Parts Of Speech

Nouns

A noun is a word that denotes a person, place, or thing. In a sentence, nouns answer the questions who and what.

Example: The dog ran after the ball.
In the sentence above, there are two nouns, dog and ball. A noun may be concrete (something you can touch, see, etc.), like the nouns in the example above, or a noun may be abstract, as in the sentences below.

Example 1: Shepossesses integrity.
Example 2: He was searching for love.
The abstract concepts of integrity and love in the sentences above are both nouns. Nouns may also be proper.

Example 1: She visited Chicago every year.
Example 2: Thanksgiving is in November.
Chicago, Thanksgiving, and November are all proper nouns, and they should be capitalized. (For more information on proper nouns and when to capitalizewords, see our handout on Capital Letters.)

You may also visit our handout on Count and Noncount Nouns.

Learn how to spot verbs that act as nouns. Visit our handout on Verbals: Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives.

Pronouns

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun in a sentence.

Example: She decided to go to a movie.
In the sentence above, she is the pronoun. Likenouns, pronouns may be used either as subjects or as objects in a sentence.

Example: She planned to ask him for an interview.
In the example above, both she and him are pronouns; she is the subject of the sentence while him is the object. Every subject pronoun has a corresponding object form, as shown in the table below.

Subject and Object Pronouns
Subject Pronouns Object Pronouns
I Me
We UsYou You
She Her
He Him
It It
They Them
For more information on pronouns, go to our handout on Pronouns.

To find out what part of speech are that, which, and whom? Visit our handout on Relative Pronouns.

Articles

Articles include a, an, and the. They precede a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence.

Example 1: They wanted a house with a big porch.
Example 2: He bought the bluesweater on sale.
In example 1, the article a precedes the noun house, and a also precedes the noun phrase big porch, which consists of an adjective (big) and the noun it describes (porch). In example 2, the article the precedes the noun phrase blue sweater, in which sweater is the noun and blue the adjective.

For more information, go to our handouts on Articles: A vs. An and How to Use Articles(a/an/the).

Adjectives

An adjective is a word that modifies, or describes, a noun or pronoun. Adjectives may precede nouns, or they may appear after a form of the reflexive verb to be (am, are, is, was, etc.).

Example 1: We live in the red brick house.
Example 2: She is tall for her age.
In example 1, two consecutive adjectives, red and brick, both describe the noun house. In example 2,the adjective tall appears after the reflexive verb is and describes the subject, she.

For more on adjectives, go to our handouts Adjective or Adverb and How to Use Adjectives and Adverbs.

Verbs

A verb is a word that denotes action, or a state of being, in a sentence.

Example 1: Beth rides the bus every day.
Example 2: Paul was an avid reader.
In example 1, rides is the verb; itdescribes what the subject, Beth, does. In example 2, was describes Paul’s state of being and is therefore the verb.

There may be multiple verbs in a sentence, or there may be a verb phrase consisting of a verb plus a helping verb.

Example 1: She turned the key and opened the door.
Example 2: Jackson was studying when I saw him last.
In example 1, the subject she performs two actions in thesentence, turned and opened. In example 2, the verb phrase is was studying.

Some words in a sentence may look like verbs but act as something else, like a noun; these are called verbals. For more information on verbs that masquerade as other parts of speech, go to our handout on Verbals: Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives.

To learn more about conjugating verbs, visit our handouts on Verb...