Learn The 8 Different Parts Of Speech With Easy Examples

The parts of speech are the building blocks of the language. We can categorize every word in the English language into eight different parts of speech. Knowing the different parts of speech helps you form grammatically and structurally correct sentences.

In this post, we discuss the different parts of speech with easy examples to help you understand them better:

The 8 Parts Of Speech

1. Nouns

Any word that denotes the name of a person, object, place or concept is a noun. Anything that has a name is a noun. For example, John, New York, basketball and honesty are all nouns. Nouns are of four categories:

2. Pronouns

Pronouns are the words you use instead of nouns. Using nouns repeatedly can get boring for the reader or listener. You can use pronouns when the reader or listener knows the noun you’re referring to.

Consider this paragraph: Jenifer is a studious girl. But Jenifer is always late. Jenifer’s teacher has warned Jenifer not to be late for class.

As you can see, using the proper noun Jenifer several times in a row gets boring and repetitive. Instead of Jenifer, you can use the appropriate pronouns.

The same paragraph can be written as Jenifer is a studious girl. But she’s always late. Her teacher has warned her not to be late for class.

3. Adjectives

Adjectives add spice to your sentences. They are words that you use to describe nouns. In my online spoken English classes, I focus more on adjectives as it improves fluency and adds variety to your daily conversations, helping you sound more confident in the language.

For example, think of your favourite book. How would you describe it to a friend who hasn’t read it?

You might say the book is well-written, engaging, suspenseful, humorous, thought-provoking or interesting. All these words that you use to describe the book are adjectives. Adjectives often appear right before the noun.

For example, I have a blue car. Here, blue is the adjective and it describes the noun car.

While it’s common to notice adjectives before a noun, it doesn’t always have to be that way. For example, my car is blue. Here, blue is the adjective describing the noun car, but it doesn’t appear in front of the noun.

4. Verbs

Verbs are action words. They describe specific actions. Consider the following examples, and try to identify the words that denote action:

• Let’s go home.
• Run as fast as you can.
• I am attending a course for fluent English speaking.
• She completed her homework.
• What did you eat?

In these sentences, the words go, run, attend, complete and eat verbs as they denote specific actions.

That said, not all words denote actions. There are a few verbs, such as to be and am, that do not indicate an action. These words are known as non-action verbs.

5. Adverbs

Just like an adjective describes a noun, an adverb describes a verb, an adjective or another adverb. Here are a few examples to help you better understand adverbs:

• I knocked on the door loudly.

Here, the word knock is the verb and loudly is an adverb as it describes the action. It specifies how you completed the activity. You knocked on the door loudly.

Here’s another example:

• The lion is always faster than a deer.

Here the word always is an adverb as it describes the adjective faster.

6. Preposition

A preposition explains the relationship between the other parts of the sentence. Here are a few examples:

• The cat is under the table.
• I left my bicycle leaning against the door.
• The chef put the cake in the oven.

In these sentences, the words under, against, and in explain the position of the other words. For example, without the word “in,” we won’t know where the chef placed the cake.

7. Conjunctions

Conjunctions are words that help us build longer, complex sentences that express multiple ideas. For example, consider the following sentences:

I like black coffee. I like green tea. I don’t like black tea.

Each of these sentences explains your beverage preferences. While you can use them as separate sentences, it’s not the most elegant way to express your ideas. There’s a disconnect between your thoughts.

Using conjunctions helps you combine similar ideas. For example:

I like black coffee and green tea, but I don’t like black tea.

In this sentence, and and but are the two conjunctions that help to link your ideas.

8. Articles

We’ve come to the last building block of a sentence – the articles. There are three articles:

• A
• An
• The

Articles are of two types:

• Definite article – It describes a specific noun.

For example, the sun rises in the East. In this sentence, we use “the” before the sun, as there is only one sun in our solar system. And the reader knows about the sun we’re referring to.

• Indefinite articles – A and an are indefinite articles as they denote common nouns.

For example, do you have an umbrella? or she is a girl. A is used before words that start with a consonant and an comes before words that begin with an article.

How To Identify Parts Of Speech?

Sometimes, it’s not easy to identify the different parts of speech. You can use the following tips/hacks to help you quickly identify the different parts of speech:

• If the word is an adjective but ends with –ly, it’s an adverb. Example, beautifully, playfully and quickly.
• If you can replace the word with a noun and the sentence still makes sense, it’s a pronoun. For example, He plays basketball. In this sentence, we can replace he with a proper noun like Steve, and it still makes sense. So, we can quickly identify that he is a pronoun.
• If a word denotes action, it’s a verb. I run daily. Here run indicates action, so we can quickly identify it as a verb.
• If you can remove a word, but the sentence still makes sense, it’s probably an adjective. For example, I drive a red car. When we remove the word “red,” the sentence still makes sense. So, we can identify that red is an adjective.

If you can’t figure out the parts of speech, look the word up in a dictionary. Most dictionaries specify the part of speech along with the word’s meaning.

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