Parts of speech

Most grammar books identify 9 different parts of speech – or word classes – that you might remember from school. They are grouped as follows:

Type	Classes	Description
Open class words	Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs	These can change their form and generally carry the main meaning in a sentence
Closed class words	Pronouns, Prepositions, Conjunctions, Interjections, Determiners	These are fixed and play a more functional role, providing the framework that the open class words sit in

Nouns

A noun names a person, place, thing, activity, condition or idea

manager

office

ambition

Australian Government

There are several ways we can classify nouns. Four of the most common kinds come in pairs:

common versus proper nouns
concrete versus abstract nouns.

The first pair helps to determine which nouns take a capital letter.

The second pair can influence the clarity and readability of a text.

Type of noun	Description and examples
Common	Names a general class of people, things or conditions. These do not take a capital letter. All staff had to sign the updated policy as confirmation they had read it.
Proper	Names something specific, such as a person, place or organisation, but also dates and days of the week. These all use capital letters, except for the short form of a title. Chunhua Tan started work at the Airport Authority in Hong Kong last July, but will leave the authority on Monday.
Concrete	Names something with physical, material qualities. Writing that uses concrete nouns will generally be more engaging and easier to understand. The spokesperson came to the microphone holding a document.
Abstract	Names something with no physical qualities, typically a concept or emotion. Writing that uses too many abstract nouns is often harder to read and understand. Our assessment should include some consideration of the impact of rising inflation.

Verbs

A verb names an action or a state of being

said

was

should visit

Verbs can be a single word or a series of words building a longer verb phrase:

ordinary (main) verb
modal auxiliary
infinitive auxiliary.

Type of verb	Description and examples
Ordinary	Describes the main action that a noun is doing – usually to another noun. The speakers paused their presentation while security ejected a heckler.
Modal auxiliary	Combines with a main verb to qualify the action that conveys. Modals indicate levels such as for ability, permission, possibility, compulsion and timing. The modal verbs are ‘can’, ‘could’, ‘may’, ‘might’, ‘must’, ‘shall’, ‘should’, ‘will’ and ‘would’. Please could you take over this project as that will ease Bobby’s workflow?
Other auxiliary	Combines with a main verb to make a question (typically a form of ‘to do’), change the tense (‘to have’) or create the passive voice (‘to be’). Did you send that letter? It was needed yesterday and the client has followed up.

Adjectives

An adjective describes a noun or pronoun

outstanding

substantial

relieved

Adjectives describe a noun or pronoun by telling the reader:

what kind
how many
which one.

They usually come just before the noun or pronoun.

The economic forecast for the coming quarter is promising.

We have developed several strategies to mitigate the adverse effects of the global crisis.

Adverbs

An adverb modifies a verb, adjective, adverb or clause

successfully

often

already

Adverbs typically modify a verb but they can also qualify an adjective, another adverb or a whole clause. They tell the reader how, when, where, why and for what purpose. Most adverbs end in ‘ly’.

Adverbs can appear in different places in a sentence.

The organisation must regularly review its procedures to continually improve its services.

We have already increased revenue substantially but I sometimes wonder if our hard work is fully appreciated.

Pronouns

A pronoun can take the place of a noun

they

she

A pronoun sits in place of a noun. They vary depending on their position in the sentence.

The possessive forms are also classed as determiners, which we discuss below.

Subject	Object	Possessive	Independent possessive
I	me	my	mine
we	us	our	ours
you	you	your	yours
they	them	their	theirs
he	him	his	his
she	her	her	hers
it	it	its	its

The ASG's Pronouns entry discusses these further, particularly relating to gender-neutral language and tone.

I am very sorry that we cannot accept the application you submitted after the closing date.

Prepositions

A preposition shows the link between a noun and another word or phrase, usually a verb

over

from

Prepositions often show the relationship in space or time between 2 or more people, things or places.

Common prepositions are words like ‘at’, ‘in’, ‘on’, ‘under’, ‘to’, ‘of’ and ‘through’, but there are over 100 more.

Please collect your receipts from the day of the incident and forward them to me by email.

Against my better judgement, I have decided to continue in the role until the end of the year.

Some prepositions take the form of a short phrase, such as ‘up to’, ‘due to’, 'except for’ and ‘in addition to’.

He went into the meeting room ahead of me.

Instead of improving the situation, he actually made it worse because of his inpatient manner.

Conjunctions

A conjunction joins words, phrases or clauses

and

but

A conjunction is a joining word, most commonly ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘or’, ‘if’, ‘yet’, ‘which’ or ‘so’.

The launch will go ahead if we can resolve some minor issues with the venue and catering, so we should continue to promote it on social media.

Note that some prepositions can function as conjunctions when followed by a clause.

When we last met that client, we had to wait in reception until the manager came to greet us.

See the ASG's Conjunctions entry to learn more about their uses.

Interjections

An interjection indicates emotion, assent or dissent, and greeting, usually in speech

gosh

hey

Interjections are more common in speech than formal writing, but they can occasionally be useful in less formal texts such as emails and on social media.

Wow! That’s a big improvement on the previous draft.

Oops, my mistake. I’ll correct it straight away.

Determiners

A determiner specifies the scope of a noun and can be an article, demonstrative, possessive or quantifier

the

that

your

some

Determiners fall into 4 kinds:

articles
demonstratives
possessives
quantifiers.

Determiners operate like adjectives in that they help to describe something about a noun. But unlike other adjectives, they are fixed in form.

Type of determiner	Description and examples
Article	Helps determine a noun, especially when there is no adjective. The definite article is ‘the’ and the indefinite articles are ‘a’ and ‘an’. The company has attributed a slight fall in profits to a new accounting system.
Demonstrative	Determines a noun within a specific frame of reference. The demonstratives are ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’ and ‘those’. This document needs to be put into that template I sent you last week.
Possessive	Shows when a pronoun ‘owns’ something. Possessive pronouns are words like ‘my’, ‘your’, ‘our’ and ‘their’. Your response to the complainant succinctly addresses all of their concerns.
Quantifier	Shows how many of a noun there are. Quantifiers are words like ‘any’, ‘all’, ‘few’, ‘some’ and ‘half’. Several people did not complete every question on the survey.

See also: and/or, Articles, Conjunctions, Expression, Pronouns, Verbs