🧠 What Are the 8 Parts of Speech?

The 8 parts of speech are basic building blocks of English grammar. They tell us how a word works in a sentence.


1. Noun

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

Examples:

  • Person: teacher, John

  • Place: school, Myanmar

  • Thing: book, pen

  • Idea: freedom, happiness

Subtypes:

  • Common noun – general name (e.g., city, dog)

  • Proper noun – specific name (e.g., Yangon, Alex)

  • Concrete noun – can be seen or touched (e.g., apple, phone)

  • Abstract noun – ideas/feelings (e.g., love, honesty)

  • Countable noun – can be counted (e.g., books, cars)

  • Uncountable noun – can’t be counted (e.g., water, rice)


2. Pronoun

A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun.

Examples:

  • I, you, he, she, it, we, they

  • John is happy. β†’ He is happy.

Subtypes:

  • Personal pronouns – I, you, he, she, etc.

  • Possessive pronouns – my, your, his, her, etc.

  • Reflexive pronouns – myself, yourself, etc.

  • Demonstrative pronouns – this, that, these, those

  • Relative pronouns – who, which, that

  • Interrogative pronouns – who, what, which


3. Verb

A verb is a word that shows action or state.

Examples:

  • Action: run, eat, write

  • State: is, seem, feel

Subtypes:

  • Main verbs – express main action (e.g., go, talk)

  • Helping verbs – help the main verb (e.g., is going, has eaten)

  • Transitive verbs – need an object (e.g., She reads a book.)

  • Intransitive verbs – don’t need an object (e.g., He sleeps.)

  • Regular verbs – add -ed in past (e.g., walk β†’ walked)

  • Irregular verbs – change form (e.g., go β†’ went)


4. Adjective

An adjective describes a noun (tells what kind, how many, etc.).

Examples:

  • beautiful girl

  • three cats

  • tall, red, happy

Subtypes:

  • Descriptive adjectives – describe quality (e.g., soft, large)

  • Quantitative adjectives – show quantity (e.g., some, many)

  • Demonstrative adjectives – this, that, these, those

  • Possessive adjectives – my, your, his, her

  • Interrogative adjectives – which, what, whose


5. Adverb

An adverb modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb. It tells how, when, where, or how much.

Examples:

  • He runs quickly. (how)

  • I’ll go tomorrow. (when)

  • She is very smart. (how much)

Subtypes:

  • Manner – how (e.g., slowly, neatly)

  • Time – when (e.g., now, yesterday)

  • Place – where (e.g., here, outside)

  • Frequency – how often (e.g., always, never)

  • Degree – how much (e.g., very, quite)


6. Preposition

A preposition shows the relationship between a noun/pronoun and another word (often shows place, time, or direction).

Examples:

  • The cat is on the table.

  • We went to the park.

Common Prepositions:

  • Place – in, on, under, behind

  • Time – at, on, in, before

  • Direction – to, into, onto, from


7. Conjunction

A conjunction joins words, phrases, or sentences.

Examples:

  • I like tea and coffee.

  • He was tired, but he worked.

Subtypes:

  • Coordinating – and, but, or, so, yet

  • Subordinating – because, although, if, when

  • Correlative – either...or, neither...nor, both...and


8. Interjection

An interjection is a short word that expresses emotion.

Examples:

  • Wow! That’s amazing.

  • Oops! I dropped it.

Common Interjections:

  • Oh, Wow, Ouch, Hey, Hooray, Hmm


πŸ“ Summary Table

Part of SpeechWhat It DoesExample
NounNames a person/place/thing/ideacat, city, love
PronounReplaces a nounhe, she, it
VerbShows action or staterun, is, sleep
AdjectiveDescribes a nounbig, red, smart
AdverbDescribes a verb/adjective/etc.quickly, very, here
PrepositionShows relation (time/place/etc.)on, in, at
ConjunctionConnects words or sentencesand, but, because
InterjectionShows emotionwow, oh, ouch

Part of Speech Quiz

Exercise 3: Find the Part of Speech in Each Sentence

Select the word that matches the given part of speech in each sentence.