The 8 parts of speech

1 Nouns
A noun is a word that names a person, place, concept, or object. Basically, anything that
names a “thing” is a noun, whether you’re talking about a basketball court, San Francisco,
Cleopatra, or self-preservation.

Nouns fall into two categories: common nouns and proper nouns. Common nouns are
general names for things, like planet and game show. Proper nouns are names or titles for
specific things, like Jupiter and Jeopardy!

>>Read more about nouns

Nouns are everywhere in our writing. But what are all the types of nouns you come across,
and how do you use them?

A noun is a word that names something, such as a person, place, thing, or idea. In a sentence,
nouns can play the role of subject, direct object, indirect object, subject complement,
object complement, appositive, or modifier.

Some noun examples include:

 cat
 bicycle
 Taylor Swift
 Kuala Lumpur

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Types of nouns
Nouns form a large proportion of English vocabulary, and they come in a wide variety of
types.

Nouns can name a person:

Albert Einstein
the president
my mother
a girl
Nouns can name a place:

Mount Vesuvius
Disneyland
my bedroom

Nouns can name things:

Things might include intangible things, such as concepts, activities, or processes. Some might
even be hypothetical or imaginary things.

shoe
faucet
freedom
The Elder Wand
basketball

Proper nouns vs. common nouns

One important distinction to be made is whether a noun is a proper noun or a common

noun. A proper noun is a specific name of a person, place, or thing and is always capitalized.

Does Tina have much homework to do this evening?

Tina is the name of a specific person.

I would like to visit Old Faithful.

Old Faithful is the specific name of a geological phenomenon.

The opposite of a proper noun is a common noun, sometimes known as a generic noun. A
common noun is the generic name of an item in a class or group and is not capitalized unless
appearing at the beginning of a sentence or in a title.

The girl crossed the river.

Girl is a common noun; we do not learn the identity of the girl by reading this sentence,
though we know the action she takes. River is also a common noun in this sentence.

Types of common nouns

Common or generic nouns can be broken down into three subtypes: concrete nouns,
abstract nouns, and collective nouns. A concrete noun is something that is perceived by the
senses; something that is physical or real.

I heard the doorbell.

My keyboard is sticky.

Doorbell and keyboard name real things that can be sensed.

Conversely, an abstract noun is something that cannot be perceived by the senses.

We can’t imagine the courage it took to do that.

Courage is an abstract noun. Courage can’t be seen, heard, or sensed in any other way, but
we know it exists.

A collective noun denotes a group or collection of people or things.

That pack of lies is disgraceful.

Pack as used here is a collective noun. Collective nouns take a singular verb, as they refer to
the collection of people or things they identify as one entity—in this case, the singular verb
is.

A pride of lions roamed the savanna.

Pride is also a collective noun.

Nouns and number

All nouns are either singular or plural in number. A singular noun refers to one person, place,
thing, or idea and requires a singular verb, while a plural noun refers to more than one person,
place, thing, or idea and requires a plural verb.

Forming plural nouns

Many English plural nouns can be formed by adding -s or -es to the singular form, although
there are also many exceptions.

cat→cats
These two cats are both black.

Note the plural verb are.

tax→taxes
house→houses

Countable nouns vs. uncountable nouns

Concrete and abstract common nouns can be further classified as either countable or
uncountable. Countable nouns are nouns that can be counted, even if the resulting number
would be extraordinarily high (like the number of humans in the world). Countable nouns can
be singular or plural and can be used with numbers and modifiers like a/an, the, some, any, a
few, and many.

Here is a cat.
Here are a few cats.
Here are eight cats.

Uncountable nouns, or mass nouns, are nouns that are impossible to count, whether because
they name intangible concepts (e.g., information, animal husbandry, wealth), collections of
things that are considered as wholes (e.g., jewelry, equipment, the working class), or
homogeneous physical substances (e.g., milk, sand, air). Although most of these nouns are
singular in form, because they refer to things that can’t be isolated and counted on their own,
they are never used with the singular indefinite article a or an. Singular concrete uncountable
nouns can often be expressed in countable units by adding a countable noun like piece (with
of). On their own, uncountable nouns can be modified by the definite article, the, or indefinite
adjectives like some.

They’d love to rent some property around here.

They’d love to rent a piece of property around here.
Students don’t seem to have much homework these days.
Could you help me move the furniture into the other room?

Nouns and the possessive case

The possessive case shows the relationship of a noun to other words in a sentence. That
relationship can be ownership, possession, occupancy, a personal relationship, or another
kind of association. The possessive of a singular noun is formed by adding an apostrophe and
the letter s.

The cat’s toy was missing.

The cat possesses the toy, and we denote this by use of -’s at the end of cat.

Casey’s sister is a geologist.

Here, the possessive case indicates the relationship between Casey and their sister.

The novel’s release made quite a splash.

In the above example, the possessive case is denoting that novel is in the role of object in
relationship to release; someone released the novel.

The possessive of a plural noun that ends in –s or –es is formed by adding just an apostrophe.

My nieces’ prom outfits were exquisite.

The possessive of an irregular plural noun is formed by adding –’s.

The children’s drawings were hung on the walls.

When a singular noun ends in the letter s or z, the general rule of adding –’s often applies.

I have been invited to my boss’s house for dinner.

Ms. Sanchez’s coat is still hanging on the back of her chair.

This is a matter of a style, however, and some style guides call for leaving off the s after the
apostrophe.

Brussels’ cathedrals attract hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.

Whichever style an organization or writer chooses should be used consistently.

Functions of nouns

Nouns take on different roles based on their relationships to the rest of the words in a
sentence.

Nouns as subjects

Every sentence must have a subject, and that subject will always be a noun or pronoun. The
subject of a sentence is the person, place, or thing that is doing or being or experiencing
whatever is described by the verb of the sentence.

Maria played the piece beautifully.

The noun Maria is the subject of this sentence; it tells us who is performing the action
described by the sentence’s verb (played).

Nouns as objects

Nouns can also be objects of a transitive verb in a sentence. An object can be either a direct
object (a noun that receives the action described by the verb) or an indirect object (a noun
that receives direct object).

Cleo passed the salt.

Cleo passed Otto the salt.

In both of the above sentences, the noun salt is the direct object of the verb passed; the salt is
what Cleo passed. In the second sentence, there is also an indirect object: the noun Otto. Otto
is the person to whom Cleo passed the salt; Otto is the recipient of the salt. A good way to
identify an indirect object in a sentence is to ask yourself to whom/what or for whom/what
something is being done.

Nouns as subject and object complements

Another role nouns sometimes perform in a sentence is that of a subject complement. A
subject complement normally follows a linking verb such as be, become, or seem and gives
more information about the subject of the sentence.

Mary is a teacher.

In this sentence, the noun teacher is being used as a subject complement. A teacher is what
Mary is.

A related function of nouns is to act as an object complement, which provides more

information about the direct object of a sentence with a transitive verb.

I now pronounce you husbands.

Husbands is a noun used as an object complement in this sentence. Verbs that denote making,
naming, or creating are often followed by nouns behaving as object complements.

Nouns as appositives

A noun used as an appositive immediately follows another noun in order to further define or
identify it. You can also say that the second noun is in apposition to the first noun.

My brother, Michael, is six years old.

Michael is an appositive here, further identifying the noun phrase my brother. Appositives
can be restrictive or nonrestrictive; in the above example, we can see from the fact that it is
set off between commas that Michael is nonrestrictive—that is, it could be left out of the
sentence without leaving out essential information about who is six years old. In other words,
we can surmise that Michael is the writer’s only brother; telling us his name is extra
information about him. Here is a version of the same sentence where the appositive is used
restrictively, without being set off by commas:

My brother Michael is six years old.

In this case, the appositive Michael is providing information that is essential for narrowing
down which brother the writer is telling us about. We can infer that they have multiple
brothers, and understand that it is the one named Michael who is six years old.

Nouns as modifiers

Sometimes, nouns can be used to modify other nouns, functioning like adjectives. When they
do this, they are often called attributive nouns. .

He is a speed demon.

Speed is normally a noun, but here it is acting as an adjective to modify demon.

Noun FAQs
What are nouns?

Nouns refer to a person, place, thing, or idea. They serve as the subjects, direct objects, and
indirect objects in a sentence, along with other roles.

What are some examples of nouns?

Nouns can be living things (Keanu Reeves or cat), places (beach or Detroit), things (ruler or
PlayStation 5), or ideas (nihilism or the theory of evolution).

What are the different types of nouns?

Common nouns refer to general things (like parks), and proper nouns refer to a specific thing
(like Yellowstone National Park). Nouns can also be plural or singular, depending on how
many there are, countable or uncountable, and possessive or not possessive.

2 Pronouns

Pronouns are words you substitute for specific nouns when the reader or listener already
knows which specific noun you’re referring to.

You might say, “Jennifer was supposed to be here at eight,” then follow it with “She’s always
late; next time I’ll tell her to be here a half hour earlier.”

Instead of saying Jennifer’s name three times in a row, you substituted she and her, and your
sentences remained grammatically correct. Pronouns are divided into a number of categories,
and we cover them all in our guide to pronouns:

>>Read more about pronouns

What is a pronoun?
In English grammar, pronouns are a type of generic noun that can represent any other noun.
Their job is to make communication faster and more efficient because you don’t have to
repeat the same word over and over again. Some pronoun examples include:

 I
 me
 us
 you
 themselves
 who
 that
Pronouns are one of the eight traditional parts of speech, and they are also sometimes
understood as making up a small subcategory of nouns. The distinguishing characteristic of
pronouns is that they can be substituted for nouns. For instance, if you’re telling a story about
your sister Sarah, the story will begin to sound repetitive if you keep saying or writing Sarah
over and over again:

Sarah has always loved fashion. Sarah announced that Sarah wants to go to fashion school.

You could try to mix it up by sometimes referring to Sarah as “my sister,” but then it sounds
like you’re referring to two different people:

Sarah has always loved fashion. My sister announced that Sarah wants to go to fashion
school.

Instead, you can use the pronoun she to refer to Sarah after introducing her:

Sarah has always loved fashion. She announced that she wants to go to fashion school.

Pronouns can replace both proper and common nouns. Certain pronouns have specific rules
about when they can be used, such as the way it should never be used to refer to a human
being. We explain all of the different types and their associated rules below. Notice that some
pronouns (such as which and whose) can function as more than one type, depending on how
they’re deployed in a sentence.

What is an antecedent
Remember how we mentioned that in order to use a pronoun, you need to introduce the noun
first? That noun has a name: an antecedent.

Antecedents are necessary because pronouns are versatile. Think about it—it can refer to a
bike, a tree, a car, or a city, and we just used it to refer to something else entirely: pronouns’
versatility. Take a look at these examples, in which pronouns are bolded and the nouns
they’re referring to are underlined, to see how antecedents and pronouns work together:

My family tests my patience, but I love them.

The sign was too far away for Jorge to read it.
Danita said she is almost finished with the application.

Antecedents aren’t necessary when the reader/listener knows who or what you’re discussing.
Generally, you don’t need an antecedent for a pronoun like I, you, we, our, or me. But
sometimes you do need an antecedent in this kind of situation—like when you’re giving a
speech where you introduce yourself and your credentials before discussing the subject of
your speech.

There are also circumstances where you might not introduce the noun first and instead reveal
it only after using pronouns to refer to your subject. You might do this for dramatic or poetic
effect in a piece of creative writing, for example.

Personal pronouns
When you think of pronouns, you most likely think first of personal pronouns. Personal
pronouns are pronouns that change form based on their grammatical person—that is, based
on whether they refer to the person speaking or writing (the first person), the person or thing
being spoken to (the second person), or the person or thing being spoken about (the third
person). Here is a list of the main personal pronouns :

 I/me
 she/her
 he/him
 they/them
 It
 we/us
 you

Here are a couple of example sentences with personal pronouns bolded and their antecedents
underlined:

The new student will arrive today. They will need a seating assignment and a name tag.
My family loves nachos. We make them every Friday for movie night.

Relative pronouns
Relative pronouns are another class of pronouns. They connect relative clauses to
independent clauses. Often, they introduce additional information about something
mentioned in the sentence. Relative pronouns include these words:

 that
 what
 which
 who
 whom

Traditionally, who refers to people, and which and that refer to animals or things. Here are a
few examples of relative pronouns at work:

The woman who called earlier didn’t leave a message.

All the dogs that got adopted today will be loved.
My car, which is nearly twenty years old, still runs well.

Who vs. whom—subject and object pronouns

Knowing when to use who and when to use whom trips a lot of writers up. The difference is
actually pretty simple: Who is for the subject of a sentence or clause, and whom is for the
object of a verb or preposition. Here are a couple of a quick examples:

Who mailed this package?

To whom was this package sent?
See the difference? Who is a subject pronoun. It’s in the subjective case, just like I, he, she,
they, and we. Whom is an object pronoun, which puts it in the objective case along with me,
him, her, them, and us. An easy way to determine whether you should use who or whom in a
sentence is to answer the sentence’s question by substituting another pronoun that is affected
by case. With the new pronoun in place, determine whether the sentence still makes sense.
For example:

He mailed this package.

The package was sent to him.

Figuring out when to use whom can be more difficult than knowing when to use who because
it typically comes before the sentence’s verb when used in a question, as it often is—notice
how the structure of the object pronoun example sentence needed to change more
dramatically than that of the subject pronoun sentence.

Demonstrative pronouns
That, this, these, and those are demonstrative pronouns. They can point directly to an
antecedent or replace one that has already been mentioned or is clear through context.

This is used for singular items that are nearby. These is used for multiple items that are
nearby. The distance can be physical or metaphorical. Take a look at these examples:

She looked at the envelope and said“This has no return address, we better add one.”
What a fantastic idea! This is the best thing I’ve heard all day.
If you think gardenias smell nice, try smelling these.

That is used for singular items that are farther away. Those is used for multiple items that are
farther away. Again, the distance can be physical or metaphorical. Here are a few examples
of these pronouns in action:

“That would be a nice place to live,” they said, pointing at the large house.
Some new flavors of soda came in last week. Why don’t you try some of those?
Those aren’t swans, they’re geese.

Indefinite pronouns
Indefinite pronouns are used to refer generally to a person or thing that doesn’t need to be
specifically identified or has already been mentioned. Here are some common indefinite
pronouns:

 one
 other
 none
 some
 anybody
 everybody
 no one
Here are a few examples of indefinite pronouns in sentences:

Everybody was late to work because of the traffic jam.

It matters more to some than to others.
Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.

When an indefinite pronoun functions as the subject of a sentence or clause, it usually takes
singular verbs.

Reflexive pronouns
Reflexive pronouns are forms of personal pronouns that end in –self or –selves:

 myself
 yourself
 himself
 herself
 itself
 oneself
 ourselves
 yourselves
 themselves

You can use a reflexive pronoun as the object of a verb or preposition to refer back to the
subject of the sentence or clause Here are a few examples:

She checked herself out of the hotel thirty minutes before checkout time.
Lola made herself a smoothie to bring to class.
Take care of yourselves.

In the third example above, the antecedent is the implied you that is the subject of an
imperative sentence.

Using myself when you mean me is a common mistake writers and speakers make. Reflexive
pronouns are correct only when the subject and object of a verb are the same. If you’re using
a pronoun as an object but it refers to an antecedent that is not the subject of the sentence or
clause, you use an object pronoun instead:

He asked myself to go for a bike ride.

He asked me to go for a bike ride.
I had promised myself I would accept more invitations.

Intensive pronouns
Intensive pronouns look the same as reflexive pronouns, but their purpose is different.
Intensive pronouns add emphasis by repeating their antecedent noun or pronoun.
Conceptualizing the difference between them and reflexive pronouns can be challenging
because the emphasis isn’t always obvious. Take a look at these examples of intensive
pronouns and examine how they’re different from the examples in the previous section:
I told them I could do it myself.
It was the idea itself that posed a problem, not the way it was executed.

If you can remove a pronoun from a sentence and it loses emphasis but its meaning stays the
same, it’s most likely an intensive pronoun. Compare these two sentences:

I built this house.

I built this house myself.

See how the second one emphasizes that the speaker had no help in building their house?
Intensive pronouns can help you express pride, shock, disbelief, credulousness (or
incredulousness), or another strong emotion. Here are a few more examples:

They hiked the entire Appalachian Trail themselves?

Did you yourself see Loretta spill the coffee?

Possessive pronouns
As their names imply, both possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives show ownership.

Possessive pronouns are sometimes called independent possessive pronouns or absolute

possessive pronouns. They show possession of a noun by replacing it. They look like this:

 mine
 yours
 ours
 his
 hers
 theirs
 its

When you use an independent possessive pronoun, you drop the noun that the pronoun is
expressing a relationship to. Here are a couple of examples:

She had forgotten her jacket, so I gave her mine.

I had no idea whose bid had won the auction, but then my cousins told me that theirs had.

Possessive adjectives also clarify who or what owns something. Unlike possessive pronouns
—which replace nouns—possessive adjectives go before nouns to modify them. They include
the following:

 my
 your
 our
 his
 her
 their
 its
Take a look at these examples of possessive adjectives in action:

I crashed my bike into a telephone pole.

Your house is always decorated so nicely.

Each possessive pronoun also has a form called the independent possessive. They look like
this:

 mine
 yours
 ours
 his
 hers
 theirs
 its

When you use an independent possessive pronoun, you drop the noun that the pronoun is
expressing a relationship to. Here are a couple of examples:

She had forgotten her jacket, so I gave her mine.

I had no idea whose bid had won the auction, but then my cousins told me that theirs had.

Interrogative pronouns
Interrogative pronouns are used in questions. These are the interrogative pronouns:

 who
 whose
 whom
 what
 which

Here are a few examples of interrogative pronouns at play:

Who wants a bag of jelly beans?

What is your name?
Which movie do you want to watch?
Whose jacket is this?

Reciprocal pronouns
There are only two reciprocal pronouns: each other and one another.

These pronouns describe a mutual relationship between two or more elements. Take a look at
these examples:

Javier and Priya, the two top salespeople on our team, are competing with each other to be
named salesperson of the year.
All my siblings are blaming one another for letting the boa constrictor out last Thanksgiving.
Distributive pronouns
Distributive pronouns refer to nouns as individual elements of larger groups. They enable
you to single out individuals while acknowledging that they’re part of a group. Distributive
pronouns include the following:

 either
 each
 neither
 any
 none

Here are a few examples of distributive pronouns in sentences:

All of my friends entered the costume contest, and none of them won.
Cookies and muffins are available for dessert. Neither is appealing to me.

More pronoun examples

As you can see, pronouns do a lot. And there are a lot of them. To make them even more
complicated, many pronouns change forms when they’re used in different positions within a
sentence or based on number, gender, person, or case.

Take a look at the different types of pronouns and their forms at a glance:

Type Pronouns in this category Example sentences

 I brought all the snack
 We weren’t planning
Personal I/me, you, they/them, he/him, she/her, it, we/us
staying over.

 My car, which is twen

old, doesn’t connect t
Bluetooth.
Relative that, what, which, who, whom, whose
 The professor who ra
meeting ended it prom

 You’ve seen clear qu

smoky quartz, but hav
seen these stones?
Demonstrative this, that, these, those
 I ordered Hawaiian p
that a lot.

 We need cashiers up
Anybody who’s avail
another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, both, each, either,
please report to the fr
Indefinite everybody, everyone, everything, neither, nobody, none, no
 “Why can’t we fix thi
one, one, other, some, somebody, someone, such
asked nobody in parti
Type Pronouns in this category Example sentences
 The car began to swe
myself, yourself/yourselves, themself/themselves, herself, corrected itself.
Reflexive
himself, oneself, itself, ourselves  He made himself a sa

 You did all of this yo

myself, yourself/yourselves, themself/themselves, herself,  She herself said it wa
Intensive
himself, oneself, itself, ourselves easy project..

 The pool is ours.

Possessive mine, yours, theirs, his, hers, its, ours  That green car is his.

 Whose bike is this?

Interrogative what, which, who, whose  What is the answer?

 We ran into each othe

subway.
Reciprocal each other, one another  They’ve been fighting
another for decades.

 Peanut butter or choc

good with either.
Distributive Either, each, neither, any, none  There were four cats,
had long hair.

Pronouns and gender identity

You might have noticed pronouns listed in some of your colleagues’ and friends’ email
signatures or social media profiles. You might have even been prompted to list your own
pronouns in your profiles and communications. While historically only the personal pronouns
he/him/his and she/her/hers were used for individuals, based on their perceived gender,
pronoun usage is broader and more descriptive today.

Many people use gender-neutral language like they/them/theirs and zie/hir/hirs because they
feel these pronouns express their gender identity more accurately than she or he. The most
common gender-neutral pronoun is the singular they. Today, it’s not uncommon to see the
singular they as the default neutral pronoun. It’s what we use on the Grammarly blog, and for
writers across the internet, it’s a concise, catch-all pronoun that can fit just about any
sentence. However, language is constantly evolving, and new types of singular third-person
pronouns have emerged that refer to people entirely without reference to gender, such as
noun-self pronouns.

3 Adjectives
Adjectives are the words that describe nouns. Think about your favorite movie. How would
you describe it to a friend who’s never seen it?

You might say the movie was funny, engaging, well-written, or suspenseful. When you’re
describing the movie with these words, you’re using adjectives. An adjective can go right
before the noun it’s describing (“I have a black dog”), but it doesn’t have to. Sometimes,
adjectives are at the end of a sentence (“My dog is black”).

>>Read more about adjectives

Most often, adjectives are easy to identify in a sentence because they fall right before the
nouns they modify.

The old clock hung upon the wall.

A white horse galloped across the lush, green grass.
Have you met our three handsome boys?
Ours is the last house on the street.

In these sentences, old, white, lush, green, three, handsome, and last are all adjectives; they
give us a more detailed description of the nouns they modify. An adjective might answer the
mental questions, “What kind is it?” (as with an old clock, a white horse, the lush grass, the
green grass, or the handsome boys), “How many are there?” (as with the three boys), or
“Which one is it?” (as with the last house). Adjectives that answer the first question are
descriptive adjectives. Those that answer the other two questions are limiting adjectives—
they restrict or quantify a noun rather than describing it.

The five ladies go to Las Vegas every year.

Those flowers must go on that table.
She gave the best piece to her mother.

The examples above use the limiting adjectives five (how many ladies?), every (which
year/s?), those (which flowers?), that (which table?), best (which piece?) and her (whose
mother?). Technically, definite articles (the) and indefinite articles (a/an) also function as
limiting adjectives.

Predicate Adjectives
Although many adjectives fall before the nouns they modify, as in the examples above, those
used in sentences or clauses with linking verbs fall after the nouns they modify. Linking
verbs describe a state of being rather than an action; the most common linking verb is to be,
and others include sense verbs like appear, seem, look, smell, sound, and taste.

Cynthia is fatigued .
Those muffins look delicious .
The sunrise seemed golden .
Do you think this spaghetti sauce tastes spicy ?
With linking verbs, adjectives like fatigued, delicious, golden, and spicy all fall after the
nouns they modify (Cynthia, muffins, sunrise, spaghetti sauce).

4 Verbs

Go! Be amazing! Run as fast as you can! Win the race! Congratulate every participant who
put in the work and competed!

Those bolded words are verbs. Verbs are words that describe specific actions, like running,
winning, and being amazing.

Not all verbs refer to literal actions, though. Verbs that refer to feelings or states of being, like
to love and to be, are known as nonaction verbs. Conversely, the verbs that do refer to literal
actions are known as action verbs.

>>Read more about verbs

What is a verb?
Let’s start with the basics: What is a verb? Verbs are words that describe actions, whether
physical or mental. Verbs also describe a “state of being,” like the verbs be, become, or exist.

Salah ran across the field, kicked the ball, and scored a goal.

“I am the State.” —King Louis XIV

Some verbs also act as “helper verbs” to change the tense of another verb. Likewise, these
helper verbs can change a positive statement to a negative one with words like “not.”

She has been jogging for a month and already feels her stamina increasing.

“I don’t feel so good.” —Spider-Man

Every sentence needs at least one verb. If there’s no verb, it’s an incomplete sentence or a
sentence fragment. Except for imperative sentences (commands), a sentence also needs a
subject, the thing doing the action.

Subjects are important for a verb because they change how it’s conjugated, which we explain
below. This is especially true for the most common verb: be.

Types of verbs
Dynamic (action) verbs
Most verbs describe a physical action or activity, something external that can be seen or
heard. These verbs are formally known as dynamic verbs, but can also be called action or
event verbs.

Examples: walk, laugh, swim, play, eat, drink, sing, dance, talk, say

There are a lot of actions that take place in our minds and feelings, which are not external.
Verbs that describe mental or internal actions are still dynamic verbs, but they’re not always
so obvious. These include “process verbs,” which describe actions of transition.

Examples: consider, guess, change, grow, live, endure, succeed, fail

Stative (state-of-being) verbs

The opposite of dynamic verbs of action is stative verbs of being. Stative verbs describe a
subject’s state or feeling, including things they like and don’t like.

Examples: want, need, prefer, love, hate, like, dislike, seem, understand, know, believe,
involve, realize

One of the most important parts of stative verbs is that you can’t use them in the
continuous tenses. Stative verbs stick to the simple tenses, or occasionally use the perfect.

The trouble is that some verbs can be dynamic or stative, depending on the specific meaning
and how they’re used. This includes the most popular verb be. Let’s take a deeper look at
these.

Verbs that can be dynamic or stative

A lot of verbs have more than one meaning, so they can be used as dynamic or stative. These
include perception words: see, hear, taste, smell, feel.

When perception verbs are used as an involuntary action, such as passive or unintentional
actions, they are stative. This applies when these verbs are used in the general sense, a state
of being that’s always happening.

I can’t see without my glasses.

Cake still tastes great even if it’s not your birthday.

When those same verbs are used for a voluntary action—specific, deliberate, and/or
temporary events—they are dynamic. Among other things, it means they can be used in the
continuous tenses.

I haven’t been seeing well since I lost my glasses.

We were tasting cakes for the wedding all afternoon.

Likewise, some perception verbs have alternative meanings, especially if they’re part of
expressions or phrasal verbs. Often, this means they act as dynamic verbs.
Romeo and Juliet had been seeing each other for just five days when they died.

Other verbs, like think, have, and, above all be, follow the same voluntary/involuntary rules
as perception verbs. Depending on how they’re used, they can be either dynamic or stative.

I think toads are better than frogs.

(stative: expresses an opinion or feeling always there; involuntary)

All morning I was thinking about how toads are better than frogs.

(dynamic: expresses the temporary action of thinking; voluntary)

I have a ten-year-old dog.

(stative: expresses permanent ownership; involuntary)

I am having a party for my dog’s eleventh birthday.

(dynamic: used as part of phrase; voluntary)

He is nice to everyone.

(stative: expresses an ongoing state or personality trait; involuntary)

He was just being nice to everyone to get a promotion.

(dynamic: expresses a temporary/intentional state; voluntary)

Auxiliary (helping) verbs

Auxiliary verbs, or “helping verbs,” are used in English to change another verb’s tense, voice,
or mood. When auxiliary verbs are used, there’s always a main verb that represents the main
action. However, the auxiliary verb must still be conjugated correctly.

The main auxiliary verbs are be, have, and do. We explain how they’re used specifically for
conjugating below, but here are a few quick examples:

I have eaten sushi many times before. (tense)

That piece of sushi was eaten by me. (voice)

Did you eat my sushi? (mood)

Modal auxiliary verbs

Some auxiliary verbs are added to another verb to show necessity, possibility, or capability.
Like other auxiliary verbs, modal auxiliary verbs are not the main verb, but they do change its
meaning slightly. Some common examples are can, may, could, should, would, must, ought,
and might.
I could swim across the English Channel, but should I do it?

She must be the strongest person on the team, and might be the strongest person in the
region.

Phrasal verbs

Phrasal verbs are phrases that act as individual verbs, often combining two or more words
and changing their meaning. The verb get, for example, becomes many different phrasal
verbs when combined with different prepositions.

When the bus stops, passengers get out on the sidewalk.

After losing his job, he’s getting by on savings.

The important thing to remember about phrasal verbs is that they act as a single verb, so you
can still use them with other verbs and prepositions. However, when you conjugate a phrasal
verb, you only conjugate the part of the phrase that’s actually a verb, like get.

>>Read More: Master These 30 Common Phrasal Verbs in English

Verb categories
Aside from the different types, verbs also come in different categories. Dynamic, stative, and
auxiliary verbs all make up the categories below.

Transitive, intransitive, and ditransitive

Transitive, intransitive, and ditransitive refer to how a verb acts with direct and indirect
objects. A direct object is the person or thing that the action happens to, while an indirect
object is the person or thing that receives the direct object.

Lindor threw the ball to deGram.

In this example, the subject is Lindor and the verb is threw. The direct object is the ball
because that is what was thrown—Lindor did the action to the ball. The indirect object is
deGram because he received the direct object, the ball.

Verbs that don’t use either a direct or indirect object are called intransitive. These verbs are
complete actions by themselves.

Examples: go, walk, run, talk, sit, sleep, work

Verbs that use a direct object, but not an indirect object, are called transitive. They don’t
always need a direct object, but they have the option.

Examples: clean, like, love, dislike, hate, want, learn, deserve, say
Verbs that use both direct and indirect objects are called ditransitive. They don’t always
need an indirect object, but they have the option.

Examples: throw, make, buy, sell, read, give, lend, bring

Just as a verb can be either dynamic or stative depending on the meaning, a verb can
sometimes act transitive while at other times act intransitive. These are known as
ambitransitive. For example, if you ask someone if they’re hungry, they might respond:

No, I already ate. (intransitive)

No, I already ate a sandwich. (transitive)

Active vs. passive voice

In English, the standard format where the subject performs the action is known as the active
voice. However, you can switch around your words to make the direct or indirect objects the
subject of the sentence, known as the passive voice. As explained in our guide to the passive
voice, you can make a verb passive by adding a conjugated form of be in front of its past
participle.

Stricklen threw the ball to Williams. (active)

The ball was thrown to Williams by Stricklen. (passive)

Williams was thrown the ball by Stricklen. (passive)

Linking (copular) verbs

A linking verb is any verb, dynamic or stative, that directly connects or “links” the sentence’s
subject to other words in the sentence. For example:

Garfield is a cat.

Here, “Garfield” and “a cat” are the same thing, so “is” acts as a linking verb.

A linking verb—also known as a copula or copular verb in formal linguistics—connects the

subject not just to other nouns and adjectives, but also to prepositional phrases and other
verbs in the infinitive form. Although the verb be is the most-used linking verb in English,
other linking verbs like seem and become are also common.

Garfield is in the kitchen.

Garfield became fat by eating lasagnas.

Garfield seems to hate Mondays.

Likewise, perception verbs are often linking verbs as well, but only when they describe what
is being perceived.
The mild sauce also tastes spicy.

Birds look happy when the sun comes out.

The student felt pride when they used perfect grammar.

Regular vs. irregular Verbs

Verbs have different forms to show different uses, such as an action that happened in the past,
or an action that happens continuously. Normally, these forms follow the same patterns of
conjugation, so that you can use the same rules on all verbs. Verbs that use the normal forms
are regular verbs.

Unfortunately, some verbs don’t want to play by the rules. They have their own unique forms
with no patterns, specifically for the simple past tense and past participle forms. These are the
notorious irregular verbs, and there are quite a few of them—including the most common
verb be.

To make matters worse, the only way to learn how to use irregular verbs is to study them and
all their forms. On the bright side, we explain the best ways to memorize irregular verbs. But
first, you’ll want to learn the standard verb forms of the majority regular verbs below.

Verb forms
Before we explain how to conjugate verbs in English, you need to understand the different
forms a verb takes. This helps immeasurably when you conjugate on your own—you just
need to use the right form at the right time. Keep in mind that these forms work mostly for
regular verbs; irregular verbs each have their own special forms.

If you want to learn more, we have a more detailed guide on verb forms here.

3RD PERSON SIMPLE PRESENT PAST

ROOT
SINGULAR PAST PARTICIPLE PARTICIPLE
Dance
dances danced dancing danced
(regular)
Sing
sings sang singing sung
(irregular)

Root

The root form is the basic form of the verb with no changes. It’s also the simple present tense
for everything except the third-person singular.

Third-person singular present

Used with subjects like he, she, the singular they, or it, the third-person singular in the present
tense just adds an -s to the end of the root form most of the time.
For verbs that end in a consonant and -y (try, carry), you remove the y and add -ies (tries,
carries). If the verb ends in a vowel and -y (say, buy), you just add an –s like normal (says,
buys).

Verbs that end in -ch, -sh, -x, -z, or -s add -es to the end instead of just –s. For example,
watch becomes watches and kiss becomes kisses.

Simple past

The past tense shows an action that already happened. In most cases it’s made by adding -ed
to the end of the root form, or just -d if the root form already ends in an e. However, be
careful of irregular verbs—their rules for the past don’t tend to be consistent.

Present participle

The present participle is used for the continuous tenses to show ongoing or current action,
and in more advanced English can be used for participial phrases. In most cases you simply
add –ing to the end of the root form, although sometimes you have to remove an E first.

Past participle

The past participle is used for the perfect tenses. In regular verbs, it’s the same as the simple
past tense, so there’s nothing extra to learn. However, irregular verbs often use unique past
participles, so you may have to memorize their forms.

Infinitives and gerunds

Do you like to swim? Do you enjoy learning? If you want to use a verb as a noun, you can
turn it into an infinitive or gerund, the noun forms of verbs.

An infinitive adds the preposition to in front of a verb’s root form. Although technically two
words, an infinitive acts as a single word, usually a noun, but sometimes also an adjective or
adverb.

To forgive is divine. (noun)

Bring a snack to eat if you get hungry. (adjective describing “snack”)

Alternatively, you can turn the verb into a gerund by adding -ing, identical to the present
participle. A gerund is strictly used as a noun, and occasionally you can use them to
create gerund phrases, which act as a single unit to modify the gerund.

Running is too difficult.

Studying the cosmos is not the same as understanding the cosmos.

So what’s the difference between infinitives and gerunds? Often, they are interchangeable—
both infinitives and gerunds can act as subjects and direct objects.
Living with a dog changes your outlook on life. (correct)

To live with a dog changes your outlook on life. (also correct)

However, only gerunds can be the object of a preposition.

When I’m not fishing, I’m thinking about fishing.

Moreover, some transitive verbs only use infinitives as a direct object—for example,
want.

I want to break free. (correct)

I want breaking free. (incorrect)

Although there are others, some common verbs use infinitives. They include the following:
choose, decide, hope, plan, prepare, promise, wish.

In general, use the infinitives for situations that are abstract, unreal, or haven’t happened yet.
Use gerunds for situations that are specific, real, or have already happened.

In the mornings, I really like to exercise. (abstract; infinitive)

This morning, I really liked exercising. (specific; gerund)

How to conjugate verbs in English

Using verbs isn’t as easy as just tossing them in a sentence. They need to represent the tense
you want, as well as match the subject (subject-verb agreement, explained below). This is
called verb conjugation, or changing the verb to fit the sentence. In English, there are four
main tenses, each divided into three time periods, totalling twelve tenses. Some other tenses
exist, but these are the most common ones.

Main tenses:

 simple
 continuous
 perfect
 perfect continuous

Time periods:

 present
 past
 future

Below, we explain how to conjugate each of the main tenses in the present, past, and future.
Keep in mind that irregular verbs may use different forms.
Subject-verb agreement

No matter what tense you use, your verb has to match the number of the subject. In other
words, singular subjects conjugate verbs differently than plural subjects.

A lot of the time, you either add –s to the end of the verb or you don’t. However, more
advanced tenses with auxiliary verbs can get tricky—both be and have are irregular verbs, so
you have to pay close attention to using their right forms even when they’re not the main
verb.

How to conjugate simple tenses

The simple tenses are the most straightforward—that’s what makes them simple. They
represent individual, one-time actions.

How to conjugate the present tense

The simple present tense is used for actions that happen regularly or things that don’t change,
such as preferences or opinions. It’s made with the root form, unless the subject is third-
person singular (he, she, the singular they, it), in which case you use the third-person singular
present form.

[ROOT] or [THIRD-PERSON SINGULAR PRESENT]

Kim feels lousy today.

I study every night before bed.

How to conjugate the past tense

The simple past tense describes a single action that already took place, or a habitual action
that no longer occurs. It uses the simple past form explained above.

[SIMPLE PAST]

When I was young, I played in the backyard every day.

They lost again, and no one was surprised.

How to conjugate the future tense

The simple future tense describes events that have not happened yet, as in planning or
preparing. It uses the root form, but adds the word will in front.

will + [ROOT]

You will study verbs until you understand them.

Once again, history will repeat itself.

How to conjugate continuous tenses
The continuous tense—also known as the progressive tense—is used for mostly ongoing
events that are temporary.

Remember that stative verbs cannot be used in the continuous tense. Actions about
feelings or states of being that happened in the past use the simple past tense.

How to conjugate the present continuous tense

The present continuous tense is used often, and has many different uses:

 events happening right now

 ongoing events that are temporary
 plans for the near future

It’s often confused with the present simple; situations which might seem like the simple
present—such as actions happening currently—are actually best represented by the present
continuous.

Form the present continuous by adding the conjugated simple present form of be before the
present participle of your main verb (the -ing form).

am / is / are + [PRESENT PARTICIPLE]

Tony is sleeping at the moment.

Later, we’re seeing the new zombie movie. Everyone is talking about it!

How to conjugate the past continuous tense

The past continuous tense shows ongoing events that happened in the past, specifically ones
that have a definitive beginning and end. It can also be used to show a past event that was
interrupted by another past event. Note that the past continuous is only used for events that
are completed.

Form the past continuous by adding the conjugated simple past form of be before the present
participle. Yes, the present participle.

was/were + [PRESENT PARTICIPLE]

They were eating dinner when the phone rang.

It was raining all day, but we still had fun indoors.

How to conjugate the future continuous tense

The future continuous tense describes ongoing events that will happen in the future,
specifically if they have a definitive beginning and end.
It’s formed by adding the words will be before the present participle.

will be + [PRESENT PARTICIPLE]

We will be skiing all day Saturday.

After I quit, you will be begging me to come back to work.

How to conjugate the perfect tense

As one of the most confusing tenses in English, the perfect tense takes some practice. It has
very particular usage guidelines—especially the present perfect—and it’s closely related to
the simple past.

How to conjugate the present perfect tense

The present perfect tense is used for a few special circumstances, mostly connected to past
events that haven’t yet ended:

 actions started in the past but continue into the present

 repeated actions in the past without mentioning when
 past actions, for more emphasis or dramatic effect

To form the present perfect tense, add the present conjugation of have before the verb’s past
participle.

has/have + [PAST PARTICIPLE]

I’ve worked here since the beginning.

Macbeth has murdered the king!

(Macbeth murdered the king! is also correct, but the present perfect makes it sound more
dramatic.)

How to conjugate the past perfect tense

When a sentence has two past events, use the past perfect tense, also known as the pluperfect,
to show which one happened first. It’s typically used in compound or complex sentences with
two clauses to show the order in which they happened.

For the past perfect tense by adding had before the past participle.

had + [PAST PARTICIPLE]

I had forgotten about our date until she reminded me.

When our plane finally landed, they had already left the airport.
How to conjugate the future perfect tense

The future perfect tense refers to an unfinished event from a future when it’s already
completed. Confused? Say you’re riding your bike on Saturday. By Sunday, you’ll be
finished riding your bike. You can say, “My bike ride will have finished by Sunday.” That’s
why the future perfect tense is usually used with an expression of time, for context.

It’s formed by adding the words will have before the past participle. You don’t need to
conjugate “have,” because it’s the same no matter what the subject is.

will have + [PAST PARTICIPLE]

By the time I can vote, I will have graduated already.

We will have stayed together for twenty-five years in August.

How to conjugate the perfect continuous tense

One of the more complicated tenses in English, the perfect continuous tense combines the
perfect and continuous tenses at the same time. It’s largely used like the perfect tense, but
with ongoing or continuous actions.

How to conjugate the present perfect continuous tense

The present perfect continuous tense describes an ongoing action started in the past that
continues to the present. If that sounds familiar, it’s because that’s one of the situations we
use the normal present perfect tense, too.

So what’s the difference? The present perfect and the present perfect continuous can often be
used interchangeably, but the big difference is emphasis. The present perfect continuous
emphasizes that the event is ongoing, whereas the present perfect alone emphasizes
completion or achievement.

To form the present perfect continuous, add the conjugated form of have, the word been, and
the present participle.

has/have + been + [PRESENT PARTICIPLE]

The town has been mining gold since the 1800s.

I’ve been locked in my closet for hours!

How to conjugate the past perfect continuous tense

Like the past perfect, the past perfect continuous tense is used in complex and compound
sentences to show which event happened first. While the past perfect tense describes an
individual action, the past perfect continuous shows an ongoing action that is already
finished.
Form the past perfect continuous tense by adding the words had been before the present
participle.

had been + [PRESENT PARTICIPLE]

Until the moment our picnic began, the sun had been shining all day.

She had been waiting for a sign before she finally asked him out.

How to conjugate the future perfect continuous tense

The future perfect continuous tense functions just like the future perfect tense, except with an
ongoing action. The major difference is that with the future perfect tense, the event will have
ended, but with the future perfect continuous, the event would still be happening by that time
in the future. Both, however, are frequently used with expressions of time.

The future perfect continuous tense is formed by adding the words will have been before the
present participle.

will have been + [PRESENT PARTICIPLE]

In a few weeks, she will have been studying English for a whole year.

By 6:00, we will have been stuck in this elevator for four hours.

3 expert tips on putting verbs into action

1 Use verbs instead of other words for more powerful writing

Verbs aren’t just necessary for grammar—they’re also the most helpful words for writing.
Whether you’re writing a school essay, work email, or social media post, try to use verbs
over nouns or adjectives to provide the details.

This may involve rewording some of your sentences, but your changes will improve your
writing as a whole. Strong writing uses as few words as possible, so a single verb sounds
better than a group of words that say the same thing.

He is a proofreader for work.

He proofreads for work.

In the end, we were successful.

In the end, we succeeded.

2 Use the active voice whenever you can

Although the passive voice is grammatically correct, the active voice is usually preferred. It
follows the same principle mentioned above: Fewer words mean stronger writing. Not only
does the active voice sound better, but also it’s easier for your reader to understand because
the subject comes first.

Whenever you notice a sentence in the passive voice, see if you can reword it to say the same
thing in the active voice.

The homecoming game was attended by almost every student.

Almost every student attended the homecoming game.

It was there that they found the lost ring.

They found the lost ring there.

3 Use specific verbs instead of modifying general verbs

Our last tip again follows the principle that fewer words are better. Instead of modifying or
describing your verb to get across your meaning, try using another, more specific verb
instead.

There are thousands of verbs in the English language; instead of adding words to describe the
verb you have, use another more precise verb to take its place.

run fast → sprint

talk quietly → whisper

bump into each other → collide

Of course, knowing the right word in every circumstance is not easy, especially if English
isn’t your primary language. Don’t be afraid to use the Grammarly writing assistant. In
addition to catching all spelling and grammar mistakes while you write, Grammarly can also
suggest better word choice. Grammarly’s writing feedback can recommend better, stronger
verbs with the meaning you’re looking for, as well as suggest alternatives to words you use
over and over again. Try it and see how your writing improves!

5 Adverbs

An adverb is a word that describes an adjective, a verb, or another adverb.

I entered the room quietly.

Quietly is describing how you entered (verb) the room.

A cheetah is always faster than a lion.

Always is describing how frequently a cheetah is faster (adjective) than a lion.

>>Read more about adverbs

Adverb examples
Adverbs are easy to recognize because they usually end in –ly, but not always. Some of the
most common adverb examples include:

 really, very
 well, badly
 today, yesterday, everyday, etc.
 sometimes, often, rarely, etc.
 early, late, soon, etc.
 here, there, everywhere, etc.

Adverbs and verbs

Adverbs often modify verbs. This means that they describe the way an action is happening.

Huan sings loudly in the shower.

My cat waits impatiently for his food.
I will seriously consider your suggestion.

The adverb in each of the sentences above answers the question In what manner? How does
Huan sing? Loudly. How does my cat wait? Impatiently. How will I consider your
suggestion? Seriously. Adverbs can answer other types of questions about how an action was
performed. They can also tell you when (“we arrived early”), where (“turn here”), or with
what frequency (“I go there often”).

However, there is one type of verb that doesn’t mix well with adverbs. Linking verbs, such
as feel, smell, sound, seem, and appear, typically precede adjectives, not adverbs. A very
common example of the type of mixup that happens with linking verbs is the following:

Paz feels badly about what happened.

Because feel is a verb, it seems to call for an adverb rather than an adjective. But feel isn’t
just any verb; it’s a linking verb, which means that it links the subject of a sentence to the
modifier that follows it. Since a subject is, by definition, a noun (or a pronoun), it is modified
by an adjective. An adverb would describe how you perform the action of feeling—an
adjective describes what you feel. “Paz feels badly” means that Paz is bad at feeling things. If
Paz is trying to read Braille through thick leather gloves, then it might make sense for you to
say “Paz feels badly.” But if you’re trying to say that Paz is experiencing negative emotions,
“Paz feels bad” is the phrase you want.

Adverbs and adjectives

Adverbs can also modify adjectives. An adverb modifying an adjective generally adds a
degree of intensity or some other kind of qualification to the adjective.

The lake is quite beautiful.

This book is more interesting than the last one.
“Is my singing too loud?” asked Huan.
My cat is incredibly happy to be having his dinner.
We will be slightly late to the meeting.
This shirt is a very unflattering shade of puce.

Adverbs and other adverbs

You can use an adverb to describe another adverb. In the following sentence, the adverb
almost is modifying the adverb always (and they’re both modifying the adjective right):

The weather report is almost always right.

In fact, if you wanted to, you could use several adverbs to modify another adverb.

Huan sings rather enormously too loudly.

However, that often produces weak and clunky sentences like the one above, so be careful
not to overdo it.

Adverbs and sentences

Some adverbs can modify entire sentences—unsurprisingly, these are called sentence
adverbs. Common ones include generally, fortunately, interestingly, and accordingly.
Sentence adverbs don’t describe one particular thing in the sentence—instead, they describe a
general feeling about all of the information in the sentence.

Fortunately, we got there in time.

Interestingly, no one at the auction seemed interested in bidding on the antique spoon
collection.

At one time, the use of the word hopefully as a sentence adverb (e.g., “Hopefully, I’ll get this
job”) was condemned. People continued to use it, though, and many style guides and
dictionaries now accept it. That said, there are still plenty of readers out there who hate it, so
it’s a good idea to avoid using it in formal writing.

Degrees of comparison
Like adjectives, many adverbs can show degrees of comparison, although it’s slightly less
common to use them this way. With certain flat adverbs (adverbs that look exactly the same
as their adjective counterparts), the comparative and superlative forms look the same as the
adjective comparative and superlative forms. It’s usually better to use stronger, more precise
adverbs (or stronger, more precise adjectives and verbs) than to rely on comparative and
superlative adverbs.
An absolute or positive adverb describes something in its own right:

He smiled warmly.
They asked me to deliver a hastily written note.

To make the comparative form of an adverb that ends in -ly, add the word more:

He smiled more warmly than the others.

The more hastily written note contained the clue.

To make the superlative form of an adverb that ends in -ly, add the word most:

He smiled most warmly of them all.

The most hastily written note on the desk was overlooked.

Placement of adverbs
In general, adverbs should be placed as close as possible to the words they are intended to
modify. Putting the adverb in the wrong spot can produce an awkward sentence at best and
completely change the meaning at worst. Consider the difference in meaning between the
following two sentences:

I almost dropped all the papers I was holding.

I dropped almost all the papers I was holding.

The first sentence is correct if it’s meant to communicate that you very nearly dropped the
papers but managed to hold on to them—the adverb almost comes right before the verb
dropped, so it’s most naturally understood as modifying dropped. In the second sentence,
almost has moved to modify the adjective all, communicating that you did drop most of the
papers.

Be especially careful about the word only, which can be an adverb, an adjective, or a
conjunction and is one of the most often misplaced modifiers. Consider the difference
between these two sentences:

Phillip only fed the cat.

Phillip fed only the cat.

The first sentence means that all Phillip did was feed the cat. He didn’t pet the cat or pick it
up or anything else. The second sentence means that Phillip fed the cat, but he didn’t feed the
dog, the bird, or anyone else who might have been around.

When an adverb is modifying a verb phrase, the most natural place for it is usually the middle
of the phrase.

We are quickly approaching the deadline.

Huan has always loved singing.
I will happily assist you.
When to avoid adverbs
Ernest Hemingway is often held up as an example of a great writer who detested adverbs and
advised other writers to avoid them. In reality, it’s impossible and unnecessary to avoid
adverbs altogether. Sometimes we need them, and all writers (even Hemingway) use them
occasionally.

The trick is to avoid superfluous adverbs. When your verb or adjective doesn’t seem
powerful or precise enough, instead of reaching for an adverb to add more color, try reaching
for a stronger verb or adjective instead. For example, the following two sentences are both
grammatically correct and mean the same thing, but you’ll probably agree that the second, in
which the verb wrested does all the work that the adverbs forcefully and away are doing in
the first, packs more of a punch.

The board forcefully took control away from the founder.

The board wrested control from the founder.

If you find yourself piling on the adverbs, many times you cancome up with a better word,
and your writing will be stronger for it.

6 Prepositions

Prepositions tell you the relationships between other words in a sentence.

You might say, “I left my bike leaning against the garage.” In this sentence, against is the
preposition because it tells us where you left your bike.

Here’s another example: “She put the pizza in the oven.” Without the preposition in, we
don’t know where the pizza is.

>>Read more about prepositions

What is a preposition?
“Vampires! Zombies! Werewolves!”

“Where?!”

“Behind you!”

Thank goodness for prepositions. Imagine not knowing where the danger lay . . .
Prepositions tell us where or when something is in relation to something else. When monsters
are approaching, it’s good to have these special words to tell us where those monsters are.
Are they behind us or in front of us? Will they be arriving in three seconds or at midnight?

Prepositions often tell us where one noun is in relation to another (e.g., “The coffee is on the
table beside you”). But they can also indicate more abstract ideas, such as purpose or contrast
(e.g., “We went for a walk despite the rain”).

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Types of prepositions
Prepositions indicate direction, time, location, and spatial relationships, as well as other
abstract types of relationships.

Direction: Look to the left and you’ll see our destination.

Time: We’ve been working since this morning.

Location: We saw a movie at the theater.

Space: The dog hid under the table.

Preposition examples
Unfortunately, there’s no reliable formula for determining which preposition to use with a
particular combination of words. The best way to learn which prepositions go with which
words is to read as much high-quality writing as you can and pay attention to which
combinations sound right. Here are a few examples of the most common prepositions used in
sentences.

I should rewrite the introduction of my essay.

Sam left his jacket in the car.
Did you send that letter to your mother?
We’re cooking for ten guests tonight.
Dani ate lunch with their boss.

You can also use tools like the Google Books Ngram Viewer to see which prepositions most
commonly occur with particular words—but remember, this tool can’t explain the difference
in meaning between different prepositional phrases like “pay for” (to purchase) and “pay off”
(to bribe). For that, you may want to refer to a list of prepositions that includes the meanings
of common combinations, which you can find online, or to a usage guide such as The
Chicago Manual of Style, which includes a list of words that often give writers trouble along
with the prepositions that go with them in different constructions.

Ending a sentence with a preposition

The old claim that it’s wrong to end a sentence with a preposition has been debunked. It’s not
true now and it never was true. Writers who insist that a preposition can’t end a sentence
often end up with stilted and unnatural-sounding sentences:

There’s no one else to hide behind. (Correct and natural)

There’s no one else behind whom to hide. (Correct but unnatural)
Where did you come from? (Correct and natural)
From where did you come? (Correct but unnatural)

That said, it is sometimes more elegant to move a preposition to an earlier spot in a sentence,
especially in very serious and formal writing. But if you do move the preposition, remember
to delete it from the end.

This is something we must meditate on.

This is something on which we must meditate.
This is something on which we must meditate on.

Unnecessary prepositions
One of the most common preposition mistakes is adding an unnecessary at to the end of a
question.

Where is your brother at?

Although this is common in some English dialects, it’s considered nonstandard in writing.
You can fix the problem by simply deleting the at.

Where is your brother?

On the bright side, if you’re not sure which preposition to use, sometimes you can just get rid
of it altogether. In fact, you should always get rid of unnecessary prepositional phrases. Too
many prepositions can be a sign of flabby writing. Look at how many prepositions appear in
the sentence below:

For many people, the reality of an entry into a new area of employment is cause for a host of
anxieties.

Getting rid of the prepositions forces you to tighten up the sentence. The result is shorter,
more direct, and easier to understand:

Changing careers makes many people anxious.

Here’s another example:

Alex hit the baseball up over the fence.

Get rid of the up. You don’t need it:

Alex hit the baseball over the fence.

7 Conjunctions

Conjunctions make it possible to build complex sentences that express multiple ideas.

“I like marinara sauce. I like alfredo sauce. I don’t like puttanesca sauce.” Each of these three
sentences expresses a clear idea. There’s nothing wrong with listing your preferences like
this, but it’s not the most efficient way to do it.

Consider instead: “I like marinara sauce and alfredo sauce, but I don’t like puttanesca sauce.

In this sentence, and and but are the two conjunctions that link your ideas together.

>>Read more about conjunctions

Without conjunctions, you’d be forced to express every complex idea in a series of short,
simplistic sentences: I like cooking. I like eating. I don’t like washing dishes afterward.

How do conjunctions work?

Conjunctions are words that link other words, phrases, or clauses together.

I like cooking and eating, but I don’t like washing dishes afterward.
Sophie is clearly exhausted, yet she insists on dancing till dawn.

Conjunctions allow you to form complex, elegant sentences and avoid the choppiness of
multiple short sentences. Make sure that the phrases joined by conjunctions are parallel (share
the same structure).

I work quickly and careful.

I work quickly and carefully.
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Coordinating conjunctions
Coordinating conjunctions allow you to join words, phrases, and clauses of equal
grammatical rank in a sentence. The most common coordinating conjunctions are for, and,
nor, but, or, yet, and so; you can remember them by using the mnemonic device FANBOYS.

I’d like pizza or a salad for lunch.

We needed a place to concentrate, so we packed up our things and went to the library.
Jesse didn’t have much money, but she got by.
Notice the use of the comma when a coordinating conjunction is joining two independent
clauses.

Correlative conjunctions
Correlative conjunctions are pairs of conjunctions that work together. Some examples are
either/or, neither/nor, and not only/but also.

Not only am I finished studying for English, but I’m also finished writing my history essay.
I am finished with both my English essay and my history essay.

Subordinating conjunctions
Subordinating conjunctions join independent and dependent clauses. A subordinating
conjunction can signal a cause-and-effect relationship, a contrast, or some other kind of
relationship between the clauses. Common subordinating conjunctions are because, since, as,
although, though, while, and whereas. Sometimes an adverb, such as until, after, or before
can function as a conjunction.

I can stay out until the clock strikes twelve.

Here, the adverb until functions as a subordinating conjunction to connect two ideas: I can
stay out (the independent clause) and the clock strikes twelve (the dependent clause). The
independent clause could stand alone as a sentence; the dependent clause depends on the
independent clause to make sense.

The subordinating conjunction doesn’t need to go in the middle of the sentence. It has to be
part of the dependent clause, but the dependent clause can come before the independent
clause.

Before he leaves, make sure his room is clean.

If the dependent clause comes first, use a comma before the independent clause.

I drank a glass of water because I was thirsty.

Because I was thirsty, I drank a glass of water.

Starting a sentence with a conjunction

Many of us were taught in school that it is an error to begin a sentence with a conjunction, but
that rule is a myth. As mentioned above, a subordinating conjunction can begin a sentence if
the dependent clause comes before the independent clause. It’s also correct to begin a
sentence with a coordinating conjunction. Often, it’s a good way to add emphasis. Beginning
too many sentences with conjunctions will cause the device to lose its force, however, so use
this technique sparingly.

Have a safe trip. And don’t forget to call when you get home.
Gertie flung open the door. But there was no one on the other side.
List of conjunctions
Coordinating conjunctions

for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so

Correlative conjunctions

both/and, either/or, neither/nor, not only/but, whether/or

Subordinating conjunctions

after, although, as, as if, as long as, as much as, as soon as, as though, because, before, by the
time, even if, even though, if, in order that, in case, in the event that, lest, now that, once,
only, only if, provided that, since, so, supposing, that, than, though, till, unless, until, when,
whenever, where, whereas, wherever, whether or not, while

8 Articles

A pear. The brick house. An exciting experience. These bolded words are known as articles.

Articles come in two flavors: definite articles and indefinite articles. And similarly to the
two types of nouns, the type of article you use depends on how specific you need to be about
the thing you’re discussing.

A definite article, like the or this, describes one specific noun.

Did you buy the car?

From the above sentence, we understand that the speaker is referring to a specific previously
discussed car.

Now swap in an indefinite article:

Did you buy a car?

See how the implication that you’re referring back to something specific is gone, and you’re
asking a more general question?

>>Read more about articles

What are articles?
Articles are words that identify a noun as being specific or unspecific. Consider the following
examples:

After the long day, the cup of tea tasted particularly good.

By using the article the, we’ve shown that it was one specific day that was long and one
specific cup of tea that tasted good.

After a long day, a cup of tea tastes particularly good.

By using the article a, we’ve created a general statement, implying that any cup of tea would
taste good after any long day.

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English has two types of articles: definite and indefinite. Let’s discuss them now in more
detail.

The definite article

The definite article is the word the. It limits the meaning of a noun to one particular thing. For
example, your friend might ask, “Are you going to the party this weekend?” The definite
article tells you that your friend is referring to a specific party that both of you already know
about. The definite article can be used with singular, plural, or uncountable nouns. Below are
some examples of the definite article, the, used in context:

 Please give me the hammer.

 Please give me the red hammer; the blue one is too small.
 Please give me the nails.
 Please give me the large nail; it’s the only one strong enough to hold this painting
 Please give me the hammer and the nails.

The indefinite article

The indefinite article takes two forms. It’s the word a when it precedes a word that begins
with a consonant sound. It’s the word an when it precedes a word that begins with a vowel
sound. The indefinite article indicates that a noun refers to a general idea or category of a
thing rather than a specific thing.

For example, you might ask your friend, “Should I bring a gift to the party?” Your friend will
understand that you are not asking about a specific type of gift or a specific item. “I am going
to bring an apple pie,” your friend tells you. Again, the indefinite article indicates that she is
not talking about a particular apple pie. Your friend probably doesn’t even have any pie yet.
The indefinite article appears only with singular nouns. Consider the following examples of
indefinite articles used in context:

 Please hand me a book; any book will do.

 Please hand me an autobiography; any autobiography will do.

More examples: Using a or an

As mentioned, the rule is to use a before words that start with a consonant sound and an
before words that begin with a vowel sound. This can be tricky because some words that start
with consonants don’t start with a consonant sound; the same is true of some words that start
with vowels. The first letter of the word honor, for example, is a consonant, but it’s
unpronounced. Despite its spelling, the word honor begins with a vowel sound. Therefore, we
use an. Consider the example sentence below for an illustration of this concept.

Incorrect: My mother is a honest woman.

Correct: My mother is an honest woman.

Similarly, when the first letter of a word is a vowel but is pronounced with a consonant
sound, use a, as in the sample sentence below:

Incorrect: She is an United States senator.

Correct: She is a United States senator.

This holds true for acronyms and initialisms too: an LCD display, a UK-based company, an
HR department, a URL.

An article before an adjective

Sometimes an article modifies a noun that is also modified by an adjective. The usual word
order is article + adjective + noun. If the article is indefinite, use a or an based on the word
that immediately follows it. Consider the following examples for reference:

 Eliza will bring a small gift to Sophie’s party.

 I heard an interesting story yesterday.

Indefinite articles with uncountable nouns

Uncountable nouns are nouns that are impossible to count, whether because they name
intangible concepts (e.g., information, animal husbandry, wealth), collections of things that
are considered as wholes (e.g., jewelry, equipment, the working class), or homogeneous
physical substances(e.g., milk, sand, air). Although most of these nouns are singular in form,
because they refer to things that can’t be isolated and counted, they never take a or an.
Uncountable nouns can be modified by indefinite adjectives like some, however. Consider the
examples below for reference:
Incorrect: Please give me a water.

Water is an uncountable noun and should not be used with the indefinite article.

Correct: Please give me some water.

If you describe the water in terms of a countable unit (like a bottle), you can use the indefinite
article to modify the unit.

Correct: Please give me a bottle of water.

Incorrect: Please give me an ice.

Correct: Please give me an ice cube.

Correct: Please give me some ice.

Note that depending on the context, some nouns can be countable or uncountable (e.g., hair,
noise, time):

Correct: We need a light in this room.

Correct: We need some light in this room.

Using articles with pronouns

Possessive pronouns—words like his, my, our, its, her, and their—can help identify whether
you’re talking about specific or nonspecific items. As we’ve seen, articles also indicate
specificity. But if you use both a possessive pronoun and an article together, readers will
become confused. Articles should not be used with pronouns. Consider the examples below:

Incorrect: Why are you reading the my book?

The and my should not be used together, as they are both identifying the same noun. Instead,
choose one or the other depending on the intended meaning:

Correct: Why are you reading the book?

Correct: Why are you reading my book?

Omission of articles
Occasionally, articles are omitted altogether before certain nouns. In these cases, the article is
implied but not actually present. This implied article is sometimes called a “zero article.”
Often, the article is omitted before a noun that refers to an abstract idea. Look at the
following examples:

Incorrect: Let’s go out for a dinner tonight.

Correct: Let’s go out for dinner tonight.

Incorrect: The creativity is a valuable quality in children.

Correct: Creativity is a valuable quality in children.

Tip: The words for many languages and nationalities are not preceded by an article.

Incorrect: I studied the French in high school for four years.

Correct: I studied French in high school for four years.

Tip: Sports and academic subjects do not require articles.

Incorrect: I like to play the baseball.

Correct: I like to play baseball.

Incorrect: My sister was always good at the math.

Correct: My sister was always good at math.

Article FAQs
What is an article?

An article is a word that comes before a noun to show whether it’s specific or general.
Specific nouns use the article the and general nouns use the article a (or an, if the next word
starts with a vowel sound).

What are definite and indefinite articles?

The definite article refers to something specific, and the indefinite article refers to something
general. The is the definite article and a/an is the indefinite article.

What is an example of an article in grammar?

“The hammer” refers to only one hammer, but “a hammer” refers to any hammer.

When should we not use articles?

We don’t use the indefinite article with uncountable nouns, or any article with a possessive
pronoun. Certain nouns such as nationalities, school subjects, and sports often don’t take
articles, especially when they refer to general or abstract ideas.

Figuring out parts of speech

Sometimes, it’s not easy to tell which part of speech a word is. Here are a few easy hacks for
quickly figuring out what part of speech you’re dealing with:

 If it’s an adjective plus the ending –ly, it’s an adverb. Examples: commonly, quickly.
 If you can swap it out for a noun and the sentence still makes sense, it’s a pronoun.
Example: “He played basketball.” / “Steve played basketball.”
 If it’s something you do and you can modify the sentence to include the word do, it’s
a verb. Example: “I have an umbrella.” / “I do have an umbrella.”
 If you can remove the word and the sentence still makes sense but you lose a detail,
the word is most likely an adjective. Example: “She drives a red van.” / “She drives a
van.”

And if you’re ever really stumped, just look the word up. Dictionaries typically list a word’s
part of speech in its entry, and if it has multiple forms with different parts of speech, they are
all listed, with examples.

That brings us to another common issue that can confuse writers and language learners.

When a word can be different parts of speech

Just like y is sometimes a vowel and sometimes a consonant, there are words that are
sometimes one part of speech and other times another. Here are a few examples:

 Work
o “I went to work” (noun).
o “I work in the garden” (verb).

 Well
o “She paints very well” (adverb).
o “They are finally well now, after weeks of illness” (adjective).
o “I dropped a penny into the well” (noun).
 But
o “I cooked breakfast and lunch, but Steve cooked dinner” (conjunction).
o “I brought everything but the pens you asked for” (preposition).

And sometimes, words evolve to add forms that are new parts of speech. One recent example
is the word adult. Before the 2010s, adult was primarily a noun that referred to a fully grown
person. It could also be used as an adjective to refer to specific types of media, like adult
contemporary music. But then, at right about the turn of the 2010s, the word adulting, a
brand-new verb, appeared in the internet lexicon. As a verb, adulting refers to the act of
doing tasks associated with adulthood, like paying bills and grocery shopping.

Open and closed word classes

The parts of speech fall into two word classes: open and closed.

The open word classes are the parts of speech that regularly acquire new words. Language
evolves, and usually, that evolution takes place in nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs. In
2022, new words added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary included dumbphone (noun),
greenwash (verb), and cringe (adjective).

The closed word classes are the parts of speech that don’t readily acquire new words. These
parts of speech are more set in stone and include pronouns, conjunctions, articles, and
prepositions.