Table of contents
Parts of speech are the building blocks that build every sentence in the English language. These are the categories assigned to words depending on their function. Different parts of speech are:
- Nouns
- Pronouns
- Verbs
- Adjectives
- Adverbs
- Prepositions
- Conjunctions
- Interjections
This article will teach you the 8 parts of speech so you know how to build grammatically correct sentences. By the way, if you don't have enough time to tweak every minor grammar error in your papers, EssayWriters' professional essay writerscan always step in and give you expert writing help.
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8 Parts of Speech in English
English relies on structure. That structure starts with knowing what each word is doing. The rest of the article will cover the different parts of speech in detail.
Nouns
A noun is a word that names a thing. It gives answers to questions such as who? and what? Nouns point to physical objects (a chair or a cat). They also define less tangible concepts such as joy or trust. Nouns can be the subject of a sentence or the object being acted on.
Examples:
- teacher, pizza, sunlight, honesty, mountains, friendship
In a sentence:
The baby laughed at the balloon.
Pronouns
Pronouns step in so you don’t have to repeat the same noun. When you mention someone, say Mark, you do not need to keep mentioning Mark's name everywhere. Instead of saying Mark went to Mark's car, because Mark was late, you would say Mark went to his car, because he was late. The sentence flows without awkward repetition.
Examples:
- I, you, he, she, it, we, they
- this, that, those
- who, whom, whose, which
In a sentence:
Jenna lost her phone, so she borrowed mine.
Verbs
A verb indicates what's happening. It may explain something that someone is doing, something they are feeling, or even the mere existence of something. Verbs are what make sentences move forward. These elements indicate what the subject is doing, even if they're doing nothing more than being still or silently feeling something.
Examples:
- run, write, listen, become, seem, have, do
In a sentence:
They study together every weekend.
Regular verbs change in ways you can predict, while irregular ones don’t follow any clear pattern. With the former, you usually add -ed to form the past tense. Irregular verbs work differently: all you can really do is remember how they behave.
Regular Verb Example:
- I play the guitar every night. → Yesterday, I played for two hours.
More regular verb examples:
- walk → walked
- bake → baked
- talk → talked
Irregular Verb Example:
- They go to the gym on Mondays. → Last week, they went twice.
More irregular verb examples:
- eat → ate
- take → took
- write → wrote
Adjectives
An adjective describes a noun or a pronoun. It allows a person to imagine what you're talking about. Let's consider a book, for example. Is it a short book? An old book? Without an adjective the reader/listener may never know what you are talking about. With these components, you can be specific. Adjectives can either come before the noun (a cold drink) or they can come after the verb (The drink is cold).
Examples:
- happy, large, blue, noisy, tired, delicious
In a sentence:
She wore a red scarf and warm boots.
Adverbs
Adverbs help complete a sentence. They tell about verbs and adjectives and often end in -ly. Many of them do not conform to this pattern, but you can easily tell an adverb when you see one.
Examples:
- quickly, never, often, very, quietly, tomorrow, here
In a sentence:
He replied to the question clearly and slowly.
Prepositions
A preposition shows how one thing relates to another. You’ll usually find it sitting right before a noun, forming a little phrase that gives extra detail. It needs something after it to make sense, though. Phrases like on the table or during class are good examples of how prepositions work.
Examples:
- in, on, under, near, after, before, during, between
In a sentence:
The keys are inside the drawer.
Conjunctions
Conjunctions hold your ideas together. They are used to connect phrases or even whole ideas. If you are writing and want it to feel natural, you will need conjunctions to keep everything together.
There are three kinds:
Coordinating conjunctions join two complete ideas that feel equal, like in:
- I wanted to go for a walk, but it started raining.
Subordinating conjunctions introduce an additional idea to the main one:
- She stayed inside because the storm was getting worse.
And correlative conjunctions work in pairs:
- Not only did he clean the kitchen, but he also organized the fridge.
Interjections
An interjection is what someone blurts out when they react to something. It’s not part of the sentence in the usual way. You’ll often see it with an exclamation point, but not always. Words like wow, ugh, or hey don’t need to explain much. They show emotion in the moment, and that’s really all they’re there for. They don’t follow grammar rules, but they’re hard to miss.
Examples:
- wow, ouch, hey, uh-oh, hmm, yay
In a sentence:
Ouch! That coffee is hot.
(Ouch! expresses a sudden feeling.)
Identifying Different Parts of Speech
You can't always figure out which one of the eight parts of speech you're reading with one look. In cases like this, you must take a step back and figure out what the word is doing. The same word can have more than one job depending on its location.
- Check the word function. If it is referring to a person or thing, then it is probably a noun. If it is stating what is being done, it is likely a verb.
- Look at the surrounding words. A part of speech in front of a noun might be an adjective. A part of speech after a verb might be an adverb.
- Substitute it with another word of the same function. If it still makes sense, you probably got it right.
- Look at how the word conjugates. Is it changing tense to indicate past or present, or is it becoming plural? If so, you are probably dealing with a verb or a noun.
- Read the entire sentence aloud. Sometimes, hearing the flow of the sentence allows you to see how it functions.
Words That Can Be Several Parts of Speech
Some words are shapeshifters. They don’t stick to just one part of speech. Their job depends entirely on where they show up in a sentence.
Consider run, for instance. The function of this simple verb changes constantly.
- He went for a run before work. (run is a noun)
- They run every morning. (run is a verb)
Or light:
- She switched on the light. (light is a noun)
- They light the candles at sunset. (light is a verb)
- He packed a light jacket. (light is an adjective)
This happens often and is why you can't always tell which category a word falls in. You need to look at the entire sentence and ask what that word is doing here. That single question will usually give you the answer.
Wrapping It Up
You can't memorize every single rule out there. You do not necessarily have to, honestly. But you should have an idea of how various parts of speech function to make writing easier. Once you are aware of patterns, everything else falls into place quickly.
If you're working through all of this and still not confident in grammar rules, EssayWriters' platform can come to the rescue with expert assistance. Our professional essay writers help students with all kinds of academic tasks so they can sit back and take a breath.
FAQs
What Is a Part of Speech?
A part of speech is a category that indicates the function of a word in a sentence and, therefore, the role the word plays.
What Are the 8 Parts of Speech?
The eight parts of speech are:
- Nouns
- Pronouns
- Verbs
- Adjectives
- Adverbs
- Prepositions
- Conjunctions
- Interjections
Can a Word Belong to More Than One Part of Speech?
Yes. The same word can function differently in different contexts. For example, light can be a noun (bright light), a verb (light the candles), or an adjective (light jacket).
Sources
- Payne, L. (2023, October 20). Part of speech | Meaning, Examples, & English Grammar | Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/part-of-speech
- Butte College. (2019). The Eight Parts of Speech - TIP Sheets - Butte College. https://www.butte.edu/departments/cas/tipsheets/grammar/partsofspeech.html
