"Parts of speech" are the basic types of words that English has. Most grammar books say that there are eight parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions and interjections.

It is important to be able to recognize and identify the different types of words in English, so that you can understand grammar explanations and use the right word form in the right place. Here is a brief explanation of what the parts of speech are:

Noun: a person, place, or thing. Can be the subject or object of a sentence. Ex: cat, horse, mother, Denmark

Pronoun: a word that replaces or stands for ("pro" = for) a noun. Ex: he, she, it

Verb: a n action word. Ex: sit, laugh, screw

Adjective: a word that describes or modifies a noun. Answers the questions "how many," "what kind," etc. Ex: happy, suicidal, red, dangerous

Adverb: a word that describes or modifies a verb. Ex: carefully, quickly, wisely. Also sometimes modifies an adjective. ("She was very tall." 'Very' is an adverb modifying 'tall,' which in turn is an adjective modifying 'she'.) Adverbs usually, but not always, end in "-ly". (However, not every word ending in "ly" is an adverb: "friendly," for example, is an adjective.)

Preposition: (literally "pre-position") a word that indicates the relationship of a noun (or noun phrase) to another word. Examples of prepositions are to, at, with, for, against, across.