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Parts of Speech: Definitions, Categories and Examples

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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

Parts of Speech – Created by Englishstudyonline

What is a Parts of Speech?

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:

  1. Nouns: Words that name people, places, things, or ideas.
  2. Pronouns: Words that replace nouns, such as he, she, it.
  3. Verbs: Words that describe actions or states, like run, is.
  4. 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

1. Nouns

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.
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3. Verbs

Verbs describe an action, state, or occurrence. There are three types of verbs: action verbs, linking verbs, and helping verbs.
  • 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).

5. Adverbs

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.”
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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.

Articles

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.”

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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).

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

Answers:

  1. Adjective
  2. Adverb
  3. Interjection
  4. Preposition
  5. Conjunction
  6. Pronoun
  7. Verb
  8. Adjective
  9. Preposition
  10. Pronoun

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)

  1. The weather is so __________ today.
  2. I have to __________ an essay for my class.
  3. He ran __________ to catch the bus.
  4. The ball rolled __________ the table.
  5. They read a __________ together every night.
  6. She wanted to go to the park, __________ it started raining.
  7. Can you give this note to __________?
  8. __________! That was an amazing goal!
  9. __________ is going to the market.
  10. The bird flew away __________.

Answers:

  1. beautiful (Adjective)
  2. write (Verb)
  3. quickly (Adverb)
  4. under (Preposition)
  5. book (Noun)
  6. and (Conjunction)
  7. them (Pronoun)
  8. Wow (Interjection)
  9. She (Pronoun)
  10. suddenly (Adverb)
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