Parts of Speech Table

This is a summary of the 8 parts of speech*. You can find more detail if you click on each part of speech. part of speech Verb function or "job" action or state example words (to) be, have, do, like, work, sing, can, must pen, dog, work, music, town, London, teacher, John a/an, the, 2, some, good, big, red, well, interesting quickly, silently, well, badly, very, really I, you, he, she, some to, at, after, on, but and, but, when example sentences EnglishClub.com is a web site. I like EnglishClub.com. This is my dog. He lives in my house. We live in London.

Noun

thing or person

Adjective

describes a noun

I have two dogs. My dogs are big. I like big dogs.

Adverb

describes a verb, adjective or adverb replaces a noun links a noun to another word joins clauses or sentences or words short exclamation, sometimes inserted into a sentence

My dog eats quickly. When he is very hungry, he eats really quickly. Tara is Indian. She is beautiful. We went to school on Monday. I like dogs and I like cats. I like cats and dogs. I like dogs but I don't like cats. Ouch! That hurts! Hi! How are you? Well, I don't know.

Pronoun Preposition Conjunction

Interjection

oh!, ouch!, hi!, well

* Some grammar sources categorize English into 9 or 10 parts of speech. At EnglishClub.com, we use the traditional categorization of 8 parts of speech. Examples of other categorizations are:

Verbs may be treated as two different parts of speech: o Lexical Verbs (work, like, run) o Auxiliary Verbs (be, have, must) Determiners may be treated as a separate part of speech, instead of being categorized under Adjectives

Parts of Speech Examples

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, living creature,

Noun

quality, or action. Examples: cowboy, theatre, box, thought, tree, kindness, arrival

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

Verb

something). Examples: walk, talk, think, believe, live, like, want

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

Adjective

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

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

Adverb

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

Pronoun

A pronoun is used instead of a noun, to avoid repeating the noun. Examples: I, you, he, she, it, we, they
A conjunction joins two words, phrases or sentences together. Examples: but, so, and, because, or

Conjunction

Preposition

A preposition usually comes before a noun, pronoun or noun 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.

Interjection

Interjections are words which express emotion or surprise, and they are usually followed by exclamation marks. Examples: Ouch!, Hello!, Hurray!, Oh no!, Ha!

Article

An article is used to introduce a noun. 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 these pages:

Parts of Speech (includes determiners which includes articles) The Eight Parts of Speech (doesn't include articles) The Parts of Speech (doesn't include 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. Continue with the exercises