The 8 Parts of Speech Rules, Examples & Chart [Easy Tricks]

Parts of speech is one of the grammatical groups in which words are divided into 8 parts: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. If you are a student of school or college and want to build up your English grammatical base, parts of speech is the lesson, you should start with.

In English grammar parts of speech is considered as the pillar of English language. Without understanding the meaning, charecteristics, and function of each part of speech, you will not be able to form a sentence correctly or answer fill in the gaps questions in your academic exams.

This is why today we will discuss over the 8 parts of speech rules in detail with their examples and usages in a sentence. However, it’s recommended that you must have proper understanding of ‘Classifications of Persons‘ before starting this lesson as it will help you understand the current lesson.

What is Parts of Speech?

Parts of speech is a particular class of word in a sentence such as noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. It plays different functions in a sentence based on their position. There are 8 parts of speech in English language.

For Example: Mr. Sarowar likes hot coffee in breakfast.

At first notice this example and try to understand the parts of speeches and how you should classify them in sentences.

Mr. Sarowar	likes	hot	coffee	in	breakfast
Noun	Verb	Adjective	Noun	Preposition	Noun

Classification of Parts of Speech

In English language, parts of speeche can be divided into 8 classes or parts based on their meaning, function, and usages such as:

• Noun
• Pronoun
• Verb
• Adjective
• Adverb
• Preposition
• Conjunction
• Interjection

You have to always remember the names, meanings, and rules of all parts of speech in order to recognize them in a sentence or use them to form a correct sentence.

Meaning of 8 Parts of Speech

Here are the meanings of all parts of speech in English grammar:

• Noun = name of any person, thing, or idea. 
• Pronoun = the alternative name of noun.
• Adjective = the qualifier word of any person, thing, or idea.
• Verb = the word which indicates action or condition.
• Adverb = the qualifier of any action or the qualifier of the qualifier word of any person, thing, or idea.
• Preposition = the word which indicates the relationship between words.
• Conjunction = the word which connects several words.
• Interjection = the word which shows emotion such as wonder, sorrow, or joy.

Parts of Speech Rules

Rules of parts of speech indicate the function of 8 parts of speech in a sentence, the way they work, the meaning or quality they express all together. By learning parts of speech rules, you will be able to figure out the name of a part of speech whether it is a noun, pronoun, verb or adjective word.

However, it might be a little bit difficult for a student to remember all the characteristics of 8 parts of speech together.

As a solution, we have come with a simple word based logic which will help you understand and remember the rules and functions of all parts of speech and figure out the single part of speech among many words.

Have a look on the word theory given below:

WAH2ILI

This word theory is a shorter form of the Wh-question words such as who, what, why. These questions will help you figure out the exact name of a part of speech. If you ask the whole sentence or a word with these Wh-question words, you will find out names of the parts of speech based on answers.

Of course different Wh-question indicates different part of speech.

Now, see the questioning rules and examples below in this chart to understand the word theory ‘WAH2ILI‘ and how it works in this process.

So, here is the explanation for you on each element of this theory.

Parts of Speech Theory

Theory	Rules	Answers
W =	who/what………………sentence?	= Noun / Pronoun.
A =	action word……………sentence?	= Verb.
H =	How…………. Noun/Pronoun?	= Adjective.
H =	How…………Verb/Adjective?	= Adverb.
I =	Indicator between two noun = Preposition.	= Preposition.
L =	Linking two words/sentences	= Conjunction.
I =	Impression of mind	= Interjection.

Now notice the example sentence given below and apply the above theory to figure out each part of this sentence or speech.  

Hurrah! we have won a prestigious prize for Soham and Robin finally.

Words	Parts of Speech	Rules and Answers
Hurrah !	Interjection	= the word which indicates impression of mind
we	Pronoun	= the alternate name of all who have several names or noun.
have won	Verb	= the word which indicates the action in the sentence.
a prestigious	Adjective	= (how———-prize which is noun?)
prize	Noun	= the name of object
for	Preposition	= that indicates the relationship between two noun words: ‘prize’ and ‘soham’
Soham	Noun	= indicates the name of a person
and	Conjunction	= that joins two noun words: ‘Soham’ and ‘Robin’
Robin	Noun	= indicates the name of a person
finally	Adverb	= the word which modifies the verb word: ‘have won’ and indicates the time of action

Therefore, the final output is the example and answer given below:

Hurrah!	we	Have won	A prestigious	prize	for	Soham	and	Robin	finally
Interjection	Pronoun	Verb	Adjective	Noun	Preposition	Noun	Conjunction	Noun	Adverb

Examples

Here are the list of the parts of speech and word examples which are used in English and you can easily figure out parts of speech by remembering these word sets.

Noun

Name of any person, thing, or idea: man, mountain, state, ocean, country, building, cat, airline love, wealth, happiness, pride, fear, religion, belief, history, communication milk, rice, snow, rain, water, food, music, bunch, audience, flock, team, group, family, band, village, etc.

For examples,

• Man is mortal.
• Everybody wants to get happiness.
• You should study History now.

Pronoun

The alternative name of noun: I, me, my, myself, mine, we, us, our, you, your, he, she, him, her, his, they, them, their, it, itself, ourselves, themselves, this, that, who, whom, which, both, none, somebody, something, nobody, nothing, all, any, etc.

For examples:

• I can help the boy now.
• They give him a nice gift.
• Will you help me?

Adjective

The qualifier word of any person, thing, or idea: Bad, good, little, many, much, few, little, red, well, interesting, Able, Anxious, Beautiful , Certain, Continuous , Dangerous, Deep, Eager , Large, Equal, Fresh, Hard, Low, Joyful, Short, Mad , Married , Melodious, National , Natural , Necessary , Negative , Neutral

For instance,

• The boy has enough money.
• He is a good boy undoubtedly.
• Is this oil natural?

Verb

The word which indicates action or condition: Am, is, are, was, were, being, been Have, has, had, having, Used to, Could, May, Must, Had better, Might, shall, will, Should, ought to, Come, Eat, Cry, Cut, Dance, Dare, Deal, Die, Dream, Feel

For Examples,

• I could buy the gift.
• He may think about it.
• My friend hates drinking now.

Adverb

The qualifier of any action or the qualifier of the qualifier word of any person, thing, or idea: quickly, silently, well, badly, very, really, Ago Twice, Almost, Thrice, Daily, Again, Ever, Always , Hither, Early, Thither, Enough,  Now, Fast, Then, Here, Once, There , Soon, More,  Sometimes, Never,  Yesterday, Only, Tomorrow, Quite

Examples:

• He has just completed the work.
• He always helps the poor.
• I will go to Dhaka tomorrow.

Preposition

The word which indicates the relationship between words: On, Over, Up, Upon, Beyond, Above, Under, Below, Down, Through, To, From, Towards, For, In, Into, Around, Out of, Of, About, At, By, With

For instance,

• The student of this school is present.
• The letter has come from Dhaka.
• Put this cup on the table.

Conjunction

The word which connects several words or sentences: and, but, when, And, As , well as, Until, Or,  Unless, But, Both ,Since, As, Lest , So, However , While, Still ,That, Why , So that, How ,If,  When , Though, Although, Where, Because, Who, Before, Which, Than, Either …..or, As if, as though, Neither ….nor, After, Till

Examples:

• Soham or Sajib will come here timely.
• He said that he was a regular student.
• I will help you unless you go there again.

Interjection

The word which shows emotion such as wonder, sorrow, or joy: Hurrah!, Ha! Ha!, Alas!, Oh!, Bravo!, Shame!, Hush!, Hi!, Fie! How/what!, Hallo!

For examples,

• Oh! What a nice place.
• Fie! You are a liar.
• Alas! His father has died.

Important Note:

Please note that there are 2 ways in English grammar through which we can analyze words/ parts of a sentence or speech. Firstly, for structural analysis, we use subject, verb, object, etc and you can read about them here: Structure of Sentences

On the other hand, for functional analysis, we use: noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb, etc. and this is the lesson on the functional analysis of a sentence.

Parts of Speech Exercises

Please identify each part of these speeches or sentences given below:

1. London is on the river of Thames.
2. He tried to lift himself out of poverty.
3. My father is reading a newspaper now.
4. We answered our teacher respectfully.
5. They are presiding over the meeting.
6. Wow! It is a beautiful scene.
7. You should work hard if you want to pass the exams.
8. A student who is attentive is sure to excel.
9. He gave me a bunch of grapes.
10. Everyone wants to be successful.

Summary

In conclusion, This is all about parts of speech in English grammar and now you have understood the process and function, they work in a speech or sentence.

Last of all, please try to memorize the parts of speech words given above sothat you can recognize a part of speech easily in a sentence. Try to figure out all the parts of speech based on different sentences, you get here and there. It will definetly improve you skill of figuring out parts of speech or sentence.