Name: __________________________________________________________________________ Date: _____________ Period: ___________

Parts of Speech Practice Test

Matching:
Match the definition to its term. Write the letter of the definition next to the correct part of speech.

Part of Speech Description

_____ 1. noun a. a word that expresses a burst of strong
feeling, good or bad, calls attention or
indicates a pause
_____ 2. pronoun ex: wow, um, hey, oops, ew!

b. a word that shows action or state of

_____ 3. verb being
ex: seem, swims, fell, is, run, has, pass,
eaten
_____ 4. adjective
c. joins words or groups of words
ex: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so
_____ 5. adverb
d. tiny word that specifies a noun
There are only 3 in English: a, an, the
_____ 6. conjunction
e. A word that answers the question, “How,
when, or in what way?”
_____ 7. preposition ex: gracefully, never, later, tomorrow,
sadly

_____ 8. interjection f. a word that describes a noun or a

pronoun – tells which one, what kind,
how many
_____ 9. article ex: that, red, six,

g. shows a relationship between a noun or

_____ 10. infinitive pronoun and another word in the
sentence, often showing direction,
position, or timing
ex: above, below, inside, through, after

h. a word that stands in for a noun

ex: I, me, my, it, theirs, she, who, myself

i. a person, place, thing, idea or quality

ex: Adelle, Florida, chair, truth, caring

j. the word “to” followed by a verb, e.g., to

run, to laugh, to dance, to be

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Part II: All Parts of Speech: Read each sentence carefully and indicate what part of speech the underlined word
is by writing it in the space to the left. For example:
article Ex. The goose waddled leisurely across the road.

PART OF SPEECH SENTENCE

1. The goose waddled leisurely across the road.

2. “Yuck! This tastes terrible!” the restaurant patron declared.

3. Robby Reader went to the library because he badly needed books.

4. John hit the ball so hard, it sailed out of the stadium.

5. Mrs. Smith doubted her student’s story about the dog eating his homework.

6. Earlier that day, Jane had gone to see her teacher for extra help.

7. All would be proud of the poems they had written.

8. “This is not over!” the deposed spelling champion declared.

9. Who would ever have thought that a pig and a spider could become best friends?

10. Fear made her heart pound.

11. Weary, he closed his eyes and fell fast asleep.

12. Sixth graders at TMS become even better readers and writers.

13. “Are you awake?” she said softly.

Part III: Prepositions. Circle the prepositions and underline the prepositional phrases in each sentence
below.
Careful! There can be more than one preposition/prepositional phrase in each sentence.
1. The driver steered the chariot around the coliseum.

2. Without supervision, students may not be in the building.

3. The dragon flew toward the castle and landed on the turret.

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Part IV: Read the following sentence carefully and categorize each word according to its part of speech by
writing it in the appropriate place in the table. The first word is done for you. The number indicates how
many times each part of speech appears in the sentence, e.g., there are 5 nouns, 2 pronouns, etc.

Alas! The magical kingdom was heartbroken because its smart and strong princess
had made her decision – willfully but wisely -- to study medicine in a faraway land.

NOUN (5) PRONOUN (2) ADJECTIVE (5) VERB (2)

1. 1. 1. 1.

2. 2. 2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
5. 5.
ADVERB (2) PREPOSITION (1) ARTICLE (2) CONJUNCTION (3)

1. 1. 1. 1.
2. 2. 2.
3.

INTERJECTION (1) INFINITIVE (1)

1. 1.

Part V: Changing Roles: one word can play multiple parts of speech. Write the part of speech of the
underlined word in the space to its left.
WISH Part of Speech of the Underlined Word

1. He made a wish.

2. A new computer is on his wish list.

3. “I wish you good luck,” she smiled.

DOWN

4. Her coat is made of down.

5. They live down the street.

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6. The toddler fell down.

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