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Parts of Speech Overview
Summary:
This handout defines the basic parts of speech and provides examples of their uses in sentences. Links to more handouts and exercises on particular parts of speech are also provided. If you are learning English as a Second Language (ESL), you may also want to browse through a complete listing of our ESL resources.
Nouns
A noun is a word that denotes a person, place, or thing. In a sentence, nouns answer the questions who and what.
In the sentence above, there are two nouns, dog and ball. A noun may be concrete (something you can touch, see, etc.), like the nouns in the example above, or a noun may be abstract, as in the sentences below.
The abstract concepts of integrity and love in the sentences above are both nouns. Nouns may also be proper.
Chicago, Thanksgiving, and November are all proper nouns, and they should be capitalized. (For more information on proper nouns and when to capitalize words, see our handout on Capital Letters.)
You may also visit our handout on Count and Noncount Nouns.
Learn how to spot verbs that act as nouns. Visit our handout on Verbals: Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives.
Pronouns
A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun in a sentence.
In the sentence above, she is the pronoun. Like nouns, pronouns may be used either as subjects or as objects in a sentence.
In the example above, both she and him are pronouns; she is the subject of the sentence while him is the object. Every subject pronoun has a corresponding object form, as shown in the table below.
Subject and Object Pronouns | |
Subject Pronouns | Object Pronouns |
I | Me |
We | Us |
You | You |
She | Her |
He | Him |
It | It |
They | Them |
For more information on pronouns, go to our handout on Pronouns.
To find out what part of speech are that, which, and whom? Visit our handout on Relative Pronouns.
Articles
Articles include a, an, and the. They precede a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence.
In example 1, the article a precedes the noun house, and a also precedes the noun phrase big porch, which consists of an adjective (big) and the noun it describes (porch). In example 2, the article the precedes the noun phrase blue sweater, in which sweater is the noun and blue, the adjective.
For more information, go to our handouts on Articles: A vs. An and How to Use Articles (a/an/the).
Adjectives
An adjective is a word that modifies, or describes, a noun or pronoun. Adjectives may precede nouns, or they may appear after a form of the reflexive verb to be (am, are, is, was, etc.).
In example 1, two consecutive adjectives, red and brick, both describe the noun house. In example 2, the adjective tall appears after the reflexive verb is and describes the subject, she.
For more on adjectives, go to our handouts Adjective or Adverb and How to Use Adjectives and Adverbs.
Verbs
A verb is a word that denotes action, or a state of being, in a sentence.
In example 1, rides is the verb; it describes what the subject, Beth, does. In example 2, was describes Paul’s state of being and is therefore the verb.
There may be multiple verbs in a sentence, or there may be a verb phrase consisting of a verb plus a helping verb.
In example 1, the subject she performs two actions in the sentence, turned and opened. In example 2, the verb phrase is was studying.
Some words in a sentence may look like verbs but act as something else, like a noun; these are called verbals. For more information on verbs that masquerade as other parts of speech, go to our handout on Verbals: Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives.
To learn more about conjugating verbs, visit our handouts on Verb Tenses, Irregular Verbs, and Two-Part (Phrasal) Verbs (Idioms).
Adverbs
Just as adjectives modify nouns, adverbs modify, or further describe, verbs. Adverbs may also modify adjectives. (Many, though not all, adverbs end in -ly.)
In the first example, the adverb wildly modifies the verb waved. In the second example, the adverb extremely modifies the adjective bright, which describes the noun shirt. While nouns answer the questions who and what, adverbs answer the questions how, when, why, and where.
For a more detailed discussion of adverbs, visit our handout Adjective or Adverb and become an expert.
Conjunctions
A conjunction is a word that joins two independent clauses, or sentences, together.
In the examples above, both but and so are conjunctions. They join two complete sentences with the help of a comma. And, but, for, or, nor, so, and yet can all act as conjunctions.
Prepositions
Prepositions work in combination with a noun or pronoun to create phrases that modify verbs, nouns/pronouns, or adjectives. Prepositional phrases convey a spatial, temporal, or directional meaning.
There are two prepositional phrases in the example above: up the brick wall and of the house. The first prepositional phrase is an adverbial phrase, since it modifies the verb by describing where the ivy climbed. The second phrase further modifies the noun wall (the object of the first prepositional phrase) and describes which wall the ivy climbs.
For a more detailed discussion on this part of speech and its functions, click on Prepositions.
Below is a list of prepositions in the English language:
Aboard, about, above, across, after, against, along, amid, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, by, down, during, except, for, from, in, into, like, near, of, off, on, onto, out, over, past, since, through, throughout, to, toward, under, underneath, until, unto, up, upon, with, within, without.
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General Writing
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The Writing Process
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Academic Writing
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Common Writing Assignments
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Mechanics
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- Capitals: Help with Capitals
- Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives
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Grammar
- Grammar Introduction
- Spelling: Common Words that Sound Alike
- Numbers: Writing Numbers
- Adjective or Adverb
- How to Use Adjectives and Adverbs
- Appositives
- Articles: A versus An
- How to Use Articles (a/an/the)
- Prepositions
- Pronouns
- Relative Pronouns
- Count and Noncount Nouns
- Subject/Verb Agreement
- Verb Tenses
- Active Verb Tenses
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- That vs. Which
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Punctuation
- Punctuation Introduction
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- Conquering the Comma Presentation
- Commas
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Visual Rhetoric
- Visual Rhetoric Introduction
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- Analyzing Visual Documents
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- Color Theory Presentation
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Undergraduate Applications
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Graduate School Applications
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Research and Citation
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Conducting Research
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Using Research
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- Writing with Statistics
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- Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing
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- Writing Scientific Abstracts Presentation
- ASA Style
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APA Style
- APA Style Introduction
- APA Overview and Workshop
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APA Formatting and Style Guide
- General Format
- In-Text Citations: The Basics
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- Reference List: Basic Rules
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- Types of APA Papers
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MLA Style
- MLA Style Introduction
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MLA Formatting and Style Guide
- General Format
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- MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics
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Chicago Style
- CMOS Introduction
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CMOS Formatting and Style Guide
- Chicago Manual of Style 17th Edition
- General Format
- Books
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Writing Tutors
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Teaching Resources
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Preventing Plagiarism
- Preventing Plagiarism Introduction
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Contextualizing Plagiarism
- Contextualizing Plagiarism
- Truth or Consequences
- Handout: Truth or Consequences
- The Big Picture
- Authorship and Popular Plagiarism
- Copyright and Plagiarism
- Handout: Copyright and Plagiarism
- Collaborative Authorship
- Handout: Collaborative Authorship
- Defining Our Terms
- Class Plagiarism Policy
- Comparing Policies
- Handout: Comparing Policies
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Avoiding Plagiarism
- Avoiding Plagiarism
- Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting
- Peer Summarizing
- Anonymous Paraphrasing
- Paraphrasing from Media
- Handout: Paraphrasing from Media
- Using In-text Citations
- Handout: Using In-text Citations
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- Handout: Quoting Others
- Summary, Paraphrase, and Quotation in Context
- Handout: Summary, Paraphrase, and Quotation in Context
- Translingual Writing
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Writing in the Engineering Classroom
- Why Include Writing in Engineering Courses?
- Using Bloom’s Taxonomy
- Types of Writing Assignments for Engineering Courses
- Conceptual Writing Prompts
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- Research Team
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Writing Instructors
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Subject-Specific Writing
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Professional, Technical Writing
- Professional, Technical Writing Introduction
- Workplace Writers
- Effective Workplace Writing
- Audience Analysis
- Prioritizing Your Concerns for Effective Business Writing
- Parallel Structure
- Activity and Postmortem Reports
- Tone in Business Writing
- HATS: A Design Procedure for Routine Business Documents
- Basic Business Letters
- Accentuating the Positives
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- Four Point Action Closing
- Grant Writing
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Professional, Technical Writing