part of speech word out

What part of speech is the word out?

The word 'out' is a noun , a verb , an adjective , an adverb , and a preposition .

The only out you have is to pay what you owe. (noun)

The truth will out when the case goes to court. (verb)

The out players will get a second chance. (adjective)

If you're going out , wear your sweater. (adverb)

He looked out the window to see if it was raining. (preposition)

Add your answer:

What part of speech is the word my-?

The part of speech that the word my is used as is an adjective.

What often changes a word's part of speech?

A suffix changes a word's part of speech. For example, the word 'happy' is an adjective. But when you add a suffix, which is an ending, it can change the part of speech. Happily is an adverb. Happiness is a noun.

What part of a speech is the word for?

When the word if begins a sentence what is the part of speech.

it depends what word it is it could be any part of speech depending on the sentence

What part of speech is the word powerful?

The word power is a noun. The plural form is powers.

What part of speech is the word moments?

The part of speech for this particular word is a noun.

What part of speech is the word diplomacy?

The part of speech for the word diplomacy is a noun.

What is the part of speech for the word civilian?

The part of speech for the word civilian is English grammar.

What part of speech is H?

H is a letter, not a word. To be a part of speech, it needs to be a word.

What is the part of speech for the entry word boulevard?

The part of speech for the word "boulevard" is a noun.

What part of speech is speech?

The word speech is a noun.

What is the part of speech of momentous?

What part of speech is stroobly.

"Stroobly" is not a standard English word, so it does not have a designated part of speech.

What part of speech is (THE)?

What part of speech is ''is'', what part is speech is is.

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What part of speech is “out”

Learn all the parts of speech for different words and understand how to use them in the English language

Definition :

as a noun, 'out' refers to a means of escape or a way to avoid something.

There's no easy out for this problem.

He always looks for an out when things get tough.

The contract has a built-in out clause.

the noun form of 'out' often implies a desire to avoid responsibility or a difficult situation.

as an adjective, 'out' describes something that is not currently in its usual place or state, or something that is visible or known.

'out' can indicate something is not in its usual place or state. It can suggest something is now visible or known.

The lights are out.

The new edition of the book is out.

He's out for the season due to an injury.

'out' as an adjective can sometimes be used in a more figurative sense, e.g., 'out of favor' (not popular).

Preposition

as a preposition, 'out' indicates movement from the inside of something to the outside or from one location to another.

'out' can be used to show movement from within a space to the exterior. It can also describe a direction away from a central point.

She walked out the door.

The cat jumped out of the box.

He lives three miles out of town.

'out of' is often used to indicate movement from within a confined space, while 'out' alone can indicate direction or distance from a point.

as a verb, 'out' primarily means to expose or reveal, especially something that was meant to be kept secret.

'out' can be used to reveal a secret or something concealed.

The journalist outed the politician's scandal.

She was outed as a spy.

The magazine outed the celebrity's hidden relationship.

in modern contexts, 'out' can refer to revealing someone's LGBTQ+ identity without their consent, which is considered disrespectful and potentially harmful.

Use this verb with sensitivity, especially in contexts related to personal identities.

as an adverb, 'out' describes a movement or position away from the inside or center of something. It can also indicate a state of visibility or existence.

'out' can indicate movement away from an interior space or a central point. It can suggest something is visible, known, or exists.

The sun is out.

He shouted out in surprise.

The secret is now out.

'out' can sometimes be used in phrasal verbs, where its meaning can change based on the verb it's paired with, e.g., 'find out' (discover) or 'run out' (deplete).

Learn words and related parts of speech through practical exercises

Learn more about parts of speech.

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Your English: Word grammar: out

By Tim Bowen

Look out ! Tim Bowen tackles this popular and versatile word.

The word out normally functions as an adverb but it can also function as a preposition, an adjective, a verb and a noun.

As a preposition, it is normally used in the prepositional phrase out of , but in American English, and sometimes in spoken British English,  out can stand alone as a preposition, as in ‘She looked out the window’. 

As an adjective out is used to describe a gay person who has told other people that he or she is gay, as in ‘She is one of the few out lesbian politicians in parliament’. The verb to out can be used in a similar context to mean to make it publicly known that someone is gay, as in ‘He is a gay schoolteacher who was outed on national television by one of his former pupils’ or ‘The magazine had a policy of outing politicians it considered to be hypocrites’.

As a verb, out can also be used to make an unpleasant or embarrassing fact about someone publicly known, as in ‘Catherine Zeta Jones was recently outed in her battle with depression, according to her husband Michael Douglas’.

The noun out is an excuse that is used in order to avoid having to do something or in order to avoid being blamed, as in ‘They’re trying to find an out so that they don’t have to pay for the damage’. 

A further adjectival use of out is in the pre-nominal phrase out-and-out , which means ‘showing all the qualities of a particular type of person you do not approve of’, as in ‘He demonstrated through his behaviour and his attitude that he was an out-and-out racist’.

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This tool allows you to find the grammatical word type of almost any word.

• out can be used as a adverb in the sense of "Away from home or one's usual place, or not indoors." or "Away from; at a distance." or "Away from the inside or the centre." or "Into a state of non-operation; into non-existence." or "Used to intensify or emphasize." or "Of a player, disqualified from playing further by some action of a member of the opposing team (such as being stumped in cricket)."
• out can be used as a preposition in the sense of "Away from the inside." or "Away from the center."
• out can be used as a noun in the sense of "A means of exit, escape, reprieve, etc." or "A state in which a member of the batting team is removed from play because the defending team threw the baseball past the batter three times in the strike zone, fielded a ball hit in the air, or fielded a ball hit to the ground and moved the ball to a defender blocking the runner's ability to move from base to base." or "A card which can make a hand a winner."
• out can be used as a verb in the sense of "To reveal (a person) to be secretly homosexual." or "To reveal (a person) as having a certain secret."
• out can be used as a adjective in the sense of "Of a player, disqualified from playing further by some action of a member of the opposing team (such as being stumped in cricket)." or "Openly acknowledging one's homosexuality."

Related Searches

What type of word is ~term~ .

Unfortunately, with the current database that runs this site, I don't have data about which senses of ~term~ are used most commonly. I've got ideas about how to fix this but will need to find a source of "sense" frequencies. Hopefully there's enough info above to help you understand the part of speech of ~term~ , and guess at its most common usage.

For those interested in a little info about this site: it's a side project that I developed while working on Describing Words and Related Words . Both of those projects are based around words, but have much grander goals. I had an idea for a website that simply explains the word types of the words that you search for - just like a dictionary, but focussed on the part of speech of the words. And since I already had a lot of the infrastructure in place from the other two sites, I figured it wouldn't be too much more work to get this up and running.

The dictionary is based on the amazing Wiktionary project by wikimedia . I initially started with WordNet , but then realised that it was missing many types of words/lemma (determiners, pronouns, abbreviations, and many more). This caused me to investigate the 1913 edition of Websters Dictionary - which is now in the public domain. However, after a day's work wrangling it into a database I realised that there were far too many errors (especially with the part-of-speech tagging) for it to be viable for Word Type.

Finally, I went back to Wiktionary - which I already knew about, but had been avoiding because it's not properly structured for parsing. That's when I stumbled across the UBY project - an amazing project which needs more recognition. The researchers have parsed the whole of Wiktionary and other sources, and compiled everything into a single unified resource. I simply extracted the Wiktionary entries and threw them into this interface! So it took a little more work than expected, but I'm happy I kept at it after the first couple of blunders.

Special thanks to the contributors of the open-source code that was used in this project: the UBY project (mentioned above), @mongodb and express.js .

Currently, this is based on a version of wiktionary which is a few years old. I plan to update it to a newer version soon and that update should bring in a bunch of new word senses for many words (or more accurately, lemma).

Recent Queries

The 8 Parts of Speech: Examples and Rules

• The 8 parts of speech are nouns , pronouns , adjectives , verbs , adverbs , prepositions , conjunctions , and articles .
• Every word in English can be classified as one of these 8 parts of speech.
• The term part of speech refers to a word’s role in a sentence.
• Some words can be different parts of speech depending on how they’re used in a sentence, such as work ( noun and verb ) and well ( adverb , adjective , and noun ).
• The parts of speech fall into two word classes : open (parts of speech that regularly acquire new words) and closed (parts of speech that don’t readily acquire new words).

Mastering the parts of speech is essential for clear communication, strong writing, and learning other languages. Here, we’ll explore the rules behind the different parts of speech and how to use them together in grammatically correct sentences, with examples.

Work smarter with Grammarly The AI writing assistant for anyone with work to do Get Grammarly

Table of contents

What are the 8 parts of speech, how to identify parts of speech, when a word can be different parts of speech, open vs. closed word classes, the 8 parts of speech faqs.

A noun is a word that names a person, place, concept, or object. Basically, anything that names a “thing” is a noun.

basketball court

San Francisco

self-preservation

Nouns fall into two categories: common nouns and proper nouns . Common nouns are general names for things, such as:

Proper nouns are names or titles for specific things, such as:

2   Pronouns

Pronouns are words you substitute for specific nouns when the reader or listener already knows which specific noun you’re referring to.

You might say, “Jennifer was supposed to be here at eight,” then follow it with “ She’s always late; next time I’ll tell her to be here a half hour earlier.”

Instead of saying Jennifer’s name three times in a row, you substituted she and her , and your sentences remained grammatically correct.

3   Adjectives

Adjectives are the words that describe nouns. Think about your favorite movie. How would you describe it to a friend who’s never seen it?

“That movie movie was funny , engaging , and well-written .

When describing the movie with these words, you’re using adjectives. An adjective can go right before the noun it’s describing:

“I have a black dog.”

But it doesn’t have to. Sometimes, adjectives are at the end of a sentence:

“My dog is black. ”

Verbs are words that describe specific actions, whether physical or mental.

“ Go ! Be amazing!”

“ Run as fast as you can .”

“The coach congratulated every participant who put in the work and competed .”

Not all verbs refer to literal actions, though. Verbs that refer to feelings or states of being, like to love and to be , are known as nonaction verbs .

“She seems happy.”

The verb seems is a non-action verb, describing a state of being rather than an action. Conversely, the verbs that refer to literal actions are known as action verbs .

“He runs every morning.”

The verb runs is an action verb describing what he does .

5   Adverbs

An adverb is a word that describes an adjective, a verb, or another adverb.

“ I entered the room quietly .”

Quietly describes how you entered (verb) the room.

“ A cheetah is always faster than a lion.”

Always describes how frequently a cheetah is faster (adjective) than a lion.

6   Prepositions

Prepositions tell you the relationships between other words in a sentence.

“I left my bike leaning against the garage.”

Against is the preposition because it tells us where you left your bike.

“She put the pizza in the oven.”

Without the preposition in , we don’t know where the pizza is.

7   Conjunctions

Conjunctions make it possible to build complex sentences that express multiple ideas.

“ I like marinara sauce. I like alfredo sauce. I don’t like puttanesca sauce.”

Each of these three sentences expresses a clear idea. There’s nothing wrong with listing your preferences like this, but it’s not the most efficient way to do it. Consider instead:

“I like marinara sauce and alfredo sauce, but I don’t like puttanesca sauce.”

In this sentence, and and but are the two conjunctions linking your ideas.

8   Articles

Articles are words that appear before nouns to indicate whether the noun is specific or general.

The brick house

An exciting experience

A , the , and an are all examples of articles. Articles come in two types: definite articles and indefinite articles . Similarly to the two types of nouns, the type of article you use depends on how specific you need to be about the thing you’re discussing.

A definite article, like the or this , describes one specific noun.

“ Did you buy the car?”

From the above sentence, we understand that the speaker is referring to a specific previously discussed car.

Now swap in an indefinite article:

“ Did you buy a car?”

The implication that you’re referring back to something specific is gone, and it becomes a more general question.

Sometimes, it’s difficult to tell which part of speech a word is. Here are a few easy tips for quickly figuring out what part of speech you’re dealing with:

• If it’s an adjective plus the ending –ly , it’s an adverb . Examples: commonly , quickly .
• If you can swap it out for a noun and the sentence still makes sense, it’s a pronoun . Examples: “ He played basketball.” / “ Steve played basketball.”
• If it’s something you do and you can modify the sentence to include the word do , it’s a verb . Examples: “I have an umbrella.” / “I do have an umbrella.”
• If you can remove the word and the sentence still makes sense, but you lose a detail, the word is most likely an adjective . Examples: “She drives a red van.” / “She drives a van.”

And if you’re ever really stumped, just look the word up. Dictionaries typically list a word’s part of speech in its entry. If it has multiple forms with different parts of speech, they are all listed with examples.

Here’s a tip: Want to make sure you’re using parts of speech correctly in your writing ? Grammarly can check your spelling and save you from grammar and punctuation mistakes. It even proofreads your text, so your work is extra polished wherever you write.  

Just like y is sometimes a vowel and sometimes a consonant , some words are sometimes one part of speech and other times another.

Let’s use the example of the word work .

“I went to work. ” (noun)

“I work in the garden.” (verb)

Now, let’s use the word well as another example.

“She paints very well. ” (adverb)

“They are finally well now, after weeks of illness.” (adjective)

“I dropped a penny into the well .” (noun)

Finally, let’s use the word but as an example.

“I cooked breakfast and lunch, but Steve cooked dinner.” (conjunction)

“I brought everything but the pens you asked for.” (preposition)

Sometimes, words evolve to add forms that are new parts of speech. One recent example is the word adult . Before the 2010s, adult was primarily a noun that referred to a fully grown person. It could also be used as an adjective to refer to specific types of media, like adult contemporary music. At the turn of the 2010s, the word adulting , a brand-new verb, appeared in the internet lexicon. As a verb, adulting refers to the act of doing tasks associated with adulthood, like paying bills and grocery shopping.

The parts of speech fall into two word classes : open and closed .

Open word classes are the parts of speech that regularly acquire new words. Language evolves, and that evolution usually takes place in nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs.

In 2022, new words added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary included dumbphone (noun), greenwash (verb), and cringe (adjective).

Closed word classes are the parts of speech that don’t readily acquire new words. These parts of speech are more set in stone and include pronouns, conjunctions, articles, and prepositions.

“The cat is under the table.”

The word under is a closed class preposition that indicates a relationship between the cat and the table.

Nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and articles.

How do you tell what part of speech a word is?

Look at its role in the sentence. For example, does it describe an action (verb) or a thing (noun)?

Can a word be more than one part of speech?

Yes, words like well and work can function as different parts of speech depending on context.

What’s the difference between open and closed word classes?

Open class words can evolve, while closed class words remain fixed.

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Parts of speech

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Modal title

This online tool is used for to find parts of speech of nouns, adverbs, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, and interjections. A great tool for learning purposes by teachers and students in schools and universities.

How does it work?

Use the search box on top and type in any word, in any form, and find all forms of the word you are searching for. Both base form and all inflected versions of the word. The result is displayed with definitions and sentences with examples of use.

Eight parts of speech

There are eight parts of speech in the English language: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. The part of speech indicates how the word functions in meaning as well as grammatically within the sentence. An individual word can function as more than one part of speech when used in different circumstances. Understanding parts of speech is essential for determining the correct definition of a word when using a dictionary.

A noun names a person, place, things or idea. Examples dog, cat, horse, student, teacher, apple, Mary etc...

An adverb tells how often, ho, when, where. It can describe a verb, an adjective or an adverb. Examples loudly, always, never, later, soon etc...

A verb is a word or group of words that desribes an action, experience. Examples realize, walk, see, look, sing, sit, listen etc...

An adjective describes a noun or pronoun. Examples red, tall, fat, long, short, blue, beautiful, sour etc...

Preposition

A preposition is used before a noun, pronoun, or gerund to show place, time, direction in a sentence. Examples at, in, to, for, from etc...

Conjuntions join words or groups of words in a sentence. Examples and, because, yet, therefore, moreover, since, or, so, until, but etc...

Pronouns replace the name of a person, place, thing or idea in a sentence. Examples he, she it, we, they, him, her, this, that etc...

Interjection

Interjections express strong emotion and is often followed by an exclamation point. Examples Bravo! Hooray! Yeah! Oops! Phew!

Nouns are naming words. They are used to represent a person (soldier, Jamie), place (Germany, beach), thing (telephone, mirror), quality (hardness, courage), or an action (a run, a punch).

Verbs are action words and state of being words. Examples of action words are ran, attacking, dreamed. Examples of "state of being" words is, was, be.

Adjectives are describing words. An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or pronoun. Examples are hungry, smart, and big. Big (positive), bigger (comparative), biggest (superlative). Adjectives make the meaning of a noun more precise.

An adverb is a word that modifies an adjective (very red), verb (quietly running), or another adverb (very carefully). Adverbs are most often created by adding -ly to the end of the adjective (happy -> happily, quick->quickly). But adjectives that end in -ly, such as friendly or lively, can't be made into adverbs by adding -ly. You have to use a different form of words, e.g. 'in a friendly way' or 'in a lively way' instead. Back to spelling.

Prepositions are used to show the relationship between a noun or pronoun and another word. Examples of prepositions are: in, during, beside, after, for. In the sentence "Sows suffer in factory farms." The preposition "in" tells us the position of the sow relative to the factory farm.

Conjunction

Conjunctions are connector words. Examples of conjunctions are: and, but, so. They help us to group words and connect phrases, like in the sentence: "We have apples and oranges, but we need bananas.". You can easily remember all the co-ordinating conjunctions by using the acronym FANBOYS.

A pronoun is a placeholder for a noun. Examples of pronouns are: them, he, they, it. Pronouns make sentences shorter and clearer since they replace nouns. For example, instead of saying 'Emily was happy, so Emily smiled.' you can say 'Emily was happy, so she smiled.'

An interjection is an abrupt remark like Oh! or Dear me, or Eww. It is usually used to express the strong emotions of the speaker. The sentence 'Congratulations! You won the gold medal!' shows the use of 'congratulations' as an interjection.

Tag your own sentence

Want to tag your sentence? Use our free part of speech tagger and detector. Write or paste your text and see the parts of speech of any sentence.

Did you know…

…that words that are never subject to inflection are said to be invariant; for example, the English verb must is an invariant item: it never takes a suffix or changes form to signify a different grammatical category. Its categories can be determined only from its context

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The 9 Parts of Speech: Definitions and Examples

• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

A part of speech is a term used in traditional grammar for one of the nine main categories into which words are classified according to their functions in sentences, such as nouns or verbs. Also known as word classes, these are the building blocks of grammar.

Every sentence you write or speak in English includes words that fall into some of the nine parts of speech. These include nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, articles/determiners, and interjections. (Some sources include only eight parts of speech and leave interjections in their own category.)

Parts of Speech

• Word types can be divided into nine parts of speech:
• prepositions
• conjunctions
• articles/determiners
• interjections
• Some words can be considered more than one part of speech, depending on context and usage.
• Interjections can form complete sentences on their own.

Learning the names of the parts of speech probably won't make you witty, healthy, wealthy, or wise. In fact, learning just the names of the parts of speech won't even make you a better writer. However, you will gain a basic understanding of sentence structure  and the  English language by familiarizing yourself with these labels.

Open and Closed Word Classes

The parts of speech are commonly divided into  open classes  (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs) and  closed classes  (pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, articles/determiners, and interjections). Open classes can be altered and added to as language develops, and closed classes are pretty much set in stone. For example, new nouns are created every day, but conjunctions never change.

In contemporary linguistics , parts of speech are generally referred to as word classes or syntactic categories. The main difference is that word classes are classified according to more strict linguistic criteria. Within word classes, there is the lexical, or open class, and the function, or closed class.

The 9 Parts of Speech

Read about each part of speech below, and practice identifying each.

Nouns are a person, place, thing, or idea. They can take on a myriad of roles in a sentence, from the subject of it all to the object of an action. They are capitalized when they're the official name of something or someone, and they're called proper nouns in these cases. Examples: pirate, Caribbean, ship, freedom, Captain Jack Sparrow.

Pronouns stand in for nouns in a sentence . They are more generic versions of nouns that refer only to people. Examples:​  I, you, he, she, it, ours, them, who, which, anybody, ourselves.

Verbs are action words that tell what happens in a sentence. They can also show a sentence subject's state of being ( is , was ). Verbs change form based on tense (present, past) and count distinction (singular or plural). Examples:  sing, dance, believes, seemed, finish, eat, drink, be, became.

Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns. They specify which one, how much, what kind, and more. Adjectives allow readers and listeners to use their senses to imagine something more clearly. Examples:  hot, lazy, funny, unique, bright, beautiful, poor, smooth.

Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, and even other adverbs. They specify when, where, how, and why something happened and to what extent or how often. Many adjectives can be turned into adjectives by adding the suffix - ly . Examples:  softly, quickly, lazily, often, only, hopefully, sometimes.

Preposition

Prepositions  show spatial, temporal, and role relations between a noun or pronoun and the other words in a sentence. They come at the start of a prepositional phrase , which contains a preposition and its object. Examples:  up, over, against, by, for, into, close to, out of, apart from.

Conjunction

Conjunctions join words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence. There are coordinating, subordinating, and correlative conjunctions. Examples:  and, but, or, so, yet.

Articles and Determiners

Articles and determiners function like adjectives by modifying nouns, but they are different than adjectives in that they are necessary for a sentence to have proper syntax. Articles and determiners specify and identify nouns, and there are indefinite and definite articles. Examples of articles:  a, an, the ; examples of determiners:  these, that, those, enough, much, few, which, what.

Some traditional grammars have treated articles  as a distinct part of speech. Modern grammars, however, more often include articles in the category of determiners , which identify or quantify a noun. Even though they modify nouns like adjectives, articles are different in that they are essential to the proper syntax of a sentence, just as determiners are necessary to convey the meaning of a sentence, while adjectives are optional.

Interjection

Interjections are expressions that can stand on their own or be contained within sentences. These words and phrases often carry strong emotions and convey reactions. Examples:  ah, whoops, ouch, yabba dabba do!

How to Determine the Part of Speech

Only interjections ( Hooray! ) have a habit of standing alone; every other part of speech must be contained within a sentence and some are even required in sentences (nouns and verbs). Other parts of speech come in many varieties and may appear just about anywhere in a sentence.

To know for sure what part of speech a word falls into, look not only at the word itself but also at its meaning, position, and use in a sentence.

For example, in the first sentence below,  work  functions as a noun; in the second sentence, a verb; and in the third sentence, an adjective:

• Bosco showed up for  work  two hours late.
• The noun  work  is the thing Bosco shows up for.
• He will have to  work  until midnight.
• The verb  work  is the action he must perform.
• His  work  permit expires next month.
• The  attributive noun  (or converted adjective) work  modifies the noun  permit .

Learning the names and uses of the basic parts of speech is just one way to understand how sentences are constructed.

Dissecting Basic Sentences

To form a basic complete sentence, you only need two elements: a noun (or pronoun standing in for a noun) and a verb. The noun acts as a subject, and the verb, by telling what action the subject is taking, acts as the predicate. 

In the short sentence above,  birds  is the noun and  fly  is the verb. The sentence makes sense and gets the point across.

You can have a sentence with just one word without breaking any sentence formation rules. The short sentence below is complete because it's a verb command with an understood "you" noun.

Here, the pronoun, standing in for a noun, is implied and acts as the subject. The sentence is really saying, "(You) go!"

Constructing More Complex Sentences

Use more parts of speech to add additional information about what's happening in a sentence to make it more complex. Take the first sentence from above, for example, and incorporate more information about how and why birds fly.

• Birds fly when migrating before winter.

Birds and fly remain the noun and the verb, but now there is more description. 

When  is an adverb that modifies the verb fly.  The word before  is a little tricky because it can be either a conjunction, preposition, or adverb depending on the context. In this case, it's a preposition because it's followed by a noun. This preposition begins an adverbial phrase of time ( before winter ) that answers the question of when the birds migrate . Before is not a conjunction because it does not connect two clauses.

• What Are Word Blends?
• Figure of Speech: Definition and Examples
• Definition and Examples of Adjectives
• Subjects, Verbs, and Objects
• What Is a Rhetorical Device? Definition, List, Examples
• What Is The Speech Act Theory: Definition and Examples
• A List of Exclamations and Interjections in English
• Definition and Examples of Discourse
• The Best Sites to Learn New Words Every Day
• What Is Nonverbal Communication?
• Examples and Usage of Conjunctions in English Grammar
• Definition and Examples of Ambiguity
• Linguistic Variation
• Definition and Examples of Interjections in English
• Understanding the Types of Verbs in English Grammar
• Complex Words in English

Parts of Speech: Definitions, Categories and Examples

By: Author English Study Online

Posted on Last updated: August 28, 2024

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In this reference, we will break down each part of speech and provide examples to help you understand their usage. We will also discuss how to identify the different parts of speech in a sentence and provide tips on how to use them correctly. Let’s get started!

Parts of Speech – Created by Englishstudyonline

Table of Contents

What is a Parts of Speech?

A  part of speech  is a category that describes the role a word plays in a sentence. These roles help you understand how words function in grammar .

There are typically eight main parts of speech in English:

• Nouns : Words that name people, places, things, or ideas.
• Pronouns : Words that replace nouns, such as  he, she, it .
• Verbs : Words that describe actions or states, like  run, is .
• Adjectives : Words that describe or modify nouns, like  blue  or  quick .

Some grammars list additional parts of speech:

• Adverbs : Words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, such as  quickly .
• Prepositions : Words that show relationships between a noun (or pronoun) and another word, like  in  or  on .
• Conjunctions : Words that connect clauses, sentences, or words, such as  and  or  but .
• Interjections : Words that express emotion, like  wow  or  oops .

Some sources also include:

• Determiners/Articles : Words that modify nouns and specify which one, like  the, a .

Categories of Parts of Speech

Nouns are words that represent people, places, things, or ideas. They are one of the most important parts of speech in English and are used in nearly every sentence. In this section, we will explore the different types of nouns and their functions.

• Common Nouns : General names for people, places, or things. Not capitalized unless at the start of a sentence. Examples : “book,” “city,” “teacher.”
• Proper Nouns : Specific names for people, places, or things. Always capitalized. Examples : “Harry Potter,” “New York City,” “Ms. Johnson.”
• Abstract Nouns : Names for ideas, concepts, or emotions that are intangible. Examples : “love,” “happiness,” “freedom.”
• Collective Nouns : Names for groups of people or things; can be singular or plural. Examples : “team,” “family,” “herd.”

2. Pronouns

Pronouns are words that replace nouns in a sentence. They help avoid repetition and make sentences clearer. Here are different types of pronouns in English:

• Personal Pronouns : Refer to specific people or things and can be subjects or objects. Examples : I/me, you/your/yours, he/him/his, she/her/hers, it/its.
• Demonstrative Pronouns : Point to specific people or things and indicate distance. Examples : this (near), that (far), these (plural, near), those (plural, far).
• Interrogative Pronouns : Used to ask questions. Examples : who (person), whom (person, object), whose (possession).
• Indefinite Pronouns : Refer to non-specific people or things. Examples : anybody, anyone, anything, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything.
• Action Verbs : Describe actions performed by the subject. Examples : Run, Jump, Sing, Dance, Write.
• Linking Verbs : Connect the subject to a noun, pronoun, or adjective that describes it; they do not show action. Examples : Is, Are, Was, Were, Seem.
• Helping Verbs : Work with the main verb to express tense, voice, or mood; they have no meaning on their own. Examples : Am, Is, Are, Was, Were.

4. Adjectives

Adjectives are words that describe or modify nouns or pronouns, giving more information about their qualities, quantity, or identity. Here are three types of adjectives:

• Descriptive Adjectives : Describe the characteristics or qualities of a noun or pronoun. Examples : Beautiful, Tall, Thin, Ugly, Smart, Kind. Sentence Example : “The red car is fast.” (“red” describes the color; “fast” describes the speed).
• Quantitative Adjectives : Indicate the quantity or amount of a noun or pronoun, answering “how much” or “how many.” Examples : Few, Many, Several, Some, All, No. Sentence Example : “I have two apples.” (“two” describes the number of apples).
• Demonstrative Adjectives : Point to specific nouns or pronouns, answering “which one” or “whose.” Examples : This, That, These, Those. Sentence Example : “This book is mine.” (“this” specifies the book).

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, providing more detail about an action, adverbs of manner, adverbs of place, adverbs of time, adverbs of frequency , adverbs of degree, or intensity.

Examples of adverbs:

• I left my keys here . (Adverb of place)
• She arrived late because she missed the bus. (Adverb of time)
• James visits his grandmother weekly . (Adverb of frequency)
• Please drive carefully on the wet roads. (Adverb of manner)
• She was extremely tired after the long journey. (Adverb of degree)

6. Prepositions

Prepositions are words that show the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence, indicating position, direction, or time.

Prepositions of Time : Indicate when an action takes place. Examples :

• “At” for specific times: “at 2 pm,” “at midnight.”
• “In” for longer periods: “in the morning,” “in October.”
• “On” for dates: “on Monday,” “on July 4th.”

Prepositions of Place : Indicate where something is located. Examples :

• “In” for enclosed spaces: “in the house,” “in the car.”
• “On” for surfaces: “on the table,” “on the floor.”
• “At” for specific locations: “at the park,” “at the beach.”

Prepositions of Direction : Indicate movement from one place to another. Examples :

• “To” for movement towards: “I am going to the store.”
• “From” for movement away: “I am coming from the park.”
• “Towards” for movement in a direction: “I am walking towards the museum.”

7. Conjunctions

Conjunctions are words that connect words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence, helping to create complex sentences and showing relationships between ideas. There are three main types of conjunctions: coordinating, subordinating, and correlative.

Coordinating Conjunctions : Connect words, phrases, or independent clauses of equal importance. Remember them using FANBOYS : for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. Examples :

• “I like pizza and pasta .”
• “He wanted to go to the beach, but it was raining.”

Subordinating Conjunctions : Connect dependent clauses to independent clauses, showing relationships like cause and effect, time, condition, or contrast. Examples : because, although, while, if, unless, since.

• “Because it was raining, we stayed inside.”
• “While I was studying, my roommate was watching TV.”

Correlative Conjunctions : Work in pairs to connect elements in a sentence, showing a relationship between them. Examples : both…and, either…or, neither…nor, not only…but also.

• “Both my sister and I like to read.”
• “Not only was he late, but he also forgot his homework.”

8. Interjections

In English grammar, interjections are words or phrases that express strong emotions or feelings. They are also known as exclamations and are one of the eight parts of speech in English. Interjections are grammatically independent from the words around them, and they can often be removed from a sentence or context without affecting its basic meaning.

Interjections can be used to express a wide range of emotions, including surprise, joy, anger, frustration, and pain. Some common examples of interjections include “ wow ,” “ ouch ,” “ yay ,” “ oh no ,” and “ oops .” They can be used to add emphasis to a sentence or to convey a particular tone or mood.

9. Articles/Determiners

In English grammar, articles and determiners are words that are used with nouns to provide more information about them. They help us to understand the context and meaning of a sentence.

There are three articles in the English language: “ the ,” “ a, ” and “ an. ” “The” is known as the definite article because it refers to a specific noun that has already been mentioned or is known to the reader. For example, “The cat is sleeping on the sofa.” In this sentence, “the” refers to a specific cat that has already been mentioned or is known to the reader.

“A” and “an” are known as indefinite articles because they refer to any member of a group or class of nouns. “A” is used before words that begin with a consonant sound, while “an” is used before words that begin with a vowel sound. For example, “I need a pen” and “She ate an apple.”

Determiners

Determiners are words that come before a noun to provide more information about it. They can include articles, as well as words like “ this ,” “ that ,” “ these ,” and “ those .”

In addition to these, there are other types of determiners such as possessive determiners (e.g. “my,” “your,” “his,” “her,” “its,” “our,” and “their”), demonstrative determiners (e.g. “this,” “that,” “these,” and “those”), and quantifying determiners (e.g. “some,” “any,” “many,” “few,” “several,” etc.).

Determiners can also be used with adjectives to provide more information about a noun. For example, “She ate the delicious apple” and “I saw that beautiful sunset.”

Examples of Parts of Speech

• Noun – The dog barked loudly.
• Pronoun – They went to the park together.
• Verb – She writes beautiful poetry.
• Adverb – He runs very quickly.
• Adjective – The red car is fast.
• Preposition – The cat is sitting on the sofa.
• Conjunction – She wanted to go for a walk, and he wanted to stay home.
• Interjection – Wow! That was an incredible performance.

Practical Exercises

Exercise 1: Identify the Part of Speech

Read each sentence and identify the underlined word’s part of speech (Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb, Adjective, Preposition, Conjunction, Interjection).

• The beautiful garden is full of flowers.
• She quickly finished her homework.
• Wow! That was a great surprise.
• The cat hid under the bed.
• I want to go out, but it’s raining.
• He is a very talented musician.
• The children play in the park every evening.
• The cake is delicious .
• After lunch, we went for a walk.
• They will arrive at the airport soon.
• Interjection
• Preposition
• Conjunction

Exercise 2: Fill in the Blanks with the Correct Part of Speech

Choose the correct word from the list and fill in the blanks with the appropriate part of speech.

Word List: (and, beautiful, suddenly, them, book, Wow, under, write, she, quickly)

• The weather is so __________ today.
• I have to __________ an essay for my class.
• He ran __________ to catch the bus.
• The ball rolled __________ the table.
• They read a __________ together every night.
• She wanted to go to the park, __________ it started raining.
• Can you give this note to __________?
• __________! That was an amazing goal!
• __________ is going to the market.
• The bird flew away __________.
• beautiful (Adjective)
• write (Verb)
• quickly (Adverb)
• under (Preposition)
• book (Noun)
• and (Conjunction)
• them (Pronoun)
• Wow (Interjection)
• She (Pronoun)
• suddenly (Adverb)
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