English (Basic) - Lesson- Two

The parts of speech are the basic building blocks of English grammar. Every word in a sentence belongs to one of these categories, depending on how it functions. There are eight main parts of speech.

1. Noun

A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea.
Examples: teacher, city, book, happiness
Nouns can be common (general names like girl, car) or proper (specific names like Riya, Mumbai). They can also be countable (apple, chair) or uncountable (water, sugar).

2. Pronoun

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun to avoid repetition.
Examples: he, she, it, they, we, you
For example, instead of saying “Ravi is tired because Ravi worked hard,” we say, “Ravi is tired because he worked hard.”
Pronouns can show different roles, such as subject pronouns (I, we, he, she, they), object pronouns (me, us, him, her, them), and possessive pronouns (mine, yours, theirs).

3. Verb

A verb expresses an action, occurrence, or state of being.
Examples: run, jump, think, is, was
There are two main kinds:

  • Action verbs, which show what someone does (She runs fast).

  • Linking verbs, which connect the subject to a description (He is smart).
    Verbs also change form to show tense — past, present, or future.

4. Adjective

An adjective describes or gives more information about a noun or pronoun.
Examples: beautiful, tall, red, kind
It answers questions like What kind? Which one? How many?
Example: She wore a red dress. — “red” describes the noun “dress.”

5. Adverb

An adverb modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb.
Examples: quickly, very, well, yesterday
Adverbs answer questions like how? when? where? to what extent?
Example: He runs fast. — “fast” tells how he runs.
Many adverbs end in -ly, but not all.

6. Preposition

A preposition shows the relationship between a noun (or pronoun) and another word in the sentence.
Examples: in, on, at, under, between, behind, for
Example: The book is on the table. — “on” shows the relation between “book” and “table.”

7. Conjunction

A conjunction connects words, phrases, or clauses.
Examples: and, but, or, because, although, since
Example: I wanted to go, but it was raining.
Conjunctions are of three types: coordinating (and, but, or), subordinating (because, although), and correlative (either…or, neither…nor).

8. Interjection

An interjection is a short word or phrase that expresses sudden emotion or reaction.
Examples: Oh! Wow! Ouch! Hurray!
They are usually followed by an exclamation mark.
Example: Wow! That’s amazing.

In short, every word you use in English fits into one of these eight parts of speech, and understanding them helps you form correct and meaningful sentences.