an essay on parts of speech

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Understanding the 8 Parts of Speech: Definitions and Examples

General Education

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

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

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

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

Feature Image: (Gavina S / Wikimedia Commons)

What Are Parts of Speech? 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Subclasses of Nouns, Including Examples

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

Common Nouns and Proper Nouns

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

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

Common noun: What state are you from?

Proper noun: I’m from Arizona .

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

Concrete Nouns and Abstract Nouns

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

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

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

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

Collective Nouns, Count Nouns, and Mass Nouns

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

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

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

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

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

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

Subclasses of Verbs, Including Examples

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

Copular or Linking Verbs

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

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

Transitive Verbs, Intransitive Verbs, and Ditransitive Verbs

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

Please take the clothes to the dry cleaners.

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

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

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

I cooked Nathan a meal.

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

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

#3: Adjectives

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

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

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

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

Subclasses of Adjectives, Including Examples

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

Adjective Phrases

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

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

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

The museum was somewhat boring. 

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

Comparative Adjectives and Superlative Adjectives

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

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

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

The horse was faster than the dog.

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

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

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

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

Their story was the funniest story. 

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

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

Determiners

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

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

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

Definite article: Get in the car.  

Demonstrative: Could you hand me that magazine?  

Possessive determiner: Please put away your clothes. 

Distributive: He ate all of the pie. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Subclasses Of Adverbs, Including Examples

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

Conjunctive Adverbs

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

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

They didn’t call; instead , they texted.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#5: Pronouns

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

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

Subclasses of Pronouns, Including Examples

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

Personal Pronouns

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

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

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

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

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

Possessive Pronouns

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

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

Limiting possessive pronoun: Juan is fixing his car. 

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

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

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

Demonstrative Pronouns, Interrogative Pronouns, and Indefinite Pronouns

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

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

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

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

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

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

Promise you can keep a secret? 

Of course. I won’t tell anyone. 

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

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

Do you remember which glass was mine? 

What time are they arriving? 

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

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

#6: Conjunctions

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

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

Subclasses of Conjunctions, Including Examples

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

Coordinating Conjunctions

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

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

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

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

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

Would you like to cook or order in for dinner? 

The storm was loud yet refreshing. 

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

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

Subordinating Conjunctions

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

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

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

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

Rakim was scared after the power went out. 

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

Correlative Conjunctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

#7: Interjections 

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

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

Subclasses of Interjections, Including Examples

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

Primary Interjections  

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

Ouch ! I just burned myself on that pan!

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

Secondary Interjections

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

Well , look what the cat dragged in!

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

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

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

#8: Prepositions

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

Subclasses of Prepositions, Including Examples

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

Simple Prepositions

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

I’ll order more ink before we run out. 

Your phone was beside your wallet. 

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

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

Double Prepositions

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

I thought you were sitting across from me. 

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

Prepositional Phrases

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

The cat sat under the chair . 

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

We walked through the overgrown field . 

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

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

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

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

Are you ready? Here we go:  

1) What are the 8 parts of speech? 

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

2) Which parts of speech have subclasses?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8) Where do interjections typically appear in a sentence?

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

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

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

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

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

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

What’s Next?

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

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

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

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

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• English Grammar
• Names in English
• Application Writing

Parts of Speech: Definition and Types with Examples

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

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

Eight Parts of Speech in English Grammar

There are eight parts of speech in the English language:

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

Let’s break it down further:

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

Examples in Sentences:

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

>> Read more about nouns

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

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

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

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

>> Read more about Pronouns

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

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

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

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

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

>>Read more about Verbs

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

Here’s a simple explanation:

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

Present Perfect Tense? – Rules and Examples

Present Continuous Tense: Rules and Example

Present Indefinite Tense: Rules and Example

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

Here are a few more examples:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Preposition

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

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

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

Here are a few examples:

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

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

More Example Sentences:

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

Conjunction

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

Here are two main types of conjunctions:

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

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

Interjection

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

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

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

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

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

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

Example Sentence using all Eight Parts of Speech

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

When a word functions as different parts of speech?

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

Example word: “Run”

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

Example word: “Fast”

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

Example word: “Hard”

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

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

Open and closed word classes

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

Open Word Classes:

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

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

Closed Word Classes:

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

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

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

Tips to figure out Parts of Speech

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

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

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

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Grammar: Main Parts of Speech

Definitions and examples.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Preposition

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

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

Conjunction

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

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

Auxiliary Verbs

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

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

Common Endings

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

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

Common Noun Endings

Common verb endings, common adjective endings, common adverb endings, placement and position of adjectives and adverbs, order of adjectives.

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

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

For example:

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

Commas With Multiple Adjectives

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

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

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

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

Position of Adverbs

Adverbs can appear in different positions in a sentence.

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

More Detailed Rules for the Position of Adverbs

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

Main Parts of Speech Video Playlist

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

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

Writing Tools: Dictionary and Thesaurus Refresher Video

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

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

Related Resources

Knowledge Check: Main Parts of Speech

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Parts of Speech Overview

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A noun is a word that denotes a person, place, or thing. In a sentence, nouns answer the questions who and what.

In the sentence above, there are two nouns, dog and ball . A noun may be concrete (something you can touch, see, etc.), like the nouns in the example above, or a noun may be abstract, as in the sentences below.

The abstract concepts of integrity and love in the sentences above are both nouns. Nouns may also be proper.

Chicago , Thanksgiving , and November are all proper nouns, and they should be capitalized. (For more information on proper nouns and when to capitalize words, see our handout on Capital Letters .)

You may also visit our handout on Count and Noncount Nouns .

Learn how to spot verbs that act as nouns. Visit our handout on Verbals: Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives .

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun in a sentence.

In the sentence above, she is the pronoun. Like nouns, pronouns may be used either as subjects or as objects in a sentence.

In the example above, both she and him are pronouns; she is the subject of the sentence while him is the object. Every subject pronoun has a corresponding object form, as shown in the table below.

For more information on pronouns, go to our handout on Pronouns .

To find out what part of speech are that , which , and whom ? Visit our handout on Relative Pronouns .

Articles include a , an , and the . They precede a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence.

In example 1, the article a precedes the noun house , and a also precedes the noun phrase big porch , which consists of an adjective (big) and the noun it describes (porch). In example 2, the article the precedes the noun phrase blue sweater , in which sweater is the noun and blue, the adjective.

For more information, go to our handouts on Articles: A vs. An and How to Use Articles (a/an/the) .

An adjective is a word that modifies, or describes, a noun or pronoun. Adjectives may precede nouns, or they may appear after a form of the reflexive verb to be (am, are, is, was, etc.).

In example 1, two consecutive adjectives, red and brick , both describe the noun house. In example 2, the adjective tall appears after the reflexive verb is and describes the subject, she .

For more on adjectives, go to our handouts Adjective or Adverb and How to Use Adjectives and Adverbs .

A verb is a word that denotes action, or a state of being, in a sentence.

In example 1, rides is the verb; it describes what the subject, Beth, does. In example 2, was describes Paul’s state of being and is therefore the verb.

There may be multiple verbs in a sentence, or there may be a verb phrase consisting of a verb plus a helping verb.

In example 1, the subject she performs two actions in the sentence, turned and opened . In example 2, the verb phrase is was studying .

Some words in a sentence may look like verbs but act as something else, like a noun; these are called verbals. For more information on verbs that masquerade as other parts of speech, go to our handout on Verbals: Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives .

To learn more about conjugating verbs, visit our handouts on Verb Tenses , Irregular Verbs , and Two-Part (Phrasal) Verbs (Idioms) .

Just as adjectives modify nouns, adverbs modify, or further describe, verbs. Adverbs may also modify adjectives. (Many, though not all, adverbs end in - ly .)

In the first example, the adverb wildly modifies the verb waved . In the second example, the adverb extremely modifies the adjective bright , which describes the noun shirt . While nouns answer the questions who and what , adverbs answer the questions how , when , why , and where .

For a more detailed discussion of adverbs, visit our handout Adjective or Adverb and become an expert.

Conjunctions

A conjunction is a word that joins two independent clauses, or sentences, together.

In the examples above, both but and so are conjunctions. They join two complete sentences with the help of a comma. And, but, for, or, nor, so, and yet can all act as conjunctions.

Prepositions

Prepositions work in combination with a noun or pronoun to create phrases that modify verbs, nouns/pronouns, or adjectives. Prepositional phrases convey a spatial, temporal, or directional meaning.

There are two prepositional phrases in the example above: up the brick wall and of the house . The first prepositional phrase is an adverbial phrase, since it modifies the verb by describing where the ivy climbed. The second phrase further modifies the noun wall (the object of the first prepositional phrase) and describes which wall the ivy climbs.

For a more detailed discussion on this part of speech and its functions, click on Prepositions .

Below is a list of prepositions in the English language:

Aboard, about, above, across, after, against, along, amid, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, by, down, during, except, for, from, in, into, like, near, of, off, on, onto, out, over, past, since, through, throughout, to, toward, under, underneath, until, unto, up, upon, with, within, without.

Parts of Speech: Definitions, Categories and Examples

By: Author English Study Online

Posted on Last updated: August 28, 2024

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

Parts of Speech – Created by Englishstudyonline

Table of Contents

What is a Parts of Speech?

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

There are typically eight main parts of speech in English:

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

Some grammars list additional parts of speech:

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

Some sources also include:

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

Categories of Parts of Speech

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

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

2. Pronouns

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

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

4. Adjectives

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

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

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

Examples of adverbs:

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

6. Prepositions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. Conjunctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8. Interjections

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

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

9. Articles/Determiners

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

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

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

Determiners

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

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

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

Examples of Parts of Speech

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

Practical Exercises

Exercise 1: Identify the Part of Speech

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

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

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

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

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

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

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An effective speech must have several main components that are critical to grabbing the attention of the audience and conveying a strong message. There are three main sections to a good speech. The first section is the introduction.  This is perhaps the most important section because it must have an attention-grabbing opening that draws the audience into the speech. A speaker can use the introduction to convey a sense of authority on the topic of the speech. A thesis statement is critical to keeping the speech organized and informing the audience of the road map that the speech is going to travel.

Following the introduction, the second part of a speech is the body.  This is where the bulk of the information is conveyed to the audience. An effective transitional statement or phrase is necessary to move from the introduction section to the beginning of the body of the speech.  The body of the speech must follow the road map that the thesis statement has created. In the body, the speaker’s main points should be made in a well-organized format. Many speakers make the mistake of including unnecessary jargon and rhetoric that can confuse the audience and distract from the main point and overall purpose of the speech.  Instead, the main points should be clearly identified throughout the body of the speech.

Finally, the conclusion is the third section of the speech in which everything is summarized and comes to a close.  Similar to the introduction and body, there must be a transition between the body of the speech and the concluding section.  The main points should be restated and re-emphasized. At the end of the conclusion a final closing statement should be made in which the speaker is able to draw the speech to an effective close. This may mean that the audience is called to action or persuaded to think a particular way on the main topic of the speech.  Regardless of the purpose, the closing statement should leave the audience with a lasting impression of the topic, the speaker and the time spent listening.

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Parts of Speech: The Ultimate Guide for Students and Teachers

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

What are Parts of Speech ?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A complete unit on teaching figurative language.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE  is like  “SPECIAL EFFECTS FOR AUTHORS.”  It is a powerful tool to create  VIVID IMAGERY  through words. This  HUGE UNIT  guides you through completely understanding  FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE .

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

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

These categories are:

Common Nouns

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

All nouns can be classified as either common or proper .

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

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

Some examples of common nouns include:

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

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

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

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

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

Some examples of proper nouns include:

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

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

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

Nouns Teaching Activity: Common vs Proper Nouns

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

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

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

Some examples of concrete nouns include:

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

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

Some examples of abstract nouns include:

Nouns Teaching Activity: Concrete Vs. Abstract Nouns

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

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

Some examples of collective nouns include:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some examples of countable nouns include:

COUNTABLE NOUNS EXAMPLES

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

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

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

Some examples of uncountable nouns include:

UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS EXAMPLES

Nouns teaching activity: how many can you list .

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

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

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

Dynamic Verbs

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

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

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

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

Let’s see a few examples in sentences:

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

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

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

• Emotions/Thoughts

Some examples of stative verbs include: 

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

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

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

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

Here are some stative verbs at work in sentences:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Most sentences in English employ transitive verbs.

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

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

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

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

Auxiliary verbs will frequently use not in the negative.

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

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

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

She is working as hard as she can.

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

The Subject-Auxiliary Inversion Test

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

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

Is she working as hard as she can?

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

She is not working as hard as she can.

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

Verbs Teaching Activity: Identify the Verbs

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

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

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

Descriptive Adjectives

• Degrees of Adjectives

Quantitative Adjectives

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

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

Some examples of this type of adjective include:

• hard-working

In sentences, they look like this:

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

Degrees of Adjectives 

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are several ways to form the superlative, including:

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

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

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

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

• It was a beautiful example of kindness. 

Comparative

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

Superlative

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

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

Some quantitive adjectives include:

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

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

Here are some examples of demonstrative adjectives in use:

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

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

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

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

Here are some examples of possessive adjectives in sentences:

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

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

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

Let’s take a look at these in action:

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

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

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

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

Let’s take a look at another few examples:

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

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

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

Let’s see some articles as adjectives in action!

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

Adjectives Teaching Activity: Types of Adjective Tally

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

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

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

Adverbs of Manner

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

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

Here are a few taster sentences employing adverbs of manner:

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

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

Here are some sentences employing adverbs of time:

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

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

Here’s what they look like in sentences:

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

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

Check out some examples in the sentences below:

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

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

Here are some adverbs of degree at work in sentences:

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

Adverb Teaching Activity: The Adverb Generator

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

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

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

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

Subject Pronouns

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

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

The subject pronouns are:

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

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

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

The object pronouns are:

Here are a few examples of object pronouns in sentences:

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

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

These books are mine .

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

The possessive pronouns are:

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

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

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

The reflexive pronoun forms are:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here are some examples of demonstrative pronouns in sentences:

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

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

Putting them into sentences looks like this:

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

Pronoun Teaching Activity: Pronoun Review Table

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

Prepositions

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

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

Prepositions of Time

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

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

Phrasal Prepositions

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

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

Let’s see some of these at work:

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

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

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

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

A few example sentences will assist in illustrating these:

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

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

Some other prepositions of movement include:

Here’s how they look in some sample sentences:

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

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

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

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

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

Check out these sample sentences:

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

Prepositions of Agency

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

Here are some examples of their use in sentences:

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

Prepositions of Possession

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

Let’s take a look:

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

Prepositions of Source

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

Here are some examples:

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

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

Some common phrasal prepositions are:

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

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

Preposition Teaching Activity: Pr eposition Sort

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

ConjunctionS

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

• Coordinating
• Subordinating
• Correlative

Coordinating Conjunctions

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

Here are a few example sentences employing coordinating conjunctions:

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

Subordinating Conjunctions

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

Some of the most common subordinate conjunctions are: 

Let’s take a look at some example sentences:

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

Correlative Conjunctions

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

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

Let’s see how some of these work together:

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

Conjunction Teaching Activity: Conjunction Challenge

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

InterjectionS

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

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

Interjection Teaching Activity: Create a scenario

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

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

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

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• Knowledge Base
• Parts of speech

The 8 Parts of Speech | 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 analyse 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’).

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Table of contents

Prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, other parts of speech, 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., past simple ), 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.

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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Think and Write for CSEC English A and B

Resource materials for teachers and students, understanding the 8 essential parts of speech in english.

Julie Tagg| Think and Write for CSEC English A and B| November 08, 24

The 8 Parts of Speech: A Beginner’s Guide to Mastering Grammar

Introduction: Grammar is the backbone of effective communication, and understanding the different parts of speech is the first step to becoming a more confident and precise writer. Whether you’re a student, an educator, or an English language learner, knowing how words function in sentences can drastically improve both your writing and speaking skills. In this post, we’ll break down the eight essential parts of speech, provide clear definitions, and offer tips on how to use them effectively.

1. Nouns: The Names of Things

Definition: Nouns are words that name people, places, things, or ideas. They are the subject of a sentence and often carry the main meaning.

• Person : teacher, student, doctor
• Place : school, park, library
• Thing : pencil, book, laptop
• Idea : freedom, love, success

How to Use Effectively:

• Nouns often act as the subject or object of a sentence. The subject (the noun) should agree with your verb in number (singular or plural).
• Example: The lady (singular) speaks loudly.

2. Pronouns: Replacing Nouns

Definition: Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns to avoid repetition.

• Examples: he, she, it, they, them, we, who

How to Use Pronouns Effectively:

• Pronouns should agree in number and gender with the noun they replace.
• Example: Tom loves reading books. He reads every day.
• Avoid vague pronouns—ensure the antecedent (the noun a pronoun refers to) is clear.

3. Verbs: Expressing Action or State

Definition: Verbs are words that describe actions, occurrences, or states of being. They are essential in forming sentences, as they tell us what the subject is doing or what condition the subject is in.

• Examples: run, jump, think, am, is, are, become

How to Use Verbs Effectively:

• Be specific with your verbs to convey your meaning more clearly. Instead of saying “She walked quickly,” try “She sprinted.”
• Pay attention to verb tenses (past, present, future) to maintain consistency throughout your writing.

4. Adjectives: Describing Nouns

Definition: Adjectives are words that describe or modify nouns. They provide additional information about a person, place, thing, or idea.

• Examples: tall, beautiful, tired, delicious, old

How to Use Adjectives Effectively:

• Adjectives help make writing more vivid, but be careful not to overuse them. Too many adjectives can clutter a sentence.
• Example: The old, wooden house creaked in the wind.

5. Adverbs: Modifying Verbs, Adjectives, or Other Adverbs

Definition: Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, often providing information about how, when, where, or to what degree something happens.

• Examples: quickly, very, well, slowly, often

How to Use Adverbs Effectively:

• Be specific with your adverbs to give your writing more precision. Instead of saying “She sings well,” you could say “She sings beautifully.”
• Avoid unnecessary adverbs. If the verb or adjective is strong enough, you may not need an adverb.

6. Prepositions: Showing Relationships

Definition: Prepositions are words that show relationships between other words in a sentence, usually indicating location, time, or direction.

• Examples: in, on, at, under, between, with, over, before

How to Use Prepositions Effectively:

• Prepositions often work in prepositional phrases (e.g., “in the park,” “on the table” ) and clarify the meaning of the sentence.

7. Conjunctions: Joining Words, Phrases, or Clauses

Definition: Conjunctions connect words, phrases, or clauses, helping sentences flow more smoothly.

• Examples: and, but, or, because, although, if

How to Use Conjunctions Effectively:

• Use conjunctions to create complex sentences that show relationships between ideas. For example, “I want to go to the park, but it’s raining.”
• Avoid run-on sentences by using conjunctions to properly link ideas.

8. Interjections: Expressing Emotion

Definition: Interjections are short words or phrases that express strong emotions or sudden exclamations. They are often stand-alone sentences.

• Examples: wow, ouch, hey, oh, ah, uh-oh

How to Use Interjections Effectively:

• Use interjections sparingly to convey strong feelings or reactions. They can add personality and tone to your writing, but they should not overwhelm the sentence.

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What Are the 8 Parts of Speech? Examples and Usage

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There are eight parts of speech in English: nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections. While some parts of speech are more common or versatile than others, they’re all stacked like bricks in a sentence — and you can’t move one without bringing the whole sentence (or wall) down around it. These parts of speech examples demonstrate how each part of speech works, and how they modify or link to each other.

What Is a Part of Speech?

A part of speech is a word with a specific purpose in a sentence. You can categorize every English word into these parts of speech, based on what they do. 

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For example, nouns are the people, places, and things in a sentence, and verbs are what they do. But while every sentence requires a noun and a verb, those aren’t the only parts of speech you’ll find in writing.

Parts of Speech With Examples Printable 22

Nouns name a person, place, thing, or idea. They function as the subject or the object of a sentence — the person or thing that either performs the action or receives the action.

Examples of nouns include: 

• Send in the clowns .
• Brazil is a beautiful country .
• I love listening to music .
• How many cats do you have?
• Mia and Zoe value their friendship .

Verbs express action or a state of being. They're what you (or any nouns) do. When you change the verb's tense , you show that an action was done in the past, present, or future.

Examples of verbs include:

• We walked to the park.
• Janine has been to Minneapolis.
• That dog smells funny.
• You will need your snow boots today.
• My class is going to the museum.

3. Adjectives

Adjectives modify or describe a noun. They typically come before the noun they describe.

Examples of adjectives include:

• The sleepy bear hibernated all winter.
• It's a long drive, but it's worth the trip.
• Should I buy the blue jeans or the purple sweater?
• The twelve-year-old boy asked a question.
• Place the large silver spoon on the table.

4. Pronouns

Pronouns replace nouns to simplify speech and writing. They function as subjects and objects in sentences, just like nouns.

Examples of pronouns include:

• She is the smartest kid in class.
• George took the book from him .
• Who is coming to the party tonight?
• Don’t touch that cup; it’s mine .
• They really like their pottery class.

Adverbs modify or describe a verb, adjective, or another adverb. They provide information about an action’s time, place, manner, frequency, or degree.

Examples of adverbs include:

• Joe grumpily got out of bed.
• Sara ran very quickly to school.
• Your brother is very rude.
• I’ll have that done tomorrow .
• That's quite expensive, don't you think?

6. Conjunctions

Conjunctions connect parts of a sentence. They can join words, phrases, or clauses to add more information to a sentence.

Examples of conjunctions include:

• You'll need to study all night if you want to pass tomorrow's test.
• Go to the store and buy some milk.
• Kristopher doesn't have enough experience. Therefore , we will not hire him.
• I’d love to make dinner, but my stove isn’t working.
• We made you this quilt because we love you.

7. Prepositions

Prepositions show relationships between nouns in a sentence. They show the location of a noun relative to another noun or pronoun.

Examples of prepositions include:

• Between you and me, I wouldn't trust Andy.
• The coffee shop is across the street.
• Put the carrots in the refrigerator, please.
• Should we add more sugar to the batter?
• Mark works with my sister at the bank.

8. Interjections

Interjections interrupt sentences to show emotions. You can separate them from a sentence with a comma, period, or exclamation point, depending on the emotion.

Examples of interjections include:

• Bah , who cares what they think anyway?
• If Cody asked me out on a date, gosh , that'd make my day.
• I spilled the coffee everywhere. Oops !
• Hey ! That’s my train ticket!
• Oh no . I think I failed my math test.

Are Articles and Determiners Parts of Speech?

Two additional parts of speech — articles ( a, an, the ) and determiners ( that, my, some ) — also appear in sentences. So why are there only eight parts of speech instead of ten?

While some style guides and lists may add articles and determiners to the parts of speech, these parts of speech are technically adjectives. They modify nouns to add specificity to a sentence.

These example sentences show articles and determiners in bold, while the nouns they modify are underlined.

• The detective asked me some questions .
• I gave my brother an umbrella .
• He found several kittens in the shed .
• Do you want any milk ?
• Please hand me those tools .

Building New Sentences, One Brick at a Time

Learning the parts of speech is just the first step to building a proper sentence. But parts of speech are slightly different from parts of a sentence — and you need to know both in order to properly format your writing. Otherwise, you may encounter grammatical errors such as sentence fragments or run-on sentences .

Run-on Sentences

Parts of Speech

• By English Essay Writing Tips

What Are the Parts of Speech?

by Owen Fourie

This is basic to your understanding of English grammar.

Once you have begun to learn the grammar of the English language, this is the first thing that should be mastered as a tool to understanding the rest of grammar.

If it is mastered at the outset, there should be no need to repeat it every year as though it is entirely new. Mastery here would ensure competence in other areas of grammar.

The building blocks

There are eight parts of speech in English grammar. These are the building blocks that are used to put together sentences that express the ideas we wish to convey to others. Each part has a particular function and a relationship with other parts.

The articles a , an , and the are sometimes considered as a separate part of speech. Since they are so closely related to nouns, they qualify as adjectives–a special category of adjectives.

The eight parts of speech are

• conjunctions
• prepositions
• interjections

Be aware that often the position of a word in a sentence determines its part of speech. Therefore, the word walking is

• a noun in “Walking is a good exercise.”;
• an adjective in “They went on a walking tour.”

Useful tabulation for quick and easy reference

—–

Are there any of the above-mentioned parts of speech that you find difficult? If so, which are they and what is the problem that you have with them? Do you have any useful insights? What are your particular struggles? Your comments, observations, and questions are welcome.

Click here for a cute Parts of Speech song.

Here are more articles to help you with English words , grammar , and essay writing .

Copyright © 2011 by English Essay Writing Tips www.englishessaywritingtips.com

• part of speech , parts of a speech

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• jack on September 24, 2017 at 13:35

are there helping verbs and linking verbs

• English Essay Writing Tips on September 25, 2017 at 20:07 Author

Yes. Go to this pdf for a concise demonstration of the difference. Go to this site for more detail.

• Princess on January 11, 2013 at 12:02

Wow! this article is superb.i have learnt so much from it.

• English Essay Writing Tips on January 11, 2013 at 13:56 Author

Glad you found it useful, Princess. Thank you for commenting.

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8 Parts of Speech Definitions and Examples

Last updated on September 6th, 2024 at 11:00 pm

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In this lesson, we’ll analyze the 8 parts of speech definitions and examples including their types. Parts of Speech are part and parcel of English grammar. We can’t think of a sentence without using Parts of Speech. Because parts of speech are the building blocks of English grammar, each plays a unique role in making a sentence perfect.

However, if you want to improve your English grammar skills, you must know the parts of speech. Otherwise, it won’t be easy to learn English grammar more accurately. Let us know the definition of parts of speech in English grammar.

What is a Part of Speech?

If we come to the definition of parts of speech, the simple definition is every word in a sentence is called a part of speech. Parts of speech can be described as words that play different roles to create a meaningful sentence. Let’s see the sentence below.

• Wow! I see a very stunning bird flying in the sky.

This sentence gives a clear picture of the 8 parts of speech in English. Every word in the sentence is a part of speech.

Note: A single word can function as more than one part of speech in terms of its use in sentences. For example:

• Sometimes I dream  about you.
• I have a dream to be a doctor.

In the first sentence “dream” is functioned as a verb but in the second sentence the same word “dream” is functioned as a noun.

Definition of Parts of Speech by Different Scholars

• J.C. Nesfield: “The different kinds of words are called Parts of Speech.”
• Wren & Martin: “Words are divided into different kinds of classes, called Parts of speech, according to their use; that is, according to the work they do in the sentence.”

Types of Parts of Speech

There are eight types of Parts of Speech in English grammar. They are:

• Prepositions
• Conjunctions
• Interjections

Any naming word (person, place, thing, or idea) is called a Noun . In other words, we can say, anything that names a person, place, idea, or object is a noun. Sometimes many students think a noun is the name of a person or place only, but it can be a thing, idea, feeling, object, etc.

Let us see some examples of nouns; John, boy, watch, country, United Kingdom, New York City, cow, army, iron, honesty, virtue, etc. Nouns are marked as bold in the below sentences for easy identification:

• John  is a good  boy .
• She gives an attractive watch .
• The  United Kingdom  is my favorite country .
• My  brother  lives in  New York City .
• The  Cow  is roaming in the  field .
• The  army  protects their homeland .
• Iron  is beneficial for our daily life .
• Honesty  is a good virtue .

There are five types of nouns in English. They are:

• Proper nouns
• Common nouns
• Collective nouns
• Material nouns
• Abstract nouns

2. Pronouns

Pronouns are words that replace a noun to avoid repetition and make sentences easy to understand. If we use a single noun for every sentence, it doesn’t look good. For example, James goes to meet with his friends, and James is enjoying the party, and James recollects his old memories.

Here we use a single noun (James) for every sentence, and that’s why it looks weird. But if we use the pronoun ‘he’ for the last two sentences instead of ‘James,’ it seems pretty good.

That’s why we need to use a pronoun instead of a noun. Let us see examples of pronouns; he, himself, she, they, I, we, it, etc. Pronouns are marked as bold in the below sentences for easy identification:

• He  is going to the market to buy a T-shirt.
• The task is done by himself .
• She  plays with her classmates.
• I  am the only man who understands the matter.
• We  are going to arrange a free campaign.
• It  was considered that he would win the trophy.
• Those are my favorite books.

There are nine types of pronouns. They are:

• Personal pronouns
• Possessive pronouns
• Reflexive pronouns
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Indefinite pronouns
• Relative pronouns
• Interrogative pronouns
• Distributive pronouns
• Reciprocal pronouns

3. Adjectives

A word used to describe a noun or pronoun is called an  Adjective . In other words, an adjective usually modifies a noun or a pronoun to add extra information. Just imagine if you have a pet how do you describe it to others? You might describe your pet as beautiful , charming , attractive , awesome , splendid , etc. right? If you use these words that means you use adjectives.

Let us see some other examples of adjectives and use them in sentences. Happy, good, clever, intelligent, lazy, large, etc. Adjectives are marked as bold in the below sentences for easy identification:

• He looks like he is  happy  now.
• They had been playing  good  cricket at the time.
• Don’t try to be more  clever .
• Undoubtedly he is an  intelligent  person.
• This animal is so  lazy .
• I saw a  large  building.

There are nine types of adjectives. They are:

• Proper Adjectives
• Adjectives of Quality
• Adjectives of Quantity
• Numeral Adjectives
• Demonstrative Adjectives
• Distributive Adjectives
• Interrogative Adjectives
• Possessive Adjectives

A word that expresses an action or doing something is called a Verb. Verbs are words that describe what the subject of the sentence is doing. A verb is the backbone of a meaningful sentence because without a verb a sentence is meaningless. For example, I ____ a smartphone. Does the sentence make any sense? Instead, if we include a verb in the blank then the sentence becomes meaningful as “I bought a smartphone”.

Let us see some examples of verbs and use them in sentences. Am, is, are, was, were, have, has had, can, could, should, will, go, play, read, want, sing, etc.

Verbs are marked as bold in the below sentences for easy identification:

• I  am  good at English.
• He  is  a good boy.
• They  are playing  on the field.
• She  was suffering  from a fever.
• These two boys  were going  to catch fish.
• I  have  a beautiful doll.
• They  have gone  to this place.
• He  has done  his job successfully.
• My sister  had  a sweet dog.
• He  can do  this work.
• You  could attend  this meeting.
• His father  shall go  to the field.
• You  should be attentive to your study.
• She  will go to  meet  her friends.
• He  would claim  a better job.
• Read  the book carefully.
• The boy  wants  to  sing  a song.

There are four types of verbs. They are:

• Auxiliary verbs
• Principal verbs
• Transitive verbs
• Intransitive verbs

A word that is used to add something to the meaning or modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb is called an Adverb. Adverbs are words that modify every part of speech except nouns or pronouns. They often describe how, when, where, or to what extent something happens.

Look at the sentence: I had a ___ handsome cat. If we fill the blank with the word “very” then it adds an extra meaning and modifies the adjective (handsome) as well. So the word “very” is an adverb.

Let’s see some examples of adverbs and use them in sentences. About, after, before, quickly, fast, slow, etc. Adverbs are marked as bold in the below sentences for easy identification:

• I hardly meet with my friend.
• Did you see him yesterday ?
• He has done his task boy quickly .
• They want to run  fast .
• The tortoise walks  slowly .

There are six types of Adverbs. They are:

• Adverbs of manner
• Adverbs of time
• Adverbs of place
• Adverbs of degree
• Adverbs of frequency
• Conjunctive adverbs

6. Prepositions

A word that is placed before a noun or a pronoun or a noun-equivalent to show its relation to any other term of the sentence is called a Preposition. Prepositions show the relationship between other words in a sentence. They often indicate time, place, and direction.

Here is an example: “I have recently visited the place and sat beside the lake.” In the sentence beside is a preposition because it shows that in which place I sat.

Let’s see some other examples of prepositions and use them in sentences. On, in, to, for, with, within, above over, etc. Prepositions are marked as bold in the below sentences for easy identification:

• He stores his books  on  his bookshelf.
• They have been playing football  on  the field since morning.
• He goes  to the market to buy some clothes.
• She is dancing  with  her mates.
• The plane was flying  above  my head.
• He couldn’t succeed in this plan  over  the years.

There are three types of prepositions. They are:

• Simple prepositions
• Double prepositions
• Compound prepositions

7. Conjunctions

A word that is usually used to join one word to another, one word to a clause, or one sentence to another is called a Conjunction. Conjunctions help us to build complex sentences and express our thoughts more elaborately. To get the idea more clear, let’s look at the below sentences:

• He is a poor man.
• He is very honest.

These two are simple sentences, right? If we combine the two sentences together with a conjunction then we can express the thing more clearly as, Though he is a poor man, he is honest.

Let’s see some other examples of conjunctions and use them in sentences. And, but, or, if, though, than, since, so–that, as soon as, either–or, neither–nor, etc. Conjunctions are marked as bold in the below sentences for easy identification:

• Janny  and  Jammy are good friends.
• He is rich  but  cheap-minded.
• Please read more,  or  you will fail the exam.
• They will be good doctors  if  they work hard.
• He could attend the meeting  though  he had enough time.
• The boy is taller than  the girl.
• It has been raining  since  morning.
• The older man is  so  poor  that  he can’t buy enough food.
• He left the place  as soon as  they came.
• Either  Jack  or  John will do the task.
• She will  neither  come here  nor  her friend.

Conjunctions are of three types. They are:

• Coordinating Conjunctions
• Subordinating Conjunctions
• Correlative Conjunctions

8. Interjections

An Interjection is a word used to express a short sudden emotion or excitement. Interjections are words or phrases that express strong emotions or feelings For example, hurrah! alas! oops! Etc. Interjections are marked as bold in the below sentences for easy identification:

• Hurrah ! We won the match.
• Alas ! She is no more.
• Oops ! They can’t do this job correctly.
• Wow ! I get my desired laptop.
• Oh ! The villagers have failed to catch the thief.

There are three kinds of Interjections. They are:

• Volitive Interjections
• Emotive Interjections
• Cognitive Interjections

Final Thoughts

These eight parts of speech— nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjects are the fundamental parts of English grammar. We can make meaningful and attractive sentences by using these parts of speech.

Please share this article with your friends to get a helpful guideline about these eight parts of speech with definitions and examples.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are parts of speech.

Parts of speech are words that are assigned in a sentence to play different roles to make meaningful sentences. Every word in a sentence is a part of speech.

What are the types of parts of speech?

There are 8 parts of speech in English. They are— nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjects.

What is the difference between a noun and a pronoun?

A noun names a person, place, thing, or idea, while a pronoun replaces a noun to avoid repetition.

How can I identify verbs in a sentence?

Verbs typically describe actions, occurrences, or states of being. Look for words that show what the subject is doing or experiencing.

What part of speech is “which” in English?

The word “which” is a pronoun when it introduces a relative clause (e.g., “The book which I read was interesting”) and an adjective when it is used to specify a noun (e.g., “ Which book do you want?”).

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Have a look at these useful links:

• Stages of Child Language Development
• Definition of language by Scholars
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• How to Learn English Quickly
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Azizul Hakim is the founder & CEO of englishfinders.com . He is a passionate writer, English instructor, and content creator. He has completed his graduation and post-graduation in English language and literature.

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What are the Parts of Speech? 8 Parts of Speech with Examples

Welcome to my blog post on Parts of Speech! Understanding the Parts of Speech in English is essential for anyone looking to improve their writing and communication skills. It’s the foundation of grammar and syntax and helps you to construct meaningful sentences that convey the intended message.

In this blog post, we will be discussing the eight traditional Parts of Speech in English- Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb, Preposition, conjunctions, and Interjection. Each part of speech has a specific function and purpose in a sentence, and knowing how to use them correctly can make a significant difference in the clarity and impact of your writing.

We will be exploring each part of speech in-depth, discussing their functions, usage, and common examples. Additionally, we will provide tips and tricks for how to identify and use each part of speech effectively to enhance your writing.

By the end of this blog post, you will have a better understanding of what are the 8 Parts of Speech and how to apply them in your writing. So, let’s dive in and explore the fascinating world of grammar and syntax!

What are the 8 Parts of Speech?

The Parts of Speech are the basic grammatical categories into which words can be classified based on their function and meaning within a sentence. There are eight traditional parts of speech:

Noun: a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea.

Example: dog, book, New York, happiness

Pronoun: a word that takes the place of a noun or a noun phrase.

Example: he, she, it, they, them

Verb: a word that expresses action or a state of being.

Example: run, jump, is, am, was

Adjective: a word that modifies a noun or pronoun by describing, identifying, or quantifying it.

Example: red, happy, tall, five

Adverb: a word that modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb by providing information about how, when, where, or to what degree the action or state of being is performed.

Example: quickly, often, here, very

Preposition: a word that shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence, usually indicating direction, location, time, or manner.

Example: in, on, at, with, about

Conjunction: a word that connects words, phrases, or clauses.

Example: and, or, but, because

Interjection: a word or phrase that expresses strong emotion or sudden outburst, and is not grammatically related to the rest of the sentence.

Example: wow, ouch, hey

8 Parts of Speech with Examples

Here are some examples of parts of speech in sentences:

Noun: The cat chased the mouse.

(Cat and mouse are both nouns)

Pronoun: She loves to read, but he prefers to watch TV.

(She and he are both pronouns)

Verb: The dog barks loudly at the mailman.

(Barks is the verb in this sentence)

Adjective: The beautiful flowers bloomed in the garden.

(Beautiful is the adjective describing the flowers)

Adverb: He speaks Spanish fluently.

(Fluently is the adverb modifying the verb speaks)

Preposition: The book is on the table.

(On is the preposition showing the relationship between book and table)

Conjunction: I like to read and write.

(And is the conjunction connecting the two verbs)

Interjection: Wow, what a beautiful sunset!

(Wow is an interjection expressing surprise)

These are just a few examples, but every sentence is made up of a combination of Parts of Speech, and understanding how they work together is crucial to effective communication.

In conclusion, Parts of Speech are the building blocks of grammar and syntax, and understanding their functions and usage is essential for effective communication. By mastering the eight traditional Parts of Speech – Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb, Preposition, Conjunction, and Interjection – you can construct clear, concise, and impactful sentences.

Whether you’re writing an essay, email, or social media post, knowing how to use each Part of Speech correctly can make a significant difference in the clarity and effectiveness of your writing. By practicing identifying and using each Part of Speech in your writing, you can improve your language skills and communicate your ideas with confidence and clarity.

Thank you for reading this blog post on Parts of Speech. I hope it has been informative and helpful in your language-learning journey. Remember, mastering the Parts of Speech is just the beginning – there’s always more to learn and explore in the exciting world of language and communication!

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A whiskered tern lands. Sort of. Photo ©Damyan Petkov/ Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards

Life makes mistakes

Hens try to hatch golf balls, whales get beached. getting things wrong seems to play a fundamental role in life on earth.

by David S Oderberg   + BIO

We forget where we parked. We misplace our keys. We misread instructions. We lose track of the time. We call people by the wrong name. ‘To err is human,’ as the English poet Alexander Pope wrote in his Essay on Criticism (1711). But it is not exclusively human. All animals do things that prevent them from surviving, reproducing, being safe, or being happy. All animals get things wrong. Think of a fish that takes the bait and accidentally bites into a metal hook. Think of dogs that forget where they have buried their bones, or frogs that aim their tongues in the wrong direction. Birds build flimsy nests. Whales beach themselves. Domestic hens try to hatch golf balls.

But not everything in the Universe can make mistakes. While living things navigate a world filled with biological errors, the fundamental building blocks of the cosmos adhere to the laws of physics with unwavering consistency. No one ever caught an electron erring, let alone an atom, a sodium ion, a lump of gold, a water droplet or a supernova. The objects that physicists study, the pure objects of physics, do not make mistakes. Instead, they follow ineluctable laws.

And this is where a problem emerges. Mistake-making organisms, like everything else in the Universe, are made from law-abiding atoms and molecules. So where does mistake-making begin and end in living things? How deep does it go? Can the parts and subsystems of organisms, like immune systems or the platelets in blood, make mistakes too? And, if they do, is there something that connects human mistakes to those made by biological subsystems?

The answers to these questions have profound implications for how we think about life. If things go wrong only when physics becomes biology, biology might truly be irreducible to physics and chemistry, despite centuries of reductionism saying otherwise. It might also mean that organisms really have ‘correct’ goals and purposes that they can mistakenly deviate from – they really are teleological , despite a long history of mechanistic arguments claiming otherwise. And if life’s errors really are as ubiquitous as they appear, it might mean we need a ‘grand’ framework to explain what happens when things go wrong: a theory of biological mistakes.

A s a philosopher, I have spent much of my life studying the puzzles of metaphysics and ethics. I have explored the nature of reality, the concept of being, and the moral implications of human action. But, in recent years, I have been working on the problem of mistakes with a team of researchers at the University of Reading in the UK. What drew us to this topic was our puzzlement about a major gap in the history of biological thought. Surprisingly, mistakes have mostly been ignored by researchers, even among biologists and philosophers of biology, and traditional definitions of life have largely overlooked the role of mistakes, focusing instead on successes, adaptations and beneficial mutations. That is why, in the late 2010s, our team began investigating how a more rigorous look at mistake-making could generate novel scientific hypotheses. How, we wondered, could mistakes be understood in a more systematic and interdisciplinary way?

During the past few centuries, scholars and scientists have tended to focus on what goes right rather than what goes wrong. The idea of rightness in living things has taken many forms. In the 17th century, during the early days of the scientific revolution, René Descartes characterised animals as automata : ‘machines’ made of tissue that obeyed mechanical laws, like the movements of a clock. ‘No movement can take place,’ Descartes wrote, ‘either in the bodies of beasts, or even in our own, if these bodies have not in themselves all the organs and instruments by means of which the very same movements would be accomplished in a machine.’ The idea of automata implies that animals can only malfunction or break down rather than make mistakes – understanding the internal circuitry tells you all you need to know about the ‘right’ way for an animal to behave.

Two centuries later, a different view of biological rightness and wrongness emerged through the work of Charles Darwin. From a Darwinian perspective, whether something counts as a mistake can be assessed only in the cold light of evolutionary time, after a species has either perpetuated its lineage or died out. Organisms, according to the ‘standard’ view of evolution, are simply the product of blind natural selection working through the success of random genetic variation. In this case, the ‘right’ variation will lead to a species being more adapted to its environment, and more likely to survive, reproduce and continue evolving.

No matter how lofty or powerful a species may be in its environment, they all get things wrong

To understand how things can go wrong for animals outside of evolutionary time, the animal behaviourists of the 19th and 20th centuries placed renewed emphasis on the study of individual organisms. I am thinking of behaviourists such as B F Skinner, but also of ethologists such as Charles Otis Whitman, Oskar Heinroth, Konrad Lorenz and Nikolaas Tinbergen. Their writings contain examples of mistakes made by animals, such as gulls misidentifying eggs and ducklings attaching themselves to inanimate objects. Biologists influenced by Lorenz’s and Tinbergen’s seminal works now routinely investigate mistake-making in various forms. However, there is still no grand conceptual framework, no theory of mistakes, that might create an interface between philosophy and biology.

Thinking about mistakes gives us the right kind of orientation to understand ourselves and other organisms. It focuses our attention on the fact that living systems, from paramecia to people, are subject to normative standards of right and wrong. This can be explained simply: when living things operate in some ways, they do well; when they operate in other ways, things go badly.

Life is strewn with attempts to avoid, correct or minimise mistakes. Living things employ all kinds of strategies to keep themselves on the normative straight and narrow. It is no surprise that recent work by researchers such as Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky into human mistake-making has been so important and influential. We humans use ‘heuristics’ – mental shortcuts or rules of thumb – to judge situations, rank preferences, assess people and so on. Very often these heuristics serve us well (sometimes you can judge a book by its cover), but other times they lead us astray. No matter how lofty or powerful a species may be in its environment, they all get things wrong.

This is why our team has sought to develop a rigorous conceptual framework for thinking about mistakes and normativity. Such a framework will, we hope, help generate new, testable hypotheses for experimental biologists, and might shed light on many of the mistakes to which we humans are prone. But developing our framework has taken us in unexpected directions. We believe that mistake-making might illuminate the nature of life itself. It might show, once and for all, that biology is irreducible to the laws of physics and chemistry – atoms, remember, don’t make errors.

I f organisms are bundles of atoms that obey fundamental physical laws, how do mistakes emerge? Alongside everything else in the Universe, we are also influenced by physical laws like gravity, but laws are not all that influence what organisms do. There is something else going on when bundles of atoms become living beings. It is called ‘biological normativity’.

Organisms are governed by norms of correct behaviour and, when they depart from these norms, they can get sick, fail to adapt, suffer, die or disintegrate. To avoid such fates, they mostly need to do what is right for them: they need to act at the right time and place, in the right circumstances, in the right way. The predator must get its timing correct, strike accurately, expend enough energy to subdue its prey without exhausting itself.

Physical laws alone cannot explain what is right or wrong for an organism because, in physics, all sequences of events are on a par – they are all treated equally. Consider the transfer of electrons from one molecule to another, known as the electron transport chain. This transfer is crucial for generating energy in most, if not all, living things – it keeps organisms alive and healthy. And, from a purely physicochemical perspective, the process of electron transport is always the same. What the historian Arnold J Toynbee said of history can be said of physics: ‘Just one damned thing after another.’ However, the process of electron transfer can go very wrong. A molecule that fails to transport electrons in the right way will cause mitochondrial dysfunction, leading to a diseased organism. So, not all instances of electron transport are equal. When it comes to life, some sequences are simply better than others because they promote health, integrity, survival. They promote flourishing. Different courses of action work for or against the organism in its environment. The wrong course of action is a mistake.

It is crude to identify the future state with the goal pure and simple. The goal cannot be a future state

This may sound obvious, but the ideas embedded in this definition are complicated and controversial. For some, claiming that the ‘wrong course of action is a mistake’ may reek of teleology, a concept that was virtually banned for much of the 20th century. The word comes from the Greek telos (meaning ‘end’ or ‘purpose’), which is the classical term for what is now more commonly called ‘goal-directedness’ or ‘purposiveness’. Invoking teleology was a serious problem for 20th-century biologists. In 1988, the German American evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr took issue with the concept because he believed it involved the positing of mysterious backwards causes. How can future goals direct the present behaviour of organisms? As the biologist Colin Pittendrigh put it: ‘Biologists for a while were prepared to say a turtle came ashore and laid its eggs, but they refused to say it came ashore to lay its eggs.’ Saying the turtle came ashore with the goal of laying its eggs would suggest that, even while it was out in the ocean, the turtle was directed by a future state that pointed it toward the beach by mysteriously working backwards in time to influence its behaviour in the here and now. Backwards causation (obscure physics aside) is hard for most philosophers to accept – along with the rest of us. Surely, whatever explains the turtle’s egg-laying behaviour must be wholly in the here and now, and a product of past evolutionary processes.

Goals or purposes do indeed refer to future states an organism aims to be in, such as reproducing, surviving, adapting to the environment, being healthy or living in a well-functioning social group. However, it is crude to identify the future state with the goal pure and simple. The goal cannot be a future state.

I can have the goal of climbing Everest long before I ever set foot on the mountain. The same goes for all other organisms. Having a goal means making something real. It means pursuing something – whether that involves seeking food, shelter or a mate – rather than being pushed around in the present by a future state. The goals I am talking about here are those that are hardwired into organisms as drives, tendencies and dispositions to act in certain ways, such as being healthy or surviving. Goal-directedness must be present in the here and now while it aims an organism toward future states.

And none of this implies any requirement for awareness, let alone something as complex as self-consciousness.

I n recent decades, the ‘ban’ on teleology has been lifted and some philosophers have been willing to take the concept seriously. But many, especially those influenced by the philosopher of science Ernest Nagel, will still insist that goal-directedness comes down to physics and chemistry. To these thinkers, there are no sui generis biological explanations for why organisms get things wrong. This is a reductive view that misunderstands how mistakes are made. To make this kind of error, an organism must depart from standards of correctness. It must do something wrong . And this normativity doesn’t come from physics or chemistry.

For reductionists, notions of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are easily explained away by evolution. To these sceptics, normativity is no more than a numbers game: ‘badness’ simply appears when a species fails to produce enough offspring to adapt and perpetuate itself. ‘Goodness’ is the converse, appearing when a species successfully reproduces enough to generate the genetic variations needed to adapt and survive. Understanding ‘normativity’, then, only requires an understanding of how an organism contributes to its species’ fitness. Organisms either help their species adapt to their environment by successfully creating offspring, or they contribute to their species’ extinction by failing to reproduce. For the sceptic, who thinks the only meaningful ‘mistakes’ an organism can make are related to fitness, there are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ actions – biological normativity doesn’t exist.

I don’t believe that this adequately explains mistake-making. Flourishing is not just about successful reproduction. It also involves doing things like catching prey or finding food better than the competition. It is because a bird builds the right kind of nest out of the right kind of materials in the right location that it can successfully raise offspring. Building a flimsy nest would be a mistake.

Normativity can exist, even if we have a poor understanding of what is good or bad for an organism

Would physical and chemical information be enough to predict what counts as a mistake for a given organism, like a nest-building bird? Even the French scientist Pierre-Simon Laplace’s vision of an all-knowing demon – an omniscient observer who knows, moment by moment, everything about the physical state of the Universe – would not be able to make an accurate prediction. Perfectly understanding an organism’s physical structures, body movements, sound emissions, nest-building skills or other features doesn’t allow us to predict which of its actions are correct and which are mistakes. Not everything can be reduced to physics and chemistry. Survival is more than a numbers game. Instead, we need to know how all this physics relates to action in the environment: we need to understand how an organism experiences the world. Is it flourishing? Is it healthy? Is it mentally and physically integrated? Is it literally happy with its situation (maybe not true for fungi or worms, but certainly so for dogs and zebras)?

There is, however, one lingering issue with taking mistakes and biological normativity seriously: values. It’s one thing to say that humans can act in a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ way, but can we really use those value-laden concepts to describe the behaviour of frogs or bacteria? Those who are sceptical of normativity in biology would say: ‘No.’ The philosopher of biology Justin Garson, for example, says that normativity has nothing to do with ‘values or goals, oughts and shoulds, prescriptions or commands, the good or the just’. If we take Garson’s argument seriously, then the malfunctioning of a dog’s heart is in no way literally bad for the dog, even though it may end up sick or dead. But is this correct? After all, things do not tend to go well for a dog with a bad heart. Things look pretty good, however, for a dog that has plenty of nutritious food, fresh air and fellow dogs to play with.

So, what does this have to do with things going biologically wrong? Well, we can happily use the term ‘value’ in the context of mistakes if we understand that something can be good or bad for an animal even if it doesn’t consciously value that thing. And that thing can be good or bad even if we don’t value it, either. Normativity can exist, even if we have a poor understanding of what is good or bad for an organism.

This is why mistakes cannot be banished from the conceptual toolbox of biology. And today, few biologists would ever seek to do so, as opposed to philosophers of biology in thrall to reductionism (or the idea of a total discontinuity between humans and other living beings). As we will see, biological mistakes open the door to a new and refreshing way of understanding living beings. Viewing living things through their mistakes is powerful because it provides a broad canvas within which to explore and scientifically study organisms. It also vindicates the special nature of biology.

However, once we accept the possibility of biological mistakes, a set of complex problems emerge: what distinguishes mistakes from other kinds of problems? And how do we locate and identify mistakes? Until now, we have discussed only familiar organisms, like birds, dogs and people. Normativity and mistake-making, however, seem to play a much more fundamental role in life on Earth.

T hough the theory of biological mistakes involves several technical definitions of what it means to make such an error, the outlines are relatively simple: an organism makes a mistake when it does something that, if not mitigated in some way, will undermine its flourishing. We say that ‘mistakes happen’. But that’s not true. Mistakes are always made by individuals at specific times and places. This means that mistakes are not simply failures or malfunctions.

A failure is something that happens to you, not something you do. Being hit by lightning is not a mistake unless you ignore the weather warning and go for a stroll in the park during a thunderstorm. Horses and buffaloes can’t understand weather reports, so whenever they get struck it’s a mere failure. The same is true if they get attacked by a parasite that makes them sick or kills them – it’s just bad luck. A malfunction is similar. It is something that goes wrong with an organism’s biological functioning, like disease or deformity, but not something the organisms does .

Different kinds of biological mistakes are similar to each other in that they are all made, but that does not mean they are all exactly alike. One way that biological errors differ is in terms of their preventability: some mistakes are avoidable, others are unavoidable. Broody domestic hens, for example, will try to hatch golf balls or other egg-like objects that are left in their coop. They don’t do this because of some failure or malfunction but simply because they don’t have the perceptual equipment to distinguish eggs from things that look a fair bit like eggs. Their mistake is unavoidable because there’s nothing wrong with these hens. Avoidable mistakes, on the other hands, occur when an organism can act in ways that would help it thrive in a specific situation but fails to do so. Consider a buffalo, alert for predators. If an approaching lion is visible, but the buffalo is distracted, an attack would be an avoidable mistake.

An antibody misidentifying a pathogen is like you mistaking someone else’s mobile phone for your own

Whether avoidable or unavoidable, mistakes are always made. But who or what exactly can make these biological mistakes? As our research team looked closer, we found mistakes that were not limited to single organisms. A collection of organisms can also make a mistake – think of a flock of birds that flies into a skyscraper, or a beached pod of whales. Mistakes can also be made by parts of living things. Some of the most well-known examples involve DNA. Various mistakes can occur in the process of genetic transcription, translation and regulation, leading to cancer, genetic disorders, developmental issues or other problems. Another example is antibodies. Sometimes we get sick because our antibodies are fooled by deceptive pathogens that pretend to be part of our bodies. For example, the meningitis bacterium Neisseria meningitidis can mimic the appearance of the body’s cells and induce a particular part of the immune system to erroneously refrain from activating against it.

One puzzle for our research team is whether features of mistake-making are shared across all living things. On the surface, there is a chasm of difference between the mistakes of antibodies and of people, but might there be similarities? Consider two errors: an antibody misidentifying a pathogen, and you accidentally taking someone else’s mobile phone, mistaking it for your own. To do their work, antibodies respond to what mistake theorists call ‘markers’, which are prompts for action, like ‘cues’ but without the psychological connotation. Markers can take the form of receptors or shapes on the surface of the pathogen, which deceive the antibodies. But we also use markers in our daily lives. When you mistakenly take the wrong phone, you are responding to the colour, shape, size or position of someone else’s phone that may mimic your own. People and antibodies rely on markers to act because neither has the time nor energy to carefully inspect the entire target. This is an important but understudied area of mistakes. We still don’t fully understand these markers for action, but through them we might begin to classify the shared features of biological mistakes.

T his is where mistake theory begins to make its boldest and most surprising claims: mistakes are made wherever there are living systems. They are a universal feature of biology. Our research team suspects that mistakes may even appear among the parts and subsystems of organisms. Consider one ‘part’ that our research team has been thinking about a lot: the haemostatic (blood-clotting) system. Blood clotting is a complex pathway of molecular activations involving tiny, disc-shaped cell fragments in our blood called platelets. And it seems to be a highly normative affair. If the process begins too late, an injured organism can bleed to death. If it begins too early, the organism can suffer a debilitating thrombosis as blood clots block veins or arteries. The process must occur in the right location, the site of injury. Clotting must also end at the right time for the same reasons. Platelets play a crucial role in this normative process.

When blood vessels are damaged, the collagen within them is exposed. Blood platelets activate when they are exposed to this collagen at an injury site. However, platelets can sometimes be activated by collagen that appears without the presence of an injured blood vessel. This can lead to thrombosis, with potentially deadly consequences for an organism. And there are many other ways that platelets can get things wrong: the clot they produce must be of the right size and shape to function correctly. Though platelets can potentially get many things wrong, is it possible for blood-clotting systems to make mistakes ?

We know that platelets are activated by specific amino-acid sequences within collagen called ‘GPO triplets’. For the mistake theorist, this immediately raises the question as to whether GPO triplets are present in other proteins, or whether other protein sequences or post-translational modification might produce markers very similar to the GPO in collagen. Could blood platelets misidentify collagen? Could they even be activated by a collagen mimic? This could result in mistaken platelet activation – an activation caused by the wrong protein – with potentially disastrous consequences. Could platelets be fooled? We don’t yet know the answer. And there are further unknowns.

Spikes in the dopamine of zebra finches correlate in real time with fluctuations in song quality

Another example, which shows the uses of mistake theory and the possible depth of biological mistakes, is bird song. Each male zebra finch has a specific song they sing to court potential mates, and they teach this song to their male offspring. There is margin for fluctuation in the learned song – it needs to be a faithful reproduction, not a perfect copy. That means a true mistake would occur only if the learned song departed too much from the correct one. But how much is too much? How do zebra finches learn to sing the right song?

Research indicates that dopamine is released during zebra finch singing to keep their song at the correct pitch. With this knowledge, mistake theory can offer some testable hypotheses. According to our definition, a mistake is made only when the ‘departure’ undermines a finch’s flourishing. In this case, flourishing relates to the attraction of mates, which involves attracting enough of the right mates at the right time and so on, possibly over generations. (Flourishing is not merely a numbers game but, for most organisms, reproductive fitness and success is part of what it means for their lives to go well.) In experiments, spikes in the dopamine of zebra finches correlate in real time with fluctuations in song quality, suggesting a kind of evaluation is being made. The birds, without any awareness, seem to judge or calibrate the performance of their song based on changes in dopamine levels. They are responding to the correctness or incorrectness of their song. The bird will use auditory feedback as it adjusts its singing, but there seems to be something else going on: an evaluative function performed by the dopaminergic neurons themselves.

Perhaps the dopaminergic system has a representation of the correct song against which the actual song is compared, which would leave open the potential for getting things wrong. In this case, mistakes appear even among systems of neurochemicals. This is at the edge of what we know, but mistake theory can stimulate organised investigation into such phenomena.

T he theory of biological mistakes appears to be a universal feature of biology, which demarcates the living from the realms of physics and chemistry, thereby rendering it irreducible to either. Despite this, mistakes are not yet subject to systematic investigation by biologists. Mistake theory is a framework within which to generate novel, testable hypotheses. And there are so many questions in need of systematic investigation: how can things go wrong in relation to timing, location, measurement, evaluation of quality and identification? How do organisms attempt to avoid mistakes? Which mistakes are unavoidable? How are they corrected? How does an organism monitor, in real time, whether it is deviating onto a pathway that will threaten its flourishing?

And then there are questions about the contradictory cases in which mistakes paradoxically help an organism in the long term despite threatening flourishing in the short term. This relates to the role of exploration or play in life. Organisms generally need to explore their environments, whether in search of food, or a mate, or shelter, and so on. However, too much exploration is wasteful and dangerous. It would be a mistake to allow too many mistakes, but some are required for us to flourish in our environments. Indeed, mistakes in DNA copying, for example, produce the variation that drives life’s diversity. But if these mistakes vary too much, systems fall apart. Interrogating these errors experimentally may give us a window into the phenomenon of biological normativity, helping us understand how organisms act correctly, or badly, in their environments.

Mistake-making is neither limited to organisms nor bound by scale. Mistakes can be made by the tiniest bacteria as well as the largest animals – even whole populations. They can also be made by non-organisms, such as platelets, antibodies and cells belonging to organisms. It is the ubiquity of mistake-making, as well as its potential, that demands an equally broad theory to organise investigation into the phenomenon.

Life is often defined by what we get right. It is explained by growth, replication and adaptation to the environment. But mistakes are everywhere. A theory of mistakes will help us understand, in a systematic and experimentally driven way, behaviour that threatens the flourishing of living beings. It will also help us appreciate the normativity that runs through life. While some still view ‘teleology’ with scepticism, mistake theory may well be the antidote that challenges conventional wisdom about the goals of living things. In the intricate biological dance of right and wrong, we might just find the key to understanding the deeper purposes that drive life on Earth.

This essay is based on Mistakes in Living Systems: A New Conceptual Framework for the Study of Purpose in Biology , a project supported by the global John Templeton Foundation research programme Agency, Directionality, and Function (grant no 62220). David S Oderberg was Principal Investigator, and team members include Jonathan Hill, Ingo Bojak, Jon Gibbins, François Cinotti and Christopher Austin. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not those of the John Templeton Foundation.

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