Parts of Speech

6 minQuiz at the end

The Eight Parts of Speech

Every word in the English language belongs to one of eight categories called parts of speech. Knowing them helps you understand how sentences are built.

1. Noun

Names a person, place, thing, or idea.

dog, London, happiness, table, teacher

Types of nouns:

  • Common: dog, city, book
  • Proper (capitalised): London, Harry, Monday
  • Abstract: freedom, love, courage

2. Pronoun

Replaces a noun to avoid repetition.

I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, us, them

❌ Sarah said Sarah was tired. ✅ Sarah said she was tired.

3. Verb

Shows an action or a state of being.

run, eat, think, is, are, was, seem, become

4. Adjective

Describes or modifies a noun.

tall, blue, ancient, three, happy

"The tall, ancient tree stood alone."

5. Adverb

Describes or modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb. Often answers how, when, where, or to what degree.

quickly, very, always, here, loudly, extremely

"She spoke very softly." (softly = how she spoke)

6. Preposition

Shows the relationship between a noun/pronoun and another word, indicating position, direction, or time.

in, on, at, under, between, above, after, before, through

"The cat sat under the table."

7. Conjunction

Connects words, phrases, or clauses.

TypeWords
Coordinatingfor, and, nor, but, or, yet, so (FANBOYS)
Subordinatingbecause, although, when, if, since, unless

8. Interjection

An exclamation that expresses emotion, usually followed by an exclamation mark or comma.

Oh! Wow, Ouch! Well,

Quick-Reference Sentence

"Ouch! The three small dogs ran quickly under the fence, and they disappeared."

  • Ouch = interjection · three, small = adjectives · dogs = noun
  • ran = verb · quickly = adverb · under = preposition
  • fence = noun · and = conjunction · they = pronoun