What are the Parts of Speech?

Parts of Speech Definition and Examples

Part of Speech Definition Example Words

NOUN a person, place, thing, or idea pen, dog, work, music, town, London, teacher,
John

PRONOUN stands in for a noun I, you, he, she, we, they, your, who, which,
anybody, ourselves

VERB action or state of being (to) be, have, do, like, work, sing, can, must

ADJECTIVE a quality of a noun some, good, big, red, interesting

ADVERB describes a verb, adjective, or quickly, silently, well, badly, very, really,
another adverb sometimes

PREPOSITION links a noun to another word to, at, after, on, before, around, over, of, in, for,
with, throughout, from, beneath

CONJUNCTION joins words, clauses, and and, but, when, or, however, although,
sentences nevertheless, therefore, yet, so

INTERJECTION short exclamation, sometimes oh, ouch, hi, well

inserted into a sentence

Here are some examples of parts of speech:

 My (adjective) friend (noun) speaks (verb) English (noun) fluently (adverb).

 Oh! (interjection) I ( pronoun) went (verb) to (preposition) school (noun) and (conjunction) I
( pronoun) met (verb) Fred (noun).
Nouns

What is a noun?

A noun is a part of speech that is used to name a person, place, thing, quality, or action. A
noun can function as a subject, object, complement, appositive, or object of a preposition.

A Nouns as a Subject :

What is a subject?

The subject is one of the main two parts of a sentence. According to traditional grammar, a
sentence consists of two parts:

 a subject,
 a predicate which modifies the subject.

consider the following sentence:

 Leila loves painting.

Leila is the subject and loves painting acts as the predicate

Examples of subjects

 Nurses are on strike. (subject with no determiners)

 The big man hurt him. (a noun phrase introduced by a determiner)
 Driving is what I like most. (Gerund)
 To write poems is difficult. (Infinitive)
 That he worked hard is a fact. (a clause)
 I/you...like soccer. (subject pronouns)
 It rains often here. (dummy subject)

What is an object?

An object in a part of a sentence, and often part of the predicate. It refers to someone or
something involved in the subject's "performance" of the verb. It is what the verb is being
done to. As an example, the following sentence is given:

Subject Verb Object

Leila wrote the poem
  "Leila" is the subject, the doer or performer,
 "wrote" is a verb that refers to the action,
 "the poem" is the object involved in the action.

Transitive and intransitive verbs

A verb can be classified as transitive or intransitive according to whether it takes or doesn't

take an object:

 If a verb takes objects, then it is a transitive verb.

Example:
They played soccer. → (The verb play takes ONE object 'soccer')
They sent him a postcard. → (The verb send takes TWO objects 'him' and 'a
postcard')
 If a verb doesn't take an object, then it is an intransitive verb.
Example:
She lies. → (The verb 'lie' doesn't take any object)
The building collapsed. → (The verb 'collapse' doesn't take any object)

Types of objects

There are two types of objects: direct and indirect objects:

Direct object

A direct object answers the question "what?" or "whom?"

Examples:

 David repaired his car → his car is the direct object of the
verb repaired. ( What did David repair?)
 He invited Mary to the party → Mary is the direct object of the
verb invited. (Whom did he invite?)

Indirect Object

An indirect object answers the question "to whom?", "for whom?", "for what?"...

An indirect object is the recipient of the direct object, or an otherwise affected participant
in the event. There must be a direct object for an indirect object to be placed in a sentence.
In other words an indirect object cannot exist without a direct object.

Examples:

 They sent him a postcard - him is the indirect object of the verb sent.
(To whom did they send a postcard?)
 He bought his son a bike - his son is the indirect object of the
verb bought. (For whom did he buy a bike?)
The different types of nouns.

There are several different types of nouns. These include:

 Common Nouns (e.g., abstract nouns, collective nouns, compound nouns,
concrete nouns, non-countable nouns, gender-specific nouns, verbal nouns)
 Proper Nouns
 Pronouns (despite pronouns being classified as a different part of speech)

As covered in the lesson nouns, nouns are naming words. There are several different
kinds of nouns. This page describes the most common types.

Common Nouns
A common noun is the word used for a class of person, place or thing.

Examples:
 car
 man
 bridge
 town
 water
 metal
 ammonia
Note: Common nouns are capitalized only when they start a sentence.

Common nouns are further classified into:

 Abstract nouns – things you cannot see or touch (e.g., bravery, joy)
 Collective nouns – words to describe groups (e.g., team, choir)
 Compound nouns – nouns made up of more than one word (e.g., court-martial,
pickpocket, water bottle)
 Concrete nouns – things you can see or touch (e.g., tree, cloud)
 Non-countable nouns (mass nouns) – things you cannot count (e.g., food, music)
 Gender-specific nouns – words which are definitely male or female (e.g., vixen,
actress)
 Verbal nouns – nouns derived from verbs (e.g., a building, an attack)
 Gerunds – nouns that represent actions (e.g., running fast, guessing a number)

Proper Nouns
A proper noun is the name of a person, place or thing (i.e., its own name). A proper
noun always starts with a capital letter. For example:
 Michael
 Africa
 Peking
 Dayton Peace Accord
 United Nations
 The Tower of London
 Uncle George
(Uncle is written with a capital letter because it is part of his name.)
 My favourite auntie is Auntie Sally.
(In this example, the first auntie is a common noun, but the second Auntie is part
of a proper noun.)
 The Red Lion
Read more about using capital letters for proper nouns but not common nouns.

Collective Nouns
A collective noun is the word used for a group of people or things. For example:
 Choir
 Team
 Jury
 Shoal
 Cabinet (of ministers)
 Regiment
The big question with collective nouns is whether they should be treated as singular or
plural. The answer is: They can be treated as singular or plural depending on the sense
of your sentence.

Read more about treating collective nouns as singular and plural.

Pronouns
A pronoun is a word used to replace a noun.

Pronouns are one of the eight parts of speech which are: adjectives, adverbs
conjunctions, interjections, nouns, prepositions, pronouns, and verbs.

Even though they are classified as a different part of speech to nouns, pronouns are
nouns. They always play the role of a noun in a sentence.
 James is the first choice for the post. He has applied for it twice already.
(He is a pronoun. In this example, it replaces the proper noun James.)
(It is a pronoun. Here, it replaces the common noun post.)
 Some / Who / This
(The term pronoun covers lots of words, and all three words above are classified
as pronouns. There is whole section dedicated to pronouns.)

Gerunds
Gerunds are formed from verbs. They end -ing. They are a type of common noun.
 I love baking.
(baking – the name of an activity; it is formed from the verb to bake.)
 Thinking is required to solve this problem.
(thinking – the name of an activity; it is formed from the verb to think.)
Gerunds are different from other nouns because they can take an object or be modified
with an adverb.
 I love baking bread.
(Here, bread is the object of the gerund baking.)
 Thinking laterally is required to solve this problem.
(Here, the gerund thinking has been modified by the adverb laterally.)

Compound Nouns
Compound nouns are nouns made up of two or more words. Some compound nouns
are hyphenated, some are not, and some combine their words to form a single word.
For example:
 Mother-in-law
 Board of members
 Court-martial
 Forget-me-not
 Manservant
 Pickpocket
 Paper-clip

English plural nouns

In order to change a singular noun to its plural form in English, you usually add "s". For
example, the plural of book is books. The plural of table is tables. These are regular plurals.

But there are many nouns which don't follow this rule. For example the plural of fish is fish.
The plural of tooth is teeth. These are irregular plurals

Regular plurals:

Form:

Add "s" to the noun:

Noun + S

While many plural nouns follow this rule, the spelling sometimes differ.

Examples:

Singular Plural
snake snakes
window windows
box boxes
boy boys
lorry lorries
potato potatoes
knife knives

Spelling of plurals:

The plural form of most nouns is created simply by adding the letter "s".

 more than one snake = snakes

 more than one girl = girls
 more than one window = windows

Nouns that end in -ch, x, s, z or s-like sounds, however, will require an es for the plural:

 more than one witch = witches

 more than one box = boxes
 more than one gas = gases
 more than one bus = buses
 more than one kiss = kisses

Nouns that end in a vowel + y take the letter s:

 more than one boy = boys

 more than one way = ways

Nouns that end in a consonant + y drop the y and take ies:

 more than one baby = babies

 more than one lorry = lorries

A lot of nouns that end in o take es in the plural:

 more than one potato = potatoes

 more than one hero = heroes

o becomes oes
echo echoes
embargo embargoes
hero heroes
potato potatoes
tomato tomatoes
torpedo torpedoes
veto vetoes
Some nouns ending in o break the above rule and get os in the plural form:

o becomes os
auto autos
kangaroo kangaroos
kilo kilos
memo memos
photo photos
piano pianos
pimento pimentos
pro pros
solo solos
soprano sopranos
studio studios
tattoo tattoos
video videos
zoo zoos

Other nouns ending in o get either os or oes i the plural forms:

o becomes os or oes
buffalo buffalos/buffaloes
cargo cargos/cargoes
halo halos/haloes
mosquito mosquitos/mosquitoes
motto mottos/mottoes
no nos/noes
tornado tornados/tornadoes
volcano volcanos/volcanoes
zero zeros/zeroes

Plurals of nouns that end in f or fe usually change the f sound to a v sound and add s or -es.

 more than one knife = knives

 more than one leaf = leaves
 more than one hoof = hooves
 more than one life = lives
 more than one self = selves
 more than one elf = elves

Irregular plurals:

There are several nouns that have irregular plural forms.

Singular Plural
fish fish
sheep sheep
barracks barracks
foot feet
tooth teeth
goose geese
tooth teeth
goose geese
child children
man men
woman women
person people
mouse mice

Plurals formed in this way are sometimes called irregular plurals or mutated (or mutating)
plurals.

 more than one child = children

 more than one woman = women
 more than one man = men
 more than one person = people
 more than one goose = geese
 more than one mouse = mice
 more than one barracks = barracks
 more than one deer = deer

Other irregular plural forms include the following:

Some foreign nouns retain their plural. (Note that some of them adapted the s of the English
plural form!)

Singular Foreign plural English plural

alga algae
amoeba amoebae amoebas
antenna antennae antennas
formula formulae formulas
larva larvae
nebula nebulae nebulas
vertebra vertebrae

Nouns ending in us get a, i or the s of the English plural:

Singular Foreign plural English plural

corpus corpora
genus genera
alumnus alumni
bacillus bacilli
cactus cacti cactuses
focus foci
fungus fungi funguses
nucleus nuclei
octopus octopi octopuses
radius radii
stimulus stimuli
syllabus syllabi syllabuses
terminus termini

Nouns ending in um get a, i or the s of the English plural:

Singular Foreign plural English plural

addendum addenda
bacterium bacteria
curriculum curricula curriculums
datum data
erratum errata
medium media
memorandum memoranda memorandums
ovum ova
stratum strata
symposium symposia symposiums

Nouns ending in ex or ix get ices or get the s of the English plural:

Singular Foreign plural English plural

apex apices apexes
appendix appendices appendixes
cervix cervices cervixes
index indices indexes
matrix matrices matrixes
vortex vortices

Nouns ending in is becoming es in plural:

Singular Plural form

analysis analyses
axis axes
basis bases
crisis crises
diagnosis diagnoses
emphasis emphases
hypothesis hypotheses
neurosis neuroses
oasis oases
parenthesis parentheses
synopsis synopses
thesis theses

Nouns ending in -on becoming -a:

singular plural
criterion criteria
phenomenon phenomena
automaton automata

Nouns that are always singular:

A handful of nouns appear to be plural in form but take a singular verb:

 The news is bad.

 Gymnastics is fun to watch.
 Economics/mathematics/statistics is said to be difficult.

Some nouns never take the s of the plural and are always singular:

 your luggage / baggage is so heavy

 I'd like to buy new furniture for the house
 you can find more information in our website.

What is the correct plural of the word?

1. These (person) are protesting against the president.

2. The (woman) over there want to meet the manager.

3. My (child) hate eating pasta.

4. I am ill. My (foot) hurt.

 5. Muslims kill (sheep) in a religious celebration.

6. I clean my (tooth) three times a day.

7. The (student ) are doing the exercise right now.

8. The (fish) I bought is in the fridge.

9. They are sending some (man) to fix the roof.

10. Most (houswife) work more than ten hours a day at home.

11. Where did you put the (knife) ?

On the (shelf) .

12. (Goose) like water.

13. (Piano) are expensive

14. Some (policeman) came to arrest him.

15. Where is my (luggage) ?

In the car!

Write down the correct form of the plural:

1. city - .

2. house - .

3. boy - .

4. family - .

5. life - .

6. photo - .

7. phone - .
8. sandwich - .

9. nurse - .

10. elf - .

11. phenomenon - .

12. criterion - .

13. village - .

14. toy - .