Parts of speech are a fundamental part of English grammar. These parts define the roles words play within a sentence, contributing both meaning and grammatical structure.

Every word in English can be categorised according to its function and meaning. These categories are known as parts of speech.

Grasping the various components of speech can assist you in examining how words operate within a sentence and enhance your writing skills. Mastery of this topic is crucial for success on various competitive exams, including banking and central government assessments. A clear understanding of the definitions and examples of speech components helps construct meaningful sentences.

This article contains the definitions and examples of each part of speech. Candidates can download this PDF from the link below. For additional information, please refer to the FAQ section below.

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8 Types of Parts of Speech

There are eight types of parts of speech:

1. Noun

2. Pronoun

3. Verb

4. Adverb

5. Adjective

6. Preposition

7. Conjunction

8. Interjection

Below is a brief explanation of the 8 parts of speech. 

1. Noun

The word that refers to a person, a concept, a place, or a thing is called a noun. Nouns act as a subject in a sentence, like a person or a thing acting. There are numerous types of nouns, i.e., 

1. Common Noun is used to refer to non-specific people, concepts, places, or things.

2. Proper Noun refers to specific people, concepts, places, or things.

1. Countable Noun refers to things that can be counted.

2. Uncountable Noun refers to things that cannot be counted.

3. Concrete Nouns refer to the names we give to the objects we can sense physically.

4. Abstract Noun refers to the things that we can’t sense physically. For Example, Ethics, patience, fear, trust, etc.

Examples with sentences

• Kavi is not well today.

• Priya is her name.

• The book is on the table.

• The vessel is full of water.

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2. Pronoun

The pronoun is used by replacing the actual noun, where the reader and listener already know the specific noun that is previously referred to in a sentence. Like nouns, Pronoun also refers to people, places, concepts, and things. For example, I, you, we, he, she, it, who, etc..

1. Personal Pronouns are used to replace the name of a person in a sentence.

2. Demonstrative Pronoun is used to refer the specific things and indicate their relative position.

3. Interrogative Pronouns are used to introduce questions about things, people, and ownership.

Examples with sentences

• He is so fast.

• She is an outstanding student.

• We will win.

• They are bad.

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3. Verb

Verbs are the action words that are present in a sentence. For example, dancing, singing, walking, jumping, etc. It can be changed based on tenses, singular and plural. Verbs are the only type of word necessary to make a sentence. The various types of verbs are listed as follows;

1. Non-action Verbs refer to the feelings or states of being, like (to love). 

2. Action Verbs that refer to the literal actions.

3. Auxiliary Verbs are also known as helping verbs, which are used to change another tense, voice, or mood. There will be a main verb when an auxiliary verb is used. 

4. Phrasal Verb - Here, phrases act as individual verbs that change their actual meaning by combining two or more words.

Examples with sentences

• Nishant is dancing.

• Sowndarya is speaking.

• It usually runs much faster than other animals.

• Students will write the exams.

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4. Adverb

Adverbs provide more information about verbs and also tell when and where some things happened. It also tells how certain things have happened. It usually modifies a verb, adjective, adverb, or sentence. The adverb can come before or after the verb or at the beginning or end of a sentence, depending on the context. For example, Slowly, Intelligently, tomorrow, everywhere, etc., It certainly consists of many types such as 

1. Adverbs of manner are used to describe how something happens.

2. Adverbs of degree tell us about the intensity of something. 

3. Adverbs of frequency describe how actions happen often.

4. Adverbs of time tell us about the actions that happened in time and their duration. 

5. Adverbs of place indicate the object's position with another object.

Examples with sentences

• He walks slowly.

• They fought bravely.

• Please move forward.

• The gardener usually comes daily.

5. Adjective

An adjective appears before the noun and it describes a noun or pronoun. There are different types of adjectives, namely;

1. Comparative adjectives compare two or more things in a sentence.

2. Superlative adjectives describe the sentence having the most or least of a specific characteristic of something.

3. In coordinate adjectives, two or more adjectives modify the same noun in a sentence.

4. Participial adjectives are identical to the participle form of a verb, which typically ends in -ing, -ed, etc..

5. Denominal adjectives are formed from a noun with the addition of a suffix, i.e., -ly, -ish, -esque.

• There are other adjectives, which are nominal, proper adjectives, compound adjectives, and appositive adjectives.

Examples with sentences

• He always wears black shirts for functions.

• She is taller than him.

• Those dresses are so smooth.

• She bought some shining jewellery.

6. Preposition

The preposition in a sentence indicates the position of the object or the subject. It shows the role of relations and also indicates the spatial and temporal relationships between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence. It points out when and where something has happened. 

• For example, Up, over, against, by, for, into, close to, etc.. 

It is one of the parts of speech that brings forth the relationship between other words in a sentence. A proposition can express the relationship of place, time, direction, and other abstracts or logical connections. It provides information about the nouns or pronouns relative position. There is a myth called “Ending a sentence with prepositions is a grammatical error”. They are expressed at the start of a prepositional phrase. A prepositional phrase contains a preposition and its object, and it functions as an adjective or an adverb. It will usually be a single word, but sometimes it can be up to four words. 

• For example, as far as, in addition to, as a result of, etc.. 

Examples with sentences

• She ran into the forest.

• The protagonist is against the antagonist.

• This is for him.

• He lives with his family.

7. Conjunction

A conjunction is used to connect the words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence. Conjunctions express multiple ideas by making it possible to build complex sentences. It indicates the relationship between the elements joined.

1. The conjunction used to connect grammatically equal sentences is called a co-ordinating conjunction. For example, FANBOYS (For easy identification) stands as follows for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.

2. Sub-ordinating conjunctions are used to introduce a dependent clause. For example., because, although, when, etc.,

3. Correlative conjunctions are used in pairs to join equal parts in a grammatical sentence.

Examples with sentences

• He ran so fast but he missed the bus.

• Sheela and Reena are sisters.

• She was ill so she was not able to write the exam.

• He or she made a mistake.

8. Interjections

Interjections are a grammatically independent part of speech and also a word phrase that is used to express feelings, make a command, or greet someone. If we exclude the interjection from a sentence, it will not make any difference. Exclamatory marks are most important to emphasize all types of emotions, thoughts, or demands.

• The interjections which are used to make demands or request is called volitive interjections. For example, “shush!” or “shh!” can be used to command anyone to be quiet or silent.

• Emotive Interjections are used to express a feeling or reaction to something. For informal content, curse or expletive words are used as emotive interjections to express frustration or anger. For example, “ew!” is used to express the digesting problems.

• Cognitive Interjections point out to express thoughts like “um!” used to express confused feelings or thinking.

• Greeting and Parting words are used to acknowledge or welcome someone at the end or beginning of a conversion. For example., Hey!, Hello!, Bye!, See you later!.

Examples with sentences

• Hurrah! I passed in all subjects.

• Wow! It’s amazing.

• Bravo! That was a good fight.

• Alas! He lost the race.

Open and Closed Classes

According to more strict linguistic criteria, Word classes are divided into two categories;

• Open Classes can be altered and added to develop the language. It regularly acquires new words. Language evolution takes place in nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs. It includes nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

• Closed Classes do not acquire new words and it always sets in stone. It includes pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, articles, determiners, interjections.

Articles/Determiners

Articles or Determiners, identify and specify the nouns and also function like adjectives which are necessary for the sentence to have a proper syntax. In modern grammar, articles are included more often in the category of determiners. There are two types of articles which are;

• The indefinite article begins with a consonant sound. i.e., a book. It appears only with singular nouns. It refers to a noun that indicates a general idea or a category of a thing. “An” precedes before a word with a vowel sound like an apple.

• The definite articles limit the meaning of a noun to one specific thing by using “the”. For example., Are you going to the function?

Examples with sentences

• A cat is on the wall.

• The book is under the table.

• Pradeep is getting trained to be an engineer.

FAQs

Q: How many types of parts of speech are explained here?

8 types of parts of speech are explained here.

Q: How many and what are the types of articles?

There are 3 types of articles which are a, an, and the.

Q: When are interjections used?

It is used to express feelings, to make commands, and to greet someone.

Q: What is called a “verb”?

Verbs are the action words that are present in a sentence.

Q: What parts of speech are “quickly”?

It is an adverb because it tells how something happened.