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 function or "job" example words example sentences
of
spee
ch
Verb action or state (to) be, have, do, like, EnglishClub.com is a web site. I like
work, sing, can, must EnglishClub.com.
Nou thing or person pen, dog, work, music, This is my dog. He lives in my
n town, London, teacher, house. We live in London.
John
Adje describes a noun a/an, the, 69, some, My dog is big. I like big dogs.
ctive good, big, red, well,
interesting
Adv describes a verb, quickly, silently, well, My dog eats quickly. When he is
erb adjective or adverb badly, very, really very hungry, he eats really quickly.
Pron replaces a noun I, you, he, she, some Tara is Indian. She is beautiful.
oun
Prep links a noun to to, at, after, on, but We went to school on Monday.
ositi another word
on
Conj joins clauses or and, but, when I like dogs and I like cats. I like cats
uncti sentences or words and dogs. I like dogs but I don't like
on cats.
Inter short exclamation, oh!, ouch!, hi!, well Ouch! That hurts! Hi! How are you?
jecti sometimes inserted Well, I don't know.
on into a sentence
* 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:

• Lexical Verbs (work, like, run)

• Auxiliary Verbs (be, have, must)

 • Determiners may be treated as a separate part of speech, instead of being
categorized under Adjectives

Parts of Speech
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,
Nou
quality, or action.
n
Examples: cowboy, theatre, box, thought, tree, kindness, arrival

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

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

Adj
An adjective is a word that describes a noun. It tells you something about the noun.
ecti
Examples: big, yellow, thin, amazing, beautiful, quick, important
ve

An adverb is a word which usually describes a verb. It tells you how something is
Adv
done. It may also tell you when or where something happened.
erb
Examples: slowly, intelligently, well, yesterday, tomorrow, here, everywhere

Pro
A pronoun is used instead of a noun, to avoid repeating the noun.
nou
Examples: I, you, he, she, it, we, they
n

Con
A conjunction joins two words, phrases or sentences together.
junc
Examples: but, so, and, because, or
tion

Pre A preposition usually comes before a noun, pronoun or noun phrase. It joins the noun
posi to some other part of the sentence.
tion Examples: on, in, by, with, under, through, at
 An interjection is an unusual kind of word, because it often stands alone. Interjections
Inte
are words which express emotion or surprise, and they are usually followed by
rjec
exclamation marks.
tion
Examples: Ouch!, Hello!, Hurray!, Oh no!, Ha!

Arti An article is used to introduce a noun.

cle

Parts of Speech
Definition
All words are divided into grammar groups. The grammar groups are called parts of
speech.
The groups are:
Nouns (people, places, or things)
Verbs (the state or action word in a sentence)
Adjectives (give more information about nouns)
Adverbs (give more information about verbs)
Determiners (words that come before most nouns)
Prepositions (give information about place and time)
Pronouns (replace nouns)
Conjunctions (join sentences)
Example (The numbers in the example below refer to the numbers in the list above.)

Explanation
Each part of speech --

• has its own rules.

• is necessary to write grammatically correct sentences

Parts of Speech
Sentences using different parts of speech
Read each sentence and then look at the chart below it. The chart shows the correct part
of speech for each word in the sentence.
a) The university student studies hard in the school library, so he gets good grades.
Nouns Adjectives
Verbs
Adverbs
student university
studies
library school hard
gets
grades good

Prepositions Conjunctions Determiners Pronouns

in so the he
b) Some people exercise regularly and eat well, but other people are not as healthy
because they spend too much time at home on the couch.
Nouns Verbs
Adjectives Adverbs
people exercise
time eat healthy regularly
home are too much well
couch spend

Conjunctions Determiners
Prepositions
Pronouns
but some
at
and other they
on
because the
c) My mother always cooks a delicious dinner for my birthday, and the whole family eats
it together happily.
Nouns
Adjectives Adverbs
Verbs
mother
delicious always
dinner cooks
my together
birthday eats
whole happily
family
 Determiners
Prepositions Conjunctions Pronouns
a
for and it
the
d) The tired children walk slowly to school in the morning, so they always arrive late.
Nouns Adverbs
Verbs
Adjectives
children slowly
walk
school tired always
arrive
morning late

Prepositions
Conjunctions Determiners Pronouns
to
so the they
in
e) The thin French chef bakes tasty fresh bread daily in his wood stove and sells it
quickly from a small window.
Adjectives
Nouns thin
Verbs French Adverbs
chef
tasty
bread bakes daily
fresh
stove sells quickly
wood
window
small
his

Prepositions Determiners
Conjunctions Pronouns
in the
and it
from a

List of Common Prepositions of Place

Travel and Movement
Travel Arrive Transport Directions
at at by along
by in on around
 from
in get + preposition: at
into
down
off • in / into into
on
on
onto to • on / onto
through
over
• off to
out
toward
out of
• out of up
through
to
Location
above before beyond near outside
across behind by next to over
with
against below from off past
within
among beneath in on through
without
at beside in front of opposite under
away between inside out upon

Future Time Expressions

Sentences using future time expressions
Common Future Time
Example Sentences Similar Expressions
Expressions
tonight
tomorrow I think I will go swimming tomorrow morning
(one day after today) tomorrow. tomorrow afternoon
tomorrow evening
the day after tomorrow Joy is moving the day after The week after next
(two days after today) tomorrow. (week)
next week next month
Alice starts school next week.
(the week after this week) next year
in a year in a week
Sandy is going to graduate in a
(a specific period of time in in a month
year.
the future) in an hour
this morning Tracy has a meeting this this week
(the closest morning in the afternoon. this month
future) this year
 this weekend
on Monday Elaine is going to Spain on On the weekend
(a specific day) Monday. In June