The eight parts of speech
Each part of speech has a main job. Once you know the jobs, you can label almost any word in a sentence.
| Part of speech | What it does | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | Names a person, place, thing or idea | teacher, Kerala, laptop, freedom |
| Pronoun | Takes the place of a noun | she, they, it, someone, which |
| Verb | Shows an action or a state | run, write, seem, be |
| Adjective | Describes a noun or pronoun | tall, blue, careful, three |
| Adverb | Describes a verb, an adjective or another adverb | quickly, very, often, here |
| Preposition | Links a noun or pronoun to other words, often to show time or place | in, on, at, under, during |
| Conjunction | Joins words, phrases or clauses | and, but, because, although |
| Interjection | Shows a feeling or gets attention | wow, oops, hey |
One word, different parts of speech
Many English words can belong to more than one group. Look at the job the word does in that sentence, not at the word alone.
| Word | Part of speech | Example |
|---|---|---|
| light | Noun | Turn on the light. |
| light | Verb | Light the lamp. |
| light | Adjective | This bag is light. |
| fast | Adjective | It is a fast train. |
| fast | Adverb | She runs fast. |
| before | Preposition | Finish it before lunch. |
| before | Conjunction | Finish it before you leave. |
How to work out the part of speech
Noun: it can usually follow a, an or the, or take a plural ending: "a decision", "two decisions".
Verb: it can change for time: "decide", "decided", "is deciding".
Adjective: it describes a noun and can usually follow very: "a very careful driver".
Adverb: it tells you how, when, where or how much. Many adverbs end in -ly, but not all of them, and some -ly words, such as friendly and lovely, are adjectives.
Articles and determiners: a, an and the are articles. Traditional grammar treats them as adjectives, while modern grammar groups them with words such as this, my and some as determiners.
Common mistakes
Wrong: She sings very good.
Right: She sings very well.
Good is an adjective. To describe how she sings, use the adverb well.
Wrong: I am agree with you.
Right: I agree with you.
Agree is a verb, not an adjective, so it doesn't need am.
Wrong: Me and my friend went to the cinema.
Right: My friend and I went to the cinema.
The subject needs the subject pronoun I, not the object pronoun me.
Using this in IELTS and PTE
Knowing the parts of speech helps you fill gaps quickly. In IELTS Reading and Listening completion tasks, the words around a gap tell you what kind of word fits: a noun after the, an adjective before a noun. PTE Reading fill-in-the-blanks tasks work the same way, so checking the part of speech can rule out wrong options fast. In writing, word-form slips such as "economy growth" instead of "economic growth" are easy to fix once you can name the form you need.
5 questions
Exercise
Try each one, then open it to check your answer.
1. Name the part of speech: "She spoke softly." (softly)
Adverb.
It describes how she spoke.
2. Name the part of speech: "The cat is under the table." (under)
Preposition.
It shows where the cat is in relation to the table.
3. Noun or verb? "I went for a run." (run)
Noun.
It follows a and names a thing.
4. Find the conjunction: "I was tired, but I finished the essay."
but
It joins two clauses and shows contrast.
5. Correct this: "He answered the question correct."
He answered the question correctly.
To describe how he answered, use an adverb.
Frequently asked questions
How many parts of speech are there?+
Eight in traditional grammar. Some modern grammars list nine or ten, for example by adding determiners as a separate class.
Can a word be more than one part of speech?+
Yes. Words such as light, fast, before and round can be nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs or prepositions, depending on the sentence.
Are parts of speech the same as parts of a sentence?+
No. Parts of speech classify single words, such as nouns and verbs. Parts of a sentence describe the job a word or group of words does, such as subject or object.
Keep going
More grammar lessons
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