Parts of speech

This online tool is used for to find parts of speech of nouns, adverbs, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, and interjections. A great tool for learning purposes by teachers and students in schools and universities.

How does it work?

Use the search box on top and type in any word, in any form, and find all forms of the word you are searching for. Both base form and all inflected versions of the word. The result is displayed with definitions and sentences with examples of use.

Eight parts of speech

There are eight parts of speech in the English language: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. The part of speech indicates how the word functions in meaning as well as grammatically within the sentence. An individual word can function as more than one part of speech when used in different circumstances. Understanding parts of speech is essential for determining the correct definition of a word when using a dictionary.

Noun

Nouns are naming words. They are used to represent a person (soldier, Jamie), place (Germany, beach), thing (telephone, mirror), quality (hardness, courage), or an action (a run, a punch).

Verb

Verbs are action words and state of being words. Examples of action words are ran, attacking, dreamed. Examples of "state of being" words is, was, be.

Adjective

Adjectives are describing words. An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or pronoun. Examples are hungry, smart, and big. Big (positive), bigger (comparative), biggest (superlative). Adjectives make the meaning of a noun more precise.

Adverb

An adverb is a word that modifies an adjective (very red), verb (quietly running), or another adverb (very carefully). Adverbs are most often created by adding -ly to the end of the adjective (happy -> happily, quick->quickly). But adjectives that end in -ly, such as friendly or lively, can't be made into adverbs by adding -ly. You have to use a different form of words, e.g. 'in a friendly way' or 'in a lively way' instead. Back to spelling.

Preposition

Prepositions are used to show the relationship between a noun or pronoun and another word. Examples of prepositions are: in, during, beside, after, for. In the sentence "Sows suffer in factory farms." The preposition "in" tells us the position of the sow relative to the factory farm.

Conjunction

Conjunctions are connector words. Examples of conjunctions are: and, but, so. They help us to group words and connect phrases, like in the sentence: "We have apples and oranges, but we need bananas.". You can easily remember all the co-ordinating conjunctions by using the acronym FANBOYS.

Pronoun

A pronoun is a placeholder for a noun. Examples of pronouns are: them, he, they, it. Pronouns make sentences shorter and clearer since they replace nouns. For example, instead of saying 'Emily was happy, so Emily smiled.' you can say 'Emily was happy, so she smiled.'

Interjection

An interjection is an abrupt remark like Oh! or Dear me, or Eww. It is usually used to express the strong emotions of the speaker. The sentence 'Congratulations! You won the gold medal!' shows the use of 'congratulations' as an interjection.

Tag your own sentence

Want to tag your sentence? Use our free part of speech tagger and detector. Write or paste your text and see the parts of speech of any sentence.

Did you know…

…that words that are never subject to inflection are said to be invariant; for example, the English verb must is an invariant item: it never takes a suffix or changes form to signify a different grammatical category. Its categories can be determined only from its context