Understanding English Vocabulary
By recognizing and distinguishing the English word types, learning English grammar will be much easier. You will build a foundation that will make understanding the explanations in English grammar much easier.
Learn how to identify the nine English parts of speech, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and more, and what their purpose and function is in an English sentence.
The Nine English parts of speech explained
| Part of speech | example | |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | Designates person, place, thing, event or concept | apple, dog, car |
| Pronouns | Substitutes noun or other part of speech for efficient speech | He, I, We |
| Adjectives | Describes a noun or pronoun in more detail | beautiful, scary, nice |
| Adverbs | Describes a verb, adjective, or other adverb more closely | daily, annually, extremely |
| Prepositions | Expresses place, time, direction, relationship of another part of speech | up, down, after |
| Conjunctions | A conjunction is a word that connects words, sentences, or parts of sentences. | |
| Interjections | Express emotions, moods, or sensations. | Ahh!, Whoa!, Oops! |
| Articles | Accompanies nouns and determines accuracy. | a, an, the |
The three English tenses at a glance
Learn tenses
Past, Present or Future? We explain all the tenses of English grammar.
Basic parts of speech in English grammar
| English | Meaning | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | Noun: Denotes persons or things. | Malta is a beautiful destination. |
| Verb | Activity Word: Expresses an action or state. | I travel to Malta. |
| Adjective | Property word: Describes the noun in more detail. | The trip to Malta was beautiful. |
| Pronouns | Proverb: Stands in place of a noun | He is travelling to Malta. |
| Adverb | Circumstance word: Describes a verb, an adjective, or another He immediately decided to travel to Malta. | |
| Conjunction | Connecting word: Connects words or groups of words together | He travelled to Malta and liked it there. |
| Preposition | Proportion word: Expresses in which relation persons or objects are located. | She is on a flight to Malta. |
| Interjection | Exclamation: Expresses a sentiment or request. | Look, he is learning English. |
Types of pronouns
| English | Explanation | Example words |
|---|---|---|
| Possessive pronoun | Possessing | Mine, Yours, His, Hers, My, Your |
| Demonstrative pronoun | Denotes and identifies a noun | This, These, That, Those |
| Personal pronoun | Refers to a specific person | I, You, He, She, we ... |
| Reflexive pronoun | Refers to the subject of the sentence | Myself, Yourself, Herself, Himself, Itself, Ourself, Yourself, Themselves |