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• 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”).

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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Parts of Speech

What are the parts of speech, a formal definition.

Table of Contents

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

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

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

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

Video for Each Part of Speech

The Most Important Writing Issues

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

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

The Top Issue Related to Conjunctions

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

The Top Issue Related to Determiners

The Top Issue Related to Interjections

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

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

This page was written by Craig Shrives .

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The 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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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 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.

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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The 9 Parts of Speech: Definitions and Examples

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

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

Parts of Speech

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

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

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

Open and Closed Word Classes

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

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

The 9 Parts of Speech

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

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

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

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

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

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

Preposition

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

Conjunction

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

Articles and Determiners

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

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

Interjection

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

How to Determine the Part of Speech

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

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

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

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

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

Dissecting Basic Sentences

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

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

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

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

Constructing More Complex Sentences

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

• Birds fly when migrating before winter.

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

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

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• Foundations of Grammar in Italian
• Pronoun Definition and Examples
• What Is an Adverb in English Grammar?
• What Are the Parts of a Prepositional Phrase?
• Definition and Examples of Adjectives
• Definition and Examples of Function Words in English
• Lesson Plan: Label Sentences with Parts of Speech
• Sentence Patterns
• Nominal: Definition and Examples in Grammar
• Constituent: Definition and Examples in Grammar
• Adding Adjectives and Adverbs to the Basic Sentence Unit
• The Difference Between Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives

Parts of Speech: A Guide to Learning English Grammar

By: Author English Study Online

Posted on Last updated: December 27, 2023

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In this page, 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. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced English learner, this article will provide valuable insights into the parts of speech and improve your language skills. Let’s get started!

Table of Contents

Overview of Parts of Speech

In this section, we will provide a brief overview of the eight parts of speech in English. Understanding the parts of speech is essential for anyone learning the English language, as it enables them to construct meaningful sentences and communicate effectively.

The eight parts of speech are:

Prepositions

Conjunctions, interjections.

Each part of speech has a specific function in a sentence. For example, nouns are used to name people, places, things, or ideas, while verbs are used to describe an action or state of being. Adjectives are used to describe nouns, while adverbs are used to describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.

Pronouns are used to replace nouns in a sentence, while prepositions are used to indicate the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence. Conjunctions are used to connect words, phrases, or clauses, while interjections are used to express emotions or feelings.

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

Common nouns are general names for people, places, or things. They are not capitalized unless they appear at the beginning of a sentence.

• Examples of common nouns include “book,” “city,” and “teacher.”

Proper Nouns

Proper nouns are specific names for people, places, or things. They are always capitalized.

• Examples of proper nouns include “Harry Potter,” “New York City,” and “Ms. Johnson.”

Abstract Nouns

Abstract nouns are names for ideas, concepts, or emotions. They are intangible and cannot be seen, heard, or touched.

• Examples of abstract nouns include “love,” “happiness,” and “freedom.”

Collective Nouns

Collective nouns are names for groups of people or things. They can be singular or plural, depending on the context.

• Examples of collective nouns include “team,” “family,” and “herd.”

In this section, we will discuss the different types of pronouns used in English grammar. Pronouns are words that replace nouns in a sentence. They help to avoid repetition and make sentences more concise.

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns refer to specific people or things. They can be used as the subject or object of a sentence. Here are the personal pronouns in English:

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns are used to point to specific people or things. They can be used to indicate distance or location. Here are the demonstrative pronouns in English:

Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions. They are typically used at the beginning of a sentence. Here are the interrogative pronouns in English:

Indefinite Pronouns

Indefinite pronouns refer to non-specific people or things. They can be used as the subject or object of a sentence. Here are the indefinite pronouns in English:

Verbs are one of the most important parts of speech in English. They are used to describe an action, state, or occurrence. In this section, we will cover the three types of verbs: action verbs, linking verbs, and helping verbs.

Action Verbs

Action verbs are used to describe an action that is being performed by the subject of the sentence. They can be used in the present, past, or future tense. Here are a few examples of action verbs:

Linking Verbs

Linking verbs are used to connect the subject of the sentence to a noun, pronoun, or adjective that describes it. They do not show action. Here are a few examples of linking verbs:

Helping Verbs

Helping verbs are used in conjunction with the main verb to express tense, voice, or mood. They do not have a meaning on their own. Here are a few examples of helping verbs:

In conclusion, verbs are an essential part of English grammar. Understanding the different types of verbs and how they are used in a sentence can help you communicate more effectively in both written and spoken English.

In this section, we will discuss adjectives, which are an important part of speech in English. Adjectives are words that describe or modify nouns or pronouns. They provide more information about the noun or pronoun, such as its size, shape, color, or quality.

Descriptive Adjectives

Descriptive adjectives are the most common type of adjectives. They describe the physical or observable characteristics of a noun or pronoun. For example, in the sentence “The red car is fast,” “red” is a descriptive adjective that describes the color of the car, and “fast” is another descriptive adjective that describes its speed.

Here are some examples of descriptive adjectives:

Quantitative Adjectives

Quantitative adjectives are used to describe the quantity or amount of a noun or pronoun. They answer the question “how much” or “how many.” For example, in the sentence “I have two apples,” “two” is a quantitative adjective that describes the number of apples.

Here are some examples of quantitative adjectives:

Demonstrative Adjectives

Demonstrative adjectives are used to point out or indicate a specific noun or pronoun. They answer the question “which one” or “whose.” For example, in the sentence “This book is mine,” “this” is a demonstrative adjective that indicates the specific book that belongs to the speaker.

Here are some examples of demonstrative adjectives:

In conclusion, adjectives are an important part of speech in English. They provide more information about nouns and pronouns, and they help to make our language more descriptive and precise. By understanding the different types of adjectives, we can use them effectively in our speaking and writing.

In this section, we will discuss adverbs, which are words that modify or describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Adverbs give more information about the action, manner, place, time, frequency, degree, or intensity of a verb.

Adverbs of Manner

Adverbs of manner describe how an action is performed. They answer the question “how?” and usually end in “-ly”, but not always. Here are some examples:

• She sings beautifully.
• He speaks softly.
• They ran quickly.
• The dog barked loudly.

Adverbs of manner can also be formed by adding “-ly” to some adjectives. For example:

• She is a quick learner. (adjective: quick)
• He is a careful driver. (adjective: careful)

Adverbs of Place

Adverbs of place describe where an action takes place. They answer the question “where?” and usually come after the verb or object. Here are some examples:

• She looked everywhere.
• He lives nearby.
• They went outside.
• The cat hid underneath the bed.

Adverbs of Time

Adverbs of time describe when an action takes place. They answer the question “when?” and can come at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence. Here are some examples:

• She wakes up early every day.
• He arrived yesterday.
• They will leave soon.
• The concert starts tonight.

Adverbs of time can also be used to show the duration of an action. For example:

• She studied for hours.
• He worked all day.
• They talked for a long time.

In this section, we will discuss prepositions and their usage in English. Prepositions are words that show the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence. They usually indicate the position or direction of the noun or pronoun in relation to other elements in the sentence.

Prepositions of Time

Prepositions of time are used to indicate when an action took place. They include words such as “at,” “in,” and “on.”

• “At” is used for specific times, such as “at 2 pm” or “at midnight.”
• “In” is used for longer periods of time, such as “in the morning” or “in October.”
• “On” is used for dates, such as “on Monday” or “on July 4th.”

Prepositions of Place

Prepositions of place are used to indicate where something is located. They include words such as “in,” “on,” and “at.”

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

Prepositions of Direction

Prepositions of direction are used to indicate movement. They include words such as “to,” “from,” and “towards.”

• “To” is used to indicate movement towards a specific destination, such as “I am going to the store.”
• “From” is used to indicate movement away from a specific location, such as “I am coming from the park.”
• “Towards” is used to indicate movement in the direction of a specific location, such as “I am walking towards the museum.”

In this section, we will discuss the different types of conjunctions and their functions in English grammar. Conjunctions are words that connect words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence. They are essential in creating complex sentences and conveying relationships between ideas.

Coordinating Conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions join words, phrases, or clauses that are of equal importance. They are easy to remember using the mnemonic device FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. Here are some examples:

• I like pizza and pasta.
• She is neither tall nor short.
• He wanted to go to the beach, but it was raining.

Subordinating Conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions connect dependent clauses to independent clauses and establish a relationship between them. They are used to show cause and effect, time, condition, and contrast. Some examples of subordinating conjunctions are:

Here are some examples:

• Because it was raining, we stayed inside.
• Although she was tired, she stayed up to finish her work.
• While I was studying, my roommate was watching TV.

Correlative Conjunctions

Correlative conjunctions are pairs of words that work together to connect words, phrases, or clauses. They are used to show a relationship between two elements. Here are some examples:

• both…and
• either…or
• neither…nor
• not only…but also
• Both my sister and I like to read.
• Either you come with us or you stay here.
• Not only was he late, but he also forgot his homework.

In conclusion, conjunctions are important in creating complex sentences and conveying relationships between ideas. By understanding the different types of conjunctions and their functions, you can improve your writing and communication skills.

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.

It is important to note that interjections do not have any grammatical function in a sentence. They are not nouns, verbs, adjectives, or any other part of speech. Instead, they simply stand alone as a way to express emotion.

When using interjections in writing, it is important to consider the context in which they are being used. While they can be a useful tool for adding emphasis or conveying emotion, they can also be overused or misused, which can detract from the overall effectiveness of the writing.

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.”

Understanding articles and determiners is crucial for mastering English grammar. By using them correctly, you can convey your thoughts and ideas more clearly and effectively.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the 8 parts of speech in English?

In English, there are eight parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. Each part of speech serves a different function in a sentence and helps to convey meaning.

What are some examples of different parts of speech?

Here are a few examples of different parts of speech:

• Noun: dog, cat, book, table
• Pronoun: he, she, it, they
• Verb: run, jump, sing, dance
• Adjective: happy, sad, tall, short
• Adverb: quickly, slowly, loudly, softly
• Preposition: in, on, at, under
• Conjunction: and, but, or, so
• Interjection: wow, oh, ouch, hooray

What is the difference between a noun and a verb?

A noun is a word that represents a person, place, thing, or idea. A verb is a word that represents an action, occurrence, or state of being. In other words, a noun is a subject or object in a sentence, while a verb is the action or occurrence that takes place.

What are the different types of nouns?

There are several different types of nouns, including:

• Common nouns: refer to general, non-specific people, places, things, or ideas (e.g. dog, city, book)
• Proper nouns: refer to specific people, places, things, or ideas and are always capitalized (e.g. John, Paris, The Great Gatsby )
• Concrete nouns: refer to tangible, physical objects (e.g. table, chair, car)
• Abstract nouns: refer to intangible concepts or ideas (e.g. love, happiness, freedom)
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Unit 2: Parts of speech: the verb

About this unit.

Oh no! What shall we DO? Great question, and one that a verb can answer! The verb is the part of speech that describes ACTIONS.

Introduction to verbs

• Introduction to verbs (Opens a modal)
• Introduction to verb agreement (Opens a modal)
• Identifying verbs Get 3 of 4 questions to level up!
• Introduction to verb agreement Get 3 of 4 questions to level up!

Verb tenses

• Introduction to verb tense (Opens a modal)
• The present tense (Opens a modal)
• The past tense (Opens a modal)
• The future tense (Opens a modal)
• Introduction to verb tense Get 3 of 4 questions to level up!

Linking and helping verbs

• Linking verbs (Opens a modal)
• Helping verbs (Opens a modal)
• Action, linking, and helping verbs Get 3 of 4 questions to level up!

Irregular verbs

• Introduction to irregular verbs (Opens a modal)
• The funky -ed irregular verb (Opens a modal)
• The vowel-shift irregular verb (Opens a modal)
• The irregular verb gets taken for a ride (Opens a modal)
• The truly irregular verbs (Opens a modal)
• Irregular verbs Get 3 of 4 questions to level up!

Verb aspect: simple, progressive, and perfect

• Introduction to verb aspect (Opens a modal)
• Simple aspect (Opens a modal)
• Progressive aspect (Opens a modal)
• Perfect aspect (Opens a modal)
• Simple verb aspect Get 3 of 4 questions to level up!
• Progressive verb aspect Get 3 of 4 questions to level up!
• Perfect verb aspect Get 3 of 4 questions to level up!

Verb aspect and modal verbs

• Perfect progressive aspect (Opens a modal)
• Modal verbs (Opens a modal)
• Perfect progressive verb aspect Get 3 of 4 questions to level up!
• Managing time with tense and aspect Get 3 of 4 questions to level up!
• Modal verbs Get 3 of 4 questions to level up!

Parts of Speech

What is a Part of Speech?

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

Parts of Speech Table

Parts of speech examples.

• Parts of Speech Quiz

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

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

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

Here is a sentence that contains every part of speech:

Words with More Than One Job

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

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

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

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

People often ask

FAQ: frequently asked parts of speech questions

Understanding Parts of Speech: Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs, and More

by Danny Ballan | Mar 20, 2023 | Grammar And Vocabulary

Introduction

When it comes to learning English, understanding the different parts of speech is essential. Parts of speech are the basic building blocks of English grammar, and they help us communicate effectively and clearly. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the most important parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and more.

A noun is a word that refers to a person, place, thing, or idea. Nouns are one of the most common parts of speech, and they are used in almost every sentence. Some examples of nouns include “cat,” “book,” “teacher,” “city,” and “love.”

Nouns can be classified in different ways. For example, proper nouns refer to specific people, places, or things and are always capitalized, such as “New York City” or “John Smith.” Common nouns, on the other hand, refer to general people, places, or things, such as “city” or “book.”

A verb is a word that describes an action or state of being. Verbs are necessary to create sentences because they express what the subject of the sentence is doing or what is happening to the subject. Some examples of verbs include “run,” “write,” “eat,” “be,” and “think.”

Verbs can be further classified into different categories. For example, transitive verbs require an object, such as “She ate an apple,” while intransitive verbs do not, such as “She slept.” Verbs can also be regular or irregular, and they can be used in different tenses to indicate the time of the action or state of being.

An adjective is a word that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun. Adjectives provide more information about the subject of a sentence, such as its size, color, or shape. Some examples of adjectives include “big,” “red,” “round,” “beautiful,” and “happy.”

Adjectives can be further classified into different types. For example, descriptive adjectives describe the quality or characteristics of a noun, such as “happy” or “beautiful.” Comparative adjectives are used to compare two or more things, such as “bigger” or “more beautiful,” while superlative adjectives indicate the highest degree of comparison, such as “biggest” or “most beautiful.”

An adverb is a word that describes or modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb. Adverbs provide more information about how an action is done, or how a quality or characteristic is expressed. Some examples of adverbs include “quickly,” “slowly,” “very,” “well,” and “happily.”

Adverbs can be further classified into different types. For example, adverbs of manner describe how an action is done, such as “quickly” or “slowly.” Adverbs of frequency indicate how often something is done, such as “often” or “rarely.” Adverbs of degree describe the intensity or extent of something, such as “very” or “extremely.”

Other Parts of Speech

There are also other parts of speech that are less common but still important to understand. Some of these include:

• Pronouns: Words that replace nouns, such as “he,” “she,” “it,” or “they.”
• Prepositions: Words that indicate the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence, such as “on,” “in,” “at,” or “with.”
• Conjunctions: Words that connect words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence, such as “and,” “or,” “but,” or “because.”
• Interjections: Words or phrases that express strong emotions or reactions, such as “wow,” “ouch,” or “yay!”

Understanding the roles of these different parts of speech is crucial for creating well-formed sentences and expressing ideas clearly. By using the right parts of speech in the right way, you can make your writing and speaking more effective and impactful.

Nouns : Refers to a person, place, thing, or idea.

Verbs : Describes an action or state of being.

Adjectives : Describes or modifies a noun or pronoun.

Adverbs : Describes or modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb.

Parts of speech : The basic building blocks of English grammar.

Grammar : The system and structure of a language.

Effective communication : The ability to convey information clearly and accurately.

Proper nouns : Refer to specific people, places, or things and are always capitalized.

Common nouns : Refer to general people, places, or things.

Transitive verbs : Require an object.

Intransitive verbs : Do not require an object.

Regular verbs : Follow a regular pattern when forming the past tense.

Irregular verbs : Do not follow a regular pattern when forming the past tense.

Tenses : Indicate the time of the action or state of being.

Descriptive adjectives : Describe the quality or characteristics of a noun.

Comparative adjectives : Used to compare two or more things.

Superlative adjectives : Indicate the highest degree of comparison.

Adverbs of manner : Describe how an action is done.

Adverbs of frequency : Indicate how often something is done.

Adverbs of degree : Describe the intensity or extent of something.

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Basic English Grammar

Helping People Understand the Eight Parts of Speech!

8 Parts of Speech Definitions With Examples

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!

TOC – 8 Parts of Speech Definitions With Examples

• Prepositions
• Conjunctions
• Interjections

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:

• The driver died in the car accident. (Noun)
• The prisoner escaped from the moving van. (Verb)
• The violent criminal changed his ways in prison. (Adjective)
• The students were late so they ran to class. (Pronoun)
• The bus will leave soon. (Adverb)
• He left his computer in the house. (Preposition)
• David and Jonathan fished all day with no success. (Conjunction)
• Wow! What a magnificent photograph! (Interjection)

Definition of Nouns: Nouns are naming words and they name persons, places, things, animals, qualities, feelings, actions or ideas.

Examples of Nouns:

• Jonathan and Rachel are excellent workers (Naming a Person).
• Australia and New Zealand are island continents in the South Pacific (Naming a Place).
• The boat sank in the river (Naming a Thing).
• The dog jumped the fence (Naming an Animal).
• Courage and bravery are two heroic qualities (Naming a Quality).
• Candice experienced both happiness and sadness at her mother’s funeral (Naming a Feeling).
• He demanded justice for all (Naming an Idea).

Examples of Types of Nouns:

• Jennifer is my best friend (Proper Noun).
• I read several books a week (Common Noun).
• Emma parked her vehicle in the driveway (Concrete Noun).
• His joy overwhelmed the crowd (Abstract Noun).
• I gave my brother a pack of cards for his birthday (Collective Noun).
• My mother-in-law drives a new car (Compound Noun).
• The photographer took a variety of photographs at the school picnic (Countable Noun).
• The jogger brought his water with him (Non-Countable Noun).
• Jonathan’s pickup is being repaired (Possessive Noun).
• His return was a complete surprise (Verbal Noun).

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:

• David arrived late to the party (Noun Functions as Subject).
• Rebekah washed the dishes before she went to school (Noun Functions as Direct Object).
• Jonathan taught the students public speaking in class (Noun Functions as Indirect Object).
• Scott is the minister of the local church (Noun Functions as Predicate Nominative).
• The traffic stopped at the lights (Noun Functions as Object of Preposition).
• My assistant, Brad, shared the message on Sunday (Noun Functions as an Appositive).
• Rebekah named her dog Bailey (Noun Functions as Objective Complement).
• Class, it is time for fire drill (Noun Functions as Noun of Direct Address).

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:

• The dog jumped the fence (Action Verb).
• Rachel is beautiful (State-of-Being Verb).
• Brad hits the ball over the fence (Action Verb).
• The song sounds awful (State-of-Being).
• Emma walked the dog in the park (Action Verb).

Examples of Verb Functions:

• Candice writes a letter to her friend (Transitive Verb).
• Candice writes beautifully (Intransitive Verb).
• David walked the dog in the park (Transitive Verb).
• David walked in the park in the rain (Intransitive Verb).
• Emma became an apprentice hairdresser (Intransitive Verb).

Examples of Verb Voices:

• John rode the bike to school (Active Voice).
• The bike was ridden by John (Passive Voice).
• Jennifer led the worship service (Active Voice).
• The worship service was led by Jennifer (Passive Voice).
• The criminal was punished by the courts (Passive Voice).

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.

3. Adjectives

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:

• English grammar will help you develop your writing and speaking skills (Proper Adjective).
• Rachel had beautiful hair (Descriptive Adjective).
• My son bought an expensive car (Qualitative Adjective).
• The black cat ran in front of the car (Attributive Adjective).
• The cat is black (Predicative Adjective).
• My husband has a single focus for life (Quantitative Adjective).
• I can get twenty-four hours of service in our location (Numeral Adjective).
• I want those people charged for robbery (Demonstrative Adjective).
• David wants every person evacuated safely (Distributive Adjective).
• What time will you arrived home from the game (Interrogative Adjective)?
• The students will submit their assignments on time (Possessive Adjective).
• It is a long, narrow, winding road to the mountain top (Sequence Adjectives).
• Emma is a happy and lively person (Coordinate Adjectives).
• That was one nasty old man who drove the school bus this morning (Cumulative Adjectives).
• The murderer is a cold-blooded person (Compound Adjective).
• The builder bought a house in the country (Article Adjectives).
• Jonathan wants a few minutes of your time (Indefinite Adjective).
• The first person in the line collapsed onto the floor (Ordinal Adjective).
• The two men were jailed for life (Cardinal Adjective).

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.

4. Pronouns

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 :

• Dad, will you help me with my assignment (Personal Pronoun)?
• These books are mine (Possessive Pronoun).
• Give me that (Demonstrative Pronoun)!
• Some made thousands from the market collapse (Indefinite Pronoun).
• The player who was warmed about his behavior lost his spot on the team (Relative Pronoun).
• Candice saw herself in the mirror (Reflective Pronoun).
• David repairs the car himself (Emphatic Pronoun).

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:

• She worked slowly and carefully on the building site (Adverb of Manner).
• David will be home soon (Adverb of Time).
• Candice put her book there (Adverb of Place).
• We are extremely hungry (Adverb of Degree).
• She never cleans her room (Adverb of Frequency).
• He gave little to charity (Adverb of Quantity).
• He fell forward on the parade ground (Adverb of Direction).
• Hopefully, I will be able to attend class today (Adverb of Uncertainty).
• Rachel went shopping; however, she didn’t buy anything (Conjunctive Adverb).
• Yes, I will be coming to the game tomorrow (Adverb of Affirmation).

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.

6. Prepositions

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:

• Emma arrived on Saturday afternoon (Preposition of Time).
• The book is on the table (Preposition of Place).
• David will ride his bike to the game on Saturday (Preposition of Movement).
• Rebekah goes to work by bus (Preposition of Manner).
• Jonathan is sawing the timber with his new saw (Preposition of Agent).
• The hardware store sells electrical cord by the meter (Preposition of Measure).
• Candace received her weekly wage from her workplace (Preposition of Source).
• This is the property of my late wife (Preposition of Possession).

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.

7. Conjunctions

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:

• Rachel and Darcy traveled to the zoo during the holidays (Coordinating Conjunction).
• Unless the drought breaks soon, many farmers will find it very difficult to continue farming (Subordinating Conjunction).
• David is both discreet and considerate (Correlative Conjunctions).
• We have been good friends; however, I think at times you take me for granted (Conjunctive Adverb).
• The stray dog not only destroyed the chicken pen but also killed the chickens (Correlative 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.

8. Interjections

Definition of Interjections: Interjections are used to express feelings and emotions in English sentences.

Examples of Interjections:

• Oh, you can’t be serious!
• Wow! That’s was excellent.
• Ah, I needed that cuppa!
• I won the lottery, wahoo!
• It stinks, hey, I will never do that again!

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.

8 Parts of Speech Definitions For Kids!

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What are the 7 Subjective Pronouns?

Possessive Adjectives vs Possessive Pronouns

What are the 7 Possessive Adjectives?

What is a Simple Sentence With Examples?

Predicate Nominative Vs Predicate Adjective

4 Types of Sentence Structures With Examples

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part of speech

noun phrase

Definition of part of speech, examples of part of speech in a sentence.

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'part of 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

1517, in the meaning defined above

Articles Related to part of speech

A Comprehensive Guide to Forming...

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The Adverb: A Most Fascinating POS

'POS' means "part of speech," obviously

Dictionary Entries Near part of speech

partnership life insurance

part of the package

Cite this Entry

“Part of speech.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/part%20of%20speech. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.

Kids Definition

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

Nglish: Translation of part of speech for Spanish Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about part of speech

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Definition of speech noun from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

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Basic English Grammar: Parts of Speech – noun, verb, adjective, pronoun, adverb…

Test your understanding of this English lesson

303 comments.

This is my first day use this website, and i just do quis first before watch the video haha. I think if i do that after watch the video i can have more good score beacuse the lesson is very good.

Grammar lesson is always useful. A smile:)

Thank you James teacher.I got 9/9

That was hot! I got 89/90. Thanks Mr. James and Mr. E

I am not good

First, stop thinking like that and you’ll find things are getting better

Thanks James for this lesson…:)

So hot, so fast :D I got 9 out of 9.

thank you(:

Thanks James, the lesson is very useful.

Thanks James. You teach very well…

Thank You James, I got 8 out of 9

I liked this lesson. Thank you teacher…..!!!

Hi teachar you are vast teacher

Thank you James, you are really good teacher. I like your lessons.

Thank you James, I enjoy this lesson. I Will continue educate myself through your program,

thanks for useful lesson)))

thanks, James.good lesson.

Thanks James. It was so excited lesson.

James..thanks!!!

Thanks James. This lesson was very usefull.

Great lesson and very usefull. Thanks James!

thanks james i like your lesson.

Thanks for this, i got 8 out of 9 questions. I would suggest to add a Filipino language before signing up to this website. Again thank you!

As usual, James the king of masters. you are a gift from sky. God bless you.

Thanks for this lesson. :)

Thank you very much, James. This is a very useful video lesson. I find hard to remember the word order of the adjectives. (You’re right: Like in Spanish, in Portuguese, we say “gato preto”, black cat.) I’ll practice: 1. Quantity (a/number) 2. Quality (good, bad) 3. Size (big) 4. Age (old) 5. Shape (round) 6. Colour (yellow) 7. Origin (Where?) 8. Material (wood) I won’t forget! Bye!

Thank you so much James!! But I found a contradiction between this video and another lesson from Alex when he was just a teenager XD. According to him, Material goes before Origin. Are they interchangeable or who is wrong???I checked it in engVid webpage before typing this message just to make sure I´d learned Alex´ lesson properly ;) Check it out: https://www.engvid.com/order-of-adjectives-english/

Thanks from Spain and nice pronunciation in Spanish “gato negro” :)

thanks so much James ! I liked very much this lesson !

thank you james ..you are realy a good teacher …i got 9 out of 9..thank you… may god bless you

I will not never forget this lesson , because It was very important to me.

Well, we have revised grammatical syntax, how to build a noun with adjectives before it, what are the verbs and the adverbs, what is a pronoun and its classes, it is easy to understand it but not so easy to remember all types of them, how to use them and where we can write an adverb in a perfect or continuous tense, how are its meaning and pronunciation but we should follow to practice until we achieve our skills. Thanks a lot, teacher James, a good revision of how to build a noun with adjectives before it.

Thanks so much

I got 9/9 .. Thank you so much

Thank you James

Molte grazie James. But, are you getting fat? :-)

Nice video. Good grammar practice. Good to learn the order of adjectives and adverbs. Thank you!

Good grammar lesson! Thank you, James.

l’m so happy with eng vid lessons. so grateful ❤️

Exellent grammar lesson, very instructive, thanks James

Thank’s James this lesson was fantastic!

Thanks James…

Thanks for help me.

thanks a lot

Excellent class James. Thank You.

I enjoyed it! Thank you for the class!

Nice class James

I just discover this web today and i love it. I hope learn so much. Tks a lot for all your work.

Welcome to engVid, claugomez ! Make sure to check out our resources section as well.

James,I can’t see the vedios, why? I’ve registered already in China. Plz.

Our videos are all on YouTube, which is blocked in China! You’ll have to find a way around.

Today I got better score.Thanks

Thanks very much

I just finished the video and today is my first day! Hopefully, i can learn a lot of. which is cant learn from class teacher. SO, Let me see all of video! And, Thank u guys i mean thanks to all of engvid teacher!

Thanks james i understand by your video. thank u so much.

Very good. I liked to make it.

no mistake, thanks to you

Hi，why can’t I watch the video? Help me plz. Iam in China.

Get VPN installed. It will help you to access YouTube in China.

Thanks james, i’ll learn as always

Thank you^^

thank you, James

thank you …

My first lesson. I feel very happy.

Thank u a lot James

This is realy good lesson thank you james

Thanks for your lesson

thanks Mr James

Thanks, it was a nice lesson.

It’s awesome!! I really helpful! Thanks! Saludos Desde DR.

Thank you so much :D

thnx a lot sir

Thank you for the lesson

I am happy to have found this website. My first video lessons are so engaging and I like it.

Thanks teacher.

I learned a lot. thank you sir james

Thank you Teacher and engVid XD

09 out of 09 ☺ You made this so so so so so so much easier for me. I love you for this james and thanks ☺

Very profitly and easy for me

I really need help in english. Ijust talk spanish.

How to download the video sir?

James you’re the greatest. Thanks for the lesson.

i appreciate the way you explain its usful

Full mark .. 9 / 9 Thank you so much

9 out of 9 . Superb

Thank you for this lesson, James! I love engVid!

Thank you so much this lesson was fantastic.

thank u so much

many thanks for this lesson

Thanks james

Thanks 9/9 my favorit number)))

I start to love this site and mode how James is teaching.

I thought I did not understand anything, buuut 7/10!wow!!

your style in teaching is kind of insulting

your teaching style is very gentle and attractive it helps me very much to improve my student’s skill thank you

Thank you!!

thank’s so much

I got exams in 4 months and these lessons are helping me a great deal. Thanks!

Thank You James, I got 7 out of 9

A grammar so funny. Now i can write good my english grammar. Thankyou ?

Can we get more examples to try out?

Yeeeeih! I got a 9/9

I go 8/9, and I am very happy with that score

I like the simple easy way I can follow, as I am a visual and hands-on learner. My first test 8/9

Thanx james you are very intelligent teacher

This is my first time using this website a I can’t believe I got 100 out of100?☺️ I’m imagine speaking English fluently

I want to improve my English Listening，and I can not speak English.

i got 10 thanks a lot

Hello! I’ve got a question the sentence: The man seemed ill, seemed is a verb for sure, but following our university professor’s test that says whenever you see a verb ending in ing or ed, and it’s not transitive, then that’s an adjective. This test is not perfect identifying part of speech, so Professor, how can you make it perfect? thank you :)

Well done James! If we want to learn English well, we need to know the basic grammar rules confidently. Nevertheless, that adjective order is really hard to memorize, at least for the Brazilians, like me. There is nothing similar in Portuguese. Do you really follow it when you are speaking? Fortunately, I don’t use so many adjectives for the same noun.

Regards from Rio!

9 out of 9, thanks a lot sir

Thanks !I learned adjective order is quantity, quality, size, age,shape,colour, origin, material.adverb describe the verbs and adjective.

i got 9/9, thanks

Helped me to test myself.

Thank you Mr james for the lesson.

What an awesome lesson. I got all correctly, I’m so happy. Thank you, Mr. James.

8/9 isn’t bad It’s my first day on this site and YouTube canal, but I really like the idea of learning English with you. Thanks for lesson

Welcome to engVid, sentimalkiten ! Check out more of our lessons . You can use the Lesson Finder in the sidebar to sort by level, topic, teacher, and more.

for the first time i love English language this much, thank you m=Mr.James

this website is very good for someone how don’t know English very well.

thank you so much dear teacher we had need this lesson

you are a good teacher i like the way you talk and your action it makes the things easy to remmeber .

Thank you , Mr. James :)

Thank you, James. I can learn English grammer quickly from your lessons.

thank you very much

Good lesson teacher. I made 100 in my quiz.

Thanks so much. I haven’t been in school an ages. This video, broke everything down. You are awesome!!!

great lesson thanks alot

Thanks a lot

very helpful. thanks

Thank you very much teatcher James to day is a first day.

I get 9/9,Thank you very much James

Thank you James for your help to understand those things.

Thanks a lot.

100 point for my quiz. I can understand the lesson well. Thank you so much.

8/9 thank you a lot

Thanks James, so helpful. (James: is a noun, so: adverbs of degree, helpful= adjective) :D

that is my first time using this website. wow thank you very much, teacher, I got 9/9. you have a nice way to teach the things.

I got 7 correct out of 9 :) thanks James!

Your lesson is refreshing my memory of learning English. Thank you so much

Thanks James. You are the best!

I really like the teachers and the lessons of this site, it’s great for learning

Thanks a lot sir

thank you for this lesson

I scored 9/9. Great fun.

Thank you the lesson was extremely helpful,

You got 9 correct out of 9.

Very helpful and interesting Lesson. Thanks James

thanks James !

Thank you for this videos

this is the hard one please do more lesson about this

Best Grammar video ever, got 9/9. Thankyou James Sir.

Thank you Professor James.

Hi James your are so amazing teacher and I really learned a lot from you. Thank you and looking forward for more of your lessons.

Thank you James, I always learned a lot after watching your video. The way you explain is so great, it makes me understand quickly. GBU

Thank you James… now I u derstand more where do word belong. ;-)

It is very useful, thanks.

I still have confusing about this lesson, perhaps i have a poor word

I got 9 out of 9 and im so happy,this lesson helps me a lot and the way of teaching is great. Thank you teacher James.?

Wow!Amazing, I got 9/9. Thanks sir James. :)

I think this lesson is so great

keep it up !

Thanks James, you are the best

i got 89/90 thank you

Thank you James. The examples were very apt and the way you imitated them was also very funny and interesting.

Hi, teacher James! I love your classes! Thank you❤️

in my opinion you guys have to create a chat group or develop online chatting, it is very helpful for english learners. Chatting to English teachers is quickly improve our writing skill and grammer.

I got 8-9 correct yippee!! Thanks James

nice lesson and remember that Fnizel Mnizel that you said to Deji is stupid he hates it lol

Thank you James and Mr. E! I watched the video before taking the test and passed with 100%. This was a refresher for me and now I can teach it to my students. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thanks to you our teacher

you are really a nice teacher.

Thank you James the lesson was perfect I tried I got 6/9.next time I will improve.

Thank you Engvid.com,you help me alot.

All engvid.com team.

Hi. James’s video is helpfull. I’m happy to follow this way.

Thank you so much for in this training. I have experience of more and more.

I liked the video

I got 9/9 because of you sir james! thanks

i have got 9/9. thanks James

That was a refresh lesson, special how we must to put in correct order the adjectives when we describe something.

That was so understandable

Fantastic lesson

Wow. I’m learning good English, and watching those videos is wonderful because you teach well, thank you so much for your help…

i´m so happy hhahaha because i got 10/10 it so great, this video is hard understand for me, just i speak spanish.

Hi, Im new here these lessons hlep me lot to improve my english but i want to improve my speaking and writing skills if anybody can help me i will be very grateful. Thankyou Mr James i like your way of teaching and i want to be a teacher like you.

Hi, Im new here these lessons hlep me lot to improve my english but i want to improve my speaking and writing skills if anybody can help me i will be very grateful. Thankyou Mr James i like your way of teaching.

hello james is there a way for me to ask questions regarding the topics here. thanks. btw this website very useful and convenient

8 out 9 ! Thank you James

Thank u Teacher James : )

Thanks. I scored 78% marks. I want to learn English properly. Please give me instructions so that I can learn English.

i got 9 out of 10 unexpected :) thanks teacher james godbless

I got 100 score. Big smile on my face. Thank you for your lesson, James!

Thank you Mr. James.

Thanks James. We had difficulty understanding the adjective word order,but we liked this lesson.

I did well at the quize.

thank you James 9 out of 9

hi James, this lesson is very important for us…You explain very clean…is easy to learn with you..

Thanks James for the lesson.

100You got 9 correct out of 9. I have so appreciated for this lesson James

where can I find the other lessons/video lectures followed by this video

It’s super useful! Thank you very much! Anw, I really like your sense of humor :D

thanks James you were very clear in this lesson

This is sooooo useful for my English Exam!!!!

i got 89 in the quiz

Thanks for this lesson.

Thanks James. You are great.

These lessons are so good for practicing, thank you James :D

I have a question. How are these adverbs in the following sentences?

1) My favorite detectives are ones who cleverly match wits with equally clever villains.

2) I especially like detectives who carefully hunt for clues

Hi TonySmith, i would like to answer to your question. 1.)My favorite detectives are ones who cleverly match wits with equally clever villains. -cleverly, -equally, 2.)I especially like detectives who carefully hunt for clues -especially, -carefully,

I hope I help you. If you have more questions just drop me a line. Take care. Bye

Hello James, How’ve you been? It’s been awhile since I was watching you last video. Hope you’re doing well. Stay out of troubles. Talk soon. :)

thanks james, i lean a lot from you.

9/9. Very happy!

Thanks for the a good explanation

Your videos are awesome!

Thank you James. I got a quick question. When should I put ‘s’ after a noun. E.g. The title of this lesson, the word noun without ‘s’, but in the video clip, there is a ‘s’ for the word noun.

Love you James for supporting us with this platform. ????☺️☺️☺️☺️?????

thanks teacher

thanks, James, I got 7 out of 9

got 8/9 sir!!!:))

you guys are great. thanks .

Good lesson James! It’s very useful this video

thank you James

Thanks for help me

7 out of 9… thankyou!

very clear explanation. THANK YOU.

It makes you think! Thank you!

Lord, this is the first video I’ve watched in here, help me to understand this amazing language and save king james

Hi everybody!

I got 89 of score and it was awesome :D.

Nice video James and of course helpful.

PROFESSOR IS DOING WELL, I REALLY GOOD THINGS FROM HIM

i got 7/9 but i have understand all the lesson. now i can distinguish between adjective and adverb. thanks james, you are a very helpful person!

Please bring me ten good, small-sized, new, oval-shaped, red, Italian wooden boxes. I like them to put my necessary things. I know these are not cheap, but they are helpful for my daily schedule.

I got perfect the quiz because I have a great teacher. Thank you very much.

I got 8/9 I like this website it’s helped me to know that I really learn from the lesson or not.

thank you so much it was awesome

Thank you James. I would follow you to improve my English form beginner to intermediate.

Thank you the Quiz was fun! I still have much more to learn!

This is my fisrt time that I really understand the part of speech clearly, so I’m thankful. This is your first video that I have watched. I LOVE IT. BEST TEACHER 555555555

that is good, i’m start in grammer, altho i was focus more un listen and read. make more sanse for u grammer after u mastering listen and read skills

Good lesson teacher ?

That was very beneficial. Thank you, James!

Thanks, James, I got 7 out of 9

Thank you James, I got 9/9.

You explained it very well! Thank you James. I got 9/9.

Thank you, it was an interesting way to learn and challenged myself, I got the exact information and then I got a good score.

You’re the best

Amazing thank you so much now I can do my 4 storm exam very nicely thank you

I’m so happy that I found this website.Lord Bless you all.Thank you James.I got 9/9. :)

Thanks James, my son is in grade 3 and he is doing great.

Thank you James, your way of teaching is really very good you explained it very well.

I’m very happy by find this site, Engvid is the best place to learn english.

Thanks James!! This lesson is very helpful.

I got 9/9 thanks sir ur teaching method is so good i appreciate that love u from India??

thank youu so muccchh ıts really helpful for my lessons muckk :3

9/9 James, greetings from Kazakhstan 11 Dec2o21:)

thank you Sir.it’s superb.

I like the way that James give us his lessons… I’ve learnd a lot with him, thank you teacher… 9/9

That’s wonderful, i would like to say thank you professor and hope you to make small sessions in Zoom application for more understanding and communication between us.

Thank you my teacher for taking the time. See you later. Bye!

Thanks James my first quiz I scored 78 7/9 will continue to use your vids to better my knowledge it is power

I want to thank you a lot, Mr James …??? It’s nice to learn English with you. It makes me fun. Have a good night! See you soon. BYE!

Thank you, Teacher James. I got 9 out of 9 points.

James, you are one of the best teachers I have ever met. Thank you very much! God Bless You!

hey thank you in advance this helped me cuz I didn’t even known wat a verb was ;)…. THANK YOU!!

God job, James:-)

I got 9/9 … Thanks James..

I’ve enjoyed this lesson thank you so much sir

Thank you very much for the lesson James! Very useful lesson. I have never heard about subsequences of adjectives. Now I know about it! Thanks a lot!

I got 8/9 only missing the reflex adjectives question.

Thanks dear teacher from your teach.

Thank you for the teacher i got7/9

thank you so much mr James

good lesson :)

Thanks dear teacher for this lesson. :)

Exercices are very interesting, helpful for mustering lessons. This is helping me too much improving my english. I am so proud.

Thanks so much!

Thank you for this

thanks James/ it was Amazing Course

Thank you so much !

Oops I got 7/9

I got 8/9 which is good and I enjoyed the quiz.

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EnglishGrammarSoft

Parts of Speech Chart (Free Printable Anchor Chart)

Knowing the parts of speech is essential for effective communication. Without knowing what verbs, adjectives, or adverbs are, your communication could be misinterpreted.

What are Parts of Speech?

Parts of speech are the different types of words that we use to communicate. There are eight parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, interjections, and conjunctions.

The different types of words in each category have specific functions. For example, nouns typically name a person or place; verbs tell what someone did; adjectives describe a person or place; adverbs tell how something was done; pronouns stand in for other words (like he and she); prepositions show relations between things (like on top of), and conjunctions join two sentences together (like but, yet, because).

Here is the detailed article about parts of speech.

Parts of Speech Chart

You will find a chart below with examples to help you remember the different parts of speech.

• MORE TO DOWNLOAD
• Printable Parts of Speech Posters
• Printable Nouns Chart
• Printable Pronouns Chart
• Printable Adjective Chart
• Printable Adverbs Chart
• Printable Verbs Chart
• Printable Chart of Prepositions

Further Reading

• Nouns | What are 11 Types of Nouns?
• Pronoun | Different Types of Pronouns with 60+ Perfect Examples
• How do you describe adjectives? 13 Types of Adjectives with Examples
• What does adverb mean? 11 Types of Adverb with Examples
• What is a preposition? Types of Preposition According to Function
• What are the verbs? | Types of Verbs and Examples
• What are the 4 types of conjunctions? | Conjunction rules with examples
• Interjections Definition and Examples | Interjections Anchor Chart

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How can I download these anchor charts? I can not find a link. Thank you for your assistance.

Hi Catherine, thanks for your interest in the chart. You can download the chart from the above download button. You can also download the same from this link https://englishgrammarsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/free-printable-parts-of-speech-chart.pdf

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• English and Grammar
• Uncategorized

Parts of Speech: Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, and Adverbs

• Teaching Staff
• February 28, 2019
• No Comments

There are several different parts of speech, which are categories of types of words. We are going to talk about four of the main eight parts of speech, which are nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Understanding the parts of speech will teach you to use words properly in a sentence and become a better writer.

A noun is a person, place, or thing Some examples of a person are: sister, friend, Alex, Stephanie, you, me, dog Examples of places are: house, beach, New York, playground, the store Things (can be physical things or ideas): chair, pencil, thoughts, memories, and knowledge.

Verbs are action words! They are used to describe things that nouns do! An example of a verb would be “run”. Run is a word to describe someone or something who is moving faster than a walking speed. Other examples of verbs include: sing, watch, play, sleep, study, walk, and think.

Adjectives are describing words. They are used to describe nouns. An example of an adjective would be “beautiful”. Beautiful is a word to describe someone or something. For example, the sky is beautiful. Since the sky is a noun, and beautiful is used to describe it, that makes beautiful an adjective. Other examples of adjectives are: blue, dark, warm, happy, good, and fast.

Adverbs are words that describe verbs. For example, quickly is an adverb because if you say you walk quickly, walk is the verb, and quickly is describing how you walk. Therefore, quickly is an adverb. An easy way to spot an adverb is by their ending, since they often end in the letters ly , like quick ly . Other examples of adverbs include: nicely, proudly, slowly, and firmly.

Some words can be used as either a noun, verb, adjective, or an adverb. Usually though, you’ll have to change the endings of the words depending on how you want to use them. The following chart has some examples of words that you can change to be different parts of speech.

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Population Genetics: The Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium

Types of chemical reactions.

• Parts of Speech
• Language Use

Parts of Speech for ESL Learners:

Parts of speech summary.

• Prepositions
• Conjunctions
• Interjections
• Adjectives: Possessive
• Adjectives: Comparative
• Adjectives: Superlative
• Demonstratives
• Pronouns: Indefinite
• Pronouns: Subject
• Grammar – Object Pronouns
• Pronouns: Possessive
• Pronouns: Reflexive
• Contractions

What are parts of speech?

What are nouns?

What are pronouns?

What are verbs?

What are adjectives?

Words are organized into different categories. These categories are called parts of speech.  Parts of speech are the building blocks of English.  Some words can be assigned to more than one part of speech. 

The main parts of speech in English are nouns (n.), pronouns (pron.), articles (art.), verbs (v.), adjectives (adj.), adverbs (adv.), prepositions (prep.) and conjunctions (conj.).

  A noun is a person, place or thing.  There are many ways we use nouns in English.   There are common nouns and proper nouns.  There are plural nouns and possessive nouns.  There are count nouns and non-count nouns.

Common Noun

Proper Noun

• Ace College

Possessive Noun

• Betty’s
• school’s
• Honda’s

Singular Noun

Plural Noun

• our countries

Learn more:

  A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun.  Pronouns are used to avoid repeating nouns.  A subject pronoun can be used to refer to people in a conversation ( I , you, we … ).  An object pronoun can be used to refer to other people or things ( it ,  he ,  she ,  they … ).  Possessive pronouns like mine refer to nouns you own.  There are even reflexive pronouns like myself that refers to me.

• Charles is smart.
• I saw Charles play chess.
• The chess board is Charles’s .
• Charles would like to play Charles .
• He is smart.  ( subject )
• I saw him play chess.  ( object )
• The chess board is his .  ( object )
• Charles would like to play himself .  ( reflexive )
• Subject pronouns
• Object pronouns
• Possessive pronouns
• Reflexive pronouns

Verbs are words used to describe actions.  They tell us what the nouns in the sentence are doing.  The action verbs like run , kiss and laugh clearly describe actions.  Other verbs like be , know , and believe don’t really describe an action.  They are linking or stative verbs that describe a state of being.

• Forest runs like the wind.
• They kissed for the first time.
• We laugh at good jokes.
• I am happy.
• You know who you are.
• We believe in love.

Verbs have different tenses like the present tense and the past tense.  Modal verbs like can and should help the main verb describe things like ability or advice.

• I eat every day.  ( present simple )
• I ate yesterday.  ( past simple )
• I will eat tomorrow.  ( future simple )
• I am eating fruit today.  ( present  continuous )
• I was eating cookies yesterday.  ( present simple )
• I have eaten sushi.  ( present perfect )
• I had eaten sushi before I ate pizza.  ( past perfect )
• I can eat a whole pizza.  ( ability )
• I might eat a whole pizza.  ( possibility )
• I should eat more vegetables.  ( advice )
• I must eat food.  ( obligation )
• May I eat some ice cream.  ( permission )
• Would you  eat your broccoli please?  ( request )
• Present Simple
• Past Simple
• Past Perfect
• Possibility

An adjective is a word that describes a noun.  Adjectives help to express specific information about nouns such as quantity ( two ), quality ( beautiful ), size ( large ), age ( old ), shape ( round ), color ( red ), and origin ( American ).  Adjectives are easy to identify because they often appear before nouns. Comparative and superlative adjectives are used to compare two or more nouns with respect to one characteristic or trait.  Demonstrative adjectives (such as  this / that ) are used to show which nouns are being mentioned in a sentence.  Possessive adjectives (such as  his / her ) are used to show noun possession.

Adjectives describe nouns.

• Ricky is   smart .
• Gina has a   pretty  dress.
• The Lakers are a   good  basketball team.
• Burgers are   delicious .

COMPARATIVE ADJECTIVE

Comparative adjectives compare two nouns.  They show which noun has more of an adjective’s quality.

• Ricky is   smarter  than me.
• Gina has a   prettier  dress than you.
• The Lakers are a   better  team than the Knicks.
• Burgers are more   delicious  than hot dogs.

SUPERLATIVE ADJECTIVE

Superlative   adjectives show which noun is the   most   of an adjective’s quality.

• Ricky is the   smartest   in the class.
• Gina has the   prettiest   dress at the dance.
• The Lakers are the   best   team in the league.
• Burgers are the   most delicious   food.
• Comparative Adjective
• Superlative Adjective

Basic ESL Workbooks

Related Lessons

• Present Simple Tense
• Present Perfect Tense
• Past Simple Tense

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Yale Daily News

SINGH: A noun, a verb and abortion

Staff Columnist

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re aware that abortion has become a highly salient issue since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. The backlash to the Dobbs ruling was, in my view , the key reason why Democrats overperformed expectations in the midterms; if you look at the data, Democrats were running behind Biden’s 2020 margin in special elections until that case was decided, at which point they started overperforming. And pro-choice ballot referenda have passed in every state that has had them since Dobbs, including those like Kentucky, Montana and Ohio that Trump handily won twice. 

Given the seeming strength of abortion rights at the ballot box, should Biden make them a central issue for the presidential race? The other week, I was discussing that question with one of my professors from last semester, and he pointed me toward a pre-print paper by Natalie Hernandez GRD ’26, a fourth-year political science doctoral candidate, titled “American Public Opinion on Abortion is Less Polarized than Pro-Life and Pro-Choice Labels Suggest: Evidence from Two Surveys.”

After reading the paper, I spoke with Hernandez about it. The key takeaway of the paper is that traditional survey questions fail to capture the nuance of public opinion on abortion. “In the news what we hear is that the U.S. is so polarized about abortion,” she told me. “When you look at the data, most Americans fall into the middle.”

Gallup and Pew polls, for example, give voters a binary: pro-life or pro-choice. The American National Election Survey gives voters four options: always permitted; permitted, with some exceptions; only permitted for limited exceptions; or never permitted. This can make public opinion on the subject seem more polarized than it really is, Hernandez said. “When people are forced between two extreme options, they pick the closest one to their views, even if it’s not a perfect match.”

Hernandez ran two nationally-representative surveys (n=32,245), giving people 10 different scenarios in which a woman might need an abortion, and asking respondents up to how many weeks — if at all — they think abortion should be legally permitted for each of them. 

Contrary to conventional wisdom, only 15 percent of respondents were what Hernandez called ‘polarized consistent’: that is, they support either legally permitted abortion up to birth or a no-exceptions ban for all ten scenarios. (This group split down the middle between those two extremes.) Another 4 percent of respondents were ‘non-polarized consistent,’ picking the same period for legality other than the two most extreme choices throughout all scenarios (e.g., for all ten reasons consistently picked 15 weeks). The vast majority — 81 percent — were what she calls ‘abortion situationalists’: people who “update up to what point in a pregnancy they think abortion should be legal in accordance with the reason given.”

Overall, the median voter favored legal abortion up to 24 weeks for cases where the life of the mother was at risk; up to 18 weeks for cases where the fetus would not survive pregnancy or the mother had a non-life-threatening medical condition; up to 15 weeks for cases of rape or incest; 12 weeks for cases of serious fetal disability; and up to six weeks for situations where the mother was not ready to have a child, due to timing, relationship issues, financial reasons or interference with her life goals (the most common reasons women seek abortion). The median response was that sex-selective abortion should never be legal. 

“The median pro-life voter,” Hernandez noted, “supports legal abortion up to six weeks for cases where the life of the mother was at risk, the fetus won’t survive pregnancy, non-life threatening medical conditions, and rape. ” And among pro-choice respondents (47 percent of the sample), almost half thought that sex-selective abortion should never be legal. “There is more variation in pro-life and pro-choice identified respondents than you may expect.”

Although her survey found that partisan identity was correlated with pro-choice or pro-life identification, respondents’ views were much more similar when given specific scenarios. Although a majority (53 percent) of Republicans identified as pro-life, the median Republican favored legal abortion in half of the 10 scenarios in Hernandez’s second, larger sample. And while 70 percent of Democrats identified as pro-choice, the median Democrat favored some time restrictions in seven out of the 10 scenarios. 

I asked Hernandez how her results squared with the recent winning streak of pro-choice ballot referenda, including in red states. Why aren’t people in right-of-center electorates voting down ballot measures that don’t include the limitations your data says they prefer? “There is a difference between what the masses want and what elites are offering,” she said. “Maybe when people are forced between two extreme options, they pick the closest one to themselves.”

This fall, Florida and Arizona might provide a useful pair of bellwethers to test her theory. Recently, the Florida Supreme Court made two important decisions: first, it ruled that a six-week abortion ban signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis ’01 could go into effect; second, it cleared an initiative to amend Florida’s constitution to allow abortion up to the point of fetal viability, typically 24 weeks, for the November ballot. On April 9, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that an 1864 abortion ban could go into effect; an abortion rights initiative is likely to appear on the ballot in the fall. 

Hernandez’s survey had a large enough sample size to pull out the Florida and Arizona subgroups. As you can see, the median Floridian and Arizonan appears supportive of legal abortion closer to viability in certain scenarios such as the mother’s health or rape and incest but would favor the current law in cases where the woman can’t afford the child or is having relationship problems. And under the Florida state constitution, referendums need 60 percent of the vote to pass. Based on Hernandez’s findings, pro-choice campaigners would do well to focus their messaging on the more sympathetic scenarios. “It is likely that pro-choice and pro-life identified respondents have different ‘typical abortion scenarios’ in mind,” Hernandez writes in her paper. The more that advocates can focus their paid and earned media efforts on the cases that the data finds the broadest support for, the more likely they are to secure a progressive win in two right-of-center states. 

MILAN SINGH is a sophomore in Pierson College. His column, “All politics is national,” runs fortnightly. Contact him at [email protected] .