Parts of Speech | English Grammar

 This blog-post contains basic summary of grammar topic Parts of Speech. 

What are parts of speech?

Parts of speech are different types of words that have different kind of works in a sentence. They help us understand how a sentence is built and how words work together to make meaning.

Each word in a sentence belongs to a group, like noun, verb, adjective, etc., based on what it does in the sentence. These groups make it easier to read, write, and understand English.

Brief definitions and examples. 

Noun

A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea.

Examples:

• Akbar was a great king.

• Kolkata is on the Hooghly.

• The rose smells sweet.

• His courage won him honour. 

 A "thing" can mean anything we can see, hear, taste, touch, or smell (book, music, flower), or even something we can only think about (abstract) (love, freedom, courage).

Adjective

An adjective describes qualities of noun or adds more meaning to a noun.

Examples:

• He is a brave boy. (brave shows the quality of noun 'boy')

• There are twenty boys in this class.

 Pronoun

A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun to avoid repeating it.

Examples:

• John is absent because he is ill.

• The books are where you left them.

Verb

A verb shows an action or a state of being.

Examples:

• The girl wrote a letter. (action)

• Kolkata is a big city. (state)

• Iron and copper are useful metals. (state)

 Adverb

An adverb adds meaning to a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

Examples:

• He worked the sum quickly. (modifies the verb 'worked')

• This flower is very beautiful. (modifies the adjective 'beautiful')

• She pronounced the word quite correctly. (modifies the adverb 'correctly')

 Preposition

A preposition shows the relationship between a noun/pronoun and something else in the sentence.

Examples:

• There is a cow in the garden.

• The girl is fond of music.

• A fair little girl sat under a tree.

Conjunction

A conjunction joins words, phrases, or sentences.

Examples:

• Rama and Hari are cousins.

• I ran fast, but missed the train.

• Two and two make four.

 Interjection

An interjection is a word that expresses sudden feelings or emotions.

Examples:

• Hurrah! We have won the game.

• Alas! She is dead.

Nouns and it's classification 

Proper Noun

A Proper Noun is the name of a specific person, place, or thing.

Examples:

• Asoka was a wise king. (Asoka = Proper Noun)

• Sita is a good girl. (Sita = Proper Noun)

• India is my country. (India = Proper Noun)

• Kolkata is a big city. (Kolkata = Proper Noun)

A Proper Noun refers to a particular individual or location. It always begins with a capital letter. Proper nouns can sometimes be used as common nouns to describe a type. 

He is the Shakespeare of Gujarat. (Shakespeare = used as a common noun, meaning ‘a great dramatist’)

Common Noun

A Common Noun is a name shared by all persons or things of the same kind or class.

Examples:

• King, girl, city, country, book, tree

Common nouns are not capitalized (unless they begin a sentence). They refer to general items or beings, not specific ones.

Collective Noun

A Collective Noun names a group or collection of people or things considered as one unit.

Examples:

• Crowd, mob, team, flock, jury, army, committee, family

  • A fleet of ships

  • A herd of cattle

  • The jury found the prisoner guilty.

Even though they refer to many, they are usually treated as singular in form. They highlight the group as a single whole.

Abstract Noun

An Abstract Noun is the name of a quality, action, or state that we cannot see or touch, only feel or think about.

Examples:

• Quality: honesty, bravery, wisdom, beauty

• Action: laughter, movement, theft, judgement

• State: childhood, sleep, death, poverty

These nouns are intangible. They help express feelings, concepts, or conditions.

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Countable Nouns

These are nouns that can be counted.

Examples:

• book, pen, boy, apple, car, chair

We can say:

• One book, two books

• A boy, many boys

Uncountable Nouns

These nouns refer to things we cannot count individually.

Examples:

• milk, sugar, oil, water, gold, honesty, wisdom

We cannot say:

• milks, sugars, honesties

Countable nouns have plural forms (books, pens). Uncountable nouns do not have plural forms and are often treated as singular.

Adjectives 

An adjective is a word that describes a noun or pronoun. Think of it like this: adjectives give you more information about a person, place, or thing. They tell you what kind, how many, or which one.

For example, in the phrase "a funny movie," the adjective "funny" tells you what kind of movie it is. In "five students," the adjective "five" tells you how many students there are.

Adjectives of Quality 

The positive degree of comparison or adjective of quality is the basic, original form of an adjective. It's used when you're simply describing one thing without comparing it to anything else. For instance, in the sentence, "This book is interesting," the word "interesting" is in its positive form because it's only describing the book, not comparing it to any other books. 

• Examples:

  • Kolkata is a large city.

  • He is an honest man.

  • The foolish, old crow tried to sing.

Adjectives of Quantity

It shows how much of the noun there is.

• Examples:

  • I ate some rice.

  • He showed much patience.

  • We have had enough exercise.

  • She has little time left.

Demonstrative Adjectives

Demonstrative adjectives are words that point out a specific noun or pronoun, showing its location. The four demonstrative adjectives are this, that, these, and those. We use this and these for things that are close to us. For items that are farther away, we use that and those.

• Words: this, that, these, those, yonder, such

• Examples:

  • This boy is stronger than Hari.

  • Those rascals must be punished.

  • Don’t be in such a hurry.

Interrogative Adjectives

An interrogative adjective is a word that modifies a noun or pronoun by asking a question. There are only three words that serve this function: whose, what, and which. You can think of them as "question words" that are attached to a noun. For example, "Whose jacket is this?" uses "whose" to ask about possession. "What color is your house?" uses "what" for a general question. "Which way should we go?" uses "which" when there is a limited set of choices. These words are only considered interrogative adjectives when they are followed immediately by a noun.

• Words: what, which, whose

• Examples:

  • Which way shall we go?

  • Whose book is this?

Attributive and Predicative use of Adjective 

Adjectives can appear before a noun (attributive) or after a linking verb (predicative)

Use	Position & Function	Examples
Attributive	Immediately before the noun, as its attribute.	The lazy boy was punished.
Predicative	After a linking verb (be, seem, feel, etc.), as part of the predicate.	The boy is lazy.

Degrees of Comparison (Adj)

The comparative degree is used to compare two things that have the same quality. For example, if you're comparing two books, you might say, "The book I read yesterday was more interesting than the one I read today." This form shows a difference between the two subjects.

The superlative degree is used to compare one thing to a group of two or more things. This form shows that one subject has the highest or lowest degree of a quality. For instance, you could say, "This fantasy novel is the most interesting book that I have ever read." This means it is more interesting than all the other books in the group.

Degree	Use	Form	Examples
Positive	Simple adjective, no comparison	base form	sweet, large, honest
Comparative	Compare two things	+ -er or more …	sweeter, larger, more honest
Superlative	Compare more than two things	+ -est or most …	sweetest, largest, most honest

Irregulars Adjectives 

good → better → best
bad → worse → worst
much → more → most
little → less → least
old → older/elder → oldest/eldest

Pronoun

A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun, helping to avoid repetition. Pronouns can refer to people, things, ideas, or places. While many people think of personal pronouns like "he" or "she," there are many other types that are also essential for English grammar. For example, in the sentences "I went to the store, and it was closed," both "I" and "it" are pronouns.

Person & Number	Subject	Object	Possessive Adjective	Possessive Pronoun
1st Person Singular	I	me	my	mine
1st Person Plural	we	us	our	ours
2nd Person Singular	you	you	your	yours
2nd Person Plural	you	you	your	yours
3rd Person Singular (M)	he	him	his	his
3rd Person Singular (F)	she	her	her	hers
3rd Person Singular (N)	it	it	its	its
3rd Person Plural	they	them	their	theirs

Relative Pronoun 

Relative Pronouns link a subordinate clause to a preceding noun or pronoun (main clause), thereby relating two parts of a sentence. Common relative pronouns—including “that,” “which,” “who,” “whom,” “whose,” “where,” “when,” and “why”—introduce clauses that either define or add information. By doing so, they allow us to avoid repetition and to embed descriptive or explanatory material within a single sentence.

Example:

- My father has a friend 'who' is a lawyer.

- This is the man 'whose' purse is stolen. 

- This is the teacher 'who' teaches English. 

Reflexive/Emphatic pronouns

 

Reflexive Pronouns (e.g., “myself,” “yourself,” “herself,” “themselves,” etc.) refer back to the subject of the clause in which they appear. They signal that the doer of the action and the receiver of the action are one and the same entity. In grammar terms, a reflexive pronoun is necessary whenever the subject performs an action upon itself, making the relationship between agent and object explicit.

Subject	Object	Reflexive / Emphatic
I	me	myself
we	us	ourselves
you	you	yourself
you	you	yourselves
he	him	himself
she	her	herself
it	it	itself
they	them	themselves

Examples: 

- I cooked myself.

- We wrote ourselves. 

Interrogative Pronoun

An interrogative pronoun is a pronoun used to ask a direct question and stands in for the unknown element you are asking about. The main interrogative pronouns are who, whom, whose, what, and which. These words occupy the place in a question where a noun or noun phrase would normally go. They signal that you are requesting information about a person, possession, or a specific thing. For example, in the question "Who went to the store?", "who" stands in for the person you want to identify.

Examples: 

- Who are those boys?

- Whom did the teacher scold?

- What time is it ? 

- Which was Ramesh's pen?

Conjunctions 

A conjunction is a word that connects two or more words, phrases, or clauses. They are often called "connectors" because their job is to join parts of a sentence together. Common examples include "and," "but," "or," and "so." Conjunctions can appear at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence depending on what they are connecting. For instance, in the sentence "I like coffee and tea," the conjunction "and" connects two nouns. In "I was tired, so I went to bed," the conjunction "so" connects two clauses.

Type	Conjunctions	Usage	Example
Coordinating	and, but, or, nor, so, for, yet	Joins two equal parts (words, phrases, clauses)	I was tired but I still finished the work.
Subordinating	because, although, if, since, unless, while, before, after, though, until, as soon as	Joins dependent clause with main clause	I will come if it stops raining.
Correlative	either…or, neither…nor, both…and, not only…but also, whether…or	Work in pairs to connect balanced words or clauses	Either you apologize or leave the class.
Conjunctive Adverbs	however, therefore, moreover, meanwhile, consequently, furthermore	Show relationships like contrast, cause, sequence in formal writing	He was late; however, he was allowed in.
Causal Conjunctions	because, since, as	Show cause or reason	She left early because she was not feeling well.
Time Conjunctions	when, while, before, after, until, as soon as	Indicate time relationship between actions	As soon as the bell rang, students ran outside.
Condition Conjunctions	if, unless, provided that, in case	Express condition or requirement	You won’t pass unless you study.
Contrast Conjunctions	although, though, whereas, while, even though	Show contrast between two ideas	Although he is rich, he lives a simple life.
Purpose Conjunctions	so that, in order that	Indicate purpose	He studies hard so that he can succeed.
Comparison Conjunctions	as…as, than	Make comparisons	She is taller than her brother.

Verbs 

A verb is a word that is essential for showing what a subject is doing. Verbs express actions, events, feelings, or states of being. They come in different types and forms to provide a complete meaning to a sentence. For example, in the sentence "She sings beautifully," the verb "sings" describes an action. In "He feels sad," the verb "feels" describes a feeling. Essentially, a verb is the part of the sentence that tells you what is happening.

Verbs can be broadly classified based on what they signify—whether they denote physical actions, internal experiences or feelings, or a state or condition.

Verbs that refer to actions involve some form of physical movement or observable behavior. These are commonly called action verbs. Examples of such verbs include: walk, run, sit, read, write, jump, sing, build, break, and hug. These actions can be seen or performed physically.

On the other hand, there are verbs that express feelings or experiences, which often occur internally and may not involve any physical movement. These include verbs like love, hate, trust, feel, experience, know, understand, like, and appreciate. They communicate internal emotional or mental states.

Another type includes verbs that indicate a state or condition. These do not reflect action or emotion but rather describe how something is, was, or will be. Most forms of the verb “to be” fall into this category, such as am, is, are, was, were, will be, being, and been. Other verbs like seem, become, and appear also function as state-of-being verbs.

Auxiliary verbs

Also called helping verbs, are used alongside main verbs to help express tense, mood, or voice. These verbs are not used alone (except when functioning as main verbs in specific contexts). Examples include am, is, are, was, were, have, has, do, will, and can. For instance, in the sentence "She is reading a book," the verb "is" helps the main verb "reading" express continuous tense. These verbs must always be correctly conjugated based on the tense of the sentence. Interestingly, many auxiliary verbs can also serve as main verbs. For example, “She has a book.”

Modal verbs

Modal verbs are a specific subgroup of auxiliary verbs. They express the possibility, necessity, permission, or ability of an action. Modal verbs cannot be used alone as main verbs. Examples include can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must, and ought to. For instance: "You must finish your homework." Modal verbs do not change their form based on the subject.

Phrasal verbs 

These are verb combinations that consist of a verb followed by a preposition or adverb (or both). The meaning of the phrase often differs from the meanings of its individual parts. Examples of phrasal verbs include log in, run out, give up, check out, lay off, opt out, and look up. For example, in “She gave up smoking,” the phrase “gave up” means to quit—not to hand something over.

Linking verbs 

They do not show action but instead connect the subject of a sentence to additional information about the subject. The most common linking verbs are forms of “to be” like am, is, are, was, and were, but verbs like seem and become can also function this way. For example: “Danny is my brother,” where “is” connects the subject “Danny” with the complement “my brother.” In another example, “The book seems interesting,” the linking verb “seems” connects the subject to the adjective.

Transitive & Intransitive Verbs 

A transitive verb requires a direct object to complete its meaning. For instance: “She ate an apple.” Here, "apple" is the object receiving the action. An intransitive verb, however, does not require an object. The action ends with the verb itself. For example: “She slept peacefully.” The action does not pass on to an object.

Adverbs 

An adverb is a word that adds more meaning to a verb, adjective, another adverb, or even a whole sentence. It helps us understand how, when, where, or to what extent something happens. For example, in the sentence “She sings beautifully,” the word beautifully tells us how she sings. In “He arrived late,” the word late tells us when he arrived. In “They looked everywhere,” everywhere tells us the place. In “The water was very cold,” very tells us how much or to what degree the water was cold.

Many adverbs are made by adding -ly to adjectives. For instance, quick becomes quickly, happy becomes happily, and careful becomes carefully. However, not all adverbs end in -ly. Words like soon, well, fast, now, never, too, very, and here are also adverbs even though they don’t follow the -ly pattern.

Type of Adverb	What It Describes	Common Position in Sentence	Examples
Adverbs of Manner	How an action is done	After main verb or at end (not between verb & object)	Jessie read quietly.Tom laughed loudly.Jessie read the book quietly.
Adverbs of Degree	Extent or intensity of an action, adjective, or another adverb	Before the word they modify	The medication had a very positive effect.I'm almost finished.
Adverbs of Place	Where an action happens (position, direction, distance)	Usually after the verb	Go downstairs and open the door.Confetti was thrown everywhere.Come here!
Adverbs of Time	When something happens (point in time)	Usually at the end of a sentence	I’ll see you tomorrow.He will be late for school today.
Adverbs of Duration	How long something happens	Usually at the end	The power will be back shortly.I played football briefly.
Adverbs of Frequency (Indefinite)	How often (non-specific)	Usually before the main verb	Anna always works on Saturdays.Jessica never washes the dishes.
Adverbs of Frequency (Definite)	How often (specific/time-based)	Usually at the end	I check my email hourly.We visit France yearly.
Adverbs of Purpose	Reason or purpose behind an action	Usually in complex sentences; often conjunctive	The company made a profit; therefore, workers got raises.Since you’re busy, I’ll call later.

Interjections 

Interjections are words or short phrases used to express sudden emotions, reactions, or feelings. They usually stand alone and are not connected grammatically to the rest of the sentence. We use interjections when we want to show surprise, happiness, pain, anger, or other strong emotions. For example, we say “Wow!” when we are amazed, or “Ouch!” when we are hurt. Some interjections are also used for greetings like “Hey!” or “Bye!”, or to show hesitation such as “Um…” or “Er…” when we are thinking. Words like “Okay,” “Oh,” and “Huh?” are also common interjections used in everyday conversation. Because interjections can express many kinds of feelings and reactions, they sometimes overlap with other categories like exclamations, fillers, or even slang. Although they may seem small or unimportant, interjections add emotion, tone, and realism to our speech.

Interjection	Purpose	Example
Alas	To express sadness or pity	Alas! That was so unfortunate.
Ah	To express realisation or surprise	Ah, the magic show at the end was a total surprise!
Eh	To enquire or ask for something to be repeated	Eh! I didn’t quite get it. Can you please repeat it?
Dear	To express pity or surprise	Oh dear! I feel really bad for what happened to you.
Hey	To express surprise or call for attention	Hey! Look out for the car.
Hurray	To express joy	Hurray! We finally cleared the test.
Oh	To express pain or surprise	Oh! I have a really bad headache.
Ouch	To express pain	Ouch! You stepped on my toes.
Phew	To express relief, exhaustion, disgust	Phew! That was an extremely long presentation.
Uh	To express hesitation	Uh! I don’t think I want to be a part of this.
Well	To introduce a remark	Well, what you just did was wonderful.
Wow	To express your admiration for something	Wow! Your new bike is amazing.
Yippee	To express joy	Yippee! Tomorrow is a holiday.

Prepositions 

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