The 8 Parts of Speech

4/3/24, 8:38 AM The 8 Parts of Speech: Examples and Rules | Grammarly Blog
The 8 Parts of Speech: Examples and

Rules
Grammarly
Updated on March 28, 2023
GRAMMAR
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Every word in English can be classified as one of eight parts of speech. The term
part of speech refers to the role a word plays in a sentence. And like
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workplace or on any TV show with an ensemble cast, these roles were designed to
work together.
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Read on to learn about the different parts of speech that the words we use every
day fall into, and how we use them together to communicate ideas clearly.
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The 8 parts of speech
1 Nouns
A noun is a word that names a person, place, concept, or object. Basically,

anything that names a “thing” is a noun, whether you’re talking about a basketball
court, San Francisco, Cleopatra, or self-preservation.
Nouns fall into two categories: common nouns and proper nouns. Common nouns
are general names for things, like planet and game show. Proper nouns are names
or titles for specific things, like Jupiter and Jeopardy!
>>Read more about nouns
2devicePronouns
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Pronouns are words you substitute for specific nouns when the reader or listener
already knows which specific noun you’re referring to.
You might say, “Jennifer was supposed to be here at eight,” then follow it with
“She’s always late; next time I’ll tell her to be here a half hour earlier.”
Instead of saying Jennifer’s name three times in a row, you substituted she and
her, and your sentences remained grammatically correct. Pronouns are divided
into a number of categories, and we cover them all in our guide to pronouns:
>>Read more about pronouns
3 Adjectives
Adjectives are the words that describe nouns. Think about your favorite movie.
How would you describe it to a friend who’s never seen it?
You might say the movie was funny, engaging, well-written, or suspenseful. When
you’re describing the movie with these words, you’re using adjectives. An adjective
can go right before the noun it’s describing (“I have a black dog”), but it doesn’t
have to. Sometimes, adjectives are at the end of a sentence (“My dog is black”).
>>Read more about adjectives
4 Verbs
Go! Be amazing! Run as fast as you can! Win the race! Congratulate every
participant who put in the work and competed!
Those bolded words are verbs. Verbs are words that describe specific actions, like
running, winning, and being amazing.
Not all verbs refer to literal actions, though. Verbs that refer to feelings or states
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>>Read more about verbs
5 Adverbs
An adverb is a word that describes an adjective, a verb, or another adverb.
Example I entered the room quietly.
Quietly is describing how you entered (verb) the room.
Example A cheetah is always faster than a lion.
Always is describing how frequently a cheetah is faster (adjective) than a lion.
>>Read more about adverbs
6 Prepositions
Prepositions tell you the relationships between other words in a sentence.
You might say, “I left my bike leaning against the garage.” In this sentence, against
is the preposition because it tells us where you left your bike.
Here’s another example: “She put the pizza in the oven.” Without the preposition
in, we don’t know where the pizza is.
>>Read more about prepositions
7 Conjunctions
Conjunctions make it possible to build complex sentences that express multiple

ideas.
“I like marinara sauce. I like alfredo sauce. I don’t like puttanesca sauce.” Each of
these three sentences expresses a clear idea. There’s nothing wrong with listing
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Consider instead: “I like marinara sauce and alfredo sauce, but I don’t like
puttanesca sauce.
In this sentence, and and but are the two conjunctions that link your ideas
together.
>>Read more about conjunctions
8 Articles
A pear. The brick house. An exciting experience. These bolded words are known as
articles.
Articles come in two flavors: definite articles and indefinite articles. And similarly
to the two types of nouns, the type of article you use depends on how specific you
need to be about the thing you’re discussing.
A definite article, like the or this, describes one specific noun.
Example Did you buy the car?
From the above sentence, we understand that the speaker is referring to a

specific previously discussed car.
Now swap in an indefinite article:
Example Did you buy a car?
See how the implication that you’re referring back to something specific is gone,
and you’re asking a more general question?
>>Read more about articles
Figuring out parts of speech
Sometimes, it’s not easy to tell which part of speech a word is. Here are a few easy
hacks for
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If it’s an adjective plus the ending –ly, it’s an adverb. Examples: commonly,
quickly.
If you can swap it out for a noun and the sentence still makes sense, it’s a
pronoun. Example: “He played basketball.” / “Steve played basketball.”
If it’s something you do and you can modify the sentence to include the word
do, it’s a verb. Example: “I have an umbrella.” / “I do have an umbrella.”
If you can remove the word and the sentence still makes sense but you lose a
detail, the word is most likely an adjective. Example: “She drives a red van.” /
“She drives a van.”
And if you’re ever really stumped, just look the word up. Dictionaries typically list
a word’s part of speech in its entry, and if it has multiple forms with different
parts of speech, they are all listed, with examples.
That brings us to another common issue that can confuse writers and language
learners.
When a word can be different parts of speech
Just like y is sometimes a vowel and sometimes a consonant, there are words that
are sometimes one part of speech and other times another. Here are a few
examples:
Work
“I went to work” (noun).
“I work in the garden” (verb).
Well
“She paints very well” (adverb).
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illness” (adjective).
marketing efforts.
“I dropped a penny into the well” (noun).
But
“I cooked breakfast and lunch, but Steve cooked dinner” (conjunction).

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4/3/24, 8:38 AM The 8 Parts of Speech: Examples and Rules | Grammarly Blog

The 8 Parts of Speech: Examples and

Your writing, at its best

A noun is a word that names a person, place, concept, or object. Basically,

>>Read more about nouns

>>Read more about pronouns

>>Read more about adjectives

>>Read more about verbs

An adverb is a word that describes an adjective, a verb, or another adverb.

Example I entered the room quietly.

Quietly is describing how you entered (verb) the room.

Example A cheetah is always faster than a lion.

Always is describing how frequently a cheetah is faster (adjective) than a lion.

>>Read more about adverbs

Prepositions tell you the relationships between other words in a sentence.

>>Read more about prepositions

Conjunctions make it possible to build complex sentences that express multiple

>>Read more about conjunctions

A definite article, like the or this, describes one specific noun.

Example Did you buy the car?

From the above sentence, we understand that the speaker is referring to a

Now swap in an indefinite article:

Example Did you buy a car?

>>Read more about articles

Figuring out parts of speech

When a word can be different parts of speech

“I work in the garden” (verb).

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