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EnglishGrade 7· U.S. National — Common Core & NGSS
Aligned to:Common Core State Standards (ELA)

Parts of Speech Made Simple

Nouns, verbs, adjectives and the rest — how each word does a job inside a sentence.

Parts of Speech Made Simple

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The eight parts of speech

Every English word belongs to at least one of eight categories: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. The category depends on the job the word does in the sentence, not on the word itself.

Three sentence cards show the word “light” doing different jobs as a thing, a description, and an action.
Three sentence cards show the word “light” doing different jobs as a thing, a description, and an action.Source: Illustrated for this lesson

Naming and doing words

Nouns name people, places, things, and ideas; pronouns stand in for nouns so you do not repeat them. Verbs show action (run, decide) or state of being (is, seems). Every complete sentence needs a subject noun or pronoun and a verb.

A student carries a backpack beside the sentence “She carries the backpack,” with its main sentence jobs marked.
A student carries a backpack beside the sentence “She carries the backpack,” with its main sentence jobs marked.Source: Illustrated for this lesson

Describing and connecting words

Adjectives describe nouns (a bright lamp) and adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs (she spoke softly). Prepositions show relationships in time or space (under, before), conjunctions join ideas (and, but, because), and interjections express feeling (Wow!).