Parts of Speech

What are the parts of speech?

Every word in English has a job. The parts of speech are the eight groups that words belong to, based on the job they do in a sentence. Learning them is like learning the positions on a sports team: once you know what each player does, the whole game makes sense.

The eight parts of speech

A sentence with every part of speech

Wow! The tiny puppy happily ran under the table and it barked.

• Wow – interjection
• The – article (a kind of adjective)
• tiny – adjective
• puppy – noun
• happily – adverb
• ran – verb
• under – preposition
• table – noun
• and – conjunction
• it – pronoun
• barked – verb

The same word can change jobs

A word’s part of speech depends on how it is used, not just on the word itself.

• I love to run. (verb)
• I went for a run. (noun)
• The light was bright. (noun)
• Please light the candle. (verb)
• This bag is light. (adjective)

Always look at the word’s job in that sentence.

Clues for each part of speech

• Nouns often follow a, an or the.
• Verbs change with time: walk, walked, will walk.
• Adjectives answer what kind? which one? how many?
• Adverbs answer how? when? where? how often? and often end in -ly.
• Prepositions usually start a phrase that ends in a noun: over the bridge.
• Conjunctions sit between two things they join.
• Interjections often stand alone with an exclamation mark.

Worked examples

Example 1: Name the part of speech of each bold word. She quietly opened the old door.
quietly = adverb; old = adjective.

Example 2: Which part of speech is because in I stayed inside because it rained?
Conjunction. It joins two ideas.

Example 3: Is before a preposition or a conjunction?
Wash your hands before dinner. Preposition (followed by a noun).
Wash your hands before you eat. Conjunction (followed by a whole clause).

Why the parts of speech matter

Knowing the parts of speech is not just about labels. It helps you:

• Fix sentences. A sentence needs at least a noun (or pronoun) and a verb. If one is missing, it is a fragment.
• Use punctuation. Commas go between adjectives in a list (a long, cold winter) and before conjunctions that join two sentences.
• Learn other languages. French, Spanish and many other languages use the same parts of speech.
• Improve writing. Swapping a weak verb plus an adverb (walked slowly) for one strong verb (shuffled) makes writing sharper.
• Use a dictionary. Dictionaries list the part of speech for every meaning, such as n. for noun and v. for verb.

The parts of speech in your writing

Try this four-step check on a paragraph you wrote:

1. Circle the verbs. Are they strong and in the right tense?
2. Underline the nouns. Are they precise, or are there too many things?
3. Box the adjectives and adverbs. Are any of them unnecessary?
4. Check the conjunctions. Are your sentences joined in a way that shows how the ideas connect?

Common mistakes

• Thinking every -ly word is an adverb. Friendly and lovely are adjectives.
• Labeling a word without looking at the sentence. Run can be a noun or a verb.
• Forgetting that pronouns are a separate part of speech from nouns.

Try it yourself

Label each word in this sentence: Ouch! My little brother stepped on a sharp pebble.

Answers: Ouch (interjection), My (pronoun/possessive), little (adjective), brother (noun), stepped (verb), on (preposition), a (article/adjective), sharp (adjective), pebble (noun).

Tip for families

Play "Parts of speech Mad Libs." One person reads a story with blanks and asks for "a noun," "a verb ending in -ing" or "an adjective." The silly results help kids remember what each part of speech does.

Quick recap

• There are eight parts of speech: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection.
• Each one has a job in the sentence.
• A word’s part of speech depends on how it is used.