Parts of Speech

Introduction

“Parts of speech” are the basic types of words that English has. Most grammar books
say that there are eight parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns,
conjunctions, prepositions and interjections. We will add one more type: articles.

It is important to be able to recognize and identify the different types of words in English,
so that you can understand grammar explanations and use the right word form in the
right place. Here is a brief explanation of what the parts of speech are:
A noun is a naming word. It names a person, place, thing, idea,
Noun living creature, quality, or action.
Examples: cowboy, theatre, box, thought, tree, kindness, arrival

A verb is a word which describes an action (doing something) or a

Verb state (being something).
Examples: walk, talk, think, believe, live, like, want

An adjective is a word that describes a noun. It tells you something

Adjective about the noun.
Examples: big, yellow, thin, amazing, beautiful, quick, important

An adverb is a word which usually describes a verb. It tells you how

something is done. It may also tell you when or where something
Adverb happened.
Examples: slowly, intelligently, well, yesterday, tomorrow, here,
everywhere

A pronoun is used instead of a noun, to avoid repeating the noun.

Pronoun
Examples: I, you, he, she, it, we, they

Conjunctio A conjunction joins two words, phrases or sentences together.

n Examples: but, so, and, because, or

A preposition usually comes before a noun, pronoun or noun

Preposition phrase. It joins the noun to some other part of the sentence.
Examples: on, in, by, with, under, through, at

An interjection is an unusual kind of word, because it often stands

alone. Interjections are words which express emotion or surprise,
Interjection
and they are usually followed by exclamation marks.
Examples: Ouch!, Hello!, Hurray!, Oh no!, Ha!
 An article is used to introduce a noun.
Article
Examples: the, a, an

If you are not sure about the basic parts of speech in English, or you would like some
more information, try this page:

 Parts of Speech (includes determiners which includes articles)

Don't forget to come back here and go on with the exercises!

When you are sure that you understand the lesson, you can continue with the
exercises.
https://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/courses/elc/studyzone/330/grammar/parts.htm

Parts of Speech Examples

You can learn a lot about a language by studying examples of parts of speech. In
language, the parts of speech are the categories of words based on their function within
a sentence. This is true with English, as well as any number of other languages such as
French and Spanish. Understanding parts of speech is a helpful way to look at words to
help you understand the underlying grammar and logic of any language you study.

Parts of Speech Examples in English

In English, there are eight different parts of speech. However, some people also classify
articles as a part of speech making a total of nine. Examine the nine different word
classes through the examples below. 
Adjectives
Adjectives modify or describe a noun. These words ascribe an attribute to the noun
being modified.
 The sleepy bear hibernated all winter.
 It's a long drive, but it's worth the trip.
 Should I buy the blue jeans or purple sweater?

Adverbs
Adverbs modify or describe a verb, adjective, or another adverb or word group. This
modification provides information relating to time, place, manner, cause, degree, or
circumstance.
 Joe grumpily got out of bed.
 Sara ran very quickly to school.
 That's quite expensive, don't you think?

Conjunctions
Conjunctions are used to connect words, phrases, and clauses. They coordinate the
words together so they make sense as a cohesive thought, sentence, or paragraph.
 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.

Interjections
Interjections are words used as exclamations to show feelings. They're usually abrupt,
interrupting the speech for emotional effect.
 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!

Nouns
Nouns name a person, place, thing idea, or quality. They can act as the subject or the
object of a sentence.
 Send in the clowns.
 Brazil is beautiful this time of year.
 His love of music really shows.

Prepositions
Prepositions are used to indicate relationships, often spatial, between nouns and
pronouns. They indicate how one noun, noun phrase, or pronoun relates to another.
 Between you and me, I wouldn't trust Andy.
 The coffee shop is across the street.
  Put the carrots in the refrigerator, please.

Pronouns
Pronouns take the place of nouns to simplify speech and writing. They can otherwise
function in the same way as nouns, serving as subjects and objects in sentences.
 She is the smartest kid in class.
 George took the book from him.
 Who is coming to the party tonight?

Verbs
Verbs express action or a state of being. It is because of the former that verbs are often
called "action verbs," but non-action verbs can be used to represent a state of being,
need, sense, or preference.
 Let's walk to the park.
 Janine lives in Minneapolis.
 The air conditioning unit desperately needs repair.

Articles
In English, articles are used in sentences as an adjective to modify a noun. The two
types of articles are called definite and indefinite. The three indefinite articles include ‘a’,
‘an’, and ‘some’. ‘The’ is the only definite article. 
 The tall man took the car to the shop. 
 I gave my brother an umbrella. 
 He found a book to read. 
 Do you want some milk? 

Understanding the Parts of Speech

The following chart describes each of the parts of speech and gives everyday types of
word examples. This should help provide a better understanding of how each part of
speech works.
View & download PDF
Knowing the different parts of speech and reviewing examples of each can help
you improve your grammar. This, in turn, helps you become a more confident speaker
and writer. It also ensures you don’t fall into grammar mistakes. 
Jennifer Betts
Certified Teacher
https://examples.yourdictionary.com/part-of-speech-examples.html
Definitions and Examples

Noun
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.

o I finished the study.

o I = subject

o Maggie wrote the dissertation.

o the dissertation = object

o The author presented the results in Chapter 4.

o in Chapter 4 = object of a preposition

o His research findings can contribute to social change.

o research = modifier

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

o It takes a good deal of dedication to complete a doctoral degree.

o She studied hard for the test.
o 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.")

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

o The diligent student completed her assignment early.

o Diligent describes the student and appears before the noun student.
 o It can be difficult to balance time to study and work responsibilities.
o 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.

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

Adverb
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.

o He completed the course enthusiastically.

o Enthusiastically describes how he completed the course and answers
the how question.

o Steven recently enrolled in the Graduate Certificate in Communication program

at Walden.
o Recently modifies the verb enroll and answers the when question.

o Then, I verified that most of my sources were peer-reviewed.

o 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).

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

o Smith (2014) interviewed the applicants as they arrived.

o they = applicants

o He was interested in ideas that were never previously recorded, not those that

have already been published.
o He = Smith; that = ideas; those = those ideas

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

o Jones published her book in 2015.

o 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, …).

o I chose to interview teachers in the district closest to me.

o The recorder was placed next to the interviewee.
o 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, …).

o The results were not significant, so the alternative hypothesis was accepted.

o 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.
 

o Researchers have investigated this issue for some time. However, the cause of

the problem has not been determined.
 o primary: have investigated = present perfect tense; has not been
determined = passive, perfect, negative form

o He could conduct more research, which may lead to the answer.

o 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.

o Future researchers are going to delve more into this topic. They are about

to make a breakthrough discovery.
o 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

-age: suffrage, image, postage
-al: arrival, survival, deferral
-dom: kingdom, freedom, boredom
-ee: interviewee, employee, trainee
-ence/ance: experience, convenience, finance
-er/or: teacher, singer, director
-ery: archery, cutlery, mystery
-hood: neighborhood, childhood, brotherhood
-ics: economics, gymnastics, aquatics
-ing: reading, succeeding, believing
-ism: racism, constructivism, capitalism
-ity/ty: community, probability, equality
-ment: accomplishment, acknowledgement, environment
-ness: happiness, directness, business
-ry: ministry, entry, robbery
-ship: scholarship, companionship, leadership
-tion/sion/xion : information, expression, complexion
-ure: structure, pressure, treasure
 

Common Verb Endings

-ate: congregate, agitate, eliminate
-en: straighten, enlighten, shorten
-(i)fy: satisfy, identify, specify
-ize: categorize, materialize, energize

Common Adjective Endings

-able/ible: workable, believable, flexible
-al: educational, institutional, exceptional
-ed: confused, increased, disappointed
-en: wooden, golden, broken
-ese: Chinese, Portuguese, Japanese
-ful: wonderful, successful, resourceful
-ic: poetic, classic, Islamic
-ing: exciting, failing, comforting
-ish: childish, foolish, selfish
-ive: evaluative, collective, abrasive
-ian: Canadian, Russian, Malaysian
-less: priceless, useless, hopeless
-ly: friendly, daily, yearly
-ous: gorgeous, famous, courageous
-y: funny, windy, happy

Common Adverb Endings

-ly: quickly, easily, successfully
-ward(s): backward(s), upwards, downwards
-wise: clockwise, edgewise, price-wise
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.

1. Determiner (e.g., this, that, these, those, my, mine, your, yours, him, his, hers
they, their, some, our, several,…) or article (a, an, the)
 2. Opinion, quality, or observation adjective (e.g., lovely, useful, cute, difficult,
comfortable)
3. Physical description

 (a) size (big, little, tall, short)

 (b) shape (circular,  irregular, triangular)
 (c) age (old, new, young, adolescent)
 (d) color (red, green, yellow)

4. Origin (e.g., English, Mexican, Japanese)

5. Material (e.g., cotton, metal, plastic)

6. Qualifier (noun used as an adjective to modify the noun that follows; i.e., campus
activities, rocking chair, business suit)

7. Head noun that the adjectives are describing (e.g., activities, chair, suit)
For example:

o This (1) lovely (2) new (3) wooden (4) Italian (5) rocking (6) chair (7) is in my
office.
o 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:

1. Does the sentence make sense if the adjectives are written in reverse order?
2. 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.

o 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.)
o 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.

o At the beginning of a sentence: Generally, teachers work more than 40 hours a

week.
o After the subject, before the verb: Teachers generally work more than 40 hours
a week.
o At the end of a sentence: Teachers work more than 40 hours a week, generally.
o 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

1. Adverbs that modify the whole sentence can move to different positions, such as
certainly, recently, fortunately, actually, and obviously.

o Recently, I started a new job.

o I recently started a new job.
o I started a new job recently.

2. 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.

o She frequently gets time to herself. (The adverb appears before the main verb.)
o INCORRECT: Frequently she gets time to herself.
o INCORRECT: She gets time to herself frequently.
o She has frequently exercised during her lunch hour. (The adverb appears after
the first auxiliary verb.)
o She is frequently hanging out with old friends. (The adverb appears after the to
be verb.)

3. Adverbial phrases work best at the end of a sentence.

o He greeted us in a very friendly way.

o 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

Mastering the Mechanics Part 1: Simple

https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/grammar/partsofspeech

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

 Word types can be divided into nine parts of speech:

 nouns
 pronouns
 verbs
 adjectives
 adverbs
 prepositions
 conjunctions
 articles/determiners
 interjections
 Some words can be considered more than one part of speech, depending on
context and usage.
 Interjections can form complete sentences on their own.

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

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

Open and Closed Word Classes

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

In contemporary linguistics, the label part of speech has generally been discarded in

favor of the term word class or syntactic category. These terms make words easier to
qualify objectively based on word construction rather than context. Within word classes,
there is the lexical or open class and the function or closed class.

The 9 Parts of Speech

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

Noun

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

Pronoun

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

Verb

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

Adjective

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

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

Preposition

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

Conjunction

Conjunctions join words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence. There are coordinating,

subordinating, and correlative conjunctions. Examples: and, but, or, so, yet, with.

Articles and Determiners

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

Some traditional grammars have treated articles as a distinct part of speech. Modern

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

Interjection

Interjections are expressions that can stand on their own or be contained within

sentences. These words and phrases often carry strong emotions and convey
reactions. Examples: ah, whoops, ouch, yabba dabba do!

How to Determine the Part of Speech

Only interjections (Hooray!) have a habit of standing alone; every other part of speech

must be contained within a sentence and some are even required in sentences (nouns
and verbs). Other parts of speech come in many varieties and may appear just about
anywhere in a sentence.
To know for sure what part of speech a word falls into, look not only at the word itself
but also at its meaning, position, and use in a sentence.

For example, in the first sentence below, work functions as a noun; in the second

sentence, a verb; and in the third sentence, an adjective:

 Bosco showed up for work two hours late.

 The noun work is the thing Bosco shows up for.
 He will have to work until midnight.
 The verb work is the action he must perform.
 His work permit expires next month.
 The attributive noun [or converted adjective] work modifies the
noun permit.

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

Dissecting Basic Sentences

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

 Birds fly.

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

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

 Go!

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

Constructing More Complex Sentences

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

 Birds fly when migrating before winter.

Birds and fly remain the noun and the verb, but now there is more description. 
When is an adverb that modifies the verb fly. The word before is a little tricky because it
can be either a conjunction, preposition, or adverb depending on the context. In this
case, it's a preposition because it's followed by a noun. This preposition begins an
adverbial phrase of time (before winter) that answers the question of when the
birds migrate. Before is not a conjunction because it does not connect two clauses.
https://www.thoughtco.com/part-of-speech-english-grammar-1691590
Parts of Speech
English Grammar

The parts of speech explain how a word is used in a sentence.

There are eight main parts of speech (also known as word classes): nouns, pronouns,
adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections.
Most parts of speech can be divided into sub-classes. Prepositions can be divided into
prepositions of time, prepositions of place etc. Nouns can be divided into proper nouns,
common nouns, concrete nouns etc.
It is important to know that a word can sometimes be in more than one part of speech.
For example with the word increase.
Increase can be a verb e.g. Prices increased
and increase can also be a noun e.g. There was an increase in the number of followers.

The eight main parts of speech in English are:

NOUN - (Naming word)

A noun is the name of a person, place, thing or idea.
Examples of nouns: Daniel, London, table, dog, teacher, pen, city, happiness, hope
Example sentences: Steve lives in Sydney. Mary uses pen and paper to write letters.
Learn more about the different types of nouns.

PRONOUN - (Replaces a Noun)

A pronoun is used in place of a noun or noun phrase to avoid repetition.
Examples of pronouns: I, you, we, they, he, she, it, me, us, them, him, her, this, those
Example sentences: Mary is tired. She wants to sleep. I want her to dance with me.

ADJECTIVE - (Describing word)

An adjective describes, modifies or gives more information about a noun or pronoun.
Examples: big, happy, green, young, fun, crazy, three
Example sentences: The little girl had a pink hat.
VERB - (Action Word)
A verb shows an action or state of being. A verb shows what someone or something is
doing.
Examples: go, speak, run, eat, play, live, walk, have, like, are, is
Example sentences: I like Woodward English. I study their charts and play their
games.

ADVERB - (Describes a verb)

An adverb describes/modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb. It tells how,
where, when, how often or to what extent. Many adverbs end in -LY
Examples: slowly, quietly, very, always, never, too, well, tomorrow, here
Example sentences: I am usually busy. Yesterday, I ate my lunch quickly.

PREPOSITION - (Shows relationship)

A preposition shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun to another word. They can
indicate time, place, or relationship.
Examples: at, on, in, from, with, near, between, about, under
Example sentences: I left my keys on the table for you.

CONJUNCTION - (Joining word)

A conjunction joins two words, ideas, phrases or clauses together in a sentence and
shows how they are connected.
Examples: and, or, but, because, so, yet, unless, since, if.
Example sentences: I was hot and exhausted but I still finished the marathon.

INTERJECTION - (Expressive word)

An interjection is a word or phrase that expresses a strong feeling or emotion. It is a
short exclamation.
Examples: Ouch! Wow! Great! Help! Oh! Hey! Hi!
Example sentences: Wow! I passed my English test. Great! – Ouch! That hurt.

Summary Chart
Sometimes teachers include Articles as a ninth part of speech so we have included it
here. Note, an article is a type of adjective.

ARTICLE - (Defining word)

An article is used before a noun. These are divided into definite (the) and indefinite (a,
an). Articles help define nouns.
Examples: a, an, the
Example sentences: I need a dictionary. The dictionary needs to be in English.
https://journals.lww.com/nutritiontodayonline/fulltext/2019/07000/personalized_wellness_past_an
d_future__will_the.11.aspx