Let’s look at all these categories of parts of speech with examples:
A name or title given to an object, person, group, or concept is known as a noun . It can either be the subject of a sentence (an individual who acts) or the object of the verb (receiver of the action).
Nouns can be further divided into common nouns (A generic term used to refer to somebody or something) and proper nouns (A specific name used to refer to an individual, place, or concept). The first letter of proper nouns has to always be capitalized, whereas the first letter of common nouns is only capitalized at the beginning of a sentence.
Other types of nouns include collective nouns, abstract nouns, and gerunds. Let’s look at the use of these nouns in a sentence.
To avoid repetition, pronouns are used as stand-ins for nouns. A pronoun is usually used to indicate a noun that is already mentioned. It can refer to people, places, objects, or concepts. Pronouns can further be divided into the following categories:
Let’s look at a few example sentences with these different types of pronouns:
A descriptive word that modifies a noun or pronoun is known as an adjective . It elaborates on characteristics and provides descriptions of the subject they modify. This may include physical characteristics, qualities, or quantity of the subject.
Adjectives can either be placed before or after nouns or pronouns. Here is an example:
My father gifted me a blue pen before my exams. It was a lovely pen with dark blue ink.
A word that indicates an action, an event, or a state of being is called a verb . It indicates the action the subject is performing by itself or on an object. A complete sentence must at least contain a subject and a verb.
Verbs can be altered according to the subject, tense, and tone of voice. They can further be divided into two categories:
Let’s take a look at examples of both these verbs:
Tara walked towards me and embraced me.
Jamil came to meet me.
An adverb is a descriptive word that gives more information about a verb, adjective, or another adverb. A rule of thumb to turn an adjective into an adverb is to simply add ly at the end. However, this rule is not applicable everywhere.
Adverbs can be further divided into the following types:
Here are a few examples of these adverbs in a sentence:
A conjunction is a word used to join two or more sentences, phrases, clauses, or words. There are three types of conjunctions :
Here are a few example sentences with all three types of conjunctions:
Most animals have a fight- or -flight response to potentially dangerous situations. (Coordinating conjunction)
Although it was snowing very heavily, the schools were still open. (Subordinating conjunction)
Both Trixie and Katya like to indulge in psychological thrillers. (Correlative conjunctions)
A preposition is a word or phrase that indicates the relationship of the noun or pronoun with the rest of the sentence. Prepositions can be used to indicate aspects of time, space, location, and direction. Here are a few example sentences with prepositions:
Sam is the head of the department.
Capybaras swim with their heads above the water.
Shall we meet by the river at 6 pm?
Interjections are exclamations that form a separate part of the sentence. They are used to indicate emotions such as awe, joy, pain, or hesitation. They can also be used as a command or a greeting. Here are some example sentences with interjections:
Wow! What a game.
Ouch! That hurt.
Psst! Do you have an extra pencil?
Hey! How are you today?
Shush! The baby is sleeping.
The following categories at one point were considered separate parts of speech, but are now more or less integrated with the other eight parts of speech. Let’s take a look.
Determiners are words that describe the qualities of a noun such as quantity, belonging as well as position. As per the traditional eight parts of speech, these are classified as adjectives or even pronouns.
Here are a few example sentences:
That is my chair.
Few people believe in the power of positive reinforcement.
We met plenty of tourists tourists in Bangkok, many of whom were from our city.
Articles are used to modify a noun to indicate if it is general or specific. There are two types of articles.
Here are some examples of these articles:
A cow was lazily grazing in the meadow.
He noticed that an eye of the pigeon was red.
Although articles can be classified as a separate part of speech, they are generally included under the category of determiners.
Certain words can function as multiple parts of speech depending on the way they’re used. Let’s look at a few example sentences with these words:
The word run can function as a verb, noun as well as an adjective depending on how it’s used. Here are a few example sentences with the word run used in different contexts.
Richard runs by the lake every morning. (Verb)
We should start going for evening runs together. (Noun)
Edgar scored the top grade but Violet certainly gave him a run for his money.(Adjective)
The word lead can function as a noun as well as an adjective. Here’s how it’s used in both these cases:
She is the only lead we have. (Noun)
The lead surgeon failed to show up for the operation. (Adjective)
Work can be used as a verb as well as a noun depending on the circumstances. Here are a few example sentences of work in both contexts:
I usually leave from work at 5:00 pm. (Noun)
You must work tirelessly to achieve success. (Verb)
These differences may seem trivial at first but are key to perfect writing. As editing and proofreading experts, we realize the importance of understanding grammar concepts for flawless writing.
We’ve created a useful list of resources to help you minimize such errors. We hope they help bring out the best in your words!
What are the eight parts of speech, how many parts of speech are there, eight or 9, how to identify parts of speech.
Found this article helpful?
Leave a Comment: Cancel reply
Your email address will not be published.
Your organization needs a technical editor: here’s why, your guide to the best ebook readers in 2024, writing for the web: 7 expert tips for web content writing.
Subscribe to our Newsletter
Get carefully curated resources about writing, editing, and publishing in the comfort of your inbox.
How to Copyright Your Book?
If you’ve thought about copyrighting your book, you’re on the right path.
© 2024 All rights reserved
Parts of speech are fundamental categories that classify words based on their grammatical functions, roles, and relationships within sentences. They provide a framework for understanding how words are used in a language and help determine their syntactic behavior. In English, there are eight traditional parts of speech:
“It is the name of a certain place, thing, or a person. Like Daniel, English or a lion, etc.”
There are further two major types of nouns Common nouns and Proper nouns.
For Example, An old woman brought me a very long dress from a tailor , and then she quickly disappeared.
Cat | Computer | Train |
Dog | Phone | Plane |
Book | Wallet | Ship |
Chair | Shirt | Bike |
Table | Dress | Flower |
Car | Sock | Grass |
House | Bag | Rain |
Tree | Cup | Snow |
Flower | Plate | Wind |
Child | Spoon | Cloud |
Person | Fork | Fire |
Country | Knife | Water |
City | Watch | Air |
Student | Key | Love |
Teacher | Window | Hope |
Mouse | Door | Dream |
Bird | Table | Idea |
Fish | Bed | Problem |
Ball | Lamp | Solution |
Shoe | Sun | Question |
Hat | Moon | Answer |
Apple | Star | Friend |
Banana | Earth | Family |
Orange | Sky | Job |
Chair | Ocean | Money |
Desk | River | Time |
Pen | Mountain | Music |
Pencil | Road | Art |
Paper | Car | Language |
“A word that is used at the place of a noun is known as a pronoun such as he, she and it, etc”
Basically, the pronoun is a word that is usually substituted for a noun. Pronouns are further defined by their type such as
For Example, An old woman brought me a very long dress from a tailor , and then she quickly disappeared.
I | Mine | Myself |
You | Yours | Yourself |
He | His | Himself |
She | Hers | Herself |
It | Its | Itself |
We | Ours | Ourselves |
They | Theirs | Themselves |
Me | All | Myself |
You | Both | Yourself |
Him | Few | Himself |
Her | Many | Herself |
Us | Several | Ourselves |
Them | One | Themselves |
My | Those | Our |
Your | Some | Their |
His | Any | This |
Her | Every | That |
Its | None | These |
3. Adjective
“A word which qualifies or modifies a noun or pronoun is known as an adjective such as sweet, pretty, hot , etc.”
For Example , An old woman brought me a very long dress from a tailor, and then she quickly disappeared.
Beautiful | Small | Red |
Ugly | Big | Blue |
Handsome | Large | Green |
Pretty | Tiny | Yellow |
Cute | Tall | Orange |
Attractive | Short | Purple |
Gorgeous | Long | Pink |
Stunning | Fat | Brown |
Elegant | Thin | Black |
Charming | Narrow | White |
Graceful | Wide | Gray |
Smart | Deep | Silver |
Clever | Shallow | Gold |
Intelligent | Heavy | Colorful |
Wise | Light | Dark |
Dumb | Fast | Bright |
Brave | Slow | Pale |
Cowardly | Quick | Pastel |
Strong | Loud | Vibrant |
Weak | Quiet | Muted |
Powerful | Gentle | Neon |
Feeble | Smooth | Soft |
Fearless | Rough | Hard |
Fierce | Sharp | Delicate |
Calm | Blunt | Bold |
Aggressive | Pointed | Subtle |
Friendly | Flat | Vivid |
Hostile | Round | Faded |
Happy | Square | Clear |
Sad | Rectangular | Cloudy |
It describes or modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb, but never a noun such as gently, quickly, etc.”
For Example, An old woman brought me a very long dress from a tailor, and she quickly disappeared.
Quickly | Very | Carefully |
Slowly | Quite | Loudly |
Loudly | Too | Quietly |
Quietly | Extremely | Happily |
Happily | Rather | Sadly |
Sadly | Fairly | Proudly |
Proudly | Exceptionally | Anxiously |
Anxiously | Incredibly | Nervously |
Nervously | Terribly | Excitedly |
Excitedly | Abnormally | Calmly |
Calmly | Awfully | Joyfully |
Joyfully | Amazingly | Accurately |
Accurately | Unusually | Patiently |
Patiently | Considerably | Generously |
Generously | Highly | Gently |
Gently | Moderately | Steadily |
Steadily | Quite | Firmly |
Firmly | Remarkably | Smoothly |
Smoothly | Somewhat | Gracefully |
Gracefully | Fairly | Directly |
Directly | Relatively | Freely |
Freely | Incredibly | Briskly |
Briskly | Especially | Lazily |
Lazily | Truly | Lightly |
Lightly | Particularly | Eagerly |
Eagerly | Entirely | Politely |
Politely | Utterly | Rudely |
Rudely | Remarkably | Swiftly |
Swiftly | Exceptionally | Steadfastly |
Steadfastly | Considerably | Heavily |
5. Conjunction
“Conjunctions joins words, clauses or phrases and indicates the relationship between them, such as but, or so, yet are conjunctions.”
For Example , An old woman brought me a very long dress from a tailor, and then she quickly disappeared.
Here is the Examples List of Conjunction:
And | Although | Both…and |
But | As | Either…or |
Or | Because | Neither…nor |
Nor | Before | Not only…but also |
Yet | After | Whether…or |
So | Since | Whether…or |
For | When | Both…and |
While | Whenever | Neither…nor |
As | Where | Not only…but also |
Just as | If | Either…or |
Provided that | Unless | Whether…or |
Since | In case | Both…and |
Unless | Though | Neither…nor |
Although | Even if | Not only…but also |
Even though | As if | Whether…or |
Whereas | Until | Both…and |
But | Once | Neither…nor |
Whether | While | Not only…but also |
Whether or not | Since | Either…or |
And | Before | Whether…or |
Or | After | Both…and |
Nor | Because | Neither…nor |
Yet | When | Not only…but also |
So | Although | Whether…or |
For | As | Either…or |
But | If | Whether…or |
So that | Unless | Both…and |
In order that | In case | Neither…nor |
Provided that | Even if | Not only…but also |
Since | As if | Whether…or |
A verb expresses the action of being, doing, or having.”
For Example, An old woman brought me a very long dress from a tailor, and then she quickly disappeared .
Here is the Examples List of Verbs:
Ask | Drive | Play |
Jump | Read | Sing |
Talk | Dance | Sleep |
Write | Swim | Run |
Study | Cook | Eat |
Listen | Love | Draw |
Laugh | Cry | Think |
Stand | Speak | Work |
Climb | Watch | Help |
Smile | Clean | Fly |
Listen | Give | Take |
Learn | Open | Close |
Create | Break | Fix |
Teach | Call | Cut |
Paint | Meet | Start |
Finish | Visit | Drive |
Buy | Sell | Play |
Drink | Understand | Sing |
Write | Dance | Sleep |
Study | Cook | Eat |
Listen | Love | Draw |
Laugh | Cry | Think |
Stand | Speak | Work |
Climb | Watch | Help |
Smile | Clean | Fly |
Listen | Give | Take |
Learn | Open | Close |
Create | Break | Fix |
Teach | Call | Cut |
Paint | Meet | Start |
Finish | Visit | Drive |
Buy | Sell | Play |
7. Interjection
“Interjections are the words used to express emotions such as Oo! Woo! Etc.”
It is often followed by the sign of exclamation .
Here is the Examples List of Interjections:
Wow | Yippee | Hooray |
Oh | Yahoo | Yay |
Ah | Whee | Bravo |
Oops | Yip | Hip-hip-hooray |
Hey | Woo-hoo | Cheers |
Ouch | Yeehaw | Yippee ki-yay |
Alas | Yikes | Hurrah |
Phew | Yowza | Yippy |
Huh | Woohoo | Yee |
Oh no | Yesss | Yaaay |
Ahem | Yodel | Yip-yip |
Eek | Yummy | Woo |
Eureka | Yabba dabba doo | Yeeh |
Darn | Wowzers | Yoho |
Gosh | Yessir | Yow |
Hooray | Yayyy | Yoo-hoo |
Oops | Yippee | Huzzah |
8. Preposition
A preposition is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to form a phrase modifying another word in the sentence such as by, with, on, etc”
Here is the Examples List of Prepositions:
In | On | Under |
At | Above | Below |
Over | Below | Behind |
Before | After | Among |
Between | Through | Across |
Around | Against | Near |
Beside | From | To |
Into | Onto | Within |
Without | Toward | Upon |
With | Amongst | Inside |
Outside | Amid | About |
During | Until | Upon |
Like | Unlike | For |
Since | By | Behind |
Over | Past | Throughout |
Except | Beside | With |
Without | Amongst | Against |
Near | Above | Underneath |
In front of | Opposite | Across from |
Next to | Along | Behind |
Below | Around | Within |
By | Among | Alongside |
Toward | Between | Upon |
Inside | Outside | Despite |
With | Upon | Along |
Up | Down | Throughout |
For | During | Behind |
By | Near | Beneath |
Do you ever think about what a verb is and how many kinds there are? Verbs are super important in...
Learning about different kinds of adverbs is really important for becoming good at English. Adverbs...
Direct and Indirect of Present Continuous Tense English is a flexible language that helps us talk...
Pronouns are fundamental component of language that serve a crucial role of replacing a noun in a...
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.
Nouns are words used to talk about people, places, things, or ideas/concepts. Here are some examples:
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.
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:
These are absolute adjectives , but they can also be comparative (comparing two or more things) or superlative (showing degree or quality):
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):
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:
These though are main verbs. They have many other uses in a sentence so you should read about all the types of verbs further.
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:
Pronouns replace nouns and they prevent us from repeating the noun in a sentence. These are the types of pronouns with some examples:
Here are some examples of these words used in sentences:
Conjunctions are the of the 8 parts of speech responsible for joining together words, phrases, or clauses. There are three types:
Used to connect like for like words (e.g. noun+noun):
Or simple sentences (independent clauses):
Used to join alternative or equal elements:
Used to join subordinate clauses to main clauses:
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:
Learn more about interjections >>
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
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 enhances your ability to convey specific information about actions and their outcomes.
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 is an important aspect of academic writing. This lesson teachers you what this is and how you can use it effectively in your writing.
Here we demystify subject complements, predicate adjectives, and predicate nominatives with simple explanations and examples.
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.
Advice on how to use either and neither in English grammar. They can be adjectives, adverbs, pronouns and conjunctions.
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.
View examples of parallelism in English grammar that show you correct and incorrect parallel sentences.
Parallelism is about balancing the grammatical structure of words, phrases and clauses in your sentences. Parallel structure will improve your writing's coherence.
Any questions or comments about the grammar discussed on this page?
Post your comment here.
Sign up for free grammar tips, quizzes and lessons, straight into your inbox
Subscribe to grammar wiz:, grammar ebook.
This is an affiliate link
Gerund or infinitive quiz.
Aug 11, 24 04:34 AM
Aug 09, 24 01:59 AM
Jun 29, 24 11:04 AM
Online Quizzes Grammar Lessons Courses Blog
Privacy Policy / Disclaimer / Terms of Use
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 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 .
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.
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:
Common Noun : Names a general item.
Proper Noun: Names a specific item.
Collective Noun: Refers to a group.
Possessive Noun: Shows ownership.
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…
Action Verb : Describes an action.
Linking Verb: Connects the subject to a noun, adjective, or pronoun.
Modal Verb: Helps the main verb and shows the speaker’s thoughts.
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
Reflexive Pronoun: Refers to self.
Indefinite Pronoun: Refers to a non-specific person or item.
Possessive Pronoun: Shows ownership.
Relative Pronoun: Introduces an adjective clause.
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…
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…
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
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
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
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
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.
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:
By asking these questions, you can identify the correct part of speech for any word in a sentence.
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.
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:
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:
By combining these clauses, one forms a complex sentence: She reads a book because she wants to learn.
Other examples of complex sentences:
Learn all parts of speech in English with a useful video lesson.
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”?
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?
C. In the sentence “I’ll have a few tacos”, what part of speech is the phrase “a few”?
Answers: A) 3, B) 1, C) 3
What are parts of speech? In the American English language, parts-of-speech is a category to which a word is assigned in accordance with its syntactic functions. They exist under the verb , noun, pronoun, interjection , adjective , conjunction, adverb, and preposition forms.
Learn more about parts of the speech in this comprehensive worksheet…
“Parts of speech” refers to the essential words used in sentence formation in the English language.
Every word used in a sentence structure plays an important role in defining the sentence’s meaning. These words use and placement give proper intentions in sentence structures.
Parts of speech are the basic grammar lessons taught during the primary phases of learning English.
Any word used in sentence formation falls into one of these categories for proper sentence structure.
Some of those words can be a part of one or more parts of speech. This topic further explores the essential parts of speech used in the English language.
Watch this as a video lesson
These nine parts of speech are namely: Verbs, Nouns , Adjectives, Determiners, Adverbs , Pronouns, Prepositions , Conjunctions, and Interjections.
Another additional classification is used as a part of speech, i.e. , Articles, a subprogram of determiners.
To comprehend the meaning and use of each word in the English language, it is essential to clearly understand the various parts of speech and select the right parts of speech form at the appropriate place in the sentence.
Here are the nine parts of speech and how they impact the English language.
Noun | name a place, person, thing, or idea. | California, man, park |
Pronoun | Used to replace the name of a person, place, thing or idea. | He, she, it, they |
Verb | A verb expresses what the does. | Leave, do, work put, |
Adverb | Used to describe verb, adverb, or adjective. | Always, silently, quickly |
Adjective | Words that are used to describe qualities or things. | Long, short, tiny, bright, dark |
Preposition | Shows the relationship between other words in a sentence. | In, on, at, with, |
Interjection | Words that express emotions or feelings. | Wow, oh, ah, yikes |
Conjunction | Words that join words or groups of words together. | And, but, , , also |
‘Verbs’ are the words used in a sentence to define the action/state of action being performed. Most of the sentences in sentence formation require the inclusion of verbs.
Some examples of verbs used in the English language are Love, Break, Fall , and Cry . These are the basic forms of verbs and are known as infinitives .
Most of the verbs used have two other major forms called participles . The use of these participles is for the formation of various verb-tense combinations.
These participles define the forms of verbs concerning the time of action/performance. These verb-tense combinations can be used in two types: Active voice and passive voice .
A ‘noun’ are words used in a sentence to give recognition or the name of an object, individual, or animal.
Nouns can be sub-classified into two major categories: Common nouns , which give generic descriptor names to things, and common items, such as a bat, a bicycle , etc. The other category of nouns is Proper nouns , which have specific descriptor names to refer to a specialized object, place, or individual, such as Charley, The Empire State Building, The Telegraph , etc.
Additionally, nouns can be classified as singular nouns and plural nouns based on the number of individuals/objects.
The definition of a Singular Noun is the same as that of a noun when used commonly. It carries the same definition as the noun: “A word referring towards an individual/object/event/material/place.”
The word plural relates to “more than one in certain languages or more than two in certain languages.”
Thus singular nouns can be converted to their plural noun format when there is an implication of more than one or two objects/individuals/places.
A general Singular/Common Noun can be turned into the appropriate form of a Plural Noun by adding a ‘s’/’es’/’ ies’/’ves.’ It is also initiated by changing ‘us’ to ‘i’, ‘is’ to ‘es’ , or ‘on’ to ‘a’ .
Some common nouns do not change when interchanged between their singular and plural noun forms. Some other common nouns do not fall under plural nouns and are called irregular nouns, which are made plural by changing the spelling or adding a suffix to the word.
‘Adjectives’ are words that give a description or modify the scope of nouns/pronouns by being specific. For example, adjectives used to define a noun can be red, small, hot, common, etc.
An adjective is usually placed before a noun or after the verb that it modifies. Three forms of adjectives are used to compare similar characteristics of different individuals/objects. These three degrees of comparison are:
This comparison of adjectives defines the original form of the adjective as stated in English. For example, “this candy is tasty .” This degree of comparison states that no relative subject is available for comparison.
This form of the adjective gives a relative comparison between two objects performing similar actions with identical characteristics. For example, “the candy we had today is tastier than the one we received yesterday.”
This form of the adjective gives the superiority declaration of one object over similar objects possessing similar characteristics. For example, “this candy is the tastiest I have ever had in the last two years .”
Adjectives can be sub-classified based on their function in sentence formation. This sub-classification is:
These adjectives show/represent the possessiveness of an object. For example, mine, my, his/her, their, its, etc.
These adjectives modify the noun/pronoun by interrogation. Only a select few adjectives are available in this form. For example, whose, which, what, and where.
These adjectives describe the current state/position of the noun/pronoun concerning space/time. For example, this, these, those, that.
These adjectives are a result of the combination of two or more adjectives. The resulting adjective modifies the subject in the sentence. For example, hand-dried, heavy-weighted, spike-haired, etc.
‘Determiners’ are the words placed before a noun/pronoun group terms to refer to a single/multiple things. Some commonly used determiners in English are ‘a’, ‘the’, ‘some’, ‘any’, and ‘this.’ Determiners are generally placed before descriptive adjectives . It tells the reader more about the description of the noun being referred to.
Determiners are classified into sub-categories, articles, and demonstratives.
An ‘Article’ can be either definite or indefinite. An article modifies a noun/pronoun without specifying any description of the object. In English, an example of a ‘definite article’ is the , whereas examples of two ‘indefinite articles’ are a and an .
Here, the refers to specific things or things that are identified beforehand. A or a refer to non-specific things that have not been identified beforehand.
A ‘Demonstrative’ is defined as a demonstrative adjective/pronoun based on its usage in the sentence. Some examples of demonstratives are ‘this’, ‘that’, and ‘those’ .
A determiner has the same rules of use as in the case of adjectives in sentence formation. Thus, confusion takes place when carefully choosing the type of parts of speech to assign when given a choice of either a determiner or adjective.
An ‘Adverb’ defines essential information about the verb, similar to what an adjective is to a noun. It provides a descriptor for a verb used in a sentence and some cases, can also describe an adjective or another adverb.
Some adverbs used in sentences with verbs are ‘slowly’, ‘hastily’, ‘unfortunately’, and ‘angrily’.
Adverbs are further sub-classified into various types based on their application in a sentence.
A ‘Pronoun’ is a word used in specifically providing an alternate name for a non/noun phrase. They are alternate words for referring to an object/individual when the requirement of a noun is unnecessary, as the noun has been mentioned previously in some parts of the sentence.
Some examples of pronouns are ‘it’, ‘he/she’, and ‘himself/herself’.
Pronouns are sub-classified into different categories based on their use in the sentence.
A ‘Preposition’ is a word used as a connective between a noun, a noun phrase, or a pronoun with another word.
A ‘Conjunction’ is a word that combines two/more objects and behaves as connectives in a sentence. These can appear in the beginning/middle/end of the sentence following the location of the objects.
An ‘Interjection’ is a word to convey the expression of a variety of emotions/feelings. As such, there is no specific rule for the use of interjection and where it is to be placed.
However, in most cases, it is placed at the beginning of the sentence. For example, some of the most commonly used interjections are ‘ouch’, ‘phew’, and ‘well’.
Noun | The howled. |
Pronoun | It woke the baby. |
Verb | The loving mother the child. |
Adjective | The father rocked the baby. |
Adverb | The dog howled |
Preposition | The baby cried a long time. |
Conjunction | The baby gazed at his mother father. |
Interjection | , the baby fell back asleep. |
Here are some examples of the parts of speech used in sentences. Note the placement and its relation with other parts of speech present in the sentence format.
See another example in the image below.
See an example in the image below.
Many parts of speech can have more than one function/job in the sentence. This improves the versatility of the words being used and makes the use more situational in its placement and conveyance of meaning.
To see how all the objects work together, see the table below.
She | likes | big | but | I | hate | them |
Here is a chart showing the parts of speech:
In sentence formation, it often becomes difficult to ascertain the parts of speech represented by each word. To help out and to make the process of identification easier, follow these steps:
More parts of speech:
Inside this article
Fact checked: Content is rigorously reviewed by a team of qualified and experienced fact checkers. Fact checkers review articles for factual accuracy, relevance, and timeliness. Learn more.
About the author
Dalia Y.: Dalia is an English Major and linguistics expert with an additional degree in Psychology. Dalia has featured articles on Forbes, Inc, Fast Company, Grammarly, and many more. She covers English, ESL, and all things grammar on GrammarBrain.
The world's best online resource for learning English. Understand words, phrases, slang terms, and all other variations of the English language.
Grammarians categorize English words into groups, which we call Parts of Speech. Most guides will tell you that there are eight or nine parts of speech, depending on a few factors, like whether they include interjections. Each part of speech serves a particular function, which I will describe below.
The parts of speech we will cover are:
I’ve also put together a table with all the parts of speech and examples of their use in sentences. Below the table, you’ll find a breakdown of each part of speech with further examples.
Are you responsible for editing, but find yourself with too much work? Consider EditorNinja’s professional editing services. With rates cheaper than working with freelancers directly and guaranteed turnaround times from professional editors, we can help you. Schedule a free Intro Call to learn more.
Noun | A person, place, thing, or idea | John, forest, car, joy, house, business, Minneapolis | Wow! Those walked surprisingly quickly through the long and steep that they had planned. | “Hikers” is a noun (more than one) and “trail” is a noun (just one). Nouns are divided into nouns, like “city,” and nouns, like “Detroit.” |
Pronoun | Substitutes for a noun | He, she, they, it, my, these, those | Wow! Those hikers walked surprisingly quickly through the long and steep trail that had planned. | In the example, “they” substitutes for the noun “hikers.” |
Verb | Expresses actions and states | Go, sit, draw, walk, do, be, was, were, driving, talking | Wow! Those hikers surprisingly quickly through the long and steep trail that they had planned. | This verb is a verb — it describes something that happened in the past. |
Adjective | Modifies or describes a noun | Happy, red, interesting, nice, wonderful, spooky | Wow! Those hikers walked surprisingly quickly through the and trail that they had planned. | “Long” and “steep,” adjectives, both describe the noun “trail.” |
Adverb | Modifies or describes a verb, adjective, or other adverb | Happily, softly, angrily, intriguingly, forcefully | Wow! Those hikers walked surprisingly through the long and steep trail that they had planned. | “Quickly” modifies the verb “walked.” “Surprisingly” modifies “quickly.” |
Preposition | Links a noun to another word; shows location or time | Above, along, by, on, in, with, under, at, upon, during, before, after, despite, via, through | Wow! Those hikers walked surprisingly quickly the long and steep trail that they had planned. | Though there are lots of other words in this sentence, we can see how the conjunction “through” links a noun with another word if we pare it down to where “through” connects the noun “trail” to the verb “walked.” We can also say that it shows the of the walking (the trail). |
Conjunction | Joins words, phrases, or clauses | For, and, but, or, because | Wow! Those hikers walked surprisingly quickly through the long steep trail that they had planned. | The conjunction “and” joins the words “long” and “steep.” |
Determiner | Articles and other words that limit or determine a noun | A, an, the, that, those, these, which | Wow! hikers walked surprisingly quickly through long and steep trail they had planned. | Determiners often answer the questions, “Which?” or, “What?” For example, “Which hikers?” “ hikers.” Possessives, like , etc., can serve as determiners. |
Interjection | A short exclamation | Oh!, Ouch!, Blast!, Yikes!, @#$%! | Those hikers walked surprisingly quickly through the long and steep trail that they had planned. | Sometimes other types of words can serve as interjections. For example, “Mom! You cut your hair!”, where “Mom!” is both a noun an interjection. |
Nouns are things. Stuff. People. Places. Ideas. (Yeah, things, stuff, people, places, and ideas are all nouns.)
Nouns can be common, like city, park, and building , or proper, like New York City, Central Park, and The Chrysler Building. Proper nouns are names. Michael and Mr. Blackwood , for example, are proper nouns.
Nouns can be singular or plural. A singular noun is when there’s only one. One man , one dog, one person . Plural nouns occur when there’s more than one. Two men , ten dogs , a million people .
Nouns can also be possessive, which means a noun “owns,” belongs to, or is otherwise attached to another noun. In English, we use the apostrophe to denote possession. In the phrase “the man’s dog,” for example, man’s is possessive. Man owns (or belongs to) dog .
Pronouns substitute for nouns. Pronouns include he, she, they, you, it, and many more.
Pronouns can be possessive, like my, your, his, and her . Pronouns can also be plural like we and they. And pronouns can be plural and possessive, like our and their .
Words like that and which do double (or triple!) duty. That can be a determiner (see below), as in the phrase “ I ate that apple,” but can also become a pronoun, as in the phrase, “I ate that ” — where that substitutes for a noun, like apple.
To be or not to be, that is the…ultimate verb. Verbs show actions and states of being. This includes to be and its derivatives: is, are, were, will be, have been, etc. Verbs show all the things you can do . Crawl. Walk. Run. Sit, watch, enjoy, laugh, cry, and eat.
Verbs have a tense , which refers to when the thing is being done. There are three main tenses: Past, present, and future . In the past tense, I wrote. In the present tense, I write. In the future, I will write (which enlists the help of the “helping verb” will ) .
Furthermore, the tenses all have an aspect , which demonstrates further details, like whether an action is ongoing. The aspects are simple, perfect, continuous , and perfect continuous . So you can have any combination of aspects with tense; for example, simple past or perfect continuous future .
The subject of tenses and aspects is pretty complicated — it deserves its own article. But for now, here’s a simple chart that breaks down the tenses and aspects with examples.
This information is pretty esoteric, so don’t get too distracted by it. The main thing to remember is that verbs show action and states of being.
Adjectives describe nouns.
When you’re telling someone about your favorite English language blog, you would use adjectives to describe it. Smart, witty, clever, helpful, accessible, and concise are all adjectives.
And were you to describe the writer of that blog you would continue to use adjectives. Smart, witty, clever, helpful, handsome, kind, approachable, and single are also adjectives.
Adverbs are like adjectives, except that they don’t describe nouns, they describe other parts of speech: verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Adverbs often end in -ly , but not always. They can come before verbs, as in, “she quickly ran,” or after, as in “she ran quickly. ”
Modifying a verb : He quietly tip-toed through the dark hallway.
( Quietly modifies the verb tip-toed. )
Modifying an adjective : He quietly tip-toed through the eerily dark hallway.
( Eerily modifies the adjective dark. )
Modifying another adverb : He totally quietly tip-toed through the eerily dark hallway.
( Totally modifies the other adverb quietly. )
Prepositions link nouns to other words, showing us the relationship between them. They show location or time. For example, “We will meet on the bridge during sunset.”
Prepositions can also be used to show purpose, as in, “I am walking for my heart.”
Prepositions include in, on, toward, with, through, at, upon, toward, via, and many more.
Conjunctions join words, phrases, and clauses together , so we can create complex sentences and express multiple ideas at once.
Conjunctions include and, but, or, yet, although, because, and others.
In this sentence, the conjunction joins two clauses: “I don’t like apples but I do like oranges.” And in this sentence, the conjunction joins just two words: “I like apples and oranges.”
One group of conjunctions (called correlative conjunctions) comes in pairs, like either/or, if/then, not only/but also . Here’s an example:
“ Either you will peel the oranges for me, or I won’t eat them.”
Back in the day, your English teacher, like mine, may have taught you about articles: the , a , and an .
Grammarians more and more frequently include these in a group of words called determiners , words that limit or “determine” nouns, which, in addition to articles include that, this, these, those , and others — showing exactly which noun or nouns are being talked about. This includes possessive pronouns like my, your, their, her, and his.
Think of it this way: determiners often answer the questions What?, Which?, or Whose? For example, “Which article?” “ This article.” “Whose blog?” “ Our blog.”
Consult more than one English grammar guide, and you’re likely to see that there are eight or nine parts of speech. Why the difference? Well, some sources don’t include the interjection as its own part of speech. But some sources do, so you ought to know about it.
Interjections can be, um, tricky to define. They are spontaneous, sometimes emotional, and they come before or between complete thoughts . Sometimes they interrupt a sentence right in its tracks. They include exclamations like Wow!, Yikes!, and Oh! They also include curses ( damn! ), greetings (like hi ) , and filler words (like um ).
Sometimes, other parts of speech can be interjections.
There you have it — the nine parts of speech. Noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, determiner, and interjection.
Got an exam coming up? Working on your writing? Consult this guide anytime you need a refresher.
EditorNinja is here to help! We’re a team of professional content editors, across line editing, copy editing, and proofreading. Most EditorNinja editors are MFA-trained, and they’re looking forward to editing your written content!
Schedule a free Intro Call today to learn more about how EditorNinja can help you improve the content you’re publishing.
Basic English Grammar
Helping People Understand the Eight Parts of Speech!
The 8 parts of speech definitions with examples include nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections.
By using proper grammar in your writing and speaking, you will communicate clearly and effectively with your subject or audience! Moreover, by learning and understanding the 8 parts of speech, you will be able to master proper grammar in your writing and speaking. Below are the 8 parts of speech definitions with examples!
Definition of Parts of Speech: A part of speech is a category to which a word is assigned in accordance with its syntactic functions.
To put it very simply, a part of speech identifies a word in accordance with its function in a sentence such as: a noun, a verb, an adjective, a pronoun, an adverb, a preposition, a conjunction and an interjection.
Some Examples of Parts of Speech:
Definition of Nouns: Nouns are naming words and they name persons, places, things, animals, qualities, feelings, actions or ideas.
Examples of Nouns:
Examples of Types of Nouns:
You can learn more about the types of nouns in English grammar by checking out 10 Types of Nouns With Examples. You will find each type of noun explained with several examples so that your skill levels to recognize nouns will increase.
Examples of Functions of Nouns:
You can learn more about the functions of Nouns in English grammar by clicking on The 8 Noun Functions With Examples. You will find each function explained with examples to help you develop your skills in recognizing the different ways nouns function.
Definition of Verbs: Verbs show action or state-of-being.
Examples of Verb Types:
Examples of Verb Functions:
Examples of Verb Voices:
You can learn more about how to identify types, functions and voices of verbs by clicking on How To Identify Verbs With Examples. This will help you develop your writing and speaking gifts.
Definition of Adjectives: Adjectives are words that describe or modify other words in a sentence thus making your writing and speaking more specific and interesting.
Examples of Several Types Adjectives:
Learning to recognize the different types of adjectives will help you develop your speaking and writing skills so that you can be more specific, interesting and colorful in the way you express yourself.
Definition of Pronouns: Pronouns are words that replace nouns in sentence in order to avoid repeating the same noun over and over again.
Examples of Several Types of Pronouns :
You can learn more about the different types of pronouns in English grammar with examples by clicking on Types of Pronouns With Examples. You will find a brief explanation of each type of pronoun with some examples. This will help you understand how pronouns work in English sentences.
Definition of Adverbs: Adverbs are words or a group of words that modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. They usually tell when, where, how or to what extent an action is performed or it may indicate the quality or degree of the action.
Examples of Different Types of Adverbs:
You can learn more about adverbs and how they are used in English sentences by clicking on What is an Adverb? Adverb can be confusing at times because they perform differently roles and they can be inserted at different place in English sentences. By learning to recognize the types of adverbs and how they function in sentences, you will certainly increase your ability to write and speak with interesting to your audiences.
Definition of Prepositions: Prepositions consist of words or groups of words that show the relationship between nouns or pronouns with other words in sentences.
Examples of Several Types of Prepositions:
You can learn more about the 8 types of prepositions with examples by clicking on 8 types of prepositions with examples. Once you identify the 8 types of preposition and how they function in sentence, you will become more creative in your writing and speaking skills.
Definition of Conjunctions: Conjunctions are words or groups of words that show how ideas are related to each other in English sentences.
Examples of Several Types of Conjunctions:
You can learn more about the 4 types of conjunctions with examples by clicking on 4 Types of Conjunctions With Examples. By learning these 4 types of conjunctions with examples, you will be able to identify how words, phrases and clauses relate to each other in English sentences.
Definition of Interjections: Interjections are used to express feelings and emotions in English sentences.
Examples of Interjections:
You can learn more about interjections by clicking on What is an Interjection?
The more you understand the 8 parts of speech in English grammar with examples, the better you will be able to write and speak to your designated audience. Enjoy!
Master comma placement by learning the 8 simple comma rules with examples.
This article is part of the ultimate guide to language for teachers and students. Click the buttons below to view these.
Just as a skilled bricklayer must get to grips with the trowel, brick hammer, tape measure, and spirit level, the student-writer must develop a thorough understanding of the tools of their trade too.
In English, words can be categorized according to their common syntactic function in a sentence, i.e. the job they perform.
We call these different categories Parts of Speech . Understanding the various parts of speech and how they work has several compelling benefits for our students.
Without first acquiring a firm grasp of the various parts of speech, students will struggle to fully comprehend how language works. This is essential not only for the development of their reading comprehension but their writing skills too.
Parts of speech are the core building blocks of grammar . To understand how a language works at a sentence and a whole-text level, we must first master parts of speech.
In English, we can identify eight of these individual parts of speech, and these will provide the focus for our Complete Guide to Parts of Speech .
A complete unit on teaching figurative language.
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE is like “SPECIAL EFFECTS FOR AUTHORS.” It is a powerful tool to create VIVID IMAGERY through words. This HUGE UNIT guides you through completely understanding FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE .
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (26 Reviews)
Often the first word a child speaks will be a noun, for example, Mum , Dad , cow , dog , etc.
Nouns are naming words, and, as most school kids can recite, they are the names of people, places, and things . But, what isn’t as widely understood by many of our students is that nouns can be further classified into more specific categories.
These categories are:
Proper nouns, concrete nouns, abstract nouns, collective nouns, countable nouns, uncountable nouns.
All nouns can be classified as either common or proper .
Common nouns are the general names of people, places, and things. They are groups or classes on their own, rather than specific types of people, places, or things such as we find in proper nouns.
Common nouns can be further classified as abstract or concrete – more on this shortly!
Some examples of common nouns include:
People: teacher, author, engineer, artist, singer.
Places: country, city, town, house, garden.
Things: language, trophy, magazine, movie, book.
Proper nouns are the specific names for people, places, and things. Unlike common nouns, which are always lowercase, proper nouns are capitalized. This makes them easy to identify in a text.
Where possible, using proper nouns in place of common nouns helps bring precision to a student’s writing.
Some examples of proper nouns include:
People: Mrs Casey, J.K. Rowling, Nikola Tesla, Pablo Picasso, Billie Eilish.
Places: Australia, San Francisco, Llandovery, The White House, Gardens of Versailles.
Things: Bulgarian, The World Cup, Rolling Stone, The Lion King, The Hunger Games.
As mentioned, all common and proper nouns can be further classified as either concrete or abstract .
A concrete noun is any noun that can be experienced through one of the five senses. In other words, if you can see, smell, hear, taste, or touch it, then it’s a concrete noun.
Some examples of concrete nouns include:
Abstract nouns refer to those things that can’t be experienced or identified through the five senses.
They are not physical things we can perceive but intangible concepts and ideas, qualities and states.
Some examples of abstract nouns include:
A collective noun is the name of a group of people or things. That is, a collective noun always refers to more than one of something.
Some examples of collective nouns include:
People: a board of directors, a team of football players, a cast of actors, a band of musicians, a class of students.
Places: a range of mountains, a suite of rooms, a union of states, a chain of islands.
Things: a bale of hay, a constellation of stars, a bag of sweets, a school of fish, a flock of seagulls.
Countable nouns are nouns that refer to things that can be counted. They come in two flavors: singular and plural .
In their singular form, countable nouns are often preceded by the article, e.g. a , an , or the .
In their plural form, countable nouns are often preceded by a number. They can also be used in conjunction with quantifiers such as a few and many .
Some examples of countable nouns include:
a driver | two drivers |
the house | the houses |
an apple | a few apples |
dog | dogs |
Also known as mass nouns, uncountable nouns are, as their name suggests, impossible to count. Abstract ideas such as bravery and compassion are uncountable, as are things like liquid and bread .
These types of nouns are always treated in the singular and usually do not have a plural form.
They can stand alone or be used in conjunction with words and phrases such as any , some , a little , a lot of , and much .
Some examples of uncountable nouns include:
Advice |
Money |
Baggage |
Danger |
Warmth |
Milk |
Without a verb, there is no sentence! Verbs are the words we use to represent both internal and external actions or states of being. Without a verb, nothing happens.
There are many different types of verbs. Here, we will look at five important verb forms organised according to the jobs they perform:
Stative verbs, transitive verbs, intransitive verbs, auxiliary verbs.
Each verb can be classified as being either an action or a stative verb.
Dynamic or action verbs describe the physical activity performed by the subject of a sentence. This type of verb is usually the first we learn as children.
For example, run , hit , throw , hide , eat , sleep , watch , write , etc. are all dynamic verbs, as is any action performed by the body.
Let’s see a few examples in sentences:
If a verb doesn’t describe a physical activity, then it is a stative verb.
Stative verbs refer to states of being, conditions, or mental processes. Generally, we can classify stative verbs into four types:
Some examples of stative verbs include:
Senses: hurt, see, smell, taste, hear, etc.
Emotions: love, doubt, desire, remember, believe, etc.
Being: be, have, require, involve, contain, etc.
Possession: want, include, own, have, belong, etc.
Here are some stative verbs at work in sentences:
Sometimes verbs can fit into more than one category, e.g., be , have , look , see , e.g.,
Each action or stative verb can also be further classified as transitive or intransitive .
A transitive verb takes a direct object after it. The object is the noun, noun phrase, or pronoun that has something done to it by the subject of the sentence.
We see this in the most straightforward English sentences, i.e., the Subject-Verb-Object or SVO sentence.
Here are two examples to illustrate. Note: the subject of each sentence is underlined, and the transitive verbs are in bold.
Most sentences in English employ transitive verbs.
An intransitive verb does not take a direct object after it. It is important to note that only nouns, noun phrases, and pronouns can be classed as direct objects.
Here are some examples of intransitive verbs – notice how none of these sentences has direct objects after their verbs.
Auxiliary verbs, also known as ‘helping’ verbs, work with other verbs to affect the meaning of a sentence. They do this by combining with a main verb to alter the sentence’s tense, mood, or voice.
Auxiliary verbs will frequently use not in the negative.
There are relatively few auxiliary verbs in English. Here is a list of the main ones:
Here are some examples of auxiliary verbs (in bold) in action alongside a main verb (underlined).
She is working as hard as she can.
The Subject-Auxiliary Inversion Test
To test whether or not a verb is an auxiliary verb, you can use the Subject-Auxiliary Inversion Test .
Is she working as hard as she can?
She is not working as hard as she can.
The job of an adjective is to modify a noun or a pronoun. It does this by describing, quantifying, or identifying the noun or pronoun. Adjectives help to make writing more interesting and specific. Usually, the adjective is placed before the word it modifies.
As with other parts of speech, not all adjectives are the same. There are many different types of adjectives and, in this article, we will look at:
Demonstrative adjectives, possessive adjectives, interrogative adjectives, proper adjectives.
Descriptive adjectives are what most students think of first when asked what an adjective is. Descriptive adjectives tell us something about the quality of the noun or pronoun in question. For this reason, they are sometimes referred to as qualitative adjectives .
Some examples of this type of adjective include:
In sentences, they look like this:
Descriptive adjectives have three degrees to express varying degrees of intensity and to compare one thing to another. These degrees are referred to as positive , comparative , and superlative .
The positive degree is the regular form of the descriptive adjective when no comparison is being made, e.g., strong .
The comparative degree is used to compare two people, places, or things, e.g., stronger .
There are several ways to form the comparative, methods include:
The superlative degree is typically used when comparing three or more things to denote the upper or lowermost limit of a quality, e.g., strongest .
There are several ways to form the superlative, including:
There are also some irregular adjectives of degree that follow no discernible pattern that must be learned off by students, e.g., good – better – best .
Let’s take a look at these degrees of adjectives in their different forms.
beautiful | more beautiful | most beautiful |
delicious | less delicious | least delicious |
near | nearer | nearest |
happy | happier | happiest |
bad | worse | worst |
Let’s take a quick look at some sample sentences:
Comparative
Superlative
Quantitive adjectives provide information about how many or how much of the noun or pronoun.
Some quantitive adjectives include:
A demonstrative adjective identifies or emphasizes a noun’s place in time or space. The most common demonstrative adjectives are this , that , these , and those .
Here are some examples of demonstrative adjectives in use:
Possessive adjectives show ownership, and they are sometimes confused with possessive pronouns.
The most common possessive adjectives are my , your , his , her , our , and their .
Students need to be careful not to confuse these with possessive pronouns such as mine , yours , his (same in both contexts), hers , ours , and theirs .
Here are some examples of possessive adjectives in sentences:
Interrogative adjectives ask questions, and, in common with many types of adjectives, they are always followed by a noun. Basically, these are the question words we use to start questions. Be careful however, interrogative adjectives modify nouns. If the word after the question word is a verb, then you have an interrogative adverb on hand.
Some examples of interrogative adjectives include what , which , and whose .
Let’s take a look at these in action:
Please note: Whose can also fit into the possessive adjective category too.
We can think of proper adjectives as the adjective form of proper nouns – remember those? They were the specific names of people, places, and things and need to be capitalized.
Let’s take the proper noun for the place America . If we wanted to make an adjective out of this proper noun to describe something, say, a car we would get ‘ American car’.
Let’s take a look at another few examples:
Though it may come as a surprise to some, articles are also adjectives as, like all adjectives, they modify nouns. Articles help us determine a noun’s specification.
For example, ‘a’ and ‘an’ are used in front of an unspecific noun, while ‘the’ is used when referring to a specific noun.
Let’s see some articles as adjectives in action!
Descriptive | |
Comparative | |
Superlative | |
Quantitative | |
Demonstrative | |
Possessive | |
Interrogative | |
Proper | |
Articles |
Traditionally, adverbs are defined as those words that modify verbs, but they do so much more than that. They can be used not only to describe how verbs are performed but also to modify adjectives, other adverbs, clauses, prepositions, or entire sentences.
With such a broad range of tasks at the feet of the humble adverb, it would be impossible to cover every possibility in this article alone. However, there are five main types of adverbs our students should familiarize themselves with. These are:
Adverbs of time, adverbs of frequency, adverbs of place, adverbs of degree.
Adverbs of manner describe how or the way in which something happens or is done. This type of adverb is often the first type taught to students. Many of these end with -ly . Some common examples include happily , quickly , sadly , slowly , and fast .
Here are a few taster sentences employing adverbs of manner:
Adverbs of time indicate when something happens. Common adverbs of time include before , now , then , after , already , immediately , and soon .
Here are some sentences employing adverbs of time:
While adverbs of time deal with when something happens, adverbs of frequency are concerned with how often something happens. Common adverbs of frequency include always , frequently , sometimes , seldom , and never .
Here’s what they look like in sentences:
Adverbs of place, as the name suggests, describe where something happens or where it is. They can refer to position, distance, or direction. Some common adverbs of place include above , below , beside , inside , and anywhere .
Check out some examples in the sentences below:
Adverbs of degree express the degree to which or how much of something is done. They can also be used to describe levels of intensity. Some common adverbs of degree include barely , little , lots , completely , and entirely .
Here are some adverbs of degree at work in sentences:
Pronouns are used in place of a specific noun used earlier in a sentence. They are helpful when the writer wants to avoid repetitive use of a particular noun such as a name. For example, in the following sentences, the pronoun she is used to stand for the girl’s name Mary after it is used in the first sentence.
Mary loved traveling. She had been to France, Thailand, and Taiwan already, but her favorite place in the world was Australia. She had never seen an animal quite as curious-looking as the duck-billed platypus.
We also see her used in place of Mary’s in the above passage. There are many different pronouns and, in this article, we’ll take a look at:
Object pronouns, possessive pronouns, reflexive pronouns, intensive pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, interrogative pronouns.
Subject pronouns are the type of pronoun most of us think of when we hear the term pronoun . They operate as the subject of a verb in a sentence. They are also known as personal pronouns.
The subject pronouns are:
Here are a few examples of subject pronouns doing what they do best:
Object pronouns operate as the object of a verb, or a preposition, in a sentence. They act in the same way as object nouns but are used when it is clear what the object is.
The object pronouns are:
Here are a few examples of object pronouns in sentences:
Possessive pronouns indicate ownership of a noun. For example, in the sentence:
These books are mine .
The word mine stands for my books . It’s important to note that while possessive pronouns look similar to possessive adjectives, their function in a sentence is different.
The possessive pronouns are:
Let’s take a look at how these are used in sentences:
Reflexive pronouns are used in instances where the object and the subject are the same. For example, in the sentence, she did it herself , the words she and herself refer to the same person.
The reflexive pronoun forms are:
Here are a few more examples of reflexive pronouns at work:
This type of pronoun can be used to indicate emphasis. For example, when we write, I spoke to the manager herself , the point is made that we talked to the person in charge and not someone lower down the hierarchy.
Similar to the reflexive pronouns above, we can easily differentiate between reflexive and intensive pronouns by asking if the pronoun is essential to the sentence’s meaning. If it isn’t, then it is used solely for emphasis, and therefore, it’s an intensive rather than a reflexive pronoun.
Often confused with demonstrative adjectives, demonstrative pronouns can stand alone in a sentence.
When this , that , these , and those are used as demonstrative adjectives they come before the noun they modify. When these same words are used as demonstrative pronouns, they replace a noun rather than modify it.
Here are some examples of demonstrative pronouns in sentences:
Interrogative pronouns are used to form questions. They are the typical question words that come at the start of questions, with a question mark coming at the end. The interrogative pronouns are:
Putting them into sentences looks like this:
| ||||||
I | me | my | myself | myself | this | what |
you | you | your | yourself | yourself | that | which |
he | him | his | himself | himself | these | who |
she | her | her | herself | herself | those | whom |
it | it | its | itself | itself | whose | |
we | us | our | ourselves | ourselves | ||
you | you | your | yourselves | yourselves | ||
they | them | their | themselves | themselves |
Prepositions provide extra information showing the relationship between a noun or pronoun and another part of a sentence. These are usually short words that come directly before nouns or pronouns, e.g., in , at , on , etc.
There are, of course, many different types of prepositions, each relating to particular types of information. In this article, we will look at:
Prepositions of place, prepositions of movement, prepositions of manner, prepositions of measure.
It’s worth noting that several prepositional words make an appearance in several different categories of prepositions.
Prepositions of time indicate when something happens. Common prepositions of time include after , at , before , during , in , on .
Let’s see some of these at work:
Sometimes students have difficulty knowing when to use in , on , or at . These little words are often confused. The table below provides helpful guidance to help students use the right preposition in the right context.
Centuries YearsSeasonsMonthsTime of day | ||
DaysDatesSpecific holidays | ||
Some time of day exceptionsFestivals |
The prepositions of place, in , at , on , will be instantly recognisable as they also double as prepositions of time. Again, students can sometimes struggle a little to select the correct one for the situation they are describing. Some guidelines can be helpful.
A few example sentences will assist in illustrating these:
Usually used with verbs of motion, prepositions of movement indicate movement from one place to another. The most commonly used preposition of movement is to .
Some other prepositions of movement include:
Here’s how they look in some sample sentences:
Preposition of manner shows us how something is done or how it happens. The most common of these are by , in , like , on , with .
Let’s take a look at how they work in sentences:
Prepositions of measure are used to indicate quantities and specific units of measurement. The two most common of these are by and of .
Check out these sample sentences:
These prepositions indicate the causal relationship between a noun or pronoun and an action. They show the cause of something happening. The most commonly used prepositions of agency are by and with .
Here are some examples of their use in sentences:
Prepositions of possessions indicate who or what something belongs to. The most common of these are of , to , and with .
Let’s take a look:
Prepositions of source indicate where something comes from or its origins. The two most common prepositions of source are from and by . There is some crossover here with prepositions of agency.
Here are some examples:
Phrasal prepositions are also known as compound prepositions. These are phrases of two or more words that function in the same way as prepositions. That is, they join nouns or pronouns to the rest of the sentence.
Some common phrasal prepositions are:
Students should be careful of overusing phrasal prepositions as some of them can seem clichéd. Frequently, it’s best to say things in as few words as is necessary.
Conjunctions are used to connect words, phrases, and clauses. There are three main types of conjunction that are used to join different parts of sentences. These are:
These conjunctions are used to join sentence components that are equal such as two words, two phrases, or two clauses. In English, there are seven of these that can be memorized using the mnemonic FANBOYS:
Here are a few example sentences employing coordinating conjunctions:
Subordinating conjunctions are used to introduce dependent clauses in sentences. Basically, dependent clauses are parts of sentences that cannot stand as complete sentences on their own.
Some of the most common subordinate conjunctions are:
Let’s take a look at some example sentences:
Correlative conjunctions are like shoes; they come in pairs. They work together to make sentences work. Some come correlative conjunctions are:
Let’s see how some of these work together:
Interjections focus on feelings and are generally grammatically unrelated to the rest of the sentence or sentences around them. They convey thoughts and feelings and are common in our speech. They are often followed by exclamation marks in writing. Interjections include expressions such as:
With a good grasp of the fundamentals of parts of speech, your students will now be equipped to do a deeper dive into the wild waters of English grammar.
To learn more about the twists and turns of English grammar, check out our comprehensive article on English grammar here.
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
The 8 parts of speech 1 Nouns. 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.
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 ...
The 9 parts of speech are adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, determiners, interjections, nouns, prepositions, pronouns, and verbs. (These are also known as "word classes.") A Formal Definition. A "part of speech" is a category to which a word is assigned in accordance with its syntactic functions. In English, the main parts of speech are noun ...
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.
The 8 Parts of Speech: Definitions, Examples, and Rules. Part Of Speech Function Example Vocabulary Example Sentences Part Of Speech ... 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.
Become an expert at knowing when and what parts of speech to use with these examples. Knowing the different parts of speech is essential for good grammar. Become an expert at knowing when and what parts of speech to use with these examples. ... Two additional parts of speech — articles (a, an, the) and determiners (that, my, some) — also ...
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.
Verbs may be treated as two different parts of speech: lexical Verbs (work, like, run) ... Many words in English can have more than one job, or be more than one part of speech. For example, "work" can be a verb and a noun; "but" can be a conjunction and a preposition; "well" can be an adjective, an adverb and an interjection. ...
In 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 ...
The 8 parts of speech are: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. Nouns represent people, places, things, or ideas. Pronouns replace nouns to avoid repetition. Verbs describe actions or states of being. Adjectives provide additional details about nouns.
Every sentence you write or speak in English includes words that fall into some of the nine parts of speech. These include nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, articles/determiners, and interjections. (Some sources include only eight parts of speech and leave interjections in their own category.)
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 ...
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 ...
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.
These parts of speech can further be classified into two categories: open and closed classes. Open classes. ... Let's look at all these categories of parts of speech with examples: 1. Nouns. A name or title given to an object, person, group, or concept is known as a noun. It can either be the subject of a sentence (an individual who acts) or ...
In English, there are eight traditional parts of speech: 1. Noun. "It is the name of a certain place, thing, or a person. Like Daniel, English or a lion, etc.". There are further two major types of nouns Common nouns and Proper nouns.
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 ...
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.
The parts of speech are the building blocks of language. They help us form sentences and express our thoughts clearly. There are eight main parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.Nouns name people, places, things, or ideas.Pronouns stand in for nouns to avoid repetition.Verbs show action or a state of being.
Each part of speech is explained with examples below. Noun. A noun is a word that names a person, place, concept, or thing. ... these simply link two parts of a sentence together: 'He is tall,' or ...
These nine parts of speech are namely: Verbs, Nouns, Adjectives, Determiners, Adverbs, Pronouns, Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections. Another additional classification is used as a part of speech, i.e., Articles, a subprogram of determiners. To comprehend the meaning and use of each word in the English language, it is essential to ...
The parts of speech we will cover are: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, determiner, and ; interjection. I've also put together a table with all the parts of speech and examples of their use in sentences. Below the table, you'll find a breakdown of each part of speech with further examples.
By BEGG. The 8 parts of speech definitions with examples include nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. By using proper grammar in your writing and speaking, you will communicate clearly and effectively with your subject or audience! Moreover, by learning and understanding the 8 parts of ...
Learn what parts of speech are and how they impact reading and writing skills. Teach students why parts of speech are important and how to use them effectively. ... Here are two examples to illustrate. Note: the subject of each sentence is underlined, and the transitive verbs are in bold. The teacher answered the student's questions. She ...