The Eight Parts of Speech

Grammar consists of standard rules and conventions writers adhere to in order to communicate their ideas clearly. The building blocks of English grammar are the eight parts of speech. Below is a breakdown of these parts and the basic function they serve. To learn more, go to each individual page.

Noun

A noun can be a person, animal, place, object, idea, or any other thing that’s tangible or intangible. Nouns are typically used as subjects, objects, and modifiers. They are the who and what in a sentence. There are different types of nouns. Learn more...

Pronoun

A pronoun (I, me, it, she, he, you, they, that, those, etc.) takes the place of a noun, which is then referred to as the antecedent. Pronouns can take the place of people, places, ideas, or things. There are a number of different pronoun groups. Two of the most common groups are personal pronouns and indefinite pronouns. Learn more...
 
Verb

A verb conveys action by a noun (person, animal, place, thing, or idea). These actions can be tangible (write, eat, sleep), intangible (become, occur, happen), or in a state of being (be, seem, been). There are three main types of verbs: action verb, linking verb, and helping verb.    
Learn more... 
       
Adjective

An adjective modifies or describes a noun or pronoun. It is commonly used to address these types of questions: Which one? What kind? How many? What condition or quality? What size or color? Whose? Adjectives usually appear just before the nouns they modify. Learn more...

Adverb

An adverb describes or modifies verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Adverbs answer these questions: How? Where? Why? When? To what extent? In what way? Under what condition? They can appear before or after the word they modify. Learn more...
 
Preposition

A preposition precedes a noun or noun phrase and connects it to other parts of the sentence. These are mostly single words (of, to, for, with, on, at), but can be short phrases (as far as, in front of, according to). Prepositions are commonly used to indicate direction, location, time, reason, purpose, etc.  Learn more... 

Conjunction

A conjunction joins words or groups of words. There are three main types: coordinating conjunctions, correlative conjunctions, and subordinating conjunctions. Learn more...

Interjection

An interjection is a word or short phrase that conveys emotion or reaction. It can stand on its own or provide context to a sentence. There are two main ways to use interjections. Learn more...