Parts of speech: definition, chart and examples

The parts of speech are the categories every word in English falls into, based on the job it does in a sentence. The eight traditional ones are noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection. Knowing them is how you understand why a sentence is built the way it is.

Noun (names things), pronoun (replaces a noun), verb (action or being), adjective (describes a noun), adverb (describes a verb, adjective or adverb), preposition (shows relationship), conjunction (joins), and interjection (expresses feeling). Some grammars add a ninth — determiners or articles (a, an, the) — but the classic list is eight.

A noun names a person, place, thing, feeling or idea — teacher, London, book, honesty, music, tiger. In the sentence “The teacher opened the book,” both teacher and book are nouns.

A verb shows an action (run, write, build) or a state of being (is, seem, become). Every complete sentence needs at least one. In “They think it is true,” think and is are both verbs. A verb also changes form with tense to show when the action happens.

An adjective describes or limits a noun — telling you which one, what kind, or how many: tall, blue, happy, three, ancient. In “A tall, happy child,” both words describe child.

An adverb describes a verb, an adjective or another adverb — usually how, when, where or to what degree: quickly, very, here, yesterday, well, often. In “She ran very quickly,” quickly describes ran and very describes quickly.

A pronoun stands in for a noun so you do not repeat it: I, you, he, she, it, they, we, this, who. In “She gave it to them,” all three words replace nouns named earlier.

A preposition shows how a noun relates to the rest of the sentence — place, time or direction: in, on, at, under, before, with, between, towards. In “The cat is under the table,” under links cat and table.

A conjunction joins words, phrases or clauses: and, but, or, so, because, although, while. In “Tea or coffee, because I am tired,” or joins two nouns and because joins two clauses.

An interjection is a short word that expresses sudden feeling and stands apart from the grammar of the sentence: wow, ouch, oh, alas, hurray, oops. It is usually followed by an exclamation mark — “Ouch! That hurt.”

Both answers are used. The classic count is eight. Many modern grammars add a ninth category — determiners (or articles: a, an, the, this, some, my) — which older lists tuck in with adjectives. For most purposes, learning the eight is enough.

Ask what the word describes. An adjective describes a noun — “a quick runner”. An adverb describes a verb, adjective or adverb — “she runs quickly”. Many adverbs end in -ly, but not all (fast, well, often), so the “what does it describe?” test is more reliable than the ending.

Yes — a word’s part of speech depends on its job in the sentence. Book is a noun in “read a book” but a verb in “book a table”. Fast is an adjective in “a fast car” but an adverb in “drive fast”. Always judge the word by what it is doing.

A, an and the are articles, a type of determiner. Traditional eight-part lists file determiners under adjectives, since they modify nouns; modern grammars treat determiners as their own class. Either way, they mark a noun rather than describe its quality.

Yes, indirectly but strongly. The DET has no grammar-labelling task, but its Fill in the Blanks and Read & Complete tasks are decoded through grammar, and grammatical accuracy directly feeds your Writing and Speaking (Literacy and Production) subscores. Knowing the parts of speech is the foundation.

Learn what each one does, not a definition to recite — then practise spotting them in real sentences. Active recall (like the quiz on this page) fixes the categories far faster than re-reading a list, because you are forced to decide, which is the skill you actually need.

Work from the verb outwards. Find the verb (the action or state), then ask who or what does it — that is the subject, a noun or pronoun. Words describing a noun are adjectives; words describing the verb, an adjective or another adverb are adverbs. A word followed by a noun phrase is usually a preposition; a word joining two clauses is a conjunction.

Nouns: teacher, city, river, book, team, idea, music, friendship, honesty, Paris. Verbs: run, write, eat, think, build, speak, choose, become, seem, be. Adjectives: tall, happy, blue, quick, heavy, careful, empty, bright, ancient, delicious. The full table on this page lists ten for all eight parts, as each word is most often used.

Content words carry the meaning — nouns, main verbs, adjectives and most adverbs — and new ones are coined all the time. Function words hold the sentence together — pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, articles and auxiliary verbs — and form a small closed set. On the Duolingo English Test, Read & Complete damages many short function words, so knowing them pays off directly.

Yes. The chart near the top of this page shows all eight parts of speech, what each one does, six common examples and an example sentence. It is a 1600 × 1200 PNG: open or download it to save it to your phone or print it, and use the table below it when you want the same content as text.