The Parts of Speech: A Plain-English Guide to Noun, Verb, Adjective and the Rest

Every dictionary entry begins with a small label: n., v., adj., adv. That's the part of speech, and it tells you what job the word does in a sentence. It's one of the most useful pieces of information in an entry.

The main parts of speech

Noun. Names a person, place, thing or idea: teacher, London, table, freedom.

Verb. Describes an action, event or state: run, happen, be, seem.

Adjective. Describes a noun: tall, interesting, red, unusual.

Adverb. Describes a verb, adjective or another adverb, often saying how, when, where or how much: quickly, very, tomorrow, there.

Pronoun. Replaces a noun: he, they, this, who.

Preposition. Shows a relationship, often of place or time, between a noun and another word: in, on, under, during, with.

Conjunction. Joins words, phrases or clauses: and, but, because, although.

Interjection. Expresses emotion, often standing alone: oh!, wow!, ouch!

Many modern grammars add determiners (the, a, some, my) as a separate class.

One word, several jobs

Many English words can be several parts of speech, depending on the sentence:

• light: The light is bright (noun); Light the candle (verb); A light jacket (adjective).
• run: We went for a run (noun); I run every day (verb).
• fast: A fast car (adjective); He drove fast (adverb).
• book: I read a book (noun); Book a table (verb).
• round: A round table (adjective); The next round (noun); Round the corner (preposition).

This is why dictionaries group meanings by part of speech.

Why it matters

• Choosing the right word form. "She sang beautiful" needs the adverb beautifully.
• Understanding entries. A word's meanings differ by part of speech.
• Sentence structure. Knowing what job each word does helps you build correct sentences.
• Exam questions. Word-form and grammar questions depend on it.

Verbs: transitive and intransitive

Dictionaries also label verbs:

• Transitive (vt): needs an object. She opened the door.
• Intransitive (vi): doesn't. The door opened.

Many verbs can be both, with slightly different meanings.

Nouns: countable and uncountable

Nouns are labelled C or U. Book is countable (a book, two books), while advice is uncountable (some advice, not an advice).

Clues for identifying parts of speech

• Words that follow the, a or my are usually nouns or adjectives.
• Words that follow to are often verbs (to run).
• Words ending in -ly are often adverbs.
• Words ending in -tion, -ness and -ment are nouns.
• Words ending in -ful, -ous and -able are adjectives.

Using this in practice

When you look up a word, note the part of speech that matches how you found it. That ensures you read the right meaning.

Practice

Take the word change, and write sentences using it as a noun and a verb. Then look it up, and compare the meanings under each label.

Look up parts of speech and meanings with English Dictionary →