happiness

A noun is a word for a person, place, thing, or idea. Nouns are often used with an article ( the , a , an ), but not always. Proper nouns always start with a capital letter; common nouns do not. Nouns can be singular or plural, concrete or abstract. Nouns show possession by adding 's . Nouns can function in different roles within a sentence; for example, a noun can be a subject, direct object, indirect object, subject complement, or object of a preposition.

The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher , and then she quickly disappeared. Oh my!

See the TIP Sheet on "Nouns" for further information.

2. PRONOUN

• A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun.

She... we... they... it

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. A pronoun is usually substituted for a specific noun, which is called its antecedent. In the sentence above, the antecedent for the pronoun she is the girl. Pronouns are further defined by type: personal pronouns refer to specific persons or things; possessive pronouns indicate ownership; reflexive pronouns are used to emphasize another noun or pronoun; relative pronouns introduce a subordinate clause; and demonstrative pronouns identify, point to, or refer to nouns.

The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher, and then she quickly disappeared. Oh my!

See the TIP Sheet on "Pronouns" for further information.

3. VERB

• A verb expresses action or being.

jump... is... write... become

The verb in a sentence expresses action or being. There is a main verb and sometimes one or more helping verbs. (" She can sing." Sing is the main verb; can is the helping verb.) A verb must agree with its subject in number (both are singular or both are plural). Verbs also take different forms to express tense.

The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher, and then she quickly disappeared . Oh my!

See the TIP Sheet on "Verbs" for more information.

4. ADJECTIVE

• An adjective modifies or describes a noun or pronoun.

pretty... old... blue... smart

An adjective is a word used to modify or describe a noun or a pronoun. It usually answers the question of which one, what kind, or how many. (Articles [a, an, the] are usually classified as adjectives.)

See the TIP Sheet on "Adjectives" for more information.

5. ADVERB

• An adverb modifies or describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

gently... extremely... carefully... well

An adverb describes or modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, but never a noun. It usually answers the questions of when, where, how, why, under what conditions, or to what degree. Adverbs often end in -ly.

See the TIP Sheet on "Adverbs" for more information.

6. PREPOSITION

• A preposition is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to form a phrase modifying another word in the sentence.

by... with.... about... until

(by the tree, with our friends, about the book, until tomorrow)

A preposition is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to form a phrase modifying another word in the sentence. Therefore a preposition is always part of a prepositional phrase. The prepositional phrase almost always functions as an adjective or as an adverb. The following list includes the most common prepositions:

See the TIP Sheet on "Prepositions" for more information.

7. CONJUNCTION

• A conjunction joins words, phrases, or clauses.

and... but... or... while... because

A conjunction joins words, phrases, or clauses, and indicates the relationship between the elements joined. Coordinating conjunctions connect grammatically equal elements: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet. Subordinating conjunctions connect clauses that are not equal: because, although, while, since, etc. There are other types of conjunctions as well.

The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher, and then she quickly disappeared. Oh my!

See the TIP Sheet on "Conjunctions" for more information.

8. INTERJECTION

• An interjection is a word used to express emotion.

Oh!... Wow!... Oops!

An interjection is a word used to express emotion. It is often followed by an exclamation point.

The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher, and then she quickly disappeared. Oh my !

See the TIP Sheet on "Interjections" for more information.

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The Parts of Speech – Definitions and Examples

The different parts of speech are the breakdown and classification of words in English that show their unique functions and properties. In core language, a single word can function as two or more parts of speech.

Differentiating between the 9 parts of speech is the first step to building your grammar skills and writing tools. Keep reading to learn the definitions and examples of each category!

What are the 9 Basic Parts of Speech?

A noun is any place, person, idea, or thing. Some examples of nouns include:

There are various classifications of nouns you can use in your writing. Proper nouns are specific names for places, persons, ideas, or things. Meanwhile, common nouns are generic class nouns. A possessive noun is another type of noun that demonstrates belonging. 

We can also classify this part of speech as an abstract noun, concrete noun, count noun, and uncountable noun.

The placement of the noun in a sentence also determines its function. A noun can be in the nominative or objective case. The nominative functions include subject and subject complement. And the types of objects are direct object, indirect object, and object of a preposition.

A quick introduction to pronouns shows they are classes of words that take the place of nouns. Some examples of pronouns include he, that, whoever, myself.

This quick guide to pronouns shows they can be classified as: 

• Personal pronoun (I, he, she, you, etc.)
• Demonstrative pronouns (that, those, these, this, etc.).
• Interrogative pronouns (what, when, why, how, etc.).
• Relative pronouns (who/whom, whose, which, etc.).
• Indefinite pronouns (anybody, everybody, somebody, everything, etc.).
• Reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself, herself, etc.).
• Intensive pronouns (myself, yourself, herself, etc.).

Pronouns can further be divided into first-person pronoun, second-person pronoun, and third-person pronoun.

A verb is a word that conveys time while showing a condition, an action, or the fact that something exists. All complete sentences should contain at least one verb unless using an interjection.

Verbs can be treated as either lexical verbs/action verbs (study, love, drink) or auxiliary verbs (seem, is, have). 

A verb phrase combines verbs with linking verbs and lexical categories of verbs. Some examples include:

• Has become.

Phrasal verbs are forms of verbs that consist of two or more words. Here are some examples:

• Put up with.

When you add “up with” after the simple verb “put,” you create a brand-new verb with a new meaning. Therefore, phrasal verbs should be treated as complete verbs because of their unique definitions.

Some verbs are reflexive. A reflexive verb is where the subject and object are one since the sentence uses reflexive pronouns like “himself” or “itself.”

Whether you’re using a lexical or auxiliary verb, this part of the speech always expresses time through the different tenses. For instance, the verb “eats” is a present-tense verb, and its past form is “ate.”

4. Adjective

Another part of speech is the adjective , which modifies or describes a noun or a pronoun. It typically answers the questions “what kind,” “which one,” or “how much.” For example:

The articles “a,” “an,” and “the” are sometimes categorized as adjectives. “The” is a definite article, and “a” and “an” are indefinite articles.

Adjective classes include:

• Absolute adjectives.
• Appositive adjectives.
• Attributive adjectives.
• Predicative adjectives.
• Compound adjectives.
• Qualitative adjectives.
• Denomial adjectives.
• Participial adjectives.
• Demonstrative adjectives.

Adverbs are a word class that modifies adjectives, verbs, and fellow adverbs. One frequent adverb marker is the suffix -ly, such as “healthily,” “badly,” and “swiftly.”

But the discussion of adverbs goes beyond words that describe actions. There are also adverbs of degree, place, time, and frequency. The English language also considers “most days,” “to visit my friend,” “very loudly,” and other adverbial phrases as adverbs.

Adverbial phrases are under the phrasal categories, including verb phrases, adjective phrases, etc.

6. Conjunction

A conjunction is a word that binds words, clauses, and phrases. “And,” “but,” “because,” and “consequently” are some examples of conjunctions.

Conjunctions make it easy to construct more complex sentences because you can easily add new clauses. The category distinctions of this part of speech are:

• Coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so, etc.)
• Subordinating conjunctions (after, although, unless, since, if, etc.)
• Correlative conjunctions (not only… but also, either… or, etc.)

7. Preposition

Prepositions show relations of space, time, and role between nouns, pronouns, and other words. They are at the start of prepositional phrases. Here are some examples of prepositions:

• Apart from.

8. Determiner

A determiner is like an adjective because it also modifies nouns. However, these words are essential for proper syntax as opposed to adjectives. They can be classified as indefinite and definite. New grammar rules now treat articles as determiners. Examples of determiners include:

• Which. 

9. Interjection

The last part of speech is the interjection which may have standalone functions in sentences. “Whoops,” “ouch,” “ah,” and “hooray” can be an entire sentence on their own.

Parts of Speech Chart

Analyzing the parts of speech is different for every individual language. Here’s an overview of the different categories in English.

When A Word is Also Two Different Kinds of Speech

Sometimes, words have more than one role in the English language. For example, some nouns can also act as adjectives called adjectival nouns. In the phrase “race car,” “race” modifies “car,” so its usage is as an adjective instead of a noun.

A noun can be used in verbal senses. Consider the word “work” in these sentences.

• My new work is more promising than the old one. (noun)
• Shew works in a new industry. (verb)

Open and Closed Word Classes

The two classifications of the parts of speech include open and closed classes. The open classes can be changed and added as the language changes. 

• Adjectives.

Meanwhile, closed classes are parts of speech that do not change. These include:

• Prepositions.
• Conjunctions.
• Articles and determiners.
• Interjections.

In some languages, verbs and adjectives form closed classes. This closedness of verbs is common in Basque and Persian verbs .

Linguistics , or the study of language, does not recommend the label “part of speech” anymore. Instead, the discipline favors “syntactic category” or “word class.”

What Part of Speech is With?

In the stricter sense, the only use of “with” is as a preposition. You can find it before a noun or a pronoun to form prepositional phrases. Use it to show togetherness, associations, and connections between people and objects.

What Part of Speech is And?

The conjunction “and” connects words, clauses, and phrases. It can also combine sentences that need to be presented at once.

What Part of Speech is My?

“My” is a possessive pronoun that can also act as an adjective, determiner, or interjection.

Are You Using the Parts of Speech the Right Way?

This guide has shown you the nine parts of speech and their grammatical functions. By now, you should already be able to give definitions and examples of each category, so they make sense. 

To correctly use the parts of speech, ask yourself, “what is the function of this word in the sentence?” Keep practicing until you master the traditional grammar rules of English!

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Parts of Speech: Definition and Types with Examples

In English grammar, the parts of speech are the categories to which words are assigned based on their function in a sentence. There are eight parts of speech in the English language: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. Each part of speech has a specific role in a sentence and serves a specific purpose.

Understanding the different parts of speech and their functions can help you analyze and construct sentences, and improve your communication skills.

Eight Parts of Speech in English Grammar

There are eight parts of speech in the English language:

A noun is a word that is used to name a person, place, thing, or idea. It helps us identify and talk about the people, objects, and concepts in our world. Nouns can be proper nouns (e.g. John, New York) or common nouns (e.g. boy, city).

Let’s break it down further:

• Person: Nouns can be used to talk about people. For example, names like “John” or “Sarah” are nouns because they represent specific individuals. The word “teacher” is also a noun because it refers to a person who teaches.
• Place: Nouns can also represent locations or specific places. For instance, “Paris” or “school” are nouns because they name particular places. They help us understand where things are happening.
• Thing: Nouns can refer to objects or things. For example, “table,” “book,” or “car” are all nouns because they represent physical items that we can see and touch.
• Idea: Nouns can even represent abstract concepts or ideas. Words like “love,” “freedom,” or “knowledge” are nouns because they represent things that exist in our minds but cannot be seen or touched.

Examples in Sentences:

• Ronaldo is a good player.
• Kate has a lovely doll .
• Dubai is a beautiful city .

>> Read more about nouns

A pronoun is a word that we use to replace a noun. Instead of repeating the noun over and over again, we can use a pronoun to refer to it. Pronouns can be personal pronouns (e.g. I, you, he, she, it), possessive pronouns (e.g. mine, yours, his, hers), or reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself, himself, herself).

Let’s say, you have a friend named Emily. When you talk about Emily, you can use her name, saying things like “Emily is kind” or “Emily is smart.” But instead of saying “Emily” every time, you can use a pronoun like “she” to refer to her. So you could say “She is kind” or “She is smart.”

• This is my father. He is a teacher.
• My mother is kind. Everybody likes her .
• I made this cake myself .

Using pronouns makes our language smoother and easier to understand. They help us refer to people, objects, or things without repeating their names all the time.

>> Read more about Pronouns

A verb is a word that shows an action or a state of being. It describes what someone or something does or how they exist. Verbs bring action and movement to our sentences.

• Action: Verbs can represent actions that people or things do. For example, words like “run,” “jump,” “eat,” or “write” are verbs because they describe specific actions that someone or something is performing. So when you say, “I run,” or “The dog jumps,” the verbs “run” and “jumps” show the action taking place.
• State of being: Verbs can also express a state of being or existence. For instance, words like “is,” “am,” “are,” or “was” are verbs because they describe how someone or something exists or what they are like. When you say, “I am happy,” or “They were excited,” the verbs “am” and “were” express a state of being or existence.

Verbs are crucial for constructing meaningful sentences because they allow us to describe actions, events, and conditions. They help us convey what is happening, what has happened, or how things are. Without verbs, our sentences would lack the action and dynamism needed to communicate effectively.

Remember, verbs make sentences come alive by showing what is happening or how things are. They are like the engines that power our language!

• Cows eat grass.
• Mary enjoys singing.
• Most children learn very fast
• He became a doctor.

>>Read more about Verbs

An adjective is a word that describes or gives more information about a noun. It helps to paint a clearer picture in our minds by adding details and qualities to the things we talk about.

Here’s a simple explanation:

Imagine you have a fluffy cat. The word “fluffy” is an adjective because it describes how the cat looks. It helps you imagine the cat’s soft and thick fur. Similarly, if you say you have a big house, “big” is the adjective that tells us about the size of the house.

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Adjectives can describe many different qualities, such as size, color, shape, texture, taste, and more. They help us express our thoughts and create a more vivid and specific image of the things we are talking about.

Here are a few more examples:

• A delicious meal: “Delicious” describes how the meal tastes.
• A beautiful flower: “Beautiful” tells us about the appearance of the flower.
• A tall tree: “tall” describes the height of the tree.

By using adjectives, we can add more detail and make our language more interesting and descriptive. They help us express our opinions, observations, and preferences by giving more information about the nouns they describe.

An adverb is a word that describes or gives more information about a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. It tells us how, when, where, or to what extent something happens. Adverbs help us understand the way actions are performed or qualities are expressed.

• Describing verbs: Adverbs can describe how an action is performed. For example, if someone runs quickly, “quickly” is the adverb because it tells us the manner or speed of the action. Adverbs can answer questions like “How?” or “In what way?”
• Describing adjectives: Adverbs can also describe or modify adjectives, providing more information about the qualities they represent. For instance, if you say someone is extremely intelligent, “extremely” is the adverb because it shows the degree or intensity of the adjective “intelligent.” Adverbs can answer questions like “To what extent?”
• Describing other adverbs: Adverbs can even describe or modify other adverbs, adding further detail or intensity to their meaning. For example, if you say someone speaks very loudly, “very” is the adverb that describes the intensity of the adverb “loudly.”

Adverbs can tell us more about the time, place, manner, frequency, degree, or reason behind an action or quality. They help us provide a fuller description of what is happening or how something is done.

• She sings beautifully. “Beautifully” describes how she sings.
• They arrived late. “Late” describes the time of their arrival.
• He writes quite slowly. “Slowly” describes the manner in which he writes.

By using adverbs, we can add more information, clarify details, and give a better understanding of actions, qualities, or circumstances. They help us communicate more precisely and vividly.

Preposition

A preposition is a word that shows the relationship between a noun (or pronoun) and another word in a sentence. It helps us understand where something is in relation to something else or how things are connected.

• Location: Prepositions can describe where something is located. For example, words like “in,” “on,” “at,” or “under” show the position of an object. If you say, “The book is on the table,” the preposition “on” tells us the relationship between the book and the table.
• Direction: Prepositions can indicate the direction of movement. Words like “to,” “from,” or “towards” show where someone or something is going. For instance, if you say, “She walked to the park,” the preposition “to” indicates the direction of her movement.
• Time: Prepositions can also express time-related relationships. Words like “before,” “after,” “during,” or “at” show when something happens. For example, if you say, “We’ll meet at 5 o’clock,” the preposition “at” indicates the specific time of the meeting.

Prepositions help us understand the spatial, temporal, or directional connections between different parts of a sentence. They provide crucial information about the location, movement, or time frame of people, objects, or events.

Here are a few examples:

• She sat beside her friend. “Beside” shows the position of her sitting.
• The cat jumped off the table. “Off” shows the direction of the cat’s movement.
• We’ll have dinner after the movie. “After” indicates the time relationship between the movie and dinner.

By using prepositions, we can provide context and clarify the relationships between different elements in a sentence. They help us paint a more complete picture and make our language more precise and meaningful.

More Example Sentences:

• He is going to New York.
• There is an old castle on the hill.
• There are seven days in a week.

Conjunction

A conjunction is a part of speech used to connect words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence. It helps to establish relationships between different elements, making the sentence more coherent and creating logical connections between ideas. Conjunctions play a crucial role in forming complex sentences by joining various components together. They can connect similar ideas (coordinating conjunctions) or show relationships between dependent and independent clauses (subordinating conjunctions).

Here are two main types of conjunctions:

• and : I like apples and oranges.
• but : She studied hard, but she still failed the exam.
• or : Would you like tea or coffee?
• nor : He didn’t eat breakfast, nor did he have lunch.
• yet : It was raining, yet they decided to go for a walk.
• so : She practiced every day, so she improved her skills.
• for : He worked hard, for he wanted to succeed.
• because : She stayed home because it was raining.
• when : I will call you when I arrive.
• if : He will come if he has time.
• although : Although it was late, they continued the party.
• while : She read a book while waiting for the bus.

Conjunctions are essential for constructing well-structured sentences and paragraphs. They allow us to convey complex relationships between ideas and enable smooth and logical transitions between different parts of a sentence.

Interjection

An interjection is a word or phrase that expresses a sudden or strong emotion or reaction. It is like a burst of feeling that we use to convey our immediate thoughts or sentiments. Interjections add color, emphasis, or an emotional touch to our language.

• Expressing emotions: Interjections capture our emotions and reactions in a concise way. They can convey excitement, surprise, joy, pain, frustration, or any other intense feeling. For example, words like “Wow!”, “Ouch!”, “Yay!”, “Oops!”, or “Oh no!” are interjections because they express our immediate responses.
• Stand-alone words or phrases: Interjections are often used as stand-alone words or phrases, independent of the rest of the sentence. They can be inserted before, after, or even within a sentence to convey the emotion we are experiencing. For instance, if you say, “Yikes! That was close,” the interjection “Yikes!” adds a sense of surprise or fear to the statement.
• Punctuation and tone: Interjections are typically punctuated with an exclamation mark to emphasize the strong emotion being expressed. They can also be influenced by the tone of our voice, such as when we raise our voice to convey excitement or lower it to show disappointment.

Interjections bring life and immediacy to our language. They allow us to express our unfiltered reactions or feelings in a vivid and engaging way.

• Yippee! I won the game! “Yippee!” expresses excitement and joy.
• Ouch! That hurt! “Ouch!” conveys pain or discomfort.
• Oh well, I guess it’s not meant to be. “Oh well” shows resignation or acceptance.

By using interjections, we can add emotion, energy, and personal expression to our words. They help us communicate our feelings and connect with others on an emotional level.

We briefly discussed the parts of speech with examples. Each part of speech has different types, and we will explain each in detail. Here’s an example sentence using all eight parts of speech.

Example Sentence using all Eight Parts of Speech

I (pronoun) quickly (adverb) ran (verb) to (preposition) the store (noun) and (conjunction) bought (verb) a big (adjective), expensive (adjective) bag of chips (noun). Wow (interjection), that was a lot of money (noun)!

When a word functions as different parts of speech?

Sometimes, a word can function as different parts of speech depending on its usage and context within a sentence. This versatility arises because words can have multiple meanings and can be applied in various ways. Here are a few examples to illustrate how a word can be different parts of speech:

Example word: “Run”

• Noun: “He went for a run in the park.” Here, “run” functions as a noun, representing an activity or exercise.
• Verb: “She likes to run every morning.” In this sentence, “run” acts as a verb, describing the action of engaging in the activity.

Example word: “Fast”

• Adjective: “He is a fast runner.” In this case, “fast” functions as an adjective, describing the quality of being quick or speedy.
• Adverb: “She ran fast to catch the bus.” Here, “fast” is an adverb, modifying the verb “ran” to indicate the manner or speed of the action.

Example word: “Hard”

• Adjective: “The test was hard.” In this sentence, “hard” acts as an adjective, describing the difficulty level of the test.
• Adverb: “He worked hard to achieve his goals.” Here, “hard” functions as an adverb, describing the intensity or degree of effort exerted.

These examples demonstrate how the same word can have different roles based on its function within a sentence and the meaning it conveys in that particular context. Understanding the broader context, sentence structure , and the intended meaning is key to correctly identifying the part of speech a word is fulfilling in a given sentence.

Open and closed word classes

Open and closed word classes are categories used in linguistics to classify words based on their ability to accept new members or their resistance to new additions. Parts of Speech falls into these two categories.

Open Word Classes:

Open word classes are categories of words that have the potential to grow and accept new members over time. They are characterized by their flexibility and ability to create new words. The four main open-word classes are:

• Nouns are open-word classes because new nouns can be coined or added to the language as new concepts or objects are discovered or created. For example, “ deep state ,” “ genocidaire ,” “ easybeat ,” and “ depthness ” are relatively recent additions to the English language.
• Verbs are open word classes because new verbs can be formed or added to the language as new actions or concepts emerge. For instance, “ genocide ” and “ kinkle ” are examples of relatively recent verb formations.
• Adjectives are open word classes because new adjectives can be created or borrowed to describe new qualities or characteristics. Examples of newer adjectives include “ snitchy ,” “ plasmonic ,” and “ anticipatory .”
• Adverbs are open word classes because new adverbs can be formed or added to the language to describe new manners, degrees, or circumstances. For instance, “ folklorically ,” “ crazily ,” and “ certifiably ” are relatively recent adverb formations.

Closed Word Classes:

Closed word classes are categories of words that have a limited number of members and are resistant to the addition of new words. They have relatively stable membership and do not readily accept new members. The three main closed word classes are:

• Pronouns have a fixed set of members that represent specific categories, such as personal pronouns (e.g., “he,” “she,” “it”), possessive pronouns (e.g., “mine,” “yours”), and reflexive pronouns (e.g., “myself,” “yourself”).
• Prepositions have a fixed set of members, and new prepositions are rarely added to the language. Examples of prepositions include “in,” “on,” “at,” “under,” and “between.”
• Conjunctions have a limited set of members, and new conjunctions are not typically added to the language. Common conjunctions include “and,” “but,” “or,” and “because.”

These closed-word classes have relatively stable membership and do not readily accept new words because they serve specific grammatical or structural functions in the language.

Tips to figure out Parts of Speech

When trying to figure out parts of speech in a sentence, there are several tips you can use. Here are some common approaches:

• Understand the role of the word: Parts of speech are determined by the function of a word within a sentence. Start by understanding the role the word plays—does it describe, name, connect, or modify something? This can give you a clue about its part of speech.
• Identify word endings: Many words have specific endings that indicate their part of speech. For example, nouns often end in -tion, -ment, -ity, or -ness; verbs can end in -ing or -ed; adjectives may end in -ful or -ous. Pay attention to these patterns.
• Look for determiners: Determiners (such as articles like “the” or “a,” possessive pronouns like “my” or “your,” or demonstratives like “this” or “that”) are often indicators of nouns. If a word is preceded by a determiner, it’s likely a noun.
• Consider the context: Context can provide valuable clues about a word’s part of speech. Look at the words that surround it and the overall meaning of the sentence. For example, if the word is an action or state, it’s likely a verb; if it describes or modifies a noun, it’s likely an adjective.
• Word order : In English, word order often indicates the part of speech. For example, articles (a, an, the) usually come before nouns, while adjectives often come before nouns they modify.
• Consult a dictionary or grammar resource: When in doubt, consult a dictionary or a reliable grammar resource. They can provide definitions, examples, and the specific part of speech for a given word.
• Practice with sentence diagrams: Diagramming sentences can help you visually represent the structure and relationship between words in a sentence. This can assist in identifying the part of speech of each word.
• Learn the common patterns: Each part of speech has certain characteristics and patterns. By familiarizing yourself with these patterns, such as typical word order or common word formations, you can improve your ability to identify parts of speech.

Remember that figuring out parts of speech requires practice and a good understanding of grammar rules. Over time, you’ll become more proficient at recognizing the different parts of speech in sentences.

Figures of Speech: Definition and Types with Examples

Sentence Structure: Simple, Compound and Complex Sentences

Sentence: Definition & Types with Examples

Clauses: Definition, Types and Examples

Parts of Speech in English

Parts of speech are categories of words that perform similar grammatical roles in phrase and sentence structures. You might wonder what the different parts of speech are and how to identify them. This reference explains parts of speech, including nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, determiners, conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections, with examples.

You’ll also learn about open and closed word classes, how to determine a part of speech in a sentence, and their roles in simple and complex sentence constructions. This guide includes a useful picture, a video, and a quiz on parts of speech to help solidify your understanding.

Parts of Speech

What Are Parts Of Speech?

Parts of speech are word categories defined by their roles in sentence structures. These categories are organized by the functions and meanings they convey. In English, there are around ten common parts of speech:  nouns ,  verbs ,  adjectives ,  adverbs ,  pronouns ,  prepositions ,  conjunctions ,  interjections ,  determiners , and  articles .

Open and Closed Word Classes

Closed word classes  are parts of speech that do not have newer words introduced over time. These include pronouns, conjunctions, determiners, and prepositions.

Open word classes  are parts of speech that can have newer words introduced over time. These include nouns, verbs, adjectives, interjections, and adverbs.

Different Parts of Speech (with Examples)

The noun (n.).

A  noun  gives a name to something. There are different types of nouns like proper, collective, possessive, and common nouns.

Jeffrey, Korea, pen, New Year, dog, cat, elephant, garden, school, work, music, town, Manila, teacher, farmer, Bob, Sean, Michael, police officer, France, coffee, football, danger, happiness…

Example sentences:

• The  teacher  told the  children  to stop chattering in class.
• John  is good at  French  but weak at  History .

Common Noun :  Names a general item.

• Here is a  cup .
• Do you want a  cake ?

Proper Noun:  Names a specific item.

• The capital of  England  is  London .
• Sarah  is beautiful.

Collective Noun:  Refers to a group.

• The  swarm  of bees was headed straight towards our picnic.
• At church on Sunday, the  choir  sings loudly.

Possessive Noun:  Shows ownership.

• This is my  dog’s  ball.
• That is  Sarah’s  friend.

The Verb (v.)

A  verb  describes an action. There are three main types: action, linking, and modal verbs.

Walk, is, seem, realize, run, see, swim, stand, go, have, get, promise, invite, listen, sing, sit, laugh, walk…

• Don’t  try  to  run  before you can  walk .
• Did you  kiss  anybody?
• Leave  me alone!

Action Verb :  Describes an action.

• The man  walked  down the street.
• I  laughed  at his joke.
• She  ran  to catch the bus before it left.
• The chef  chopped  the vegetables into small pieces for the salad.

Linking Verb:  Connects the subject to a noun, adjective, or pronoun.

• Sarah  feels  cold.
• I  am  very tired.
• The flowers in the garden  are  blooming beautifully in the spring.
• The soup  smells  delicious and makes my mouth water.

Modal Verb:  Helps the main verb and shows the speaker’s thoughts.

• I  might  walk to the park this afternoon.
• He  can  eat the last slice of cake.
• You  must  listen to me!

The Pronoun (pron.)

A  pronoun  replaces a noun. There are various types of pronouns like reflexive, indefinite, possessive, and relative pronouns.

I, me, we, you, he, she, yours, himself, its, my, that, this, those, us, who, whom

• Richard isn’t at work this week;  he ‘s gone on holiday.
• Don’t tell  her  the truth.
• She tried it  herself .
• You can’t blame  him  for  everything .
• The woman  who  called yesterday wants to buy the house.

Reflexive Pronoun:  Refers to self.

• I am going to keep this last cupcake for  myself .
• Peter always puts  himself  first.

Indefinite Pronoun:  Refers to a non-specific person or item.

• Can you take  all ?
• I need to speak to  someone  about this rash on my arm.

Possessive Pronoun:  Shows ownership.

• This bag is not  yours , it’s  mine .
• Her book is so new, while  his  looks vintage.

Relative Pronoun:  Introduces an adjective clause.

• This is the woman  who  will be working with you.
• Is this the book  that  everyone is raving about?

The Adjective (adj.)

An  adjective  describes a noun or pronoun.

Beautiful, seven, cute, second, tall, blue, angry, brave, careful, healthy, little, old, generous, red, smart, two, small, tall, some, good, big, useful, interesting…

• This is a  blue  car.
• The  small  squirrel ran up the tree.
• During the thunderstorm, we saw some  heavy  rain.
• My mother has  short  hair.
• The documentary on TV last night was very  interesting .
• My son has an  impressive  collection of toy soldiers.
• The weather is  hot  and  sunny  today.
• My vacation was  exciting .
• The leaves on that tree are  green  and  large .

The Adverb (adv.)

An  adverb  modifies an adjective, verb, or another adverb. Many adverbs end in -ly, but not all do.

Neatly, tomorrow, very, badly, fully, carefully, hardly, nearly, hungrily, never, quickly, silently, well, really, almost…

• This is an  extremely  attractive photograph.
• I have a  very  large pet dog.
• My car drives  quickly .
• When I am running late for work, I eat my breakfast  rapidly .
• The boy is crying  loudly .
• She  carefully  preserved all his letters.

Determiners and Articles

Determiners and articles help clarify the nouns they introduce.  Articles  can be definite ( the ) or indefinite ( a ,  an ).

The, a, an, this, that, these, those, many, few, each, every, some, any, no, which, what

• The  cat is sleeping on  a  mat.
• Can  an  apple be green?
• This  book is very interesting.
• Each  student must bring their own lunch.

The Conjunction (conj.)

A  conjunction  connects words, phrases, or clauses. Some common conjunctions are  and ,  but ,  or ,  so ,  because , and  although .

And, but, or, so, because, although, if, until, while, since, when, after, before, as

• I want to buy a sandwich  and  a drink.
• She was tired  but  happy.
• You can go to the party  or  stay home.
• They were late  because  of the traffic.
• Although  it was raining, we went for a walk.

The Preposition (prep.)

A  preposition  shows the relationship of a noun (or pronoun) to another word. Common prepositions include  at ,  on ,  in ,  by ,  with , and  about .

At, on, in, by, with, about, above, below, between, during, for, from, over, under, through

• The cat is  on  the roof.
• She sat  by  the window.
• We will meet  at  the park  in  the afternoon.
• The book is  about  a boy  with  a magical power.

The Interjection (interj.)

An  interjection  is a word or phrase that expresses strong emotion or sudden exclamation. Common interjections include  wow ,  ouch ,  oh , and  hey .

Wow, ouch, oh, hey, ah, ugh, ew, hmm, yay, yikes, whoa, oops, aha, hurray, ew, oh no

• Wow ! That’s amazing!
• Ouch ! That hurt.
• Oh ! I didn’t see you there.
• Hey ! Wait for me.
• Yay ! We won the game.

In this section, you’ve learned about different parts of speech with examples and sample sentences. Each part of speech plays a unique role in creating meaningful sentences.

How To Determine A Part Of Speech In A Sentence

To determine a part of speech in a sentence, look at the word being used, its context, and what meaning it brings to the sentence structure. Here are some questions you can ask about a particular word:

• Is it a person, place, idea, name, or thing?  It is a  noun .
• Is the word used in place of a noun?  It is a  pronoun .
• Does the word convey an action, occurrence, or state of being?  It is a  verb .
• Does the word modify a noun?  It is an  adjective .
• Does the word modify a verb, adjective, or itself?  It is an  adverb .
• Is the word placed in front of a noun to form a modifying phrase?  It is a  preposition .
• Does the word link a phrase or clause?  It is a  conjunction .
• Is the word a quick expression of emotion?  It is an  interjection .
• Is the word placed before a noun to clarify it?  It is a  determiner  or an  article .

By asking these questions, you can identify the correct part of speech for any word in a sentence.

Parts of Speech and Sentence Construction

Simple/basic sentences.

In its simplest form, a sentence can have one  independent clause .

For example, the sentence “I walk to the store” contains one clause.

• “I” is the subject of the clause, while “walk” is the verb.
• The ending phrase, “walk to the store” would be the verb phrase, or  predicate , of the sentence.

This entire sentence “I walk to the store” is an independent clause, expresses one subject doing one action — and is known as a  simple sentence .

Knowing this, apply the fact that nouns and pronouns will often be the subjects or objects of simple sentences, while verbs will convey actions. So once again:

• I  (subject, pronoun)
• walk  (verb)
• to  (preposition)
• the  (article)
• store  (object, noun)

Complex Sentences

Complex sentences contain an independent clause and one or more dependent clauses. These sentences use conjunctions such as  because, since, which,  or  who  to connect clauses. Consider the structure and an example below:

• Independent Clause:  She reads a book
• Dependent Clause:  because she wants to learn

By combining these clauses, one forms a complex sentence:  She reads a book because she wants to learn.

Other examples of complex sentences:

• Although the weather was cold, they decided to go for a hike.
• She completed her assignment before she went out with her friends.
• When you finish your homework, we can go to the movies.
• Because my coffee was too cold, I heated it in the microwave.
• If you save your money, you can buy a new bicycle.

Parts of Speech Video

Learn all parts of speech in English with a useful video lesson.

Parts Of Speech Quiz

Here are some Parts Of Speech exercises for you to practice:

A. In the sentence “I ran to the tallest tree”, what part of speech is the word “tallest”?

• A preposition
• An adjective

B. In the 2000s, the word  staycation  described the act of staying home for a vacation. Since “staycation” is a noun and a new word, what class of words does it belong to?

• The Open word class
• The Closed word class
• The Infinitive word class

C. In the sentence “I’ll have a few tacos”, what part of speech is the phrase “a few”?

• Interjections
• Determiners

Answers: A) 3, B) 1, C) 3

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Definition of speech

• declamation

Examples of speech in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'speech.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Middle English speche , from Old English sprǣc, spǣc ; akin to Old English sprecan to speak — more at speak

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing speech

• acceptance speech
• figure of speech
• freedom of speech
• free speech
• hate speech
• part of speech
• polite speech

speech community

• speech form
• speech impediment
• speech therapy
• stump speech
• visible speech

Dictionary Entries Near speech

Cite this entry.

“Speech.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/speech. Accessed 18 Sep. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of speech, medical definition, medical definition of speech, legal definition, legal definition of speech, more from merriam-webster on speech.

Nglish: Translation of speech for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of speech for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about speech

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Parts of Speech: Definitions, Categories and Examples

By: Author English Study Online

Posted on Last updated: August 28, 2024

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In this reference, we will break down each part of speech and provide examples to help you understand their usage. We will also discuss how to identify the different parts of speech in a sentence and provide tips on how to use them correctly. Let’s get started!

Parts of Speech – Created by Englishstudyonline

Table of Contents

What is a Parts of Speech?

A  part of speech  is a category that describes the role a word plays in a sentence. These roles help you understand how words function in grammar .

There are typically eight main parts of speech in English:

• Nouns : Words that name people, places, things, or ideas.
• Pronouns : Words that replace nouns, such as  he, she, it .
• Verbs : Words that describe actions or states, like  run, is .
• Adjectives : Words that describe or modify nouns, like  blue  or  quick .

Some grammars list additional parts of speech:

• Adverbs : Words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, such as  quickly .
• Prepositions : Words that show relationships between a noun (or pronoun) and another word, like  in  or  on .
• Conjunctions : Words that connect clauses, sentences, or words, such as  and  or  but .
• Interjections : Words that express emotion, like  wow  or  oops .

Some sources also include:

• Determiners/Articles : Words that modify nouns and specify which one, like  the, a .

Categories of Parts of Speech

Nouns are words that represent people, places, things, or ideas. They are one of the most important parts of speech in English and are used in nearly every sentence. In this section, we will explore the different types of nouns and their functions.

• Common Nouns : General names for people, places, or things. Not capitalized unless at the start of a sentence. Examples : “book,” “city,” “teacher.”
• Proper Nouns : Specific names for people, places, or things. Always capitalized. Examples : “Harry Potter,” “New York City,” “Ms. Johnson.”
• Abstract Nouns : Names for ideas, concepts, or emotions that are intangible. Examples : “love,” “happiness,” “freedom.”
• Collective Nouns : Names for groups of people or things; can be singular or plural. Examples : “team,” “family,” “herd.”

2. Pronouns

Pronouns are words that replace nouns in a sentence. They help avoid repetition and make sentences clearer. Here are different types of pronouns in English:

• Personal Pronouns : Refer to specific people or things and can be subjects or objects. Examples : I/me, you/your/yours, he/him/his, she/her/hers, it/its.
• Demonstrative Pronouns : Point to specific people or things and indicate distance. Examples : this (near), that (far), these (plural, near), those (plural, far).
• Interrogative Pronouns : Used to ask questions. Examples : who (person), whom (person, object), whose (possession).
• Indefinite Pronouns : Refer to non-specific people or things. Examples : anybody, anyone, anything, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything.
• Action Verbs : Describe actions performed by the subject. Examples : Run, Jump, Sing, Dance, Write.
• Linking Verbs : Connect the subject to a noun, pronoun, or adjective that describes it; they do not show action. Examples : Is, Are, Was, Were, Seem.
• Helping Verbs : Work with the main verb to express tense, voice, or mood; they have no meaning on their own. Examples : Am, Is, Are, Was, Were.

4. Adjectives

Adjectives are words that describe or modify nouns or pronouns, giving more information about their qualities, quantity, or identity. Here are three types of adjectives:

• Descriptive Adjectives : Describe the characteristics or qualities of a noun or pronoun. Examples : Beautiful, Tall, Thin, Ugly, Smart, Kind. Sentence Example : “The red car is fast.” (“red” describes the color; “fast” describes the speed).
• Quantitative Adjectives : Indicate the quantity or amount of a noun or pronoun, answering “how much” or “how many.” Examples : Few, Many, Several, Some, All, No. Sentence Example : “I have two apples.” (“two” describes the number of apples).
• Demonstrative Adjectives : Point to specific nouns or pronouns, answering “which one” or “whose.” Examples : This, That, These, Those. Sentence Example : “This book is mine.” (“this” specifies the book).

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, providing more detail about an action, adverbs of manner, adverbs of place, adverbs of time, adverbs of frequency , adverbs of degree, or intensity.

Examples of adverbs:

• I left my keys here . (Adverb of place)
• She arrived late because she missed the bus. (Adverb of time)
• James visits his grandmother weekly . (Adverb of frequency)
• Please drive carefully on the wet roads. (Adverb of manner)
• She was extremely tired after the long journey. (Adverb of degree)

6. Prepositions

Prepositions are words that show the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence, indicating position, direction, or time.

Prepositions of Time : Indicate when an action takes place. Examples :

• “At” for specific times: “at 2 pm,” “at midnight.”
• “In” for longer periods: “in the morning,” “in October.”
• “On” for dates: “on Monday,” “on July 4th.”

Prepositions of Place : Indicate where something is located. Examples :

• “In” for enclosed spaces: “in the house,” “in the car.”
• “On” for surfaces: “on the table,” “on the floor.”
• “At” for specific locations: “at the park,” “at the beach.”

Prepositions of Direction : Indicate movement from one place to another. Examples :

• “To” for movement towards: “I am going to the store.”
• “From” for movement away: “I am coming from the park.”
• “Towards” for movement in a direction: “I am walking towards the museum.”

7. Conjunctions

Conjunctions are words that connect words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence, helping to create complex sentences and showing relationships between ideas. There are three main types of conjunctions: coordinating, subordinating, and correlative.

Coordinating Conjunctions : Connect words, phrases, or independent clauses of equal importance. Remember them using FANBOYS : for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. Examples :

• “I like pizza and pasta .”
• “He wanted to go to the beach, but it was raining.”

Subordinating Conjunctions : Connect dependent clauses to independent clauses, showing relationships like cause and effect, time, condition, or contrast. Examples : because, although, while, if, unless, since.

• “Because it was raining, we stayed inside.”
• “While I was studying, my roommate was watching TV.”

Correlative Conjunctions : Work in pairs to connect elements in a sentence, showing a relationship between them. Examples : both…and, either…or, neither…nor, not only…but also.

• “Both my sister and I like to read.”
• “Not only was he late, but he also forgot his homework.”

8. Interjections

In English grammar, interjections are words or phrases that express strong emotions or feelings. They are also known as exclamations and are one of the eight parts of speech in English. Interjections are grammatically independent from the words around them, and they can often be removed from a sentence or context without affecting its basic meaning.

Interjections can be used to express a wide range of emotions, including surprise, joy, anger, frustration, and pain. Some common examples of interjections include “ wow ,” “ ouch ,” “ yay ,” “ oh no ,” and “ oops .” They can be used to add emphasis to a sentence or to convey a particular tone or mood.

9. Articles/Determiners

In English grammar, articles and determiners are words that are used with nouns to provide more information about them. They help us to understand the context and meaning of a sentence.

There are three articles in the English language: “ the ,” “ a, ” and “ an. ” “The” is known as the definite article because it refers to a specific noun that has already been mentioned or is known to the reader. For example, “The cat is sleeping on the sofa.” In this sentence, “the” refers to a specific cat that has already been mentioned or is known to the reader.

“A” and “an” are known as indefinite articles because they refer to any member of a group or class of nouns. “A” is used before words that begin with a consonant sound, while “an” is used before words that begin with a vowel sound. For example, “I need a pen” and “She ate an apple.”

Determiners

Determiners are words that come before a noun to provide more information about it. They can include articles, as well as words like “ this ,” “ that ,” “ these ,” and “ those .”

In addition to these, there are other types of determiners such as possessive determiners (e.g. “my,” “your,” “his,” “her,” “its,” “our,” and “their”), demonstrative determiners (e.g. “this,” “that,” “these,” and “those”), and quantifying determiners (e.g. “some,” “any,” “many,” “few,” “several,” etc.).

Determiners can also be used with adjectives to provide more information about a noun. For example, “She ate the delicious apple” and “I saw that beautiful sunset.”

Examples of Parts of Speech

• Noun – The dog barked loudly.
• Pronoun – They went to the park together.
• Verb – She writes beautiful poetry.
• Adverb – He runs very quickly.
• Adjective – The red car is fast.
• Preposition – The cat is sitting on the sofa.
• Conjunction – She wanted to go for a walk, and he wanted to stay home.
• Interjection – Wow! That was an incredible performance.

Practical Exercises

Exercise 1: Identify the Part of Speech

Read each sentence and identify the underlined word’s part of speech (Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb, Adjective, Preposition, Conjunction, Interjection).

• The beautiful garden is full of flowers.
• She quickly finished her homework.
• Wow! That was a great surprise.
• The cat hid under the bed.
• I want to go out, but it’s raining.
• He is a very talented musician.
• The children play in the park every evening.
• The cake is delicious .
• After lunch, we went for a walk.
• They will arrive at the airport soon.
• Interjection
• Preposition
• Conjunction

Exercise 2: Fill in the Blanks with the Correct Part of Speech

Choose the correct word from the list and fill in the blanks with the appropriate part of speech.

Word List: (and, beautiful, suddenly, them, book, Wow, under, write, she, quickly)

• The weather is so __________ today.
• I have to __________ an essay for my class.
• He ran __________ to catch the bus.
• The ball rolled __________ the table.
• They read a __________ together every night.
• She wanted to go to the park, __________ it started raining.
• Can you give this note to __________?
• __________! That was an amazing goal!
• __________ is going to the market.
• The bird flew away __________.
• beautiful (Adjective)
• write (Verb)
• quickly (Adverb)
• under (Preposition)
• book (Noun)
• and (Conjunction)
• them (Pronoun)
• Wow (Interjection)
• She (Pronoun)
• suddenly (Adverb)
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Understanding the 8 Parts of Speech: Definitions and Examples

General Education

If you’re trying to learn the grammatical rules of English, you’ve probably been asked to learn the parts of speech. But what are parts of speech and how many are there? How do you know which words are classified in each part of speech?

The answers to these questions can be a bit complicated—English is a difficult language to learn and understand. Don’t fret, though! We’re going to answer each of these questions for you with a full guide to the parts of speech that explains the following:

• What the parts of speech are, including a comprehensive parts of speech list
• Parts of speech definitions for the individual parts of speech. (If you’re looking for information on a specific part of speech, you can search for it by pressing Command + F, then typing in the part of speech you’re interested in.) 
• Parts of speech examples
• A ten question quiz covering parts of speech definitions and parts of speech examples

We’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s begin!

Feature Image: (Gavina S / Wikimedia Commons)

What Are Parts of Speech? 

The parts of speech definitions in English can vary, but here’s a widely accepted one: a part of speech is a category of words that serve a similar grammatical purpose in sentences.  

To make that definition even simpler, a part of speech is just a category for similar types of words . All of the types of words included under a single part of speech function in similar ways when they’re used properly in sentences.

In the English language, it’s commonly accepted that there are 8 parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, conjunctions, interjections, and prepositions. Each of these categories plays a different role in communicating meaning in the English language. Each of the eight parts of speech—which we might also call the “main classes” of speech—also have subclasses. In other words, we can think of each of the eight parts of speech as being general categories for different types within their part of speech . There are different types of nouns, different types of verbs, different types of adjectives, adverbs, pronouns...you get the idea. 

And that’s an overview of what a part of speech is! Next, we’ll explain each of the 8 parts of speech—definitions and examples included for each category. 

There are tons of nouns in this picture. Can you find them all? 

Nouns are a class of words that refer, generally, to people and living creatures, objects, events, ideas, states of being, places, and actions. You’ve probably heard English nouns referred to as “persons, places, or things.” That definition is a little simplistic, though—while nouns do include people, places, and things, “things” is kind of a vague term. I t’s important to recognize that “things” can include physical things—like objects or belongings—and nonphysical, abstract things—like ideas, states of existence, and actions. 

Since there are many different types of nouns, we’ll include several examples of nouns used in a sentence while we break down the subclasses of nouns next!

Subclasses of Nouns, Including Examples

As an open class of words, the category of “nouns” has a lot of subclasses. The most common and important subclasses of nouns are common nouns, proper nouns, concrete nouns, abstract nouns, collective nouns, and count and mass nouns. Let’s break down each of these subclasses!

Common Nouns and Proper Nouns

Common nouns are generic nouns—they don’t name specific items. They refer to people (the man, the woman), living creatures (cat, bird), objects (pen, computer, car), events (party, work), ideas (culture, freedom), states of being (beauty, integrity), and places (home, neighborhood, country) in a general way. 

Proper nouns are sort of the counterpart to common nouns. Proper nouns refer to specific people, places, events, or ideas. Names are the most obvious example of proper nouns, like in these two examples: 

Common noun: What state are you from?

Proper noun: I’m from Arizona .

Whereas “state” is a common noun, Arizona is a proper noun since it refers to a specific state. Whereas “the election” is a common noun, “Election Day” is a proper noun. Another way to pick out proper nouns: the first letter is often capitalized. If you’d capitalize the word in a sentence, it’s almost always a proper noun. 

Concrete Nouns and Abstract Nouns

Concrete nouns are nouns that can be identified through the five senses. Concrete nouns include people, living creatures, objects, and places, since these things can be sensed in the physical world. In contrast to concrete nouns, abstract nouns are nouns that identify ideas, qualities, concepts, experiences, or states of being. Abstract nouns cannot be detected by the five senses. Here’s an example of concrete and abstract nouns used in a sentence: 

Concrete noun: Could you please fix the weedeater and mow the lawn ?

Abstract noun: Aliyah was delighted to have the freedom to enjoy the art show in peace .

See the difference? A weedeater and the lawn are physical objects or things, and freedom and peace are not physical objects, though they’re “things” people experience! Despite those differences, they all count as nouns. 

Collective Nouns, Count Nouns, and Mass Nouns

Nouns are often categorized based on number and amount. Collective nouns are nouns that refer to a group of something—often groups of people or a type of animal. Team , crowd , and herd are all examples of collective nouns. 

Count nouns are nouns that can appear in the singular or plural form, can be modified by numbers, and can be described by quantifying determiners (e.g. many, most, more, several). For example, “bug” is a count noun. It can occur in singular form if you say, “There is a bug in the kitchen,” but it can also occur in the plural form if you say, “There are many bugs in the kitchen.” (In the case of the latter, you’d call an exterminator...which is an example of a common noun!) Any noun that can accurately occur in one of these singular or plural forms is a count noun. 

Mass nouns are another type of noun that involve numbers and amount. Mass nouns are nouns that usually can’t be pluralized, counted, or quantified and still make sense grammatically. “Charisma” is an example of a mass noun (and an abstract noun!). For example, you could say, “They’ve got charisma, ” which doesn’t imply a specific amount. You couldn’t say, “They’ve got six charismas, ” or, “They’ve got several charismas .” It just doesn’t make sense! 

Verbs are all about action...just like these runners. 

A verb is a part of speech that, when used in a sentence, communicates an action, an occurrence, or a state of being . In sentences, verbs are the most important part of the predicate, which explains or describes what the subject of the sentence is doing or how they are being. And, guess what? All sentences contain verbs!

There are many words in the English language that are classified as verbs. A few common verbs include the words run, sing, cook, talk, and clean. These words are all verbs because they communicate an action performed by a living being. We’ll look at more specific examples of verbs as we discuss the subclasses of verbs next!

Subclasses of Verbs, Including Examples

Like nouns, verbs have several subclasses. The subclasses of verbs include copular or linking verbs, intransitive verbs, transitive verbs, and ditransitive or double transitive verbs. Let’s dive into these subclasses of verbs!

Copular or Linking Verbs

Copular verbs, or linking verbs, are verbs that link a subject with its complement in a sentence. The most familiar linking verb is probably be. Here’s a list of other common copular verbs in English: act, be, become, feel, grow, seem, smell, and taste. 

So how do copular verbs work? Well, in a sentence, if we said, “Michi is ,” and left it at that, it wouldn’t make any sense. “Michi,” the subject, needs to be connected to a complement by the copular verb “is.” Instead, we could say, “Michi is leaving.” In that instance, is links the subject of the sentence to its complement. 

Transitive Verbs, Intransitive Verbs, and Ditransitive Verbs

Transitive verbs are verbs that affect or act upon an object. When unattached to an object in a sentence, a transitive verb does not make sense. Here’s an example of a transitive verb attached to (and appearing before) an object in a sentence: 

Please take the clothes to the dry cleaners.

In this example, “take” is a transitive verb because it requires an object—”the clothes”—to make sense. “The clothes” are the objects being taken. “Please take” wouldn’t make sense by itself, would it? That’s because the transitive verb “take,” like all transitive verbs, transfers its action onto another being or object. 

Conversely, intransitive verbs don’t require an object to act upon in order to make sense in a sentence. These verbs make sense all on their own! For instance, “They ran ,” “We arrived ,” and, “The car stopped ” are all examples of sentences that contain intransitive verbs. 

Finally, ditransitive verbs, or double transitive verbs, are a bit more complicated. Ditransitive verbs are verbs that are followed by two objects in a sentence . One of the objects has the action of the ditransitive verb done to it, and the other object has the action of the ditransitive verb directed towards it. Here’s an example of what that means in a sentence: 

I cooked Nathan a meal.

In this example, “cooked” is a ditransitive verb because it modifies two objects: Nathan and meal . The meal has the action of “cooked” done to it, and “Nathan” has the action of the verb directed towards him. 

Adjectives are descriptors that help us better understand a sentence. A common adjective type is color.

#3: Adjectives

Here’s the simplest definition of adjectives: adjectives are words that describe other words . Specifically, adjectives modify nouns and noun phrases. In sentences, adjectives appear before nouns and pronouns (they have to appear before the words they describe!). 

Adjectives give more detail to nouns and pronouns by describing how a noun looks, smells, tastes, sounds, or feels, or its state of being or existence. . For example, you could say, “The girl rode her bike.” That sentence doesn’t have any adjectives in it, but you could add an adjective before both of the nouns in the sentence—”girl” and “bike”—to give more detail to the sentence. It might read like this: “The young girl rode her red bike.”   You can pick out adjectives in a sentence by asking the following questions: 

• Which one? 
• What kind? 
• How many? 
• Whose’s? 

We’ll look at more examples of adjectives as we explore the subclasses of adjectives next!

Subclasses of Adjectives, Including Examples

Subclasses of adjectives include adjective phrases, comparative adjectives, superlative adjectives, and determiners (which include articles, possessive adjectives, and demonstratives). 

Adjective Phrases

An adjective phrase is a group of words that describe a noun or noun phrase in a sentence. Adjective phrases can appear before the noun or noun phrase in a sentence, like in this example: 

The extremely fragile vase somehow did not break during the move.

In this case, extremely fragile describes the vase. On the other hand, adjective phrases can appear after the noun or noun phrase in a sentence as well: 

The museum was somewhat boring. 

Again, the phrase somewhat boring describes the museum. The takeaway is this: adjective phrases describe the subject of a sentence with greater detail than an individual adjective. 

Comparative Adjectives and Superlative Adjectives

Comparative adjectives are used in sentences where two nouns are compared. They function to compare the differences between the two nouns that they modify. In sentences, comparative adjectives often appear in this pattern and typically end with -er. If we were to describe how comparative adjectives function as a formula, it might look something like this: 

Noun (subject) + verb + comparative adjective + than + noun (object).

Here’s an example of how a comparative adjective would work in that type of sentence: 

The horse was faster than the dog.

The adjective faster compares the speed of the horse to the speed of the dog. Other common comparative adjectives include words that compare distance ( higher, lower, farther ), age ( younger, older ), size and dimensions ( bigger, smaller, wider, taller, shorter ), and quality or feeling ( better, cleaner, happier, angrier ). 

Superlative adjectives are adjectives that describe the extremes of a quality that applies to a subject being compared to a group of objects . Put more simply, superlative adjectives help show how extreme something is. In sentences, superlative adjectives usually appear in this structure and end in -est : 

Noun (subject) + verb + the + superlative adjective + noun (object).

Here’s an example of a superlative adjective that appears in that type of sentence: 

Their story was the funniest story. 

In this example, the subject— story —is being compared to a group of objects—other stories. The superlative adjective “funniest” implies that this particular story is the funniest out of all the stories ever, period. Other common superlative adjectives are best, worst, craziest, and happiest... though there are many more than that! 

It’s also important to know that you can often omit the object from the end of the sentence when using superlative adjectives, like this: “Their story was the funniest.” We still know that “their story” is being compared to other stories without the object at the end of the sentence.

Determiners

The last subclass of adjectives we want to look at are determiners. Determiners are words that determine what kind of reference a noun or noun phrase makes. These words are placed in front of nouns to make it clear what the noun is referring to. Determiners are an example of a part of speech subclass that contains a lot of subclasses of its own. Here is a list of the different types of determiners: 

• Definite article: the
• Indefinite articles : a, an 
• Demonstratives: this, that, these, those
• Pronouns and possessive determiners: my, your, his, her, its, our, their
• Quantifiers : a little, a few, many, much, most, some, any, enough
• Numbers: one, twenty, fifty
• Distributives: all, both, half, either, neither, each, every
• Difference words : other, another
• Pre-determiners: such, what, rather, quite

Here are some examples of how determiners can be used in sentences: 

Definite article: Get in the car.  

Demonstrative: Could you hand me that magazine?  

Possessive determiner: Please put away your clothes. 

Distributive: He ate all of the pie. 

Though some of the words above might not seem descriptive, they actually do describe the specificity and definiteness, relationship, and quantity or amount of a noun or noun phrase. For example, the definite article “the” (a type of determiner) indicates that a noun refers to a specific thing or entity. The indefinite article “an,” on the other hand, indicates that a noun refers to a nonspecific entity. 

One quick note, since English is always more complicated than it seems: while articles are most commonly classified as adjectives, they can also function as adverbs in specific situations, too. Not only that, some people are taught that determiners are their own part of speech...which means that some people are taught there are 9 parts of speech instead of 8! 

It can be a little confusing, which is why we have a whole article explaining how articles function as a part of speech to help clear things up . 

Adverbs can be used to answer questions like "when?" and "how long?"

Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives (including determiners), clauses, prepositions, and sentences. Adverbs typically answer the questions how?, in what way?, when?, where?, and to what extent? In answering these questions, adverbs function to express frequency, degree, manner, time, place, and level of certainty . Adverbs can answer these questions in the form of single words, or in the form of adverbial phrases or adverbial clauses. 

Adverbs are commonly known for being words that end in -ly, but there’s actually a bit more to adverbs than that, which we’ll dive into while we look at the subclasses of adverbs!

Subclasses Of Adverbs, Including Examples

There are many types of adverbs, but the main subclasses we’ll look at are conjunctive adverbs, and adverbs of place, time, manner, degree, and frequency. 

Conjunctive Adverbs

Conjunctive adverbs look like coordinating conjunctions (which we’ll talk about later!), but they are actually their own category: conjunctive adverbs are words that connect independent clauses into a single sentence . These adverbs appear after a semicolon and before a comma in sentences, like in these two examples: 

She was exhausted; nevertheless , she went for a five mile run. 

They didn’t call; instead , they texted.  

Though conjunctive adverbs are frequently used to create shorter sentences using a semicolon and comma, they can also appear at the beginning of sentences, like this: 

He chopped the vegetables. Meanwhile, I boiled the pasta.  

One thing to keep in mind is that conjunctive adverbs come with a comma. When you use them, be sure to include a comma afterward! 

There are a lot of conjunctive adverbs, but some common ones include also, anyway, besides, finally, further, however, indeed, instead, meanwhile, nevertheless, next, nonetheless, now, otherwise, similarly, then, therefore, and thus.  

Adverbs of Place, Time, Manner, Degree, and Frequency

There are also adverbs of place, time, manner, degree, and frequency. Each of these types of adverbs express a different kind of meaning. 

Adverbs of place express where an action is done or where an event occurs. These are used after the verb, direct object, or at the end of a sentence. A sentence like “She walked outside to watch the sunset” uses outside as an adverb of place. 

Adverbs of time explain when something happens. These adverbs are used at the beginning or at the end of sentences. In a sentence like “The game should be over soon,” soon functions as an adverb of time. 

Adverbs of manner describe the way in which something is done or how something happens. These are the adverbs that usually end in the familiar -ly.  If we were to write “She quickly finished her homework,” quickly is an adverb of manner. 

Adverbs of degree tell us the extent to which something happens or occurs. If we were to say “The play was quite interesting,” quite tells us the extent of how interesting the play was. Thus, quite is an adverb of degree.  

Finally, adverbs of frequency express how often something happens . In a sentence like “They never know what to do with themselves,” never is an adverb of frequency. 

Five subclasses of adverbs is a lot, so we’ve organized the words that fall under each category in a nifty table for you here: 

It’s important to know about these subclasses of adverbs because many of them don’t follow the old adage that adverbs end in -ly. 

Here's a helpful list of pronouns. (Attanata / Flickr )

#5: Pronouns

Pronouns are words that can be substituted for a noun or noun phrase in a sentence . Pronouns function to make sentences less clunky by allowing people to avoid repeating nouns over and over. For example, if you were telling someone a story about your friend Destiny, you wouldn’t keep repeating their name over and over again every time you referred to them. Instead, you’d use a pronoun—like they or them—to refer to Destiny throughout the story. 

Pronouns are typically short words, often only two or three letters long. The most familiar pronouns in the English language are they, she, and he. But these aren’t the only pronouns. There are many more pronouns in English that fall under different subclasses!

Subclasses of Pronouns, Including Examples

There are many subclasses of pronouns, but the most commonly used subclasses are personal pronouns, possessive pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, indefinite pronouns, and interrogative pronouns. 

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns are probably the most familiar type of pronoun. Personal pronouns include I, me, you, she, her, him, he, we, us, they, and them. These are called personal pronouns because they refer to a person! Personal pronouns can replace specific nouns in sentences, like a person’s name, or refer to specific groups of people, like in these examples: 

Did you see Gia pole vault at the track meet? Her form was incredible!

The Cycling Club is meeting up at six. They said they would be at the park. 

In both of the examples above, a pronoun stands in for a proper noun to avoid repetitiveness. Her replaces Gia in the first example, and they replaces the Cycling Club in the second example. 

(It’s also worth noting that personal pronouns are one of the easiest ways to determine what point of view a writer is using.) 

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns are used to indicate that something belongs to or is the possession of someone. The possessive pronouns fall into two categories: limiting and absolute. In a sentence, absolute possessive pronouns can be substituted for the thing that belongs to a person, and limiting pronouns cannot. 

The limiting pronouns are my, your, its, his, her, our, their, and whose, and the absolute pronouns are mine, yours, his, hers, ours, and theirs . Here are examples of a limiting possessive pronoun and absolute possessive pronoun used in a sentence: 

Limiting possessive pronoun: Juan is fixing his car. 

In the example above, the car belongs to Juan, and his is the limiting possessive pronoun that shows the car belongs to Juan. Now, here’s an example of an absolute pronoun in a sentence: 

Absolute possessive pronoun: Did you buy your tickets ? We already bought ours . 

In this example, the tickets belong to whoever we is, and in the second sentence, ours is the absolute possessive pronoun standing in for the thing that “we” possess—the tickets. 

Demonstrative Pronouns, Interrogative Pronouns, and Indefinite Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns include the words that, this, these, and those. These pronouns stand in for a noun or noun phrase that has already been mentioned in a sentence or conversation. This and these are typically used to refer to objects or entities that are nearby distance-wise, and that and those usually refer to objects or entities that are farther away. Here’s an example of a demonstrative pronoun used in a sentence: 

The books are stacked up in the garage. Can you put those away? 

The books have already been mentioned, and those is the demonstrative pronoun that stands in to refer to them in the second sentence above. The use of those indicates that the books aren’t nearby—they’re out in the garage. Here’s another example: 

Do you need shoes? Here...you can borrow these. 

In this sentence, these refers to the noun shoes. Using the word these tells readers that the shoes are nearby...maybe even on the speaker’s feet! 

Indefinite pronouns are used when it isn’t necessary to identify a specific person or thing . The indefinite pronouns are one, other, none, some, anybody, everybody, and no one. Here’s one example of an indefinite pronoun used in a sentence: 

Promise you can keep a secret? 

Of course. I won’t tell anyone. 

In this example, the person speaking in the second two sentences isn’t referring to any particular people who they won’t tell the secret to. They’re saying that, in general, they won’t tell anyone . That doesn’t specify a specific number, type, or category of people who they won’t tell the secret to, which is what makes the pronoun indefinite. 

Finally, interrogative pronouns are used in questions, and these pronouns include who, what, which, and whose. These pronouns are simply used to gather information about specific nouns—persons, places, and ideas. Let’s look at two examples of interrogative pronouns used in sentences: 

Do you remember which glass was mine? 

What time are they arriving? 

In the first glass, the speaker wants to know more about which glass belongs to whom. In the second sentence, the speaker is asking for more clarity about a specific time. 

Conjunctions hook phrases and clauses together so they fit like pieces of a puzzle.

#6: Conjunctions

Conjunctions are words that are used to connect words, phrases, clauses, and sentences in the English language. This function allows conjunctions to connect actions, ideas, and thoughts as well. Conjunctions are also used to make lists within sentences. (Conjunctions are also probably the most famous part of speech, since they were immortalized in the famous “Conjunction Junction” song from Schoolhouse Rock .) 

You’re probably familiar with and, but, and or as conjunctions, but let’s look into some subclasses of conjunctions so you can learn about the array of conjunctions that are out there!

Subclasses of Conjunctions, Including Examples

Coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions, and correlative conjunctions are three subclasses of conjunctions. Each of these types of conjunctions functions in a different way in sentences!

Coordinating Conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions are probably the most familiar type of conjunction. These conjunctions include the words for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so (people often recommend using the acronym FANBOYS to remember the seven coordinating conjunctions!). 

Coordinating conjunctions are responsible for connecting two independent clauses in sentences, but can also be used to connect two words in a sentence. Here are two examples of coordinating conjunctions that connect two independent clauses in a sentence: 

He wanted to go to the movies, but he couldn’t find his car keys. 

They put on sunscreen, and they went to the beach. 

Next, here are two examples of coordinating conjunctions that connect two words: 

Would you like to cook or order in for dinner? 

The storm was loud yet refreshing. 

The two examples above show that coordinating conjunctions can connect different types of words as well. In the first example, the coordinating conjunction “or” connects two verbs; in the second example, the coordinating conjunction “yet” connects two adjectives. 

But wait! Why does the first set of sentences have commas while the second set of sentences doesn’t? When using a coordinating conjunction, put a comma before the conjunction when it’s connecting two complete sentences . Otherwise, there’s no comma necessary. 

Subordinating Conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions are used to link an independent clause to a dependent clause in a sentence. This type of conjunction always appears at the beginning of a dependent clause, which means that subordinating conjunctions can appear at the beginning of a sentence or in the middle of a sentence following an independent clause. (If you’re unsure about what independent and dependent clauses are, be sure to check out our guide to compound sentences.) 

Here is an example of a subordinating conjunction that appears at the beginning of a sentence: 

Because we were hungry, we ordered way too much food. 

Now, here’s an example of a subordinating conjunction that appears in the middle of a sentence, following an independent clause and a comma: 

Rakim was scared after the power went out. 

See? In the example above, the subordinating conjunction after connects the independent clause Rakim was scared to the dependent clause after the power went out. Subordinating conjunctions include (but are not limited to!) the following words: after, as, because, before, even though, one, since, unless, until, whenever, and while. 

Correlative Conjunctions

Finally, correlative conjunctions are conjunctions that come in pairs, like both/and, either/or, and neither/nor. The two correlative conjunctions that come in a pair must appear in different parts of a sentence to make sense— they correlate the meaning in one part of the sentence with the meaning in another part of the sentence . Makes sense, right? 

Here are two examples of correlative conjunctions used in a sentence: 

We’re either going to the Farmer’s Market or the Natural Grocer’s for our shopping today. 

They’re going to have to get dog treats for both Piper and Fudge. 

Other pairs of correlative conjunctions include as many/as, not/but, not only/but also, rather/than, such/that, and whether/or. 

Interjections are single words that express emotions that end in an exclamation point. Cool!

#7: Interjections 

Interjections are words that often appear at the beginning of sentences or between sentences to express emotions or sentiments such as excitement, surprise, joy, disgust, anger, or even pain. Commonly used interjections include wow!, yikes!, ouch!, or ugh! One clue that an interjection is being used is when an exclamation point appears after a single word (but interjections don’t have to be followed by an exclamation point). And, since interjections usually express emotion or feeling, they’re often referred to as being exclamatory. Wow! 

Interjections don’t come together with other parts of speech to form bigger grammatical units, like phrases or clauses. There also aren’t strict rules about where interjections should appear in relation to other sentences . While it’s common for interjections to appear before sentences that describe an action or event that the interjection helps explain, interjections can appear after sentences that contain the action they’re describing as well. 

Subclasses of Interjections, Including Examples

There are two main subclasses of interjections: primary interjections and secondary interjections. Let’s take a look at these two types of interjections!

Primary Interjections  

Primary interjections are single words, like oh!, wow!, or ouch! that don’t enter into the actual structure of a sentence but add to the meaning of a sentence. Here’s an example of how a primary interjection can be used before a sentence to add to the meaning of the sentence that follows it: 

Ouch ! I just burned myself on that pan!

While someone who hears, I just burned myself on that pan might assume that the person who said that is now in pain, the interjection Ouch! makes it clear that burning oneself on the pan definitely was painful. 

Secondary Interjections

Secondary interjections are words that have other meanings but have evolved to be used like interjections in the English language and are often exclamatory. Secondary interjections can be mixed with greetings, oaths, or swear words. In many cases, the use of secondary interjections negates the original meaning of the word that is being used as an interjection. Let’s look at a couple of examples of secondary interjections here: 

Well , look what the cat dragged in!

Heck, I’d help if I could, but I’ve got to get to work. 

You probably know that the words well and heck weren’t originally used as interjections in the English language. Well originally meant that something was done in a good or satisfactory way, or that a person was in good health. Over time and through repeated usage, it’s come to be used as a way to express emotion, such as surprise, anger, relief, or resignation, like in the example above. 

This is a handy list of common prepositional phrases. (attanatta / Flickr) 

#8: Prepositions

The last part of speech we’re going to define is the preposition. Prepositions are words that are used to connect other words in a sentence—typically nouns and verbs—and show the relationship between those words. Prepositions convey concepts such as comparison, position, place, direction, movement, time, possession, and how an action is completed. 

Subclasses of Prepositions, Including Examples

The subclasses of prepositions are simple prepositions, double prepositions, participle prepositions, and prepositional phrases. 

Simple Prepositions

Simple prepositions appear before and between nouns, adjectives, or adverbs in sentences to convey relationships between people, living creatures, things, or places . Here are a couple of examples of simple prepositions used in sentences: 

I’ll order more ink before we run out. 

Your phone was beside your wallet. 

In the first example, the preposition before appears between the noun ink and the personal pronoun we to convey a relationship. In the second example, the preposition beside appears between the verb was and the possessive pronoun your.

In both examples, though, the prepositions help us understand how elements in the sentence are related to one another. In the first sentence, we know that the speaker currently has ink but needs more before it’s gone. In the second sentence, the preposition beside helps us understand how the wallet and the phone are positioned relative to one another! 

Double Prepositions

Double prepositions are exactly what they sound like: two prepositions joined together into one unit to connect phrases, nouns, and pronouns with other words in a sentence. Common examples of double prepositions include outside of, because of, according to, next to, across from, and on top of. Here is an example of a double preposition in a sentence: 

I thought you were sitting across from me. 

You see? Across and from both function as prepositions individually. When combined together in a sentence, they create a double preposition. (Also note that the prepositions help us understand how two people— you and I— are positioned with one another through spacial relationship.)  

Prepositional Phrases

Finally, prepositional phrases are groups of words that include a preposition and a noun or pronoun. Typically, the noun or pronoun that appears after the preposition in a prepositional phrase is called the object of the preposition. The object always appears at the end of the prepositional phrase. Additionally, prepositional phrases never include a verb or a subject. Here are two examples of prepositional phrases: 

The cat sat under the chair . 

In the example above, “under” is the preposition, and “the chair” is the noun, which functions as the object of the preposition. Here’s one more example: 

We walked through the overgrown field . 

Now, this example demonstrates one more thing you need to know about prepositional phrases: they can include an adjective before the object. In this example, “through” is the preposition, and “field” is the object. “Overgrown” is an adjective that modifies “the field,” and it’s quite common for adjectives to appear in prepositional phrases like the one above. 

While that might sound confusing, don’t worry: the key is identifying the preposition in the first place! Once you can find the preposition, you can start looking at the words around it to see if it forms a compound preposition, a double preposition of a prepositional phrase. 

10 Question Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of Parts of Speech Definitions and Examples

Since we’ve covered a lot of material about the 8 parts of speech with examples ( a lot of them!), we want to give you an opportunity to review and see what you’ve learned! While it might seem easier to just use a parts of speech finder instead of learning all this stuff, our parts of speech quiz can help you continue building your knowledge of the 8 parts of speech and master each one. 

Are you ready? Here we go:  

1) What are the 8 parts of speech? 

a) Noun, article, adverb, antecedent, verb, adjective, conjunction, interjection b) Noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, determiner, clause, adjective, preposition c) Noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, conjunction, interjection, preposition

2) Which parts of speech have subclasses?

a) Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs b) Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, and prepositions c) All of them! There are many types of words within each part of speech.

3) What is the difference between common nouns and proper nouns?

a) Common nouns don’t refer to specific people, places, or entities, but proper nouns do refer to specific people, places, or entities.  b) Common nouns refer to regular, everyday people, places, or entities, but proper nouns refer to famous people, places, or entities.  c) Common nouns refer to physical entities, like people, places, and objects, but proper nouns refer to nonphysical entities, like feelings, ideas, and experiences.

4) In which of the following sentences is the emboldened word a verb?

a) He was frightened by the horror film .   b) He adjusted his expectations after the first plan fell through.  c) She walked briskly to get there on time.

5) Which of the following is a correct definition of adjectives, and what other part of speech do adjectives modify?

a) Adjectives are describing words, and they modify nouns and noun phrases.  b) Adjectives are describing words, and they modify verbs and adverbs.  c) Adjectives are describing words, and they modify nouns, verbs, and adverbs.

6) Which of the following describes the function of adverbs in sentences?

a) Adverbs express frequency, degree, manner, time, place, and level of certainty. b) Adverbs express an action performed by a subject.  c) Adverbs describe nouns and noun phrases.

7) Which of the following answers contains a list of personal pronouns?

a) This, that, these, those b) I, you, me, we, he, she, him, her, they, them c) Who, what, which, whose

8) Where do interjections typically appear in a sentence?

a) Interjections can appear at the beginning of or in between sentences. b) Interjections appear at the end of sentences.  c) Interjections appear in prepositional phrases.

9) Which of the following sentences contains a prepositional phrase?

a) The dog happily wagged his tail.  b) The cow jumped over the moon.  c) She glared, angry that he forgot the flowers.

10) Which of the following is an accurate definition of a “part of speech”?

a) A category of words that serve a similar grammatical purpose in sentences. b) A category of words that are of similar length and spelling. c) A category of words that mean the same thing.

So, how did you do? If you got 1C, 2C, 3A, 4B, 5A, 6A, 7B, 8A, 9B, and 10A, you came out on top! There’s a lot to remember where the parts of speech are concerned, and if you’re looking for more practice like our quiz, try looking around for parts of speech games or parts of speech worksheets online!

What’s Next?

You might be brushing up on your grammar so you can ace the verbal portions of the SAT or ACT. Be sure you check out our guides to the grammar you need to know before you tackle those tests! Here’s our expert guide to the grammar rules you need to know for the SAT , and this article teaches you the 14 grammar rules you’ll definitely see on the ACT.

When you have a good handle on parts of speech, it can make writing essays tons easier. Learn how knowing parts of speech can help you get a perfect 12 on the ACT Essay (or an 8/8/8 on the SAT Essay ).

While we’re on the topic of grammar: keep in mind that knowing grammar rules is only part of the battle when it comes to the verbal and written portions of the SAT and ACT. Having a good vocabulary is also important to making the perfect score ! Here are 262 vocabulary words you need to know before you tackle your standardized tests.

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Ashley Sufflé Robinson has a Ph.D. in 19th Century English Literature. As a content writer for PrepScholar, Ashley is passionate about giving college-bound students the in-depth information they need to get into the school of their dreams.

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8 Parts of Speech

The 8 parts of speech in English are: Nouns, Adjectives, Adverbs, Verbs, Prepositions, Pronouns, Conjunctions, and Interjections.

A part of speech is a category of words that have similar grammatical functions or properties. In other words, they play similar roles in a sentence. For instance, a verb shows the action of a subject or the subject's state of being. 

We'll now look in more detail at the function of each of these parts of speech. 

Understanding the 8 Parts of Speech

Nouns are words used to talk about people, places, things, or ideas/concepts. Here are some examples:

• Person: The President
• Place: London
• Thing: Table
• Idea/concept: Neo-liberalism

So it may be naming something we can touch ( e.g. table; book; car ) or something we cannot touch ( e.g. Neo-liberalism; happiness; wish ).

There are both common nouns, used for classes of   people, places, things, or ideas/concepts,  and proper nouns, which is their given name, always with a capital letter.

Common Nouns

• political party

Proper Nouns

• Chester Avenue

Learn more about the various types of noun >>

Another of the 8 parts of speech are adjectives. They describe nouns or pronouns. They can come before or after the noun/pronoun they describe:

Absolute Adjectives

• The  large  shopping complex
• The  excited  child
• She is  happy
• It was a  shocking  film
• Her dress was  lovely
• He's a  good-looking  man

These are  absolute adjectives , but they can also be  comparative  (comparing two or more things) or  superlative  (showing degree or quality):

Comparative Adjectives

• She's  fitter than the others
• Their house is bigger
• I ran faster  than you
• Cats are more agile than dogs
• Sue's  more tired than Tim

Superlative Adjectives

• She's the fittest
• Their house is the biggest
• I ran the fastest
• Cats are the most agile
• Sue's the most tired

There are various other types of adjective. Learn more about the different types of adjectives >>

Adverbs modify verbs, other adverbs, and adjectives. There are adverbs of manner, time, place and degree . Here are examples of each being modified in relation to verbs, adverbs, and adjectives (the word being modified is underlined):

Adverbs Modifying Verbs

• He runs fast
• Ian quickly left the room
• She spoke slowly

Adverbs Modifying Other Adverbs

• He runs exceptionally  fast
• Ian very  quickly left the room
• She spoke extremely  slowly

Adverbs Modifying Adjectives

• She's really excited
• He's happily married
• The elegantly designed dress is mine

Verbs form part of the predicate of a sentence.

In relation to the subject, they are used to express a physical action (e.g. walk; speak; show) or a mental action (e.g. think; feel; want). They can also express a state of being , mainly with the verb 'to be' but also some others.

Here are some examples:

Physical Action

• He ran home
• They chose the blue one

Mental Activity

• I am thinking about it
• Ian guessed the answer
• She believes in ghosts

State of Being

• She is a police woman
• They seem worried

These though are main verbs. They have many other uses in a sentence so you should read about all the types of verbs further. 

Prepositions

Another of the 8 parts of speech are prepositions. These show the relationship between two words or phrases in a sentence. They precede a noun or pronoun.

Commons examples of prepositions are  above,  up, upon,  at, before, behind,  since, to, through, under, until, with, within,  about, against, along, around,  beside, between,  down, during,  below, by,  except, for, from, in, into, like, near, of, off, on,  toward.

In these example sentences with prepositions, the two words whose relationship is being expressed are underlined and the prepositions are in bold:

• The book is on the table
• He is the leader of the conservative party
• The boy picked up the toy under the sofa
• This is a present for your mother

Pronouns replace nouns and they prevent us from repeating the noun in a sentence. These are the types of pronouns with some examples:

• Personal e.g. I; you; they; she
• Possessive e.g. mine; yours; his; theirs
• Relative e.g. who; which; that; whom
• Demonstrative e.g. this; these; those
• Reciprocal e.g. one another; each other
• Emphatic / Reflexive e.g. myself; herself; itself; ourselves
• Interrogative e.g. what; which; whom; whose

Here are some examples of these words used in sentences:

• Martha decided she would leave
• Why don't you use his  car instead of mine
• Mick is a person who learns quickly
• Shall we buy some of these ?
• They began to argue with each other
• Jenny is pleased with  herself
• What time is he coming?

Conjunctions

Conjunctions are the of the 8 parts of speech responsible for joining together words, phrases, or clauses. There are three types:

• Coordinating: and; or; but; so; yet; for; nor
• Correlative: neither/nor; either/or; not only/but also
• Subordinating: e.g. although; because; while; which; where; until

Coordinating Conjunctions

Used to connect like for like words (e.g. noun+noun):

• I like apples and oranges ( 2 nouns )
• His speech was slow but effective ( 2 adjectives )
• Shall I say it loudly or quietly? ( 2 adverbs )

Or simple sentences (independent clauses):

• I find the music annoying but she finds It pleasant
• She came to the lecture late so she missed everything important
• She took her umbrella for it was raining hard

Correlative Conjunctions

Used to join alternative or equal elements:

• He felt neither happy nor sad about it
• Sue had to decide to either quit or carry on
• I went not only to Australia but also to New Zealand

Subordinating Conjunctions

Used to join subordinate clauses to main clauses:

• The government won't vote on the bill until both parties agree
• I'm still not tired although it is late
• I'll eat the dish which you don't like

Interjections

Interjections are words used to express an emotion or a sentiment such as surprise, joy, disgust, fear, excitement, pain, or enthusiasm.

They usually appear at the start of a sentence and are not connected to it grammatically. Here are some examples of interjections in sentences:

• Wow , that's an amazing score!
• Oh , I didn't know you failed the exam
• Well , we better not leave too late
• Ow , that really hurt!
• Ah , I understand now
• Oops , I've forgotten to bring the sandwiches

Learn more about interjections >>

Are there only 8 Parts of Speech?

Sometimes rather than 8 parts of speech, you may see 9 or 10 listed. This is because some people treat articles and determiners  as separate categories. 

However, when there are only 8 parts of speech considered (as above), this is because as these two types of word modify nouns, they are classified under adjectives. 

Now practice what you have learned in our identifying parts of speech quiz

More on Sentence Structure:

Parts of a Sentence: Subject, Verbs, Objects, Predicates, Complements

The main parts of a sentence are subjects, verbs, objects, predicates, and subject complements. All of these have a specific purpose within the structure of a sentence.

Using Object Complements in a Sentence

Using object complements in a sentence enhances your ability to convey specific information about actions and their outcomes.

Types of Clauses in English Grammar - Independent and Dependent Clause

The two types of clauses in English grammar are the independent and dependent clause. Both have a subject and verb which makes them clauses, but while independent clauses express a complete thought, dependent clauses do not. This is the main distinction.

Nominalisation in English Grammar: High Level Writing Tips

Nominalisation is an important aspect of academic writing. This lesson teachers you what this is and how you can use it effectively in your writing.

Subject Complements: Predicate Adjectives and Predicate Nominatives

Here we demystify subject complements, predicate adjectives, and predicate nominatives with simple explanations and examples.

Phrases and Clauses - Building good sentences

Phrases and clauses are the key building blocks of sentences. A clause contains a subject and a verb and can express a complete thought. A phrase does not contain a subject or verb.

How to Use Either and Neither with Examples

Advice on how to use either and neither in English grammar. They can be adjectives, adverbs, pronouns and conjunctions.

Direct and Indirect Objects: The Differences

Direct and indirect objects are key parts of most sentences. A direct object is the receiver of action while indirect object identifies to or for whom or what the action of the verb is performed.

Examples of Parallelism in English Grammar

View examples of parallelism in English grammar that show you correct and incorrect parallel sentences.

Parallelism Grammar Rules (Parallel Structure)

Parallelism is about balancing the grammatical structure of words, phrases and clauses in your sentences. Parallel structure will improve your writing's coherence.

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Parts Of Speech: Breaking Them Down With Examples

Author: sarah perowne, more content, why understanding parts of speech is important , the 8 parts of speech: definitions, examples, and rules, 2. pronouns, 3. adjectives, 6. prepositions, 7. conjunctions, 8. articles, takeaways - tips.

Parts of speech are like Legos. Instead of being made into houses or spaceships, they’re the building blocks we use to form written and spoken language.

Every word you speak or write is a part of speech. In the English language, there are 8 parts of speech: nouns , pronouns , adjectives , verbs , adverbs , prepositions , conjunctions , and articles (determiners). These parts of speech represent categories of words according to their grammatical function.

Having a basic understanding of the parts of speech in the English language gives you a specific terminology and classification system to talk about language. It can help you correctly punctuate a sentence, capitalize the right words, and even understand how to form a complete sentence to avoid grammatical errors.

Still with us? Now, we will break down each of these English grammar categories and give some examples.

Nouns are words that name a person, place, thing, or idea. They can be further classified into different types of nouns .

Proper Nouns Vs. Common Nouns

There are some nouns we can count and others we cannot. Take a look at this table.

Concrete Nouns Vs. Abstract Nouns

Singular Nouns Vs. Plural Nouns

Exceptions To The Rule

Some nouns are irregular, and it’s a case of learning their plural form as they don’t always follow specific rules. Here are some examples:

Countable Vs. Uncountable Nouns

Other Types of Nouns

Possessive nouns.

Possessive nouns possess something and usually have ‘s or simply ‘ at the end. When the noun is singular, we add an ‘s. When the noun is plural, we add an apostrophe.

Here are examples of possessive nouns :

• David’s sister has a dog.
• His sister’s dog is named Max.

Collective Nouns

Collective nouns refer to a group or collection of things, people, or animals. Such as,

• Choir of singers
• Herd of sheep

Noun Phrases

A noun phrase is two or more words that function as a noun in a sentence. It also includes modifiers that can come before or after the noun.

Here are examples of noun phrases:

• The little brown dog is mine.
• The market down the street has the best prices.

If you want to know where to find nouns in a sentence, look for the subject or a direct object, and they will stand right out. For example:

• Mary ate chocolate cake and ice cream .

(Mary = Subject) (Chocolate cake, and ice cream = direct objects)

This is an easy way to identify nouns in a sentence.

Pronouns are words used in the place of a noun or noun phrase. They can be further classified into different types of pronouns , such as personal, reflexive, and possessive.

Personal Pronouns

Reflexive Pronouns

Some examples of reflexive pronouns are myself, yourself, herself, and itself.

Here are examples of reflexive pronouns in sentences:

• I helped myself to an extra serving of gravy.
• She didn’t do the cooking herself.
• The word itself is pretty easy to spell but hard to pronounce.

Reflexive pronouns can also be used for emphasis, as in this sentence:

• Joe himself baked the cake.

Possessive Pronouns

Some examples of possessive pronouns are my, mine, your, yours, his, hers, its, ours, and theirs. We use these words when we want to express possession. Such as,

• Is this your car?
• No, it’s his .
• It’s not mine .

Mine, yours, and his are examples of the independent form of possessive pronouns , and when showing possession, these pronouns never need an apostrophe.

Adjectives are words that describe nouns or pronouns. They make the meaning more definite. When we want to talk about what kind of a house we have, we can use adjectives to describe it, such as big, red, or lovely.

We can use adjectives to precede the word it modifies, like this;

• She wore a beautiful , blue dress.

Or we can use adjectives following the word they modify, like this;

• The athlete, tall and thin , was ready to win the race.

There are many types of adjectives, one being possessive . The seven possessive adjectives are my, your, his, her, its, our, and their. These words modify a noun or pronoun and show possession. Such as,

• Their dog is brown.
• How old is your brother?
• That was my idea.

Verbs are words that express an action or a state of being. All verbs help to make a complete statement. Action verbs express a physical action, for example:

Other verbs express a mental action, for example:

These can also be called lexical verbs .

Lexical Verbs and Auxiliary Verbs

Sometimes lexical verbs need the help of another type of verb . That’s where helping verbs , or auxiliary verbs , come into action; they help to make a statement or express action.

Examples of auxiliary verbs are am, are, is, has, can, may, will be, and might have.

When we use more than one verb when writing or speaking to express an action or state of being, it’s a verbal phrase consisting of the main verb, lexical verb, and one or more auxiliary verbs.

Some examples of verbal phrases:

• Should have done
• Must have been broken
• Will be following

Here are examples of verbal phrases used in a sentence.

• You should have gone to the concert last night. It was amazing!
• I may go to the concert next time if I have the money for a ticket.
• I might have missed out this time, but I certainly won’t next time.

Adverbs are used to describe an adjective, verb, or even another adverb . They can express how something is done, as in splendidly or poorly .

Here are some examples of adverbs in use:

• She was running extremely fast during that race .

The adverb extremely modifies the adjective fast , expressing just how rapid the runner was.

• I can hardly see it in the distance.

The adverb hardly modifies the verb see , expressing how much is visible, which in this case is not much at all.

• It’s been surprisingly poorly cleaned.

The adverb surprisingly modifies the adverb poorly, expressing the surprise at how badly the car has been cleaned.

They are used to show relationships between words, such as nouns or pronouns, with other words in the sentence. They can indicate spatial or time relationships. Some common prepositions are about, at, before, behind, but, in, off, on, to, and with.

Here are some examples of common prepositions in sentences:

• She sat behind me in class.
• Her mother was from Vietnam.
• The two of us worked together on the project.

Prepositions are followed by objects of prepositions, a noun, or a noun phrase that follows to give it meaning.

• Julie goes to school with Mark . (With whom? Mark.)

Groups of words can also act as prepositions together, such as in spite of .

• In spite of all the traffic, we arrived just on time.

Conjunctions link words or groups of words together. We often use them to create complex sentences. There are three types of conjunctions: coordinating conjunctions , correlative conjunctions , and subordinating conjunctions.  

Coordinating Conjunctions

Examples of coordinating conjunctions are and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet. Such as:

• He wanted apple pie and ice cream.
• She offered him fruit or cookies.
• He ate the fruit but still wanted apple pie.

Correlative Conjunctions

Correlative conjunctions are used in pairs. Some examples are;

• and neither/ nor.

Here is an example of the conjunctions above in use:

• He wanted neither fruit nor cookies for dessert.

Subordinating Conjunctions

We use subordinating conjunctions to begin subordinate clauses or sentences.

Some examples of common subordinating conjunctions are after, before, then, when, provided, unless, so that, and while. Such as,

• He left the house before it turned dark.
• He realized he had forgotten a gift when he arrived at the party.
• The party was better than he had imagined.

There are three articles in the English language: a, an, and the. Articles can indicate whether a specific identity is known or not.

A and an are called indefinite articles and refer to a general group. Such as,

• A woman is at the front door.
• She stood there for a minute.
• She had a book in her hand.

The is a definite article and refers to a specific thing or person. Such as,

• The woman at the door is my friend Tracy.
• She’s returning the book she borrowed last week.

Getting these right to know if we’re talking about a specific item, person, or thing, in general, is important.

How many parts of speech are there in the English language? Are there 8, 9, or 10?

Many words can also be used as more than one part of speech..

Once you get the hang of it, identifying the various parts of speech in a sentence will be second nature, like riding a bike. And just think, it can help you craft stronger sentences!

More Parts of Speech Topics:

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• Conjunctions
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Understanding the Parts of Speech in English

Yes, the parts of speech in English are extensive and complex. But we’ve made it easy for you to start learning them by gathering the most basic and essential information in this easy-to-follow and comprehensive guide.

Parts of Speech: Quick Summary

Parts of speech assign words to different categories. There are eight different types in English. Keep in mind that a word can belong to more than one part of speech.

Learn About:

• Parts of Speech
• Prepositions
• Conjunctions
• Interjections

Using the Parts of Speech Correctly In Your Writing

Knowing the parts of speech is vital when learning a new language.

When it comes to learning a new language, there are several components you should understand to truly get a grasp of the language and speak it fluently.

It’s not enough to become an expert in just one area. For instance, you can learn and memorize all the intricate grammar rules, but if you don’t practice speaking or writing colloquially, you will find it challenging to use that language in real time.

Conversely, if you don’t spend time trying to learn the rules and technicalities of a language, you’ll also find yourself struggling to use it correctly.

Think of it this way: Language is a tasty, colorful, and nutritious salad. If you fill your bowl with nothing but lettuce, your fluency will be bland, boring, and tasteless. But if you spend time cultivating other ingredients for your salad—like style, word choice, and vocabulary— then it will become a wholesome meal you can share with others.

In this blog post, we’re going to cover one of the many ingredients you’ll need to build a nourishing salad of the English language—the parts of speech.

LanguageTool's Paraphrasing Tool can also help you use the different parts of speech effectively in your writing.

Let’s get choppin’!

What Are the Parts of Speech in English?

The parts of speech refer to categories to which a word belongs. In English, there are eight of them : verbs , nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.

Many English words fall into more than one part of speech category. Take the word light as an example. It can function as a verb, noun, or adjective.

Verb: Can you please light the candles?

Noun: The room was filled with a dim, warm light .

Adjective: She wore a light jacket in the cool weather.

The parts of speech in English are extensive. There’s a lot to cover in each category—much more than we can in this blog post. The information below is simply a brief overview of the basics of the parts of speech. Nevertheless, the concise explanations and accompanying example sentences will help you gain an understanding of how to use them correctly.

What Are Verbs?

Verbs are the most essential parts of speech because they move the meaning of sentences along.

A verb can show actions of the body and mind ( jump and think ), occurrences ( happen or occur ), and states of being ( be and exist ). Put differently, verbs breathe life into sentences by describing actions or indicating existence. These parts of speech can also change form to express time , person , number , voice , and mood .

There are several verb categories. A few of them are:

• Regular and irregular verbs
• Transitive and intransitive verbs
• Auxiliary verbs

A few examples of verbs include sing (an irregular action verb), have (which can be a main verb or auxiliary verb), be , which is a state of being verb, and would (another auxiliary verb).

My little sister loves to sing .

I have a dog and her name is Sweet Pea.

I will be there at 5 P.M.

I would like to travel the world someday.

Again, these are just the very basics of English verbs. There’s a lot more that you should learn to be well-versed in this part of speech, but the information above is a good place to start.

What Are Nouns?

Nouns refer to people ( John and child ), places ( store and Italy ), things ( firetruck and pen ), and ideas or concepts ( love and balance ). There are also many categories within nouns. For example, proper nouns name a specific person, place, thing, or idea. These types of nouns are always capitalized.

Olivia is turning five in a few days.

My dream is to visit Tokyo .

The Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States.

Some argue that Buddhism is a way of life, not a religion.

On the other hand, common nouns are not specific to any particular entity and are used to refer to any member of a general category.

My teacher is the smartest, most caring person I know!

I love roaming around a city I’ve never been to before.

This is my favorite book , which was recommended to me by my father.

There’s nothing more important to me than love .

Nouns can be either singular or plural. Singular nouns refer to a single entity, while plural nouns refer to multiple entities.

Can you move that chair out of the way, please? (Singular)

Can you move those chairs out of the way, please? (Plural)

While many plural nouns are formed by adding an “–s” or “–es,” others have irregular plural forms, meaning they don’t follow the typical pattern.

There was one woman waiting in line.

There were several women waiting in line.

Nouns can also be countable or uncountable . Those that are countable refer to nouns that can be counted as individual units. For example, there can be one book, two books, three books, or more. Uncountable nouns cannot be counted as individual units. Take the word water as an example. You could say I drank some water, but it would be incorrect to say I drank waters. Instead, you would say something like I drank several bottles of water.

What Are Pronouns?

A pronoun is a word that can take the place of other nouns or noun phrases. Pronouns serve the purpose of referring to nouns without having to repeat the word each time. A word (or group of words) that a pronoun refers to is called the antecedent .

Jessica went to the store, and she bought some blueberries.

In the sentence above, Jessica is the antecedent, and she is the referring pronoun. Here’s the same sentence without the proper use of a pronoun:

Jessica went to the store, and Jessica bought some blueberries.

Do you see how the use of a pronoun improves the sentence by avoiding repetitiveness?

Like all the other parts of speech we have covered, pronouns also have various categories.

Personal pronouns replace specific people or things: I, me, you, he, she, him, her, it, we, us, they, them.

When I saw them at the airport, I waved my hands up in the air so they could see me .

Possessive pronouns indicate ownership : mine, ours, yours, his, hers, theirs, whose.

I think that phone is hers .

Reflexive pronouns refer to the subject of a sentence or clause. They are used when the subject and the object of a sentence refer to the same person or thing: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.

The iguanas sunned themselves on the roof of my car.

Intensive pronouns have the same form as reflexive pronouns and are used to emphasize or intensify the subject of a sentence.

I will take care of this situation myself .

Indefinite pronouns do not refer to specific individuals or objects but rather to a general or unspecified person, thing, or group. Some examples include someone, everybody, anything, nobody, each, something, and all.

Everybody enjoyed the party. Someone even said it was the best party they had ever attended.

Demonstrative pronouns are used to identify or point to specific pronouns: this, that, these, those.

Can you pick up those pens off the floor?

Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions and seek information: who, whom, whose, which, what.

Who can help move these heavy boxes?

Relative pronouns connect a clause or a phrase to a noun or pronoun: who, whom, whose, which, that, what, whoever, whichever, whatever.

Christina, who is the hiring manager, is the person whom you should get in touch with.

Reciprocal pronouns are used to refer to individual parts of a plural antecedent. They indicate a mutual or reciprocal relationship between two or more people or things: each other or one another.

The cousins always giggle and share secrets with one another .

What Are Adjectives?

Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns, usually by describing, identifying, or quantifying them. They play a vital role in adding detail, precision, and imagery to English, allowing us to depict and differentiate the qualities of people, objects, places, and ideas.

The blue house sticks out compared to the other neutral-colored ones. (Describes)

That house is pretty, but I don’t like the color. (Identifies)

There were several houses I liked, but the blue one was unique. (Quantifies)

We should note that identifying or quantifying adjectives are also referred to as determiners. Additionally, articles ( a, an, the ) and numerals ( four or third ) are also used to quantify and identify adjectives.

Descriptive adjectives have other forms (known as comparative and superlative adjectives ) that allow for comparisons. For example, the comparative of the word small is smaller, while the superlative is smallest.

Proper adjectives (which are derived from proper nouns) describe specific nouns. They usually retain the same spelling or are slightly modified, but they’re always capitalized. For example, the proper noun France can be turned into the proper adjective French.

What Are Adverbs?

Adverbs are words that modify or describe verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or entire clauses. Although many adverbs end in “–ly,” not all of them do. Also, some words that end in “–ly” are adjectives, not adverbs ( lovely ).

She dances beautifully .

In the sentence above, beautifully modifies the verb dances.

We visited an extremely tall building.

Here, the adverb extremely modifies the adjective tall.

He had to run very quickly to not miss the train.

The adverb very modifies the adverb quickly.

Interestingly , the experiment yielded unexpected results that left us baffled.

In this example, the word interestingly modifies the independent clause that comprises the rest of the sentence (which is why they’re called sentence adverbs ).

Like adjectives, adverbs can also have other forms when making comparisons. For example:

strongly, more strongly, most strongly, less strongly, least strongly

What Are Prepositions?

Prepositions provide context and establish relationships between nouns, pronouns, and other words in a sentence. They indicate time, location, direction, manner, and other vital information. Prepositions can fall into several subcategories. For instance, on can indicate physical location, but it can also be used to express time.

Place the bouquet of roses on the table.

We will meet on Monday.

There are many prepositions. A few examples include: about, above, across, after, before, behind, beneath, beside, during, except, for, from, in, inside, into, like, near, of, off, onto, past, regarding, since, through, toward, under, until, with, without.

Prepositions can contain more than one word, like according to and with regard to.

What Are Conjunctions?

Conjunctions are words that join words, phrases, or clauses together within a sentence and provide information about the relationship between those words. There are different types of conjunctions.

Coordinating conjunctions connect words, phrases, or clauses of equal importance: and, but, for, not, or, so, yet.

I like to sing, and she likes to dance.

Correlative conjunctions come in pairs and join balanced elements of a sentence: both…and, just as…so, not only…but also, either…or, neither…nor, whether…or.

You can either come with us and have fun, or stay at home and be bored.

Subordinating conjunctions connect dependent clauses to independent clauses. A few examples include: after, although, even though, since, unless, until, when , and while.

They had a great time on their stroll, even though it started raining and they got soaked.

Conjunctive adverbs are adverbs that function as conjunctions, connecting independent clauses or sentences. Examples of conjunctive adverbs are also, anyway, besides, however, meanwhile, nevertheless, otherwise, similarly, and therefore .

I really wanted to go to the party. However , I was feeling sick and decided to stay in.

I really wanted to go to the party; however , I was feeling sick and decided to stay in.

What Are Interjections?

Interjections are words that express strong emotions, sudden reactions, or exclamations. This part of speech is usually a standalone word or phrase, but even when it is part of a sentence, it does not relate grammatically to the rest of .

There are several interjections. Examples include: ahh, alas, bravo, eww, hello, please, thanks, and oops.

Ahh ! I couldn’t believe what was happening.

When it comes to improving your writing skills, understanding the parts of speech is as important as adding other ingredients besides lettuce to a salad.

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Parts of speech, we have eight parts of speech in the english language: (1) nouns, (2) verbs, (3) adjectives, (4) adverbs, (5) pronouns, (6) conjunctions, (7) prepositions, and (8) interjections. every word you use in speech or writing falls into just one of these eight categories..

• Conjunctions
• Prepositions
• Interjections

Conclusion to the Parts of Speech

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Grammar: Main Parts of Speech

Definitions and examples.

The name of something, like a person, animal, place, thing, or concept. Nouns are typically used as subjects, objects, objects of prepositions, and modifiers of other nouns.

• I = subject
• the dissertation = object
• in Chapter 4 = object of a preposition
• research = modifier

This expresses what the person, animal, place, thing, or concept does. In English, verbs follow the noun.

• It takes a good deal of dedication to complete a doctoral degree.
• She studied hard for the test.
• Writing a dissertation is difficult. (The "be" verb is also sometimes referred to as a copula or a linking verb. It links the subject, in this case "writing a dissertation," to the complement or the predicate of the sentence, in this case, "hard.")

This describes a noun or pronoun. Adjectives typically come before a noun or after a stative verb, like the verb "to be."

• Diligent describes the student and appears before the noun student .
• Difficult is placed after the to be verb and describes what it is like to balance time.

Remember that adjectives in English have no plural form. The same form of the adjective is used for both singular and plural nouns.

• A different idea
• Some different ideas
• INCORRECT: some differents ideas

This gives more information about the verb and about how the action was done. Adverbs tells how, where, when, why, etc. Depending on the context, the adverb can come before or after the verb or at the beginning or end of a sentence.

• Enthusiastically describes how he completed the course and answers the how question.
• Recently modifies the verb enroll and answers the when question.
• Then describes and modifies the entire sentence. See this link on transitions for more examples of conjunctive adverbs (adverbs that join one idea to another to improve the cohesion of the writing).

This word substitutes for a noun or a noun phrase (e.g. it, she, he, they, that, those,…).

• they = applicants
• He = Smith; that = ideas; those = those ideas

This word makes the reference of the noun more specific (e.g. his, her, my, their, the, a, an, this, these, … ).

• Jones published her book in 2015.
• The book was very popular.

Preposition

This comes before a noun or a noun phrase and links it to other parts of the sentence. These are usually single words (e.g., on, at, by ,… ) but can be up to four words (e.g., as far as, in addition to, as a result of, …).

• I chose to interview teachers in the district closest to me.
• The recorder was placed next to the interviewee.
• I stopped the recording in the middle of the interview due to a low battery.

Conjunction

A word that joins two clauses. These can be coordinating (an easy way to remember this is memorizing FANBOYS = for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) or subordinating (e.g., because, although, when, …).

• The results were not significant, so the alternative hypothesis was accepted.
• Although the results seem promising, more research must be conducted in this area.

Auxiliary Verbs

Helping verbs. They are used to build up complete verbs.

• Primary auxiliary verbs (be, have, do) show the progressive, passive, perfect, and negative verb tenses .
• Modal auxiliary verbs (can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would) show a variety of meanings. They represent ability, permission, necessity, and degree of certainty. These are always followed by the simple form of the verb.
• Semimodal auxiliary verbs (e.g., be going to, ought to, have to, had better, used to, be able to,…). These are always followed by the simple form of the verb.
• primary: have investigated = present perfect tense; has not been determined = passive, perfect, negative form
• The modal could shows ability, and the verb conduct stays in its simple form; the modal may shows degree of certainty, and the verb lead stays in its simple form.
• These semimodals are followed by the simple form of the verb.

Common Endings

Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs often have unique word endings, called suffixes . Looking at the suffix can help to distinguish the word from other parts of speech and help identify the function of the word in the sentence. It is important to use the correct word form in written sentences so that readers can clearly follow the intended meaning.

Here are some common endings for the basic parts of speech. If ever in doubt, consult the dictionary for the correct word form.

Common Noun Endings

Common Verb Endings

Common Adjective Endings

Common Adverb Endings

Placement and Position of Adjectives and Adverbs

Order of adjectives.

If more than one adjective is used in a sentence, they tend to occur in a certain order. In English, two or three adjectives modifying a noun tend to be the limit. However, when writing in APA, not many adjectives should be used (since APA is objective, scientific writing). If adjectives are used, the framework below can be used as guidance in adjective placement.

• Determiner (e.g., this, that, these, those, my, mine, your, yours, him, his, hers they, their, some, our, several,…) or article (a, an, the)
• Opinion, quality, or observation adjective (e.g., lovely, useful, cute, difficult, comfortable)
• Physical description
• (a) size (big, little, tall, short)
• (b) shape (circular,  irregular, triangular)
• (c) age (old, new, young, adolescent)
• (d) color (red, green, yellow)
• Origin (e.g., English, Mexican, Japanese)
• Material (e.g., cotton, metal, plastic)
• Qualifier (noun used as an adjective to modify the noun that follows; i.e., campus activities, rocking chair, business suit)
• Head noun that the adjectives are describing (e.g., activities, chair, suit)

For example:

• This (1) lovely (2) new (3) wooden (4) Italian (5) rocking (6) chair (7) is in my office.
• Your (1) beautiful (2) green (3) French (4) silk (5) business (6) suit (7) has a hole in it.

Commas With Multiple Adjectives

A comma is used between two adjectives only if the adjectives belong to the same category (for example, if there are two adjectives describing color or two adjectives describing material). To test this, ask these two questions:

• Does the sentence make sense if the adjectives are written in reverse order?
• Does the sentence make sense if the word “and” is written between them?

If the answer is yes to the above questions, the adjectives are separated with a comma. Also keep in mind a comma is never used before the noun that it modifies.

• This useful big round old green English leather rocking chair is comfortable . (Note that there are no commas here because there is only one adjective from each category.)
• A lovely large yellow, red, and green oil painting was hung on the wall. (Note the commas between yellow, red, and green since these are all in the same category of color.)

Position of Adverbs

Adverbs can appear in different positions in a sentence.

• At the beginning of a sentence: Generally , teachers work more than 40 hours a week.
• After the subject, before the verb: Teachers generally work more than 40 hours a week.
• At the end of a sentence: Teachers work more than 40 hours a week, generally .
• However, an adverb is not placed between a verb and a direct object. INCORRECT: Teachers work generally more than 40 hours a week.

More Detailed Rules for the Position of Adverbs

• Adverbs that modify the whole sentence can move to different positions, such as certainly, recently, fortunately, actually, and obviously.
• Recently , I started a new job.
• I recently started a new job.
• I started a new job recently .
• Many adverbs of frequency modify the entire sentence and not just the verb, such as frequently, usually, always, sometimes, often , and seldom . These adverbs appear in the middle of the sentence, after the subject.
• INCORRECT: Frequently she gets time to herself.
• INCORRECT: She gets time to herself frequently .
• She has frequently exercised during her lunch hour. (The adverb appears after the first auxiliary verb.)
• She is frequently hanging out with old friends. (The adverb appears after the to be verb.)
• Adverbial phrases work best at the end of a sentence.
• He greeted us in a very friendly way .
• I collected data for 2 months .

Main Parts of Speech Video Playlist

Note that these videos were created while APA 6 was the style guide edition in use. There may be some examples of writing that have not been updated to APA 7 guidelines.

• Mastering the Mechanics: Nouns (video transcript)
• Mastering the Mechanics: Introduction to Verbs (video transcript)
• Mastering the Mechanics: Articles (video transcript)
• Mastering the Mechanics: Introduction to Pronouns (video transcript)
• Mastering the Mechanics: Modifiers (video transcript)

Writing Tools: Dictionary and Thesaurus Refresher Video

Note that this video was created while APA 6 was the style guide edition in use. There may be some examples of writing that have not been updated to APA 7 guidelines.

• Writing Tools: Dictionary and Thesaurus Refresher (video transcript)

Related Resources

Knowledge Check: Main Parts of Speech

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Conceptions of grammar

Ancient and medieval grammars, modern and contemporary grammars.

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grammar , rules of a language governing the sounds, words, sentences, and other elements, as well as their combination and interpretation. The word grammar also denotes the study of these abstract features or a book presenting these rules. In a restricted sense, the term refers only to the study of sentence and word structure (syntax and morphology), excluding vocabulary and pronunciation.

A brief treatment of grammar follows. For full treatment, see linguistics .

A common contemporary definition of grammar is the underlying structure of a language that any native speaker of that language knows intuitively. The systematic description of the features of a language is also a grammar. These features are the phonology (sound), morphology (system of word formation), syntax (patterns of word arrangement), and semantics (meaning). Depending on the grammarian’s approach, a grammar can be prescriptive ( i.e., provide rules for correct usage), descriptive ( i.e., describe how a language is actually used), or generative ( i.e., provide instructions for the production of an infinite number of sentences in a language). The traditional focus of inquiry has been on morphology and syntax , and for some contemporary linguists (and many traditional grammarians) this is the only proper domain of the subject.

In Europe the Greeks were the first to write grammars . To them, grammar was a tool that could be used in the study of Greek literature; hence their focus on the literary language. The Alexandrians of the 1st century bc further developed Greek grammar in order to preserve the purity of the language. Dionysus Thrax of Alexandria later wrote an influential treatise called The Art of Grammar, in which he analyzed literary texts in terms of letters, syllables, and eight parts of speech .

The Romans adopted the grammatical system of the Greeks and applied it to Latin . Except for Varro , of the 1st century bc , who believed that grammarians should discover structures, not dictate them, most Latin grammarians did not attempt to alter the Greek system and also sought to protect their language from decay. Whereas the model for the Greeks and Alexandrians was the language of Homer, the works of Cicero and Virgil set the Latin standard. The works of Donatus (4th century ad ) and Priscian (6th century ad ), the most important Latin grammarians, were widely used to teach Latin grammar during the European Middle Ages . In medieval Europe, education was conducted in Latin, and Latin grammar became the foundation of the liberal arts curriculum. Many grammars were composed for students during this time. Aelfric , the abbot of Eynsham (11th century), who wrote the first Latin grammar in Anglo-Saxon, proposed that this work serve as an introduction to English grammar as well. Thus began the tradition of analyzing English grammar according to a Latin model.

The modistae , grammarians of the mid-13th to mid-14th century who viewed language as a reflection of reality, looked to philosophy for explanations of grammatical rules. The modistae sought one “universal” grammar that would serve as a means of understanding the nature of being. In 17th-century France a group of grammarians from Port-Royal were also interested in the idea of universal grammar . They claimed that common elements of thought could be discerned in grammatical categories of all languages. Unlike their Greek and Latin counterparts, the Port-Royal grammarians did not study literary language but claimed instead that usage should be dictated by the actual speech of living languages. Noting their emphasis on linguistic universals, the contemporary linguist Noam Chomsky called the Port-Royal group the first transformational grammarians.

By 1700 grammars of 61 vernacular languages had been printed. These were written primarily for purposes of reforming, purifying, or standardizing language and were put to pedagogical use. Rules of grammar usually accounted for formal, written, literary language only and did not apply to all the varieties of actual, spoken language. This prescriptive approach long dominated the schools, where the study of grammar came to be associated with “parsing” and sentence diagramming. Opposition to teaching solely in terms of prescriptive and proscriptive ( i.e. , what must not be done) rules grew during the middle decades of the 20th century.

The simplification of grammar for classroom use contrasted sharply with the complex studies that scholars of linguistics were conducting about languages. During the 19th and early 20th centuries the historical point of view flourished. Scholars who realized that every living language was in a constant state of flux studied all types of written records of modern European languages to determine the courses of their evolution. They did not limit their inquiry to literary languages but included dialects and contemporary spoken languages as well. Historical grammarians did not follow earlier prescriptive approaches but were interested, instead, in discovering where the language under study came from.

As a result of the work of historical grammarians, scholars came to see that the study of language can be either diachronic (its development through time) or synchronic (its state at a particular time). The Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure and other descriptive linguists began studying the spoken language. They collected a large sample of sentences produced by native speakers of a language and classified their material starting with phonology and working their way to syntax.

Generative, or transformational , grammarians of the second half of the 20th century, such as Noam Chomsky , studied the knowledge that native speakers possess which enables them to produce and understand an infinite number of sentences. Whereas descriptivists like Saussure examined samples of individual speech to arrive at a description of a language, transformationalists first studied the underlying structure of a language. They attempted to describe the “rules” that define a native speaker’s “competence” (unconscious knowledge of the language) and account for all instances of the speaker’s “performance” (strategies the individual uses in actual sentence production). See generative grammar ; transformational grammar .

The study of grammatical theory has been of interest to philosophers, anthropologists, psychologists, and literary critics over the centuries. Today, grammar exists as a field within linguistics but still retains a relationship with these other disciplines . For many people, grammar still refers to the body of rules one must know in order to speak or write “correctly.” However, from the last quarter of the 20th century a more sophisticated awareness of grammatical issues has taken root, especially in schools. In some countries, such as Australia and the United Kingdom, new English curricula have been devised in which grammar is a focus of investigation, avoiding the prescriptivism of former times and using techniques that promote a lively and thoughtful spirit of inquiry.

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Meaning of speech in English

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speech noun ( SAY WORDS )

• She suffers from a speech defect .
• From her slow , deliberate speech I guessed she must be drunk .
• Freedom of speech and freedom of thought were both denied under the dictatorship .
• As a child , she had some speech problems .
• We use these aids to develop speech in small children .
• banteringly
• bull session
• chew the fat idiom
• conversation
• shoot the breeze idiom
• touch base idiom
• tête-à-tête

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

speech noun ( FORMAL TALK )

• talk She will give a talk on keeping kids safe on the internet.
• lecture The lecture is entitled "War and the Modern American Presidency."
• presentation We were given a presentation of progress made to date.
• speech You might have to make a speech when you accept the award.
• address He took the oath of office then delivered his inaugural address.
• oration It was to become one of the most famous orations in American history.
• Her speech was received with cheers and a standing ovation .
• She closed the meeting with a short speech.
• The vicar's forgetting his lines in the middle of the speech provided some good comedy .
• Her speech caused outrage among the gay community .
• She concluded the speech by reminding us of our responsibility .
• call for papers
• deliver a speech
• maiden speech
• presentation
• public speaking
• talk at someone

speech | Intermediate English

Speech noun ( talking ), examples of speech, collocations with speech.

These are words often used in combination with speech .

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

Translations of speech

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Word of the Day

leave no stone unturned

to do everything you can to achieve a good result, especially when looking for something

A finger in every pie: phrases with the word ‘finger’

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100 Key Terms Used in the Study of Grammar

Brief Definitions of Commonly Used English Terms

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This collection provides a quick review of the basic English terms used in the study of grammar. For a more detailed examination of the word forms and sentence structures introduced here, click on any of the terms to visit a glossary page, where you'll find numerous examples and expanded discussions.

Abstract Noun

A noun (such as courage or freedom ) that names an idea, event, quality, or concept. Contrast with a concrete noun .

Active Voice

The verb form or voice in which the subject of the sentence performs or causes the action expressed by the verb. Contrast with passive voice .

The part of speech (or word class) that modifies a noun or a pronoun. Adjective forms: positive , comparative , superlative . Adjective: adjectival .

The part of speech (or word class) that is primarily used to modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs can also modify prepositional phrases , subordinate clauses , and complete sentences .

A prefix , suffix , or infix : a word element (or morpheme ) that can be attached to a base or root to form a new word. Noun: affixation . Adjective: affixable .

The correspondence of a verb with its subject in person and number , and of a pronoun with its antecedent in person, number, and gender .

A noun, noun phrase , or series of nouns used to identify or rename another noun, noun phrase, or pronoun.

A type of determiner that precedes a noun: a, an , or the .

Attributive

An adjective that usually comes before the noun it modifies without a linking verb . Contrast with a predicative adjective .

A verb that determines the mood or tense of another verb in a verb phrase . Also known as a helping verb . Contrast with a lexical verb .

The form of a word to which prefixes and suffixes are added to create new words.

Capital Letter

The form of an alphabetical letter (such as A, B, C ) used to begin a sentence or proper noun ; an uppercase letter, in contrast to lower case . Verb: capitalize .

A characteristic of English terms like nouns and certain pronouns that express their relationship to other words in a sentence. Pronouns have three case distinctions: subjective , possessive , and objective . In English, nouns have only one case inflection , the possessive. The case of nouns other than the possessive is sometimes called the common case .

A group of words that contains a subject and a predicate . A clause may be either a sentence (an independent clause ) or a sentence-like construction within a sentence (a dependent clause ).

Common Noun

A noun that can be preceded by the definite article and that represents one or all of the members of a class. As a general rule, a common noun does not begin with a capital letter unless it appears at the start of a sentence. Common nouns can be subcategorized as count nouns and mass nouns. Semantically, common nouns can be classified as abstract nouns and concrete nouns . Contrast this English term with a proper noun.

Comparative

The form of an adjective or adverb involving a comparison of more or less, greater or lesser.

A word or word group that completes the predicate in a sentence. The two kinds of compliments are subject complements (which follow the verb be and other linking verbs) and object complements  (which follow a direct object ). If it identifies the subject, the complement is a noun or pronoun; if it describes the subject, the complement is an adjective.

Complex Sentence

A sentence that contains at least one independent clause and one dependent clause.

Compound-Complex Sentence

A sentence that contains two or more independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.

Compound Sentence

A sentence that contains at least two independent clauses.

Conditional Clause

A type of adverbial clause that states a hypothesis or condition, real or imagined. A conditional clause may be introduced by the subordinating conjunction if or another conjunction, such as unless or in the case of .

Conjunction

The part of speech (or word class) that serves to connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences. The two main types of conjunction are coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions.

Contraction

A shortened form of a word or group of words (such as doesn't and won't ), with the missing letters usually marked by an apostrophe .

Coordination

The grammatical connection of two or more ideas to give them equal emphasis and importance. Contrast with subordination .

A noun referring to an object or idea that can form a plural or occur in a noun phrase with an indefinite article or with numerals. Contrast this English term with a mass noun (or noncount noun).

Declarative Sentence

A sentence in the form of a statement (in contrast to a command , a question , or an exclamation ).

Definite Article

In English, the definite article the is a determiner that refers to particular nouns. Compare to indefinite article.

Demonstrative

A determiner that points to a particular noun or to the noun it replaces. The demonstratives are this, that, these , and those . A demonstrative pronoun distinguishes its antecedent from similar things. When the word precedes a noun, it is sometimes called a demonstrative adjective .

Dependent Clause

A group of words that has both a subject and a verb but (unlike an independent clause) cannot stand alone as a sentence. Also known as a subordinate clause .

A word or a group of words that introduces a noun. Determiners include articles , demonstratives , and possessive pronouns .

Direct Object

A noun or pronoun in a sentence that receives the action of a transitive verb . Compare to an indirect object .

The omission of one or more words, which must be supplied by the listener or reader. Adjective: elliptical or elliptic . Plural, ellipses.

Exclamatory Sentence

A sentence that expresses strong feelings by making an exclamation. (Compare this English term with sentences that make a statement , express a command , or ask a question.)

Future Tense

A verb form indicating the action that has not yet begun. The simple future is usually formed by adding the auxiliary  will  or  shall  to the base form of a verb.

A grammatical classification which in English applies primarily to the third-person singular  personal pronouns :  he, she, him, her, his, hers .

A verbal that ends in  -ing  and functions as a noun.

The set of rules and examples dealing with the  syntax  and word structures of a language.

The keyword that determines the nature of a phrase. For example, in a noun phrase, the head is a noun or pronoun.

A set expression of two or more words that means something other than the literal meanings of its individual words.

Imperative Mood

The form of the verb that makes direct commands and requests.

Imperative Sentence

A sentence that gives advice or instructions or that expresses a request or command. (Compare this English term with sentences that make a statement, ask a question, or express an exclamation.)

Indefinite Article

The determiner  an  or  an , which marks an unspecified count noun.  A  is used before a word that starts with a  consonant  sound ("a bat," "a unicorn").  An  is used before a word that starts with a  vowel  sound ("an uncle," "an hour").

Independent Clause

A group of words made up of a subject and a predicate. An independent clause (unlike a dependent clause) can stand alone as a sentence. Also known as the  main clause .

Indicative Mood

The  mood  of the verb used in ordinary statements: stating a fact, expressing an opinion, asking a question.

Indirect Object

A noun or pronoun that indicates to whom or for whom the action of a verb in a sentence is performed.

Indirect Question

A sentence that reports a question and ends with a  period  rather than a question mark.

A verbal--usually preceded by the particle  to --that can function as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb.

A process of word formation in which items are added to the base form of a word to express grammatical meanings.

A contemporary linguistic term for the  present participle  and  gerund : any verb form that ends in  -ing .

Intensifier

A word that emphasizes another word or phrase. Intensifying adjectives modify nouns; intensifying adverbs commonly modify verbs,  gradable  adjectives, and other adverbs.

Interjection

The part of speech that usually expresses emotion and is capable of standing alone.

Interrogative Sentence

A sentence that asks a question. (Compare this English term with sentences that make a statement, deliver a command, or express an exclamation.)

Interrupting Phrase

A word group (a statement, question, or exclamation) that interrupts the flow of a sentence and is usually set off by commas, dashes, or parentheses.

Intransitive Verb

A verb that does not take a direct object. Contrast with a transitive verb .

Irregular Verb

A verb that does not follow the usual rules for verb forms. Verbs in English are irregular if they do not have a conventional  -ed  form.

Linking Verb

A verb, such as a form of  be  or  seem , that joins the subject of a sentence to a complement. Also known as a copula.

A noun (such as  advice, bread, knowledge ) that names things which cannot be counted. A mass noun (also known as a  non-count noun ) is used only in the singular. Contrast with count noun.

A verb that combines with another verb to indicate  mood  or tense.

A word, phrase, or clause that functions as an adjective or adverb to limit or qualify the meaning of another word or word group (called the  head ).

The quality of a verb that conveys the writer's attitude toward a subject. In English, the  indicative mood  is used to make factual statements or pose questions, the  imperative mood  to express a request or command, and the (rarely used)  subjunctive mood  to show a wish, doubt, or anything else contrary to fact.

A grammatical construction that contradicts (or negates) part or all of a sentence's meaning. Such constructions commonly include the  negative particle   not  or the contracted negative  n't .

The part of speech (or word class) that is used to name or identify a person, place, thing, quality, or action. Most nouns have both a singular and plural form, can be preceded by an article and/or one or more adjectives, and can serve as the  head  of a noun phrase.

The grammatical contrast between singular and plural forms of nouns, pronouns, determiners, and verbs.

A noun, pronoun, or noun phrase that receives or is affected by the action of a verb in a sentence.

Objective Case

The case or function of a pronoun when it is the direct or indirect object of a verb or verbal, the object of a preposition, the subject of an infinitive, or an appositive to an object. The objective (or  accusative)  forms of English pronouns are  me, us, you, him, her, it, them, whom , and  whomever .

A verb form that functions as an adjective.  Present participles  end in  -ing ;  past participles  of  regular verbs  end in  -ed .

A word that does not change its form through  inflection  and does not easily fit into the established system of parts of speech.

Parts of Speech

The traditional term for the categories into which words are classified according to their functions in sentences.

Passive Voice

A verb form in which the subject receives the verb's action. Contrast this English term with  active voice .

A verb tense (the second  principal part  of a verb) indicating the action that occurred in the past and which does not extend into the present.

Perfect Aspect

A verb construction that describes events occurring in the past but linked to a later time, usually the present.

The relationship between a subject and its verb, showing whether the subject is speaking about itself ( first person -- I  or  we ); being spoken to ( second person -- you ); or being spoken about ( third person -- he, she, it,  or  they ).

Personal Pronoun

A pronoun that refers to a particular person, group, or thing.

Any small group of words within a sentence or a clause.

The form of a noun that typically denotes more than one person, thing, or instance.

Possessive Case

The inflected form of nouns and pronouns usually indicating ownership, measurement, or source. Also known as  genitive case .

One of the two main parts of a sentence or clause, modifying the subject and including the verb, objects, or phrases governed by the verb.

Predicative Adjective

An adjective that usually comes after a linking verb and not before a noun. Contrast with an attributive adjective.

A letter or group of letters attached to the beginning of a word that partly indicates its meaning.

Prepositional Phrase

A group of words made up of a  preposition , its object, and any of the object's modifiers.

Present Tense

A verb tense that expresses action in the present time, indicates habitual actions or expresses general truths.

Progressive Aspect

A verb phrase made with a form of  be  plus  -ing  that indicates an action or condition continuing in the present, past, or future.

A word (one of the traditional parts of speech) that takes the place of a noun, noun phrase, or noun clause.

Proper Noun

A noun belonging to the class of words used as names for unique individuals, events, or places.

The reproduction of the words of a writer or speaker. In a  direct quotation , the words are reprinted exactly and placed in  quotation marks . In an  indirect quotation , the words are  paraphrased  and not put in quotation marks.

Regular Verb

A verb that forms its past tense and past participle by adding  -d  or  -ed  (or in some cases  -t ) to the  base form . Contrast with an irregular verb .

Relative Clause

A clause introduced by a relative pronoun (​ which, that, who, whom,  or  whose ) or a  relative adverb  ( where, when,  or  why ).

The largest independent unit of grammar: it begins with a capital letter and ends with a period, question mark, or exclamation point. A sentence is traditionally (and inadequately) defined as a word or group of words that expresses a complete idea and that includes a subject and a verb.

The simplest form of a noun (the form that appears in a dictionary): a category of  number  denoting one person, thing, or instance.

The part of a sentence or clause that indicates what it is about.

Subjective Case

The case of a pronoun when it is the subject of a clause, a subject complement, or an appositive to a subject or a subject complement. The subjective (or  nominative ) forms of English pronouns are  I, you, he, she, it, we, they, who,  and  whoever .

Subjunctive Mood

The mood of a verb expressing wishes, stipulating demands, or making statements contrary to fact.

A letter or group of letters added to the end of a word or stem, serving to form a new word or functioning as an inflectional ending.

Superlative

The form of an adjective that suggests the most or the least of something.

The time of a verb's action or state of being, such as past, present, and future.

Transitive Verb

A verb that takes a direct object. Contrast this English term with an intransitive verb .

The part of speech (or word class) that describes an action or occurrence or indicates a state of being.

A verb form that functions in a sentence as a noun or a modifier rather than as a verb.

A sound or a combination of sounds, or its representation in writing, that symbolizes and communicates a meaning and may consist of a single morpheme or a combination of morphemes.

A set of words that display the same formal properties, especially their  inflections  and distribution. Similar to (but not synonymous with) the more traditional term  part of speech .

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• Deverbal Nouns and Adjectives in English Grammar
• 36 Common Prefixes in English
• Question Mark Definition and Examples
• To, Too, and Two: How to Choose the Right Word
• A List of Exclamations and Interjections in English
• Definition and Examples of Function Words in English
• Figure of Speech: Definition and Examples
• Were, We're, and Where: How to Choose the Right Word

Parts of speech

• A  verb  tells us about an action or a state of being. Ordinary verbs are called  main verbs . A main verb is sometimes called a ‘doing word’.

A special group of verbs are called  auxiliary verbs . These can be put together with main verbs to form different tenses.

I  am  thinking.

She  has  seen the film already.

I  can  help you.

We  might  need to.

• A  noun  is a word that labels a thing or an idea. Nouns are sometimes called ‘naming words’.

• If we do not want to repeat the same noun in a sentence or a paragraph we can replace it with a  pronoun . A pronoun is a word that is used instead of a noun phrase or a noun.

Gary saw Sue so  he  asked  her  to help him.

Ross was hungry so  he  stopped at a burger bar.

• An  adjective  gives more information about a noun. Adjectives help us describe or pick out which particular thing among many is being referred to. Adjectives are sometimes called ‘describing words’.

• A  determiner  is used to point more precisely to the person, thing, or idea that is being talked about. Examples of determiners are  definite  and  indefinite articles  and  possessives .

• An  adverb  gives information about the way that an action is carried out or when and where it takes place. Many adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding -ly.

She ran  quickly  down the path.

The children laughed  hysterically .

He lifted the box  carefully .

Some adverbs can also be used before adjectives.

He was a  rather  tall man.

This cake is  quite  nice.

It’s a  very  hot day.

Adverbs can also introduce a sentence.

Fortunately , the rain stayed away.

Honestly , I can’t help it.

• A  preposition  is one of a small group of words that can be used with nouns and verbs. Prepositions give information about position or movement.

When a preposition is used in front of a noun, the two together do the work of an adverb.

He is coming  now . He is coming  in the morning .

I found him  there . I found him  near the gates .

• A  conjunction  joins two or more nouns or clauses to each other. Conjunctions are sometimes called ‘joining words’.

I went to the shop  and  bought some bread.

I bought some bread,  but  I forgot to get the milk.

Many words can act as more than one part of speech. It is not unusual for an English word to be a  noun  in one sentence and a  verb  in another sentence.

Jamal scored several  runs .

She  runs  half a mile each morning.

I’ve been chosen for the school  play .

Christopher and Angus  play  golf together on Fridays.

For further information on English Grammar, visit: https://grammar.collinsdictionary.com/easy-learning

Come back for other blogs on using English in everyday situations:

https://blog.collinsdictionary.com/language-learners/learning-english

All opinions expressed on this blog are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company, HarperCollins.

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