Parts of speech facts for kids
Have you ever wondered how words work together in sentences? Parts of speech are like different jobs words have in grammar. They help us understand what a word does. Think of them as categories for words. There are many types, but some are very common. Knowing them helps you write and speak clearly!
Here are the most common parts of speech:
| Part of Speech | What it Does | Example Words | Example Sentence(s) | Helpful Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verb | Shows an action or a state of being. | (to) be, have, do, like, work, sing, can, must | London is a big city. I like London. | The word doing the action is the subject. Sometimes, a verb has an object. This is the word that receives the action. For example, in 'I like London', 'I' is the subject. 'London' is the object of the verb 'like'. |
| Noun | Names a person, place, thing, or idea. | pen, dog, work, music, town, London, teacher, John | New York City is very beautiful. | Proper nouns name specific people, places, or things. They always start with a capital letter. For example, New York City and Amelia are proper nouns. Other nouns are called common nouns. |
| Adjective | Describes a noun. It tells you more about it. | a/an, the, 2 (two), some, good, big, red, interesting | The cat is black and white. | Words like 'a', 'an', 'the', and 'some' are also called determiners. They help point out or limit a noun. |
| Adverb | Describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. | quickly, silently, well, badly, very, really | The giraffe eats slowly. But when he is very hungry, he eats really quickly. | 'Slowly' tells us how the giraffe eats (describes the verb 'eats'). 'Very' tells us how hungry he is (describes the adjective 'hungry'). 'Really' tells us how quickly he eats (describes the adverb 'quickly'). |
| Pronoun | Takes the place of a noun. | I, you, he, she, some, it, they, we | She is very good at playing the piano. | Using pronouns helps us avoid repeating the same noun many times. |
| Preposition | Links a noun or pronoun to another word in the sentence. | to, at, after, on, under, in, with | The dog is under the table. The man ran over the bridge. |
'Under' connects 'dog' to 'table'. 'Over' connects 'ran' to 'bridge'. |
| Conjunction | Joins words, phrases, or sentences together. | and, but, when, or, so, because | I like apples and oranges, but I don't like grapes. | Conjunctions are like glue for sentences! |
| Interjection | A short exclamation or sudden sound. | oh!, ouch!, hi!, wow!, oops! | Ouch! That really hurt! | These words show strong feelings or reactions. |
Sometimes, words like 'the', 'a', and 'an' are listed as a part of speech. However, many grammar experts think they are a type of adjective. Or they use the broader term 'determiner'.
Contents
How Languages Are Different
Almost all languages have nouns and verbs. But beyond these, languages can be very different! For example:
- Japanese has up to three types of adjectives. English only has one main type.
- Many languages do not separate adjectives and adverbs. Some also don't separate adjectives and verbs.
English words are not usually marked to show their part of speech. This is different from many other European languages. In English, many words can be used as more than one part of speech. Words like neigh, break, outlaw, laser, microwave, and telephone can be either verbs or nouns.
Even words that usually have a grammar job can be used differently. For example, "We must look to the hows and not just the whys." Here, 'hows' and 'whys' are used as nouns! When a word changes its part of speech, it's called conversion.
Open and Closed Word Groups
Word groups can be either open or closed.
- An open class is a group that easily accepts new words.
- A closed class rarely gets new words.
Open classes usually have many words. Closed classes are much smaller.
Open Classes
Typical open classes in English are nouns, verbs (not including helper verbs), adjectives, adverbs, and interjections. New words are added to open classes all the time. This happens through things like:
- Compounding: Joining two words (e.g., 'sun' + 'flower' = 'sunflower').
- Derivation: Adding parts to words (e.g., 'happy' + 'ness' = 'happiness').
- Coining: Making up new words (e.g., 'google').
- Borrowing: Taking words from other languages (e.g., 'kindergarten' from German).
Once a new word is added, it can be used in sentences just like other words in its group.
Closed Classes
Typical closed classes include prepositions, determiners, conjunctions, and pronouns. New words can be added to closed classes, but it's very rare. It also takes a long time. Closed classes are seen as a core part of the language. They are not expected to change often.
For example, new nouns and verbs are always being added to English. This includes using existing words in new ways, like turning a noun into a verb (e.g., "to google something"). However, it's very unusual for a new pronoun to become accepted. This is true even when people feel a need for one, like gender-neutral pronouns.
Images for kids
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This diagram shows some of the different word categories in English grammar.
See also
In Spanish: Categoría gramatical para niños
