1. GRAMMAR & STRUCTURE
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:
1. Nouns (people, places, or things)
2. Verbs (the state or action word in a sentence)
3. Adjectives (give more information about nouns)
4. Adverbs (give more information about verbs)
5. Determiners (words that come before most nouns)
6. Prepositions (give information about place and time)
7. Pronouns (replace nouns)
8. Conjunctions (join sentences)
A noun is a naming word. It names a person, place, thing, idea,
Noun living creature, quality, or action.
Examples: cowboy, theatre, box, thought, tree, kindness, arrival
A verb is a word which describes an action (doing something) or a
Verb state (being something).
Examples: walk, talk, think, believe, live, like, want
An adjective is a word that describes a noun. It tells you
Adjective something about the noun.
Examples: big, yellow, thin, amazing, beautiful, quick, important

2. An adverb is a word which usually describes a verb. It tells you
how something is done. It may also tell you when or where
Adverb something happened.
Examples: slowly, intelligently, well, yesterday, tomorrow, here,
everywhere
A pronoun is used instead of a noun, to avoid repeating the noun.
Pronoun
Examples: I, you, he, she, it, we, they
A conjunction joins two words, phrases or sentences together.
Conjunction
Examples: but, so, and, because, or
A preposition usually comes before a noun, pronoun or noun
Preposition phrase. It joins the noun to some other part of the sentence.
Examples: on, in, by, with, under, through, at
An interjection is an unusual kind of word, because it often stands
alone. Interjections are words which express emotion or surprise,
Interjection
and they are usually followed by exclamation marks.
Examples: Ouch!, Hello!, Hurray!, Oh no!, Ha!
An article is used to introduce a noun.
Article
Examples: the, a, an
GRAMMAR & STRUCTURE — Examples
Parts of Speech
Sentences using different parts of speech

3. 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 Verbs Adjectives Adverbs
student studies university hard
library gets school
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 healthy regularly
time eat too much well
home are
couch spend
Prepositions Conjunctions Determiners Pronouns
at but some they
on and other
because the

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

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

6. GRAMMAR & STRUCTURE — Exercises
Parts of Speech
Answer the following questions to check your knowledge of the parts of speech.
Choose the correct part of speech in each sentence.
Example
Choose the verb in the sentence.
My daughter brushes her long hair with a red brush every morning.
daughter
hair
brushes
red
The correct answer is "brushes".
1. Choose the noun in the sentence.
He eats raw fish.
he
eats
raw
fish
2. Choose the verb in the sentence.
He eats raw fish.
he
eats
raw
fish
3. Choose the adjective in the sentence.
He eats raw fish.

7. he
eats
raw
fish
4. Choose the pronoun in the sentence.
He eats raw fish.
he
eats
raw
fish
5. Choose the verb in the sentence.
My best friend sends me beautiful postcards from her
vacations.
my
postcards
sends
vacations
6. Choose the preposition in the sentence.
My best friend sends me beautiful postcards from her
vacations.
my
her
me
from
7. Choose the conjunction in the sentence.
Jerri loves travelling by car, but she hates travelling by bus.
but
by
she

8. travelling
8. Choose the pronoun in the sentence.
Jerri loves travelling by car, but she hates travelling by bus.
by
she
bus
Jerri
9. Choose the nouns in the sentence.
Jerri loves travelling by car, but she hates travelling by bus.
Jerri / car / bus
travelling / loves / hates
but / she / by
travelling / by / car
10 Choose the adverbs in the sentence.
. Hedy plays tennis beautifully, but she plays squash terribly.
plays / Hedy
tennis / squash
beautifully / terribly
Hedy / she