Parts of Speech in English: A Comprehensive Guide with Examples & Tables

Words are just like bricks; you pile them together to make phrases, then clauses, and then sentences.

Parts of Speech

All words in the English language are categorized into eight parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. If you have an inability to recognize these parts of speech, then you won't be able to understand the English grammar properly.

Nouns and Types of Nouns

A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, activity, or idea. Recognition of various kinds of nouns is essential to correct capitalization and subject-verb agreement. Nouns can be categorized into the following:

Common Nouns

Nouns that describe a type of person, thing, or place or that names a concept. They are not capitalized unless they appear at the start of a sentence.

chair
office
desk
men
women
customer
manager

Proper nouns

Nouns that refer to a specific person, place, or thing by its name. They are always capitalized at any part of a sentence.

May
Sunday
London
New Year's Day
Mary
Tokyo
Google

Collective Nouns

Nouns that are used to name any group of something. (A collection of people, animals, or things)

staff
group
team
crowd
cattle
herd
gaggle

Concrete Nouns

Nouns that refer to a physical thing, person, or place. (Things that can be sensed)

money
computer
sugar
salt
laundry
ball
tree

Abstract Nouns

Nouns that refer to things you can't perceive with your five senses.

problem
freedom
love
attitude
situation
politics
theory

Verbs and Types of Verbs

A verb is a word that shows action, being, or state of being. A verb is a word that shows what someone or something has, does, or is. Verbs have three principal parts: present, past, and past participle.

Regular Verbs

(formed by adding -d or -ed)

present → past → past participle.

talk → talked → talked
walk → walked → walked
cover → covered → covered
hire → hired → hired
mark → marked → marked
call → called → called
invite → invited → invited

Irregular Verbs

Memorize them as they are.

present → past → past participle.

go → went → gone
do → did → done
write → wrote → written
begin → began → called
sit → sat → set
break → broke → broken
drive → drove → driven

Adjectives and Types of Adjectives

Adjectives are words that describe, number, point out, or in some way tell more about nouns or pronouns. They answer the questions, "Which one?" What kind? How many? How much? The following words are adjectives.

perplexing
condemning
flimsy
ridiculous
angry
bright
short

Most adjectives have three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative, and superlative.

1. Positive adjectives don't compare anything to anything.

My report is short. (positive)

2. Comparative adjectives compare two things.

My report is shorter than your report. (comparative)

3. Superlative adjectives compare three or more things.

My report is the shortest report ever submitted. (superlative)

👉 Most adjectives (one syllable) are compared by simply adding -er or -est.

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
quick	quicker	quickest
bright	brighter	brightest
short	shorter	shortest
tall	taller	tallest

👉 Some adjectives (longer than one syllable) are compared with the help of some adverbs like: more, most, less. and least.

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
beautiful	more beautiful	most beautiful
perplexing	more perplexing	most perplexing
explicit	more explicit	most explicit
enjoyable	less enjoyable	least enjoyable

👉 Some adjectives are compared in irregular forms.

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
good	better	best
bad	worse	worst
ill	worse	worst
much	more	most

👉 Some adjectives are absolute (have no comparative or superlative form).

perfect
empty
dead
square
round
unique

Adverbs and Types of Adverbs

Most adverbs tell us more about the main verb of a sentence. They may also describe or explain more about an adjective, another adverb, or the whole sentence. They usually answer the questions, "How?" Why? When? Where? Many adverbs end in -ly.

firmly
blatantly
briskly
candidly
bitterly
daily
quickly
approximately
mistakenly
sharply
carefully

Adverbs describing or limiting Verbs

Here are some examples of adverbs describing or limiting verbs:

She walked outside and exhaled billows of smoke. (Where did she walk?)
The receptionist is resigning immediately after she pushes her last button. (When will she resign?)
Looking at our organizational flowchart will always confuse you about who really has the final say. (To what extent?)
He expressed his opinion honestly and forthrightly. (How did he express it?)
The committee answered deceptively and dogmatically. (How did the committee answer?)

Adverbs Describing or Limiting Adjectives

Here are some examples of adverbs describing or limiting adjectives:

She is a blatantly disgruntled boss. (To what extent is the boss disgruntled?)
He delights in presenting management with recently reported customer problems. (Reported when?)
This is a more appealing report than the first one; who cares if it is inaccurate? (To what extent is it appealing?)
Bill Gates is a highly respected person. (Respected to what extent?)
she is clearly upset that he isn't a respected person. (Upset to what extent?)

Adverbs Describing or Limiting Other Adverbs

Here are some examples of adverbs describing or limiting other adverbs:

He would very much appreciate your returning his phone call sometime this year. (Appreciate how much?)
He talks his way out of promotions more quickly than any employee I've trained. (Quick to what extent?)

Adverbs Describing or Limiting Sentences

Here are some examples of adverbs describing or limiting sentences:

Candidly, I haven't worked for a guy I admire less.
Frankly, I wouldn't rubber stamp anything that committee decided.

Pronouns and Types of Pronouns

Pronouns take place of nouns or other pronouns. For example, if you don't want to say chair, you can refer to the chair as it. If you don't want to say doctor, you can refer to the doctor with pronouns such as he or him, she or her.

Personal Pronouns

Subject	Object	Possessive	Reflexive
I	me	mine	myself
you	you	yours	yourself
he	him	his	himself
she	her	hers	herself
it	it	its	itself
we	us	ours	ourselves
they	them	theirs	themselves

Interrogative Pronouns

what
why
whose
which
how
who
whom

Demonstrative Pronouns

this
that
these
those

Indefinite Pronouns

all
another
any
anybody
anyone
anything
anywhere
both
each
either
every
everybody
everyone
everything
few
many
more
most
neither
no one
nobody
none
nothing
nowhere
one
others
several
some
somebody
someone
something
somewhere

Relative Pronouns

that
what
whatever
where
wherever
which
whichever
who
whoever
whom
whomever
why

Reciprocal Pronouns

each other
one another

Prepositions and Types of Prepositions

Prepositions link the nouns that follow them to other words in the sentences. There are about 150 prepositions in the English language. Here is a list of the most commonly used prepositions in English.

about
above
across
after
against
along
among
around
at
before
behind
below
beneath
beside
besides
between
beyond
by
down
during
except
for
from
in
inside
into
like
near
of
off
on
onto
out
over
past
since
through
throughout
to
toward
under
underneath
until
unto
up
upon
with
within
without

Prepositions formed with two or more words

according to
ahead of
along with
as well as
because of
by means of
down from
in addition to
in spite of
instead of
on account of
out of
regardless of
together with
with respect to

Conjunctions and Types of Conjunctions

Conjunctions connect words, phrases, and clauses. They are of three categories: coordinate conjunctions, subordinate conjunctions, and correlative conjunctions.

Coordinate conjunctions: link things of equal importance.
Subordinate conjunctions: link a less important word, phrase, or idea to a more important word, phrase, or idea.
Correlative conjunctions: are used in pairs to connect equal things.

Coordinate Conjunctions

(fanboys)

Coordinating Conjunction Examples

He who pays his tuitions, studies hard, and graduates with highest honors may find a job. (Three equal verbs: pays, studies, graduates)
John and Sophie need more help than they can give each other. (Equal nouns: John and Sophie)
Clever advertising may sell a mediocre product, but a mediocre product can kill a good ad. (Two equal ideas)

Subordinate Conjunctions

after
although
inasmuch as
as
as if
as long as
as soon as
because
before
how
if
in order that
since
so that
than
till
unless
until
when
whereas
whether
while
why

Subordinate Conjunction Examples

He insists on a bonus until I leave the project. (Until introduces the minor idea)
I can't leave because she has the key to my washroom. (Because introduces the lesser idea of the two)
She told me her answer before I asked the question. (Before links the minor idea to the major idea)

Correlative Conjunctions

both/and
either/or
neither/nor
not only/but also
whether/if
whether/or

Correlative Conjunction Examples

Whether she goes or stays will make little difference in our reorganization plans.
Either you or I will have to put in a full day's work today.
This assertiveness seminar presented me with both the confidence and the stupidity to ask the boss he thinks I'm worth.

Interjection Definition and Examples

Interjections are words or phrases that show strong emotions, something that most people show only after they leave a job. That's why interjections are seldom used in business English. Interjections are grammatically independent from the words around them.

ah
bingo
hmm
hurray
oops
ouch
wahoo
wow

We've just finished the eight parts of speech. If you are going to have difficulty in recognizing them, the problem will likely be with a word that can be more than one part of speech.