Parts of Speech in English, Definition, Types, Examples, Rules

Parts of Speech in English Grammar

When you speak or write a sentence in the English language, all the words in that sentence fall into one of the following categories. There are generally Eight such parts in the English language. These parts or categories are commonly known as “parts of speech”. Some of the words also fall into more than one of these categories. Here in this article, we have explained all the 8 parts of speech in detail. For easy understanding, we have also provided the necessary examples regarding different parts of speech in English Grammar.

Now as you have understood the basic concept behind the “Parts of Speech”. Let us proceed to the details of various parts of the speech. 

Parts of Speech Definition

The simplest definition for the term parts of speech is as follows:

“Parts of speech is a term used to describe the traditional class of words in the English language that varies according to the function performed or the idea denoted by those words in a sentence. There are 8 parts of speech in English, namely Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections. 

Parts of Speech Chart

Parts of Speech chart is a great tool to memorize all the parts of speech in English Grammar with its examples and definitions. Go through the parts of the speech chart below for a better understanding of parts of speech. Even if you understand the parts of speech well, this chart will help you to quickly revise all the parts of speech.

List of Parts of Speech

There are mainly 8 parts of speech. The different parts of speech have their importance and rules of usage. After reading this you will be able to easily use the parts of speech in a sentence. There are a lot of books and websites that even mention that there are 9 parts of speech but the 8 parts of speech detailed below are the most important and the most commonly used ones.

1. Noun- Noun is the name of a person, place, or thing. A noun is often used with an article, but it's not mandatory to use an article before a noun. A noun can be a subject as well as an object.
2. Pronoun- Pronouns are those words that replace the nouns in a paragraph so that the passage sounds grammatically correct. Pronouns help avoid the repetition of the nouns again and again.
3. Verbs- Verbs are commonly known as action words. They express being or action in a sentence. Verbs are of two types, the main verbs or the helping verbs. Verbs play an important role in determining tenses.
4. Adjectives- Adjectives are mostly used to modify nouns or even pronouns. Adjectives help describe nouns or pronouns. The articles are also considered as a part of adjectives. But here we have defined articles separately as another part of speech.
5. Adverb- Adverbs are those words that add something to the meaning of a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. An adverb usually answers the questions of when, where, how, why, under what conditions, or to what degree. Adverbs often end with “-ly”. An adverb is not used with nouns. Using an Adverb with nouns is a blunder.
6. Prepositions- As the name suggests, prepositions are positioned before a noun or pronoun in a sentence.  It helps form a phrase that usually helps replace numerous words in a sentence. For example, “Ask around” a phrasal preposition means inviting someone for a purpose.
7. Conjunctions- Conjunctions are the joining words that help combine separate sentences or words into a single sentence. Conjunctions help us to write and speak with fewer words or phrases at a time.
8. Interjections- Interjections are stand-alone expressions for various emotions that can also be used without a sentence. They help convey strong feelings or reactions to a situation.

Examples of Parts of Speech

Above we have already explained the various parts of speech but with a few examples of parts of speech, you will be able to remember the various parts of speech easily. Let's have a look at the Parts of Speech Examples.

1) Noun

1. That cat is black
2. He lost his socks
3. The monkey is eating bananas
4. Raj has not completed his tasks yet

2) Pronoun

1. She is angry.
2. They have already left
3. I am busy
4. Those puppies are so cute.

3) Verb

1. Ram is playing
2. Shyam is eating
3. He is riding a bicycle.
4. She looks sad

4) Adjective

1. She is a cruel sister
2. He looks charming.
3. The lady looks pretty in a saree.
4. That was a huge bungalow.

5) Adverb

1. Rita arrived early today
2. She drives slowly
3. She speaks softly
4. Only Rohit was late at the party

6) Prepositions

1. I am standing over the bridge
2. They all spoke against the watchman
3. She lives across the street.
4. Sorry for the delay.

7) Conjunctions

1. Shreya and Riya are friends.
2. She is pretty but not smart.
3. She loves momos with mayonnaise.
4. The students were not keeping quiet so the teacher left.

8) Interjections

1. Oops! I forget her birthday.
2. Ouch! I am hurt.
3. Alas! A bad day.
4. Ahh! What a lovely pair of shoes.

In some books and websites Articles in English are considered as one of the parts of speech. The Articles (A, An, and The) are discussed below:

Articles- There are only three articles in the English language. A, An, and The are the only articles that are used before the nouns to clearly define numbers.

A - It is used to determine one or a single object before consonants

An - An also represents one but only before vowels

The - The is used before universal truths.