1
2 choicesNouns and Verbs
Identify a person, place, thing or idea, then identify an action or state.
student · practise
← Grammar CentreGrammar foundations
Parts of Speech: Nouns, Verbs and More
Parts of speech tell us the job a word is doing in a sentence. Learning these names makes every later grammar explanation easier to understand.
Important: the same word can sometimes do different jobs. Always look at how the word is used in the sentence.
Reference guide
What job does each part of speech do?
N
Noun
Names a person, place, thing or idea.
- Ask yourself
- Who or what are we talking about?
- Examples
- student · Sydney · course · confidence
- In a sentence
- The student completed the course.
Remember: A can be something physical, such as a book, or an idea, such as confidence.
Back to top ↑V
Verb
Shows an action, event or state.
- Ask yourself
- What happens, or what is the situation?
- Examples
- study · improve · be · seem
- In a sentence
- The student studies every evening.
Remember: Every complete sentence needs a . Some show actions; others describe states.
Back to top ↑A
Adjective
Adds information about a or .
- Ask yourself
- What kind, which one or how many?
- Examples
- clear · difficult · three · Australian
- In a sentence
- She gave a clear explanation.
Remember: do not change for singular or plural in English.
Back to top ↑A
Adverb
Adds information about a , , another or a whole sentence.
- Ask yourself
- How, when, where, how often or to what degree?
- Examples
- clearly · often · very · however
- In a sentence
- The teacher explained the rule clearly.
Remember: Many end in -ly, but not all of them do, and some -ly words are .
Back to top ↑P
Pronoun
Replaces or points to a so we do not repeat it unnecessarily.
- Ask yourself
- Which person or thing does this word refer to?
- Examples
- I · they · it · which
- In a sentence
- Maher taught the class, and he answered every question.
Remember: A must refer clearly to the right person, thing or idea.
Back to top ↑P
Preposition
Shows a relationship involving place, time, direction or another idea.
- Ask yourself
- How are these words or ideas connected?
- Examples
- in · on · at · for
- In a sentence
- The class starts at 6 pm on Monday.
Remember: often occur in fixed combinations, so learn them in useful phrases.
Back to top ↑C
Conjunction
Connects words, phrases or clauses.
- Ask yourself
- What is being joined, and what is the relationship?
- Examples
- and · but · because · although
- In a sentence
- She practised every day because she needed a higher score.
Remember: help show addition, contrast, reason, condition and other relationships.
Back to top ↑Build one distinction at a time
Four levels of parts-of-speech practice
Begin with two word jobs. Each level adds more choices until you can identify all seven in context.
2
2 choicesAdjectives and Adverbs
Decide whether a word describes a noun or adds detail to a verb, adjective or adverb.
careful · carefully
3
3 choicesConnecting and Referring Words
Distinguish pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions.
they · at · because
4
7 choicesMixed Sentence Analysis
Identify a word by the job it performs in a complete sentence.
all seven word jobs
20-question Final Quiz
Can you identify all seven parts of speech?
Identify the highlighted word by the job it performs in its sentence. You will receive an explanation after every answer and a focus summary at the end.
- About 8–10 minutes
- Seven possible word jobs
- Immediate explanations and sounds
Why this comes first
A shared language for every grammar lesson
When another lesson uses a term such as noun or verb, the term will link back to its explanation here.
Next connectionLearn how noun types affect plural forms, quantity words, possession and articles.Study nouns →
Check your foundationComplete the mixed Final Quiz and review the word jobs that need more practice.Take the Final Quiz →