Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech

Definition

The parts of speech are the primary categories of words according to their function in a sentence.

English has seven main parts of speech. We’ll look at a brief overview of each below; continue on
to their individual chapters to learn more about them.

Nouns

Nouns are words that identify or name people, places, or things. Nouns can function as the subject
of a clause or sentence, an object of a verb, or an object of a preposition. Words like cat, book,
table, girl, and plane are all nouns.

Pronouns

Pronouns are words that represent nouns (people, places, or things). Grammatically, pronouns are
used in the same ways as nouns; they can function as subjects or objects. Common pronouns include
I, you, she, him, it, everyone, and somebody.

Verbs

Verbs are words that describe the actions—or states of being—of people, animals, places, or things.
Verbs function as the root of what’s called the predicate, which is required (along with a subject)
to form a complete sentence; therefore, every sentence must include at least one verb.

Verbs include action words like run, walk, write, or sing, as well as words describing states of
being, such as be, seem, feel, or sound.

Adjectives

Adjectives are words that modify (add description to) nouns and (occasionally) pronouns. They can
be a part of either the subject or the predicate. Common adjectives are red, blue, fast, slow, big,
tall, and wide.

Adverbs

Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or even entire clauses. Depending
on what they modify (and how), adverbs can appear anywhere in the sentence. Adverbs are commonly
formed from adjectives by adding “-ly” to the end, as in slowly, quickly, widely, beautifully, or
commonly.

Prepositions

Prepositions are words that express a relationship between a noun or pronoun (known as the

object of the preposition) and another part of the sentence. Together, these form

prepositional phrases, which can function as adjectives or as adverbs in a sentence. Some examples
of prepositional phrases are: on the table, in the shed, and across the field. (The prepositions
are in bold.)

Conjunctions

Conjunctions are words that connect other words, phrases, or clauses, expressing a specific kind of
relationship between the two (or more) elements. The most common conjunctions are the coordinating
conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet.

Other Parts of Speech

In addition to the seven parts of speech above, there are several other groupings of words that do
not neatly fit into any one specific category—particles, articles, determiners, gerunds, and
interjections.

Many of these share characteristics with one or more of the seven primary categories. For example,
determiners are similar in many ways to adjectives, but they are not completely the same, and most
particles are identical in appearance to prepositions but have different grammatical functions.

Because they are harder to classify in comparison to the seven primary categories above,

they’ve been grouped together in this guide under the general category Other Parts of Speech.