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The 8 Parts of Speech | Chart, Definition & Examples

The 8 Parts of Speech

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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English Compositions

Parts of Speech in English Grammar with Examples [PDF]

This article is a comprehensive guide on Parts of Speech in English Grammar.

feature image of parts of speech

Parts of Speech Definition:

In English grammar, words are generally divided into eight different classes or Parts of Speech according to the work they do in a sentence. These eight classes are called Parts of Speech.

Types of Parts of Speech:

In short, there are eight different types of parts of speech is there, and those are:

  • Preposition
  • Conjunction
  • Interjection

parts of speech essay pdf

A Brief Overview of different Parts of Speech

As we already know that in English grammar there are eight basic parts of speech, let.s discuss them one by one.

Our first part of speech is Noun

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

There are five kinds of nouns:

  • Proper Noun
  • Common Noun [External Link]
  • Material Noun
  • Abstract Noun
  • Collective Noun [External Link]

types of noun

A brief introduction of each Noun

Proper noun:.

A proper noun is the name of a particular place or person. For example, Dubai is the richest city, here Dubai refers to the name of a place so it is a proper noun.

Common Noun:

A common noun is specified as the name given in common to every person or thing. For example, The girl in my class.

Material Noun:

A material noun denotes the matter of the substance of the thing. For example, the house is built of wood.

Abstract Noun:

It is the name of a quality, action or state belonging to an object. For example, Darkness, movement, music, philosophy.

Collective Noun:

A collective noun is the name of a group of the collection of persons or things are taken together. For example , army, group, team, class, crowd.

For more details take a look at this article Noun in English Grammar .

A Must Watch Video Lesson on Noun:

The second Part of Speech is Pronoun

A pronoun is a word that replaces, relates or which is used instead of a noun or equivalent.

Pronouns are classified into ten types:

  • Personal pronoun
  • Impersonal pronoun
  • Demonstrative pronoun
  • Distributive Pronoun
  • Indefinite pronoun
  • Reciprocal pronoun
  • Reflexive and Emphatic pronoun
  • Relative pronoun
  • Interrogative pronoun
  • Possessive pronoun

types of pronoun

A brief introduction of each Pronoun

Personal pronoun:.

It indicates any person while acting as a subject or an object. For example, I, we, they, you, he, she, him, her, our.

Impersonal Pronoun:

It indicates mainly non-living things. For example, it.

Demonstrative Pronoun:

It demonstrates any particular sense. For example , this, that, these, those, it, so, such.

Distributive Pronoun:

It distributes the sense of the subject or object. For example , each, every, either, neither.

Indefinite Pronoun:

It signifies the sense of the subject or object. For example, any, all, many, some, few, someone, anyone, none, anybody, nobody, everybody.

Reciprocal Pronoun:

It reciprocates between two or among more than two subjects and makes a complementary sense. For example, each other, one another.

Reflexive and Emphatic Pronoun:

It makes an extra emphasis on the main subject and is constructed with s ‘self’ word. For example, my self, herself, himself, themselves, yourself.

Relative Pronoun:

It relates the subject or object with another clause or part of the sentence. For example, who, which, what, that, whose, whom, anyone, none, anybody.

Interrogative pronoun:

It makes the sense of interrogation. For example, who, which, what, whom, whose.

Possessive pronoun:

It signifies a possession over any other person. For example, mine, ours, yours, his, its, theirs.

For more details check out my another article on  Pronoun in English Grammar .

A Must Watch Video Lesson on Pronoun:

Our third Part of Speech is Verb

A verb is a word that states action, position or being.

There are seven types of verb:

  • Finite verb
  • Principal verb [External Link]
  • Transitive verb
  • Intransitive verb [External Link]
  • Auxiliary verb
  • Non-Finite verb [External Link]
  • Infinite verb

types of verb

Let’s talk about each verb

Finite verb.

These types of verb are restricted to the number and also to the persons. For example, I am a good boy.

Principal Verb

Principle verbs are the main verb of a sentence, it carries the sense, action, or state of a sentence. For example, I played football yesterday. In this sentence “Play” sate an action that I performed yesterday.

Transitive Verb

These types of verb are often used alone, with one or more objects in a sentence. For example, Ram played cricket.

Intransitive Verb

These types of verb do not allow with a direct object, that means you can not use this type of verb where an object is clearly mentioned. Example of this type of verb is ‘River flows’

Auxiliary Verb

These types of verbs are used to form tense, mood, aspect, modality, voice, etc. For example, Ram taking a shower.

Non-Finite Verb

By its name we can say these type of verb is not finite, that means these types of verb is not show their tense.

In English grammar non-finite verb are three types:

  • Participle [External Links]
  • Infinitive [External Links]
  • Gerund [External Links]
If you want to learn about the verb in detail check out my another post Verb in English Grammar .

A Must Watch Video Lesson on Verb:

Our fourth Part of Speech is Adverb

An adverb is a word that modifies a verb , an adjective , or another adverb in a sentence. These are 9 kinds of an adverb.

  • Adverb of time (Before, ago, lately, yet, soon, yesterday)
  • Adverb of Manner (Slowly, so, soundly)
  • Adverb of Place (Everywhere, down, near, away, etc.)
  • Adverb of frequency (Once, seldom, rarely, usually)
  • Adverb of affirmation and negation (Certainly, apparently, undoubtedly)
  • Interrogative Adverb (Where, when, how, why, how often, how long)
  • Relative Adverb (When, why, how)
  • Adverb of degree (Almost, fully, very, enough, rather, really)
  • Adverb of sentence (Surely, luckily)

Adverbs

Overview of each Adverb

Adverb of time:.

These types of adverbs are basically denoting time i.e. tomorrow, yesterday, etc.

Adverb of manner:

This type of adverb denotes the way of doing things, i.e. slowly, fastly, lately, etc.

Adverb of place:

This type of adverb defines where the action of the verb happens, i.e. far, everywhere, etc.

Adverb of frequency:

These types of adverb define how often a thing happens, i.e. rarely, frequently, etc.

Adverb of affirmation and negation:

This type of adverb denotes a sentence that is true or in a negative sense or judgment, i.e. undoubtedly, certainly, etc.

Interrogative Adverb:

This type of adverb is used when the sense of the statement is an interrogation, i.e. where, why, how, etc.

Relative Adverb:

These types of adverb join sentences and clauses and also tell about the noun, i.e. why, which, etc.

Adverb of degree:

These types of adverb are denoting the sense or intensity of a thing that is happening, i.e. fully, almost, etc.

Adverb of sentence:

These types of adverb modify the sentences, i.e. surely, luckily, etc.

If you want to learn about the adverb in detail check out my another post on Adverb in English Grammar .

A Must Watch Video Lesson on Adverb:

Our fifth Part of Speech is Adjective

An adjective is a word which qualifies a pronoun or a noun.  There are eight kinds of adjectives.

  • Proper adjective (Asian, Chinese, American, Japanese, African)
  • Adjective of quality (Good, bad, rich, poor, wise, great, hot, cold, warm)
  • Numerical adjective (One, two, five, several, each, every, few, a few, fourth, very few, many)
  • Adjective of quantity (All, any, much, some, half, full, whole, enough)
  • Demonstrative adjective (This, that, these, those, such)
  • Distributive adjective (Each, every, either, neither)
  • Interrogative adjective (Which, what, whose)
  • Possessive adjective (my, our, his, her)

Adjectives

To learn Adjective in detail check out my another post on  Adjective in English Grammar .

A Must Watch Video Lesson on Adjective:

Our sixth Part of Speech is Preposition

A preposition is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to show its relation with other parts of speech in a sentence.

Prepositions are six types, those are :

  • Preposition of Time (At, in, on, by, off, from, away, since, for, towards)
  • Preposition of Place (At, from, within, without, inside, outside, in front of, on top of, beyond, between)
  • Preposition of Possession (By, of, with)
  • Prepositions of direction motion (To, at, from, round, across, against)
  • Prepositions of cause, reason, and purpose (Of, for, with)
  • Preposition of Agent, Manner or Method (In, on, for, by with, though)

Although prepositions are categorized in different ways like :

  • Simple preposition
  • Double preposition
  • Disguised preposition
  • Special preposition
  • Appropriate preposition

types of prepositions

Check out preposition in details here: Preposition in English Grammar .

A Must Watch Video Lesson on Proposition:

Our seventh Part of Speech is Conjunction

A conjunction is a word which is used to join words, phrases, clause, and sentences.  There are three types of conjunction.

  • Coordinating conjunction

Subordinating Conjunction

  • Correlative conjunction

types of Conjunction

Let me discuss these Conjunctions

Coordinating conjunction.

These types of conjunction join two sentences or clauses of the same kinds, i.e. but, like, etc.

These types of conjunction used with subordinate clauses, i.e. because, lest, if, etc.

Correlative Conjunction

These types of conjunctions used in pairs, i.e. neither-nor, either-or, so-as, etc.

More on conjunction click here: Conjunction in English Grammar .

A Must Watch Video Lesson on Conjunction:

Our eighth Part of Speech is Interjection

An interjection expresses some sudden feeling of one’s mind. For example, Alas! We have lost the match. Hurrah! We won the match.

Some common interjections are  Bravo, Hurrah, Alas, Oh, etc.

More on interjection: Interjection in English Grammar

A Must Watch Video Lesson on Interjection:

Conclusion:

So now I want to hear from you about your experience about this article, I hope you understand the topic Parts of Speech in English Grammar.

Please mention your doubts in the comment section, I will love to answer those questions. Also, I told you to give you the PDF downloadable link, you can find the download button below.

References [External Links]:

  • Importance of the parts of speech – Really Learn English
  • Parts of Speech – Open School BC

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The Eight Parts of Speech in English (PDF)

In this article we will give you a brief introduction to the eight parts of speech . These are noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection.

A part of speech is simply the name given to a word based on the function it performs in a sentence. Learning parts of speech is necessary to understand the correct definition of a word and to speed up your study of English grammar .

You can think of parts of speech like job titles. Just as a person can be a soldier, a teacher or a baker, a word can be a noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction or interjection, depending on what it does in a sentence. You can download a PDF of the parts of speech with examples at the end of this article.

Parts of Speech Grammar Table

parts of speech essay pdf

noun is a word (other than a pronoun) used to identify any of a class of people, animals, places, things, ideas.

Nouns are separated into common nouns and proper nouns .

What is a common noun?

Common nouns are used for people, animals, places, or things.

Example: granny, mother, river, mountain, hotel, taxi, fox, camel.

He is an artist . Tom hates bananas . I love my mother . Her father is a doctor .

What is a proper noun?

Proper nouns are names for particular people, places or things. They always begin with a capital letter.

Example: Ali Baba, Harry Potter, Beethoven, Turkish, British, Malay, Hong Kong, India, The United Kingdom,the Pacific Ocean, the Eiffel Tower, Father’s Day, Ramadan, Halloween.

☛ The days of the week and months of the year are also proper nouns.

December is the last month of the year. Sunday is the last day of the week.

What is singular and plural noun?

When you are talking about one person, animal, place, or thing, use a singular noun .

Example: a ship, a teacher, a river, an apple, an umbrella.

When you are talking about two or more people, animals, places, or things, use plural nouns . Most nouns are made plural by adding -s at the end.

Example: ships, teachers, rivers, apples, umbrellas

Some exceptions: bus-buses. glass-glasses. watch-watches. brush-brushes. butterfly-butterflies. baby-babies. lady-ladies. story-stories.

☛ Nouns show possession by adding ‘s.

☛ Tom’s car. ☛ Car’s key.

What is concrete and abstract noun?

Concrete nouns are things you can experience (see, hear, smell, touch, or taste) with your senses. Here are some examples: tree, music, flowers, and chocolate.

Abstract nouns represent ideas, qualities, or states that cannot be perceived through the senses. Examples include love, honesty, joy, and freedom.

Here’s a table with examples of different types of nouns in English:

Check Also: Common and Proper Nouns Explained (Exercise and Examples) Masculine and Feminine Nouns in English 100 Most Common English Nouns A-Z List (PDF)

A pronoun is a word that can replace a noun in a sentence.

Personal Pronouns: The words I , you , he , she , it , we and they are called personal pronouns. He is a nice guy. You are welcome.

Possessive Pronouns: There words mine , yours , hers , his , its , theirs , ours , yours , theirs are called possessive pronouns. This car is mine . Time is yours .

Reflexive Pronouns: The words myself , yourself , himself , herself , itself , ourselves , yourselves and themselves are called reflexive pronouns. Maryam has hurt herself . Don’t cut yourself .

Demonstrative Pronouns: The words this , these , that and those are called demonstrative pronouns. This is my car. These are my flowers.

Interrogative Pronouns: The words who , whom , whose , what and which are called interrogative pronouns. We ask questions by using these pronouns. Who is she talking to? Which do you prefer?

Here’s a table with examples of different types of pronouns in English:

Check Also: Personal & Possessive Pronouns for English Learners Nobody, No one, None Difference & Examples Difference Between Who and Whom

A word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, and forming the main part of the predicate of a sentence, such as hear, become, happen, run, eat.

Most verbs are action words. Verbs shows you what people, animals or things are doing.

Verbs can show actions or they can show states or situations.Those are the two types of verbs in English.

☛ I am eating. – verb (eat) shows an action. ☛ I am a student. verb (to be) shows a state.

☛ Verbs also change and take different forms to show tenses.

I drink a lot of water ☛ I drank a lot of water yesterday.

Here’s a table with examples of different types of verbs in English:

Check Also: 500+ English Verbs List (V1 V2 V3 Verb Forms) + PDF Most Common English Verbs & Synonyms List (PDF) All forms of the verb TO BE and Its Usage

4. ADJECTIVE

An adjective is a describing word. Adjective describes a noun or a pronoun.

The red carpet. Deep thoughts. A busy street. She is beautiful today.

Here’s a table with examples of different types of adjectives in English:

Check Also: List of Opposite Adjectives in English (PDF) Positive Adjectives to Describe a Person (PDF) Comparative and Superlative Adjectives List + PDF 

A word that describes a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or a sentence. It tells you about an action, or the way something is done.

☛ A lot of adverbs end in -ly.

We are happily married. Tom calls me regularly . Suddenly , she knows. It’s love!

Here’s a table with examples of different types of adverbs in English:

parts of speech essay pdf

Check Also: Types of Adverbs in English & Meaning and Examples (PDF) Common Suffixes in English (With Examples) & PDF

6. PREPOSITION

A preposition is a word that connects one thing with another, showing how they are related.

Prepositions tell us about time, position or place.

Some examples of prepositions are words like ‘ in ,’ ‘ at ,’ ‘ on ,’ ‘ of ,’ ‘ to ,’ ‘ from .’

She is in love. Book was on the table. I am from France. He is calling to you. Where are you at ?

Here’s a table categorizing types of prepositions with examples:

Check Also: Complete List of English Prepositions A-Z (Free PDF) Commonly Used Prepositions Lists in English  Common Collocations in English With Prepositions (PDF) Prepositions of Location At, In & On (PDF)

7. CONJUNCTION

A conjunction is a linking word that used to connect clauses or sentences. For example and, or, but, as, if.

Conjunctions are used to connect words, phrases, and clauses together.

a teacher and students. a male or female?

☛ Words such as before , after , as , when , while , until , since , are conjunctions of time. Maryam could play guitar before she was four. She always brush her teeth after eating her meal.

There are four categories of conjunctions:

8.INTERJECTION

An interjection is a word that expresses an emotion, sudden, strong feeling such as surprise, pain, or pleasure.

☛ It is often followed by an exclamation point.

Check Also: Interjections in English Grammar & List Examples 1000+ Common Daily English Phrases for Beginners (PDF)

parts of speech essay pdf

Parts of Speech PDF

Here you can download parts of speech PDF with examples.

  Parts of Speech in English PDF

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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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6.2: Parts of Speech

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It is important to use the correct part of speech.

  • Noun: The things, people, ideas, etc. that we talk and write about
  • Verb: The action or condition (states) of the nouns
  • Pronoun: The words that replace nouns (I, you, he, she, it, they, me, him, her, them, etc.)
  • Adjective: A word to describe nouns
  • Adverbs: A word to describe a verb or an adjective. Most of these end in -ly

A word form error occurs when you use the wrong part of speech.

· When living in a new culture, a person is often faced with customs and believes that are very different from his own. (believes – beliefs)

· Children are taught from a young age that to be success they have to work hard. (success – successful)

· Strong students know how to work independent and in groups. (independent – independently)

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Parts of Speech: Essays on English

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PDF Book Parts of Speech

Introduction to the content of the book.

Preposition

Conjunction

Interjection

Here are some more article for students to learn English Grammar.

Word | Definition & Types

Sentence | Structure & Types

Capitalization Rules

Direct and Indirect Speeches

Active Voice Passive Voice

Punctuation Marks

How to Describe a Person

Modal Verbs 

Use of Would Could Should

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